Any one familiar with the prairie can well picture the Alföld with its undying fascination, and will be able to see it in the mind’s eye as it lies with miles and miles of yet unripened corn like a vast ocean brushed into small waves by the wind. There is hardly a tree, and the sky-line, unbroken in its tremendous semicircle, sweeps on ever infinitely. It is difficult to give any idea of the Alföld, unless the characteristics of the people who dwell in it are taken into account as throwing light upon it. This great plain, once an inland sea, contained at one time a gigantic marsh of 100,000 acres, and the rivers Theiss (or Tisza) and Danube overflowed their banks occasionally, making it impossible for any one to live near them in safety. Now a great part of the marsh has been drained, the rivers are confined to their channels, and their backwaters and islets form a breeding-place for thousands of geese, which at times may be seen in such numbers that it seems as though the land was covered with large snowflakes. Here is a translation of an old national song: THE ALFÖLDER I dwell on the heath through sunshine or snow, And on holidays I with my dear one can go; But far on the Hortobagy plain, In vain to God’s house would I hie--in vain. Flat is the heath where no trees do grow, The high steeple-top in the sunshine doth show, The tall church spire to the heath is plain; But far from God’s house I must still remain! I’d pray, but no prayer at all do I know, And never to school in my life did I go. My mother would thither have sent me fain, But ah! long, long in the grave has she lain. Pray thou to good God, my dovelet, go-- Come after church thy kiss to bestow-- Thy prayerful sweet lips I’ll devour again, And more than a fortnight from oaths I’ll refrain! The Hungarians were ever a wild and warlike people, and as the country became more settled they found their chief delight in tending horses, being born horsemen. The name _csikos_, which really means horseman, now includes shepherd or herdsman. Horse-breeding goes on largely to this day. The csikos live a primitive wild life still, and round up their horses with the skill of an American cowboy. The horses in the herd are half-wild, and are rounded up by the use of the karikas, a short-handled long-lashed whip, with which the herdsman, going at full speed, can single out any animal and touch it up in any part of its anatomy he desires with the unerring aim of a brilliant marksman with a bullet. His own special mount is generally as dear to him as the Arab’s horse is to its master. It shares his shelter and will come at his call, and eat out of his hand. The name Hussars applied to troops of soldiers comes from Hungary, and the Hungarian Huszar is still the best rider on the continent, a veritable part of his beast.