Chapter III

Steam-boat aground--Tyrolese melodies--Night scene--“Hanger on”--Auction at cards--Knave of clubs game--How to float a steamer--Military valet--Kamenitz--Odescalchi convent--Parting game--Kissing--Neusatz--Carlovitz--Semlin--Greek church--Plague at Constantinople--Belgrade--Semendria--Magnificent expanse of the Danube--Islands of enchantment--Sunset--Spirits of the Danube.

♦ STEAM-BOAT AGROUND ♦

We took our departure from Mohacs soon after three o’clock in the afternoon, having in the mean while dined on vermicelli soup, bouilli served up with beetroot, roast fowl presented on a couch of stewed cabbage, beef steaks, boiled rice sweetened and browned before the fire, together with roast capon, accompanied as usual by plum sauce. I was glad to see Count P---- once more in his place at the table. From the appearance of some fishing-boats which I saw for the first time on the Danube, about two hours after we left Mohacs, I flattered myself with the hope that we began to enter the deepest part of the river, which as it was now full a mile in width, was well entitled to be described as an inland sea. The banks indeed were still low and sandy, which detracted from its beauty. In the distance on the right, a sugar-loafed mountain, rising above the summit of a range of hills, indicated an approaching change of scenery; while we perceived the commencement of a forest on our left, lower down the river: but in other respects the country around us was altogether uninteresting. While I was indulging in a day-dream upon the novelties I was about to encounter, a sudden shock, of no great violence, however, warned us all that we were absolutely aground. The captain treated the accident with entire indifference, and it was not until he found that we were literally imbedded in the sand that he even thought of despatching a man in the small boat to sound the river on either side. We had the mortification to observe that in every part of the river at the distance of a few feet from the steamer, there was an over-abundance of water, and that had we industriously sought for a sandbank on which to run the vessel, by no effort of skill could we have found it any where except on the very spot where we were now detained. Instead of making any immediate exertions to extricate the boat from this disagreeable situation, our captain walked up and down the deck for a while, looking vacantly around him, scarcely knowing what to do. An anchor was at length borne out to a distance and thrown into the river, with a slight rope attached to it, which was carried round the axle of the windlass. The men were then set to work with a view, by pulling at the anchor, to shift the boat from its unfortunate position; but the rope was no sooner strained than it broke; it was tied and broke again and again, until every body saw that the cord was much too slender for the purpose. It was at length suggested that the only course which remained was to lighten the vessel of its cargo, when it would probably float of itself; but as this was an operation that would occupy some hours, and the day had now nearly reached its close, we were obliged to content ourselves with remaining motionless for the night.

♦ TYROLESE MELODIES ♦

The Tyrolese considerately resolved to console us all under our misfortune, by singing in concert some of their choicest national melodies. They had amongst them an admirable base, and two or three excellent treble voices, which gave with great effect the leading stanzas; the whole, men and women, joined in the chorus. It was a singular musical entertainment on the bosom of the broad Danube: and ought to have had the Alps to re-echo the songs of the hunter, and the wild tones of the shepherd, which lost some portion of their cheering influence by being flung along these quiet waters. We could not but perceive that the simple people mingled with the song, feelings of remembrance that they were already far from their native mountains, to which they were never to return.

♦ NIGHT SCENE ♦

The evening was beautiful. A warm golden tinge illumined the atmosphere all round the horizon; while, in the transparent azure of the concave above, myriads of worlds were exulting in their light, visited now and then by meteors which passed like seraphic messengers from one region of the heavens to another. The waning moon rose late, and so low in the firmament that it seemed an apparition evoked by some enchantress from the waters around us. While I was contemplating this scene my attention was disturbed by a tremendous fire which broke out at some distance beyond the forest on our left. A column of dense smoke ascended in the sky, which reflecting the blaze below seemed itself an unearthly conflagration. In a little time the whole of the horizon in that direction appeared to be in flames; we concluded that the fire which had probably begun in some village, as is often the case in this country, had reached the forest. The flames were reflected also in the Danube, and appeared to have threatened more than common dangers in their course, as we heard in the far distance the sound of horns spreading the alarm.

♦ “HANGER ON.” ♦

In the cabin, however, we all assembled in our usual spirits. The Countess N---- was the object of marked attention on the part of the gentlemen, amongst whom, I must confess, she distributed her smiles with laudable impartiality. Her sparkling black eyes evinced no want of self-possession, nor could I perceive that she was much distressed by her separation from her husband. The Count P---- was accompanied on his return from Mohacs by a kind of “hanger on,” a military man, poor but merry, and though to the count habitually obsequious, a goodnatured fellow. He spoke French fluently. In the course of several conversations which I had with this decayed gentleman, who seemed to know something of the world, he fully confirmed all I had hitherto heard of the spirit of liberty which prevails generally amongst the Hungarians, and of their fixed determination to convert their diet into a real representation of the kingdom. The example of England, he said, was not unknown to his countrymen, who greatly admired her institutions.

