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.
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