The Nineteenth Century , No 182, Apr 1892 [‎86v] (177/244)

662
THE NINETEENTH
April
where they reside in spring and summer, in order to sow and reap
their crops, returning to the villages for the winter months, when
probably the snow would make residence on these lands impossible^
There was little variation in the scene until Szegedin was reached,
where I had an enforced stay from four o'clock in the afternoon until
three o'clock the following morning. It was interesting as a specimen
of an entirely new Hungarian town, having been, with the exception of
a few houses, swept away by the flooding of the Eiver Theiss in 18/9,
and entirely rebuilt on the latest Hungarian ideas, to house a popula
tion of some 75,000. The town, with its modern buildings and parks
and gardens, looks slightly out of keeping with its inhabitants, and I
met a strangely mixed crowd on the promenade near the river bank,
listening to the band, from ragged workmen just returning from the
fields to pretty Jewesses in smart frocks.
As far as I could see, Szegedin is chiefly remarkable for the
number of pretty women that are to be seen there, the amount of
cayenne pepper that is grown in its environs, and by far the best
Hungarian band I ever listened to. From Szegedin to Mezohegyes my
journey was without incident, but my visit there I can never forget,
both from its varied interests and the extreme kindness with which I
was received by the Hungarian officers and officials in charge, who vied
with each other in trying to show me everything in the pleasantest
possible manner.
To describe Mezohegyes, the chief stud and Grovernment farm in
Hungary, I must ask the reader to imagine what is really a little
principality, having at one end the railway station, excellent hotel,
post office, church, hospital, schools, beet-sugar factory An East India Company trading post. , residences of
the manager and chief officials, officers' quarters, fine roomy stables
for stud stallions, stores, forges, yards full of the most modern
machinery, carpenters' shops, and rows of neat white cottages for the
workmen, with every evidence of comfort and industry. Let him
picture a flat of rich Hungarian land some 60,000 acres in extent,,
surrounded by a belt of trees on its frontier, with the State railway
running through its centre, with a field railway to various convenient
points, with a telephone to eighteen different stations, electric light,
a canal bringing water from the marshes of Arad at a distance of
some thirty kilometres, water that is wanted not only to supply the
community, but also to wash and whirl the sugar beet that is tumbled
down into a quickly-flowing stream into the factory An East India Company trading post. , and to flood the
natural meadows, with some thirty plantations, varying in size from
forty or fifty to two hundred acres, acting as shelter-belts to break
the force of the cyclones, which are often very violent, with long;
wide avenues miles in length, running perfectly straight from point
to point, with fairly good trees on either side, with farm buildings,
granaries with specially convenient elevators, cattle yards and stables.