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diff --git a/39684.txt b/39684.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d089cdc --- /dev/null +++ b/39684.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9022 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Albania, by E. F. Knight + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Albania + A narrative of recent travel + +Author: E. F. Knight + +Release Date: May 13, 2012 [EBook #39684] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALBANIA *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +ALBANIA. + + [Illustration: A SCIENTIFIC FRONTIER. + _Page_ 229.] + + + + + ALBANIA: + + A NARRATIVE OF RECENT TRAVEL. + + + BY E. F. KNIGHT, + BARRISTER-AT-LAW. + + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + London: + + SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, + CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. + + 1880. + + [_All rights reserved._] + + + +Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and +hyphenation have been retained as printed. Words printed in bold are +noted with tildes: ~bold~. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + +Where to go to?--An unknown country--The expedition--Our +inventor--Our equipment--The doctor--A useful remedy--The +start--Venice--Trieste 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +On board an Austrian Lloyd--Voyage to Spalato--The coast of +Istria and Dalmatia--Old Venetian cities--Our fellow-passengers +--Pola--A Turkish officer--The Morlaks--Why is England a triangle? +--Sebenico--Arrival at Spalato 11 + + +CHAPTER III. + +Dalmatian _cuisine_--The Emperor Diocletian--Remains of the +old palace--We make two friends--Wines of Dalmatia--Customs +of the Morlaks--A visit to Salona--A great fete--Costumes-- +Morlak singing 28 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Voyage to Cattaro--A bora--The gulf of Narenta--The Herzegovina +--The Island of Curzola--Ragusa--The Bocche di Cattan--The +frontier of Montenegro--The fortress of Cattaro--Evening +promenade--Personal attractions of the Cattarine ladies-- +Rough roads--Prince Nikita's coach--Bosnian refugees--A +Bosnian's luggage 45 + + +CHAPTER V. + +March to Cettinje--The pass across the frontier--Montenegrin +warriors--Cettinje--A land of stones--The Prince's Hotel-- +Frontier disputes--The commission--Montenegrin method of +making war--A game of billiards--A Draconic law--A popular +prince 60 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The occupation of a Montenegrin gentleman--The public library +--Prince Nikita's prisoners--Albanian _versus_ Montenegrin +--A Montenegrin loan--The prince as a sportsman--The museum-- +The hospital 78 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Journey to Scutari--Atrocities--A runaway--The vale of Rieka-- +A Montenegrin sailor--The lions of Rieka--The perils of the +night 90 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A great victory--A good old custom--On the Lake of Scutari-- +The londra--The debateable land--Boat song--Encampment--Scutari +--A reminiscence of Cremorne--The brothers Toshli--Willow-pattern +plates--At the British consulate 100 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Condition of Albania--Her races--The Mussulman--The Christian-- +The Arnaut--Prince Scanderbeg--Turkish rule--Albanian language +--Gendarmes on strike--A Scutarine beauty--Courtship and marriage +--Nuns 116 + + +CHAPTER X. + +The bazaar--Turkish gipsies--The vendetta--An assassin--A way +to pay debts--Bosnian refugees--A card-party--Paving stones +--Burglars--Army doctors--Change for a ten pound note--Our +horses 132 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Our Lady of Scutari--A miracle--The fete--A funeral--A drunken +Arnaut--Our escort--Two more Britons--Warm discussion--War-- +Marco 151 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +March to Podgoritza--An Albanian khan--Our cook--The Fund-- +Across the lake--Night visitors--The frontier--Podgoritza-- +The armourer--The war minister--Dobra Pushka 163 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +War preparations--Our camp visitors--An impromptu ball-- +English-consul fashion--Robbers--Ruins of Douka--A dangerous +bath--Bastinado--Karatag yok mir 181 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +An escort--A Turkish dinner-party--Brigands--Our sportsman--A +chief of the league--Objects of the rebels--Achmet Agha--A +meeting of the league--The boulim-bashi of Klementi--An Arnaut +chieftain 194 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +To Gussinje--The valley of the Drin--A rough road--In the +mountains--Hospitality--A pretty woman--A scientific frontier +--Franciscans--Dog Latin--Marco Milano 215 + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The mission-house--Gropa--The mandolin--A letter from Ali Bey +--A trap--Our throats in danger--Retreat--Nik Leka--Proverbs-- +A pleasant evening 238 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Rosso and Effendi--A barbaric feast--Patoulis--Mead--The future +of Albania--The Italia Irridenta--Sport in Meriditia--Dick +Deadeye 251 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +The coffin--A Pasha's death--Horse-dealing--The postman-- +Brigands--An hotel bill--Down the Bojana--Dulcigno--Pirates +--Farewell 268 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + +SPALATO 26 + +BOCCHE DI CATTARO 48 + +WALLS OF CATTARO 49 + +CETTINJE 65 + +THE LONDRA 102 + +SCUTARI FISHING HARBOUR 109 + +PODGORITZA 177 + +A SCIENTIFIC FRONTIER 229 + + + + +ALBANIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Where to go to?--An unknown country--The expedition--Our inventor--Our +equipment--The doctor--A useful remedy--The start--Venice--Trieste. + + +One day last autumn I was sitting in my Temple chambers, wondering what +I should do with myself in the Long Vacation, when I was aroused from +my reverie by the entrance of my clerk. + +"Here is Mr. N., sir." + +"Show him in." + +N. entered, and his chance visit solved my problem. + +"Don't know what to do with yourself? Why, I have the very thing for +you. Three friends of mine--Brown, Jones, and Robinson--are preparing +for a tour in Albania. I saw Brown this morning, and he told me they +wanted somebody else to join their party." + +To cut the narrative short, I was introduced to Brown, Jones, and +Robinson, as I shall call my travelling companions in this book; and it +was not long before I decided to join them in a trip which promised to +be a very amusing one. My friends were artists, and had chosen this +almost unknown country for their summer tour, as being an unexplored +mine for their pencils, both as regards magnificence of scenery and +picturesqueness of costume. I myself knew nothing about Albania before +starting, with the exception of what I had gleaned from "Childe +Harold." The lines where the poet sings, + + Albania, rugged nurse of savage men, + +came to my mind; so I took down Byron from my shelves, and read all +that he has to say about + + The wild Albanian kirtled to his knee, + With shawl-girt head, and ornamented gun, + And gold-embroider'd garments fair to see. + +The information was scanty, but sufficient to show me that no more +interesting country could have been chosen for our expedition. I +purpose, in this book, to give a narrative of our wanderings in +Montenegro and Northern Albania. + +My aim is not at all an ambitious one, and I do not intend to enter +very deeply into the history and already over-discussed politics of the +races of Eastern Europe, but merely to jot down my own first rough +impressions of the country; for my object is principally to show my +readers how well worthy of a visit it is, and by describing the ways +and means of travelling in it, to encourage and render some assistance +to any who may purpose to follow in our footsteps over the Highlands of +ancient Illyria. My fellow-travellers proposed to travel in a rough +style, not to hamper themselves with servants, and to ride or walk, as +seemed best when we reached the country. + +The originator of the expedition, Robinson, had evolved an imaginary +Albania from his inner consciousness, and was therefore always ready to +answer, off-hand, any question we might ask him as to what we should +take with us in the shape of baggage, &c. + +He always advanced his opinion so unhesitatingly, and would give us so +many facts as to the climate, nature of the country and manners of the +people, that, till I knew him better, I imagined that he must have +either travelled in these countries himself, or at least have had a +very dear and confiding friend who had done so, for no amount of +reading could have brought about so intimate an acquaintance with the +subject. + +We were certain to meet with an abundance of big game, he told us, so +must each be provided with a rifle--the result was, I armed myself with +a Martini-Henry. He procured a Winchester rifle (I think, later on in +our heavy marches, he regretted having taken this ponderous weapon). +Brown provided himself with a lighter Winchester carbine. Jones wisely +took no rifle with him. We each had a good revolver, and our scanty +baggage was contained in three saddle-bags. Robinson, in addition to +his other great qualities, was a wonderful inventor, and insisted on +furnishing the expedition with a huge tent, which subsequently was +christened "the White Elephant." This was packed for the journey in a +long coffin-like box, and many were the wranglings and afflictions over +that unfortunate package. Cabmen, railway porters, custom-house +officers, police, all alike suspected it, and hindered its unhappy +progress in every way. A fantastic axe, a gigantic yataghan-looking +knife, and a cooking apparatus, were also devised by our ingenious +friend, and constructed under his supervision. Many and many a plan he +drew up before he perfected these marvellous inventions, and long was +it ere he could find artisans intelligent enough to comprehend and +carry them out. We trembled for all these _impedimenta_, and warned our +friend that four camels at least would be necessary to transport them. +Remonstrances were useless; we were told it was impossible to travel in +Albania without these; so, with reluctance, and foreboding of future +troubles, we gave in. Accidents of various kinds delayed our start. +Brown and myself at last waxed impatient, and after waiting long for +our tardy companions, who never would come up to the scratch, but +postponed the journey from one day to another (each to be fixed and +unchangeable), we decided to precede them, and await them either at +some Dalmatian port or in Montenegro. We settled to leave London on the +18th of September, took through tickets to Trieste, and appointed to +meet in our war-paint at Victoria Station at seven o'clock in the +evening, so as to catch the eight o'clock train for the Dieppe boat. + +At seven o'clock the whole length of Spiers and Pond's refreshment-bar +at Victoria Station was monopolized by the travellers and the numerous +friends who had come to see the last of them. "You are certain to have +your throat cut, old fellow, so you might just as well have one last +beverage with me," was an oft-repeated and encouraging salute. + +I should say that those who were spectators of our departure must have +imagined that we were bound on an expedition to the centre of Africa, +at least. Our appearance was certainly remarkable. We were arrayed in +blue flannel shirts, rough blue pilot suits, and top-boots. Brown, too, +had closely shaven his head, which gave him a decided Millbank +appearance. Our luggage consisted of a saddle-bag, a rifle, and blanket +each. Robinson was anxious for us to take "the White Elephant" with us; +we did not see it. I forgot to state that Brown had taken upon himself +the charge of the medical department, and had arranged a little box of +horrible implements and medicaments. The properties of these I do not +think he knew much about. As can easily be imagined, we fought very shy +of him in his surgical character throughout the journey. At the last +moment we remembered another medicine which might, with advantage, be +added to our chest; we had incidentally heard that brandy was a useful +remedy in some illnesses. We accordingly sent my clerk over to that +excellent tavern, the "Devereux Arms," for a bottle of this fluid; it +was lucky we did so, for, curiously enough, both of us suffered on +several occasions from those maladies for which it is supposed that +beverage is a specific; to such an extent, indeed, that though none of +the other bottles in the chest were even uncorked, this one had +frequently to be replenished. + +In sixty-two hours from the time we left London we were in Venice. We +were haunted by two guilty consciences during the whole of our run +across Europe. For we had to cross three frontiers, and were laden +with contraband, in the shape of revolvers and rifle cartridges. In +consequence of our suspicious appearance, our baggage was generally +examined. At Modane, where is the most unpleasant frontier custom-house +in Europe, the officers have instructions to confiscate all revolvers. +Thus we had to conceal our own on our persons. As they were large, and +so caused a suspicious-looking protuberance of our outer clothing, we +did not feel quite happy until we were again seated in a carriage, and +plunged into the darkness of the Mont Cenis. + +From Venice we took the steamer to Trieste--a twelve hours' journey. +The boat was crowded. Brown and myself tossed up as to whether he or I +should sleep alongside a very fat old lady who obstructed the entrance +to one of the two only vacant berths. I won the toss, and ungallantly +enough surrendered the place of honour to Brown. + +At six in the morning we were alongside one of the quays at Trieste, +and landed without being subjected to any custom-house inspection. We +put up at the Hotel Delorme, at which well-known hostelry the Prince of +Montenegro had been recently staying, on his return from a visit to the +Emperor of Austria at Vienna. We found that an Austrian Lloyd steamer +started at five the next morning for the different Dalmatian and +Albanian ports; so, as Trieste is not a very interesting place, we +determined to steam as far as Spalato, and there await our companions. +We telegraphed to them to that effect. + +We wandered about the town sight-seeing the whole day, visited the +Lloyd Arsenal, and called on our consul, Captain Burton, the well-known +traveller. He gave us some useful information, and recommended us to +several people on the Dalmatian coast. He strongly advised us to take +plenty of quinine with us, as the fever season had commenced, and +tertians had been exceptionally frequent in Southern Dalmatia this +year, after the severe drought this part of Europe had experienced. + +We took two _sedea platea_ at the Theatre Fenice, the opera for +the evening being "Lucia di Lammermoor." The _prima donna_ was an +English Jewess, Madame Isidore, of whom, as a foreigner, the Triestines +seemed to be very jealous, for her excellent singing met with a cold +reception. When the opera was concluded, we wandered about the town for +a short time. I find in my diary this note: "The beer of Trieste is +good." + +An English-speaking commissionaire at our hotel had insisted on +piloting us about to the different places of interest. He was an +amusing man, had tried most professions, had even been a butler in an +English family. He had recently been butler, or what here corresponds +to a butler, to a Triestine; but, after a few weeks, left his place in +disgust, for, as he expressed it, "The Italian no understand life like +you English. In cellar no wine. I go to my master. Sar, I leave you." + +"Why? what is the reason?" + +"Sar, I came here as butler. There is nothing to buttle. I go." + +We retired to our beds about one, and enjoyed a few hours' sleep before +the time came for embarking. + +At three o'clock the next morning we were aroused by our +commissionaire, who had promised to see us off. We dressed hastily, and +sallied forth in search of an early breakfast before our vessel sailed, +and soon found a cafe which had not yet closed its doors. The waiters, +and the place itself, had that disreputable and up-all-night appearance +which is only apparent to those who themselves have arisen betimes from +sober couches. I think my friend and myself rather regretted that we +had so risen, and had not wandered about the town till the hour of +sailing; for to turn into bed from one to three is productive rather of +discontent with things in general than of that freshness, as of a +button, the little cherub proverbially enjoys. + +After swallowing our coffee we found our way to our vessel, the +"Archduke Paul," bid adieu to our commissionaire, introduced ourselves +to the steward, and, selecting two comfortable berths, turned in for a +little more sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +On board an Austrian Lloyd--Voyage to Spalato--The coast of Istria and +Dalmatia--Old Venetian cities--Our fellow-passengers--Pola--A Turkish +officer--The Morlaks--Why is England a triangle?--Sebenico--Arrival at +Spalato. + + +When I awoke, the sun was shining brightly through the skylight, and +the familiar thud of the screw told me we were under way. On mounting +to the deck, I found that we were to have a glorious day to enjoy the +scenery of the coast. There was not a cloud in the sky, and a fresh and +pleasant breeze was blowing off shore. As our vessel was to touch at +nearly every harbour of Istria and Dalmatia, we were never more than +one or two miles distant from some coast, either of the continent or of +the innumerable islands which stud the Eastern Adriatic from Fiume to +Cattaro. + +Very few English tourists ever wander among these remote provinces of +the Austrian Empire, yet they are exceedingly easy of access, and +possibly no countries in Europe are so interesting. + +The fine scenery, the picturesque costumes and manners of the +population, and above all, the remarkable Roman and Venetian +antiquities, render them well worthy of a visit. It is surprising +indeed that they are so little known. + +The Austrian Lloyd steamers run up and down between Trieste and Corfu +three times a week, and are as clean and comfortable as any in the +world. Again, all countries under Austrian rule are perfectly secure, +banditti being entirely unknown. Of course, if any one ventures inland, +one must not expect to meet with all the luxuries of civilization; +indeed, it must be confessed that even the hotels in the chief +seaports, such as Cattaro, would seem rather rough to the sybarite. We +met with universal kindness and civility, and even honesty, throughout +Dalmatia, from the Austrian officers and officials, as well as from the +Sclav and Italian population. We found every one anxious to go out of +their way to point out to us the lions of the district. The tariff at +the hotels is very low, as it is, by the way, on the Austrian Lloyds, +where the two really excellent meals provided daily at one and eight, +cost one and one-and-a-half florins (paper) respectively. In short, one +lives luxuriously for about five shillings a day. The officers are +gentlemanly and well-educated men--Dalmatians or Italians, as a +rule--and very glad to fraternize with jovially-disposed English +passengers. One is almost sure to find one or more who speak English. +We took our tickets for Spalato, at which very interesting town we +determined to stay for a few days. This is but a two-hundred miles' run +from Trieste, but forty-two hours are spent in the passage. For though +very little merchandize is taken on board at the several ports touched +at, in order to pick up mails and passengers, a most unnecessary amount +of time is wasted in each. Of this of course we are not sorry. Now the +steamer would anchor off some picturesque little town, such as Pirano, +crowned by its ancient fortress--a relic of the great republic which +once ruled all this coast--and now bring up alongside the marble quay +of some ancient Roman city, such as Pola, with its gigantic +amphitheatre reflected on the purple Adriatic. + +The scenery of the coast is very beautiful. The mountains are lofty +and fantastically serrated, and cleft into profound fissures and +chasms; while innumerable islands surround one on every side, so that +one seems to be sailing on a large lake rather than a sea. Each turn +round some jagged promontory reveals some new wonder, and there is not +a village that is not picturesque and antique, with Venetian fortress +or Byzantine church rising from the very water's edge. It is +impossible to say what colour the Adriatic is; it is certainly the +most chameleon-like of seas, and changes its hue quite irrespectively, +as far as I could see, of atmospheric influence, under a sunny sky +from deepest violet to most delicate turquoise, but ever beautiful. + +However, after a time, there is something remarkably wearisome in this +coast; for though the mountains are grandly formed, they are almost +universally barren, the vegetation being scant and trees exceedingly +rare. The Venetians made the most of their possessions when they had +them, and destroyed the once