A Steam Voyage down the Danube. With sketches of Hungary, Wallachia, Servia and Turkey, etc

Front matter

A STEAM VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE. . . . ... A STEAM VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE. WITH SKETCHES OF HUNGARY, WALLACHIA, SERVTA, AND TURKEY, See. By MICHAEL J. QUIN, AUTHOR OF "A VISIT TO SPAI N." IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 1835. C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STI-tAND. TO MRS. MICHAEL J. QUIN. To you I dedicate these volumes, trusting that you may find in them some compensation for my late absence from a Home, where, as you well know, all my happiness resides. When our dear children shall be able to read this work, you will tell them that their interests only could have detained me from that home, during the five months necessarily occupied in my journey. Always most affectionately yours, MICHAEL J. QUIN. Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, 20th July, 1835. CONTENTS TO VOL. I.

Chapter I. Page

Arrival at Pesth — Embarkation on board the steam-boat — Congress of Hungarian ladies — General appearance of Pesth — Buda — Departure of the steam-boat — Mills on the Danube — Windings of the river — Fruit-boats — Modes of drawing them against the stream — Wool-waggons — Wicker carriages — Captain Cozier — Scene on board — Tyrolese emigrants — Sleepy matron — Tyrolese amusements — Hungarian noblemen — Countess N — Moldavian adventurer — Servian Jew — Depression of the Danube .... 1

Chapter II

Dinner — Languages of the party — Good nature of the Hungarians — English groom — State of the neighbourhood of Tolna — Robbery by nobles — Aidelmen — Vagabonds — System of landowners — English farmers in requisition — Arrival at Tolna — Battle with dogs — Search for a bed — Billiards — Cottage delights — Night scene — Count P —Hungarian politics — Group of peasants — Wood-boats — Hungarian grapes — Village of Mohacs — Family affections — Costume of the natives — Fruit-market — Appearance of the streets — Industry of women — Hungarian ladies and their maids M CONTENTS. VIII PAGK 4:; 67 85

Chapter III

Dinner — Steam-boat aground — Tyrolese melodies — Night scene — " HaDger on" — Auction at cards — Knave of clubs game — How to float a steamer — Military valet — Female barber — Vuckovar — Odescalchi convent — Cabin occupations— Parting game — Kissing — Arrival at Peterwardein — Neusatz — Fortifications of Peterwardein — Carlovitz — Semlin — Greek church — Plague at Constantinople — Belgrade — Semendria — Magnificent expanse of the Danube — Divisions of the river — Islands of enchantment — Sunset — Spirits of the Danube .

Chapter IV

Debarkation of the Tyrolese — Windings of the Danube — Civility of the Moldavian — New scenery — Arrival at Moldava — Arrangements for voyage to Orsova — A Wallachian beauty — Greek priest — Flock of geese — Ditto of children — Woodmen — Commencement of mountain chain — Approach of night — Rustic sounds — Peasantry — Provisions — Removal to fishing-boat — Our equipment — Accusation of robbery — Haunt of Wallachian brigands — Austrian guard-house — Romantic gorge — Caverns ......

Chapter V

Pastoral scene — Echoes — Peril of shipwreck — Picture of laziness — Rapids of the Danube — Miller and his men — Petrified lion — Cathedral — Pedestrian excursion — Wallachian shepherdesses — Fears of the plague — Dancing boors — Scene at Swinich — Priest of tbe parish — The governor — George Dewar — Contest between the priest and the poet — Supper — Musical treat — Performances on the guitar — Magician — Sketch of the inn room — Hospitable invitation — Triple-bedded room — Latin harangue . . . . . . CONTENTS. IX PAGE 107 130 142

Chapter VI

Domestic arrangements— Count Szechenyi— Parting scene — Milanosch — Works on the Danube — Picture of industry — Auberge — Chaos — Vedran's cave — Rocky 6cenery — Arrival at Orsova — Decent hotel — My chamber and its ornaments — Bedroom utensils— Hungarian civilization — Quarantine adventure — Dinner at Count Szechenyi's — Plans for the navigation of the Danube — Origin of the enterprise ....

Chapter VII

Hungarian reforms — Security of property — Orders of nobility — Advantages of steam navigation — Reformers — Auxiliary improvements — Club-house — Newspaper — System of Entails — Censorship — Sybaritism — The Count's pursuits — Hungarian language — Verses on the vintage ......

