opinion.  Polygamy is almost unknown, a second wife being seldom taken during the lifetime of the first.  Since it is to the expense attendant upon this luxury that such abstinence is probably to be attributed, it really reflects great credit upon the Bosnian Benedicts that the meal-sack has been so seldom brought into play,—­that ancient and most expeditious Court of Probate and Divorce in matrimonial cases.  After marriage, the women conceal themselves more strictly than in most other parts of Turkey.  Perhaps in this the husbands act upon the homoeopathic principle, that prevention is better than cure; for divorces are unheard of, and are considered most disgraceful.  Marriages are contracted at a much earlier age by the Christian than by the Mahommedan women, and it is no uncommon thing to find wives of from twelve to fourteen years of age.  This abominable custom is encouraged by the Roman Catholic clergy, whose revenues are thereby increased.

[Footnote E:  Krasinski.]

[Footnote F:  See Sir G. Wilkinson’s ‘Dalmatia,’ Napier’s ’Florentine History,’ and Sismondi’s ‘Literature du Midi de l’Europe.’]

[Footnote G:  Sismondi.]

[Footnote H:  Gibbon.]

CHAPTER V.

Agricultural Products—­Cereals—­Misapplication of Soil—­Tobacco—­Current Prices—­Vine Disease—­Natural Capabilities of Land—­Price of Labour—­Dalmatian Scutors—­Other Products—­Manufactures—­Commerce—­Relations with Bosnia—­Able Administration of Omer Pacha—­Austria takes Alarm—­Trade Statistics—­Imports—­Exports—­Frontier Duties—­Mal-administration—­Intended Reforms.

The agricultural products of the Herzegovina are wheat, barley, rice, linseed, millet, tobacco, and grapes.  Of the cereals, Indian corn is most cultivated, and forms the staple article of consumption, as is also the case in Servia and the Danubian principalities.  The little wheat that is grown is found in the northern and eastern parts of the province, where the soil is better adapted for it; but nowhere is it either abundant or of good quality.  The best which is sold in the towns is imported from Bosnia.  Barley is more extensively grown, and horses are fed upon it here and throughout Turkey generally.  Linseed is only grown in small quantities in the northern parts, while the district of Gliubinski is almost entirely devoted to the culture of rice.  As the quantities produced barely suffice for home consumption, no exportation of cereals can be expected to take place.  This circumstance, together with its rugged appearance, naturally procures for the province the character of being sterile and unproductive, and such it doubtless is when compared with Bulgaria, Roumelia, or the fruitful plains of Wallachia; but it has certain resources peculiar to itself, which, if properly developed, would materially change the aspect of the country, and obtain for it a more desirable reputation.  It is eminently adapted for the cultivation of those