14 TEAYEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT. 



were visible the spires and roofs of a large town. 

 At last, after rowing through an immense amount of 

 floating debris, which impeded our progress at every 

 moment, we arrived at the long black strip of earth, 

 and found it crowded with thousands of people in a 

 state of unresting activity. Men, women, and chil- 

 dren were busied bringing up earth, as fast as hands 

 and feet could work. We moored our boats to the 

 long white piles that had been driven in to strengthen 

 the embankment, and stepped ashore with the utmost 

 care, in order not to displace the loose earth on that 

 weak and frail construction. On landing, we found 

 to our astonishment that the fall on the inner side 

 of the dike was from fifteen to twenty feet ; and the 

 greater part of Szegedin itself was standing on a level 

 as low, or nearly so. The situation of affairs was simply 

 appalling ! My first thought was the utter hopeless- 

 ness of keeping back such a sea of waters by this 

 narrow strip of earth. The wind had been steadily 

 rising since the morning, and the waves were already 

 beginning to beat with considerable force against the 

 outer side of the dike : the flood, I must observe, 

 was already five feet above the original level of the 

 railway embankment. The defence that the inhabi- 

 tants of Szegedin were now making was, in reality, 

 a second dike, raised on the substructure of the rail- 

 Avay, extending about four miles in length. It was 

 touching in the extreme to see these hundreds of 

 busy workers ; such a motley group as are not often 



