Hirsova—Russian Relics—Town of Silistria—Bravery of the
Turks—Village of Turtuki—Group of Pelicans—Glorious
Sunset—Ruschuk—Cheapness of Provisions—The Wallachian
Coast—Bulgaria—Dense Fog—Orava—Roman Bath—Green
Frogs—Widdin—Kalifet—Scala Glavoda—Custom House
Officers—Disembarkation—Wallachian Mountains—A Landscape
Sketch—Costume of the Servian Peasantry—The Village
Belle—Primitive Carriages—The Porte de Fer—The
Crucifix—Magnificent Scenery—Fine Ores.
At half past eleven in the morning we were off Hirsova, where we
embarked some more deck-passengers, greatly to our annoyance and
discomfort. The few straggling villages that we had passed since our
departure from Galatz were of the most wretched description; and Hirsova
itself is in a ruined state, having been besieged and taken by the
Russians after a gallant resistance of fifty days. It is situated in a
gorge between two rocks, and on the lower of the two stand the ruins of
the Turkish fortress, of which only a few crumbling walls and a solitary
buttress now remain. This fortress was unfortunately commanded by the
opposite height on which the Russians threw up fortifications, under
whose cover they kept up an incessant fire upon the town and the fort,
and ultimately destroyed both. Scores of balls are still imbedded in
the bank of the river, and along the shore; and, knowing what I do of
the Turks, I have no doubt that it would be impossible to prevail on
them to touch them, even for the purposes of traffic.
Wherever the boat stopped, crowds of the peasantry flocked to the edge
of the water, and stood gazing at her in admiring wonder; for, as this
was only her twelfth voyage, their curiosity and astonishment had not
yet subsided. From Hirsova the landscape began to improve on the
Bulgarian side. Groups of trees just touched with the first autumnal
tints; and at intervals a glimpse of higher land in the distance,
relieved the eye.
At two o’clock in the morning we arrived at Silistria, a small town
surrounded by outworks, and celebrated for the brave resistance of its
garrison of twelve thousand men, to an army of fifty thousand Russians.
A resistance so obstinate, or I should rather say, so heroic, as to
endure for nine long months; and to be terminated only by the utter
destruction of the town, and the partial demolition of its defences.
Ruin still cowers among its desolate dwellings, and Silistria is now
peopled only by three thousand inhabitants; but it has earned for itself
a place in the page of history, which could not be more worthily filled
up.
At half past two in the afternoon we were off Turtuki; a very extensive
village, presenting a most singular appearance; almost every cottage
having a large haystack within the little garden fence, as large as the
dwelling itself; and many of the cottages being hollowed in the rock;
while strings of red capsicums wreathed most of the doorways, and gave a
holyday aspect to the scene. A numerous population thronged the shore
and the streets, who only paused in their several occupations for a
moment as we passed, to watch our progress; and then resumed their
primitive occupation of reed-thatching the cottages, or driving forth
their cattle to the high lands in search of pasturage.
Such herds of horses, oxen, buffaloes, and pigs; such flocks of goats
and sheep, as are scattered along the whole of the Bulgarian shore, I
never saw in my life! The land in the immediate vicinity of Turtuki was
highly cultivated, and abounded in corn-fields and vineyards; giving
evidence of much greater energy and industry in its peasantry than any
locality that we had yet witnessed. About half a mile above the village
a row of water-mills, six in number, were moored across the current;
each mill was supported on two floating barges of very curious
construction, and as they were all at work they presented a singular
appearance.
Shortly after we had passed Turtuki, we saw about twenty pelicans
congregated on a bar of sand which projected into the river. And during
the day we remarked several eagles on the wing; and numbers of the
beautiful white aigrette herons, whose gleaming plumage glistened in the
sunshine.
I never beheld a more glorious sunset than on this evening. We had
passed several wooded islands, fringed with river-willows, and forming
points of view that almost appeared to have been artificially produced;
and we were just sailing past one of these, when the sun disappeared
behind the high land by which it was backed, and shed over the sky tints
so richly and so deeply marked, as to make the river-ripple sparkle like
liquid gems; and to give to the stream the appearance of diluted
amethysts and topaz. At this moment a sudden bend in the Danube brought
us beneath a rock crowned with the crumbling ruins of a Genoese castle,
at whose base a flock of goats were browsing on the green underwood that
clothed its fissures. Nothing more was requisite to complete the beauty
of the picture; and from this moment we all began to entertain hopes of
an improvement in the aspect of the country through which we had yet to
pass.
