Dracula
Bram Stoker
© Bram Stoker, 2019
ISBN 978-5-0050-2502-9
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
D R A C U L A
CHAPTER I
JONATHAN BARKER’S JOURNAL
(Kept in shorthand.)
3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35 p. M., on ist May, ar-
riving 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 Klaus-
enburgh. 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 don’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 moun-
2 Dracula
tains; 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 Wal-
lachs, 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. 1^
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 interest-
ing. (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 castl^ 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 oi
Jonathan Harker’s Journal 3
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 be-
ginning 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 peas-
ant 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 English-
man?» «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 dili-
gence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At
4 Dracula
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 Ger-
man. This could not be true, because up to then he had under-
stood it perfectly; at least, he answered my questions exactly
as if he did. He and his wife, the old lady who had received me,