erzegovinian charcoal porter, contrasted well with the more ordinary
clothes of officials and traders. Large numbers of Herzegovinian
emigrants take boat at Gravosa; and I remember one day, when Ragusa was
full of them and their friends and every vehicle crowded between that
place and Gravosa, what a strange sight the pier presented, so thickly
packed with people that one wondered none were pushed off. The variety
of colour and picturesqueness of costume and type among the men and
women was interesting, and it was touching to think of the sundering of
friends and relations, and the grief at parting which many of them
showed in their strongly marked countenances. From Gravosa the source of
the Ombla is easily visited, a strange river springing full-grown
from beneath a cliff but a few miles from the sea. The Greeks called it
Arione, the Latins Umbla, and it is believed to be the same river as the
Trebisnizza, which becomes subterranean some two and a half hours'
journey away in the Herzegovina. Its depth is unknown, as the actual
source at the foot of the Falkenberg cannot be approached, but the weir
which dams up the river creates a pool some 65 ft. across, in which
mulberry-trees, fig-trees, reeds, and bushes are reflected, and
furnishes the power for working two great mills. The river is but three
miles long before it merges in the estuary, and its banks are sprinkled
with villas and villages, the railway station and the admiralty stores
occupying the portion nearest to the harbour.

[Illustration: HERZEGOVINIAN CHARCOAL PORTER, GRAVOSA

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From Gravosa the excursion to the plane-trees of Cannosa and to Stagno
may be made. The great plane-trees are 40 ft. in circumference, and
their branches spread over a diameter of some 200 ft. The larger one
takes twelve men with outstretched arms to surround it. The villa of
Count Gozze, close by, has beautiful gardens. Stagno has historical
interest. It is twenty-three miles from Ragusa, and is mentioned in the
"Tavola Peutingeriana" as "Turns Stagni"; the Romans knew it as
"Stagnum." There are traces of ancient walls right across the isthmus,
which is only a kilometre wide, Sabbioncello being thus almost an
island. It was given to Ragusa by Stephen VI. of Servia in 1333, and the
Republic spent 120,000 ducats in fortifying it during the next
twenty-four years. Till 1815 it remained tributary to Ragusa, and was
ruled by a civil and political count. A little way