THROUGH WILD EUROPE 135 



trodden down. In it were countless hosts of mos- 

 quitoes and poisonous-looking horse-flies, and I 

 fully expected to be fearfully tormented by them. 

 However, much to my relief, I was not stung once 

 during my five hours' stay on the islet. The same 

 flies were met with later in the Dobrudscha, when 

 I was not so lucky. They can fetch blood every 

 time ! 



This expedition of ours, being quite unauthorized, 

 caused great excitement in the minds of the Turkish 

 authorities. I heard afterwards that the telegraph 

 wires between Scutari and Constantinople were kept 

 busy with official reports and inquiries about the 

 mysterious Englishman who was travelling about 

 the country without leave or licence. As they could 

 not get hold of me they put into prison the poor 

 Albanian, whose only offence was that he had given 

 us food and shelter for a night. He was accused 



of ' conspiring with foreigners,' and B , on 



hearing of it, had considerable difficulty in effect- 

 ing his release. All the time, as it happened, I 

 was provided with official permission from Constan- 

 tinople, but I had not known that I was within the 

 jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Scutari, to 

 whom I had been recommended. He had actually 

 received from Constantinople telegraphic orders to 

 assist me in all my undertakings. 



It will not be an easy matter in future for anybody 