Chapter VIII

First appearance of Wallachia — The Iron Door — Survey of the Danube — Trajan's road — Reform of the Hungarian representation — Proxies of the magnates — Schedules A and B wanted — Finances — Education — Justice — The church — Wallachian Gladova — Servian Gladova — Trajan's bridge — Site of the bridge — Navigable stations on the Danube — Wonders of steam — Speech of Prince Milosch — Neighbourhood of Gladova — A Turkish moon — Wallachian hut — Matrimonial speculation — Tea-drinking — Music — Charms of procrastination— Departure from Gladova — Fertile scenery — Bends in the Danube — Approach to Vidin — Groups on shore — Magnate's costume — Visit to Hussein Pacha — The pacha's deputy — Mutual embarrassments — An interpreter — Explanations — Pleasures of disguise . X CONTENTS. PAGE 177 196 219 244

Chapter IX

Hussein Pacha — Hussein's son — Group at the interview — Commencement of conversation — Conversation prolonged — Steam expedition — Cool reception — Pacha's harem — Wallachia and Moldavia — Treaty of Adrianople — Silistria — Boat aground — New delays — Zantiote boat — Adventurous changes — Separation — Ionian luxuries — A grave mistake . . . . .

Chapter X

Zitara Palanka — Turkish hospitality — Interior of a caffin<§ — Diffusion of happiness — Mahometan devotee — Orisons — Race of Tartars — Social variety — Turkish khan — The nargill£ — Supper — Woman — Seclusion of the sex — Eating in the dark — Visiters astonished — A general invasion — Return to the boat — New acquaintances — Nicopoli — Night scene . . . .

Chapter XI

Sistow — A delusion — New friends — Good fortune — Greek civility — Wallachian merchants — Supper — Amicable discussion — Gil Bias — Wallachian ambition — Chief of the Tartars — Striking a bargain — Equestrian preparations — Greek v. Greek — Shops of Rutschuk — Valley of Repose — Bulgarian peasants — Gipsies — Going astray — Cogitations — Resolutions — Bulgarian girls — An alarm ....

Chapter XII

A boorish group — Night quarters of a caravan — Shumla — An intrusion — An angry Turk — Balkan roads — Difficulties of the way — Forests of Hæmus — Banditti — Terrors — Descent of the Balkans — Dinner — Karnabat — Gipsies — Catching a Tartar — A fiery bedroom — A decent khan — Supper ..... CONTENTS. XI PAGE 264 285 303 308

Chapter XIII

An airy apartment — My companions — Kind attentions — Famine — Annihilation of a Fowl — Living upon nothing — Adrianople — Slumber — Disturbance— Still life — Consternation — Burgas — A desolate town — Turks at prayers — Dinner — Respect for England — Alarming rumoors — Chorlu — The sea of Marmora — Silivria — Street scene — Loungers — A saint — A factotum — News of the day — Tartar generosity — Negotiations .

Chapter XIV

A white cock — Russian agency — Specimen of cookery — Dining in state — Departure from Silivria — Mahometan causeway — Perilous roads — Knowing horses — Fir*st view of Constantinople — Advantages of its position — Extent of its capabilities — An abstracted goose — Entrance of the capital — Pera — Vitali's hotel — The plague —Character of the malady — Armenian funeral — Associations — Funeral of a Greek . . .

Appendix

A. Treaty of Alliance concluded between Russia and Turkey ou the 8th of July, 1833. .

APPENDIX.

B. Treaty between Russia and Turkey, concluded at St. Petersburg, by Achmet Pacha, on the 29th of January, 1834. ....... LIST OF PLATES. PAGl Frontispiece, Vol. I. Pesth Buda and Pesth . . . . . 6 Kamenitz . . . • .52 Peterwardeii* . . . 54 Neusatz . . ■ • .56 Semlin . . . . 58 Belgrade . . ■ . .61 The Author's route from Pesth to Rutschuk . 220 Frontispiece, Vol. II. Towing boats on the Danube A STEAM VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE, &c.

