INTRODUCTION. 



IN respect of the diversities of its people, no country whatever 

 can be compared with Hungary. They form an heterogeneous 

 assemblage of nations, some of which descend from the primi- 

 tive inhabitants, others from the different hordes that invaded 

 them, including migrations from neighbouring countries, colo- 

 nies invited thither, and individual families attracted by the 

 fertility of the soil, or the hopes of commercial gain. 



The'following are the names under which the several nations 

 may be arranged : Slowacks, Croats, Russniaks, Servians, 

 Illyrians, Carniolians, Magyares, Kumans, Jaszons, Szeklers, 

 Wallachians, Bulgarians, Saxons, Suabians, Bavarians, Fran- 

 conians, Austrians, Greeks, Armenians, Albanians, Italians, 

 French, Jews, and Zingares. 



Though attached for ages to the same country, united by a 

 common interest, governed, in several respects, by the same 

 laws, and living, for the most part, in good intelligence with 

 each other, the diversities here enumerated remain distinct. 

 Each retains, with a sort of pride, the remembrance of its 

 origin, and the alliances they contract are within the limits of 

 its pale. Thus they preserve their dialect, manners, customs, 

 and very often a peculiar physiognomy. 



The Slowacks, called also Bohemian Slavi, designated, in 

 French, by the generic term, Sclavonian, mostly inhabit the 

 mountainous part in the north of Hungary. They nearly com- 

 pose the entire population of the Comitats of Presburg, Niyi- 

 tra, Trentsen, Thurotz, Arva, Liptot, Zolyom, Bacs, Gomor, 

 Nograd, and Gran. These Sclavonians are probably the re- 

 mains of the extensive Moravian kingdom, and, of course, the 

 natural inhabitants of the country. They are more active and 

 more industrious than the Hungarians, and have spread their 

 colonies, in our times, into different parts of the flat country 



VOYAGES and TRAVELS, No. L, VOL. IX. B 



