12 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET. 



bravely than the others ; here the gable-end of a 

 cottage with its chimney-stack, and there, higher than 

 the rest, there remained the section of a house, stand- 

 ing up as it were a witness against the cruel flood. 

 The waves were beating at its basement, but above in 

 the little upper storey were seen pots and pans still 

 hanging on hooks on the wall. I noticed also some 

 pictures of saints, and a portrait of poor Batthianyi, 

 who met his cruel death at the hands of the Austrians 

 in 1849. His portrait, by the way, may be found in 

 nearly every Hungarian hovel. 



After giving a sharp look-out for any poor soul in 

 need of help, amidst the tufts of ruin or floating 

 debris, we came to the conclusion, or at least we hoped, 

 that the villagers had saved themselves by timely flight; 

 for there were no living things to be seen, except two 

 or three cats, and a good many fowls, on the open 

 rafters which still spanned the waters. I counted 

 more than a dozen guinea-fowl on a hay-rick, which, 

 strange to say, had resisted the waves. Even during 

 our short tour of inspection, the wind had driven such 

 a mass of wreckage across the way we had come, 

 that it was difficult to steer back through the floating 

 heaps of furniture, doors, window-frames, and rafters, 

 the latter sticking up here and there like dangerous 

 snags. Far and near the surface of the water was 

 covered with hay, straw, and the stalks of Indian 

 corn ; utter havoc everywhere. 



After leaving this village, we turned our boats 



