CHAPTER XXX.
Hirsova—Russian Relics—Town of Silistria—Bravery of the Turks—Village of Turtuki—Group of Pelicans—Glorious Sunset—Ruschuk—Cheapness of Provisions—The Wallachian Coast—Bulgaria—Dense Fog—Orava—Roman Bath—Green Frogs—Widdin—Kalifet—Scala Glavoda—Custom House Officers—Disembarkation—Wallachian Mountains—A Landscape Sketch—Costume of the Servian Peasantry—The Village Belle—Primitive Carriages—The Porte de Fer—The Crucifix—Magnificent Scenery—Fine Ores.
At half past eleven in the morning we were off Hirsova, where we embarked some more deck-passengers, greatly to our annoyance and discomfort. The few straggling villages that we had passed since our departure from Galatz were of the most wretched description; and Hirsova itself is in a ruined state, having been besieged and taken by the Russians after a gallant resistance of fifty days. It is situated in a gorge between two rocks, and on the lower of the two stand the ruins of the Turkish fortress, of which only a few crumbling walls and a solitary buttress now remain. This fortress was unfortunately commanded by the opposite height on which the Russians threw up fortifications, under whose cover they kept up an incessant fire upon the town and the fort, and ultimately destroyed both. Scores of balls are still imbedded in the bank of the river, and along the shore; and, knowing what I do of the Turks, I have no doubt that it would be impossible to prevail on them to touch them, even for the purposes of traffic.
Wherever the boat stopped, crowds of the peasantry flocked to the edge of the water, and stood gazing at her in admiring wonder; for, as this was only her twelfth voyage, their curiosity and astonishment had not yet subsided. From Hirsova the landscape began to improve on the Bulgarian side. Groups of trees just touched with the first autumnal tints; and at intervals a glimpse of higher land in the distance, relieved the eye.
At two o’clock in the morning we arrived at Silistria, a small town surrounded by outworks, and celebrated for the brave resistance of its garrison of twelve thousand men, to an army of fifty thousand Russians. A resistance so obstinate, or I should rather say, so heroic, as to endure for nine long months; and to be terminated only by the utter destruction of the town, and the partial demolition of its defences. Ruin still cowers among its desolate dwellings, and Silistria is now peopled only by three thousand inhabitants; but it has earned for itself a place in the page of history, which could not be more worthily filled up.
At half past two in the afternoon we were off Turtuki; a very extensive village, presenting a most singular appearance; almost every cottage having a large haystack within the little garden fence, as large as the dwelling itself; and many of the cottages being hollowed in the rock; while strings of red capsicums wreathed most of the doorways, and gave a holyday aspect to the scene. A numerous population thronged the shore and the streets, who only paused in their several occupations for a moment as we passed, to watch our progress; and then resumed their primitive occupation of reed-thatching the cottages, or driving forth their cattle to the high lands in search of pasturage.
Such herds of horses, oxen, buffaloes, and pigs; such flocks of goats and sheep, as are scattered along the whole of the Bulgarian shore, I never saw in my life! The land in the immediate vicinity of Turtuki was highly cultivated, and abounded in corn-fields and vineyards; giving evidence of much greater energy and industry in its peasantry than any locality that we had yet witnessed. About half a mile above the village a row of water-mills, six in number, were moored across the current; each mill was supported on two floating barges of very curious construction, and as they were all at work they presented a singular appearance.
Shortly after we had passed Turtuki, we saw about twenty pelicans congregated on a bar of sand which projected into the river. And during the day we remarked several eagles on the wing; and numbers of the beautiful white aigrette herons, whose gleaming plumage glistened in the sunshine.
I never beheld a more glorious sunset than on this evening. We had passed several wooded islands, fringed with river-willows, and forming points of view that almost appeared to have been artificially produced; and we were just sailing past one of these, when the sun disappeared behind the high land by which it was backed, and shed over the sky tints so richly and so deeply marked, as to make the river-ripple sparkle like liquid gems; and to give to the stream the appearance of diluted amethysts and topaz. At this moment a sudden bend in the Danube brought us beneath a rock crowned with the crumbling ruins of a Genoese castle, at whose base a flock of goats were browsing on the green underwood that clothed its fissures. Nothing more was requisite to complete the beauty of the picture; and from this moment we all began to entertain hopes of an improvement in the aspect of the country through which we had yet to pass.
