Proceeding inland, the country assumes a more habitable aspect: plains and pasture-lands capable of high cultivation are found at intervals, while even the mountains assume a more fertile appearance, and have a better depth of soil, which is well adapted for the cultivation of the olive and the vine. Dense forests, too, of average growth cover the mountain sides as we approach the Bosnian frontier, which, although inferior to those of Bosnia itself, would prove most remunerative to the government were they properly worked. But, unfortunately, the principle of isolation which the Porte has adopted with regard to these remote provinces, together with the want of enterprise among its inhabitants, the result of four hundred years of indolence on the one hand and oppression on the other, renders it problematical whether their ample resources will ever be developed. Should Turkey, however, arise from her lethargy, should genuine civilisation spread its branches over the land, we may then confidently anticipate a glorious future for her south-Slavonic provinces, doubting not that they will some day become 'the noblest jewel in their monarch's diadem.' To convey an accurate idea of a province so little known as the Herzegovina, it will be best to enumerate the various physical features by which it is distinguished. Thus the highest and most important mountains are Dormitor in the district of Drobniak, on the Montenegrin frontier, and Velesh, which forms a rugged background to the plain of Mostar, the highest point being 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. Besides these, there are many others of nearly equal altitude, viz. Flam, Hergud, Prievolie, Vrau, Hako, Fartar, Belen, Stermoshnik, Bielevoda, Chabolie, Vrabcha, and Zavola. The perfect sea of rock which the southern part of the province presents to the eye is of grey limestone, varied however by a slatey stratum. Of the mineral products of the mountains little accurate knowledge prevails; gold, silver, and lead are said to exist, but I could not hear of their having ever been found to any extent. A firman was granted some years ago to one Hadji Ali Pacha, ceding to him for fifteen years the privilege of exploring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and working any mines which he might there discover. His application for this firman does not, however, in any way prove the existence of these minerals throughout the country generally, since it has proved to have been a mere cloak for diverting suspicion from many previous dishonest actions of which he had been guilty. His story is worthy of narration, as being no bad instance of the career of a Turkish _parvenu_, whose only qualifications were a little education and a large amount of effrontery.