April xxx.
This day about twelve a clock we arrive at Tergovist, where his Excellency and his retinue are lodged in the palace of the Prince. The form and state hereof much resembles that of Bucurest; only it has the advantage of a much finer garden, and therein of a beautiful stone summer house; both which are regular, and may compare with those of the politer Christendom. The town is pleasantly situated on the Ialomitza, beyond which it enjoys the prospect of a beautiful tract of hills, which make the boundary betwixt this province and that of Transylvania; but on the other hand, the eye loses itself in an even boundless plain, encircled at a large distance with stately woods. The city gives title to the chief Metropolite of Valachia, and in like manner, till within these thirty years, was the residence of their princes; when a rebellion against the Turks being here formed by Prince Ghika, and the neighbourhood of Transylvania contributing to render the place more suspected, his successors were constrained to demolish it, and retire to Bucurest. But within five years the present Prince has obtained fresh leave to reestablish it, on condition he erects no fortifications in the place; and accordingly it begins apace to be repeopled, while the Prince refits his palace, embellishes his gardens, and invites the nobility to erect their respective houses, that so they may attend him in those frequent residences, which for the future he intends to make here.
May i.
We took the opportunity of the stay, we this day made at Tergovist, to go after diner to a convent situated on the adjoining hills; which we found well built of fair freestone, adorned with cupolas well carved in lattice work of the same matter; but above all commanding a delightful prospect over the subject plain, and city of Tergovist, which on account of the palaces, the seats of the nobility, and the many fair convents and churches there extant, affords an entertaining landskip.
May ii.
This day we travel four hours from Tergovist, and at length pitch our tents in a pleasant place, surrounded with pendent woods, by the name of Isvóra, not far from the stream of the Dembowitza, which yet continued to flow on our left hand.
May iii.
This morning we proceed, and within half an hour arrive at the foot of the mountains, where the Dembowitza descends into the plain thro an easy clift, which it perhaps has partly formed by the continual and rapid course of its stream. Thro this plain we travel seven hours, in which time we are obliged to cross the winding chanel of the river twenty times or upwards; and being constantly diverted by the murmur of the falling waters; by the shade of the shelving hills that form the vale, and by the evenness of the ascent which imperceptibly leads us up the mountains, we at length pitch in a fair meadow inclosed like a theatre with surrounding trees and hills, where is a small village by the name of Cotonést.
May iv.
We continue our journey four hours thro the same sort of way, that is, along a narrow shady vale, which conveys the winding waters of the Dembowitza; which having crossed several times, we at length arrive at the village of Dragoslave, and in half an hour farther at that of Rukar, in the Greek map, Ῥούναλο, where we pitch and repose this evening. This village is considerably large, consisting of houses all of the Valachian fashion, that is, built round with trees laid even upon one another, covered with an high and deep roof consisting of wooden tiles, and within having no funnel or chimney to convey the smoke, but open only in several parts of the roof to supply that defect.