magnificent forests of Illyria in a most +ruthless manner. Nearly all the timber for their fleets was procured +from these mountains. + +The result is, that they are hopelessly bleak and barren, while the +country in many places presents for miles inland the appearance of a +stony desert. I do not think there is a region in Europe so wild and +desolate as the plains in the neighbourhood of Novegrad; however, I +believe that further inland, and so almost inaccessible, large and fine +forests abound. + +The weather was mild enough now, in the latter end of September (80 deg. +Fahr. in the shade), but this is a frightfully hot and parched-up +country in the summer. The vegetation, where there is any, is +sub-tropical; the date-palm, the aloe, and the cactus, are seen +springing here and there from the rocks; citrons, pomegranates, +almonds, are cultivated in many parts of the Lowlands. + +We steamed slowly on throughout the day, till the setting sun lit up +the high Dinanic Alps, which is a precipitous and unbroken line, +lowered in the background above the lesser maritime chains. The barren +precipices assumed the most lovely tints, in some places glowing like +molten iron, while the shadows toned down to a deep hazy purple. But +soon the sun had forsaken the loftiest peak, and the quick-coming +darkness reminded us that our supper was spread in the comfortable +cabin. The day had been a very enjoyable one, for the scenery and +inhabitants were alike new to us. Our deck passengers were lying about +in most picturesque groups. Here some Hungarian recruits devouring +their rations greedily; here some wild-looking Dalmatian Morlaks; here +a solemn Turkish merchant, puffing at his long pipe; Montenegrins, +Greeks, and an ugly-looking lot of felons, manacled and chained +together, completed the scene. We had touched at Pirano, Parenzo, and +Rovigno, in the morning. As our vessel brought up alongside the quay at +Pola, we were enabled to stretch our legs for an hour on shore. We +might have had two hours there had it not been for the extreme +deliberation and prudence with which the officers of these steamers +approach a quay. + +The vociferations and evident anxiety of every one on board whenever +this operation had to be performed would lead one to suppose that it +required extraordinary delicacy and skill, and was attended with no +small risk. Our captain was evidently excessively pleased and proud +whenever he had safely accomplished this duty, and looked round with a +very self-satisfied and admire-me-if-you-please air as he wiped the +perspiration from his brow. + +So deep was the water, and so unobstructed the harbour, that one would +have imagined it would have been easy to have steamed the vessel right +up to her berth, but that is not the way they do things here. + +When we were about half-a-mile off the shore a boat was lowered, which +took out at a cable to a large buoy in the roads; then it was found +that the line attached to the cable was not long enough to reach the +buoy, so we had to steam a little nearer. When, after a good deal of +bungling, we succeeded in making fast our bow to this buoy, another +cable was taken from our stern to the quay; and, while the first was +being gradually slacked out, our donkey-engine slowly coiled up the +second cable and drew the vessel stern foremost to her berth. + +However, with all these precautions, we did not make fast without some +accident. One of our passengers, an Austrian naval officer, who was +contemplating the proceedings through his eyeglass, got in the way of a +warp, when it tautened suddenly, caught him in the middle, and +projected him into the sea. Great excitement ensued, but he was soon +rescued by a soldier on the quay, who hooked him up with his bayonet. + +We were accompanied on shore by a fellow-passenger whose acquaintance +we had made, a smart-looking young Turkish officer of gendarmerie. He +was an Albanian Christian, a native of Scutari, and had just returned +from a journey to Trieste. As this was the first time he had left his +native country, he was amazed and pleased at all he saw; but he had +evidently formed no high idea as to the moral character of the +Europeans. The amazing wickedness of the Triestines was a theme on +which he harped throughout the journey. + +Pola is the head-quarters of the Austrian navy; there were three or +four of their finest vessels there at the time. We observed that the +proportion of officers and men to the number of ships was very great. +Our Turk came with us to visit the remains of the Roman amphitheatre, +one of the finest in Europe. The Romans he had never heard of, but had +been informed on good authority that the massive edifice before him had +been constructed in one day by the devil. We all had supper together on +board this evening, and had a most amusing conversation with our new +friend over our coffee and subsequent pipe and grog. He could speak and +write Turkish, French, Italian, Albanese, and Sclave. + +We naturally wished to learn from him what sort of a country Albania +was, whether travelling was comparatively safe, and how we ought to set +to work. + +"Albania is perfectly safe," he said; "safer than Trieste. There are no +banditti; you can walk alone from Scutari to Salonika, and be treated +as a friend by all, especially as you are an Englishman." + +What our friend understood by "perfectly safe" was not exactly what a +timid tourist would understand by the term. On being questioned as to +the police system, he replied: "Well, it is not in an exceedingly happy +condition just now, for having received no pay or rations for fourteen +months, the gendarmes have struck work." + +"And how do you get on without them?" + +"Oh, just as well as with them; we Albanians do not require police; we +understand what is just, and can take the law into our own hands; the +police always were useless. In a wild country like ours, a criminal--a +murderer, for instance--can always escape them; he takes refuge in the +mountains, and the gendarmerie know better than to follow him there. If +we trusted to them, there would be no security for life or property; +but this is how we manage. If, for instance, a man murdered me and +fled, my family are bound to revenge my death; if they cannot find the +murderer himself, they kill one of his family." + +"Does not this system lead to a good many lives being sacrificed over +one quarrel?" + +"It acts well as a rule. But, as you say, it does lead to some +bloodshed. Just before I left Scutari a man shot another's pig, which +had strayed into his field; the owner of the pig immediately walked +over to the other man's house and blew his brains out, which he was +bound to do as a man of honour; then a relation of the slain man shot a +relation of the other behind his back as he strolled into the bazaar, +totally unaware of the existence of any quarrel between the families." + +"Was that looked upon as fair play?" + +"Everything is fair in our blood feuds. This very man was himself shot +a few days afterwards as he was coming out of a mosque, by the brother +of the man he had killed, who was waiting for him behind a wall. +Several others on both sides were killed in this pig dispute, till at +last the two families met and settled the matter amicably, and without +dishonour to either party, for it was shown that an equal amount of +damage had been inflicted on both families--ten men of one having been +slain; nine men, one woman, and a pig of the other." + +Our friend told us that he himself had a blood feud on hand, and had to +keep a very sharp look out. + +I noticed that his hand was bandaged, and inquired how he had hurt it. + +"Oh," he said, "I scratched it with my sabre, and so poisoned it. I +have enemies at Scutari, and some months ago expected to be murdered +any day; but, determining to kill some of them first, when the time +came poisoned my sabre with a strong animal poison. I accidentally +scratched myself with it one day. Luckily the poison was nearly rubbed +off by that time, but as it was it very nearly took me out of this +world." + +Many other little anecdotes we extracted from our friend, all +illustrative of the extreme security of Albania. Among other things we +were warned never to allow people to walk close behind us; not to pay +excessive attention to the lady portion of the population--that being +the most frightful crime that one can be guilty of in that country. + +We played at dominoes, drank grog, and discoursed on various topics +till a late hour; then retired for the night, during which the old +vessel steadily steamed her eight knots an hour. + +The Austrian Lloyd Company are bound, by their contract with the +Government, not to run their vessels at a higher speed; why, no one +could inform us. + +On awakening the next morning we found ourselves moored to the quay of +the fine old town of Zara. We went on shore with our new friend, who, +by the way, was saluted by the Austrian officers and soldiers when they +observed his uniform--an honour which we afterwards found was rarely +paid him by his own men in Scutari, in the present discontented +condition of the half-starved Turkish soldiery. We had time to visit +the monuments of this interesting old Venetian fortress, the fine +churches, and the magnificent cathedral, built by Doge Dandolo. + +The streets are narrow, sewerless, and malodorous; but would be the +delight of artists. The natives wear a particularly picturesque +costume, but are exceedingly dirty, and not prepossessing in features. + +I had somehow or another formed an idea that as we advanced southwards +into the more uncivilized countries of Herzegovina, Montenegro, and +Albania, we should find that the population, as it became more and more +artistic in appearance, would at the same time become more and more +dirty and villanous-looking. Seeing how very nasty these Dalmatians +were, I expected to come across something very horrible indeed later +on. In this I must say that I was agreeably disappointed; for all these +reputedly barbarous races are far more intelligent, clean, and +handsome, than the dull and in every way objectionable Morlak of +Southern Austria, who much resembles his brother the Bulgarian. + +One of the natives of this district writes thus of his countrymen:-- + +"For every article of necessity and comfort Dalmatia is dependent on +other countries. There is clay, but no potter; quartz, but no +glass-work; timber, but no carpenter; lime, but no kiln; coal, but no +mine; iron, but no furnace; rags (plenty of them), but no paper-mill." + +These words, written some years ago, are almost true of the present +day. The wretched condition of the country is partly due to the regime +of the Venetians, who got what they could out of it, but did little for +the improvement of the people. The greater portion of the territory was +acquired by Austria from Venice in 1798. + +But though the Government has established schools, and a university at +Zara, and done much in many ways to ameliorate the condition of things, +Dalmatia is still in a very backward condition. The natives look with +suspicion on, and are far from grateful for, the benefits they receive +from the State. The Austrians are cordially hated by both the Sclavs +and the Italians. These two latter, again, are very jealous of each +other. So great is the mutual dislike, that it is rare to find even two +fellow-townsmen of the different races on anything like friendly terms. + +To a casual observer, at any rate, it seems that Austria has no very +secure footing in this country, and has effected a mere military +occupation of it. + +The Government does its best to conciliate the people. They are lightly +taxed, and have been allowed to retain many important rights and +privileges. + +The population has been disarmed by the Austrians, who are now carrying +out the same policy in the Herzegovina and Bosnia--their lately +acquired possessions. + +Thus the Morlaks--who, like their neighbours in the Turkish provinces, +were wont to stalk about bristling with pistols and knives, even in the +towns--are now obliged to be contented with enormous red ginghams, +which have become quite a feature in the national costume. + +Luckily for Austria, three-quarters of the population are Roman +Catholics, those of the Greek Church being the minority; thus Russian +intrigue, though it is carried on by numerous agents, does not effect +much harm among the Sclavs of these districts. + +After having visited the many objects of interest in this old Venetian +city, and having tried and highly approved of the Rosoglio and +Maraschino, for the manufacture of which it is now celebrated, we +returned to our vessel, and were soon once more steaming down the +ever-changing coast to the southwards. + +The sky was obscured by clouds and the wind was strong; but there was +little sea, for the islands were so frequent that we but rarely caught +a glimpse of the open Adriatic. The shores, both of continent and +island, were very stony and barren. There seemed to be no cultivation +or any sign of life for miles. I should say that there must be +thousands of uninhabited islands along this coast. + +We had for some time been silently smoking our cigarettes on the +bridge, observing the desolate panorama as it swept by us, when our +Turk suddenly broke in with-- + +"Why do not you English, who are so strong, and take a part so often in +other people's quarrels, fight for yourselves and recover what +Buonaparte took from you." + +I was obliged to confess that I did not quite understand to what he was +alluding. + +"Ah, your countrymen never confess to a defeat. But tell me, is not +England a triangle in shape?" + +"It is true." + +"So I have been told. Now how long is it since she has been of that +form?" + +Not being able to give any reply to this difficult query, he +enlightened my ignorance. + +"I have been told that when Buonaparte made an alliance with the +Russians and the Italians, he beat England, and each of the three +powers took from her a slice--thus leaving her triangular in shape. Is +it not so?" + +While he spoke he drew an imaginary diagram in the air with his sabre, +illustrative of this unfortunate episode in our history. Our friend was +utterly unaware that England was surrounded by the seas. His idea was +that our empire consisted of an extensive region bordering on Russia, +of which India was a province. + +He was very anxious to learn if there were Sclavs in England; whether +Queen Victoria was a Sclav; whether the English did not assume a +blackish-brown complexion in the winter, in consequence of the +perpetual fog. I tried to enlighten him on some of these matters, but I +do not think he placed any credence in a word I said, though he was too +polite to exhibit his incredulity. + +With the assistance of the donkey-engine we brought up alongside the +quay of Sebenico, and there remained for about half-an-hour. I find in +my diary this one note: "Sebenico does not smell nice." This was a +first impression. + +On my return journey I visited this town, and well worthy of a visit it +is. + +It is built on the slope of a steep mountain, and rises from the +water's edge in an amphitheatre of quaint old buildings, a colossal +Venetian fortress dominating all. The approach to it from the sea is +remarkable. A labyrinth of narrow channels between rocky islands +affords a difficult access to the shipping. + +The Canale de St. Antonio--the one by which the steamer enters the +port--is in one place so shut in by the precipitous islands, that it +seems as if one could touch either side of it from the deck with +outstretched arm. The streets are narrow, dirty, and steep; but some of +the houses are very lofty and quaint, and all are impressed with the +solemn and grandiose character of the Venetian style. + +We steamed on through the afternoon, which was wild and stormy. The +setting sun lit up the lofty and gloomy mountains of the Herzegovina, +which far away inland towered above the lesser intervening heights, +with a lurid light, while fierce gusts, driving black clouds before +them, swept down the ravines till they struck our vessel in violent +squalls which heeled her over, and sent the white spray hissing over +the small rocky islands which jutted out everywhere to leeward of us. + +[Illustration: SPALATO. + _Page 26._] + +At nine o'clock this evening we were alongside the quay of Spalato. +Bidding adieu to our friends on board, and promising our Turk to visit +him at Scutari, we threw our baggage into a small boat manned by some +ragged and noisy ruffians, whose language was so rapid and so horrible +in sound, that I could not but admire them for their evident ability to +understand each other, and inwardly formed a higher opinion of the +intellectual capacity of this branch of the Sclav race at any rate. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Dalmatian _cuisine_--The Emperor Diocletian--Remains of the old +palace--We make two friends--Wines of Dalmatia--Customs of the +Morlaks--A visit to Salona--A great fete--Costumes--Morlak singing. + + +On landing we were at once pounced upon by the Custom-house officers, +who could not quite make out our semi-military appearance. Our baggage, +however, was not examined, so our cartridges once more escaped. +Re-shouldering our guns, and handing over our blankets and saddle-bags +to a quay-loafer, we marched off to the Hotel de Ville, which we were +told is the best inn in the town. A very fair one it turned out to be, +consisting of the first and second floor of a portion of a large +desolate-looking colonnaded square, recently built by a company, whose +shareholders I believe will willingly part with their shares at the +price of issue, for they have not met with much encouragement to +continuing their work. The telegraph and post-offices, and the +restaurant of the hotel, at present monopolize the completed portion of +the square. On the other unbuilt side is a sulphur spring, not +sufficiently appreciated by the faculty of Spalato. + +The restaurant adjoining the hotel is a fair one for this country, but +the cuisine of Dalmatia can hardly be recommended. The dishes presented +to the traveller are not exactly German, nor are they exactly Italian, +but combine the worst properties of the two without any of the good. On +the other hand, the rooms in this hotel are very clean and comfortable, +and the charge at this, as at all other restaurants on this coast, is +considerably lower than in most countries of Europe. Having dined, we +strolled through the town, whose nightly aspect we did not think very +much of. + +Instinct led us to the principal cafe. It is in the piazza in the +centre of the town, and is greatly frequented by the Austrian officers +as well as by the local civil swells. The open-air part of the cafe is +a pleasant arbour of sub-tropical creepers. Here we smoked our +cigarettes, and sipped our iced coffee for an hour or so, amused with +the quaint costumes of the people and the lofty houses around us, +dating from the old Venetian days, as their elegant porticoes and fine +carvings plainly showed. On the wall of one house near the cafe there +are some very curious religious carvings. Eve presenting the apple to +Adam is very comic. + +Spalato is a town at which one could easily pass a considerable time in +most enjoyable loafing. The old Venetian city is built within the +extensive walls of the palace of Diocletian, but the modern town has +spread considerably beyond their limits. These ancient walls formed a +useful defence against the piratical hordes that infested this coast +during the Middle Ages, till the strong arm of the Venetian Republic +swept the Adriatic of these freebooters, whose detestable excesses were +the terror of the whole maritime population. + +Spalato is built on a promontory formed by the deep inlet on whose +shores is situate the old Roman city of Salona, while the large islands +of Brazza and Bua shelter the harbour from on-shore winds. + +It was to this pleasant spot that the Emperor Diocletian, himself a +native of Salona, retired in the year 305, when, weary of empire, he +resigned the imperial purple. On the sea-shore, a few miles from +Salona, he built himself this magnificent palace, in which he passed +the remainder of his life without care or regret, taking great pleasure +in cultivating his garden with his own hands. + +The outer walls form a square, each side of which is nearly a mile in +length. These to a great measure still exist, but the modern houses +built against and _into_ them have by no means improved their +appearance. The Cathedral of Spalato was the Pagan Temple which +Diocletian constructed in the centre of the area, and is a very +symmetrical building. Many of the columns, and also the Sphinx, which +ornament the palace, were brought here from Constantinople and Egypt. + +We were awakened early the next morning by a knock at our door. On our +replying to it a pleasant-looking stout gentleman entered smiling, and +introduced himself to us as Marco Bettoni, _capitaine de long cours_. +He had heard of the arrival of two Englishmen in the town, so as he +spoke English himself, he had come to offer his services to us. A very +useful and agreeable companion he proved to be. The