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and Bosna, runs into the Save, which discharges itself into the Danube. The Bosna passes through the centre of Bosnia, and could be rendered navigable from the plain of Bosna-Serai; the Verbas, from Bania-Louka ; and the Drina from Vischegrad; and thus open a market for the produce of Central and South Bosnia; and by means of the Save, form a water communication with the provinces of Austria on the Lower Danube; and if to this we add the unexplored mines in Bosnia, the existence of gold and silver in nearly the whole of the rivers and rivulets, coal and iron cropping out in so many directions; what a boundless stage is opened, even in this province alone, to the industry and enterprize of Europe, when the destructive rule of the Turk shall be no more-who has surpassed every other people that rose to power by the sword in the art of destroying the human race, and leaving every country that fell under his domination a desert.

It is by no means improbable that the inhabitants of Bosnia may be called upon, at no distant period, to defend their country against their powerful neighbours, Russia and Austria-the latter firmly seated on their frontier in Dalmatia, the banks of the Ouna and the Save. It is well known that the insurrection of the non-reforming Mahometans, now raging in Bosnia, commenced in the Kraina (Turkish Croatia), on the frontier of Austria; without crediting a tithe of the reports we heard, so current among the Turkish autho

rities in Bosnia, that the insurgents were armed and instigated to revolt by Austrian agents, as a retaliation upon the Ottoman Porte for not surrendering the Hungarian refugees, there cannot be a doubt that Bosnia, the Kraina and Herzegowina would admirably round the possessions of Austria in this part of her empire, particularly the Kraina, running, as it does, like a wedge into her possessions on the Ouna and the Save. The inhabitants of the Kraina are also, for the most part, Roman Catholics, and as co-religionists of Austria, they have ever manifested a desire to place themselves under the rule of that Power; and if we refer to history, we shall find that they have aided the Imperial troops in their repeated invasions of Turkey by way of Bosnia; and now, while the Slavon-Greeks, their countrymen, remain neutral, they are found fighting in the ranks of the non-reforming Slavo-Mussulmans. Yet we cannot believe that the latter, the most patriotic of all the inhabitants of Bosnia, would willingly exchange the rule of the Turk, bad as it is, for that of the Austrian.

The Kraina, of every other frontier of Bosnia, owes but little to nature as a defensive position-the forests are not dense, nor the defiles dangerous; and as to the forts and karaouls, they would be of no use whatever against the science of modern warfare. Beyond the river Ouna, the valleys are sufficiently broad to permit artillery to ascend to the basin of Sanna and Gomonitza, and an army might probably penetrate, with compara

tive safety, to the gorges of the rivers Verbas and BaniaLouka; but here, unless they were certain of being joined by the inhabitants, entirely composed of SlavoGreeks and Slavo-Mussulmans, their further advance might be checked with the greatest ease, in a district where mountains shoot up in every direction, abounding in narrow defiles and gorges. Even the rivers, whose course must be followed by an army, take a most tortuous direction, forming innumerable angles, at every one of which we find a little fort; and although unavailable as a regular defence, they would be sufficient, in the hands of a few determined men, at least to annoy an enemy in its progress. Besides, should an enterprizing chief succeed in forcing a passage through these defiles, and gain possession of the capital, Bosna-Serai, unless he was supported by some powerful party among the people, his position would be most precarious, owing to the nature of the surrounding country, and the facilities it offers for carrying on a successful guerilla warfare.

Prince Eugene, of Savoy, one of the most experienced and enterprizing generals of any age, having obtained possession of the capital, while congratulating himself on having achieved the conquest of Bosnia, found himself taken in a species of trap-an extensive basin-like plain, from which there was no outlet, except through a terrific defile, so narrow that a barricade of trees thrown across the pass, would be sufficient to arrest his further

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progress. To advance or retreat was equally hazardous, and to remain shut up in a town, cut off from all communication with the rest of the country, threatened starvation to his troops; from all these difficulties he was extricated by a timely arrangement with the chieftains of Bosnia, who allowed him to retire, during the night, by the same route he had entered their country.

We have already shown the practicability of an invasion of Bosnia through Turkish Croatia, its weakest frontier, and the difficulties and dangers an army would have to encounter, when arrived in the interior of the country. Austria, also, commands another point of invasion, from Dalmatia and Ragusa, which would no doubt be simultaneously attempted with the other, and might succeed, provided that neither of the armies met with any serious check in their career. For instance, to an army in possession of the River Narenta, and the heights that separate Dalmatia from Herzegowina, there would be no great difficulty in advancing, by strong detachments, as far as the fortress of Stolatz, and even to Mostar, the capital of Herzegowina, and still more northwards, towards Vilno. From hence every point is defended by nature, and in some places by forts: these, however contemptible they might be as a means of defence in a level country, their position in this, where every rock could be converted into a citadel, gives them importance; hence, it would be impossible

to make an attempt in advance, without being exposed to a serious attack-the defiles and passes being so narrow, that in some places scarcely two men could march abreast,

On the other hand, to attempt to scale the mountain rampart that separates Bosnia from Herzegowina, and from which the descent is practicable to the basin of Bosna-Serai, covered as the whole range is with dense forests and isolated peaks of rock, must occasion a serious loss of time, and the most Herculean labour; besides, it would be impossible to transport either ammunition or provisions, except such a portion as each man could carry about his person. It is true, that an army once in possession of these mountains, having its rear well protected by strong detachments, from which to draw provisions and ammunition, might threaten, nay, destroy the independence of these provinces as these heights command all the passes leading to the basin of Novi-bazar, the plains of Cossova, and the Metoia, in Upper Moesia, together with the route leading to Mostar on one side, and Bosna-Serai on the other, the capitals of Herzegowina and Bosnia.

In a country like Bosnia, so admirably defended by an encircling chain of mountains, appearing to the eye of the traveller a perfect wall of rock, the difficulty of forcing an entrance into the interior would seem to preclude the possibility of a successful invasion, even

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