1803 - 1906 Quotes

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Travels In The Three Great Empires of Austria, Russia & Turkey by C.B. Elliott, MA, FRS, Vicar of Godalming, 1838.

“On opening the door, we found ourselves enveloped in a thick mist; the Pruth [Prut] flowed under the wall of the hut, and the eye could not penetrate the dense vapour which arose from its surface.”

“The first view of Kishnau from the summit of a neighbouring hill, is imposing; and the prospect of a comfortable inn led us to see everything couleur de rose. The extent of the town, its churches with their green painted domes, and its new white buildings, all seemed to confer on it an air of respectability superior to that of any place we had visited since leaving Hungary.”

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A Steam Voyage Down The Danube: with sketches of Hungary, Wallachia, Servia, Turkey by Michael J. Quin, 1836

In Wallachia

“…an Englishman being looked upon as a kind of god throughout all that country, she would not hear of me remaining at the inn; she had, in fact, already prepared her own bed for me, as Dewar laughingly said, and as a point of honour, I could not refuse her hospitality.”

“…he had never experienced so much friendship, he said in any part of the world, as they showed him on every possible occasion; and nothing he added, but the pleasure which he derived from that circumstance, could have induced him to remain where he was.”

Mr Dewar’s view: he was a long term British resident in Wallachia employed as a marine engineer.

“…I was touched by their kind attentions, and felt that if I were a little longer among this simple-hearted affectionate people, like Dewar, I should have cordially esteemed them.”

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Journey from Moscow to Constantinople: in the years 1817, 1818 by William MacMichael M.D. F.R.S, 1819

“The town of Kichénau [Chişinău] is surrounded by low hills, having a small river flowing to the north-east, near the banks of which are the quarries that furnish the stone employed in building the town. It is a limestone rock, with much the appearance of French burr…”

In Chişinău

“In the conversation that took place in the evening between our interpreter and the post-master, the constant occurrence of corrupt Latin words, of which the few following may serve as a specimen, could not fail to attract our attention:-

Limba, - - - Lingua.

Puini, - - - Panis.

Ferastra - - - Fenestra.

Cap, - - - - Caput.

Apa, - - - Aqua.

Homo, - - - Homo.

Femea, - - - Femina.

The ordinary salutation, “Good day” is Buena deminaza, [bună dimineaţa] and the interrogatory [question] constantly in their mouths, “where is?” unde est? – to explain these striking analogies, it may be observed, that the inhabitants of Wallachia (and with reference to their language, that term embraces not only the province of that name, but also the adjoining principality of Moldavia,) consider themselves more peculiarly than the people of any other country, the descendants of ancient Roman colonists.”

“The word, Walak, which is of Slavonic origin, and said to signify a nation of shepherds, is applied also to the dialect spoken by the natives of these two provinces, the one half of which is of Latin derivation, and the other a corrupt admixture of Greek, German, Turkish, and Slavonian.”

Orthodox Christmas, 1818 on Russian side of the Prut, relatively close to Iaşi (Yassy).

“…here we were to produce our passports, and quit the territory of Alexander.”

“We found the Russian colonel, who had the command of this station, engaged with his officers, and a party of ladies in the festivities of Christmas, of which, after the formalities of introduction, and inspection of our passports, we were politely invited to partake. Dinner was over, coffee and rum were therefore produced, and we were strongly urged to join in the dance…”

Sited over the Prut from Stănileşti, the site of Peter The Great’s fateful encounter with the Turkish army in 1711.

“At the peace of 1812, they retreated beyond the Pruth, retaining possession of the most fertile part of Moldavia, lying to the east of the river. But if their troops no longer occupy the territory, the Russians are still said to exercise considerable influence over the internal policy of both the tributary states of Moldavia and Wallachia.”

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Travels through some parts of Germany, Poland, Moldavia and Turkey

By Adam Neale M.D. (physician to the British Embassy, Constantinople), 1818

“Most of the rivers in Moldavia are at this hour intersected by weirs which dam these waters and form ponds; mills are built on these weirs and the villages are placed around them.”

On the Danube

“…we discovered that the Turk, having followed us in a canoe alone, was paddling after us. My companion and I, therefore shouted to him, and warned him off, which, as he disregarded, we presented the muzzles of two loaded rifles over the stern, a language he seem to have no difficulty in comprehending; for the old Cyclops (he had but one eye) immediately put about his canoe, and paddled back to his den, spluttering and cursing us for Christian dogs.”