♦ AUCTION AT CARDS ♦

After supper we played at a round game called the “auction.” The dealer held up a certain number of cards, taken indiscriminately from the pack, and sold them to the highest bidders. When the auction, which was conducted by Count P---- with infinite drollery, came to a conclusion, the produce was collected and divided into four or five prizes, the first being the highest, and the others lessening in proportion. The remainder of the pack was distributed amongst the players. A second pack was then given to the dealer, who drew from it at hazard, without permitting any body to see them, as many cards as there were prizes to be contended for. These cards so drawn were placed separately on the table, and on the back of each a prize was deposited. He next proceeded to turn up successively the remainder of the second pack, comparing each card as it appeared with those held by the players, who laid down a corresponding card until the second pack was exhausted. Consequently there would at that period remain in their possession only the cards which corresponded with those under the prizes: these latter cards were finally displayed with due solemnity, and those who were the fortunate holders of similar ones won the prizes placed upon each. I have never seen a round game so productive as this was of interest, curiosity, and merriment.

♦ KNAVE OF CLUBS GAME ♦

Another laughter-stirring game was this: All the knaves, except the knave of clubs are discharged from the pack. The cards are then dealt out to the party in hands of five each. If the party be not numerous enough to exhaust the pack at the first deal, then the hands are increased to eight or ten, in order to accomplish that purpose. The player who holds two cards of the same class--for instance, two aces, or two queens--puts them away, but he is not entitled to get rid of more than two at a time. The leading hand, on the left of the dealer, if he hold two such cards, turns them up, and places them in the middle of the table; if he do not hold a pair then the lead passes on to him who does. After losing these two cards he then places the cards remaining in his hand on the table, back upwards. His neighbour next takes one card out of the hand so laid down, makes a pair if he can in order to reduce his hand in the same manner, and puts down the remainder. The third player follows the same course, and it is obvious that as the company hold amongst them two pairs of all the cards except the knaves, the knave of clubs must ultimately fall to the lot of some unfortunate wight. He or she, for this game knows no distinction of sex, is then decorated with a black eye, or a pair of moustaches, by means of a burnt cork. This is a game not merely of fun but of absolute riot; for the operation of painting being usually resisted, the available force of the company is called out to carry the law into execution.

♦ FLOATING A STEAMER ♦

At an early hour the following morning (26th) a large flat-bottomed boat was rowed alongside our steamer, and the crew with the assistance of our Tyrolese in a few hours transferred the greater part of the cargo from one vessel to the other. The steamer having been thus materially frightened, rose from its bed in the sand and floated into deeper water, where it was reloaded and about one o’clock in the afternoon we resumed our voyage. While the removals of the cargo were going on I observed that the cases in which it was contained were usually directed in the Latin language, in a style of which the following is a specimen:

“Spectabili ac Perillustri Domino Francisco Najmay.”

♦ MILITARY VALET ♦

The scenery on either side of the river continued, during the whole of the day, as uninteresting as that which we had already passed. The country on the left was still occupied by forests. On the right I observed the ruins of an old fortification, of which a round tower and the principal castle remain. Here and there on the same bank we noticed villages built after the fashion of Mohacs. Immense flights of wild ducks appeared from time to time, but we found it impossible to get a shot at any of them, very much to the disappointment of a military aspirant, who was valet to the Tyrolese doctor. This man was always dressed in a hussar jacket and tight pantaloons, over which he wore Hessian boots, with enormous spurs attached to them. It was amusing to see him wait upon his master of a morning in this attire, with towel and basin in his hand, or perhaps a clean shirt, or perhaps a pestle and mortar to mix up some drugs. I have no doubt, such was the ludicrous military vanity of this fellow, that of the two he would much rather lose his place than his spurs, which, by the by, were perpetually tripping him up. He disdained to mingle with the colonists, unless when he was commissioned to administer a dose, a duty which he performed with very visible reluctance.

During the evening, the deck before the mast seemed to have been turned into a barber’s shop, the operator being one of the Tyrolese _women_, who went through her labours with such admirable skill and expedition, that even the gentlemen availed themselves of her services. When this necessary office was over, prayers were said by the Tyrolese, who all assembled together for that purpose, after which an elderly matron sprinkled holy water amongst them.

