hair and not ungraceful cloaks or mantles hanging from their shoulders; the women with figured jackets and oddly broidered skirts.

As we approached Giurgevo, the country became still more barren. The unfortunate peasants have seen their harvest so many times pillaged, and their fields devastated, that the land is a desert for nearly thirty miles from the Danube.

We stopped but once on our route, and that was to indulge myself with a view of a group of Bohemians who were at work in the open air, sheltered only by a thicket of trees. At all seasons of the

year, the gipsy's kitchen and workshop are in the open air. Almost every child has stored away somewhere in his memory a picture of these aspects of gipsy life. Three pieces of wood are fastened together in the form of a triangle, and from the point where they unite is suspended the iron pot which contains the food of the family. On ordinary days this consists of a handful of beans or corn; but on festival occasions they add a joint of meat, from which numerous flies have made many a good meal before them, as it hung at the door of the butcher's shop. After this repast, of which they dispose

with their fingers, they lay themselves down to sleep beside the expiring embers, perfectly regardless of the inclemencies of the weather. Their robust frames are scarcely sensible of them.

My previous letters have made some allusion to this singular people who are known in the Principalities under the name of Tsiganes. They were formerly in a state of slavery, but in 1844 Prince Sturda presented a project for their freedom, which was enthusiastically received by the Chamber of Deputies. His plan gave freedom to all Tsiganes belonging to the state and clergy. The colonies form

ed from these bondmen are prospering and multiplying; those belonging to the bayards or nobles are the only slaves now in the Principalities, and many of these are preparing to emancipate them; meanwhile they are objects of traffic like cattle, with fixed prices for a farmer, a blacksmith, &c.

The number of Bohemian families in Moldo-Wallachia has been estimated at about thirty-five thousand; only a few thousands of these lead a regularly laborious life. The monotony of civilization, its quiet and peaceful occupations, do not harmonize with their wild untutored na

tures. They recognize no legal authority but that of their Bulibassa, who is solemnly chosen in the open air, and after his election is carried about upon the arms of his subjects, as the kings of France were borne on the shield in the olden time. The power of this chief is unlimited; his tribunal is the place of supreme justice, where all questions are decided, and from whose sentences there is no appeal. The head of every family pays an annual tribute to support the majesty of his rank. Like a good prince, he is accessible to the very lowest of his subjects, with whom it is true there is little inequality, and like them he leads a nomadic life. Royalty, however, has its prerogatives even among the gipsies, and the Bulibassa travels only on horseback; his robes, though in tatters, are of the royal hue-purple; he wears colored boots and a long beard. Instead of the mace or sceptre, the useless insignia of monarchical authority, our wandering prince is armed with a whip, which administers summary justice to offenders, in his own powerful hands.

The gipsies of Moldo-Wallachia are tall, robust, and muscular. Their skins are black as ebony, or bronzed, by their constant exposure, to the darkest coppery hue; their hair is thick and crisp, their eyes full and brilliant, their teeth white

and well-arranged, their chests full, and their forms squarely and powerfully built. The women are frightfully ugly, or strikingly handsome. They decay very early At thirty they are infirm and decrepit. The dress of those who make any pretensions to costume, consists of a kind of hooded cloak, a white vail which envelops the head and falls over the shoulders, and an untranslatable garment called the scourteika, composed of sheepskin, fitted to the form, leaving only the throat, arms, and legs in freedom. Coverings for the feet are seldom worn, and never consist of anything more than sandals, partly of tow or wool, and of old leather. They are passionately fond of ear-rings, necklaces and bracelets, and all similar trinkets; they are by no means fastidious as to the material or workmanship of their finery.

In winter the Tsiganes withdraw to their subterranean abodes, which are in universal use both in cities and in the country. Their skill in the construction of these underground habitations is quite remarkable. But a few hours are occupied in the selection of a situation, the excavation of the earth, and the erection of the hut above it. The simple materials for their winter habitations are furnished by the grass and mud of the country, with

the addition of the canes and wood from the neighboring thickets. Their household goods generally consist of a small iron anvil, hammers, pincers, tongs, &c., an iron pot, a calabash, a pair of scissors, poniards, pipes, and whatever useless trumpery their masters may have thrown aside. One might easily believe himself in South America, or in the steppes of Senegal, while viewing these ebony-hued groups beneath the shelter of their strawthatched mud hovels. When a gipsy wearies of one locality, or when the mire of his abode accumulates in such a manner as to drive him from it, he shoulders his baggage and establishes himself in a new position. It is unnecessary to ask permission, or to tell where he goes; it being well understood that he will never place himself beyond the summons of his master.

When summer approaches, they throw off their miserable garments, retaining only what is absolutely necessary, and form themselves into bands, which repair to the cities and villages in search of employment. They are generally successful, for they are skillful and ingenious workmen, incredible as it may appear.

When a Tsigane wishes to marry, he must select his bride from among the slaves of his master. When the consent of the latter is obtained, he tells his future father-in-law that he is pleased with his daughter, and wishes to marry her. The paternal relative questions the young aspirant for matrimony respecting his age, occupation, and earnings; for though a fellow-bondman of the same owner, he may be in utter ignorance even of his per

son.

The lover most probably replies that he is a blacksmith, that he is eighteen years of age, and that he earns about twenty paras a day. The amiable couple then conclude the arrangement with smoking and drinking, and separate with an embrace. The next day the gipsy gallant conducts his bride, in presence of their maternal relations, to the hut which he bas constructed for her. They have a family repast, at the conclusion of which the most aged person of the tribe consecrates the marriage by a few words pronounced over the young couple, and the ceremony is finished.

