106 AUSTRIA-HUNGAEY. 



vast encampments, recalling the time when the Magyars were still nomads, 

 municipal buildings and church occupying the central site formerly reserved for 

 the tents of the chief. When the Turks invaded the country, it never struck the 

 Magyar peasants that, like the Saxons in Transylvania, they might raise walls as 

 a defence against the invader. 



The spirit of the race may possibly account for the arrangement of the Magyar 

 towns, but we must not lose sight of the fact that in the Alfold the villages of 

 Servians, Slovaks, and Rumanians are in every respect similar to the Faluk of 

 the Magyars. Elsewhere, too, where the nature of the country is the same, as in 

 the Landes or in the prairies of America, we meet with towns of the same charac- 

 ter ; but in no other part of Europe is this character so strongly developed. For 

 hours we ride through the streets of Szabadka, Kecskemet, Debreczen, or 

 Féleo-vbâza without meeting anything to break the monotony. And yet these 



Fig. 66.— The Coal Basix of the Upper Sil. 

 Scale 1 : 500,000. 



E. of Pans 2 



E.of G. 2Ô°l2<y 



5 Miles. 



are " cities " or " towns," and there are " villages " of 10,000 and more inhabitants 

 which resemble them in every respect. On an average each " town " of the Alfold 

 has an area of 23 square miles, and rivals Washington in its "magnificent 

 distances." Szabadka covers no less than 34Ô square miles. 



Buda-Pest {Pcsth and Of en in German), with its ever-increasing population,* 

 is being rapidly transformed into a thoroughly European city. The surrounding 

 country, with its noble river, its hills, and its distant mountains, contributes much 

 towards ennobling the appearance of the town. The fine buildings which line 

 the left bank, the edifices suspended upon the slopes of Buda, the steeples and 

 cupolas, the airy suspension bridge, the iron viaduct higher up, and the steamers 

 moving majestically along the river impart an air of grandeur to the city which we 

 frequently miss in towns of much more importance, and notably in Vienna. The 



* Pest, exclusive of Buda, had 101,300 inhabitinls in 1849, 200,500 in 1870. In 1877 the two towns 

 had an estimated population of 320,000 souls. 



