Beyond this we reach Orsova, which is on the Danube and is mentioned elsewhere.
This little glimpse of the Alföld with its wheatfields and vineyards, its flourishing towns and large rivers, will give an excellent impression in miniature of the whole of its extent, while the grim scenery of the Southern Carpathians forms a striking contrast.
So much for the northern and eastern parts of the Dual Monarchy, but the south-western part has a character quite its own, and in the Empire of Austria the Alps play a larger part than the Carpathians. The Rhaetian or Tyrolese Alps form the highest range, many topping 12,000 feet, the highest point, the Orteler Spitze, attaining 12,814. These Alps are subdivided into three chains, of which the above-mentioned peak is to be found in the most southerly; the middle chain extends to the borders of Salzburg and Carinthia, and the northern one lies above it again. The Noric Alps are those in Salzburg, Styria, and Carinthia, and they are also broken into chains. The Carnic or Carinthian Alps are another range in the north of Carniola, and the Julian Alps lie in a south-easterly direction, running through Carniola to Dalmatia.
All the beautiful mountainous scenery in this part of the Empire, including the Tyrol, is known to those who love natural scenery, and the Tyrol itself, with the Dolomites, rivals Switzerland in the number of holiday-makers attracted by it. The country about Salzburg is less known outside the inhabitants of Austria themselves, but the enterprise of the Austrian State railways is opening it up. All this is dealt with in another part of the book.
CHAPTER V
THE PEOPLE
A very interesting race is that of the Magyars who people Hungary. The word Hungary is of course derived from the Huns, who are described in their earliest descent into Europe from Central Asia as a “fierce Tartar people of dwarfish figure, great strength and ugly beardless faces.” They penetrated far, under their great leader Attila, but his defeat and death in 453 broke their dominion, and they retreated again, leaving only traces of their influence on the nations of modern Europe. The Magyars came over from the direction of the Ural Mountains in the ninth century; their chief, Arpad, founded a dynasty, of which St. Stephen was the first king. Arpad bears a name comparable with Attila and other great chiefs of bygone days. Mr. Whitman, in his book The Realm of the Habsburgs, says:
The first authentic mention of the dominant race in the Hungary of to-day, the Magyars, dates from the year 836, when the Greek writer, Leo Grammaticus, styles them successively by the three distinct names of “Hungarians,” “Turks” and “Huns.” They are then referred to as encamped on the banks of the Lower Danube. Their origin and early history are alike shrouded in mystery.
Nothing is more difficult than to describe the exact type of the Magyar race. In fact there is no exact type, the Magyars of the present type being a conglomeration of all the numerous tribes that came into the land at the time of the wars of the “home-making.” Several types exist, but which is the true Magyar it would be difficult to say. If there were a clue to this it would be known with absolute certainty whether the Hungarians were descended from the Fin-Ugor or Turko-Tartaric races. Among the different types there is the somewhat round head, very broad cheek bones and square jaw of the Mongol type—mostly to be found in the southern and midland districts—called purely Hungarian. Then again, there are other types which have a resemblance to the Kirgiz living in Asia to this day. The majority are not tall—rather under middle size—especially in the working classes. They are very broad in the chest, square-shouldered, long of body, short of limb, very active, with sinews of steel—the true horsy race, the greater part of their life having been spent on horseback in olden times. The language is a mixture of the Turko-Tartaric and the Fin-Ugor, but much changed by time. They are seldom very dark, brown from the lightest shade to the darkest being the prevailing colour, with dark or brown eyes; but blue eyes are often to be seen. Red, yellow, or flaxen hair is not a Hungarian type. A fighting nation par excellence, who, through circumstances, had to give up war, sought and seek to fight in other ways; the great predisposition for duels even at the present day has its origin in the ever-existing and only half-dormant desire to fight.
The Magyars are one of the few peoples in Europe who do not belong to the Aryan race. Among the others are the Finns and Lapps, the Basques and the Turks. To the Finns the Magyars are closely related by speech as well as blood.
The old song says:—