arriving in Blato the Italians dissolved the town
council, on account of its incapacity to do the work. However, a
military man to whom it was handed over gave his opinion that he had
never seen a better administration.... Out of all that we were told, I
will relate the following: some Italian soldiers were playing football,
and when they kicked the ball into a maize-field and continued to play
amid the maize, the farmers asked them to desist. Two officers and forty
men were present; they fell upon the three farmers, and when finally the
major commanded them to stop, they dragged them to the barracks and
thrashed them so that the people in adjacent houses heard them all the
night.

On our way to the minute harbour of Pregorica, where the _Porer_ was
waiting for us, we had a repetition of the scenes enacted between
Velaluka and Blato; and a number of young men, heedless of the risks
they ran, rushed down the mountain-side to Pregorica by the shortcuts.
In the harbour were some carabinieri, as well as our escorting
destroyer. We therefore had to leave without delay, lest the young
patriots should come into contact with the carabinieri. So very hastily
and in a very illegible scrawl I copied the original letter given on
November 4, 1918, by Lieut. Poggi to the people of Velaluka: "We
Italians," it said, "have come to Velaluka as the friends of Yugoslavia
and of the Entente. We have come as friends and not as foes, and as such
I ask you to accept us. We are hoisting our flag together with that of
Yugoslavia, and with your friendly consent we will keep it there until
the question of the general peace is definitely arranged, according to
your and our ... according to the principles of ..." The two missing
words are illegible.

INTERESTING DELEGATES

Lying off Kor[vc]ula, that evening, we received the usual delegates. One
of the Italians, Dr. Benussi, said in a trembling, tearful voice that
the Italians were far too good. And while we were hearing from one of
his colleagues what were his views on the subject of a plebiscite, Dr.
Benussi moaned unceasingly, "I wish I had not come! I wish I had not
come!" He considered that it was outrageous of us to allude to
plebiscites. The Yugoslavs did not tell us anything very thrilling; the
Italian authorities persisted in writing to the peasants in Italian, of
which they scarcely understand a word. What a pity that this is not
their most serious fault! A barrister called Dr. Pero C