Round About the Carpathians Part 3

Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's mines--Bribery.

The old copper and silver mines of Oravicza are now abandoned, but the industrial activity of the place is kept up by the working of coal mines, which have their depot here. The States Railway Company are the great owners of mines in this district. They confine their attention to iron and coal. There are extensive paraffine-works in Oravicza; the crude oil is distilled from the black shale of the Steirdorf coal, yielding five per cent of petroleum. At Moldova, where we were recently, the same company have large sulphuric acid works, employing as material the iron pyrites of the old mines. Moldova had formerly the reputation of producing the best copper in Europe, but the mines fell out of work, I believe, in 1848.

An English gentleman is working a gold mine near Oravicza with some success. Subsequent to my visit his people came upon what I think the miners call a "pocket" of free gold. Bis.m.u.th is also raised, though not in large quant.i.ties.

Wis.h.i.+ng to see the coal mines at Steirdorf, I rode over the hills in about four hours. As I left Oravicza in the early morning the view appeared very striking. Looking back, I could see the little town straggling along in the shadow of the deeply-cleft valley, while beyond stretched the sunlit plain, level as a sea, rich with fields of ripe corn. The mists still lingered around me in the mountains, rolling about in the form of soft white ma.s.ses of vapour, with here and there a fringed edge of iridescence. The cool freshness of the morning and the beauty of the varied scenery made the ride most enjoyable.

Arriving at Steirdorf, I spent some hours in visiting the ironworks, blast-furnaces, c.o.ke-ovens, &c. The coal produced here is said to be the best in Hungary. The output, I am told, is 150,000 tons; but only one-third of this is sold, the rest being used by the States Railway Company for their own ironworks, and for the locomotive engines of their line.

Professor Ansted,[9] who made a professional visit to this part of the country in 1862, remarks that "the iron is mined by horizontal drifts or kennels into the side of the hills. The coal is mined by vertical shafts. The ironstone is of the kind common to some parts of Scotland, and known as blackband. There are as many as eight princ.i.p.al seams."

I had sent a man in advance from Oravicza to take my horse back, as I intended returning by rail. This mountain railway between Oravicza and Auima-Steirdorf is a remarkable piece of engineering work. In a distance of about twenty miles it ascends 1100 feet, in some parts as much as one foot in five. They have very powerful engines and a cogwheel arrangement, the line making a zigzag up the mountain-side. The effect is very curious in descending to see another train below you creeping uphill, now at one angle, now at another.

Considering the expensive nature of the works, and the paucity of pa.s.sengers, I almost wonder that the States Railway Company did more than construct a narrow gauge for the mineral traffic. This company, I believe, is of Austrian origin, a.s.sisted by French capital--in fact, its head office is in Paris. It obtained large concessions in the Banat during the Austrian rule in Hungary, acquiring a considerable amount of property at very much below its real value; in consequence the company is looked upon with some degree of jealousy by the Hungarians. Of forest-land alone it owns about 360 square miles. It has a large staff of officials, mostly Germans, who manage the woods and forests on a very complicated system, which pays well, but would probably pay better if simplified. It has also a monopoly of certain things in its own district, such as salt, &c.

The prevalence of bribery is one of the causes seriously r.e.t.a.r.ding progress in Hungary. There is as yet no wholesome feeling against this corruption, even amongst those who ought to show an example to the community. They have also a droll way of cooking accounts down in these parts, but there is a vast deal of human nature everywhere, so "let no more be said."

[Footnote 9: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania.]

CHAPTER VI.

Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment for a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper mines--Self-help--Bare insects--Moravicza--Rare minerals--Deutsch Bogsan--Reschitza.

The neighbourhood of Oravicza is well worth exploring, especially by those who like knocking about with a geological hammer. The mines in the Banat were perhaps worked earlier than any other in this part of Europe.

The minerals of the district present a very remarkable variety. Von Cotta, I imagine, is the best authority upon the Banat ore deposits.

