THE LAND OF THE MAGYAR.

Press, Volume L, Issue 149814, 30 May 1914, Page 8

THE LAND OF THE MAGYAR.

(By Malcolm Ross, F.R.G.S.)

No. II

Fiume, like Trieste, lies at the head of a bay, and at the foot of barren mountains. It is tie only port of any consequence in the little bit. of sea coast that Hungary. possesses, and is, consequently, the inlet and the outlet for the sea-borne commereo of the country. A sum of £210,000,000 has already been invested in railroads in Hungary. Such.an investment, means an enormous development of commerce, and to make the expenditure a greater economic success, it became necessary not only that Hungary should develop its ono. seaport, but also that it should bo connected up with tho capital and the rest of the railway system. Therefore, soon after the compromise of 1867, tho Hungarian Government decided to link up Fiume with the main system, and a railway was built through the barren and rugged Carst hills into the heart of the country. Tho trains on this route wind round sharp curves, plunge into long tunnels, and climb steep gradients. That in itself was a gigantic work, but there had to be undertaken, also, the construction of quays, sheds, and sidings. The Hungarian Government, however, went at tho work with characteristic enterprise and energy, and a few years ago they had spent on it no less a sum .than 40,000,000 crowns, or over £1,600,000. Up to the present date this great undertaking must have cost tho Government considerably over £2,000,000. One who has not studied tho subject will be surprised at the extent and efficiency of; the Hungarian railway system. Tbe railways are mostly in the hands of the State, and ..uoy employ 54,000 officials, and 50,000 workmen, whose salaries amount to £5,125,000 a year. There are some points about the Hungarian railways that might with advantage be copied in New Zealand; but not the zone system, about which we have heard so much. That, so far as Hungary is concerned,' is a thing of the past, and' so far as New . Zealand is concerned it should never bo adopted. I discussed the system in' its'various bearings in Budapest with the official who had been' its chief administrator for some fifteen years, and he laughed at tho idea of our adopting it in a country such as' New Zealand. It served its purpose in a country such as Hungary, in which .the people were unaccustomed to travel, and, having served its purpose;' it has been abandoned beyond' recall. Having now adopted tho '. ordinary system of fares, neither the Government nor the Bailway Department would ever dream for one moment' of going back to the zone system." ..■'■... :",.'.;■'

THE OLD AND THE NEW.. • let> us get' back to Fiume. Thirty-five years ago-it was little more than a"goodly-«ized»fishing village; in 1887 it had a-population of only'l3,ooq. Now" it>is a hustling manufacturing and shipping town of nearly 60,000, and vessels'from its docks may be seen j as far afield as Australia and Now Zealand. • It is indeed a pity that such a rich and enterprising country should have "only this "one; port.- The town self, and - especially the' old iPart.: of ( itj has an appearance Tdistiricyy Italian about it, and.the great' ;majprity of the peopje speak Italian. - Ihdeedj fifty per cent, are Italian,: and only thirty per cent. Hungarian,' the remainder being Crontians, Illyrians, Germans, Wends, and others. A stroll down the Via del Corso—a strange name in a Hungarian town —will quickly convince the visitor as to vthe .cosmopolitan nature of the port! of - Hungary.' Hero under the City'<3ato is ah inscription harking back-to the great earthquake in .1750, and the remains of. tho Arco Romano still " stand to - show the Roman origin of the way. It was most probably a triumphal arch . erected " in. . 'honour . of Claudius' .11. Some of the narrow streets of" the "old "town are typically Italian, and charmingly picturesque in their narrowness and architecture. After. a stroll in this old-world locality, it is with somewhat of a surprise that the "Englishman listens to the clang of a thousand hammers in the shipbuilding yards', notes the petroleum refinery, and the busy industries connected with the manufacture of tobacco., chocolate, starch, and rice, and perhaps at the end ,of his day comes suddenly npon the torpedo factory of Mr Whitehead! . ". -.-'•.

A DINNER AT THE DE AX. ' . Such was my, first day on Hungarian soil. And in the evening the three voyagenrs dined with Professor:Vittorio de Gauss Gerady, Directore Dela TJng Spazione Biologica Marina, and a friend of his who owns the fisheries here. The professor was a. learned man, but not nearly so forbidding'as. his nameand title might indicate.- On the contrary, he was a most charming personage, and from him and his t friend I got much interesting information about both fresh and salt water - fisheries, which I hope may be of some use to our own Government. The conversation at that dinner was carried on in Hungarian, German, Italian, arid English, and, sometimes," when the professor and his friend—the latter spoke German best — could.not find the.right word in connexion with the. technique of some fishing matter—they lapsed' momentarily into Croatian! * The professor was 60 kindas to give 'mc a letter to a friend, one Bariss-Gvula, who was director of the fisheries on tho estate of the Duke Taszilo Festetios, whose spiehdid domain I subsequently visited-on the shores of the Lake of Balaton, at Keszthely, and this letter Stepan translated to me.in this fashion:—- . . "Thou dearest, friend: In " your heartily attention , I recommend Mr Malcolm Row*., a New Zealand writer, who makes in Hungary a journey of study, and especially he is interested towards tbe fisheries mntters. He wiU call upon you in Mr D.'s society. With love. I greet thou.and honour thou. — Your true attached one.—Gerady."

