the same time hillier, the country changing to vine-clad slopes; and all
along the undulating ways I meet wagons laden with huge wine-casks.
Reaching Budapest in the afternoon, I seek out Mr. Kosztovitz, of the
Budapest Bicycle Club, and consul of the Cyclists' Touring Club, who
proves a most agreeable gentleman, and who, besides being an enthusiastic
cycler, talks English perfectly. There is more of the sporting spirit
in Budapest, perhaps, than in any other city of its size on the Continent,
and no sooner is my arrival known than I am taken in hand and practically
compelled to remain over at least one day. Svetozar Igali, a noted cycle
tourist of the village of Duna Szekeso, now visiting the international
exhibition at Budapest, volunteers to accompany me to Belgrade, and
perhaps to Constantinople. I am rather surprised at finding so much
cycling enthusiasm in the Hungarian capital. Mr. Kosztovitz, who lived
some time in England, and was president of a bicycle club there, had the
honor of bringing the first wheel into the Austro-Hungarian empire, in
the autumn of 1879, and now Budapest alone has three clubs, aggregating
nearly a hundred riders, and a still greater number of non-riding members.
Cyclers have far more liberty accorded them in Budapest than in Vienna,
being permitted to roam the city almost as untrammelled as in London,
this happy condition of affairs being partly the result of Mr. Kosztovitz's
diplomacy in presenting a ready drawn-up set of rules and regulations
for the government of wheelmen to the police authorities when the first
bicycle was introduced, and partly to the police magistrate, being himself
an enthusiastic all-'round sportsman, inclined to patronize anything in
the way of athletics. They are even experimenting in the Hungarian army
with the view of organizing a bicycle despatch service; and I am told
that they already have a bicycle despatch in successful operation in the
Bavarian army. In the evening I am the club's guest at a supper under
the shade-trees in the exhibition grounds. Mr. Kosztovitz and another
gentleman who can speak English act as interpreters, and here, amid the