The next town we reached was Ruschuk, which is of considerable extent,
walled, and surrounded by a ditch. It contains only three thousand
inhabitants, though it formerly boasted thirty thousand, but exhibits no
symptom of that desolation we had remarked in several other towns on
the river. It possesses nine mosques; and its main street is wider and
more carefully paved than any in Constantinople. Its principal trade is
in salt from Olenitza, sugar, iron, and manufactured goods; its exports
are livestock, grain, wool, and timber; and its industry comprises
sail-making by the women, and boat-building by the men.
The extreme cheapness of food at Ruschuk struck me so much that I took
some pains to ascertain the price of the most common articles of
consumption; and I subjoin the result of my inquiries as a positive
curiosity. Eggs were two hundred for a shilling—fowls were considered
exorbitant; and the high value which they constantly maintained was
accounted for by the fact that the market of Constantinople was in a
great degree supplied from thence; they were twopence each—ducks and
geese, from the same cause, cost two pence halfpenny; turkeys averaged
tenpence, being a favourite food with the Orientals; beef three
halfpence the oke, of two pounds and three quarters; mutton the same
price—the wine of the country one piastre the quart—grapes a halfpenny
the oke; melons and pasteks of immense size, three farthings each; bread
equally cheap, but bad.
Shortly after leaving Ruschuk, I was amused for a considerable time in
watching some cormorants that were diving for fish; while every sand in
the shallows of the river was covered with hundreds of blue plover. Wild
ducks and geese also flew past the vessel in clouds; and we purchased
small sturgeon and sword-fish from a boat with which we came in contact.
The Wallachian coast still continued to present one swampy and
uninteresting flat, save at distant intervals, when a scattered and
treeless village, built upon the slope of a slight rise, broke for an
instant upon its tame monotony. But Bulgaria grew in beauty as we
approached its boundary. Noble hills, well clothed with trees gay in all
the rainbow tints of autumn, and contrasting the deep rich umber hues of
the fading beech, and the bright yellow of the withering walnut, with
the gay red garlands of the wild vine, which flung its ruby-coloured
wreaths from tree to tree, linking them together in one glowing
wreath—Snug little villages, with each its tiny fleet of fishing-boats,
and its sandy shore covered with groups of gazers; the better classes
clad after the Asiatic fashion—the men wearing their turbans large and
gracefully arranged, and the women suffering the yashmac to hang nearly
to their feet above the dark feridjhe; and the poorer among them clad in
shapeless woollen garments, and high caps of black sheep skin—Herds of
horses bounding over the hills in all the graceful hilarity of
freedom—Droves of buffaloes lying in the deep mud of the river,
basking in the sunshine—Vineyards overshadowed by fruit trees; Fields
neatly fenced from the waste, and rich with vegetables and grain, in
turn varied the prospect; nor had we wearied of the scene when, at two
o’clock, P.M., we arrived at Sistoff, a small, but flourishing town;
with the ruin of an old castle perched on a height immediately above it.
Here, greatly to our satisfaction, we landed most of our deck
passengers; and a little after seven in the evening we found ourselves
abreast of Nicopolis; but owing to the darkness we could only trace the
outline of the town as it cut against the horizon, and discovered that
it was tolerably extensive, and surrounded by high bluff lands.
Having been detained several hours by the fog, which was extremely dense
at daybreak, we did not reach Orava until near mid-day. This town, which
was destroyed by the Russians during the reign of Catherine, appears to
be of considerable extent; but is only partially fortified. It possesses
five or six mosques, some of which are scarcely visible from the river,
owing to the very high land that intervenes between a portion of the
town and the shore. The ruins of an old castle on the summit of a rock,
and of a Roman bath on the water’s edge, give a picturesque effect to
the locality. Some hours later we anchored on the Wallachian side to
take in coals, which were obtained from Hungary, and said to be of very
excellent quality; the little enclosure that contained them was situated
close to one of the sanatory stations, and we were not permitted to
approach within a hundred yards of the white-coated Wallachians. We
revenged ourselves, however, by wandering over the plain, gathering wild
flowers and blackberries; and giving chase to some of the most beautiful
little green frogs that ever were seen—they looked like leaping leaves!
Eight pelicans passed us on the wing during the day.
