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Title: Austria - containing a Description of the Manners, Customs, Character - and Costumes of the People of that Empire
Author: Shoberl, Frederick
Language: English
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AUSTRIA.
[Illustration: WOMEN of SLAVONIA.]
AUSTRIA;
CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF THE
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, CHARACTER AND
COSTUMES OF THE PEOPLE OF THAT EMPIRE.
BY FREDERICK SHOBERL.
ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE COLOURED ENGRAVINGS.
The proper study of mankind is man.--_Pope._
Philadelphia:
PUBLISHED BY C. S. WILLIAMS.
W. Brown, Printer.
1828.
PREFACE.
On turning over the pages of this work, some readers may possibly be
surprised to find that so large a proportion of the engravings belong
to one of the countries composing the Austrian empire. When, however,
it is considered that a high degree of civilization tends to
assimilate the manners, amusements, and dress of the great mass of the
inhabitants of those countries in which it prevails; and that the
people of the German states of this empire are scarcely, if at all
surpassed in that respect by any nation in Europe; it will be evident
that they must exhibit fewer of those peculiar characteristics which
it is the object of this work to collect and delineate.
Hungary stands in a very different predicament. Peopled by tribes
belonging to many different nations, whose distinctive habits,
manners, and prejudices have not been melted down by refinement and
cultivation, it affords much more ample materials for the pencil than
Austria, properly so called. For this reason, by far the greater part
of the embellishments have been selected from among the singular,
picturesque and romantic costumes of that kingdom and its dependant
provinces.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I.--Provinces of the Austrian Empire--Their Extent and
Population 1
II.--Of the different Nations of the Austrian Dominions--The
Jews--The Germans--The Slavonians, including the Bohemians--
The Slowacks--The Wendes and the Rascians of Illyria--The
Magyares or Hungarians--The Walachians--The Zingares or
Gipsies--The Armenians--The Greeks, Turks, &c. 2
III.--Religions--Roman Catholics--Greek
Church--Armenians--Protestants--Socinians--Jews--Mahometans 9
IV.--Character of the People of Austria 12
AUSTRIA, LOWER AND UPPER.
V.--Inhabitants of Lower Austria--Manners of the People
of Vienna--Amusements--Houses--Population
and Mortality--Shops--Paved Streets--The Fire-Watch--
Costumes of Upper Austria 16
STYRIA.
VI.--Costume of the Inhabitants--The Johannæum at Grätz 26
BOHEMIA.
VII.--Costumes of the Bohemians 28
MORAVIA.
VIII.--Costumes of the Inhabitants--Account of the Haunacks--
Peasants of the Frontiers 30
THE TYROL.
IX.--Migrations of the Tyrolese--Their Frankness--Their
Attachment to the House of Austria--Anecdote of the
Archduchess Elizabeth--Literary Turn of the Tyrolese--
Their Extraordinary Honesty--Fondness for Pugilistic
Exercises and the Chase--Ancient Practice--Moral
Character--Superstition--Mechanical Genius--Persons and
Costumes--National Songs--Custom of visiting the Graves of
Relations--Marriage Ceremonies of the Tyrolese 32
HUNGARY.
X.--Extent--Division--Constitution--Vast Estates of the
Magnats--State of the Peasantry--Their Indolence--Thievish
Disposition of the Herdsmen--Punishments--Hungarian
Prison--General Appearance of
the Peasants and their Habitations in different
Counties--Horned Cattle--Sheep--Village Herdsmen--Ravages
of Wolves--Granaries--Costumes 49
TRANSYLVANIA.
XI.--Extent of Population--Manners of the Walachians--The
Gipsies--Costumes 70
BUKOWINA.
XII.--Transfer of the Country to Austria--Extent--Population--
Costumes 81
THE MILITARY FRONTIERS.
XIII.--Military Constitution--Carlstadt Frontier--Banal
Frontier--Slavonia--Banat Frontier 86
GALICIA, OR AUSTRIAN POLAND.
XIV.--Extent and Nature of the Country--Benefits resulting
to the People from the Partition of Poland--Cruelty
and Injustice of the Ancient System--Superior
Degree of Security enjoyed under the Austrian
Government--Mode of Building--Appearance
of a Polish Village--Inns--Jews--Uncleanliness of
the Poles 100
LIST OF PLATES.
1. Clementinian Women of Slavonia, _Frontispiece_
2. Peasant of Egra in Winter dress, _to face page_ 28
3. Peasant of the Mountains of Moravia 31
4. Tyrolese Hunter 37
5. Hungarian Peasant of the County of Weszprim 64
6. Armed Plajash 80
7. Boyar of Szered 82
8. Unmarried Female of Jackobeny 84
9. Female Peasant of Philippowan 85
10. Tanaszia Dorojevich, Vice Haram-Bassa of the Szeressans 88
11. Unmarried Female of Ottochacz 93
12. Unmarried Female of Glina 94
AUSTRIA.
CHAPTER. I.
PROVINCES OF THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE--THEIR EXTENT AND POPULATION.
The empire of Austria, one of the most extensive and powerful of the
states of Europe, is composed of provinces situated in Germany, Poland
and Italy, and embraces the whole of Hungary.
The German dominions of this monarchy consist of Upper and Lower
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Bohemia, Moravia, part of
Silesia, and the Tyrol and Salzburg.
In Poland it possesses the kingdom of Galicia.
The Hungarian states are: Hungary proper, Slavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia,
Transylvania and the Bukowina.
In Italy, Venice and the Milanese form the Lombard-Venetian kingdom,
one of the brightest jewels in the crown of Austria.
The extent and population of these provinces is shown in the subjoined
table.
EXTENT AND POPULATION OF THE PROVINCES OF THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.
German
Square miles. Inhabitants.
The kingdom of Bohemia 956.80 3,203,222
The Margravate of Moravia 417.64}
The duchy of Silesia 86.85} 1,680,935
Austria below the Enns 363.65 1,048,324
Austria above the Enns, including
the circles of the Inn and
Hausruck and Salzburg 344.32 756,897
The duchy of Styria 398.98 799,056
The duchy of Carinthia 190.90 278,500
Illyria and part of Croatia 250.95 467,836
The Littorale, or Coast District 176.18 422,861
Tyrol and Voralberg 520.44 717,542
The Lombard-Venetian kingdom 867.50 4,111,535
The government of Dalmatia 274.94 295,089
The kingdom of Galicia 1526.12 3,755,454
Civil Hungary, Croatia and
Slavonia 4097.06 8,200,000
Civil Transylvania } 1,510,000
Transylvanian Military } 1118.70
Frontiers } 138,284
Banat Frontiers 186.00 171,657
Slavonian Frontiers 139.40 230,079
Warasdin Military government 67.40 107,217
Carlstadt Military government 166.40 188,906
Banal Regiments 54.20 95,442
--------- ----------
12,204.48 28,178,836
CHAPTER II.
OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS IN THE AUSTRIAN DOMINIONS--THE
JEWS--THE GERMANS--THE SLAVONIANS, INCLUDING THE BOHEMIANS--THE
SLOWACKS--THE WENDES AND THE RASCIANS OR ILLYRIANS--THE MAGYARES
OR HUNGARIANS--THE WALACHIANS--THE ZIGANIS OR GIPSIES--THE
ARMENIANS--THE GREEKS, &c.
The population of the Austrian dominions is composed of different
races, each having particular manners and even a peculiar language.
All these nations are far from being actuated by the same spirit, or
feeling the same attachment for the state to which they belong. This
is one of the great causes of the political weakness of Austria; a
weakness which has been sensibly manifested in all the wars of
invasion. United within a longer or a shorter period under the
authority of one and the same prince, they do not form one compact
whole. Thus the different inhabitants of the Austrian states have
neither the same interests nor the same feelings. The Hungarians, the
Bohemians and the Tyrolese, people extremely jealous of their
independence, do not consider themselves as being of the same nation
as the Austrians, whom most of them in fact deem beneath them, because
in general they possess greater vivacity and a more strongly marked
character. There is no spirit of unity among them, though all are
subject to the same sceptre.
The principal nations distributed over the spacious dominions of
Austria are the Germans, the Slavonians, and the Magyares or
Hungarians properly so called. We also meet with Walachians, Ziganis
or gypsies, Greeks, and a few Armenians, French and Walloons; but
these form no important part of the population. There is another race,
which, though of foreign extraction, is widely spread over these
provinces as throughout every country in Europe, and that is the Jews.
These people, who form a distinct nation amidst all other nations,
swarm in the various provinces of the Austrian monarchy, with the
exception of Styria, Carinthia and upper Austria. Bohemia, Moravia,
Hungary and Galicia contain great numbers of them. Thus it is
calculated that there are 170,000 of them in Galicia, 130,000 in
Hungary, 50,000 in Bohemia, and 30,000 in Moravia. They are likewise
very numerous in Transylvania.
It is very generally supposed in other countries that the greatest
part of the population of Austria consists of Germans: but this is by
no means the case. Austria, properly so called, is the only province
that is entirely peopled by Germans; all the others are more or less
inhabited by Slavonians, and the other races mentioned above. The
Germans are also diffused over Styria and Carinthia. In Bohemia, there
is but one circle, that of Ellbogen, which is entirely peopled by
them. Of Moravia they occupy only the part situated on the confines of
Austria and Silesia, as well as the districts to the south of the
circles of Znaim and Brunn. Still less numerous in Hungary, they are
scarcely met with excepting in certain villages in the counties of
Zips, Wieselburg, Œdenburg, Scharosch and Eisenburg. In
Transylvania there are more of them: but their number there is
inferior to that of the natives. In Galicia, if we except several of
the principal towns, we find no Germans but in a few villages whither
they have been sent by the government to introduce improvements into
the system of agriculture. Thus most of the wealthy citizens of Cracow
are Germans, of Saxon or Silesian extraction.
The most numerous of all the races spread over the territories subject
to Austria is the Slavonian, now but little known by this generic
name, on account of the immense extent of country which it inhabits.
Interesting for more than one reason, the Slavonians are worthy alike
of the meditation of the philosopher and the researches of the
historian, as well on account of the vast space they occupy, as the
uniformity of manners which they have preserved in all ages,
notwithstanding the vicissitudes experienced by the governments to
which they were subject. The numerous traces left by their language in
various idioms in which we should never expect to meet with words of
Slavonic origin, render the study of it of great importance.
The Slavonian race is divided into an infinite number of branches,
some of which are found exclusively in Russia and Poland, and others
in the Austrian dominions. To the latter belong the Tshechs, or
Bohemians, the Slowacks, the Poles, the Wendes, the Rascians, and the
Croats.
The Bohemian language, spoken in Bohemia and Moravia, is but a dialect
of the Slavonian; but surrounded by German provinces, their
inhabitants have adopted an alphabet which differs very little from
that used in Germany. The Bohemian dialect is remarkable for its
richness, the softness of its pronunciation, and the facility with
which it adapts itself to the inflexions of song. It is daily
undergoing a change, however, from its mixture with the German; and
hence many words of the primitive Bohemian idiom are no longer
understood by the common people. The Bohemians are accounted one of
the most civilized of all the Slavonian races in the Austrian empire.
The Moravians also are distinguished for their mild and gentle manners
and their extraordinary industry.
The Slowacks, the relics of the Moravian monarchy, which comprehended
Moravia and the north-western part of Hungary, are nearly confined to
those two countries. There are nevertheless some of them in Bohemia.
To those people particularly applies the observation of Schwartner,
who remarks, that of all the inhabitants of Hungary the Slowacks
multiply fastest. Wherever they settle, the Germans and Magyares
gradually disappear. Thus in the 14th century the mountainous part of
the county of Gömör was entirely inhabited by Germans, whereas at
present the population consists exclusively of Slowacks.
The Wendes, who are found in Carinthia, Carniola and Lower Styria, as
far as the frontiers of Hungary, belong also to the Slavonians. But
among all the Slavonian tribes, the Croatians have retained most of
their primitive manners and character. Originally of Bosnian
extraction, they are spread not only in Croatia, but also in Hungary.
At once soldiers and husbandmen, their religion and customs closely
resemble those of their neighbours the Transylvanians and Slavonians.
They form excellent light troops, and are fond of serving in the corps
of Hulans.
The Rascians or Illyrians, the last branch of the Slavonians, appear
to be descended from the ancient Scythians. The name of Srbi which
they give to themselves, seems to indicate that they formerly
inhabited Dacia, the modern Servia. They principally inhabit
Transylvania and Hungary. There are many of them also in the county of
Warasdin, as well as in Croatia, where they form nearly a third of the
population.
The language of the Slavonians is soft, sonorous and pleasing to the
ear. Though spoken by people who have not made any great progress in
the arts and sciences, it has nevertheless been brought to a high
degree of perfection. It has even assumed all the characters of a
modern language, and may claim a distinguished rank among those of the
most civilized nations. The turns of which it is susceptible, and the
inversions which it has in common with the Greek and German, render it
equally expressive and energetic. Copious and harmonious, it may vie
with the Italian in melody and softness, especially when it is sung.
This language is more widely extended than any other language of
Europe. It is spoken throughout all Transylvania, Galicia, Hungary,
Moravia, Bohemia, and generally in all the provinces of Austria. It is
also very common in Lusatia, Silesia, Poland, Lithuania, Prussia,
Russia, Moscovy, and even in Sweden. It is met with along the whole
coast of the Adriatic, in Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Dalmatia,
Bulgaria and Turkey in Europe. It should however be observed, that
though all the inhabitants of these different countries speak the same
language, yet their various dialects differ not only in the
pronunciation and signification of many words; but also in a great
number of radical words which are not to be found in the neighbouring
dialects. The difference of these dialects is not governed, as might
be supposed, by the intercourse between nation and nation, since the
signification of words used by contiguous tribes frequently differs in
the most striking manner. Hence neighbouring nations do not perhaps
understand one another; whereas those which are wide asunder have no
difficulty to comprehend each other’s meaning. Thus the Russian and
Cossack dialects vary but little from those spoken by the Bosnians and
the inhabitants of Ragusa, whose language differs so widely from that
of their neighbours, the Dalmatians, and the people of Carniola. In
like manner, the Russian idiom differs much from that of the Poles,
though the Russians are neighbours to that nation as the Bosnians are
to the Dalmatians.
Next to the Slavonians and Germans, the Magyares or Hungarians are the
race most widely spread in the Austrian monarchy. They probably derive
their origin from Asia; and this conjecture seems to be strengthened
by the traces of Asiatic manners which they still retain.
Unenlightened and disliking the arts and commerce, they indulge that
indolence and apathy in which the people of Asia place their
happiness. In this respect then the character of the Magyares differs
widely from that of the Germans and Slavonians, who engage with ardour
in all sorts of speculations as well as retail trades. Hungary,
therefore, which they inhabit, would be a very poor country did not
the fertility of the soil confer on them an affluence which they
never would derive from their own exertions.
The Magyares are spread as far as the coasts of the Adriatic: a small
tribe of them, known by the appellation of Szythes, is found near
Fiume living peaceably among the Illyrians. The great mass of the
nation, however, exists in Hungary, where the number of the Magyares
is estimated at about three millions and a half.
The Walachians appear to be with the Slavonians the most ancient
inhabitants of the country watered by the Danube. In number, though
very much inferior to the latter, they equal the Magyares; at least in
the countries situated eastward of the Theiss. Naturally vain, these
people pretend to be descendants of the Roman colonists, who settled
from time to time in ancient Germany. They accordingly style
themselves _Rumani_, to indicate this noble origin. It is, however,
more probable that they proceed from a mixture of the ancient Dacians,
Romans and Slavonians. Their language in fact is composed of terms
more or less altered, which manifestly belonged to those different
nations. But a circumstance which shows that the groundwork of their
language is not derived from the Latin is, that their declensions and
conjugations have no resemblance to those of the latter: neither do
the terminations of the majority of their words correspond with those
generally observed in the Latin.
Without arts, and almost without religion and civilization, the
Walachian peasants know no other wants and pleasures but those of a
roving life. They are in general suspicious, vindictive and disposed
to hate other nations; hence the Hungarians and Transylvanians treat
them exactly like slaves. The Walachians, like the Slavonians multiply
fast; and it is perhaps on this account that they are deemed dangerous
by the Hungarians among whom they live.
The Ziganis or Ziguener, a roving or rather vagabond race, are very
numerous in the Bukowina, Hungary, Galicia, and Transylvania. In the
latter province they amount to more than sixty thousand; and out of
seventy thousand inhabitants who composed the population of the
Bukowina, when it was ceded to Austria in 1778, more than 10,000 were
Ziganis. Of the origin of these people, whose manners, habits and way
of life, perfectly correspond with those of the gipsies, nothing is
known with certainty; but the arguments of Grellman seem to render it
probable, that they are the descendants of the Hindoos expelled from
India at the time of Tamerlane’s invasion in 1408 and 1409. Of the
period of their arrival in Hungary we are not informed, but they were
known in that country so early as 1417, about which time probably they
began to introduce themselves into Transylvania. The Ziganis in
general manifest more attachment to the Hungarians than to any other
nation, either because the manners of the latter approach nearest to
their own, or because they afford them more protection.
The Armenians in the Austrian dominions are descended from those who,
towards the conclusion of the seventeenth century, removed from Asia
and settled in Transylvania, where there are now upwards of eleven
hundred families. Most of them dwell in the towns of Armienstadt and
Ebesfalva, the first of which was named after them. In the sequel
others of this nation fixed their abode in Hungary, where there is not
found any considerable community of of them excepting at Neusatz, in
the country of Bartsch. In Galicia also they are so numerous as to
have an archbishop at Lemberg, the capital of that province.
The same causes which have transferred Armenians into Austria have
also brought thither Greeks, Macedonians and Albanians. The people of
these different nations indeed are not numerous, there being scarcely
six hundred families of them in Transylvania, in which province most
of them reside. Naturally industrious, these foreigners have proved
very useful to Austria, and the city of Cronstadt is indebted to them
for the establishment of several important manufactures.
It is in Moravia alone that we find a few of those Walloon families,
who serve to remind the spectator of the glorious period when the
crowns of Austria and Spain were united on the same head.
CHAPTER III.
RELIGIONS--ROMAN CATHOLICS--GREEK
CHURCH--ARMENIANS--PROTESTANTS--SOCINIANS--JEWS--MAHOMETANS.
All the sects of the Christian religion are to be found in Austria,
and the Jews, Armenians, and Greeks, are more or less numerous in the
different provinces. Such a diversity of religious opinions cannot
fail to have a considerable influence on the minds and manners of the
inhabitants.
The Roman Catholic is the religion both of the sovereign and of the
state. The great majority of the inhabitants of Austria profess this
religion, which was long the only one tolerated in the provinces
composing this empire. Joseph II. however, sensible of the injustice
of proscribing persons on account of their religious opinions, issued
an edict granting toleration to the professors of all creeds. Since
that time the different Christian sects, the Jews and even the
Mahometans, have enjoyed liberty of conscience in the Austrian
dominions.
The archbishop of Vienna is the head of the civil, and the archbishop
of St. Pölten, of the military clergy. The latter alone has a right to
recommend to the emperor’s nomination, persons qualified for military
ecclesiastical appointments, such as the chaplaincies of regiments and
fortresses. The archbishop and bishops are all members of the
metropolitan chapter. On the death of one of their number, the chapter
has a right to propose a successor for the nomination of the emperor,
who approves or rejects as he thinks proper, without allowing any sort
of interference on the part of the pope. Hence several of the sees are
at present vacant, as the government has found it convenient to
appropriate the large revenues attached to many of them to the
exigencies of the state.
It would be difficult to state with accuracy the number of Catholics
in Austria; but so much is certain, that they compose at least
two-thirds of the population of the empire. The Protestants are not
numerous, excepting in Bohemia on the frontiers of Saxony.
With the exception of Russia and Turkey, no country in Europe contains
so many professors of the Greek faith, as the dominions of Austria.
Some of these are termed united, as they acknowledge the pope for
their supreme head, while others have refused to become thus united
with the Catholics. They are chiefly to be met within Galicia,
Hungary, Croatia, and Transylvania.
The Armenian christians have chosen Galicia in preference for their
new abode; but there are some also in Hungary and Transylvania. Almost
all of them are engaged in commerce. These people are remarkable for
their activity and industry, and such of them as do not make a
profession of the arts or trade, pursue agriculture with truly
laudable perseverance. Almost all those who have settled in Hungary
have adopted the latter: and the pains they have bestowed on a soil
naturally excellent, have been rewarded with such abundant crops, that
almost all of them have acquired in a short time a competence and even
wealth.
Since the time of Joseph II. the Protestants, both Lutherans and
Calvinists, have enjoyed the free exercise of their religion in the
imperial dominions. The number of the former is estimated at about one
million and a half, and that of the latter two millions and a half.
Bohemia, Hungary, and Moravia are the countries in which they are most
numerous. Almost all of them are remarkable for their industry.
There are many other religious sects in Austria. The province of
Transylvania alone is computed to contain upwards of forty-five
thousand Socinians or Unitarians, who enjoy the same rights and
privileges as the Catholics and Protestants. Most of these Socinians
are Hungarians or Szeklers, and their number throughout Hungary is so
considerable that they have founded one hundred and sixty churches.
Hungary has also afforded an asylum to the Mennonites and Anabaptists,
but though they are tolerably numerous there, as well as in
Transylvania, still they form but a small part of the population of
those two countries.
The Jews in the Austrian states are not, as we have seen, so numerous
as it might be imagined. They amount to about three hundred thousand.
In order to make real citizens of them, the sovereigns conferred on
them the same prerogatives with the rest of their subjects. This wise
measure, however, has not excited in them any genuine love for their
country, or inspired them with the least zeal for the welfare of the
state. The Jews, as in the other countries of Europe, live insulated
amidst the nation to which they belong; and continue to form a
separate people, who never will mingle with any other race. Self is
their ruling principle, and private interest their sole study. Without
love to their sovereign, without concern for their country, they are
indifferent to every thing excepting money, which is the god of their
idolatry. Leading, wherever they are found, a wandering life, they
consider themselves rather as travellers than as citizens, whose
fortunes are dependent on the prosperity of their native land.
The Austrian sovereigns, after conferring upon them the rights of
citizens, deemed it but fair that the Jews should, like all the other
classes of society, furnish soldiers for the public defence. This just
requisition they resisted, and it was necessary to employ force to
compel submission to this general measure. It was not without great
difficulty that fifteen hundred were levied in Galicia: some of them
served in the ranks, and others in the artillery and wagon-train.
The active commerce subsisting between Austria and Turkey, brings a
great number of Turks into the former empire. All or nearly all of
them are merchants. The advantages which they enjoy gradually induce
them to settle in the country; but they are not yet sufficiently
numerous to have mosques. These Turks therefore are content to
practise their religion within their own houses; and when they do
meet, it is not so much to worship God as to smoke and chat together.
