With the Serbs in Macedonia

204 WITH THE SERBS IN MACEDONIA
from Hortiac, down to the two lakes below
and on to the blue mist of the hills beyond.
From Derbend, too, across the plain to the next
range, with " Gibraltar'' gaunt and mysterious
to the left, and the Seres road stretching on as
far as the eye can follow, there is a view with
a certain uncanny charm of its own, quite
apart from its military interest.
As in most hilly countries, the most beautiful
hour of the day is the hour before sunset, when
the folds of the hills and the ravines stand out,
and the countryside is a glory of purples and
blues.
Macedonia is not, however, a land of great
visibility from the panoramic point of view.
Always, even in the cloudless scorching summer,
there is mist in the distance. One can see much
farther on a clear day in England, which is
eloquent evidence of the fact that the heat in
Macedonia is of the intense damp variety — the
hardest of all to bear.
Even about these views, beautiful though
they are, there is something unsatisfying. It
is not the ruggedness — Macedonia is not all
rugged. Nor is it the extraordinary number of
ravines and fissures ; nor the lack of trees, for
even where the country is well wooded one feels
it just the same. Nor is it the lack of life, for
almost everywhere, in the oddest of places, one