DALMATIA AND MONTENEGRO.

CHAP. VII.

Journey to the Narenta. - Inscriptions at Vido, the ancient Narona. Visit to Mostar, in Herzegovina. Correspondence with the Vladika and the Vizir, respecting the Discontinuance of the Custom of decapitating Prisoners, and the Dead. The Paterenes. Blagai. Vizir's Villa at Boona. Return to Metcovich.

ON the 24th of October I again left Spalato for Ragusa, with the intention of visiting the Narenta, and penetrating into Herzegóvina. The governor of Dalmatia, General Turzsky, being on board the steamer, I obtained from him an order, that my passport should be made out for Mostar; to which, for some imaginary reason, great difficulties are made by the Austrian authorities; and as soon as my passport had been signed at Ragusa, and the steamer came back to that place from Cattaro, I returned to Cúrzola.

The morning was most unpropitious, for our departure from Ragusa; and as the steamer lay in the bay of Gravosa, the passengers had to walk the whole way in a pouring rain, with the certainty of being well drenched, and little hope of finding any thing dry in their baggage, exposed as it was to the storm, on the backs of porters.* One miserable being after another arrived on board the steamer, looking as if they had all walked through the sea; and it was not till great drying and changing had been resorted to, that the general ill-humour of the party subsided.

The proceedings of one of them were strange enough, and would have appeared to me much more singular, if I had not already seen another person (a Croatian) do the same before; and though I do not suppose that the habit is common, or that it is to be considered one of the customs of this part of Europe, it is too curious to be omitted.

A young Austrian officer, who was certainly a man of very gentlemanly manners, and who proved to be a person of rank, took up a conspicuous place in the public cabin, to make his toilette; and probably preferring warm to cold water, poured out a tumbler-full, which he took into his mouth, and after keeping it there for a short time, put it out again into his two hands, and washed his face. Nobody seemed at all surprised; but I

* See above, Vol. I. p. 271.

must say that, in the many countries I have visited, I never met with so extraordinary a performance.

After a stay of three days at Cúrzola, I crossed over to Orebich, on the opposite shore, in the peninsula of Sabioncello; a row of half an hour in a four-oared boat.

Orebich, called also Sabioncello, is the principal village, or town, in this part of the peninsula; and is ruled, as I afterwards learnt, by a Pretore, Signor Rossi, of whose existence I had not dreamt, while passing through the place. But an Austrian official is not to be passed by unheeded, and I was soon fully informed of his importance.

At Orebich are numerous gardens, and the land is carefully tilled. I observed that the olives were very productive, as they are throughout this peninsula; there are also many vines, figs, pomegranates, apples, pears, almonds, mulberries, Caruba, and other fruit trees. Oleanders, ilex, bay, rosemary, and junipers, abound there; and the beauty of the landscape is greatly indebted to the dark foliage, and graceful forms, of the cypresses* which grow in great numbers on the plateaux and sloping hills, particularly below the Church of Sta. Maria dell'Assunta, to the north of Orebich; above which towers the rugged summit of the Monte Vipero. The houses of the town are well built, and the inhabitants are wealthy; but they have the reputation of

* Both varieties, the upright and spreading. In the Illyric dialect of Slavonic the cypress is called Cempris.

being a little too fond of money, and are not so hospitable as some of their neighbours.

The road from Orebich to Trapano crosses the mountains, that form the sharp central ridge, or back-bone, of the peninsula; to the summit of which is a walk of about one hour. It passes, at first, through plantations of olives, and on the ascent of the mountain are many tamarisk bushes, lentiscus* juniper, arbutus, heath, the small holly-leaved oak (which is so common in Greece), ash, and pines. On reaching the top of the pass, the road descends immediately on the other side, and overlooks some pretty vallies, with the blue sea beyond. We soon afterwards passed through a grove of pines, mostly small trees, the largest not exceeding five feet in girth; and continued descending, till we reached Trapano, which is three hours' journey from Orebich.

I was furnished with a letter to one of the principal merchants there, who entertained me very hospitably during my stay. I had arrived in the evening, intending to cross the Gulf next morning, to the Narenta; but I was no sooner up, than I received the strange intelligence that Signor Rossi, the Pretore of Orebich, had sent a peremptory order, for my immediate return to his august presence.

The message arrived at midnight; but my host having pleaded the bad state of the weather, and

* Called Skinos, like the Greek oxovos, both which are pronounced in the same manner, Skeenos.

other excuses, for not rousing me at that unseasonable hour, the satellite consented to leave me undisturbed, on condition that the summons should be given me early next morning. My host, accordingly, explained to me the disagreeable intelligence, he had to impart," the moment I had concluded the complimentary wishes of the day; and on my inquiring, whether he thought the man in sober earnest, he expressed his decided opinion there was no course left, but to obey. My opinion was different: though I consented to send my passport, which the police at Trapano allowed to be "in order," for the inspection of the great man of the small Orebich, and agreed to put off my journey, till the return of the

messenger.

It was not to be supposed, that a stranger could know of the existence of the Pretore, or of its being necessary to present himself to every policeman, as he passed through a small town, not to be distinguished from a village *; and I pleaded ignorance of the wise regulation which, they assured me, required every one to do so. For such is the vexatious system, towards persons travelling in the interior, that the police are not satisfied to demand a passport, but condemn every one to sacrifice his time, as well as all other considerations, and appear, in person, at the police-office of every

* The whole commune contains only 423 houses: the town about half the number.

B 3