The Hungarian horses are as a rule hardy spirited little creatures, descendants of the race which came with their masters from the east. The government has improved horse-breeding, introducing English and Arab blood, and there are two large government studs for the purpose. [Illustration: MAGYAR SHEPHERDS] The Hungarian loves the boundless spaces of the plain; it has been said that he shares in its qualities, “the same absolute straightness, the same taciturnity characterise both.” Here in the sweltering summer heat he works all day uncomplainingly, to gather in the fruits of cultivation; here, when the white mantle of winter lies over the silent icy spaces he wanders in his sheepskin. The horseherd or csikos, once the aristocrat of the plain, now is hardly distinguishable from the shepherd or cow-herd whose avocations he shares. The far-famed white horned cattle of Hungary are tended and reared on the Alföld. It is a sight to see them yoked as a four-in-hand with their spreading horns and splendid hides gleaming in the sun. Beneath an acacia, the Hungarian tree, or a willow, both of which are plentifully found, the shepherd pitches his rude wattled tent. Possibly he has with him one of the native dogs, great snow-white shaggy fellows, who are, alas, growing fewer every year. Storms and clouds, heat and rain, affect not the man who meets them all calmly. The great black cloud of hail which bursts in masses of ice is met with stoical patience. At evening, maybe, he sees far off across the plain what appears like a sheet of blue water, and yet there is none; it is a mirage raised by the refractive power of the air. The wild duck and water-hens and even the herons have now migrated elsewhere, but there is still fishing to be had, and the herdsman is often a keen angler. There are many flourishing towns to be found in the Alföld, of which Debreczen, Szeged, Kecskemét, and Temesvar are perhaps the best known. In these towns there are electric lighting, asphalt paths, a good water supply, and other comforts of civilisation. A recent writer has said: In general the towns we saw throughout Hungary looked new; and indeed we were more than once--until we became wary--sent to places said to be most interesting, only to find that new municipal buildings, new banks, new schools, streets in course of construction, electric trams and electric lighting, were their chief attraction. But there were towns that well repaid a visit, and of these one was Löcse (German Leutschau), chief town of the Zips country, near to the Tátra. Sometimes called the Nuremberg of Hungary.