I make this remark, not so much to reproach my Servian friends
with backwardness, but to stimulate them to all easily practicable
improvements.
One day I accompanied M. de Fonblanque on a visit to the Pasha in the
citadel, which we reached by crossing the glacis or neck of land that
connects the castle with the town. This place forms the pleasantest
evening lounge in the vicinity of Belgrade; for on the one side is an
extensive view of the Turkish town, and the Danube wending its way
down to Semendria; on the other is the Save, its steep bank piled with
street upon street, and the hills beyond them sloping away to the
Bosniac frontier.
The ramparts are in good condition; and the first object that strikes
a stranger on entering, are six iron spikes, on which, in the time of
the first revolution, the heads of Servians used to be stuck. Milosh
once saved his own head from this elevation by his characteristic
astuteness. During his alliance with the Turks in 1814, (or 1815,) he
had large pecuniary transactions with the Pasha, for he was the medium
through whom the people paid their tribute.
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