IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 149 



is, that it has, and has had for nearly two years, 

 three-fifths of a wooden military trestle bridge ! 

 It is not ornamental, but if somebody were to 

 take it into his head that it might as well be 

 completed, it certainly would be an improvement 

 on the ferry-boat.* 



It seemed strange to us to enter a railway 

 station for the first time for nearly a quarter of 

 a year. A very pretty little station it is, too, 

 much of it covered with Virginia creeper, then 

 in its most gorgeous autumn colouring. Adjoin- 

 ing it is a pretty garden, planted with young trees, 

 which will some day be a delightful place of 

 resort for the good people of Metkovic, for I 

 suppose they will have their bridge completed 

 by the time the trees are a good size. The 

 railway is a narrow-gauge one, little over two 

 feet, but the little carriages are comfortable 

 enough. 



Our departure was attended by the usual 

 Continental ceremony. When the shouting and 

 whistling were over, the guard performed the 

 customary solo on the penny trumpet ; we moved 

 off, and in a few minutes our Dalmatian trip was 

 at an end. The Turkish frontier is passed im- 

 perceptibly. Not as much as the usual painted 

 post marks it out — at least, we saw nothing of 

 the kind. The first station on the line is Gabela, 



* Vide Part III. 



