induce the honest fellow to accept any remuneration. His post can hardly be a pleasant one, for malaria and fever cause such mortality, that the station is regarded much in the same light as is the gold coast of Africa by our own government servants. As a set-off against these disadvantages, my friend was in receipt of 2d. per day additional pay. May he pass unscathed through the ordeal!

By 2 a.m. I had again started, and reached Metcovich at 5 a.m. on September 5. Here M. Grabrich, the principal merchant of the place, put me in the way of procuring horses to take me to Mostar, about nine hours distant. My destination becoming known, I was beset with applications for my good offices with Omer Pacha. Some of these were petitions for contracts for supplying the army, though the greater number were demands for arrears of payment due for the supply of meal, and the transport of horned cattle and other provisions to the frontier. One of the complainants, a Greek, had a grievance of a different and much more hopeless nature. He had cashed a bill for a small amount offered him by an Irish adventurer. This, as well as several others, proved to be forgeries, and the money was irretrievably lost. Although travelling under an assumed name, and with a false passport, I subsequently discovered the identity of the delinquent with an individual, whom doubtless many who were with Garibaldi during the campaign of the Two Sicilies will call to mind. He was then only remarkable for his Calabrian costume and excessive amount of swagger. When at Niksich I learned that he had escaped through that town into Montenegro, and he has not, I believe, since been traced.

No punishment can be too severe for a scoundrel who thus brings English credit into disrepute, and disgraces a name which, although little known in these regions, is deservedly respected.

From Metcovich the traveller may proceed to Mostar by either bank of the river. I was recommended to take the road on the northern side, which I did, and ten minutes' ride brought us to the frontier, where a custom-house official insisted upon unloading the baggage so recently arranged. In vain I remonstrated, and brandished my despatches with their enormous red seals in his face. His curiosity was not to be so easily overcome. When he had at length satisfied himself, he permitted us to depart with a blessing, which I acknowledge was far from reciprocated. The first place of any importance which we passed is Gabella. It stands on an eminence overhanging a bend of the river, by whose waters three of its sides are washed. In former days it was defended by two forts, whose guns swept the river in either direction, and commanded the approach upon the opposite bank. In a.d. 1694 it was taken by Cornaro, and remained in the hands of the Venetians until a.d. 1716, when they evacuated it, blowing up the greater part of its defences.

Immediately above the town, the Narenta traverses the plain of Gabella, which is one of the largest and most productive in the country.

The plains of Herzegovina are in reality nothing more than valleys or basins, some of which are so hemmed in by hills, that the streams flowing through them can only escape by percolation, or through subterranean channels. This last phenomenon frequently occurs, and no better example can be given of it than the Trebinitza, which loses itself in the ground two or three times. After the last of these disappearances nothing is known for certain of its course, although a large river which springs from the rocks in the Val d'Ombla, and empties itself into the Adriatic near Ragusa, is conjectured to be the same.

Gabella, as well as Popovo, Blato, and other plains, is inundated in the winter, and remains in that state during three or four months.

They are traversed by means of punts, and excellent wild-duck shooting may be had by those who do not fear the exposure inseparable from that sport.

From this point the river entirely changes its aspect, losing the sluggish character which distinguishes it during its passage through the Austrian territory. Indeed, throughout its whole course, from its rise until it opens out into the plain of Gabella, its bed is rocky, and the current rapid and even dangerous, from the number of boulders which rise above the surface, or lie hid a little below the water line. It here receives the waters of the Trebisat or Trebitza, and the Bregava, the former flowing from the NW., the latter from the district of Stolatz in the SE. A few miles higher up is a narrow valley formed by two ranges of hills, whose rocky declivities slope down to, or in some places overhang, the river's bed. From one spot where the hills project, there is a pretty view of the town of Pogitel on the left bank. A large mosque, with a dome and minaret and a clock-tower, are the principal objects which catch the eye; but, being pressed for time, I was unable to cross the river, and cannot therefore from my own observation enter into any accurate details. The position is, however, exactly described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson as follows: 'It stands in a semicircular recess, like an immense shell, in the side of the hill, and at the two projecting extremities the walls run down from the summit to the river, the upper part being enclosed by a semicircular wall, terminated at each end by a tower.'

Half way between Metcovich and Mostar is a little village, which boasts an humble species of Khan.

Here I found the engineer in charge of the telegraph, a Dalmatian by birth. His head-quarters are at Bosna Serai, but he was then making a tour for the purposes of inspection and repair.

The telegraphic communication throughout the Ottoman Empire is now more general than its internal condition would warrant us in supposing. Indeed, in travelling through the country, one cannot fail to be struck by the strange reversal of the general order of things. Thus, for instance, both telegraph and railways have preceded the construction of ordinary roads.

And therein lies one of the principal causes of the hopelessness of Turkish civilisation; that it has been prematurely forced upon her, and that, in order to keep a position among the European nations, she is driven to adopt the highest triumphs of European intelligence without passing through the intermediate stages by which they have been acquired. The rapidly remunerative nature of a telegraphic service is obviously sufficient reason for its being thus early established; but its duties devolve entirely, not upon Turks, but upon the foreign employés of the government. It is, moreover, little used by the Mussulman population, and consequently tends but little to the enlightenment of the masses. On the subject of roads, I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, and must therefore beg the indulgent reader to accompany me along the bridle-path which takes us to the capital of Herzegovina.

Descending from the hills our progress became more rapid; yet, despite this, it was some hours after sunset before we entered the suburbs. As usual in a Turkish town, dogs and gravestones were to be found in abundance, the latter with their turbanned heads looking spectral and grim in the cold moonlight. Saving an occasional group of Mussulmans sitting silent and pompous in the dusty road, the city appeared perfectly deserted; and, as my now jaded ponies scrambled over the ill-paved streets, I began to speculate on the probability of passing the night al fresco. As may be conceived, then, it was with considerable satisfaction that I found myself, chibouque in hand, awaiting the arrival of the Pacha, who, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, had expressed his