I had heard a good deal of the silver and copper mines of Dognacska, and wis.h.i.+ng to visit them, I induced my friend H---- to accompany me. We arranged to go on horseback. I was very glad to escape the "carts of the country," which, notwithstanding the atrocious roads, are the usual mode of conveyance. It had always been my intention to ride about the country, and with this view I brought my saddle and travelling apparatus from London--English-made articles bear knocking about so much better than similar things purchased on the Continent.

I had an ordinary pigskin saddle, furnished with plenty of metal rings.

I had four saddle-bags in all, made of a material known as waterproof flax cloth. It has some advantages over leather, but is too apt to wear into holes. It is of importance to have the straps of your saddle-bags very strongly attached. It is not enough that they are sewn an inch into the bag, they should extend down the sides; for want of this I had to repair mine several times. Attached to my bridle I had a very convenient arrangement for picketing my horse. It consisted of a rope about twelve feet long, neatly rolled round itself; this was kept strapped on the left side of the horse's head.

The chief pride of my outfit was a cooking-apparatus, the last thing out, which merits a few words of description. It consisted of a round tin box, eight inches in diameter, capable of boiling three pints of water in two minutes and a half; of its own self-consciousness, the sauce-pan could evolve into a frying-pan, besides other adaptations, including s.p.a.ce for a Russian lamp--a vessel holding spirit--with cellular cavities for salt, pepper, matches, not forgetting cup, spoon, and plate. The Russian lamp is a very useful contrivance, in case of open-air cooking; it gives a flame six or seven inches long, which is not easily affected by wind or draught.

Amongst the stores I took out from England was some "compressed tea,"

which is very portable. In riding, all powdery substances should be avoided; I had on one occasion practical experience of this. I had procured some horse-medicine, and giving my animal one dose, I packed the rest very carefully, as I thought; on opening my saddle-bag after a ride of twenty miles, I found, to my disgust, that this wretched white powder had mixed itself up with everything. I wished I had made the horse his own medicine-chest, and given him his three doses at once.

Let the weather be ever so warm in Hungary, it is not wise to take even a day's ride without a good warm plaid; the changes of temperature are often very sudden, and herein is the danger of fever. The peasant says, "In summer take thy _bunda_ (fur cloak)."

To complete the catalogue of my travelling appendages, I may mention a revolver, a bowie-knife, a compa.s.s, good maps of the country, and a flask. My flask held exactly a bottle of wine; it was covered with thick felt, which on being soaked in water has the effect of keeping the wine quite cool for an incredibly long time, even in the hottest weather. I have been told that the Arabs in the desert have long been up to this dodge with respect to their water-bottles, which are suffered to leak a little to keep up the evaporation. The food I carried was of course renewed from time to time, according to circ.u.mstances. Naturally I economised the lamp spirit whenever I could obtain sticks for boiling the water, as the spirit could not always be procured in the Hungarian villages.

In starting for Dognacska and Reschitza, we had before us a ride of more than thirty miles through a very rough country, and with uncertain prospects of accommodation, so I took with me all my travelling "contraptions," as they say in the west of England. The weather was excessively hot the morning H---- and I started on our expedition. About noon, after we had ridden some two hours, the sun's rays beat down upon us with such force that we made an unintentional halt on coming to a well by the wayside. It was one of those picturesque wells so familiar in Eastern landscape--a beam balanced on a lofty pole, with a rod hanging from one end, to which is attached the bucket for drawing water.

Not far from the well was one of those curious tree hay-stacks to be seen in some parts of Hungary. It is the practice to clear away a certain number of the middle branches of a tree, then a wooden platform is constructed, on which a quant.i.ty of hay is placed in store for winter use. This mushroom-shaped hay-rick receives a cover of thatch, out of the centre of which comes the tree-top.

The shade afforded by this wigwam on stilts looked most inviting just then, and we yielded to the seduction. We got off, and throwing ourselves at full length on the gra.s.s, allowed our horses to graze close to us, without taking the trouble to picket them.

