158 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



monasteries. In the evening I was to drive back to the 

 shooting-lodge and there meet my brother-in-law. 



We left the steamer about six in the morning, and getting 

 into the carts which were ready waiting, separated in various 

 directions. My brother-in-law and I went straight towards 

 the Fruska-Gora, and I then turned eastwards down-stream 

 and drove a good way along the so-called highroad at the 

 base of the hills. There the flats by the river bank widen out, 

 and the space between the steep outlying heights and the 

 Danube is chiefly occupied by marshy meadows and pastures. 

 Lapwings and ducks peopled this ground, and I noticed a 

 White Stork standing bolt upright on one leg a long way 

 off. As this bird has now become rather rare in other parts 

 of the Empire, and I had never shot it, I determined to try 

 and approach it in the carriage, a manoeuvre which succeeded 

 fairly well, for it allowed us to come remarkably near. My 

 jager, however, persuaded me to fire a risky shot before we had 

 got within really good range of it, and the poor bird flew 

 over the river to the Hungarian plains only slightly wounded, 

 while we regained the highroad by following a miserable 

 and almost bottomless track through the marshes. 



An extraordinary sort of cart had followed us from Cerevic 

 with two fat and not over-clean Greek priests, who had 

 most kindly invited us to shoot in their woods, by a letter 

 written half in Servian and half in Latin, and very badly 

 spelt. One of these priests had an extremely beautiful head, 

 with long black hair falling in ringlets over his shoulders and 

 a glossy black beard hanging down below his chest. The 

 other was an old gentleman already rather bent. 



Our way led us past a rather dilapidated farm-yard, also 

 belonging to the monasteries, where pigs, miserable cattle, 

 and emaciated horses were wandering about a meadow ; and 

 after a good half-hour we reached a village, drove through it, 

 and passing a rather singular gipsy encampment penetrated 



