Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/814

Rh 776 HERZEGOVINA notably the great Mostarsko Blato, is marshy, and in spring forms a lake ; others are watered by streams which dis appear in swallow-holes of the rock, and make their way by underground channels either to the sea or the Narenta. The most conspicuous example of these is the Trebinstica, which disappears in two swallow-holes in Popovopolje, and aftor making its way by a subterranean passage through a range of mountains, wells up in the mighty source of Ombla near Ragusa, and hurries in undiminished volume to the Adriatic. The climate of Herzegovina is cold in winter and oppressively hot (maximum 100 Fahr. in shade) in sum mer. The scirocco is a prevalent wind, as well as the bora, the fearful north-north-easter of Illyria, which, sweeping down the lateral valleys of the Dinaric Alps, overwhelms everything in its path. The snow-fall is slight, and, except on a few of the loftier peaks, the snow soon melts. In the valleys, as that of the Narenta, the flora approaches that of Dalmatia and Southern Italy, and olives, mulberries, figs, melons, pomegranates, grapes, rice, and maize flourish. The Dinaric Alps, which stretch across the province from N.W. to S.E., are as a rule barer and loftier than those of Bosnii. To the west of the Narenta, indeed, their flanks are in places covered with a forest growth of beech and pine, but north-east of that river they present for the most part a scene of lunar desolation. They are of the Tertiary formation common to the Mediterranean geological zone, but their limestone has a more dolomitic character than that of the Bosnian ranges. The group of mountains in the north-west bend of the Narenta, the Krabac, Lipeta, and Porim Flaninas, attain altitudes varying from 4000 to 5000 feet; the dolomitic peaks of Orobac, Samotica, and Veliki Cap rise over 6000; Orien on the Dalmatian- Montenegrin frontier 6300 ; and Mount Dnrmitor, in the tract of Herzegovina now ceded to Montenegro, reaches a height of 8500 feet. The river Narenta is navigable for small steamers as far as Metkovitch, the Dalmatian fron tier station, and for trabaccoli as far as Chaplina beyond Gabella, but the narrow and rocky bed of the stream beyond this point makes it doubtful whether the navigation can ever be extended as far as Mostar. Produce and Industries. In mineral wealth Herzegovina cannot compete with Bosnia. Lignite exists in considerable abundance in the Narenta valley near Mostar, at Konjica, and at Stolac. Mineral springs occur near Ljubuska ; asphalt towards Metkovitch and Drazcvoon the Dalmatian frontier. Rice is cultivated in the Trebisat valley and about Ljubuska. Mulberries are cultivated in the Narenta valley for silk worms, which were introduced here by the famous vizier Ali Pasha, but the culture is at present small. The wine of Konjica and Mostar resembles Dalmatian, and might be excellent, and the Trebinje tobacco is celebrated. Previous to tb.9 insurrection the chief wealth of the inhabitants con sisted in cattle. Iloskiewicz estimates the numbers as 100,000 horned cattle, 1,200,000 sheep and goats, and 100,000 swine; but there has been a terrible decrease during the three years of anarchy. Before the insurrec tion the annual value of the exports of the province, consisting principally of sheep s wool, hides, wax, wine, and tobaccr&amp;gt;, amounted to about 18,170,000 piastres (163,530). The imports, principally cloth and woollen goods, were estimated at 17,500,000 piastres (157,500). History. The old Serbian zupa of Chelm or Zaehlumje was in corporated in the banat of Bosnia by the ban Stephen in 1326. Afterwards exchanged for Primorje with the king of Hungary, it was reannexed by the ban Stephen Tvavtko, afterwards first king of Bosnia, who granted it as a fief to his distinguished general Vlatko Hranich. Vlatko s grandson, known as Stephen Cosaccia from his birthplace Cosac, took advantage of the weakness of King Tvartko III. of Bosnia to transfer the immediate suzerainty of his count} to the emperor Frederick IV., who in 1440 created him duke, or, as his Slavonic subject, borrowing the German word, expressed it, Her- zeya, of St Sava. This and the further title of keeper of St Sara s sepulchre he derived from the tomb of the patron saint of Serbia in his monastery of Milesevo. From this time the Slav population of Illyria begins to know the dominions of Cosaccia as the &quot;Herze govina&quot; or duchy, a general term which embraced, besides the former county of Chelm, the two old Serbian zupas of Tribunja and Primorje, also governed by the &quot;Herzega.