e still _en deshabille_, I
unearthed my guide. He coolly said that he was waiting for the horse,
which was to be brought to him by some other lazy fellow not yet up.

I could not speak Wallachian, and he pretended not to understand a word
of my wrathful tirade in German, which was all nonsense, because I
found later that he spoke that language fairly well. I insisted that he
should come with me to find the horse, and so he did at last, in a
dilatory sort of way, and then it turned out that the animal was waiting
at the other end of the village for his rider.

Well, thought I, we shall start now; but no, there were two to that
bargain. The Wallack calmly informed me that he must return to his hut,
for he had not breakfasted. Not to lose sight of him, I returned too. He
then with Oriental deliberation set about making a fire, and proceeded
to cook his _polenta_ of maize. I had got hungry again by this time,
though I had breakfasted at Petroseny before starting, so I partook of
some of his mess, which was exceedingly good, much better than oatmeal
porridge.

In consequence of all these delays it was after eight o'clock before we
really started. The horse which my guide had procured for himself was a
wretched animal--a tantalising object for vultures and
carrion-crows--instead of being a good strong horse, as I had stipulated
he should be; but there was no help for it now, so on we went.

My companion soon gave me to understand in good German that he was a
superior sort of fellow. He had been to school at Hatszeg, and knew a
thing or two. I have heard it stated that the Wallacks are so quick
that they make great and rapid progress at first, distancing the German
children; but that they seem to stop after a while, and even fall back
into ignorance and their old slovenly ways of life.

On referring to the statistics of Messrs Keleti and Beoethy, I see that
only eleven per cent of Roumains (Wallacks) attend the primary schools,
and this percentage had not increased between the years 1867 and 1874.
The percentage of the Magyars attending the primary schools is
forty-nine per cent, while the Slavs, again, are twenty-one.

"The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children," says the
Talmud. A conviction of this truth makes every inquiry into educational
progress extremely interesting. According to M. Keleti's tables,
fifty-three per cent of the males and sixty-two per cent of the females
in Hungary generally are