♦ KAMENITZ ♦

The towns of Vuckovar and Kamenitz, which we passed by without visiting the following day (27th), appeared, at a distance on our right, to be of some importance. The former boasts of a fine convent for monks, and several churches, which to us, at least, seemed more than usually handsome. Trees shaded the streets as usual. Several boats laden with black earthenware were in its little port, and groups of girls were engaged at the river-side in procuring supplies of water, which they took away in pitchers, suspended at the extremities of an elastic pole, which was balanced on the right shoulder. Wicker cars were busily driving in and out of the town, and in a field near it a troop of cavalry were exercising their horses.

♦ ODESCALCHI CONVENT ♦

Not far from Vuckovar, on an abrupt hill, which immediately overlooks the Danube, there is another monastery, said to have been erected by a prince of the house of Odescalchi, an Italian family, whose wealth was at one period of their career supposed to be inexhaustible. The establishment belongs to the Franciscans, and appeared to be almost a town in itself.

The country as we approached Peterwardein improved rapidly upon us. On our right undulating hills, wooded with shrubs, villages prettily situated on the heights, their church spires rising above the trees, which no village is without, announced a more fertile, a more populous, and a more cultivated part of Hungary than we had seen since our departure from Pesth. I remained generally on deck, watching the variations of scenery which presented themselves, as in a moving panorama. I did not fail, however, to mingle with my fellow-passengers occasionally, for whom the aspect of the country had not the same attractions of novelty. I found the gentlemen whenever I went down almost constantly engaged at cards--and the ladies knitting, or telling each other’s fortunes on cards, or arranging them on the table in a diversity of figures, which required no little ingenuity, the result of many a long idle hour’s experience.

♦ PARTING GAME ♦

I have no objection myself to a merry round game for an hour or so at night, or to a determined rubber or two of whist at the same genial season; but I have an invincible distaste for any such amusement, under any circumstances whatever, in the light of day. This my new friends soon found out, and they could not account for it, though I explained it as an affair of habit. However one auction game, they said, we must have before we separated, in which the whole cabin must be interested, and the first prize was to be accompanied by a licence to the winner, if a gentleman, to kiss every lady on board. My gallantry was touched by this proposal, and, of course, I sat down at the table, upon which there was a general shout of triumph.

The ladies joined in the game, as they said, for their own protection; but it was plain enough that none of them wished to win the first prize, though it was equally clear, that they were anxious it should not fall to the lot of a huge Hungarian sergeant, whom Count P----, for the drollery of the contrast between this man and the delicate countess, had purposely invited from before the mast, to participate in our contest. I need not say that great was the rivalry at the auction, over which the count, as usual, presided, so that the prices at which the cards were knocked down, went far beyond all former example.

♦ KISSING ♦

In due course the cards were drawn for the prizes and placed under them--the ladies were already preparing, by coquettish smiles and transient blushes, and gentle palpitations, for the visitation they were about to undergo. At length the ominous card was called out, when lo! to the mortification, most especially of the young Tyrolese doctor, and to the consternation of the pretty countess, the sergeant proved to be the happy man! Her ladyship with inimitable grace allowed the cyclop to kiss her hand, with which he had the good taste to be contented; but he had ample revenge, amidst peals of laughter, on a dry old maid, whom nobody would have kissed but himself.

♦ NEUSATZ ♦

We arrived at Neusatz, opposite Peterwardein, at two o’clock; and after dinner, at which we drank to each other’s health and happiness with feelings of kindness, if not of friendship, whose evident sincerity and warmth showed that the moment of separation was not without pain on all sides, I found myself almost alone in the cabin. My fellow-passengers took leave of me in the most warmhearted terms, and I think I never felt so desolate as I did during the remainder of that evening.

The boat having been detained for an hour at Neusatz I strolled through the town, which consists of long straggling streets recently built, and full of shops, in which were sold toys, grocery, clothes, censers, ironmongery, tinware, earthenware, wooden bowls, dishes, and trenchers, all of very rude fashion, and jewellery of an ordinary description. I saw several Greek priests here, in long cloth cassocks, shovel hats, and long beards. They were remarkably neat in their persons, and humble in their demeanour. The principal church of the town had not much to boast of, except a series of ensigns which were taken during the Austrian wars with Turkey.

♦ CARLOVITZ ♦

Neusatz is connected by a bridge of boats with the more ancient town of Peterwardein, on the opposite bank of the Danube, which is defended by one of the strongest fortresses on the river. The works are erected on a lofty rock, naturally very difficult of access from the river, and protected on the land side by extensive bastions and towers, which exhibit a formidable appearance. The place was well garrisoned.

