courtesy and kindness, I learned that the Turkish Generalissimo might be
expected to leave Mostar for the frontier at any moment, and that the
disturbed state of the country would render it perilous, if not
impossible, to follow him thither. This determined me to push on at
once, postponing my visit to Montenegro to a more fitting season. To
make some necessary purchases, and to engage a servant, was the work of
a few hours, and, being supplied by the Captano of the Circolo with the
necessary visés and letters of recommendation to the subordinate
officials through whose districts I should have to pass, it only
remained to decide upon the mode of travelling which I should adopt,
and to secure the requisite conveyance. My first point was Metcovich, a
small town on the right bank of the Narenta, and close to the frontier
lines of Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Three modes of performing the journey
were reported practicable,--viz. on horseback, by water, or by carriage.
The first of these I at once discarded, as both slow and tedious; the
choice consequently lay between the remaining two methods: with regard
to economy of time I decided upon the latter. But here a difficulty
arose. The man who possessed a monopoly of carriages, for some reason
best known to himself, demurred at my proceeding, declaring the road to
be impassable. He farther brought a Turkish courier to back his
statement, who at any rate deserved credit, on the
tell-a-good-one-and-stick-to-it principle, for his hard swearing. I
subsequently ascertained that it was untrue; and had I known a little
more of the country, I should not have been so easily deterred, seeing
that the road in question is by far the best which exists in that part
of Europe. It was constructed by the French during their occupation of
Dalmatia in the time of Napoleon, and has been since kept in good order
by the Austrian government. Being thus thwarted in my plans, I made a
virtue of necessity, engaged a country boat, and got under weigh on the
evening of the day on which I had landed at Gravosa. The night was