258 
FROM THE PASSAGE OF MOUNT H^EMUS, 
CHAP, whole population is reduced to the lowest stat« 
II 
. of vassalage. Yet, in the midst of their 
wretchedness, living in huts built of mud and 
thatched with reeds, without one comfort of 
life, the fValachians^ always appeared to us to 
be cheerful. The postillions who drove us 
were remarkable for their gaiety ; aiming at 
speed even in the deepest mud, and galloping 
their horses at a furious rate, with shouts and 
songs, whenever it was possible to do so. 
Language Nothing appeared to us more remarkable than 
of Wala. ,y ^ t • i /• -^ 
chia. the language. It is not enough to say ot it, 
that it is nearly allied to the Latin : it is in 
many respects purely so ; the difference 
between our way of speaking Latin, and theirs» 
consisting only in the pronunciation. All the 
principal names of things that a traveller re- 
quires, particularly of provisions, are Latin 
words'. To what can this be attributed, but to 
(1) The original name of this people is derived from Vlach; which, 
in the ///y»7an language, signifies a. herdsman; hence, TVlacId, and 
fValachia, " Vlach bedeutet im Dalmatiseh — Sclavischen einen 
Hirten : daraus bildeten die Griechen ihr TVlachi, und andere 
Sprachen ihre Walachen." Mithridates, p. 723. Berlin, 1809. 
(2) According to Thunmann, as cited by Adelung, half the Wala- 
chian language consists of Latin words : the other half is made up of 
words derived from the Greek, Gothic, or Turkish, and Sclavonian 
languages. 
" Thunmann fand, dass die halftc der ThracLjch-Walachischen 
Worter 