&quot; The original Herze govina thus extended from the sea-coast of Dalmatia to the confines of Kascia. The duke was prevailed on at the parliament of Konjica to recognize the suzerainty of the Bosnian king ; he fixed his residence at Mostar, which he greatly enlarged, and which has since remained the capital of Herzegovina. The shrewd policy of Stephen Cosaccia, which offered an asylum ibt the Bogomiles or Puritans of Bosnia, hounded from their homes by the bigotry of a priest-ridden king, was greatly instrumental in warding off for a while from the duchy the blow that overwhelmed Bosnia. The duke managed with Bogomilian help to defend Herzegovina with some success ; and though in 1464 the country was overrun and rendered tributary by the sultan s hordes, it was not till 1483, twenty years after the final conquest and extinction of the Bosnian kingdom, that the Turkish Beglerbeg succeeded in dispossessing Stephen Cosaccia s son and successor Duke Vladislav. The whole country was now incorporated in the Sandjakate of Bosnia. At different times the Venetians suc ceeded in recovering for Christendom parts of Herzegovina, and by the peace of Carlowitz in 1699 ami that of Passarovitz in 1718 Primorje or the Herzegovinian coast-land, C astelnuovo, and Kisano were finally merged in Venetian Dalmatia, and have thus descended to the Austrians. The only remaining strips of Herzegovinian sea- coast, the narrow enclaves of Kick and Suttorina, wen; left to the Turks by Eagusan dread of Venetian contact, supported by the good oflices of England. The history of Herzegovina under the Turks is to a great extent a blank : the viziers of Herzegovina who resided at Mostar imitated by their quasi-independence of their Bosnian superiors the defiant attitude adopted by the duke of St Sava to his Bosnian suzerain. Feudalism under a Mahometan guise continued to survive here. The spahis, begs, or a,^as were merely mediaeval lords who had apostatized to Islam. They kept their ancestral castles, their banners, their medieval title deeds and patents of nobility. They exacted feudal service from their serfs and retainers. They indulged in the mediaeval passion for hawking. One of these Mahometan nobles, Ali, aga of Stolac, did such good service for Sultan Mahmoud in his struggle with the Bosnian magnates that he was made vizier of Herzegovina, which was freed for a while from depend ence on the Bosnian government. The reforms of Sultan Mahmoud did not by any means remove the grievances of the rayah population of Herzegovina. The serfs had now to satisfy the extortion of imperial tax-farmers and excisemen as well as the demands of their feudal lords. The begs and agas continued to exact their forced labour and a third of the produce ; the central Government levied a tithe which at the date of the outbreak had become an eighth. Three kinds of cattle tax, the tax for exemption from military service levied on every infant in arms, forced labour on the roads, forced loan of horses, a heavy excise on grapes and tobacco, and a variety of lesser taxes combined to burden the Christian peasants ; but what was more galling than the amount, was the manner in which these various taxes were extorted, the iniquitous assessment of tax-farmers and excisemen, and the brutal licence of the zaptiehs who were quartered on recalcitrant villagers. Meanwhile the profligate expenditure of the imperial voluptuary at Stamboiil and the peculation of his ministers hurried on the crisis. The public bankruptcy of Turkey put the last straw on the rayah s back. On July 1, 1875, the villagers of Nevesinje, which gives its name to a mountain plateau east of Mostar, unable to bear the extortion of the tax-farmers, and goaded to madness by the outrages inflicted on them by the zaptiehs and bashi-bazouks, rose against their oppressors. The insurrection rapidly spread through Herzegovina and thence to Bosnia. The Herzegovinians under their leaders Peko Pavlovieh, Socica, Ljubi Tatich, and others held out for a year against all the forces that Turkey could despatch against them, and in two struggles in the gorge of Muratovizza alone the Turks lost over 2000 men. In July 1876 the principalities joined in the struggle ; the Kusso-Tuikish war followed, and by the treaty of Berlin the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina was confided to Austria-Hungary, while Niksich and the country about Mount Dormitor were detached from Herzegovina and annexed to Monte negro. On July 31, 1878, the Austrian troops crossed the Herze govinian frontier, and the news roused the Mahometan fanatics to a desperate effort. On August 2d the Mahometans of Mostar, imitat ing the example of Seraievo, and believing themselves betrayed by the Turkish Government, rose en masse, murdered the Turkish governor and officials, and proclaimed a nlema head of a provisional govern ment. The Austrians, however, pressed forward, and crushing some ineffectual efforts at resistance entered Mostar on the 5th of August. By the 29th of September the reduction of Herzegovina was com pleted by the capture of the hillfort of Klobuk. Since the comple tion of the occupation, the government of the province has been under the military governor at Seraievo, controlled by the foreign office at Vienna. The sultan still remains sovereign de jure, nor