The coffee-houses of the Prater, and of Leopoldstadt, at Vienna, are
commonly full of these foreigners, who carelessly seated on handsome
divans, surrounded by sherbet and other liquors, and smoking long
cigars, exhibit a picture of oriental manners amidst a European
population. The stranger is equally struck by the splendour of their
dress, the fashion of which is so different from that of the close
garments of Europe.
CHAPTER IV.
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRIA IN GENERAL.
The south of Germany would be the most fortunate country in Europe, if
the government to which it is subject had not shown in many
circumstances a weakness that but ill accords with the wisdom of its
views. Temperate in its climate, fertile from the nature of its soil,
and happy in its institutions, it remains invariably in a monotonous
state of well-being, which is prejudicial to the activity of the mind
alone, not to the happiness of the citizens. The inhabitants of this
peaceful and fertile country have but one wish, that is, to live
to-morrow as they lived yesterday. This tranquillity which in Austria
pervades all classes of society is surely preferable to that agitation
and thirst of wealth which torment almost all ranks in other
countries. Thus industry, ease and domestic enjoyments are more highly
valued in Austria than elsewhere: there every thing is done rather out
of duty than for fame; and no man looks for the reward of his actions
in the empty popularity which merely flatters pride and vanity,
without ever gratifying the heart.
A nation which has no other motive than a love of its duties must be
essentially a generous and an upright nation. What nation displays, on
the whole, more integrity and generosity than the Austrians? They
carry the love of their sovereigns to the highest pitch, and that
because they regard this love as the most sacred of duties. Let their
rulers be ever so unfortunate, their attachment is but the stronger,
and the greatest sacrifices seem to cost them nothing.
The Germans in general, and the Austrians in particular, possess a
sincerity and a probity that are proof against every thing. These
valuable qualities originate as much in the excellence of their
institutions as of their hearts. Their tranquil and peaceful
disposition as well as their domestic habits, encourage in them a love
of order and union from which they never deviate.
In consequence of this love of order the Austrians are remarkably neat
in their dress, so that you seldom see among them, as in other
countries, wretches in rags by the side of elegance and luxury. There
is not an Austrian peasant but possesses a decent suit of clothes,
boots, and a furred great coat for winter. Enter their habitations and
you will find the same neatness and cleanliness which are conspicuous
in their habiliments. In these rustic dwellings nothing announces
affluence, but on the other hand there is nothing to denote poverty
and indigence. When the lower classes of a nation are well dressed,
who can doubt its wealth and its prosperity?
The Austrians have been generally considered as ceremonious, and as
attaching too much importance to the formalities of etiquette.
Foreigners have been apt to ridicule them on this account, without
reflecting that this adherence to forms and ceremonies is a result of
their love of order and decorum. It must nevertheless be confessed
that, if etiquette and the forms of politeness are more strictly
observed in Germany than in other countries, this is partly owing to
the prerogatives enjoyed there by the nobility. Though the line
between the classes is much more strongly marked than elsewhere, still
there is nothing offensive in that demarcation. The differences of
rank are confined to a few court privileges, and the right of
admittance to certain assemblies, which afford too little pleasure to
deserve much regret. In fact the grandees of Vienna, who are the most
magnificent and wealthy in Europe, are so far from abusing the
advantages they possess, that in the streets they suffer the meanest
vehicles to stop their brilliant equipages. The emperor himself, and
his brothers, when they go abroad drive quietly along in the file of
hackney-coaches, and take delight to appear in their amusements as
private individuals.
As to the national character, there is but little opportunity for its
development in Austria, since the different nations who inhabit the
various provinces of that empire do not form a compact whole, and are
not all actuated by the same spirit. Two great causes, however, might
give a certain stimulus to the public mind, and also excite patriotism
in Austria; these are, the love of the country and of the sovereign;
and the felicity which all the inhabitants enjoy under protecting
laws. Husbandmen rather than traders, the Austrians are for this very
reason more attached to their native soil. The interests of the
country are in fact more closely connected with those of the
cultivator of the soil, than of the merchant, whose almost only object
is the success of his speculations, on which his precarious existence
depends. Agriculture is honoured in Austria, and the most illustrious
of its princes, as well as the sovereign himself, are fully sensible
of its importance to an empire possessing so fertile a soil.
The Austrian nation is perhaps the most upright and the most moral of
any in Europe. There is not an Austrian, with the exception of the
higher class of society, but feels that morality is the genuine source
of domestic happiness and the guarantee of the peace of families. The
sacred ties of marriage are still respected; and how indeed could it
well be otherwise in a country where woman is devoted to her conjugal
duties and finds the reward of this devotedness in the scrupulous
fidelity of him who is its object! Conjugal love always leads to
maternal affection; and the Austrian women are all, or nearly all,
excellent mothers. They are not more ostentatious in their attachment
to their children than in their love for their husbands: so that the
name of her who sacrifices herself for the object of a pure and tender
affection remains for ever unknown to the world. Divorce, which
introduces a kind of anarchy into families, has never been sanctioned
by the laws of Austria, and this is not one of the least important
benefits that it owes to its legislation.
The fair sex in Austria have in general auburn hair, delicate
complexions and large blue eyes, the united effect of which there
would be no withstanding, did not their modesty and simplicity command
respect, and temper by the charm of virtue the too powerful impression
of their beauty. They delight by their sensibility, as they interest
by their imagination. Without being too much addicted to the
cultivation of literature and the fine arts, they are no strangers to
the best productions of either; and when you have once gained their
confidence you are astonished at their knowledge, which they never
display but in spite of themselves. The Austrian ladies speak with
equal fluency all the languages of Europe; and in company they possess
in general a marked superiority over the men.
These observations apply particularly to the women of the higher
classes: as to those of inferior rank, they can scarcely be surpassed
for goodness of disposition and purity of morals. The maternal love of
these rustics is too strong not to preserve them from those faults
which are unhappily too common among females of the same condition in
many other countries. Labour and the exercises of religion occupy them
entirely, and exempt them from those vices which are generated by
idleness. They are, however, charged, at least those of some
districts, with being too much addicted to spirituous liquors, and
with impairing by this indulgence their circumstances and their
health.
The men are in general tall, well proportioned, and of a ruddy
complexion: but though few ordinary persons are to be found among
them, it is rarely that you meet with forms distinguished by that
higher sort of manly beauty which is frequently seen in the south of
Europe, and which furnished models for the finest statues of
antiquity. The Germans still answer the description given by Tacitus
of their ancestors: they are almost all fair and light complexioned:
and their souls do not possess the energy which their stature and
strength would seem to denote.
CHAPTER V.
AUSTRIA, LOWER AND UPPER.
INHABITANTS OF LOWER AUSTRIA--MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE OF
VIENNA--AMUSEMENTS--HOUSES--POPULATION AND
MORTALITY--SHOPS--PAVED STREETS--THE FIRE-WATCH--COSTUMES OF
UPPER AUSTRIA.
The inhabitants of Lower Austria, in which the capital of the empire
is situated, are, with the Hungarians, the most fortunate of the
subjects of the imperial sceptre. Cultivating a fertile soil, and not
having, like the Styrians and the Tyrolese, to struggle incessantly
against an inclement climate, they are happy in their geographical
position; and they are in general deserving of it by the excellence of
their disposition. Harbouring none but the milder sentiments, they
have more gentleness than energy, and more good nature than elevation.
The Austrians are a simple and a hospitable nation; and the same
observation applies to their nobles, who never assume the German or
rather the Austrian pride, unless when they would enforce the
prerogatives of birth. A stranger has least to suffer from this
narrow-mindedness, which is becoming the less common, the more the
education of the higher classes is improved, and the more they learn
that true nobility ought to display itself in exalted sentiments
alone.
It is natural to suppose that there must be a great difference between
the manners, customs and dress of the inhabitants of Lower Austria,
according as they reside in the country or in cities, or belong to the
working classes which, in Austria, as in other countries, have manners
peculiar to themselves.
The manners of the higher classes in Vienna and in the other towns of
Lower Austria, are in general mild and simple; and they are found in
harmony with that good nature which is the most distinguishing feature
in the Austrian character. Though the nobility are not free from the
imputation of haughtiness and of attaching too much value to titles
and honorary distinctions, it cannot be denied that much hospitality
prevails among them as among the wealthy tradesmen. Many of the upper
classes keep open tables; and in many houses visitors are permitted at
all hours of the day and even until midnight, to partake alike of
every repast that is served up and of the conversation.
It is alleged, and not without reason, that the people of Vienna are
rather too fond of good cheer. This is a general propensity of all
classes; so that those whose means will not permit them to have
delicacies are sure to indemnify themselves by the abundance of their
viands. The lower ranks always mingle with this indulgence a fondness
for other amusements, such as dancing and walking. The tradesman of
the capital takes great delight on a Sunday in a little country
excursion with his family; and as the parks of the grandees are open
to all comers, these are generally the places of rendezvous. He also
frequents the Prater and the public places of the metropolis; he looks
and listens with interest to all that passes, provided he is not
watched; for instead of wishing, like a Frenchman, for instance, to
attract attention, he feels uncomfortable as soon as he is noticed.
His whole happiness centres in himself and his numerous family, from
which he never likes to be parted. This picture of the happiness of
the people of Vienna is the more pleasing since it is not chequered,
as in most of the great cities of Europe, with the appearance of
squalid misery. In fact you can there distinguish but two classes, the
nobles and the citizens; all below them being blended by a certain
degree of luxury and ease with the latter.
In winter, companies do not assemble about the stoves as round our
fire-places. The equable heat diffused by these stoves admits of their
breaking into groups in the different apartments, which thus assume
the appearance of a coffee-house. Servants in party-coloured liveries
hand round all sorts of refreshments and sometimes the mistress of the
house does the honours of it herself with an engaging attention that
charms a stranger. In general, however, she takes this duty on herself
only when she wishes to honour in a particular manner persons of
distinction or eminent travellers; at other times, leaving every
visitor to amuse himself as he pleases. In these societies, you
observe numbers of ribbons of all colours, and chamberlains’ keys at
all pockets; these distinctions are so common that a person who has
none is almost a singularity. What renders these companies rather
irksome is the practice which prevails of not calling any one by his
name but only by his title. Thus you hear the persons about you
greeted by the appellations of baron, director, inspector, captain,
duke, or general; and remain ignorant of their real names unless some
friend takes the trouble to tell you who they are.
The ladies, on these occasions, are almost always ranged in a circle,
chatting together or engaged in various works of embroidery,
frequently to the number of thirty or forty. The young men of Vienna
never make their appearance at these parties: hence their manners have
not the polish which the habit of keeping good company imparts, nor do
they pay those attentions which are due to the sex. In these companies
you only meet with a few young Austrian or foreign princes, who but
too frequently imagine that their rank exempts them from that delicate
politeness which virtuous women inspire and can duly appreciate.
It is not to the want of accomplishments in the Austrian ladies, that
the indifference of the young men in regard to them must be
attributed, but to the unsociable habits of the latter. Their
education having been in general neglected, riding and hunting occupy
all the leisure which they do not pass at the coffee-houses, in
smoking and play. The rest of their time is devoted to the pleasures
of the table. With such a way of life and such habits, how is it
possible to keep up that tone of decency which it is necessary to
maintain in a select company? Nothing seems to them so difficult and
so irksome, and to avoid this unpleasant restraint, they keep away
from such societies altogether.
Being thus left to themselves, the ladies of Vienna can do no other
than seek the company of the foreigners whom they find possessed of
amiable manners and information. Flattered by their attentions, and
tired of the society of men, which is generally monotonous enough in
Austria, the stranger exerts himself still more to please. He feels a
deeper interest in studying their character; the better he becomes
acquainted with it, the more he esteems them; and he is astonished
that females so gentle, so lovely, and so fascinating, should be
forsaken by those whom they are so well qualified to delight.
The young men of rank at Vienna, having in general no occupation, and
as we have seen shunning company, are but too apt to yield to the
seductions of the gaming-table. Numerous instances of the fatal
effects of this baneful passion might be related; but circumstances of
this nature are too common in most other civilized countries to appear
extraordinary.
The picture of the manners and amusements of the higher classes at
Vienna, drawn by Dr. Bright, is interesting.
Morning calls, says that traveller, are not considered of the same
importance in Vienna as in London. When a stranger has been properly
introduced into a family, he usually receives a general invitation, of
which he is expected to avail himself. Accordingly he calls in the
evening; and if the lady of the house or any of the family be at home,
he is admitted, and then, as it happens, meets others, or is the only
visitor. Easy conversation or cards, music and tea, chess or enigmas,
fill up the evening; or if the party be numerous, dances and
refreshments, the rehearsal of poetry, or other exercises of mind or
body, enliven the visit and dispel the unpleasant restraints of
society.
The evening amusements in Germany are very various, and sometimes
almost fall under the denomination of puerile. Not content with
requesting young ladies to recite verses, they will sometimes invert
the natural order of things and compel children to act plays, while
grown people will play cross-questions and crooked answers; or
standing in a circle, and holding a cord in their hands, pass a ring
from one to the other, while some one of the party is required to
discover in whose possession it is to be found.
Acting riddles is a favourite game, and one which is well calculated
to amuse those who are wisely resolved to be amused when they can. A
certain portion of the company retire into an adjoining room, where
they concert together how best to represent by action the different
syllables which compose a word, and the meaning of the whole word.
They presently return, and carrying on their preconcerted action,
require the company to resolve the riddle. Thus, for instance, on one
occasion the word determined upon was _Jumeaux_. Some of the actors,
coming from their retirement, began to squeeze a lemon into a glass,
calling the attention of the company very particularly to it by their
action, thus representing _Ju_. Others came forward imitating the
various maladies and misfortunes of life, thus acting the syllable of
_meaux_. Then finally tottered into the circle an Italian duke and a
Prussian general, neither less than six feet in height, dressed in
sheets and leading-strings, a fine bouncing emblem of _Jumeaux_.
Dinner-parties, though not the regular every day amusements of life in
Vienna, are not uncommon. There is much similarity in the style of
dinners throughout Germany, and it has some points of peculiar
excellence. The table is generally round or oval; so that each guest
has means of intercourse with the whole party, even when it is large.
It is covered for the greater part with a tasteful display of sweets
or fruits; two places only being left near the middle for the
substantial dishes. Each person is provided with a black bottle of
light wine, and every cover, even at a _table d’hote_, is furnished
with a napkin and silver forks. The first dishes which occupy the
vacant spaces are always soups; they are quickly removed to the
side-tables and distributed by the servants. In the mean time, the
next dish is placed upon the table, taken off, carved, and carried
round to the guests in precisely the same manner; and so on till every
thing has been served. The plates are carefully changed, but the
knives and forks very generally remain throughout the greater part of
the dinner, or, at best, are only wiped and returned. The dishes are
so numerous and the variety so great, that, as every body eats a
little of every thing, they seldom take twice of the same.
The succession of luxuries is not exactly as with us. An Englishman is
somewhat surprised to see a joint of meat followed by a fish, or a
savoury dish usurp the place of one that was sweet. To conclude the
ceremony, each servant takes one of the sweetmeat ornaments off the
table, and carries it, as he has done with the other dishes, to all
the guests.
During all this time the conversation is general and lively, and
beyond a doubt much more interesting than that which is heard on
similar occasions and in similar society in England, where its current
is perpetually interrupted by the attention which every one is bound
to pay to the wants and wishes of persons at the most distant part of
the table. While the sweetmeats are served, a few glasses of some
superior kinds of wine, which have likewise been distributed at
intervals during the dinner, are carried round; and then the company,
both ladies and gentlemen, rise at the same time by a kind of mutual
consent, which, as the rooms are seldom carpeted, occasions no
inconsiderable noise. To this succeeds a general bowing and compliment
from every one to each of the company individually, each hoping that
the other has eaten a good dinner. This peculiar phrase is precisely
the counterpart of another always employed on the parting of friends
about mid-day, each expressing a sincere hope that the other will eat
a hearty dinner. This is the most usual form of civility in Vienna.
The party then adjourns to another apartment, where coffee is served
and where it is frequently joined by other visitors, chiefly men, who
come without particular invitation, to pay their respects or to
converse on business, in the manner of a morning call, and who prolong
their stay as the movements of the first party indicate: for an
invitation to dinner by no means necessarily implies that you are to
spend the evening or any part of it at the house or that the family
has no other engagement as soon as dinner is concluded and the guests
have taken their coffee and liquors.
As the dinner is early, being always between twelve and five, the
remainder of the evening is employed in various pursuits. A drive in
the Prater or to some place of public resort, a visit to the theatre,
or a succession of the calls just described, employ the evening; or,
if the dinner has been very early, the party resumes the occupations
and business of the day.
The time and duration of the performances at the theatres are very
convenient. They begin about six and conclude a little after nine.
The greatest decorum prevails during the representation, the
police-military, that is police-officers, in a particular kind of
livery and wearing swords, being stationed in all the avenues. Thus a
person going with a wish to hear the play is not disappointed by those
brawls which scarcely ever fail to interrupt the performance in our
English theatres; nor is there any part of the house to which a party
of the most delicate females might not resort with the greatest
propriety.
The theatrical performances are continued throughout the whole year,
with the exception of the days prohibited by the Catholic calendar, on
many of which, however, concerts, public rehearsals, and a species of
exhibition called a _Tableau_ are permitted. The latter amusement,
being scarcely known in this country, requires some notice.
The object of these exhibitions is, to represent by groups of living
figures the compositions of celebrated sculptors or painters. With
this view that part of the apartment or theatre, beyond which the
_Tableau_ is to be placed, is darkened, and on raising a curtain, the
figures are discovered dressed in the costume which the painter has
given them, and firmly fixed in the attitude prescribed by his pencil.
The light is skilfully introduced and other objects arranged so as to
give as nearly as possible the effect of the original painting. After
some time the curtain drops to give the performers time to rest, and
to relieve themselves from the painful attitudes which they are
frequently obliged to preserve; and the curtain again drawn up
discovers them still in their characteristic postures. When the
spectators are supposed to be satisfied with one picture another is
introduced, and thus several are exhibited in succession. This
generally forms only part of the evening’s amusement, and is either
accompanied by a theatrical performance, or if in private by dancing
or music.
An interesting variety of this entertainment was witnessed by Dr.
Bright. In the midst of a brilliant assembly, the folding-doors of
another room were suddenly thrown open, and what appeared to be a
beautiful collection of wax-figures was displayed to the delighted
eye. They were placed on pedestals, in recesses, or in groups around
the room. They represented heathen deities, or the gnomes and fairies
with which the poets have peopled the regions of imagination, with all
their emblematical accompaniments, and their dresses, which were
selected with the greatest taste. These figures were represented by
persons whom nature had favoured in a distinguished manner; they
preserved an unmoved firmness of attitude, and nothing interrupted the
illusion they intended to create but the animation of their eyes, and
the smile which sometimes dimpled the cheek even of the rooted Daphne.
To assert that this exhibition was beautiful were to degrade its
charms; it seemed to throw a magic spell over the spectators, and the
great difficulty was to induce them to retire when it was actually
necessary to relieve the figures from the painful position in which
they stood.
The houses of Vienna are in general rather small than large; the
palaces of the grandees alone being spacious. Most of the houses are
of brick or wood covered with slate, and some with shingles. As a
measure of precaution, however, the police forbids the use of the
latter; so that whenever a house is repaired it must be roofed with
slate or tiles. The houses in the city only are from four to six
stories high: those of the suburbs occupy more ground but are not so
lofty. Here the mansions of the great, of very simple and sometimes
very whimsical architecture, have handsome gardens attached to them.
The interior is not so commodiously arranged as it might be. The walls
are more commonly painted in fresco than papered. The furniture is not
in general costly, excepting in the palaces of princes or the mansions
of bankers or wealthy merchants, whose opulence enables them to
command all the elegances as well as the conveniences of life.
Simplicity, neatness and perfect cleanliness, which are far to be
preferred to tawdry magnificence, are every where observable.
Fire-places are almost unknown in the private houses of Vienna, and a
stranger is surprised not to find any even in the kitchens.
Vienna is composed of two distinct parts, the city properly so called
and the suburbs, the latter being separated from the former by large
ditches and high walls. The total population is about 225,000 souls.
It is at present on the increase, in consequence of the important
advantages derived by Austria from the late wars. This city, however,
is not a healthy residence, notwithstanding the high winds which
usually prevail there, and which tend to promote salubrity. Instances
of longevity are much more rare in this than in other capitals. In
general the mortality is as one to fifteen annually, which is nearly
three times as great as that of the British metropolis. Though this
effect may be partly owing to the attachment to the pleasures of the
table for which the people of Vienna are proverbial, yet, it must also
be in part ascribed to the climate, which is extremely variable,
frequently changing in the course of few hours from the extreme of
heat to that of cold, and the air, unless ventilated daily by a breeze
about two hours before noon is said to become pestilential. The spring
water also is insalubrious, being apt to occasion bowel complaints to
strangers; and the water of the Danube is so thick and muddy that it
cannot be drunk unless filtered.
The numerous benevolent institutions in Vienna and the comforts
enjoyed by the lower classes seem to argue that this great mortality
is owing rather to the climate than to any other cause. The humane
mind is not here shocked by the appearance of that squalid misery
which excites as much disgust as pity, and the number of mendicants
with which most other large cities are infested. But if the lower
classes here are better off than in some other countries, it is
chiefly owing to their superior morality and good conduct, which
secure them from indigence and want.
The shops of Vienna are not decorated with that profusion and luxury
which are displayed in those of London and Paris. They are neat and
simple; and though they may contain a considerable variety of goods,
yet frequently a square glazed case of patterns hanging at the door is
the only mark by which the nature of a shopkeeper’s dealings is
estimated. The shops, therefore, contribute but little to the
embellishment of the streets in which they are situated.
The streets of the _city_ properly so called are paved with a light
gray sienite brought from Hungary and Bohemia, or with a very hard
species of granite furnished by the mountains of Upper Austria. Both
these species of stone are susceptible of a high polish, and they are
wrought into a variety of ornamental articles, particularly
snuff-boxes. The streets of the suburbs, being unpaved, are in winter
almost impassable on account of the mud, and not the most pleasant in
summer, owing to the clouds of dust raised by the winds which sweep
through them.
Vienna possesses the advantage of being traversed in all directions by
subterraneous canals, which run into the Danube, and into which all
the impurities of the city are carried by regular drains and sewers.
It is well lighted at night, when a horse and foot patrole are
employed to protect the lives and properties of the citizens, a duty
in which they are ably seconded by the fire-watch, chiefly consisting
of invalid soldiers, who are not capable of active military service.
