Part 42

The Jewish population is some twelve thousand; it occupies a certain portion of the city, formerly inclosed and locked at night, though now all the barriers are removed. Their old synagogue and churchyard are curious; the former is the most antique in Europe, being considered one thousand years old. Its walls are dark and dusky as those of a prison, and for centuries have remained unrenovated. Here is suspended a banner, presented by royalty, some five hundred years since. The laws of Moses, written upon rolls of parchment, in the Hebrew tongue, and many other curious relics, are exhibited.

The new edifice is a pretty building, and when illuminated at night, in its peculiar style, has a handsome effect.

As I am just departing for Vienna, I shall be there in time for the prominent ceremonies in the Cathedral of St. Stephen.

CVIII.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, _April 26, 1855_.

A ride of eighteen hours by rail from Prague, the Bohemian capital, brought me to Vienna, the imperial city of Austria, passing through Brunn, a town of some importance, leaving Austerlitz and its battle ground on the left. A former visit to the places named, taking Iglau and Czaslau en route to Prague, over much tedious and uninteresting country, occupied five days; but by the aid of the iron horse the journey is now accomplished in the time mentioned. I find the old city quite unchanged; so unlike many of our American cities, where, on a return visit, after a few years’ absence, one can scarcely recognise the localities formerly familiar to the eye.

I arrived here in time for the festivals, at the close of the Holy Week, and found the old Cathedral of St. Stephen’s filled with the multitude as I had last seen it on the occasion of the annual departure of the devotees or pilgrims to the mountain chapel of Maria Zell. It seemed that only a brief interval had elapsed; but hundreds of those whom I then saw have probably made the pilgrimage from which there is no return, while I have been permitted, during the lapse of fourteen years, to pass three similar annual festivals under Popes Gregory and Pius, in Rome; another at the tomb of our Saviour, in Jerusalem; one in Murcia, in Catholic Spain, and two in Havana. The altars here, bedecked with natural plants and flowers, reminded me of a much greater horticultural display on a similar occasion in Lima.

The new chapel has been erected in commemoration of the preservation of the young Emperor from the hands of an assassin; and, on the anniversary of his marriage, about a year since, a brilliant mass was performed in presence of the imperial family. Notwithstanding the attempt upon his life, he seems to have full confidence in the loyalty of his people. I met him recently with an aide-de-camp only, walking in the vicinity of the palace, and we saluted each other politely. I met the mother of the emperor in the palace garden, in like manner, with a lady of the court and a servant, and she also responded politely to my civilities.

The empress, who is of the House of Bavaria, appears youthful, and rather pretty. She is not yet nineteen years of age, and is much esteemed by the public for her simplicity of manner.

On the occasion of the recent birth of a princess an amnesty was granted to many prisoners.

The Prater, with its dense forestry, is the grand lounge, where thousands may be seen on a fine day, and occasionally the cortege of the Imperial family.

The trees are now in bloom, and the country wears a pretty appearance.

The police are very rigid; I found myself closely catechised at the bureau, when I presented myself for an Aufenthalt’s Karte, or permit to remain longer than six days.

The language of the people is corrupt German, but the educated classes speak the language in its purity. The many tongues here spoken make it a sort of Babel.

The Slavonians, who number sixteen millions, extending throughout Bohemia, Illyria, and Dalmatia, and whose language is difficult, seem to have the faculty of acquiring other languages; they are of the Czeck race, one of the three families Mech, Lech, and Czeck, who occupy Poland and Russia; and, although they are remote from the others, they understand much that is said in conversation. The Hungarian or Magyar language has not the slightest resemblance to the Slavonic or German, being an eastern or Asiatic language, the Magyars having migrated from Asia to Hungary about nine hundred years ago.

There is a vast deal to be seen in the capital of Austria. Its amusements are abundant. The Strauss Band, so justly celebrated, gives Sunday and holiday concerts in the Volks or People’s Garden.

Schönbrunn, the Imperial summer palace and grounds, is within a few miles of the city.

