mountains of Karatag form a dark and gloomy foreground to the picture.

During the ensuing night the rain descended in torrents, rendering the
spongy ground on which we had bivouacked very much the reverse of a
desirable resting-place. In vain I waited for an improvement in the
weather, which only became worse and worse; and eventually I started in
pursuit of that portion of the troops which had left at early dawn in
charge of the provisions for Niksich. These consisted of 65,000 okes of
meal and biscuit, with a few head of horned cattle. The last commodity
appeared to me to be scarcely necessary, as we met some hundreds of
bullocks being driven out to graze in the valley, while the presence of
our force rendered such a measure safe. How these were generally
supplied with forage I am at a loss to conjecture, since the Mussulman
population were unable to venture more than one mile from the town,
except in bodies of 500 armed men. The distance to the town from the
commencement of the valley is about six miles, through a broad and
well-watered pasture land. In parts this has been ploughed and devoted
to the produce of grain, burnt stubble of which denoted the destructive
ferocity of the neighbouring Montenegrins. The new line of frontier
recently defined by the European Commission scarcely tends to promote a
pacific adjustment of existing difficulties. On the contrary, the line
of demarcation as it now is must inevitably lead to further
complications. Situated at the apex of a triangle, the town and plain of
Niksich offer a tempting bait to the lawless brigands, who infest the
mountains which form two of its sides, and who keep the unfortunate
Mussulman population in terror of their lives. At the south-eastern
extremity of the plain stands the town of Niksich, a small, dirty, and
irregular collection of buildings, all huddled together in the closest
possible vicinity to the ruined fort, as though seeking the protection
of its mouldering walls. Of the origin of the fort I could learn little,
save from an inscription over the arched entrance, from which it
appears to have been built by the son of an old and influential Albanian
chieftain about 200 years ago. Two square towers, containing five pieces
of ordnance, form the principal feature in the defensive works; but the
whole place is in so ricketty a condition that, were a cannonade to be
opened from its walls, they would inevitably come down about the ears of
their defende