Round About the Carpathians

-Geology of the defile of Kasan-Crossing the Danube-Milanovacz-Drive to Maidenpek-Fearful storm in the mountains-Misera

e next morning he coolly broke in upon my raptures over the beauty o

took my hat and followed my friend to interview a Wallack who had heard that I was a likel

There were two or three good horses, but they were only fit for harness. I was so bothered every time I put my nose out of doors by applications from persons anxious to part with their property in horse-flesh, that I wished I had kept my intentions locked in my own breast. I was pestered for days about this business. There was an old Jew who came regularly to the house three times a-day

ompany him, I should see something of the country, and perhaps I might find there a horse to suit me. T

a ladder, peculiarly suitable for rough work. I was much surprised to find the Hungarians far less often in t

belonging to the States Railway Company. I was told that they do not pay as well as formerly, owing to the fact that the ore now being worked is poorer than before; it yields o

, descending through a forest. The varied foliage was very lovely, and the shade afforded us most grateful. It was an original notion driving through such a place, for, according to my ideas, there was no road at all; but H--, more accustomed to the country, declared it was not so bad, at least he averred that there were other roads much worse. The jolting we got over the ruts and stones exceeded anything

f hill, and then put five or six pairs of oxen to draw up one cart. The process is a slow one, but is better for the oxen. We had great difficulty in passing in safety, for unluckily at the s

elting-furnaces, and in the neighbourhood are extensive copper mines. The district is known as the Banat of Temesvar, an extensive area of the most fertile land in Europe; rich black soil, capable of g

st was the graceful movements of these damsels: their manner of walking was the very poetry of motion. I daresay it was the more striking to me because I had recently come from England, where fashion condemns the wearers of high-heeled shoes to a rickety waddle! E

-garment is white and fresh the effect is very good; but in the case of the very poor, if there are but scanty rags beneath, then, to speak mildly, the fringe is an inefficient covering. But to-day every damsel is in her best; and how jauntily she wears the coloured scarf twisted round her head, which falls

up in visiting a large manufactory for sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move roun

er, made by the Hungarian Government in 1840. It reaches as far as Orsova, taking the left bank of the Danube. It would have been easier to have followed Trajan's lead, and have made the road on the right bank; but there were political reasons for deciding otherwise. The Hungarian Gov

range for a space of more than fifty miles. The limestone rock forms a precipitous wall on either side, rising in some places to an altitude of more than two thousand feet sheer from the water's edge. The scenery of this wonderful pass is very varied; the bare rock wit

logists, and deserves more careful investigation at their hands than perhaps it has yet received. They seem pretty well agreed in sayi

nd a kind of mud called loess, or by alluvial deposits underlaid by fresh-water limestones, which may be considered as having been f

ed the passage of the river. At this time the waters must have been pent up several hundred feet above the present surface, and thus have been thrown back on the plains of Hungary. It was only necessary that the barrier should be cut through in order to lay dry these plains by draining the lakes. This was probably effected by the ordinary process of river excavation, and partly by the formation of underground channels scooped out amongst the limestone rocks of the gorge. These two modes of excavation acting together may have hastened the lowering of the channel a

ld, or great plain of Hungary, comprises an area of 37,400 square miles! Here is found the Tiefland, or d

much bargaining and dawdling about at Milanovacz before we could settle on a conveyance that we did not get away till six o'clock-too late a great deal, considering the rough drive we had before us. Immediately after starting we began to wind our way up the mountain. Th

whip and galloped his horses at every available opportunity, it was clear he had an inner consciousness of coming trouble. The road now led through a forest. Here and there a gap in the thick foliage gave us a glimpse of the distant

time the air had been still, and very hot; but suddenly a fierce wind came upon us with a hoarse roar-almost like the waves of the sea-up the valley and over the hill-top it came, right down upon us, tearing at the fo

ere made to go on. It was evident the storm was right over us, for now succeeded flash u

sheets, not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alter

, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling with the wind, for we were still

Swiss and Austrian Alps, but I never remember

his composition, and declared more than once that he would not go on, preferring to stop under such shelter as the trees afforded. We were of another mind, and insisted on his pushing on. One of us walked at the horses' heads, and thus we splashed and blundered on for three mortal hours, wishing all the time that we had slep

d promised us. Here was a roof anyhow, so we entered, hoping for supper and beds in the wayside inn. All our host could produce was a very good bottle of Servian "black" wine and some coarse bre

m the drippings of our garments had become damp and slightly adhesive to the tread. The furniture consisted of a few rough stools and three tables. There was no question of any other apartment, there being only a dark hole in the rear sacred to the family, into which every sense

he aid of a sheepskin bunda, and our carpet-bags for pillows, we contrived something upon which to rest our tired limbs. I should observe we had p

and I lay awake staring at the roof, no great height above us. Its dirt-stained rafters were lit up by the candle, and I soon became aware that the mainbody of the insects was performing a strategic movement highly creditable to the attacking party-they dropped d

just outside, with a pool of blood on the very threshold! In many places in Eastern Euro

ad passed the night. On every side there were traces of last night's tempest-trees uprooted and lying across the road, walls blown down, and watercourses overflo

t to south-east. A friend writing from the neighbourhood of Dresden made mention of a severe st