20 M. BeudanCs Travels in Hungary. 



square leagues, arid in more than 15,000 square leagues the 

 climate is as wholesome as in France or Germany, 



It is wrongfully that Hungary has been called the grave of 

 foreigners; the climate, in general, is salubrious, and the 

 natives retain their health and energy as long as in other coun- 

 tries. Precautions are requisite here, but not more than in 

 other warm climates. The days are often extremely hot, and 

 the nights cool ; this unequal temperature makes plenty of 

 warm clothing necessary. The quality of their wines, though 

 excellent, is very spirituous ; excess in the use of them would 

 give rise to inflammations, or other serious complaints. I can 

 vouch from experience, notwithstanding all the fatigues and 

 privations I have undergone, during my residence in the coun- 

 try, that I never felt the effects of insalubrity, as represented 

 in books, acd of which I had heard a thousand absurd tales, at 

 Vienna. 



Hungary, properly so called, was divided, by former geo- 

 graphers, into upper and lower, or, which comes to the same, 

 and is less liable to error, into eastern and western. The line 

 of demarcation was the Theysse, which appears nearly in the 

 centre of the country, and which, from Szolnok, turns from 

 north to south. Hence, an ideal line is traced across the 

 mountains to the centre of the Carpathians. The parts east 

 of this line had the name, improperly, of Upper Hungary, and 

 those to the west, of Lower Hungary, no less inapplicable. 

 This division is now abandoned. 



The territorial divisions of the Hungarian States are civil 

 and military. These last, on the frontiers of the Ottoman 

 empire, form a cordon agaihst invasion ; the inhabitants are 

 both soldiers and husbandmen. They are designated by the 

 name of Regiments, and are twelve in number. In Croatia, 

 the regiments of Koros, and of St. George. In Sclavonia, do. 

 of Gradiska, Brodi, and Peterwardin ; in Hungary, do. of 

 Tsaikists, German Banatic, and Wallachian Illyrian. In Tran- 

 sylvania, the first Wallachian regiment on the frontiers of 

 Wallachia; second do., on the frontiers of the Buckawine; 

 third Szekler regiment on the frontiers of Moldavia, and the 

 second Szekler regiment on the frontiers of Moldavia and 

 Wallachia. One of these, the battalion of Tsaikists, derives 

 its name from Tsaikes, barks to defend the passage of the 

 river Danube ; this battalion consists of the boatmen that arc 

 to guard it. 



The civil territorial divisions take the name of comitat, from 

 the Latin comitatus, or otherwise, that of district. Of these, 

 Proper Hungary comprises forty-six. The names are, Abauj, 



