IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 83 



mouth of the river Cettina. Small republics were 

 formerly the fashion in this part of the world, and 

 Almissa was the chief town of that known as the 

 Poglizza. Its burghers were astute enough to 

 accept the suzerainty of Venice, and so preserved 

 their nominal independence. This state of things 

 continued down to the present century, when the 

 French refused to acknowledge the little republic, 

 and enforced their conscription at Almissa. Eus- 

 sian emissaries stirred up a revolt, which was soon 

 quenched in blood. The last " doge " fled to St. 

 Petersburg, carrying with him the archives of the 

 little state, and there he died. When the country 

 passed a second time into Austrian hands, the 

 question of the ancient privileges, which they had 

 previously respected, was allowed to lapse. How 

 an autonomous republic arose out of the nest of 

 Illyrian pirates Almissa, in common with every 

 other harbour along this coast, became after the 

 collapse of the Koman empire, I know not. Per- 

 haps the missing archives would help to elucidate 

 the matter, but they are doubtless hopelessly lost. 



We decided to pitch our next camp in the 

 vicinity of Almissa, but not too near it, as we 

 feared the amount of sightseers from a place of 

 a thousand or more inhabitants might prove a 

 nuisance. As the event proved, we were less 

 troubled there than almost anywhere else. 



Accordingly, having slept on board, we left 