Five of the boats which contributed to sustain the bridge having been disconnected at one end from the line, and suffered to yield to the force of the current, they gradually swung round together with that portion of the bridge upon them, so as to afford an opening through which we passed on our way down the river. Our cabin passengers were now reduced to four; a little humdrum widow, who never ceased to chatter, the Tyrolese doctor, a young surgeon who joined him from Neusatz, and myself. Carlovitz, a town prettily situated on the side of a hill, and celebrated for its wines, soon attracted observation on our right. The hills gradually increased in boldness as we proceeded, until night veiled them from our view, when we cast anchor in the middle of the stream. The sky was overcast with clouds, threatening a disagreeable change of weather. I took refuge from an oppressive sense of loneliness in some books which I had fortunately brought with me.

♦ SEMLIN ♦

About nine o’clock on the following morning (28th), the spires of Semlin appeared in view, and a little further down the river the cupolas and minarets of Belgrade. The steamer having cast anchor before the former place, I immediately went ashore, and explored its curiosities. It being Sunday the church bells were ringing in all directions, and the market, which was well supplied with vegetables and fruit, including a peculiarly fine species of green water-melon, was thronged with people decked out in several varieties of holiday costume, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, and Armenian.

♦ GREEK CHURCH ♦

After hearing mass in one of the Roman catholic churches, which was attended by a respectable and, apparently, a very devout congregation, I went to the church belonging to the Greek catholic form of worship. As usual in these edifices it had no pews or seats of any description in the body of the church; near the screen, behind which the altar was secluded, a few stalls were arranged on each side, not, however, for sitting but for standing, and a round platform was raised in the middle, I presume for the lecturer or preacher. The screen, a curious specimen of the arts of the middle ages, was elaborately carved and gilt, and ornamented with portraits of the saints, which were painted in the old Venetian style. In the centre there was a doorway veiled by a curtain. Very few persons were present at the service, the greater part of which, according to the rites of the Greek church, was performed with mysterious secrecy behind the screen: at certain parts of the mass the curtain was drawn aside, and the ceremonies were then witnessed by those in attendance. There was no organ, but a small and very indifferent choir sung, in the ancient Gregorian chant, those portions of the mass which are commonly set to music.

♦ PLAGUE AT CONSTANTINOPLE ♦

Semlin being the frontier town of the Austrian dominions in that quarter, where travellers proceeding from Servia, or the interior of Turkey, are obliged to submit to a quarantine of fourteen days, I was anxious to hear the latest intelligence concerning the plague, which, I was informed at Vienna, prevailed in Constantinople to a serious extent. With the assistance of our engineer, I soon found out a French agent, who acts as the interpreter of the government; and from him I learned, with no small pain, that the plague continued to increase, that from eight hundred to a thousand persons were swept away by it daily; and that among the most recent victims was Mr. Wood, an Englishman, who was dragoman to the British embassy. This fact excited some alarm in my mind, as I had been hitherto taught to believe that the Franks usually escaped the pestilence, either from their more cleanly habits, their more substantial diet, or from their residing in a more airy quarter of the capital. Before we left Semlin, however, an Austrian courier came on board, who stated that a gentleman in the service of his government had passed through, from the quarantine station, only the day before, on his way from Constantinople, and that his report was more favourable. The plague had undoubtedly been very violent; but it had latterly been on the decline. The post from Semlin to Constantinople usually takes nine days; and I was assured that the latest letters fully confirmed this intelligence.

♦ BELGRADE ♦

We quitted Semlin at noon, and passed by Belgrade, keeping, however, as close as possible to the Hungarian bank of the Danube, in obedience to the quarantine laws, which are enforced here with the utmost rigour. The city, which is associated with so many interesting recollections of the wars between Austria and the Ottoman empire, looks a splendid collection of mosques, with their white tall minarets, palaces with their domes, gardens, cypresses, and shady groves. The citadel, which is strongly fortified, occupies a lofty hill that overlooks every part of the town, and is well calculated for its defence. The palace and seraglio of the pacha were pointed out to me by our captain; they cover a considerable space of ground, and exhibit an imposing appearance. A considerable river, the Theiss, by which it is supposed the cholera a few years ago found its way into Hungary from Russia, flows into the Danube a little above Semlin. I expected therefore, to have found the Danube here exhibiting some signs of grandeur and of commercial activity: it does, indeed, present a most magnificent sheet of water, upon which the whole British navy might ride with safety;--but, with the exception of a few small wherries in which some dirty Turks were fishing lazily in the sun, there was scarcely a symptom of animation around us. Belgrade itself looked at a distance like a city of the dead.

