It is not surprising to find when we talk to an enthusiastic Hungarian--and the spirit of the country, so far as a visitor can judge, seems worthy of the patriots just named--to hear in many words what the Bostonian put pithily when he declared that his town was the hub of the universe. On the first night of my first visit to Budapest I happened upon one of these enthusiasts. He told me (and after disclaiming any regard for mere patriotic sentiment) that Budapest is without exception the most beautiful of all the great capitals of Europe; the city with the loveliest river front; the city in which all great improvements in civic amenities had been tested. Where, he asked, was the first road-tunnel made? Where were arc-lamps first used as street illuminants? Where was the first electric underground railway run? Where was the conduit system for electric tramways first employed? And in every instance he triumphantly answered his own queries with the same syllables--in Budapest. Where, he went on, could be seen such luxurious cafés? Where such magnificent stone-built business premises? And he paused triumphantly where, though it was near midnight, great insurance offices were being built--men and women labourers busily engaged by artificial light--to point out that it was all “stone upon stone.” FOOTNOTES: [13] George Meredith, “The Nuptials of Attila.” [14] “Cities,” by Arthur Symons. CHAPTER X BUDAPEST TO BELGRADE “Past wooded isles, and cornlands fair, By fields of ancient wars The river through the Alföld plain Its mighty volume pours.” _From the Magyar_ The long stretch of the Danube, where it flows south and then south-easterly from Budapest to Belgrade, contrasts greatly with the more beautiful scenic portion of the river’s course above Budapest. From the ever-varying mountains and valleys, the rocks and vineyards, we pass at once into the great Hungarian plain, through which the river finds its tortuous way for hundreds of miles. In the downward steamer the journey is one of about twenty-four hours, and those travellers who cannot reconcile themselves to a thoroughly restful day of progress, are recommended--even in Budapest itself--to “skip” this portion of the river and journey by railway to Zimony. There is, however, a fascination in a flat country, though a river rarely affords the best point from which to experience it. Properly speaking, the Alföld, or great Hungarian plain, of about thirty-seven thousand square miles, lies to the left as we go down the Danube. Its main river--the chief river entirely Hungarian--is the Tisza (Theiss), which for nearly three hundred miles runs roughly parallel, at a distance of about sixty miles, with the greater stream into which it flows.