92 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
striking traces of their Eastern origin in certain parts of their 
costume. 
As it was now evening, almost the whole community had 
returned from their work, and were to be seen in the main 
street. Some of the figures were fine, tall, and very beautiful, 
especially those of the women, whose costume is very comical, 
and, according to civilized ideas, rather indelicate. Here was 
a plain proof that all the customs of social life are mere 
conventions, for with us there is nothing objectionable in 
women showing their faces unveiled, but it is not customary 
to see them with only a single skirt reaching no further than 
the knee, and which has, moreover, an opening on both sides 
up to the hips—a la belle Héléne. 
The Schokats, on the other hand, consider it improper to 
go about with the face exposed, and muffle it in prettily 
embroidered linen, leaving only a small opening for the eyes. 
The whole upper part of the body is also covered with similar 
wraps as far as the hips; then comes the skirt, which really 
consists of nothing but two aprons, one hanging in front and 
one behind, but hardly reaching the knee, while the interval 
along the thighs is quite bare, for the institution of the shift 
has not yet penetrated to these villages. Friend Brehm was 
quite charmed, and bitterly regretted that we could not stop 
in this village, as it would have been so well worth his while 
to have studied the customs and costumes of the country— of 
course only in the interests of ethnographical science ! 
We left the village behind us only too quickly, and drew 
nearer and nearer to the “auen,” our road passing through 
fields and pastures close to a large and very fine Archducal 
farm. Twilight had begun ; herons were flying from the 
“auen” to the flats, and the other birds had already gone to 
roost. 
A few hundred yards from the edge of the woods was a 
pasture, where a bird about the size of a Merlin was flitting 