Chapter I

Arrival at Pesth — Embarkation on board the steam-boat — Congress of Hungarian ladies — General appearance of Pesth — Buda — Departure of the steam-boat — Mills on the Danube — Windings of the river — Fruit-boats — Modes of drawing them against the stream — Wool-waggons — Wicker carriages — Captain Cozier — Scene on board — Tyrolese emigrants — Sleepy matron — Tyrolese amusements — Hungarian noblemen — Countess N Moldavian adventurer — Servian Jew — Depression of the Danube. While I was preparing at Paris, towards the close of last summer, for a journev to Constan tinople by the ordinary and veiy fatiguing course overland through Vienna, Semlin, and Belgrade, I was informed that steam-boats had been recently established on the Danube, which would enable me to descend that river to the Black sea, and thence to the Bosphorus.

Tbe VOL. I. B ARRIVAL AT PESTH. hope of accomplishing my object by a route so novel, so attractive in itself, and so convenient in every respect, was too tempting to be resisted. I therefore lost no time in repairing to Vienna ; and as the scenery of the Danube possesses but little interest between Presburg, where the steam navigation begins, and Pesth, the modern capital of Hungary, I preferred embarking at the latter place. I accordingly arrived there by the light of a brilliant moon, an hour or two after midnight, on the 24th of September, 1 834 ; and as a variety of rumours had met me on the road, some stating that the steam-boat, or Dampshiffe, as it is called in that country, had been destroyed by its own engines, others that it had bulged on the rocks, or remained fixed fast in the sandy bed of the river from the want of water, it was with no small pleasure that I discovered the vessel of which I came in pursuit anchored quietly within the shade of the bridge of boats* that still forms the communication betweei Pesth and Buda.

The inns having been all shut up for the night, I was obliged to proceed without cere mony on board through a crowd of carriages, packages, and cases of all descriptions, which were huddled together on the bank, with a view EMBARKATION. to transportation by the steamer to different towns on the Danube. The guardians of the vessel were all wrapped in sleep so imperturb able, that I could find nobody to marshal me the way to a berth in the cabin. Having been without sleep myself for thirty-four hours, I was not at all indisposed to follow the example of these worthy sentinels, the more especially when, on penetrating to the cabin, I found it almost entirely preoccupied by passengers stretched on benches, in full enjoyment of the same " sweet oblivion," amidst piles of boxes, trunks, cloaks, shawls, baskets, hat-cases, stools, and tables, congregated in " most admired con fusion."

By the glimmering light of a lamp which was suspended from the roof, I at length discerned a vacant corner, and having doubled up a seat-cushion, by way of pillow, and arranged another as no mean apology for a bed, I threw myself upon it, wrapped in my cloak, resolved to subside at once into profound repose. But scarcely had I forgotten that I was slumbering on the Danube, when there arose, all of a sudden, such a storm of tongues, and such an uproar of laughter around me, that I felt for a moment as if, in punishment for my sins, I had been imprisoned in some enchanted b HUNGARIAN LADIES. chamber, where sleep was especially prohibited. At first the voices sounded as though they were distant from the cabin ; but before I could ex actly settle with myself the question, whether I was waking or dreaming, in they rushed, chat tering away as if they had all the world to themselves.

Morning was still far below the horizon, and I, of course, concluded that our invaders would soon be tired of their rather premature entertainment. But vain were all calculations of that description ; anecdote fol lowed anecdote ; interrogatory — answer — reply — rejoinder — sur-reply and sur-rejoinder — slight titter — partial laughter — general shouts — coursed each other with indefatigable speed round the circle of this noisy congress, until the broad daylight streamed through the windows, and dissipated every hope of peace. I was shocked at my ungallant thoughts, when I surveyed my fair enemies, and found that there were amongst them two or three really pretty Hungarian ladies. I confess, God forgive me ! — that I had more than once wished them all at the antipodes. Pesth looks extremely well from the Danube.

It is for the most part built in a modern style of architecture ; several of the public edifices, and PESTH— BUDA. 5 even of the private mansions are splendid. The national casino, or club-house, forms a distinguished feature of the city, which has been wonderfully improved during the last ten or fifteen years. Presburg is the nominal capital of Hungary ; but it has, in the estimation of a Hungarian, one fault which nothing can redeem, — it is near Vienna. It has been, therefore, long superseded by Pesth, as to all matters which concern the sciences and arts, as well as the assemblages and amusements of the higher classes. Here they spend their fashionable season, give their balls, canyon their flirtations, and plan both their private and public intrigues. Buda, on the opposite bank of the river, is not without its share in these good things.

