Read Ebook: Rambles in Istria Dalmatia and Montenegro by R H R

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A CONVERSATION--WHERE SHALL WE GO FOR A HOLIDAY TRIP--ATTRACTIONS OF LAPLAND--REMINISCENCES OF ITALY--THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER DAYS--HOW TO STUDY HISTORY--DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND FOR TRAVEL--AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE BAR 1

MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES--VIENNA--ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL--OLD CATHEDRALS--SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE--USES OF EAU DE COLOGNE--INSECT ATTACKS--THE UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION--THE GARDENS AND ACCESSORIES--THE LADIES OF VIENNA--NEW OPERA-HOUSE--ON THE DANUBE--A WEALTHY PRELATE--WISSEGRAD--ARRIVAL AT PESTH 14

PESTH--HOTEL UNGARIA--BUDA--STORY OF AN ARTIST--PROSPERITY OF THE CITY--NEW BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE--ST. MARGUERITE'S ISLAND--ANCIENT ROMAN BATH--CONDITION OF HUNGARY--FIELD FOR THE JUNIOR BRANCHES OF THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND--KEEPING UP APPEARANCES--THE TERMINATION OF TURKISH MISRULE--FUTURE OF THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES 29

STEINBR?CK--THE S?MMERING--FIRST VIEW OF THE ADRIATIC--TRIESTE--SHOCKS OF EARTHQUAKE AT BELLUNO--AUSTRIAN IRONCLAD 'LISSA'--CAPTAIN R. BURTON--FLYING VISIT TO SAN CANZIANO--SUBTERRANEAN COURSE OF A MOUNTAIN STREAM--THE KARST--WILD SCENERY--A THUNDER-STORM--CHURCH OF SAN CANZIANO--STUD FARM 43

THE "SAN CARLO" AND HER PASSENGERS--A DALMATIAN'S REMARKS ON THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH IN INDIA--DALMATIAN DIGGERS FROM AUSTRALIA--COAST OF ISTRIA--PIRANO--CATHEDRAL OF PARENZO--ROVIGNO--POLA--THE AMPHITHEATRE--PICTURESQUE SIGHT --GIOVANNI ASTONISHED--MONTENEGRIN COSTUME--ZARA--EXTREME HEAT 61

DEPARTURE FROM ZARA--SEBENICO--PLEASANT COMPANIONS--NOBLE HARBOUR--THE CATHEDRAL--CURIOUS ROOF--CORAL FISHERY--SPALATO--SALONA--DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE--MR. PATON'S DESCRIPTION OF IT--BEAUTIFUL SPECTACLE--THE PORTA FERREA--QUAINT DWELLINGS--AMBROSIAL TOBACCO 79

A TYPE OF SHYLOCK--SCENE IN THE STREET--VARIED COSTUMES--MORLACCHI--TURKS FROM THE HERZEGOVINA--WOMEN OF SPALATO--INSPECTION OF THE CITY--THE PORTA AUREA--COURT OF THE VESTIBULE OF THE PALACE--INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL--ILLUSTRIOUS MEN OF SPALATO--MARK ANTONY DE DOMINIS--ST. JEROME--THE MORLACCHI 94

ATTRACTIONS OF DALMATIA--INTERESTING EXCURSION--ISLAND OF LACHROMA--CLIMATE--A. A. PATON, ESQ., FORMERLY CONSUL-GENERAL AT RAGUSA--AN ITALIAN DINNER--EPIDAURUS--THE CANAL OF CATTARO--TERRITORY OF RAGUSA--TOWER OF PERASTO AND FORT OF SANTA CROCE--STRANGELY BUILT CHURCH--A PALAZZO--SAN GIORGIO AND LA MADONNA--PICTURE ATTRIBUTED TO ST. LUKE 141

CITY OF CATTARO--SIGNOR JACKSCHICH--STREETS AND PIAZZAS--WALKS AND FORTIFICATIONS--PUBLIC WALK--CAF? AND GARDENS--SONOROUS STONE--A MONTENEGRIN CHIEF--A HAPPY BEGGAR BOY 150

MONTENEGRIN TRADERS--LE SCALE DI CATTARO--A GORGEOUSLY-ATTIRED MONK--OUR CARAVAN--MONTENEGRINS OF THE PRINCE'S BODY-GUARD--INTERESTING VIEW--ABSENCE OF TREES ON THE DALMATIAN COAST--A HOME FOR GERMAN EMIGRANTS--TURKISH MISRULE IN EUROPE--A FUTURE EMPIRE--A MAN FIT TO RULE 164

THE PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO--UNJUST DEPRIVATION OF TERRITORY--ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY--A FRIEND IN NEED--VILLAGE OF NIEGOSCH--PANORAMA SEEN FROM THE TOP OF THE PASS--WILD-LOOKING HERDS AND FLOCKS--MONTENEGRIN LEGEND--ARRIVAL AT CETTIGNE--THE VLADIKA'S PALACE--THE TREE OF JUSTICE--TOWER OF CETTIGNE 177