Dalmatians are +excellent sailors, and these retired _capitaines de long cours_ form a +most respectable element in the population. Most of the _Podestas_ or +mayors of the small villages are of this class. They are always men +who have knocked about the world, and are happy to assist travellers +in every way. + +After breakfast we visited some of the lions of Spalato, in the +company of our new friend. The architecture of the narrow streets, +with their lofty balconied houses, and the ever-recurring Lion of St. +Mark carved over the archways, constantly reminded one of the old +Republic. We went to the "Porta Aurea"--the "golden gate," which +pierces the outer wall of Diocletian's palace from the north. I sat +down under a blazing sun, and managed to make a sketch of it. During +the process I was surrounded by a crowd of admiring Morlaks. When the +marble columns which supported the arches were in their places, it +must have been very beautiful. The ancient Temple of Jupiter, now the +Cathedral of Spalato, was within the precincts of the palace. It is +now surmounted by an elegant _campanile_, which was constructed after +its conversion into a Christian church. From the summit of this--200 +feet above the sea--there is a charming view over the town, the +harbour, and the islands of the Adriatic beyond. + +The interesting remains of this town have been so well described by +former travellers, that I will not here enter into them. Suffice to say +that Spalato offers at every step some curious relic of early Christian +as well as Pagan days, not to mention the fine Venetian buildings. In +the architecture of the palace as well as in the statuary brought from +Salona, and stored here in the public museum, one can detect the +transition state of art, and the falling off of the old classic beauty +of form. + +We were introduced by our new friend to a very pleasant French +gentleman, who was of great service to us during our stay. M. +Vigneau was an _AEnologue_, a native of Bordeaux, and had come +hither to be manager of a company recently started at Spalato, for the +production of superior classes of wines. The natives of the country +were quite ignorant of the science, their wines being rough and +unpalatable--surcharged with tannin. But, under the scientific and +skilful direction of M. Vigneau, it has been proved that Dalmatia is +capable of producing excellent wines, emulating the finest vintages of +his native land. Other companies have since his attempt been started +for the like purpose, but as far as I could judge the "_Societe +AEnalogue de Dalmatie_," as the original Spalato undertaking is called, +produces the largest variety and most excellent quality of wines. + +We visited the buildings of the company. It was the vintage season, and +huge butts were brimming with the ripe fruit outside the door. In the +yard two employes sat at a table purchasing the grapes, as picturesque +Morlaks--men, women, and children--bore in the purple spoil in sacks +and baskets of every size. These were weighed, and the little bundles +of money were handed over to them in return. Now and then a basket +would be refused, the quality of grape being inferior; when the wild +people would enter into a fierce discussion with many gesticulations, +but were peremptorily told to move on, as their noise was useless. The +Morlaks are civilized enough to know some of the tricks of trade spoken +of by the "divine Artemus" as common among the American manufacturers +of apple-sauce, the difference being that in the one case the bottom of +the vessel is filled with sawdust and in the other with stones. + +We indulged in a feast of grapes at M. Vigneau's, and then adjourned to +his spacious cellars to try his various wines. The huge casks, which +contain enough of the rich fluid to drown the largest elephant, had +been brought in sections from Bordeaux--the natives being incapable of +constructing them. The wines we tasted were exceedingly good, and the +different varieties might pass for the best burgundies, sherries, and +ports; there is also an excellent light wine. These wines are improved +by a sea voyage. They are cheap, and need only to be introduced into +England to be appreciated and widely consumed. Indeed I am sure many of +us have unknowingly drunk and enjoyed them, for M. Vigneau told me that +not only were large quantities exported to Italy, but--especially since +the Phylloxera plague had broken out--also to France, to the Bordeaux +district itself, where doubtlessly they are blended with the native +product and sent to us under many fair-sounding Chateaux brands. + +The Sclav names which the Spalato wines bear are not musical. M. +Vigneau gave me all the details and prices. These wines could be sold +in England, after paying all transport and custom expenses, at a very +low rate indeed. The company is sufficiently old for us to have tasted +and approved some choice vintages that had been twelve years or so in +bottle, and very excellent they proved. + +M. Vigneau had spent a few years in England, and speaks English very +well. So between him and the kindly old sea-captain, we did not feel +ourselves at all abroad in Spalato. Without them we should not have got +on, for our knowledge of Italian was limited, and of Sclav we knew but +the names for bare necessaries. At Spalato we had many opportunities of +observing the manners and customs of the mixed population of the +Dalmatian coasts. + +The native Italians and Sclavs keep very much to themselves. There is +no society of any kind, and I cannot say I was in any way favourably +impressed with them. The Austrian garrison, officers and men, on the +other hand, created a very favourable impression. There is none of that +swagger and bounce which is too often displayed by the troops of some +nations we know of when in the midst of a subject alien and hostile +race. The officers are very gentlemanly-looking men, and the Hungarians +who were quartered here struck one by their jovial and kindly manners. + +The Austrian officers much dislike service in this province; it is the +Siberia of Austria. The people do not speak their tongue, and will not +mix with them; and the upper classes studiously insult them, as far as +they dare. The Morlaks or Sclav peasantry are an interesting race, but +not much to be admired. + +They are from all accounts great thieves and liars, and more backward, +I should say, than any people in Europe. They have no desire for +improvement. Any one who endeavours to introduce some new manufacture +or industry among them is treated with suspicion; every obstacle is +studiously thrown in his way. + +The costumes of the male Morlaks are very picturesque, varying in +different districts. They wear the baggy trousers coming to the knee; +the embroidered vest and red sash of the East. In most parts the +head-dress is a skull-cap, flat at the top, sometimes red; generally +the colour is indistinguishable for the accumulated grease of years. +They wear _opunkas_ on their feet. These are sandals or slippers, +with turned-up toe; made of rough thongs of oxhide; they are tied to +the foot with straps of the same material. The Morlak is always +accompanied by his long pipe with its red clay bowl. He is also +addicted to smoking cigarettes through brightly painted wooden tubes +fully three feet in length. The dress of the women differs so much in +districts that it is impossible to give anything like a general +description of it; it is not unlike that of the Southern Italians. +They, too, wear the opunka. + +The Morlaks have many strange superstitions and customs. To any one who +wishes to see in the life the barbarous manners of the Middle Ages in +all their picturesqueness, a voyage in these countries can be +recommended. However, the Austrians have eliminated one of the most +picturesque, if rather objectionable, features of the good old times. +Hordes of brigands no longer overrun Dalmatia; the vendetta is now +unknown; and travelling, if rough, is unattended with danger; and I may +add that Morlaks, despite their other faults, are exceedingly +hospitable, and will give up their one bed to the travelling stranger. + +The women of this race are treated in true Eastern fashion; that is, +not much better than the beasts of burden. + +As in the East, those of the higher class rarely leave their houses, +but sit lazily in their chamber acquiring a becoming pallor of +countenance and fatness of limb. A Sclav will not allude to his wife in +conversation without an apology for mentioning so low a thing. "My +wife, excuse me, sir," is the common way of bringing her into a +sentence. As in the East, too, the unchaste woman is regarded with +great abhorrence. What vice there may be has to conceal itself in dark +places, for the old punishment of the stoning is by no means unknown +here. In the towns of Albania, this outward show of morality--for that +is all it really is, just as in the old days, when the virtuous man to +throw the first stone was not to be found--is still more ferociously +demonstrative, cases of guilty parties of both sexes having been torn +to pieces by the mob being of not unfrequent occurrence there. + +The following incident happened shortly before our arrival at Scutari. +A Turkish officer of police, who had carried on a flirtation with the +German servant of a foreign consul, was discovered, seized by several +men, and beaten till he fainted with his wounds, and was left by them +for dead. + +The next day was Sunday. Hiring a trap, we drove, with our two friends, +along a good road, across a wine-producing country, commanding pleasant +views of sea and mountain, to Salona--the old Roman city--the +birthplace of Diocletian. It is but four miles from Spalato. As we +approached it we saw, some miles off inland, on a precipitous buttress +of the mountain, the ancient and impregnable fortress of Clissa, +commanding the approach to Spalato from the Herzegovina. + +Salona is situated on the sloping ground at the head of the deep and +beautiful inlet of the sea, which bears the same name. The ruins have +been excavated, and there are no important remains to be seen, for the +town was thoroughly sacked and destroyed by the Gothic hordes. It was +from Salona, in 544, that Belisarius set out to rescue Italy from +Totila and his Goths. The town had withstood several sieges. Attila +himself is reported to have once captured it. Having for years enjoyed +peace, lulled into a false and fatal sense of security, the Salonites, +the historian tells us, gradually fell into a state of incredible +luxury and sensuality. This was the Sybaris of the East. At last the +day of trial came, and the effete citizens were found to be incapable +of defending their homes against the hardier foe. + +The Avars overran Dalmatia in the year 639. + +Salona easily fell into the hands of the Barbarians. The sinful city +was plundered and burnt to the ground; and where stood its stately +theatres and temples, there is now but an uninhabited wilderness. + +Its site commands a splendid view over the blue gulf, and dark, far +mountains. This day, at this season of the year, when a brown tint was +on the tangled groves, and a purple bloom on the grapes, while a fresh +sea wind sighed through the desolate ruins, the general effect was very +impressive. + +Here we wandered a couple of hours or so through vines and brushwood, +the fallen walls of houses, tombs, shattered friezes and columns +meeting us at every turn. Nearly everywhere, on raking off the thin +layer of overlying rubbish, beautiful tessalated pavements are +disclosed to view. The Morlak peasantry crowded round us and sold to +us, at ridiculously low prices, coins of the Diocletian era, vases and +beautiful lacrymals, irridescent and scaling off with age. Several were +melted out of shape by the fires of that fierce sacking more than a +thousand years ago. + +The Roman aqueduct which supplied the palace of Diocletian, at Spalato, +with water, is still in very fair repair. + +The modern city suffers much from want of water. This necessary has to +be carted in from a long distance. + +The restoration of the old aqueduct has been decided on; and to have +come to a decision will suffice the Dalmatians for some years to come. +It is to be hoped that the plan will ultimately be carried out. "The +Spalatans will then have no excuse left for not washing themselves;" so +I said to Mr. Vigneau, innocently. "Oh, you don't know them," said he; +"they will discover that washing opens the pores, and renders them more +susceptible to the _trebesine_ (the fever)." + +The source of the _Gindro_, where commences the aqueduct, is well +worthy of a visit. About a mile from Salona--at the head of a wild and +beautiful well-wooded gorge down which this torrent flows--the further +progress of the traveller is barred by a precipitous wall of rock. At +the foot of this wall an enormous volume of ice-cold water rushes out +upwards from an orifice in the rock, filling up a deep, broad pool, +which foams and whirls as the spring spouts up from underneath with +incredible force, forming a dome of water on the surface. There is +something horrible in the Titanic forces and furious whirl, that makes +one dizzy; one cannot look down long. The water overflowing from the +pool partly feeds the aqueduct, which is carried along the slope of the +hill, and partly rushes down the gorge, turning on its way the huge +wheel of a flour-mill. + +This mill we visited with M. Vigneau. The enterprising individual who +had started it seemed very disheartened. The latest machinery had been +brought hither at great cost. But this was too great a novelty for the +conservative Morlak peasantry, who resented and fought shy of the +innovation, preferring to grind their corn between two flat stones +picked up in the river bed, as their fathers did before them. + +We drove home before sunset, as there was much fever about. There was +not a cottage near here that had not some of its occupants prostrated +by the _trebesine_. + +Tuesday, September the 30th, was a great Dalmatian holiday. On foot, on +mule-back, in the rough waggons drawn by diminutive oxen, the peasantry +trooped in. The Morlaks are very fond of feasts. Every other day seems +to be dedicated to some saint or other, who would avenge himself were +he neglected. The working days are few, as M. Vigneau bitterly +complained. + +I believe this peasantry still observes several feasts whose origin +dates back to Pagan times. + +The holiday gave us a good opportunity of viewing the various costumes +of this country at their best. + +Not least quaint were the Jews of Spalato. Some were long-bearded, +solemn-looking old fellows, dressed in the same sombre garb the Jews of +Venice wore when Shylock drove sharp bargains on the Rialto. + +The groups that filled the narrow streets were very Eastern in +appearance. The pig-tailed Morlak, clad in his Sunday jacket; the +savage-looking Bosnian Turk, with turban, broad sash, and gay slippers; +the Greek sailors; all had an outlandish appearance, that told us we +were far from home--"from home and beauty" too, for of the latter there +was little to be seen at Spalato. I honestly saw no women who could, +with the grossest flattery, be called pretty, between Trieste and +Montenegro. And what can make one feel so alone in a strange land, as +the absence of fair women. + +The Dalmatian Sclavs are unfortunately very fond of raising their +voices in song. A gang of youths would-walk down a street arm-in-arm, +shouting some native ballad. The music and singing of the East is +always of a melancholy character; but never have I heard anything so +dismal as the barbaric dirges of the Morlaks. The song is a sort of +monotonous chant, which has a peculiar querulous complaining spirit in +it; and yet a suppressed and timorous complaining, as of slaves that +had not for centuries known what independence and freedom was. + +How different is the song of the free Montenegrin (of the same race as +the Morlak). It is of the same monotonous character, but has a go and +energy in it, inspired as it is with the warlike feats of their heroes +in the present as well as in the past--not a song of regret for some +by-gone greatness, but an exultation in the brave and illustrious now. + +Each verse of a Morlak song dies away in a long and sad howl, followed +by a silence, before the next verse is taken up. This produces a +peculiarly depressing effect. + +Our arrival was pretty well known all over the town, for strangers are +not frequent, especially Englishmen. The citizens, who could not +conceive any one being mad enough to travel for amusement, especially +in their country, discussed us curiously. M. Vigneau told us he had, +several times each day, to give a long narrative of the lives, +pursuits, &c., of Brown and myself, in order to satisfy the eager +inquirers. + +On hearing that we intended to visit Albania, the verdict always was, +"They will not come back"--this with a meaning shrug of the shoulders. + +I have, on more than one occasion found, when I have left England for +some unknown and supposed dangerous country, that as I gradually neared +it the reports and accounts of the perils of that land became less and +less alarming. For "distance" lends terror as well as enchantment "to +the view." + +In the case of Albania, however, the nearer we approached it the worse +was the reputation of its fierce inhabitants for murder and robbery; +the more earnestly were we warned against travelling in such a +cut-throat region. This was not an encouraging sign. However, the best +plan is ever to go on as far as one can, and believe little one hears. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Voyage to Cattaro--A Bora--The gulf of Narenta--The Herzegovina--The +island of Curzola--Ragusa--The Bocche di Cattaro--The frontier of +Montenegro--The fortress of Cattaro--Evening promenade--Personal +attractions of the Cattarine ladies--Rough roads--Prince Nikita's +coach--Bosnian refugees--A Bosnian's luggage. + + +We had been in Spalato nearly a week. The steamers from Trieste did not +bring us Jones and Robinson, so we determined to push on. We bid adieu +to our good friends, who evidently considered our heads doomed to fall +beneath Albanian yataghans, and embarked on October the 2nd at 4 p.m., +on an Austrian Lloyd, bound for Cattaro, which lies up a long gulf at +the foot of the Montenegrin mountains. There we were to leave +civilization and the sea coast, and commence our inland march. From +Spalato to Cattaro is a forty-eight hours' journey by the steamer. For +the last few days the genial Scirocco, or south-east wind, had been +blowing; but to-day the fierce gusts of the Bora, or north-east wind, +had changed, in a trice, the warm autumn weather to bitter winter. + +This wind beats very heavily on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and +is much dreaded by seamen. + +The quaint lateen craft of the country, constructed on such antique +lines, skimmed by us with close-reefed sails--curious sails they are, +many-coloured, and painted with pictures of suns and grotesque saints. +Throughout the wild afternoon and night we steamed on, touching at +Almissa and Macarsca on our way. The next day we steamed up the long, +land-locked gulf of Narenta. The scenery, as usual, was fine, but so +indescribably desolate and barren that the eye soon wearied of it. On +the gulf of Narenta a narrow strip of Herzegovina runs down to the sea, +thus, till that province was acquired by Austria, dividing her +territory in two. + +We anchored off a spot called Neoum, which is on this recently acquired +slip, in order to land soldiers and munitions for the troops. Neoum is +a military post recently established by Austria on the bare sides of +the mountain. We landed, and found a barrack, a telegraph station, and +a public-house; these were the only buildings. It is an important +position, however, as being the nearest point to Mostar, in +Herzegovina, to which town the Government is now constructing a +military road from here. Next we touched at the picturesque fortress of +Curzola, on the island of the same name. It is surrounded by grand old +Venetian walls and towers, which rise from the water's edge. + +This night we anchored for several hours off Gravosa, the northern +harbour of Ragusa. The latter wonderful old city, perhaps the most +interesting of all Dalmatia, we had time to explore in a rapid way. + +There was once a Republic of Ragusa. The fact that it successfully +maintained its independence, when all the surrounding countries had +been acquired by Venice, will testify to the strength of the little +state. The chief street is broad, and contains lofty and noble +houses--residences of the old merchant princes--strong-built, with +elegant balconies and carved porticoes. From this street narrow streets +ascend the mountain side, in steps of granite. Arches are thrown from +house-top to house-top; there are some grand bits for a painter. The +town is paved with broad, flat stones, which gives it a very clean +appearance. + +The next was a glorious day. The gentle south wind once more brought +summer back to us, and the lateen-rigged boats again shook out their +reefs, and displayed all their gaudy canvas. + +It was early in