8H 



AIJSTEIA-HUNGARY. 



Sea" by Magyar poets, although its shores were inhabited by Slovenes, and its 

 name is derived from a Slav word meaning " marsh." The Balaton recalls in no 

 sense the beautiful lakes of the Alps, but, although partly bounded by low marshes, 

 its northern shore is picturesque. Hills clad with forests or covered with vine- 

 yards bound it, old castles occupy the promontories, villas and villages lie 

 hidden in the valleys, and in the centre of the lake rises the volcanic cone of 

 Tihany. The fortified abbey built upon its summit long resisted the onslaughts 

 of the Turks, after all other castles had fallen. 



The waters of the Balaton are slightly brackish, for the lake is partly fed by 

 mineral springs, some of which are thermals, to judge from the differences of 

 temperature observed. The fishermen dwelling along its shores pretend to have 

 observed a tide, but this phenomenon is no doubt the same as that of the scicJies of 



Fig. 57. — The L.^ke of Neusiedl. 

 Senile 1 : 800,000. 



I 15' E.of Pari s 



Sommerein ^ o 



-ja) ^ % ^^ 



iZ^gO'E.ofGr. 



the Lake of Geneva (see vol. ii. p. 423). The average depth of the Balaton amounts 

 to 20 feet, and near the extinct volcano of Tihany, where it is deepest, it does 

 not exceed 150 feet. The lake is drained by the Si6, a small river flowing to the 

 Danube. The Komans first attempted to drain the lake, and since 1825, in which 

 year the work was resumed, 490 square miles of swamp have been gained to 

 cultivation. The lake itself has shrunk, for its level has fallen 39 inches. 

 Unfortunately the fine sand which covers the parts of its bed now exposed is 

 carried by the wind far into the country. A species of perch, known as foyas, is 

 caught in the lake, and highly valued for its flesh.* 



The Lake of Neusiedl lies in the plain bounded by the heights of the Leitha 

 and the Balcony. If it were not for the hills which shelter this lake on the west, 



* Altitude of Lake Balaton, 426 feet; average area, 266 square miles; contents, about 6,320,000,000 

 tons of water. 



