y homesteads, in simple reed huts or tents, the
various crops they grow on their fields, the yellow honeycombs taken
from the hives in autumn, tanned leather and the straps, saddles, and
trunks that are made of it. We can see the weapons, implements, and
spoil of the Hungarian hunter and fisherman, and when we come out of the
last room we realise that this country is wisely and affectionately
nursed by its people, and therefore gives profit and prosperity in
exchange.

With unabated speed the train rushes on over the plain, and at length
rattles across a bridge over the Danube into Belgrade, the capital of
Servia. Here we bid good-bye to the Danube and follow the Morava valley
upwards. The Servian villages of low white houses, with pyramidal roofs
of tiles or thatch, are very pretty and picturesquely built; and above
them, green heights, wooded slopes, flocks and herds, and peasants in
bright-coloured motley clothes following the plough. Small murmuring
brooks dance in merry leaps down to the Morava, and the Morava itself
flows to the Danube. We are still in the drainage basin of this river,
and, when we have crossed the whole of Servia, passed over a flat
mountain ridge and left Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, behind us and
have come to another stream, even this is one of the affluents of the
Danube.

During a large part of our journey we are therefore strongly impressed
by this mighty stream, and perceive that it is a condition of existence
to whole peoples and States. Innumerable boats navigate its
channel--from rowing-boats, ferries, and barges to steamers of heavy
freight. They maintain communication between the series of towns with
walls and houses reflected in the gliding water. Their wharves are
frequently in connection with trains; and many railways have been built
with an eye to the traffic on the Danube. In early times, when the
migrations of people from the east streamed over Europe, the Danube
valley was generally utilized; and still at the present day the river
affords an advantageous channel of communication between the western and
eastern parts of the Continent.

Night jealously conceals from our eyes the kingdom of Bulgaria, as we
travel through its southern part along the river Maritza, which flows
southwards. We do not leave its valley until we are beyond the Turkish
frontier and Adrianople. Here we are in the broadest part of the Balkan
Peninsula; and amidst the regular swaying of the train we lie