58 chapters
22 hour read
Selected Chapters
58 chapters
THE LAND BEYOND THE FOREST.
THE LAND BEYOND THE FOREST.
OLD TOWN GATE AT HERMANSTADT (ELIZABETH THOR). THE LAND BEYOND THE FOREST FACTS, FIGURES, AND FANCIES FROM TRANSYLVANIA BY E. GERARD AUTHOR OF “REATA” “THE WATERS OF HERCULES” “BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOR” ETC. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1888...
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
In the spring of 1883 my husband was appointed to the command of the cavalry brigade in Transylvania, composed of two hussar regiments, stationed respectively at Hermanstadt and Kronstadt—a very welcome nomination, as gratifying a long-cherished wish of mine to visit that part of the Austrian empire known as the Land beyond the Forest. The two years spent in Transylvania were among the most agreeable of sixteen years’ acquaintance with Austrian military life; and I shall always look back to this
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
Luckily, or unluckily, as one may choose to view it, the spirit of the nineteenth century is a ghost very difficult to be laid. A steady course of narcotics may lull it to rest for a time; but the spirit is but stupefied, not dead; its vitality is great, and it will start up again to life at the first trumpet-blast which reaches from without, eager to exchange a peaceful dream for the movement of the arena and the renewed clank of arms. Some such feelings were mine as I beheld the signal waving
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. HISTORICAL.
CHAPTER II. HISTORICAL.
Not being, however, of that ferocious disposition which loves to inflict needless information upon an unoffending public, I pass over in considerate silence such very superfluous races as the Agathyrsi, the Gepidæ, the Getæ, and yet others who successively inhabited these regions. Let it suffice to say that in the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era the land belonged to the Dacians, who were in course of time subjugated by Trajan, Transylvania becoming a Roman province in the year
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. POLITICAL.
CHAPTER III. POLITICAL.
It is not possible, even in the most cursory account of life and manners in Hungary, to escape all mention of the conflicting political interests which are making of Austro-Hungary one of the most curious ethnographical problems ever presented by history. Taking even Transylvania alone, we should find quite enough to fill a whole volume merely by describing the respective relations of the different races peopling the country. In addition to various minor nationalities, we find here no less than
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL IN TRANSYLVANIA—FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL IN TRANSYLVANIA—FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
The War Office, whose ways are dark and whose mysteries are inscrutable, had unexpectedly decreed that we were to exchange Galicia for Transylvania. The unaccountable decisions of a short-sighted Ministry, which, without ostensible reason, send unfortunate military families rolling about the empire like gigantic foot-balls—from Hungary to Poland, down to Croatia, and up again to Bohemia, all in one breath—too often burst on hapless German ménages like a devastating bomb, bringing moans and curse
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. SAXON HISTORICAL FEAST—LEGEND.
CHAPTER V. SAXON HISTORICAL FEAST—LEGEND.
As I happened to arrive at Hermanstadt [4] precisely seven hundred years later than the German colonists who had founded that city, I had the good-luck to assist at a national festival of peculiarly interesting character. Of the town’s foundation, old chronicles tell us how the outwanderers, on reaching the large and fertile plain where it now stands, drove two swords crosswise into the ground, and thereon took their oath to be true and faithful subjects of the monarch who had called them hither
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. THE SAXONS: CHARACTER—EDUCATION—RELIGION.
CHAPTER VI. THE SAXONS: CHARACTER—EDUCATION—RELIGION.
Something hard and grasping, avaricious and mistrustful, characterizes the expression of most Saxon peasants. For this, however, they are scarcely to blame, any more than for their flat busts and large feet—their character, and consequently their expression, being but the natural result of circumstances, the upshot of seven centuries of stubborn resistance and warfare with those around them. “We Saxons have always been cheated or betrayed whenever we have had to do with strangers,” they say; and
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. SAXON VILLAGES.
CHAPTER VII. SAXON VILLAGES.
