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RAMBLES IN ISTRIA, DALMATIA,
AND
MONTENEGRO.
RAMBLES IN ISTRIA,
DALMATIA AND MONTENEGRO.
BY
R. H. R.
"Dirvi ch'io sia, saria parlar indarno."—DANTE.
_IN ONE VOLUME._
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS.
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1875.
_All rights reserved._
PREFACE.
Every year more and more is the constantly recurring question ever put
"Where shall we go to this Summer?" and every year the field for selection
gets narrower and narrower.
In writing the following pages, my object has been less to make a book
than to point out to those who are tired of the old beaten tracks,
countries within easy reach of London, but seldom visited, and quite
outside the lines affected by the typical tourist:—countries where at
moderate expense and with total freedom from danger they may enjoy new
scenery, receive fresh impressions, acquire new information; and if by
so doing I shall have suggested to others one more field for exploration
that shall afford them half the enjoyment which I experienced during my
wanderings, I shall consider myself very amply rewarded.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
A CONVERSATION—WHERE SHALL WE GO FOR A HOLIDAY TRIP—ATTRACTIONS
OF LAPLAND—REMINISCENCES OF ITALY—THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER
DAYS—HOW TO STUDY HISTORY—DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND
FOR TRAVEL—AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE
BAR 1
CHAPTER II.
MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES—VIENNA—ST. STEPHEN'S
CATHEDRAL—OLD CATHEDRALS—SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE—USES OF EAU DE
COLOGNE—INSECT ATTACKS—THE UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION—THE GARDENS
AND ACCESSORIES—THE LADIES OF VIENNA—NEW OPERA-HOUSE—ON THE
DANUBE—A WEALTHY PRELATE—WISSEGRAD—ARRIVAL AT PESTH 14
CHAPTER III.
PESTH—HOTEL UNGARIA—BUDA—STORY OF AN ARTIST—PROSPERITY OF THE
CITY—NEW BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE—ST. MARGUERITE'S ISLAND—ANCIENT
ROMAN BATH—CONDITION OF HUNGARY—FIELD FOR THE JUNIOR BRANCHES
OF THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND—KEEPING UP APPEARANCES—THE TERMINATION
OF TURKISH MISRULE—FUTURE OF THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES 29
CHAPTER IV.
STEINBRÜCK—THE SÖMMERING—FIRST VIEW OF THE
ADRIATIC—TRIESTE—SHOCKS OF EARTHQUAKE AT BELLUNO—AUSTRIAN
IRONCLAD 'LISSA'—CAPTAIN R. BURTON—FLYING VISIT TO SAN
CANZIANO—SUBTERRANEAN COURSE OF A MOUNTAIN STREAM—THE KARST—WILD
SCENERY—A THUNDER-STORM—CHURCH OF SAN CANZIANO—STUD FARM 43
CHAPTER V.
THE "SAN CARLO" AND HER PASSENGERS—A DALMATIAN'S REMARKS
ON THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH IN INDIA—DALMATIAN DIGGERS
FROM AUSTRALIA—COAST OF ISTRIA—PIRANO—CATHEDRAL OF
PARENZO—ROVIGNO—POLA—THE AMPHITHEATRE—PICTURESQUE SIGHT
—GIOVANNI ASTONISHED—MONTENEGRIN COSTUME—ZARA—EXTREME HEAT 61
CHAPTER VI.
DEPARTURE FROM ZARA—SEBENICO—PLEASANT COMPANIONS—NOBLE
HARBOUR—THE CATHEDRAL—CURIOUS ROOF—CORAL
FISHERY—SPALATO—SALONA—DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE—MR. PATON'S
DESCRIPTION OF IT—BEAUTIFUL SPECTACLE—THE PORTA FERREA—QUAINT
DWELLINGS—AMBROSIAL TOBACCO 79
CHAPTER VII.
A TYPE OF SHYLOCK—SCENE IN THE STREET—VARIED
COSTUMES—MORLACCHI—TURKS FROM THE HERZEGOVINA—WOMEN OF
SPALATO—INSPECTION OF THE CITY—THE PORTA AUREA—COURT OF THE
VESTIBULE OF THE PALACE—INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL—ILLUSTRIOUS
MEN OF SPALATO—MARK ANTONY DE DOMINIS—ST. JEROME—THE MORLACCHI 94
CHAPTER VIII.
