friend of mine saw a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream.  No one was able to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge.  I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was terrible to think of his thus drowning in the presence of thousands of fellow-creatures.

The amount of wreckage that passed Buda-Pest gave one some idea of the frightful amount of damage higher up the stream; there were heaps of barrels, woodstacks, trees, furniture, and even houses with their chimneys standing!

The beautiful island of St. Marguerite, just above Buda-Pest, suffered most severely.  It was four feet under water; and the drift ice did immense damage to the trees, causing abrasions of the bark at eight to ten feet above the ground.

It may well be imagined that the Charity Organisation Committee had enough on their hands.  Nearly 20,000 people sought the shelter provided in the public buildings and other places appointed by the authorities, and for fully a month after the catastrophe thousands had to be fed daily at the public expense.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains—­Railways in Hungary—­The train stopping for a rest—­The Alfoeld—­Shepherds of the plain—­Wild appearance of the Rusniacks—­Slavs of Northern Hungary—­Marmaros Szigeth—­Difficulty in slinging a hammock—­The Jews of Karasconfalu—­Soda manufactory at Boeska—­Romantic scenery—­Salt mines—­Subterranean lake.

The spring was already melting into summer—­and the melting process is pretty rapid in Hungary—­when an opportunity occurred enabling me to visit the north-eastern part of the country with a friend who was going to the Marmaros Mountains on business.  Even this wild and remote district is not without railway communication, and we took our tickets for Szigeth, in the county of Marmaros, learning at the same time, to our great satisfaction, that we could go straight on to our destination without stopping.  Though my friend is a Hungarian the route was as new to him as to myself.

The railway system has been enormously extended in this country during the last ten years.  In Transylvania, in the Tokay Hegyalia, in the Zipsland, and in the mining district of Schemnitz a whole network of lines has been opened up.  Our route from Debreczin to Szigeth is one of those recently opened.  The railway statistics of Hungary are very significant of progress.  In 1864 only 1903 kilometres were open, whereas ten years later the figures had risen to 6392 kilometres; and the extension has been very considerable even subsequently, though enterprise of every kind received a check in 1873, from which the country has not yet recovered.