DEER SHOOTING HUNGARY. 271 



remains of some old castle or fortress, erected as a defence 

 against the invasions of the Turks or Wallachians. I floated 

 down this magnificent river with feelings of respect and 

 admiration; this great European artery, which, completely 

 governed by the power of steam, and connected with the Rhine 

 by railways, cuts Europe completely in two from the German 

 Ocean to the Bosphorus. We breakfasted at Presburg. It 

 happened to be a market-day, and I had a good opportunity 

 of observing that curious and interesting spectacle of an 

 original physiognomy beneath a national costume. The men 

 all wore fur caps, or great hats of black felt. Some were 

 dressed in the embroidered pelisse of a hussar, which is the 

 true Hungarian costume; others in the large and heavy 

 white mantle of the Sclavonian ; besides this, it was easy to 

 distinguish by a certain mark the inhabitants of the two 

 countries. Every Hungarian had moustachios, black, brown, 

 red, grey, or white, as nature and age had appointed; the 

 Sclavonians were close shaved. As to the women, they were 

 completely enveloped in their long woollen shawls, of a red, 

 blue, green, or other colour; nearly all had naked legs and 

 feet, and the few that adopted the luxury of a chaussure, 

 wore, like the men, heavy and coarse nailed boots. Here, 

 as in most other parts of Germany, they are condemned to 

 the most laborious occupations both in towns and in the 

 country. The women hand the hods to the masons, manu- 

 facture mortar, and carry bricks up the ladders, a species of 

 occupation where decency suffers as much as humanity. 

 Our journey along the high road was full of curious objects 

 to a stranger. We sometimes met whole trunks of colossal 

 trees placed upon a carriage, composed of two wheels, drawn 

 by those enormous grey oxen, with gigantic horns, which are 

 only met with in Hungary, en route from the mountains to 

 the river. Sometimes little wicker carts, in which a whole 

 family was stowed together like a bundle of dirty clothes; 