ISLAND OF LISSA—NAVAL BATTLES—A BRIDAL PARTY TAKEN ON
BOARD—LESINA—FORTRESS OF SAN NICOLO—THE LOGGIE—FORT
SPAGNUOLO—ISLAND OF CURZOLA—LA CHROMA—BEAUTIFUL SCENE—RICHARD
CŒUR DE LION—CATHEDRAL OF RAGUSA—EARTHQUAKE OF 1667—TERRIBLE
CONFLAGRATION—PRINCE MAXIMILIAN 107
CHAPTER IX.
THE PADRE ANSELMO—HIS LIFE AND LABOURS AMONG THE AMERICAN
INDIANS—THE PIONEERS OF CIVILIZATION—AMERICAN INDIANS AND
NEGROES—PADRE ANSELMO ON PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC MISSIONS—NATIVE
CHRISTIANS IN INDIA—POPE PIUS IX. ONCE A MISSIONARY—CARDINAL
P—.—PORT OF GRAVOSA—RAGUSA 125
CHAPTER X.
ATTRACTIONS OF DALMATIA—INTERESTING EXCURSION—ISLAND OF
LACHROMA—CLIMATE—A. A. PATON, ESQ., FORMERLY CONSUL-GENERAL
AT RAGUSA—AN ITALIAN DINNER—EPIDAURUS—THE CANAL OF
CATTARO—TERRITORY OF RAGUSA—TOWER OF PERASTO AND FORT OF SANTA
CROCE—STRANGELY BUILT CHURCH—A PALAZZO—SAN GIORGIO AND LA
MADONNA—PICTURE ATTRIBUTED TO ST. LUKE 141
CHAPTER XI.
CITY OF CATTARO—SIGNOR JACKSCHICH—STREETS AND PIAZZAS—WALKS AND
FORTIFICATIONS—PUBLIC WALK—CAFÉ AND GARDENS—SONOROUS STONE—A
MONTENEGRIN CHIEF—A HAPPY BEGGAR BOY 150
CHAPTER XII.
MONTENEGRIN TRADERS—LE SCALE DI CATTARO—A GORGEOUSLY-ATTIRED
MONK—OUR CARAVAN—MONTENEGRINS OF THE PRINCE'S
BODY-GUARD—INTERESTING VIEW—ABSENCE OF TREES ON THE DALMATIAN
COAST—A HOME FOR GERMAN EMIGRANTS—TURKISH MISRULE IN EUROPE—A
FUTURE EMPIRE—A MAN FIT TO RULE 164
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO—UNJUST DEPRIVATION OF TERRITORY—ORIGIN
OF THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY—A FRIEND IN NEED—VILLAGE OF
NIEGOSCH—PANORAMA SEEN FROM THE TOP OF THE PASS—WILD-LOOKING
HERDS AND FLOCKS—MONTENEGRIN LEGEND—ARRIVAL AT CETTIGNE—THE
VLADIKA'S PALACE—THE TREE OF JUSTICE—TOWER OF CETTIGNE 177
CHAPTER XIV.
INSECT POWDER OF MONTENEGRO—DESCRIPTION OF THE
MONASTERY—ENCAMPMENTS—FESTIVAL OF ST. PETER—A SAINT BY THE
WILL OF THE PEOPLE—PICTURESQUE SCENE—BOSNIAN CAFÉ—THE NATIONAL
INSTRUMENT—A TRAVELLED DALMATIAN—TALL MONTENEGRINS 194
CHAPTER XV.
A POLYGLOT JUMBLE—WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MONTENEGRINS—DEATH
IN BATTLE—FORAYS FOR THE PLUNDER OF CATTLE—EQUIPAGE OF A
MONTENEGRIN SOLDIER—PILLAGE—MANNER OF FIGHTING—TACTICS—SIGNAL
CRIES—ON BOARD SHIP—DECAPITATION OF WOUNDED PRISONERS 208
CHAPTER XVI.
BATTLE BETWEEN TURKS AND MONTENEGRINS—ADDRESS OF PRINCE
MIRKO—HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER—THE PROJECTS OF
PRINCE DANIELO—PRINCE NICHOLAS I.—SPORT IN MONTENEGRO—INTERVIEW
WITH THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS—NATIONAL COSTUME—SPLENDID
ILLUMINATION 218
CHAPTER XVII.
A WALK WITH THE PRINCE—SALUTATIONS OF THE CROWD—THE
GUZLA—MONTENEGRIN DANCE—THE PRINCE'S ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN—THE
CAMP AT NIGHT—ADVENTURE WITH A MONTENEGRIN—DEVOTION OF THE
PEOPLE TO THEIR PRINCE 235
CHAPTER XVIII.
FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF MONTENEGRO—AGRICULTURE ON A
MINOR SCALE—FIELD-LABOURERS—MONTENEGRIN FACCHINI AT
CONSTANTINOPLE—FEMALE LABOUR—PRODUCTION OF SUMACH—COMMERCIAL
RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IMPEDED—IMPOSING PAGEANT 248
CHAPTER XIX.
FOOT RACES—MONASTERY OF OSTROG—OTTOMAN ADMINISTRATION—A
COURSE À LA MONTAGNE—RACING WITHOUT BETTING—BEN TROVATO—A FLAT
RACE—CONVERSATION ABOUT ENGLISH LAWS AND CUSTOMS—LAW OF HABEAS
CORPUS 258
CHAPTER XX.
DEPARTURE FROM CETTIGNE—RUGGED ROAD—DELIGHTFUL VIEW—USEFUL
OLD HELMET—NIEGOSH—EXCESSIVE HEAT—THE SCALA DI CATTARO—THE
BOCCHESI—THE RUSSIAN CONSUL—SUNSET AT CATTARO—UNEXPECTED
APPEARANCE OF PERO PEJOVICH 268
CHAPTER XXI.
BEAUTIFUL ROAD—ATTACK OF FEVER—ARRIVAL AT BUDUA—BARON HEYDEG
AND SIGNOR MARCO MEDIN—A RESTAURANT—OUR HOST—DOCTOR, DENTIST
AND APOTHECARY—WALK ROUND THE FORTIFICATIONS—EXPLORATION OF
BUDUA—THE PARTING GLASS 280
CHAPTER XXII.
TOWN OF ANTIVARI—FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TURKEY—ORIENTAL
PASSENGERS—VALUE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF ARABIC OR TURKISH—A MAHOMETAN
MERCHANT AND HIS FAMILY—TURKISH TROOPS IN ALBANIA—TOWN AND
FORTRESS OF CASTEL DURAZZO—RETURN TO TRIESTE—FAREWELL TO THE
READER 291
RAMBLES IN ISTRIA, DALMATIA,
AND
MONTENEGRO.
CHAPTER I.
A CONVERSATION—WHERE SHALL WE GO FOR A HOLIDAY TRIP—ATTRACTIONS
OF LAPLAND—REMINISCENCES OF ITALY—THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER
DAYS—HOW TO STUDY HISTORY—DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND FOR
TRAVEL—AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE BAR.
"Let us go to Lapland!" was the exclamation which rang on my ear, as I
was entering my club, one fine morning in the early part of June, 1873.
"Lapland!" said I, "what put that into your head?"
"Yes," replied my friend M—, in his rich, good-humoured voice, slightly
flavoured with Hibernian Doric. "I hear that somebody has written a book
about it. I have been everywhere else in Europe—and it is quite the
place to go to now, you know. We shall pic-nic on Cape North and then
drive across to Spitzbergen in reindeer sledges on the ice, it will be
awfully jolly!" and his joyous laugh echoed through the hall. "Do come,
like a good fellow," said he, "there will be just the four of us, R—,
C—, yourself, and I, and you really must not say no, for we none of us
can speak a word of anything but English, while you speak every language
under the sun. So agree to it at once; let us all meet here to dinner,
to-morrow at six, and then off by the mail to Calais."
At first I thought that M— was chaffing; but having now been joined by
R— and C—, who at once chimed in on the same subject, I said,
"Have you any idea about Lapland, my dear M—, do you know anything about
it? and what do you expect to see there?"
"Oh, dear me, yes," replied he, "it is a country in the North of Europe,
surrounded on all sides either by land or by water, and inhabited by
men who are four feet six high, and the darlingest little women just
four feet nothing. They go to church on Sundays, riding on reindeer, and
shoot Polar bears with bows and arrows! Oh dear, yes, I know all about
Lapland."
"Not at all a bad account," said I, "but what writes Captain Hutchinson
in his book? Is his description of Lapland very captivating?"
"Well," answered M—, "I confess I have not read his book; but go abroad
I must, London is getting too stupid, and I have been everywhere else in
Europe; and I want to see a country out of the beaten track, something
I have not yet seen."
