He further
invited us to take part in it, and I gladly accepted, as it fitted in
very well indeed with my plans. Karansebes is directly on the route to
Transylvania, whither I was bound. The district we were to shoot over is
the rocky border-land between Hungary and Roumania. My friend
F----agreed to accompany me, and on our way we proposed visiting the
celebrated baths of Mehadia. Early one morning we started for Orsova, a
drive of thirty miles, splendid scenery all the way. The latter part of
our journey was by the side of the Danube, on the Szechenyi road again.
We passed a number of hay-ricks in trees, which I have before described.
Some of them were built up in the form of an inverted cone. The
luxuriance of the foliage is very striking. Nothing can exceed the
beauty of the wild vines so frequent on the banks of the Danube. They
fall in graceful festoons from the trees; sometimes they reach across to
the trees on the other side of the road, forming a complete arch of
greenery. In the autumn the vine leaves turn to a glowing red, like the
Virginian creeper, and then the effect of this mass of rich colouring is
indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay butterflies of rare form fluttered about
among the trailing vines, and bright green lizards darted in and out of
the stone wall. Then an eagle or a vulture would swoop down from the
heights, and settle himself on some pinnacle of rock, where he remained,
motionless as a stuffed bird.
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