Servia and the Servians 1862 William Denton

110 B'BRYI.J. A.ND THB BBRYI.n/8.
border of the river, and in the meadows by its side,
made the night vocal, not with their croak, but with
their gabble ; for the noise which is made by the frogs
along this part of the Danube resembles the cry of a
flock of infuriated geese rather than the genuine croak
of a frog of W estem Europe.
Next morning, whilst others of our party were engaged·
in examining the commercial capabilities of the
neighbourhood, and were making an excursion to see
some other coal . works on the opposite side of the
mountain to that which I had visited on the evening
before, I strolled to the village of Dobra, about a mile
and a half to the west of the place where our boat had
been moored for the nighl
The way to the village led past two small cemeteries,
one apparently deserted, and both of them at
least half a mile from any houses. The little village
cemeteries of Servia are less squalid and forlomlooking
than similar ones in France and Germany, but
they lack the neat appearance and the shade and
repose of an English churchyard. The entrance lies
through what is known in England by the name of a
lych-gate. Such gates, however, as with us are only
seen at the entrance of a churchyard, are in Servia.
common not only to cemeteries, but also to private
houses : the piece of shingle roofing being absolutely
necessary for the protection of the wood-work of the
g&te from the effect, of the sun. In the centre of the
~t cemetery which I entered stands a square piece of
cob-wall with a shingle roo( but whether tool-boll88 or
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