Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes of forest up to the lofty sides of the Carpathians themselves. Right and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range. Deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as we swept round the base of a hill and saw the lofty, snow-covered peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to be right before us.

"Look! Isten szek!" - "God's seat!" - and he crossed himself reverently.

As we went on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was emphasized by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the sunset, and seemed to glow with a delicate cool pink. Here and there we passed Cszeks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire. By the roadside were many crosses, and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves.

Vocabulary:

Lofty: High up
Mingle: Mix together
Jagged: Sharp but not smooth
Rift: An space opened between two things
Serpentine: Like a snake
Reverently: With religious respect
Attire: Clothing