occasionally, as in Norway or even in Scotland, the steamer appears to
be crossing a long mountain-locked lake. At the lower end of this reach
of the Danube are what the metaphor-loving Ottomans first called the
'Iron Gates,' and they no doubt found them an insurmountable barrier to
their western progress up the river. Considerable misapprehension,
however--which is certainly not removed by the accounts of modern
writers, who have apparently copied from one another without visiting
them--exists concerning these same 'Iron Gates.' Some of the writers
referred to speak of 'rocks which form cascades 140 metres' (or about
460 feet) high, 'and which present serious obstacles to navigation.'
Where these cascades are we were not able to discover. The fact is that
the whole descent of the river throughout this portion does not exceed
twenty feet, and where it issues from the outliers of the Carpathians
the banks slope more gently than higher up, and the summits are simply
high hills. The 'Iron Gates' themselves consist of innumerable rocks in
the bed of the river. Here and there they appear above the surface, but
generally they are a little below it, and they break up the whole
surface for a considerable distance into waves and eddies, through which
only narrow passages admit of navigation, insomuch that in certain
states of the river the passengers and cargoes of the large steamers
have to be transferred to smaller boats above, and retransferred to the
larger class of steamers below, the 'Iron Gates.'

II.

But by far the most distinctive, and for us the most interesting,
features of the Danube about here, are its historical reminiscences.
Almost the whole way from Golubatz (Rom. Cuppae) to Orsova, there are
traces on the right (southern) bank of the remarkable road constructed
by Trajan (and probably his predecessors) for his expedition into Dacia,
and at one place opposite to Gradina is a noted tablet inserted in the
rock to commemorate the completion of the road. This tablet has been the
subject of much controversy, and it bears the following inscription:--

IMP. CAESAR. DIVI. NERVAE. F. NERVA. TRAJANUS. AUG. GERM. PONTIE.
MAXIMUS. TRIB. POT. IIII. PATER. PATRIAE.[20]

The Servian peasants, however, have little respect for heroes--at least,
for ancient ones--and the barbarians of seventeen or eighteen centuries
appear to have lighted their fires and cooked their 'mamaliga'[21]
against the tablet until it pres