320 IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 



Poor fellow ! he was deformed, but made up 

 for this drawback by activity and energy. Not 

 only did he do all we wanted, and, after a very 

 little teaching, do it well, but he made a capital 

 huntsman, and actually managed to go with me 

 shooting two or three times a week to work the 

 hounds, and yet got his regular work of cutting 

 wood and fetching water, going for supplies, wash- 

 ing up, and cleaning cooking-gear, done. Duran 

 was a most popular man, and everybody had a 

 smile for him. On shooting expeditions he was 

 autocratic, and I have often been amused 

 watching him giving his orders to great fellows 

 twice his size. But then, he carried the coffee 

 and the tobacco, and dispensed these luxuries as 

 he thought fit. When we were alone, I used to 

 let him have my second gun (the little weapon 

 with the left barrel rifled I had used in Dalmatia) 

 to carry ; and Duran the lovac (hunter) was the 

 butt of many village jokes, especially those of an 

 old Iwclja (pilgrim, i.e. one who has been to Mecca) 

 who lived a little way up the Kazida, and, I believe, 

 conducted the prayers in the mosque. Anyhow, 

 he was always a great swell on Fridays, in a long 

 green coat, which may have been silk. Duran, 

 however, silenced the critics by breaking a roe- 

 buck's leg one day. I am sorry to say we did 

 not get it ; and I afterwards found out that he 

 had surreptitiously removed the bullet from the 



