, 1876-03-15
THE HERzEG0vINIAN REFUGEES

49, G-At11NCf 4AN4A4N 0L4L JULES
The following interesting extracts are from
a letter to the Times from an English lady at
present staying at Ragusa -" Six thousand
unfortunate Herzegovina Refugees are there
IN the district of Ragusa, and l suppose in the
town itself there are several thousand. Never
shall | forget the Saturday evening when We
crept into the little harbour of Ragusa. The
new moon aud one or two stars had Just
come out, and the whole landscape was melt
ing into that tender delicate gray one sees only
in the Mediterranean A more peaceful scene
could hardly be conceived. Nothing was audi
bic save the tapping Of the waves against our
vessel and the barking Of the watch-dogs every
here and there. We sat on deck chatting and
laughing, enjoying the idea of getting into port
and seeing rev place What was our hof-
ror, then, to learn as soon as We arrived that II
We had looked carefully at the hill-sides we
were sailing under We should have seen three
villages burning which the Turks had set FIRE
to that afternoon, numbering, of course, all
the old men, women, and children I A body
of insurgents, 1900 strong, had also marched
across The face of the cliffs facing the sea, after
having routed the Turks in q skirmish. We
have 0 into the midst Of the instruction
with a vengeance. On the side of the hill, just
over the harbour we are lying In, we can see
an arid rocky space in front Of a long, low
building like a stable. We can see creatures
crawling about hardly with the look of human
beings-children with nothing on but a ragged
shirt while wretched-looking women sit crouch
ed down, trying to mend their tattered gar.
ments, aud every here and there a brown heap
Of rags moves and shows one there is a human
being under it. These are the Refugees. The
people here have come to the front most Won
derfuIly, helping them as much as lay 10 theiF
power, but the strain has been tremendous.
The l~az.retto was put at their disposal, and
that Is where they are now crowded like brute
beast over one another. The Austrian Govern.
ment allowa them ten iarthings a day
each, which just %sufices to keep them tr0m
starvation. The Ladies Committee, however.
and the warm clothing sent out by ladies from
London, are doing wonders. We went up on
Sunday afternoon to see the poor creatures.
First of all, in the principal and best apartment.
there were the wounded drought down here
after the last fight between this and TrebiDje)
only about a dozen, as all the rest, and those
the most seriously wounded, had begged to go
to their homes at Cattaro or elsewhere. They
would listen to no persuasion, and, as l was
told, q great many must have died on the
road, whereas nothing could be nicer or cleaner
than all the arrangements about them here,
and one would have thought it a haven of re.
fuge for these poor creatures after their priva.
lions on the hills. 1t was quite touching to
see the patient way they bore their sufferings.
The only one that was really complaining had
an attack Of ~pleurisy, and it seems that illness
they cannot face at all. A wound is ell In the
way of business, and they will bear their
sufferings like heroes; but illness is a thing OF
which, with their constitutions and healthy
life, they hardly know the existence they
cannot bear up against it. From there We
looked into one or two OF the dens where the
sick among the poor people are housed. They
consisted of one dark, dank room without o
window, where on the stone floor We saw
-, 81 - IL i..-. ii..k>A. kha EosuasC