Africa by our
own government servants. As a set-off against these disadvantages, my
friend was in receipt of 2_d._ per day additional pay. May he pass
unscathed through the ordeal!

By 2 A.M. I had again started, and reached Metcovich at 5
A.M. on September 5. Here M. Grabrich, the principal merchant
of the place, put me in the way of procuring horses to take me to
Mostar, about nine hours distant. My destination becoming known, I was
beset with applications for my good offices with Omer Pacha. Some of
these were petitions for contracts for supplying the army, though the
greater number were demands for arrears of payment due for the supply of
meal, and the transport of horned cattle and other provisions to the
frontier. One of the complainants, a Greek, had a grievance of a
different and much more hopeless nature. He had cashed a bill for a
small amount offered him by an Irish adventurer. This, as well as
several others, proved to be forgeries, and the money was irretrievably
lost. Although travelling under an assumed name, and with a false
passport, I subsequently discovered the identity of the delinquent with
an individual, whom doubtless many who were with Garibaldi during the
campaign of the Two Sicilies will call to mind. He was then only
remarkable for his Calabrian costume and excessive amount of swagger.
When at Niksich I learned that he had escaped through that town into
Montenegro, and he has not, I believe, since been traced.

No punishment can be too severe for a scoundrel who thus brings English
credit into disrepute, and disgraces a name which, although little known
in these regions, is deservedly respected.

From Metcovich the traveller may proceed to Mostar by either bank of the
river. I was recommended to take the road on the northern side, which I
did, and ten minutes' ride brought us to the frontier, where a
custom-house official insisted upon unloading the baggage so recently
arranged. In vain I remonstrated, and brandished my despatches with
their enormous red seals in his face. His curiosity was not to be so
easily overcome. When he had at length satisfied himself, he permitted
us to depart with a blessing, which I acknowledge was far from
reciprocated. The first place of any importance which we passed is
Gabella. It stands on an eminence overhanging a bend of the river, by
whose waters three of its sides are washed. In former days it was
defended by two forts, whose guns swept the river in eit