A steam voyage down the Danube. With sketches of Hungary, Wallachia, Servia, Turkey, &c.

Front matter

qassl ff 444

Book

STEAM VOYAGE ?v

Preface

TO THE

THIRD EDITION.

Since the first and second editions of this work were published, several genilemen have called upon me, to inquire whether the navigation by steam has been yet completed from Presburg to Constantinople. It may be useful, therefore, here to state that the steamboats do not yet regularly proceed further down the Danube than Galacz The vessel intended to carry on the intercourse from that place to the Bosphorus, had been fitted out and despatched from Trieste in the autumn of 1834. But in the mean time, the object which the Danube Company had in view, is for the present frustrated; and the vessel in question has been since employed as a packet between Constantinople and Smyrna.

The Russian government, it appears, has refused permission for the steamboats of the Danube Company to pass through any of the embouchures of that river into the Black Sea without the payment of a loll. The whole delta of the liver became exclusively Russian, under the treaty of Adrianople ; and military pontons have been recently established across the navigable months (if the Danube, with a view to prevent vessels of any description from entering the Black Sea in that quarter, unless they submit to the conditions exacted by the Russian authorities.

It is certain that neither Austiia nor Great Britain will recognise any right on the part of the Autocrat to enforce the toll in question. The free navigation of the Danube was secured to Austrian merchant vessels by special treaty with Turkey: and we contend for the same privilege under the last treaty of general peace signed at Vienna, whereby the free navigation of all the great European rivers was assented to by all the contracting parlies, Russia being amongst them, at no higher rate of duties than was then lawfully established. But there having been then no tolls levied at the mouths of the Danube, such an impost cannot now be maintained. The question is still under discussion. 1*

6 PREFACE.

In the mean time those merchants who proceed to the Danube for the purpose of trading with Hungary, Wallachia, Moldavia, Turkey, or Servia, should refuse to pay the tolls which will be demanded of them — or at least should pay them under protest.

The traveller, however, who wishes to become acquainted with the most interesting parts of the Danube, navigable by the steamboats, will have no cause to regret this strange proceeding on the part of the Russian government. The banks of that magnificent river are wholly devoid of interest below Vidin. Its beauties commence at Belgrade; and from Moldava to Gladova, those wild and sublime scenes occur, which I have attempted to describe in the following pages.

The reader will find in this edition a considerable proportion of new, and I should hope not uninteresting matter; to the Plates have been added also two views of the celebrated " Iron Gate."

m. j. a.

1st February, 1836.

Contents

Chapter I.— Arrival at Pesth— Embarkation on board the steam -boat— Congress of Hungarian ladies— General appearance of Pesth— Buda— Bridge over the Danube— Commerce of Pesth— Public buildings— Appearance of Buda— Fair at Pesth— Dealers at the fair— The shops— The booths— Display of goods— Horse-market— Pottery— The merchants— Mills on the Danube— Fruit- boats— Wool- wagons— Wicker carriages. - 7

Chapter II.— Captain Cozier — Scene on board — Tyrolese emigrants — Tyrolese amusements— Countess N. — Moldavian adventurer— Servian Jew— Navigable rivers in Hungary—Internal trade— Manufactures— Produce 17

Chapter III.— Dinner- -Wines— Languages of the party— Plains of Hungary— English groom— State of the neighbourhood of Tolna— system of land owners— English farmers in requisition— Arrival at Tolna— Battle with dogs— Search tor a bed— Billiards— Cottage delights— Night scene— Hungarian politics— Wood-boats— Produce — Village of Mo* hacs— Costume of the natives— Appearance of the streets— Industry of women— Hungarian ladies and their maids 2S

Chapter I

Arrival at Pesth— Embarkation on board the sfeamboat— Congress of Hungarian ladies— General appearance of Pesth — Buda — Bridge over the Danube— Commerce of Pesth— Public buildings— Appearance of Uucla — Fair at Pesth— Dealers at the fair— -The dnops— the booths — Display of goods — Horse market— Pottery— The merchant*— Mills on the Danube— Fruit boats— Wool wagons— Wicker earn i

