Mostar

“ Mostar is the seat of Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops, a district court, and an Austrian garrison. Half Turkish, half Italian in character, it commands the gateway through which all heavy traffic must pass on the seaward road. ”

“ The Vizier built a favourite summer residence here, of which and its grounds the Mostar historian gives a curious description. The little river Buna, which, issuing from a cavern in the rock below [358] the castle of Blagai, here pours into the Narenta, is, like it, according to our monk, ‘rich in innumerable fish,’ while the Pashà’s grounds abounded in ‘all the fruits of the South.’ ‘Ali Pashà laid down pipes in which he conducted water from the Buna, and he brought hither a dragon’s head of lead which poured forth the water from its throat into a stone basin, wherein rare fishes played. ”

“ It was originally peopled by Latin Christians, and was the residence of their bishop, who afterwards emigrated to Narona. On the Turkish conquest, Mostar became the seat of residence of the Viziers of Herzegovina; and just as before the dukes of St. Sava had exercised an authority almost independent of their suzerains, the kings of Bosnia, so now the Viziers of Herzegovina succeeded in defying their Bosnian superiors, the lieutenants of the Grand Signior at Travnik. ”

“ The only towns in the province worthy of mention, besides Mostar, are Fochia and Taschlijeh. They eachPg 41 contain about 10,000 inhabitants. The other towns are nothing more than large villages, with a bazaar. They are the seats of the district governments, such as Stolatz, Trebigné, Konitza, Niksich, Duvno, Chainitza, and others. The houses in these are not conspicuous for cleanliness, while those in the smaller villages are still less desirable as residences. ”

“ At Mostar there is quite a comfortable hotel called Hotel Narenta, with a Restaurant attached, where you can order what you like in the way of food, without having to sit through a weary supper—which took an hour at Ragusa,—and we found the cooking much better too. Two ladies can travel alone in these parts quite well, if they can speak Italian and German, and at the Hotels they all speak English. I have my guide, Karabaich, who carries my sketching things and keeps off the crowd—all of which is a convenience, but not a necessity so far. ”

“ At any rate too much reliance must not be placed in them, as the Turks have been frequently convicted of removing Roman inscriptions and substituting Turkish ones in their place. The beauty of the bridge itself is heightened by the glimpse to be obtained of the mosques and minarets of Mostar, washed by the turbid waters of the Narenta, and backed by the rugged hills which hem it in. ”

“ About the bodice and waist are many ribbons as ornament, and a sash of many colours round the waist. We saw a good many so dressed on Easter Sunday in the town.
On April 4th we left Ragusa in drenching rain, which began the day before and continued all the journey to Mostar, but was happily fine after our arrival about 7-30. This is a journey of eight hours through the mountains of rugged grey stone. The railway goes up a great height and winds in and out of the hills, the view is more grand than beautiful. ”

“ We found that we were on the high road which connects Sarajevo, with Mostar, the capital of the Herzegovina, but on the wrong side of the pass, and about seven hours’ walk from Coinica, the first town in the duchy of St. Sava, and our this day’s destination. We stopped on our way to refresh ourselves at a Han, of which I give a plan and elevation, in order to convey an idea of the ordinary cottage in this part of Bosnia: for the dwelling-houses are like the inns, except that their entrance arch opens on to the yard and not on to the road. ”

“ In Herzegovina, where at the moment of Turkish conquest the Bogomiles were proportionally more numerous, and where their attitude, in contradistinction to their Turcophile manifestations in Bosnia, had been one of open defiance to the conqueror, their calamity must have been even more overwhelming; and if the Turks bore so hardly on their Jayczan benefactors, what mercy could have been meted to the Bogomilian defenders of Mostar? ”

“ Many of the mountains reach to a height of 8,500 feet near the Montenegrin frontier. There are many sheep and goats, out of the wool of which the long white thick coats are made that you see hanging at shop doors in the hamlets all the way to Mostar. There is a high road from Seràjevo in Bosnia, through Herzegovina to the Adriatic. ”

