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districts abounding with forests which might easily be cut and floated down the streams as rafts.

We have no historical accounts that the mineral riches of Bosnia have been explored, yet several mountains bear the names of their mineral productions, which seems to justify the opinion that they have been at some period made available. For instance, the mountain Zlatovo denotes, in the Slavonian dialect, the mountain of gold; Zrebernitza of silver, Roudnik of copper, Zeleznitza of iron. Dr. Schultz, who was secretly employed, a few years since by the Vizier of Bosnia, Vehighi, found a rich mine of mercury and indications of silver and gold in several places; but whatever advantages might have resulted from the discovery, have been lost, owing to the sudden disgrace and fall of the intelligent Vizier. At Voinitza, between Bosna-Serai and Novi-bazar, there is a forge for smelting iron, and one or two others in the Kraina. Before the Turkish occupation of these provinces, the iron of Bosnia was cheaper and of a better quality than any other in Europe. Hot and cold mineral springs abound in certain districts, and are said to be most efficacious in the cure of some disorders, attracting numerous visitors from the neighbouring towns and even from Constantinople.

CHAPTER XX.

Return to Novi-bazar-Description of that town-Its importance as a military position-Attempt of Tzerni George, of Servia, to obtain possession-Departure from Novi-bazar -Mountain districts of Upper Moesia and Upper Albania -Inhabitants-Villages-Forests-Climate-Contrast between the Servians and the Arnouts of Albania-Dangerous travelling-Description of the country-The chamois and wild goat-Singular species of the tame goat-Arrival at Gousnee-Revolt of the mountaineers in 1847-Predatory warfare between the mountaineers of Tchernegora and the Arnouts of Upper Albania-Their hospitality, and chivalrous behaviour towards the stranger and women.

WE returned by the same route from BosnaSerai to Novi-bazar, formerly the capital of the Servian monarchy, and the residence of its earliest Krals, when it was known by the name of Rasci, and said to have been founded by the Rasci, a warlike tribe of Servians, whose descendants still in

habit the banks of the Rasca in the immediate

vicinity of the town.

Novi-bazar contains from nine to ten thousand inhabitants, principally Christians of the Rasci tribes of Servians; and whether considered commercially or politically, is one of the most important towns in European Turkey, forming as it does, in a mountain country like this, the gate of entrance to the adjoining provinces. It communicates with Belgrade on the Save and Danube, with Ragusa on the Adriatic, with Salonica and Constantinople, through Macedonia and Thrace, and commands the only direct route to the northern part of Bosnia and the Kraina, and to the south, the only pass that leads to Herzegowina, Tchernegora and Upper Albania.

In no other part of European Turkey have the Turks exercised their destructive propensities to so great an extent as in this part of Bosnia, the home of the Rasci-Servian. In every direction we find ruins of towns, churches, monasteries, forts and castles. The convent of St. George (Djourdjivistoupe), situated on the summit of a mountain, a short distance from Novi-bazar, must have been an immense building, if we may judge from the great extent of ruins. At the source of the Rasca we see the remains of another, dedicated to the Holy

Trinity. The splendid ruins of the castles of Djeva, Jeletsch, and a hundred others, commanding every pass leading from the basin of Novi-bazar, sufficiently attests the importance the Krals of Servia attached to the possession of this strong-hold-the cradle of the Servian monarchy-on account of the facility it offered them of pouring down upon their effeminate neighbours, the Byzantine Greeks, until subduing province after province, they assumed the title of Emperor of the Servians, the Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Bosnians, and the Western provinces on the Adriatic.

There cannot be a doubt that if this important position, the province of the old Rasci-Servians, should at any time fall into the possession of an intelligent, warlike people, it will give them the command of the whole of European Turkey. We may be allowed to indulge in this supposition on viewing the central position of the country, and the great number of formidable plateaus which command the entrance into the adjoining provinces, and at the same time afford every facility of descent by following the defiles of so many rivers, streams and torrents, which here have their source. Without the command of these passes the Servians could never have been able to extend their conquests on the Morava and the Drina, on the Strymon, the Maritza

and the Vardar. appeared to be fully aware of the military importance of this part of Upper Moesia, when in 1809, having called to arms the Rayahs, his compatriots, he laid siege to Novi-bazar, and must have taken possession of its crumbling fortress had it not been for the bravery of the Arnouts; who, while one party maintained themselves in the fort, another held in check the fierce mountaineers of Tchernegora, and the Haiducs of the Balkan, till a Turkish army arrived to their assistance.

Tzerni George, the hero of Servia,

It might be supposed, that a country of such importance to the Turkish Government, would be provided with some position capable of affording a vigorous defence, but this is not the case; we have not seen a single fort, tower, or town that could withstand a discharge of artillery, and the halfruined fort of Novi-bazar remains in the same state that Tzerni George left it in 1809. It would appear that the fire of the Osmanli has burnt out, and that they rely more upon the social enmities of nationalities and opposing religious sects to preserve their rule, than any vigorous effort of their own, since they have contented themselves by placing several colonies of Mussulman-Arnouts in peculiarly favourable situations, intended to act as a check upon any movement the Servian Rayahs

VOL. I.

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