The next town we reached was Ruschuk, which is of considerable extent, walled, and surrounded by a ditch. It contains only three thousand inhabitants, though it formerly boasted thirty thousand, but exhibits no symptom of that desolation we had remarked in several other towns on the river. It possesses nine mosques; and its main street is wider and more carefully paved than any in Constantinople. Its principal trade is in salt from Olenitza, sugar, iron, and manufactured goods; its exports are livestock, grain, wool, and timber; and its industry comprises sail-making by the women, and boat-building by the men.
The extreme cheapness of food at Ruschuk struck me so much that I took some pains to ascertain the price of the most common articles of consumption; and I subjoin the result of my inquiries as a positive curiosity. Eggs were two hundred for a shilling—fowls were considered exorbitant; and the high value which they constantly maintained was accounted for by the fact that the market of Constantinople was in a great degree supplied from thence; they were twopence each—ducks and geese, from the same cause, cost two pence halfpenny; turkeys averaged tenpence, being a favourite food with the Orientals; beef three halfpence the oke, of two pounds and three quarters; mutton the same price—the wine of the country one piastre the quart—grapes a halfpenny the oke; melons and pasteks of immense size, three farthings each; bread equally cheap, but bad.
Shortly after leaving Ruschuk, I was amused for a considerable time in watching some cormorants that were diving for fish; while every sand in the shallows of the river was covered with hundreds of blue plover. Wild ducks and geese also flew past the vessel in clouds; and we purchased small sturgeon and sword-fish from a boat with which we came in contact.
The Wallachian coast still continued to present one swampy and uninteresting flat, save at distant intervals, when a scattered and treeless village, built upon the slope of a slight rise, broke for an instant upon its tame monotony. But Bulgaria grew in beauty as we approached its boundary. Noble hills, well clothed with trees gay in all the rainbow tints of autumn, and contrasting the deep rich umber hues of the fading beech, and the bright yellow of the withering walnut, with the gay red garlands of the wild vine, which flung its ruby-coloured wreaths from tree to tree, linking them together in one glowing wreath—Snug little villages, with each its tiny fleet of fishing-boats, and its sandy shore covered with groups of gazers; the better classes clad after the Asiatic fashion—the men wearing their turbans large and gracefully arranged, and the women suffering the yashmac to hang nearly to their feet above the dark feridjhe; and the poorer among them clad in shapeless woollen garments, and high caps of black sheep skin—Herds of horses bounding over the hills in all the graceful hilarity of freedom—Droves of buffaloes lying in the deep mud of the river, basking in the sunshine—Vineyards overshadowed by fruit trees; Fields neatly fenced from the waste, and rich with vegetables and grain, in turn varied the prospect; nor had we wearied of the scene when, at two o’clock, P.M., we arrived at Sistoff, a small, but flourishing town; with the ruin of an old castle perched on a height immediately above it. Here, greatly to our satisfaction, we landed most of our deck passengers; and a little after seven in the evening we found ourselves abreast of Nicopolis; but owing to the darkness we could only trace the outline of the town as it cut against the horizon, and discovered that it was tolerably extensive, and surrounded by high bluff lands.
Having been detained several hours by the fog, which was extremely dense at daybreak, we did not reach Orava until near mid-day. This town, which was destroyed by the Russians during the reign of Catherine, appears to be of considerable extent; but is only partially fortified. It possesses five or six mosques, some of which are scarcely visible from the river, owing to the very high land that intervenes between a portion of the town and the shore. The ruins of an old castle on the summit of a rock, and of a Roman bath on the water’s edge, give a picturesque effect to the locality. Some hours later we anchored on the Wallachian side to take in coals, which were obtained from Hungary, and said to be of very excellent quality; the little enclosure that contained them was situated close to one of the sanatory stations, and we were not permitted to approach within a hundred yards of the white-coated Wallachians. We revenged ourselves, however, by wandering over the plain, gathering wild flowers and blackberries; and giving chase to some of the most beautiful little green frogs that ever were seen—they looked like leaping leaves! Eight pelicans passed us on the wing during the day.
