73 
We travel further down the coast and travelling eastward 
visit Mostar. It is a charming city and has a remarkable 
bridge with a wonderful span. It is said that the body of 
a living child was put in the foundations, an early custom 
in those parts. Many of the inhabitants of Herzegovina are 
Moslems. Some were originally Christians ; the} are now 
more rabid Mohammedans than the Turks themselves. 
In the country the peasants live an exceedingly simple 
form of life. Their summer residence for a whole family 
consists of just so much building as will afford shade from 
the sun. Their medical system is equally simple ; they 
treat diseases with no half measures. Hot stones are applied 
for stomach-ache, hot irons for lumbago, and rheumatism 
is treated by a very vigorous rubbing. If a man has never 
been “ ironed,” “ stoned,” or ‘ rubbed,” he is considered 
very healthy. There are large numbers of lime stone caverns 
in the neighbourhood of Mostar, some of which extend many 
miles underground. When lit with the magnesium torch 
the stalactites and stalagmites, which fill the caverns like 
pillars of white marble, look grand to a degree. Several 
rivers disappear mysteriously into the earth ; they fall into 
caverns, the outlets of which are in many cases unknown. 
It is said that a wealthy farmer whose land lay near the 
place where one of these rivers disappears from view, was 
constantly losing sheep, and no trace of them could be found ; 
but on watching the man who tended the sheep he was seen 
to push the sheep into the water where they, of course, dis- 
appeared ; but they reappeared at the other side of the 
cavern, having been carried some 21 miles underground, 
and were then taken out by the shepherd’s son and sold. 
Ragusa is one of the strongest towns of Dalmatia, and 
until the time of Napoleon, was unconquered. Great efforts 
have at various times been made to capture this town. Noted 
leaders with thousands of men have been repulsed time after 
time. It is built on a small tongue of land, and was a republic 
for many centuries. It is of the greatest interest to students 
of history for it was one of the first cities to open its gates 
to all comers. The first foundling hospital in Europe was 
founded there. It was the first city to pass a law against 
slavery. Its government was peculiar. A man could only 
be king for three months. Changes were therefore continually 
being made and municipal wirepulling did not exist. The 
names of the people who ruled were written in a golden book. 
No girl whose name was written in this book was allowed 
to marry any one whose name was not also in it. “ Courting ” 
as we know it, was not allowed. Marriages were arranged 
