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.
I was awoke during the night by a violent storm of thunder and
lightning, which I attempted to witness from the deck. The sky was an
entire field of fire, and the thunder pealed incessantly, until at
length the rain fell in warm showers which soon became a deluge. I
was glad to take refuge in my berth again, and slept soundly until a
late hour of the morning (29th), when I found our Tyrolese and their
officers all busily engaged in landing their effects at Vipalanka. The
bank was converted into a marsh by the rain; but, by the assistance of
planks, they succeeded in effecting their object. The village was at a
distance, and its mean appearance did not induce me to pay it a visit.
Nearly opposite to Vipalanka are situated the village and fortress of
Rama, on the brow of a bold and lofty promontory. The fortress still
looks respectable, though partly in ruins; it commands the Danube at
a point where begin those amazing serpentine undulations which form,
perhaps, its most striking characteristic.
♦ WINDINGS OF THE DANUBE ♦
The map will show, that, if a canal were cut in a straight line from
Rama to Vidin, it would be the cord of a vast irregular arch, full
of windings, which indicate the various struggles made by this river
in the early ages of the globe, before and after it forced its way
through the heart of the mountains below Moldava, in its efforts to
reach the Black Sea. Such a canal would save the navigator a period
of full three days, which the mere deviations of the river in that
quarter at present consume. Such a canal would, moreover, avoid some of
the most serious difficulties now impeding the passage of the Danube,
especially in seasons of drought, which are peculiarly felt in the
whole of that interval. I despair of such a work being undertaken for
the next half-century; but I am apprehensive that, until it shall be
accomplished, the steam navigation of the Danube, at least by vessels
of any considerable burden, will be liable to frequent interruptions.
In the river, cranes were wading without any difficulty, so low was the
water in almost every direction.
♦ CIVILITY OF THE MOLDAVIAN ♦
When we departed from Vipalanka for Moldava our passengers were reduced
to the Servian Jew and his pale daughter, the Moldavian adventurer, and
myself. The latter contrived throughout the voyage to amuse himself and
his associates by his inexhaustible stores of poetry and anecdote, but
he had not hitherto addressed himself with any thing like determination
to my attention, or to that of the Jew. Finding, however, that we were
bound further down the river, he gradually mingled in our conversation
by volunteering the information which he possessed concerning the
portion of the voyage we had still to achieve, and conducted himself
with so much civility, that, notwithstanding his objectionable
appearance I began to like the fellow.
♦ ARRIVAL AT MOLDAVA ♦
Although the rain had ceased, the morning continued cloudy; but we were
compensated in some degree for the interruption of the fine weather,
which we lately enjoyed, by the agreeable change of scenery that now
broke upon our view. We glided along, sounding vigilantly however, all
the way, between two ranges of hill, wooded to the top, and opening
now and then into valleys and ravines, in which neat white cottages
were scattered, and shepherds were seen driving their flocks afield.
The bendings of the river were so abrupt that sometimes we could have
imagined ourselves to have entered upon an extensive lake, whence there
was no outlet apparent until we reached the headland round which the
current preserved its course. As soon as we turned that point the scene
behind us was as completely concealed from the eye as if a curtain of
cloud had been dropped upon it.
Fields of Indian corn, hills deeply indented by the rains, and
exhibiting sometimes the appearance of artificial fortresses, sometimes
retiring to a distance, and leaving in front abrupt mounds of the most
fantastic shapes; villages with their churches and steeples on one side,
and churches and minarets on the other; Servians on our right fishing in
little cockle-shells of boats; Hungarians on the left tending herds of
swine; mountains towering in the distance--in turn engaged our attention
until we arrived at Moldava, where we cast anchor at noon.
♦ ARRANGEMENTS ♦
Had the plan of the directors of the enterprise been duly carried into
execution, we should have immediately quitted Moldava in a light boat
owed by four stout Wallachians, and drawing little more than six inches
of water. A neat wherry destined for that purpose was in fact lying
near the village, but to our dismay we were informed that in many parts
of the Danube between Moldava and Orsova, a distance of about seven
leagues, there were not six inches of water, nor even three. The cargo
was intended to be sent on by land, but there was no mode of conveyance
for the passengers except a rough flat-bottomed boat belonging to a
fisherman, who would not permit us to have the use of it, unless it was
committed to his own guidance and rowed by his own comrades. We were
informed by the agent of the company, an Italian, who assumed an air of
great importance, that we should easily reach Orsova in eight hours at
the utmost. Having no choice, therefore, save the flat-bottomed boat, or
a pedestrian tour of twice the distance, over horrible mountain roads,
we submitted to our fate, and it was arranged that the fisherman should
take charge of us at daybreak the next morning.