The pretty neighboring village of Heitzing is overrun in summer by denizens of the city.

The immense summer palace has one thousand and three hundred rooms. I passed through fifty-two of the principal apartments, many newly furnished with elegance and taste, and rich in historical and family paintings, reminiscences of the legions of Napoleon, and of his son, the young Duke of Reichstadt.

The park contains the largest menagerie or collection of wild animals, and the best exhibition of rare birds I have seen in Europe, the present emperor having a fondness for natural history. The vast inclosures, of some acres, are of a circular form, radiating from the centre, with walls, and barriers, and outbuildings for the winter, heated to an African temperature, for the giraffes and other animals that require it.

The glass summer-houses, resembling military barracks in size, contain all the varieties of tropical vegetation.

Upon the summit of the hill, in the rear of the Park, stands the Gloriette, a massive stone structure, three hundred feet long, and sixty feet high, with columns; it is an Observatory, whence one gets a good view of Vienna and the Danubian banks.

A favorite excursion is by rail to Laxenburg, the favorite summer residence of the young Empress; she manifests, I think, good taste in her selection, nature is so beautiful here; and shade and retirement must be a great relief after the blaze and excitement of court life, particularly for one who is remarkable for her quiet primitive manner, and her fondness for fishing, so my guide informed me; her liege lord’s passion is for the chase, which brings him out of his bed at four o’clock in the morning.

The art of man has produced upon the level surface of the Park, elevated mounds and islands, from the earth thrown out to form ponds for fishing and sailing, in which ponds scores of neatly painted boats are seen; grottoes are formed from heavy blocks of stone brought from the mountain quarries. Upon a small island, called Franzenburg, the miniature Ritterburg Castle is a perfect gem, with its castellated walls and towers; it has several rooms adorned with horse and war armor, and all the antique weapons of war artistically arranged; coats of mail, and lances used in tournaments, etc.; the sculptured oak-ceilings, three hundred or four hundred years old, the paintings, furniture, decorations, marble statues and portraits of the Hapsburg family, illuminated glass windows, cabinets of vases, relics of gold, silver and precious stones, form quite a museum, and give a correct idea of the grandeur and magnificence of the original.

The Viennese have their Baden, a place of summer resort for invalids, and noted for its beautiful mountain scenery, and its valley, called Helenenthal; but it cannot be compared favorably with the celebrated Baden-Baden in any particular, aside from its sulphur waters, which resemble those of Wiesbaden in smell and flavor. It lies twenty miles from Vienna by rail, and is well worth a visit.

The great gala-day of the year is the 1st of May, when nobility and plebeians, great and small, resort to the Prater, and is looked forward to as the chief event of the season.

A sojourn of nearly a month will give me an opportunity of revisiting much that I had seen formerly, and acquiring a better idea of the peculiarities of the different races of mankind.

CIX.

PESTH, HUNGARY, _May 9, 1855._

In my last, from Vienna, I remarked that I should remain over the 1st of May jubilee, when all classes feel it incumbent on them to hail the return of springtime and flowers--and to sip their coffee, drink their beer, and enjoy themselves according to their means.

The long shady avenues of the Prater are crowded with observers, regarding the double procession, up and down, of closely hemmed carriages, with liveried footmen, filled with the beauty and wealth of the capital, following in the wake of the many gilded and brilliant court equipages containing the imperial family and ladies of honor, foreign ambassadors, &c. Within neat inclosures, in summer houses, are seen the nobility, dining sumptuously, as Royalty also dines here, on the occasion. But what is more novel, is the Wurstel Prater, on another avenue, and its novel surroundings. Here are found Punch and Judy, or Marionettes, flying horses, miniature railroads, with weighing machines, theatres, boat and revolving swings, panoramas, bands of music, and scores of recreations for the masses, mostly permanent establishments for the summer, coffee-houses, with thousands of tables under the trees; and bread and cheese, sausages, coffee, and light beer, disappear in marvellous quantities, at short notice, and, strange to say, in that vast multitude, I only saw one partially drunken man, a soldier. No fighting, no quarrelling, all harmony, all were in pursuit of rational amusement, rich and poor, men, women, and children.