Saxon villages are as easily distinguished from Roumanian ones, composed of wretched earthen hovels, as from Hungarian hamlets, which are marked by a sort of formal simplicity. The Saxon houses are larger and more massive; each one, solidly built of stone, stands within a roomy court-yard surrounded by a formidable stone wall. Building and repairing is the Saxon peasant’s favorite employment, and the Hungarian says of him ironically that when the German has nothing better to do he pulls down his
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. SAXON INTERIORS—CHARACTER.
CHAPTER VIII. SAXON INTERIORS—CHARACTER.
The old-china mania, which I hear is beginning to die out in England, has only lately become epidemic in Austria; and as I, like many others, have been slightly touched by this malady, the quaintly decorated pottery wine-jugs still to be found in many Saxon peasant houses offered a new and interesting field of research. These jugs are by no means so plentiful nor so cheap as they were a few years ago, for cunning bric-à-brac Jews have found out this hitherto unknown store of antiquities, and pil
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. SAXON CHURCHES AND SIEGES.
CHAPTER IX. SAXON CHURCHES AND SIEGES.
Would that these old stones, lying here neglected among the nettles, had the gift of speech! What traits of love and of bloodshed might we not learn from them! Only to look at them there strewn around, it is not difficult to guess at the outlines of some of the stories they are dumbly telling us. Many are chipped and worn away, and have evidently been used more than once in their double capacity, alternately rolled up the hill by smiling Cupid, to be hurled down again by furious Nemesis. Here ne
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. THE SAXON VILLAGE PASTOR.
CHAPTER X. THE SAXON VILLAGE PASTOR.
The contrast between the domestic lives of Roumanian and Saxon peasants is all the more surprising as their respective clergies set totally different examples; for while many Roumanian priests are drunken, dissolute men, open to every sort of bribery, the Saxon pastor is almost invariably a model of steadiness and morality, and leads a quiet, industrious, and contented life. On the other hand, however, it may be remarked that if the Saxon pastor be steady and well-behaved, he has very good and s
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. THE SAXON BROTHERHOODS—NEIGHBORHOODS AND VILLAGE HANN.
CHAPTER XI. THE SAXON BROTHERHOODS—NEIGHBORHOODS AND VILLAGE HANN.
Among the curiosities I picked up in the course of my wanderings about Saxon villages is a large zinc dish sixteen inches in diameter, curiously engraved and inscribed. On the outside rim there is a running pattern of hares and stags; on the inside a coat-of-arms, and this inscription: “ Neu Jahrs Geschenk von der Ehrlichen Bruderschaft. [10] Alt Gesel Georg Bayr, Junger Tomas Fraytag 1791. ” The dish makes a convenient tray for holding calling-cards, and its origin is an interesting addition to
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. THE SAXONS: DRESS—SPINNING AND DANCING.
CHAPTER XII. THE SAXONS: DRESS—SPINNING AND DANCING.
Not without difficulty have these Saxons succeeded in keeping their national costume so rigidly intact that the figures we meet to-day in every Saxon village differ but little from old bass-reliefs of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Here, as elsewhere, even among these quiet, practical, prosaic, and unlovely people, the demon of vanity has been at work. Many severe punishments had to be prescribed, and much eloquence expended from the pulpit, in order to subdue the evil spirit of fashio
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. THE SAXONS: BETROTHAL.
CHAPTER XIII. THE SAXONS: BETROTHAL.
Oats have been defined by Dr. Johnson as a grain serving to nourish horses in England and men in Scotland; and in spite of this contemptuous definition, its name, to us Caledonian born, must always awaken pleasant recollections of the porridge and bannocks of our childhood. It is, however, a new experience to find a country where this often unappreciated grain occupies a still prouder position, and where its name is associated with memories yet more pregnant and tender; for autumn, not spring, i
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. THE SAXONS: MARRIAGE.
CHAPTER XIV. THE SAXONS: MARRIAGE.