"Now, my dear fellow," said I, "though I have not been exactly in Lapland,
I have been in Finland, and that, you know, is just next door to it;
and knowing what the mosquitoes are in those swampy northern latitudes,
nothing could induce me to visit those countries again in Summer, except
for very cogent reasons indeed. But come now, tell me where have you
been, that you say you have seen every other country in Europe?"
"Well," answered M—. "I have been twice to Italy, up and down, and done
it as thoroughly as any man could do it. I have been—"
"Stop a wee," said I, "how have you _done_ Italy? let me see, suppose we
just begin in the middle, let us take Florence—no doubt you were there."
"Oh dear, yes, and such a jolly place, where one could live and love
for ever! oh, yes,
"'Of all the fairest cities of the world,
None is so fair as Florence!'
"If it were not for the heat, and having been there twice already,
it would beat going to see the sun at midnight, which we shall see in
Lapland, old fellow. We shall see the sun going right round the horizon,
neither rising nor setting—not a bit—but going just as in the old riddle
we had when we were children, 'going round and round the house, and never
touching the house.' So now no more 'shirking and lurking,' but let's be
off to Lapland, and if there are a few mosquitoes, we can take plenty
of flea-powder to protect us; there now, I'll stand the flea-powder—a
whole pound's worth," and the laugh of that excellent fellow rings in
my ears still.
Here R— joined in the conversation; he had never been to Italy, and his
curiosity was raised by the enthusiastic expressions of my friend M—,
in regard to Florence.
"Do tell us something about that place, where you could live and love
for ever," said he.
"Well, what _can_ I tell you?" replied M—. "Florence was the capital
of Tuscany, and is situated on the banks of the river Arno, and it is
a most delightful place. What more do you want? There is the charming
Mrs. —, and her equally charming daughter, whose house opens just as
the opera closes; and once there, one never thinks of leaving till three
o'clock in the morning at soonest. Then there are the Cascine, the Café
Doney, and the club, and my friend G. M—y; and then the churches and
the galleries, and the pietre dure, &c., &c., I did every one of them."
"Where did you go when you left Florence?"
"To Rome, naturally."
"So all you know about Tuscany and Central Italy resolves itself into
the Cascine, the Café Doney, and our friend G. M—y. Did you not even
visit Siena on your way to Rome?"
"No, for, being fond of the sea, I went to Rome by Civita Vecchia."
"When you were at Civita Vecchia, did it not come into your head to
visit the birth-place of the Tarquins—Corneto? only a short drive from
Civita Vecchia, and one of the most interesting places in Italy."
"I never even heard of it," said M—.
I was going to say _ex uno disce omnes_, this is how _la jeunesse doré_
of the present time travel on the continent—to finish their education,
by the way! but my remark would be of too sweeping a character, for
there are many exceptions to be met with occasionally. Still, though
travelling is multiplied a thousand-fold compared with what it used to
be even only a century ago, it is doubtful, I think, if travelling is
as fruitful of good results in our days as it used to be in the days of
our grandfathers, when, under the guidance of a well qualified tutor,
young men used to take the "grand tour" with a view to completing their
education, the foundation and groundwork of which had been laid first in
our public schools, and then in our great universities. Now my friend
M— was a charming fellow, well educated to a certain point, pleasant,
agreeable, and good-tempered; he had travelled a good deal, and yet I may
safely say he had seen nothing, and simply because he had not prepared
himself for travelling with a view to thoroughly seeing the countries
he intended visiting, and obtaining the information they could bestow.
And how many are there that just travel in the same way! How many are
there among those who yearly flood the approaches to the Eternal City
who do more than lounge about the galleries, the Campo Vaccino, or the
Pincian Hill! and who, if asked about the City of Veii (for instance)
will simply open their eyes and say they never heard of it, where is
it? Why, my good fellow, Veii was a great city, and its inhabitants
among the most civilized and luxurious in the world, long before Rome
was built. What! before Rome was built? he will say; and then if some
mild reminiscence of the kind comes across his memory, he may, perhaps,
recall some fleeting visions of Agamemnon and Mycenæ, taking it for
granted that Veii, if anterior to Rome, must have been in Greece; but
when informed that Veii was the rival of Rome, that its ruins were within
twenty miles of the Eternal City, he will possibly get angry and think you
are chaffing him. He, no doubt, may have heard of Etruria, but probably
in his mind it was jumbled up with Minton's pottery; if associated with
Wedgewood, it will be a point in his favour. He may probably have heard
of Etruscan cities and Etruscan vases, but all his information in this
line is terribly hazy; and so he dawdles through his sojourn at Rome,
goes on to Naples, perhaps to Palermo and Malta, returning to England
by the P. and O. steamer, imagining that he has seen, or _done_, Italy,
as he terms it.
