mowers, wearing the long white cotton tunics of the region, and swinging their scythes in unison, quite as described by Tolstoi in the famous mowing chapter of "Anna Karenina." Indeed, I did not happen to see a single mowing-machine at work. But I am assured that mowing- and reaping-machines are largely used in some parts of the country, and that their use is steadily increasing.

As all the railroads center in Budapest, every effort to develop Hungarian agriculture benefits the commercial capital. The grain shipments, however, are chiefly by water,-on the Danube and its tributaries,-a great fleet of roofed grain-barges plying on these waterways between Budapest and the wheat-fields. Some of these barges, which are of a construction peculiar to the Danube, have a capacity of six hundred tons of grain. The Government has exerted itself to improve navigation, and great

so-called "middlings purifier" and gradualreduction system, and the next in importance the substitution of steel rollers of various sizes and patterns for the old-time millstones. These inventions have resulted in giving the industry of flour-making to large mills, thus annihilating small mills by tens of thousands. The new ideas were quickly borrowed by Minnesota millers, and by them were largely developed and improved; and Minneapolis and Budapest have grown contemporaneously as the two great milling centers of the world. Minneapolis leads considerably in the collective capacity of its mills and in the annual product; but it has a much larger field in which to operate, and possesses facilities which Budapest lacks. The mills of the Hungarian capital are, however, a series of magnificent establishments, fitted up with automatic machinery invented and manufactured in the city, provided with

electric lights, and well supplied with ingenious contrivances to prevent fire. Their finest grades of flour are sent to all parts of the world except the United States, and command the highest prices. They like to tell in Pest of certain mysterious individuals who came to town, found employment in the mills, remained long enough to learn all that could be learned, and then disappeared, only to turn up in the sequel as rich American millers. The industry seems not yet to have reached its maximum at Budapest, two or three new mills having been built within as many years; but the profits of the companies have suffered much from American competition, and from the recent high tariffs of Germany and France. Both the flour-product and the general commercial movement of Budapest have at least doubled within fifteen years.

Although it is to see new things rather than old that one visits Budapest, it may be well to say that the town once possessed a Roman fortress and colony, and that its commanding site has involved it in military operations from time immemorial. It is only two hundred years since the Turks were driven out of Hungary, after an occupation of a century and a half, and it was here that our own gallant Captain John Smith won renown and honors from the Christian princes of the land before his career in America began. John Smith's exploits against the Turks in Hungary are worthy the ingenious research of that hero's admirers; but it is of Budapest that I write. The fortress and rugged promontory are upon the right, or south, bank of the Danube, and pertain to Buda. Pest lies upon the flat north bank, and beyond it stretches the illimitable plain. In the old times Buda was the large town, while Pest was only an insignificant village; but all the modern conditions of growth have favored the Pest side, which is now four times as populous as the other. The Buda, or Ofen (Ofen is the German name for Buda), bank is, however, picturesque in the highest degree. The Blocksberg promontory rises abruptly, a sheer mass of rugged rock, nearly a thousand feet above the grand stream

that washes its base; and it is crowned with a now useless citadel. Some day a classic pantheon in honor of Hungary's long list of great men is to be erected on this commanding acropolis. Adjoining the Blocksberg, but not so high, and rising less steeply from the river's brink, is the fortress hill, upon which stands a vast royal palace. Its cheerful buff-colored paint and long rows of green window-blinds suggest a summer-resort hotel; but it is really a very imposing structure, and its situation could hardly be more commanding. About it, on hillsides and in valleys, lies the town once called Buda. On the retreating slopes of the Blocksberg, and upon the sides of the higher mountains that lie in the rear, are many pleasant villas. Buda and its neighboring hills have been famous for their vineyards and their wines, but now the phylloxera has come as a bitter calamity. From the Blocksberg or any other of the neighboring heights, the view up and down the Danube, and over the stately city of Pest on the opposite bank, is enchanting.

It would, of course, be erroneous to say that

SERVITEN PLATZ.

events of 1868. In Budapest deliberate projects were adopted for the beautifying and development of the city as a fit capital for an ambitious young state. The exiles of 1848 came back with wisdom and experience to take the helm. Count Andrássy, who had been sentenced to be hung, now became prime minister. The reaction was most energetic. For the time being all things German were at a heavy discount. The German officials were hustled out to a man. The University was reorganized on a Hungarian basis, and the whole corps of German professors was unceremoniously dismissed.

Such being the national mood, it is easy to understand that the moment was propitious for large plans. Vienna was carrying out its stadts-erweiterung projects in the most magnificent way; and while Budapest could hardly hope to become a Vienna, there was a unanimous determination to modernize and improve the place to the highest possible degree. The ministry and the municipal authorities coöperated, and building operations were intrusted to a mixed commission of the national and city

VOL. XLIV.-23.

built, extending for nearly three miles on the Pest side and also for a long distance on the opposite shore. These were thrown well out, the broad channel being thus compressed somewhat to secure a clean, sweeping current. Up and down along the broad promenades facing the water have been erected palatial buildings. The quays are high, and stairs, built continuously for a long distance, lead down to the lower level of the landings, upon which the heavy traffic is confined. The rows of buildings are broken at intervals by open park spaces, in which are effectively placed the statues of various Hungarian notabilities. A number of handsome public buildings are included in the row upon the quays of the left bank, and toward the upper end of the row has been built the magnificent new Parliament house. Further down are the National Academy, the city's socalled "Redout building," the old Rath-haus (city hall), the vast new Custom-house, and various other establishments. For the distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile below the suspensionbridge the quay is a shady promenade, a chairlined corso upon which all driving is prohibited,

and where on summer
evenings many hundreds
of fashionable people
congregate, patronizing
the cafés and restaurants,
the tables of which are
set under the trees in the
open air. The Hungarians.

are even more fond of out-of

door eating and drinking than the Viennese; and Budapest is a city of magnificent cafés.

But, to proceed with a description of the improvement plan, the inner and ancient Pest, known as "the city," and lying upon the river-bank, has been surrounded by boulevards in the form of a polygonal "ringstrasse "; while by demolitions and reconstructions the interior tangle of narrow streets has been brought into something like a modern system. From the sides and angles of the inner ringstrasse broad radial boulevards have been thrown out in straight, or measurably straight, lines to the outer edges of the metropolis, and the lands lying between these great spokes are divided by street systems almost as regular and rectangular as those of American cities. Handsome as is the broad inner ring of boulevards, lined with fine buildings, it is far surpassed by the newer grosse-ring," which crosses the radials about a mile further out, and which

66

THE FORTRESS.

describes an arc that, from the new Margaret Bridge to the point where it again meets the river, is four or five miles long. It is very broad and finely paved, and is already lined for the greater part of its course with massive, pretentious structures, while building operations are now busily closing the gaps all along the line. Still other ring boulevards in a concentric series are to be constructed in the future.

The finest single street in Budapest, the gem of the improvement works and the pride of the citizens, is the Andrássy-strasse, a broad boulevard connecting the inner city with the "Stadtwaldchen." The Andrássy-strasse is perfectly straight, and two miles long. It was planned with consummate art, and is one of the most beautiful and effective streets in Europe. Some enthusiastic people pronounce it