The 25th of November, feast of St. Catherine, [14] is in many districts the day selected for tying all these matrimonial knots. When this is not the case, then the weddings take place in Carnival, oftenest in the week following the Sunday when the gospel of the marriage at Cana has been read in church; and Wednesday is considered the most lucky day for the purpose. The preparations for the great day occupy the best part of a week in every house which counts either a bride or bridegroom among its
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. THE SAXONS: BIRTH AND INFANCY.
CHAPTER XV. THE SAXONS: BIRTH AND INFANCY.
By-and-by , when a few months have passed over the heads of the newly married couple, and the young matron becomes aware that the prophecies pointed at by the broken distaff and the doll’s cradle are likely to come true, she is carefully instructed as to the conduct she must observe in order to insure the well-being of herself and her child. In the first place, she must never conceal her state nor deny it, when interrogated on the subject; for if she do so, her child will have difficulty in lear
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. THE SAXONS: DEATH AND BURIAL.
CHAPTER XVI. THE SAXONS: DEATH AND BURIAL.
In olden times, when the Almighty used still to show himself on earth, the people say that every one knew beforehand exactly the day and hour of his death. Thus one day the Creator in the course of his wanderings came across a peasant who was mending his garden paling in a careless, slovenly manner. “Why workest thou so carelessly?” asked the Lord, and received this answer: “Why should I make it any better? I have got only one year left to live, and it will last till then.” Hearing which God gre
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR ORIGIN.
CHAPTER XVII. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR ORIGIN.
Two popular legends current in Transylvania may here find a place, as somewhat humorously defining the national characteristics of the three races just alluded to. “When God had decreed to banish Adam and Eve from Paradise because they had sinned against his laws, he first deputed his Hungarian angel Gabor (Gabriel) to chase them out of the garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve were already wise, for they had eaten of the fruit of knowledge; so they resolved to conciliate the angel by putting good ch
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR RELIGION, POPAS, AND CHURCHES.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR RELIGION, POPAS, AND CHURCHES.
In order at all to understand the Roumanian peasant, we must first of all begin by understanding his religion, which alone gives us the clew to the curiously contrasting shades of his complicated character. Monsieur De Gérando, writing of the Wallacks some forty years ago, says, “Aujourd’hui leur seul mobile est la religion, si on peut donner ce nom à l’ensemble de leurs pratiques superstitieuses;” and another author, with equal accuracy, remarks that “the whole life of a Wallack is taken up in
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR CHARACTER.
CHAPTER XIX. THE ROUMANIANS: THEIR CHARACTER.
The Roumanian is very obstinate in character, and does not let himself be easily persuaded. He does nothing without reflection, and often he reflects so long that the time for action has passed. This slowness has become proverbial, for the Saxon says, “God grant me the enlightenment which the Roumanian always gets too late.” In the same proportion as he is slow to make up his mind, he is also slow to change it. Frankness is not regarded as a virtue, and the Roumanian language has no word which d
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. ROUMANIAN LIFE.
CHAPTER XX. ROUMANIAN LIFE.
When the Roumanian child has reached a reasonable age, it is old enough to be a help and comfort to its parents, and assist them in gaining an honest livelihood. By a reasonable age may be understood five or six, and an honest livelihood, translated—helping them to steal wood in the forest. Later on the boy is often bound over as swine or cow herd to some Saxon landholder for a period of several years, on quitting whose service he is entitled to the gift of a calf or pig from the master he is le
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. ROUMANIAN MARRIAGE AND MORALITY.
CHAPTER XXI. ROUMANIAN MARRIAGE AND MORALITY.
The ceremony itself is accomplished with much gayety and rejoicing. The parents of the bridegroom go to fetch the bride, in a cart harnessed with four oxen whose horns are wreathed with flower garlands; the village musicians march in front, and the chest containing the trousseau is placed on the cart. One of the bride’s relations carries her dowry tied up in a handkerchief attached to the point of a long pole. Whoever is invited to a Roumanian wedding is expected to bring not only a cake and a b
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. THE ROUMANIANS: DANCING, SONGS, MUSIC, STORIES, AND PROVERBS.
