One of the most attractive of the Slavic nationalities is the little group
of the Slovaks of Hungary, though they have no independent history, little
fame, and they are the very step-children of fortune.
They live for the most part in the district which they themselves call
Slovensko along the southern slopes of the Carpathians, which make the
boundary of Hungary to the north. It is a lovely but infertile hill country
with clear, quick streams and a now diminishing wealth of woods. The
Slovak peasants own mainly the poorest parts of the soil of this poor region.
A charming illustrated description of the Slovak district which deserves
translation is Kala's "Na Krasnem Slovensku." But tbe most delightful
presentation of this pituresque and winning people is the portfolio of
reproductions in color of Joza Uprka's paintings of his countrymen,
the Slovaks of Moravia. Mr. Seton-Watson's book, "Racial Problems in
Hungary" also has excellent illustrations some of them in color, and
contains besides an essay on "Slovak Popular Art" by Jurkovic Dusan.
Below them to the south is the rich alfold or plain which makes up central
Hungary, and is the home af the Magyars or Hungarians proper, a brilliant,
masterful race. Here in the plain are the famous pusztas with wide-sweeping
wheat fields and immense herds of horses or of cream-colored wide-horned
cattle. This endless expanse shimmers in the hot sun, the level lines cut
only by a stiff well-sweep here and there, while on the horizon tbe fairy
Delibab (the mirage) shows illusive grooves and pools. Here the Slovaks
sometimes betake themselves to get work, but their homes, with the exception
of some scattered colonies, are in the hill country to the north.
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