FORESTRY IN HUNGARY. 41 



the water, which increases the depth of the stream by 40 inches, 

 is sufficient to carry down from 30 to 40 rafts. If the reservoirs 

 ill the side valley are also made use of, 100 rafts can be sent down. 

 Between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. of the first day, they go 60 miles, and 

 the remaining 33 miles of the journey are accomplished the second 

 day, when, the fall being less, the rafts travel much more slowly. 

 During the melting of the snow in spring, the reservoir fills itself 

 in three days ; but in the dry weather, seven days are required. 

 When we were there it was opened twice a week. 



The trees in these forests are larger than those in the Tisza valley, 

 the rafts being usually composed of twelve stems, 60 feet long, with 

 a mean diameter of from 18 to 26 inches ; but we did not see trees 

 of a remarkably large size in any part of the Carpathian forests. 

 Where the slope is very steep and rocky, river slides of the kind 

 previously described have been made ; and, provided that the 

 rafts are kept sufficiently far apart, they pass down them without 

 much difficulty. At bends where they are likely to come in contact 

 with the sides of the stream, the latter are revetted wdth logs, so as 

 to present a comparatively smooth and even surface to the rafts, 

 and thus prevent their being checked in their course. The trees 

 are brought down to the river bank, during the winter on sledges 

 running over the snow ; the cost, including barking and logging, 

 being about -^^ of a penny per cubic foot ; while that of floating 

 the timber down the 93 miles of river is only ^^ of a penny per 

 cubic foot. 



We stopped to inspect some rafts in process of construction, and 

 noticed that the system adopted differs, in some respects, from that 

 in vogue on the Tisza. Here a pole is laid across the stream, and 

 on it the small or foremost ends of the logs are placed, and held 

 together by means of a half-round cross-piece, countersunk into their 

 upper surface, and pegged down to each of them. At a short dis- 

 tance behind this a withe passes across the raft, and is attached to 

 each log by a forked peg, which grasps it. A similar withe at the 

 rear end is attached to the outside and some of the intermediate 

 logs. 



We stopped for breakfast at the new forest house at Turbacziel, 

 the stream passing which is full of good-sized trout. Magnificent 

 forests clothe the hills on all sides ; they have been a good deal 

 damaged by wind, but there was a very fair show of young self- 

 sown seedlings, where the conditions were favourable. 



After leaving Turbacziel, we passed a large river slide with its 



