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.
By seven o’clock on the following morning (October 1), I beheld the
three male members of the family emerging from their spacious couch,
while our hostess was busily engaged in preparing coffee for breakfast.
My toilet was speedily despatched, and a loaf of capital brown bread,
a brace of new-laid eggs, and a bowl of coffee, pretty well prepared
me for the toils of the coming day. Dewar had taught his kind landlady
English.
♦ DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS ♦
She was already as far advanced as “Good morning;” but, by some fatality
or another, she constantly metamorphosed “Mr. Dewar,” into “My Dear;”
which had a droll effect, especially in the presence of her goodnatured
husband, who was as ignorant of the meaning of the expression as
herself. The reader must not draw any scandalous conclusion from this
habitual mistake, for Dewar, a very honest and honourable fellow, in
his way, assured me that his pupil was, in every sense of the word, a
pattern of domestic virtue. He added, that it was the general custom
throughout that part of the country, to have only one sleeping-room for
all the family, as well as their guests; and that this apparent laxity
of discipline, caused by the necessity of the case, produced a sort of
chivalrous feeling, which condemned to the deepest infamy any person
guilty of the slightest disrespect towards the conjugal relations.
He seemed strongly attached, not only to the family with which he
resided, but to the people in general, amongst whom he was pursuing his
avocations; he had never experienced so much friendship, he said, in
any part of the world, as they showed him on every possible occasion;
and nothing, he added, but the pleasure which he derived from that
circumstance, could have induced him to remain where he was.
♦ COUNT SZECHENYI ♦
Dewar spoke also of the Count Szechenyi, in the most enthusiastic terms,
describing him as a Hungarian magnate of ample fortune, who devoted
himself exclusively to the regeneration of his country. It was with the
sole view of collecting information, which he might afterwards apply
to her benefit, that he had frequently visited England, France, and
other parts of Europe. He was in the bloom of life; had served in the
army; was a leading member of the diet, over which his talents, his
superior acquirements, and his disinterested patriotism, gave him great
influence; was constantly occupied in designing plans for the welfare of
Hungary; remained a batchelor, in order that he might be more at liberty
to travel about for the purpose of carrying those plans into execution;
and was now actively engaged in superintending the works going on upon
the Danube, which were entirely the result of his public spirit, and
his indefatigable perseverance. I was delighted to hear that I should
probably meet the Count at Orsova, where he possessed a temporary
residence.
♦ MILANOSCH ♦
The boat, which had arrived in due time at Swinich, having been
announced as ready for departure, I walked down towards the river-side,
after making, through “My Dear,” a small present to our amiable hostess.
But I had not proceeded many steps, when I was joined by her ladyship,
dressed out in her holiday costume, including a gay silk cloak, after
the London fashion, accompanied by her husband and her nephews, also
in their best attire. They could not think, Dewar said, of allowing
me to embark without accompanying me to the latest moment; and so we
all proceeded together through the village. I was touched by their
kind attentions, and felt that if I were a little longer among this
simple-hearted, affectionate people, like Dewar, I should have cordially
esteemed them. Our boat put away amidst their repeated adieus; Dewar
looked quite downcast: nor did they quit the river-side as long as they
could see my bark, which a bend in the river at length shut out from
their view.
♦ WORKS ON THE DANUBE ♦
It was a lowering morning: but the neighbouring hills lifting their
green heads above the surrounding vapours, seemed to promise a fine
day. The new Servian village of Milanosch, on the right bank, nearly
opposite to Swinich, looked picturesque through the veil of clouds in
which it was arrayed. A rock on our left, that jutted boldly into the
river, was crowned by the ruins of three massive round towers, which
presented a striking resemblance to as many enormous sacks of corn. The
Danube still preserved its course between ranges of lofty hills, wooded,
and piled behind each other; some hooded in mist; while the summits and
slopes of the higher ridges shone out in the beams of the morning sun.
As we advanced, the green hills yielded to lofty and precipitous rocks,
which rose from the waterside in a perpendicular direction, sometimes
like ramparts, sometimes like huge columns of Cyclopean construction.
Labourers were busily employed in blowing up these masses, whose
detonations resounded far and wide, among the mountains.
♦ PICTURE OF INDUSTRY ♦
Being desirous of witnessing more closely the mode in which the men
carried on their operations, I directed our patron to put me ashore,
where all seemed animation and industry. The noise of the mallet and
punch, the pickaxe and chisel, was heard in all directions. Where the
rock was perpendicular to the river, a roadway was excavated through
it only to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, leaving the upper
strata undisturbed. I confess I did not enter some of these causeways,
magnificent though they were, without feeling that if any of the
tremendous piles, which rose in most irregular array above my head, had
been loosened by the explosions going on on all sides, and had obeyed a
locomotive fancy, I might have been reduced to powder with the greatest
possible expedition. Where the face of the rock slanted rapidly from
the river, the labour of excavation was comparatively limited. In those
occasional ravines which sunk beneath the general level of the road,
bridges or terraces were erected in a solid and, at the same time, an
ornamental style, which reminded me of old Roman enterprise.
