Marmalade and _slivovitza_—an _eau-de-vie_ made of prunes—are also two articles manufactured in Servia and largely exported, about three million francs’ worth of the former, and two hundred thousand francs’ worth of the latter being sent out of the country annually.

There are immense forests in various parts of the country with a great wealth of timber unexploited, as a glance at any good map of Servia will show, while the sportsman will find there plenty of game of every kind, from bear, lynx, wolf, and such-like animals, down to the quail, pigeon, partridge, pheasant, and woodcock. The whole country teems with game, and the only prohibitions are upon the stag, deer, chamois, and hen pheasants. There are many sporting clubs, the chief one being in Belgrade, where a paper is also published called _Le Chasseur_.

An Observer in the Near East — Part 116

Servia’s mineral wealth is well known to geologists. Gold, in diluvial and alluvial deposits, is being worked at Timok, at Pek, and at other places, while cinnabar is found at Avala, near Belgrade, and in the villages of Brajici, Bare, and Donja Tresnica. At Podrinye, at Lyuta Strana, at Zuce, at Crveni Breg, in the region of Avala, at Rudnik, at Kopaonik, at Djurina Sreca there is lead; at Zavlaca and Kucajna, zinc; and at Povlen, Suvobor, Cemerno, Aldinac, Majdanpek, Bor in Timok and Rtanj, large deposits of copper. Arsenic is found in various regions, but principally near Donja Tresnica, in the department of Podrinye; while antimony is known to exist in the Zajaca region. Rich iron is waiting to be exploited upon the Kopaonik, in Vlasina, Rudna Glava, Crnajka (department of Krajina), on the Vencac, in the centre of Servia, and on the Boranja (in Podrinye); while there is coal in places too innumerable to mention in this work.

An Observer in the Near East — Part 116

All this enormous mineral wealth might well be exploited by British capital. The Servian Government are, however, very careful to whom they give concessions, and will not entertain, for a single moment, any application, unless the applicant is properly introduced and can give undeniable proof of his _bona fides_. Therefore the adventurer who thinks he will, without capital, be able to make a “good thing” will find himself sadly disappointed. The Government is extremely anxious to receive _bona-fide_ proposals, and as His Majesty himself informed me, will grant concessions, but only to firms or companies who mean serious and legitimate business.

An Observer in the Near East — Part 116