CHAPTER XXII. THE ROUMANIANS: DANCING, SONGS, MUSIC, STORIES, AND PROVERBS.
The dances habitual among the Roumanians may briefly be divided into three sorts: 1. Caluseri and Batuta , ancient traditional dances performed by men only, and often executed at fairs and public festivals. For these a fixed number of dancers is required, and a leader called the vatav . Each dancer is provided with a long staff, which he occasionally strikes on the ground in time to the music. 2. Hora and Breûl , round dances executed either by both sexes or by men only. 3. Ardeleana , Lugojana
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. ROUMANIAN POETRY.
CHAPTER XXIII. ROUMANIAN POETRY.
The first Roumanian political newspaper was issued by Georg Baritiu in 1838. At present several Roumanian newspapers appear in Transylvania, of which the Observatorul and the Telegraful Roman are the principal ones. There are in the country two Greek Catholic seminaries for priests, and one Greek Oriental one, a commercial school at Kronstadt, four upper gymnasiums, and numerous primary schools, all of which are self-supporting, and receive no assistance from the Hungarian Government. Some porti
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV. THE ROUMANIANS: NATIONALITY AND ATROCITIES.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE ROUMANIANS: NATIONALITY AND ATROCITIES.
The Roumanians have often been called slavish and cringing, but, considering their past history, it is not possible that they should be otherwise, oppressed and trampled on, persecuted, and treated as vermin by the surrounding races; and it should rather be matter for surprise that they have been able to continue existing at all under such a combination of adverse circumstances, which would assuredly have worn out a less powerful nature. Until little more than a century ago, it was illegal for a
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV. THE ROUMANIANS: DEATH AND BURIAL—VAMPIRES AND WERE-WOLVES.
CHAPTER XXV. THE ROUMANIANS: DEATH AND BURIAL—VAMPIRES AND WERE-WOLVES.
Nowhere does the inherent superstition of the Roumanian peasant find stronger expression than in his mourning and funeral rites, which are based upon a totally original conception of death. Among the various omens of approaching death are the groundless barking of a dog, the shriek of an owl, the falling down of a picture from the wall, and the crowing of a black hen. The influence of this latter may, however, be annulled, and the catastrophe averted, if the bird be put in a sack and carried sun
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI. ROUMANIAN SUPERSTITION: DAYS AND HOURS.
CHAPTER XXVI. ROUMANIAN SUPERSTITION: DAYS AND HOURS.
Thirdly, there is the influence of the wandering superstition of the gypsy tribes, themselves a race of fortune-tellers and witches, whose ambulatory caravans cover the country as with a net-work, and whose less vagrant members fill up the suburbs of towns and villages. All these kinds of superstition have twined and intermingled, acted and reacted upon each other, so that in many cases it becomes a difficult matter to determine the exact parentage of some particular belief or custom; but in a g
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII. ROUMANIAN SUPERSTITION—CONTINUED: ANIMALS, WEATHER, MIXED SUPERSTITIONS, SPIRITS, SHADOWS, ETC.
CHAPTER XXVII. ROUMANIAN SUPERSTITION—CONTINUED: ANIMALS, WEATHER, MIXED SUPERSTITIONS, SPIRITS, SHADOWS, ETC.
Of the household animals the sheep is the most highly prized by the Roumanian, who makes of it his companion, and frequently his oracle, as by its bearing it is often supposed to give warning when danger is near. The swallows here, as elsewhere, are luck-bringing birds, and go by the name of galinele lui Dieu —fowls of the Lord. There is always a treasure to be found where the first swallow has been espied. The crow, on the contrary, is a bird of evil omen, and is particularly ominous when it fl
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII. SAXON SUPERSTITION: REMEDIES, WITCHES, WEATHER-MAKERS.
