[75] As a curious instance of the precariousness of human life, I may here make mention of Colonel P——, a distinguished countryman of ours, then occupying a diplomatic post at Vienna. This gentleman, who had an unwholesome liking for witnessing executions, having accidentally learned that Hermanstadt boasted two candidates for the gallows, had requested a Transylvanian acquaintance to send him timely notice of their hanging, in order that he might assist at the spectacle. This morbid desire was, however, not destined to be satisfied, as long before the slow march of justice had culminated in a death-warrant, Colonel P—— himself had been carried off by the far more rapid Egyptian fever.
[76] I failed to obtain any reliable information as to when and how this dance had been here imported, but it seems to have been in use for a good many generations past.
[77] Why the elephant was also buried is not very apparent, as it is hardly to be supposed that it was killed by the same shot which slew the pacha.
[78] According to others, the name of Kronstadt would be derived from the Kronenbeeren (cranberries) which grow profusely on the surrounding hills.
[79] It is of this monarch that the people still say, “King Matthias is dead, and Justice along with him.” He was, in fact, a sort of Hungarian Haroun-al-Raschid, going about in disguise among his people, rewarding them according to their deserts.
[80] Reprinted from a publication of the Transylvanian Carpathian Society.
[81] These feathers, of a bluish color, we identified as those of the garrulous roller, Coracias garrula; and as this bird is never to be found at the aforementioned height, it must apparently have been crossing the mountains to migrate southward, when its travelling arrangements were disturbed by the watchful falcon.
[82] Reprinted from a publication of the Transylvanian Carpathian Society.
[83] The meeting of the Emperors of Austria and Russia at Skiernevice, in September, 1884.
[84] Reprinted from a publication of the Transylvanian Carpathian Society.