■ A, NEW RIVIERA. The shadows of autumn clouds were chasing: one -another across the calm waters at the head'of-the.Quarncro, as one afternoon we found ourselves, witn a ' strange and varied assortment of talkative foreigners, .bound for. that delightful watering-place, Abbazia. Here at the .beautiful villas and pensions, charmingly situated on the wooded slopes fronting the bay, we. find-.a gay throng of well-to-do.Austnans, Hungarians, Servians, and Rumanians, ;n search of health and enjoyment. „ At the Cafe Quarnero, .where we had coffea in the open air, to the music of an. excellent .band, we bad <an. excited meeting with an aunt and a niece of Sfcefy's, and there was much news.to tell., Volosca, another. charming wateringplace, is hard by, or one can take steamer to Buccari, on the shores of- a bay that sends it waters right up onto the' rocky fastnesses of the Cars*. The air is balmy, the sun bright, and ii is altogether • very quiet and restful, 1 One wonders why Englishmen, who are supposed to go everywhere, do not come in greater numbers" to what one, for want of a better term, might call the Hungarian and Dalmatian Riviera. For many the novelty of tho real Riviera has long been worn off. But here, within easy reach of Fiume, there are

new scenes and new interests in plenty. You can come easily from Vcnioo or Ancona, and, if you wish to prolong your journey inland, you can bo next morning in* that most fascinating of Continental cities. Budapest, of which mono anon. Meantime let us pay a visit to Tersatto, where is the castle built by the Frangjipani. It lies to tlie north-east of Fiume, across a ravine mentioned by Pliny. From the towers of tho castle wo get a splendid outlook over the whole Quarnero. and note again tho beauty of Abbazia and Lovrana nestling amid their sylvan bowers, at the foot of Monte-Maggioro, on the Istrian coast.

THE SANTISSIMA CASA. It was to Tersatto that the Santissima Casa—the house in ■ which tho Virgin Mother with Jesus and Joseph lived at Nazareth—was transported hy the Angels, when Palestine was in tho hands of the infidels. ''Some," says a faithful historian of the times, "had seen it in Dalmatia, others beheld it hovering in tho air, and many had found it in the morning on a spot which they knew to have been vacant the evening before.'" If it be truo that it was seen "hovering in the air," it would seem as if the day s of airships are not-so modern as we inmgino them to be; but there will bo some who may be pardoned if they regard this as "an idle tale or at least a pious dream, conceived by a heated imagination, and circulated among an ignorant race of peasants and fishermen." However, be that as it may, the fame of the miracle for* a time spread round tho world, and at Tersatto the devout people built a church over the site npou which the holy house had stood. But the Santissima* Casa did not remain at Tersatto —it only rested there on its way to Loretto, and thither prince and peasant, rich and poor, piously hastened for present aid from the Virgin Mother. And we are told that gifts and votive offerings accumulated to such an extent that n magnificent church was erected, and that gold and silver and diamonds, blazed round every altar, while heaps of treasures loaded tho shelves of the Sacristy. It was rather hard luck for Tersatto that it could not have kept the holy house there, instead of letting it go on to Loretto, because now the people of Torsatto havo to be content with a copy of it, and you can never do such good business with a replica as you can with an original. Nevertheless it is an interesting sight to see the streams of Croatian peasants who do their duty by tho Church at Tersatto. They cannot, under tho circumstances, be expected to go all tho way to Loretto!

AN INTERESTING COUNTRY. And now it is time to say something about this interesting country that we saw so well, in our several" thousand miles of travel. In territory and population it is the seventh Country in Europe. It is a.little larger than Britain, and even larger than Austria, which.shares with it the crown of the Hapsburgs and a partnership in defence. For a long timo it has been— and it still is—a kind of vortex whore the tides of East and West meet; and towards its enduring ramparts the Westward waves of Oriental barbarism rolled for ten centuries. GeOgrasllrK. cally, with the curving Carpathians on the one hand, and its two great rivers on the other, it seems as if. meant by Nature to stand sJone under the sway of- one people. But the centuries have given it a heterogeneous nationhood, and ' modern exigencies have bound it with Austria in the matter of the Army. And Austria, too, it may be remarked, is.also afflicted with nation-" alities. In every country that contains different nationalities there will bo a variety of ideals, and there are hiore problems awaiting solution that may puzzle, centuries of statesmen in the future just as they have puzzled conturies of,rulers in the past. As we pro- - ceed on our; journey wo may discuss some of these problems, but, in. the' meantime, let us cast our efes ovof the country itself. From the rocky pinnacles of -the High Tatra, with their little glaciers nestling in the valleys : above the dark pine forests, to the level lands of the Alfold, there is a wonderful and charming variety of scenery—not so beautiful nor so grand as tho scenery of Switzerland or New Zealand, yet possessing a charm of character and an individuality that is only a little less attractive to the •traveller. The variety, of the resources of this country is realised by few Englishmen. Minerals and mineral springs, flocks and herds, leagues of waving corn, vineyards climbing the hillsides, and splendid forests attract and hold the eye of the' wayfarers in turn. Hill and valley arid stream pass us by in never-ending variety, and the mountain lakes reflecting the stately pines—gems in a sombre setting—contrast strangely with the great Balaton, with its wide expanse and its fish vng boats going out into thi> oyo of the setting sun. And between the mountains and the lowlands we have every variety of waterway—trj© mountain torrents born in the glens of the high Carpathians; ■ t.h© more stately rivers, like the Tisza, flooding the lower lands; and the mighty, historic Dnnub3. wide-hosomed and placid, as at Bazias. or swift and angry with it« pent waters rushing, foam, flecked tlvrouc'> th.* famed pass of Kazan. But, in addition +o all this, there is the end less variety in the'manners and customed the people, for there are some fifteen neonles wfthin the confmpß of tro«s mod-erate-sized country. : And last, but not least, we have ever bpfr)r*> us all thp interesting and charming characteristic* of the. dominant race—a race that has a keen pride in .its past, and a great hopo for it.* future.

(To be Continued.)