Takács Lajos: A Kis-Balaton és környéke - Somogyi Almanach 27-29. (Kaposvár, 1978)
Irodalom
LAJOS TAKÁCS: LIFE IN THE MARCHLAND KIS-BALATON AND ITS REGION IN THE XVIII—XIXth CENTURY The territory of about 25—30 square kilometers west of the Lake Balaton, around the so called „Little Balaton” (Kis-Balaton) is the largest marchy land in Hungary where former ecological conditions have survived until recent times. Originally it formed a single unit with the Lake Balaton, but gradually the surface of the water dissappeared altering the Kis-Balaton into a boggy, marchy land. In the XVIIth-XVIIIth century conditions were already similar to present times. For strangers unacquainted with the nature of the land the march meant getting disasterously lost, but for the inhabitants of the region who knew the march as their homeland and went about in it, the watery land provided a sure asile in wartime, and its botanical and zoological world could be made use of regularly. The bushes called „berek” were visited especially by the needy of the neighbouring villages, called „people of the Berek” who would go into the marchlahd at any time of the year to collect and gather its products. Those parts of the marchland which were always under water would be visited by boat. If the march was very boggy and full of undergrowth a pole about 2—3 meters long would be used to jump from bog to bog leaning on it. The streams and brooks flowing into the Kis-Balaton’s lake were crossed on ferry-boats. The villagers used to fish for their own supply in the lakes of the Kis- Balaton until the end of the last century. There were also professional fishers who worked for the landlors and received their pay in kind, they lived in the village of Hidvég. Catching crabs brought a better income than fishing, professional crab-fishers rented the brooks and streams for this purpose and sold their crabs to Viennese merchants. The so-called „Zala” crab of the Kis-Balaton (refering to County Zala) was a speciality sold at Vienna markets in the XVIIIth century. Hunting rabbits was done with the help of snares in wintertime, and as long as there were otters in the water they were also hunted. Catching birds was, however, more important than fishing; birds’ eggs were favoured by herdsmen and also by villagers to supplement their diet. From the end of the XVIIIth century there were about 7 or 8 islands in the interior of the marchland suitable for pasture. In this era the 205
