e British govermnent has established a
_konak_ or residence for the Queen's messengers, who here await, on the
extreme verge of the sanatory system, the return of the Tartars with
despatches from Constantinople. He found it tenanted by Captain W----,
whose guest he became for several days, to his infinite
satisfaction:--"It seemed so odd, and yet was so very comfortable, to
have roast-beef, plum-pudding, sherry, brown stout, Stilton cheese, and
other insular groceries, at the foot of the Balkan. There was, moreover,
a small library, with which the temporary occupants of the konak killed
the month's interval between arrival and departure." He was compelled,
however, to tear himself from the delights of an English cuisine; and on
arriving at Tiupria, (more properly Kiupri-Ravenatz,) where he first
heard tidings of the emeute at Shabatz, and the murder of his friend the
collector Ninitch, he diverged from his route to visit the monasteries
of Ravanitza and Manasia, the former of which was the burial-place of
Lasar. But as his reminiscences of these saintly retreats are rather
convivial than antiquarian, we shall pass on at once to Svilainitza,
(the place of silk,) where he was entertained in the chateau of M.
Ressavatz, the richest man in Servia; the only chateau-residence as he
tells us, which he saw in the country. This part of Servia appears
indeed to be, as Mr Paton says--"Ressavatz qua, Ressavatz la"--since to
the patriotism and command of capital of this enlightened family, it
owes not only the introduction of the growth of silk as above-mentioned,
but the construction of an excellent macadamized road, by which Mr Paton
travelled on the following day, through a country richly cultivated and
interspersed with lofty oaks, to Posharevatz, (commonly written
Passarowitz,) where he was welcomed on his arrival by another of the
name of Ressavatz, the Natchalnik of the place. Posharevatz is
celebrated in history for the treaty there concluded in 1718, by which,
in consequence of the victories of Prince Eugene, Bosnia and Servia
passed under the dominion of Austria for twenty years, till restored to
the Porte at the peace of Belgrade in 1739: in the present day it is a
place of considerable importance, both as the capital of a province of
ninety thousand inhabitants, and the seat of a court of judicial appeal
for Eastern Servia. By the president of this court Mr Paton was
entertained at dinner, where he met all the elite of Pos