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Travels through several provinces of the Russian Empire: with an historical account of…Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia… by Pierce Balthasar Campenhausen (Freiherr von), 1808.

“The meadows produce grass in such abundance and of such an excellent quality, that diseased cattle recover in them in a few days, as we observed by the horses, camels, sheep, and oxen which we had for the use of the army.”

“The language of the Moldavians is a mixture of Latin, Italian, Russian and Sclavonian words. Most of the verbs and adverbs are derived from the Latin; the substantives and adjectives are chiefly taken from the Italian and Sclavonian languages. It contains words, however, which are not to be found in any other language, viz. Powten, what do you mean? What do you say? Lingur*, a spoon; Dorsto and Aisto, the piece of wood which the water-carriers carry on their shoulders, and from which they suspend their buckets. There are some Greek and German words in the language. The characters in which it is written are Sclavonian, and the middle or last letter of the word is sometimes put over the word itself. There are some letters whose pronunciation is varied by having a stroke or dash over them, as in the case of the Polish language. It is extremely difficult to pronounce Moldavian accurately, as the pronunciation varies incessantly, and seems not to be established by any rules; for example some say Venikotsch, others Venamkotz, some Pozzintel, others Pokkinoel. All words which are derived from the Latin, change their H into G**, as Trahe, draw, is written Trage.”

* Gypsy word – Gypsy language: Hindi (Indian) origin.

** Major-General Harting, governor of Bessarabia 1813 – 16, was also spelt Garting.

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Travels in the western Caucasus… Vol II by Edmund Spencer, 1836

“…the mamalinga being in general the only food to be procured. This dish, which is by no means contemptible, is made from maize flour, sometimes by boiling it with milk or water, like the Italian polenta, and other times by making it into a pilaff with minced meat, when it is extremely palatable, and by far the best method of preparing it.”

“That the mamalinga is evidenced by the good looks, great strength, robust frames, and activity, of the agricultural peasants, - it being the principal, and indeed we may say the only food, of the majority of the working classes; and however ragged and wretched they may be in their apparel, the inhabitants of these principalities are a fine, well grown race of men.”

Edmund Spencer returns to the same area nearly twenty years later:-

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Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia by Captain Edmund Spencer, 1855

“On leaving Jassy [heading north], the frost having set in with increased severity, we rolled onward with great rapidity, as if our postilion was running a race against time; and although the horses were small, they went at the rate of fifteen wersts an hour. While we remained within a few miles of the town, cultivated fields, villages and hamlets, neat gardens and vineyards, alternatively met the view; but these pleasing objects once past, there was the same want of population we before observed, and the country increased in solitary wilderness when we entered the mountain district.”

“…arriving at the vast forest that separates Buckowina from Moldavia, we were overtaken by one of those sudden snow storms so fatal to the traveller in this wild inhospitable district. Happily our postilion, prognosticating from the lowering aspect of the heavens the danger that threatened us, galloped madly forward to a ruined chalet, the usual resting place of such caravans as journey in this direction.”

“Things went on very well till about the middle of the night, when we were awoke from the land of our dreams by the dis-charge of firearms, and lo! our young pandour rushed into the hut, exclaiming he had fired at a wolf and wounded him, and that the animal fled howling back to the forest.”

“‘Rash, foolish boy!’ cried one of our fellow travellers, jumping up from his lair of sheep-skins, ‘we shall have the whole hungry pack down on us in less than half an hour…’”

Which is what happened.

[Pandour: militiaman or guard; often formed into large military groups]

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On arriving at the border

“The Austrian Buckowina is here separated from Moldavia by a deep, narrow river, across which is thrown a wooden bridge, terminating in a ponderous gate, upon which is emblazoned the imperial eagle, with two necks…”

“After passing the ordeal of the passport-bureau, the customs house, and the necessary fumigation that every traveller is obliged to undergo, who arrives in Austria from the land of the infidel, we were allowed to dispose of ourselves as we pleased, and the nocturnal combat with the wolves having by this time become known through the loquacity of our postillion and pandour, we were invited to dine with the officers of the detachment quartered here, among whom we had the pleasure of finding a [fellow] countryman, Lieutenant Isaacson.”

