At nine o'clock we arrived at the river Marosch. This fine river, anciently called the Marissus, of which the present name is a corruption, is here very broad and navigable, and runs, with a placid flowing current, through one of the richest countries, and the most highly cultivated in Europe, into the Teiss; by which means any commodities may be conveyed into the Danube, and so to any part of the empire. Our road lay, for a considerable time, along its banks, which we pursued till we arrived at the populous village of Szosvaros. Here, in front of a long low inn, kept very neat, we breakfasted with the horses, as we had dined the day before, in our waggon parlour. When we had finished, we entered the inn to get pipes and coffee. In one room were two Hungarians engaged at a game something like billiards, with a mace and ball, and in another were two Bohemians playing a duet on two clarionets The Hungarians were of a character totally different from either Turks, Wallachians, or Saxons. They were tall, slight, and bony, with prominent foreheads, little eyes, projecting cheek bones, and flattish noses, giving the idea of Tartars which, in fact, the Hungarians are, and speaking in a tongue quite unintelligible by a Gem man, and not having the smallest affinity with his language. They played and drank sour wine with intense eagerness and perseverance for two hours together, talking with the greatest volubility the whole time; and we left them engaged as eagerly as if they had only just commenced. The Bohemians, on the contrary, resembled our Gipseys; their complexions were very dark, with black hair and eyes, and drooping noses; rather silent and gentle in their manners. They played duets in good time and tune; and, in fact, are the musicians of Hungary.
We left Szosvaros at two o'clock, and proceeded out of the town under a new slight arch lately erected, to mark where a former one stood ; over it was this inscription :—
ERECTA AN : 1200. REPARATA AN : 1817.
We still pursued our way along the hanks of the river, and at nine o'clock we entered the town of Deva.