Because I had some free time while I was in London, I visited the British Museum. There I searched among the books and maps in the library for information about Transylvania. I thought that knowing something about the land before I got there would almost certainly be important, since I would be working with a nobleman of that country.

I discovered that the district which he told me about is in the extreme east of the country. It is right on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia, and Bukovina. This is in the middle of the Carpathian mountains; one of the wildest and least known parts of Europe.

I could not find any map or book which told me exactly where Castle Dracula is. There are no maps of this country as good as our own maps of the British countryside. I did find that Bistritz, the town Count Dracula told me about, is a fairly well-known place. I shall write in this journal some of my notes about this town, as they may refresh my memory later when I talk about my travels with Mina.

There are four nationalities of people in Transylvania : Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the ancient Dacian people; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North.