Liuhovia on the
Drina, the precipitous banks of which, covered with wood, present
numerous points of picturesque beauty; but at a short distance above
this town, which is the quarantine station on the road between Belgrade
and Seraievo it ceases to form the boundary of Servia and Bosnia, being
entirely within the latter frontier. Thence ascending the valley of the
Rogaschitza, a small stream tributary to the Drina, and crossing a ridge
which parts the waters flowing into the Drina and into the Morava, he
descended into the tract watered by the Morava, the national river of
Servia; the first town in which was Ushitza, one of the fortresses still
garrisoned by the Turks, and the scene of desperate conflicts during the
war of independence. In past times it was a place of great importance,
and contained sixty thousand inhabitants, being the entrepot of the
trade between Servia and Bosnia; but this commerce has been almost
ruined by the establishment of the quarantine; and most of the Servian
inhabitants, in consequence of a bloody affray with the Turks, have
transferred themselves to Poshega, a town at two hours' distance, and
formerly a Roman colony, of which Mr. Paton found a relic in a fragment
of a Latin inscription built into the wall of the church. From Poshega
Mr P. continued his route down the rich valley of the Morava, here
several miles wide, to Csatsak, the residence of a bishop and a
_Natchalnik_; where the old Turkish town is in process of being
superseded by a new foundation, which, "like Poshega and all these new
places, consists of a circular or square market-place, with bazar shops
in the Turkish manner, and straight streets diverging from it." Mr Paton
waited on the bishop, "a fine specimen of the church-militant; a stout
fiery man of sixty, in full furred robes, and black velvet cap," who had
been, during the rule of Milosh, an energetic denouncer of his
extortions and monopolies, and was consequently in high favour since the
change of dynasty. The cathedral (we are informed) was "a most ancient
edifice of Byzantine architecture," of which we should have been glad to
have had some particulars; but Mr Paton's remarks are confined to
complaints of the wearisome length of the mass, at which the bishop
presided, "dressed in crimson velvet and white satin, embroidered with
gold, which had cost L300 at Vienna; and as he sat in his chair, with
mitre on head and crosier in hand, looked, with his bushy white beard,