While I was preparing at Paris, towards the close of last summer, for a journey to Constantinople, by the ordinary and very fatiguing course over land through Vienna, Semlin, and Belg I was informed that steamboats

had been recently established on the Danube, which would enable me to id that river to the Black Sea, and

thence to the Bosphorus. The 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 pas nit little interest.

between Presbur ;ation 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, 1S34 ; and as a variety of rumours had met me on the road, some stating that the steamboat, or Dampshifie, 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

8 EMBARKATION — HUNGARIAN LADIES.

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 between Pesth and Buda.

The inns having been all shut up for the night. I was obliged to proceed without ceremony on board, through a crowd of carriages, packages, and cases of all descriptions, which were huddled together on the bank, with a view to transportation by the steamer to different towns on the Danube. The guardians of the vessel were all wrapped in sleep so imperturbable, 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, 1 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 pre-occupied 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 confusion." By the glimmering light ot a lamp which was suspended from the roof, I at length discerned a vacant corner, and having doubled up a seatcushion, 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, 1 had been imprisoned in some enchanted chamber, where sleep was especially prohibited. At first the voices sounded as though they were distant from the cabin; but before I could exactly settle with myself the question, whether I was waking or dreaming, in they rushed, chattering 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 followed anecdote ; interrogatory — answer — reply — rejoinder — sur-reply and stir-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

FESTH— BUDA. 9

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 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 an Hungarian, one fault which nothing can redeem — it is near Vienna. It has been, therefore, long superseded by Pesth, as to ail 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, carry on their flirtations, and plan both their private and public intrigues.

Buda, or, as the Hungarians call it, Oferi, on the opposite side of the river, is connected with Pesth by a bridge of forty-seven large boats, united b)' chains, and floored with planks. The bridge is said to be three hundred yards in length ; it is so constructed that two or three boats, with their flooring, may be separated from the rest, in order to let the vessels pass which go up and down the Danube. In the winter, when large bodies of ice are in motion from the higher parts of the river, it becomes necessary to take away the bridge altogether; thus, during a part of that season, the communication is almost wholly interrupted between the two towns, until the river is entirely frozen over, and the ice affords a secure passage. Now, as Buda is just as social and as merry a place as Pesth, and has its own balls and assemblies of every kind, the ladies of both towns were easily prevailed upon to give their " sweet voices" in favour of a project which some enlightened Hungarians have had in view some time, for erecting a stone bridge across the Danube in place of the bridge of boats, so that there should be no suspension of the gay intercourse between the two divisions of the capital, at any season of the year. In order to accomplish this object, it was necessary to provide that the expense of the bridge should be defrayed by a toll, from which no person could claim exemption. Never was such an innovation as this heard of, since the Danube began its course ! Hungarian noblemen had been hitherto "privileged, by their rank, from the payment of taxes of every description. But the ladies on both sides of the river were resolved that their winter amusements should be no longer liable to interruption ; and so they worried their fathers, husbands, brothers, lovers, who happened to be members of the diet, until at

10 COMMERCE OP PESTH— PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

length the measure was carried — and a stone bridge they are to have. Slight as this incident may seem to an Englishman, it will probably — as the projectors intended it should do — lead the way to many useful reforms in that country, on account of the principle of equal taxation which it has established.

Pesth, the Transacincum of the Romans, is the seat of commerce, and is said to contain about 40,000 inhabitants. It is divided into the old and new town, and, as when visited by Dr. Bright some twenty years ago, " the streets were busy, filled with a motley crowd, chiefly dealers and peasants, some in their holyday dresses, but the greater part wrapped in thick cloaks. The native merchants sat smoking at their shop doors, a bale of tobacco on this side, a huge tub of caviare upon the other ; the baker, with a light basket on his shoulders, trotted briskly from street to street, announcing his approach by the shrill sound of a small wooden trumpet : and Jews, Arminians, and Turks, each in the costume of their country, formed themselves promiscuously into parties. A few private carriages rolled through the streets ; rustic wagons, drawn by oxen, moved slowly on ; and fiacres, of which the number was very great, had taken up their stations in all the cross-ways and open places, each framed after the same pattern, in the form of an antiquated square calash."

