24 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



with a few detached plants, the incessant barking of dogs, 

 the clang of cattle-bells, and the wild cries of herdsmen, are 

 the features of scenes that the traveller everywhere meets 

 with throughout the domains belonging to the Crown of 

 St. Stephen. There is in them, however, a thoroughly 

 characteristic individuality which exercises a powerful attrac- 

 tion on everyone who has spent much of his life in this part 

 of the country, and which fills him with a violent home sick- 

 ness when he finds himself amidst the stereotyped uniformity 

 of Western Europe. We also saw villages clinging to steep 

 vine-clad hills, with their houses in terraces one above another, 

 while their churches stood either on the ridges or at the base 

 of the hills. 



The left bank of the river presented a monotonous picture, 

 for at first there was nothing to be seen but willows, patches 

 of sand, and a few very unimportant woods, and it was not 

 until we had passed Duna-Foldvar that we came to a rather 

 large swamp, followed by a fine and much flooded " au.*' 



A good way below Paks we were told that we were just 

 passing the town of Kalocsa, the residence of Archbishop 

 Haynald ; but unfortunately we could not see the place, as it 

 lay pretty far inland. 



Up to this point the Danube flows in one great channel 

 and is not yet split up into various branches. A great many 

 small, but only a few large, islands rise from the middle of 

 the stream, most of them being adorned with beautiful 

 "auen," just like those on the island of Adony and near 

 Vienna. There was, however, no wild primeval growth of 

 forest, and we began to think that the river would be like 

 this all the way down, but we were to become better informed 

 during the course of the afternoon. The true great " auen " 

 of Southern Hungary begin immediately below Kalocsa, 

 where the river divides itself into several channels and forms 

 large thickly wooded islands. 



