p's
wool, hides, sheep and goats' skins, furs, and wax, to Trieste; cattle,
sheep, goats, pigs, tallow, and eels, to Dalmatia; woollen blankets, red
and yellow leather prepared from sheep skins, carpets, tobacco, wine,
and fruits, to the neighbouring Turkish provinces. Pipe-sticks are also
sent from Bosna Serai, to Egypt, through the Herzegovina, while knives,
manufactured at Foulcha from country-made steel, are also sent in
considerable quantities to Egypt. All imports and exports pay a duty of
three per cent. on their value, and until recently produce exported to
the neighbouring Turkish provinces paid the unreasonable duty of ten per
cent. This grievous impediment to commerce has, thanks to the efforts of
the European Consuls, been abolished, and they now pay the same duty as
exports to other countries.

It may be noted, as a symptom of the centralising policy which the Porte
is adopting, that the government now farms the customs of these
provinces, in place of selling the right of doing so to the highest
bidder, as was formerly the case.

Having thus contrasted the actual with the possible condition of the
province, we cannot but enquire the causes which lead thereto; and it is
impossible to disguise from ourselves, that to mal-administration is
primarily attributable this deplorable state of things. Add to this the
total absence of all means of internal communication, and we have quite
sufficient to cripple the energies of a more industrious and energetic
people than those with whom we are dealing. The first object of the
government, then, should be to inspire the people with confidence in its
good faith, and to induce them to believe that the results of their
labour will not be seized by rapacious Pachas or exorbitant landowners;
and, above all things, it is necessary that Turkish subjects, even if
they are not accorded greater favours in their own country than those of
other powers, should at least be placed upon a footing of equality,
which is far from being the case at present.

It would appear that the government is really sincere in its intention
of making roads through the country generally, and when this is done a
new era may be anticipated. In the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only
one road has until very recently existed. It was made by Omer Pacha in
1851, and connects Bosna Serai with Brod, a town situated upon the
southern bank of the Save. From Metcovich to Bosna Serai, which is the
high road for