Herzegovina, since 1878, has been under the titular dominion of the Turkish Sultan, but the administration of Austria-Hungary. It is bounded on the north and east by Bosnia, south by Montenegro, and west by Dalmatia, and only just touches the Adriatic at Sutterina. Some districts, those of Niksich and Domitor, have been placed by the Treaty of Berlin under the Government of the Prince of Montenegro.
The greater part of the population belong to the Greek Church. Then come about 70,000 Mohamedans, some Roman Catholics, Jews, and Gipsies. The Mahomedan population are those that strike the eye most, probably because of the men’s picturesque dress, and the bazaars which one makes a point of visiting.
The people live chiefly in hamlets, and there are only about five towns; the capital of Herzegovina is Mostar.
Over the river Narenta, at Mostar, is a fine old Roman bridge which connects two parts of the town.
The river Narenta is the principal river, and along its valley lies the most cultivation, olives, mulberries, figs, melons, grapes, rice, and maize are grown. In some places there are forests of beech and pine. Many of the mountains reach to a height of 8,500 feet near the Montenegrin frontier. There are many sheep and goats, out of the wool of which the long white thick coats are made that you see hanging at shop doors in the hamlets all the way to Mostar. There is a high road from Seràjevo in Bosnia, through Herzegovina to the Adriatic.
We visited these parts in April, but it was far too early for comfort, and I should not recommend anyone to attempt it before June.
Herzegovina seems to have changed hands many times within the last 400 years, at one time belonging to Hungary, and then to Bosnia, then Turkey conquered it; earlier, too, the Venetians seemed to have a look in. Of its history under the Turks there seems to be no particular records. Feudalism, under Mahomedan guise continued to survive here. The Spahis, begs, or agas, were mediæval lords who had apostatized to Islam. They kept their ancestral castles, banners and title deeds, and patents of nobility. They enacted feudal service from their serfs and retainers. One of these Mahomedan nobles, Ali, Aga of Stolac, did such good service for the Sultan in his struggle with the Bosnian magnates, that he was made Vizier of Herzegovina, which was freed for a while from Bosnian government. The reform of Sultan Mahmoud did not by any means remove the grievances of the population of Herzegovina. The serfs had now to satisfy the extortion of imperial excisement as well as from their feudal lords. The begs and agas extorted from them forced labour and a third of the produce; the central government levied a tithe, which at the date of the outbreak had become an eighth. Three kinds of cattle tax: the tax for exemption from military service levied on every infant in arms, forced labour in the roads, forced loan of horses, a heavy tax on grapes and tobacco, and a variety of lesser taxes crushed the Christian peasants; but more galling still the manner in which these taxes were extorted—the iniquitous assessment of tax farmers and excisemen—and the brutal license of the Zaptiehs quartered on recalcitrant villagers. All this caused the insurrection of 1875, the villagers of Nevinsinge (which takes its name from a plateau near Mostar) who were unable to bear the extortions and outrages committed by the Zaptiehs and bashi-basouks, rose against their oppressors. The insurrection spread rapidly through Herzegovina and on to Bosnia, and for a year the Herzegovinians under their leaders held out against all the forces of Turkey, and in two struggles in the gorge of Muratovizza the Turks lost over 2,000 men. In July, 1876, principalities joined in the struggle; the Russo-Turkish war followed, and by the treaty of Berlin, the government of Herzegovina and Bosnia was confided to Austria-Hungary, while Niksich and the country about Mount Dormitor were detached from Herzegovina and annexed to Montenegro.