Servia and the Servians 1862 William Denton

108 SBRYIA AND THE SBRrIA.NS.
village of Dobra, as some of the company were
desirous of examining the coal mine which had recently
been discovered near this place.
In the cool of the twilight we set out for a scramble
through the forests and over the hills .to the mouth of
the mine, which was some three miles. from the place
where our vessel had been moored. For more than a
mile our way lay along the banks of the river, by the
huts of W allachian herdsmen and the farm-steads of
Servian yeomen ; over little rustic bridges, through
meadows fragrant with newly-cut hay, and stubblefields
bristling with the yellow stalks of maize ; pa.st
troops of children swinging under the gnarled boughs
of gigantic ash-trees, and labourers returning from the
fields with their tools slung across their shoulders, or
more frequently carried in the hands of their wives
and daughters. It required some effort of the mind
to enable us to be sure that we were nearly three
thousand miles from home, and that the pastoral scenes
were not those of our own country, but that we were
really in Servia and amongst a Sclavonic people.
After walking nearly an hour, we came to the mine
which had been-not sunk into-but driven about
twenty yards into the mountain side. The works were
of the most primitive description ; and the coa~ which
lay in heaps round the mouth, had all been taken from
or near the surface, and had been dug out without
knowledge of the proper way of managing a mine. One
of our company, however, who was a coal viewer from
the banks of the Tyne, having brought down a large
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