The Imperial Steamship Company employ their steamers upon the Danube, the Save, the Drave, and Theiss, and terminate their line at Galatz, where the Lloyd line for Constantinople connects. The steamers are small, but much improved since I was last in this country, being constructed after American designs.

From Vienna to Presburg, the banks of the river are low, with nothing of interest, except the battle-ground of Wagram. Presburg is prettily situated, with delightful environs. A bridge of boats crosses the river here; I counted twenty-nine boats in passing over to the forest promenade, which is much resorted to, and contains a summer theatre and refreshment houses. The town has forty-two thousand inhabitants. The Cathedral, built in the year 1090, was the crowning place of the Hungarian kings; it has some remarkable statuary in metal. The festival of the recently declared dogma, by the Pope, of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, took place while I was there--which brought out the ladies in large numbers, and Hungary may boast of the beauty of her daughters. Upon the summit of the hill overlooking the town, still stand the royal castle walls, burnt in 1812, and from which a magnificent view of the city and Danube is obtained.

Descending from Presburg, the river becomes wider; at this place is the celebrated chain bridge, finished in 1849, and one of the wonders of the age; it is fifteen hundred feet across.

Komorn, _en route_ between the two cities named, has seventeen thousand inhabitants, and possesses one of the strongest fortifications in Europe. In the revolution of 1849, the Hungarians held out for a long time, and finally gave it up voluntarily.

Gran, lying below, has an equal population, and is the residence of the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Rudnay, who has erected a cathedral, which is not yet finished. From this place the steamer runs between porphyry rocky shores, whose scenery resembles that of Saxon Switzerland. One of the striking features of the river scenery is the thousands of water mills built in boat-form, and occupied, after the ice disappears, for the grinding of the products of the country. Hungary is rich in wine, wheat, horses, horned cattle, and sheep. The quantity of wool produced is enormous--Prince Esterhazy’s estates counting their thousands of shepherds.

When I travelled through this country before a railroad was suggested, it was by “Bauer” or Farmer’s Post, in a rude wagon, upon hay seats, with four raw-boned nags upon the full gallop. I had an opportunity then of judging of the dependent condition of the serfs. Since that time they have been made free by the Ex-Emperor, their freedom growing out of the revolution.

I counted yesterday a procession of three hundred and thirty-five men and women coming over the bridge, with banners flying, and crucifixes in the hands of the priests, after a four days’ pilgrimage to Mount Calvary, which I had seen from the steamer; the chapel is on the summit of a hill, with different stations in ascending. They came in singing, and looked pretty well jaded out. The populace stood along the sidewalk, in masses, to witness the return; they were mostly of the lower classes, and poorly clad.

Offen, opposite this place, has a population of thirty-two thousand. It was in possession of the Turks for one hundred and fifty years, at different times, and in 1684 taken from them; but the traces of its possession by the Musselmans are still left, particularly in its baths, which remind one of old Stamboul, from the heavy massive work, columns and domes; among the number the poor people’s bath costs a kreutzer (three-quarters of a cent). My guide led me through the dense vapor produced by the copious supply of flowing water of a high temperature, and I could scarcely discern an object; but presently figures appear to the eye, as one passes through the mist: there sits a woman washing her clothes; another washes her children; then come men and boys, old and young, diseased and sound, promiscuously thrown together. There were twenty-nine in all, but the bath is capable of containing one hundred and fifty.

The idea is certainly repugnant, and discovers a low state of morals--the blending of the sexes together in a state of nature. With the perspiration rolling out of every pore, I was glad to make my escape.

An excursion to the Kaiser Bad (Emperor’s Bath), a few miles by steamer, gives an opportunity of seeing fashionable invalids, bathing in, and drinking the waters.

