4 IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 



told that to some of the islands there were no 

 steamers, whilst to others they only ran at long 

 and fitful intervals. Tant mieux ; so much less 

 chance of the stray tourist having demoralized 

 the inhabitants. Islands are naturally the homes 

 of fishermen, who must have boats ; and these 

 boats should convey us, camp and all, where- 

 soever we would wander. 



After we had thus made up our minds that 

 Dalmatia lay so far away from all we held familiar, 

 it was rather a blow to me to find out, as I did, 

 that I had a second cousin living there. But 

 then he is a Jesuit, and the man who wants to 

 visit countries where they are not to be found 

 must go in a balloon. As he was there we deter- 

 mined to utilize him, and see if he could get us 

 a servant equal to our modest requirements. He 

 answered our letters most kindly, especially con- 

 sidering that he had never seen, nor perhaps ever 

 heard of, us. He tried his utmost to dissuade us 

 from our projected trip, pointing out the possible 

 dangers to our health of camp-life in bad weather, 

 quoting that well-known Adriatic bogey, the bora 

 wind, which he felt sure would blow our tents to 

 kingdom come ; and finally advised us to come 

 direct to him at Spalatro, whence he would dis- 

 patch us by steamboat to the various points of 

 interest on the coast and in the islands. 



Now, I was well aware that the bora constituted 