They have two theatres at Pesth, one for German performances, built on a large scale and somewhat in the antique style, the other, upon a much more limited plan, for Hungarian plays. Between the acts of the latter, pieces of national music are given on the Dudelsack, the Hungarian bagpipe, which is usually adorned in front with a goat's head, and covered with a goat's skin, accompanied by several other instruments to which bells are attached, after the Turkish fashion. Another favourite instrument in Hungary is the Langspiel, which Sir George Mackenzie also met with in Iceland. It is about two feet long, and being placed upon a table, the performer strikes the cords with a stick.

Buda, or Ofen, is the seat of the Hungarian Government, and is nearly as populous as Pesth. The fortress seen on the lower rock, as represented in the annexed print, contains the palaces of the Archduke Palatine, and of several Hungarian nobles, the public arsenal and theatre, several churches, and seems indeed a complete town in itself Upon the higher rock, called the Bloksberg, an observatory has been erected. A handsome street runs along the side of the river; other streets, with gardens, run in different directions, ornamented by well-built churches. The

TAIR AT PE9TII. li

two towns, seen from the river, produce rather an imposing

effect.

Besides the theatres, there are coffee-houses and several public gardens at Pesth and Buda, which are much frequented. There is a magnificent walk shaded by trees, alone- the western ramparts of Buda, which is crowded when the weather is favourable. A similar walk has been constructed on the Pesth side of the Danube. The great season of amusement, as in every part of the continent, is the Carnival, when there are public balls in both towns twice a week, besides numerous public assemblies, at which recitations are a favourite entertainment. In summer, the favourite place for afternoon excursions is the " forest," as it is called, which is in fact a garden and shrubbery, laid out with considerable taste. It commands some fine views of Buda.

A very curious spectacle at Pesth is the fair, which is held four times in the year in a large open space within the town, where a vast quantity of manufactured goods, chiefly brought from Vienna, is exposed for sale. The genuine riches of Hungary, which are to be found in its agricultural produce, are exhibited at the same time in several streets of the suburbs. An anonymous Hungarian writer drew up a very correct and graphic description of the summer fair of 1812, which applies to every assemblage there of this nature. As it exhibits this species of commercial traffic in one of its earlier stages, it will be read with interest.

" The greater part of the dealers from Vienna and the upper country arrived between the 13th and 15th August, or came after the fair of Debretzin (an important town not far from the borders of Transylvania) was concluded. The regular frequenters of the fair have their shops or booths hired by the year, in which they are accustomed to sleep, partly to save the expense of lodging, and partly for the security of their goods. Those who come for the first time must seek some advantageous place to display their merchandise.

" The best and principal shops are found in the Bridge street, (the chief street on entering over the bridge from Ofen,) in the three side-streets which lead from that street to the fair, and in the new, large and substantially-built houses around the fair itself, which forms an extensive and regular square. In the course of the first week, booths were erected for the dealers who lived in the town ; and those who had come from a distance established themselves in theirs, which were frequently of very considerable dimensions. The great spirit of the market was chiefly

12 THE SHOPS.

confined to the shops. Merchants who reside in the distant ports of Hungary, in the neighbouring countries, and in the Turkish provinces, came tcTpayfor the goods which they had purchased six, nine, or twelve months before, and to make new bargains on the same terms.

