Nature’s gentlemen the Bosniacs certainly are not! There is not here that surviving polish of an older civilization—that inheritance of refinement which one traces amongst the Italian peasants, and which the traveller meets with even among the Rouman shepherds of the Carpathian wilds. The Bosniacs, on the contrary, show themselves grossly familiar when not cowed into bearish reserve; they have not even sufficient tact to perceive when their impertinence or obtrusive curiosity is annoying. They show no delicacy about prying into our effects, and in this respect are far behind the Wallacks and other uncivilized European populations with whom I have come in contact. They never displayed gratitude for any small largess that we bestowed on them, though they grabbed at it with avidity; and their general ingratitude was confirmed by those who have had more experience of the country. Amongst the Mahometan burghers there certainly is a very considerable amount of politeness and a natural dignity, due to the grand Oriental traditions with which their conversion to Islâm has imbued them, to which I willingly pay homage. But among the Christians, even of the highest social strata, the want of politeness and that ungenerous vice of mean spirits—ingratitude—are simply astounding. It has already been mentioned that when the new Serbian cathedral was being built, the Russian government presented the Greek congregation of Serajevo with a magnificent set of icons and other church furniture. This costly gift was sent carriage free as far as Brood; but from this town to Serajevo the cost of transport, amounting to at most a dozen or so ducats, fell on the Christian merchants of Serajevo, who, on their own showing, are the wealthiest part of the population of a large city. Will it be believed?—instead of paying the money at once and with pleasure, they entered a formal protest at the Russian Consulate against defraying this trifling expense! The Russian Consul was profoundly disgusted.