170

THE BULGARIANS.

garia; between a country which only pays a tribute to the Porte and one which is entirely under Ottoman rule, constituting a part of Turkey properly so called.

The Bulgarians, formerly called Volgarians because they came from the Volga, or Wolga, originally occupied the tract that lies between that river, where it meets the Sura, and the Caspian. At an early period of their history, a part of the tribe crossed the Wolga and Don, and settled on the coasts of the Black Sea; after which, in the seventh century of our era, they passed over the Dniester and Danube into the country once called Moesia, which now bears their name. These were converted from paganism in the course of two centuries, and they still profess the faith of their first instructors, who were of the Greek church; while that part of the nation remaining beyond the Wolga became Mussulmans, and subsequently swelled the train of Zingis Khan. The Bulgarians erected a kingdom of their own, which they retained till the fourteenth century, when they were swallowed up in the Ottoman empire. Their language was changed, in the course of their migrations, into Sclavonian, in consequence of their intercourse with so many tribes of that order.

SINUOSITIES OF THE DANUBE.

171

On entering Bulgaria, the chain of the Balkan that runs through Turkey, attaining a height of seven thousand feet, opened on our view; while, in the opposite direction, we saw the mountains in the neighbourhood of Casarn and Plawischewitz, among which we had, five days previously, been so hospitably entertained. Though we had travelled down the tortuous stream full ninety miles, (which, owing to the imperfect arrangements of the steam-navigation company, had occupied five days,) yet the distance from the last-named village to the frontier of Bulgaria is not more than twelve leagues, as the crow flies. If the Danube be distinguished among the rivers of Europe by the numerous countries which it fertilizes, the width and velocity of its current, its shallows, rapids, and whirlpools, the rockiness of its bed, and the unusually hard character of the stone that constitutes that bed; it is still more so by its sharp and frequent turns: such are its sinuosities that, in flowing from Presburg to the Black Sea, five hundred and fifty miles in a direct line, its channel measures twelve hundred; while the abruptness of its windings places the voyager twenty times in a day on what appears a lake shut in by mountains, and so completely

172

SCENERY.-WIDDIN.

changes his prospect and horizon, that he can seldom see the object close to which he sailed half an hour before, though he may be brought in sight of it again, as on this occasion, after a voyage of thirty or forty leagues.

Ten miles below the frontier of Bulgaria, we passed a picturesque old fort crumbling into ruins. The scenery in its immediate neighbourhood is less uninteresting than that which for a long distance precedes; but the country soon resumes the same flat, dull, and sandy level, with very little variety afforded by villages or trees. The Wallachian side of the river is even less peopled than the Turkish ; since many of the subjects of the principality, disgusted with their own government, migrate yearly to Bulgaria, to seek a better under Mohammedan administration. Eighteen miles below Florentin is the Wallachian town of Kalafat, near which the Russians had an encampment in the last war, and lost in battle nearly ten thousand men.

A little further, is the virgin fort of Widdin, the largest city on the Danube after Ofen and Rustchuk, with a population of more than twenty thousand. Where the ancient Bononia once reared her stately temples to the gods of Rome, there we saw a forest of light and

MUEZZIN.-TURKISH WOMEN.

173

silvery minarets, and heard the muezzin proclaim that "God is great, and Mohammed is his prophet." Numerous little boats covered the water. The bank was crowded with Turks in their elegant costume; some dressed in purple or green with a ceinture of brilliant scarlet; others reversing the colors; and all wearing turbans of various hues: a dervésh, with a beggar's dress and a high cap of blanketing, stood among the crowd. A few went towards the mosque, but by far the greater part were too much engaged in the secularities of life to heed the cry of the muezzin. Several women, their heads covered with white veils, eyed us with a curiosity from which themselves were screened; and sat down to gaze and comment on the wondrous machine in which the "Christian dogs" were navigating their river. Our boatmen remained stationary on the edge of the shore while the supplies they sought were brought to them: a pail placed on the ground received the articles they wanted, which, when the sellers retired, the purchasers took up, paying their money with the same precautions, that contact might be avoided.

Widdin is a pashalic of some value. The present governor is named Hussein Aga. We met him at a short distance from the city, in

a small boat with a scarlet awning, towed by ten men against the stream. To do honor to this pasha with three tails, our captain fired a salute with the only three guns he had on board, and hoisted Turkish colors. Hussein Aga holds the rank of vizir, and is the individual who, as generalissimo of the forces in the last Russian campaign, gallantly defended Shumla against the enemy.

Thirty-one miles below Widdin, in a valley where herds of black buffaloes and cows were grazing, is the Turkish town of Lom Palanka, from which rise three minarets and a steeple.* Throughout Bulgaria the great mass of the people are Greek Christians; but in the towns the majority are Mohammedans, and it hap

It was between this place and Widdin, opposite the Turkish village of Ortzar, as our captain informed us, that Mr. Quin, the first Englishman who attempted the voyage on the Danube, was obliged, in August of the year 1834, to quit the steamer, which stuck for two days on a sandbank, and to take a little boat to Rustchuk, whence he prosecuted his journey overland to Constantinople. It remained for the author and his companions to be the first English party who succeeded in making the voyage as far as Galatz in Moldavia, within twelve hours of the Black Sea. The natives say that it happens once in forty years that the river is as low as Mr. Quin found it; with only three feet of water. When the author sailed down its stream, there were nearly as many fathoms.