Travels and Politics in the Near East ... With map and illustrations

Front matter

Travels and Politics in the Near East BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE BALKANS Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro. Vol. 44 of the " Story of the Nations." Large crown Svo, cloth gilt, $s. Press Opinions. " A hook which cannot fail to give English readers a fuller and clearer grasp of some of the essential conditions of the problems now awaiting solution, or in course of solution, in South-Eastern Europe." — The Times. " Mr. Miller's handbook is as useful as it is opportune, while it is not overloaded with dry historical details." — Scotsman. London : T. FISHER UNWIN. STAMBUL AND THE GOLDEN HORN Travels and Politics IN THE NEAR EAST By William Miller WITH MAP ANT) ILLUSTRATIONS ATHENS. LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE [All rights reset veil.] TO MY WIFE, THRICE MY COMPANION ON THE BALKAN " Ei 6s ii7r' £voc ap\oiro, s) (jipovioi Kara rwvrb, afia\6v f av £(>), Kal 7roXX(j) Kpanarov wavriov iOvtwv, Kara -yvoi/iiji' rrjv ifirjv. AAAa yap rovro airopov atpt kui iipi'i^avov Al Kort 'iv yivt,rai." — HERODOTUS, V. 3.

Preface

This book is the result of four visits to the Balkan Peninsula in the years 1894, 1896, 1897, and 1898, and of a long study of the Eastern question. While I can honestly say that I have acquainted myself with all the principal works which have appeared on the Near East during the last ten years, I have in all cases relied upon my own personal observations and inquiries, conducted upon the spot, for the statements made in the following pages. Most persons who haA'e written upon South-Eastern Europe have treated the subject in a partisan spirit, some championing the claims of one nationality, others espousing the cause of another. Not being an enthusiastic admirer of any one Balkan race to the exclusion of all others, I have endeavoured to discover what is most for the material progress and welfare of them all.

The critics of " The Balkans " were kind enough to say that I had been impartial in narrating the history of the Peninsula ; I trust that I may be found to have been equally so in describing its present condition. I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to a host of persons who have assisted me with in- X Preface formation and advice. Among them I would specially mention Baron Kutschera, Baron von Benko and Baron von Mollinary, of Sarajevo ; Baron de Goumoe'ns and M. Bohumil Para of Plevlje; Mr. R. J. Kennedy, C.M.G., British Minister to Montenegro ; the Montenegrin Prime Minister and his colleague, the Minister of Finance ; M. Zaimis, the present, and M. Rhallis, the ex-Prime Minister of Greece ; General Con stantine Smolenski, the Greek Minister of War ; ' M. Deligeorgis, M. Lambros Coromelas, and Mr. Arthur Hill, of Athens, as well as the editors of the "Ao-tv and the 'Ak/joVoXic ; Dr. and Mrs. Dawes, of Corfu, and Professor G. Gelcic, of Ragusa ; Sir A. Biliotti, Herr Pinter, Herr Berinda, and M. Lyghounes in Crete ; H. H. the Prince of Samos and Mr. Denys L. Marc, British Consul in that island; H.E. Baron Von Calice, Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Con stantinople ; Mr. Block, dragoman of the British Embassy, and Mr. Tarring, late judge of the Consular Court ; Sir J. W. Whittall, Mr. F. S. Cobb, British Postmaster, Mr. Edwin Pears, Dr. Washburn, Professor Panaretoff, Dr. Dickson and Mr. WTitaker, of the same place ; Consul- General and Mrs. Blunt and Dr. House, of Salonica ; Mr. Wratislaw, M. Shopoff, and M. Constantine Caltcheff, of Philippopolis ; Dr. Clark and Dr. Kingsbury, of Samakov ; M. Grekoff and Professor Slaveikoff, of Sofia ; and the Bulgarian Left office November io.

Preface diplomatic agents at Constantinople, Athens, and Cetinje. I am also much obliged to Miss M. Chadwick for a number of photographs. I have adopted the Croatian system of spelling the Slav names of persons and places, because it is usually found in the best books, and avoids the confusion which other methods of transliteration produce. Moreover, Croatian has this advantage for Western readers — that it employs the Latin character. For those who are not familiar with it I append a short table of pronunciation. c is pronounced tz e.g. Marica = Maritza c ,, ch e.g. Petrovic = Petrovich c ,, tch e.g. BoCac = Botchatz j ,, y e.g. Jablanica = Yablanitza s „ sh e.g. Dusan = Dushan z ,, j e.g. Zabliak = Jabliak No good English map of the Peninsula being in existence, I have obtained permission to use the best German map, which I have corrected so as to show the strategic rectification of the Thessalian frontier at the peace of December 4, 1897.

