The Roman Catholics cordially return the hatred of the Greeks, marriages with whom are forbidden by the Catholic clergy.  They are also inimical to the Mussulman population, by whom they are regarded as serfs.  But this hostility is nurtured in secret, rarely displaying itself in overt acts of aggression.  Four hundred years of oppression have completely broken their spirit, and they only ask to be allowed to enjoy in peace a fair portion of the fruits of their labour.

The Church is governed by two bishops.  One, resident at Mostar, bears the title of Bishop of Azotto, and Vicar-Apostolic of the Herzegovina.  The other, called the Bishop of Trebigne, lives at Ragusa, which is also included in his see.  He has, however, a Vicar resident in the district of Stolatz.  As in Bosnia, the monks are all of the Franciscan order.  Considerable attention is paid to their education, and they are in every way immeasurably superior to the parochial clergy.  In connection with that brotherhood a college has been for some years established, about twelve miles distant from Mostar.  The subjects of education there are Latin, Italian, Slavish, Church History, and Theology.  From this college the students proceed to Rome, where they are admitted into the Franciscan order.

In the above remarks, I have endeavoured to show that the Christianity which exists in these provinces is merely nominal, since it is devoid of all those gentle and humanising principles which should distinguish it from Islamism, whose tenets have been ever propagated by conquest and the sword.  The vices which more especially accompany and mar the beauty of true Christian civilisation here hold unrestrained dominion, and both Greeks and Catholics present a painful combination of western cunning and intrigue and oriental apathy, while they are devoid of that spirit of devotion and dignified resignation to the will of Providence which preeminently characterise the religion of Mahomet.  Living on the confines of the two hemispheres, they have inherited the sins of each, without the virtues of either the one or the other.  Nearly all adults are addicted to drunkenness, while the use of foul and indelicate language is almost universal,—­men, women, and children employing it in common conversation.  So long as such a state of things shall prevail, it is clearly impossible that any material improvement can be brought about; and until the people show some inclination to improve their own condition, the sympathy or consideration of others is uncalled-for and misplaced.  The perpetual Russian whine about eight millions of Christians being held in galling subjection by four millions of Turks is a miserable deception, which, although it may serve as a pretext for their own repeated acts of interference, cannot mislead those who have seen anything of these countries, or who have been brought into contact with their Christian inhabitants.  The most effective course, probably, which either