Round About the Carpathians Part 5

Its efficacy is said to be so great that the patient while in the bath "feels the evil being boiled out of him"! Some of the visitors had not yet had their turn of cooking, I suppose, or if they had been boiled, were rather underdone, for I met a good many gouty and rheumatic patients still in the hobbling condition.

The country round Mehadia is so wild, both in regard to the scenery and to the native population, that the contrast of dropping suddenly into a fas.h.i.+onable watering-place is very curious. This bath is much frequented for pleasure and health by the luxury-loving Roumanians, who invariably display the latest extravagance of Parisian fas.h.i.+on. Men in patent-leather boots devoted to cards and billiards, while in the immediate neighbourhood of glorious scenery, with bear and chamois shooting to be had for the asking, seem to me "an unknown species," as Voltaire said of the English. From what I learned of the ways of the place it seems that the Magyar and Transylvanian visitors keep quite aloof from the Roumanian coterie; they have never anything pleasant to say of one another. At Boseg, a bath in the Eastern Carpathians which I visited later, the separation is so complete that the Roumanians go at one period of the season and the Hungarian visitors at another.

It had always been my intention to stay a few days at the Hercules-Bad, and I had given the place as an address for English letters. Accordingly I presented myself at the _poste restante_. Seeing that I was a Britisher, the postmaster gave me all the letters he possessed with English postmarks. Many of them were of considerable antiquity. Out of the goodly pile I selected some half-dozen that bore my name; but I was greatly surprised to come across one that had made a very bad shot for its destination. It bore the simple name of some poor Jacktar, with the address "H.M.S. Hercules."

The Romans had their _etabliss.e.m.e.nt_ here. The present name comes from the "Thermae Herculis" of cla.s.sic times. There are many interesting remains here--fragments of altars, sculptured capitals, and stones with inscriptions, all telling the same story--the story of Roman dominion and greatness.

Just then we had no time for archaeology, for we wanted to push on to Karansebes, and we stayed only a day and a half at Mehadia. As it was more than we could comfortably manage to do the whole distance in a day, we arranged to drive as far as Terregova and sleep there. We left Mehadia early in the afternoon, F----'s groom riding my horse. The road was excellent--all the roads are in the districts of the Military Frontier. As an example of the quick temper of the Wallacks, I will mention a little incident which happened on the road. We met some of these people, and one of them, who was looking another way, stumbled most awkwardly against the groom's horse, and very nearly met with an accident. Though it was so clearly his own fault, he had hardly recovered himself when, raising his axe, he was about to strike our servant on the head. Meanwhile another fellow seized a big stone, which I believe was going to make a target of the same head. Luckily I turned, and seeing the scuffle, I was out with my revolver in a moment, pointing it at the man with the axe. He understood my language, and made a hasty retreat. F---- said he had no doubt it would have gone badly with the groom if the distance between us had been greater.

We were in for adventures in a small way that evening. Just after sunset, when it was already rather dark in the valley, we found ourselves suddenly stopped by a man, who leaped out from behind a rock, seized the horses, and with a powerful grasp brought them down on their haunches. F---- had the reins, so I jumped down and made straight at the fellow, revolver in hand. I imagine he did not expect to find us armed, or he found us literally too many for him, but diving into the bushes, he was gone even quicker than he came.

We had hardly got the horses into full trot again, when we noticed two cartloads of Wallacks driving side by side on in front of us. When we came up they would not let us pa.s.s, and continued this little game for more than ten minutes, notwithstanding all our expostulations. They were driving much slower than ourselves, and F---- began to lose patience; so holding the horses well in hand, he told me to fire off my revolver in the air. After this they thought proper to draw aside, but even then leaving us so little room that we risked our necks in pa.s.sing them in a very awkward corner. I was told afterwards by the postmaster of Karansebes that a diligence had fallen over the precipice at this very place, only a very short time before, owing to the Wallack drivers purposely obstructing the road. Such are the Wallacks--I beg their pardon, Roumanians!

