From Pole to Pole | Page 6

full of centres of human civilisation, science and art. Here are found
relics of ancient times beside the grand palaces of the present day, the
"Ring" is one of the finest streets in the world, and the tower of St.
Stephen's Church rises up to the sky above the two million inhabitants
of the town. Vienna to a greater extent than Berlin is a town of pleasure
and merry genial life, a grand old aristocratic town, a town of theatres,
concerts, balls, and cafés. The Danube canal, with its twelve bridges,
passes right through Vienna, and outside the eastern outskirts the
Danube itself, in an artificial bed, rolls its dark blue waters with a
melodious murmur, providing an accompaniment to the famous
Viennese waltzes.
If Vienna is, then, one of the centres of human knowledge and
refinement, and if there are a thousand wonderful things to behold
within its walls, yet it contains nothing more remarkable than the old
Emperor. Not because he is so old, or because he still survives as one
of the last of an almost extinct generation, but because by his august
personality he keeps together an empire composed of many different
countries, races, and religious sects. Fifty millions of people are ranged
under his sceptre. There are Germans in Austria, Chechs in Bohemia,
Magyars in Hungary, Polacks in Galicia, and a crowd of other peoples;

nay, even Mohammedans live under the protection of the Catholic
throne.
His life has abounded in cares and vicissitudes. He has lived through
wars, insurrections, and revolutions, and with skill and tact has held in
check all the contending factions which have striven and are still
striving to rend asunder his empire. It is difficult to imagine the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy without him. With him it perhaps stands
or falls; therefore there is no one in the present day whose life is of
greater importance to humanity. He has been the object of murderous
attempts: his wife was assassinated, his only son perished by a violent
death. He is now eighty-two years old, and he has worn the imperial
crown for sixty-four years. Since 1867 he has been king of Hungary.
During his reign the industry, trade, agriculture, and general prosperity
of his dominions have been enormously developed. And the most
remarkable of all is that he still carries his head high, is smart and
upright, and works as hard as a labourer in the Danube valley.
The fortunes of Austria and Hungary are still more closely united with
and dependent on the great river Danube. Certainly in the north we
have the Elbe and the Dniester, and in the south several small rivers
which enter the Adriatic Sea. But otherwise all the rivers of the
monarchy belong to the Danube, and collect from all directions to the
main stream. The Volga is the largest river of Europe and has its own
sea, the Caspian. The Danube is the next largest and has also its sea, the
Black Sea. Its source is also "black," for it takes its rise in the
mountains of the Black Forest in Baden, and from source to mouth it is
little short of 1800 miles.
The Danube flows through Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary, forms the
boundary between Rumania and Bulgaria, and touches a small corner
of Russian territory. It has sixty great tributaries, of which more than
half are navigable. Step by step the volume of the main stream is
augmented. We can see that for ourselves on our way through Europe.
At Budapest, which is cut in two by the river, and where five handsome
bridges connect the banks, we seem almost to be on a lake. The
Elizabeth Bridge has a span of 950 feet. Farther down, on the frontier

of Wallachia, the river is nearly two-thirds of a mile wide; but here the
current is slow; creeks of stagnant water are formed, and marshes
extend far along the banks. And at the point where the Rumanian
railway crosses the Danube, we find at Chernovodsk a bridge over the
river which is nearly 2-1/2 miles long and is the longest in all the world.
Not far from here the waters of the Danube part into three arms and
form a broad delta at the mouth. There grow dense reeds, twice as high
as a man, on which large herds of buffaloes graze, where wolves still
seek their prey, and where water-fowl breed in millions. If we look
carefully at the map, we shall see that Central Europe is occupied
mostly by the Danube valley, and that this valley, with its extensive
lowlands, is bounded by the best-known mountains of Europe; in the
north by the mountains of South Germany and Bohemia and the
Carpathians, in the south by the Alps and the mountains of the Balkan