28 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



left stretched meadows and pastures, which, however, already 

 belonged to the district of the "auen," for behind them ran a 

 long belt of woods. 



Evening was coming on, the cattle were returning to the 

 villages, and the sun was setting over the hills and soon 

 vanished behind them. Overhead was a cloudless sky, and 

 the impressive silence was only broken by the tinkling bells 

 of the herds and the scream of the Lapwing. We were able 

 to travel on until nearly eight o'clock, so long did the light 

 last ; but we had still to cover a good stretch of the way 

 before the Captain could reach the spot where he intended to 

 pass the night. 



We soon left behind us the treeless banks and reached the 

 place where the Bega channel separates itself from the main 

 stream, the island thus formed being covered with beautiful 

 woods, with which we were to become more familiar in a few 

 days. 



From this point we had again to pass through " au " woods 

 equally luxuriant on both banks. Here the sun went down 

 in the true Hungarian manner, not at all as it does in Western 

 lands, and only those who have seen the splendid sunset 

 effects of Hungary can form any idea of them. In the west 

 was a glowing semicircle of brilliant red, the trees swayed 

 slowly in the evening breeze, the summits of the hills were 

 gilded by the last rays of the setting sun, and the scarlet of 

 the sky was mirrored in the quivering waters of the river. 

 In the east the leaden darkness was separated from the light 

 of the departing day by a belt of orange, and was broken by 

 a few bright isolated stars, while the low-lying woods and 

 swamps wrapped in blue vapours and feathery mists assumed 

 ghostly indefinite shapes as they gradually melted into each 

 other. The whole scene formed a marvellous picture of a 

 truly oriental splendour, which, seen in the deep silence of 