the day when we steamed through the entrance of the +Bocche di Cattaro. + +This magnificent fiord has often been described. It certainly contains +some of the finest scenery in Europe. + +The deep gulf winds into the heart of the wild Montenegrin mountains. +At first it is quite six miles in width, then it narrows to a few +hundred yards, then again widens into an extensive lake as the +fantastically-shaped, almost perpendicular masses of bleak rock jut far +out into the deep clear water in rugged promontories, or retire from it +in dark and profound chasms and ravines. + +Here and there houses and churches are seen perched on seemingly +inaccessible ledges, thousands of feet above the blue water which +reflects them. There are several small towns on the shores of the +Bocche. Castelnuovo and Perasto have beautiful situations. Pleasant +villages, half buried in olive gardens, are built on the lower slopes +of the hills. + +But the first view of that extraordinary fortress, Cattaro, is never to +be forgotten. At the very head of the last arm of the Bocche the dark +blue masses of mountain, here higher and more precipitous than +elsewhere, shut in a deep bay. + + [Illustration: BOCCHE DI CATTARO. + _Page_ 48.] + +More than 4000 feet above, on the ridge, is the frontier of Montenegro--a +country by the sea, looking down on the blue water, yet shut out from it +by its big neighbours. + + [Illustration: WALLS OF CATTARO. + _Page_ 49.] + +A bold bluff of rock, a thousand feet or more in height, slightly +projects from the main mass, perpendicular, bare, cleft into profound +chasms. This extraordinary site has been chosen for the most wonderful +fortress in Europe. Below, on the narrow margin between rock and sea, +is built the town. Along the water's edge is a quay, to which are +moored the beautiful craft of the country. This has been converted into +a pleasant walk, fringed with trees. Behind this is the old Venetian +wall of the city, with its fine solid towers and broad battlements; the +time-darkened stones in places luxuriantly overgrown with the lovely +flowers and creepers of the sunny South. Passing through the +portcullised gate, one enters into a strange, quaint city. The streets +are narrow, the houses lofty, and covered with grotesque carvings. No +carts, carriages, or horses, are permitted to enter the town. This, +by-the-bye, is the case in most Dalmatian cities. The whole is paved +with large flags. Cattaro is of some length, but very narrow, for it is +shut in by the steep cliff which rises immediately from behind it. + +Now the walls of the town, after bounding it on the sea front, zigzag +up either side of the bluff I mentioned, till they meet on its crowning +point, a thousand feet above the sea, where stands a formidable-looking +castle. + +On observing how they rise and dip, adapting themselves to the little +ravines and irregularities of the rock, one is irresistibly reminded of +the pictures of the great wall of China one was so much impressed with +in the spelling-books of childhood. + +Very old the town and fortifications are. No improving Goth has yet +taken aught away from their grotesque grandeur. + +It is very difficult to describe the effect of all this, for the +scenery in and around Cattaro is such as is not to be found elsewhere, +quite _sui generis_. The most _blase_ traveller would utter an +exclamation of surprise when that wonderful fortress suddenly appeared +before him, like some great city of the genii that one has read of in +fairy tale, or seen in some half-remembered nightmare. The high cliff, +with its grey fortress, seems ready to topple down on the town any +moment. Some of the huge masses of overhanging rock have at times been +dislodged, and fallen below; many of these are chained to the mountain, +to prevent this catastrophe. + +So lofty and steep are the surrounding heights that Cattaro does not +enjoy much of the light of the sun; the shadows depart late, and soon +set in. But during the few hours in the middle of the day that the +sun's rays do fall on it, this place is like an oven--possibly the +hottest town in Europe. + +About four o'clock in the afternoon our steamer was alongside the quay. +We marched off to the Hotel Cacciatore, a very decent place, whose +proprietor is a quaint fellow, with a perpetual smile, who imagines he +can speak French. The restaurant is fair, and frequented by the +officers of the garrison. The custom-house officers did not trouble us, +but the mosquitoes did; so, too, did certain insects that inhabited our +beds. + +Brown is one of those unfortunate people whose blood is exceptionally +sweet and palatable to insect life, and to whom, consequently, the +hours of darkness in these lands bring no peace, but sleepless torments +worse than the guiltiest, liveliest conscience could inflict. He +brought with him from England a large packet of insecticide, and every +night, before he retired, made careful preparations to withstand the +usual siege. He was not contented with dusting himself all over so +freely that he set the whole Albanian expedition sneezing for an hour, +but he would also build around his body, on the bed-clothes, an +impregnable rampart of the powder so broad and lofty that the most +active flea would fail to leap it. + +The next day was Sunday--a warm and delicious day. We attended the +service, and enjoyed the fine music in the old Venetian church. In the +evening we visited the public promenade on the quay outside the walls, +which was crowded by the population and the country people in their +Sunday best. + +At the end of this promenade there is a public garden, and a +_cafe_ under the ramparts. The marble tables are placed out of +doors, among the bright flowers and creepers. Here we sat lazily +smoking our cigarettes, and listening to the music of the Hungarian +military band that played just in front of us. There is no gas at +Cattaro; the town is lit with petroleum. The band carries its own +lamps. It was curious to see the men troop into the garden, each with a +pole over his shoulder, to which hung his lit lantern. This place is +really delightful on such an evening as this. The scene was exactly +like some great scenic display on the boards of a large theatre--some +dream of fairyland. One could not help half expecting to see some +bright Eastern ballet trip in the next moment. The promenade in front +of the walls was the stage and proscenium. The lovely Eastern night, +the moon hanging over the great hills, the blue waters and the +fantastic shipping, the giant walls and towers, the grand mountains +behind all, the picturesque crowd, and the lively music, all combined +to form a perfect spectacle, magic-like--to say theatrical would be an +unworthy adjective--that I, for my part, never imagined could be found +within a week's journey of practical, ugly London, dear old place +though it is. + +Costumes flitted by us as brilliant and strange to the eye as those of +an Alhambra _opera bouffe_. The Morlak, the lithe and bright-eyed +Greek, the turbaned Turk of Bosnia, with glowing robe, solemn and +haughtily-looking; the Montenegrin mountaineer, with his white coat +tied on with silken sash, and richly embroidered vest; the Albanian in +fez, snowy kilt, rough capote, and jacket stiff with gold; the Arnaut, +with his manly tight-fitting dress, stalking through the crowd, looking +the fierce and undaunted savage that he is--all these strolled or stood +in groups, completing the picture with their richly-coloured and varied +costume. The very Europeans, with their sadder-hued dress, formed no +unpleasing foil to these. + +The ladies, with unbonnetted heads, over which a shawl is gracefully +thrown in Venetian fashion, their little feet silk-stocked and +slippered, as in the East, above which, just peeping below the black +silk dress, hung a mere suspicion of delicate white embroidered +petticoat, were charming--if not seen too near: an ungallant verdict, +reluctantly wrung from a veracious traveller. + +The Hungarian and other Austrian uniforms were also no unpleasing +feature in the throng. + +I have just now, and I think on other occasions, used the term European +in contradistinction to the term Dalmatian. I only follow the usage of +the country. I found that Dalmatians and Albanians always spoke of +Europe as if they were quite apart from it. "You Europeans," "you in +Europe," was a common phrase. + +The music ceases--the lights are extinguished. We must pass through the +walls by the narrow gate into the city. By night the portcullis is half +lowered, so we have to stoop to go through, as if to bow in obeisance +to the winged lion of St. Mark that is carved in the old stone above. + +We walked through the quaint old streets, whose broad clean flags rang +metallically under our feet. The town was now deserted and silent. As +we approached the hotel we stood and listened to one remarkable noise +which can be heard once every hour at Cattaro, and which produces a +very curious and pleasing effect. This is the watchword of the sentries +on the walls. First, the sentinel below at the gate-tower commences, +with the long wailing cry; then the next takes it up, then the next, +and so on, right up the zigzag fortifications to the fortress up in the +mountain, a thousand feet above, each cry fainter than the last. Then, +when the sentinel at the extreme summit has shouted out the word--his +voice almost inaudible to us so far below--it is carried down the other +side of the walls, distincter and distincter again, until it reaches +the starting-point again, and the man posted on the grim old tower just +before us gives out in loud voice the last intimation that all is well. + +We loafed about the neighbouring mountains and shores for some days, +waiting to see if those dilatory travellers, Jones and Robinson, would +turn up. We visited the new road now being constructed into +Montenegro--a difficult undertaking to surmount these frightful rocks. +The old road, which is carried in long zigzags from above Cattaro to +the summit of the pass, is calculated to test the wind and muscles of +the pedestrian. It is a very rough affair; and though much labour has +been expended to clear away the larger rocks that obstruct the way, yet +in some places one has to clamber over boulders of considerable height. +The Montenegrins look upon this rough track as being a model high-road. +It is far better than most of the so-called roads of Montenegro and +Albania. But in these countries it is generally difficult to make out +what is intended for road, and what is not. The roughest mule-track of +Switzerland is as good as a great highway here. + +The Prince of Montenegro recently paid a visit to the Emperor of +Austria, at Vienna, where he was made very much of. When he was about +to return to his native mountains, the Emperor was much puzzled to know +what would be a fitting present to make to the semi-barbaric despot. At +last he bethought him of a splendid state-carriage, on whose panels +were painted the arms of the principality, and four fine horses. + +The Prince was much gratified, and the costly gift was taken by steam +to Cattaro. Here an unexpected difficulty arose. The carriage could not +be taken to Cettinje, for there was nothing that by the greatest +stretch of compliment could be called a carriage-road leading into the +principality. So here, at Cattaro, in Austria, the coach has to remain +until the new road be completed, which will not be for some time to +come. Whether the coach was originally given in anticipation of the new +road, or whether the new road is being constructed for the coach, I was +not able to discover. + +On the next day the Duke of Wittemburg arrived here by steamer, on his +way to Cettinje. A deputation of gorgeously-clad Montenegrin notables, +tall, handsome, and straight, armed to the teeth was on the quay to +receive him. These contrasted favourably with the municipal +authorities, who were there for the same object. A German or Italian in +swallow-tail coat, black silk hat, and white kid gloves, in broad +sunlight, is an uncomfortable and unpleasing object. + +In the afternoon the guns from the fort above the town fired twice--the +signal that the Trieste steamer was in sight. This time we made certain +that our friends were on board. + +So confident were we, that Brown and myself tossed up as to whether +Jones or Robinson should be at the charge of a bottle of maraschino to +be consumed by the quartette. + +We were again disappointed. We went on board; they were stowed away in +no part of the vessel. The deck presented a curious appearance; it was +crowded with turbaned Bosnian refugees, who with their wives and +families had deserted their native land, intolerable to them since its +occupation by the Austrian giaours. They were now on their way to the +new lands promised to them by the Porte. This exodus is much more +extensive than is generally imagined. These poor people bore their +grief with true Oriental apathy. They had laid their mats on the decks, +and were squatting on them smoking silently, holding no converse with +the hated giaours around them. The veiled women crouched up close under +the bulwarks in a shrinking manner, while the little nude children +sprawled about anywhere. I need not add that all swarmed with vermin. +They had their Penates with them, of course. Their luggage was rather +scanty. + +It was a curious sight to see them trooping out of the vessel, each man +bearing his _impedimenta_--his mat, pipe, and coffee-pot; this was +all. One family had a European portmanteau; this was opened at the +Custom-house. Its contents proved to be--on one side potatoes, on the +other a coffee-pot! The potatoes doubtlessly had been dug from the +little enclosure round the homestead in the old country. + +We decided to give up our friends, and start on the morrow for +Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro, for we had wasted some time, and +were anxious to commence our march into the wild interior, and see what +lay beyond that barrier of cloud-capped rock before us. + +We found a Montenegrin who owned a small wiry mountain horse. He agreed +for a small sum to guide us, and carry our baggage to the capital. + +Before leaving Cattaro we changed some English sovereigns into +swanzickers. This is an old Austrian coin, out of circulation in the +Empire, of the date of Maria Theresa, and as a rule bearing her effigy. +This is the coin particularly affected by the Montenegrins, they always +value anything in these elsewhere obsolete swanzickers. + +The Turkish modern coinage is also accepted, but under protest. The +silver Medjidie seems to have a different value in every Montenegrin +village. Austrian modern money or paper they will have nothing to do +with, as a rule. Of course gold of any kind is readily taken. + +The value of the English sovereign and French napoleon is well known +all over eastern Europe. I was surprised to find that the humblest +mountaineer in Albania knew the exact change for these pieces. The only +difficulty in changing them lies in the possibility of a village not +being able to muster a sufficiency of the small coin as an equivalent. + +Bank-notes are of course useless in these wild countries; but at +Cattaro and Spalato, and other Dalmatian towns, there are +money-changers who will change these with pleasure. + +When we were at Cattaro the pound sterling was worth eleven florins, +sixty centimes, or thirty-three-and-a-half swanzickers. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +March to Cettinje--The pass across the frontier--Montenegrin +warriors--Cettinje--A land of stones--The Prince's Hotel--Frontier +disputes--The commission--Montenegrin method of making war--A game of +billiards--A Draconic law--A popular prince. + + +Early on the morning of October the 9th, we commenced our journey in +earnest. We passed through the land-side gate of the town, where our +Montenegrin guide with the horse was awaiting us. Just outside this +gate is the Montenegrin Bazaar, as it is called. It consists merely of +two rough sheds built for the use of the Black Mountaineers, who come +down to sell their produce at Cattaro. Here, too, before they enter the +town, they are obliged to leave their mules and arms. + +The latter was found to be a very necessary regulation, as quarrels +which ended in bloodshed used often to occur between the fierce +highlanders and the Cattarines. The two peoples are never on the best +of terms--the former being accused of many a midnight descent into the +valleys, to pillage and carry off all they can lay hands on. But the +present Prince of Montenegro has to a great extent reformed his savage +subjects. + +A small Morlak boy was deputed by the Montenegrin to lead the horse, +and guide us to the capital of the land of stones. + +He was the proud possessor of a lockless Turkish pistol, which he stuck +jauntily in his sash, and of which he was evidently very proud, for he +would stop every now and then to readjust the formidable weapon. + +It is not a six hours' march from Cattaro to Cettinje. + +Every few yards of progress up the zigzag path revealed some new view +over the indescribably grand gulf below. + +At last we were far above town and fortress. They lay at our feet like +a map. The eye could follow all the windings of the Bocche; and so high +were we above it, that we could look over three successive chains of +lofty mountains. The blue water stretched in three long streaks between +them; while far away, over the furthest range, the blue Adriatic lay +peacefully under a cloudless sky. It was a scene of unparalleled +vastness and magnificence. + +The summit of the pass was 4500, the fortress that tops the walls 1000 +feet above the sea, by our aneroid. + +We had chosen a gala day for our entry into Montenegro--for following +us a mile or so behind, were the Duke of Wittemburg and a numerous +_cortege_ on horseback, on their way to Prince Nikita's palace. + +We turned a rocky bluff, and a stone marked the frontier of the huge +Empire and little Principality. + +Here, drawn up on the left side of the rough track, two deep, were +about eighty armed, splendid-looking Montenegrins, awaiting to serve as +guard of honour to the duke as far as the capital. + +They were magnificent men, giants--all considerably above six feet in +height, and broad in proportion. Each wore the long snowy coat of +Montenegro--tied in with a broad sash. Their vests were red, and richly +embroidered with gold and silk. Heavy plates formed of silver buttons +covered their chests, well calculated to offer good resistance to sabre +cut or bayonet. + +They wore the national head-dress, which deserves a special +description. + +It is a round flat-topped cap of red cloth; round its side, and just +overlapping its upper surface, is stitched a black band. In a corner of +the red circle thus left at the top is embroidered a semicircle, in +gold thread, into which is also often worked the initial letters of +Prince Nikita's name in Sclav characters. This cap has a symbolical +meaning. When the old Servian kingdom was broken up, and the +South-western Sclavs became subject to strange races, the wild mountain +district of Montenegro alone preserved its independence; so its +inhabitants draped their red caps with black, in mourning for their +enslaved brethren. The corner of gold on the red cloth is meant to +represent Montenegro--the one corner of liberty on the field of +blood--the one free spot of the old Sclav kingdom. + +The sashes of these highlanders were stuck full of yataghans and +pistols. Some were the richly-worked pistols of Albania, some the long +Austrian grasser revolvers. This is the favourite small arm of the +Montenegrins, who invariably scrape off the bluing when they purchase +one of these weapons, as they consider it looks dirty, and prefer the +bare steel. + +Their guns were the Austrian breech-loading rifles of the old pattern; +very fair weapons, but not to be compared to the Martini-Henrys which +are so common in Albania. + +These fine men--their plaids blowing to and fro with the fresh highland +breeze, drawn up here on the savage mountain side, while the strains of +the military band at Cattaro rose up from the abyss beneath--looked +very imposing. + +At Neigoussa, a miserable little village, there is a _Khan_. Here we +halted, gave our horses a feed, and sitting on the stone bench outside, +lunched off goat's milk, cheese, and sausage, while the wild people, +all armed to the teeth, crowded round us, and respectfully asked to be +allowed to inspect our arms. His arms are the only things a Montenegrin +loves and takes an interest in. He spends half his time in cleaning and +polishing them. Our guns and revolvers were always much admired, and +their systems had to be carefully explained at every halt. My revolver +was the new army weapon, with patent extractor. This was something +entirely novel to them. How often in this country or in Albania would +some chief, covetous of the _Pushka Inglisi_, bring out a handful of +coin, and say eagerly, "_Coliko_, _gospodine_," or "_Sa pare_, +_Zutni?