Another dense fog prevented our progress after seven in the evening, as
the pilot refused to incur the responsibility of the vessel; and we
accordingly anchored until three o’clock the following morning, when we
started again in a bright flood of moonlight; and in about four hours we
arrived opposite to Widdin, where we anchored. It is a large and
handsome town, strongly fortified with a double line of works of great
importance. The fortifications are in good order, and extend, as we are
told, about twelve hundred yards along the bank of the river; while the
lines on the landward side are kept with equal care, and are of similar
extent. The walls are protected by four strong bastions; and the guns
are all said to be in an efficient state. The Pasha’s Palace, based on
the outer walls, looks as bleak and comfortless as a barrack; but its
windows command a noble view of the river. The minarets of twelve or
fourteen mosques relieve the outline of the picture; and, immediately
opposite, on the Wallachian side, stands the low, flat, rambling town of
Kalefat, whence the country assumes a new and more interesting
character. A graceful curve in the river carried us past the quarantaine
establishment; a group of wretched buildings erected close to the
water’s edge, and enclosed within a rude wooden paling, backed by a
lofty cliff that runs far along the shore, riven into a thousand
fantastic shapes; while here and there we had distant glimpses of
cultivated valleys and wooded hills.
The aspect of the country improved throughout the whole day; abrupt and
precipitous heights, wooded to the very summits—stretches of corn and
pasture land—multitudinous herds of cattle—and laughing plains, gay
with grass and wild flowers, flitted rapidly by; while the bold
cloud-crested mountains above Orsoru formed a noble background to the
picture. At noon we were abreast of Florentin, the last Bulgarian
village on the bank of the river; and decidedly the most picturesque
locality on the Lower Danube. The hamlet was nestled beneath a rock,
three of whose sides were washed by the river, while the fourth was
protected by a deep ditch; and the tall, bluff, perpendicular rock
itself was crowned by a Gothic castle, whose gray outline, apparently
nearly perfect, cut sharply against the sky; and completed a tableau so
strikingly beautiful as to elicit an universal exclamation of delight.
We ran past Scala Glavoda in the night, from which circumstance I lost
the opportunity of seeing Trajan’s Bridge, whose arches may be
distinguished beneath the level of the water; and at midnight we
anchored at a straggling village about half a league above it. Here we
took leave of the Pannonia; and, as the river is not navigable for a
considerable distance for any thing but flat-bottomed boats, whose
wearisome course against the current is secured by the assistance of
oxen, who tow them lazily on their way; we were obliged to proceed to
Orsova by land. Custom-house officers came on board to examine the
merchandize with which the vessel was freighted, but they did not
interfere with the luggage of the passengers; and, as soon as
bullock-cars had been secured, we despatched our packages on shore,
whither we shortly followed them.
On the opposite shore rose the mountains of Wallachia, just touched upon
their summits with the brilliant tints of the newly-risen sun, and
clothed with many-coloured foliage. The hills, beside which we had
passed during the previous day, had closed upon us in the rear; and the
chain which terminates in the _Porte de Fer_, or Iron Door, a bar of
rock that nearly traverses the Danube, and over which its waters toss
and boil in impotent violence, shut in the forward view.
In the bottom of the gorge ran the river, whence arose the column of
steam escaping from the chimney of the Pannonia; and the Servian shore
was scattered over with the multifarious properties of the passengers.
The village ran along the bank of the river, and consisted of log huts,
most ingeniously constructed, lined with a cement formed of clay, and
thatched, like those in Bulgaria, with reeds, and the straw of the
Indian corn; interspersed with small tenements of wicker-work raised on
poles, and serving as store-houses for fruits and grain.
The difference of costume between the peasantry of Servia and those of
the adjoining country, was remarkably striking. The men had added a wide
sash of rich scarlet to the dress of the Bulgarians, and wore their
woollen greaves, and the sleeves of their shirts worked with
dark-coloured worsteds; while the women were attired in the most
singular manner that can well be imagined. They universally retained the
wrapping-dress of white linen that we had remarked all along this shore
of the Danube; but above it they had placed a couple of aprons of thick
woollen stuff, striped or checked with dark blue; one of which they wore
before, and the other behind, leaving the linen garment uncovered on
either side to the waist; but their head-gear was yet more
extraordinary, and, at the same time, singularly picturesque.
The younger among them wore their hair confined by a simple band across
the forehead; to which were attached branches of bright-coloured
flowers, such as marigolds, hollyhocks, and the blossoms of the scarlet
bean; intermixed with strings of small silver coin, in greater or less
quantities. I remarked that even the youngest of the girls, children of
five and six years of age, were thus decorated; some of them not
possessing, however, more than half a dozen little para pieces; and as
each of these girls was twirling her distaff with all the gravity of a
matron, I imagine that, precisely as the Asiatics accumulate strings of
pearl by the slow produce of their industry, so, in like manner, the
female peasantry of Servia increase their ornaments through the medium
of their own individual exertions; and I was the more confirmed in this
opinion, by observing that in every instance save one, the number of
coins worn upon the head appeared to preserve an equal proportion with
the years of the wearer.
