18 M. Beudanfs Travels in Hungary. 



The limits of eastern Galicia are formed of mountains of 

 sand, with here and there some points of solid rocks inter- 

 spersed. They constitute, apparently, a sort of talus, pretty 

 uniform, from one extremity to the other. 



Though the mountains cover an immense extent of the sur- 

 face, there are also vast plains that become the centre of the 

 country. Some of these serve as granaries for such cantons 

 as, from their elevation, have not the benefits of culture. 



The principal rivers which either pass through the Hunga- 

 rian States, or compose its boundaries, are the Danube, the 

 Theysse, the Save, and the Drave ; into these a number of 

 others, more or less considerable, disembogue, but all ulti- 

 mately fall into the Danube. 



The Danube, (Duna, Hung. Donau, Germ.) next to the 

 Wolga, is the largest river in Europe. It rises in the Black 

 Forest, arid after traversing Suabia, Bavaria, and Austria, 

 passes on one side of Hungary, at the point where it receives, 

 on its left, the river Morave, or March. Below Presburg, it 

 contains a great number of islands, and in its entrance and 

 passage through the plains of Hungary, its waters spread over 

 a large tract. At Neu-Orsova, it quits the Hungarian States, 

 and proceeding through the vast plains of Wallachia and Mol- 

 davia, empties itself into the Black Sea. 



The course of this river is very tranquil through Hungary, 

 the country being flat, and the descent of the waters inconsi- 

 derable. The banks are frequently overspread with immense 

 marshes that fatigue the traveller's patience with a disagree- 

 able monotony. But between the mountains of the Banat and 

 Servia, where the river is much straitened, it makes its way 

 with a tremendous rapidity, which, with the shoals scattered 

 here and there, renders the navigation extremely dangerous. 



The Theysse, (Tisza, Hung. Tibiscus, Lat.) next to the 

 Danube, is the most considerable of the Hungarian rivers. Its 

 source is at the extreme limits of the Marmora, and the Buek- 

 awine, and after crossing the vast marshes of the comitats of 

 Szathmar and Szaboles, at length enters the plains of Hun- 

 gary, across which it proceeds to the Danube, and joins it be- 

 tween Semlin and Peterwaradin. In its course it receives all 

 the waters of Transylvania, and the greatest part of those of 

 the northern mountains of Hungary. The rivers of Transyl- 

 vania are the Syamos, the Koros,* and the Maros, which last 



* The whole territory traversed by the three branches of the Koros, (called 

 the Rapid, the Black, aud the White Koros) is extremely marshy. The baron de 

 Vay calculated the lands covered by the Rapid Koros alone, at 55,000 acres, and 

 the moist lauds occasionally inundated, at 70,000. 



