112 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



and before us lay a narrow plateau decked with fields and a 

 few trees, while beyond it rose the high, splendidly wooded 

 summits of the Fruska-Gora mountains stretching in long 

 lines from east to west. It was a wonderful view. Behind 



V 



us was the steep slope with the terraced village of Cerevic, 

 looking picturesque from above ; below it the broad Danube, 

 bordered on one side by rich meadows and vine-clad hills, 

 and on the other by the low-lying Hungarian plains, on which 

 were shining solitary villages lit up by the sun, while in the 

 distance the curved horizon melted into the dark blue sky as 

 it does at; sea. To our right and left we could see the blue 

 line of the river winding along, with its fringe of hills and 

 " au " woods, and far away to the east the scene was bounded 

 by the hill on which rose the finely situated fortress of Peter- 

 wardein. Still, the most beautiful part of this extraordinarily 

 grand panorama was undoubtedly the range of the Fruska- 

 Gora itself, for from this point we already saw a maze of wild 

 valleys and hillsides, all clothed with the most magnificent 

 deciduous woods. 



After spending about half an hour in driving across the 

 bare plateau and through deep hollows, we reached a valley 

 with a little stream winding along it, where the beginning of 

 a lovely woodland glade opened to our view, for we had got 

 to the fringe of the forests. 



A road reduced to a frightful condition by the recent rains 

 led us over a little brook, across pools of water, up steep 

 slopes, and through deep hollows, towards the interior of the 

 woods, and the further up the valley we went the more lovely 

 and charming grew the surrounding landscape. Right and 

 left steep wooded slopes, high hilltops covered with the most 

 superb beech woods, and now and then varied by copses, 

 rampantly overgrown clearings, and small marshy glades, 

 were the principal characteristics of this strikingly beautiful 

 district. The style of the whole scene chiefly reminded me ot 



