Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-06

Veroeczc. This is mentioned merely for
LEGAL color.
The old kings or bans of Bosnia were
great folk. They lived in palaces hidden in
the dark mountains. j. would be hard to
build palaces or huts in Bosnia without
having them in mountains. Bosnian calls
place that is 1000 feet above the level of
the sea a lowland, and views it a high
way of commerce.
The old Bosnian bans never failed to pick
up good fight if il lay before their doors.
They fought the Turks and the Hungarians
and the Dalmatians alternately. BY the
treaty Of Berlin in 1878. after the Russo
Turkish war, when all the nations, small
and big. that Were engaged in the tight were
presented with diplomatic gold bricks, Aus
tria-HunsarH, that didn't fight at ali, got
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They Tell the Story
The Bosnians tell story to account for
the formation of their land. 1t accounts
for that and other things, among them why
Bosnia is not threatening tie worlds mar
kets sufficiently to brighten anybody.
The story is that one day the devil was
hurrying across the Balkan peninsula to see
a man. He bore on his back few argu-
ments in the shape of bag full o. boIld RS.
As is we'll known to all who are at all ac-
quainted with him, the devil faVors his left
foot, owing to a little family matter in the
shape of a hOof. This made him stub his
and fell headlong.
His bag flew over his head and the con-
tents went heller SHELTER over the place
that is now Bosnia. The devil was
nOyed that he left the outfit just where 1t
dropped. and went off swearing kicking
great holes into the place with his hoof.
The general and specific aspect of Bosnia
today shows that the only part of the mess
that has been cleared away since this hap
pened is the bag
Bosnia is black with mountains. There
isn't such thing bee line there. Tray
cling through it is a matter of lodging be-
tween mountains from one end Of the coun-
try to the other. The rivers all fail down
hill and a Bosnian considers river that
flows without waterfall for ten miles an
important and wonderful nav.gable sire am,
and calls the village in that favored dis
trict port
The Dinaric Alps.
On the Mediterranean or Adriatc side
stand the Dinaric Alps, virgin as they
were when the forgotten Dacians first
swarmed into Europe through their defiles.
Toward the Danube are half dozen ranges
of mountains The towns in the interior sit
at the bases of mountains. The railroad
runs over grades that make it impossible to
haul heavy trains. 1t goes over passes so
dangerous that the rails have had to be
made so narrow in gauge that the road is
toylike.
Yet Bosnia, although it is hardly ever
heard of, is the key to an immense COM
merce. and Austria Hungary is determined
some day to turn that key and unlock
door that shall lead her merchants out into
the Mediterranean.
AustriaH Hungary is not the discoverer of
the fact that Bosnia is a key. The old
Romans knew it, and they hewed mighty
roads through Bosnia. over the mountains,
to connect the Adriatic sea with the Dan
ube river. Venice knew it when She was the
IL
trigued for the possession of Bosnia as if it
We're an empire.
So today Bosnia's old roads are beset
with the ruins of ancient Roman forts, and
the greatest roads are those that were made
originally by the Roman road builders.
The Roads in Ruin.
When Turkey seized Bosnia those roads
were permitted to go to ruin, which is one
of the Turkish fads. Other roads, that led
from Hungary and Croatia southeast into
Turkey, We're kept in somewhat better re-
pair; that is horse could get through and
over them if Allah was good to it, BY the
time the Turkish occupation was ended
about the only things that could be called
roads were those leading southeast while
the roads to the Adriatic, which should,
some day, furnish a new portal for the
commerce of all Europe with the orient.
had almost vanished beneath the mud of
mountain torrents in flood, the debris of
falling rocks and landslideS.
Austria has done much to improve mat
ters but there is mighty little business in
Bosnia, and the government couldn edu-
cate the electors of the empire to the con-
viction that it is good financiefing to build
hundred housand-dolla roads to transport
a thousand dollars worth of prunes, which
are one of the chief staples of the province.
So today the Bosnian travels mostly a
foot. After this popular mode comes the
Bosnian horse. wonderfully ugly, wonder