Un fortunately this has necessitated leaving the bulk of the names in the map in their German dress. W. M. 10, Cheyne Gardens, Chelsea. October 31, 1898.

Introduction

When the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula are meditating a journey to any of the countries which lie to the west of them, they speak of " going to Europe," thereby avowedly considering themselves as quite apart from the European system. So far as " Europe " is concerned this geographical inac curacy possesses considerable justification. For of all parts of our continent none is so little known to the average traveller as the Near East, from which he is nowadays but two-and-a-half days' distant by rail. It is no exaggeration to say that many reg-ions of Africa are more familiar to the cultured Englishman or German than the lands which lie beyond the Adriatic. Only when a newspaper correspondent reports from time to time that some fresh conspiracy has been detected against the King of Servia or the Prince of Bulgaria, that the Greeks are fighting against the Turks or paying their creditors, and that Prince Nicholas of Montenegro is disposing of one of his daughters in marriage, does public attention turn for a moment to the Balkan States.

Yet to the politician and the his torical student, to the traveller and the artist, to Introduction the man of business and the man of letters, few countries should prove so interesting as these. In the Balkan Peninsula that uncanny bird, the Eastern question, has its eyrie, and there one day, when Russia is ready, the fate of the Ottoman Empire may be decided. There, too, under the auspices of Austria- Hungary, perhaps the most remarkable experiment in the government of an Oriental country is being conducted ; while, in other parts of the same Peninsula, young and newly-emancipated nations are demonstrating their capacity, or incapacity, for managing their own affairs on European lines with all the modern apparatus of Parliament and Press. It has been reserved for the Balkans, too, to present us with the most curious instance of patriarchal government now extant ; and, in common with Asiatic Turkey, to prove to the world that great military poAver may co-exist Avith the feeblest and most corrupt of civil administrations.

Here again, in the past, great empires, of which Western Europe is almost uncon scious, rose up at the bidding of some Bulgarian or Servian Tsar, and then fell at his death, yet, falling, left memories behind them which have had a lastino effect on the politics of our time. The battlefield of Kossovo, the exploits of the great Emperor Dusan, and the feats of the mediæval rulers of Bulgaria these are scarcely even names to most of us in the West, but in the Balkans are living, and sometimes very awkward, realities. Here, four times within the present century, the armies of the Russian and the Introduction Turk have met ; and here, just twenty years ago, the collective wisdom of Europe closed the last great war of our time. The traveller in pursuit of the picturesque or in flight from the commonplace will find here what he seeks and can escape what he shuns.

Full justice has scarcely even now been done to the natural beauties of South-Eastern Europe. The splendid primæval forests of Bosnia, the azure fiords of Dalmatia, the snow mountains on the Macedonian frontier of Bulgaria, the eentle English scenery of Servia, and the grim magni ficence of Montenegro's limestone citadel — these remain, even now, almost unvisited. And in the Balkan Peninsula the interest of travel ancl the beauties of the landscape are immensely enhanced by the extraordinary variety of costume and customs, which still happily linger on in most parts of the Near East. No Italian market-place can show such an amount of colour as the squares of the Dalmatian coast-towns ; no Swiss mountaineer can compare in physique or in dress with the gigantic, crimson-clad highlanders of Cetinje ; no artist's model is half so artistic as the shaven Albanian, with his arsenal of weapons.

From the practical standpoint, too, the British trader might with advantage turn more attention to countries which, though individually small, between them muster over ten million inhabitants, and where the British commercial traveller is almost unknown. And, finally, to the literary man, the Balkan Peninsula, with its extraordinary medley of races and languages, Introduction affords a field of observation which is all but virgin soil. Here the Bulgarian and the Greek, the Albanian and the Serb, the Osmanli, the Spanish Jew and the Roumanian, live side by side. Here we have the curious phenomena of people speaking practically the same language yet using a different alphabet ; of the same race, split up into three distinct religions ; of converts from Christianity becoming more Mussulman than the Turks them selves.