The heat of the noonday was perfectly overpowering. The momentary shade was an intense relief, for we had been in the unmitigated glare of the sun the whole morning. Of course we quickly had out our cigar-cases, and puffing the grateful weed, we were soon in full enjoyment of dignified ease. We were in that idle mood when, one says with the lotus-eaters, "taking no care"--

"There is no joy but calm!

Why should we only _toil_, the roof and crown of things."

"Why, indeed, should we toil?" I repeated languidly, at the same time gently and slowly breaking off the end of my cigar-ash.

"Why, indeed?" echoed my friend in a sleepy tone; and, unlike his usual wont, he was quite disinclined to argue the point, being too lazy for anything.

In another moment we had both sprung to our feet, most thoroughly roused from our apathy; the fact was, a big brute of a sheep-dog suddenly jumped in upon us, barking loud and fiercely. We very soon found means to rid ourselves of the dog, but that was the least part of the incident. It appeared that the noise and suddenness of the outburst had so frightened our horses that they took to their heels and galloped off as hard as they could tear. Of course we were after them like a shot, but they had gone all manner of ways. I spotted my little Servian nag breasting the hill to our right in grand style; the saddle-bags were beating his flanks. A pretty race we had after those brutes of horses!

We had to jump ditches, and struggle up sandbanks, tear through undercover, and finally H---- got "stogged" in a treacherous green marsh. Was there ever anything so exasperating and ridiculous?

After running more or less for three-quarters of an hour in a sweltering heat, we came upon the horses in an open glade in the wood, where they were calmly regaling in green pastures, like lotus-eaters themselves.

Never from that day forward have I forgotten the necessary duty of picketing my horse.

It was well on in the afternoon before we got to Dognacska, a mere mining village, but prettily situated in a narrow valley. On approaching, we found it to be a more uncivilised place than we had expected, and we had not expected much. The children ran away screaming at the sight of two hors.e.m.e.n, so travellers, I expect, are unknown in these parts. We found out a little inn, indicated by a wisp of straw hanging above the door, and here we asked to be accommodated; they were profuse in promises, but as there was no one to look after the horses, we had to attend to them ourselves. The woman of the house said the men were all out, but would be back presently. We only took a little bread and cheese, but ordered a substantial supper to be ready for us on our return later in the evening. The fact was, we were in a hurry to be off to look at the works. Lead, silver, iron, and copper are found at Dognacska, but the working at present is a dead-alive operation. The blast-furnaces for making pig-iron are of recent construction, but the smelting-furnaces were very antiquated.

It was the same answer everywhere, "All belongs to the Marquis of Carrabas;" in other words, the States Railway Company owns both mines and forests in all directions throughout the Banat, though at the same time I was told that they do not undertake metallic mining.

From what I gathered it would seem that the mines round here are not really very rich. You cannot depend on the working as in Cornwall, for they are without regular lodes. A rich "pocket" occurs here and there, but then is lost, the deposit not holding on to any depth.

We made a considerable round, and returned with appet.i.tes very sharp set, and counted on the chicken with _paprika_ that we had ordered to be ready for us. On arriving at the little inn, great was our disgust to find it utterly silent and deserted; neither man, woman, nor child was to be found in or about the place. With some difficulty we caught some children, who were peering at us behind the wall of a neighbour's house, and from these blubbering little animals, who I believe thought we were going to make mince meat of them, we at length extracted the fact that the people of the inn were gone off haymaking. This was really too bad, for if they had only told us, we could have made our arrangements accordingly, but here we were starving and not the remotest prospect of supper. There was no use wasting unparliamentary language, so I began foraging in all directions, while H---- busied himself in cutting up wood to make a fire, a process not too easy with an uncommonly blunt axe. My researches into the interior of the dwelling were not encouraging; the fowl was not there, neither was the _paprika_. At length I discovered some eggs and a chunk of stale bread stowed away in a corner; there were a great many things in that corner, but "they were not of my search"--ignorance is bliss.

