464 HUNGARY. 



Metals and minerals Hungary contains mines of gold, silver, 



copper, very rich antimony, coal, salt, and alum. The gold mines are 

 at Cremnitz, about 40 miles to the south of the Carpathian mountains ; 

 and the silver at Shemnitz, about 20 miles further to the south. Seve- 

 ral kinds of precious stones are found in Hungary, particularly that 

 beautiful gem the opal, which has hitherto been discovered in no other 

 country in the world. 



Climate, soil, and produce. ...The climate of the southern parts 

 of Hungary is found to be unhealthful, owing to its numerous lakes, 

 stagnated waters, and marshes ; but the northern part being mountain- 

 ous and barren, the air is pure and wholesome. No country in the 

 world can boast a richer soil than that plain which extends 300 miles, 

 from Presburg to Belgrade, and produces corn, gi'ass, tobacco, saffren, 

 asparagus, melons, hops, pulse, millet, buck-wheat, delicious grapes, 

 and fruits of various kinds. 



Vkgetables... ..Besides those already enumerated, the vines of 

 Hungary deserve particular attention for the excellent Mine afforded 

 by their grapes, particularly the celebrated Tokay, which has received 

 its name from a town in the north of Hungary, in the vicinity of which 

 i.t is made in the greatest perfection. 



Animals Hungary is remarkable for a fine breed of horses, gene- 

 rally mouse-coloured and highly esteemed by military officers, so that 

 great numbers of them are exported. There is a remarkable breed 

 of large rams in the neighbourhood of Presburg. The other animals 

 of Hungary, are in general, the same with those of Germany and the 

 neighbouring countries. 



Natural curiosities Near Szadcllo, about 30 miles from Cas- 



chau. is an extraordinary cavern, of such prodigious extent that it is 

 reported by the natives to reach several miles under the hills, and has 

 never been completely explored. It includes within it, different caves 

 and passages, which contain numerous stalactites of various sizes. 

 « It is such a labyrinth," says Dr. Tovvnson, a late intelligent traveller 

 in Hungary, " that I firmly believe that a man, once lost in it, though 

 he have lights and food enough to last him a month, would not be able 

 to find his Avay out." And Mr. Korabinsky, a German writer, says 

 that it is of such astonishing dimensions in length, that two members 

 of the Royal Society of London, who were sent some years ago into 

 Hungary, by the society, to examine this and other curiosities, after 

 remaining in it three days, could never get to the end of it, nor find ^n 

 opening. 



Near Szilitze is another celebrated cavern, about 100 feet broad, 15Q 

 deep or long, and 20 or 30 high From the roof, at the further end, 

 hangs an immense icicle, or rather a congeries of icicles ; and in one 

 corner is a great mass of ice. This ice, it is said, thaws in the winter, 

 when the ground without is covered with snow, and freezes again amid 

 the heats of summer. But this is no doubt an exaggeration, in con- 

 sequence of the observers depending too much on their feelings ; the 

 cave, probably, always preserving the same temperature, which has 

 been found to be that of the freezing point. 



Near Demanovo, about 16 miles from Rosenburg, is a cavern full 

 of bones, of animals no doubt which have made it their haunt; but 

 among which the credulous pretend the complete skeleton of a dragon 

 has been found, which is preserved in the museum of the elector o( 

 Saxonv, at Dresden. 



