The International Weekly Miscellany, Volume I. No. 9 | Page 8

him give him credit for good
intentions and great courage, but do not expect that he will ever set the
Thames on fire, whatever he may do to the Manzanares. He is a
mixture, they say, of the chivalric and the asinine: a kind of moral mule.
His personal weakness is a wish to be thought young, and hence he was
naturally angry when Lord Palmerston wanted to give him a 'wrinkle.' I
saw, likewise, Mon, the Minister of Finance, smiling complacently, like
a shopkeeper on his customers; and the venerable Castanos, Duke of
Bailen, who, as he tottered in, stooping under the weight of ninety
years, was affectionately greeted by Narvaez and others. On the whole,
the debate seemed to be languid, and to be listened to with little interest;
but that is the general fate of debates in July."
* * * * *
THE KANASZ.
Of the Servian swineherd we have heard something of late, both in
history and romance; because this was the vocation of Kara George, the
Servian Liberator. In Hungary the swine-keeper does not seem to be so
respectable a person. Here is a sketch of him from Max Schlesinger's
new book on the Hungarian war:
"The Kanasz is a swineherd, whose occupation, everywhere unpoetical
and dirty, is doubly troublesome and dirty in Hungary. Large droves of
pigs migrate annually into the latter country from Serbia, where they
still live in a half-wild state. In Hungary they fatten in the extensive
oak-forests, and are sent to market in the large towns, even to Vienna,
and still further....
"It is a true enjoyment to live in these shady forests. The oak attains a
finer and more luxuriant growth on the Hungarian soil than in any part
of Germany. The hogs find food in profusion, and commonly stuff
themselves to such a degree that they lose all desire for roving about:
so that dog, master, and ass, lead a comparatively easy life, and are left
to the quiet enjoyment of nature. But the lot of the Kanasz is a pitiable
one when, at the close of summer, he has to drive his swine to market.
From Debreczin, nay even from the Serbian frontier, he has to make a
journey on foot more toilsome than was ever undertaken by the most

adventurous traveler, pacing slowly over the interminable heaths in rain,
storm, or under a burning sun, behind his pigs, which drive into his face
hot clouds of dust. Every now and then a hog has stuffed itself so full
as to be unable to stir from the spot; and there it lies on the road
without moving, whilst the whole caravan is obliged to wait for half a
day or longer, until the glutted animal can get on his legs again; and
when at length this feat is accomplished, frequently his neighbor begins
the same trick. There is truly not a more toilsome business in the wide
world than that of a Kanasz.... The fokos is a hatchet, with a long
handle, which the Kanasz hurls with great dexterity. Whenever he
desires to pick out and slaughter one of his hogs, either for his own use
or for sale, the attempt would be attended with danger, in the
half-savage state of these animals, without such a weapon. The fokos
here assists him; which he flings with such force and precision, that the
sharp iron strikes exactly into the center of the frontal bone of the
animal he has marked out; the victim sinks on the earth without uttering
a sound, and the drove quietly proceeds on its way. That he can strike
down a man with equal precision at eighty to a hundred paces, is
proved by the gallows at the entrance of the forest--the three-legged
monument of his dexterity. During recent events, too, the surgeons of
the Austrian army will readily furnish the Kanasz and Csikos with
certificates of their ability and skill."
* * * * *
THE "WILD HUSSAR" OF HUNGARY.
France, Russia, Prussia, and other countries, have introduced the
Hussars into their armies; but these soldiers are merely Russian, French,
and Prussian cavalry, dressed in the Hungarian laced jacket: they want
the spirit, the horse, and--the 'Magyar Isten.' For this reason, the
Hungarian Hussar will not acknowledge them as brethren; and
whenever he comes in contact with foreign Hussars, he lets them feel in
battle the full force of his contempt. A story is told, that during a
campaign against the French in the war with Napoleon, the bivouacs of
the Prussian and Hungarian Hussars were near to one another. A
Prussian came over to his neighbors in a familiar way with a glass of
wine, and drank it to the health of his 'brother hussar.' But the
Hungarian gently pushed the glass