Dracula. Bram Stoker

      ISBN 978-5-0050-2502-9

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      D R A C U L A

      CHAPTER I

      JONATHAN BARKER’S JOURNAL

      (Kept in shorthand.)

      3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35 p. M., on ist May, ar-

      riving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at

      6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful

      place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the

      little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far

      from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near

      the correct time as possible. The impression I had was that we

      were leaving the West and entering the East; the most western

      of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width

      and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule.

      We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klaus-

      enburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I

      had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way

      with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem., get

      recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called

      «paprika hendl,» and that, as it was a national dish, I should

      be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians. I found my

      smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I don’t know how

      I should be able to get on without it.

      Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had

      visited the British Museum, and made search among the books

      and maps in the library regarding Transylvania; it had struck

      me that some foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail

      to have some importance in dealing with a nobleman of that

      country. I find that the district he named is in the extreme east

      of the country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian moun-

      2 Dracula

      tains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe.

      I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact

      locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this

      country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps;

      but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count

      Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of

      my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my

      travels with Mina.

      In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct

      nationalities: Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wal-

      lachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the

      West, and Szekelys in the East and North. I am going among

      the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns.

      This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country

      in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. 1^

      read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into

      the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some

      sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interest-

      ing. (Mem., I must ask the Count all about them.)

      I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough,

      for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all

      night under my window, which may have had something to do

      with it; or it may have been the paprika, for I had to drink up all

      the water in my carafe, and was still thirsty. Towards morning

      I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door,

      so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. I had for

      breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour

      which they said was «mamaliga,» and egg-plant stuffed with

      forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call «impletata.»

      (Mem., get recipe for this also.) I had to hurry breakfast, for the

      train started a little before eight, or rather it ought to have

      done so, for after rushing to the station at 7:30 I had to sit

      in the carriage for more than an hour before we began to move.

      It seems to me that the further east you go the more unpunctual

      are the trains. What ought they to be in China?

      All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which

      was full of beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns

      or castl^ on the top of steep hills such as we see in old missals;

      sometimes we ran by rivers and streams which seemed from the

      wide stony margin on each side of them to be subject to great

      floods. It takes a lot of water, and running strong, to sweep the

      outside edge of a river clear. At every station there were groups

      of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts of attire. Some oi

      Jonathan Harker’s Journal 3

      them were just like the peasants at home or those I saw coming

      through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats

      and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque.

      The women looked pretty, except when you got near them, but

      they were very clumsy about the waist. They had all full white

      sleeves of some kind or other, and most of them had big belts

      with a lot of strips of something fluttering from them like the

      dresses in a ballet, but of course there were petticoats under

      them. The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who were

      more barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy hats, great

      baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous

      heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with

      brass nails. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked

      into them, and had long black hair and heavy black moustaches.

      They are very picturesque, but do not look prepossessing. On

      the stage they would be set down at once as some old Oriental

      band of brigands. They are, however, I am told, very harmless

      and