INSECT POWDER OF MONTENEGRO--DESCRIPTION OF THE MONASTERY--ENCAMPMENTS--FESTIVAL OF ST. PETER--A SAINT BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE--PICTURESQUE SCENE--BOSNIAN CAF?--THE NATIONAL INSTRUMENT--A TRAVELLED DALMATIAN--TALL MONTENEGRINS 194

A POLYGLOT JUMBLE--WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MONTENEGRINS--DEATH IN BATTLE--FORAYS FOR THE PLUNDER OF CATTLE--EQUIPAGE OF A MONTENEGRIN SOLDIER--PILLAGE--MANNER OF FIGHTING--TACTICS--SIGNAL CRIES--ON BOARD SHIP--DECAPITATION OF WOUNDED PRISONERS 208

A WALK WITH THE PRINCE--SALUTATIONS OF THE CROWD--THE GUZLA--MONTENEGRIN DANCE--THE PRINCE'S ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN--THE CAMP AT NIGHT--ADVENTURE WITH A MONTENEGRIN--DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR PRINCE 235

FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF MONTENEGRO--AGRICULTURE ON A MINOR SCALE--FIELD-LABOURERS--MONTENEGRIN FACCHINI AT CONSTANTINOPLE--FEMALE LABOUR--PRODUCTION OF SUMACH--COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IMPEDED--IMPOSING PAGEANT 248

FOOT RACES--MONASTERY OF OSTROG--OTTOMAN ADMINISTRATION--A COURSE ? LA MONTAGNE--RACING WITHOUT BETTING--BEN TROVATO--A FLAT RACE--CONVERSATION ABOUT ENGLISH LAWS AND CUSTOMS--LAW OF HABEAS CORPUS 258

DEPARTURE FROM CETTIGNE--RUGGED ROAD--DELIGHTFUL VIEW--USEFUL OLD HELMET--NIEGOSH--EXCESSIVE HEAT--THE SCALA DI CATTARO--THE BOCCHESI--THE RUSSIAN CONSUL--SUNSET AT CATTARO--UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE OF PERO PEJOVICH 268

BEAUTIFUL ROAD--ATTACK OF FEVER--ARRIVAL AT BUDUA--BARON HEYDEG AND SIGNOR MARCO MEDIN--A RESTAURANT--OUR HOST--DOCTOR, DENTIST AND APOTHECARY--WALK ROUND THE FORTIFICATIONS--EXPLORATION OF BUDUA--THE PARTING GLASS 280

TOWN OF ANTIVARI--FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TURKEY--ORIENTAL PASSENGERS--VALUE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF ARABIC OR TURKISH--A MAHOMETAN MERCHANT AND HIS FAMILY--TURKISH TROOPS IN ALBANIA--TOWN AND FORTRESS OF CASTEL DURAZZO--RETURN TO TRIESTE--FAREWELL TO THE READER 291

RAMBLES IN ISTRIA, DALMATIA,

AND

MONTENEGRO.

A CONVERSATION--WHERE SHALL WE GO FOR A HOLIDAY TRIP--ATTRACTIONS OF LAPLAND--REMINISCENCES OF ITALY--THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER DAYS--HOW TO STUDY HISTORY--DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND FOR TRAVEL--AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE BAR.

"Let us go to Lapland!" was the exclamation which rang on my ear, as I was entering my club, one fine morning in the early part of June, 1873.

"Lapland!" said I, "what put that into your head?"

"Yes," replied my friend M--, in his rich, good-humoured voice, slightly flavoured with Hibernian Doric. "I hear that somebody has written a book about it. I have been everywhere else in Europe--and it is quite the place to go to now, you know. We shall pic-nic on Cape North and then drive across to Spitzbergen in reindeer sledges on the ice, it will be awfully jolly!" and his joyous laugh echoed through the hall. "Do come, like a good fellow," said he, "there will be just the four of us, R--, C--, yourself, and I, and you really must not say no, for we none of us can speak a word of anything but English, while you speak every language under the sun. So agree to it at once; let us all meet here to dinner, to-morrow at six, and then off by the mail to Calais."

At first I thought that M-- was chaffing; but having now been joined by R-- and C--, who at once chimed in on the same subject, I said,

"Have you any idea about Lapland, my dear M--, do you know anything about it? and what do you expect to see there?"

"Oh, dear me, yes," replied he, "it is a country in the North of Europe, surrounded on all sides either by land or by water, and inhabited by men who are four feet six high, and the darlingest little women just four feet nothing. They go to church on Sundays, riding on reindeer, and shoot Polar bears with bows and arrows! Oh dear, yes, I know all about Lapland."

"Not at all a bad account," said I, "but what writes Captain Hutchinson in his book? Is his description of Lapland very captivating?"

"Well," answered M--, "I confess I have not read his book; but go abroad I must, London is getting too stupid, and I have been everywhere else in Europe; and I want to see a country out of the beaten track, something I have not yet seen."

"Now, my dear fellow," said I, "though I have not been exactly in Lapland, I have been in Finland, and that, you know, is just next door to it; and knowing what the mosquitoes are in those swampy northern latitudes, nothing could induce me to visit those countries again in Summer, except for very cogent reasons indeed. But come now, tell me where have you been, that you say you have seen every other country in Europe?"

