ed in with planks, the bucket being raised and lowered by means of a
very primitive contrivance. This consists of a horizontal tree-trunk
swinging upon another tall vertical one forked at the top; a chain
depends from one end of the horizontal beam or bar, to which the bucket
is attached, whilst the other end is counterpoised by means of stones.
Some of the wells are worked with a windlass and fly-wheel, but the one
just described frequently attracts the traveller's notice.

More primitive even than the wells are some of the peasants' houses in
the plains, if the hovels which serve as habitations can be so
dignified. A large hole, somewhat resembling in shape an old-fashioned
saw-pit, but of course of greater dimensions, is dug deep into the
ground. This is lined with clay, if necessary, and from the ground or
immediately above it a roof is formed of branches and twigs, in the
centre of which a hole is left for the issue of smoke. Sometimes a
primitive doorway forms the entrance, and the people descend either by
steps or an inclined plane, whilst at the opposite end a window is
inserted. Occasionally, but not always, a small drain is cut round these
semi-subterranean dwellings, which, as already stated, are chiefly to be
found on the plains, for the purpose of carrying off surface water. It
is hardly necessary to say that in these underground cells men, women,
and children live together higgledy-piggledy, and that the result of
such an existence is widespread disease. Marsh fever is one of the most
prevalent and malignant maladies of the plains; there is hardly a family
(and the families of the peasantry are very numerous) in which one or
more children have not been carried off by this fever. Still there are
those who maintain that the subterranean houses are not unhealthy, and
they are not necessarily an indication of poverty. Such hovels, it is
said, were first constructed in order that they might escape the
observation of those bands of marauders, first of one nation, then of
another, who have at various times overrun and pillaged the fair
Danubian territory; that they were originally surrounded by trees which
have been cut down for firewood; and that the spirit of conservatism,
causes many peasants, otherwise well-to-do, to prefer these underground
dwellings to the cottages of modern construction which constitute the
villages of the higher lands. This seems a plausible explanation of
their presence; but in a country