A
STEAM VOYAGE
DOWN
THE DANUBE.
WITH SKETCHES OF
HUNGARY, WALLACHIA, SERVIA, AND
TURKEY, &c.
BY MICHAEL J. QUIN,
AUTHOR OF “A VISIT TO SPAIN.”
SECOND EDITION.
REVISED AND CORRECTED.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1835.
[Illustration:
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
PEST.]
C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.
TO MRS. MICHAEL J. QUIN.
To you I dedicate these volumes, trusting that you may find in them some
compensation for my late absence from a Home, where, as you well know,
all my happiness resides. When our dear children shall be able to read
this work, you will tell them that _their_ interests only could have
detained me from that home, during the five months necessarily occupied
in my journey.
Always most affectionately yours,
MICHAEL J. QUIN.
Haverstock Hill, Hampstead,
20th July, 1835.
PREFACE
TO THE
SECOND EDITION.
Since the first edition of this work was published several gentlemen
have called upon me, to inquire whether the navigation by steam has
been yet completed from Presburg to Constantinople. It may be useful,
therefore, here to state that the steam-boats do not yet regularly
proceed further down the Danube than Galacz. The vessel intended to
carry on the intercourse from that place to the Bosphorus, had been
fitted out, and despatched from Trieste last autumn. But in the mean
time, the object which the Danube company had in view, was frustrated by
some means that have not yet been explained; and the vessel in question
is now employed as a packet between Constantinople and Smyrna.
My own opinion is, that the Russian government has refused permission
for the steam-boats of the Danube company to pass through any of the
embouchures of that river into the Black Sea. The whole delta of the
river became exclusively Russian, under the treaty of Adrianople; and I
am informed that military pontons have been recently established across
the navigable mouths of the Danube, with a view to prevent vessels of
any description from entering the Black Sea in that quarter, without a
passport from the Russian authorities.
The traveller, however, who wishes to become acquainted with the most
interesting parts of the Danube, navigable by the steam-boats, will have
no cause to regret this strange proceeding on the part of the Russian
government. The banks of that magnificent river are wholly devoid of
interest below Vidin. Its beauties commence at Belgrade; and from
Moldava to Gladova, those wild and sublime scenes occur, which I have
attempted to describe in the following pages.
I trust, at the same time, that before many months elapse, the Austrian
and Russian sovereigns will come to an understanding in favour of
the free navigation of the Danube and the Black Sea, as originally
contemplated by the company.
M. J. Q.
_September 10, 1835._
CONTENTS TO VOL. I
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at Pesth--Embarkation on board the steam-boat--Congress
of Hungarian ladies--General appearance of Pesth--Buda--Mills on
the Danube--Fruit-boats--Wool-waggons--Wicker carriages--Captain
Cozier--Scene on board--Tyrolese emigrants--Tyrolese
amusements--Countess N—— —Moldavian adventurer--Servian
Jew--Depression of the Danube 1
CHAPTER II.
Dinner--Languages of the party--English groom--State of the
neighbourhood of Tolna--System of landowners--English farmers
in requisition--Arrival at Tolna--Battle with dogs--Search for
a bed--Billiards--Cottage delights--Night scene--Hungarian
politics--Group of peasants--Wood-boats--Village of Mohacs--Costume
of the natives--Appearance of the streets--Industry of
women--Hungarian ladies and their maids 22
CHAPTER III.
Steam-boat aground--Tyrolese melodies--Night scene--“Hanger
on”--Auction at cards--Knave of clubs game--How to float a
steamer--Military valet--Kamenitz--Odescalchi convent--Parting
game--Kissing--Neusatz--Carlovitz--Semlin--Greek church--Plague
at Constantinople--Belgrade--Semendria--Magnificent expanse of
the Danube--Islands of enchantment--Sunset--Spirits of the Danube 43
CHAPTER IV.
Windings of the Danube--Civility of the Moldavian--Arrival
at Moldava--Arrangements for voyage to Orsova--A Wallachian
beauty--Flock of geese--Ditto of children--Woodmen--Commencement
of mountain chain--Rustic sounds--Peasantry--Removal to
fishing-boat--Our equipment--Accusation of robbery--Haunt of
Wallachian brigands--Romantic gorge--Caverns 67
CHAPTER V.
