308 Report on the AgricultiDx of 



Arad and Debriczin. The plains are almost surrounded bj 

 the mountain systems of the Alps and Carpathians, which form 

 a strong natural boundary to Hungary, and constitute the pic- 

 turesque parts of the country devoted to forests and vineyards. 



In neither plain are there any hedges or visible divisions of 

 land save the long rows of acacias which usually mark the limits 

 of some nobleman's estate. With the exception of these the eye 

 finds no relief, frequently not even a tree breaking the ring of 

 sky which forms the horizon — peasant land and large estates, 

 large estates and peasant land, alternating in apparently endless 

 succession. At intervals villages are passed through, bearing, 

 however, no resemblance to English villages either in appearance 

 or constitution. The village is, indeed, an institution of deep 

 interest — a distinct community surrounded by its own land, and 

 consisting of a population of free proprietors. Each house is 

 detached and exactly resembles the next, and having seen one 

 village you know the general features of hundreds. It is in the 

 villages that the peasants reside, each man owning and farming 

 a portion of the common gemeinde, grazing his stock on what is 

 still properly the " common," surrounding the arable part of the 

 township, and gathering his stock and crop around him at his 

 homestead.* On driving through the village during the day 

 there are few signs of life or activity, though the scene may be 

 enlivened by some peasant, with his family, trotting briskly past 

 with his pair of horses and long, characteristic basket-waggon. 

 He is off to one of his fields to work, and as the distance is con- 

 siderable, he must not waste time on the road. Towards evening 

 you meet herds of cows returning from the pastures to the village ; 

 also herds of long-haired goats and woolly swine. The live 

 stock enters the village in a body, but at once begins to sort 

 itself, each animal, be it cow, goat, or hog, turning in at the 

 accustomed gate. Each, in fact, returns home, and only turns 

 out again when the herd's horn echoes through the village in the 

 early morning. 



It is difficult to give an idea of the Hungarian village to 

 one who has not seen it. It is ushered in by a pond, evidently 

 formed by excavating for clay to build the houses. The road runs 

 through the little town ; but no attempt appears to have been made 

 to improve its general rough and furrowed character. It becomes, 

 however, wider, for in a road of this description there must be 

 plenty of room to choose your course, and if it is impassable on 

 the right you deviate a little to the left. The consequence is, 

 that the entire space between the two rows of detached white 



* See Morier's ' Account of the TeutoBic Gemeinde in Systems of Laud Tenure 

 in Various Countries,' published by the Cobden Club. 



