FIFTH DAY. 71 



how largely the administration of the estate and all its 

 officials are imbued with the extremely noble and hospitable 

 spirit of its proprietor. 



Our drive now began. In the first carriage went the 

 Land Steward, to show the way. My brother-in-law and 

 I followed him, and behind us stretched a whole caravan 

 of vehicles, for we had taken a good many men with us, 

 all of whom we certainly required for our sport. 



The road at first ran straight along the embankment, and 

 was somewhat rough and fatiguing ; but in Slavonia, a 

 few days later, we should assuredly have called it a high- 

 way. Here the stately and partly-flooded woods that at first 

 rose on either hand gradually disappeared on the right, and 

 were replaced by stubbed-up clearings and marshy pastures ; 

 for we had reached the outskirts of the forests, and my 

 great desire of seeing what the outer surroundings of these 

 Hungarian "auen" looked like was now gratified. 



I found that the character of this district strongly reminded 

 me of the northern fringe of our splendid Lower Austrian 

 "auen" at Stadll-Enzersdorf and Miihllenten ; for the 

 connected forests tailed off in willow woods, succeeded by 

 almost stagnant watercourses, damp pastures, copses well 

 stocked with singing birds and ornamented with a few 

 high trees, and finally by detached patches of beautiful 

 oak woods with a bushy undergrowth. Our way led through 

 the whole of this park-like country, from the "auen" them- 

 selves to their outermost borders, and the further we got 

 into the region of the inland woods the more animated and 

 rich in species was the world of small birds and the more did 

 the entries in our note-books resemble hieroglyphics ; for the 

 increasing roughness of this very Hungarian road allowed of 

 nothing better. 



The true " auen " of the islands and wildernesses are 

 poor in small birds ; for though they harbour many stately 



