provocatives of thirst before dining, is quite as rife in these parts of the empire as at Stamboul, and it frequently happens that the dinner-hour of a fashionable man is later than in London during the height of the season. Breakfasting at twelve, they do not touch food again till dinner-time, and even then their repeated nips of rakee taken in the hour previous to the repast renders them little disposed for eating. Shortly after we had commenced dinner at Zaloum, a great chattering and confusion in the court-yard proclaimed a new arrival. This proved to be Asiz Bey, an aide-de-camp of Omer Pacha, who was on his road to Mostar. Snatching a hurried meal, he once more mounted, and pushed on in the darkness, with the intention of not pulling rein again until his arrival in Mostar. Later in the evening an excited agriculturist made his appearance, and with much humility demanded the return of his pack-saddle, which he affirmed that one of my servants had stolen. It fell out in this wise: I had engaged a certain youth of the Greek faith, named Giovanni, to look after my baggage-ponies, which he invariably allowed to stray whenever most required. On the occasion of our leaving Gasko one of these was, as usual, absent without leave, and on his being discovered, the pack-saddle in which these long-suffering animals pass their existence had been removed. Giovanni, whose pilfering habits were only equalled by his disregard of truth, replaced the missing article in the simplest way, by doing unto others as they had done unto him, and appropriated the first saddle he came across. To allow the saddle to return to Gasko was impossible, as I could not have proceeded on my journey without it; so I induced the owner to part with it at a considerable profit, mulcting Giovanni of the same. The following morning we descended into the plain of Nevresign, one of the seven or eight large plains in the province.