Paun Durlić, Vorbar, Majdanpek, 2023, stranice 18,19
Mesta na kojima su Vlasi prelazili Dunav i načini na koje su to činili, spadaju u prvo- razrednu etnografsku građu koja, na žalost, nije sabrana ni komentarisana kako zaslužuje, koja postaje opšta zaraza kao gledište da su Vlasi samonikli narod, izrastao na plodnome tlu Srbije
ex nihilo, koji nikad nije imao nikakve veze sa sunarodnicima severno od Dunava. U literaturi se tu i tamo pominje po nešto od toga, kao na primer mesto
Juc (=rečni brzaci) kod Poreča (potonjeg Donjeg Milanovca) gde su ljudi u vreme niskog vodostaja, koji je znao biti ispod metra,30) prelazili peške preko ostenjaka koji su izvirivali iz vode, kao što je pre- ma predanju činio legendarni
Baba Novak, rođen inače u Poreču oko 1530. godine.
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ChatGPT
Nice question — excellent for a focused bibliography. Below I’ve pulled together published, citable sources (books, edited volumes, travelogues and research reports) that either explicitly discuss low-water / fords on the Lower Danube (and so are likely places to find mentions of people wading across the river in dry years) or are standard references you should consult when hunting primary 19th–20th-century eyewitness / newspaper material about the riverbed being exposed. I’ve flagged which items are most likely to contain first-hand descriptions (travelogues/newspapers/local studies) and which are interpretive/secondary works (environmental history, syntheses).
If you want, I can next pull a few concrete newspaper items or chapter/page quotations from any one of these (for example from the British Newspaper Archive, the National Library of Romania digital collections, Hungarian/Austrian papers or local Serbian/Bulgarian press) — tell me which region or decade and I’ll fetch the primary items.
Key published sources
- Patrick Leigh Fermor — Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople (from the Middle Danube to the Iron Gates) (travel book, describes his 1933–34 walk).
Why useful: a contemporary 1933–34 travel diary that crosses and describes many Danubian places; travelogues often note river depth, ferries, islands and local fords. New York Review Books+1
- Istorie și civilizaţie de-a lungul Dunării de Jos (Collective volume / Proceedings / local studies on the Lower Danube; Brăila/Academia Română eds., 2008/2018 editions exist).
Why useful: regionally focused studies (Lower Danube / “Dunărea de Jos”) collect local archival and vernacular evidence — look here for local village histories and documentary citations about fording / low-water crossings. (collective volume / conference proceedings). Academia
- A Handbook of Bulgaria (Naval Intelligence Division / British Admiralty handbook, late 19th / early 20th c.; digitized).
Why useful: nineteenth-century travel/guide handbooks often note fords, ferry points, and shallow stretches used for crossing — the Handbook of Bulgaria (available on Archive.org) explicitly describes lower-Danube fords and shallow places. Good primary/near-primary reference for late 19th/early 20th-century conditions. Internet Archive+1
- Paul R. (eds.) — The Danube: On the Environmental History, Present and Future of a Great European River(edited volume / environmental history; recent).
Why useful: synthetic environmental history of the Danube; discusses morphological change, human interventions and how low-water events and channel changes exposed islands and fords during the 19th–20th centuries. Good for contextualizing why and when fords would have been passable. ResearchGate
- ICPDR — “Historical patterns along the Danube’s course” (ICPDR/European Danube Commission / background briefing).
Why useful: succinct summary of long-term morphological changes and documentary evidence for low-water conditions and how people adapted (mentions low-water crossings & historical floodplain changes). Useful as a modern, citable synthesis pointing to older sources. icpdr.org
- Nicolae Iorga — Chestiunea Dunării (lectures / writings, c. 1913).
Why useful: classic Romanian historian; his lectures and collected essays on the “Danube question” bring together documentary sources (Ottoman/Austrian/Romanian archival materials) and can point to historical instances of crossings and the border/fording history of Lower Danube areas (useful for 19th–early 20th c. research). Digitized editions are available. Wikimedia Commons
- Regional / technical papers on Danube droughts & low-flow episodes (20th c.).
- Identification of the historical drought occurrence on the Danube River and its tributaries (Acta Hydrologica Slovaca / research articles) — outlines documented low-flow years in the 20th century and references documentary sources where riverbeds were exposed. ResearchGate
- Collected travel guides & nineteenth-century “handbooks” (Murray’s Handbooks, HathiTrust / Archive.org editions).
Why useful: Murray’s and similar guidebooks (19th c.) routinely describe fords, ferries, and times when sections could be crossed on foot — excellent for late-19th-century eyewitness-style descriptions and practical notes. (See Murray handbooks and period travel guides in online archives).
Нема смисла инсистирати да не постоје докази да се у скорашња времена могло пешке прећи преко Дунава у одређеним периодима сухе.
Дакле не стоји твоја теза да је мит да су рани Словени прешли Дунав и пешке. Иначе рани извори не кажу да су ти Словени користили трске да би прешли преко Дунава него да су користили трске да би се сакривали под водом од непријатљеских Ромејских трупа.