Travels and politics in the Near East

Front matter

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

THE BALKANS

Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro.

Preface

This book Is the result of four visits to the Balkan Peninsula in the years 1894, i^Q^, 1B97, 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 have 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-

ix

Preface

formation and advice. Among them I would specially mention Baron Kutschera, Baron von Benko and Baron von Molllnary, of Sarajevo ; Baron de Goumoens and M. Bohumll 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. Rhallls, the ex-Prlme Minister of Greece ; General Constantlne SmolenskI, the Greek Minister of War ; ^ M. Dellgeorgis, M. Lambros Coromelas, and Mr. Arthur Hill, of Athens, as well as the editors of the "Ao-ru and the 'A/c/ooVoXtc ; Dr. and Mrs. Dawes, of Corfu, and Professor G. Gelcic, of Ragusa ; Sir A. BlllottI, Herr Pinter, Herr Berlnda, 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 Callce, Austro- Hungarian Ambassador at Constantinople ; 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. Whitaker, of the same place ; Consul- General and Mrs. Blunt and Dr. House, of Salonica ; Mr, Wratlslaw, M. Shopoff, and M. Constantlne Caltcheff, of Phlllppopolls ; Dr. Clark and Dr. Kingsbury, of Samakov ; M. Grekoff and Professor Slaveikoff, of Sofia ; and the Bulgarian

' Left otiice November lo.

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. BoSac = Botchatz

j „ y e.g. Jablanica = Yablanitza

s „ sh d.^. 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. Unfortunately 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.

XI

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 inaccuracy 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 regions 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 historical student, to the traveller and the artist, to

xiii

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 power may co-exist with the feeblest and most corrupt of civil administrations. Here again, in the past, great empires, of which Western Europe is almost unconscious, 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 lasting effect on the politics of our time. The battlefield of Kossovo, the exploits of the great Emperor Dusan, and the feats of the mediaeval 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

xiv

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 primaeval forests of Bosnia, the azure fiords of Dalmatia, the snow mountains on the Macedonian frontier of Bulgaria, the gentle English scenery of Servia, and the grim magnificence of Montenegro's limestone citadel — these remain, even now, almost unvislted. And in the Balkan Peninsula the interest of travel and 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 w^ith 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,

XV

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 themselves. 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."

XVI

Chapter I. The Threshold Of The Near East : Istria And Dalmatia

PAGE

From Trieste to Pisino— Istrian politics — The Foiba — Abbazia — Pola — Characteristics of Dahnatia — Dalmatian seamen — Lussin-piccolo — Zara — Sebenico — The Kerka Falls — Dalmatian dress — Slavs and Italians — Want of railways — Trau — Spalato — Ragusa, the "South Slavonic Athens" — Dalmatian politics — Lacroma — Valley of the Ombla— The Bocche di Cattaro . . . 1-40

CHAPTER n.

A PATRIARCHAL PRINCIPALITY : MONTENEGRO.

Effects of Princess Helena's marriage — Grow^th 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-ofBce — Montenegrin harbours — Trade and Education — Scenery — Rjeka — Podgorica — Dioclea — 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 .... ^7-130

xvii

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 — Vranduk I3i-i77

Chapter V

'tWIXT 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 178-205

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 — Palaeokastrizza — Ascension Day — Cephalonia — Zante 206-236

Chapter VII. Greece : The Country And The Capital

Greek inn — Olympia — Railways — Patras — Monasteries : Megaspelaion— Greek saddles — Delphi— Corinth : its canal and citadel — Nauplia — The Easter dances at Megara — Characteristics of Athens — Good Friday and the earthquakes — Athens during the war : the Press, the hospitals and the refugees — Piraeus — Marathon — Brigandage — Volo — The Turks in Thessaly . 237-278 xviii

Contents

Chapter VIII. Greece : Democracy Unlimited

PAGE

The King : the reversion of feeHng in his favour — Greek politicians : MM, Delyannis, Rhallis, Zaimis, Streit, Deligeorgis, and Karapanos — General Smolenski — The Greek Padiament — 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 — Will 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 — Another 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

xix

Contents

Chapter XII. The Cynosure Of The Near East : Stambul

/ PAGE

Turkish officialdom — The spy system — Censdrship of the Press — The foreign post-offices — The currency — A bookseller's experiences— Yol tcskerch — Impediments to trade — The Sultan and his system — Cause of the Armenian massacres — Robert College — Turkish women — Brusa — Society at Stambul — The dogs — Montenegrin cavasscs — 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 Sohranje — 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 — Ni§ — Belgrade . . . 433-478

Chapter XIV. The Great Powers 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

XX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

STAMBUL .....

ATHENS . . . . .

THE FOIBA, PISINO .....

THE AMPHITHEATRE, POLA ....

CASA ROSSINI, SEBENICO ....

THE LOGGIA, TRAU . . . ' .

SPALATO ......

THE MARKET-PLACE, RAGUSA

PALACE OF THE RECTOR, RAGUSA

CASTELNUOVO ......

CATTARO

PALACE AT CETINJE. PRINCE NICHOLAS AND THE KING OF SERVIA ......