Armed with long staves, they walk through the streets of Vienna,
crying the hour, and at twelve o’clock adding, _put out your fires and
shut your doors!_ A hat of tin slouched behind and turned up before,
covers the head, and that the wearer may be known again, it is marked
with a particular number or letters. In this manner it is easy to
ascertain any individual who may have neglected his duty or exceeded
his orders. A loose drab coat is also marked by a number. Pantaloons,
boots or gaiters according to the season, a leathern apron, and a
leathern bucket, slung behind to be ready in case of fire, complete
the costume of one of these watchmen.
The inhabitants of the villages surrounding Vienna have nearly the
same manners and costume as those of the capital following similar
professions. The remark is equally applicable to the people of Upper
Austria. Among the peasantry in both, the men universally wear low
broad-brimmed hats, as a protection both from rain and sun, and a kind
of half-boots. The breeches, usually of a dark colour, are suspended
by coloured braces put on over the waistcoat, and a broad belt
encircles the waist. A jacket of dark-coloured cloth covers all; a
black handkerchief is worn round the neck, and the stockings are blue,
a colour for which these people appear to have a predilection.
The handkerchief which covers the head and over which the hat is put,
is a peculiarity in the costume of the women of these provinces.
CHAPTER VI.
STYRIA.
COSTUME OF THE INHABITANTS--THE JOANNÆUM AT GRATZ.
In Styria the costume of both sexes is singular. The head-dress of the
women of its capital, Grätz, and the neighbouring villages, such as
maid-servants and daughters of inferior tradesmen or small farmers,
generally consists of a cap of heavy gold lace, in the shape of a
helmet, not unlike that worn by women of the same class in Vienna. In
their forms these caps vary a little, the sides being frequently very
broad, and opening wide backward almost in the manner of a butterfly’s
wings. The gold is often richly varied with alternate stripes of
embossed silver lace, or with embroidered figures: others wear a cap
of the same form, made of black silk and lace, while others again have
the black silk richly worked with flowers.
Most of the female peasants in the surrounding country wear broad hats
of light coloured felt, nearly resembling those of Holland in shape,
and like them lined with linen, which is brought over to cover half of
the upper surface of the brim. This lining is generally of some dark
colour. All wear double handkerchiefs about the neck and shoulders,
and a tight bodice of some gay colour cut low in the back, with a
triangular false cape running in a point nearly to the waist.
The countrymen likewise wear broad hats encircled by a ribbon or a
wide gold lace; a coloured silk handkerchief about the neck, and a
fancy waistcoat, with ornamented braces on the outside, by which the
dark-coloured breeches are suspended. Their stockings are blue, and
they wear neat half-boots lacing before in a point. On week-days they
have jackets, but on holidays wear long frock coats of some dark
cloth, generally green, and ornamented with many large shining
buttons.
We cannot quit this province without directing the the attention of
the reader to an institution of recent establishment, which Dr. Bright
pronounces to be the most interesting at Grätz; this is the Joannæum,
which takes its name from the archduke John, its founder. This prince,
who has distinguished himself by his love of knowledge perhaps above
any prince in Europe, and who is truly worthy of the high situation in
which his birth has placed him, and of the estimable imperial family
of which he forms a part, had pursued with unceasing assiduity an
investigation into the resources both natural and political of Styria.
He had himself surveyed every romantic scene, gathered every mountain
flower, estimated the capability of every rich valley, and drawn his
conclusions as to what was excellent and what still remained to be
improved; and wishing to make the stores he had collected and the
information he had gained of substantial use to the country, he
determined to present his valuable collections and library to the
inhabitants of the capital, that they might afford the means of
instruction to the people, and prove an encouragement to further
research. The Archduke accordingly gave the whole of this treasure,
consisting of an herbal which contained fourteen thousand specimens,
and a large store of minerals, an extensive library, philosophical
instruments and manufactured produce to the town of Grätz. These were
deposited in a large building, formerly a private house, purchased for
the purpose, and in the course of a year or two lectures on chemistry,
botany, mineralogy, astronomy and manufactures, were established; a
reading room was likewise opened and supplied with above fifty
different periodical scientific publications. The example of the
Archduke soon induced several other persons to contribute towards
completing so desirable an object; and among other liberal
contributors, Count von Egger presented his library and a valuable
cabinet of natural history.
At this institution lectures are given on mineralogy, botany and
chemistry, astronomy, mechanics and the means of resuscitating persons
apparently drowned. This last course of lectures has lately been
appointed to be held in all the institutions for the higher branches
of education in the Austrian dominions, and is frequently delivered
on Sunday. Although the Joannæum was originally quite unconnected
with the public education of the country, the students of medicine
have lately been permitted to avail themselves of certificates from
the professors, to forward their claims to academic honours at Vienna.
CHAPTER VII.
BOHEMIA.
COSTUMES OF THE BOHEMIANS.
The name of Bohemia is derived from that of the Boji, a Celtic nation
which inhabited this country at the period to which the earliest
historical records of it relate. Notwithstanding the numerous
resources possessed by the inhabitants in the fertility of the soil,
in the mines, the forests and the different manufactures established
in the course of the last century, the country is not very
flourishing. The peasantry being reduced to the state of serfs, the
apathy and indolence consequent on servitude, cause Bohemia to swarm
with mendicants and vagabonds.
Among these are a great number of gipsies, who in some parts of Europe
are erroneously denominated Bohemians.
The costumes of Bohemia differ considerably from those of Austria,
properly so called. The annexed engraving represents a young peasant
of the environs of Egra. These are a handsome race of men, with fine
open countenances.
Their dress combines simplicity and elegance. Wide trowsers in the
Turkish fashion, reaching to the middle of the leg, contrast by their
dark colour as well as by their amplitude, with the short, tight
waistcoats. The under-waistcoat, or rather a sort of stomacher, which
is left uncovered by the two open upper waistcoats, is the article of
their dress in regard to which they are most particular.
In winter these villagers wear over all a long brown cloth surtout.
The hat has a broad brim and a low crown, round which is tied a
coloured ribbon. From their earliest childhood they are habituated to
smoking, and they are seldom seen without pipes in their mouths,
especially in winter.
[Illustration: PEASANT of EGRA _IN WINTER DRESS._]
The wives and daughters of peasants in general employ dark-coloured
stuffs only for their apparel. In cold weather they wear a cap of fur,
or of woollen, round which a muslin handkerchief is tied behind. Their
stockings are of a dark colour; the shoes are black with red heels:
the quarters are bordered with a piece of the latter colour, which
turns down over the instep.
The principal piece of finery in the dress of these women is the
girdle, in which they are particularly studious of elegance and
richness. It fastens both before and behind, and from the middle hangs
a broad band of the same material and similarly ornamented, which
passes in a semicircle sometimes to the right, at others to the left.
The wedding apparel of the young female peasants of this part of
Bohemia is remarkable. Everywhere else a wedding is an occasion of
rejoicing and gaiety not only to the new-married couple, but also to
such of their relations and friends as are invited. Not so at Egra.
There the bride would be deemed guilty of an act of unpardonable
indecorum, if she were to appear in a white dress, or to give
additional splendour to her apparel by pearls, jewels, or laces.
Marriage, being considered in this country as the most important and
solemn act of life, is celebrated with the utmost gravity. Every
thing, therefore, that bears the resemblance of ostentation is
avoided: the bride is attired in her usual black dress, to which is
added a cloak of the same colour, reaching to the knees and not unlike
that used in the rest of Europe at funerals. She holds in one hand a
rosary, and in the other a veil which is to cover her during the
ceremony; and in the most modest and devout attitude she proceeds to
the church.
In summer the inhabitants of these parts go very lightly clothed. The
men have but one open waistcoat, which leaves the bosom exposed; the
women wear a corset without sleeves, a petticoat, a blue apron and a
handkerchief of the same colour about the neck. The head is covered
with a white handkerchief, which is tied behind.
CHAPTER VIII.
MORAVIA.
COSTUMES OF THE INHABITANTS--ACCOUNT OF THE HAUNACKS--PEASANTS
OF THE FRONTIERS.
The costume of the inhabitants of Moravia resembles more or less that
of the people of the contiguous countries. In the centre of the
province the men generally wear jacket, waistcoat, and pantaloons of
one colour, hussar boots, and a hat, the broad brim of which is cocked
behind and slouched before.
The women dress nearly in the style of the Austrian peasants, but in
winter they wear over the laced corset and gown a sort of hussar
jacket of cloth bordered with fur, while gaiters or boots defend their
feet and legs from cold and damp.
Near Olmütz there is a small tract of country, extending about five
square German miles, and inhabited by a tribe of people called
Haunacks, or Haunachians, who are supposed by the native statistical
writers to be the pure descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants of
Moravia. They derive their name from the small river Hauna. Their
history is rather obscure, but they are undoubtedly a Slavonic tribe.
In stature they are short, but strong and muscular; and being simple,
temperate, and plain in their habits, they attain in general a very
advanced age. By the neighbouring Germans they are reproached as being
slothful and averse to bodily labour; while they themselves boast of
the fertility of their soil, and look down with contempt upon the
other inhabitants of Moravia as an inferior set of beings, to whom
nature has been more niggardly of her gifts. Their mode of living is
frugal and highly primitive. The flesh of the hog joined with
hasty-pudding is their favourite viand, and beer their only beverage.
The young women are remarkable for the grace and elegance of their
forms, and the neat adjustment of their dresses, which are extremely
picturesque and show off to great advantage the considerable share of
personal beauty with which the wearers are gifted. Their summer dress
consists of a large white linen cap, the lappets of which, bordered
with lace and embroidered with red silk, fall over their shoulders.
Their long hair is suffered to float in tresses; or, when the cap is
laid aside, is gracefully twisted and tied over the head with knots of
ribbons. A coloured corset, laced before shows the shape to advantage.
Their well turned ankles are set off with white or red stockings, and
black shoes with red heels.
[Illustration: PEASANT of the MOUNTAINS of MORAVIA.]
The dress of the men consists of a round hat adorned with ribbons of
various colours; a waistcoat commonly green, embroidered with red
silk, encompassed by a broad leathern girdle, with brown pantaloons
attached to the vest by means of large buckles; and boots. This is
their summer costume, but in winter they cover the head with a large
and singularly shaped fur cap, and throw over their shoulders an
undressed sheep or wolf-skin, in the absence of which they wear a
brown woollen cloak with a large hood, like that of a Capuchin Friar.
On the frontiers of Hungary the costume of the peasant of Moravia
partakes of the style of dress usual in the former country. A
broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat covers his head; the short coat, which
in shape resembles the surcoat of the ancient knights, is girt round
the waist by a leathern girdle: and he carries his bundle slung behind
him from a shoulder-belt. He wears tight pantaloons, and stockings,
round which are twisted the strings that fasten his sandals, as
represented in the engraving.
CHAPTER IX.
THE TYROL.
MIGRATIONS OF THE TYROLESE--THEIR FRANKNESS--THEIR ATTACHMENT TO
THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA--ANECDOTE OF THE ARCHDUCHESS
ELIZABETH--LITERARY TURN OF THE TYROLESE--THEIR EXTRAORDINARY
HONESTY--FONDNESS FOR PUGILISTIC EXERCISES AND THE
CHASE--ANCIENT PRACTICE--MORAL
CHARACTER--SUPERSTITION--MECHANICAL GENIUS--PERSONS AND
COSTUMES--NATIONAL SONGS--CUSTOM OF VISITING THE GRAVES OF
RELATIONS--MARRIAGE CEREMONIES OF THE TYROLESE.
The most striking feature in the character of the Tyrolese is their
love of independence and their attachment to their native land. The
intense cold, however, that prevails in the elevated valleys, in
general compels their inhabitants to quit them in winter, when they
repair to the neighbouring towns to pursue their different
professions. Thus villages, nay even whole valleys are at times nearly
deserted, except by the aged men, the women and the children. At
stated periods, therefore, these mountaineers emigrate in bodies of
thirty or forty, and spread themselves over Italy, Bavaria, and
Austria. Some of them become excellent carpenters, others skilful
smiths, and it is seldom that they do not follow more than one trade.
They are particularly addicted to the mechanical arts. The young lads
hire themselves to tend cattle. On the return of summer and the
approach of harvest-time, these mountaineers set out for their
respective hamlets, joyfully carrying with them their little savings.
They collect in companies and march to the sound of the bagpipe, which
at a distance announces their coming. All run out to meet them, and
they rarely pass through a village without being supplied with
refreshments. In this manner they travel forward till they reach their
humble homes, where they forget their hardships and fatigues in the
affectionate embraces of their wives, children and relations.
The industry of the Tyrolese does not suffer them to be content with
these migrations occasioned by the inclemency of the climate. They
travel all over Germany with aromatic and medicinal plants, carpets,
gloves, chamois-skins, steel trinkets, or wooden wares carved with the
utmost delicacy. These commodities they carry chiefly to Vienna, being
encouraged by the favourable reception given to them by the
inhabitants, who are delighted with their frankness and good humour.
The Tyrolese always speak what they think without reserve or disguise.
Like our Quakers they address every one, not excepting the emperor
himself, in the second person singular; and they question the
sovereign without the least ceremony respecting his intentions in
regard to their country. When these plans do not harmonize with their
ideas, they censure them with the utmost freedom. There have been
instances of their carrying their complaints to the foot of the
throne, and remonstrating with a liberty which to courtiers must
appear very extraordinary.
To the honour of the sovereigns of the house of Austria, it must be
confessed that any of their subjects may obtain a private audience of
them with less difficulty than in other states an interview can be
gained with a minister. If I were to select, says a British traveller,
from among the eulogies which have been passed on monarchs, the most
glowing traits, assisted by the warmest efforts of imagination, I
might not, perhaps make a deeper impression upon the mind of the
reader, than by the simple recital of the fact, that it is the habit
of the Austrian ruler to admit into his presence and to personal
interview every individual of his realm. One day in every week is
devoted to this sacred duty; when the emperor, with the first dawning
of the morning, attends in a private apartment to receive petitions
and complaints from the mouths of even the poorest of his subjects. He
listens to them freely, and though he seldom judges finally at the
moment, shows his sympathy and declares his feeling in their behalf.
The known frankness and intrepidity of the Tyrolese induced Austria to
grant them great liberty. Never, indeed, was government more paternal
than that of Austria in regard to the Tyrol. Hence all the inhabitants
went into mourning when the fortune of war transferred them a few
years since to another power, which, by its ill-judged measures, only
strengthened their attachment to their former sovereign. The struggle
which they made in his behalf against the united force of France and
Bavaria shows what exertions a nation fighting for independence is
capable of making, and will occupy a conspicuous place in the history
of those wars which have lately distracted Europe. The general peace
which put an end to these hostilities, crowned the wishes of the
faithful Tyrolese, and replaced them under the Austrian sceptre.
As the most trivial circumstances frequently impart a clearer insight
into the character of an individual or a nation than those of more
importance, the following authentic anecdote may be worth recording.
The archduchess Elizabeth, aunt to the present emperor of Austria, who
was so much beloved that the people of Vienna always called her
_Unsere Liese_, (_Our Bess_) took a particular fancy to milk with her
own hands the beautiful cows which she had collected at Schönbrunn.
She had heard the Tyrolese highly extolled for their skill and
cleverness in this operation, and therefore had several herdsmen
brought from the Tyrol, that they might instruct her in the milking
and general management of cattle. The first who arrived, seeing the
princess engaged in milking her cows, gazed at her in silence for a
few moments, and then burst out into the exclamation: “Get thee gone,
thou awkward baggage! why, thou wouldst not earn salt to thy
porridge!” After he had thus politely driven away the princess, he
fell to work and milked the whole herd in less time than the
archduchess would have done a single cow. During the course of this
extraordinary instruction, these men never could be persuaded to
soften their language or to use less frankness in their expressions.
So far, however, from displeasing by their freedom, they had some
difficulty to obtain permission to return to their native mountains.
The Tyrolese who travel into Germany, to carry on a little traffic in
drugs and peltry, have in general several partners. At any rate the
husband never goes without his wife, nor the brother without his
sister. It is very rarely that a man is seen by himself disposing of
his commodities. They have not failed to observe that the costume of
their women excites the curiosity of strangers, and they judiciously
avail themselves of it that they may find a better market for their
merchandise. When they settle at Vienna, almost all of them adopt the
trades of carpenter or mason.
A singular fact, and which serves to show the natural bent of this
nation, is, that there is scarcely a Tyrolese peasant but has his
library, however small. Though it contains perhaps no more than thirty
or forty volumes, still it affords proof of a fondness for study. The
Bible, the Lives of the Saints, a history of their country, or of
Austria, together with a few geographical works, compose the
generality of these rustic libraries. So strong is their hankering for
news, that many of those in easy circumstances take in the Inspruck
newspaper; which, in the long winter evenings, furnishes them with
subjects for discussion and comments, in which their own country is
not forgotten.
Theft and robbery are so uncommon in Tyrol, that locks are almost
unknown, at least in the villages. The doors of their habitations have
no other guard than the mutual integrity of the inmates. The peasants
therefore have merely a latch, which is raised by means of a bit of
packthread, and this method of closing the entrance to their cottages
is adopted solely to keep the cattle out of them. A hundred times,
says a traveller, have I stopped at inns where there was no key
whatever, and yet I never lost any thing. At Vienna, and in other
parts of Germany also, the Tyrolese bear the highest character for
honesty and integrity, and there is no instance of any of them having
abused the confidence reposed in him.
Such is their respect for the memory of deceased relatives and
friends, that they scarcely ever go out of mourning for them. A person
who should violate this custom would be considered as degenerate. It
is not uncommon to see a widow wear mourning all her life for her
husband, or a daughter for a mother. If this practice attests the
excellence of their hearts, the mourning assumed by them on account of
the misfortunes which befall their country equally proves the ardour
of their patriotism. When I visited the Tyrol, says a French
traveller, after the war in 1809, I asked a peasant why the people
were all in mourning. “Look at our towns,” replied he, “you see that
they are in ashes; and can you still ask why we are in mourning?” A
nation endowed with such qualities, cannot fail to be deeply
interesting to every enlightened mind and to every generous heart.
The Tyrolese peasants are mostly robust, and attach more value to
vigour of body than to beauty of form. From their infancy they addict
themselves to exercises best calculated to increase the strength and
suppleness of their limbs. Some, after the example of the ancient
Greeks, are professed wrestlers, and pursue the exercise with such
ardour, that if they were to neglect it for some time their health
would suffer. Hence they seldom pass a week without challenging other
champions, and they will go many miles either to be actors in, or
witnesses of such matches.
Pugilistic exercises have in consequence become an amusement
inseparable from rustic weddings, fairs and parish festivals. They
were formerly frequent in the vicinity of Inspruck, the capital of the
country; but the police took advantage of the quarrels which they
occasioned, to apprehend the combatants and force them to enlist in
the army for life: so that it is only in the remote districts that
they can indulge without fear in their favourite diversion.
The dress of the Tyrolese wrestlers is nearly the same as that of the
other villagers, excepting that they never wear either collar or
cravat, to deprive their adversaries of the advantage of seizing them
by that part of the dress. The rest of their clothes, indeed, affords
abundant scope for laying hold, as they have not yet adopted the
practice of oiling their bodies like the combatants of Greece at the
Olympic games.
These men have an extremely shrill war-cry, and are known by the
cock’s feathers in their hats, the number of which always corresponds
with that of the victories they have won. In regard to this point they
could not easily practise deception; for the man who should set up a
claim in contradiction to public notoriety, would become an object of
derision, and pay dearly for his usurped finery.
[Illustration: TYROLESE HUNTER.]
We are not exactly informed of the use of the thick pewter ring which
they wear on the little finger of the right hand, and which they call
the ring of combat. It is not considered fair for these wrestlers to
grasp their adversary with their hands; they strive to make him lose
his balance, to throw him down, and then snatch from him the feathers
which he has won in preceding contests. In the intervals of rest they
are furnished with a pipe, which they regard as an infallible medium
for recruiting their strength.
The chase is another amusement to which the Tyrolese are passionately
attached, and which they pursue from their earliest infancy. Each
village has a spot set apart for firing at a mark; and here boys begin
to practise as soon as they can hold a gun.
The hunting of the chamois, which is indisputably the most arduous and
difficult species of sport, since that animal frequents only the
highest mountains, is what the Tyrolese takes most delight in. Lightly
clad, having a large green hat to screen him from the sun, his gun
slung at his back or in his hand, and equipped in the manner
represented in the opposite plate, he traverses the deepest valleys
and climbs the most rugged mountains. Here he frequently passes
several successive days. A stick, terminating with an iron spike, is
indispensably necessary for supporting him on the steep acclivities of
the mountains. His game-bag, covered with velvet, serves him for a
pillow at night; it contains some provision, a small speaking-trumpet,
and a couple of cramp-irons to assist him in climbing perpendicular
rocks. Some of these men have been known to cut their feet on purpose
that the blood from the wounds might cover the smooth surface of the
rocks and prevent their slipping.
A very interesting custom formerly existed in the Tyrol. The
wealthiest of the peasants advanced to such young men as appeared to
be most industrious, active, and intelligent, a sum of money, to be
laid out in the productions of the country, and which were to be sold
or exchanged for foreign commodities. Sometimes the fulfilment of
these commissions required a voyage beyond sea. The agent, having
procured his goods, set out furnished with every thing calculated to
ensure the success of the enterprise. Having disposed of his
merchandise, he returned home, called together his employers, and
delivered to them the proceeds of the goods with which he had been
entrusted. Each took up the sum he had contributed, and the overplus
belonged to the young factor. This practice, now unfortunately fallen
into disuse, affords a strong proof of the integrity of these honest
mountaineers.
The Tyrolese has in general all the art of a man experienced in the
ways of the world, with the simplicity of a child, and in consequence,
perhaps, of the injuries done to him by foreign nations, he is become
more mistrustful. Still he will never commit a base action out of
resentment: his soul is too proud and too elevated to employ such
disgraceful means. If he attacks, it is always openly. Courageous and
persevering, he spares no exertion to attain his aim. Great in
adversity, he is not cast down by it; prosperity always finds him
proof against its dangerous illusions: his country and her
independence are all that he prizes. He cannot regret wealth, for he
possesses it not: he is a stranger to pleasures, excepting those that
arise from the relation of husband and father: hardships do not affect
his robust frame, accustomed to all sorts of privations, and inured to
the inclemency of winter. Thus from his earliest youth he climbs the
glaciers barefoot, and that he may be the more unrestrained in his
motions, he never covers his knees with any garment. Finally, the
first sports of his childhood consist in gliding from the tops of the
mountains in light sledges: an amusement which, were he less expert,
would expose his life a thousand times to the most imminent danger.