CHAPTER XXVIII. SAXON SUPERSTITION: REMEDIES, WITCHES, WEATHER-MAKERS.
The superstitions afloat among Saxon peasants are of less poetical character than those en vogue with the Roumanians; there is more of the quack and less of the romantic element here to be found, and the invisible spiritual world plays less part in their beliefs, which oftenest relate to household matters, such as the well-being of cattle and poultry, the cure of diseases, and the success of harvest and vintage. Innumerable are the recipes for curing the ague, or frīr as it is termed in Saxon di
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX. SAXON SUPERSTITION—CONTINUED: ANIMALS, PLANTS, DAYS.
CHAPTER XXIX. SAXON SUPERSTITION—CONTINUED: ANIMALS, PLANTS, DAYS.
The cat, dedicated to Frouma, Frezja, or Holda, in old German times, still plays a considerable part in Saxon superstition. Thus, to render fruitful a tree which refuses to bear, it will suffice to bury a cat among its roots. [57] Epileptic people may be cured by cutting off the ears of a cat and anointing them with the blood; and an eruption at the mouth is healed by passing the cat’s tail between the lips. When the cat washes its face visitors may be expected, and as long as the cat is healthy
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX. SAXON CUSTOMS AND DRAMAS.
CHAPTER XXX. SAXON CUSTOMS AND DRAMAS.
Some of the Saxon customs are peculiarly interesting, as being obviously remnants of paganism, and offer curious proof of the force of verbal tradition, which in this case has not only borne transmigration from a distant country, but likewise weathered the storm of two successive changes of religion. It speaks strongly for the tenacity of pagan habits and trains of thought, that although at the time these Saxon colonists appeared in Transylvania they had already belonged to the Christian Church
45 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXI. BURIED TREASURES.
CHAPTER XXXI. BURIED TREASURES.
For the comfort of less favored mortals who do not happen to have been born either on a Sunday nor to the sound of bells, I must here mention that these deficiencies may to some extent be condoned for and the mental vision sharpened by the consumption of mouldy bread; so that whoever has, during the preceding year, been careful to feed upon decayed loaves only, may (if he survive this trying diet) become the fortunate discoverer of hidden treasures. Sometimes the power of finding a particular tr
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXII. THE TZIGANES: LISZT AND LENAU.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE TZIGANES: LISZT AND LENAU.
GYPSY TYPE. “Instruction, authority, persuasion, and persecution have alike been powerless to reform, modify, or exterminate the gypsies. Broken up into wandering tribes and hordes, roving hither and thither as chance or fancy directs, without means of communication, and mostly ignoring one another’s existence, they nevertheless betray their common relationship by unmistakable signs—the self-same type of feature, the same language, the identical habits and customs. “With a senseless or sublime c
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE TZIGANES: THEIR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS.
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE TZIGANES: THEIR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS.
In every other country where the gypsies made their appearance they were oppressed and persecuted—treated as slaves or hunted down like wild beasts. So in Prussia in 1725 an edict was issued ordering that each gypsy found within the confines of the country should be forthwith executed; and in Wallachia, until quite lately, they were regarded as slaves or beasts of burden, and bought and sold like any other marketable animal. Thus a Bucharest newspaper of 1845 advertises for sale two hundred gyps
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE TZIGANES: HUMOR, PROVERBS, RELIGION, AND MORALITY.
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE TZIGANES: HUMOR, PROVERBS, RELIGION, AND MORALITY.
The word Tzigane is used throughout Hungary and Transylvania as an opprobrious term by the other inhabitants whenever they want to designate anything as false, worthless, dirty, adulterated, etc. “False as a Tzigane,” “Dirty as a Tzigane,” are common figures of speech. Likewise to describe a quarrelsome couple, “They live like the gypsies.” And if some one is given to useless lamentation, it is said of him, “He moans like a guilty Tzigane.” Of a liar it is said that “he knows how to plough with
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXV. THE GYPSY FORTUNE-TELLER.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE GYPSY FORTUNE-TELLER.