When we got to Terregova, we were glad to find quite a decent inn, the Wilder Mann, kept by civil people. After supper we had a chat with our hostess, who being a regular gossip, was very pleased to tell us a lot of stories about the wild character of the country-people. She was very sorry that the frontier was no longer under the Austrian military rule, for, she said, having been accustomed to the strict military system so long, the Wallacks, now they have more liberty, have become utterly lawless, and exceedingly troublesome to their German neighbours. She added that the _gendarmes_, who were supposed to keep order in the district, were far too few to be of any real use. She complained bitterly against the Wallacks for firing the forests, and they had become much worse since '48. "In fact the time will come," she said, "when wood will be scarce, and then everybody will suffer; but they don't think, and they don't care, and just lay their hands on anything."

The Government certainly ought to look to the preservation of the forests, and above all they ought to make the law respected amongst a population which is so little advanced in civilisation as to be indifferent to the first principles of order. The Wallacks want education, and above all they want a decent priesthood, before they can make any sound progress. With all their ignorance and lawlessness, it is curious that they pride themselves on being descendants of the ancient Romans, ignoring their "Dacian sires."

The next day we went on to Karansebes--a good road and charming scenery.

This is the highroad into Transylvania, called the Eisenthor Pa.s.s; but it hardly merits the name of pa.s.s, inasmuch as it only crosses the spur of the hills. The distance from Orsova on the Danube to Hatszeg in Transylvania is 110 miles: the district is known as the "Romanen Banat," and, as the name imports, is princ.i.p.ally inhabited by Wallacks, otherwise Roumanians.

We arrived at Karansebes in the afternoon, and by good-luck it chanced to be fair-day. This is a central market for a considerable extent of country, so that there is always a great gathering of people. In driving into the town we pa.s.sed a long bridge which crosses a low-lying meadow, the central arch being sufficient to span the stream, at least in summer. From this elevation we had a capital view of the fair, which was being held in these meadows, and could look down leisurely on the whole scene; and a very novel and amusing sight it was.

There were hundreds of people; and what a variety of races and diversity of costumes! The Wallack women, in their holiday suits, were the most picturesque. Many of them were handsome, and they have generally a very superior air to the men; they are better dressed and more civilised looking. There were a sprinkling of Magyars in braided coats, or with white felt cloaks richly embroidered in divers colours. But the blue-eyed, fair-complexioned German was far more numerous. The Magyar element is very much in the minority in this particular part of Hungary.

The Jews and the gipsies were there in great numbers--they always are at fairs--in the quality of horse-dealers and vendors of wooden articles for the kitchen. The Jew is easily distinguished by his black corkscrew ringlets, and his brown dressing-gown coat reaching to his heels. This ancient garment suits him "down to the ground;" in fact his yellow visage and greasy hat would not easily match with anything more cleanly.

These Jewish frequenters of fairs are, as a rule, of the lowest cla.s.s, hailing either from the Marmaros Mountains in North-Eastern Hungary, or from Galicia.

The fair is really a very important exhibition of the products and manufactures of the country, and it is well worth the attention of the stranger, who may pa.s.s on with the motley crowd through streets of stalls and booths. One _annexe_ is devoted to furniture, from a winged wardrobe down to a wooden spoon. In another part you see piles of Servian rugs, coa.r.s.e carpets, sheepskin _bundas_, hairy caps of a strange peaked form, broad hats made of reed or rush, and the delightful white felt garments before mentioned, which are always embroidered with great taste and skill. Horses, cows, and pigs are also brought here in great numbers to exchange owners. The long-horned cattle are perhaps the most striking feature in the whole fair. They are white, with a little grey on the necks, flanks, and b.u.t.tocks. Oxen are much used for hauling purposes as well as for the plough. A pair of oxen, it is considered, will do the work of four horses.

Professor Wrightson says: "The Podolian is an aboriginal race, descended from the wild urox (_Bos primigenius_). The race is remarkable for its capability of resisting influences of climate, and its contentedness with poor diet.... The Hungarian oxen are considered by naturalists as the best living representative of the original progenitors of our domestic cattle." Of the buffalo the same writer says: "It was introduced into Hungary by Attila; it is found in the lowlands, on both sides of the Danube and the Theiss, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania. In 1870 there were upwards of 58,000 in Transylvania, and more than 14,000 in Hungary."[10]

Later in my tour, when at Klausenburg, I had an opportunity of seeing an extensive dairy where upwards of a hundred buffalo cows were kept. The farm alluded to is admirably managed, and, I am told, yields very profitable returns.

