Belgrade resembles no other European capital for several reasons. There are no poor quarters of squalor and misery, and pauperism is unknown. During the whole time I was in the capital not a single person solicited alms. During the last thirty years land in the vicinity of the city has quadrupled in value. Each house is generally occupied by one family, and almost every house has a pretty garden or courtyard. For many years there has been constant rebuilding, and nowadays houses are usually built of brick in preference to stone—although there is a Brick Trust in the country. A good granite is also employed, and the new buildings are mostly ornate and handsome. Modern Belgrade is well planned. The Rue Terasia and the Rue Prince Michel run on the highest part of the plateau and form the main artery of traffic, while from these two streets diverge other thoroughfares, on the one side leading to the Danube, and on the other to the Save. Viewed from the Danube, the panorama of Belgrade is a fine and imposing one. A commodious quay is badly required for the ever-increasing river traffic, but plans have already been prepared, and shortly the work will be put in hand. High above the river runs the pleasant promenade in the Kalemegdan Gardens, leading to the old fortress with its time-mellowed red brick bastions, now turned into a prison. The position of the city is certainly well adapted to expand into a really fine, handsome capital, as it must become in the near future. It is the centre of intellectual life of Servia. The Library and Museum testify to the literary tastes of the Servians. The Museum is very rich in antiques, and contains a highly interesting numismatic collection. Both science and art are well cultivated in the Servian capital, which is also the headquarters of the Metropolitan Archbishop, the courts of Cassation and of Appeal, the État Major, the Military School, the Faculties, and the Ecclesiastical School. The capital of Servia therefore occupies a most favourable position, and is designed to become a very important centre of commerce. Its situation being at the junction of the Save and the Danube, at the head of the railway which unites the European capitals with the Black Sea ports, as well as with Salonica and Constantinople, it cannot fail to be the gate of the whole commerce of the Orient. It is, indeed, the Gateway of the East.