Pastoral scene--Echoes--Picture of laziness--Rapids of the
Danube--Miller and his men--Pedestrian excursion--Wallachian
shepherdesses--Dancing boors--Scene at Swinich--Priest of the
parish--The governor--George Dewar--Contest between the priest
and the poet--Supper--Musical treat--The Moldavian--Sketch of
the inn room--Hospitable invitation--Triple-bedded room--Latin
harangue 85
CHAPTER VI.
Domestic arrangements--Count Szechenyi--Milanosch--Works on
the Danube--Picture of industry--Auberge--Vedran’s cave--Rocky
scenery--Arrival at Orsova--My chamber and its ornaments--Bedroom
utensils--Hungarian civilization--Quarantine adventure--Dinner at
Count Szechenyi’s--Plans for the navigation of the Danube--Origin
of the enterprise 107
CHAPTER VII.
Hungarian reforms--Security of property--Orders of nobility--
Advantages of steam navigation--Reformers--Auxiliary improvements--
Club-house--Newspaper--System of Entails--Censorship--Sybaritism--
The Count’s pursuits--Hungarian language--Verses on the vintage 130
CHAPTER VIII.
First appearance of Wallachia--The Iron Door--Trajan’s road--Reform
of the Hungarian representation--Corporations--Finances--Education--
Justice--Wallachian Gladova--Servian Gladova--Trajan’s bridge--
Navigable stations on the Danube--Wonders of steam--Speech of Prince
Milosch--Neighbourhood of Gladova--Wallachian hut--Matrimonial
speculation--Tea-drinking--Music--Charms of procrastination--
Departure from Gladova--Bends in the Danube--Approach to Vidin--
Magnate’s costume--Visit to Hussein Pacha--The pacha’s deputy--An
interpreter--Explanations--Pleasures of disguise 142
CHAPTER IX.
Hussein Pacha--Hussein’s son--Group at the interview--Commencement
of conversation--Conversation prolonged--Steam expedition--Cool
reception--Pacha’s harem--Wallachia and Moldavia--Treaty of
Adrianople--Silistria--Boat aground--New delays--Zantiote boat--
Adventurous changes--Separation--Ionian luxuries--A grave mistake 177
CHAPTER X.
Zitara Palanka--Turkish hospitality--Interior of a caffiné--
Mahometan devotee--Orisons--Race of Tartars--Social variety--
Turkish khan--The nargillé--Supper--Woman--Seclusion of the sex--
Eating in the dark--Visiters astonished--A general invasion--
Return to the boat--New acquaintances--Nicopoli--Night scene 196
CHAPTER XI.
Sistow--A delusion--New friends--Good fortune--Greek civility--
Wallachian merchants--Supper--Amicable discussion--Gil Blas--
Wallachian ambition--Chief of the Tartars--Striking a bargain--
Equestrian preparations--Greek _v._ Greek--Shops of Rutschuk--
Valley of Repose--Bulgarian peasants--Gipsies--Going astray--
Cogitations--Resolutions--Bulgarian girls--An alarm 219
CHAPTER XII.
A boorish group--Night quarters of a caravan--Shumla--An
intrusion--An angry Turk--Balkan roads--Difficulties of the way--
Forests of Hæmus--Banditti--Terrors--Descent of the Balkans--
Dinner--Karnabat--Gipsies--Catching a Tartar--A fiery bedroom--
A decent khan--Supper 244
CHAPTER XIII.
My companions--Kind attentions--Famine--Annihilation of a Fowl--
Living upon nothing--Disturbance--Still life--Consternation--A
desolate town--Turks at prayers--Dinner--Alarming rumours--Chorlu--
The sea of Marmora--Silivria--Street scene--A factotum--News of
the day--Tartar generosity--Negotiations 264
CHAPTER XIV.
A white cock--Russian agency--Specimen of cookery--Dining in
state--Departure from Silivria--Mahometan causeway--Perilous
roads--Knowing horses--First view of Constantinople--Advantages of
its position--Extent of its capabilities--An abstracted goose--
Entrance of the capital--Pera--Vitali’s hotel--The plague--
Character of the malady--Armenian funeral--Associations--Funeral
of a Greek 285
APPENDIX A.
Treaty of Alliance concluded between Russia and Turkey on the 8th
of July, 1833 303
APPENDIX B.
