THE LAND OF THE MAGYAR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2168, 5 June 1914, Page 3

THE LAND OF THE MAGYAR.

[fir i.lALcoj.ji Jioss, F.R.G.S.] (NO. H.) Fiunii?, like- Trieste, lies at the head of a bay, and at the foot of barren mountains. It, is the only part of auv eonsequeftco m the little bit of sea coast that Hungary possesses, aad is, consequently, the mjet and the outlet lor the sea-nemo commerce of the countrv. A sum of £210,000,000 has already been invested in railroads in Hungary'; Such art investment means an enormous development of cowincrco, and to make tho .expenditure a greater ecouumic success, it became accessary not oujj that Hungary should develop its ono seaport, but alsa that it should be connected \\p with the capitol and the rest of the railway system. The Hungarian Government went at the work with characteristic entorpriso and energy, and a few years ago "Ittoy had spent on it no less a sum than 40,000,009 crowns, or over £1,600,000. Up to the present date this great uudi?rtaithtg must have, cost the Government considerably over £2,000,000. Ono who has not studied tho subject will be surprised at the. extent and efficiency of tho Hungarian railway system. The railways are mostly in the hands of the State, and they emp% 04,Q00 officials attd 150,000 worhme.ii, whoso salaries amount- to £5,125,000 a year, There are some points aWttt tho Hungarian railways th.it might with •advantafce bo copied in Now Zealand'; but not the zona system, about which wo .have heard, so much. That, so far as Hungary is concerned, is a thing of tho oast, andso far as Now Zealand is concerned it should never ho adopted. I diseassed the system in its various bearings in Budapest with the official who had boon its chief administrator for samo fifteen years, and he laughed at the idea of our adopting it in'a- country such as Now &-kJund. TJJo Old and the New. But lei us get back to Fiumo. Thirtyfive years ago it was littio more than a goodljvsiiied fishing village; An 1887 it had a 'population of only 18,000. Now it is a bustling manufacturing and shipping town or nearly '60,000, _ Fifty per-Cent, of tho people are Italian, and only thirty per cent. Hungarian, tho remainder being Croatians, Illyrians-, Gentians, Wends, and others. A stroll down tin- Via del Corso—-a strange name in a- Hungarian town-r-M'tH quichiy oonviflco thfe visitor as to the ebsm-cEpolitan nature of the port of Hungary. Bora aader tho City Gate is an jusoriptioft harking back to the great earthquake, in 1750, and'- tho remains of the Arco .Romano still stand to' show tho Eon Mli origin of the way. It was most probably a triumphal a'reh erected in honour of Claudius IL Some of the. harrow streets of tho old tewn are typically Italian, and charmingly pie-torsi-sqtio in their narrowness and architecture. After a stroll in this old--wcr!d locality, it is with -somewhat of a Sftrprise that tho Englishman, listens to. tlio clang of a thmisand hammers' in the shipbuilding yards, notes'tho petroleum refinery, and the busy industries connected with tho manufacture of -tohncco,, chocolate, starch, and rice, ans perhaps at the end of his day eafttes suddenly Upon tho torpedo factory of Mr, Whitehoadl

A Climer at the Dealt. Su.ch was my first day on Hungarian soil. And in tho evening the tinea voyageurs dined frith Professor Vitterw de Gauss Gatady, Diretioro Pela. ting. Spazitine fiiologica Mariroij ailu a friend of Jus who owns the fisheries here, Th© professor was a learned man, but not ■nearly so forbidding as ki s natw and title might indicate. On tie contrary, ho was a most charming personage, and from liiin and his friend I got much interesting ktonuation about both fresh find salt water frsheries, which I hope Biny bo of some tise to" *HBr own <§c/v----enjm<- The conversation at that dinner was carried on in HiUigarkn, German, Italian, arid English,, "'and. Sometimes, when the professor and his friend —the latter spoke (German hest—eoaW not find the right word in connection with, the tcchnidue of sortie fishing mat' ■ter—they lapsed momentarily into Croatian! flto professor was so kind £§ to give me a fetter to a, friend, one Swiss Gyijla, _who was director or-too fisheries mi th© estate of tho Btiko Tnsz-ilc F-«s----teties, whose splendid domain I subsequently visited an the shares of the Laito of Balaton, at Res-ztheiy, and this . letter Stefan translated to me in tin's fashion;^— "Thou dearest friend: In vour heartily attention 1 recommend *3lf, Malcolm. Ross, a New Zealand writer, who ni-akss in Hungary a journey of stady, and especially lie is interested towards tho fisheries matters. He will call upon you iii Mr. t>\ society, With love I greet thou and honW than.— Yoiir trite attached dno,—fiarady." A New RfyJera. . the shadows of autuinn clouds were chasing one another across the cairn waters at the head of tho Quamero, as Oile afternoon wo found, .ourselves, with a s-fa-aagß and varied'' assortment of talkative foreigners, IxWnd'for that delightful watering-place, Abbazia. Here at tho beautiful villas ■ and pensions charmingly situated on the Wooded slopes fronting the hay, Wo find a- gay throng tif well-to-do Austrians, Hungarians, Servians, andltiimaiiiaiiSj in search of health and enjoyment, Volosea, another chartnii-ig wateringplace, is hard by, or one can take steamer to Bttccari, on the shores of a hay that sends its waters right up into the- rocky fastnesses of, the Carst. The air is balmy, the mm bright, and it is altogether very quiet and restful. One wonders why Englishmen,, who are s»p posed 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, Meantime let us a pay a fiisit to Tefsatto, where is.the castle built by the Frantripani. It lies to tho north-east of Fiiinie, across a ravine mentioned by Ifliny, From the towers of the castle we get a splendid outlook -over the whole Quarn* ero, and not?? again the beauty <if Alibassia and lorrana -i-wstltng amid their svlvftu bowers, at tho foot of MwnteMaggiore, on the Istria.ll coast.

