120 M* Beudant's Travels in Hungary. 



ground, with their craggy precipices and retired glens, shaded, at 

 intervals, by stately foliage, produce an effect truly picturesque. 

 To complete the attractions of the spot, Buda presents an amphi- 

 theatre of houses that contrast with the rusticity of the other 

 scenery, and the palace of the Viceroy, on the summit of the 

 hill, fills up a space of ground, insulated from the other buildings. 



In Pest we have the bustle and activity of a commercial town 

 compared with it Budha has asequestered character, and with some 

 might appear to superabound with solitude. It has no other trade 

 than what its daily consumption requires, and throughout the 

 fine season the noblesse retire to their estates, when their 

 absence leaves a chasm which the other enjoyments of life seem 

 unable to supply. In winter the scene changes, cheerfulness 

 and vivacity return ; it becomes the festive season of the year, and 

 families repair in whole groupes to Buda, where the townsmen may 

 welcome them as an annual boon. We then no longer view the 

 place through a gloomy medium ; we enjoy the first society, and 

 from the diffusion of that wealth which the opulent possess, others 

 are enabled to support more comfortable establishments. The 

 town is not so extensive as Pest ; its situation on a hill -"-oves an 

 insurmountable obstacle to this. It is pretty much in tne same 

 situation it was in fifty years ago, but as it was long the residence 

 of the kings, and is now of the viceroy or palatine, it becomes of 

 course the rendezvous of a part of the noblesse. Indeed, the 

 town is very well built, and in a manner far superior to Pest. 

 There are many superb hotels, or mansions, that have an air of 

 grandeur more easy to conceive than to express, and not be found 

 in a mere trading town. Their interior also is very nobly fitted up. 

 The palace of the Viceroy, in some measure rebuilt by Maria 

 Theresa, is of an immense extent, and being very agreeably 

 situated, it is but justice to say that it forms a splendid, and even 

 princely residence. 



In Hungary, horses are not harnessed in pairs, but one to draw 

 behind another. Three horses will answer the purpose best, so 

 that one may be less fatigued than the others. It would even be 

 advisable to have one horse running loose along side, each to 

 have this indulgence in rotation. 



My first object, after leaving Buda, was to visit certain hills 

 on the road to Marton Vasar, which, from their collections of 

 calcareous shell-work, more strikingly resemble the quarries 

 about Paris, than even those at Pest. The cellars and caves in 

 and about the villages, and at Promontorium, have been worked 

 in these depdts. 



Among other depots of shells, I visited one on the sides of a. 

 height, between Biske and Ober Galla, where the quantity is 

 immense. They consist of various genera, but it was not possible 



