Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-06-09

majority of them can't make mouse
trap" Invention the Sclavonian ackhow
lodged. was not the forte OF his people,
they were rather impractical, more gwen
to poetry and sentiment than TO me
chanics. Goethe, he said, STUDIED theil I
language for a year that he might reau
their poetry. of which he was~vory roma.
If there be any one thing at which they
are adopts il is the learning or nam
guage; many of the distinguished I'M
gusts he claimed, were OF SclaVohl1h
stock The children learn German quick
~ In the schools and speak 1t without an
accent: most of the business people speak
three or four languages nuently. , M.
a Sclavonian peasant who spoke Ehslls,"
we'll and had studied it only in the VII,
lage school, and he said that he had
picked uu' Italian in a month.
An effort is being made to reclaim much
OF the land on the hillsides' ana TO nm
prove that ip the valley. The undertaking
is watched with interest: for If success
full. similar efforts will be made IN othcf
parts Of the country and the desututlon
now caused by floods in the spring ana
drought in the summer Will be prevented
The water of the Muscia has been cap
tured near its source in the mountains
about fifteen miles from the town, con-
Quoted into a great basin loriheu ny
building a wall across one OF the Valltys,
and then let out upon the country pelow
by irrigating canals. The engineer III
charge of the work told me that the wall
is 70 feet high, $50 feet long below; ana so
and at the crown Is feet. The artinclal
lake thus formed will cover about nifty
acres and hold 12oOOQ,OO cubic rect or
water. With one exception it is the
largest work of it's kind in Europe. The
cement was shipped from Italy TO Ra-
gusa, brought in wagons from there 10
GackO. ana by pack-horses to the WORKS.
In spite of this and of other great disad-
vantages of working in a wild mountain
region 5000 feet above the sea. only soeV,-
900 the engineer said. will be required Tor
the work. What gloriouss opportunities
such government contract would pre-
sent to all American ring.
All this neighborhood. like that OF most
Of the towns along the road, is rlcn IN
old Bogumiller gravestones. The great
number of stones. and the richness OF
decoration of many of them, are evidences
OF a wealthy and pQpulouS people thdt
once inhabited the land. Some OF the mon
uments are Of marble from the quarries
of Italy or Dalmatia. The carving often
evidences considerable skill; there are
delicate traceTies Of vines and trees, pic
lures of warriors engaged in combats; or
mounted upon little horses, wearing elan
CRATE coats of arms. The mournerS are
generally pictured as women with upllit-
ed arms. Several monuments along TINS
highland have representations OF cara
vans or of marriage professions perlshing
in the snow. Upon none DO the cross OF
any other religious signs appear-the
BOgumilerS were the ProtestantS or their
day. and despsed all religious symbols.
The road from Gacko on TO the Adrlatic
Sea is along an ancient caravan route
from Ragusa to the East. 1t was some
times called the way of DEATH so beset
| IL was with robbers and highwaymen.
| Caravans. as we'll as solitary travellers,
were their prey; sometimes tney even
| overpowered military escorts. Brigandage
was the business of the inhabitants; their
homes were caves in the mountain gorges'
the keepers of the khans Qnns) on the
way their allies. and the people In the
| =. shield
| protect them. one of the most notorious
| of the bands, the Klobuk. lived in castle
| near the Montenegrln border. typical
| robbers nest perched upon the top OF
| rocky pinnacle in the midst of a wild,
| mountainous country. They were in ex-
| istence as far back as the seventeenth
| century and the records of Cattaro state
| that the Venetian Governor, In order TO
| protect his subjects, sent an expedition
| against them, which finally forced them
| TO surrender.
| When the Austrians came. they built
| along the road a line OF barracks and
\ watch-houses-I counted twenty between
| Gacko and Bilek-connected them by tele-
| phone with one another, and with the
| central military stations, and established
| "a strong patrol The robberies. however,
| continued; almost daily highwaymen rush.
| ed out from among the rocks, despoiled
| travellers, and retreated into Montene-
| gro; the soldiers who attempted TO follow
| them were found dead the next morning,
| their noses and ears cut of, their eyes
| gouged out. Then the patrol was in
| creased: Klobuk was besieged and cap
| tured and its walls blown up. The pres
| sure became too great. and the brigands
| retired into the wilds of Montenegro and
| Albania. Still. there are yet safer roads
| for lone travellers after dark than this
The duty Of the patrol appears at pres
| ent TO be to prevent encounters between
the people living along the border. The
| Montenegrins. so said an Austrian. are
not so favored with herds and crops as
their Herzegovnian neghbors. and some
| times make incursions across the line ana
| drive away all the cattle and sheep that
they find. The Herzegovinians make an
| armed resistance and an unpleasantness
might result that would embroil the Two
nations If il were not checked In its IN
| ception. Another of their duties is TO ex-
anime passes; l was asked at least every
hour for mine. TIE barracks have but
| small garrisons now; some have only one
or two men, and there appears 10 be
most friendly intercourse between them
and the Montenegrin guards, whose
wretched little guard-houscs are In strik-
ing contrast to the massive buildings or
] tho AuStrianS.