Gaiety also sometimes holds her court in that quarter. The bridge of boats between the two towns has indeed occasionally operated as an obstacle to social enjoyment. But that obstacle is soon to be removed. A stone bridge has been pro posed, the expenses to be defrayed by a toll, from which no person shall be exempt. Never was such an innovation as this heard of in Hun gary since the Danube began its course'! A Hungarian nobleman is privileged by hik rank from the payment of taxes of any kind. But MILLS ON THE DANUBE. the ladies would not be debarred from the winter enjoyments of Buda ; they worried their fathers, husbands, brothers, until at length the vote was carried in the diet, — and so a stone bridge they will have. Slight as this incident may seem to an Englishman, it will probably lead the way to many useful reforms in that country, on account of the principle of equal taxation which it involves.

Our cargo of carriages, dry goods and pas sengers having been at length all duly arranged, our paddles began to circulate at seven o'clock, instead of four, which was the hour appointed, and we proceeded on our voyage. The morning was splendid. As we moved along we passed by several of those curious flour-mills with which the Danube is crowded. These floating machines are very simple in their con struction. A wooden house is erected in a large clumsy boat, moored near the spot where the river is most rapid. At the distance of a few paces from this edifice another smaller boat is made fast parallel to the first, the heads of both being directed down the stream. In the inter val between, the water-wheel is suspended, and impelled by the natural velocity of the current. These mills, of which ten or twenty are some- 'o7idcK:fUchetrd/J3ma^,^e^-3v^Un^^ori/ S5reœfrJ8$5. •ffiis:®^ a s>m §>*«• .

FRUIT-BOATS. 7 times found in immediate succession, are rather picturesque in their appearance, and give animation to the scenery around them. But, how ever convenient they may be to the population on either bank of the Danube, where there are no heights for windmills, it is certain that they afford serious impediments to navigation. They uniformly occupy the best parts of the river, and tend to the formation or increase of sandbanks in their neighbourhood, which, when the water is low, become, as we subsequently ex perienced, nuisances of a formidable descrip tion. I believe there is no river in Europe which winds so much as the Danube. It may, with more than the usual truth of poetry, be em phatically designated as a "wandering stream." It consequently abounds with what are called " reaches," portions of the bank which at a distance look like promontories, and add not a little to the difficulties of the navigators, who have to work their way against the course of the current.

It is amusing to observe a boat of the country labouring round one of these obstacles. It is generally a huge unwieldly bark, con structed of oak, covered with a high roof, and laden to the very top with what here universally FRUIT-BOATS. passes under the name of fruit — that is wine, timber, wool, wheat, hay, and produce of every degree. The vessel is dragged up the river by a force which is not at first very apparent. You behold the vessel tied to the end of a rope, which is pulled by something or somebody somewhere, and if your eye can discern the " reach" at the distance perhaps of a mile, you may discover there a dozen brawny Hungarian peasants half-naked, trudging along in rope harness, exerting all their strength to draw the enormous mass behind them. The more opu lent adventurers, however, frequently employ horses for this purpose, and then the scene is in finitely more bustling.

Twenty and sometimes thirty half-wild horses are required to supply a sufficient moving power, where tbe force of the current offers more than ordinary resistance. Almost eveiy pair of horses belongs to a different peasant, and he will allow nobody to lash them but himself. He is most probably a noble man, and it is a part of his privilege to drive his own horses after his own fashion. When, there fore, the whole ofthe team arrives at a difficult reach, it becomes the signal for a general mu tiny ; the leaders are perhaps prancing in the air, while the horses immediately behind are WOOL-WAGGONS. 9 endeavouring with all their might to bolt off into the adjacent country. Here a horse and his companion were standing quite still, as if they were in doubt whether they ought not, before going further, to take a pleasant draught of the element at their feet.

