This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X. A MOUNTAIN WATERING-PLACE. QCHMEKS, or TatraFured, was our northern-most goal. We early realized that no Hungarian patriot would forgive us, if we left the country without having visited its most beautiful and most celebrated watering-place, and one too that boasts an English head-waiter, ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X. A MOUNTAIN WATERING-PLACE. QCHMEKS, or TatraFured, was our northern-most goal. We early realized that no Hungarian patriot would forgive us, if we left the country without having visited its most beautiful and most celebrated watering-place, and one too that boasts an English head-waiter, and about every third summer harbours several English guests. Before we knew anything of Schmeks, or where it was on the map, we had used the name as a sop to throw to enthusiastic Magyars who betrayed an anxiety to rearrange our programme. The effect of the name was magical; it seemed to assure them at once that we knew what we were about. Nevertheless it was with sinking hearts that we neared the little station of Poprad, which lies on the northern limit of the plain at the feet of the Tatra range. Artists are not always quite so happy amidst regulation fine scenery that all right-minded people admire, as they are in freakish places of their own choosing. But Tatra-Fiired was surrounded by a majesty that could silence criticism. It is carved out of the deep pine forests that cover the lower slopes of one of the Tatra mountains, which rises sheer from the plain and sends its granite peaks some 9,000 feet into the sky. The absence of any lesser heights to act as buttresses to these mountains and let them down gently to the plain, adds to their impressiveness. Their isolation probably accounts also for the small amount of snow that lingers on their bare summits during the summer months, for the warm winds come to them from the plain, unchilled by any intermediate altitudes, and the crags themselves are so narrow and steep that the snow slips down as soon as fallen, only collecting in a few tight little crevices. An excellent road cut through...
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