IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 60 



wet, so the little steamer hugged the Zablace 

 shore in vain that day. The next morning, how- 

 ever, at nine o'clock, we were lying off in a 

 fishing-boat with our goods and chattels, awaiting 

 her, the whole family waving adieux from the pier. 

 Soon we saw smoke above the channel, then the 

 masts, and finally a white hull rounded the fort 

 and made towards us. In a few minutes we were 

 aboard, and I found an old acquaintance in the 

 captain, having once sailed with him from Stretto 

 to Bettina, in the island of Morter. Indeed, it 

 was he who, on that occasion, suggested Zablace 

 as a suitable camping-place. I also made a new 

 one in the shape of the priest of Kogosnica, to 

 whom I had a letter of introduction, and who 

 was returning home after two days' absence in 

 Sebenico. 



Crepano and Sebenico Vecchio were soon 

 passed. A little later we stopped to disembark 

 a couple of passengers on a little scoglia, where 

 a lighthouse is in process of construction. Then 

 the sea became more open. We could see Lissa, 

 the scene of two famous sea-fights, and San An- 

 drea still further away. By the way, is it not 

 strange that to Englishmen the last fight should 

 be "the battle of Lissa," whereas the engage- 

 ment of the 12th of March, 1811, in which our 

 English Hoste totally defeated Dubordieu's French 

 squadron, was probably as big an affair, and 

 certainly should be more interesting to us ? 