In short, the Balkan Peninsula is, broadly speaking, the land of contradictions. Everything is the exact opposite of what it might reasonably be expected to be ; the traveller finds himself in the realms of romance, where all his wonted ideas are turned topsy-turvy, and soon falls into the native distinction between what they do "on the Balkan" and what they do in " Europe." CONTENTS

Chapter I. The Threshold Of The Near East

: ISTRIA AND DALMATIA. PAGE From Trieste to Pisino — Istrian politics — The Fo'iba — .Abbazia — Pola — Characteristics of Dalmatia — Dalmatian seamen — Lussin-piccolo — Zara — Sebenico — The Kerka Falls — Dalmatian dress — Slavs and Italians — Want of railways — Trail — Spalato — Ragusa, the "South Slavonic Athens" — Dalmatian politics — Lacroma — Valley of the Ombla — The Bocche di Cattaro . . . 1-40

Chapter II

A PATRIARCHAL PRINCIPALITY : MONTENEGRO. Effects of Princess Helena's marriage — Growth of Cetinje — Character of Prince Nicholas — His relations with England — His political aims — His relations with Austria-Hungary — A benevolent autocrat — His Court — Montenegrin dress — Crown Prince Danilo — Montenegrin Ministers — Christmas at Cetinje — The standing army — Roads and Post-office — Montenegrin harbours — Trade and Education — Scenery — Rjeka — Podgorica — Diorflea — Danilovgrad — The Monasteries of Ostrog — Niksic— Ride to Risano . 41-86

Chapter III. The Model Balkan State

: BOSNIA AND THE HERCE- GOVINA. History prior to the Occupation — The first four years — Religious equality: Catholics, Orthodox, and Mussulmans — Education — Technical training— The land question — Railways— Government hotels — Trade — The Press — Administration — Montenegrin aspirations — Taxation — Public health — Baron and Baroness Von Kallay — The future of the Occupied territory .... 87-130 Contents

Chapter IV. Through The Occupied Territory

PAGE From Ragusa to Metkovic : the Narenta Canal— Incidents of railway-travel— Pocitelj — Mostar— Bridge and bazar— Costume — The source of the Buna— Radobolje— Jablanica— The Bogomiles —Konjica— The Bosnian Capital -Its buildings old and new— Cemetriesand dervishes— A Bosnian bath— Travnik and its tattooed women— Jajce— The Last Bosnian king— Jezero— Banjaluka— The Croatian frontier— By wood train to the Bosna— Maglaj, past and present — ATranduk 13 1_I77

Chapter V

'TAA'IXT AUSTRIAN AND TURK : THE SANDZAK OF NOVI- BAZAR. From Sarajevo to the frontier — Cajnica — Administration : the mixed Occupation — Judicial system — Political importance of the " military colony " — From the frontier to Plevlje— Plevlje — The Pasha — Monastery of the Holy Trinity — Railway prospects — Down the Drina on a raft — Visegrad and Rogatica — Back to Sarajevo 1 78—205

Chapter VI. Barbarism And Civilisation

: THE ALBANIAN COAST AND CORFU. The Albanian question — Medua — Durazzo, past and present — Valona — Santi Quaranta — Corfu, Homeric and British — The King's Villa — Corfu during the war — Palaeokastri/.za — Ascension Day — Cephalonia — Zante 206-236

Chapter VII. Greece

: THE COUNTRY AND THE CAPITAL. A Greek inn — Olympia — Railways — Patras — Monasteries: Megaspelaion — Greek saddles — Delphi — Corinth : its canal and citadel — Nauplia — The Easter dances at Megara — Characteristics of .\thens — Good Friday and the earthquakes — Athens during the war : the Press, the hospitals and the refugees — Piræus — Marathon — Brigandage — A'olo — The Turks in Thessaly . 237-278 Contents

Chapter VIII. Greece

: DEMOCRACY UNLIMITED. PAGE The King : the reversion of feeling in his favour — Greek politicians : MM. Delyannis, Rhallis, Zaimis, Streit, Deligeorgis, and Karapanos — General Smolenski — The Greek Piirliament — Parties — Salaries — Reforms now advocated — The "spoils system" — Over-education — Neglect of the provinces — Police — Is a second chamber possible ? — The King's duty — Importance of Greece to Great Britain — The future 279-320

