our hut rendered it a very dry and comfortable abode for the night. Throwing one glance around us through the impromptu doorway of freshly-cut branches, we see that our neighbours, the herdsmen, have already delivered themselves up to the slumber-god. All have retired within their dwelling, and the fires themselves, sending up a blaze now and then by way of expiring effort, are fast dying out. Our wild entourage, however, is anything but provocative of sleep, and the great silence, broken only now and again by the harsh scream of a night-bird, becomes eloquent, as the "voices of the night," now that human speech is hushed, come whispering on the air like dim echoes from the faroff unknown land. At midnight the wind rises high and threatens the stability of our little habitation; whilst a ladder placed against one of the herdsmen's huts falls with a loud clatter and awakens all the sleepers.

The morning broke amidst heavy clouds and threatening rain, but at seven o'clock, our camp-breakfast partaken of and our coachman punctual for once, we are once more bowling along towards Western Transylvania.

Κο

CHAPTER XLI.

WESTWARD.

OLOSZVÁR, situated in the valley of the Szamos, and surrounded by hills on every side, contains 25,000 inhabitants. Although enclosed on all sides by a Wallach population, that of the town itself is principally Magyar, with the exception, however, of one portion of it, which contains a little colony of "Saxons."

Was there ever such a clatter as we made driving down the streets of this little Magyar capital of Transylvania ? If the four hoofs of every horse had each been a vigorously played castanet, and each paving stone a cracker, I doubt whether we could have made more noise. If the railway locomotives take their time in Hungary, the horses make up for it by the pace they take the traveller-at any rate on starting. As they gallop through the streets we startle the whole neighbourhood. Waggoners, who, Hungarianlike, have left their teams in the middle of the road, come rushing out of wine-shops where they are leisurely sipping their morning's glässchen of Slivovitz. Frantic mothers are seen issuing from dark doorways, gazing distractedly up and down, in quest of their small "blessings," who, as a rule, are squatting quite composedly in a nice cool puddle

in the centre of the road. Pigs grunt and use unparliamentary language; whilst the genius of a group of youthful engineers, engaged in the erection of earthworks and fortifications at the side, is very nearly nipped for ever in the bud by the wheels of our chariot, as, deviating slightly to the left, we make room for a timber-waggon coming down the street.

As the four capital little horses which we have brought with us from the "Saxon" town of Shässburg, a place midway between this and Kronstadt, and the most spruce and betyár of coachmen, pull up at the hotel archway, a crowd of spectators gathers to see the turn-out, and we once more hear the words "Ángolok" and "Angolorszag," spoken in an undertone-which have not greeted our ears since leaving the plains of the Magyars-proceeding from mouth to mouth in a "stage whisper."

It is market-day, too, and in the square opposite the hotel and beneath the shadow of the fine old cathedral is a kaleidoscope of perpetually shifting colour. Unlike the market at Hermannstadt, the space devoted to the purpose is filled with booths and covered stalls, whilst to the left is a gipsy's tent, close to which, squatting on the ground, are its owners, their simple wares of home. manufacture displayed before them. on a piece of

matting.

Bäuerinnen, too, in scarlet top-boots, black skirts lined. with yellow and looped up over scarlet petticoats, sit also by their wares, whilst Koloszvár Bürger ladies, in black silk shawls worn cross-ways over the head, stand over them and haggle, as usual, for salads, flowers, vegetables, infantine chicken-yes! and snails-the large wood species being re

VOL. II.

M

garded by Hungarian epicures as an objet de luxe in the gastronomic line. A Hungarian housewife's ordinary winter

supply of these little animals is several thousand. Here and there boys are carrying coloured candles for sale, and two Hungarian peasants with long corkscrew curls are bargaining for a long string of garlic, for which they eventually pay five kreuzers-a cheap luxury! On the ground are little islands of Transylvanian pottery and classical-shaped bowls and pitchers, resembling a coarse kind of Majolica. There is a penny theatre, also, the audience of which is principally composed of men; and booths innumerable for the sale of ready-made clothes and vestments of Hiltau frieze beautifully embroidered in green and red. We pass one in which hang hundreds of embroidered waistcoats of the cut, colour, and material of the costume of each neighbouring village.

How amusing it is to stand and watch the purchasers try them on, and see how vain mankind is even when exhibited in the "Saxon" or Wallach peasant, and how difficult to please. Here is one negotiating for a baggy coat with large sleeves and a hood-an out-of-doors, red-letter-day garment that would fit anybody; but he tries it on notwithstanding, and views himself up and down to see how it hangs, then looks over his shoulder to judge of its effect behind, and finally regards himself intently in a glass provided for the purpose by the seller. He has already tried on eight or nine, when he fixes at last upon one which he thinks will do. The material is white frieze embroidered in black, and its price-fourteen gulden-is marked on the article, but he beats the seller down to thirteen gulden forty-seven kreuzers, and has almost decided to buy it, when the owner of the booth takes from his store one lined with scarlet and embroidered in green, the price of which is thirty-three gulden. The purchaser's spirits sink. He is now quite put out of conceit with the unpretending black-embroidered garment and is caught in the trap. The seller, a wily "Saxon," induces him to put it on, and, drawing the hood over his head, bids him look in the glass to see how it becomes him and judge of the charming effect. Passing on to other booths we have quite forgotten all about our Wallach purchaser, when, returning that way in half an hour's time, we still witnessed the same little scene being enacted, at that moment, however, drawing to a conclusion. Slowly taking from his purse thirty gulden which, together with his pipe and tobacco-pouch, he kept in his topboot, the bargain was struck, and with a somewhat dejected air, for the Wallach loves not to part with his money, away he goes with his splendid garment tucked under his arm.