Such is the reverie into which I fall while reclining beneath a spreading
mulberry-tree waiting for Igali to catch up; for he has promised that I
shall see the Slavonian national dance sometime to-day, and a village
is now visible in the distance. At the Danube-side village of Hamenitz
an hour's halt is decided upon to give me the promised opportunity of
witnessing the dance in its native land. It is a novel and interesting
sight. A round hundred young gallants and maidens are rigged out in
finery such as no other people save the Croatian and Slavonian peasants
ever wear - the young men braided and embroidered, and the damsels having
their hair entwined with a profusion of natural flowers in addition to
their costumes of all possible hues. Forming themselves into a large
ring, distributed so that the sexes alternate, the young men extend and
join their hands in front of the maidens, and the latter join hands
behind their partners; the steel-strung tamboricas strike up a lively
twanging air, to which the circle of dancers endeavor to shuffle time
with their feet, while at the same time moving around in a circle Livelier
and faster twang the tamboricas, and more and more animated becomes the
scene as the dancing, shuffling ring endeavors to keep pace with it. As
the fun progresses into the fast and furious stages the youths' hats
have a knack of getting into a jaunty position on the side of their
heads, and the wearers' faces assume a reckless, flushed appearance,
like men half intoxicated while the maidens' bright eyes and beaming
faces betoken unutterable happiness; finally the music and the shuffling
of feet terminate with a rapid flourish, everybody kisses everybody - save,
of course, mere luckless onlookers like Igali and myself - and the Slavonian
national dance is ended.

To-night we reach the strongly fortified town of Peterwardein, opposite
which, just across a pontoon bridge spanning the Danube, is the larger
city of Neusatz. At Hamenitz we met Professor Zaubaur, the editor of the