Transcribed from the 1898 George Newnes edition by DavidPrice,
At Semlin I still was encompassed by the scenes and the soundsof familiar life; the din of a busy world still vexed and cheeredme; the unveiled faces of women still shone in the light ofday. Yet, whenever I chose to look southward, I saw theOttoman’s fortress—austere, and darkly impending highover the vale of the Danube—historic Belgrade. I hadcome, as it were, to the end of this wheel-going Europe, and nowmy eyes would see the splendour and havoc of the East.
The two frontier towns are less than a cannon-shot distant,and yet their people hold no communion. The Hungarian onthe north, and the Turk and Servian on the southern side of theSave are as much asunder as though there were fifty broadprovinces that lay in the path between them. Of the menthat bustled around me in the streets of Semlin there was not,perhaps, one who had ever gone down to look upon the strangerrace dwelling under the walls of that opposite castle. Itis the plague, and the dread of the plague, that divide the onepeople from the other. All coming and going standsforbidden by the terrors of the yellow flag. If you dare tobreak the laws of the quarantine, you will be tried with militaryhaste; the court will scream out your sentence to you from atribunal some fifty yards off; the priest, instead of gentlywhispering to you the sweet hopes of religion, will console youat duelling distance; and after that you will find yourselfcarefully shot, and carelessly buried in the ground of thelazaretto.
When all was in order for our departure we walked down to theprecincts of the quarantine establishment, and here awaited us a“compromised” [1] officer of theAustrian Government, who lives in a state of perpetualexcommunication. The boats, with their“compromised” rowers, were also in readiness.
After coming in contact with any creature or thing belongingto the Ottoman Empire it would be impossible for us to return tothe Austrian territory without undergoing an imprisonment offourteen days in the odious lazaretto. We felt, therefore,that before we committed ourselves it was important to take carethat none of the arrangements necessary for the journey had beenforgotten; and in our anxiety to avoid such a misfortune, wemanaged the work of departure from Semlin with nearly as muchsolemnity as if we had been departing this life. Someobliging persons, from whom we had received civilities during ourshort stay in the place, came down to say their farewell at theriver’s side; and now, as we stood with them at thedistance of three or four yards from the“compromised” officer, they asked if we wereperfectly certain that we had wound up all our affairs inChristendom, and whether we had no parting requests tomake. We repeated the caution to our servants, and tookanxious thought lest by any possibility we might be cut off fromsome cherished object of affection:—were they quite surethat nothing had been forgotten—that there was no fragrantdressing-case with its gold-compelling letters of credit fromwhich we might be parting for ever?—No; all our treasureslay safely stowed in the boat, and we were ready to follow themto the ends of the earth. Now, therefore, we shook handswith our Semlin friends, who immediately retreated for three orfour paces, so as to leave us in the centre of a space betweenthem and the “compromised” officer. The latterthen advanced, and asking once more if we had done with thecivilised world, held forth his hand. I met it with mine,and there was an end to Christendom for many a day to come.
We soon neared the southern bank of the river, but no soun