These people, so kind and so hospitable to the unarmed stranger, or to
him who needs their protection, are most formidable to the invader of
their country, or the violator of their ancient institutions. Bold and
skilful marksmen, accustomed to the use of arms and to the chase, they
soon become excellent soldiers, whose address is equal to their
courage. It must be confessed, however, that as regular troops, the
Tyrolese display greater bravery on the mountains than in the plains,
where they imagine that they have not the same advantages.
Faithful husbands and tender fathers, the Tyrolese have in general a
warm affection for their families: and lawsuits, or quarrels
respecting property, seldom disturb the harmony that prevails among
them. The simplicity of their manners is as remarkable as that of
their character, and a spirit of religion contributes not a little to
keep it up. Their devotion may sometimes go to the length of
superstition, but never to that of fanaticism. Besides, it cannot
prove dangerous, since it is confined to the belief in the existence
of spirits and malignant genii. This belief is chiefly current among
the peasantry of the elevated districts; hence the village girls dare
scarcely go abroad after dark for fear of falling into snares laid for
them by mischievous spirits. There is no sound, even to the rustling
of the leaves of the trees, shaken by the evening breeze, but
proclaims to their exalted imaginations the presence of ghosts. Thus
their superstitious notions animate all nature. To protect themselves
from the power of these imaginary beings, many Tyrolese of both sexes
engrave the figure of Christ, or of some saint upon their flesh, by
pricking it with a needle and rubbing gunpowder into the punctures;
and this they consider as a permanent safeguard. Some, however, who
are more enlightened or less credulous, adopt these figures merely by
way of ornament, a practice similar to the tattowing common among most
of the South Sea islanders.
The active and lively disposition of the Tyrolese urges them to
imitate whatever they see. It may almost be said that they become
mechanics by intuition; at any rate, no sooner do they experience the
want of any instrument, than they set about making it, and though,
perhaps, rude and clumsy, it always answers the purpose for which it
was designed. Thus at their summer habitations on the mountains,
however elevated their situation, you find small hydraulic machines,
which work the stones required by the herdsmen to sharpen their
implements, or to grind the corn necessary for their subsistence.
Sometimes they connect a moving wheel with the piston used in
churning. In another place you see a cradle rocked with a motion the
more gentle as it is produced by a fall of water moderated with art.
In short, a stranger who visits their country, perceives, at every
step, the extraordinary turn of these people for the mechanical arts.
In addition to the instances of ingenuity mentioned above, it is not
uncommon to find in the valleys of the Tyrol, painters, makers of
musical instruments, and other machinery, who, without any instruction
whatever, have produced truly astonishing things. There are peasants
who, in the long winter evenings, have constructed piano-fortes,
rather complicated instruments, and that merely from the notion
acquired by a short examination of one. Neither should it be forgotten
that the first good map of the country, which it is so difficult to
survey, was produced by a native of the mountains of Tyrol, Peter
Anich, a herdsman.
Considered merely with reference to their persons, the Tyrolese are
remarkable people. An expressive and animated countenance, bright
piercing eyes, and a tall robust figure, are the principal
characteristics by which they are distinguished. Their step is rather
heavy, owing to their habit of continually ascending mountains. Hard
labour imparts strength and vigour to their limbs. Their hair, almost
always of a light colour, falls in graceful locks over their
shoulders. A certain air of dignity, which admirably becomes their
masculine features, and their elegant costume, heighten the expression
of their faces, and set off the beauty of their forms. The hat,
commonly of straw, bordered with ribbons of different colours, and
adorned in a picturesque manner with feathers, is worn covered with
fine green silk by the single men, but generally black by such as are
married. A short waistcoat and jacket fit tight upon the body. Broad
braces, ornamented with figured work and crossing over the bosom,
support, what in this case may justly be denominated small-clothes,
since they seldom reach lower than the middle of the thigh. Stockings,
either plaited or embroidered with silk of different colours, show off
a handsome leg; and the shoes, equally light and elegant, are adorned
with ribbons always of a different colour from themselves. Gold or
silver buckles are sometimes worn in them.
Rarely unarmed, they are scarcely ever seen without a gun slung at
their shoulder and a goat-skin knapsack. At once a military and an
agricultural people, the Tyrolese are always ready to relinquish the
plough and the herdsman’s staff for the musket. To give a more
masculine character to the countenance, they shade the lips with long
and thick mustaches; and in some districts let part of the beard grow,
which gives a degree of fierceness and wildness to their look.
The females are rather fair than handsome: their persons are more
remarkable for strength than elegance. In general of a serious
disposition, their countenance, nay, their very smile, have a degree
of gravity, so that the impression which they produce at first sight
is by no means prepossessing. Their costume has frequently an elegance
and a lightness that are extremely becoming. Green or black hats
bordered with ribbons of different colours, and a velvet cap, compose
their winter head-dress. In summer they let their long light tresses
flow over their shoulders, or turn them up and fasten them at the back
of the head with long pins. A corset laced before covers the bosom,
and on this part of their dress they bestow particular pains, some
decorating it with lace, and others working upon it a variety of
designs in silk of different colours. Short petticoats, seldom
reaching to the middle of the leg, are remarkable in general for their
lively colours and their numerous plaits, which, however, are so
disposed as not to hide the contours of the body. Stockings of a light
colour, set off by embroidered clocks, have an elegant and graceful
appearance.
In some of the mountainous districts, the women, in order to be the
less encumbered in their laborious occupations, have adopted the use
of drawers with such scanty petticoats as to fall considerably short
of the knee. Out of mere singularity, they load their legs with
stockings, so plaited, as to give them a clumsy appearance. These
stockings, being too thick to be covered by shoes, have no feet, so
that the ankles are left quite bare. This practice occasions swelling
of the legs or pains in the feet; but nothing can induce them to
relinquish it, such is the influence of habit among all the nations of
the earth.
The colour of the dress of the Tyrolese is different in every valley.
The women in the environs of Hall and Inspruck, in general wear gowns
half black and half blue, which produce a singular effect. The head is
covered with a very lofty pyramidal cap, commonly of quilted cotton,
decorated with transverse stripes. In summer they exchange this
awkward head-dress for an elegant hat, and leave the hair loose.
The young girls have a remarkably simple costume. A ribbon tied round
the top of the head constitutes the only head-dress. The throat and
upper part of the neck are uncovered; but a handkerchief of
rose-coloured crape is fastened together over the bosom. A broad
ribbon passing round the waist is tied behind. A white corset with
sleeves, a short green petticoat, and scarlet worsted stockings
complete the dress of these peasants.
The women of this part of the Tyrol have such a predilection for red
and blue stockings, that they seldom wear them of any other colour.
When these stockings are not plaited, they load them with embroidery
and all sorts of whimsical figures. With the women, the stockings,
corset and girdle, are the articles in which finery is particularly
studied, as the hat, the waistcoat, and the braces are with the men.
The manners of the women of the Tyrol are gentle and sedate. Equally
chaste wives and tender mothers, they devote themselves entirely to
their household affairs and to the care of their children. Constant in
their sentiments, the man whom they once love is the object of their
everlasting affection. Kind to all around them, they are not shy at
the appearance of a stranger. On the contrary, when he approaches
their habitation the mother sends her daughters to meet the traveller,
and with engaging modesty they offer him fruit and present him with
flowers. When once introduced into the cottage, the whole family
throngs around him; the most delicious milk assuages his thirst, while
a dish of smoked meat is prepared to appease the hunger excited by the
keen air of the mountains.
Naturally quick and hasty, the Tyrolese prosecutes with heart and soul
whatever he takes in hand. His dances alone, by their irregularity and
vivacity, sufficiently attest the vehemence of his character. The
music which excites him to pleasure is so brisk, that he can scarcely
follow the measure. In short, these people cannot do any thing in a
cool and quiet manner: if they fight, it is with an ardour which never
allows them to calculate the danger; and when they indulge in
pleasure, they give themselves up to it entirely. Is the country in
danger? mourning is in every heart, and arms are in every hand: their
very apparel acquaints the stranger with their feelings and their
thoughts.
The national songs of the Tyrolese likewise prove the violence of
their passions. Always lively and gay, they frequently pass from low
natural tones to the highest sharps. From the expressions of these
songs, you may know that they belong to men wandering in vast
solitudes, and whose strains, crossing deep valleys, excite the voices
of the herdsmen on the opposite hills. It is to this wildness and
irregularity that the national airs of the Tyrol owe the celebrity
which they have acquired. What traveller, who has ever witnessed the
sensations they produce, could hear them without emotion!
The same man whom we have seen pursuing with such ardour, the innocent
pleasure of a rustic dance, listens to the truths of religion with
such profound respect, that in the attitude of devotion you would not
know him again, or be tempted to believe that he is animated
alternately by two different spirits. But that you may be able to
appreciate his sensibility, follow him when at the decline of day, he
leads his family from his humble abode to the tombs of his
forefathers. Bareheaded, with downcast eyes and the chaplet in his
hand, he walks first as the monarch of the family. Sometimes, indeed,
he leads by the hand the youngest of his boys, while the elder follow.
After them appears the mother, covered with a veil and surrounded by
her daughters, who learn from her that modesty is woman’s brightest
ornament. On reaching the grave of the person whose loss they deplore,
they all kneel down and pray for that eternal repose in behalf of the
soul of their friend, which will one day be solicited for themselves.
After a few short prayers, the eldest of the boys rises, and thrice
sprinkles holy water on the grave; all then strew over it flowers
mingled with their tears. A practice so general, and which is repeated
every day, cannot but have a strong tendency to preserve the
prevailing simplicity and purity of manners.
The marriage ceremonies of the Tyrolese are not less interesting. It
is seldom that young people marry from motives of interest, or in
consequence of previous arrangements between the parents. It is in
their walks, or at their rural meetings, that they become acquainted.
When mutually agreeable, they respectively promise faith and love, and
give each other their hand in ratification of this first contract.
This promise made in the utmost purity of heart satisfies the lovers.
Never is the chaste damsel of the Tyrol known to repent the
acknowledgment of her secret sentiments to him to whom she has avowed
them, nor the latter to take an improper advantage of this confession.
When once engaged by mutual vows, the young people have nothing more
to do than to acquaint their parents with the object of their choice.
It is seldom that the latter throw any impediment in the way of the
happiness of their children. The circumstances which too frequently
oppose the union of families in our polished societies cannot exist
among people who are content with the possession of a few head of
cattle and a few acres of land, for which, moreover, they have to
dispute with the snow on the mountains.
The lover, hurried away by his passion and his natural impetuosity,
warmly extols the qualities of his mistress, and spares no pains to
obtain from his parents an approval of the sentiments by which he is
animated. The old folks, naturally more cool, seldom decide at once:
but to satisfy themselves of the sincerity of their son’s attachment,
they put it to the test in various ways. These trials differ with the
age and character both of the son and of the father. Some send their
sons into Switzerland, Bavaria, or Italy, with various productions of
the country which they are to dispose of there, and to interest them
in the success of the enterprise they give up to them all the profit.
“Go,” say their parents, “earn thy wife. To be a good father, a man
must be able to get bread for his children.”
Not less dutiful as a son than ardent as a lover, the young Tyrolese
never opposes the commands of his parents. How painful soever it be to
him to leave his mistress and his beloved mountains, he departs, but
not till he has presented the idol of his heart with a pledge of his
fidelity in the ribbons that adorned his hat. He, moreover, places in
her bosom the flower which renews the memory of love, and which for
that reason is named _forget-me-not_. The damsel gives him in return
the girdle which encircles her waist, and in which she has secretly
embroidered the initials of the name of the favoured youth. The most
amorous swains do not quit the hamlet till they have played upon the
rustic bagpipe some plaintive ditty, to which their mistress listens
surrounded by her female companions, who are ever ready to share her
sorrows.
Other fathers subject their sons to trials of shorter duration,
sending them for a few months to the herdsmen’s huts on the high
mountains. Here the youths tend the herds and flocks, and strive as
much as possible to increase the produce from them by their
management. They also gather bilberries and the leaves of the spike
(_valeriana celtica_) which has such a delightful smell. These
occupations render them robust, and habituate them to fatigue. The
spike grows only on the tops of the second-rate mountains and on the
steep sides of those which are crowned with snow. This aromatic plant
is exported to the East, where its perfume is destined to delight the
voluptuous inmates of the seraglio. The roots of the gentians also are
collected on the mountains, and from these they extract the juice,
which yields a spirit that is highly esteemed.
The wealthier Tyrolese have recourse to other means to assure
themselves of the sincerity of the attachment of their sons. They take
them out into companies where they are likely to meet young females
worthy of their notice; but if the sight of fresh objects produces no
change in their sentiments, the parents no longer withhold their
consent.
The day on which the damsel’s hand is formally solicited, is a
festival not only for the two families but for the whole hamlet. The
Tyrolese in general regard each other as brothers. The father of the
young man arrays himself in his best apparel. Laying aside the jacket
suitable for working days only, he puts on a coat decorated with
ribbons of various colours. By his dress and the pleasure that
sparkles in his eyes, it is evident that he is going on a joyful
errand. He takes with him his younger sons, who carry baskets in which
his first presents are deposited. In one he places honeycombs, the
fragrance of which is heightened by the sweet-smelling thyme and other
aromatic Alpine plants, with which they are surrounded; and puts into
another the finest fruits of the season, not forgetting some cakes
made by a beloved daughter.
On reaching the damsel’s abode, the father is introduced by the uncle
or the nearest relative. Here he finds the family of his future
daughter-in-law assembled. All present rise and salute him. “Welcome,
my friend!” says the head of the family to him. “What motive brings
thee among us?”--“As thou art a father,” replies the visitor, “let me
put a question to thy daughter.”--With these words he steps up to her,
kisses her on the forehead, and thus addresses her: “God bless thee,
lovely girl, who remindest me of the days of my youth. I have a son;
he loves thee. Wilt thou make my declining years happy?”
The Tyrolese girls, equally modest and affectionate, can, it is said,
rarely find words to answer this flattering question, so that their
mothers are almost always obliged to be the interpreters of their
sentiments. The lover is then introduced by a young companion: he
enters, bringing the fruits of his industry and constancy, which he
deposits at the feet of his new mother, whose affection he solicits.
The kiss of peace assures him of the kindness of the parents by whom
he is adopted, and the first salute granted by his mistress bespeaks
the ardour of her love.
The young companions of the bride likewise receive a kiss from the
bridegroom and wishes for their future happiness. The most intimate of
her friends then conducts the bridegroom to his destined spouse and
retires; on which the spokesman of the family rises and begins a long
harangue on the good qualities of the young man. Though rarely
listened to by the young folks, who have much to say to one another,
he nevertheless relates with emphasis the various trials to which the
bridegroom has been subjected, and concludes with congratulating the
damsel on having inspired him with a passion so strong as to surmount
them all.
The young females then sing stanzas suitable to the occasion, after
which the company partake of a frugal repast consisting of bread,
cheese, fresh butter, and goats’ or ewes’ milk, together with a few
glasses of Meran or Brixen wine, or among the more opulent, of
Hungarian wine. This repast being finished, the youths escort the
bridegroom home with songs and the sound of the rustic flute. At dusk,
the bridegroom serenades his beloved with a plaintive tune under her
window, mingling the sounds of his voice with those of the bagpipe.
The wedding-day at length arrives, and gaiety pervades the hamlet.
From the general rejoicing, a stranger would suppose all the
inhabitants to belong to the same family. When the bride lives at a
village remote from the residence of the bridegroom, the latter
repairs thither, accompanied by a numerous party, demonstrating the
harmony and brotherly love which prevail among the Tyrolese. To
beguile the length of the way, the young lads stop now and then and
join in the merry dance. On reaching the place of their destination,
they repair to the abode of the bride, and while they enter, the
musicians play the nuptial air. The music ceases, and the schoolmaster
addresses a complimentary speech to the bride, who then delivers to
the bridegroom the ribbons for his garters in token of his future
authority. These ribbons the bridemaid attaches to his dress; he gives
her a kiss, and, according to custom, she embraces him in return.
The procession then repairs to the church, headed by the musicians;
next come the young men, and then the young women, who are followed by
the bride and bridegroom. The former is dressed in white, with a
nosegay of flowers selected by her lover in her bosom. She is placed
on his right, and is attended by her bridemaid, as is the bridegroom
by his man. Then come the parents and relations of the parties, whose
serious looks and grave demeanour form a striking contrast with the
wild mirth and frolicksome pranks of those who close the procession.
On reaching the church, a devout silence is observed by the whole
assembly. The service begins, but before the priest pronounces the
nuptial benediction, the young couple, falling on their knees before
their parents, receive their blessing. On their return home, they are
congratulated by their friends, who then partake of an entertainment
provided for the occasion. When this is over, the head of the family
rises, and after he has said grace, he offers up a prayer for the
prosperity of the new-married couple; to give a still more solemn
character to this pious ceremony, he pictures in glowing colours the
virtues of their forefathers. Nor does he forget to pray for the
parents whom death has snatched from them. The speaker resumes his
seat, and when the tears of affection have ceased to flow, the
cheerful songs of the young people awaken other emotions.
Impatient for the pleasures of the dance, the latter slip away by
degrees to the meadow or the room prepared for dancing. How desirous
soever the young couple may be to follow, they must not stir, till the
father of the family taking hold of the bride and the mother of the
bridegroom, conduct them to their companions. Here, seated side by
side, they receive the congratulations of the young men, among whom
the bride distributes flowers from a basket. By these flowers they
prognosticate their future fortunes. If the honeysuckle or the Alpine
lily falls to their share, they promise themselves extraordinary
prosperity. The periwinkle and the rhododendrons betoken a happy,
tranquil life; but the foxglove and the daphne are omens of
misfortunes and afflictions. The young damsels then come to express
their good wishes, and the bridegroom distributes among them ribbons,
the different colours of which are in like manner supposed to indicate
their future lot.
Next morning they do not fail to pay a visit to the young couple,
because they attach great importance to the possession of a few
flowers from the wreath that encircled the brow of the bride. To her
greatest favourites she gives the pins which fastened the wreath, and
these they regard as tokens that they shall be happily married
themselves. Thus does hope reign among this people of brothers, and
associate by propitious omens future happiness with present felicity.
CHAPTER X.
HUNGARY.
EXTENT--DIVISION--CONSTITUTION--VAST ESTATES OF THE
MAGNATS--STATE OF THE PEASANTRY--THEIR INDOLENCE--THIEVISH
DISPOSITION OF THE HERDSMEN--PUNISHMENTS--HUNGARIAN
PRISON--GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE PEASANTS AND THEIR HABITATIONS
IN DIFFERENT COUNTIES--HORNED CATTLE--SHEEP--VILLAGE
HERDSMEN--RAVAGES OF WOLVES--GRANARIES--COSTUMES.
The kingdom of Hungary, the superficial area of which exceeds four
thousand German square miles, and which contains nearly nine millions
of inhabitants, is a highly interesting country both in a geographical
and a moral point of view. If the observer cannot help admiring the
abundance and extraordinary variety of its natural productions,
neither can he behold without astonishment the diversity of the races
composing its population, and the differences which prevail in their
manners, customs, and religion. The variety in costume is not less
striking, as we shall hereafter have occasion to show.
Civil Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia, are divided into four districts
comprehending fifty-two counties.
Hungary is an hereditary but limited monarchy, the crown of which has
been held since 1527 by the house of Austria. The king possesses many
important rights and prerogatives, but at the same time the rights and
privileges of the Hungarian nobility also are numerous and extensive.
The nobility alone are designated in the language of the state by the
appellation of the Hungarian people, and they are distinguished in a
peculiar manner from the nobles of all other European nations by the
circumstance, that the grants of their privileges have suffered least
from the changes of time, and that the characteristic features of
these rights, now in the nineteenth century, approach nearer than any
to those of the nobles in the days of the crusades.
This constitution bears a nearer resemblance to our own in its earlier
periods, as it regards the king, the magnats or grandees, and the
deputies in diet assembled, than that of any of the northern nations:
yet it differs widely from it in all that relates to the lower order
of the people, whose interests have been completely overlooked, and
who are still in nearly the same state of villanage that prevailed in
most parts of Europe during the feudal ages.
The country in general is parcelled out among the magnats, some of
whom possess estates of immense extent. In considering a Hungarian
property, says Dr. Bright, we must figure to ourselves a landed
proprietor possessing ten, twenty or forty estates, distributed in
different parts of the kingdom, reckoning his acres by hundreds of
thousands, and the peasants upon his estates by numbers almost as
great; we must remember that all this extent of land is cultivated,
not by farmers, but by his own stewards and officers, who have not
only to attend to the agricultural management of the land, but to
direct to a certain extent the administration of justice among the
people; we must farther bear in mind, that perhaps one-third of this
extensive territory consists of the deepest forests, affording a
retreat and shelter not only to beasts of prey, but to many lawless
and desperate characters, who often defy for a great length of time
the vigilance of the police--we shall then have some faint conception
of the situation and duties of a Hungarian magnat.
The same writer, in his interesting _Travels in Hungary_, describes
the singular manner in which land is possessed and distributed in this
country. No man can possess land who is not a noble of Hungary: but as
all the family of a nobleman are also noble, it is calculated that one
out of every twenty-one individuals in the nation is of this class.
The lands descend either entire to the eldest son, or are equally
divided among the sons, or in some cases among the children of both
sexes: so that many of the nobles become by these divisions extremely
poor, and are obliged to discharge all the duties of the meanest
peasant. If any of these nobles wish to sell an estate to a stranger,
however high in rank, even to a noble of the Austrian empire,
application must first be made to the surrounding proprietors to learn
whether they wish to purchase at the stipulated price. If they
decline, a stranger may purchase it for a period of thirty years, at
the end of which time any branch of the family which sold it, however
distantly related, may oblige the stranger to surrender his bargain.
This system is carried so far, that in many cases though the purchaser
be a Hungarian noble, the family of the former possessor can reclaim
it after thirty years, on payment of the original price, together with
expenses incurred in the buildings and improvements made during that
period. The litigation, ill-will and evils of every kind to which such
laws give rise are beyond calculation.
The peasants on these estates were formerly bound to perform
indefinite services, on account of supposed grants and privileges,
likewise little understood. The empress Maria Theresa put the whole
under certain regulations, which left less arbitrary power in the
hands of the lord. She fixed the quantity of land upon each estate
which was to remain irrevocably in the possession of the peasantry,
giving to each peasant his portion called a _session_, and defining
the services which he should in return perform for his lord. The only
points determined, however, were, the whole quantity of land assigned
to the peasants; and the proportion between the quantity of land and
the quantity of labour to be required for it. The individual peasants
are not fixed to the soil, but may always be dismissed when the
superior finds cause; nor is it of necessity that the son should
succeed the father, though usually the case. The peasant has no
absolute claim to a whole session; if the lord pleases he may give but
half or a third of a session, but in this case he cannot require more
than one-half or one-third of the labour. The quantity of land
allotted to a whole session is fixed for each county. In the county of
Neutra, for instance, it varies, according to the quality of the soil,
from twenty to thirty _joch_, each equal to nearly an English statute
acre and a half; and of these sixteen or twenty must be arable and the
rest meadow.
