790 
BOUCHAREST. 
was a mere moving circle of both sexes side by side, clapping 
their hands occasionally, and now and then making a slow 
pirouette, in time with the music ; which by degrees increased 
in quickness, till the whole company danced, jumped, whirled 
and clapped their hands, like as many lunatics. This finished the 
national fete; and I must say, I never saw a society of people 
enjoy an entertainment of the sort with so much bon cceur. Our 
refreshments were profuse, being in every shape of ices, bon¬ 
bons, cakes, lemonades, fruits, punch, &c. and offered in¬ 
cessantly. At midnight the festivity was over. 
Boucharest affords nothing in the form of manufactures, or, in 
fact, any works of mechanical industry ; excepting the shops of 
a few German coachmakers ; who are kept in constant employ¬ 
ment, since it has become a fashion that no person pretending to 
any respectability can appear in the streets on foot. Indeed the 
number of carriages are so great, it is sometimes almost impossible 
to get along, it being a winter-diversion to drive up and down 
the town. In summer, they take a course of six or seven 
hundred in a string, to a pretty open scene called Hellestoo, 
about a mile from the city. Though 1 have not been able to 
trace any work of consequence employing the natives of the 
place, there is a very pretty one of a minor sort that particularly 
engaged my attention; a kind of rosary, which they make of 
dried rose-leaves formed into a paste, then moulded into beads, 
and afterwards stained a perfect black. They are light and 
beautiful, and retain their scent for a long time. The population 
of Boucharest is estimated at nearly 50,000 inhabitants; amongst 
whom are a multitude of gipseys as domestic slaves. Mr. Wil¬ 
kinson describes their numbers in both principalities, to amount 
to 150,000 souls; and though the period of their first coming into 