Another dense fog prevented our progress after seven in the evening, as the pilot refused to incur the responsibility of the vessel; and we accordingly anchored until three o’clock the following morning, when we started again in a bright flood of moonlight; and in about four hours we arrived opposite to Widdin, where we anchored. It is a large and handsome town, strongly fortified with a double line of works of great importance. The fortifications are in good order, and extend, as we are told, about twelve hundred yards along the bank of the river; while the lines on the landward side are kept with equal care, and are of similar extent. The walls are protected by four strong bastions; and the guns are all said to be in an efficient state. The Pasha’s Palace, based on the outer walls, looks as bleak and comfortless as a barrack; but its windows command a noble view of the river. The minarets of twelve or fourteen mosques relieve the outline of the picture; and, immediately opposite, on the Wallachian side, stands the low, flat, rambling town of Kalefat, whence the country assumes a new and more interesting character. A graceful curve in the river carried us past the quarantaine establishment; a group of wretched buildings erected close to the water’s edge, and enclosed within a rude wooden paling, backed by a lofty cliff that runs far along the shore, riven into a thousand fantastic shapes; while here and there we had distant glimpses of cultivated valleys and wooded hills.
The aspect of the country improved throughout the whole day; abrupt and precipitous heights, wooded to the very summits—stretches of corn and pasture land—multitudinous herds of cattle—and laughing plains, gay with grass and wild flowers, flitted rapidly by; while the bold cloud-crested mountains above Orsoru formed a noble background to the picture. At noon we were abreast of Florentin, the last Bulgarian village on the bank of the river; and decidedly the most picturesque locality on the Lower Danube. The hamlet was nestled beneath a rock, three of whose sides were washed by the river, while the fourth was protected by a deep ditch; and the tall, bluff, perpendicular rock itself was crowned by a Gothic castle, whose gray outline, apparently nearly perfect, cut sharply against the sky; and completed a tableau so strikingly beautiful as to elicit an universal exclamation of delight.
We ran past Scala Glavoda in the night, from which circumstance I lost the opportunity of seeing Trajan’s Bridge, whose arches may be distinguished beneath the level of the water; and at midnight we anchored at a straggling village about half a league above it. Here we took leave of the Pannonia; and, as the river is not navigable for a considerable distance for any thing but flat-bottomed boats, whose wearisome course against the current is secured by the assistance of oxen, who tow them lazily on their way; we were obliged to proceed to Orsova by land. Custom-house officers came on board to examine the merchandize with which the vessel was freighted, but they did not interfere with the luggage of the passengers; and, as soon as bullock-cars had been secured, we despatched our packages on shore, whither we shortly followed them.
On the opposite shore rose the mountains of Wallachia, just touched upon their summits with the brilliant tints of the newly-risen sun, and clothed with many-coloured foliage. The hills, beside which we had passed during the previous day, had closed upon us in the rear; and the chain which terminates in the Porte de Fer, or Iron Door, a bar of rock that nearly traverses the Danube, and over which its waters toss and boil in impotent violence, shut in the forward view.
In the bottom of the gorge ran the river, whence arose the column of steam escaping from the chimney of the Pannonia; and the Servian shore was scattered over with the multifarious properties of the passengers. The village ran along the bank of the river, and consisted of log huts, most ingeniously constructed, lined with a cement formed of clay, and thatched, like those in Bulgaria, with reeds, and the straw of the Indian corn; interspersed with small tenements of wicker-work raised on poles, and serving as store-houses for fruits and grain.
The difference of costume between the peasantry of Servia and those of the adjoining country, was remarkably striking. The men had added a wide sash of rich scarlet to the dress of the Bulgarians, and wore their woollen greaves, and the sleeves of their shirts worked with dark-coloured worsteds; while the women were attired in the most singular manner that can well be imagined. They universally retained the wrapping-dress of white linen that we had remarked all along this shore of the Danube; but above it they had placed a couple of aprons of thick woollen stuff, striped or checked with dark blue; one of which they wore before, and the other behind, leaving the linen garment uncovered on either side to the waist; but their head-gear was yet more extraordinary, and, at the same time, singularly picturesque.
The younger among them wore their hair confined by a simple band across the forehead; to which were attached branches of bright-coloured flowers, such as marigolds, hollyhocks, and the blossoms of the scarlet bean; intermixed with strings of small silver coin, in greater or less quantities. I remarked that even the youngest of the girls, children of five and six years of age, were thus decorated; some of them not possessing, however, more than half a dozen little para pieces; and as each of these girls was twirling her distaff with all the gravity of a matron, I imagine that, precisely as the Asiatics accumulate strings of pearl by the slow produce of their industry, so, in like manner, the female peasantry of Servia increase their ornaments through the medium of their own individual exertions; and I was the more confirmed in this opinion, by observing that in every instance save one, the number of coins worn upon the head appeared to preserve an equal proportion with the years of the wearer.
