The sun., 1897-06-13

days YVES not Mostar, bot BlagAj which was
more than once destroyed, and is now mere
handful Of houses. The Hranic, the princes Of
Hum whose fortress OF stjepangrad dominated
Blagaj, ruled a. far as Almissa on the North
and a. far as Cattaro, and even further, on the
South. Their allegiance to the King of Bosnia
was nominal, and, in tho year 11As, Stipan
vvukcio declared himself independent and as
sumed the title Of Herceg or Duke, whereby
his country came to be known as The Duko-
dom" Of the Herzegovina.
Tho original inhabitants Of Bosnia wero not
tho Bessol," q Thracian tribe, who, before they
descended upon Bosnia, lived in Bulgaria, but
an Illyrian race which originally inhabited the
whole OF tho western portion Of the Balkan
peninsula, whose only lineal descendants are
the Skipetas or Albnnians or the nlyrians
little Is known and that litlo only of those that
dwelt upon tho coast and had occasional inter.
course with the Greeks, but 1t Is thought that
about 400 B. G. they wero attacked by tho
kets or Gauls, who. In q few years, CONQUERED
the whole Of what is now called Bosnia driving
the Ilyrians into the present Herzegovina.
There tho latter held their own until tho
second century before tho Christian era,
when they were assailcd from tho Adri.
attic by the Romans. Perceiving the great
of their peril. tho Illyrian tribes bound
the chief town of which bore the name OF Del.
minium, whereby the whole Of the confederates
acquired tho designation Of Dclmatians or Dial.
matians. Their efforts, however, were OF no
avail against the superior skill OF their oppon-
| ents. and, in the year 7s b. c., Dalmatia, and
with 1t Bosnia and the Herzegovina, was finally
subdued by the Romans, who combined the three
countries into the Roman province of Illyricum.
Afterward, when they had vanquished the Pan
A.. tl,.
between the Save and the Danube, the Romans
gave the name OF 1llyria to the whole OF the land
lying between the Alps and Mount Dormitor and
between the adriatic and the Danube. The name
Illyria then lost both its chronological and polit-
cal Significance and became purely geographi-
cal expression, the different Roman provinces
comprised in II receiving the names Of Dalmatia,
Pannonia and Noricum. Bosnia proved to DO
immensely rich in minerals, and the inhab-
itants, who until then had been wholly occupied
with war and pasturage were compelled to de-
vote themselves to gold washing and mining,
in which they rapidly acquired great proficiency.
Gold is now found in Bosnia only in very small
! quantities; apparently It has all been worked
| out. Pliny mentions. however. that in the reign
of Nero it was still so plentiful that 1t was found
on the surface of the ground and as much rs fifty
! libras day could easily be collected. The exact
| time when Christianity was introduced in this
| region is not known, but 1t must have been at
very early date, for St. Paul in the kpstle to the
| Romans says that from Jerusalem and round
about unto Illyricum, 1 have fully preached the
| Gospel Of Christ" Numerous converts were
| made, and, in 3O3 A. D., they underwent a ter
| rible persecution at the hands Of the Emperor
| Diocletian himself an nlyrian by birth. the
| ruins of whose palace still exist in SpSlato
| Upon the fall of the Roman empire in the west
| in 476 A. D.. Pannonia and Dalmatia came un.
der the sway Of the Ostrogoths, under whom
! they continued till 535, when the Emperor JUS
| tinian began the war with that people which
| lasted twenty years. During that time Dali
| malta must have suffered fearfully, both from
war and from religious persecution, for the con.
| temporary chroniclers mention that the hereti-
| cal Arian Goths cruelty prosecuted those of the
true faith. 1t was while this struggle between
the Ostrogoth and the Byzantine Greeks was
going on that the Slavs appeared upon the
scene, first in tho year 54s and again in 551.
It is supposed that the King Of the Goths
called them in to help him against Justinian.
In 555, the Goths finally succumbed, and Dali
malta passed into Byzantine hands, but the
influx of the Slavs was not thereby averted.
They were Joined by the Avars. who, according
to the preponderance Of opinion. were also a
Slav race. The most terrible invasion Of the
Avars took place in 59s. when they laid waste
the whole Of Dalmatia. After that the Slavs
succeeded in making themselves masters Of the
entire country and retained 1t until it was
taken from them by the Turks in 1463; they still
form the bulk Of the population. The Serbs
and the Croats are descended from the same
Slav stock. but the Croats were converted &c
Catholicism by missionaries from Rome and the
Serbs to the Orthodox church by missionarie:
from Greece. This produced lasting ant
bitter schism. The Serbs have given thcil
name to Serbia, Just the Croats have giver
their name to Croatia, but. owing to som'
misconception. Serbia has generally come to b,
known in Europe as "Servia " and the peopl,
as Servians."