Treaty between Russia and Turkey, concluded at St. Petersburg, by
Achmet Pacha, on the 29th of January, 1834 308
LIST OF PLATES.
PAGE
FRONTISPIECE, Vol. I. PESTH
BUDA AND PESTH 6
KAMENITZ 52
PETERWARDEIN 54
NEUSATZ 56
SEMLIN 58
BELGRADE 61
THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE FROM PESTH TO RUTSCHUK 220
FRONTISPIECE, Vol. II. TOWING BOATS ON THE DANUBE
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at Pesth--Embarkation on board the steam-boat--Congress
of Hungarian ladies--General appearance of Pesth--Buda--Mills on
the Danube--Fruit-boats--Wool-waggons--Wicker carriages--Captain
Cozier--Scene on board--Tyrolese emigrants--Tyrolese amusements--
Countess N---- Moldavian adventurer--Servian Jew--Depression of
the Danube.
♦ ARRIVAL AT PESTH ♦
While I was preparing at Paris, towards the close of last summer, for
a journey to Constantinople by the ordinary and very fatiguing course
overland through Vienna, Semlin, and Belgrade, I was informed that
steam-boats had been recently established on the Danube, which would
enable me to descend that river to the Black sea, and thence to the
Bosphorus. The hope of accomplishing my object by a route so novel,
so attractive in itself, and so convenient in every respect, was too
tempting to be resisted. I therefore lost no time in repairing to
Vienna; and as the scenery of the Danube possesses but little interest
between Presburg, where the steam navigation begins, and Pesth, the
modern capital of Hungary, I preferred embarking at the latter place.
I accordingly arrived there by the light of a brilliant moon, an hour
or two after midnight, on the 24th of September, 1834; and as a variety
of rumours had met me on the road, some stating that the steam-boat,
or Dampshiffe, as it is called in that country, had been destroyed by
its own engines, others that it had bulged on the rocks, or remained
fixed fast in the sandy bed of the river from the want of water, it was
with no small pleasure that I discovered the vessel of which I came in
pursuit anchored quietly within the shade of the bridge of boats, that
still forms the communication between Pesth and Buda.
♦ EMBARKATION ♦
The inns having been all shut up for the night, I was obliged to proceed
without ceremony on board through a crowd of carriages, packages, and
cases of all descriptions, which were huddled together on the bank,
with a view to transportation by the steamer to different towns on
the Danube. The guardians of the vessel were all wrapped in sleep so
imperturbable, that I could find nobody to marshal me the way to a
berth in the cabin. Having been without sleep myself for thirty-four
hours, I was not at all indisposed to follow the example of these worthy
sentinels, the more especially when, on penetrating to the cabin,
I found it almost entirely preoccupied by passengers stretched on
benches, in full enjoyment of the same “sweet oblivion,” amidst piles of
boxes, trunks, cloaks, shawls, baskets, hat-cases, stools, and tables,
congregated in “most admired confusion.” By the glimmering light of a
lamp which was suspended from the roof, I at length discerned a vacant
corner, and having doubled up a seat-cushion, by way of pillow, and
arranged another as no mean apology for a bed, I threw myself upon it,
wrapped in my cloak, resolved to subside at once into profound repose.
♦ HUNGARIAN LADIES ♦
But scarcely had I forgotten that I was slumbering on the Danube,
when there arose, all of a sudden, such a storm of tongues, and
such an uproar of laughter around me, that I felt for a moment
as if, in punishment for my sins, I had been imprisoned in some
enchanted chamber, where sleep was especially prohibited. At
first the voices sounded as though they were distant from the
cabin; but before I could exactly settle with myself the question,
whether I was waking or dreaming, in they rushed, chattering away
as if they had all the world to themselves. Morning was still far
below the horizon, and I, of course, concluded that our invaders
would soon be tired of their rather premature entertainment. But
vain were all calculations of that description; anecdote followed
anecdote; interrogatory--answer--reply--rejoinder--sur-reply and
sur-rejoinder--slight titter--partial laughter--general shouts--coursed
each other with indefatigable speed round the circle of this noisy
congress, until the broad daylight streamed through the windows, and
dissipated every hope of peace. I was shocked at my ungallant thoughts,
when I surveyed my fair enemies, and found that there were amongst them
two or three really pretty Hungarian ladies. I confess, God forgive
me!--that I had more than once wished them all at the antipodes.