It is the opinion of Professor Wrightson that cattle are diminis.h.i.+ng in Hungary owing to the breaking up of pastures and the recurrence of rinderpest. He says he does not think that the English market can look to Hungary for a supply of cattle at present. This gentleman did not, I believe, visit Transylvania, and I am inclined to think the supply from _that_ part of the kingdom is greatly on the increase; there the pastures are _not_ in process of being turned into arable land, and the rise in prices has given an impetus to the profitable employment of capital in raising stock.

In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures; but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin, and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most useful--to the shepherd on the lonely _puszta_, to the keeper of the vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his ravages--and in short he acts the part of rural police generally.

In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by steamer. This is his practice in summer; but when winter arrives, and the ice on the Danube stops the traffic of the steamboats, then Jockey has recourse to the bridge. I believe there is no doubt of this anecdote. Another instance of sagacity is attributed to him. His master lost a lawsuit through the rascality of his attorney; Jockey feels so strongly on the subject that he snarls and growls whenever a lawyer enters his master's house. Here, of course, the instinct is stronger than the powers of discrimination.

[Footnote 10: 'Report on the Agriculture of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No.

xx.]

CHAPTER X.

Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountain--The party starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine trees--Game--Hut in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the Southern Carpathians.

We put up at the Grunen Baum, the princ.i.p.al inn at Karansebes. My first business was to worry everybody about my guns, which I had telegraphed should be sent from Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster will never hear the name of an Englishman without a.s.sociating the idea of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany there is a saying, "_So grob wie ein postbeamter_." The postmaster of Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule.

On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one of the many telegrams that I had despatched, a peasant woman came in with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer, and said, "My son knows all about it--it is no business of yours."

"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster.

"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry--"you must; that's what you are paid for doing."

Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is from."

Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman.

In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and autumn. The fis.h.i.+ng too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear, the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians.

The day before our expedition we were occupied with a few necessary preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start at four A.M.

F---- and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary enough to damp the spirits of some of our party. One man found that urgent private affairs called him hence; another averred he had an inflammatory sore throat. I expected a third would say he had married a wife and could not come.

Happily, however, the weather cleared a little as the morning advanced, and further desertions were arrested.

At length the whole party got off in sundry _leiterwagen_, a vehicle which has no counterpart in England, and the literal rendering of a ladder-waggon hardly conveys the proper notion of the thing itself. This long cart, it is needless to say, is without springs; but it has the faculty of accommodating itself to the inequalities of the road in a marvellous manner. It has, moreover, a snake-like vertebrae, and even twists itself when necessary.

My guns never came after all, and I was obliged to borrow. The one lent me had one barrel smooth-bore, the other rifled.

We drove for some distance along the Hatszeg highroad, then turned off to the right. Continuing our course for some time, we came to the pretty little village of Morul, where we breakfasted. It was quite the cleanest and neatest Wallack settlement that I had seen at all. It is celebrated for the beauty of its women. Several very pretty girls in their picturesque costume were gathered round the village well, engaged in filling their cla.s.sical-shaped pitchers. Every movement of their arms was grace itself. The action was not from the elbow, but from the shoulder, whereby one sees the arm extended in the curved line of beauty, instead of sticking out at a sharp angle, as with us Western races.

The weather had improved considerably. Our breakfast, for which we halted on the further outskirts of the village, was very agreeably discussed amidst much general good-humour. The peasants regarded us with frank undisguised curiosity, coming round to watch our proceedings.

After leaving Morul we got really into the wilds. A very bad road led up through a magnificent valley, the scenery most romantic; indeed every turn brought to view some new aspect, calling forth admiration. On our right was a fine trout-stream of that delicious brown tint welcome to the eye of the fisherman. At times the water was seen breaking over a rocky bed with much foam and fret, and then would find for itself a tranquil pool beneath the shadow of some mighty beech-tree.