A whole village of wooden huts occupied a glen, in which the families
of the artisans and workmen, and the officers superintending the
operations on the part of the Austrian government were located. Every
body seemed employed--washing, drying linen, spinning wool, weaving,
preparing meat, fowls, vegetables for dinner, baking bread, scouring
furniture, or building additional habitations. I was delighted by this
lively picture of industry, so little resembling any thing I had seen
since my departure from Vienna. An immense eagle, which had been shot
the day before, was displayed upon a post, with his wings extended;
measuring, from tip to tip, full seven feet. Two other eagles were on
a perch, to which they were chained. One of these expanding his noble
wings, looked up wistfully and proudly at the mountains above him, as if
to say, “There is my native and proper home--behold, I have the means of
ascending thither, but am without any crime detained here a prisoner.”
They were truly regal birds. I should have very much preferred to have
seen them soaring in the clouds; never, I think, having felt before with
so much acuteness the extent of that injustice of which men are guilty,
when they destroy or fetter, without any useful purpose, the most
beautiful specimens of creation.
♦ AUBERGE ♦
One of the Austrian officers, who spoke French, very civilly conducted
me over the works, and introduced me to the auberge of the colony, which
occupied a large natural cavern in the rock. The roof of the cave was
curiously composed of several slabs which met in the centre, springing,
like the parts of an artificial arch, from the circumference. This solid
construction seemed absolutely necessary to sustain the pile of rocks,
which, above the cavern, towered into the heavens, tossed into all sorts
of fantastic shapes, and threatening every moment to overwhelm the busy
people at their feet, who, as compared with them, looked like so many
insects.
♦ VEDRAN’S CAVE ♦
The masses on the opposite side of the river seemed to have been thrown
into similar confusion, some shooting upwards as straight as an arrow,
some in a sloping, others in a horizontal position. Wherever I looked
around me, it appeared as if I had found a mystic portion of the globe,
which, like the face of Satan, “deep scars of thunder had intrenched;”
where Chaos still held her reign, and none save the Titans of elder
time could hope to dwell in security. But my terrors were reproved by
some young saplings which burst forth from amidst the rocks, spreading
their graceful branches in the air. Here and there a wild flower, too,
displayed its blue or coral bell; the bee murmured quietly along, the
sparrow twittered, the yellow butterfly wandered about, and the spider
floated by in his gossamer balloon.
♦ ROCKY SCENERY ♦
By this time my Moldavian and Servian friends had joined me, and pointed
out a path by the river-side leading to a very remarkable cave, which
had been converted into an impregnable fortification by the Austrian
General Vedran, during the last war of the emperor against the Turks.
He greatly enlarged the original cavern, which was a natural one, by
burning the stone and then throwing water upon it, when it easily came
away as lime. The cavity was divided into several apartments, one of
which was the general’s room, another the powder-magazine, a third was
for provisions, and a fourth ample enough to afford accommodation to
at least a thousand men. The ruins still remain of the redoubts which
had been thrown up in front of this cavern during the war. We found
several names of the brave soldiers who had occupied this singular
garrison cut in the walls of the cavern inside; among them that of the
chivalrous Vedran himself, who is said to have sustained his position in
the presence of a whole host of artillery brought to bear against him
from the opposite bank of the Danube. While we were within the cavern,
a series of explosions followed each other in rapid and regular order,
so strongly resembling the fire of contending armies, that one might
without any difficulty have imagined that the war between the crescent
and the cross had not yet concluded.
♦ ORSOVA ♦
Returning to our bark we still moved on amidst scenery of the most
magnificent character, formed by gigantic rocks disposed in the most
irregular manner, exhibiting an infinite variety of shapes, strange and
sometimes terrific in their appearance, such as might meetly combine for
the creation of a region of enchantment. On the summit of one of these
craggy mountains an immense isolated pile, bleached by the winds and
rains of many a winter, looked precisely like a Druidical chapel. The
dry bed of a torrent led from the river-side along the heights towards
the temple, and groups of hooded pilgrims were seen winding their way
upwards at each side of the channel in regular procession, while here
and there scattered figures were emerging from among green shrubs, bound
for the same destination. But temple, penitents and all seemed as if
they had been miraculously petrified in the midst of the solemnities in
which they were engaged.