The services required of the head of the family for the whole session
are one hundred and four days’ labour during the year, if he work
without cattle, or fifty-two days if he bring two horses or oxen, or
four if necessary, with ploughs and carts. In this work he may either
employ himself, or if he prefer and can afford it, may send a servant.
Besides this he must give four fowls, a dozen eggs and a pound and a
half of butter; and every thirty peasants must give one calf yearly.
He must also pay a florin for his house; must cut and bring home a
_klafter_ of wood; must spin in his family six pounds of wool or hemp
provided by the landlord; and among four peasants the proprietor
claims what is called a long journey, that is, they must transport
twenty _centners_, each one hundred pounds weight, the distance of two
days’ journey out and home; and besides all this, they must pay
one-tenth of all their products to the church, and one-ninth to the
lord.
Such are the services owed by the peasant, and happy would he be were
he subject to no other claims. Unfortunately, however, the peasant of
Hungary has scarcely any political rights, and is considered by the
government much more than by the landlord, in the light of a slave. By
an unlimited extension of the aristocratical privilege, the noble is
free from every burden, and the whole is accumulated on the peasant.
The noble pays no tribute, and goes freely through the country,
subject to neither tolls nor duties; but the peasant is liable to
tribute, and though there may be some nominal restrictions to the
services due from him to government, it may safely be asserted, that
there is no limit in point of fact to the services which he is
compelled to perform. Whatever public work is to be executed, not only
when a road is to be repaired, but when new roads are to be made, or
bridges built, the county-meeting gives the order and the peasant
dares not refuse to execute it. All soldiers passing through the
country are quartered exclusively upon the peasantry. They must
provide them without recompense with bread, and furnish their horses
with corn, and whenever required by a particular order, they must
provide the person bringing it with horses and means of conveyance.
Such an order is always employed by the officers of government, and
whoever can in any way plead public business as the cause of his
journey, takes care to provide himself with it. In all levies of
soldiers, the whole falls upon the peasant, and the choice is left to
the arbitrary discretion of the lord and his servants.
This system is not calculated to satisfy either the landlord or the
peasant. The benefit derived by the latter is by no means
proportionate to the sacrifice which the former is obliged to make.
The quantity of land appropriated to the peasant is enormous: still he
labours unwillingly, and of course ineffectually, under the idea that
he works from compulsion and not for pay. In order to do all the
farming work upon a given estate by the peasants, nearly one-half of
the land capable of cultivation is portioned out among the labourers;
nay there are estates every acre of which is occupied by the peasants,
the landlord receiving nothing but the tenths and other casual
services, unless he has occasion to send them to labour on some other
of his estates. On other properties again there are no peasants--and
this appears to be the state of things most desirable to the
proprietor--so much so, that there are instances even where peasants
have been on an estate, in which the lord has almost neglected to
require their services, finding his labour better performed by hired
servants.
If, however, the landlord have little reason to be satisfied, still
less can the peasant be supposed to rejoice in his situation. On a
failure of his crops, the latter, who has nothing but his field,
starves or becomes a burden to his lord. Though the lord can legally
claim a certain quantity only of labour, yet there are numberless
pretexts on which he can demand more and be supported in those
demands. The administration of justice is in a great degree vested in
his own hands. There are many little faults for which a peasant
becomes liable to be punished with blows or fines, but which he is
often permitted to commute for labour. In fact, these things happen so
frequently, and other extorted days of labour, which the peasant fears
to refuse, occur so often, that, instead of estimating his labour at
one hundred and four days, we should come much nearer to the truth
were we to double that amount. Should, however, the lord or his agents
have too strong a sense of justice to transgress the strictness of the
law, still they can at any time call upon the peasants to serve for
pay, and that not at the usual wages of a servant, but about one-third
as much. Add to all this the services due to the government; the cases
in which a peasant is obliged to be six weeks together from his home,
with his horses and cart, carrying imperial stores to the frontier,
and it will be evident how dearly he pays for the land which he holds
as the only return for his labour.
After this explanation we cannot be surprised to learn that a marked
feature in the character of the Hungarian peasant is indolence. This
observation applies particularly to those of the counties around the
Platten Lake. The equality and the savage life to which the people are
here accustomed when pasturing their cattle in the forests are
probably the chief causes of the frequent robberies that occur. Though
robbers by profession, subsisting entirely on the fruits of their
depredations abroad, still far the greater number are cattle-keepers
under the various names of Tsikos, Gulyas, Juhasz, or Kanasz.
The latter are particularly notorious, and scarcely one person worthy
of trust is to be found among them. The herdsmen are usually mere
thieves, stealing cattle when they can, and plundering travellers when
good opportunities present themselves. Those on the contrary who have
no other occupation than to seek booty, and live constantly in the
forest, steal cattle only when driven by necessity; the plunder of
the traveller, whom they frequently murder, being their principal
object. Jews and butchers are more particularly exposed to their
attacks: the officers of the crown and the nobles are safe from a
dread of the inquiry which in such cases would not fail to be
instituted. They generally hail a carriage with a demand of money,
styling themselves _szegeny legeny_, or poor fellows. The little
solitary public houses suffer much from them, for when they can obtain
nothing elsewhere they enter them and eat and drink without paying.
Such houses are in consequence extremely unsafe, and the more so
because the innkeepers are frequently connected with the robbers
either as receivers or accomplices. In order to put a stop to this
evil, pursuits are often instituted by the county, when some of the
offenders are generally taken, but the extent of the county and the
insufficient strength of the police prevent their total extermination.
In slight offences rather against good order than against law, the
_hofrichfer_, or steward of a magnat, may at all times punish a
peasant with stripes. For this purpose he is provided with a machine
like a low table, on which the culprit lies, with two iron cramps at
one end for confining the wrists, two at the other for securing the
ankles, and a large one in the middle to pass over the back. Stretched
out in this helpless situation, the culprit receives a certain number
of stripes on the bare back with a stick. A notorious robber taken in
the act may be put to death. When the case is not so clear, and
confession cannot be obtained from the accused by examination,
recourse is had to the discipline just described; and should this
expedient also fail, and there be strong presumption of guilt, the
prisoner is brought to trial before a court composed of servants of
the lord and a few respectable freemen. From the decision of this
court, which is completely under the influence of the magnat, appeals
indeed lie to higher courts, and capital punishment cannot be
inflicted without the sanction of those courts and also of the king.
Dr. Bright draws a striking but most revolting picture of a Hungarian
prison. The place chosen for the confinement of prisoners, says that
writer, is usually close adjoining to, or forms part of the dwelling
of the lord: and as they are generally employed in labour, the
traveller seldom approaches the house of a Hungarian noble who
possesses the _jus gladii_, without being shocked by the clanking of
chains and the exhibition of these objects of misery loaded with
irons. The prison itself is never concealed from the curiosity of
strangers; I should almost say that it is considered a boast, a kind
of badge of the power which the lord possesses. One of the best I saw
was at Keszthely. It forms an insignificant part of a large low
building immediately opposite to the entrance of the castle, in which
are the residences of several inferior officers of the estate. Under
the guidance of the keeper of the prison I entered by a door well
barred and bolted. Instantly seventeen figures all in the long
Hungarian cloak, rose from the ground on which they were sitting.
Besides themselves, the room, which was not above twelve feet square,
presented no one object--no table, bed or chair. It was ventilated and
lighted by several small grated windows high up in the sides of the
walls. The prisoners were most of them young men: some had been tried,
others had not; and some had been confined seven or eight years. Their
crimes were very different; but no difference was made in the mode of
treating them, excepting as to the number of lashes they were to
receive at stated times, or the number of years they were to be
imprisoned. Such was their residence in the day-time when they did not
go out to work. We next proceeded to the dungeon in which they are
confined during the night, the gaoler taking the precaution to
disguise unpleasant smells by carrying a fumigating pot before us. On
opening an inner door we entered a small room, in the corner of which
lay two women on beds of straw. In the middle of the floor was an iron
grate. This being opened by my guide, he descended first by means of a
ladder, with a lamp in his hand, by the light of which I perceived
that we were in a small antichamber or cell, from which a door opened
into the dungeon, the usual sleeping-place of all the male prisoners.
It was a small oblong vaulted cave, in which the only furniture was
two straw mattresses. A few ragged articles of dress lay near the
place where each prisoner was accustomed to rest upon the naked floor.
In one corner of the room was a large strong chain, and about a foot
and a half from the ground round the whole vault were rings let into
the wall. The prisoners at night having laid themselves upon the
ground, the chain is put through the irons which confine the ankles of
three of them and is passed into a ring in the wall: it is then
attached to three more, and is passed through a second ring, and
continued in this way till a complete circuit of the room is made. The
ends of the chain are fastened together by a padlock, by which the
whole is firmly secured. It was painful to reflect that in this state
some of these wretches had already passed their nights during seven
years.
The general appearance of the peasants and of their habitations in the
vicinity of Presburg, is thus described by the same intelligent
observer:--
No one peasant has proceeded in the arts of life and civilization a
step farther than his neighbour. When you have seen one you have seen
all. From the same little hat, covered with oil, falls the same matted
long black hair, negligently plaited or tied in knots; and over the
same dirty jacket and trowsers is wrapped on each a cloak of coarse
woollen cloth or sheep-skin still retaining its wool. Whether it be
winter or summer, week-day or sabbath, the Slavonian of this district
never lays aside his cloak or is seen but in heavy boots. Their
instruments of agriculture are throughout the same, and in all their
habitations is observed a perfect uniformity of design. A wide muddy
road separates two rows of cottages which constitute a village. From
among them there is no possibility of selecting the best or the worst:
they are absolutely uniform. In some villages the cottages present
their ends, in others their sides to the road: but there is seldom
this variety in the same village.
The interior of the cottage is in general divided into three small
rooms on the ground-floor, and a little space in the roof destined for
lumber. The roof is commonly covered with a very thick thatch: the
walls are whitewashed, and have two small windows toward the road.
The cottages are usually placed a few yards distant from each other.
The intervening space, defended by a rail and gate or a fence of
wicker-work towards the road, forms the farm-yard, which runs back
some way and contains a shed or out-house for cattle.
The cottages of the peasants of a village belonging to Count Hunyadi,
in the county of Neutra, are thus described:--
The door opens in the side of the house into the middle room or
kitchen, in which is an oven constructed of clay, and various
implements for household purposes which generally occupy this
apartment fully. On each side of the room is a door, communicating on
one hand with the family dormitory, in which are the two windows that
look into the road. This chamber is usually small but well arranged:
the beds in good order, piled upon each other, to be spread on the
floor at night, and the walls covered with a variety of pictures and
images of our Saviour, together with dishes, plates, and vessels of
coarse earthenware. The other door from the kitchen leads to the
store-room, the repository of the greater part of the peasant’s
riches, consisting of bags of grain of various kinds, both for
consumption and for seed, bladders of tallow, sausages and other
articles of provision, in quantities which it would astonish us to
find in an English cottage. We must, however, bear in mind, that the
harvest of the Hungarian peasant anticipates the income of the whole
year, and that, from the circumstances in which he is placed, he
should be compared with our farmer rather than with our labourer. The
yards or folds between the houses are generally much neglected, and
dirty receptacles of a thousand uncleanly objects. Light carts and
ploughs with which the owner performs his stated labour; his meagre
cattle; a loose rudely-formed heap of hay, and half a dozen ragged
children, stand there in mixed confusion, over which three or four
noble dogs, of a breed somewhat resembling the Newfoundland, keep
faithful watch.
The habitations of the peasantry in the villages in the vicinity of
Keszthely, in the county of Szalad, are built of clay, not regularly
thatched, but covered with straw held down by poles laid upon it. The
inclosures round the houses and yards are formed of reeds, and the
village bell is raised upon a pole in a case like a pigeon-house.
In the district between the Drave and the Muhr, called the Murakös,
the houses are larger and higher, having a complete upper floor. The
roof generally projects four or five feet beyond the wall in the
front, where it is supported by wooden pillars which rest upon large
beams of timber, and thus a gallery is formed the whole length of the
house. This passage, slightly raised above the ground, is usually much
wider about the centre of the front, where the building recedes: and
here the females of the family often sit at a table working. The walls
of this part of the cottage are covered on the outside with shelves,
upon which the dishes and household utensils are arranged. Such is the
habitual honesty of the people of this district, that these articles
remain there in perfect security, without the protection of the
numerous watch-dogs which guard the most insignificant cottage in
other parts of Hungary. In some cases the passage is much larger, and
the house being built in the form of an L, it is continued along the
end and the two internal fronts. Between the pillars of this rude
piazza a shelf is constructed and a cupboard fixed containing a vessel
of water for domestic use.
All the fences toward the road and those of the yards are of strong
wicker-work thatched on the top with straw and reeds. In the yards
stand several small buildings of the same materials, intended as
houses for poultry, or as drying places for maize, together with large
wooden hutches for pigs and an oven of clay and stone covered by a
penthouse. The cottage kitchen is unusually convenient, and most of
the cookery is carried on by means of the ordinary hearth-fire of
Germany, to which is added an oven as part of the kitchen furniture.
Many of the roads in this part of the country are bordered on each
side with mulberry trees, which have been planted as common property,
with a view to the breeding of silk-worms. Considerable pains have
here been taken to encourage that branch of industry, which
nevertheless is not very flourishing.
The native Hungarian breed of horned cattle bears much resemblance to
the wild white species which was formerly found in Britain. They are
large, vigorous, and active, of a dirty white colour, with horns of
prodigious length, exceeding in this respect even the long-horned
breed of Lancashire. The oxen are admirably adapted for the plough,
uniting to all the qualities of the ordinary ox, a very superior
degree of activity.
Buffaloes are bred in Hungary for the same purposes as other horned
cattle. The milk which they give is richer than other milk and the
quantity considerable. As beasts of labour they are excessively
strong, but slow and unmanageable. The number kept in Hungary and
Transylvania is estimated at 70,000.
Bredetzky, a Hungarian writer, observes that Buffaloes are extremely
valuable for their skins, which are employed at Rhonasech in forming
the bags in which salt is raised from the mines. He also speaks of
their ferocity and the difficulty of killing them in terms which would
almost lead us to suppose them to be in a state of nature in that part
of the country. The operation of shooting the Buffalo, says he, is
curious but extremely dangerous, for in no other way can they be
secured on account of their wildness. It is not possible to kill them
with an axe like other cattle. They are first driven with great care
from the inclosure in which they have been kept, and a shot is
levelled by a person concealed exactly at the forehead. If he misses
his aim, the animal with the most tremendous fury darts away so
swiftly that dogs can scarcely overtake him, and any one who stands in
his way is inevitably killed.
The original breed of Hungarian sheep is the real _Ovis Strepsiceros_
of naturalists, covered with very coarse wool and bearing upright
spiral horns. Improvement on this stock by crosses with other
varieties, and the Spanish in particular, is become so general, that a
flock of the native race is seldom to be met with, excepting on the
estates of the clergy. The wool is now an important object of
commerce. It was calculated that in 1802, above twelve million and a
half pounds (each pound being equal to one pound and a quarter of our
weight) was exported from Hungary. A large portion goes to Austria,
and is manufactured there or sent to more distant markets; and much of
the wool sold in England as Saxon wool, is actually the produce of
Hungary, exported in spite of the heavy duty which it pays on leaving
the Austrian dominions.
Some idea of the extraordinary care bestowed by the great landed
proprietors on the improvement of their flocks may be formed from the
following brief sketch of the system pursued by Count Hunyadi, who
possesses about seventeen thousand sheep.
At each of the head-quarters for these animals, there are well-built
sheds having brick pillars at certain distances, which leave about
half the side open, and thus admit a free circulation of air during
summer, and afford easy means of excluding the cold in winter. The
height of the sheds is about seven feet to the springing of the roof,
and they are divided by little racks into such spaces as are necessary
for the division among the flocks. Racks are also arranged round the
whole, so that all the sheep can conveniently feed at them. The floor
is covered with straw, and the upper layer being continually renewed,
a dry, warm bedding is obtained. In these houses the sheep are kept
almost incessantly during the winter, that is, from November till
April, and are then fed three times a day upon dry food. They are
watered twice a day from a well close at hand. Even in summer the
sheep are driven under cover every evening, and they are conducted
home in the day-time, when it rains or the heat is oppressive. They
always lamb in the house; the ewe being placed on this occasion in a
little pen by herself, where she remains unmolested. These pens, about
three feet long and two wide, are made of hurdles. Owing to this care
they never lose a lamb. The number of persons employed is about one
man to every hundred sheep, and each of them considers his flock as
his family and pride.
The result of all this attention has been a success which could
scarcely have been anticipated. A conception can hardly be formed of
flocks more uniformly excellent. It is of course the wool and not the
carcase, which is the great object in a country so poor and so thinly
peopled as Hungary. The sheep are strong and healthy, and for the
Spanish cross large; their fleeces perfect, and even the tail and legs
covered with good wool. Three pounds, (about three pounds and three
quarters of our weight) is the average produce of each sheep: but
some, and particularly the rams, yield six or seven. The whole of the
wool, without any separation, and only washed on the back of the
sheep, is sold at the rate of from three shillings to four shillings
and sixpence sterling for each Hungarian pound; and the consequence is
that from flocks, which, if covered with the ordinary wool of the
country, might be expected to yield fifteen or twenty thousand gulden,
not less than fifty thousand is now annually produced.
Count Hunyadi has also taken great pains to improve the breed of his
horses at his estate at Urmeny, in the county of Neutra; and with a
view to ascertain the progress which he makes, and at the same time
from a desire of exciting the country to exertion, he has instituted
races on the English model. Solicitous to infuse into his own
peasantry a spirit of improvement in this particular, he appoints a
day on which their horses alone run, and gives rewards to the
successful competitors. His stables are a fine range of buildings,
with wooden floors, and contain from thirty to forty horses, chiefly
crosses of the Arabian and Transylvanian breeds. His breeding stud is
kept at a farm a few miles distant. Other proprietors of estates are
beginning to understand the object and to appreciate the advantages of
the plan of this spirited nobleman.
It is the custom throughout all Hungary, for the inhabitants of each
village to commit their cattle to the care of a herdsman who, at a
certain hour in the morning, drives them to the common pasture and
brings them home at night. He carries a wooden trumpet, nearly four
feet in length, exactly resembling the instrument usually put by
artists into the hand of Fame. With this trumpet, the sound of which
is harsh, he gives notice of his approach, and the peasants turn their
cattle out of their yards that they may join his drove. In the evening
when he conducts his motley crew of horses, cows, sheep, and goats
back to the village, each individual finds, as it were instinctively,
the cottage of his master, and quietly retires to his accustomed
stall. The peasants pay the herdsman a small sum for each animal, but
part of this remuneration is always made in grain or bread.
The ravages of wolves among the cattle, especially in the
neighbourhood of woody mountains, are extremely serious. In all the
frontiers these animals are much dreaded. In the hard winter of 1803,
no fewer than 1533 head of cattle were devoured by them in the single
district of the Wallacho-Illyrian regiment, which gave rise to some
attempts to destroy them by poison, as the Turks are known to do by
means of the _aconitum napellus_. The _nux vomica_ was here employed,
and not without success.
When much distressed for food, the wolves will sometimes attack the
cottages of the peasants. An instance of this kind is related by Dr.
Bright to have occurred not long before his visit at Leutschau. A
woman who had two children, the one about twenty years of age, the
other much younger, had just quitted her cottage in the morning, when
a wolf rushed upon her and tore her face dreadfully: then leaving the
first object of its rage, the animal fixed upon the child, and in an
instant lacerated its head and deprived it of both eyes. The elder son
alarmed, flew to the spot, and seizing the wolf by the throat, held it
at bay for some moments; but being unable to maintain the unequal
conflict, became himself the object of attack: the hungry beast fixed
his fangs deep in his neck. The cries of the unhappy victims brought
some assistance to the spot, and the wolf made his escape. As soon,
however, as the necessary aid had been afforded to the sufferers, an
active pursuit was instituted and the animal was discovered in a
thicket. A young man levelled his piece: it missed fire, and the wolf
was in the very act of springing on its pursuer, when it was brought
to the ground by a well aimed blow of a cudgel.
The mode of storing wheat generally adopted in this country is very
objectionable. After being beaten out, often by the feet of horses and
oxen, it is deposited in holes in the ground, where it is kept during
the winter. There it acquires a strong mouldy smell, which, indeed,
goes off in some degree by exposure to the air. These holes are dug of
a circular form and about three feet deep; and an excavation is made
of such dimensions that a man can sit in it to stow away the grain and
assist in bringing it to the surface when required. This done, a fire
is kindled in it to harden the sides, which are afterwards lined with
straw. When the grain is thus stowed, straw is placed upon the top,
and earth thrown in to fill up the entrance hole, which forms the
neck, as it were, of the cave, and a little heap of earth remains
pointing out the spot; or a piece of wood is stuck in it as a mark.
There is scarcely a village near which a number of such hillocks are
not to be seen.
We shall now present the reader with an account of the costumes
prevailing in different parts of the country.
PEASANT OF THE COUNTY OF WESZPRIM.
The figure in the annexed engraving represents the costume of the son
of a wealthy Hungarian peasant of the county of Weszprim in his Sunday
apparel. He has just filled his pipe, but is supposed to have been too
deeply engaged in conversation to light it. The nosegay in his hat was
probably snatched from the bosom of some pretty girl in coming from
church, and this is the usual prelude to a more intimate acquaintance.
The leathern tunic of a light colour hanging loosely from his
shoulders, adorned with curious patterns and trimmed with fur, is the
ordinary costume of a wealthy rustic.
The costume of the noblemen of Hungary, which partakes largely of that
here exhibited, is described as being singularly picturesque. It
consists of a large broad-brimmed hat, slouched behind, an
ornamental jacket and light pantaloons of bright blue, with a number
of silver buttons, Hessian boots, a girdle round the waist, from which
hangs a tobacco-pouch, and a green mantle descending from the
shoulders.
[Illustration: HUNGARIAN PEASANT of the County of Szolnok-Weszprim.]
FEMALE PEASANT OF THE COUNTY OF WESZPRIM.
To the dress of the unmarried daughter of an opulent peasant of the
county of Weszprim, when decked out in her holiday finery, the
flowered corset and numerous necklaces essentially belong. Her red
shoes, which have frequently white heels, are rendered still more
conspicuous by the work in front, and the blue stockings are adorned
with red and white clocks. Her head is uncovered, and merely encircled
with a bandeau of black velvet.