It so happened that I had made arrangements for another tour, and was
thus unable to join my three friends in their intended expedition; but
the following Winter M— and I went to the continent together, we spent
four months in Italy, that Italy he had so thoroughly "done" twice before!
and to his amazement, he had to confess that in his previous journeys
he had simply wasted his time and his money.
We visited numberless out of the way places, having made Florence
our head-quarters for Central Italy, and there under the guidance of
Micali's _Antichi Popoli Italiani_, we dived into the history of Italy,
beginning with the misty periods synchronous with the siege of Troy,
illustrating them as we went along by visits to the ancient cities and
cemeteries of Etruria, and thence through those glorious Middle Ages and
their unparalleled works of art, which can nowhere be so well studied
as in Italy! It was a surpassing pleasure to him, no doubt, to see for
the first time all those wondrous things; but it was almost as great a
delight to me to witness his raptures, his astonishment, as city after
city came under our examination—Fiesole, Volterra, Chiusi, Cortona.
This last, especially, struck him with astonishment, a city co-eval with
Ilium, and still in our days a city preserving its ancient name, while
of Ilium, _periêre ipsæ ruinæ_, and its very existence questioned, till
the researches of the indefatigable Schliemann brought monuments to light
within the last few months which have clearly identified the spot, and
proved to a demonstration that Ilium really had existed, and that the
siege of Troy was not simply a myth, a poet's dream!
I well remember helping him to measure the immense blocks of the ancient
walls of Cortona, fitted with such wonderful exactness that the blade
of a penknife can even at present be scarcely pushed in between them,
and which still remain _in situ_ without mortar or other cement, though
probably thirty centuries have rolled on since those walls were erected
by the ancestors of their present inhabitants. How I remember the
interest he took in scanning from the hill which looks over the rippling
water of the Trasymene Lake, pointing out the probable spot where those
false-hearted Romans had rested whilst the battle was raging below, only
to be overtaken, however, on the morrow by Hannibal and his victorious
legions, who made them pay so dearly for their treachery.
"This is the way I like to study history, and this is the way never to
forget it," said he. "I hated the very names of Tacitus and Livy, but how
delightful I think them now!" and so we did _do_ Italy from Agrigentum
to the Alps, and from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean, and many queer
out-of-the-way places we visited, and such scores of sketches we carried
away; and a more delightful trip never was made before or since.
Captain Hutchinson, in his introduction to "Try Lapland," writes, "The
difficulty of finding new ground for travel is increasing every year for
those who, with but a limited time at their disposal, are yet tired of
the beaten paths of Ramsgate or Scarborough, Switzerland or the Rhine,
and pant after lands fresh and fair, of which they have never seen the
photograph—where the gorgeous hotel with its elongated bills, and the
pertinacious touter with his cringing greasy manners, are alike unknown."
Now to a great extent that pleasant writer is correct; but the man who
rushing away from the turmoil and bustle of London life, whether he be
lawyer, merchant, or physician, seeking for fresh air and scenery, but
as far away as possible from those hackneyed tracks infested by the
typical tourist, both English and Transatlantic, and by poor Marryat's
"shilling-seeking, napkin-holding, up-and-downstairs son of a sea-cook"
of an hotel waiter, need not go to the Arctic Circle to find all the
above-named advantages, unless, indeed, he is bent on also seeing the
sun at midnight, and his own body a prey to the mosquitoes.
Within five days of Temple Bar, or as we soon shall have to say, where
Temple Bar once stood, there are as splendid countries to explore, as
fine ruins to contemplate, as glorious scenery and as gorgeous costumes
to admire, as the heart of man can wish for; and if the reader will trust
himself with me for a little while, excusing the many shortcomings he
will meet with in these pages, I will lead him over a trip I took last
Summer which I think will fully repay him, though he will often have
to make great allowances and deal leniently with the Author, who for
the first time in his life rushes into print, just for the same reason
that the stars shine above us, because he has nothing else to do! But
if through publishing this little book he shall have opened up a new
field of travel to those who yearly require to recruit their strength of
body and of mind by a ramble in foreign lands, if he shall have added
one more possible source of enjoyment to those within the reach of the
many, he will consider himself amply repaid for whatever trouble he may
have been put to in its compilation.