♦ PESTH--BUDA ♦
Pesth looks extremely well from the Danube. It is for the most part
built in a modern style of architecture; several of the public edifices,
and even of the private mansions are splendid. The national casino, or
club-house, forms a distinguished feature of the city, which has been
wonderfully improved during the last ten or fifteen years. Presburg
is the nominal capital of Hungary; but it has, in the estimation of a
Hungarian, one fault which nothing can redeem,--it is near Vienna. It
has been, therefore, long superseded by Pesth, as to all matters which
concern the sciences and arts, as well as the assemblages and amusements
of the higher classes. Here they spend their fashionable season, give
their balls, carry on their flirtations, and plan both their private
and public intrigues. Buda, on the opposite bank of the river, is not
without its share in these good things. Gaiety also sometimes holds her
court in that quarter. The bridge of boats between the two towns has
indeed occasionally operated as an obstacle to social enjoyment. But
that obstacle is soon to be removed. A stone bridge has been proposed,
the expenses to be defrayed by a toll, from which no person shall be
exempt. Never was such an innovation as this heard of in Hungary since
the Danube began its course! A Hungarian nobleman is privileged by his
rank from the payment of taxes of any kind. But the ladies would not
be debarred from the winter enjoyments of Buda; they worried their
fathers, husbands, brothers, until at length the vote was carried in the
diet,--and so a stone bridge they will have. Slight as this incident
may seem to an Englishman, it will probably lead the way to many useful
reforms in that country, on account of the principle of equal taxation
which it involves.
[Illustration:
_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
BUDA & PEST.
_London, Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1835._]
♦ MILLS ON THE DANUBE ♦
Our cargo of carriages, dry goods and passengers having been at length
all duly arranged, our paddles began to circulate at seven o’clock,
instead of four, which was the hour appointed, and we proceeded on
our voyage. The morning was splendid. As we moved along we passed by
several of those curious flour-mills with which the Danube is crowded.
These floating machines are very simple in their construction. A wooden
house is erected in a large clumsy boat, moored near the spot where the
river is most rapid. At the distance of a few paces from this edifice
another smaller boat is made fast parallel to the first, the heads
of both being directed down the stream. In the interval between, the
water-wheel is suspended, and impelled by the natural velocity of the
current. These mills, of which ten or twenty are sometimes found in
immediate succession, are rather picturesque in their appearance, and
give animation to the scenery around them. But, however convenient they
may be to the population on either bank of the Danube, where there
are no heights for windmills, it is certain that they afford serious
impediments to navigation. They uniformly occupy the best parts of the
river, and tend to the formation or increase of sandbanks in their
neighbourhood, which, when the water is low, become, as we subsequently
experienced, nuisances of a formidable description.
♦ FRUIT-BOATS ♦
I believe there is no river in Europe which winds so much as the Danube.
It may, with more than the usual truth of poetry, be emphatically
designated as a “wandering stream.” It consequently abounds with
what are called “reaches,” portions of the bank which at a distance
look like promontories, and add not a little to the difficulties of
the navigators, who have to work their way against the course of the
current. It is amusing to observe a boat of the country labouring
round one of these obstacles. It is generally a huge unwieldly bark,
constructed of oak, covered with a high roof, and laden to the very top
with what here universally passes under the name of fruit--that is
wine, timber, wool, wheat, hay, and produce of every degree. The vessel
is dragged up the river by a force which is not at first very apparent.
You behold the vessel tied to the end of a rope, which is pulled by
something or somebody somewhere, and if your eye can discern the “reach”
at the distance perhaps of a mile, you may discover there a dozen
brawny Hungarian peasants half-naked, trudging along in rope harness,
exerting all their strength to draw the enormous mass behind them. The
more opulent adventurers, however, frequently employ horses for this
purpose, and then the scene is infinitely more bustling. Twenty and
sometimes thirty half-wild horses are required to supply a sufficient
moving power, where the force of the current offers more than ordinary
resistance. Almost every pair of horses belongs to a different peasant,
and he will allow nobody to lash them but himself. He is most probably
a nobleman, and it is a part of his privilege to drive his own horses
after his own fashion. When, therefore, the whole of the team arrives
at a difficult reach, it becomes the signal for a general mutiny; the
leaders are perhaps prancing in the air, while the horses immediately
behind are endeavouring with all their might to bolt off into the
adjacent country. Here a horse and his companion stand quite still, as
if they were in doubt whether they ought not, before going further, to
take a pleasant draught of the element at their feet. Half a dozen of
the animals in the rear have dragged each other into the river, through
which they are wading up to the girth, while the sound of a dozen whips,
the altercations of the drivers, the angry exclamations of the boatmen
shouting on the roofs of their vessels, the neighing of the alarmed
horses, and the barking of dogs, combine to form a most ludicrous
concert, which may be heard far down the river. Although in a broiling
sun these drivers keep on their large cloaks, which are as essential
to the dignity of a Hungarian peasant-noble, as the wide-brimmed hat
slouching over his swarthy countenance.
