76 M. Beudant's Travels in Hungary. 



above another, and in the centre stands the castle on an iso- 

 lated rock, cut perpendicularly to the height of several yards. 

 In the remnant of the castle are certain chambers and apart- 

 ments, with ogive gates and windows, ornamented with little 

 pilasters, round or square, strongly reflecting the taste of the 

 ancients. But, in general, we see nothing but walls thrown 

 confusedly one over another, and filling the fosses with rub- 

 bish. In the inner court is a cistern in the shape of a bell, 

 into which all the waters from the different roofs emptied 

 themselves. Opposite this, in the middle of the wall, we ob- 

 serve a sculptured stone, containing some coats of arms, with 

 a Latin inscription half defaced, and the date of 1493 in Roman 

 ciphers. From the top of the walls the eye traces the course 

 of the Danube; meandering to the west behind the mountains, 

 and then turning abruptly to the south, his stream rolls onward 

 through the champaign districts of Pest, and the vast central 

 plain. As a comprehensive and animated view of the produc- 

 tions of nature, I was enchanted with it. 



As to the whole range of walls, they are composed of the 

 rocks whereof the mountain consists, but the gates and win- 

 dows, and all parts that require to be cut in regular forms, are 

 of very solid calcareous tuf, that contains in it a vast number 

 of vegetable impressions. These tufs have been brought 

 from the neighbourhood of Old Buda. 



In the environs of Vissegrad I first noticed (though I found 

 them, afterwards, in other parts along the Danube) two species 

 of fluviatile, or river shells, that are not common in Europe. 

 One belongs to the menalopside genus, and the other to the 

 Paludine ; the latter has obtained the name of Naticoide, 

 in a work now publishing by M. de Ferrusac. I was very 

 desirous to see their molluscae, or living animals, in order 

 to study their characters, but could not succeed : the shells of 

 both are defended with corneated opercules. 



Here 1 may observe that immense collections of fossil shells, 

 such as are only to be found in the sea, have been excavated 

 in the hills of freestone that run from north to south, be- 

 tween the rivers of Gran and Ypoli. I have remarked also 

 numberless beds of different shells, with strata of lignites, in 

 carbonaceous substances, in my rambles through Hungary. 



On the flanks of the freestone hills, and on the banks of the 

 rivers that intersect them, are still found the remains of large 

 animals, as teeth, heads, thighs of the elephant and mammoth; 

 several of these are deposited in the cabinet of Pest. There 

 are specimens of the elephants of Asia and the elephants of 

 Africa, Those bony fragments have been found in various 



