of the house-tops and chimney-tops
the herons have built their nests; this was most interesting to see. A
great many of the soldiers have lambs following them about like dogs.
They are so pretty.

Eight lovely peacocks were on the platform, and they kept walking
under the train; also one or two white guinea-fowls. We saw no end of
tortoises all along the line, and we got one and brought it into the
carriage, but we had to put it out again as we had no green stuff to
feed it on. All the lakes and reservoirs are full of bull frogs; these
make a tremendous noise just like a lot of ducks quacking. The trees
in this part of the country are quite small ones, and there are no
hedges; the blossom on the trees is perfectly lovely. We watched the
butter being made from goat's milk, and very good it is. Most of the
work in the fields is done by women and oxen, and the women look very
picturesque in their different coloured garments. We had lovely
flowers all the way, especially poppies. We kept passing swamps, full
of different grasses. The mountains are wonderful, covered with snow,
and we hear that when some of the snow melts dead bodies are found
underneath. We crossed over the bridges which were blown up three
weeks ago by the Bulgarians; we came through a wonderful tunnel cut in
the rocks, and we passed no end of churchyards, where the men are
buried in the different battles--Turks, Serbians, and Bulgarians--it
is really pitiful to see them. We are guarded by soldiers all along
the lines and on the trains. We passed lots of rows of little crosses
where all the women, children and men were buried after the Bulgarian
raid a week ago. A rope was put round their necks and they were hung
up on trees to die. All the soldiers come and salute us at each
station and along the line. They all look so sad. Uskub we stopped at
7 o'clock, and we were met by Sir Ralph Paget. We had dinner at the
station: soup floating with grease and omelet as tough as leather; the
bread was almost black and very sour. The room was very dirty, and
many men were sprinkling disinfectants about. This amused me very
much. We slept in the train.

Thursday, _April 22, 1915._

We got up before 6 o'clock; had breakfast. It is much colder, and we
are very near snow-clad mountains. We got to Nish at 8 and had two
hours to wait. We were met by the Serbian Minister and doctor, and
taken in a funny little carriage to the Reserv