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More from Quin, above, 1836.

“…the Moldavian proved himself quite as well read in theology as he was in geography: he repeatedly convicted the [Greek] priest of entire ignorance of the works with which he had pretended to be most familiar…The governor shouted with excessive mirth, and ordered another bottle, which he compelled the poet to drink in addition to his own.”

“…we met occasionally Wallachian shepherdesses, driving before them goats and sheep. They had uniformly distaffs in their hands from which they actively spun the wool round the spindle as they walked along. They were all barefooted, and, over a canvas petticoat and chemise, usually wore a stripe of plaid in front, and another at the back, with long worsted tassels hanging underneath. The hair was carefully braided around the head, and sometimes fell in long plats on the shoulders."

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More from MacMichael, above 1818.

“The boyars, or nobles, of Moldavia, were represented as living generally in very affluent circumstances, some of them even as possessed of an annual income of 30,000 ducats. They spend most of their time in the city, and spend the greatest part of their money in gambling.”

“The country is now free from the plague, which committed dreadful havoc amongst its inhabitants, immediately after the termination of the late war in 1812. …Moldavians… all persist in declaring that Turkey in Europe is destined to suffer continually from one of the two most destructive scourges with which humanity is afflicted, war or pestilence. When the one ceases, the other makes its appearance; but they have been rarely, if ever, known to exist together, at one and the same time.”

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Journal of a tour in the principalities, Crimea, and countries adjacent to… by William Lennox L. Fitzgerald De-Ros (23rd baron.), 1855

“The very first mile in this province (the Bukovina) presented a striking contrast to what we have lately quitted. A fine, straight macadamised road led through a wood, where we found, at intervals small posts of infantry, for the protection of travellers against the robbers who infest the frontier, as well as against the wolves, who, we were told, are now giving up this district, and prefer living in Moldavia since these posts were established.”

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Dissertation on the Gipseys: representing their manner of life, family… by Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb Grellmann, 1807

“Bessarabia, All Tartary, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, swarm with them.”

Gypsies as Tinkers

“The Gipseys of our time are not willing to undertake heavy work; they seldom go beyond a pair of light horse-shoes: in general, they confine themselves to small articles, such as rings, jews-harps, and small nails: they mend old pots and kettles, make knives, seals, needles, and sometimes work trifles in tin or brass.”

Gypsies – tinker methods of the time

“Their materials, tools, apparatus are all bad, and of the most inferior kind. Their common method of proceeding is, to collect to some pieces of rusty iron, old nails, broken horse-shoes, and such-like, which they fuse and shape to their purpose. The anvil is a stone the other implements are, a pair of hand-bellows, a pair of pincers, a hammer, a vice and a file: these are the tools which a nomadic Gipsey carries with him in his perambulations.”

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More from Von Campenhausen, above, 1808

“In Jassy [Iaşi] one is led to suppose that the Moldavians have no kind of occupation, for the coffee houses, inns, and taverns are constantly full, young gypsies sing and play there, and the days and nights seem to be wholly consecrated to Bacchus and Venus.”

“Some of the Boyards are descended from Italian, Armenian and Moldavian families, but most of them are of Greek origin. The family of Millot alone was originally French. The number of princes here is almost incredible, as the moment an inhabitant of Moldavia is raised to the dignity of hospodar, all his relations take the title of prince. They are all extremely proud of their assumed dignity…”

“Since the Turks have obtained the sovereignty of this country, the inhabitants have adopted many of their customs; particularly the use of divans, the titles of public officers, the custom of smoking tobacco, of wearing slippers over their boots, and of shutting up the women. This last custom was not very scrupulously observed during the last war between the Russians and Turks; as prince Potemkin invited to his assemblies all the Moldavian ladies of distinction, and it may be supposed that the jealousy of the Moldavian nobles yielded to the suggestions of fear; their wives and daughters were obliged to accept the invitations which were given them.”