Chapter IX. Crete Under The Concert

The quay at Canea — Western amusements — Conflicting jurisdictions — Russia's aims in Crete — The British at Candia — The Christians at Aliakanou — Isolation of the two parties — Devastation of the island — The bright side — A Mussulman picnic — The market at Halmyros — The Candidature of Prince George : conditions of its success — Disadvantages of the Prince — AA'ill Crete desire ultimate union with Greece ? — Specimens of Turkish misrule — Cost of Crete to Turkey 322-352

Chapter X. Samos

: A STUDY IN AUTONOMY. Vathy — The Prince of Samos — No analogy with Crete — Prosperity of Samos — Its Government and educational system — Success of Autonomy — .knottier autonomous island : Ada Kaleh . . 353-362

Chapter XI. The Promised Land

: MACEDONIA. Salonica, seen from the sea and on land — The Macedonian question — The doctrine of nationalities — Mixture of races in Macedonia — The Bulgarian claims — The Servian claims — The claims of Greece — Those of the Roumanians and of the Albanians — "Macedonia for the Macedonians " — Austria-Hungary at Salonica 363-389 XX Contents

Chapter XII. The Cynosure Of The Near East

: STAMBUL. PAGE Turkish officialdom — The spy system — Censorship of the Press — The foreign post-offices — The currency — A bookseller's experiences — Vol teskereh — Impediments to trade — The Sultan and his system — Cause of the Armenian massacres — Robert College — Turkish women — Brusa— Society at Stambul — The dogs — Montenegrin cavasses — Fires — A householder's woes — Turkish time — Suburban resorts ......... 390_432

Chapter XIII. An Experiment In Emancipation

: BULGARIA. Bulgarian coinage — Bourgas — Philippopolis — Through the Valley of Roses to the Shipka Pass — Bulgarian surgery — The " Bulgarian Switzerland " — Missionaries at Samakov — The servant question — Sofia — New railways — The Sobranje — Prince Boris — Prince Ferdinand — The politicians : Dr. Stoiloff, M. Grekoff, and M. Nacevic — Treatment of Mussulmans — Slivnica — Relations with Servia — King Alexander and his father — Servia and Austria- Hungary — Servian scenery — Nis — Belgrade . . . 433-478

Chapter XIV. The Great Poaa'ers In The Near East

Solutions of the Eastern Question — A Balkan Confederation — A Servian, Bulgarian, or Greek Empire — A reformed Turkey — A settlement by the Great Powers — The Eastern policy of Great Britain — Decline of British trade and influence — Growth of German power — France and Italy in the Near East — Austria-Hungary and Russia — The " sick man's " protracted death-agony . 479-509 Index jX1 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS STAMBUL Frontispiece Vignette ATHENS PAGE THE FOIBA, PISINO 5 THE AMPHITHEATRE, POLA 9 CASA ROSSINI, SEBENICO 17 THE LOGGIA, TRAU 23 SPALATO 25 THE MARKET-PLACE, RAGUSA 29 PALACE OF THE RECTOR, RAGUSA 31 CASTELNUOVO 57 CATTARO 59 PALACE AT CETINJE. PRINCE NICHOLAS OF SERVIA AND THE KING 48 PORTRAIT OF PRINCE NICHOLAS OUTSIDE TION .... BRITISH LEGA- 57 POSTMASTER AND LANDLORD 70 MONTENEGRIN BOYS 7" 8o DANILOVGRAD 88 COFFIN OF LAST BOSNIAN KING CORPUS CHRISTI DAY AT MOSTAR 9-' MOSTAR, HERCEGOVINA List of Illustrations PAGE 95 MECCA PILGRIMS A MUSSULMAN WOMAN SARAJEVO 100 124 126 BARONESS VON KALLAY.