♦ ORSOVA ♦
About three o’clock in the afternoon we reluctantly bade adieu to these
magical regions of the Danube, and came in sight of Orsova, which, with
its neat white houses, its church and spire, looked extremely well at a
distance. Several Servian fishing-boats were moored near the opposite
bank. On landing at Orsova we were met by Mr. Popovicz, the agent of
the Steam Navigation Company, and four or five gentlemen, amongst whom
I soon distinguished, from the respect that was paid to him, the Count
Szechenyi. He very kindly inquired of me, in excellent English, what
sort of a voyage we had had; adding, that he feared it must have been an
unpleasant one in many respects. I frankly answered that I had not found
it at all so. Although we had certainly been detained beyond our time,
nevertheless I had been prepared, in truth, considering the novelty and
difficulties of the enterprise, for much greater inconvenience than I
had actually met with. The Count seemed much gratified that I had made
allowance for the incompleteness of the undertaking, and engaged me
to dine with him on the following day at two o’clock, after which, he
said, he would take me in his carriage to Gladova, where the steam-boat
was waiting. He added that it was his intention to proceed as far as
Rutchstuk, and that he would be happy to have my company on the voyage.
As the Count, with his friends, was stepping into a boat to cross the
river, in order to pay his respects to Prince Milosch, the Prince of
Servia, who was expected to arrive in the course of the evening at the
opposite village (also called Orsova), he directed his groom, who spoke
English, to see me to the inn, and to take care that I should be well
attended to in every respect.
♦ MY CHAMBER ♦
It will be easily believed that these very friendly attentions on the
part of an individual, whom I had never seen before, made a strong
impression on my feelings; the more especially, as the sincere and
cordial tone in which the Count expressed himself, was rendered still
more engaging by that perfect simplicity of manner which bespeaks at
once the man of the world. The hotel to which his servant conducted
me was a very decent one. I dined satisfactorily on stewed fowl,
a favourite dish, it seems, in that country, and although my room
was quite primeval in its appearance and furniture, my bed was
unobjectionable.
♦ BEDROOM UTENSILS ♦
Early the next morning (October 2), the Count sent to inform me, that
as the carriages and other portions of the steam-boat cargo destined
for the lower towns on the Danube had not yet arrived from Moldava,
we should not quit Orsova till the following day. I had, therefore,
ample time to survey my new “domain.” My chamber consisted of four very
plain whitewashed walls, on the ground-floor, looking through a window
which could boast neither of curtain, blind, or shutter, into a large
courtyard, at the back of the inn. The floor was of deal plank, loosely
put together, and unhonoured by rug, mat, or carpet, of any description.
A looking-glass, hoary with age, and cobwebbed, was suspended in the
oldfashioned slanting position, between two coloured old Jack Tar prints
of Juno in her car, drawn by swans, with a rainbow in the distance, and
of Cybele in her chariot, to which a lion and a panther were yoked.
Beneath the wheels a rabbit, a rat, and a mouse, were gambolling; and
behind her a great camel was star-gazing. Her ladyship was about to
drive over a pyramid. An oldfashioned German stove, a large, deal,
square table, three leather-cushioned chairs, the backs and seats of
which were bound together by great bands of iron, a rough, square
washhand-stand, in which there was a baking-dish for a basin, completed
the decorations. The door was large enough, in every way, to admit a
horse, and the planks of which it was composed appeared so hostile to
any thing like coalition, that the daylight played through every part of
it.
I asked for some warm water to shave with. The waiter brought it to me
_in a dinner-plate_! I could not help laughing at this extraordinary
novelty, and he then brought me the kettle.
♦ HUNGARIAN CIVILIZATION ♦
I compromised the matter at last for a tumbler, which was rather an
improvement on the steam-boat, where I never could succeed in getting
hot water except in a tea-pot! Another un-nameable utensil seems rather
scarce in those parts. The only one of which the steam-boat could boast
was used for keeping pickles!
This reminds me of an anecdote which the Count tells with the most
ludicrous effect, as a proof of the barbarism in which his country is
yet enveloped. An old lady, a friend of his, received a present of
porcelain from England, including cups, saucers, plates, dishes, and
basins of every kind, among the rest a bidet. When the latter article
was examined nobody belonging to her household could at all make out
for what purpose it was destined; but as it was a handsome piece of
manufacture they were resolved that it should not be thrown by in a
corner. One day the good dame invited, as the custom is in Hungary, a
very large party to dinner, at which the Count and some other noblemen
who had visited foreign countries were present. To the ordinary luxuries
of the table was added a roast pig, which, to the great amusement of the
civilized part of the company, was served up in the bidet!
♦ QUARANTINE ADVENTURE ♦
After breakfasting on coffee and some remarkably fine grapes, I walked
out to explore the beauties of Orsova, and as fate would have it, my
steps were in the first instance directed to the mart, where, under
a shed divided by a partition breast high, the business of traffic
was carried on between the Hungarians and the Servians, neither being
allowed by the laws of quarantine to come in contact with the other.
