of his government, and after having directed various other
establishments, was now occupied in organizing this new point.

The _traiteur_ of the quarantine gave us for dinner a very fair
pillaff, as well as roast and boiled fowl; and going outside to our
bench, in front of the finished buildings, I began to smoke. A
slightly built and rather genteel-looking man, with a braided surtout,
and a piece of ribbon at his button-hole, was sitting on the step of
the next door, and wished me good evening in German. I asked him who
he was, and he told me that he was a Pole, and had been a major in the
Russian service, but was compelled to quit it in consequence of a
duel.

I asked him if he was content with his present condition; and he
answered, "Indeed, I am not; I am perfectly miserable, and sometimes
think of returning to Russia, _coute qui coute_.--My salary is L20
sterling a year, and everything is dear here; for there is no
village, but an artificial settlement; and I have neither books nor
European society. I can hold out pretty well now, for the weather is
fine; but I assure you that in winter, when the snow is on the ground,
it exhausts my patience." We now took a turn down the inclosure to his
house, which was the ground-floor of the guard-house. Here was a bed
on wooden boards, a single chair and table, without any other
furniture.

The Director, obliging me, made up a bed for me in his own house,
since the only resource at the _traiteur's_ would have been my own
carpet and pillow.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 11: Ingenious treaties have been written on the origin of the
Gothic and Saracenic styles of architecture; but it seems to me
impossible to contemplate many Byzantine edifices without feeling
persuaded that this manner is the parent of both. Taking the Lower
Empire for the point of departure, the Christian style spread north to
the Baltic and westwards to the Atlantic. Saint Stephen's in Vienna,
standing half way between Byzantium and Wisby, has a Byzantine facade
and a Gothic tower. The Saracenic style followed the Moslem conquests
round by the southern coasts of the Mediterranean to Morocco and
Andaloss. Thus both the northern and the eastern styles met each
other, first in Sicily and then in Spain, both having started from
Constantinople.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

Cross the Bosniac Frontier.--Gipsy Encampment.--Novibazar
described.--Rough Reception.--Precipitate Departure.--Fanaticism.

Next day we were