" A AVHOLE BOATLOAD OF MEN AND WOMEN " MUSSULMAN AVOMAN OF MOSTAR 132 135 136 CHRISTIAN AVOMEN AT MOSTAR THE SOURCE OF THE BUNA 139 "A BOSNIAK CARRYING A RAM ON HIS BACK" THE BAZAR AT SARAJEVO i46 148 " THE SHADY TURN OF THE RIVER WHERE THE MUSSUL- MAN DELIGHTS TO DRINK HIS COFFEE " i5i STREET IN TRAVNIK 154 i56 IN THE BAZAR AT TRAVNIK i5« JAJCE : THE OLD BOSNIAN CAPITAL PENANCE AT JAJCE i6o " THE BEAUTIFUL MINARET . . . AVHICH ADORNS THE FERHADIJA MOSQUE " .... i66 VRANDUK CAJNICA PLEVLJE i75 i8o I9I "THE SERB AVOMEN, AVHO HERE THEIR LONG GARMENTS " . AVEAR . . . KILTS OVER !93 THE BAZAR, PLEVLJE i95 OUR RAFT ON THE DRINA OLD BRIDGE AT VISEGRAD GIPSIES, VISEGRAD i g8 199 200 A STREET SCENE, VISEGRAD List of Illustrations PAGE 202 CHILDREN AT VISEGRAD OUR CARRIAGE AT PODROMANJA OLIA'E GROVE, CORFU . 204 215 ROYAL PALACE, FORMER RESIDENCE OF BRITISH LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER . . . . . 221 " ROUGH MOUNTAINEERS . . .

AVITH THEIR A'AST CLOAKS OF FRIEZE" . . . ... 224 "A HUMBLE HAN . . . SUPPORTED ON AVHITE- AVASHED PILLARS "...... 228 PALAEOKASTRIZZA, CORFU CORFIOTE WOMAN . 230 234 DELPHI 248 THE CORINTH CANAL M. DELYANNIS . 251 286 M. RHALLIS 290 GENERAL SMOLENSKI (MINISTER OF AVAR) CANEA, AFTER THE RIOTS OF FEBRUARY, 1897 THE QUAY OF CANEA .... 299 321 322 MOUND AT CANEA (SHOAVING FLAGS OF TURKEY AND THE POAA'ERS) ...... 324 327 STREET IN CANDIA CHRISTIAN INSURGENTS AT ALIAKANOU RETHY'MNO . 330 333 336 A MUSSULMAN PICNIC NEAR CANDIA SIR A. BILIOTTI AND COLONEL SIR H. CHERMSIDE AVITH GROUP OF CRETAN CHIEFS 34i 343 CRETAN BOYS CANDIA . 345 35° A BAIRAM RAM : CANEA List of Illustrations PAGE 352 CRETAN LADIES SHOPPING VATHY : SAMOS 353 355 POLICEMAN AT A'ATHY SAMIANS 359 364 "SALONICA, SEEN FROM THE SEA " 368 "THE FINE OLD ARCH OF THE EMPEROR GALERIUS A JEAVESS OF SALONICA 383 396 THE BRITISH POST OFFICE, GALATA " THE LORD OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE GOES FORTH TO HIS DEVOTIONS" ..... 406 CARTS USED TO CONVEY MASSACRED ARMENIANS .

" THE GREAT TOAVERS OF THE ' CASTLE OF EUROPE ' " BRUSA ....... 409 4i3 419 RUSSIAN MONUMENT, SAN STEFANO BULGARIAN BRIDE 43 1 434 438 PHILIPPOPOLIS BULGARIANS DANCING BULGARIAN PEASANTS THE PALACE, SOFIA 442 446 457 "THE TINY PRINCE DRIVES out" 46 1 BRIDGE OVER THE MARICA, SCENE OF THE PHILIPPO- POLIS MURDER 464 JOSEPH HANEMIAN, THE MURDERED CLERK OF THE BRITISH POST OFFICE 492 MAP (IN POCKET A END OF VOLUME). B Travels and Politics in the Near East

Chapter I The Threshold Of The Near East

: ISTRIA AND DALMATIA OF the countless travellers Avho pass through Trieste every year on their Avay to the East, few have the curiosity to explore the peninsula, AA'hich runs far out into the azure-blue AA'aters of the Adriatic and divides the great Austrian seaport from the lovely gulf of the Quarnero. Istria is still the least knoAvn of all the Austrian provinces, although the "discovery" of Abbazia by an enterprising raihvay company has in recent years attracted the attention of Viennese society to the charms of its eastern coast. But, in spite of the excellent service of steamers, Avhich call at all the principal places on its shores, and the state raihA'ay, AA-hich traA'erses the interior from end to end, the Istrian peninsula is less familiar to British tourists than that of Sinai, and many educated Englishmen haA'e never so much as heard its name.