_" (How much, sir?), as the case might be. Our little guide had +mastered its system, and would borrow it and proudly dilate on its +excellencies to the men we met on the way. + +At this _Khan_--having a large and appreciative audience round +him--he favoured it with a lengthy lecture, with detailed explanations, +followed, as far as I could make out, by a biography of the two English +travellers. Startling it must have been, too, judging from the admiring +and awe-struck way in which the men turned and stared at us during the +narrative. + + [Illustration: CETTINJE. + _Page_ 65.] + +Early in the afternoon we marched down the high-street, or rather the +solitary street, of the smallest capital in Europe. + +Cettinje is but a village of sordid huts, above which rises, imposing +in contrast to the other buildings, the palace of Prince Nikita. + +My sketch represents the view from the hotel--for Cettinje now +possesses this luxury. + +The winged house in the centre is the palace. On the right is the +Bishop's residence and cathedral, if this term can be applied in this +case. In the background is the well-known tower on which the heads of +slain Turks were wont to be stuck on spikes, exposed to the jeers of +the populace. The present Prince has put an end to this practice and +has constructed a wooden belfry on its summit, in which is a large +bell, only rung in cases of great emergency, when the hillsmen are to +be suddenly called in order to repel some more perilous foray than +usual from beyond the border. Cettinje is built in a broad plain, not +over fertile, surrounded by lofty hills. This is not the richest plain +in Montenegro; but considering what a desert of stones this country for +the most part is, it appears a very well favoured spot indeed to the +mountaineers. + +The legend says that the Almighty, when he distributed stones over the +earth, accidentally upset the bag which contained them over Montenegro. +It truly looks like it--a more desolate and barren region it is +difficult to find: a desert of broken masses of limestone piled one on +the other in fantastic heaps. Its character is expressed in the names +given it by its neighbours. Montenegro in Italian, Karatag in Turkish, +Tchernagora in Sclav, all have the same meaning--The Black Mountain. + +As a Montenegrin told me, "This is a poor, rocky country of ours: we +produce but two things--fighting men and flea-powder." + +This insecticide of Montenegro, made of a certain rock-plant, is +renowned all over the East, and is largely exported. It is very +efficacious, and well bears out the dogma so impressed upon us in our +youth, that bountiful Providence ever finds the antidote where she +gives the evil. "The nettle and the dock grow side by side." + +The hotel is the finest building in the capital after the palace. It +belongs to the Prince, who, observing that inquisitive tourists were +beginning to visit his realm, bethought him of this good speculation. +He has placed a sergeant of his army in it as manager. + +On entering it we were ushered into a comfortable room, not by a +smiling chamber-maid, but by a gigantic barbarian bristling with arms. + +We sat down and rested for an hour, discussing our plans. + +Here we were at last, in the capital of the war-like little State of +which the world has heard so much of late--a State which has been +belauded far and wide; a State whose fierce sons Mr. Gladstone speaks +of in such warm terms, as very far the bravest, noblest warriors of +modern Europe; a State which has for so many hundreds of years +successfully withstood the Turk in many a heroic battle; but which now, +spoiled by too much praise, petted by the rest of Europe, swollen with +pride, dreams of aggrandizement at the expense of Turkey, and nurses +vast and ambitious projects, in which the central idea is--Cettinje the +capital, Prince Nikita the king, of a vast confederacy of the Southern +Sclavs. + +The Austrian occupation of Herzegovina and Bosnia was naturally very +displeasing to the Montenegrins, crushing several of their grand hopes. +That Montenegro for years carried on intrigues in the Herzegovina, +incited the Christian population to revolt, and encouraged them to look +forward to the day when they should be subjects of Prince Nikita, is +notorious. The Principality was ever a place of refuge for +Herzegovinian fugitives; and, as my readers know, lent valuable +assistance in that last insurrection which ended in a great European +war. + +In the late war Montenegro was very successful, as we all know. Her +troops on several occasions defeated the Turks with great slaughter. It +is true that her foemen were not of the first line, but starving, +shoeless, demoralized Redifs. However that may be, the representatives +of the Powers, at the Congress of Berlin, considering that the prowess +and success of her armies merited some recompense, handed over to her a +large slip of Turkish territory, giving her what she had so long +coveted, a seaport--Antivari. + +Her new territory has proved rather troublesome to her, a not unalloyed +good. The inhabitants of it do not approve of being thus +unceremoniously handed over to the hated Karatags, and offered--and +are, I shall have to show by and by, still offering--a formidable +resistance to the Prince's troops. As I am on the subject, I may state +that the wise men at Berlin made a very serious mistake when they drew +a line across the map, to represent the new frontier. + +In the first place, whereas it would have been easy to have handed over +lands to Montenegro which are inhabited by co-religionists of hers, who +would have welcomed their new masters, it was thought fit to give her +districts and villages inhabited by the most fiercely fanatical +Mohammedans of Albania. That bloodshed and future troubles would +result, any one who knew the country could have foreseen. I shall have +a good deal more to say on this subject when I get to Albania. The fact +of the matter is, there is no reliable map of this country, so the +representatives at Berlin worked in the dark, confused between the +utterly contradictory description of the region given by Turkish and +Montenegrin envoys. + +A good story is told, illustrative of the geographical knowledge of +some members of the congress. A noble English representative was +conversing with one of the Turkish representatives. He had recently +been studying the map of this coast. + +"Now," said he, "look here. This little Montenegrin difficulty must be +settled. They want a sea-port; give them one: let them have Cattaro." + +"We have no objection to that," replied the Turk with a smile, for he +knew that the port in question belonged to Austria. + +The Englishman was delighted. He went straight to his Austrian +colleague. "Ah, the Montenegrin difficulty is settled," he said. "All +is smooth now; the Turks have given in." + +"I am glad of that. What, then, is proposed?" + +The amusement of the Austrian can be imagined when he heard that the +Turks had no objection to giving up an Austrian fortress to Prince +Nikita. + +A frontier commission was sent over last spring to mark out definitely +the new boundary-line. It was composed of course of representatives of +all the Powers interested. I heard, from several people I met, of the +sufferings and difficulties of this much-to-be-pitied expedition. To +draw out any frontier-line based on the instructions they had received +was hopeless. + +At last, about two months before our arrival, a melancholy troop might +have been seen descending the rough track that leads from Cettinje to +Rieka. The gates of the heavens were opened. The path was converted +into a foaming torrent. They reached Rieka wet and miserable. The +commissioners then retired to bed and hot beverages, fearful of fever +and rheumatism. + +At last a happy thought struck one. "The rainy season is commencing. We +must postpone our labours till next spring. Let us return to our wives +and families." + +The English commissioner alone held out, and urged that they should +continue their work now. He told them that the rainy season was a good +two months off yet. In vain; the others had had enough of it; they +threw up the sponge. The commission broke up. What excuse was made to +the several Powers that had sent it out, I know not, but the real cause +was a rain-storm on the Montenegrin hills. + +The English commissioner was much admired by the populace, and made +himself by far the most popular of the lot. He was a good foot taller +than any other member of the expedition, and looked like a fine man, as +well as a _diplomat_, for so every one is called here who works for a +foreign government. He was attended, as far as I could make out, by two +smart non-commissioned officers of the line, also big and imposing. One +of these thought it incumbent on him to sport a fez at Scutari, which +at once stamped the English branch of the commission as Turcophil. + +We were aroused suddenly by a loud barbaric shout, not much resembling +the cheers of an English crowd. + +The Duke of Wittemburg had arrived, so we walked down the high street +to see his reception. The whole of the capital had turned out--a +picturesque mob, every man of which bristled with arms. The Albanian or +Montenegrin never leaves his doorstep without buckling on a very +arsenal of formidable-looking weapons. The women, of whom some were +pretty, mixed freely with the throng. These wear the same sleeveless +white coats as the men do, but no sash ties it in at the waist. Under +this is a many-hued dress or petticoat of thick and rough material, +which falls some six inches or more below the coat. Their legs are +wrapped in shapeless gaiters. They wear the opunka on their feet. They +are fond of stringing small Turkish coins, half-piastres and the like, +with which they ornament their heads and breasts. Some of the necklaces +constructed with the small silver coins are really very pretty. + +About 200 men or more were drawn up along the road-side, near the +palace, who fired a salute as the _cortege_ arrived. Some Montenegrin +nobles, in their extravagantly gorgeous dress, mounted on small wiry +horses, rode hither and thither, giving orders to the men. Fine +specimens of guerilla chieftains they were, all of great height, +handsome, and sinewy. + +Very characteristic of this country was it to see the men fall into +their places. A gun was fired--the signal that the duke and his party +had been sighted in the pass. Then all down the high-street you might +see tobacconist, leather merchant, and baker, leap from his counter or +leave his work, seize his rifle--always at hand, and always loaded--and +run down to the palace gate, where he would take up his position with +his fellows in the line. The discipline seemed rather slack, but the +strict discipline of a European army would be useless for these men, +trained to fighting from their childhood as they are, and who never or +rarely descend to the plain to join battle with regular troops, but +fight behind the rocks and stones they know so well. + +Montenegro has no regular paid army. Every man is a soldier in time of +war. Prince Nikita telegraphs his orders to the various _Voyades_ +or chieftains, and each of these calls out the fighting men of his +district. It requires but little time to mobilize these wild forces. + +There is no commissariat to be organized, no heavy transport train. + +Each man buckles on his belt of cartridges, throws his plaid over his +shoulders, seizes his rifle, and stalks out of his door, ready for the +campaign. The women take the place of the commissariat. Each man's +wife, or mother, or sister, as the case may be, is his commissariat. +The women come and go between home and camp, bearing provisions and +ammunition. For the particular nature of the service required of the +Montenegrins this system is perfect; for they never carry war beyond +their frontiers, and the distance between home and the front is never +very great. No less hardy than the men, the women here are surprisingly +active and strong, and walk nimbly across these fearful mountains with +incredibly heavy burdens on their backs. + +We dined at the table-d'hote of the Prince's hotel to-day, in very +aristocratic company. + +The highest officers of the little State are regular _habitues_ of +the hotel dinner. + +We sat down with the court painter--a young Ragusan who had travelled +in America and France, and spoke a curious English, with a half +foreign, half American accent, freely larded with Yankee idioms; our +landlord; the Secretary of State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and +the Prince's adjutant. + +The latter is a handsome young fellow, a cousin of the Prince, and with +him has been educated at the Lycee St. Louis le Grand, at Paris. All +the grandees were in full Montenegrin dress, bristling with pistols and +yataghans; for in Montenegro the men do not put by their weapons when +in a friendly house, as is the case in Albania. + +The conversation turned on politics. Mr. Gladstone, of course, was +their hero. They were all well acquainted with his pamphlet, which has +been translated into their tongue. The hatred they expressed for Lord +Beaconsfield was intense. They were by no means reserved in the terms +of their abuse. + +There was one thing that excited their astonishment to a great degree. +"You Englishmen," said one, "Christians--civilized--a great people! How +comes it that you allow a Jew to govern you?" + +Seeing that we were not quite of one mind with them, and were not such +great admirers of Holy Russia as were they, they politely turned the +conversation. + +We then got on the subject of the perpetual wars on the Turkish +frontier, which in ferocity and romantic incident excel the old feuds +of our Northern border-land. + +A man happened to enter the room while we dined. Our landlord +introduced him to us as a very brave fellow, who had cut off +twenty-three heads in one battle of the late war, and who, in +consideration of his prowess, had received a medal from the hands of +the White Czar. + +From cut-off heads and noses we got on the subject of Prince Nikita. +His praises were loudly sung. This autocrat is greatly beloved by his +people. He is a handsome man, tall and powerfully built; married to a +very lovely Montenegrin. That the Prince has done much for his country +is certain. He has succeeded in abolishing many of the more barbarous +customs of his subjects. + +Quarter is now given in war by the Montenegrins; and though the +mutilation of captured and dead foemen is practised as of old, yet the +Turkish heads are no longer bought by the bishop prince at so much a +head, to be exhibited on the tower which overlooks the capital. + +In the good old times, if you paid a friendly call on the late +Metropolitan, a genial kind old gentleman, it was quite a common thing +to have your conversation and coffee interrupted by the unceremonious +entrance of some wild fellow staggering under the weight of a heavy +sack. "Ah! good, good, my son!" the old prelate would say, with +sparkling eyes. "How many of them?" + +The man would then empty the bag on the floor. Its ghastly contents +would be numbered, and the price of blood paid over. The heads would be +raked up again and carried off to the tower, then the conversation +would be quietly resumed where it left off. + +Brigandage is now unknown in Montenegro, for the Prince has done all he +could to make his country respectable and of good fame throughout +Europe. + +His subjects have the reputation of being great pilferers. + +The Draconic laws of the country punish this offence with hanging. The +Prince has lately mitigated the penalty to whipping. In the eyes of his +children this is a still more horrible punishment. + +A whipped Montenegro is worse than dead--disgraced--outraged--an +outcast on the earth. Many who have been condemned to the whipping have +been known to fall down at the Prince's feet and pray to him for +mercy--for death--death with torture, rather than the great infamy. + +A Montenegrin whipping is no joke; so severe is it, that death often +follows the punishment. + +I must say, in justice to this people, it is not on that account that +the penalty is so dreaded. For like his neighbour the Albanian, the +Montenegrin is indifferent to death or physical suffering. He is indeed +perfectly brave. + +Dinner completed--a much better dinner, I may add, than any Dalmatian +hotel can afford--we retired to the adjoining cafe, in which was a very +inferior billiard-table. The room was full of armed Montenegrins, +smoking and raki-drinking, a wild-looking crew. It is to be feared that +so civilized a luxury as a cafe and billiard-table must lead many young +Montenegrin gentlemen into dissipated habits. + +Here--playing together for pots of Austrian beer--were the Minister of +Finance, the Prince's adjutant, the innkeeper, the postman, and the +pot-boy. In what metropolis, even of the most democratic republic, +would one meet with such fraternizing equality as in this little +absolute despotism of Montenegro? It was an exceedingly funny sight. +All the players were terribly in earnest--quiet and stern over their +game. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The occupation of a Montenegrin gentleman--The public library--Prince +Nikita's prisoners--Albanian _versus_ Montenegrin--A Montenegrin +loan--The Prince as a sportsman--The museum--The hospital. + + +The next morning we rose betimes, to visit the lions of the Montenegrin +capital. + +It struck us, as it strikes most travellers in this country, that the +favourite occupation of a Montenegrin in time of peace is to swagger +about in peacock fashion in conspicuous places where he is likely to be +seen, proud of his fine dress and splendid weapons, which he sticks +ostentatiously in his silken sash. The women do work hard here, but I +have never seen a Montenegrin of the sterner sex demean himself by any +labour. They are all gentlemen, in the good old sense of the word. They +can't do any work, and wouldn't if they could. + +There is no industry of any kind in this country. Their embroidered +robes, their metal work, their saddlery, all come from Albania, or are +here worked by emigrants from that province. + +The Black Mountaineers have many virtues, but, _pace_ Mr. Gladstone, +industry is not one of them. + +How they manage to procure their expensive get-up often puzzled me. +True, all the riches of the country are on the not over-clean backs of +the inhabitants. + +Miserably poor the common people are. A bad season, as this one has +been, equals in horror and suffering even what Ireland has just +experienced. Yet a Montenegrin, be he starving, can always manage to be +well armed, and often gay with gold embroidery. + +We met a string of women, some by no means ill-favoured, bearing +building materials--wood, bricks, and the like--on their broad +shoulders. They had brought these all the way from Cattaro. As all the +luxuries, and many of the necessities of life, have to be brought up +that frightful path on the backs of the fair sex, Cettinje is by no +means a cheap place to live in. It made my eyes open to learn the cost +of a feed of hay for one's horse. + +We walked up the high street, till we reached an institution of which +the natives are very proud--the public library. + +This was but a small room. The books were few in number, all in the +Sclav tongue. I was surprised to find the chief Russian, German, +French, and Italian journals lying on the table. There was a _Standard_ +and _Illustrated London News_ of as recent a date as September the +27th. + +The Prince, who of course is consulted as to what publications are to +be admitted into his realm, has curiously enough selected from our +daily papers the one that, above all others, takes a view of general +European politics diametrically opposed to that of himself and his big +ally in the North. + +The next object of interest we visited was the prison. Imagine a +courtyard open on the street, generally, I believe, unguarded. Here +all offenders against the law squat on the ground, or stroll about as +they like. They are allowed to receive their friends, who bring them +little luxuries. A most happy-go-lucky sort of a prison, and very +characteristic of the country. These prisoners, were they so inclined, +could escape in a moment. They never attempt such a thing. They are +ordered to remain there and consider themselves prisoners for so many +days, and there they stay, smoking patiently till their time is up. + +In so small a country as Montenegro, it is hardly an exaggeration to +say that everybody knows everybody. The flight of a prisoner would be +telegraphed to every village--he would soon be re-captured. For so +great is the love and fear entertained by this people towards their +Prince, that none would venture to shelter or assist a runaway from his +prison. Again, to fly across the frontier is a plan few would care to +resort to. The Montenegrin loves his country too much to desert it, and +is too much disliked by his neighbours to expect to be by them received +with open arms. + +The Prince had occasion to send an important message to Cattaro one +winter. Heavy snow rendered the path dangerous--almost impracticable. +So, as it was a pity to risk the life of an honest man, a criminal +from the prison was called out, and ordered to carry the letter to +the Austrian fortress, and return