Even the money which passed from the Servian side was taken in a pair
of tongs, and steeped in a cup of vinegar before it reached a Hungarian
pocket. From the mart I passed on, apparently without having attracted
the attention of the guard, but when I had gone to a distance of about
five hundred yards, walking along the bank of the Danube, a soldier
armed with his firelock, with fixed bayonet, was despatched after me.
Assuming, for what reason I know not, that I had belonged to the Servian
party, he ordered me back, keeping however as wide as possible of his
game. I went up to inquire the reason of his interference with my
perambulations, but he pointed his bayonet in a way not to be mistaken,
which only augmented my surprise. Upon returning to the guardhouse,
my friend, assisted by his officer, endeavoured to make me understand
that I must take my place among the Servians, whereupon the Jew who
happened to come into the mart, explained their error, and I acquired my
liberty. Had they succeeded, by their blundering, in compelling me to
pass the quarantine boundary, I should have had to spend ten days in the
Lazaretto at Orsova before I could proceed further on my journey.
♦ DINNER AT COUNT SZECHENYI’S ♦
At two o’clock I went to dine with the Count. A rude sort of a gate
opened to a courtyard through which I passed to a staircase, or rather
a wide step-ladder, and so on to a gallery leading to a suite of rooms
genteelly furnished. On the table in the Count’s sitting apartment I
recognised as old friends the _Edinburgh_ and _Quarterly Reviews_,
several of our “Annuals,” and other English and French periodical
publications. Besides the Count, a Hungarian magnate of considerable
property, was present, who coincides in most of the prudent views which
the Count entertains with reference to the civilization of Hungary. Mr.
Popovicz was also of the party, as well as a sensible young barrister
from Pesth, named Tasner, who accompanied the Count as his secretary.
We had an excellent dinner of vermicelli soup, bouilli, haricot mutton,
beef ragout, roast fowl, and pudding, followed by a dessert of sweet
cake and grapes. The wines were champagne and the ordinary white vintage
of the country, the best I had yet tasted in Hungary. Our conversation
at dinner turned chiefly on the enterprise in which the Count was
engaged, and in which all his faculties seemed to have been absorbed.
♦ NAVIGATION OF THE DANUBE ♦
I collected from what was said that it was intended to construct a
road wide enough for carriages, along the whole of the left bank of
the Danube, and that canals were to be formed in the rapids and other
rocky passages, where the river was liable to be reduced much below its
ordinary level during the summer and autumn. These works necessarily
required a large expenditure, which the returns of the Steam Navigation
Company were not expected to repay. The Austrian government, therefore,
actuated by an impulse of public spirit which it too rarely acknowledges
on other subjects, has taken upon itself the entire outlay which these
undertakings will require, and has, moreover, with peculiar propriety,
intrusted to Count Szechenyi the superintendence of the whole, as well
as an unlimited supply of funds, for which he accounts directly to
the emperor. It is especially understood that a certain per centage
is secured by the Austrian government to the navigation company upon
its capital, provided the returns should fall below a stated amount:
in point of fact the returns have for some time exceeded the amount
agreed upon, so that the government is not likely to have any further
responsibility in that respect.
♦ ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE ♦
The enterprise was originated by the Count, who, at an early period
of his life (he is at present about forty-four years of age), plainly
perceived the great advantages that would accrue to Hungary, if it
were rendered navigable for steam-boats to the Black Sea. Adopting the
English system for procuring a large capital in small shares, he formed
a list of subscribers at Presburg, consisting of magnates, members of
the lower chamber of the diet, bankers, and merchants, which he brought
over to this country. Here, also, he obtained a few distinguished
names, and made himself master of all the details of steam navigation.
Having ordered the engines for three boats to be sent from Birmingham
to Trieste, he had the vessels built in that port, and then a petition
was presented to the diet, on behalf of the subscribers, praying its
sanction to the undertaking. This was the first instance in which the
diet was called upon to take into its consideration a measure peculiar
to Hungary in its national character, and involving, therefore,
consequences of vast political as well as commercial tendency. If the
diet took this enterprise under its auspices, the popularity and the
sense of independence which the assembly would thus acquire, might
lead to other measures still more conducive to the re-establishment
of the Hungarian nation. Prince Metternich immediately sent for Count
Szechenyi, whose brother is married to a sister of the prince’s wife,
and sought explanations of this treasonable proceeding! The Count’s
answer was very simple and unequivocal.--“If you have no wish that the
diet should adopt the petition and act upon it, do the thing yourselves,
for the Danube at all events cannot be long without steam-boats.” The
hint was taken, the petition was cushioned, the plans of the Count were
not only accepted but improved upon a most magnificent scale, and given
back to himself for execution. The Count is the most distinguished
leader of the opposition party in the diet, but he took care to have
it thoroughly understood, that though, for the benefit of Hungary, he
charged himself with the commission offered to him by Prince Metternich,
he was still free to follow up his political principles in every way
that he thought advantageous to his country.