Half a dozen of the ani mals in the rear have dragged each other into the river, through which they were wading up to the girth, while the sound of a dozen whips, the shouts of the drivers, the angry exclamations of the boatmen standing on the roofs of their vessels, the neighing of the alarmed horses, and the barking of dogs, combine to form a most lu dicrous concert, which may be heard far down the river. Here in a broiling sun these drivers keep on their large cloaks, which are as essential to the dignity of a Hungarian peasant-noble, as the wide-brimmed hat slouching over his swarthy countenance. The high road, that is to say the track over the verdant turf, or the sandy track most fre quently trodden, now and then ran along the side of the Danube, and exhibited occasionally specimens of the interior commerce of the countiy.

Now a rude car laden with woolpacks, on the top of which was perched a lazy fellow smoking, drawn by eight or ten miserable horses, b WICKER CARRIAGES. moved at a snail's pace, the wooden axle of the wheels yielding the while a species of music, compared with which the hoarsest sounds of a hurdygurdy would be enchanting. Now a better sort of vehicle, a kind of waggon, filled perhaps with water-melons, Indian corn, or vegetables, for some neighbouring market, appeared on the scene, drawn by a much better class of horses, whose trappings were quite brilliant. The drivers of these waggons were generally the cultivators ofthe land, which fur nished the burden, and they displayed their prosperity in a smart underdress, of which a waistcoat with gold or silver plated buttons, and a profusion of silk lace formed the principal ornament.

These were succeeded perhaps by a troop of travellers galloping on spirited and beautiful animals, or by a family whisked along in a kind of wicker carriage, which may be found in all parts of Hungary. I travelled a considerable portion of the way from Vienna in one of these simple post-chaises, and I really found it not disagreeable. It is on springs, and peculiarly light, and as from the irregularities of the road I was often knocked from one side of the vehicle to the other without even the civility of a notice, I deemed it a convenience CAPTAIN COZIER. to come in contact rather with a yielding ma terial such as wicker, than with a solid board from Long Acre. And then if the balance were in danger of being more than usually disturbed, if one of the wheels aspired to figure in the sky, while the other was buried in a sandy rut, I had no great difficulty in jumping out over the sides of my carriage.

The captain of our steamer was an English man, of the name of Cozier, who, being little conversant with any branch of nautical science, was about equally skilled in the topography of the Danube. Though he had gone up and down several times, he knew no more of the caprices of the sandbanks than he did of the bed of the yellow sea. He had a bitter dislike to his office. Why he was permitted to under take it, I never could understand. To me, I must say, he was communicative and extremely civil ; but my fellow-voyagers he treated with a degree of superciliousness which was very amusing. It seemed to be his settled opinion, that nobody except an Englishman was worthy of breathing the same air with himself. To be sure we had a motley crowd on board, such perhaps as never met together on the deck of SCENE ON BOARD. a steam-boat before.

Behold us all as in a mirror. I am sitting (time, half-past eleven, morning) on a stool near the man at the wheel. A little before me, on my right-hand, are two Tyrolese sleeping. One of these has on his head a green hat, with a wide band of green ribbon around it, in which are stuck some white and black feathers, selected from a cock's tail, intermixed with the bristles of a wild boar. The ribbon, where it joins, is edged with gold lace. Like most of his countrymen, this man rejoices in a thick gray frieze jacket, a striped cotton waistcoat, black leather breeches, here and there rather whitened by the hoar of antiquity, ribbed worsted gray stockings, and short stout laced boots. He wears his hair long behind, some what negligee. Another Tyrolese is sleeping near him, whose hat was some ages ago green, but now partakes of the colour of night.

His hatband seems also to have enjoyed two shades of existence — it was formerly green, now it is a dingy yellow. It is tied in front with a bow of pink ribbon, which, in its early days, must have looked seducing, especially as it appears to have been accompanied by an artificial rose and other TYROLESE EMIGRANTS. flowers, the ruins of which are still discernible. One of these picturesque objects is stretched on a mat ; the other has his head resting on a coil of rope, his feet on a similar cushion : the inter vening departments of his frame repose on the naked deck. While I was admiring the felicity in which these sleepers appeared to be immersed, a woman with a child, the wife I presume of one of them, came and awoke him. He rose, and she took his place. Throwing a handkerchief over her otherwise bare head, she set tles herself to sleep.

