limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal
colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more
brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself
in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the
other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain
rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were
visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of
fresh-fallen snow. In the Southern Carpathians there is no region of
perpetual snow, but the higher summits are generally snow-clad late in
the spring and very early in the autumn. I was told there is good
bear-hunting in this district.

While at Kronstadt I made the acquaintance of some Austrian officers
quartered in the neighbourhood. They kindly invited me to the cavalry
barracks at Rosenau, and accordingly I went over for a few days. The
barracks were built by the people of the village, or rather small town,
of Rosenau; for they were obliged by law to quarter the military, and to
avoid the inconvenience of having soldiers billeted upon them they
constructed a suitable building. The cavalry horses were nearly all in a
bad plight when I was there, for they had an epidemic of influenza
amongst them; but we found a couple of nags to scramble about with, and
made some pleasant excursions. One of our rides was to a place called
"The Desolate Path," a singularly wild bit of scenery, and curiously in
contrast to the rich fertility of Rosenau and its immediate
neighbourhood. This pretty little market town lies at the foot of a
hill, which is crowned with a romantic ruin, one of the seven burgher
fortresses built by the Saxon immigrants. There is a remarkably pretty
walk from the village to the "Odenweg," a romantic ravine, with
beautiful hanging woods and castellated rocks disposed about in every
sort of fantastic form. It reminded me somewhat of some parts of the
Odenwald near Heidelberg. Very likely the wild and mysterious character
of the spot led the German settlers to associate with it the name of
Oden.

We also rode over the Terzburg Pass. The picturesque castle which gives
its name to this pass is situated on an isolated rock, admirably
calculated for defence in the old days. It belonged once upon a time to
the Teutonic Knights, who held it on condition of defending the
frontier; but they became so intolerable to the burghers of Kronstadt,
that these informed their