were swarming. Nevertheless, after a struggle with the customs office, we were allowed to pass over the bridge, though without any prospect of finding accommodations. So as a steamer lay at the wharf, just about to start down the Danube, we quickly decided to take passage upon it.
Scenically the striking features on this trip were the Rapids of Kasan and, just beyond, the fa- mous Iron Gate, where the river, cutting through the Transylvanian Alps, is confined between high walls of rock and thus grows suddenly narrow and swift. About noon we stopped for a time at the picturesque Roumanian town of Turnu-Severin on the western frontier, and finally landed early on the second morning in a swampy district from which the river had just receded, at a little mud-smeared Bulgarian station. There we took the train to Plevna, a town of importance and the scene in 1877 of a famous battle in which the Turks were defeated by Russians and Bulgarians. In Plevna we expected to wait for several hours, but a thoughtful gentleman, finding we were bound for Sofia, kindly explained that the train from Bucharest was two or three hours behind time, so that by changing stations quickly we were able to catch it.
Turnu- Severin, Samovet, and Plevna
The Iron Gate
The Bucharest-Sofia line passes through a rich farm- ing land dotted with villages consisting of wide-set low houses, those near the Danube and on clay soil being built of adobe, those nearer the mountains of stone. The streets are well shaded with native oaks, elms, beeches, and birches, besides the American locust, which has spread widely through southern Europe. Some of the newer towns show attractive two-story, white-stuccoed buildings. After a while
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Publication Information: Book Title: The Days of a Man: Being Memories of a Naturalist, Teacher, and Minor Prophet of Democracy. Volume: 2. Contributors: David Starr Jordan - author. Publisher: World Book. Place of Publication: Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY. Publication Year: 1922. Page Number: 573.
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