♦ WALLACHIAN BEAUTY ♦
Moldava is an emporium of some commerce in its way. Several boats were
moored near the bank, laden with hay, which groups of peasants were
engaged in transferring to strong rude cars constructed in the form of a
V. Some fifty or sixty oxen, by which these cars were to be drawn, were
lying on the shore ruminating, or wandering about by way of relaxation.
The cars proceeded to the waterside in succession; in one of these,
which was waiting for its turn, I observed a remarkably fine Wallachian
woman, spinning wool from a distaff in the primeval fashion. She was
attired in a short woollen white mantle, under which was a robe of
printed calico, which, without appearing in front, came down below the
mantle behind. A neat linen chemise was folded in plaits upon her bosom,
beneath which she sported a gay dimity apron, and a canvass petticoat.
Her raven-black hair was carefully divided in front, braided over her
ears, and detained in a knot behind by a tortoiseshell comb, from which
was suspended a snow-white linen veil, that fell on her back gracefully.
Neither shoe nor sandal served to hide her feet, which might have been
chosen by Phidias for the statue of Minerva. This noble-looking woman,
whose features were all of the Grecian mould, was the mother of three
very fine young men, who were standing by her, accompanied by a huge
mastiff, as if their purpose had been to exhibit a living _tableau_ from
the pastoral age and country of Agamemnon.
♦ FLOCK OF GEESE ♦
Amongst the busy group, a young Greek priest recognised some friends.
He seemed a man of authority, in his peaked Shylock-looking hat, black
sutan, cincture of wide blue ribbon, comely beard, and silver-headed
cane. I pitied a little boy who was employed in urging a numerous colony
of geese through the crowd. They seemed very much disposed to prefer
making the journey by water, while he was equally determined in favour
of the dry land. Now a wild dog put them all into confusion, when off
they half-waddled, half-flew, to the edge of the river. Now they were
fairly on the march again, when the leader desirous of cooling his bill,
suddenly gave the word of command. A general mutiny ensued,--the boy ran
breathless after them, throwing sticks and stones, sand and cowdung at
the fugitives, until he succeeded once more in restoring discipline. His
patience was, after many severe trials, eventually rewarded by success.
On another part of the shore some Servians were squatted in a line, with
sacks of onions before them, which they had brought across the river for
sale. A plank was placed between them and their Hungarian customers, who
stood at a little distance, neither being allowed to pass over the plank
which represented the quarantine. The bargains were conducted on the
part of the Servians by a single spokesman, who appeared an extremely
knowing sort of personage.
♦ FLOCK OF CHILDREN ♦
I walked into the village, or rather, I should say, the lower part of
the “town,” which is chiefly inhabited by fishermen. It is inferior in
every respect to Mohacs, the cottages having all roofs of wood, wicker
walls plastered with mud, and even wicker chimneys. As I was strolling
quietly along a troop of almost naked little urchins gathered, shouting,
around me, and grasping my right hand kissed it with tokens of fervour,
which I confess I should have excused under the circumstances, not
knowing exactly what might be the practical recollections impressed on
the said hand of the honours which they thought fit to bestow. A few
small pieces of silver had the effect of dispersing this group, but
also of diffusing information through the whole village of the arrival
of a stranger. Accordingly, as I proceeded, my steps were literally
beset by armies of ragged figures, who claimed my hand. I gave them
to understand, in the course of a regular parley, that I had no more
silver, upon which I was suffered to make a retreat, without being
enabled to visit the upper part of the “town,” where, as I afterwards
learned, much better houses, and a respectable class of inhabitants are
to be found.
♦ WOODMEN ♦
The mountainous scenery of the Danube commences a little below Moldava.
I set out to climb one of the eminences, from which I might command a
view of the country. I had no gun, no arms of any description; nothing
except an umbrella, which I might use in self-defence.--I never, by the
way, encountered an Englishman travelling abroad or at home without an
umbrella: it seems a national distinction.--I do not know that I acted
with much prudence in thus wandering alone and unarmed in a strange, and
I may add, a more than semibarbarous region; the more especially, as in
the course of my excursion among these mountains, I met now and then
savage-looking woodmen returning home from the neighbouring thickets,
driving before them donkies almost hidden beneath their burdens of
brambly firewood, and bearing on their shoulders heavy axes, with which,
if they were so disposed, they might have annihilated me without the
slightest danger of discovery. But in all such cases I was circumspect,
and being nearly as tall and as strong as the ordinary run of men, I had
few apprehensions about encountering at least a single foe, if not taken
unawares.