H---- had done his duty by the fire; he had even persuaded the water to boil, which I looked upon as the beginning of soup. Happily for us I had my co-operative stores with me. From the depths of one of my saddle-bags I drew out a small jar of Liebig's meat--a spoonful or two of this gave quality to the soup. I added ten eggs and some small squares of bread, flavouring the whole mess with a pinch of dried herbs, salt, and pepper--all from "the stores." The result was a capital compound: in fact I never tasted a better soup of its kind; we enjoyed it immensely.

We had barely finished when in came the woman of the house; she looked very much surprised, grumbled at our making such a large fire, and made no apology for her absence.

No one came in to clean and feed our horses, and though I offered a liberal _trinkgeld_ to any man or boy who would attend to them, not a soul could I get, they all slunk away. I believe they are afraid of horses at Dognacska. Self-help was the order of the day, and we just had to look after the poor brutes ourselves.

We slept in the inn. My bed was made up in the place where I had found the eggs and bread. I imagine it was the "guest-corner." I do not wish to be sensational, and I am no entomologist, therefore I will not narrate my experiences that night; but I thought of the Irishman who said, "if the fleas had all been of one mind, they could have pulled him out of bed." Fortunately the summer nights are short; we were up with the early birds, and started before the heat of the day for Moravicza, another mining village.

It was a pretty ride. We went for some way alongside a mineral tramway, which followed the bend of a charming valley. Then we came upon a new piece of road, made entirely of the whitest marble; it looked almost like snow. Afterwards our track lay through a dense forest of majestic trees. We could not have found our way una.s.sisted, but one of the mine inspectors from Dognacska had been sent with us. It was a delicious ride, the air still cool and fresh. Sometimes we were in the forest, and later, skirting a rocky ravine, we followed for a while a mountain stream. It was rough work for the horses, and once, when leading my horse over a narrow foot-bridge, he slipped off and rolled right over in the bed of the stream. Luckily he was none the worse for the accident: these small Servian horses bear a great deal of knocking about. It was surprising that the baggage did not suffer, but except getting a little wet, there was no harm done.

This district is famous, I believe, for several kinds of rare beetles and b.u.t.terflies. I saw some beautiful b.u.t.terflies myself during our ride.

Before reaching Moravicza we pa.s.sed some large iron mines, but they were not in full swing. In the last century the copper mines of this district yielded extraordinary returns. Baron Born, in his "Travels in the Banat," mentions a deposit of copper ore reaching to the amazing depth of 240 feet. Some very fine syenite occurs in large blocks close to Moravicza, which might be very valuable if made more accessible. The village is half hidden in a narrow valley. Here we were most hospitably received by Herr W----. In his collection of minerals he has many rare specimens from this locality, which is peculiarly rich in regard to variety. This gentleman kindly gave me some good specimens of magnet.i.te, greenockite (sulphate of cadmium), aurichalcite, Ludwigite, and garnet.

Leaving Moravicza, we rode on to Deutsch Bogsan, then to Reschitza, where we arrived in the evening. Here we found a tolerable inn, for it is a place of some size. We remained two days here; it is a flouris.h.i.+ng little place, the centre of the States Railway Works. They make a large quant.i.ty of steel rails, any number of which will be wanted if half of the projected lines are carried out, which are only waiting the settlement of the Eastern Question.

In Reschitza there are large blast-furnaces and Bessemer converters.

Enormous quant.i.ties of charcoal are produced; in short, on all sides there is evidence of mining activity. Narrow-gauge lines run in every direction, serving the coal mines; there is besides a railway for the public from Reschitza to Deutsch Bogsan, and from the latter place a branch communicates with the main line between Buda-Pest and Basiash.

The country round Reschitza is rather pretty, but more tame than what we had seen in other parts. We returned to Oravicza by a shorter route, riding the whole distance in one day, which we did easily, for the roads were not so bad, and it was not much over thirty miles. In Hungary it is frequently more a question of roads than of actual distance.

CHAPTER VII.