on his nightly rounds. Our
attendants had previously collected some large logs of wood, large
almost as railway-sleepers, to keep up a good fire through the night.
Wrapping my plaid round me, I laid myself down, confident that I should
sleep better than in the softest feather bed. I gave one more look at
the romantic scene, and then turned on my side to yield to the
drowsiness of honest fatigue.

But, alas! there was no sleep for me. I had hardly closed my eyes when I
was attacked by a regiment of mosquitoes. I was so tormented by these
brutes that I never slept a wink. I sat up the greater part of the night
battling with them; and what provoked me more was the tranquillity of
F----'s slumbers. I could bear it no longer, so at three A.M. I
woke him up, saying it was time for us to be stirring if we wanted to
get to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. I believe he thought
I need not have called him so early, and grumbled a little, which was
very unreasonable, for the fellow had been sleeping for hours to my
knowledge. Rousing our Serbs, we set them about making preparations for
breakfast; but when the water was boiled and the tea made, it turned out
to be utterly undrinkable. The water-cask had had sour wine in it, and
the water was spoiled. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we might
get some sheep's milk on the mountain.

We reached the summit of the Stierberg before five o'clock; it has no
great elevation, but the position commands magnificent views of all the
surrounding country. Advancing to the verge of the precipice overlooking
the Danube, a sheer wall of rock 2000 feet in depth, we signalled our
arrival by discharging our rifles simultaneously. This "set the wild
echoes flying." Each cliff and scaur of the narrow gorge flung back the
ringing sound till the sharp reverberations stirred the whole defile.
Before the fusillade had ceased we beheld a sight I shall never forget.
The sound had disturbed a colony of eagles, who make their nests in
these rocky fissures. They flew out in every direction from the face of
the cliff, and went soaring round and round, evidently in much alarm at
the unwonted noise. We counted fourteen of these magnificent birds. I
wanted to get a shot at one, but they never came near enough. After
circling round for several minutes they flew with one accord to the
opposite woods, and were no more seen.

The view from the Stierberg is splendid. On every side were stretches of