PORTRAIT OF PRINCE NICHOLAS OUTSIDE *BRITISH LEGA- TION ......

POSTMASTER AND LANDLORD ....

MONTENEGRIN BOYS .....

DANILOVGRAD ......

COFFIN OF LAST BOSNIAN KING

CORPUS CHRISTI DAY AT MOSTAR . . .

MOSTAR, HERCEGOVINA . . . .

xxi

Frontispiece Vignette

PAGE

• 23 25

• 29 31

. 37 39

57 70 76 80 88 92

List of Illustrations

PAGE

MECCA PILGRIMS . . . . . -95

A MUSSULMAN WOMAN .... lOO

BARONESS VON KALLAY. . . . . I26

*'A whole boatload of MEN AND WOMEN" . . I32

MUSSULMAN WOMAN OF MOSTAR . . . 135

CHRISTIAN WOMEN AT MOSTAR .... I36

THE SOURCE OF THE BUNA . . . . I39

"a BOSNIAK CARRYING A RAM ON HIS BACK " . . I46

THE BAZAR AT SARAJEVO . . . . I48

STREET IN TRAVNIK ..... 154

IN THE BAZAR AT TRAVNIK . . . • I56

JAJCE : THE OLD BOSNIAN CAPITAL . . . 158

PENANCE AT JAJCE . . . . . 160

''the beautiful MINARET . . . WHICH ADORNS THE

FERHADIJA MOSQUE " .... 166

''the SERB WOMEN, WHO HERE WEAR . . . KILTS OVER

THEIR LONG GARMENTS" . . . , I93

THE BAZAR, PLEVLJE . . . . 195

OUR RAFT ON THE DRINA .... I98

OLD BRIDGE AT VISEGRAD . . . . I99

GIPSIES, VISEGRAD . . . . . 200

A STREET SCENE, V1§EGRAD .... 201

xxii

List of Illustrations

PAGE

CHILDREN AT VISEGRAD .... 202

OUR CARRIAGE AT PODROMANJA ... . 2O4

OLIVE GROVE, CORFU ..... 215

ROYAL PALACE, FORMER RESIDENCE OF BRITISH LORD

HIGH COMMISSIONER ..... 221

ROUGH MOUNTAINEERS . . . WITH THEIR VAST CLOAKS

''a humble HAN . . . SUPPORTED ON WHITE- WASHED palaeokastrizza, corfu .... 230

corfiote woman ...... 234 the corinth canal . . . . • 251

m. delyannis . . . . . . 286 general smolenski (minister of war) . . 299

canea, after the riots of february, 1897 . . 32i

the quay of canea ..... 322

mound at canea (showing flags of turkey and the street in candia ..... 327

christian insurgents at aliakanou . . . 33o a mussulman picnic near candia . . . 336

sir a. biliotti and colonel sir h. chermside with

group of cretan chiefs . . . 34i

cretan boys ...... 343

A BAIRAM RAM : CANEA . . . . • 35°

xxiii

List of Illustrations

PAGE

CRETAN LADIES SHOPPING . . . 35^

VATHY : SAMOS ...... 353

POLICEMAN AT VATHY . . . . . 355

^' SALONICA, SEEN FROM THE SEA " . . . 364

'^THE FINE OLD ARCH OF THE EMPEROR GALERIUS " . 368

A JEWESS OF SALONICA .... 383

THE BRITISH POST OFFICE, GALATA . . . 396 ''the lord of THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE GOES FORTH TO

HIS devotions" ..... 406

CARTS USED TO CONVEY MASSACRED ARMENIANS . . 4O9

''the great towers of THE ' CASTLE OF EUROPE'" 413 russian monument, san stefano . . . 43i

bulgarian bride . . • . . . 434

philippopolis . . . . . . 438

bulgarians dancing ..... 442

bulgarian peasants ..... 446

the palace, sofia ..... 457

"the tiny prince drives out" . . . 461

bridge over the marica, scene of the philippopolis murder . . . . . 464

joseph hanemian, the murdered clerk of the

british post office .... 492

MAP (in pocket a end of volume).

XXIV

Chapter I The Threshold Of The Near East : Istria And Dalmatia

OF the countless travellers who pass through Trieste every year on their way to the East, few have the curiosity to explore the peninsula, which runs far out into the azure-blue waters of the Adriatic and divides the great Austrian seaport from the lovely gulf of the Quarnero. Istria is still the least known of all the Austrian provinces, although the ^^ discovery " of Abbazia by an enterprising railway 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, which call at all the principal places on its shores, and the state railway, which traverses the interior from end to end, the Istrian peninsula is less familiar to British tourists than that of Sinai, and many educated m Englishmen have never so much as heard its name. H Yet no country in Europe presents such rapid and B remarkable changes of scenery. At one point you have ^fcvaving groves of laurel and smiling vineyards, with a ^^limate which 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 wind, which is the scourge of the Adriatic, which

I B 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 succession, and, when lighted up by the rays of the setting sun, the red earth becomes a gorgeous purple, marvellous to behold.

