In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have
made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be
bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have
picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were
rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a
string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures;
but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin,
and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very
formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the
environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage
brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most
ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most
useful--to the shepherd on the lonely _puszta_, to the keeper of the
vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his
ravages--and in short he acts the part of rural police generally.
In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle
culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog
named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of
crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or
another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He
regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by
steamer.
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