In the evening the Vayvode sent a message by his pandour, to say that he would pay me a visit along with the Agas of the town, who, six in number, shortly afterwards came.  It being now evening, they had no objection to smoke; and as they sat round the room they related wondrous things of Ushitza towards the close of the last century, which being the entre-pot between Servia and Bosnia, had a great trade, and contained then twelve thousand houses, or about sixty thousand inhabitants; so I easily accounted for the gaps in the middle of the town.  The Vayvode complained bitterly of the inconveniencies to which the quarantine subjected them in restricting the free communication with the neighbouring province; but he admitted that the late substitution of a quarantine of twenty-four hours, for one of ten days as formerly, was a great alleviation; “but even this,” added the Vayvode, “is a hindrance:  when there was no quarantine, Ushitza was every Monday frequented by thousands of Bosniacs, whom even twenty-four hours’ quarantine deter.”

I asked him if the people understood Turkish or Arabic, and if preaching was held.  He answered, that only he and a few of the Agas understood Turkish,—­that the Mollah was a deeply-read man, who said the prayers in the mosque in Arabic, as is customary everywhere; but that there was no preaching, since the people only knew their prayers in Arabic, but could not understand a sermon, and spoke nothing but Bosniac.  I think that somebody told me that Vaaz, or preaching, is held in the Bosniac language at Seraievo.  But my memory fails me in certainty on this point.

After a pleasant chat of about an hour they went away.  Our beds were, as the ingenious Mr. Pepys says, “good, but lousy.”

Next day, the Servian Natchalnik, who, on my arrival, had been absent at Topola with the prince, came to see me; he was a middle-aged man, with most perfect self-possession, polite without familiarity or effort to please; he had more of the manner of a Moslem grandee, than of a Christian subject of the Sultan.

Natchalnik.  “Believe me, the people are much pleased that men of learning travel through the country; it is a sign that we are not forgotten in Europe; thank God and the European powers, that we are now making progress.”

Author.  “Servia is certainly making progress; there can be no spectacle more delightful to a rightly constituted mind, than that of a hopeful young nation approaching its puberty.  You Servians are in a considerable minority here in Ushitza.  I hope you live on good terms with the Moslems.”

Natchalnik.  “Yes, on tolerable terms; but the old ones, who remember the former abject position of the Christians, cannot reconcile themselves to my riding on horseback through the bazaars, and get angry when the Servians sing in the woods, or five off muskets during a rejoicing.”

The Vayvode now arrived with a large company of Moslems, and we proceeded on foot to see the castle, our road being mostly through those gardens, on which the old town stood, and following the side of the river, to the spot where the high banks almost close in, so as to form a gorge.  We ascended a winding path, and entered the gate, which formed the outlet of a long, gloomy, and solidly built passage.