24 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
with a few detached plants, the incessant barking of dogs, 
the clang of cattle-bells, and the wild cries of herdsmen, are 
the features of scenes that the traveller everywhere meets 
with throughout the domains belonging to the Crown of 
St. Stephen. There is in them, however, a thoroughly 
characteristic individuality which exercises a powerful attrac- 
tion on everyone who has spent much of his life in this part 
of the country, and which fills him with a violent home sick- 
ness when he finds himself amidst the stereotyped uniformity 
of Western Europe. We also saw villages clinging to steep 
vine-clad hills, with their houses in terraces one above another, 
while their churches stood either on the ridges or at the base 
of the hills. 
The left bank of the river presented a monotonous picture, 
for at first there was nothing to be seen but willows, patches 
of sand, and a few very unimportant woods, and it was not 
until we had passed Duna-Foéldvar that we came to a rather 
large swamp, followed by a fine and much flooded “ au.” 
A good way below Paks we were told that we were just 
passing the town of Kalocsa, the residence of Archbishop 
Haynald ; but unfortunately we could not see the place, as it 
lay pretty far inland. 
Up to this point the Danube flows in one great channel 
and is not yet split up into various branches. A great many 
small, but only a few large, islands rise from the middle of 
the stream, most of them being adorned with beautiful 
“auen,” just like those on the island of Adony and near 
Vienna. There was, however, no wild primeval growth of 
forest, and we began to think that the river would be like 
this all the way down, but we were to become better informed 
during the course of the afternoon. The true great “ auen” 
of Southern Hungary begin immediately below Kaloesa, 
where the river divides itself into several channels and forms 
large thickly wooded islands. 
