As his journal entries continue, Harker continues to record the details of the exotically spiced meals which he dines on, plus descriptions of the many old castles which he sees perched atop steep hills in the distance. The train dawdles on through the countryside, and Harker continues to describe the colorfully costumed peasants whom he sees; he is especially fascinated by the local garb of the swarthy, rather fierce looking men of the region, for they remind him of bandits, but he says that he has been assured that they are quite harmless.
At the eve of twilight, when Harker's train reaches Bistritz, not far from the infamous Borgo Pass, Harker disembarks and checks into the "delightful . . . old fashioned" Golden Krone Hotel (Count Dracula has instructed him to stay here). Before retiring for the night, Harker reads a note of cordial welcome from Count Dracula, then he records some of the local stories about the Pass, as well as some of the other local beliefs and superstitions. For example, the Borgo Pass marks the entry into Bukovina, and the Pass itself has been the scene of great fires and centuries of massacres, famine, and disease. Coincidentally, Harker's arrival at Bistritz is on the eve of St. George's Day, a night when "evil things in the world . . . have full sway." At first, Harker is unconcerned about these local superstitions, but after he witnesses an old peasant woman's fearful awe of the name "Dracula," and after he realizes the extent of her fear for his safety, and after he finally accepts her gift of a rosary to ward off evil spirits, Harker begins to become a bit uneasy about setting off the next day for the Borgo Pass, despite the fact that Dracula's carriage will be waiting for him when he arrives late on the eve of St. George's Day.