The exception to which I allude was on the person of a young girl of about seventeen, from whose braided tresses coins of considerable size fell in every direction nearly to her waist; while her throat was encircled by a succession of the same ungraceful ornaments, descending like scale-armour low upon her bosom. There was an elastic spring in her movements, as her small naked feet pressed the sandy path; and an expression bordering upon haughtiness in her large dark eyes, which betrayed the daughter of the village chief. I would peril the value of every coin she wore that I read her fortune aright!
The elder women wore linen cloths bound about their heads with a grace which would have suited the draping of a statue; the long ends of the scarf being secured behind the ear, and forming deep folds that looked, at a short distance, as though they were hewn in marble; and above this drapery, rows of coins were disposed, helmet-wise, in such profusion that, as the sunlight glanced upon them, they were perfectly dazzling. Nor did the matrons dispense with the gaudy knots of flowers so general among their younger countrywomen; and the gay effect of a group of Servian females may consequently be imagined. Some among them were tolerably pretty; nearly all had fine bright black eyes, and they were universally erect and finely made; with a step and carriage at once firm and graceful.
Ranged along the road stood the line of bullock-waggons, intended for the transport of our luggage; and beside them a nondescript carriage of wicker-work drawn by two gray horses, for the accommodation of such of the party as preferred driving to walking. We were, however, some time before we were fairly en route; and still longer before any one felt inclined to forego the pleasure of wandering through the long grass that bordered the edge of the plain, through which wound the road leading to Orsova.
For a brief interval we lost sight of the river, and continued to advance along the rude path, scaring the wild birds from their resting-places among the stunted branches of the dwarf oaks and beeches that clothed it; or thredding along the boundaries of the wide patches of Indian corn which had been redeemed from the waste. But as the day advanced, the heat became so great as to render any further progress on foot too fatiguing to be pleasurable; and four of our party accordingly taking possession of the carriage, we started at a brisk pace along the smooth and easy road; and after a precipitous descent, down which the horses galloped at a pace infinitely more speedy than safe, we found ourselves once more on the shore of the Danube, where it is separated in the centre by a long bar of sand, terminating in a small island of rock, now cumbered with the remnants of a ruined fortress.
Twenty minutes more brought us to the Porte de Fer; which does not, however, extend all across the river, as there is a sufficient width of sand left free of all rock, on the Servian side, to render the formation of a canal sufficiently extensive to ensure the safe passage of moderately sized vessels extremely easy. Nothing in nature can be more lovely than the landscape at this point of the river; it is shut in on all sides by majestic rocks overgrown with forest trees; and tenanted by the wild boar, the wolf, and the bear. Eagles soar above their pinnacles; and singing birds make the air vocal at their base; while beneath them rushes the chafed and angry river, foaming and roaring over the line of rock that impedes the accustomed onward flow of its waters.
Another turn in the road, and the Danube is hidden from view by a wooded strip of land, which has forced a portion of the river from its natural channel, as if to accompany the traveller upon his way, as he follows the chain of rock along a road so narrow, that there is not half a foot of earth between the wheels of the carriage and the edge of the bank that is washed by the little stream; while delicious glimpses of the Danube are occasionally visible between the trunks of the tall trees that fringe the intervening islet.
About a quarter of a mile onward stands a Crucifix; the first symbol that we had yet remarked of Christianity; and which we hailed as the parched desert-wanderer welcomes the spring whereat he slakes his long-endured and withering thirst. It was erected beneath the shadow of a fine old beech tree; and immediately beside a crazy bridge flung across the channel of a mountain torrent. The scene increased in beauty as we proceeded. The great variety of tint among the forest foliage heightened the effect of the landscape; and I have rarely, if ever, seen a more gorgeous locality than that through which we travelled to Orsova. Nature had poured forth her treasures with an unsparing liberality; and every mountain-glen was a spot that a painter would have loved to look upon.
We passed through one straggling village, built like that at which we had landed, of timber and mud, where we stopped for a few moments to procure a glass of water; and I was agreeably impressed by the eager courtesy with which the request was met. A portion of the road proving too steep to enable the horses to drag us to the summit of the rise along which we had to pass, we descended from the carriage, and pursued our way on foot; when we were much struck by the appearance of the soil, impregnated as it was so strongly with metallic particles, that it had the appearance of diamond dust. I collected several specimens of ore that were truly beautiful; and I have no doubt, even from my own very slight geological knowledge, that a scientific person might find ample employment within a couple of miles of Orsova for at least as many months.