The gipsies of the Danubian Principalities are utterly destitute of any religious sentiment, whatever may be true of them VOL. VI.-14

elsewhere. They manifest a superstitious regard for whatever is useful, and like their wagons, their tents, and their forges. They have their children baptized as often as they can find any one who will bestow a gift at the ceremony, and this seems to be the only idea which they attach to this beautiful initiatory rite of the Church. A couple can marry themselves at fifteen or sixteen, by breaking the twig of a tree between them, without any other ceremonial. The children are left to themselves as soon as they can walk, and beg their bread, entirely destitute of clothing. Great numbers of them are deformed, and I doubt if the most degraded savages would surmise the explanation. Yet it is nevertheless an undoubted fact, that the wretched parents make use of their helpless offspring as instruments of revenge in their mutual quarrels. The father seizes one by the heels, the mother arms herself with another, and a spirited combat ensues, till victory or peace is proclaimed.

But we are at Giurgevo, and I bid a willing adieu to these degraded people. Their origin, their destiny, and their present purpose in the economy of the world are alike mysterious. The "business of Egypt," (alias stealing,) which engages so much of their time, is a befitting phrase for a race who are shrouded in more than Egyptian darkness.

By the treaty of 1829, Giurgevo, which was formerly a Turkish fortress, became a Wallachian outpost. Its ancient possessors, however, destroyed its walls at the time of its abandonment, and it is now an odd medley of ruins and modern constructions. The new residences in the Danubian quarter have somewhat of a European air; at a further distance from the river is a high tower in the midst of an open circular place, surrounded with shops, cafes, and hotels, where the traveler can be supplied with sherbet for his supper, and a billiard-table for his bed. The inhabitants are estimated at about twenty thousand, and their principal occupation seems to consist in smoking the chiboque, extended at full length upon small strips of carpet. The women smoke all day also, but they occupy themselves at the same time with their distaffs. The dogs, however, make up for the inhabitants; like a well-known Scripture character, they are incessantly going to

the Black Sea became a sublime march, against which cities and mountains contended in vain. Sometimes it was turned to the east and anon to the cold north, but the deep current bore on firmly and resistlessly to its termination. Before its mission and its destiny the great powers of Europe faded into insignificance. The thunder of Roman legions had mingled with its murmurs; dynasties had flourished and become extinct; autocrats and emperors had strutted their brief hour, and moldered into dust, while the mighty river had rolled on in its silent grandeur. From its obscure birthplace in the Black Forest to the Black Sea, into which it pours its wealth of waters, its course is more than two thousand miles. The everlasting Alps are the guardians of its way. The Bohemian and Tyrolian Alps give a new impulse toward its final destiny-the East. This is the mission of the Danube-to unite Europe to the East. It is to enrich the continent of civilization with hundreds of miles of coast, and nothing multiplies the resources of a country like an extended line of coast. It has always been easy for islands to be rich and powerful. The Danube is the great channel of communication between the three great European powers of Russia, Austria, and Turkey. Several smaller states are hanging upon these, whose future is to be determined by the Danube. Nations are waiting upon its shores for resurrection and life. What will become of it? What will it accomplish? Or rather, what will be done with it?

But I fear I have been rhapsodizing. I must not now assume to be political, for the turns in the political wheel far outrun the postal regulations, and by the time you get word from me of amicable negotiations, fields may have been lost and won. Steam itself is not sufficiently rapid to transport the varying intelligence respecting the present and expected arrangements of the excited nations. The steamer which conveys me to Constantinople floats upon the Danube, and I hail its noise and bluster as a pledge of the civilization and commerce which the mighty stream is to bear on its bosom in a not distant future. Steam navigation of the Danube was commenced in 1828. An Austrian company, composed of the highest dignitaries of the government, soon obtained a monopoly of the stream, and in 1836 a regular line was

established between Vienna and Constantinople. I cannot say much for the accommodations of the one in which I took passage. My obstinate determination to be good-natured, and my destination, alone prevented me from grumbling at the impositions practiced upon these boats; but I shall not weary you with the details of the annoyances I experienced.

A few miles from Giurgevo we passed Silistria, the capital of Bulgaria. It contains the remains of fortifications erected by the Greek emperors against the barbarians; but it immortalized itself by its famous siege in 1829, when twelve thousand men held its feeble defenses during nine months against fifty thousand Russians. Though it fell into the hands of the besiegers after this glorious resistance, it remained in their power only until 1835.*

Above Silistria the Danube becomes so large, that when near one bank the opposite shore is scarcely visible. The scenery is by no means interesting in this region, the shores being barren and desolate. A few islands covered with willows vary the aspect of the river, which has the proportions of a lake in this part of its course. No living creature was seen during many miles of our passage save a few storks, who regarded our steamboat with a resigned contemplative expression. My only amusement amid the annoying inconveniences which surrounded me was in watching the leeches with which the deck was encumbered. They are quite an important article of commerce in Bulgaria; one of the passengers who was engaged in the traffic told me that he employed more than a hundred persons, without reckoning those whose delightful business it is to catch them in the marshes. Several hundred weight were on board our vessel; some were packed in small tubs half filled with clay and mud, while others were secured in soft linen bags. Every evening after sunset they had a bath in an enormous basin, which was brought on deck for the purpose. It is impossible to imagine a more disgusting spectacle than this squirming mass, two or three feet in extent, and more than a foot in depth. Humboldt's battery of serpents in the valley of the Amazon, though more terrific,

Our readers are familiar with the late and glorious defense of this city.