The fortification which commands the summit at Offen, and from which Pesth was bombarded during the Kossuth war, and which contains the palaces of the Palatine and castle gardens, is now occupied by the Erzherzog Albrecht, and is a town in itself; and, from its commanding position, one has a fine view of the country villages and retreats in the rear, as also of Pesth and the whole surrounding country. Here stands a new monument, erected to the memory of General Heutzi and Oberst Alnoch, and four hundred and eighteen other Austrian officers and soldiers, who lost their lives in defending the place against the Hungarians, who occupied the heights in the neighborhood. Many buildings on both sides of the river still retain the marks of the cannon and musket balls, and many are entirely destroyed, giving an idea of the destruction caused by the revolution, and of the ravages of war.

In Presburg, the Hungarian’s nationality seems to be, in a measure, absorbed by the German’s. Here, he stands out more in his native form. The shop signs are chiefly Hungarian, and unintelligible to most foreigners. The journals are in both languages, German and Magyar. The officers and troops are from other parts of the Austrian provinces, while the Hungarian soldiery are sent to Vienna, Lombardy, and other points. The language is unlike all the other living languages of Europe, being of Oriental origin, and difficult to acquire.

CX.

SALTZBURG, AUSTRIA, _May 25, 1855_.

From Pesth I returned to Vienna, and made my way up the Danube to Linz, a sail of twenty-four hours, which would be lessened did they not lie by at night for the Strudel, where the river, breaking through its rocky barriers, divides into three parts. The most navigable portion is through the whirlpool, on approaching which a cannon is fired, as only one vessel at a time can pass this narrow point, which is from thirty to forty feet, where the fall is three feet in the distance of five hundred feet. Up to the last century, vessels and crews were frequently lost, but by the blasting of rocks, it is no longer hazardous, and bears no comparison to the running of the rapids of the St. Lawrence.

From Nussdorf, the starting-point on the main branch of the Danube, one hour’s ride from Vienna, as the steamer advances, leaving the already beautiful environs for which the latter city is noted, the scenery becomes bolder, the stream is divided by islands, and, as the Germans estimate, one quarter of an hour across. As we proceed, an old fort presents itself, with its associations in the thirty years’ war; the hill sides are covered with green leaves of the grape vines. Then we land at Tulm, one of the oldest cities on the Danube. Here Rudolph of Hapsburg figured in 1278; and the plain in the environs contained the sixty thousand men, in 1683, who rescued Vienna from the Turks. Further on at Gottweih, is a Benedictine Convent, founded in 1072, standing seven hundred feet high. Still advancing, new objects of interest are coming forward, comparing favorably with the Rhine travel. We landed the prelate of the Benedictine Abbey at Melk, a market town at the foot of the mountain. This immense edifice, looking more like a huge palace than a cloister, built between 1702 and 1736, stands one hundred and eighty feet high, on a precipice hanging upon the river bank. It has been frequently besieged, but is defended with bastions and arms which Napoleon, after the battle of Asperne, established in it from its important position, lying on the highway of the army to Vienna. He levied heavy contributions upon the monks’ wine cellars for the use of the troops.

As we mount the stream, we see scores of boats, containing from fifty to eighty persons, with flags flying, and singing lustily, on their pilgrimage tour to Maria Tafel, which upwards of one hundred thousand visit annually.

At one of those small villages we landed a certain Baron B. and his family. He is a Minister in Vienna for one of the German States, and was taking his family for the summer to his chateau, with parks and grounds of four thousand acres attached.

His family consisted of the lady, two daughters, and three sons, with a French governess and male preceptor, and an equal number of servants. I had made their acquaintance through a friend, and found them an excellent specimen of the nobility of the land. The young ladies were nearly as familiar with the French and English languages as with their mother tongue. As we were detained for coaling the steamer, I was invited to visit the chateau, on shore. Cannons were fired at their arrival, and the peasantry flocked down to salute the return of the party. It was annoying and mortifying, as the weak-sighted old women and children kissed my hands, mistaking a simple American for an Austrian Baron, as I escorted the ladies to the house.

