CHAPTER I JONATHAN HARKER 'S JOURNAL ( _ Kept in shorthand .
_ ) _ 3 May .
Bistritz .
_ -- Left Munich at 8:35 P. M. , on 1st May , arriving at Vienna early next morning ; should have arrived at 6:46 , but train was an hour late .
Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place , from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets .
I feared to go very far from the station , as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible .
The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East ; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube , which is here of noble width and depth , took us among the traditions of Turkish rule .
We left in pretty good time , and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh .
Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale .
I had for dinner , or rather supper , a chicken done up some way with red pepper , which was very good but thirsty .
( _ Mem .
_ , get recipe for Mina . )
I asked the waiter , and he said it was called " paprika hendl , " and that , as it was a national dish , I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians .
I found my smattering of German very useful here ; indeed , I do n't know how I should be able to get on without it .
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 .
I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the country , just on the borders of three states , Transylvania , Moldavia and Bukovina , in the midst of the Carpathian mountains ; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe .
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 .
In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities : Saxons in the South , and mixed with them the Wallachs , who are the descendants of the Dacians ; Magyars in the West , and Szekelys in the East and North .
I am going among the latter , who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns .
This may be so , for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it .
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 .
( _ 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 .
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 .
Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door , so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then .
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 .
It seems to me that the further east you go the more unpunctual are the trains .
What ought they to be in China ?
All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind .
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 .
It takes a lot of water , and running strong , to sweep the outside edge of a river clear .
At every station there were groups of people , sometimes crowds , and in all sorts of attire .
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 .
The women looked pretty , except when you got near them , but they were very clumsy about the waist .
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 .
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 .
They wore high boots , with their trousers tucked into them , and had long black hair and heavy black moustaches .
They are very picturesque , but do not look prepossessing .
On the stage they would be set down at once as some old Oriental band of brigands .
They are , however , I am told , very harmless and rather wanting in natural self-assertion .
It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz , which is a very interesting old place .
Being practically on the frontier -- for the Borgo Pass leads from it into Bukovina -- it has had a very stormy existence , and it certainly shows marks of it .
Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place , which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions .
At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people , the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease .
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 .
I was evidently expected , for when I got near the door I faced a cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress -- white undergarment with long double apron , front , and back , of coloured stuff fitting almost too tight for modesty .
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 .
He went , but immediately returned with a letter : -- " My Friend .
-- Welcome to the Carpathians .
I am anxiously expecting you .
Sleep well to-night .
At three to-morrow the diligence will start for Bukovina ; a place on it is kept for you .
At the Borgo Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me .
I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one , and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land .
" Your friend , " DRACULA . "
_ 4 May .
_ -- I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count , directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me ; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent , and pretended that he could not understand my German .
This could not be true , because up to then he had understood it perfectly ; at least , he answered my questions exactly as if he did .
He and his wife , the old lady who had received me , looked at each other in a frightened sort of way .
He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter , and that was all he knew .
When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula , and could tell me anything of his castle , both he and his wife crossed themselves , and , saying that they knew nothing at all , simply refused to speak further .
It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask any one else , for it was all very mysterious and not by any means comforting .
Just before I was leaving , the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way : " Must you go ?
Oh !
young Herr , must you go ? "
She was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew , and mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all .
I was just able to follow her by asking many questions .
When I told her that I must go at once , and that I was engaged on important business , she asked again : " Do you know what day it is ? "
I answered that it was the fourth of May .
She shook her head as she said again : " Oh , yes !
I know that !
I know that , but do you know what day it is ? "
On my saying that I did not understand , she went on : " It is the eve of St. George 's Day .
Do you not know that to-night , when the clock strikes midnight , all the evil things in the world will have full sway ?
Do you know where you are going , and what you are going to ? "
She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her , but without effect .
Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not to go ; at least to wait a day or two before starting .
It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable .
However , there was business to be done , and I could allow nothing to interfere with it .
I therefore tried to raise her up , and said , as gravely as I could , that I thanked her , but my duty was imperative , and that I must go .
She then rose and dried her eyes , and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me .
I did not know what to do , for , as an English Churchman , I have been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous , and yet it seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a state of mind .
She saw , I suppose , the doubt in my face , for she put the rosary round my neck , and said , " For your mother 's sake , " and went out of the room .
I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting for the coach , which is , of course , late ; and the crucifix is still round my neck .
Whether it is the old lady 's fear , or the many ghostly traditions of this place , or the crucifix itself , I do not know , but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual .
If this book should ever reach Mina before I do , let it bring my good-bye .
Here comes the coach !