112 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
and before us lay a narrow plateau decked with fields and a 
few trees, while beyond it rose the high, splendidly wooded 
summits of the Fruska-Gora mountains stretching in long 
lines from east to west. It was a wonderful view. Behind 
us was the steep slope with the terraced village of Cerevié, 
looking picturesque from above ; below it the broad Danube, 
bordered on one side by rich meadows and vine-clad_ hills, 
and on the other by the low-lying Hungarian plains, on which 
were shining solitary villages lit up by the sun, while in the 
distance the curved horizon melted into the dark blue sky as 
it does at sea. To our right and left we could see the blue 
line of the river winding along, with its fringe of hills and 
“au? woods, and far away to the east the scene was bounded 
by the hill on which rose the finely situated fortress of Peter- 
wardein. Still, the most beautiful part of this extraordinarily 
grand panorama was undoubtedly the range of the Fruska- 
Gora itself, for from this point we already saw a maze of wild 
valleys and hillsides, all clothed with the most magnificent. 
deciduous woods. 
After spending about half an hour in driving across the 
bare plateau and through deep hollows, we reached a valley 
with a little stream winding along it, where the beginning of 
a lovely woodland glade opened to our view, for we had got 
to the fringe of the forests. 
A road reduced to a frightful condition by the recent rains 
led us over a little brook, across pools of water, up steep 
slopes, and through deep hollows, towards the interior of the 
woods, and the further up the valley we went the more lovely 
and charming grew the surrounding landscape. Right and 
left steep wooded slopes, high hilltops covered with the most 
superb beech woods, and now and then varied by copses, 
‘ampantly overgrown clearings, and small marshy glades, 
were the principal characteristics of this strikingly beautiful 
district. The style of the whole scene chiefly reminded me ot 
