The same writer, in his interesting _Travels in Hungary_, describes the singular manner in which land is possessed and distributed in this country. No man can possess land who is not a noble of Hungary: but as all the family of a nobleman are also noble, it is calculated that one out of every twenty-one individuals in the nation is of this class. The lands descend either entire to the eldest son, or are equally divided among the sons, or in some cases among the children of both sexes: so that many of the nobles become by these divisions extremely poor, and are obliged to discharge all the duties of the meanest peasant. If any of these nobles wish to sell an estate to a stranger, however high in rank, even to a noble of the Austrian empire, application must first be made to the surrounding proprietors to learn whether they wish to purchase at the stipulated price. If they decline, a stranger may purchase it for a period of thirty years, at the end of which time any branch of the family which sold it, however distantly related, may oblige the stranger to surrender his bargain. This system is carried so far, that in many cases though the purchaser be a Hungarian noble, the family of the former possessor can reclaim it after thirty years, on payment of the original price, together with expenses incurred in the buildings and improvements made during that period. The litigation, ill-will and evils of every kind to which such laws give rise are beyond calculation. The peasants on these estates were formerly bound to perform indefinite services, on account of supposed grants and privileges, likewise little understood. The empress Maria Theresa put the whole under certain regulations, which left less arbitrary power in the hands of the lord. She fixed the quantity of land upon each estate which was to remain irrevocably in the possession of the peasantry, giving to each peasant his portion called a _session_, and defining the services which he should in return perform for his lord. The only points determined, however, were, the whole quantity of land assigned to the peasants; and the proportion between the quantity of land and the quantity of labour to be required for it. The individual peasants are not fixed to the soil, but may always be dismissed when the superior finds cause; nor is it of necessity that the son should succeed the father, though usually the case. The peasant has no absolute claim to a whole session; if the lord pleases he may give but half or a third of a session, but in this case he cannot require more than one-half or one-third of the labour. The quantity of land allotted to a whole session is fixed for each county. In the county of Neutra, for instance, it varies, according to the quality of the soil, from twenty to thirty _joch_, each equal to nearly an English statute acre and a half; and of these sixteen or twenty must be arable and the rest meadow.