He went, but immediately returned with a letter. What ought they to be in China. I 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 interesting. 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. When I came close she bowed and said, “The Herr Englishman?” “Yes,” I said, “Jonathan Harker.” She smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt-sleeves, who had followed her to the door. 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.

I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns. (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. On the stage they would be set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. They wore high boots, with their trousers tucked into them, and had long black hair and heavy black moustaches.

Some of 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.

It seems to me that the further east you go the more unpunctual are the trains. Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. 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. Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions. At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts of attire. All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind.

Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a very interesting old place.

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. 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. Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions. 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. 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. I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina. On the stage they would be set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands. The women looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy about the waist.

Sometimes we saw little towns or castles 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. They are, however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural self-assertion.