558 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



with fragrant blossom, which brightened the whole landscape; on 

 the banks, beside the road which usually led through the valleys, 

 there was a dense growth of bushes, and the refreshing charm of 

 the wealth of blossom was enhanced by the murmuring brooks 

 and trickling runlets of water. From the first heights we reached 

 the view was surprisingly beautiful. In the foreground lay the 

 picturesque village of Cerewic; then the broad Danube, with its 

 meadow-forests on the opposite shore; behind these stretched the 

 boundless Hungarian plain, exhibiting to the spectator its fields 

 and meadows, woods and marshes, villages and market towns in an 

 unsteady, changeful light, which gave them a peculiar charm; in 

 the east lay the stronghold of Peterwardein. Larks rose singing 

 from the fields; the nightingale poured forth its tuneful lay from 

 the bushes; the cheery song of the rock- thrush rang down from the 

 vineyards; and two species of vulture and three kinds of eagle were 

 describing great circles high in the air. 



When we had gone a little farther we lost sight of river, villages, 

 and fields, and entered one of the secluded forest -valleys. The 

 sides of the mountain rise precipitously from it, and, like the ridges 

 and slopes, they are densely wooded, though the trees are not very 

 tall. Oaks and limes, elms and maples predominate in some places, 

 copper-beeches and hornbeams in others; thick, low bushes, which 

 shelter many a pair of nightingales, are scattered about the out- 

 skirts of the forest. No magnificent far-reaching views reward the 

 traveller who climbs to the highest ridge to see Hungary lying to 

 the north, and Servia to the south; but the mysterious darkness of 

 the forest soothes soul and sense. From the main ridge, which is 

 at most 3000 feet in height, many chains branch off on either side 

 almost at right angles, and have a fine effect from whatever side 

 one looks at them. Among them are valleys or enclosed basins 

 whose steep walls make transport of felled wood impossible, and 

 which therefore display all the natural luxuriance of forest growth; 

 Gigantic beeches, with straight trunks smooth up to the spreading 

 crown, rise from amid mouldering leaves in which the huntsman 

 sinks to the knee; gnarled oaks raise their rugged heads into the 

 air as if to invite the birds of prey to nest there; dome-like limes 



