Immediately above the town, the Narenta traverses the plain of Gabella, which is one of the largest and most productive in the country.

The plains of Herzegovina are in reality nothing more than valleys or basins, some of which are so hemmed in by hills, that the streams flowing through them can only escape by percolation, or through subterranean channels.  This last phenomenon frequently occurs, and no better example can be given of it than the Trebinitza, which loses itself in the ground two or three times.  After the last of these disappearances nothing is known for certain of its course, although a large river which springs from the rocks in the Val d’Ombla, and empties itself into the Adriatic near Ragusa, is conjectured to be the same.

Gabella, as well as Popovo, Blato, and other plains, is inundated in the winter, and remains in that state during three or four months.

They are traversed by means of punts, and excellent wild-duck shooting may be had by those who do not fear the exposure inseparable from that sport.

From this point the river entirely changes its aspect, losing the sluggish character which distinguishes it during its passage through the Austrian territory.  Indeed, throughout its whole course, from its rise until it opens out into the plain of Gabella, its bed is rocky, and the current rapid and even dangerous, from the number of boulders which rise above the surface, or lie hid a little below the water line.  It here receives the waters of the Trebisat or Trebitza, and the Bregava, the former flowing from the NW., the latter from the district of Stolatz in the SE.  A few miles higher up is a narrow valley formed by two ranges of hills, whose rocky declivities slope down to, or in some places overhang, the river’s bed.  From one spot where the hills project, there is a pretty view of the town of Pogitel on the left bank.  A large mosque, with a dome and minaret and a clock-tower, are the principal objects which catch the eye; but, being pressed for time, I was unable to cross the river, and cannot therefore from my own observation enter into any accurate details.  The position is, however, exactly described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson as follows:  ’It stands in a semicircular recess, like an immense shell, in the side of the hill, and at the two projecting extremities the walls run down from the summit to the river, the upper part being enclosed by a semicircular wall, terminated at each end by a tower.’

Half way between Metcovich and Mostar is a little village, which boasts an humble species of Khan.

Here I found the engineer in charge of the telegraph, a Dalmatian by birth.  His head-quarters are at Bosna Serai, but he was then making a tour for the purposes of inspection and repair.

The telegraphic communication throughout the Ottoman Empire is now more general than its internal condition would warrant us in supposing.  Indeed, in travelling through the country, one cannot fail to be struck by the strange reversal of the general order of things.  Thus, for instance, both telegraph and railways have preceded the construction of ordinary roads.