Herzegovina; Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian RebelsArbuthnot, George
History
Herzegovina; Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian Rebels
Arbuthnot, George
Hercegovina (Bosnia and Hercegovina) -- History; Serbia
It is not my intention to enlarge upon this portion of my travels, which
would indeed be of little interest; still less to tread in the steps of
Sir Gardner Wilkinson, whose valuable work on Dalmatia has rendered such
a course unnecessary; but rather to enter, with log-like simplicity, the
dates of arrival and departure at the various ports, and such-like
interesting details of sea life. If, however, my landsman-like
propensities should evince themselves by a lurking inclination to 'hug
the shore,' I apologise beforehand.
My fellow-passengers were in no way remarkable, but harmless enough,
even including an unfortunate mad woman, whose mania it was to recount
unceasingly the ill-treatment to which she had been exposed. At times,
her indignation against her imaginary tormentors knew no bounds; at
others, she would grow touchingly plaintive on the subject of her
wrongs. That she was a nuisance, I am fain to confess; but the treatment
she experienced at the hands of her Dalmatian countrymen was
inconsiderate in the extreme. One who professed himself an advocate for
sudden shocks, put his theory into practice by stealing quietly behind
his patient, and cutting short her lugubrious perorations with a deluge
of salt water. This was repeated several times, but no arguments would
induce her to allow her wet clothes to be removed, so it would not be
surprising if this gentleman had succeeded in 'stopping her tongue'
beyond his expectations. The only other lady was young and rather
pretty, but dismally sentimental. She doated on roses, was enamoured of
camelias, and loved the moon and the stars, and in fact everything in
this world or out of it. In vain I tried to persuade her that her cough
betrayed pulmonary symptoms, and that night air in the Adriatic was
injurious to the complexion.
The man-kind on board included an Austrian officer of engineers, a
French Consul, and a Dalmatian professor. Besides the above, there was
an Italian patriot, whose devotion to the 'Kingmaker' displayed itself
in a somewhat eccentric fashion. With much mystery, he showed me a
portrait of Garibaldi, secreted in a watchkey seal, while his waistcoat
buttons and shirt studs contained heads of those generals who served in
the campaign of the Two Sicilies. It was rather a novel kind of
hero-worship, though, I fear, likely to be little appreciated by him who
inspired the thought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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