“The gypsy woman, herself well acquainted with all the signs and workings of passion, distinguishes à coup d’œil the cause of the sallow cheek and the fevered eye of such another woman; she can feel instinctively whether the hand from which she is expected to decipher a fate be stretched towards her with the hasty gesture of hope or with the hesitation of fear. Without difficulty she reads in disdainfully curled lips or ominously drawn brows whether the youth before her be chafing under a yoke o
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE TZIGANE MUSICIAN.
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE TZIGANE MUSICIAN.
There is a Transylvanian legend telling how a mother once pronounced on her son a curse, the effect of which should continue until he succeeded in giving a voice to a dry piece of wood. The son left his mother, and went sorrowing into the pine forest, where he cut down a tree, and made a fiddle on which he played; and his mother, hearing the sound, came running by and took the curse from off his head. This story must surely have been written of a gypsy boy, for of none other could it have been e
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVII. GYPSY POETRY.
CHAPTER XXXVII. GYPSY POETRY.
The other sixteen specimens of the Tzigane muse are so simple as to call for no explanation, though in one or two cases not wholly devoid of poetical merit. GYPSY BALLAD. ( From a German translation by Dr. H. von Wlislocki. ) THE BLACK VODA. [66] GYPSY RHYMES. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. Of the Hungarians in general, who constitute something less than the third part of the total population of Transylvania, it is not my intention to speak in detail. Hunga
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE SZEKLERS AND ARMENIANS.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE SZEKLERS AND ARMENIANS.
There are many versions to explain the origin of the Szeklers, and some historians have supposed them to be unrelated to the great body of Magyars living at the other side of the mountains. They are fond of describing themselves as being descended from the Huns. Indeed one very old family of Transylvanian nobles makes, I believe, a boast of proceeding in line direct from the Scourge of God himself, and there are many popular songs afloat among the people making mention of a like belief, as the f
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIX. FRONTIER REGIMENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIX. FRONTIER REGIMENTS.
Of these frontier regiments, altogether fourteen in number, six were created in Transylvania. Of these two infantry and one dragoon regiment were recruited from the Wallachian population; the remaining three, two infantry and one hussar, from the Hungarians. This system was carried out without trouble in the provinces recently reconquered from the Turks, which, being thinly populated, offered greater inducements for fresh settlers; but elsewhere, where there already existed a fixed population of
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XL. WOLVES, BEARS, AND OTHER ANIMALS.
CHAPTER XL. WOLVES, BEARS, AND OTHER ANIMALS.
Transylvania has often been nicknamed the Bärenland, and though bears and wolves do not exactly walk about the high-roads in broad daylight, as unsophisticated travellers are apt to expect, yet they are common enough features in the landscape, and no one can be many weeks in the country without hearing them mentioned as familiarly as foxes or grouse are spoken of at home. The number of bears shot in Transylvania in the course of the year 1885 was about sixty. Eight of these fell to the share of
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLI. A ROUMANIAN VILLAGE.
CHAPTER XLI. A ROUMANIAN VILLAGE.
In our intercourse with the Roumanian peasantry we are constantly reminded of the fact that only yesterday they were a barbarous race with whom murder and plunder were every-day habits, and in whom the precepts of respect for life and property have yet to be instilled. Not that the Roumanian is by nature murderously inclined—on the contrary, he is gentle and harmless enough as a general rule, and in nine cases out of ten the idea of harming you will not even occur to him; but should your life by
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLII. A GYPSY CAMP.
CHAPTER XLII. A GYPSY CAMP.
Among the females I remarked a young woman of about twenty-five, with splendid eyes, skin of mahogany brown, and straight-cut regular features like those of an Indian chieftainess. She wore a tattered scarlet cloak, and had on her breast a small baby as brown as herself, and naked, in spite of the sharp November air. One of the gendarmes approached her, and with a coarse gesture would have removed her cloak (apparently her sole upper garment) to search beneath for the missing purse; but with the
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLIII. THE BRUCKENTHALS.
