98 AUSTEIA-HUNGAEY. 



population ; but in the south, where they settled in compact bodies, they 

 have preserved their nationality. Brave, intelligent, and patriotic, the halt- 

 million Servians now form an important element amongst the nations inhabiting 

 Hungary. They offer a more persistent resistance to the political preponderance 

 of the Magyars than either Slovaks, Germans, or Rumanians, and in 1848 and 

 1849 they furiously resi.-^ted their pretensions in many a hard-fought battle. 

 One of their societies, known as Matica, or the "Mother of Bees," has done 

 much for the elucidation of Servian history and philology ; another, the Omladina, 

 or " Youno- Men's Society," has become formidable politicall3^ Novisad (Neusatz) 

 is the literary and religious centre of the Servians of Hungary, They are the 

 kinsmen of Croats, Bosnians, and Dalmatians, but religious differences have created 

 a strong barrier between Roman Catholic Croats and Greek orthodox Servians. 

 The Chohaczes, or Bunyevaczes, who live at Maria-Theresiopel and elsewhere, are 

 supposed to be descended from Dalmatian immigrants. They, too, are Catholics. 



Representatives of other Slav nations are found within the boundaries of 

 Hungary. More than 100,000 Croats have settled to the north of the Drave ; 

 Wends, or Slovenes, are met with towards the w^estern frontier ; 20,000 

 Bulgarians have founded colonies amongst the Rumanians of the Banat ; 

 and Poles have established themselves on the southern slopes of the Carpathians. 

 In Transylvania, however, hardly any Slavs arc found now, although, judging 

 from the geographical nomenclature, they must formerly have been numerous. 

 That country is now almost exclusively in the possession of Magyars Germans, 

 and Rumanians, the latter forming a majority of the population. 



The Wallachians of Transylvania, whether we look upon them as Latinised 

 Dacians or as the descendants of immigrants come from the south, played 

 no historical part in the Middle Ages. They are first mentioned about the 

 middle of the fifteenth century. The towns founded or rebuilt by the Romans 

 were then no longer known by their Latin names. Even famous Sarmizege- 

 thusa, subsequently named Ulpia Trajana, in honour of the conqueror of Dacia, 

 had dwindled down into a poor village, knOvvn to the Rumanians by its Slav 

 name of Gredistya. All traditions of a dominion of Rome had died out. 



The recent revival of the Rumanian nation is therefore one of the most 

 interesting events in history. Rumanians in compact masses occupy a con- 

 siderable portion of the Banat and of the hilly regions looking down upon the 

 plain of Hungary. The Szekely and " Saxons " of Transylvania are completely 

 surrounded by this Latin- speaking people. The Slavs who formerly lived in 

 Transylvania have been absorbed by them, and their memory only survives 

 in the names of mountains, of rivers, and of towns. Magyars and Germans have 

 resisted Latinisation, but the natural increase of the Rumanians being greater 

 than theirs, they virtually lose ground likewise.* 



Whenever one or more Rumanian families settle down in a vilhige they not 

 only preserve their language, but gain over to it many of the other inhabitants. 



* PopuLition of Transylvania:— In 17^1, 547.250 Rumans, 262,000 Jlagyars and Szekely, 130,500 

 Germans. In 1877, 1,275,000 Eumans, 625,000 Magyars at'd Szekely, 210,000 Germans, 17,000 

 Jews. 