Yet no country in Europe presents such rapid and remarkable changes of scenery. At one point you have Avaving groves of laurel and smiling vineyards, Avith a climate Avhich recalls that of the French Riviera ; at another, barren rocks and a total lack of vegetation remind you that you are in the domain of the bora, that terrible Avind, Avhich is the scourge of the Adriatic, Avhich blows railway trains off the track and sweeps away trees and unroofs buildings in its headlong course. The soil, too, is all the colours of the rainbow. White Istria, yellow Istria, red Istria follow each other in quick suc cession, and, Avhen lighted up by the rays of the setting sun, the red earth becomes a gorgeous purple, marvellous to behold. The Istrian raihvay, which slowly winds its tortuous path up the hills above the gulf of Trieste, enters the stony desert of the Karst, a region Avhich for barrenness is unequalled in all Europe.

Yet there is something quaint and even attractive about these limestone boulders scattered hither and thither broadcast over the land, like missiles in some battle of the giants. We pass by deep ravines, formed by almost perpendicular Avails of rock, Avith here and there a tiny chapel clinging on to the mountain side, while, far beloAA-, the sea shimmers in the sunlight. And then the line turns doAvn into the peninsula, and the quaint old toAvns of Istria, Avith names as picturesque as their situation, begin to appear. The fat fingers of a very loquacious lady, Avho is going to Pola, wave to and fro in front of the carriage AvindoAv, as she discusses her family affairs with a neAv-found acquaintance, and prevent us from seeing as much of the view as Ave could Avish. But a lucid interval fortunately intervenes as Ave approach Pinguente, once the seat of the margraA-es of Istria, AA'ho built the Avails Avhich still surround it.

Perched on a hilltop, Pinguente seems the very ideal of those old Italian cities Avhich Virgil has so graphically depicted as " piled by force on the summit of steep rocks " — congesta manu prœruptis oppida saxis. It was evening when we arrived at Pisino, the most interesting place in the interior of the peninsula, and Ave Avondered Avhether a habitable inn existed in so primitive a spot, for Ave had read strange descriptions of Istrian in the Near East accommodation. But our fears AA'ere speedily set at rest by a smart young fellow, AA'ho at once stepped forward and offered to escort us to the Aquila Nera. The " Black Eagle " proved to be a comfortable inn, such as one finds in small Italian towns, where the linen AA-as of spotless Avhiteness and the Istrian wine at 80 kreuzers (or is. 4d.) a litre, as sound a vintage as the heart of man could desire.

Our host, though an Istrian by birth, AA'as, like some of his compatriots, an Italian by sentiment. He had, indeed, hung up in his parlour the inevitable portraits of the Austrian Emperor and Empress, AA'hich adorn every inn, however humble, throughout the length and breadth of the Monarchy. But his real interest Avas centred on a map of the seat of the Avar, then going on in Abyssinia, by the aid of AA'hich he Avas folloAA'ing the fortunes of the Italian troops Avith the closest attention. Indeed, some Italian extremists go so far as to include Istria in that " unredeemed Italy " which they hope one day to see comprised within the kingdom of Umberto. It is true that, though Istria has been in the uninterrupted possession of the House of Hapsburg ever since 1814, a large section of the population, amounting at the last census to 45 per cent., is Italian by race and language, just as it AA-as in the days when, prior to 1797, Venice OAvned the peninsula.

Three years ago the Italian element in Istria AA-as particularly demonstrative against the Slavs, for here, as in Dalmatia, though in vastly different proportions, these two races practically divide the country betvA'een them. When it Avas decided that public notices at the Courts of Justice should be put up in both languages, and that jurymen should be expected to understand the hvo idioms, the indignation of the Italian party found vent in acts of violence. At Pirano the military had to be called out ; at another place the mob tore doAvn the offending notice-boards ; and finally in the Near East the commotion was such that the Government dissolved the local assembly, Avhich meets to discuss the internal affairs of the province. At the beginning of this year that body Avas convoked, not, as usual, at Parenzo, but at Pola.

Since then, encouraged by a section of the Italian press, the agitation has gone on intermittently. But no sensible statesman in Italy regards the Irredentists as serious persons, or the cession of Istria as within the range of practical politics. We Avere aroused early in the morning by the sound of the bells, AA'hich were being rung Avith tremendous energy in the adjacent campanile. It Avas a great festival of the Church, and a long line of peasants, cap in hand and Avith their fingers devoutly clasped in front of them, defiled through the streets behind the priests, AA'ho AA-ere bearing the sacred banners before them. The men Avere excellent types of the Istrian people — stolid, phlegmatic felloAvs, Avho never manifest the smallest interest or curiosity in a stranger, though strangers are none too common in their country.