the Santtsslma Gasa, _ Tt Was to Tersatto that the Satitissima Casa—the house in which tlio Virgin Mother with, Jesus Ami Joswh lived at Nazareth'—was transported by the Atsgels, when Palestine was i» the hands of thf infidels. "Some,", says a faithful lustorhin of tlio trmes, "had seen it in Dalinstia, others beheld it hovering iii the air, and many had found it in lire morning <m a spot which they knew lo have been'vacant the ovc-ning Wore." If'it be inn* that it was seen "hovering in tho air," it would see» as if the days of airships are not so modern as we im.igino thefti to be;' but ili-ere will h* fonie who may bo pardtined if thev l-essnnj this as "an idle ta,!c or at least ? pious dvea\B. cosiccltikl by a Ijeated iniiitfinatioH, nnd eir-culatr-tl among an iiinorant raep. of peasants ami ish?rmen," How ever, be Jhat fts it mat, flic fame of tbo •mirciolp-'for a thaw spread rotiiHl tbo TCofld, and at Tofsatto the devout people htiift- a ehiu-ch over the site itpon which the hoi* lnwso had sidocl: Rut the Santisjim;! Casa cli-cl not. remain at. satt-o—it only rested there on its way to Lciretto. and thitto' prince and TWasnut. ripli and poor, ptonslv Uastwwt! for prc-sent- a-kl from tlio Vivgin Melhv r. And. we aro told lhat gifts and votive offerings itcenimitnteit to such an extent that a magnificent church wiss wccto'H, atul that gold and silver and diamonds blazed rousrd every attar, while- heaps of ircaswes loaded, tlw shelves of the Saeristy. It was rather liafi luck for Tersat.to that it eoultl not bare kept tho holy iaffiss there., iajtaad of teHittg

it go on to liQfetto, because now, thepeople of Tersiitto have to 1)6- content with a- oops of it, and yoa sail never (to such good business with n replica as you can with mi original. Nevertheless it is tin interesting sight to see the streams of Croatian peasants who do their duty By tho Church at Twsntto.

Ah Interesting Country. . And now it is time to say something about this interesting eavmiry that wft saw so well- in our several thousand niilesof travel., In territory and papulation it is the seventh country in Europe It is a little larger than Britain, and even largo- than Austria, which shares with it the Grown of tho Hapsbnrgs and a- partnership in defence. For a long time H li.as been—and it still is—a kind of vortex where the tides of East ana West meet; and towards its enduring ramparts the Westward waves of Oriental barbarism rolled for ten ceiitujie*. Geographically, -with the- curving Cat. pathiaiis on tho ono hand, and: its two groat rivers on the other, it seems as if meant by Nature to stand alone- tinder tiro sway of oho people. But the centuries have given it a hcterogcitieus nationhood, am} modern exigencies "hivo bound it with Austria in tho matter of the _U'iny• From the rocky p-iiinael.es of the j.igHTatra, witli their little glaciers nestling in the valleys above- the, dark pine- forests, to th« level lands *if the aifold, there is a wonderful and ehafmitig variety of sceiwy—not So beautiful, nor so grand as the scenery tif Switzerland or New Zealand, yet possessing a charm of character and nn individuality that is only a little less attractive to the traveller. Minerals and mineral springs, Hocks and herds, .leagues of waving corn, vineyards clim'bins the hillsides, and'splendid forests attract and. hold the eye of the wayfarer hi turn. «HiH' a-iul valley arid stream pass us by in never-ending'va-riety, and the mountain Jakes reflecting the stately pines—gems in a sorohro Setting—contrast strangely with . the great Balaton, with H.s wj.de expanse and its' iishiaig boats going wit into th» ovij of t-lw- setting sun. And between the mountains afii the lowlands we hove every variety of waterway—tho mountain torrents horn ill the gl.ei.is of the high Carpathians; tho mere stately rivers, hko tho Ttszn, flooding: the lower lands; awl the mighty, historic Danube, lvide-bosoTned and placid, as at Ba'zh)-Si ' or swift a.ml angry with its pent waters ■ wishing, foawMiecked, through the; famed pass of Kazan. But, in athtitfidfi. to ail this, there is the seemingly ciid-les-f variety in tho manners and customs of the people, for there are sow* ftf-teen p«p!es within the confines of this mod-crate-shied country, And last, hut not least, wo have wet heforo us all the ', interesting and diarmiiig dbarafitenstios J of the dominant r.ioe—a raw that has a keen pride' fe its past, and a- great: hope for its future. , (To he Continued .)