♦ WOOL-WAGGONS ♦
♦ WICKER CARRIAGES ♦
The high road, that is to say the track over the verdant turf, or the
sandy track most frequently trodden, now and then ran along the side
of the Danube, and exhibited occasionally specimens of the interior
commerce of the country. Now a rude car laden with woolpacks, on the
top of which was perched a lazy fellow smoking, drawn by eight or ten
miserable horses, moved at a snail’s pace, the wooden axle of the
wheels yielding the while a species of music, compared with which the
hoarsest sounds of a hurdygurdy would be enchanting. Now a better
sort of vehicle, a kind of waggon, filled perhaps with water-melons,
Indian corn, or vegetables, for some neighbouring market, appeared on
the scene, drawn by a much better class of horses, whose trappings
were quite brilliant. The drivers of these waggons were generally the
cultivators of the land, which furnished the burden, and they displayed
their prosperity in a smart underdress, of which a waistcoat with
gold or silver plated buttons, and a profusion of silk lace formed
the principal ornament. These were succeeded perhaps by a troop of
travellers galloping on spirited and beautiful animals, or by a family
whisked along in a kind of wicker carriage, which may be found in all
parts of Hungary. I travelled a considerable portion of the way from
Vienna in one of these simple post-chaises, and I found it not at all
disagreeable. It is on springs, and peculiarly light, and as from the
irregularities of the road I was often knocked from one side of the
vehicle to the other without even the civility of a notice, I deemed
it a convenience to come in contact rather with a yielding material
such as wicker, than with a solid board from Long Acre. And then if the
balance were in danger of being more than usually disturbed, if one of
the wheels aspired to figure in the sky, while the other was buried in a
sandy rut, I had no great difficulty in jumping out over the sides of my
carriage.
♦ CAPTAIN COZIER ♦
The captain of our steamer was an Englishman, of the name of Cozier,
who, being little conversant with any branch of nautical science,
was about equally skilled in the topography of the Danube. Though he
had gone up and down several times, he knew no more of the caprices
of the sandbanks than he did of the bed of the yellow sea. He had a
bitter dislike to his office. Why he was permitted to undertake it, I
never could understand. To me, I must say, he was communicative and
extremely civil; but my fellow-voyagers he treated with a degree of
superciliousness which was very amusing. It seemed to be his settled
opinion, that nobody except an Englishman was worthy of breathing the
same air with himself. To be sure we had a motley crowd on board, such
perhaps as never met together on the deck of a steam-boat before.
Behold us all as in a mirror.
♦ SCENE ON BOARD ♦
I am sitting (time, half-past eleven, morning) on a stool near the man
at the wheel. A little before me, on my right-hand, are two Tyrolese
sleeping. One of these has on his head a green hat, with a wide band
of green ribbon around it, in which are stuck some white and black
feathers, selected from a cock’s tail, intermixed with the bristles
of a wild boar. The ribbon, where it joins, is edged with gold lace.
Like most of his countrymen, this man rejoices in a thick gray frieze
jacket, a striped cotton waistcoat, black leather breeches, here and
there rather whitened by the hoar of antiquity, ribbed worsted gray
stockings, and short stout laced boots. He wears his hair long behind,
somewhat _négligée_. Another Tyrolese is sleeping near him, whose hat
was some ages ago green, but now partakes of the colour of night. His
hatband seems also to have enjoyed two shades of existence--it was
formerly green, now it is a dingy yellow. It is tied in front with a bow
of pink ribbon, which, in its early days, must have looked seducing,
especially as it appears to have been accompanied by an artificial
rose and other flowers, the ruins of which are still discernible. One
of these picturesque objects is stretched on a mat; the other has his
head resting on a coil of rope, his feet on a similar cushion: the
intervening departments of his frame repose on the naked deck.
