He told me that three thousand individuals
per annum performed quarantine, passing from Bosnia to Sokol and
Belgrade, and that the principal imports Were hides, chestnuts, zinc,
and iron manufactures from the town of Seraievo. On the opposite bank
of the river was a wooden Bosniac guard-house.
Remounting our horses after sunset, we continued along the Drina, now
dubiously illuminated by the chill pallor of the rising moon, while
hill and dale resounded with the songs of our men. No sooner had one
finished an old metrical legend of the days of Stephan the powerful
and Lasar the good, than another began a lay of Kara Georg, the
"William Tell" of these mountains. Sometimes when we came to a good
echo the pistols were fired off; at one place the noise had aroused a
peasant, who came running across the grass to the road crying out, "O
good men, the night is advancing: go no further, but tarry with me:
the stranger will have a plain supper and a hard couch, but a hearty
welcome." We thanked him for his proffer, but held on.
At about ten o'clock we entered a thick dark wood, and after an ascent
of a quarter of an hour emerged upon a fine open lawn in front of a
large house with lights gleaming in the windows.
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