The matrons are less studious of ornament: their corset, shoes, and
stockings, are generally quite plain. When they go abroad, they cover
the head with a white cloth, which hangs down over the back and
shoulders, and wear over their other garments a blue cloth jacket with
long sleeves, open in front and bordered with fur.
The women of the county of Neutra dress nearly in the same manner:
wearing short pelisses of blue cloth lined and bordered with fur or
wool, and white handkerchiefs closely bound about their heads.
A CZIKOS.
In the Hungarian language, the term _Czikos_ or _Tsikos_, signifies a
keeper or tender of horses.
Mezöhegyes is an imperial domain in the county of Csanader, where,
during the reign of the emperor Joseph II. in 1785, a stud of horses
was established. This institution is unrivalled in Europe both for its
magnitude and value. The establishment, when complete, consists of
nearly 17,000 horses and upwards of 700 men, of whom 238 are Csikoses.
They are a handsome, not very tall, but robust and muscular race of
men, inured to all sorts of privations, and enduring them with the
greatest ease, owing to the small number of their wants. These are
almost confined to bread, bacon and tobacco, which is with them a
necessary of life. If to these the Csikos can add a pudding of
maize-flour and a bit of fresh pork, he has nothing more than a pint
of wine to wish for.
The dress of these men is as simple as their fare. A wide shirt and
loose trowsers of coarse linen, a high felt cap, and convenient boots
of horse hide, a leathern girdle, a curiously worked tobacco-pouch of
sheep-leather, with its accompaniments, are all that they need,
besides a sheep-skin with the wool on, which serves both for garment,
tent and bed. The linen garments become extremely dirty from long
wearing, for when once on they are never taken off till they drop to
pieces and are replaced by new ones. The reader will not be surprized
at this, when he knows that these men are obliged to pass
three-fourths of the year on the moors, without any other shelter than
the firmament of heaven, and therefore cannot possibly be provided
with a wardrobe.
Their dexterity and strength, and the courage which they display in
their vocation are truly astonishing. In order to be able duly to
appreciate these qualities, it is necessary to have witnessed the
scene which takes place, when the owner of a herd of wild horses
orders some of them to be caught. The animals are first driven very
adroitly into a large inclosure. Here the owner or purchaser points
out which of them he wishes to have caught, on which some of the
Csikoses go with long ropes having nooses at the end, among the
horses, and endeavour to fling the nooses over their heads. In this
attempt the Csikos generally succeeds at the first trial. He then
throws the animal upon the ground, where he is held down by his
comrades, and in this state a bridle is quickly put on him. The
conqueror places it between his legs; the rope is loosed, the horse
springs like lightning from the ground, with the Csikos on his bare
back, and holding by the mane. The furious beast darts off at full
speed: the undaunted rider lets him run and even applies his whip from
time to time, till his steed, weary with the length of his course,
slackens his pace. The Csikos then begins to exert himself and to make
use of the bridle. Man and horse return home exhausted with hunger,
thirst and fatigue; the latter is conducted for the first time into a
stable, where the operations of breaking commence while the former
relates to his comrades over the smoking board the adventures of his
hazardous journey, on the steed winged by rage and terror.
Besides the Csikoses there are other classes of herdsmen denominated
from their particular occupation Gulyas, cowherds; Juhasz, shepherds;
and Kanasz, swineherds.
The mode of life of these herdsmen, who are brought up from childhood
to this occupation, and during the summer seldom approach the
habitations of men, appear to have debased them so much, that even in
this country, uncivilized as it is, they are considered as a tribe of
savages.
The dress of these cattle-keepers in the county of Schümegh,
consisting of a shirt and wide trowsers of coarse linen as already
described, is rendered stiff and of a dark dirty colour by the grease
with which it is purposely imbued. Their object in thus besmearing the
clothes is to render them more durable, and to prevent vermin from
harbouring in them, as well as to defend the person from the bites of
gnats: but whatever the object may be, they are seldom changed before
they are ready to fall in pieces. The feet are enveloped in wool, over
which they fasten on the sole a piece of leather by straps. Besides a
round hat, frequently ornamented with a ribbon, and a large mantle of
thick coarse woollen cloth, for here they seldom use sheep-skin
cloaks, they are provided with a leathern pocket, hanging by a broad
belt over the shoulder, and carry, for offence and defence, a small
axe with a long handle. The broad belt by which the pocket hangs is
generally adorned with two or three rows of shining metal buttons, for
which these herdsmen are so eager, that they have been often known to
fall upon travellers for the sake of them alone. The axe serves them
in place of a stick, and in time of need becomes a formidable weapon
against man or beast. They understand the management of this
instrument so well, that at the distance of twenty or thirty paces
they seldom miss a mark set up against the trunk of a tree. Their
skill in this exercise is derived from constant practice while their
flocks are feeding.--These men are still more careful in besmearing
the hair of their head with grease than even their dress, and they
then tie it up in knots hanging on each side below the ear.
PEASANT OF BOCSKO, IN THE COUNTY OF MARMAROS.
The county of Marmaros forms a strong contrast with the rest of
Hungary. In regard to situation it might justly be denominated the
eastern Highlands, the principal valley alone being conveniently
habitable. The rest of the country consists of bare mountains and
forests: hence the population bears no proportion to the extent of
this country. It is chiefly remarkable for its rich salt-works, which
furnish 30,000 tons of salt annually, and its numerous mineral
springs.
The woodcutter of Bocsko in the county of Marmaros, whose axe is his
only companion, frequently abides for weeks together in the immense
forests, to earn wherewithal to satisfy his scanty wants, partly by
cutting wood for fuel, which he conveys at a very moderate rate to
Szigeth, the capital of the county, and partly by furnishing timber
for salt-rafts.
His apparel is of coarse hempen stuff; in winter he dresses rather
warmer, but even then his bosom is uncovered and icicles may be seen
hanging from it, without prejudice to the health of this hardy
Highlander. His shoes consist of a piece of tanned ox-hide, which is
fastened on the foot with a leathern thong, and just serves to keep it
from the ground.
UNMARRIED FEMALE PEASANT OF BOCSKO, IN THE COUNTY OF MARMAROS.
The unmarried female appears in all her finery. Her head is encircled
with a metal hoop adorned with beads and flowers. Round her neck she
wears several necklaces of coral, and a black and red silk
handkerchief covers her bosom. Over this she sometimes throws another
of larger dimensions, which, from the variety of its colours and
forms, resembles a piece of patchwork. The red boots are worn only on
extraordinary occasions, and the owners generally carry them in their
hands to church, to protect them from the wet which would stain them
indelibly. It is well known that the same practice prevails among the
females in the Highlands of Scotland.
MARRIED FEMALE PEASANT OF BOCSKO, IN THE COUNTY OF MARMAROS.
The married woman is more simply clad: yet the embroidery on her loose
jacket without sleeves, trimmed with fur, and on the short sleeves of
her chemise, drawn tight round the arm below the elbow, show that the
cares of a family have not rendered the matron wholly negligent of
personal decoration. Her head-dress consists of a handkerchief tied
under her chin, and she goes according to the custom of the country on
ordinary occasions, without shoes or stockings.
The women of this part of Hungary are remarkable for their industrious
disposition: they are never idle, but even in their walks carry with
them a portable distaff, and ply the spindle without intermission.
CHAPTER XI.
TRANSYLVANIA.
EXTENT AND POPULATION--MANNERS OF THE WALACHIANS--THE
GIPSIES--COSTUMES.
The grand principality of Transylvania, about one-sixth of the extent
of Hungary, contains a population of about a million and a half. It
presents as great a diversity of nations and religions as Hungary,
being inhabited by Hungarians, Germans, Walachians, Greeks, Servians,
Armenians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slowaks, Jews, and Gipsies, and
containing, besides the four religions established by law, namely,
those of the Catholics, Reformed Lutherans, and Unitarians, also
disunited Greek Christians and Jews. The Armenians and united Greeks
are numbered among the Catholics. It may naturally be supposed that
the variety of nations may be perceived in the variety of their
peculiar costumes, of which we shall present some specimens.
The Walachians, a great number of whom are spread throughout the
Hungarian counties, are the most numerous race of the inhabitants of
Transylvania. They may be divided into three classes. To some of them
all the rights of nobility have been granted by different kings and
princes of the country. They are ranked with the noble Hungarian
landholders and enjoy the same rights; and among them are found
several families of importance. Others belong to the class of knights
who, on account of certain military services entrusted to them at
different times, have obtained limited privileges of nobility: but by
far the greater part of the Walachians are, like other peasants, bound
to the service of the owner of the estate on which they live. Besides
these, there are two Walachian frontier regiments, and a third part of
the Szekler hussars is formed from this nation.
The Walachians are considered as one of those races which are
tolerated in Transylvania, and according to the laws of that country
cannot possess the rights of free citizens: but the free families are
reckoned among the number of that established nation in whose
territory they reside. Their religion is the Greek church, either
united or not united, the former being in the proportion of about two
to nine of the latter.
The total number of Walachians in the Austrian dominions is calculated
at 1,600,000: of whom 900,000 inhabit Transylvania, 550,000 Hungary,
150,000 the Bukowina. The latter are, more correctly speaking,
Moldavians, but they differ little in language and manners from the
genuine Walachians.
The Walachian is short in stature, but of a compact muscular frame of
body. The savage mode of life to which he is accustomed from his
earliest infancy enables him to bear hardships with fortitude. Heat
and cold, hunger and thirst, make no impression upon him. His features
are strong and expressive, his hair dark and bushy. His countenance on
the whole is not disagreeable, and both men and women, as well as
girls of great beauty, are often seen among these people. They arrive
early at maturity, yet frequently live to an advanced age. At
seventeen or eighteen the Walachian marries a wife who is seldom above
thirteen; before he is thirty he is a grandfather, so that the race
multiplies rapidly, and the Walachians are already more numerous than
all the other inhabitants of Transylvania.
In regard to character the Walachians are sly, reserved, cunning,
revengeful and indolent. With the appearance of the greatest
simplicity they well know how to profit by every opportunity of
overreaching their neighbours. Indolence is a failing of the men
rather than of the women, who perform all the labour of the house,
make clothes for the whole family, and frequently afford their
husbands much assistance in agriculture: whereas the men, after
performing the most indispensable operations of the field and
vineyard, pass the remainder of their time in idleness. The natural
indolence of the Walachians receives much encouragement from the
frequent holidays of the Greek church, which they usually spend in
prayer, drinking and sloth. To work on such days would be criminal.
They are much addicted to drink, and the Walachian will frequently
consume in wine and brandy in a few hours the produce of the labour of
a week. If he is fortunate enough to find a pipe or violin, in
addition to a full pitcher, he seldom ceases from revelry till he is
quite intoxicated, and is carried home senseless. It rarely happens
that many Walachians are assembled under such circumstances without
fighting, for they are very quarrelsome when drunk.
The idleness of their disposition is naturally connected with an
inclination to plunder; and if the Walachians are not such professed
thieves as the gipsies, they never suffer a favourable opportunity to
pass, and are particularly dexterous at stealing cattle; so that many
laws passed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are directed
against them by name, and at the present time the inhabitants of the
countries in which they reside take strong precautions to prevent
their depredations. When they leave their homes, for fear of
punishment or to avoid military service, they often retire to the
forests and mountains, where, singly, or in bands, they become the
terror of the country. Perfectly acquainted with every hiding-place
and every by-path, they are always ready to fall upon passing
travellers, or to plunder lonely houses and villages, exercising the
most inhuman cruelties: and in spite of the greatest precaution on the
part both of the civil and military power, it is generally long before
the depredators can be secured or expelled from their haunts,
especially as the inhabitants are prevented by fear of a cruel revenge
from affording effective assistance.
The Walachians are in the highest degree superstitious, but make no
scruple of employing shocking oaths on every trifling occasion. The
stupidity and avarice of the greater part of the clergy, who find a
rich source of profit in the ignorance of the common people, tend to
encourage the failings and depravity of their flock. The ignorance and
want of cultivation in the inferior Walachian clergy exceeds all
belief; and there can be no doubt that the first step towards an
improvement in the morals of the people must be a reform in that
order.
The habitations of the Walachians are small and confined; their towns
are generally built of mud and timber, very seldom of stone. The
houses have seldom more than one room, besides which there are a small
kitchen and an oven. The stable and other buildings belonging to a
peasant’s yard, are universally ill built, low and dirty. They keep
their grain in pits; and some sorts, particularly maize, in wicker
baskets, suspended on a pole some feet above the ground, and protected
by a lid of the same material, covered with straw. They pay little
attention to gardening, and besides a few vegetables irregularly
planted, nothing is to be found in their gardens but fruit-trees,
which are left entirely to the care of nature.
The internal arrangements of their houses are extremely simple. The
furniture consists of the family-bed, formed of straw, sacks and
coverlets, or according to the circumstances of the possessor, of
feather-beds and bolsters, with covers ornamented with coloured
stitch-work, which are objects of extraordinary luxury. Besides these
articles they have commonly a rude table, benches arranged round the
room, and one or two wooden chests, adorned with rudely painted
flowers, in which they keep their clothes and other valuables.
Pitchers, plates and dishes are ranged or hung against the wall,
together with pictures of Greek saints, before which lamps of coloured
glass are sometimes suspended. The windows are very small, and the
light is usually admitted through a piece of bladder instead of glass.
Of all rural employments, the Walachians are most attached to the
rearing of cattle. Their natural indolence causes them to prefer this
to all other occupations. All the changes of weather, and all the
privations to which the life of a herdsman is subject, in distant and
uninhabited countries, which he is forced to explore in order to find
good pasture for his cattle, are easily borne by the Walachian, whose
bodily frame has been hardened from his childhood; and the exemption
from labour, which he enjoys as he follows his herd, renders the
difficulties he has to encounter still less irksome.
The Walachian cultivates the field or the vineyard only when the
climate or other circumstances prevent him from attending to the
breeding of cattle. The grain chiefly grown by him is maize, a
principal article of diet in Hungary, because it is more productive
than any other kind of corn. Still the produce of the fields and
vineyard seldom exceeds his immediate wants; while on the other hand,
the Walachian cattle-breeders amass property. They have but little
inclination for handicraft-business and the trades which are carried
on in towns; probably because in former times they were not suffered
to become members of any of the companies or guilds. This disability
was removed in 1802, and much benefit is expected to result from this
measure.
The women spin and make the greater part of their own clothing and
that of their families. A stranger, seeing a Walachian woman going to
market with a basket of goods upon her head, and spinning with her
distaff as she trudges along, would be apt to conceive a favourable
idea of the industry of these people, which, however, is soon lost on
a nearer acquaintance, particularly as it respects the men.
The clothing of the Walachians varies in many points according to the
district in which they reside; but may generally be described as
follows:--The summer dress of the men consists of a short coarse shirt
with wide open sleeves, which reach partly over the thighs and hang
outside of the trowsers.
The latter, of coarse white woollen cloth, or in summer sometimes of
linen, are very large and descend to the ankles. Round their feet they
wrap rags, and over them put a piece of raw hide, bound on with thongs
and thus fastened to the foot and leg above the ankle. Instead of
these sandals, the more wealthy wear short boots reaching to the calf
of the leg. Round the waist the shirt is bound by a leathern girdle,
generally ornamented with brass buttons, in which they carry a knife,
a flint and steel, and a tobacco-pipe. Over the shirt is sometimes
thrown a jacket of coarse brown woollen cloth. They wear the hair
short, suffering it to hang down a little way in the natural curls.
None but old men, or such as from their situation or office are
particularly entitled to respect, suffer the beard to grow. Among the
common people this usually takes place after the age of forty, and
such persons are distinguished by the appellation of _moschule_,
grandfather. The head is generally covered with a woollen or white
cloth cap, or a low round hat; but while the Walachian is in mourning
he always goes bare-headed, be the weather what it may. He carries a
knapsack, containing provisions and necessaries, slung across the
shoulders, and a strong stick in his hand.
The women wear a long shirt reaching to the knees, and ornamented at
the bosom and sleeves with coloured stitches. From a small girdle are
suspended two aprons, one before and the other behind. These are
somewhat shorter than the shirt, and are made of striped woollen
cloth, bordered below with fringe. Over the shirt the bosom is often
covered with a stomacher of cloth or leather. They also wear,
particularly in winter, under their shirts, long wide drawers; and in
the mountain districts cover their feet with the sandals already
described, but commonly wear boots in the plain. The girls have no
covering on the head, but their hair is plaited in braids, which are
disposed cross-wise on the head, and fastened with pins. Married women
wear head-dresses of white linen, and the richer part of them of
muslin.
The Walachian women are very fond of ornament. They paint their cheeks
red, and this addition is deemed even by the poorest essential to
beauty. They often colour the eyebrows black, and wear ear-rings of
different kinds: but the chief ornament of the rich consists of
several necklaces of silver or sometimes gold coins, instead of which
the poor use base coins and glass beads, strung on threads and hung
round the neck and breast. Their number is indefinite, and they
frequently reach quite to the girdle. The embroidery also upon their
shirts and their many coloured aprons is esteemed by them an
indispensable part of ornamental attire.
Children of both sexes wear in summer nothing but a long shirt
reaching to the ankles. In winter they are seldom better clothed, and
may be seen playing and leaping about in their shirts in the snow. At
the age of six or seven years, they begin to dress like men and women.
In winter the Walachian provides himself with a sheep-skin cloak with
the wool turned inward, and having a fur cap instead of a hood; or he
throws over him a white or brown cloth mantle, which descends to the
knees, and has a large hood to put over the head in bad weather. Under
this cloak he wears his usual dress. The women likewise wear
sheep-skin cloaks with sleeves; lined inside with wool and adorned
outside with coloured patches and coarse embroidery, and held
together in front by laces and buttons.
The gipsy tribe is also very numerous in Transylvania. They may be
divided into two classes, the itinerant and the stationary. The former
having no fixed habitations, wander in summer and winter from one
place to another. In summer they generally live in tents; in winter in
wretched huts of clay, or in holes which they excavate to the depth of
a few feet in the declivity of the hills, and cover with branches,
moss and turf, to protect themselves from the weather. It is easy to
conceive how miserable the inside of one of these dwellings must
appear. Air and light are almost wholly excluded; and the only
apartment is a cave, in the centre of which is a fire serving at the
same time for warmth and cooking. Household and culinary utensils are
scarcely to be expected. The inmates sit, eat and sleep on the bare
ground, or at best lie on a heap of rags. On a fine winter day they
open their cavern for a few hours to the sun; but if the weather is
cloudy they keep themselves shut up, nestle round the fire, cook and
divide the food which chance or theft has placed at their disposal,
and pass the remainder of the day in chatting and smoking, for the
latter of which they have a particular predilection. Men, women and
even children know no greater happiness than to smoke tobacco out of a
short pipe, or to chew a piece of the wooden pipe when it has been
well impregnated with the essential oil of tobacco.
Their furniture seldom consists of more than an earthen pot, an iron
pan, a spoon, a water-jug, a knife and sometimes a dish. If the father
is a smith, which is most frequently the case, he has a pair of small
hand-bellows, a stone anvil, a pair of pincers and a couple of
hammers. Add to this a knapsack, a few rags for clothing, a tattered
tent, formed of a piece of coarse woollen cloth, and this is a
complete inventory. But if he is so fortunate as to possess besides
these an old foundered horse, he puts the whole establishment on its
back, and thus rambles from place to place.
The wandering gipsy is generally clothed in rags, and the women are
more remarkable, if possible, for their want of cleanliness than the
men. Wrapped in their tattered garments, which scarcely suffice for
decency, carrying their infants in a piece of cloth suspended from
their shoulders, and driving before them the elder children, naked, or
at most covered with a torn shirt, they visit in all their filth,
particularly during fairs, the towns and villages, to dispose of the
paltry produce of their labour, or rather under that pretext to
exercise their skill in pilfering. Their stations are generally by the
road side, where the naked children lie and beg; or by following
travellers, by tumbling and by locking the wheels of carriages, they
obtain a trifle or seize an opportunity of purloining something. Their
usual occupation is making coarse iron articles. Some cut spoons,
shovels and little troughs out of wood; others make brooms of twigs,
weave baskets, and gather herbs, rushes, or juniper-berries. In this
manner they contrive to gain a scanty subsistence, and if, after
providing absolute necessaries, there is any surplus, it is expended
in brandy of which they are very fond.
The settled gipsies, who are termed _Neubauern_, or new peasants, live
much better than their wandering brethren. They reside in the
outskirts of suburbs and villages, where they herd together, and their
habitations contain a greater variety of conveniences than the dens
described above. Their occupations are in general those of the
wandering tribe. The greater part are smiths, and in spite of their
imperfect apparatus they perform their work well. They visit also the
neighbouring towns and villages to mend iron and copper utensils:
others make a profession of music, and pass in companies from place to
place. Some of them are tolerable performers, and collect large
contributions from parties which amuse themselves with dancing and
other festivities: others are engaged in mending shoes and in working
in wood, or assist in agricultural occupations, in which, however,
they are seldom industrious. They are usually employed as
executioners, and in the business of flaying animals which have died a
natural death. The women mostly trade in old clothes, in which the men
assist them; or they levy a tax on the superstition of the peasantry
by fortune-telling and pretensions to magic. Another occupation in
which they are much engaged in Transylvania is gold-washing, in the
many rivulets of the country which yield that metal.
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF THOROCZKO.
Thoroczko, pronounced Torotzko, is a village in the county of Thorda,
with an iron mine which is not wrought by means of regular shafts, but
by passages cut in the side of the mountain. The inhabitants are
Germans from Styria, who have settled here to work in the mine, but
have ceased to speak their native language; and Hungarians belonging
to the Unitarian church.
The females of this place are distinguished from their neighbours by
their head-dress, by the singular and tasteful embroidery on their
chemises and corsets, by the red sash which encircles the waist, and
by the peculiar manner in which they plait their petticoats. They wear
occasionally a blue cloak, without arm-holes, plaited like the
petticoat.
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF OBERASCHA.
The head-dress of the young female of Oberascha, or more correctly
Obrasa, is composed of variegated ribbons, which are fastened round
the head, and the ends of which hang loose over the bosom and
shoulders. Above each ear are generally fixed a couple of peacock’s
feathers. Round the neck she wears a fine sort of net-work to which
are hung pieces of silver coin. The gown is adorned with embroidery
on the shoulders. To the red sash which holds the black apron are
attached several rings, probably tokens of love. Red boots complete
her costume, the general appearance of which proclaims her a
Walachian.
A PEASANT OF OBERASCHA.