immediately. No one for a moment +suspected that the man, having regained his liberty, would stay away +for good. Indeed, he carried out his mission safely, and returned +within two days. + +While we were lunching with the grandees in the hotel, several loud +explosions, succeeding each other in rapid succession, shook the house +to its foundation. We were told that the noise proceeded from the new +road to Cattaro, where the rock is being blasted with dynamite. We went +out to see the sight. The plain at the back of the hotel was crowded +with groups of men, women, and children, who seemed pleased and excited +at the spectacle. Every now and then from the rocky ridge, about half a +mile off, would spout a huge volume of smoke and fragments of rock, +which was followed shortly by a loud roar. + +The recklessness of the spectators was amazing. A fragment of rock +would fall in the midst of them occasionally, which called forth peals +of laughter. They would all rush up to see how deep it had forced its +way into the soil. One large piece of rock whizzed by us and buried +itself near the hotel, not ten yards from where we were standing, and +almost between the legs of a little boy. The urchin screamed with joy +(as did all round--the narrow shave was an excellent joke), and threw +himself on the ground to disinter what had so nearly proved his +destruction. The stone was nearly as large as a man's head, and had +buried itself quite eighteen inches in the ground--a sufficiently +formidable missile. We were told that a rock had been projected into +the Prince's palace the other day during the blasting operations, and +that several people had been killed or seriously wounded at different +times. The Black Mountaineer is too accustomed to scenes of carnage to +be anything but reckless and careless of life. + +In the afternoon we saw the Prince himself, as he enjoyed the fresh air +of the plain. He was walking in a slow and dignified manner, followed +closely by two attendants. He wore the national costume; over his +shoulders was thrown a magnificent cloak of furs. Whichever way he +turned his head, and he did so often, every one within radius of his +vision immediately uncapped himself, and as instantly resumed his +head-covering when his sovereign's eyes were turned in another +direction again. On no other occasion does the Montenegrin doff his +cap; this mark of respect is due to the Prince alone. He wears it +indoors as well as out. + +Here a man salutes his equal with a kiss on the cheek, his superior +with a kiss on the hand or hem of the garment, according to the rank. +Woman, an inferior and subject being, never ventures to do more than +humbly take in her own, even her husband's, hand and kiss it. + +We did not have an interview with Prince Nikita, though we had letters +of introduction for him. As he was entertaining the Austrian Grand +Duke, we considered that he had enough distinguished foreigners on his +hands for one time. Later on Robinson and Jones did interview him, and +were much pleased with his frank and genial manner. He is always very +glad to see any strangers that visit his domains, and is anxious that +his endeavours to civilize and ameliorate the condition of his people +should be better known and appreciated by England. + +I fear that he and his people have been almost too highly appreciated +of late. Some would persuade us that the Montenegrins are the finest +people in Europe--a race of Demigods. The popular superstition as to +the "unspeakable Turk" is no less absurd than that which exaggerates +the virtues of the noble Montenegrin. + +They are brave warriors. They are cunning enough to know that the good +opinion of civilized Europe is worth having. They are intensely +self-conceited; they hate the Turk and the Albanian; they are too proud +of their warlike qualities to care to work; and, in my humble opinion, +will never be more than they are now, picturesque, poor mountaineers, +very inferior in mental capacity to their neighbours the Albanians, +Christian or Mohammedan, and no wit less ferocious and cruel in war. + +But Albania has an ill-name among those who know her not. She is the +scapegrace of the Eastern Adriatic--the cause of all troubles +hereabouts, it is said. Montenegro, on the other hand, enjoys a high +reputation. + +This is natural. Subsidized or bribed by two of the Powers that be, +petted by the same, she plays a good game, and encourages the +superstition that she is much more virtuous and civilized than the +neighbour whose territory she lusts after. + +The unfortunate Arnaut has no Prince Nikita, is robbed by the so-called +government of Turkey when it is strong enough to affect him in any way, +has no friends, but is surrounded by cunning enemies, hungry for his +lands. + +Let any disinterested person travel among Montenegrin and Arnaut, and I +think he will conclude, as I did, that the latter is as brave a +warrior--more industrious, more intellectual--in every way of a finer, +nobler race, than his much belauded hereditary foe. + +The cares of State lie not heavily on the shoulders of Prince Nikita. +The little work he does do he is very proud of. Europeans that have +conversed with him have come away with the impression that he is the +hardest-working, most conscientious prince in Europe. + +I am told that now that he has constructed a very complete network of +telegraph wires throughout his realm, he considers that one thing alone +remains to bring Montenegro up to his standard of civilization. + +This is a National Debt. He talks seriously of negotiating a loan in +some of the European capitals, and proposes to hypothecate the timber +of the State forests. We saw a good deal of Montenegro in this and in a +later visit; but had great difficulty in discovering where these fine +forests were. We often made inquiries. "Ah! when you reach So-and-so, +you will see them on your right hand." So-and-so reached, we could +perceive nothing but the eternal stones of the Karatag, made further +inquiries, and were referred to some further spot where we should find +huge primeval forests darkening mountain and valley, the haunts of wild +beasts, where the axe of the woodman had never been heard to resound, +where twenty men linked hand-in-hand would fail to encircle the +gigantic trunks. + +We pursued these phantom forests, but never found them, so we +concluded that they existed only in the imaginations of the +Montenegrin financiers. + +At last, it is true, on the frontier, near Klementi, we did come +across what might be called forests, but the timber was not large; +and, growing where it did, in inaccessible haunts of the eagle, in the +heart of the wild mountains, it was next to useless. + +I should say that if the Principality endeavoured to raise a loan on +the security of her inexhaustible stones, she would be about as +successful as she will be if she seriously tries to hypothecate her +forests. + +A rather cynical person, a foreigner, who knows Cettinje well, gave me +an amusing summary of Prince Nikita's method of passing his time. In +the morning he sits in his palace; occasionally sends a message of +little import to some village _Voyade_, through the medium of his +new toy, the "electric telegraph." A few telegrams constitute a hard +day's work for the Prince. Some relaxation is necessary. Sport is +suggested; so off he rides, with his Court, to Rieka, in whose stream +are trout of fabulous size. Here he enjoys a good afternoon's fishing. +With rod and fly? No; but in a more wholesale and princely fashion. +With dynamite! Truly a royal pastime! He is also a poet in his way, +and turns out rather dismal compositions in his native tongue. He is +an affectionate husband, and is wont, on fine evenings, to serenade +the princess with the one-stringed guzla, or violin of Montenegro, +accompanying it with his voice, which he raises in song of his own +making. + +A Montenegrin notable, a fine young fellow, quite six feet five inches +in height, kindly offered to be our guide over a Museum of great +interest, which is situated at the further extremity of the town. The +Museum is merely a small, rough-plastered room, but it contains what +is well worthy of visit--a collection of trophies taken from the Turk +in those wars which have raged fiercely and cruelly between the two +races for so many hundreds of years. Here were the spoils of a +thousand battles. Guns of very antique date--curious, ricketty weapons +of Middle Age Europe. Here the long Albanian gun, with silver-inlaid +barrel, and small narrow stock of beautifully carved steel; old +muskets with English Tower marks; Martini-Henry and Winchester rifles +hung on the walls, bringing one down to more recent campaigns. Sabres, +blood-stained and broken; mountain howitzers, tattered standards, some +falling to pieces with age, some rent with ball and shell; the richly +inlaid scimetars of some old Prince of Orient, lances, old +chain-armour, and I know not what besides, lay in confusion all around +us. + +In one corner of the wall hung certain trophies which are calculated to +sadden the English visitor. These are the decorations of the slain +Turk. Among the Medjidies were numerous Crimean medals, English and +French. It was not pleasant to see these here at Cettinje, taken as +they were from the breasts of many a veteran ally of ours in the olden +time--heroes of Kars, may be; soldiers of Williams. + +From this melancholy collection we were taken to see the Hospital. The +surgeon, a Herzegovinian by birth, kindly showed us over the +establishment. It was a rough place, but answered its purpose well +enough. The beds were occupied chiefly by those who had been badly +wounded in the late war. The patients were crowded together in a way +that would have much astonished an English doctor. But these hardy, +temperate people, have marvellous constitutions, and the air of +Cettinje is pure and bracing; so no ill has resulted so far, from a +system which would invite pyaemia, and kill off half the inmates of a +London hospital in a week. + +We stayed at Cettinje for three days. By that time we had seen enough +of the metropolis, so held a council as to whither next we should bend +our steps. + +As Albania, and not Montenegro, was the object of this expedition, we +decided to cross the frontier to Scutari, the capital of North Albania, +where resided an English and other consuls, who could give us useful +information. + +We found the best, indeed the only, way of reaching Scutari from here +was to go by land to Rieka, a Montenegrin village on the river of the +same name, and then hire a boat to take us down the Rieka, and across +the great lake of Scutari, to the Albanian capital, which is situated +at its furthest extremity. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Journey to Scutari--Atrocities--A runaway--The vale of Rieka--A +Montenegrin sailor--The lions of Rieka--The perils of the night. + + +We left Cettinje early on a sunny, fresh October morning. Our baggage +was strapped on the back of one of the sturdy little horses of the +country, which was led by a diminutive native, not twelve years of age, +yet armed with yataghan and loaded revolver. His father--a tall, fine +fellow, who came to see us off--had been subjected to a horrible +mutilation. His nose had been cut off by the Albanians, taking with it +the whole upper lip, giving him a ghastly appearance. One meets with an +astonishing number of men who have been victims of this barbarous +custom. The Montenegrins are quite as great offenders in this respect +as are their Albanian foemen. Indeed, I came across more mutilated men +in Scutari alone than in all Montenegro. + +In the last war, a handsome young Montenegrin was taken prisoner by the +Turks. As he was wounded, he was sent to the hospital at Scutari. Some +of the ladies of the different consulates, who were doing all that lay +in their power to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded, took great +interest in this interesting young man. A curious and most offensive +smell was noticed at his bedside; it increased, day by day, till it +became quite unsupportable. At last its origin was discovered. Rolled +up in his coat, which lay by his side, were eighteen Turkish +noses!--the tokens of his valour in the field. + +Our Montenegrin friends were not pleased to hear that we were going to +Albania. "Stay with us," they said; "travel in our country. There is +more to see than in Turkey. You will like us. Those beasts of Albanians +will cut your throats of a certainty, devils that they are." But we +wished to hear the other side of the question, and notwithstanding the +warnings of owe hosts, determined to visit the "beasts" and "devils," +and form our own opinion about them. + +A crowd of wild-looking mountaineers had assembled to see us off. We +had scarcely got under weigh when an amusing incident happened. Our +pack-horse, exhilarated by the fine fresh air of the morning, and a +hearty breakfast, thought that a nice canter across the plain of +Cettinje would be a pleasant way of beginning the day. So off he went +at a canter over the low stone walls, across the potato-fields, through +the dried torrent-beds, in a direction quite opposite to that which his +_compagnons de route_ had chosen. It must have been a ridiculous +sight. First a saddle-bag fell off his back, then he would throw a +blanket off, until our properties lay scattered all over the plain. We +followed as fast as we could with our heavy boots and rifles. We at +last caught him, readjusted our baggage, and once more turned his head +to the mountain, where soon the narrow and precipitous path obviated +all chance of his repeating the performance. + +I was smoking a cigarette at the time of the mishap, and swallowed it +by accident as I leaped over a wall. The result was an unwonted silence +and solemnity on my part for the next half-hour or so. + +I was much struck by the behaviour of our guide and the other +Montenegrins, when the refractory horse was captured. + +English carters, under the same circumstances, would have given vent to +much foul language, and would probably have brutally belaboured the +wretched animal. But these Montenegrins showed no sign of impatience, +said not a word, but quietly repacked the horse and led it off. Turks, +Albanians, Montenegrins, and all Easterns, whatever their other faults, +are very good to the dumb animals that serve them, and never ill-treat +them. + +To shoot any animal wilfully, for the mere sake of killing, excites +great indignation in the breast of an Albanian. An English naturalist, +who travelled in their country in order to make a collection of birds, +was looked upon as something not much better than a devil. His very +servant was so horrified at the wholesale massacre of the innocents +carried on by his master, that he gave him notice that he could serve +such a fiend no longer, and left him on the spot. Yet these are the +very people who feel no compunction in blowing your brains out from +behind a fence, in satisfaction of some trifling quarrel. + +It is an easy morning's march to Rieka. The rough path first ascends +the rocky ridge which divides the plain of Cettinje from the valley of +Rieka (Rieka = river). When we reached the summit of this ridge a most +magnificent scene opened out before us. + +The great valley lay at our feet. From the windy desolate height on +which we stood we saw far beneath the silver stream of the Rieka, +fringed with poplars, winding down a long fertile vale. From the edge +of the water-side meads the great mountains rose sheer up on either +side--of every form and colour--some barren, in curious strata which +shone in the morning sun like successive rings of opal and Parian +marble, others covered with woods, that had already assumed their +autumn tints, and sent forth a perpetual moan as the strong highland +wind passed over them. + +From the lofty eminence on which we stood chain was seen rising over +chain, valley behind valley, till, far away behind all, there gleamed a +long broad sheet of water, the great lake of Scutari, backed by the +fantastic-shaped rugged mountains of Albania, utterly barren, serrated +and pinnacled like a gigantic gothic cathedral, and through the medium +of the clear southern atmosphere appearing of a delicate pinkish hue. + +This valley of Rieka is far the most fertile of Montenegro, and the +village of the same name which is situated on the brink of the clear +stream is the prettiest, cleanest, and seemingly most prosperous of the +country. + +The extreme smallness of some of the fields, if they can be so called, +which is remarkable all over Montenegro, struck us much, on our descent +down the rough slopes of the mountain. + +Soil is scarce. We here saw walled enclosures so small that three or +four potato-plants at the most filled them up. Our procession entered +Rieka about mid-day. This village consists of one street along the +river side. The houses are built tastefully of wood, something in the +Swiss style. Outside each house was the usual stone bench, on which, +again, as usual, half the family sat, smoking lazily, evidently with +nothing on earth to do. Of course we were inspected with some curiosity +as we passed. + +Not understanding the language, we were utterly at the mercy of our +guide. We tried to signify to him that we wished him to conduct us to a +_khan_. He shook his head, and paid no other attention to our remarks, +but deliberately marched us off to the establishment which he thought +was alone suitable for the English _Gospodinas_. It was the largest +house in the place, whitewashed, and partly hanging over the water, at +the corner of the pretty bridge which spans the stream. + +We halted at the foot of the stone steps which led up to the door, and +unpacked our horse; while the crowd stood round, admiringly, and +whispering to our guide queries as to what these curious strangers +might be. + +The door of the house opened, and a pleasant-looking old lady, +richly-attired, and tinkling at every motion with the strings of +Turkish coins which she wore as ornaments, came down smiling, bowed low +to us, kissed our hands, and invited us within. We were soon made at +home, and a welcome repast of wheaten cakes and goats' flesh was placed +before us, with good _raki_ to wash it down. + +The captain of the village came in while we were lunching--a +splendid-looking fellow, who stalked in with the magnificent carriage +which distinguishes the chieftains of _Tchernagora_. He approached us +with both hands stretched out, and shook us cordially by the hands, +and gave us what was evidently a very kindly welcome, in words we +unfortunately could not understand. A few other men of rank came in +to see us, but none could speak any language but their own, so our +conversation was limited to smiling welcomes on the one hand, and +smiling thanks on the other. We all found that this after a time became +monotonous, so we endeavoured to render the interview a little more +amusing by a mutual inspection of weapons. + +After lunch a room was prepared for us. This was by far the most +civilized mansion we came across in Montenegro. There were actually +beds in it. Such a luxury was quite unknown a few years ago in this +country. + +The Montenegrin never takes his clothes off. On retiring for the night, +he merely rolls himself up in his plaid, and lies down on the bare +floor of his house. + +A shake, and then an inspection and buckling on of arms, suffice for +his toilette in the morning. We were sketching the village after lunch, +when a man passed us, stopped, looked at us a moment curiously, and +then, to our astonishment and delight said, "You should be Englishmen, +strangers." + +This man turned out to be a Montenegrin, who had once got somehow to +Constantinople. Here he shipped on board an English brig, and so had +visited London, Liverpool, and other ports. It is a question whether a +Montenegrin had ever before adopted the sea as a profession, it is +hardly in the line of the Karatag, detesting as he does discipline and +confinement of any kind. + +He was known as Greek Jack on board the brig, he told us. English +sailors I have always found, have rather a vague idea as to the limits +of the little realm of King George. Any one who has a cut-throat +appearance, and is picked up anywhere between Dalmatia and Cyprus, is +at once looked upon by our tars as one of them blank Greek chaps. His +English was scanty, but rich at any rate in every foullest oath our +seaports can teach the foreign visitor. + +Nearly every other word was an emphasis of this nature. From him we +learnt that the house we occupied belonged to the prince. He himself +was now a hand on board the prince's steam-yacht, a very small vessel, +in which the great Nikita is wont to travel on the Lake of Scutari, +when on a dynamite fishing expedition. + +Our new friend kindly offered to act as our guide if we wished to do +the lions of Rieka. + +These consisted of two little public-houses, one famous for its wine, +the other for its raki. We did them; the result was that our cicerone's +English became more and more indistinct, but at the same time more and +more larded with profanity, till gradually, from every other word, two +out of