The exception to which I allude was on the person of a young girl of
about seventeen, from whose braided tresses coins of considerable size
fell in every direction nearly to her waist; while her throat was
encircled by a succession of the same ungraceful ornaments, descending
like scale-armour low upon her bosom. There was an elastic spring in her
movements, as her small naked feet pressed the sandy path; and an
expression bordering upon haughtiness in her large dark eyes, which
betrayed the daughter of the village chief. I would peril the value of
every coin she wore that I read her fortune aright!
The elder women wore linen cloths bound about their heads with a grace
which would have suited the draping of a statue; the long ends of the
scarf being secured behind the ear, and forming deep folds that looked,
at a short distance, as though they were hewn in marble; and above this
drapery, rows of coins were disposed, helmet-wise, in such profusion
that, as the sunlight glanced upon them, they were perfectly dazzling.
Nor did the matrons dispense with the gaudy knots of flowers so general
among their younger countrywomen; and the gay effect of a group of
Servian females may consequently be imagined. Some among them were
tolerably pretty; nearly all had fine bright black eyes, and they were
universally erect and finely made; with a step and carriage at once firm
and graceful.
Ranged along the road stood the line of bullock-waggons, intended for
the transport of our luggage; and beside them a nondescript carriage of
wicker-work drawn by two gray horses, for the accommodation of such of
the party as preferred driving to walking. We were, however, some time
before we were fairly _en route_; and still longer before any one felt
inclined to forego the pleasure of wandering through the long grass that
bordered the edge of the plain, through which wound the road leading to
Orsova.
For a brief interval we lost sight of the river, and continued to
advance along the rude path, scaring the wild birds from their
resting-places among the stunted branches of the dwarf oaks and beeches
that clothed it; or thredding along the boundaries of the wide patches
of Indian corn which had been redeemed from the waste. But as the day
advanced, the heat became so great as to render any further progress on
foot too fatiguing to be pleasurable; and four of our party accordingly
taking possession of the carriage, we started at a brisk pace along the
smooth and easy road; and after a precipitous descent, down which the
horses galloped at a pace infinitely more speedy than safe, we found
ourselves once more on the shore of the Danube, where it is separated in
the centre by a long bar of sand, terminating in a small island of rock,
now cumbered with the remnants of a ruined fortress.
Twenty minutes more brought us to the _Porte de Fer_; which does not,
however, extend all across the river, as there is a sufficient width of
sand left free of all rock, on the Servian side, to render the formation
of a canal sufficiently extensive to ensure the safe passage of
moderately sized vessels extremely easy. Nothing in nature can be more
lovely than the landscape at this point of the river; it is shut in on
all sides by majestic rocks overgrown with forest trees; and tenanted by
the wild boar, the wolf, and the bear. Eagles soar above their
pinnacles; and singing birds make the air vocal at their base; while
beneath them rushes the chafed and angry river, foaming and roaring over
the line of rock that impedes the accustomed onward flow of its waters.
Another turn in the road, and the Danube is hidden from view by a wooded
strip of land, which has forced a portion of the river from its natural
channel, as if to accompany the traveller upon his way, as he follows
the chain of rock along a road so narrow, that there is not half a foot
of earth between the wheels of the carriage and the edge of the bank
that is washed by the little stream; while delicious glimpses of the
Danube are occasionally visible between the trunks of the tall trees
that fringe the intervening islet.
About a quarter of a mile onward stands a Crucifix; the first symbol
that we had yet remarked of Christianity; and which we hailed as the
parched desert-wanderer welcomes the spring whereat he slakes his
long-endured and withering thirst. It was erected beneath the shadow of
a fine old beech tree; and immediately beside a crazy bridge flung
across the channel of a mountain torrent. The scene increased in beauty
as we proceeded. The great variety of tint among the forest foliage
heightened the effect of the landscape; and I have rarely, if ever, seen
a more gorgeous locality than that through which we travelled to Orsova.
Nature had poured forth her treasures with an unsparing liberality; and
every mountain-glen was a spot that a painter would have loved to look
upon.
We passed through one straggling village, built like that at which we
had landed, of timber and mud, where we stopped for a few moments to
procure a glass of water; and I was agreeably impressed by the eager
courtesy with which the request was met. A portion of the road proving
too steep to enable the horses to drag us to the summit of the rise
along which we had to pass, we descended from the carriage, and pursued
our way on foot; when we were much struck by the appearance of the soil,
impregnated as it was so strongly with metallic particles, that it had
the appearance of diamond dust. I collected several specimens of ore
that were truly beautiful; and I have no doubt, even from my own very
slight geological knowledge, that a scientific person might find ample
employment within a couple of miles of Orsova for at least as many
months.