In Sicily I have known a Avhole croAvd of street loungers come up to my bedroom for the mere pleasure of hearing me order my dinner or pay my drh'er, AA'hile a single question, addressed to a bystander, Avould at once attract a host of inquisitive onlookers, each eager to know my business, and haA'e a finger in it, if possible. But your Istrian is not of that sort. He goes on his Avay, perfectly regardless of the stranger within his gates. In his rough frieze coat and short breeches he looks intensely bucolic, but the huge earring, Avhich he wears in one ear, gh-es him a dis tinguishing characteristic Avhich is quite his own. Pisino possesses in the Fo'iba a natural attraction, Avhich is at present undefiled by the hoof of the tripper. If situated in Germany or Switzerland it Avould have long ago been disfigured by advertisements of chocolate, a THE FOIBA, PISINO cog-Avheel raihvay, tin edifices from AA'hich to admire the vieAv, and all the other abominations invented by tourist associations for the " improvement " of nature.

Here the Foiba is left in its native wildness, and the visitor to his own devices. Suddenly, at the end of the main street, one comes upon a grand old donjon, dating from the eleventh century, whose Avails are still emblazoned with the arms of the counts who once dwelt there, Avhile a whole colony of swallows have made their nests beneath its hospitable eaves. The castle is built on a terrace of rock, and 300 feet beloAv it the river Foiba winds its AA'ay along the bottom of the ravine, and disappears in a deep chasm beneath the earth. Slowly and by a precipitous path we descended into the gulf and climbed over the boulders of rock, AA'hich mark the course of the stream, up to the mouth of the chasm. No human being has ever explored its inmost recesses and disco\Tered AA'here the rh'er ultimately emerges from its subterranean channel.

A young Austrian official, Count Mathias Esdorf, once made the attempt in a small boat, but with no other result than to inspire M. Jules Verne with the plot of one of his most exciting noA'els. In the French romance a prisoner escapes from his cell in the donjon, climbs down into the chasm and gains his freedom through the hole, or buco, as the natives call it, into which the Fo'iba pours its Avaters. It is, however, supposed that the channel communicates with the fiord of Leme, which runs inland towards Pisino from the west coast of Istria. At any rate, objects thrown into the buco have been picked up near the estuary of the fiord. I have seen several of these mysterious underground passages in the Balkan Peninsula, where they are not uncommon, but only one of them, that near Mostar, can compare in grandeur with that of the Foiba.

The view from below of the beetling rocks, rising perpendicular from the chasm, with the in the Near East toAvn nestling on the summit, the grey old Avails of the donjon, and the distant roar of the Avaters beneath the ground, make a great impression, only partially conveyed to those Avho have not seen and heard them by the aid of a travelling photographer from Pola, Avhom AA'e unearthed in a back-yard. It Avould be difficult to conceive a greater contrast than that betAveen this mediæval spot, which has not changed since the days of its ancient counts, and the loA-ely Avatering-place of Abbazia, the gem of the Istrian coast. Centuries ago a Benedictine Abbey AA-as founded there and gave Abbazia its name, but until the last sixteen years that .iioav celebrated health resort, patronised by emperors and kings, and striving to rival Cannes and Mentone, Avas nothing but a feAV fishermen's huts.

But in 1882 the manager of the Southern Raihvay Company of Austria, struck Avith the charms of the place, resolved to make Abbazia into a fashionable Curort. Large hotels, the property of the railway company, iioav rise amidst groves of laurel, AA'ith gardens running doAvn to the bright blue AA'aters of the b.ay. Shops and a colonnade have been built to exhibit all the latest fashions of Vienna, and Avhen Ave arrived at the little station of Mattuglie, AA'hich serves Abbazia, Ave realised at once from the photograph in the booking-office, which represented the meeting of the German and Austrian Emperors on the occasion of their visit in 1894, that the fortune of the place Avas made. But nothing could spoil the beauty of Abbazia, though its SAA'eet simplicity Avas gone, and the scale of prices at its palatial hotels is someAvhat different from the modest sum of 3 gulden, 27 kreuzers (or about 5s. 6d.), which AA-e had paid for bed and a Avhole day's board for hvo persons at Pisino.