♦ TYROLESE EMIGRANTS ♦
While I was admiring the felicity in which these sleepers appeared to be
immersed, a woman with a child, the wife I presume of one of them, came
and awoke him. He rose, and she took his place. Throwing a handkerchief
over her otherwise bare head, she settles herself to sleep. The sun is
blazing on her ladyship. The child, a round chubby little urchin, has no
fancy at present for following her example. He would very much prefer a
game at romps. Trying what he can do in that way, he, slily laughing,
pulls the handkerchief off her face. Half angry, she gives him a tap,
but he returns to the charge, and succeeds for a while in attracting her
attention by his artless tricks, until at length he falls asleep on her
bosom. She then gladly resumes her interrupted slumber. She is arrayed
in a short blue cloth spencer, edged with black velvet, beneath which
she wears a green thick velveteen pelisse sort of dress. Thick worsted
stockings (I _believe_!) and laced rough boots complete her apparel.
Of the former, however, I am not very confident, as I only saw the most
tiny bit of one of them just beneath the edge of her petticoat.
♦ TYROLESE AMUSEMENTS ♦
At the feet of this happy matron a Tyrolese boy is fast asleep. One
would think that noon had been changed into midnight. Near him a woman
of the same nation is sitting upon a roll of cordage, doing nothing.
A little Tyrolese lad, with a cockade of white cock’s feathers, and a
bunch of artificial flowers in his hat, is helping her! That must be
his father who is sitting near him, smoking, and occasionally talking
with one of his countrymen standing against the springs of one of the
carriages, with which, by the way, our deck is most inconveniently
crowded. Near the mast a group of men, all Tyrolese, are engaged in
the several offices of talking, listening, smoking, musing, whistling,
singing, and gazing at the dense cloud that rushes into the firmament
from our black chimney. They are all rather better dressed than my
immediate neighbours; one of them, a fine-looking fellow, whom I take
to be the captain of the gang, has his hat cocked in a dandyish style,
considerably out of the circular shape. His plume of feathers, too, is
larger and of a finer quality than those of the others. This party
would make a capital study for a band of brigands, could they but assume
a fiercer expression of countenance. As it is, they look too amiable for
a Salvator Rosa. At the top of the boat several knots of women, still
Tyrolese, are sitting in various directions, executing for each other,
alternately, without the slightest consciousness of the external effect
of the operation, the agreeable task of disburdening their hair of its
multitudinous inhabitants. No wonder that Captain Cozier was enraged!
♦ COUNTESS N---- ♦
Descending into the cabin I found a party of Hungarian nobles--men
of genteel appearance and manners--seated at a round table, playing
cards. They had been thus engaged all the morning. The stakes were not
inconsiderable, and seemed to be taken up occasionally by the winners
with infinite delight. Near them, sanctioning their amusement by her
bland looks and smiles, is an elderly lady knitting on a bench, and
occasionally conversing with an exceedingly elegant figure, somewhat
_petite_, whom, upon further acquaintance, I found to be the Countess
N----, on her way from Pesth to Peterwardein. She had married, at the
age of eighteen, a hotheaded nobleman of her own country, who became
attached to her suddenly on account of her beauty. He took her to
Pesth, entered into all the amusements of the place, gambling included,
which is carried on in that capital to a formidable extent. The result
was, that after a short experiment of two years, they were obliged to
give up their establishment, and the young countess was now returning to
her mother, attended by a French _femme de chambre_, the only remaining
fragment of her transient splendour, except her harp, which she saved
also from the ruins. She was reading a book of common Hungarian ballads,
which seemed to afford her amusement. In a corner, two little girls
were tittering away most merrily--I could not make out at what. Within
the ladies’ cabin I heard some of the laughing voices, which recalled
the sense of my “murdered sleep” of the morning. Upon the whole, I was
pleased with the appearance of my companions, and flattered myself with
the hope of a pleasant voyage, in which I was not disappointed.
