SEVENTH DAY. Ill 



were working at the skins under the supervision of Hodek 

 junior, while the already finished specimens were drying in the 

 sun. The blood of the slain birds, moreover, and the feathers, 

 bones, and dirt of the whole menagerie gave our floating 

 home anything but a clean appearance. 



At length the wished-for hour arrived, and we left the 

 steamer and got into the carts which Count Chotek had 

 ordered to the bank. Great was the astonishment of the 

 natives when they suddenly saw the costume of a Styrian 

 sportsman the chamois leather and the bare knees so totally 

 unknown in these districts ; for on learning that the slopes 

 of the Fruska-Gora were pretty steep and difficult, I had 

 changed my ordinary shooting-suit for the attire of an Alpine 

 hunter, undoubtedly the most comfortable dress that exists. 



Count Chotek and Bombelles drove in the first vehicle, 

 followed by my brother-in-law and myself, the two Savants, 

 and lastly by the Count's Land-Steward a capital sportsman 

 and some other members of the Count's shooting staff. The 

 light carts were all drawn by pony-like home-bred horses, 

 whose extraordinary qualities we learnt to thoroughly admire 

 and appreciate during the next few hours, and still more so 

 in the following days. 



At first the way wound through several streets of this 

 tolerably extensive village, which lies upon a steep slope, 

 down which the water runs and reduces the streets to the pri- 

 mitive condition of a swamp. Here we progressed but slowly 

 and roughly ; so how would it be when we got into the 

 interior of the country occupied our thoughts at the beginning 

 of this expedition. 



Hardly were we out of the village when the road passed 

 between vine-clad hills and stony slopes. No civilized town- 

 bred horse could have surmounted the ascents which the Sla- 

 vonian ponies were playfully pulling us up. In a quarter of 

 an hour we had reached the crest of this bare chain of heights, 