The sun is blazing on her ladyship. The child, a round chubby little urchin, has no fancy at present for following her example. He would very much prefer a game at romps. Trying what he can do in that way, he, shly laughing, pulls the handkerchief off her face. Half angry, she gives him a tap, but he returns to the charge, and succeeds for a while in attracting her attention by his artless tricks, until at length he falls asleep on her bosom. She then gladly resumes her inter rupted slumber. She is arrayed in a short blue cloth spencer, edged with black velvet, beneath which she wears a green thick velveteen pelisse sort of dress. Thick worsted stockings TYROLESE AMUSEMENTS. believe!) and laced rough boots complete her apparel. Of the former, however, I am not very confident, as I only saw the most tiny bit of one of them just beneath the edge of her petticoat.

At the feet of this happy matron a Tyrolese boy is fast asleep. One would think that noon had been changed into midnight. Near him a woman of the same nation is sitting upon a roll of cordage, doing nothing. A little Tyrolese lad, with a cockade of white cock's feathers, and a bunch of artificial flowers in his hat, is helping her ! That must be his father who is sitting near him, smoking, and occasionally talking with one of his countrymen standing against the springs of one of the carriages, with which, by the way, our deck is most inconveniently crowded. Near the mast a group of men, all Tyrolese, are en gaged in the several offices of talking, listening, smoking, musing, whistling, singing, and gazing at the dense cloud that rushes into the firmament from our black chimney. They are all rather better dressed than my immediate neighbours ; one of them, a fine-looking fellow, whom I take to be the captain of the gang, has his hat cocked in a dandyish style, considerably out of the circular shape.

His plume of feathers, too, is larger and of a finer quality than the others. COUNTESS N 15 This party would make a capital study for a band of brigands, could they but assume a fiercer expression of countenance. As it is, they look too amiable for a Salvator Rosa. At the top of the boat several knots of women, still Tyrolese, are sitting in various directions, exe cuting for each other, alternately, without the slightest consciousness of the external effect of the operation, the agreeable task of disburden ing their hair of its multitudinous inhabitants. No wonder that Captain Cozier was enraged ! Descending into the cabin I found a party of Hungarian nobles — men of genteel ap pearance and manners — seated at a round table, playing cards. They had been thus engaged all the morning. The stakes were not inconsiderable, and seemed to be taken up occasionally by the winners with infinite delight.

Near them, sanctioning their amusement by her bland looks and smiles, is an elderly lady knit ting on a bench, and occasionally conversing with an exceedingly elegant figure, somewhat petite, whom, upon further acquaintance, I found to be the Countess N , on her way from Pesth to Peterwardein. She had married, at the age of eighteen, a hotheaded nobleman of her own country, who became attached to COUNTESS N her suddenly on account of her beauty. He took her to Pesth, entered into all the amusements of the place, gambling included, which is carried on in that capital to a formidable extent. The result was, that after a short experiment of two years, they were obliged to give up their establishment, and the young countess was now returning to her mother, attended by a French femme de chambre, the only remaining fragment of her transient splendour, except her harp, which she saved also from the ruins.

She was reading a book of common Hungarian ballads, which seemed to afford her amusement. In a corner, two little girls were tittering away most merrily — I could not make out at what. Within the ladies' cabin I heard some of the laughing voices, which recalled the sense of my " murdered sleep" of the morning. Upon the whole, I was pleased with the appearance of my companions, and flattered myself with the hope of a pleasant voyage, in which I was not disappointed. In the course of the day a variety of n.ew characters emerged from the second cabin, and other hiding places, the greater part of whom soon ceased to attract my notice, as they were of that class that seems born for the mere pur- MOLDAVIAN ADVENTURER. 17 pose of transforming animal and vegetable sub stances into human flesh and blood for the ordinary number of years.

Among these spe cimens of creation, however, there was one little man, whom I shall not so speedily forget. He was from Moldavia. He had been in the Rus sian service during the late war with Turkey, but in what capacity I could never satisfactorily discover. I suspect he was a spy. He spoke German, French, and Italian fluently. He wore a blue frock-coat, which probably had served him during the said war, as it could boast of only a part of one button, and two very unequal skirts, remaining in any thing like decent con dition. The rest of the garment was covered with grease. A pair of old black stuff trousers patched at the knees in a most unworkmanlike manner, rent and not patched in other parts indescribable, and vilely tattered at the extremi ties, together with a ghost of a black waistcoat, a cast-off military cap, and wretched boots, offered an apology for a better suit, which he said he had at home.