" The booths were so disposed, that a carriage-road was left, crossing the open place at right-angles, and dividing it into four squares, which were again divided by passages and streets. At each end of the chief streets stood a fireengine, with vessels full of water, and a guard of invalids. Inlhe booths of the first square, haberdashery wares, hats, and clothes for both sexes, were exposed for sale; and the name of each street was written on the corners, as Lady's, King's, or Palatine's street. In the second square were exhibited hats, women's shoes, boots, furriers' goods, gloves, and other articles of this description. In the third and fourth, iron-ware and cloth were the chief articles. On the left hand of the fair was a small place covered with booths, where the Greeks offered their goods for sale, particularly cloth, leather, and linens. In other booths nothing but fishing-tackle was sold. In another place to the right of the fair, towards the Landstrasse, were exposed . linen goods of all descriptions, and to the left, were sights and puppet-shows. Further on in the Landstrasse were seen immense stores of wool, partly in wagons, and partly in houses employed as magazines. The value of the whole wool was estimated at five millions of florins. Other magazines in different places contained many thousand eimers* of spirits, or were filled with tobacco, which the peasants likewise brought in wagons, or bound together in bales.

iC Without the Hatvan gate, on both sides of a road, extending about half a mile, a motley variety of goods was displayed, chiefly the produce of the country, as flax, hemp, large heaps of tallow, and complete walls of new wine casks, and coarse linen. These, for the most part, were sold in the wagons, the traders placing four of them to form a square, and covering the intermediate space with boards, or with a piece of coarse cloth, — in this way, without further expense, constructing a temporary habitation. Here and there a little party of Jews had established themselves, whose whole materials for traffic perhaps consisted of a small stock of old iron. Dealing is not the only business which is pursued at this place, for between the wagons and the bales of goods, sheds are raised, in which gipsies offer refreshments, in appearance as little attractive as the brown hands by which they are presented. In

* A Hungarian measure equivalent to nine gallons and nearly nine tenins.

HORSE-MARKET. 13

these little huts, and around them, people from all the different nations which inhabit Hungary take refuge; some regale themselves on the viands prepared in the kitchen of the gipsy; others enjoy a rich melon or a piece of fat, which they have brought with them ; while others are content with the charms of indolence. This part of the scene, which may be deemed a foretaste of the East, is rendered full of activity by the countless multitude of horses and wagons, by which the buyers, the sellers, the gipsies, and the merchandise have been brought to the spot.

" Still farther, and approaching the place of public execution, stands a complete fortification of wagons prepared for sale without the iron-work, wagons which are loaded with others taken to pieces. To the right the eye wanders amidst extensive flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, the latter of which sometimes amount to the number of 30,000.

" Forwards, to the left, is the horse-market, the extreme end of which is formed into a circle, by wagons placed together, partly designed for sale, and partly the vehicles which have brought the dealers and spectators. The horses which have been broken in, and are offered to sale, form another circle ; the other part of the space is surrounded with strong paling, and is divided into many partitions, each containing from thirty to forty untrained horses. These are purchased from their appearance, without any opportunity being afforded for a more minute examination. At the gate of each partition stand five or six grooms, armed with long poles, with which, when a horse is to be taken, they enter the drove, sending the animals in all directions, until the one which is required has separated itself, and taken refuge in a corner. Here the grooms throw a noose over its head ; and according as it is more or less wild, either secure it by a halter to one that is already accustomed to the bridle, or throw it down, bind it, and carry it away upon a wagon.

"Another part of the fair, which is well worthy of observation, is upon the bank of the Danube, from the bridge upwards. Here the finer kinds of pottery are sold in booths, and the inferior sorts are exposed for sale either upon the vessels themselves, or piled, like cannon-balls, upon the shore. An extent of above half a mile in length is covered with boats and barges, which serve, together with the banks of the river, as the market-place for the goods they bring. Many are loaded with wooden ware from upper Austria, of which some, as common casks and rough besoms, are of so triflihg a value, that it is difficult to conceive how they repay the expense of carriage. In other vessels, or upon the shore, gayly painted household furniture of every species 2

14 THE MERCHANTS.

is displayed, tempting the country people, by its rich colours, to purchase.

