THE LAND OF CONTRAST : AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



1217 



whom is still to be seen, a more likely 

 story credits the road to Emperor Ti- 

 berius in A. D. 33-34. 



In places, where to hew out the solid 

 rock seemed too big a task, the road was 

 of wood. The wooden structure has long 

 since rotted away, but the holes in the 

 solid rock, into which the supporting tim- 

 bers went, are still plainly to be seen. 



On the left hand or Hungarian side is 

 the Szechenyi Road, a splendid and com- 

 paratively modern structure, and a monu- 

 ment to Count Szechenyi, one of the most 

 illustrious of Hungarians, who in the 

 early days did much to foster Danube 

 navigation. 



Even in this remote corner of Austria- 

 Hungary the strong arm of the law is 

 ever present, the river stretches and the 

 back country being policed by a heavily 

 armed rural constabulary. Splendid order 



is maintained and the valuable fishing 

 along the river is protected from poach- 

 ing. In these lower reaches of the Dan- 

 ube, as in the other rivers emptying into 

 the Black and Caspian Seas, sturgeon of 

 the variety contributing the choicest of 

 caviare and the best quality of isinglass, 

 are found in abundance, and their catch 

 forms a quite considerable occupation 

 of the river people. Strangely enough, 

 though, at Orsova, Hungary, in the cen- 

 ter of the Danube caviare industry, one 

 pays almost as much for a small portion 

 of these palatable fish eggs as in a first- 

 class New York restaurant. 



At Orsova Hungary ends, and as the 

 traveller follows the Danube to the sea 

 he finds Rumania to his left and on his 

 right the dominions of the luckiest of all 

 the princes of the lucky house of Saxe- 

 Coburg, Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. 



Photo by D. C. Falls, 



HUNGARIAN GENTLEMEN IN PROCESSION : BUDAPEST 