♦ MOUNTAIN CHAIN ♦
As I ascended I found that the mountains which I trod were but steps
to higher and higher ranges, which rose dimly in the distance, and
appeared to occupy a considerable portion of the country on both
sides of the Danube. By what process the river forced its way among
them--whether they were violently separated from each other by repeated
volcanic operations, or whether the flood created its own channel by
loosening masses of rock and driving them before it--I had no means of
conjecturing. The chain commences here almost like a wall at either side
of the current; but the undulations of the hills which I had observed
on our approach to Moldava, as well as of the lower mountains at some
distance from the banks, strongly favour the supposition that a vast
inundation had accumulated in all that region before an opening was
found for it to the Euxine.
♦ RUSTIC SOUNDS ♦
A few white cottages were sprinkled on the declivities, and swineherds
were seen here and there driving their undisciplined companions
homeward. A train of waggons laden with woolpacks, and drawn by oxen,
whose bells tinkled in the air, was descending from the northern
heights; but on the Servian side of the river all was silence and
desolation. I thought the evening was about to close in abruptly, as
after a slight shower of rain the mountains and hills around me suddenly
put on their mantles of mist. The sun setting with great splendour soon,
however, changed the scene, arraying their prominent slopes in robes of
light, and dispersing the vapours which were fast gathering all round
the horizon.
♦ PEASANTRY ♦
As I returned to my temporary home I loitered, not unpleased, to listen
to the variety of rustic noises which the close of the day brought
with it--the barking of dogs, the still tinkling bells of the oxen
already arrived at the river-side, the crack of the swineherd’s whip,
the distant calls of voices echoing in the mountains, the rare and
sleepy twitter of the birds, the shouts of children in the village,
and the merry sounds of a violin. A few old men and their grown-up
hardy daughters were dredging for minnows in the river, apparently
with little success. The woolpacks were all discharged on the bank,
in order to be loaded the next morning on board the steam-boat, which
was to depart without delay on its return to Pesth. The peasants who
had arrived with the waggons exhibited, to me at least, a singular
appearance. Some were in canvass shirts, trousers, and round woolly
caps, without any other protection against cold or rain; others added
to this attire a goatskin in its natural condition, without being even
trimmed of its superfluities. I could not have distinguished the women
from the men, had not the hair of the former been platted and fastened
under a small linen cap, which was fitted closely on the top of the
head. I soon lost sight of the whole of this motley assemblage in the
dusk of night, when I resumed my old station in the cabin, there being
no such thing as an inn at Moldava.
The Servian Jew found an opportunity of sending his daughter, with some
friends, across the river: he intended to proceed to Vidin. The poet
also was fated to be my companion, as his object was to get back to
Jassy. I own that with all my respect for his talents, and with all the
philosophic patience which I have acquired from some little experience
in travelling, I could not enter into discussion with him, as to the
arrangements necessary to be made for the following morning, without
considerable twinges of reluctance. I had no thought of preparing stores
for the expedition, as I presumed that we should reach Orsova early in
the afternoon. He advised me, however, to provide myself with a cold
chicken or two, and a bottle of rum, a suggestion which I took care
to adopt, though it left me to suspect that my period of inevitable
companionship with himself would be rather longer than I had already
apprehended.
♦ FISHING-BOAT ♦
The morning came in all the breathing brightness of summer, though we
were just on the eve of October. It had been arranged that the fisherman
and his associates should be with us at five o’clock, but they failed to
make their appearance until seven. They excused themselves by asking,
whether any body could have expected that they should commence their
labours before they had breakfasted? Our luggage having been removed
into the flat-bottomed barge, the poet, the Jew, and I assumed our
places, after taking a friendly leave of the captain and the engineer,
from both of whom I experienced every kind of civility which they could
possibly show to a countryman.
♦ EQUIPMENT ♦
The master, or patron of the boat as he is more usually called, was a
short weatherbeaten old man, who had already counted more than seventy
winters. The pupil of one eye was completely dimmed, and of the other
scarcely sufficient remained sound to admit more than a single ray of
light. Yet through that small aperture he issued glances of authority,
which enforced by an imprecation or two, sometimes made the fellows at
the oars wince. His helm was a long oar, which he moved to either side
of the stern as occasion required. The rest of our equipage was in a
very simple, or rather in a very unworkmanlike style. The oars which
were just like our fireshovels, with short handles, were passed through
a noose of thong or rope, tied to a peg in the edge of the vessel, which
noose, or which peg, or which said thong or rope gave way about every
quarter of an hour, another quarter being required for its restoration.