The Istrian railway, which slowly winds its tortuous path up the hills above the gulf of Trieste, enters the stony desert of the Karst, a region which 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 walls of rock, with here and there a tiny chapel clinging on to the mountain-side, while, far below, the sea shimmers in the sunlight. And then the line turns down into the peninsula, and the quaint old towns of Istria, with names as picturesque as their situation, begin to appear. The fat fingers of a very loquacious lady, who is going to Pola, wave to and fro in front of the carriage window, as she discusses her family affairs with a new-found acquaintance, and prevent us from seeing as much of the view as we could wish. But a lucid interval fortunately intervenes as we approach Pinguente, once the seat of the margraves of Istria, who built the walls which still surround it. Perched on a hilltop, Pinguente seems the very ideal of those old Italian cities which Virgil has so graphically depicted as ^' piled by force on the summit of steep rocks " — congesta manu prcemptis oppida sax is.

It was evening when we arrived at Pisino, the most interesting place in the interior of the peninsula, and we wondered whether a habitable inn existed in so primitive a spot, for we had read strange descriptions of Istrian accommodation. But our fears were speedily set at rest by a smart young fellow, who at once stepped forward and offered to escort us to the AqiUla Neva. The ^^ Black Eagle " proved to be a comfortable inn, such as one finds in small Italian towns, where the linen was of spotless whiteness 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, was, 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, which adorn every inn, however humble, throughout the length and breadth of the Monarchy. But his real interest was centred on a map of the seat of the war, then going on in Abyssinia, by the aid of which he was following the fortunes of the Italian troops with 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 was in the days when, prior to 1797, Venice owned the peninsula. Three years ago the Italian element in Istria was particularly demonstrative against the Slavs, for here, as in Dalmatia, though in vastly different proportions, these two races practically divide the country between them. When it was 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 two 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 down the offending notice-boards ; and finally the commotion was such that the Government dissolved the local assembly, which meets to discuss the internal affairs of the province. At the beginning of this year that body was 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 I stria as within the range of practical politics.

We were aroused early in the morning by the sound of the bells, which were being rung with tremendous energy in the adjacent campanile. It was a great festival of the Church, and a long line of peasants, cap in hand and with their fingers devoutly clasped in front of them, defiled through the streets behind the priests, who were bearing the sacred banners before them. The men were excellent types of the Istrian people — stolid, phlegmatic fellows, who 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 whole crowd of street loungers come up to my bedroom for the mere pleasure of hearing me order my dinner or pay my driver, while a single question, addressed to a bystander, would at once attract a host of inquisitive onlookers, each eager to know my business, and have a finger in it, if possible. But your Istrian is not of that sort. He goes on his way, perfectly regardless of the stranger within his gates. In his rough frieze coat and short breeches he looks intensely bucolic, but the huge earring, which he wears in one ear, gives him a distinguishing characteristic which is quite his own.

Pisino possesses in the Foiba a natural attraction, which is at present undefiled by the hoof of the tripper. If situated in Germany or Switzerland it would have long ago been disfigured by advertisements of chocolate, a cog-wheel railway, tin edifices from which to admire the view, 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 walls are still emblazoned with the arms of the counts who once dwelt there, while 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 below it the river Foiba winds its way 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, which mark the course of the stream, up to the mouth of the chasm. No human being has ever explored its inmost recesses and discovered w^here the river 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 novels. In the French romance a prisoner escapes from his cell in the donjon, climbs dowai into the chasm and gains his freedom through the hole, or biico, as the natives call it, into which the Foiba pours its waters. 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 tlirown into the biico 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, wath the town nestling on the summit, the grey old walls of the donjon, and the distant roar of the waters beneath the ground, make a great impression, only partially conveyed to those who have not seen and heard them by the aid of a travelling photographer from Pola, whom we unearthed in a back-yard.

It would be difficult to conceive a greater contrast than that between this mediaeval spot, which has not changed since the days of its ancient counts, and the lovely watering-place of Abbazia, the gem of the Istrian coast. Centuries ago a Benedictine Abbey was founded there and gave Abbazia its name, but until the last sixteen years that now celebrated health resort, patronised by emperors and kings, and striving to rival Cannes and Mentone, was nothing but a few fishermen's huts. But in 1882 the manager of the Southern Railway Company of Austria, struck with the charms of the place, resolved to make Abbazia into a fashionable Curort. Large hotels, the property of the railway company, now rise amidst groves of laurel, with gardens running down to the bright blue waters of the bay. Shops and a colonnade have been built to exhibit all the latest fashions of Vienna, and when we arrived at the little station of Mattuglie, which serves Abbazia, we 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 was made. But nothing could spoil the beauty of Abbazia, though its sweet simplicity was gone, and the scale of prices at its palatial hotels is somewhat different from the modest sum of 3 gulden, 27 kreuzers (or about 5s. 6d.), which we had paid for bed and a whole day's board for two persons at Pisino. The walk along the coast through luxuriant vineyards, the blue sea and sky, and, in the distance, floating as it were in the water, the islands of the