The inhabitants of Oberascha and the environs, are distinguished from other Walachians by the custom of wearing their hair tied in a club on the right side, and also by their tight pantaloons, and half-boots turned down at the top. The shirt, which the Walachians wear over the pantaloons, is fastened on holidays round the waist by a variegated scarf and a leathern belt, decorated with a profusion of metal studs, from which are suspended the tobacco-pouch, flint and steel. AN ARMED PLAJASH, OR GUARD OF THE FRONTIERS. In Transylvania, as well as throughout all Hungary, proper precautions are taken for the security of travellers against the attacks of banditti. The guards employed to patrole the roads for this purpose are called by different names in different parts of the kingdom. In Transylvania they are styled Plajashes, from the Walachian word _Plaja_, a foot-path, or road. The duty of these Plajashes is to escort travellers and goods over the mountains, which are frequently very unsafe: hence they always appear completely armed. Their weapons consist of a musket, two large sharp knives or daggers, and the national _buzogany_, or mace. They carry their ammunition, tobacco, materials for striking a light and other articles attached to their belt. In other respects their dress resembles that of the Walachians, to whom they indeed belong. [Illustration: ARMED PLAJASH.] Upon the whole, there is scarcely any country in which travelling is safer than in Transylvania, because the inhabitants of every place are responsible for all the losses and injuries which travellers may sustain in its territory. CHAPTER XII. THE BUKOWINA. TRANSFER OF THE COUNTRY TO AUSTRIA--EXTENT--POPULATION--COSTUMES. Bukowina, formerly part of Moldavia, was subdued in 1769 by the Russians, but restored to the Ottoman Porte at the peace concluded in 1774. In the same year Austria took military possession of this province, and by the convention of the 12th of May, 1776, it was formally ceded to that power. It derives its name from the numerous forests of beech which it contains, that tree being called in the Slavonian language _buk_. Its greatest length is about 150 miles, and its extreme breadth 80. The soil is fertile, especially between the rivers Pruth and Dniester, and in the valley of Szucsawa; and the mountainous parts are interspersed with rich and extensive pasture-grounds; but on account of the early frosts and the long duration of the winter, the only crops that can be raised there are oats, barley, and potatoes.