The inhabitants of Oberascha and the environs, are distinguished from
other Walachians by the custom of wearing their hair tied in a club on
the right side, and also by their tight pantaloons, and half-boots
turned down at the top. The shirt, which the Walachians wear over the
pantaloons, is fastened on holidays round the waist by a variegated
scarf and a leathern belt, decorated with a profusion of metal studs,
from which are suspended the tobacco-pouch, flint and steel.
AN ARMED PLAJASH, OR GUARD OF THE FRONTIERS.
In Transylvania, as well as throughout all Hungary, proper precautions
are taken for the security of travellers against the attacks of
banditti. The guards employed to patrole the roads for this purpose
are called by different names in different parts of the kingdom. In
Transylvania they are styled Plajashes, from the Walachian word
_Plaja_, a foot-path, or road. The duty of these Plajashes is to
escort travellers and goods over the mountains, which are frequently
very unsafe: hence they always appear completely armed. Their weapons
consist of a musket, two large sharp knives or daggers, and the
national _buzogany_, or mace. They carry their ammunition, tobacco,
materials for striking a light and other articles attached to their
belt. In other respects their dress resembles that of the Walachians,
to whom they indeed belong.
[Illustration: ARMED PLAJASH.]
Upon the whole, there is scarcely any country in which travelling is
safer than in Transylvania, because the inhabitants of every place are
responsible for all the losses and injuries which travellers may
sustain in its territory.
CHAPTER XII.
THE BUKOWINA.
TRANSFER OF THE COUNTRY TO
AUSTRIA--EXTENT--POPULATION--COSTUMES.
Bukowina, formerly part of Moldavia, was subdued in 1769 by the
Russians, but restored to the Ottoman Porte at the peace concluded in
1774. In the same year Austria took military possession of this
province, and by the convention of the 12th of May, 1776, it was
formally ceded to that power. It derives its name from the numerous
forests of beech which it contains, that tree being called in the
Slavonian language _buk_. Its greatest length is about 150 miles, and
its extreme breadth 80. The soil is fertile, especially between the
rivers Pruth and Dniester, and in the valley of Szucsawa; and the
mountainous parts are interspersed with rich and extensive
pasture-grounds; but on account of the early frosts and the long
duration of the winter, the only crops that can be raised there are
oats, barley, and potatoes.
At the time of the occupation of this province by Austria in 1776, it
contained no more than eleven or twelve thousand families. The
conscription of 1817 exhibited a total of nearly forty-two thousand
families, and upwards of two hundred thousand souls. These are
composed of Moldavians, or original inhabitants, Ruthenians, Germans,
of whom there are eighteen colonies, Hungarians Armenians,
Lipowanians, or Philippowanians, Gipsies and Jews.
A BOYAR, or GENTLEMAN OF THE BUKOWINA.
In the Bukowina every gentleman or proprietor of land is called Boyar.
The usual dress of this class is faithfully represented in the
opposite plate. A long blue pelisse, with short sleeves, covers the
under-garments, which consist of wide red trowsers, a blue striped
shirt, and a broad belt, in which a knife is stuck, and from which
hangs a handkerchief. The head is covered with a red Servian cloth
cap.
The Boyar here represented, is an inhabitant of the town of Szered; he
is supposed to have just quitted his house, and appears in a
contemplative attitude.
A PEASANT OF THE BUKOWINA.
The usual costume of the peasants of the Bukowina, consists of white
or red trowsers, a shirt, the wide, open sleeves of which are
embroidered at the wrist, and over that an open waistcoat bordered
with fur. With a pouch slung over his shoulder, and a long handled
hatchet, which supplies the place of a stick, in his hand, he
usually proceeds to his work in the fields and woods.
[Illustration: BOYAR of SERET.]
According to the regulations of Gregory Gyka, prince of Moldavia, the
holders of land are bound to labour twelve days in the year, and the
holders of houses six days, for their lord, besides paying him the
tithe of all their field-crops and fruit, and also of the produce of
their gardens when they deal in such articles. According to ancient
custom, every vassal holding grants of land gives, moreover, as a
yearly acknowledgment, a hen, and a certain quantity of yarn; and if
he keeps a cart or wagon, he must carry home for his lord a load of
wood from his forest, or if there be none on his domains, from that
which lies nearest to them.
WOMAN OF SZUCSAWICZA.
Szucsawicza, pronounced Szutzawitza, is celebrated as the ancient
residence of the princes of Moldavia. On a hill near the place are
still to be seen the ruins of a strong castle which they inhabited. It
seems to have been destroyed by violence, probably in one of the
frequent incursions of the Turks and Poles into this province. Whether
the destruction of this castle, or as some assert, the commands of the
Porte, caused the princes of Moldavia to change their place of abode,
we shall not pretend to determine. So much at any rate is certain,
that, till the middle of the sixteenth century, the Woywodes or
Hospodars of Moldavia resided at Szucsawicza; and consequently it was
not till the latter half of that century that they removed from this
place to Yassy.
On a gentle eminence near the town there is a convent of monks of St.
Basil, belonging to the not united Greek church, which, in regard to
the number of its members, predominates in the Bukowina. This edifice
stands in a dreary, melancholy country, and makes an extraordinary
impression on the traveller with its numerous towers, crosses, and
bells, and the paintings on the outside of the church. It is
surrounded by walls and towers, as a defence against sudden attacks of
banditti; and owes its existence to the pious donations of several
Moldavian princes who are interred in it.
The women of Szucsawicza wrap a handkerchief about the head, and wear
trowsers, slippers turned up at the toe, and a jacket bordered with
fur in the Greek fashion. In their manners and customs these people
closely resemble the Moldavians.
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF JAKOBENY.
Jakobeny is a place situated in the mountains and inhabited by miners.
The females of the lower class here as every where else, are fond of
finery. To the decorations of their persons belong indispensably
numerous necklaces and other ornaments made of beads, coins, crosses,
rich embroidery, and in summer fresh flowers and sprigs of plants for
their hair. The gown is coloured and striped, and a red sash encircles
the waist.
The engraving represents an unmarried female; the dress of the married
woman is destitute alike of ornament and taste. The coarse gown is
commonly of a dark colour with blue stripes, and in cold weather they
wear over it a loose shapeless brown coat.
FEMALE PEASANTS OF PHILIPPOWAN.
We have already observed that the Lipowanians, or Philippowanians,
form a particular class of the inhabitants of Bukowina. They belong to
the Russian Raskolniks, and to the not united Greek church. They
removed about the year 1785, from the Black Sea into the
Bukowina, and obtained of the emperor Joseph II. the free
exercise of their religion. They are a peaceable, industrious and
active people, addicted to agriculture, and partly subsist by the sale
of fresh and dried fruit, fish, and cordage of their own manufacture.
They are extremely skilful in draining wet, marshy lands, inhabit
three villages, and are among the different sects of the eastern
church what the Moravians are among the Protestants.
[Illustration: UNMARRIED FEMALE of JACKOBERG.]
[Illustration: FEMALE PEASANTS of PHILLIPPOWAN.]
The appearance of the Philippowanians produces an agreeable impression
on the stranger. They are in general tall and well-shaped, and both
sexes usually wear long cloth coats carefully buttoned from top to
bottom. The women have stiff caps over which they tie a large
handkerchief. A bandeau embroidered with gold encircles the forehead.
The gown, without sleeves, is either green or red, bound round the
waist with a sash, and the feet are covered with red or yellow
buskins. The annexed engraving represents two females of this
district, and displays the front and back of their rich dress, which
bears a strong affinity to the Ottoman costume; the only features
seemingly peculiar to the subjects before us being the ornamented
shift sleeves.
The Lipowanians have but little intercourse with the other inhabitants
of the country: at least, if they can help it they will not admit
strangers into their habitations. Should a person, nevertheless, have
obtained access through accident or against their will, they consider
the spot where he has sat or stood as contaminated till they have
purified it in their own way. They never eat with any stranger. They
have particular plates, vessels, and utensils for guests, and when
they entertain a person they press him to eat all that is set before
him, or throw away what is left. They are forbidden to use tobacco and
snuff, and suffer no inn or public house to be kept among them.
It is surprising with what care these people keep both the ceremonies
and the doctrines of their religion profoundly secret. They have no
priests but only a teacher called _daskal_: they acknowledge the
authority of no oriental ecclesiastic, but profess to belong to a
church of their sect in Moldavia, where all their marriages are
solemnized. No traces of burial-grounds are to be found among them,
and hence it is conjectured that they burn their dead. Their churches
in Moldavia are in all respects like the other churches of the East,
excepting that they are surmounted by three triple crosses, the lowest
cross-bar of which is placed in an oblique direction.
The Philippowanians are said to have derived their name from one
Philip, who was first servitor in a Russian convent, then became a
monk, and aspired to the rank of superior. Being disappointed in this
scheme, he accused his brethren of having swerved from the ancient
faith; and having made proselytes of about fifty of his colleagues, he
seceded from the convent, built another, and thus became the founder
of a new sect.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MILITARY FRONTIERS.
MILITARY CONSTITUTION--CARLSTADT FRONTIER--BANAL
FRONTIER--SLAVONIA--BANAT FRONTIER.
The border of the Austrian empire from Povile on the coast of the
Adriatic Sea to the Northern frontiers of Dalmatia, and thence through
Croatia, Slavonia, the Banat and Transylvania, to Bukowina, has a
military constitution peculiar to itself. In this tract, containing
nearly a million of inhabitants, the men capable of bearing arms must
always hold themselves in readiness to abandon the plough and home,
for the purpose of averting the dangers with which they are threatened
by rapacious neighbours, or by commodities impregnated with
pestilence.
The inhabitant of the frontiers, at once a husbandman and a soldier,
holds his lands on condition of taking up arms when required. In
Transylvania he is the absolute proprietor of the ground he
cultivates: in the Banat, Slavonia and Croatia, he is bound by certain
restrictions somewhat like those of the feudal tenures of old, without
however being obstructed in the enjoyment of the fruits of his
industry.
The perfidy of an individual draws down punishment on himself alone:
his family still retains its right to the possession of his lands, and
this right also devolves to females when they marry of their own
choice, and continue to reside upon them; nay even when there is not a
male left in the house capable of bearing arms, still the land is not
taken away.
As all the males capable of bearing arms are not called out at once,
and every house cannot furnish the number proportioned to the land
belonging to it, some other method of equalizing the burdens has been
found necessary. To this end a moderate tax is levied upon the land,
and from this fund a certain allowance is made to each person while in
actual service. Towards the repairing and keeping up of the public
works, such as buildings, roads and the like, each inhabitant of the
frontiers performs gratuitously a certain quantity of labour
proportionate to the extent of his land.
Agriculture and the breeding of cattle are the principal resources of
the inhabitants of the frontiers. In order that the most necessary
trades may not be wanting, particular places are appointed where the
mechanic, artist, tradesman and merchant may exercise their respective
professions without being subject to military duty. These places are
called military communities, and have regular municipal institutions
like other towns.
The rest of the frontier territory is divided into regimental
districts, of which seventeen are appropriated to infantry, one to
cavalry, and one to the Pontoneers or Watermen. Each regimental
district contains on an average from forty to fifty thousand souls.
Out of the males fit for service in each district two battalions are
formed in time of peace. The house to which each man on duty belongs,
furnishes him with food and clothing, and the state with arms and
ammunition. In peace his chief occupation consists in protecting the
frontiers from the incursions of the Turks, the depredations of
banditti, and the introduction of the plague and contraband goods.
These men are stationed in watch-houses partly of masonry and partly
elevated on high poles, which are erected along the whole frontier at
such moderate distances that one post can alarm and assist the other
in case of emergency. This chain of posts is strengthened, when the
danger of attack or of infection by the plague becomes more imminent.
CARLSTADT FRONTIER. THE VICE-HARAM-BASSA OF THE SZERESSANS.
Besides the frontier cordon there is in the Carlstadt and Banal
frontier a chosen band of clever, trusty, and tried guards called by
the ancient appellation of Szeressans. They go according to
circumstances either singly or in companies, on foot or on horseback
to discover the most secret plans and stratagems of their rapacious
Turkish neighbours, which they seldom fail to counteract and
frustrate, and are particularly ingenious in the discovery of
concealed plunder.
The chief of these Szeressans is styled Haram-Bassa. When fully
equipped, he wears a sort of red uniform coat and waistcoat, blue
pantaloons, and a sharp-pointed cap of green cloth, turned up with a
red and white striped stuff. His arms consist of a musquet, with which
he hits his man with never failing certainty at the distance of three
hundred paces, a pair of pistols for nearer objects, a Turkish knife
and a sword for close quarters; and on busy days there is none of
these weapons perhaps but what he employs. In bad weather a wide red
mantle with a hood covers both his person and his arms.
[Illustration: TANASZIA DOROJEVICH. _VICE HAROM-BASSA OF THE
SERISCHANS._]
The second in command, called Vice-Haram-Bassa, is represented in the
annexed plate. He is armed like his superior, but appears here in his
ordinary dress. His pipe is his constant companion. His horse, with
his red mantle thrown carelessly over the saddle when he dismounts, is
his constant companion and grazes by his side. The horse in this
country is seldom allowed a feed of oats; grass in summer and hay in
winter constitute the whole of his subsistence. But little attention
is paid to him in other respects, nay more frequently the horse is
teased and ill used by his master; hence he is generally unsteady and
shy, and a stranger must use great caution in riding him. These
animals are small, hardy, and sure-footed, and are extremely useful
for carrying moderate loads over the mountains, and for riding in
steep, rugged, and scarcely beaten roads. They have their own pace
which the rider must let them pursue, or he is more likely to be
dismounted than to make them stir from the spot.
In the mountains of Croatia the horses are seldom employed for
draught; and it is at the risk of life or goods that they are
harnessed to any vehicle. If, however, by coaxing, this point has been
accomplished, and the driver has set them a-going, he cannot answer
for their proceeding. Each pulls a different way; the rotten harness,
perhaps, botched together at the moment when it is wanted, snaps at
the least strain; the drivers, generally as numerous as the horses,
are as far from agreeing as the latter. The utmost confusion of course
arises on the least accident. The men invoke all the saints and all
the devils to their assistance: in the most fortunate event, the
vehicle is left behind, but more commonly it is broken to pieces.
Whoever, therefore, values a whole skin will do well not to trust
himself in this mountainous region to any vehicle without the greatest
precaution. On the high road from Carlstadt to Zeng the traveller will
find horses trained to draw, but not in the by-roads in the interior
of the country.
In their manners and way of life, as well as in their clothing and
arms, the people of the frontiers hold an intermediate place between
the Oriental and the European. The husbandman goes out armed to his
agricultural labours, and with trembling he commits the seed to the
bosom of the earth. Unless he keeps constantly on the watch the green
corn is either cut down or fed off; and when the farmer has reaped his
scanty crop he is frequently obliged to fight his way home with it.
In winter the frontiers are more safe, and the duty of guarding them
is less arduous than in summer. The footmarks in the snow betray the
retreat of the robber, and there is no friendly thicket to shelter
him: he is therefore not very willing to venture forth amid tempests
and intense cold for the sake of a precarious and uncertain gain. On
the other hand, the inclemency of the weather renders the service of
the frontier posts more severe. Nothing but the iron constitutions of
these men could withstand the incessant changes of temperature. One
day perhaps a furious north or north-east wind brings snow, covers all
the roads and freezes every limb: the next an equally tempestuous
south-east, produces a thaw and suddenly inundates the country. The
houses, slight and unsubstantial, suffer from both, and the roofs and
out-buildings are destroyed by the fury of the storm.
Amid these incessant changes, the winter in these elevated regions is
unhealthy and destructive. When the storm keeps all inhabitants
closely imprisoned in the smoky huts, the frontier-man on duty at his
post, frequently receives a visit from a hungry wolf prowling about in
quest of prey. Thus engaged in an incessant conflict with a rude
nature and savage neighbours, is it surprising that these people
should have advanced no farther than a half-civilized state!
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF THE DRAGATHAL.
The features and dress of the unmarried female of the Dragathal belong
to Italy; but the Croat and the Wende are here mingled with the
Italian. Language, manners, and costume indicate the intermixture of
nations between Trieste and Zeng, and exhibit in visible gradations
the transition from one to another.
The districts of the regiments of Licca and Ottochacz are intersected
by bare, craggy mountains, which form a broken elevated tract not
unlike in appearance to the deserts of South Africa. These mountains
consist chiefly of chalk, naked and rugged at the top, and bearing
lower down a scanty vegetation. The valleys and plains are covered
with a thin layer of mould, but are in part as dreary as the mountains
which surround them.
The elevated situation, the vicinity of the sea, and the want of wood,
expose this country to the fury of the tempests and to all the
caprices of the weather. For weeks together bleak north and north-east
winds prevail; all at once they change to milder, but equally violent
gales from the south and south-east. As the temperature suddenly
varies with the change of the wind, from the most intense cold to
thaw, or a mild day is succeeded by a frosty night, so also the falls
of rain or snow are generally sudden and excessive.
In these parts the cottages must be built low, and the nearly flat
roof of boards, fastened with long projecting wooden pins, must be
farther secured by very heavy stones--a precaution employed for the
same reason among the mountains of Switzerland. The soil must never be
lightened for the reception of the seed, otherwise it would scarcely
fail to be blown away like dust. The poor, shallow, hard ground
therefore can scarcely be expected to produce good crops; and such as
it does bear are exposed to other dangers before they attain maturity.
Millet, the favourite grain of the husbandman, is frequently cut off
by a single frost in the beginning of September.
Under such circumstances, the fruitful and middling years could not
make amends for the unfavourable seasons even to an industrious
people, and much less to the inhabitants of these frontiers, who are
apt to consider labour as not belonging to their vocation. The
government is in consequence frequently obliged to step in to their
relief, and to save them by abundant supplies from starvation.
Regularity and perseverance are not virtues of these people. Like men
in a state of nature they are fond of variety and of extremes.
Military service, hunting, the transport of wares on horses, and
traffic on the cordon are occupations which they like: domestic and
agricultural employments are too tedious and quiet, and these
therefore in general fall to the share of the women.
If, however, one of these men goes out at all to the fields, he first
chats away some hours by the side of the fire in the middle of the
floor; and when he is urged to repair to his work, he coolly replies,
that a wise man never leaves his house till the sun is over his
fields. He is remiss at every kind of labour; whether he is using the
hoe, the axe, the trowel, or the spade, he handles it as though he
were afraid of hurting the implement. To him work is worse than severe
want. The wife on the other hand is incessantly employed. All the
apparel worn by herself, her husband, and her children, is, with some
trifling exceptions, her own work. She spins, dyes, and weaves the
linen and woollen stuffs for this purpose, and makes them up into
garments, besides washing and attending to her house and kitchen. The
shoes alone, made of untanned hide, are the work of the man. Hard
labour and early marriages cause the women to lose all the charms of
youth much sooner than in many other countries.
The character of the country from Trieste to Zara is uniformly the
same. The width of the plain, which intervenes between the sea and the
range of naked mountains, alone distinguishes the nature of the
country in this long tract, and determines the degree of vegetation
peculiar to each spot. The Draga of the Fiume is destitute of the
majesty of wood, and of the refreshing verdure of extensive
pasturages. The olive, the fig-tree and the vine indeed here furnish
their valuable fruit, but they confer neither affluence nor the
appearance of it.
[Illustration: UNMARRIED FEMALE of OTTOCHACZ.]
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF OTTOCHACZ.
The annexed plate represents an unmarried female of Ottochacz. She
wears a long open jacket without sleeves, neatly embroidered on the
edges, and her hair, carefully plaited in tresses, is covered with a
cap of red cloth. The apron universally exhibits a variety of gay
colours. Married women are distinguished from virgins by wearing one
of these aprons behind as well as before, and a large cloth resembling
a mantle over the head and shoulders.
In Upper Croatia, in the county of Warasdin, for example, the dress of
the women considerably resembles the above, but is more elegant. On
the head is placed a large square of white linen, forming a roll in
front, one fold falling over the back and two lying on the shoulders.
The margins are adorned with borders of coarse lace two or three
inches deep. The vest is of woollen cloth, fitted to the body, without
sleeves, and descending below the knees, where it is trimmed with a
few coloured stripes, generally red and bordered by fringe or lace.
The white shift-sleeves hang large and loose, and are likewise
ornamented with coarse lace. The vest is of two kinds, either opening
on the sides or before, so as to display the laced front of a bodice
held together by clasps, formed of bunches of coloured glass beads.
Below the vest about two inches of a white petticoat appear, and below
this another petticoat neatly plaited; and beneath all, boots either
of black or yellow leather. They likewise wear coarse linen shawls
folded round their shoulders and arms.
BANAL FRONTIER.
The districts of the two Banal regiments are situated on the decline
of the mountains into the plain. They present a great diversity of
ground and scenery. Considerable forests, beautiful valleys, and
extensive pastures succeed each other; and notwithstanding the change
of country, the character of the inhabitants remains the same.
The indigence and want of activity prevailing among the people of
these districts has been ascribed, and not unjustly, to the excessive
magnitude of the houses. The village of Boroevich was formerly at
least inhabited almost exclusively by the family after which it was
named, and there were houses which contained from fifty to one hundred
inmates. Such houses furnished many men for the service, but at the
same time they were nurseries of discontent and crimes.
Before the division of families was authorized by law, the father of
each with his immediate offspring remained in the original habitation.
On the marriage of any of his descendants, the new couple built
themselves a tenement contiguous and a chamber without a window. Here
they slept and deposited what belonged to them exclusively. The father
still retained and managed the general property. In his house were the
common fire and table for the whole family, no individual being
allowed to cook for himself. This separation, however, promoted
neither peace nor prosperity: the law therefore interfered and fixed
the principles for the partition of too large family-communities. Time
will soon show how much the industry and morality of these people have
been improved by this measure, without any prejudice to the service.
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF GLINA.
In the annexed representation of a young female of Glina, we again
observe the red cap, but of a different form from that shown in the
last engraving. In this instance it merely covers the crown of the
head, the hair of which is tressed on each side and turned up behind.
The tresses are frequently adorned with shells, metal rings, and other
trinkets, and the costume in general resembles in cut and fashion that
of the upper frontiers.
[Illustration: UNMARRIED FEMALE of GLINA.]
WOMAN OF DUBITZA.
False tresses, hanging down low and covered with a handkerchief, give
a peculiar character to the head-dress of the women in the environs of
Dubitza. The apron is fastened on by a belt decorated with coins; the
wide, open sleeves of the chemise are neatly bordered with embroidery,
and over it is worn a long open jacket.
