Journey from Vienna. 71 



that form the limits of the two comitats. The forms of these 

 are often Very grotesque, from having been rent into various 

 shapes. A very narrow path rises very rapidly, and in the de- 

 clivities of some of the mountains I observed a very thick ve- 

 getation, which, though unfavourable to the geologist, would 

 offer an ample field of research to the botanical enquirer. 

 Here were plants, to a great number of which I was a stranger ; 

 nnfortuHately, those 1 had collected during my travels were 

 lost, among many other objects of natural history. I particu- 

 larly regret a multitude of insects, collected in different coun- 

 tries and elevations of the mountains, which required classifi- 

 cation in the various branches of entomology. 



The town of Kremnitz (Kormecz Banya, Hung.) is one of 

 the most ancient royal free towns of Hungary. It is said to 

 have had mines worked in the time of the Romans, but in the 

 middle ages, the Germans resumed the labours, and gave rise 

 to the town. It is they, in fact, who have successively renew- 

 ed it, after the various devastations it underwent, in common 

 with other places. Many Germans yet remain in the country, 

 who speak an unintelligible Gothic German, as harsh in pro- 

 nunciation as the German Swiss. The town lies in the bottom 

 of a narrow valley, overlooked on the right and left by high 

 mountains ; its position is far from being agreeable, and ils in- 

 terior has little to exhibit but the mint, to which all the gold 

 and silver from the mines of the whole kingdom is conveyed 

 to be inspected, and where all the preparatory operations, as 

 that of acids, &c. are conducted on a great scale. Out of this 

 establishment, which also stands in need o improvement, 

 there is little worth seeing, and a stranger would find it diffi- 

 cult to get a decent lodging. I could not have procured a 

 lodging in the only public house that was shewn me, if an in- 

 dividual, to whom I applied in the street, had not generously 

 pleaded my cause with the hostess, who, yielding to his request, 

 helped me to some bad soup, and to something of the same 

 nature, called kneps. She assured me that there were no eggs 

 in the town, and to get a wretched fowl at night, my servant 

 was obliged to threaten the hens that were running about the 

 house. It was a Friday, and the people here, scrupulously 

 adhering to the laws of the church, observe meagre days, and 

 cannot conceive how a traveller dare do otherwise. I have 

 sometimes dined with the curates on these days, and meat then 

 was provided for myself, while they contented themselves 

 with a few vegetables. 



One general observation I made respecting Kremnitz, that 

 it is only in one species of earth or soil, trachyte, that the 

 mines are found. In that, and the concomitant characters, 