♦ SEMENDRIA ♦

The Hungarian side of the river was flat and desolate; the erection of mud cottages here and there on piles, three or four feet from the ground, indicated the height to which the river was raised occasionally by inundations. The cottages which we perceived sometimes on the Servian shore, were equally miserable, though the country was much higher, crowned at some distance by finely-wooded hills. By four o’clock in the afternoon Semendria came in sight. This was once an important naval station and powerful fortress in the hands of the Turks; but it has for many years fallen into decay. I saw in its port two brigs of war, of eight guns each, which had been recently built for the Prince of Servia, Milosch, by a company of carpenters from the island of Zante. They were both aground, and appeared to have no chance of being extricated from their position until the winter. Semendria is prettily situated at the foot of a hill, which almost approaches to the dignity of a mountain. It is defended on the side of the Danube by walls and castles in the old style of fortification, which look picturesque at a distance, but could afford no protection against the artillery of modern times. The castles seemed to be the habitation of a numerous tribe of birds. Near the town I observed a pretty villa, in the grounds belonging to which two ladies veiled like nuns were promenading.

♦ EXPANSE OF THE DANUBE ♦

The Danube seemed, near Belgrade, an expanse of waters which would have afforded ample space for the whole of the British navy. We had scarcely left Semendria behind us when the river became still wider, resembling indeed a vast lake, sufficient to contain all the navies of the world. It was here in every respect a truly magnificent object. The more I became acquainted with this noble river, the greater was my astonishment that it was so little known to Europe, and hitherto so rarely made use of for the purposes of commerce. Just as the sun was on the decline, flinging his last rays on the tranquil mirror beneath us, the Tyrolese crowded on deck, and favoured us with several of their national songs, which they performed with infinite spirit. It was the last time I was to hear them, as we expected to arrive at night at Vipalanka, where they were to debark on their way to Transylvania.

♦ ISLANDS OF ENCHANTMENT ♦

After passing Kubin, we perceived the commencement of several groups of islands, which, however beautiful in themselves, diminish the majestic character the Danube would otherwise have maintained the whole way from Semendria to Moldava. They occasionally divide the waters into two or three rivers in appearance; none of which, however, can be considered as insignificant. The main current which runs by the Hungarian bank retains uniformly much of the general grandeur of the parent flood. These islands are densely wooded with osiers and evergreen shrubs, which afford a safe refuge for waterfowl of every description. Wild ducks, and geese, frequently rose in clouds one above another in the sky, winging their way towards their island homes. Now and then a solitary eagle sailed through the firmament, directing his course to the mountains, which appeared like pure azure far away on the horizon.

As we proceeded among the islands, we could not avoid admiring the picturesque order in which they were disposed, the vernal verdure which every tree and every leaf and every blade of grass exhibited, while the brown tints of the woods and fields in all other quarters proclaimed the season of the year. This contrast of decay on one side, with the blooming freshness of the islands on the other, the variety of their forms, their shady inlets, their clusters of magnificent shrubs hung with flowers that sometimes rivalled the rose, sometimes the strawberry, the snowdrop, the lily, or the blue convolvulus, the wild beauty of their woods, the deep solitude in which they seemed to be secluded from all the world, interrupted only by the screams or rushing sounds of countless birds hastening to their shores, gave them a most romantic appearance, especially in the golden light of evening which still lingered around them.

♦ SUNSET ♦

The unruffled surface of the Danube reflected the whole canopy of the sky, and gave back in softened tones the saffron, ruby, and purple lines of fire which still glowed in the west. The image of the departing sun was lengthened in the waters, where it appeared like a perpendicular column of light. This optical delusion was the more striking, as the part of the Danube in which we had now arrived was, in fact, little better than a series of shallows, through which we were steering our course with the utmost difficulty.

♦ SPIRITS OF THE DANUBE ♦

As soon as the sun went down, the night became rapidly so dark, that I know not how we should have contrived to pursue our way, had not some fields of stubble on the left bank been accidentally set on fire. The flame threw its light far along the river, and materially assisted the helmsman to keep his track. Here and there, among the inlets of the islands on the opposite shore, lights also were visible, proceeding from fires kindled for the purposes of cooking, by fishermen or fowlers, whose little boats were moored in the neighbourhood. Vast pillars of smoke moved now and then over the blazing stubbles, assuming the most fantastic shapes; sometimes, as they apparently flitted along the bank, they might have been painted by an imaginative spectator as the spirits of the Danube.