(Frau von Arnim.)

Szolnok, 27th June, 1852.

In your atlases you will find a map of Hungary, and on this a river Theiss, and, if you follow up the source towards Szegedin, a place named Szolnok. Yesterday I went by railway from Pesth to Alberti-Josa, where a Prince W. lies in garrison. He is married to a Princess M. I paid him a visit in order to inform —— of the state of his health. This place lies on the edge of the Hungarian steppes between the Danube and the Theiss, which I desired to see by way of a joke. I was not allowed to ride without an escort, as the district is overrun by cavalry robber bands, here called Betyars, and is therefore unsafe. After a comfortable breakfast under the shade of a Schönhausen lime, I got upon a low wagon with sacks of straw and three horses; the Uhlans loaded their carbines, mounted, and away they went at full gallop. Hildebrand and a Hungarian servant occupied the front seat, and our coachman was a dark brown peasant, with a mustache, a broad-brimmed hat, long hair shining with fat, a shirt only reaching to the stomach, leaving a broad band of dark brown skin visible, to where the white trowsers begin, each leg of which would make a woman’s gown, and reach to the knee, where boots and spurs complete the costume. Only think of firm grass plat, as level as a table, on which nothing can be seen for miles towards the horizon, except the tall naked beams of the wells dug for the half-wild horses and oxen; thousands of whity-brown oxen, with long horns, as timorous as deer; rough, disreputable-looking horses, watched by half-naked shepherds on horseback, with lances; endless herds of swine, among which you see a donkey carrying the fur-cloak (bunda) of the herdsman, and sometimes himself; huge swarms of bustards, hares, rabbits, and other small deer; near a salt-water pool, wild geese, ducks, and lapwings; such were the objects we flew by, and which flew by us during our three hours’ journey of seven miles to Ketskemet, with a slight halt at a csarda (inn). Ketskemet is a village, the streets of which, if the inhabitants are left out, reminds one of the small end of Schönhausen. It has, however, forty-five thousand inhabitants, unpaved streets, low houses, closed on the eastern side against the sun, with huge cattle-yards. A foreign ambassador was such an unusual sight there—and my Magyar servant rattled out the “excellency” to such a degree—that I immediately obtained a guard of honor, the village authorities announced themselves, and a change of horses was required. I spent the evening with a delightful set of officers, who insisted upon my taking an additional escort, and entertained me with a number of robber stories. In the very neighborhood into which I was going the worst robber-nests exist; on the Theiss, the morasses and wilds render their destruction almost impossible. They are splendidly horsed and armed, these Betyars; they attack travellers and farms in bands of fifteen or twenty strong, and next day are twenty miles away. They are polite to respectable people. I had left the greater part of my ready money with Prince W., and only had some linen with me, and really felt a desire to make the nearer acquaintance of these mounted brigands, in their great fur dresses, with double-barrelled guns and pistols in their girdles. Their captains wear black masks, and sometimes belong to the small country gentry. Some days ago the gens-d’armes had a skirmish with them, and some were killed; two robbers, however, were caught, and shot, with all the honors, in Ketskemet. We don’t hear of such things in our tiresome districts. About the time you woke this morning, you little thought that I was flying over the steppes of Cumania, in the neighborhood of Felegyhaza and Csonygrad, with Hildebrand at full gallop, a delightful sunburnt Uhlan officer by my side, loaded pistols lying in the hay before us, and a squadron of Uhlans with ready carbines in their hands wildly dashing after us. Three swift horses drew us, called Rosa, Csillak (star), and Betyar (vagabond). The driver unintermittingly called them by name, in a piteous tone, until he got his whip handle well over their heads, and with a cry of “mega! mega!” (hold on!) the gallop changed into a wild career. A delightful sensation! We saw no robbers; as my light-brown lieutenant told me, they knew before daylight that I was travelling under protection; certainly some of them were among those worthy-looking and dignified peasants who gazed seriously at us at the stations, in their sleeveless sheepskin cloaks reaching to the ground, and greeted us with an honorable “istem adiamek” (praised be God!) The sun’s heat was scorching all day—I am as red as a crab in the face. We made eighteen miles in twelve hours, to which must be reckoned two or three hours, if not more, in putting-to and waiting, as the twelve horses I required had first to be caught for myself and escort. A third of the distance was shifting sands and downs, like those of Stolpmünde.

At five I reached this place, the streets of which are animated by a gay crowd of Hungarians, Slowaks, and Wallachians, who fill my chamber with a din of the wildest and maddest gypsy melodies. (Szolnok is a village of some six thousand inhabitants, but there is a railway and steamboat station on the Theiss.) At times they sing through the nose, with gaping mouths, in a weak minor discord, histories of black eyes, and of the brave death of some robber, in sounds that remind one of the wind howling Lettish songs down a chimney. The women are generally well grown, a few remarkably handsome; they all have raven hair, bound in tresses behind with red ribbons. The married women wear either bright green and red cloths, or red velvet caps on their heads; about their shoulders and bosoms a handsome yellow silk shawl; black or pure blue short gowns, and red Turkey leather shoes, reaching up under the petticoats. Their faces have a yellowish brown hue, with lustrous black eyes; a group of these women present a play of colors that would please you; every color is as distinctly expressed as possible. Since my arrival at five I have been swimming in the Theiss, while expecting dinner. I have seen Csardas danced; it vexes me that I can not draw, to bring these fairy-tale forms on paper for you. I then had paprika, stürl (fish), and tick for dinner, drank a good deal of Hungarian, and now shall go to bed, if the gypsy music will let me sleep. Good night. Istem adiamek.

Pesth, the 28th.

Again I see the mountains of Ofen, this time from the Pesth side, from below. From the plains I have just left, the dim outlines of blue Carpathian ridges, distant some twelve or fifteen miles, are in some places, when the air is very clear, barely distinguishable. To the south and east the plain was fathomless; in the first direction it stretches far away into Turkey, in the second towards Siebenbürgen. The heat to-day was again scorching, and has peeled all the skin from my face. A heat-storm is now raging, driving so fiercely over the steppes that the houses tremble. I swam in the Danube, saw the magnificent suspension bridge from beneath, paid visits, heard very good gypsy music on the parade, and shall soon go to bed. The parts on the edge of the Pusta, where it is beginning to be cultivated, remind me of Pomerania, in the neighborhoods of Rommelow, Romahn, and Coseger. The gypsies have grayish-black complexions. Their costume is fabulous; the children quite naked, except a string of glass pearls about their necks. Two women had handsome, regular features, and were cleaner and more ornamented than the men. When the Hungarians want a dance over again, they shout in a surprised tone, “Hody wol? Hody?” (“What was it? What?”), and look at each other interrogatively, as if they had not understood, although they know the music by heart. It is, indeed, a singular people, but pleases me very well. It was just as well I had the escort of Uhlans. At about the same time I left Ketskemet for the south, sixty-three wagons went off in a northerly direction towards Körös. Two hours later they were stopped and plundered. A colonel, who was by accident driving before this wagon-train, had some shots sent after him, as he would not halt. One horse was shot through the neck, but not enough to bring it down, and as he returned the fire, with his two servants, flying at full gallop, they preferred to be satisfied with the other travellers. They did no other harm to any one, and only plundered some individuals, or rather ransomed them, for they do not take all a person has, but only in proportion to property, and according to their own needs; for instance, they will quietly receive forty florins out of a thousand, without touching the remainder. Thieves with whom one can talk!