every three words at least, were oaths. Had there been one more +lion to be done, I verily believe that every word of his conversation +would in our country have rendered him liable to that small pecuniary +penalty which our statutes inflict in such cases. + +Raki and mastic, the favourite beverages of this part of Europe, are +drinkable: that is all that can be said for them. + +Raki is a colourless spirit, extracted from the skins of grapes after +the wine-making. It is not nice, but is, I should say, pure and +wholesome. + +Mastic is extracted from mountain herbs, tastes like absinthe, and is +probably nearly as poisonous. + +This was a night of tribulation for Brown. + +Our room swarmed with the far-famed Montenegrin fleas, and other still +more ferocious natives. The ramparts of insecticide with which he +surrounded himself availed nought. Sleep he knew not. + +In the dead of night I was suddenly awakened by the utter collapse of +the wooden bed on which I slept. It fell to pieces without any warning, +and precipitated me on the floor. + +Stories I had read in Christmas Annuals of robber inns, and traps that +opened out in floors to swallow up the sleeping traveller, flashed +across my brain. But there was no occasion for alarm. On lighting a +match and inspecting the ruins, I came to the conclusion that the bed +had been undermined by vermin--that was all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A great victory--A good old custom--On the Lake of Scutari--The +londra--The debateable land--Boat song--Encampment--Scutari--A +reminiscence of Cremorne--The brothers Toshli--Willow-pattern +plates--At the British Consulate. + + +The next was a glorious morning. We were up at daybreak, and with the +assistance of our friend, bargained with four men to take us in a boat +to Scutari. + +The captain of the village also came to our aid, and beat down the +rather exorbitant demands of his countrymen. + +The captain was evidently an important personage--to be respected and +feared; for the fellows ceased their vehement jabbering, and became +very humble and quiet, when he appeared on the scene. + +Our nautical friend told us that this _Voyade_ was a distinguished +warrior. He had been engaged in that great victory gained over the +Turks in 1858. + +Some of my readers may remember that in that year an army of 6000 +Turkish regulars invaded Montenegro. They had advanced some miles up +one of those frightful defiles by which alone the Black Mountain is to +be penetrated, when they were surprised by a body of Montenegrins, much +inferior in numbers, but having the advantage of a thorough +acquaintance with every rock and crevice of the grey hills. Of the 6000 +Turks, but six men and the commander of the expedition escaped. It was +only owing to the intercession of certain of the great powers that the +Prince did not follow up this great victory by an invasion of the +Herzegovina, where, of course, all the Christians would have flocked to +his standard. + +An international commission was sent out to definitely settle a +frontier-line between Montenegro and Turkey--as vain an undertaking as +that of the present year will probably prove to be. + +As we knew not how long a voyage lay before us, we laid up a store of +provisions in our vessel--the round wheaten cakes of the East, "baken +on the coals," probably similar to those the Shunamite placed before +Elisha long ago, a gourd of wine with a strong smack of the goat's +skin, goat's milk cheese, and an abundance of fine black grapes. + +Our boat awaited us some few hundred yards down the stream, where the +water was sufficiently deep to float her; for the Rieka is here but a +shallow brook. Our boatmen had a good deal of poling and wading to do +for the first mile or so, as we were constantly grounding on the +shingle banks. + +Before leaving, a ceremony had to be observed which prevails all over +these countries, and which, like many good old customs, has died out in +more civilized countries. Our host tucked a bottle of raki under his +arm, and, taking a small glass in his hand, accompanied us to where we +were to embark, and then handed round the final stirrup cups in most +liberal manner. + +The _londra_, as the boat of the country is called, is a roughly-made, +flat-bottomed affair, with prow and stern alike--sharp pointed, and +running up high out of the water, something like the Venetian gondola. +These boats are of every size, from the small cranky tub propelled with +one oar, to the lengthy twelve-oared vessel. + +They have little beam, and must be exceedingly dangerous on the lake in +choppy weather--indeed, accidents often occur; but every one here is so +happily careless, and trustful in _kismet_, that these ricketty coffins +have not been superseded by any more seaworthy craft. + +The _londra_ is tarred inside and out; there are no benches; the +passengers squat on their blankets at the bottom of the boat. The +rowers stand up facing the bow, and force their long clumsy sweeps +through the water in short, quick jerks. + + [Illustration: THE LONDRA. + _Page_ 102.] + +They do not make use of rollocks, but twist vine or clematis branches +into grommets, which run through holes made for the purpose in the +gunwale. These grommets soon wear out, and have to be replaced three or +four times in a day's journey. The londra, notwithstanding its rough +build, progresses at a very fair pace, so long as it does not meet with +a strong head-wind, when its little hold on the water is much against +it. + +Having comfortably settled ourselves at the bottom of our vessel, among +our blankets and saddle-bags, we bid adieu to our sailor friend with an +_au revoir_ in London, when he should next visit that port, and got +under weigh. Our crew consisted of four brigand-like Montenegrins, who +were dirty and miserable, in all save their weapons, which were +beautiful. One was the proud possessor of a long pistol, with a silver +hilt inlaid with precious stones, the spoil of the Turk. Each had his +gun with him, so we were a formidable-looking party. + +The banks of the Rieka are exceedingly fine; rocks and dense foliage on +either side, with occasional glimpses of the great mountain behind. + +Where the river broadened into the lake we rowed through large fields +of waterlilies in full bloom. The country seemed altogether +uninhabited. We passed one or two londras, whose crews entered into +animated discourse with our men, evidently anxious to know who the +European travellers might be. At last we were on the great lake. On all +sides it is shut in by lofty mountains, some, I should say, quite +10,000 feet in height. Its surface is studded with numerous bare rocky +islands, uninhabited by man, but noisy with multitudes of wild fowl and +pelicans. Egrets, divers, and ducks, are very numerous on this water. +We hugged the western or Montenegrin shore, for the provisions of the +Berlin Treaty have given nearly all this side of the lake to the +principality. + +We were struck by the extreme desolation of the country; gaunt, +uncultivated mountains fell to the water's edge. Population there +seemed to be none. + +Once we saw a village on the shore; on approaching it, it proved to be +ruined, deserted--a mere heap of charred debris--a melancholy relic of +fierce frontier war. Here, as later on, on the plains of Podgoritza, I +noticed that there was a sort of debateable land on the borders of the +two countries--a desert region, where men dare not build or cultivate, +not knowing when the dogs of war should again be loosed. Thus rich +plains are left to the wolf and lynx, the peasant preferring to build +his homestead in the poorer but more secure fastnesses of the +mountains, than on the rich lowland, where he would sow only that a +hostile horde should reap. + +As there was a slight breeze, our men hoisted a small square sail, of +whose use they seemed to have but little idea. They made fast the sheet +and tack to the weather gunwale, and attempted to sail close hauled. + +We moved through the water it is true, but astern and to leeward. Much +wrangling then ensued as to the proper method of navigating the vessel. +Ultimately the crew lowered their canvas in despair, of which we were +not sorry, for we very nearly capsized once in a slight squall. Halyard +and sheet were securely knotted, and of course the clumsy craft would +not come up to the wind. + +Had the puff been a little stronger we must have gone down. + +Swimming would not have been easy with our heavy accoutrement. + +We could not converse much with the men, as our knowledge of +Montenegrin was exceedingly limited. We had compiled a little +dictionary, with the assistance of our friends, at Cettinje. The usual +programme of handing tobacco round, examining each other's arms, was +gone through. + +Brown rather astonished one of the crew; he had taken hold of the +fellow's rifle, and wishing to express his approval of it, pointed to +it and read out of the dictionary what he thought was Sclav for "good +gun," but which on more careful inspection proved to signify "roast +mutton." + +All day we paddled along the lone shore, but no town was yet in sight. +The evening brought with it one of the most magnificent sunset effects +I have ever witnessed. The near mountains on our starboard hand assumed +a cold dark appearance as the sun set behind them. Their deep barren +defiles had a weird bleakness about them, such as one sees in lifeless +Arctic landscapes. + +But far away on the port hand, across the water, the rays of the +setting sun fell full on the great Albanian mountains, which towered +behind the broad plain that fringes the eastern shore of the lake. + +Every detail of the fantastic peaks and fissures of the barren granite +was sharp and distinct in this clear atmosphere. + +Where the rock jutted out it was lurid crimson, as of red-hot +coal--elsewhere, of lovely rose and golden tints, while the darker +shadows of the hollows were of a deep purple or violet. So utterly +barren were these great offshoots of the Mount _Scardus_, that under +this strange light the scenery was of a peculiarly unearthly and weird +nature. One could almost imagine oneself to be gazing at a landscape of +some lifeless star--a chaos of molten matter--silent but for the +occasional roar of fire and volcanic action. + +But the blue shadows soon rose up from the water's edge, till the last +highest peak lost its crown of fire, and the fine day was succeeded by +a lovely starlit night. + +The day had been hot, but now it became intensely cold; the wind, which +was right in our teeth, freshened; the ripple that broke on the shingle +shore became louder; and soon the surface of the lake was broken into +short choppy waves capped with foam, that glistened in the starlight. +The water washed occasionally over our bulwarks in ominous splashes. + +There was evidently quite enough sea for our frail craft. But our men, +though they made little progress against the head-wind, pulled on +pluckily, encouraging themselves with a wild barbaric chant, which was +caught up now by one, now by another--a monotonous yet energetic song, +to which their blades kept time. + +One of these boat-songs was afterwards translated to me. It runs +something thus (I have preserved to a certain extent the irregularity +of the original):-- + + Now then, my hawks, pull! pull! + Let the boat fly over the water! + The rocks on the shore are full + Of Arnauts, thirsty for our slaughter. + But we fly swifter than their bullets go. + They cannot take aim, so swift we row. + Pull! my hawks, pull! + + Long before their slow feet can return + We will fall upon their village--sack and burn, + Tear up the smoking rafters of their homesteads + Into torches that shall light our homeward way, + Laden with rich spoil and foemen's heads. + Now then, my hill hawks, pull away! + Pull! my hawks, pull! + +We expected every moment to see the lights of Scutari burst upon us as +we rounded some rugged promontory; but hour after hour of the night +passed by, and still no sign of human habitations. Suddenly our boatmen +rested on their oars, and entered into a short discussion. When they +had come to a decision they pointed to the shore, and endeavoured to +explain something to us; what, we could not make out. The dictionary we +had compiled at Cettinje was a modest work, containing only words of +greeting and the names of strict necessities. The next operation of our +crew was to run the boat high and dry on the shingle beach; they then +disembarked, and beckoned us to follow. + +A fire was soon made up with the brushwood and oleander that grew +thickly on the bank. + + [Illustration: SCUTARI FISHING HARBOUR. + _Page_ 109.] + +What next? we wondered. Was this merely a halt for a little rest and +supper? or had our crew struck work, and determined to camp here for +the night? We soon found out that the latter was their intention; for +after we had supped and smoked a few cigarettes, they one by one rolled +themselves up in their cloaks and fell asleep, feet to the fire. + +We followed their example, and in consequence of our close proximity to +the Montenegrins experienced the attacks of vast armies of fleas. + +At four in the morning we got under weigh; it was still dark, but the +first faint streak of dawn was visible over the eastern hills. We +discovered, later on, that we had encamped on the beach till daylight, +because all boats are prohibited from approaching Scutari during the +night. + +Three Turkish gunboats are stationed off the town, by whom we should +have been challenged and stopped, had we proceeded. + +At about seven in the morning we reached Scutari. First we had to row +through a curious fishing village, which is at the junction of the lake +and the broad river that here flows into it. A large number of thatched +huts, built on piles, form regular streets in the centre of the stream. + +Then the town lay before us, with its old Venetian fortress perched on +a lofty rock in the back ground. + +We were not much struck by the general appearance of the capital of +North Albania--a dingy, dilapidated bankrupt sort of a place it seemed +to be. + +Scutari is built on the flat promontory formed by the river Bojana, +which takes off the waters of the lake to the Adriatic, and another +river, which flows into the lake after having crossed the spacious +plain which lies between Scutari, and the distant mountains of +Biskassi. + +On landing, no custom-house or custom-house officers were anywhere +visible. We paid off our ship, selected a ragged-looking ruffian to +carry our luggage, shouldered our rifles, and marched off to the hotel +Toshli, at the other end of the straggling town, which had been +recommended to us by the gendarme whose acquaintance we had made on the +Austrian Lloyd steamer. + +Our first impressions of the city were not favourable. It had an +appearance of melancholy decay, still trying to keep up an appearance. +The mosques, and some of the better Turkish houses, were rather gaudily +ornamented with wooden carvings and bright paint; but now the carvings +were broken, and the paint half rubbed off. There was a +tea-garden-in-liquidation look about the place. + +I remember once seeing Cremorne by daylight. It was some time after +outraged respectability had closed the gardens; the occasion being a +patriotic meeting which was held there, during the Russo-Turkish war. +It was a sad sight to one who had known the place in other days. The +plaster statues were broken; the pagodas and the other gimcrack +edifices were mouldy, tumbling to pieces, and destitute of paint. This +melancholy city of Scutari reminded me irresistibly of Cremorne that +day. Everything had been allowed to fall into decay. Any repairing of +public or private buildings had long been given up by government and +people. One rickety mosque was very funny; its steeple was tiled, if I +may use the expression, with the sides of paraffin boxes and Huntley +and Palmer's biscuit tins. + +The rough paintings on its walls were chipped and dim. The very mollah, +in his turban and dirty blue robe, who stood at the door, had a +dissipated and unkempt appearance, which harmonized with his +surroundings. + +Our first impressions of the inhabitants were no less unpleasing. There +was a haggard, anxious, half-starved expression in the faces of all we +met--a savage fierceness in their eyes, which we had not observed in +Montenegro. No one besides ourselves was in European costume, but we +attracted no attention; all stalked by us with the utmost indifference. +Every man we met--kilted Mussulman, or white-clad Arnaut--was armed to +the teeth. + +It was some way to Toshli's. We passed through many narrow streets, +paved in a fashion well calculated to dislocate the ankles, and +traversed numerous grave-yards, neglected and filthy in the extreme. + +The hotel turned out to be an unpretending sort of an establishment, +half grocery, half cafe. It was kept by two brothers, Greeks from +Janina. It was situated in the principal street of the Christian +quarter, close to the foreign consulates. Toshli's is a rough +free-and-easy sort of place, but is to be recommended. The cuisine was +really very fair. It was curious to observe in the grocery how many +English commodities were procurable. + +On the shelves I saw Huntley and Palmer's biscuits, Cross and +Blackwell's pickles, and, most wonderful of all, brown Windsor soap--an +article for which I should imagine that there could be no demand in +Albania. + +One meets with certain English manufactures in the most remote regions +of the world. + +I have bought Gillot's steel pens in an Arab town in a remote oasis of +the Saharah. + +Another curious fact is, that here at Toshli's, and everywhere else in +Eastern Europe where plates are in use, one invariably meets with our +old willow-pattern services. There is a very large exportation of these +from England to these countries. + +The cafe of the hotel, in which is a billiard-table, is much frequented +by the Christian merchants, and the Turkish military doctors of the +garrison; these are all Christians, being Armenians, Greeks, Poles, and +other foreigners. + +Italian is understood by many of the Christian merchants here, being +the language of commerce on these coasts. + +There must, I should say, be a certain amount of Italian blood in the +veins of the citizens of Scutari, for it was long one of the strongest +Venetian dependencies, and sustained one of the most heroic sieges of +history, when Mahomet II. overran Eastern Europe, in the fifteenth +century, with his vast hordes of infidels, inflamed with uninterrupted +success. + +Scutari was finally acquired by Turkey in 1479, by treaty. + +The brothers Toshli received us with open arms, for the gendarme had +prepared them for our arrival. Having settled ourselves in a +comfortable bed-room, which was elegantly draped with strings of +malodorous--not to say putrid--sausages, we indulged in some +cafe-au-lait, a luxury we had not enjoyed for some time. + +We then called on Mr. Kirby Green, the British consul-general for North +Albania, and charge-d'affaires for Montenegro. This gentleman seemed +exceedingly glad to see us, met us with outspread hand, and the remark +that "it was rare to see any of his countrymen out here, it was quite +an eventful day for him." During our stay in Scutari, Mr. Green did all +in his power to assist us in every way. This gentleman, whose +experience of Eastern character is very extensive, is emphatically the +right man in the right place. It was surprising to find what influence +he has in the country, and how excellently he upholds the dignity of +England. + +He stands very high in the opinion of the natives of both creeds. + +"Yes, he is pasha here, and greater than the pasha," was often said of +him in my hearing, both by Christians and Mohammedans. They hold him in +high respect; and the firmness and justice with which he invariably +acts, astonishes and pleases these Orientals, so little accustomed to +the like. + +Up in the wild mountains, later on, when among the fierce Miridites and +Klementis, no sooner did the men we met hear that we were from Scodra +(as Scutari is called by the Albanians) and friends of Zutne Green, the +savage frown and suspicious handling of yataghan would change to smile +of pleasure, and hand outstretched in welcome. + +We told Mr. Green what our plans were, and asked him if they were +feasible. + +We thought of traversing Albania from north to south, from Scutari to +the port of Previso, opposite Corfu, by the route of Priserin, Ochrida, +Monastir, and Janina. Mr. Green is not a man to discourage travellers +without good cause, but said, "Priserin, let me tell you, is the +headquarters of the Albanian League, an organization of the most +fanatical Mussulmen of the country, whose object is to resist the +Austrian advance, and the Montenegrin claims, by force of arms. + +"These men are now worked up to a high pitch of religious zeal, and +hatred of the Christians. Priserin is, with perhaps the exception of +Mecca, the most dangerous spot for a Christian in all Mohammedan +countries. It is true that they may receive you very well, as +Englishmen, and entertain you with the greatest hospitality; or they +may cut your throats as