The foliage of the forest, which closed down upon the valley, was simply magnificent. The trees in the Southern Carpathians are far finer than those of the Austrian Alps; they attain a greater average height. The variety, too, was very striking in many places. The strip of green pasturage that bordered our road was fringed with weeping birch-trees, which gave a singular charm to the woodland scene.

A turn in the direction of the valley brought us within sight of the high range of mountains forming the frontier between Hungary and Roumania. Some of the higher summits were ominously covered with dirty clouds. It was observed that they were lifting, at least some of the most sanguine thought so. However, judging from my former experiences in Upper Austria and Styria, I could not say that I thought it was a good sign, supposing even they were lifting. I think myself there is better chance of fine weather in high regions when the clouds descend and disappear in the valleys.

Coming shortly to the foot of the mountain, the Sarka, which is upwards of 6000 feet in height, we made a temporary halt. We had now to change our _leiterwagen_ for horses. All signs of a road had long ceased. On the green knoll in front were a herd of s.h.a.ggy mountain horses with their Wallack drivers--as wild a scene as could well be imagined. Here we unpacked our various stores of provisions, fortified ourselves with a good dinner, and made necessary arrangements for the change of locomotion. There was some trouble in properly distributing the things for the pack-horses. Care had to be taken to give each horse his proper weight and no more. It was also very important to see that the packages were rightly balanced to avoid s.h.i.+fting.

I had left my own horse at Karansebes, because he was in need of rest; so F---- and I had to select horses from amongst the promiscuous lot brought up by the "hunt." We chose out a couple of decent-looking animals--indeed I rather prided myself on my selection, drew attention to his good points, and rallied F---- on his less successful choice.

At length everything was ready. Judging from the amount of baggage, the commissariat department was all right. The order of march was this: ten gentlemen, like so many knights on horseback with lances in rest, rode on in front, in Indian file: our long alpen-stocks really somewhat resembled lances. Each man had his gun slung behind. In the rear of these gallant knights came a dozen pack-horses heavily laden, each with his burden well covered up with sheepskins; behind again followed a lot of Wallacks--these irregulars were to act as beaters.

On we went in this order for seven hours. The pace was so slow that I confess it made me impatient, but our path through the forest was too narrow and too steep to do more than walk our horses in single file. The character of the vegetation visibly changed as we ascended. We left the oak and beech, and came upon a forest of pine-trees, and I thought of the lines--

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight."

The grey moss which hangs in such abundant festoons from the fir-trees has a most singular effect, almost weird at times. These ancients of the forest, with their long grey beards and h.o.a.ry tresses, look very solemn indeed in the gloaming.

What unheeded wealth in these majestic trees, which grow but to decay!

Enormous trunks lay on every side: some had pa.s.sed into the rottenness which gives new life; and here fungi of bright and varied hues, grey lichen, and green moss preserved together the contour of the gigantic stem, which, prostrate and decayed now, had once held its head high amongst the lordlings of the forest.

In the last century these woods were tenanted by wild aurochs and the ibex, but both are extinct now in Hungary. Red-deer and the roe are still common enough. "The wild-cat, fox, badger, otter, marten, and other smaller carnivora are pretty numerous." Mr Danford[11] goes on to say that "feathered game is certainly not abundant. There are a good many capercailzie in the quiet pine-woods, pretty high up, but they are only to be got at during the pairing season. Hazel-grouse too are common in the lower woods, but are not easily found unless the call-system be adopted. Black game are scarcely worth mentioning as far as sport is concerned. Partridges scarce, not preserved, and the hooded crows and birds of prey making life rather hard for them." Mr Danford further speaks of the chamois-eagle as "not rare in the higher mountains." The fisher-eagle "generally distributed." The king-eagle also "not rare."

The carrion-vulture "common throughout the country," also the red-footed falcon. At one time and another I have myself seen most of these birds in the Carpathians, which form the frontier between Transylvania and Roumania.