556 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



other, I may leave the rest to the most lively imagination without 

 fearing that it will be likely to exceed the actual state of things. 

 For my own part I was reminded of a camp of Arab nomad herds- 

 men which I had once seen in the primitive forests of Central 

 Africa. 



At dusk, under pouring rain, we reached our comfortable vessel. 

 Rain fell the following morning also, the whole day was gloomy, 

 and our expedition was proportionately disappointing. All this 

 impelled us to continue our journey, though we look back gratefully 

 on those pleasant days on the Bellye estate, and though it would 

 have been well worth while to have observed and collected there a 

 few days longer. With warm and well-earned words of praise the 

 Crown Prince bade farewell to the officials on the archducal estate; 

 one glance more at the woods which had offered us so much, and our 

 swift little- vessel steams down the Danube again. After a few 

 hours we reach Draueck, the mouth of the river Drau, which thence- 

 forward seems to determine the direction of the Danube bed. One 

 of the grandest river pictures I have ever seen presented itself to our 

 gaze. A vast sheet of water spread out before us; towards the 

 south it is bounded by smiling hills, on all the other sides by 

 forests, such as we had already seen. Neither the course of the 

 main stream nor the bed of its tributary could be made out; the 

 whole enormous sheet of water was like an inclosed lake whose 

 banks were only visible at the chain of hills above mentioned; for 

 through the green vistas of the forest one saw more water, thickets, 

 and reed-beds, these last covering the great marsh of Hullo, which 

 stretches out in apparently endless extent. Giant tree -trunks, 

 carried down by both streams, and only partly submerged, assumed 

 the most fantastic shapes; it seemed as if fabled creatures of the 

 primitive world reared their scaly bodies above the dark flood. 

 For the "blonde" Danube looked dark, almost black, as we sped 

 through the Draueck. Grayish-black and dark-blue thunder-clouds 

 hung in the heavens, apparently also amidst the hundred-toned 

 green of the forests, and over the unvarying faded yellow of the 

 reed-beds; flashes of lightning illumined the whole picture vividly; 

 the rain splashed down; the thunder rolled; the wind howled 