CHAPTER XLIII. THE BRUCKENTHALS.
Among the crooked, irregular houses, low-storied and unpretentious, which form the streets of Hermanstadt, there is one which stands out conspicuous from its neighbors, resembling as it does nothing else in the town. This is the Bruckenthal palace, a stately building which might right well be placed by the side of some of the most aristocratic residences at Vienna, and of which even the Grand Canal at Venice need not be ashamed—but here absolutely out of place and incongruous. Looking like a nob
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLIV. STILL-LIFE AT HERMANSTADT—A TRANSYLVANIAN CRANFORD.
CHAPTER XLIV. STILL-LIFE AT HERMANSTADT—A TRANSYLVANIAN CRANFORD.
Life at Hermanstadt always gave me the impression of living inside one of those exquisitely minute Dutch paintings of still-life, in which the anatomy of a lobster or the veins on a vine-leaf are rendered with microscopic fidelity, and where such insignificant objects as half-lemons or mouldy cheese-rinds are exalted to the rank of centre-pieces. During seven months of the year—from April till November—the idyllic quiet of Hermanstadt was certainly not without its charms. So long as the forest w
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLV. FIRE AND BLOOD—THE HERMANSTADT MURDER.
CHAPTER XLV. FIRE AND BLOOD—THE HERMANSTADT MURDER.
At risk of dispelling the idea just given of the somnolent nature of life at Hermanstadt, I am bound to mention that the quiet little town was once distinguished by a murder as repulsive and cold-blooded as any of which our most corrupted capitals can boast. It came to pass, namely, that during the summer of 1883 the town was several times roused by the fire-alarm, and at short intervals more than one barn or stable was partially reduced to ashes. Nobody thought much of this at the time, for, th
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLVI. THE KLAUSENBURG CARNIVAL.
CHAPTER XLVI. THE KLAUSENBURG CARNIVAL.
Readers of the foregoing pages will have had occasion to remark that, except when diversified by fire or bloodshed, life at Hermanstadt was not a lively one; therefore an invitation which I received during my second winter in Transylvania to spend some weeks at Klausenburg during the carnival season was very welcome. It was a decided relief to get away from the vulgar monotony of those antiquated flirtations which in Hermanstadt did duty for society, and to be reminded of things one was in dange
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLVII. JOURNEY FROM HERMANSTADT TO KRONSTADT.
CHAPTER XLVII. JOURNEY FROM HERMANSTADT TO KRONSTADT.
The prettiest of the Saxon towns we passed on our way to Kronstadt is Schässburg, situated on the banks of the river. Towers and ramparts peep out tantalizingly from luxurious vegetation, making us long to get out and explore the place; particularly inviting is a steep flight of steps leading to an old church at the top of a hill. It is here that Hungary’s greatest poet, Petöfi, perished in the battle of Schässburg on the 31st of July, 1849, when the revolted Hungarians, led by the Polish genera
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLVIII. KRONSTADT.
CHAPTER XLVIII. KRONSTADT.
It needed the sight of beautiful Kronstadt to efface the impression of this ghastly picture—beautiful, indeed, as it clings to the steep mountain-side, looking as though the picturesque houses and turrets had been carved out of the rocks which tower above them. At Hermanstadt the view of the mountain-chain is grander and more sublime, but Kronstadt has the advantage of being in itself part and portion of the mountain scenery, the fashionable promenade winding in serpentine curves up the Kapellen
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLIX. SINAÏA.
CHAPTER XLIX. SINAÏA.