We had three rowers, the excess of velocity at one side being corrected
by the long oar of the patron at the stern.
♦ ACCUSATION OF ROBBERY ♦
We had not gone above two hundred yards from the place of embarkation
when a man came running and shouting after us. We took no notice of
him for a while, thinking that he must have been out of his senses,
so furious were his gesticulations. At length, however, he made us
understand that we had stolen one of his oars, and we were obliged to
put in to shore to answer this charge. After a long controversy, if
controversy that can be called in which our patron and his men, and
their accuser were all talking, scolding, and shouting together, we gave
him up an old oar which he took very discontentedly. About eight o’clock
we were once more fairly on our way.
There being no sort of accommodation for passengers in our bark, I sat
on my portmanteau; the Jew disposed of himself on a piece of carpet
beside me, and in front of him the poet on the bare plank. A space
near the prow was occupied by a woman and her two children. Much to my
surprise, when we arrived in the middle of the river, and I began to
hope our men were resolved to regain the time we had already lost, they
deliberately took in their oars, and opening a wallet of bread, garlic,
and cold fried fish, they proceeded to breakfast. The poet asked whether
they had not performed that operation already, to which they replied
that they had been disturbed at their morning meal, and that they must
now finish it. Our precious bark was therefore left to make its own way
down the river, a mode of travelling at all events possessed of the
advantages of enabling us to observe at our leisure the scenery amidst
which we entered.
♦ WALLACHIAN BRIGANDS ♦
At the entrance of the mountain gorge through which the Danube here
finds its course, stand the ruins of Kolubatz, a pile of castles built
on an almost inaccessible rock, which about a century ago, were occupied
by a band of Wallachian brigands, under the command of Borichour, a
name still repeated with a traditional sort of terror in all that
neighbourhood. His depredations were carried on upon a princely scale,
as he affected to consider himself the legitimate sovereign of the
country around him, as far as he could reach without endangering the
safety of retreat to his own fortress, which he deemed impregnable. The
fishermen tell numberless stories of this celebrated robber and of his
banditti, who are said to have often fought against disciplined troops,
five times their number, with invariable success. When once shut up
within their drawbridge, they defied their enemies, however numerous
these might be, for even if their castles had been all demolished,
they had secret passages through the interior of their rock leading to
caverns in the adjacent mountains, where they had always ample store of
provisions, and feared no pursuit. The ruins are highly picturesque, and
by their formidable position give probability to the wildest tales that
are related of Borichour and his Wallachians.
♦ ROMANTIC GORGE ♦
The Austrian guardhouse on the opposite bank exhibited a miserable
appearance, when compared with these remains of chivalry. It was built
loosely of uncemented stones, with a wooden roof and even a wooden
chimney. A sentinel was looking out lazily at the door, in front of
which was a stand for arms. Near the house an angle of an old castle
attests, that that side of the river also had its fortress in former
days, though not so extensive as Kolubatz.
As we proceeded through this romantic gorge, within which the Danube
was pressed by mountains rising on each side to a considerable height,
we heard repeated explosions, which we might easily have mistaken for
discharges of artillery besieging a citadel. We soon observed, however,
a number of men at work on the Hungarian bank, engaged in widening
the carriage-road, and were informed that further down the river it
was necessary to blow up the rocks for that purpose. The echoes of
these detonations resounding among the mountains and along the waters,
gave peculiar interest to the scene; they spoke of enterprise and
industry well applied, and were the harbingers of national prosperity,
civilization and happiness.
♦ CAVERNS ♦
I observed several caverns in our mountain banks as we went along, and
was informed that some of the boldest rocks which shot up in the most
fantastic peaks were all hollow inside, and occasionally inhabited
by fishermen. In the days of brigandage they served as retreats for
pirates, and all sorts of marauders, who rendered the passage of this
part of the Danube an affair of no slight danger. Occasionally masses of
rock appeared above our heads, depending for support on rude pillars,
in which capitals wrought by the hand of nature might be descried. One
immense buttress rose in the shape of a round tower, near the top of
which a large cavern was visible, accessible by a gateway naturally
arched in the Gothic style.