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More from Quin, above, 1836

“I observed a remarkably fine Wallachian woman, spinning wool from a distaff in the primeval fashion. She was attired in a short woollen white mantle, under which was a robe of printed calico, which, without appearing in front, came down below the mantle behind. A neat linen chemise was folded in plaits upon her bosom, beneath which she sported a gay dimity apron, and a canvas petticoat. Her raven-black hair was carefully divided in front, braided over her ears, and detained in a knot, by a tortoiseshell comb, from which was suspended a snow white linen veil, that fell on her back gracefully. Neither shoe nor sandal served to hide her feet… This noble looking woman, whose features were all of the Grecian mould, was the mother of three very fine young men, who were standing by her, accompanied by a huge mastiff, as if their purpose had been to exhibit a living tableau from the pastoral age and country of Agamemnon.”

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The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1803

“The wine of Cotnar, is without contradiction the most excellent, and generous wine in Europe, even surpassing in quality the best Tokay; and which, kept three years in a deep arched cellar, is as strong as the best brandy, and the hardest drinker cannot take three glasses without being drunk. It is of a green colour, which becomes deeper and more lively in proportion to its age.”

Cotnari, Moldavia province is north-west of Iasi. Its most famous wine, still made today, is subject to “noble rot” – similar to that of Sauternes and Tokay. Its vineyards were established by Stephen The Great who loved its wine.

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More from C.B. Elliott, MA, FRS, Vicar of Godalming, England, 1838

On the road to Leova (from Moldavia), after crossing the Prut.

“Small town of Faltsi…the superiority of its church, which is stuccoed and ornamented with two towers, and has a belfry at a distance from the sacred edifice; a separation as usual in the principalities*, as it is in Scandinavia and many parts of Italy…observed for the first time, chains suspended from the crosses surmounting the towers, while the crosses themselves are double, like those of Russia.”

* Like cathedral and bell tower in Chişinău.

“Our animals had now been fifteen hours in harness, with only one short interval in the middle of the day; and unless accustomed to such severe labor, they would have been incapacitated for exertion; but Moldavian horses are very strong, though ill fed; they seldom touch oats or any nutritious grain; and even during this long journey, though those we drove eat but once in the day, still the only food with which they were indulged was rank straw.”

Road from Leova (south – west Moldova) to Chişinău

“The road lies in a north-east direction, across a country absolutely barren; not a single tree or cultivated field is to be seen; and the only objects which vary the sameness of the view are the tall posts erected as way-marks on this, as on every, Russian road: these are inscribed with the distances of the two stations on either side, and painted with broad vertical stripes of alternate black, white and red.”

In Chişinău

“None of the streets are paved, nor are the houses in general close together, but separated by their respective enclosures. The shops are few and shabby in exterior.”

Gypsies in Chişinău

“Their women are better looking than the native Russians, but disfigure themselves with a multitude of worthless trinkets.”

Leaving Chişinău to travel to Odessa

“The first part of the journey lay over a sandy road, through a desolate country where nothing but birds afforded a proof of animal existence. Several eagles, whose noble size and lofty flight commanded our respect for their royal race, with numerous hawks and falcons flew over our heads.”

“We met neither carriages, carts or human beings, for many miles; and the solitude is rendered is rendered fearful by monumental stones, marked with crosses, which every here and there indicate the spot where some poor traveller as fallen prey to banditti. In a space of thirty miles five of these can be seen, one of which commemorates a murder perpetrated only six months before we passed the spot.”

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Travels in the steppes of the Caspian Sea: the Crimea, the Caucasus by Xavier & Adèle Hommaire de Hell, 1847

“But what above all strikes and delights every stranger, especially a Frenchman, is the eager and cordial hospitality and kindness he encounters in every Moldavian house.”

“The Bessarabian of the lower class is by nature a husbandman; he very rarely plies a trade. To know his real worth, he must be seen in the interior of the country, far from the towns. The Moldavian peasant is brave, gay and hospitable; he delights to welcome the stranger, and generally would be ashamed to receive the slightest present from him. The Russians accuse him of excessive sloth, but the charge remains unfounded. The Moldavian peasant seldom, indeed, thinks of accumulating money, but he always works with zeal until he has attained the position he had aspired to, the amount of comfort he had set his heart on; and, in reality, it is not until after the fulfilment of his desires that he becomes lazy, and that his efforts are generally limited to procuring his family the few sacks of maize necessary for its subsistence. But increase his wants, make him understand that there are other enjoyments other than those in which he indulges so cheaply, and you will infallibly see him shake off his natural apathy, and rise to the level of the new ideas he has adopted.”

