ble. Inside the walls I found a quantity of large round
stones--the shot and shell of those days; these stones were capable of
making considerable havoc amongst a besieging party I should say. The
custom was in the old time that no young man should be allowed to take
unto himself a wife till he had carried one such stone from the bed of
the river where they are found, to the summit of the rock within the
church walls. As these stones weigh between two and three hundredweight,
and the ascent is very steep, it was a test of strength. The villagers
were anxious to prevent the weaklings from marrying lest they should
spoil the hardy race.

The view from the village itself is very pretty, home-like, and with a
more familiar look about the vegetation than I had seen elsewhere. There
were orchards of cherry-trees, and hedges, as in our west country,
festooned with wild hops and dog-roses. Every girl I met was busily
engaged plaiting straw as she walked. This straw is for hats of a
particular kind for which the place is famed. Besides this industry, the
people are great bee-keepers, and make a good trade by selling the
honey. The produce of the hives in the Southern Carpathians is the very
poetry of honey; it is perfectly delicious, not surpassed by that of
Hymettus or Hybla, so famed in ancient story. This "mountain honey"
sometimes reaches the London market, but, unfortunately, not with any
regularity. It is most difficult to make these people practical in their
trade dealings; and as for _time_, they must have come into the world
before it was talked about.

I made a short excursion into the Rothen Thurm Pass, the principal road
across the Southern Carpathians, if we except the Tomoescher Pass from
Kronstadt, which, owing to local circumstances, has become more
important. The Rothen Thurm or Red Tower Pass is extremely picturesque.
It is traversed by the Aluta, which though rising in the Szeklerland in
the north-east, finds its way through the Carpathian range, flowing at
length into the Lower Danube. The red tower stands at the narrowest part
of the defile, an important position of defence; and not far from this
spot signal victory was gained by the Christians over the infidels. In
the year 1493 the Turks made one of their frequent raids into
Transylvania. They had succeeded in collecting a vast amount of booty,
including many fair young maidens and tender youths, and were returning
in long cavalcade through the Red Tower