“ To convey an accurate idea of a province so little known as the Herzegovina, it will be best to enumerate the various physical features by which it is distinguished. Thus the highest and most important mountains are Dormitor in the district of Drobniak, on the Montenegrin frontier, and Velesh, which forms a rugged background to the plain of Mostar, the highest point being 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ One band is stationed out at the bridge over the Krappa, and renders the road between Mostar and Meteorich unsafe. The detached bands of insurgents are endeavouring to force others to join them by burning the houses of those who refuse to do so, and by other means of intimidation. The Governor‐General has received telegrams from Mostar signed by the two Commissioners and the Mutesarif and Commander of the troops at Mostar, stating these facts; also that the headless bodies of the Turks have been recovered and burnt. ”

“ About seven o’clock next day the sun came out very kindly for our journey to Saràjevo, the capital of Bosnia, and before Pg 59leaving Mostar we paid another visit to the town, into other streets; but the picturesque ones are all Turkish. The better class women wear a most curious feridjeh, with a bonnet attached to it very like an elongated Quaker’s bonnet; no one can see under it, but they see out of a chink. This domino is generally all black or dark blue. Many of the women wore trousers under their skirts, the latter they tucked up very high to keep them out of the mud. ”

“ The surface of some, as notably the Mostarsko Blato, lying west of Mostar, is marshy, and in spring forms a lake; others are watered by streams which disappear in swallow-holes of the rock, and make their way by underground channels either to the sea or the Narenta. The most conspicuous example of these is the Trebinjcica, which disappears in two swallow-holes in Popovopolye, and after making its way by a subterranean passage through a range of mountains, wells up in the mighty source of Ombla near Ragusa, and hurries in undiminished volume to the Adriatic. ”

“ The old tower onPg 125 the Narenta at Mostar used to look grim with the distorted heads of the prisoners whom he had captured on the Montenegrin frontier. The habit of decapitating the dead was revolting enough, but this aged sinner was not satisfied with that: he used to drive sharp wooden poles through their living bodies, and then leave them to die a lingering and agonising death. ”

“ Herzegovina, which lies south of Bosnia, in a parallelogram defined by Montenegro, Dalmatia, the Dinaric Alps, and an irregular line drawn from a point 25 m. west-north-west of Mostar to the bend of the river Narenta, differs in many respects from the larger territory. Its mountains, which belong to the Adriatic watershed, and form a continuation of the Montenegrin highlands, are less rounded and more dolomitic in character. They descend in parallel ridges of grey Karst limestone, south-westwards to the sea ”

“ Leaving Nevresign one crosses two mountains, which, with the exception of about an hour and a half distance, are traversed by a road. Save one in course of construction from Mostar to Metcovich, it is the only attempt at road-making in the province. It is bad enough, as all Turkish roads are, their engineers having not the slightest idea of levelling. They take the country as they find it, apparently thinking that a zigzag, no matter at what slope the angles may be, is the highest triumph of their art. ”

“ He was convinced that by so doing he would drive the Bogomiles, who formed the vast majority of the people, into the arms of the Turks, and the event justified his fears. But he had little choice, for the erection of Catholic churches did not satisfy the zeal of the Franciscans. Accordingly in 1446 an assembly of prelates and barons met at Konjitza, the beautiful town on the borders of the Herzegovina, through which the traveller now passes on the railway from Sarajevo to Mostar. ”

“ Spies are on every hand, and no man knows at any moment when he may be thrown into prison upon some fictitious charge. Austria, indeed, is endeavouring to civilise and subject Bosnia by continued oppression, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Press. Like in Russia, every word is subjected to the censor before printed. One buys the Musavat—the organ of the Serb Mohammedans in Herzegovina, printed at Mostar—and finds every paragraph bearing a number. ”

“ At Mostar, in Herzegovina, the bride seats herself on a bag of fruit beside the hearth in her new home and pokes the fire thrice. While she does so, they bring her a small 231boy and set him on her lap. She turns the child thrice round in order that she may give birth to male children. [755] Still more clearly does belief in the impregnation of a woman by fire come out in another South Slavonian custom. When a wife wishes to have a child, she will hold a vessel full of water beside the fire on the hearth, while her husband knocks two burning brands together so that the sparks fly out. ”