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The Missionary Herald by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1840

“We rode all the day and reached Kisheneff in good season. Kisheneff is the chief city of the province called Bessarabia. It lies on the banks of the small river or rivulet Byk, upon three hills. A provincial governor has his residence here. There is a gymnasium [school] here, and in all a little more than 21,000 inhabitants.”

“We left Kisheneff in the forenoon. On leaving we took leave also of our dear Scotch friend, the excellent Mr. Melville. This was the last farewell scene we had. Now we leave the last traces of Germans till we shall meet them again in the Austrian provinces. The Lord enlighten these dark regions.”

“ We left our post-house early, rode all the day, and reached rather late a miserable Moldavian village. There being no inn in the place, a boyar consented to become our host. He gave up to us his chief room, which was but just large enough for us to stretch ourselves out, and have a provision basket and a trunk on the floor, or rather on the ground; for a floor is a luxury of which such a Moldavian nobleman knows nothing. It seems under the influence of such a religion as they profess, people may remain savages till doomsday. I say this deliberately, for I have no doubt that an enlightened scriptural religious system of faith and practice would have civilized them long ago.”

“July 5. We passed the confines, of Russia and Austria without much difficulty. We reached Czernowitz in the evening, and put up in a decent hotel. The country on the Austrian side is far better cultivated than on the Russian.”

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Russia: travels and studies by Annette M.B. Meakin, 1906

“From the train windows we could see that the physical attractions of Bessarabia were far greater than those of the Odessa government. Here the ground broke into gentle undulations, which were enlivened from time to time by gurgling streams crossed by rustic bridges, and country lanes that reminded us of beautiful Surrey. The cottages thatched neatly with straw, and standing in pretty gardens surrounded by hedges, had a decided look of prosperity and comfort; their walls were whitewashed, and their windows and doors painted bright red, or blue or green according to the taste of their owners and sometimes all colours combined.”

“The prettiest, the most picturesque, and one of the oldest Lutheran churches in Russia, is that of the town of Kisheneff. Built of white stone with a graceful bell tower.”

“Many of the better streets of Kishineff are lined with acacias.”

“The town of Kisheneff is by no means bewitching. One is struck first of all, by the enormous space it covers and the width of its streets, and then by the shabby and dejected look of its low, seldom more than two-storeyed houses. “Like Rome, the town covers several hills,” wrote Prince Demidoff, who passed through Kisheneff in 1854. Even then, there were one or two fine streets with houses, and some large public buildings: but these were, and are still, only to be seen in the centre of the town. The houses are of stone, and whole streets of them are like shabby bungalows.”

“Kisheneff is the fortunate possessor of some fine sulphur springs, and steps have already been taken towards the erection of a handsome sanatorium, the chief attraction of which will be its sulphur baths. A new museum, built in the Moorish style, was opened in the autumn of 1904, and other public buildings are in course of erection. The climate alone is attracting more Russian residents every year.”

“The Russian peasants round Kisheneff are well off as compared with those of other parts ; they only suffer want when the harvest is bad through insufficiency of rain. One even finds them occasionally travelling second class.”

“We took a drive in the lowest part of the town, which is known as the “old bazaar,” and were surprised to find Jews, Russians, dogs and pigs, all mixed up in an amicable muddiness. I had expected to find the Jews in a sort of ghetto. As a matter of fact, Kisheneff is a large Jewish town, with a few Russian officials and public buildings in its centre…with Russian policeman keeping order in its streets. The mud in the bazaar must be like pea-soup, in wet weather, but it was dry on the day of our visit, and we found loaves of bread, vegetables, and other articles of food exposed for sale on bits of dirty matting spread upon the dry mud. A dog came up and began sniffing at each loaf of bread in turn and using its tongue. Surely no Jew would eat bread such treated. On all sides of us were Jewish faces; the young girls were so handsome that I could hardly take my eyes of them; they had crispy curling brown hair, good, well defined features, clear complexions, expressive dark eyes, and long black eyelashes. The boys had the same pretty curling hair as the girls, only that it was short and bushy.

Many Jewish houses are built round one court with a single entrance; this, I suppose, is for the sake of the protection afforded. Students of old London tell us that our houses were always built in that way during the Middle Ages, and that it was not safe to build them otherwise.”