The general tourist, of course, comes in contact with all classes of society, and necessarily has an opportunity of studying character. It was my fate this trip to fall in mostly with the upper classes. No sooner had we left the party named, than a quiet young gentleman, a Russian, approached me, and made some inquiries about my route, and I found he was disposed to join me in my excursions. When cards were exchanged, the following day, at Linz, I found that another Baron was announced, which did not prevent the Republican and the Autocrat going along harmoniously together, particularly as the former had circulated more generally than the latter. He is still with me, and disposed to continue to Munich.

Linz is the last town of importance on the Danube belonging to Austria. It was there that I abandoned the river in order to make the most interesting tour through this portion of the Empire. Linz has thirty thousand inhabitants; the suburbs are very pretty; the laying over of passengers, and exchange of steamers, with its internal trade, give it some advantages. A festival day was occupied here in surveying the town and its environs, and in looking at the interesting groups of peasantry, in peculiar costume, in and about the churches.

The second Eisenbahn on the continent, with a flat rail, is here; it was moved by horse power, until this spring. A small locomotive was put on and run from Gmunden Lake, via Wells and Lambach, where a tiny little steamer makes the trip in an hour, through most romantic and enchanting scenery.

It was a reminiscence of the early days of railway travel; the venerable coach cars with small, low wheels; the narrow bed and strap rails; the snail pace movement, avoiding the danger of what we formerly called snake heads, from the breaking of the thin rail, and its flying through the body of the carriage.

Omnibuses run from the head of the Lake to Ischel, a celebrated Austrian watering-place of two thousand inhabitants, the bathing resort of the Emperor, who is now erecting a new summer residence.

The valley and mountain scenery of the Salz-Kammergut, and the position of this place, thirteen thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, can scarcely be described for their beauty. The Government Salt Works here are on a stupendous scale, and are a source of great revenue.

The governments derive large sums from the sale of wood, which is seen piled by thousands of cords upon the banks of the Traum and Ischel streams, and the quantities dashing down the mountain torrents from the melting of the snows, afford a curious spectacle. All possible contrivances, through barriers, to unite the floating masses and aqueducts to bring the required quantities together, for piling and drying, before they are sent to navigable water for sale, or for the boiling of the salt flowing through pipes from the bowels of the mountains, are seen.

The town from which I write has a population of less than twenty thousand; it is in a most romantic position, and is full of interest. The birthplace of Mozart, with a monument to his memory, an immense cathedral of freestone and marble, and the fortification upon the summit of Monchsberg, make a lovely picture in the distance. The rock was tunnelled between 1763 and ’67 by Archbishop Sigismund III., four hundred and fifty feet through, twenty-two feet high, and twenty-two feet wide; it forms one of the entrances to the city, and resembles somewhat the grotto of Posilippo, near Naples.

An excursion for a day to Konigsee, an inclosed lake, with its occasional precipitate rocky walls, and water six hundred feet deep, with its echoes and the rumbling sound of the avalanches from the towering snowy mountains, from seven to eight thousand feet high, rowed in flat bottomed skiffs by two lusty women with men’s black hats, is something novel, to say the least. The Hunting Chateau, the Ice Chapel, and the Cataract, come in for a part of the interest, and one is rejoiced to get back to the little hotel of embarkation with an appetite for Lachsforellen, or salmon trout, and the wild game of the country.

We returned by Bechtesgaden, a small town, occupying a high picturesque position, and celebrated for wood, horn, and ivory cut work, similar to the Swiss ware. The population are in part employed in this business; their manufactures find a market abroad, and were it not for the continual annoyance of custom-houses and travel, one would be tempted to fill his trunk and carpet-bag with their pretty trifles.

The Salt Works at Hallein, about seven miles from here, which I have just visited, are of an entirely different character from those of Cracow. Instead of the rock salt being excavated from the bowels of the earth, the mountains are filled with the saline material, which is extracted by means of fresh water introduced into the pits, and then conveyed through wooden logs to the two salt establishments in the valley below.