“ We hear tidings of a Christian victory near Novipazar, which means that the single road connecting Bosnia with the rest of Turkey is seriously threatened. Isolated tales of bloodshed and massacre form the common topic of conversation. A Serb cuts the throat of a [284] Turkish Mollah near Mostar; the Christian is hanged; his friends surprise a party of Mahometans in an inn, and massacre them to a man; the cry for vengeance is now caught up by the Turks, and so the tragedy developes. Such details are revolting, but they give a true picture of the reign of terror which is setting in. ”

“ Bosnia is altogether an inland territory.
1. Physical Features.—Along the Dalmatian border, and through the centre of Bosnia, runs the backbone of the Dinaric Alps, which attain their greatest altitudes (6000–7500 ft.) near Travnik, Serajevo and Mostar. There are numerous high valleys shut in among the mountains of this range; the most noteworthy being the plain of Livno, which lies parallel to the Dalmatian border, at a height of 500 ft. above the sea. The zone of highlands throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina reaches a mean altitude of 1500 ft., while summits of more than 4000 ft. ”

“ It is only at occasional points that it is so easily discernible, but sufficient evidence exists to show that on quitting the Albanian mountains it passed Stolatz, crossed the bridge at Mostar, and continued thence by a somewhat circuitous route to Spalatro. On emerging from the defile through which we had been marching, the plain of Blato lay extended before us, some nine or ten miles in length and four in breadth. The land, which must be extremely fertile, is cultivated in the spring, but only those cereals which are of the most rapid growth are produced ”

“ The brothers were especially apprehensive of a bloody anti-Christian outbreak in Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, where they doubted whether the Pashà—himself, in their opinion, a tolerant man enough—could restrain the fanaticism of the Mussulman population, which exceeds that of all other Bosnian Mahometans, as much as the bigotry of Bosnian Mahometans in general exceeds that of all the other followers of the Prophet in Turkey-in-Europe. Of the revolt in the Herzegovina the monks knew but little, except that Mostar had not fallen. ”

“ So carefully are the facts concealed by the local authorities—who adopt the self-same tactics of Russia before the uprising—that strangers going to Bosnia see or hear practically nothing, and what they do see is all rose-tinted. What I have written here is, however, based upon my own observations, and upon what was told and proved to me by responsible persons in Mostar and Sarayevo, men who, living under the persecution of police and Government, risked their liberty in speaking with me. ”

“ In general the tiller of the soil has to furnish the implements of agriculture. See on this M. de Sainte Marie (who was for some time French Consul at Mostar) , L’Herzégovine, étude géographique, historique et statistique, p. 102, &c.
[292] M. Yriarte, who visited Bosnia and the Herzegovinian frontier shortly after our return, with the object of reporting on the causes and progress of the insurrection, estimates the total number of the insurgents in Bosnia and the Herzegovina at about 15,000 men, of which 2,000 were auxiliaries of kindred race from beyond the frontier. ”

“ We anchored off a spot called Neoum, which is on this recently acquired slip, in order to land soldiers and munitions for the troops. Neoum is a military post recently established by Austria on the bare sides of the mountain. We landed, and found a barrack, a telegraph station, and a public-house; these were the only buildings. It is an important position, however, as being the nearest point to Mostar, in Herzegovina, to which town the Government is now constructing a military road from here. Next we touched at the picturesque fortress of Curzola, on the island of the same name. ”

“ The Old Bridge, Mostar.
Herzegovina, since 1878, has been under the titular dominion of the Turkish Sultan, but the administration of Austria-Hungary. Pg 51It is bounded on the north and east by Bosnia, south by Montenegro, and west by Dalmatia, and only just touches the Adriatic at Sutterina. Some districts, those of Niksich and Domitor, have been placed by the Treaty of Berlin under the Government of the Prince of Montenegro.
The greater part of the population belong to the Greek Church. Then come about 70,000 Mohamedans, some Roman Catholics, Jews, and Gipsies. ”