Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the
frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration of
State property--An unpleasant night on the mountain--Snowstorm.
At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took
the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place.
Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for
they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a
charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she
understood not only the language but the literature of Germany.
A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village
was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that
everybody was to appear the following day--which conveniently happened
to be _fête_ day--for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at
different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as
beaters.
The _Richter_, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six
feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair--a handsome fellow of
that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to
use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the
Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It
was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather
round their feet in place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed
with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head.
A great deal of time was wasted in preparations. The Wallacks are the
most dilatory people in the whole world. It was nearly three o'clock
before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous.
The guns that some of the party carried were "a caution"--more fit for a
museum of armoury than for anything else. The Wallacks try to remedy the
inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder,
at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides. I often thought the
danger was greater to themselves than to the bear. They never fire over
twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within
twelve yards, when they pepper away at him.
At last we were in position. It is usual to have a second gun, but I
had only my rifle and revolver; unfortunately my gun was with my baggage
at Maros Vásárhely. After waiting for some time without hearing anything
but the creaking of the pine-trees in the wind, the advance of the
beaters was at length audible. You hear repeated thuds with their axes
on the trees, and you know that they are beating up your way. All at
once I heard the unmistakable tread of some heavy four-footed beast. I
held my breath, fearing to betray my presence. Nearer and nearer came
the heavy tread, the branches cracking as the animal broke its way
through the thicket. It must be a bear of the largest size, thought I,
with a glow of delight warming up my whole frame at this supreme moment.
I had just raised the rifle to my shoulder, when--judge my disgust--when
emerging from the thicket I saw a stray ox make his appearance! I could
hardly resist putting a bullet into the stupid brute's carcass, but I
remembered that I should have to pay for that little game.
We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of
taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone
through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking,
because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had
evidently just saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite
visible in the soft mud.
These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was
drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of
course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply
ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was
very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting,
that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season,
another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a
shot.
The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite
another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much
in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I
allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides
this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the
peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a
shooting licence and the gun-tax.
Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on
everywhere in Hungary. One of these springs is situated close to the
river, where a simple kind of bath-house has been constructed. The water
contains iodine. While at Toplicza I heard that somewhere up in the
mountains on the Bukovina side there is a large deposit of sulphur. The
accounts were very vague, but I thought I should like to have a look at
the place. The district was pronounced to be so unsafe, and so many
robbers had appeared on the scene lately, that I thought proper to take
two men with me; one as a guide, for he had been there before, and a
forester armed with a gun.
My friends the Armenians kindly insisted on providing me with everything
necessary in the shape of food; and one day, the weather being fine, I
started at noon on this expedition along with my attendants. We soon got
into the forest again. The size of the trees was almost beyond belief;
but, alas! many of them had been destroyed in the same ruthless manner
that I have so often alluded to in my travels. Here were half-burned
trunks of splendid oak-trees lying rotting on the ground in every
direction, showing clearly that the forest had been fired. The attempt
at a clearing, if that was the object, was utterly abortive; for when
the trees are down a thick undercover grows up, more impervious by far,
and there is less chance of obtaining pasturage than ever, but the
Wallack never reasons upon this. The State reckons the value of its
"forests" at something like 27,000,000 florins, and yet there is no
efficient supervision of this property, which, from the increasing
scarcity of wood in Europe, must become in time more and more valuable.
The mines of Hungary are estimated in round numbers at 210,000,000
florins, and here again there is a lamentable absence of wise
administration. The mining laws, I understand, are at present under
revision. Foreign enterprise is not discouraged, but I cannot go so far
as to say that the adventure would not meet with difficulties from local
obstructions of an official or semi-official nature.
We had started from Toplicza in beautiful weather, but before sunset a
complete change came on, and heavy rain set in. This was a very
uncomfortable look-out, for we could see nothing that offered us
anything like a decent shelter for the night. The guide urged us to go
on, for he said there was a hut at the top of the mountain; so we beat
our way along through the driving rain, and eventually came to the top.
We soon found the hut, but it was a mere ruin; it might have been in
Chancery for any number of years, indeed one end had tumbled in. It was
as uninviting a place to spend a night in as could well be imagined.
Fortunately one corner was still weather-proof, the fir bark of the roof
yet remaining intact. We had to be careful, however, about the roof,
which consisted of stems of trees supported longitudinally. It was easy
to see that a very little incautious vivacity on our part would bring
the whole structure down on our heads. Water was found not far off, and
we soon had a fire, which blazed up cheerfully. Its warmth was very
necessary, for it was bitterly cold and damp. I had brought with me a
hammock made of twine; this I slung in the driest corner, and after
supper I turned in and was soon asleep. The faculty of sleep is an
immense comfort. A man may put it high up on the credit side in striking
the balance of good and evil in his lot.
When I awoke the next morning, I found that the weather was worse than
ever. The mist was so dense that the Wallack guide said it was perfectly
impossible to go on, in fact we might consider ourselves lucky if we
were able to get back without mischance. Not to be daunted, I waited
till nearly noon, thinking it was possible that the mist might rise, and
restore to us the bright skies of yesterday. A change came, but not the
one we hoped for. The cold rain turned into snow, so it would have been
sheer madness to think of going on.
We were in a wretched plight, crowded together in the corner of the
ruined hut, and snow as well as "light" came in "through the chinks that
time had made." Owing to a change in the wind, the smoke of the fire
outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift--that of the
snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out
of sight.
I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut,
or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell
upon me; it caught me on the back of my head--a pretty close shave! The
ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object
I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these
once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass,
into which my horse kept sinking.
At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought
themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept
off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself,
having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the
morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their
interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life
must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my
return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest
kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality
of my friends to give me house-room.
As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the
wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with
my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vásárhely. The
weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to
strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the
towns.