All Hungarian men are great smokers, but as a rule the ladies do not smoke; there are some exceptions, but it is considered “fast” to do so.

The peasants in the Hatszeg Valley are all Wallacks, and as lazy a set as can well be imagined; in fact, judging by their homes, they are in a lower condition than those of the Banat.  So much is laziness the normal state with these people that I think they must regard hard work as a sort of recreation.  Their wants are so limited that there is no inducement to work for gain.  What have they to work for beyond the necessary quantity of maize, slivovitz, and tobacco?  Their women make nearly all the clothes.  Wages of course are high—­that is the trouble throughout the country.  If the Wallack could be raised out of the moral swamp of his present existence he might do something, but he must first feel the need of what civilisation has to offer him.

The village of Rea, where I was staying, is about the wildest-looking place one can well imagine in Europe.  The habitations of the peasants are made of reed and straw; the hay-ricks are mere slovenly heaps, partially thatched; the fences are made up of odds and ends.  As for order, the whole place might have been strewn with the debris of a whirlwind and not have looked worse.  As a natural consequence of all this slatternly disorder, fire is no uncommon occurrence; and when a fire begins, it seldom stops till it has licked the whole place clean—­a condition not attainable by any other process.

Fishing was a very favourite amusement with us, and Herr von B——­ several times organised some pleasant excursions with that object.  One day we went up the Lepusnik, a magnificent trout-stream.

We drove across the valley, and then followed a narrow gorge near the village of Klopotiva.  The scenery was enchanting, but our fishing was only moderately successful; for the trout were very much larger than in the valley nearer home, and they bothered us sadly by carrying away our lines.

Some way up the valley we came upon a little colony of gipsies, who were settled there.  Their dwellings were more primitive than the Wallacks even.  The huts are formed of plaited sticks, with mud plastered into the interstices; this earth in time becomes overgrown with grass, and as the erection is only some seven feet high, it has very much the appearance of an exaggerated mound or anthill, and would never suggest a human habitation.

A fire was burning in the open, with a tripod to support the iron pot—­just as we see in England in a gipsy’s camp; and the people had a remarkable resemblance in complexion and feature, only that here they were far less civilised than with us.