"Well," answered M--. "I have been twice to Italy, up and down, and done it as thoroughly as any man could do it. I have been--"

"Oh dear, yes, and such a jolly place, where one could live and love for ever! oh, yes,

"'Of all the fairest cities of the world, None is so fair as Florence!'

"If it were not for the heat, and having been there twice already, it would beat going to see the sun at midnight, which we shall see in Lapland, old fellow. We shall see the sun going right round the horizon, neither rising nor setting--not a bit--but going just as in the old riddle we had when we were children, 'going round and round the house, and never touching the house.' So now no more 'shirking and lurking,' but let's be off to Lapland, and if there are a few mosquitoes, we can take plenty of flea-powder to protect us; there now, I'll stand the flea-powder--a whole pound's worth," and the laugh of that excellent fellow rings in my ears still.

Here R-- joined in the conversation; he had never been to Italy, and his curiosity was raised by the enthusiastic expressions of my friend M--, in regard to Florence.

"Do tell us something about that place, where you could live and love for ever," said he.

"Where did you go when you left Florence?"

"To Rome, naturally."

"So all you know about Tuscany and Central Italy resolves itself into the Cascine, the Caf? Doney, and our friend G. M--y. Did you not even visit Siena on your way to Rome?"

"No, for, being fond of the sea, I went to Rome by Civita Vecchia."

"When you were at Civita Vecchia, did it not come into your head to visit the birth-place of the Tarquins--Corneto? only a short drive from Civita Vecchia, and one of the most interesting places in Italy."

"I never even heard of it," said M--.

It so happened that I had made arrangements for another tour, and was thus unable to join my three friends in their intended expedition; but the following Winter M-- and I went to the continent together, we spent four months in Italy, that Italy he had so thoroughly "done" twice before! and to his amazement, he had to confess that in his previous journeys he had simply wasted his time and his money.

Captain Hutchinson, in his introduction to "Try Lapland," writes, "The difficulty of finding new ground for travel is increasing every year for those who, with but a limited time at their disposal, are yet tired of the beaten paths of Ramsgate or Scarborough, Switzerland or the Rhine, and pant after lands fresh and fair, of which they have never seen the photograph--where the gorgeous hotel with its elongated bills, and the pertinacious touter with his cringing greasy manners, are alike unknown."

Now to a great extent that pleasant writer is correct; but the man who rushing away from the turmoil and bustle of London life, whether he be lawyer, merchant, or physician, seeking for fresh air and scenery, but as far away as possible from those hackneyed tracks infested by the typical tourist, both English and Transatlantic, and by poor Marryat's "shilling-seeking, napkin-holding, up-and-downstairs son of a sea-cook" of an hotel waiter, need not go to the Arctic Circle to find all the above-named advantages, unless, indeed, he is bent on also seeing the sun at midnight, and his own body a prey to the mosquitoes.

Within five days of Temple Bar, or as we soon shall have to say, where Temple Bar once stood, there are as splendid countries to explore, as fine ruins to contemplate, as glorious scenery and as gorgeous costumes to admire, as the heart of man can wish for; and if the reader will trust himself with me for a little while, excusing the many shortcomings he will meet with in these pages, I will lead him over a trip I took last Summer which I think will fully repay him, though he will often have to make great allowances and deal leniently with the Author, who for the first time in his life rushes into print, just for the same reason that the stars shine above us, because he has nothing else to do! But if through publishing this little book he shall have opened up a new field of travel to those who yearly require to recruit their strength of body and of mind by a ramble in foreign lands, if he shall have added one more possible source of enjoyment to those within the reach of the many, he will consider himself amply repaid for whatever trouble he may have been put to in its compilation.

MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES--VIENNA--ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL--OLD CATHEDRALS--SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE--USES OF EAU DE COLOGNE--INSECT ATTACKS--THE UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION--THE GARDENS AND ACCESSORIES--THE LADIES OF VIENNA--NEW OPERA-HOUSE--ON THE DANUBE--A WEALTHY PRELATE--WISSEGRAD--ARRIVAL AT PESTH.

I started from London for my holiday trip early in the month of June, 1873. The route I had laid out for myself on my departure was not exactly that which I eventually adopted, for nothing is truer than that man proposes, but God disposes. I had intended visiting the Crimea, and then crossing over the Straits of Kertch, I meant to have rambled over the Caucasus, finishing my trip with a visit to the Monastery of Echmiadzin, at the foot of Mount Ararat.

But it was not to be; I got as far as Pesth, when the cholera, which was then very active, not to say raging in Hungary, barred my further passage down the river into the Lower Provinces of the Danube, by threatening me with a quarantine of eleven days in a dirty lazzaretto, at a temperature of at least 90? in the shade. I would have risked the cholera, but I could not face the loss of eleven days in the limited time I had at my disposal, nor could I contemplate at all the horrors of an Oriental lazzaretto. All my plans were therefore upset; still the result was eventually satisfactory, as I think I shall be able to prove in the following pages.

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