Nor must I omit to make honourable mention of the _artiste_ to whom this department was confided. An Italian by birth, and a wit by nature, as well as a cook by profession, we were indebted to him and his guitar for many a pleasant hour that would otherwise have passed heavily enough. As the dusk grew into darkness, he used to come upon deck with his instrument, and sing Neapolitan _buffo_ songs, with a spirit and _gusto_ that almost convulsed us with laughter. And as we stood about him, listening to his minstrelsy, and looking on the bright moonlight silvering along the river-tide, where it was not overshadowed by the tall trees that fringed the bank beside which we were gliding; and startling with our somewhat noisy merriment the deep silence of those scantily-peopled shores; the effect upon my mind was most extraordinary. CHAPTER XXX. Hirsova—Russian Relics—Town of Silistria—Bravery of the Turks—Village of Turtuki—Group of Pelicans—Glorious Sunset—Ruschuk—Cheapness of Provisions—The Wallachian Coast—Bulgaria—Dense Fog—Orava—Roman Bath—Green Frogs—Widdin—Kalifet—Scala Glavoda—Custom House Officers—Disembarkation—Wallachian Mountains—A Landscape Sketch—Costume of the Servian Peasantry—The Village Belle—Primitive Carriages—The Porte de Fer—The Crucifix—Magnificent Scenery—Fine Ores. At half past eleven in the morning we were off Hirsova, where we embarked some more deck-passengers, greatly to our annoyance and discomfort. The few straggling villages that we had passed since our departure from Galatz were of the most wretched description; and Hirsova itself is in a ruined state, having been besieged and taken by the Russians after a gallant resistance of fifty days. It is situated in a gorge between two rocks, and on the lower of the two stand the ruins of the Turkish fortress, of which only a few crumbling walls and a solitary buttress now remain. This fortress was unfortunately commanded by the opposite height on which the Russians threw up fortifications, under whose cover they kept up an incessant fire upon the town and the fort, and ultimately destroyed both. Scores of balls are still imbedded in the bank of the river, and along the shore; and, knowing what I do of the Turks, I have no doubt that it would be impossible to prevail on them to touch them, even for the purposes of traffic. Wherever the boat stopped, crowds of the peasantry flocked to the edge of the water, and stood gazing at her in admiring wonder; for, as this was only her twelfth voyage, their curiosity and astonishment had not yet subsided. From Hirsova the landscape began to improve on the Bulgarian side. Groups of trees just touched with the first autumnal tints; and at intervals a glimpse of higher land in the distance, relieved the eye.