The river Unna here forms the boundary between the Turkish and
Austrian empires. The decayed fortress of Dubitza itself, on the right
bank of that river, belongs to the former. Nature has rendered the
valley watered by the Unna one of the most fertile and delightful of
the abodes of man. The hills gently rise on each bank of the river,
which has a strong navigable current, and vegetation finds a rich soil
to their very tops. The climate too is mild; but man is the only
obstacle to the improvement of these advantages. The Turks and Turkish
subjects in this valley have long been reckoned the most pestilent
disturbers of the tranquillity of their neighbours. Being eternally at
variance among themselves, it is not surprising that they should annoy
the inhabitants of the Austrian frontiers.
SLAVONIA.
In many parts of the Banal frontier the country and its inhabitants
strongly remind the spectator of the upper regimental districts, but
the scene is totally changed on entering Slavonia. These frontiers are
marked by great rivers and by sandy and muddy marsh-land. Here the
husbandman does not dread the fury of tempests, but the inundation of
waters. The genial warmth of a climate more than mild produces a
profusion of the finest fruits. The soil supplies man with abundance
of corn and wine, and animals with rich herbage. The very forests
support besides various species of game hundreds of thousands of
monstrous swine, great numbers of which are sent to the capital, and
thus contribute not only to the subsistence but to the opulence of the
inhabitants. The river Save, which forms the Southern boundary of the
country, and facilitates commercial communication, protects the
Slavonian from the incursions of his predatory neighbours better than
fortifications and sentinels. What nature affords and industry
acquires, he therefore enjoys in peace and security. He is in
consequence much more civilized and assiduous than his neighbours on
the Western frontiers; his dress is neater, his food and implements
are superior, his cattle are better treated and better fed; in short
every thing about him denotes greater affluence.
For the sake of greater security, and to accelerate civilization, the
scattered houses were collected into villages upon the road. The
inhabitants now enjoy in peace the benefit of this regulation; and the
traveller blesses that power, which commanded the roads to be planted
with trees which, while they afford him a refreshing shade from the
intense heat, supply the inhabitants with food for the lucrative
silk-worm.
Attempts have been made in other parts of Hungary to rear this insect,
and with considerable success, owing to the encouragement afforded by
government. The greatest yearly produce was in 1801, when the royal
silk-establishments yielded about eighteen thousand pounds weight, and
those of private individuals about three thousand. By far the greater
part comes from the military frontiers.
CLEMENTINIAN WOMEN.
At the beginning of the last century emigrants from Bosnia, calling
themselves Clementinians, settled in the villages of Hertkovze and
Nikinze in the Peterwardein regiment. Their earlier history and the
origin of their name are involved in obscurity: but so much is
certain, that their ancestors migrated thither from Albania, and were
there converted to the Catholic religion. They differ from their
neighbours in language, customs, religious ceremonies, way of life and
physiognomy.
The frontispiece to this volume represents females belonging to this
tribe. The figure in the middle exhibits a bride in her wedding
attire: on her left stands one of her companions in her usual holiday
apparel: and both are listening attentively to the instructions of the
industrious housewife on the left of the print. From the coronet of
feathers which adorn the head of the bride, and reminds us of the
natives of Guinea and Mexico, to the neat slipper of fish-skin which
covers the foot, all is of native material and workmanship. The women
spin, weave, dye, and make all their apparel and personal ornaments
with peculiar neatness. They attend with truly commendable assiduity
to the household concerns, while the men till the ground.
Distinguished by purer morals, and therefore more highly respected,
they consider it beneath them to mingle their blood with that of the
other inhabitants of the frontiers; but conduct themselves invariably
as a peaceable tribe among unsettled and turbulent neighbours.
BANAT FRONTIER.
The sandy surface of that part of the Banat which lies between the
Danube and the Lower Nera, is very little elevated above the level of
those rivers, by which, when they are swollen, it is in a great
measure inundated. In the south-east corner of the German Banat
regiment, the loose sand is drifted into moving hills. It has not
unfrequently buried fields and houses, and occasioned the gradual
desertion of whole villages; but by judicious plantations it is now
confined within narrower limits. One of the most fertile of tracts,
the granary of the frontiers, is thus enclosed between dry sand and
morasses. A motley mixture of settlers, Germans, Hungarians,
Slavonians of various tribes, and Walachians, live together in a small
district of the German Banat regiment, and mostly retain the language,
costume, manners and way of life of their respective ancestors.
PEASANT OF THE BANAT FRONTIER.
The coat and pantaloons of the Walachian, the original native of the
country, in his holiday dress, are of white cloth, the ornaments being
neatly worked by the women in coloured worsted. In fashion this dress
resembles the costume of his progenitors, the ancient Dacians, as
delineated on Trajan’s pillar. The head is covered either with a round
hat, or the still more ancient sheep-skin cap.
The Walachian styles himself a Roman in his language, which is a
medley of corrupt Latin and Illyrian; but it is very rarely that Roman
valour can be discovered in him. He dislikes the military profession,
and it is very long before he becomes habituated to its hardships: but
yet none endures with greater fortitude, sufferings and privations
which cannot be avoided. His wants are very moderate. He cheerfully
and thoughtlessly consumes what he has as long as it lasts, and
afterwards fasts with exemplary resignation. He does not always duly
respect the property of others, but cheerfully shares what he
possesses with those who need relief.
WOMAN OF THE BANAT.
The Walachian women, like those of Croatia, being obliged to perform
the operations of agriculture as well as to attend to the domestic
concerns, lose at an early age all traces of beauty. Those of the
pleasant valley of Saska, are distinguished by more polished manners,
a more healthy look, and superior cleanliness and neatness in dress,
from the inhabitants of the plains.
In the mountains contiguous to this valley are coppermines wrought by
German settlers, the example of whose industry and consequent comforts
has not been wholly lost on their Walachian neighbours.
The head-dress, somewhat resembling a soldier’s cap, and the two
aprons, one before and the other behind, distinguish the matron from
the unmarried female. In addition to all her other occupations, the
wife is obliged to take her infant children with her wherever she
goes, whether to her work in the fields, to church, or to visit a
neighbour. The infant is laid in a low open box, to which are attached
cords, by means of which it is slung over the shoulder of the mother.
If a tree happens to be near, the box is suspended from it by the
cords, and the infant swings as in a hammock, while the mother does
her work in the fields.
The house, built of wood and earth, affords but scanty room for the
family of the Walachian and the young cattle which lodge under the
same roof. He was formerly an utter stranger to stables, barns, and
granaries. Like the Tartar, when his old situation no longer suited
him, he drove his cattle farther, packed up his habitation and his
furniture and utensils, and fixed his abode in another place. Pains
were long taken to excite in him a taste for more solid and spacious
dwellings, in the hope of habituating him to a permanent residence and
its advantages; and they have not been unsuccessful. In the upper
valley of the Nera and of the Almasch, on the woody hills bordering
which the Walachian long roved about for the sake of the pasturage
they afforded, are now to be seen regular villages, with houses of
masonry, barns and stables.
The cultivation of corn and the breeding of cattle are almost the only
resources of their inhabitants. The people of the Almasch, however,
pursue another occupation of a peculiar kind, that is, the feeding of
snails, which they collect in the woods in spring, keeping them in
particular spots in their gardens surrounded with ditches till winter,
and then selling them. They are known far and near by the name of
Caransebes snails.
Dr. Bright saw at Keszthely a pen for snails, which are in request in
Hungary as well as in Germany, as an article of food. This pen was
formed by boards two feet high, the upper edge of which was spiked
with nails an inch long and half an inch asunder. This barrier the
animals never attempt to pass. The snail, the _helix pomatia_, is in
great demand at Vienna, where sacks of them are regularly exposed in
the market for sale.
CHAPTER XIV.
GALICIA, OR AUSTRIAN POLAND.
EXTENT AND NATURE OF THE COUNTRY--BENEFITS RESULTING TO THE
PEOPLE FROM THE PARTITION OF POLAND--CRUELTY AND INJUSTICE OF
THE ANCIENT SYSTEM--SUPERIOR DEGREE OF SECURITY ENJOYED UNDER
THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT--MODE OF BUILDING--APPEARANCE OF A
POLISH VILLAGE--INNS-JEWS--UNCLEANLINESS OF THE POLES
The kingdom of Galicia is that part of Poland which, on the partition
of that monarchy among its more powerful neighbours, fell to the share
of the house of Austria. It contains upwards of fifteen hundred German
square miles, and not far short of four millions of inhabitants.
The country chiefly consists of a sandy plain situated at the northern
foot of the lofty mountains which separate it from Hungary,
Transylvania and the Bukowina by one of their secondary ramifications.
The soil of the plains of Galicia is nevertheless more irregular than
that of Hungary. It is infinitely diversified by hills of no great
elevation, but in some parts of extreme fertility.
Much as it has been the fashion to deplore the “fatal partition” of
Poland, and to execrate the powers concerned in it, we have now the
satisfaction to know that to the Poles themselves this measure has
proved one of the greatest blessings. Every individual has gained by
it, excepting a few selfish, pampered magnates, who abused their
overgrown power, and inflicted perpetual misery on the serfs whom
Providence had subjected to their rule.
If ever there was a country where “might constituted right,” that
country was Poland. The most dreadful oppression, the most execrable
tyranny, and the most wanton cruelties, were daily exercised by the
nobles on their unfortunate peasants. Dr. Neale in his Travels adduces
a few facts which prove but too clearly their miserable condition.
The life of a peasant was held of no greater value than that of one of
his horned cattle; and if his lord killed him he was merely fined a
hundred Polish florins, or two pounds sixteen shillings of our money.
If, on the contrary, a man of low birth presumed to raise his hand
against a nobleman, death was the inevitable punishment. If any one
dared to question the nobility of a magnat, he was required to prove
his assertion, or doomed to die: nay, if a powerful man took a fancy
to the field of his humbler neighbour and erected a land-mark upon it,
and if that land-mark remained three days, the poor man lost his
possession.
The atrocious cruelties habitually exercised almost exceed
credibility. A Masalki caused his hounds to devour a peasant who
chanced to fright his horse; a Radzivil had the belly of one of his
serfs ripped open, that he might thrust his feet into it, in the hope
of being cured of a malady with which he was afflicted. Still there
were laws in Poland, but how were they executed? A peasant, going to
the market at Warsaw, met a man who had just assassinated another: he
seized the murderer, bound him, and having placed him in his wagon
together with the body of his victim, he went to deliver him up to the
nearest Starost. On his arrival, he was asked if he had ten ducats to
pay for his interference, and on his answering in the negative, he was
sent back with his dead and living lumber. After this fact, the reader
will not be surprised to learn, that it cost a merchant of Warsaw
fourteen hundred dollars to prosecute to conviction and execution two
robbers who had plundered him.
To this injustice were joined the most barbarous ignorance and
superstition. In 1781, the Starost Potocki, in passing through a
village, learned that on the following day, a person accused of
sorcery was to be burned alive. He examined the accused, inquired the
hour at which the execution was to take place, and returned home to
make preparation for preventing this legal murder, by carrying off the
prisoner when on his way to the stake. The magistrates of the village
received intimation of his design, and hastened the execution, so that
when Potocki arrived, he had the mortification to find that the man
had already been sacrificed.
Nor were this ignorance and this superstition confined to any
particular class or order: in these respects people of the highest
rank were perfectly on a level with the meanest serfs. A Polish
baroness who had gained notoriety both at home and in France by her
spirit of intrigue and the wit of her correspondence, was in the habit
of burning frankincense and sprinkling her apartments with holy water
whenever a thunder storm approached her castle.--One day, when in
spite of these pious precautions the lightning struck and threw down
her chimneys, she had recourse to an expedient which she regarded as
infallible, namely, the burying round her house thirty copies of the
Gospel of St. John; a custom still piously practised on Christmas-day
in all the churches in Poland.
The morals of the people, were then, as they still continue to be,
nearly at the lowest point of debasement. Female chastity is a virtue
unknown in Poland. Among persons of all ranks, from the highest to the
lowest, with very few exceptions, the most dreadful licentiousness
prevails. The men are equally profligate; and debauchery of every kind
prevails among them to a degree unknown in other countries of Europe.
Education is in general much neglected, the lower classes being unable
to obtain the means of instruction: and among the higher, where no man
is assured of the legitimacy of his offspring, a total indifference
prevails as to the training of the doubtful brood. They are therefore
neglected from their cradles, and left to the indulgence of every
passion, undisciplined, untutored and uncontrolled. Endowed by nature
with great personal beauty, the young Polish noble makes the tour of
France and Germany, engrafts the vices of every capital that he visits
on his own native stock; and after dilapidating his revenues returns
to his paternal estate with a train of French cooks, valets, parasites
and all the paraphernalia of modern luxury, to wallow in sensuality,
and to die prematurely of acquired disease.
Such is the picture of the Poles drawn by Dr. Neale, who adds two
facts tending to show the superior degree of security enjoyed by the
humbler classes under the Austrian government to that afforded them
while under the Polish sceptre.
During the reign of Stanislaus Poniatowsky, a petty noble having
refused to resign his small estate to Count Thisenhaus, the latter
invited him to dinner as if desirous of adjusting the affair in an
amicable manner. While the knight, elated at such an unexpected
honour, was assiduously plying the bottle, the count despatched some
hundreds of peasants with axes, ploughs and wagons, ordering the
village, which consisted only of a few small wooden buildings, to be
pulled down, the materials carried away, and the plough passed over
the ground which the village had occupied. This was accordingly done.
The nobleman, on his return home in the evening, could not find either
road, house or village. The master and his servant were alike
bewildered, and knew not whether they were dreaming or had lost the
power of discrimination: but their surprise and agony were deemed so
truly humourous, that the whole court was delighted with the joke.
As a contrast to this story, related on the authority of Baron
Uklanski, himself a Pole, the reader is presented with the following
fact, which happened in Galicia, after the _cruel partition_:--
A peasant with his wife and children, belonging to the estate of the
Starost Bleski, having fled into Austrian Poland, the Starost
assembled a party of horsemen and carried off his serf, inflicted on
him a hundred stripes and threw him into a dungeon. The emperor
Joseph II., having been informed of this circumstance, caused his
ministers to demand reparation from the king of Poland, who replied,
that it did not depend on him, but on his permanent council. The
emperor, not satisfied with this evasive answer, sent a party of two
hundred dragoons to bring back both the Starost and the serf to
Zamoic, where they were taken before an Austrian court of justice. The
Starost was sentenced to pay a thousand crowns as an indemnity to the
peasant, and a fine of five thousand to the Austrian exchequer. The
hundred blows which he had inflicted on the peasant were repaid to him
on his own person, and he was sent back to his own estate with all due
respect.
Galicia, like Poland in general, abounds in wood, but stone,
particularly freestone, is very scarce. Hence log huts are the general
habitations of the peasantry. Architecture of course is still in its
infancy. Every peasant in fact is his own mason and carpenter.
Provided with a hatchet, he enters the nearest wood, fells as many
trees as he wants, carries them to the site of his future dwelling,
and splits each trunk into two beams. Four large stones mark the
corner of an oblong square, and constitute the base upon which the hut
is raised, by placing the beams in horizontal layers, with the flat
sides inward; a sort of mortice being cut in each about half a foot
from the end to receive the connecting beams. A kind of cage is thus
constructed, usually about twelve feet by six, and moss is thrust
between the logs to exclude the wind and rain. Two openings are left,
one for the door, and the other, with the aid of a few panes of glass
or a couple of sheets of oiled paper, forms a window. At one of the
corners within are placed four upright posts, round which are entwined
some twigs covered with mud or clay to form a square area, in which is
built an oven of the same materials; and this, when hard and dry,
serves the peasant for kitchen, chimney, stove and bed. The roof is
closed in with rafters and twigs bedaubed with a thick coating of
clay, and covered over with a close warm thatch extending over both
gable ends. To finish this rude hut, the walls are sometimes extended
a few feet in a still rougher style, to form a sort of vestibule,
which serves also for carthouse or stable, and occasionally a second
is added to serve as a barn. In the whole building there is perhaps
scarcely a bolt, lock, hinge or any article of metal. Yet this is the
dwelling of a Polish serf, and contains himself and his family and all
his goods and chattels.
If the proprietor happens to be a little more affluent, his hut may
contain an oven of glazed earthenware, and two bed-rooms with boarded
floors, the walls whitewashed, and the doors secured with locks. If he
be a Jew, the house is still larger; the roof better, and covered with
shingles instead of thatch; the windows are a degree wider; and if he
be an innkeeper, there is a long stable, with a coach-entrance at each
end, which serves for barn, stable and cow-house.
The gentry give to their wooden house greater capacity, and a form a
little more symmetrical. The walls within are perhaps stuccoed and
washed with distemper colours, and externally plastered and
whitewashed. The door of entrance occupies the centre and is covered
with a rude porch, raised on four posts, and the front may contain
three or four windows.
Such are the elementary parts of a Polish village, and nothing under
heaven can be more miserable, dirty and wretched, than the whole
assemblage externally as well as internally. All the inns in Galicia
are kept by Jews, and both these and the post-houses are always
situated in the public squares, which occupy the centre of every town.
These squares are also the market-places for horned cattle, and have
never been cleansed since their first formation: hence they are
absolute quagmires of filth, the putrid effluvia from which are almost
insufferable.
Happy, says Dr. Neale, is the traveller, the dimensions of whose
carriage admit of his occupying it during the night! what abominations
will he not escape! He relates, that though his companion and himself
carried with them into these Jewish inns fur skins of their own to
sleep on, yet the noisome smells from the damp earthen floors were
frequently so powerful and disgusting as to keep them awake; and
there were a thousand other nameless annoyances more easily imagined
than described.
From the centre of the roof of these houses is always suspended a
large brass chandelier, with seven branches: this is the sabbath lamp,
which is regularly lighted every Friday evening at sun-set, when all
the fires are carefully extinguished, and not re-kindled till the same
hour the next evening. Underneath it stands a long table soiled with
grease, occupying the middle of the apartment; around it are ranged
several wooden benches, with one or two rotten chairs, and a cushion
stuffed with hay. In the huts of the peasants a sort of shovel, slung
from the roof is loaded with tallow: a lock of flax is placed upon it,
and being lighted serves for a lamp.
The best food to be obtained at these inns is nearly as disgusting to
strangers as the lodging they afford; and the only thing to be
commended in Galicia is the state of the high-roads; these are
excellent, of a good breadth, well levelled, and kept in admirable
repair. But these, and every thing else that is not absolutely
abominable, are the creation of the Austrian government; for
previously to the first partition of Poland, in 1772, they were as
miserable as the inns.
In no country in Europe have the Jews obtained such firm footing as in
Poland, where Casimir the Great, at the instigation of his Jewish
mistress, Esther, took them, four centuries ago, into his especial
favour and protection. Enjoying privileges and immunities which they
possess in no other region, with opportunities of engaging deeply in
traffic and accumulating immense fortunes; masters of all the specie
and most of the commerce of Poland; mortgagees of the land, and
sometimes masters of the glebe--the Jewish interlopers appear to be
more the lords of the country then even the Poles themselves.
All the distilleries throughout Poland are farmed out to Jews, who pay
large sums to the nobles for the privilege of poisoning and
intoxicating their serfs. Mr. Burnett states, that when he was in
Poland, a company of Jews paid to Count Zaymoski the sum of three
thousand pounds sterling annually for the mere privilege of distilling
spirituous liquors on the largest of his estates, which, to be sure,
comprehends at least four thousand square miles. Hence some estimate
may be formed of the enormous quantity that is consumed.
When Joseph II. obtained possession of Galicia, that judicious prince
perceived the necessity of limiting the privileges of the Jews. He
took from them the power of cultivating the lands belonging to the
serfs subject to contributions, and prohibited them from keeping inns
and distilling spirits: but at his death these regulations ceased to
be enforced, and the Jews have since been silently regaining their
former influence.
The inns, as has been already observed, are now altogether in their
hands, as well as the fabrication of ardent spirits and liqueurs. They
have all the traffic in peltry, the precious metals, diamonds and
other jewels, and they are also the principal agents in the
corn-trade. Of late years many of these Jewish families who had
amassed great wealth by commerce, having affected to abjure their
religion and to embrace the Catholic faith, have been ennobled and
permitted to purchase extensive estates: still true, however, to their
own nation, they have built large towns and villages on these estates,
and peopled them exclusively with Jewish families; for from a singular
instinct the Poles seem to detest their fellowship, and generally herd
together in their own miastas.
The enjoyment of liberty and civil rights seems to have produced a
strong effect on the physical constitution and physiognomy of the
Hebrew race, and to have bestowed on them a dignity and energy of
character, which we may look for in vain in the Jews of other
countries. The men, clothed in long black robes reaching to their
ankles, and sometimes adorned in front with silver agraffes, their
heads covered with fur caps, their chesnut or auburn locks parted in
front, and falling gracefully on their shoulders in spiral curls,
display much manly beauty. In feminine beauty, the women are likewise
distinguished; but beauty is not uncommon among the Jewesses of other
countries. When looking at them, says Dr. Neale, seated, according to
their usual custom, on a wooden sofa, by the doors of their houses,
on the evenings of their sabbath, dressed in their richest stuffs and
pearl head-dresses, I have imagined that I could trace a strong
resemblance between their present head-ornaments and those sculptured
on the heads of the Egyptian sphynxes. Nor do I think it at all
improbable, that the dresses of the Hebrews of both sexes in Poland,
are at this day nearly the same as those of their ancestors when they
quitted the “house of bondage.”
Without having visited Poland, and had ocular demonstration of the
filth and abominable uncleanliness of the inhabitants, it seems
difficult to believe the accounts which have been given of them. The
floors of the houses of the lower classes consists of clay or earth
always damp, and from which the heat of the stove draws up a perpetual
vapour of the most offensive odour, which, as their windows are never
opened, circulates continually. Both sexes sleep together like pigs on
the straw or furs, upon the sides and tops of their ovens, without
undressing themselves. They eat few vegetables, and their diet
consists of every putrescent animal food, with bad bread, diluted
copiously with spirituous liquors. Such a diet necessarily predisposes
them to imbibe readily every contagious poison, which, when once
received, is propagated among them with the rapidity of combustion
itself. Thus it is related, that when the plague was brought into the
country in 1770, in consequence of the hostilities between the Turks
and Russians, all the peasants of a village belonging to Prince Adam
Czartoriski were swept off by it in one day.
Generally without medical assistance, the wretched creatures are
abandoned to their fate; and such is the callous selfishness of the
great majority of the Polish nobles, that instead of attempting to
meliorate the condition of their serfs, all their ingenuity is
exhausted in ministering to their debaucheries and increasing their
own overgrown incomes, by throwing the temptations of drunkenness in
their way. Bishops and nobles are joint proprietors of all the inns,
and the greater the drunkenness of the peasantry, the larger are the
returns to the lord of the soil.
THE END.
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