From Kronstadt we made an excursion to Sinaïa, a fashionable watering-place and summer residence of the King of Roumania, about two hours’ distance over the frontier. We had provided ourselves with a passport from Hermanstadt, for just at that particular moment the regulations about crossing the frontier were rather strict, in consequence of some temporary coolness between the two crowned heads on either side. Usually the entente cordiale between both countries is most satisfactory, and Austrian
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER L. UP THE MOUNTAINS.
CHAPTER L. UP THE MOUNTAINS.
“ When I was young our mountains were still locked up,” I was told by a gentleman native of the place, who accompanied me on my first mountain excursion in Transylvania. “Whoever then wanted to climb hills or to shoot chamois had to travel to Switzerland to do so; and at school they used to teach us that there were no lakes in the country.” THE NEGOI—THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN TRANSYLVANIA, 8250 FEET HIGH. [80] It is, in fact, only within the last half-dozen years that some attempt has been made to
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LI. THE BULEA SEE.
CHAPTER LI. THE BULEA SEE.
Next morning we proceeded to the real object of our excursion, the Bulea See, a lake which lies at the foot of the Negoi, 6662 feet above the sea-level, and situated about three hours distant from our shelter-hut. There was a steep climb till we had reached the top of the water-fall, and then we found ourselves in a second valley, larger and wider than the first, and of a totally different character. Here were neither moss nor ferns, neither beech nor pine woods—only a deep and lonely valley shu
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LII. THE WIENERWALD—A DIGRESSION.
CHAPTER LII. THE WIENERWALD—A DIGRESSION.
I shall never forget the shock to my feelings when, shortly after leaving Transylvania, I went to spend the summer months in the much-famed Wienerwald near Vienna. In former years I had often visited this neighborhood, and had even retained of it very pleasant recollections; but now, fresh from the wild charm of undefiled and undesecrated nature, the Wienerwald and everything about it appeared in the light of a pitiable farce. In fact, I do not think I had ever rightly appreciated the Transylvan
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LIII. A WEEK IN THE PINE REGION.
CHAPTER LIII. A WEEK IN THE PINE REGION.
Our quarters at the shelter-hut in the pine valley were so satisfactory, and its situation so delightful, that instead of remaining only two nights, as had been originally intended, we stayed there a whole week, exploring the valley in all directions, making sketches of the principal points, and collecting supplies of the rare ferns and mosses with which the neighborhood abounded, along with the alpen-rose, which we often discovered still flowering at sheltered places. A thorough dose of nature
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LIV. LA DUS AND BISTRA.
CHAPTER LIV. LA DUS AND BISTRA.
What had brought him to this out-of-the-way corner of Europe? was the question which troubled many a Saxon mind; and more than one was of opinion that he was a British spy sent by Mr. Gladstone for the express purpose of studying the military resources of the country and corrupting the population. No one would, I think, have been much surprised if some dark crime had been brought home to him, or if a supply of nitro-glycerine had been found concealed in the baby’s perambulator—the two most suspi
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LV. A NIGHT IN THE STINA.
CHAPTER LV. A NIGHT IN THE STINA.
As on the second morning the rain had stopped, we thought we might venture to proceed on our way, the next station we had in view being the Jäeser See, a mysterious lake lying high up in the hills, of which many strange tales are told. This meeresauge (eye of the sea, as all such high mountain lakes are called by the people) is the source of the river Cibin, and believed by the country-folk to be directly connected with the ocean by subterraneous openings. The bones of drowned seamen and spars f
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER LVI. FAREWELL TO TRANSYLVANIA—THE ENCHANTED GARDEN.
CHAPTER LVI. FAREWELL TO TRANSYLVANIA—THE ENCHANTED GARDEN.
Whoever has read Hans Andersen’s exquisite tale of the fir-tree will understand the indescribable pathos assumed by commonplace objects as soon as they are relegated from the present tense into the past; and those who have not read this fairy tale will understand it equally well, for is not the story of the fir-tree the history of each of our own lives? I had indeed often longed to be back again in the world; I had yearned to be once more within reach of newspapers and lending-libraries, and to
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter