1936 On the Continent

so very far from the centre of the town, sometimes see with the greatest amazement a covey of partridges rise in my own garden. A few years ago, moreover, I saw with my own eyes a deer running through the street where now there is motor traffic. But—and I am sure this will surprise you even more—a few years ago they shot a stray wild boar—in the garden of the Prime Minister’s house of all places! And one night, in one of the busiest thoroughfares of Budapest, the passers-by saw a fallow deer. Despite all this, I don’t want you to think that in the main streets of Budapest or among the ornamental gardens of its squares you could hunt for tigers. I merely wish to call your attention to the proximity of the Hungarian capital to the wilds of nature.
    At the foot of the Buda hills lies the Zugliget, a favourite resort of the men of Budapest, as it has excellent restaurants. On the other side of the hills is the Hüvösvölgy, whose forests have been besieged for the last thirty years by a smart and ever-growing villa-colony. The place is wonderfully beautiful with its surrounding hills, its caves and historical relics. Talking about relics, in half-an-hour’s time you can reach Aquincum, the remains of an old Roman town which was excavated and explored someforty years ago. Its greatest attractions are the elliptical amphitheatre, the gymnasium, the market-place, and the public bath. In the Temple of Mithras many sarcophagi, statues, frescoes and stuccoes have been found, and they are now exhibited in the Aquincum Museum.
    If you follow the road leading northwards from Aquincum you soon reach Visegrád, which is at the point where the Danube, coming from the west, makes its way suddenly eastwards and forms a rectangular turn. On the rocky hill-side the ruins of the castle of the old kings of Hungary still stand. This is one of the finest European beauty spots. Under the town there are large forests where the last European bisons are kept in a sanctuary.
    In close proximity to Budapest—about an hour by train—is Gödöllo, where in the centre of a large park there is the summer residence built for Francis Joseph I. This park was the scene of the World Jamboree of the Boy Scouts in 1933.
    And now I should like to run you through the towns of the Hungarian countryside. I shall try to be as quick as possible as I fear it might bore you; though believe me, the real character of a land or of a people is most truly revealed in the country.
    Among the towns of the plain-land of Hungary you must stop for a minute at a place called Hajdu-Szoboszló. It has a hot-spring coming from a depth of more than 3,000 feet which contains iodine, bromides, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Its heat is 73 deg. C. Just imagine what the presence of such a hot spring would mean to a town like Paris or London! This water has various medical uses. As a drinking-cure it is excellent for catarrh and gastric complaints, and as a medical bath it gives immediate relief from rheumatism and arthritis. It has not yet been properly exploited. In the same way the natural gas springs of the neighbourhood are not used to their full capacity. For the time being they supply the town and its factories with electricity. The rest of the gas is bottled and sold by the Hungarian State Railways.
    I have deliberately enlarged on this subject since I hope you will remember our discussion some time ago about the many unexploited treasures the earth still has instore to alleviate human poverty. According to the estimates, by means of the natural gas and the natural hot water buried in the earth of Hungary, all the houses in Central Europe could be heated and lighted. I can already see the huge hot-houses the future will build to supply Hungary and the neighbouring countries with fresh vegetables, fruit and flowers, even during the winter months. This is only a dream, of course, so let us return to reality.
    Under Hajdu-Szoboszló lies one of the most interesting and valuable parts of present-day Hungary—the Hortobágy. It appears to be a huge plain, and this is the real Hungarian Puszta, of which presumably you have heard. It is of natural and folk-lore interest. Its area is about 75,000 acres, so it is very large, yet in comparison with the Sahara or with the American deserts it seems tiny. This Puszta is a most interesting land on which horses and cattle have been grazing for many thousands of years. It is quite certain that the nomadic people knew it long