and Bosnians, the timely invasion of Servia, by the Pacha of Nissa-which obliged the hero to return and defend his country, he must have succeeded.

Had Tzerni George prospered in his attempt to effect a union of Servia and Tchernegoria with Upper Moesia, the result would be, that Bosnia and Herzegowina would be entirely shut out from any communication with the rest of Turkey, and the Ottoman Porte deprived of the service of some of its most valiant Pachas and Spahis, who, seeing themselves isolated, must either declare themselves independent, or join the invader. Again, Upper Moesia, which may be compared to a vast citadel, offers every facility to an army to descend on Macedonia, and combining with the Greek nationality there and in Thessaly, also isolate the Mussulmen of Albania from any connexion with the government of the Sultan, except by sea.

What Tzerni George was unable to accomplish with his inefficient means, some other chief, possessed of his enterprise and military talents, with greater resources at his command, can scarcely fail to accomplish. It must, therefore, be evident how indispensable it is for the Turkish Government to place Nissa, the key of these provinces, in an efficient state of defence, even the occupation of the strong fortress of Schoumla is not of greater importance to the rule of the Sultan, in these provinces, than the military possession of Nissa.

During my sojourn at Nissa, I made a tour to Tatar, a village in the environs, where I was most disagreeably surprized at beholding the famous Turkish castle,

VOL. I.

L

formed of human skulls (embedded in the mortar)those of the Servians, who fell in battle during the war of independence. It appears that this revolting edifice has been erected to act as a warning to the Rayahs of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Upper Moesia, of the fate that awaits them should they attempt to follow the example of their brethren in Servia.

However ghastly an object a castle formed of human skulls may be to a traveller from the West, it seems here to have had little effect in inspiring the discontented Rayahs of these provinces with a dread of their Osmanli ruler, since only a few years ago they rose en masse, massacred the Nizam, sacked the town of Nissa, and kept the late Pacha Mustapha closely blockaded for weeks in his citadel.

This formidable insurrection had its origin in the abduction of a beautiful Christian girl, a Rascian, or, as some say, a fair Bulgarian, which threatened the utter subversion of Turkish rule in these important provinces.

In the year 1841, one of the beautiful Rayah peasant girls, so frequently found in these provinces, attracted the attention of the nephew, and adopted son, of Mustapha, Pacha of Nissa. After many ineffectual endeavours, through means of his agents, to seduce the poor girl, with the assistance of his guards, he surprized her at a Colo, in the midst of her friends, while dancing with her betrothed. The peasants, infuriated with raki, and the excitement of the dance, rushed forward to rescue the screaming girl from the hands of the

ravisher, but they were unarmed, and in spite of all their efforts, saw the innocent victim carried away in triumph; during the contest, several of the peasants were severely wounded—and one noble fellow, who displayed great strength and determination, was shot dead.

The wretched lover, inconsolable at the loss of his Agapia, for such was the name of the girl, flew to the mountains, and laid his griefs before an assembly of the Haiducs. The recital of the atrocious deed excited the indignation it deserved; better would it have been had the Pacha's son rode rough-shod over the land, and squeezed the last para from the unresisting Rayah, than to have so publicly dishonoured a maiden of their

race.

These very primitive people, whether haiduc, shepherd or agriculturist, however rude they may be in their manners, and disposed to assign to woman as her place in society that of a mere domestic drudge, yet never fail to exhibit in their manner and conduct towards her a profound respect, not inferior to any that she receives, even from the most polished nations. "She is," they say, "the mother; the guardian of infancy; the preserver of man during his helplessness; without her watchful care, the whole race would become extinct." Hence to strike her would here be regarded as sacrilege.

During their most terrific combats, when every angry passion is excited to its utmost fury, let but a woman interpose, and instantly every weapon is lowered; with such a chivalrous devotion, we cannot feel surprised

that the recital of the lover's wrongs, the forcible abduction of the unhappy Agapia, called forth a burst of the most violent indignation, and that the mountaineers swore, by their patron, St. George, to rescue the maiden, even if they were to carry their arms into the seraglio of the Padishah himself.

"Haiduc to the mountains!" resounded from the heights of Tchernegoria, through Upper Moesia, and thence through the whole range of the Balkan, on to Varna, on the Black Sea. Thus the abduction of the fair Agapia threatened to be as disastrous to the Osmanli, as the rape of Helen to the Trojans.

The hopes of the insurgents were also encouraged by the demoralized state of the Ottoman Empire at this time, arising from the Mussulman insurrection in Bosnia and Albania, which originated in the determination of that fanatic people to resist the introduction of the Nizam, and the other reforms of the Sultan.

The Greek Heteria, to which we have already alluded, now in the zenith of its power, also fanned the flame of the intense excitement manifested by their coreligionists, the Slavon-Rayahs. The inferior Papas and Didiskali of the towns and villages were admitted as members of the secret fraternity, and under pretence of celebrating divine service, converted the churches into political club-houses; the pulpits rang with maledictions upon the infidels, who were now to be driven from Christendom. On the other hand, the Mussulman population, however much opposed to the Sultan and his reforms, could not remain indifferent to the results

of the movement among their dependents, the Rayahs. With the example of Servia before them, they foresaw the probability of losing their rich pachaliks and spahiliks unless they assisted the authorities in speedily putting down the revolt. Animated with such feelings and such hopes-the one to carve out his emancipation, the other to preserve his revenues and peculiar rights and privileges-commenced that dreadful struggle between the Mussulman and Rayah, equally fanatic and ferocious.

The contest was not confined to the defile or the mountain, it raged with all the bitterness of intense hatred, alike in the towns and villages. The Haiducs having made themselves masters of all the passes leading to Constantinople, for a time intercepted every communication with the Government. Meanwhile a Haiduc, one of the comrades of Tzerni George, known by the name of Milo, and a fanatic Papa of Leskovatz, in Upper Moesia, carried everything before them. Success gained them recruits, and in a few days Pacha Mustapha found himself besieged in his fortress at Nissa, by an infuriated horde of Rayahs, amounting it is said to upwards of fifteen thousand.

When it was too late, the Pacha restored the Helena of the Slavonians to her people; the details of the miseries she had suffered, her dishonour, her forcible recantation of the creed of her fathers, only tended the more to exasperate the insurgents, who now massacred every Mahometan that fell into their hands. The Pacha, as a last resource, solicited the mediation of the high digni