" Below the bridge, the ordinary weekly market is held, rendered at this time more lively by the sale of delicious watermelons, of which immense heaps lie piled upon the shore, and many boats and wagons are entirely laden with them. They are sold for two or three kreutzers each, and scarcely a child or a beggar is seen in the streets who does not satisfy both his hunger and his thirst with this delightful fruit.

" Of the places of amusement, the theatre is most fre quented ; and, on Sundays and holydays, the people flock to the forest belonging to the town — a small, but agreeable pleasure-ground, where the lower classes amuse themselves with dancing in a saloon erected for that purpose. The garden of Count Ortzy, at the distance of three or four English miles from Pesth, is open to the public ; and there are several gardens in the suburbs. The public baths likewise become a place of great resort to all the lower classes, being esteemed both as a pleasure and as the means of health."

A writer in the " Hungarian Miscellany" describes, with considerable animation, the mode in which the business of the fair is carried on. " The manner in which the Huik rian peasant conducts himself in the sale of his product when compared to that of the Sclavonian, the German, and the Jew, with whom he is surrounded, remarkable and interesting. The Sclavonian enlarges on the excellence and cheapness of his wares with palpable and suspicious eagerness. The German dresses out his merchandise, turns it from one side to the other, and presents himself to the purchasers with a commanding self-sufficiency. The Jew swears with heart and soul that he will injure no man, and the Raitzer is stern, silent, and unaccommodating, but on that account his stern and fiery eye pleads with the greater eloquence. The Hungarian alone keeps himself perfectly passive in his dealings. He allows his goods to be inspected, answers shortly and directly to the question, and attempts not to impose either by words or artifice. You perceive, by his embarrassment, that he is unaccustomed to low arts; his good temper evidently counteracts the feeling of poverty, which is therefore borne with ease and content. Shirt and skin, and little else, are to be seen, except his long hair, which hangs loosely over his shoulders ; and all these are scarcely to be distinguished from each other, so disguised are they by filth and negligence. The appearance, in drizzling weather, of the open square at the entrance of the Xonigp-sira^ae, which is the district of the

MILLS ON THE DANUBE. J5

Jews, is little more attractive than the quarter frequented by the peasants. Whoever feels inclined to study the character of this people, will now find an ample opportunity. Here they swarm together like bees, fix themselves on the passenger who appears likely to trade with them, or traffic amongst themselves with affected grimaces and an assumed appearance Gf activity; while tfiey look, with their eyes turned both towards the right and towards the left, on a hundred objects at a time.'?

Our cargo of carriages, dry goods, and passengers 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 construction. 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 interval between, the waterwheel is suspended, and impelled by the natural velocity of the current. These mills, of which ten or twenty are sometimes to be found in immediate succession, are rather picturesque in their appearance, and give animation to the scenery around them. But however 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 sand-banks in their neighbourhood, which, when the water is low, become, as we subsequently experienced, nuisances of a formidable description.

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 emphatically 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 unwieldy bark, constructed of oak, covered with a high roof, and laden to the very top with what here universally 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

16 FRUIT BOATS.

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 opulent adventurers, however, frequently employ horses for this purpose, and then the scene is infinitely more bustling. Twenty, and sometimes thirty half- wild horses are required to supply a sufficient moving power, where the force of the current offers more than ordinary resistance. Almost every pair of horses belongs to a different peasant, and he will allow nobody to lash them but himself. He is most probably a nobleman, and it is a part of his privilege to drive his own horses after his own fashion. When, therefore, the whole of the team arrives at a difficult reach, it becomes the signal for a general mutiny ; the leaders are perhaps prancing in the air, while the horses immediately behind are endeavouring, with all their might, to bolt off into the adjacent country. Here a horse and his companion stand 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 animals in the rear have dragged each other into the river, through which they are w T ading up to the girth, w r hile the sound of a dozen whips, the altercations of the drivers, the angry exclamations of the boatmen shouting on the roofs of their vessels, the neighing of the alarmed horses, and the barking of dogs, combine to form a most ludicrous concert, which may be heard far down the river. Although 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.