This day about twelve a clock we arrive at _Tergovist_, where his Excellency and his retinue are lodged in the palace of the Prince. The form and state hereof much resembles that of _Bucurest_; only it has the advantage of a much finer garden, and therein of a beautiful stone summer house; both which are regular, and may compare with those of the politer Christendom. The town is pleasantly situated on the _Ialomitza_, beyond which it enjoys the prospect of a beautiful tract of hills, which make the boundary betwixt this province and that of _Transylvania_; but on the other hand, the eye loses itself in an even boundless plain, encircled at a large distance with stately woods. The city gives title to the chief Metropolite of Valachia, and in like manner, till within these thirty years, was the residence of their princes; when a rebellion against the Turks being here formed by Prince _Ghika_, and the neighbourhood of Transylvania contributing to render the place more suspected, his successors were constrained to demolish it, and retire to _Bucurest_. But within five years the present Prince has obtained fresh leave to reestablish it, on condition he erects no fortifications in the place; and accordingly it begins apace to be repeopled, while the Prince refits his palace, embellishes his gardens, and invites the nobility to erect their respective houses, that so they may attend him in those frequent residences, which for the future he intends to make here. May i. We took the opportunity of the stay, we this day made at _Tergovist_, to go after diner to a convent situated on the adjoining hills; which we found well built of fair freestone, adorned with cupolas well carved in lattice work of the same matter; but above all commanding a delightful prospect over the subject plain, and city of _Tergovist_, which on account of the palaces, the seats of the nobility, and the many fair convents and churches there extant, affords an entertaining landskip. May ii. This day we travel four hours from _Tergovist_, and at length pitch our tents in a pleasant place, surrounded with pendent woods, by the name of _Isvóra_, not far from the stream of the _Dembowitza_, which yet continued to flow on our left hand. May iii. This morning we proceed, and within half an hour arrive at the foot of the mountains, where the _Dembowitza_ descends into the plain thro an easy clift, which it perhaps has partly formed by the continual and rapid course of its stream. Thro this plain we travel seven hours, in which time we are obliged to cross the winding chanel of the river twenty times or upwards; and being constantly diverted by the murmur of the falling waters; by the shade of the shelving hills that form the vale, and by the evenness of the ascent which imperceptibly leads us up the mountains, we at length pitch in a fair meadow inclosed like a theatre with surrounding trees and hills, where is a small village by the name of _Cotonést_. May iv.