Year: 1875

cufFcu on the YIN OF the present mOnth anu Was
lowed by another little further mp the stream three
nights af,erward small body Of insurgents crossed
from the Austrian shore late evening and sue
ceeded in establishing themselves in ambush on the
route along which detachment OF Turkish troops was
expected 10 The troops had to pass over little
bridge on the way TO Berbir, and they passing
II received a volley or musketry which moved them
down and frightened the survivors that they took to
their legs toward the fortress But there out Of
Geld another body Of insurgents who drove back
the fugitivcs. At least a hundred Turks killed
and many Of their bodies thrown into the stream
This toward evening, and about dark the com
mander Of the fortress, getting some men together,
sailed out to meet the insurgents But
the latter remained concealed until darkness had
arrived when they retreaed in their skis to the Aus
tran shores, pursued into the shallow water by
the enraged and vindctive Turks went along the
line OF this lght and that OF the following days
scowed at Of course by tho sulen soldery squattng
around the ruins Of the bockhouscs The insurgents
who had been engaged in these encounters led by
man named Pitocha, who was killed during the sec
ond fight After his fall they retired into the noun
tans back OF Berbr wherc they still remain planning
future attacks. At the OF the fight which
ensued when the Turks at Berbr prevent the
landing of insurgents by night dead bodies still
lilo thickly scattered along the shelving bank OF tho





the lazy current The Turks had boen dvested of
their and their huge outfit leathcrn grdles The
insurgents had simply been pitched the bank Not
far from heap of dead which lay the shore party
OF Bosnian Mussulmans smoking their long pipes
doing, with their rifles however sung their backs
and their pistols lying cooked at their sides "Bury
these menl" said Alexatz when l asked him why
It not done The thought would enter their
heads II would require effort and that they will
not make unless they are compelled to. Besides they
would not bury tho insurgents in any case, because
they are Christian dogsln


On the slopes OF the mountains the Turks had one or
two small encampments, protected from assault by
earthworks The Turkish soldiers from other prov
inces greatly discontented here; they suffer from
home sickness than from disease or insurgent
bullets Yet 1t is qoody and pleasant land, this
fertile Bosnia with its wide stretching fields, its
plains strewn with melons and golden pumpkins, its
lovely cottages grouped into pretty villages and its
lofty and sombre mountains clad In virgin forests The
kind and tho earth is ferte fruits and grains
rarely fail and the land open to railways and to
liberal institutions 1t would bear favorable comparison
with the richest and fertile of Southwestern
States But the wretched peasants have lost all
bition, long have they boen forced to labor for
others, and TO their earnings eaten up by taxes
which they know to be unjust





1t is wen to bear in mind that the extortions,
the massacres and abuses in general perpesrated
by people who OF sclavic origin, and not by the
Turks alone. 1t is the Turkish administration which
permits and sanctions the horrible abuses to which
the rayah is subjected; but the most consummate
cruelties the work Of the native Bosnians, who
have professed Mohammedanism for a generation or
two and who fanatical than the Turks them
selves


At this place the remarkable Judge whose portrait
have given you left the Save to penetrate to Bana Luka
He received with great honors, every one In the
town learning who he placing his hand on his
heart then on his forehead, and making low bow on
meeting him After few hours Of repose he mounted
into rckety wagon made on the Austrian plan and,
with his leather wardrobe sacks ashed to the back OF
pack horses set of for the scene OF his duties
On board the boats the Save Of the Turkish
passengers over sit table with the Christians bo-
cause OF tho impossbility of getting meats freed
from the forbidden grease. | fancy most Amer
leans would infinitely prefer the dinners which
tho Mohammedans took out OF their tin
sells and their elegantly lacquered trays, din
OF fresh bread grapes little cakes OF honey and
pieces OF cheese TO the ducks swimming In lard and
the annhilaed beefsteaks which the brutal Austrian
cooks upon the steamer tables. The old Judge
never once ate meat during the days that jour





for any Paradise and perhaps sincerely bemoaned the
sad fate awaiting US in the next world


NsuRGyST


In the country along the Save between this place and
Brod large town whose nationality and commerce
cut in by the river there small in
surgent bands wavering between the mountains and
the shores coming down to recruit among the fu
gitives and receive boat load OF sgnslled
to them by beacon lights from the opposite shore Tho
SeIvan volunteers very numerous tho vicinity OF
Brod and have thrown much confusion among the
Turks that the latter will not allow steamer land
among them At Brod, as here at Berbir and at Bana
Luka the Turks honestly convinced that nego-
Giants are in some way other connected with the
nsurrection and they have thrown largo numbers OF
them prison without giving them the slightest hope
OF ever getting out What prison is here in semi
barbarous country tho confines OF Europe need
hardly tell you. There dozens of business
In prison here all because they vaguely
pected There Is no other reason whatever, nor is
any other given by the Turkish officials. The long,
| low cottage here, which has the red Ottoman flag,
with its crescent and its star flying from the mast
on its porch, s inhabited by few drtily uniformed
officers clad blue coats with shoulder straps In the
American fashion. red fez caps and blue breeches
and sandals. They look about much like officers US
monkeys look like men. They are always surrounded
/ by set OF blear-eyed shaven-hcaded Asiatcs each
one OF whom has theoretical murder in his look.
and practical murder in his girdc, in the shape OF
richly chased and carved weapons, yataghans cine
ters the long knives Of the Bosnian villagers tho
Albanian, Damatian Grecian and smyrnan patterns OF
i pistols, long and short, 1ntlock and modern, q
motley Falsafnan array. In addition TO the officers
and soldiers at this headquarters there are al
ways seated on the porchcs half a dozen
OF the seigneurs OF the neighborhood, ego-tistcal
looking old backguards, dirty their manner and filthy
$50 says every one) in their conversation These dis
agreeable old pipe smokers sit for hours the porch
the banks the house without further move
ment than that required for the filing Of their pipes
and the occasional pursuit Of the playful flea "Some
OF them" said Alexatz 'are too lazy pray and that
for a Mussulman is the height OF lazincssn Now and
i L. l..4I.