♦ MOLDAVIAN ADVENTURER ♦
In the course of the day a variety of new characters emerged from the
second cabin, and other hiding places, the greater part of whom soon
ceased to attract my notice, as they were of that class that seems born
for the mere purpose of transforming animal and vegetable substances
into human flesh and blood for the ordinary number of years. Among these
specimens of creation, however, there was one little man, whom I shall
not speedily forget. He was from Moldavia. He had been in the Russian
service during the late war with Turkey, but in what capacity I could
never satisfactorily discover. I suspect he was a spy. He spoke German,
French, and Italian fluently. He wore a blue frock-coat, which probably
had served him during the said war, as it could boast of only a part of
one button, and two very unequal skirts, remaining in any thing like
decent condition. The rest of the garment was covered with grease.
A pair of old black stuff trousers patched at the knees in a most
unworkmanlike manner, rent and not patched in other parts indescribable,
and vilely tattered at the extremities, together with a ghost of a
black waistcoat, a cast-off military cap, and wretched boots, offered
an apology for a better suit, which he said he had at home. His shirt
was also in the list of absentees! He had lost the half of one of his
thumbs, the other was wrapped in a bandage. He had not shaved for three
weeks--he certainly could not have washed either his hands or his face
for three months, and a comb had probably not passed through his hair
for three years. To crown his personal peculiarities, he had a very red
nose, on the top of which was perched a pair of spectacles.
Nevertheless, with all these strong objections against him--so
strong, that I wonder my friend Captain Cozier had not thrown him
overboard--there was something about this man which seemed to have
actually fascinated a rather genteel youth, who was constantly at his
side, and to have already secured him the devotion of a miscellaneous
group of Austrian soldiers and their wives, pedlers, and artisans, who
occupied mats and sheepskins on deck. With the sailors he was quite a
favourite. He whistled well, he sung well, and passed off every thing in
a “devil-may-care” kind of way, which gained him admirers. A charlatan
at a French fair--a romance reader at the mole of Naples--could not
possess more power over his audience, than was exercised over these
simpletons by this Moldavian adventurer. He had a common-place-book in
his bosom--for his pockets had all vanished--from which he occasionally
read to his followers scraps of poetry of his own composition, or
selected from the works of celebrated German writers. These readings
he interspersed with comments often so droll, that he set the whole
deck in a roar. Then he would relate some of his accidents by flood and
field, or describe his travels, in the course of which he mentioned the
most extraordinary scenes in the world, which had occurred to him at
Constantinople, Bucharest, Prague, Vienna, Petersburg, Paris, Berlin,
Madrid, Gibraltar, Venice, every where but London, where he had the
modesty to confess he had never yet been. His eye, when lighted up by
the excitement of the moment, was singularly brilliant, the flush of
fine intelligence was on his swarthy weather-beaten cheek, his voice was
melody itself, and his diction eloquence.
♦ SERVIAN JEW ♦
Retired from the crowd appeared now and then an extremely well-looking
Jew and his daughter, a pale, slight, interesting girl, who seemed to
have much to converse about on their own affairs. They were dressed in
the Turkish costume. As I passed them the father saluted me in Spanish,
at which I was not a little surprised. Upon further acquaintance, I
learned that he was descended from one of the Jewish families, which
having been expelled in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella from Spain,
were permitted to take up their abode in Servia, where their posterity
still continue to reside. The Spanish language is spoken by all these
Jews, in preference even to the tongue of their fatherland, so great
is their traditional affection for the once Moorish kingdoms of the
peninsula. This man was returning to Vidin from Vienna, where he had
been upon a mercantile speculation, which he did not explain. We became
great friends. The daughter had a mandolin, upon which she sometimes
favoured me with Moorish and Servian airs.
♦ DEPRESSION OF THE DANUBE ♦
Our boat rubbed upon the natural bed of the river two or three times,
very much to the captain’s astonishment and perplexity. Men were
consequently stationed at the prow to sound the bottom, when we found,
that even where it was deepest, we had not more than six or seven feet
of water. I fully expected that we should run aground, an embarrassment
which was about the last I should have thought of in the Danube. I had
rather imagined that our difficulties would have chiefly consisted
in evading the dangerous rapidity of the flood, for I could not have
fancied the Danube any thing less than a magnificent inundation,
hurrying for ever towards the Euxine. Very much to my surprise,
however, I found it considerably shrunk beneath its banks, and often
so lethargic in its course, that it seemed more like a lake than the
principal river of Europe. But from my cogitations on this subject, I
was most agreeably summoned at one o’clock to dinner.