Chapter I: Front Matter

THE DANUBE

FROM THE BLACK FOREST
TO THE BLACK SEA

BY
F. D. MILLET
AUTHOR OF “A CAPILLARY CRIME” ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY
THE AUTHOR AND ALFRED PARSONS

NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE

Copyright, 1892, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

_All rights reserved._

“_Wenn ich dann zu Nacht alleine_
_Dichtend in die Wellen schau’,_
_Steigt beim blanken Mondenscheine_
_Auf die schmucke Wasserfrau_
_Aus der Donau_
_Aus der schönen, blauen Donau._”
--BECK.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

The Black Forest--The Brigach and the Brege--The Highest Sources of the Danube--Journey thence from London--Villingen--Arrival at Donaueschingen--The Canoes and Outfit--Arbitrary Source of the Danube Page 1

CHAPTER II

The Start--Swans and Spectators--The First Weir and First Luncheon--Society for the Preservation of the Banks of the Danube--Tuttlingen and Max Schneckenburger--First Public Performance at a Weir--First Night in Camp and a Spoiled Breakfast--Monastery of Beuron and its Monks--Crags and Castles 15

CHAPTER III

Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern--Nuns at Riedlingen--Haymakers and Haymaking--The Last Weir--A Vigorous Current--The Confluence of the Iller and the Danube--Ulm and the Danube Rowing Club--Start from Ulm--Appointment of Camp-finder 32

CHAPTER IV

Lauingen; Its Architecture and its People--Blenheim and Höchstädt--Donauwörth--Lumber-rafts and our Narrow Escape--Virtuous Vohburg--Roman Remains and one of the Scenes in the “Niebelungenlied”--Weltenburg Abbey--The Befreiungshalle and Kelheim--In Sight of Ratisbon 46

CHAPTER V

Ratisbon; Its Architecture and its People--The Walhalla--The Plain of Straubing--A Summer Squall--A Typical Bavarian Farm-house--Visit to a Local Freight Flat-boat--Rowing Clubs at Deggendorf and at Winzer 59

CHAPTER VI

Fourth of July at Passau--The Austrian Frontier--Through the Gorge in Rainy Weather--A Curious Ferry--A Brief Halt at Linz and a Camp at the Mouth of the Traun--Shooting the Rapids below Grein--Melk and the Pass below 74

CHAPTER VII

Dürrenstein, the Dungeon of Richard Cœur de Lion--Ruins and Sentiment--A Gem of River Scenery--Canalization of the River--The only “Blue Danube”--Tulln and its Antiquities--Active River Commerce--Our Raftsmen Friends 88

CHAPTER VIII

Vienna; Its History and Characteristics--The Lia Rowing Club--Our Stay at Hainburg and Excursions in the Neighborhood--Theben, the Frontier Town of Hungary--A Model Postmaster 102

CHAPTER IX

Pressburg and the River below--Monotony of Landscape and our Introduction to Dust and Mud--Gran; Its Situation and Attractions--Visegrád--Our Hospitable Reception--General Görgei--Our Reluctant Parting--Approach to Budapest--The First Accident to the Fleet--The Neptune Club--Gypsy Music 119

CHAPTER X

Budapest almost our Capua--The Bridges and Baths--The Great Hungarian Plain--Cheery River Folk--Duna Földvár--A Surprise Picnic and a Severe Storm--In the Heart of Hungary--Mohács and a Veteran of Two Wars--Tokay and Patriotic Sentiments 133

CHAPTER XI

The Franzens Canal between the Danube and the Theiss--A Heterogeneous Population--Monostorszég and a Peasants’ Dance--Curious Types and Costumes--A Spectacular Sunday--First Signs of Oriental Life 151

CHAPTER XII

A Watermelon Metropolis--Our Fleet taken for Torpedo-boats--A Gypsy Queen--Peterwardein and Carlowitz--Busy Life on the Banks--In Sight of Belgrade--Evening in Camp--The Servian Frontier--Semlin and Belgrade--Oriental Characteristics and Modern Improvements--A Sculptor’s Paradise--An Unexpected Encounter 164

CHAPTER XIII

Semendria and its Great Castle--Our Passports are Useless--Bazias and the Entrance to the Carpathians--The Emperor’s Birthday on a Gunboat--Castle of Golubáç--Drenkova and the First Rapids--Escape from a Whirlpool and a Dash through the Cataracts 184

CHAPTER XIV

Improvements to Navigation--Rapids of the Jur--The Kasan Defile--Remarkable River Scenery--Trajan’s Tablet and Old Roman Roadway--Orsova and the Herkulesbad--Ada Kaleh, the Turkish Settlement--The Iron Gates--The Danube and the Ister--Origin of the Name of the Danube--We Lose our Admiral--The Iron Gates--Captured by Roumanian Soldiers--Under Military Supervision 197

CHAPTER XV

We are Arrested in a Servian Militia Camp--Barbaric Soldiery and Strange People--We Surrender to a Roumanian Picket--A Characteristic Servian Village--The Frontier of Bulgaria 211

CHAPTER XVI

Kalafat and Widdin--A Gale out of a Clear Sky--Bulgarian Fishermen--Widdin and its People--Quaint Turkish Sailing Craft--The River Landscape and the Bulgarian Villages--Custom-house Annoyances--Our Passports save us 230

CHAPTER XVII

A Grazing Country--Wild-fowl in Abundance--Nicopolis and the First Reminder of the War of 1877-78--Exodus of Turks at Sistova--Trip to Plevna--Echoes of the War--Rustchuk and Silistria--Monotony and Mud 247

CHAPTER XVIII

Squally Weather and Head-winds--The Dobrudscha--Trajan’s Great Wall--Our Camp is Besieged, but Peace is soon Declared--A Roumanian Village--Braila and Galatz--A Tribe of Gypsies 267

CHAPTER XIX

The Danube Delta--The European Commission and its Work--Sulina, a Town on English Soil--We Enter the Territory of the Czar--The River divides and the Delta begins 280

CHAPTER XX

We Fraternize with Russian Soldiers--A Night at a Picket Station--Custom-house Formalities at Ismail--We Encounter the Police--A Desolate Land--We Camp in the Mud--Kilia--Moldavian Peasants and Russian Pickets 295