soon as they see you. It is a toss up which of +the two they will do. + +"You will be either honoured guests, or abominations to be instantly +put to death. + +"They are the same men that murdered Mehemet Ali, at Jakova. So I +advise you to consider the matter carefully." + +As guests at Mr. Green's table, later on in the evening, we received a +lot of very useful information as to the state of the country, and the +ways and means of travelling through it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Condition of Albania--Her races--The Mussulman--The Christian--The +Arnaut--Prince Scanderbeg--Turkish rule--Albanian language--Gendarmes +on strike--A Scutarine beauty--Courtship and marriage--Nuns. + + +Having now brought my readers into Albania, it does not seem out of +place to here give a rough sketch of this almost unknown province of +Turkey. + +The first thing that strikes one is the utter lawlessness of the +people. The Turks have never assimilated their remoter possessions. It +is not in their character to do so. They seem, even after so many +centuries, to be merely temporarily encamped in Albania. They have +pachas and garrisons in the towns, but the natives enjoy a surprising +amount of independence, and are allowed to do pretty well as they +like. Indeed, the government is very weak here, neither feared nor +respected--merely tolerated. The mountain tribes are almost as little +under Turkish rule as were the Montenegrins themselves, over whom, +until the treaty of Berlin, the Porte claimed a suzerainty. Out of the +towns, Turkish officials are not to be found. A powerful tribe will +often refuse to pay the _dimes_ to the tax farmer, when a bloody and +cruel war will probably ensue, lingering on for years in the hills, in +which the government troops will often come off the second best. + +At the period of our visit, Albania is in a state of positive +anarchy--the gendarmerie on strike, the soldiers refusing to salute +their officers, neither having received pay for months, while the +natives hold seditious meetings publicly, and unmolested, in the +mosques of the garrison towns, in which rebellion against the Porte is +fearlessly advocated. + +Nowhere is the rotten condition and utter helplessness of the Porte +more apparent than here. + +The natives, though of one race, may be divided into three classes, +differing very much in manners and character. First, we have the +Albanian Mohammedan. This is the "wild Albanian kirtled to the +knee"--in North Albania, found chiefly in the towns. He is the +aristocrat, maybe an owner of lands in the mountains, which he lets out +to Arnaut tenants, living on his rents. He is intensely proud of his +caste, a despiser of his Christian fellow-townsmen. Courteous, +gentlemanly, not over strict in the observance of his creed, he will +drink raki on the quiet with an easy conscience. + +His walk is a haughty stalk. With his gold-embroidered vest, bright +sash--his leather pouch in front, in which are stuck two gold-hilted +jewelled pistols and yataghan, his many-folded snowy festinelle, or +kilt, which swings from side to side as he struts along--he is indeed +an imposing-looking figure. + +Secondly, we have the Christian town's-man of the Latin Church--how +different in every respect! He wears the fez, Turkish jacket, baggy +trousers tied in at the knee, followed by white socks, and European +elastic-side boots. + +As a Christian the law forbids him to carry arms. There is the timid, +fawning, insincere look in his face, so characteristic of the +oppressed. These Christians are all traders or merchants, many of them +wealthy, but not daring to be over ostentatious, for they live in fear +and dread of their unscrupulous neighbours of the other creed, who have +on more than one occasion pillaged the Christian quarter. Their +position is much what that of the Jews was in medieval Europe. + +The dress of the Christian town's-women is not becoming, though +exceedingly expensive. Their robe is heavy and thick with gold +embroidery, which crackles loudly as they walk. Out of doors they are +enveloped in a very ugly red cloak: it is baggy and shapeless. Take an +egg, paint it red, cut a good slice off one end and stand it up--you +will form a very good idea of a Scutarine Christian lady in outdoor +costume. As they are veiled, like the Mohammedans, it is equally +impossible to judge of the beauty of either face or figure. + +Next we have the third class of the population, the most interesting of +all, the country people--or rather, mountaineers, for little but +mountain is there in North Albania. These are the Arnauts--Skipitars, +as they call themselves--a fierce, hardy race of almost savages, +independent, unconquered by the Turks. They too are Latin Christians, +but how different from their co-religionists in the town! Their +features are indicative of minds that would not tolerate slavery. They +stalk proudly through the streets of the towns, bristling with arms, +notwithstanding the laws which forbid the Christian to do so. These +warlike tribes are too strong to heed the regulations of the feeble +government. Their dress is simple, but very manly and workmanlike. They +are clad in white homespun from head to heel. Their head-dress is a +white skull cap; sometimes they twist a long scarf round the head and +under the chin, very much in the style of the Bedouin--this is the +"shawl-girt head" that Byron speaks of; a white jacket, with tight +sleeves reaching to the wrist, of thick woollen stuff, ornamented with +black braid here and there; trousers of the same material, and +similarly black braided, baggy behind, but thence close fitting to the +leg until they reach the ankle, where they are slit and open +out--exactly the cut indeed of the nether garments of the American +Indian, except that the lower end is of thicker material, and has the +appearance of a gaiter, though it is of one piece with the rest of the +garment; opunkas on the feet; a sash round the waist, of common red +stuff or of silk, according to the wealth of the man; round the waist a +belt, with leather pouch in front, in which the long beautifully worked +pistols and yataghan are stuck; a belt of Martini-Henry cartridges over +the sash, if he own one of these rifles--if not, a belt from which +depend quaint elegantly-carved cartridge and oil-rag boxes, of gold or +brass, and long tassels of black silk. + +Such is the appearance of an Arnaut mountaineer--a grand costume, +showing off the supple, erect frame--the very dress for a savage +warrior. The Arnaut, like the Mussulman, shaves his head, leaving a +little bunch of hair on the scalp. This gives him a very Indian-like +and ferocious appearance. No one who has not seen it can form an idea +how this shaving increases the savageness of the expression. + +The dress of the women is as hideous as that of the men is handsome. It +is not unlike that of the Montenegrins. Their heads are swathed in +richly-hued shawls. Their dress is of very thick coarse material, and +shapeless. They are fond of wearing leather bands round the waist, +ornamented with pins, which are thrust through the leather, with their +ends bent up, their heads thus forming elegant patterns on the outside. +Round the neck and on the dress, the Arnaut belle wears strings of +piastres, swanzickers, and other small coins. Her legs are swathed +thickly with a sort of gaiter, which completely prevents one from +forming any idea as to the shapeliness of her lower limbs. Most of the +mountaineers still wear over their shoulders the curious little black +cloak, not unlike the tippet which English ladies have recently copied +from their coachmen, which was adopted in mourning for the death of the +great Albanian hero Scanderbeg, whose exploits are still sung over the +wintry fire by many a mountain bard, to the melancholy accompaniment of +the mandolin. There is not an Albanian who is not acquainted with his +history. + +Albania was once an independent Christian country, though paying +tribute to the Porte. + +John Castrioti was Prince of the mountain fortress of Kroia and the +surrounding country. In 1404 a son was born to him, who was christened +George. This was the future hero and deliverer of Albania. + +The Prince was persuaded to send this son to the court of Murad II. to +be educated. Contrary to the promises made to the father, the boy was +brought up in the Mohammedan faith, and when old enough he entered the +Turkish army. + +On the death of Castrioti, Murad seized his dominion, and attempted +with fire and sword to convert the people to the true faith. From that +time Scanderbeg formed a design to expel the Turk and liberate his +countrymen. He swore a great oath in secret, that never till he died +would he cease to wage war on the Turk. The opportunity soon came. He +entered into a secret agreement with the Hungarians, and with their +assistance defeated the Turks at Nissa with great slaughter. + +A fierce war, in which no quarter was given, was then commenced between +the Albanians and their oppressors. Driven at times into the fastnesses +of the mountains; Scanderbeg ever renewed his brave, seemingly +fruitless attempt, when occasion offered. + +Ultimately he succeeded in driving the Turks out of Albania; he +renounced the Mohammedan faith, and established himself on the throne +of his fathers. + +Even when he lived the deliverer was almost worshipped as a God. He +died in 1467. Then the Albanians, deprived of his skilful generalship, +were in time subjugated by the Turks. + +Prince George Castrioti was without doubt an extraordinary man. The +name of Scanderbeg (Alexander) was given him by the Turks, in their +admiration of his prowess. + +To say that the Turks have subjugated the Arnauts is not strictly +correct. Their position is something like that of the French in the +remoter parts of Algeria. They hold certain towns, the intervening +country being occupied by independent tribes, governing themselves, +having their own laws. + +Why, if a Turkish pasha wishes to traverse the mountains through the +district of a certain tribe, he must consult the Boulim-Bashi, the +town-representative or consul of that tribe, obtain his permission--his +safe-conduct--ere he dare undertake the journey. + +The administration of criminal law is not a large item of the expenses +incurred by the Turkish Government in their rule of Albania. They leave +all this to two unpaid judges, who have from time immemorial been the +only two dispensers of justice tolerated by the free people--viz., +Judge Lynch and Judge Vendetta. Of these I shall have more to say +by-and-by. + +The Arnauts are divided into several powerful clans, of which the +Clementis and the Miridites are the most important in this district. +The tribes differ slightly in costume and language. Some tribes, like +the Miridites, are in a wretched condition, starving in their +mountains, the result of a long protracted war with the government, +originating probably in some petty dispute with a tax collector. These +wars hang on in a desultory way for years, until the wretched +highlanders, in order to support existence, are obliged to become +bandits and cattle-lifters--outlaws--the enemies of all men. A Miridite +is now a wretched object generally. I have seen them crawl through the +narrow alleys of the bazaar of Scutari, ragged, scowling at every one, +haggard and weak with hunger, their arms sold for bread--the sign of +extreme poverty, for it is a bitter thing for an Arnaut to part with +his beloved weapons, heirlooms as a rule. The ramrod of his lost +pistols alone dangles from his belt. This, curiously enough, no man +ever seems to part with--probably because it is unsalable. + +The Albanians are by some supposed to be the descendants of the ancient +Pelasgi, and of a far purer race than are the modern Greeks. From the +uniformly classic features of the people I should be inclined to adopt +this view. The men have splendid skulls, lofty broad brows and small +delicately moulded features. + +The women are the most beautiful in Eastern Europe. The children are +lovely. They have large solemn eyes and splendid mouths--this latter is +their most striking feature--slightly turned down at the sides, which +gives a singularly sweet and thoughtful expression. One cannot be long +among the Arnauts before perceiving that they are evidently of a noble +and ancient race, to which the Montenegrin and other Sclav races will +bear no compare. The polite manners, the delicacy of perception and +tact of these otherwise savage mountaineers, is very pleasant. Fierce +and cruel as foes, reckless of life, they yet are splendid friends; +faithful--knowing not what treachery is--truthful, virtuous; +hospitable, jovial companions, abstemious as a rule, yet not +disinclined on grand occasions to pass freely round the cheering raki +(a spirit extracted from grape skins after the wine is made) and the +absinthe-like mastic. + +The language of the Skipitars, as the Arnauts call themselves, varies +much in different districts. Old Illyrian probably in origin, it +contains Greek, Latin, and Sclavonian words, in almost equal proportion; +at least, so it seemed to me, here in the north. For instance, here +are the first thirteen numerals in Albanian; the three tongues I +mention are all traceable in these--_gni_, _du_, _tre_, _kater_, +_pens_, _giasct_, _sctat_, _tete_, _nand_, _deit_, _gnim-deit_, +_dum-deit_, _trem-deit_. + +The Albanians do not write in Sclav characters as do their northern, +nor in Greek as do their southern neighbours, but, unlike all other +races hereabouts, use the Latin character. In addition to our +twenty-four letters, they have five others, something like, yet +differing in form and pronunciation from, certain of the Greek letters. + +Such are the inhabitants of the country--a country as wild as they. +Well did Byron call Albania "the rugged nurse of savage men." + +The Acroceraunian Mountains and the Mount Pindus send their branches +across the whole province. Rugged rocks are heaped one upon the other, +with summits hidden in the clouds. It is a region of tempests, which, +like to Montenegro, is too poor and barren to produce aught but +warriors, who seem ever to thrive best on poor soil, as the stately +pines do. The products of the country are few. The acorns of the +Vallona oak, which are used for dyeing purposes, martin skins, and +boxwood, are the only exports; and not much of these finds its way out +of the country. The history of Albania would afford much of interest to +any one who would study it. + +Once included in the great Bulgarian kingdom, then divided into small +principalities, Albania was at last, not without much bloodshed, +absorbed by her two powerful neighbours--Venice on the north, Turkey on +the east. All the valour of Prince Scanderbeg could only delay for one +lifetime the subjugation of his beautiful native land. + +Our friend the officer of gendarmerie called on us on the following +morning. With him we took a stroll through the town. + +He was rather melancholy. He had received no pay for fourteen months, +and was commencing to be disgusted with his profession. + +His men were in still more wretched plight. Their red uniforms were +ragged and torn; many were barefooted. The poor fellows seemed to be +all half-starved. At the present moment they were on strike--"en +greve," as our friend rather mildly termed what we should call mutiny. + +I do not imagine the community loses much by their defection, for the +gendarmerie in Albania is a miserable and almost useless body of men. +It might fairly be asked what is the good of having police at all in a +country where murder and every other crime are recognized institutions? +Even rebellion and treason seem not to be punishable offences, for, as +I shall have to narrate further on, the Albanian League hold seditious +meetings under the very nose of the pashas. + +What then have the police to do? + +With our friend as cicerone to explain all we saw, we traversed the +Christian, and then the Mohammedan quarter of the town. + +The streets of the latter are dismal alleys, with lofty walls on either +side; for the Mussulman is a person of retiring habits. He loves to +build his house, and establish his harem, in the centre of a pleasant +garden, which he surrounds with such high walls that no prying eye can +spy his conjugal bliss. A semi-detached villa would never suit him. A +door in one of these walls was open, so Brown peeped through into the +garden within, to the great horror of our companion, who told him if +the jealous Turk saw him he would instantly send a bullet into him. + +This officer--who, as I believe I have already explained, is a Roman +Catholic Christian--took us to his house, and introduced us to his +sister, an exceedingly pretty woman. The indoor costume of the Albanian +ladies is much more becoming than the ugly scarlet garment that +completely conceals their beauty in the streets. This lady was the wife +of a wealthy Christian, and her dress was exceedingly costly. The +jacket was stiff with beautiful gold embroidery, and large gold coins +hung from her neck and girdle. + +The manners of an Albanian lady are very pretty and gracious. She +brought us coffee with her own hands--small and beautifully-formed as +are those of all her race--and sat by us on a heap of cushions, deftly +made herself a cigarette, and commenced smoking. She conversed with us +in broken Italian, which fell very prettily from her charming lips. + +The women of this country do not wither up into old hags by the time +they are thirty, as do most orientals and southerners, but preserve +their peachy complexions and youthful beauty as long as do the women of +our own island. It is true they often get over-corpulent, owing to +their exceedingly sedentary lives. A woman of the higher orders but +rarely leaves her house; and as she is perpetually squatting +cross-kneed, in Turkish fashion, on a divan, or rug, her lower limbs +become rather deformed, the result being that her walk is a very +ungraceful waddle, rather like that of a well-fed duck. + +Our friend's sister had been but recently married. Courtship is +curiously managed among the Scutarine Christians. The lover--if he can +be so called--never sees his intended till the day of his marriage. A +young girl is confined in her father's house for a few years before she +arrives at a marriageable age. No men but her nearest relatives ever +see her. When her parents consider she is old enough, they let it be +known among their friends that they have a marriageable daughter on +hand. Probably the young lady's brother will come up to you--if you are +a good catch--some day in the street, and say, "You are just the man I +wanted to see. My sister is now fourteen years of age. You must marry +her." It is an insult to refuse such an offer, for it is generally +looked upon as a great honour. However, if the Benedick be rather +doubtful as to the advantages of the match, and is desirous of +ascertaining whether his proposed bride be endowed with personal +attractions, he goes off to an old woman, whose profession it is to +intervene in such cases. She calls on the bride, inspects her, and +returns to give him an unbiassed summing-up of the young lady's +qualities. If he is satisfied, the wedding-day is fixed, but not till +the last moment does he view his bride. After the marriage ceremony a +very curious performance is gone through. The Albanians entertain +peculiar ideas as regards women. To linger with, to be affectionate +with, the fair sex, they consider to be degrading to a man's dignity, +unfitting him for the sterner business of war. Thus the youth affects +to despise the sex, is very shy of showing the slightest regard for it. +His sentiments, indeed, are very much those of English boys of a +certain age, who would blush to be seen playing with girls. Now, during +the marriage feast the bride retires to a room. The bridegroom refuses +to follow, and is bound to offer strong resistance; while the other +guests--father-in-law, mother-in-law, and all--slap and push in the +sham-reluctant one, who at last has to yield to superior numbers, and +enters the chamber. + +As a young lady is so closely confined to her parents' house until the +day of her marriage, she naturally is very anxious to quit a single +state, which is by no means a state of blessedness. Should years go by, +and no suitable youth accept her hand--for, as I have shown, he can +hardly be said to demand it--one course is open to her, in order that +she may gain that freedom she yearns after. She becomes a nun, and +adopts the white robe of the Scutarine sisters. + +The nuns here are by no means confined within great stone walls, as in +some countries. They must attend certain services at the church, but at +other times they wander about at their own sweet will, and enjoy an +absolute liberty that none others of their sex ever acquire in the +East. As a natural consequence, if scandal is to be believed, their +lives are not entirely unbrightened with flirtations with the other +sex. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +The bazaar--Turkish gipsies--The vendetta--An assassin--A way to pay +debts--Bosnian refugees--A card-party--Paving-stones--Burglars--Army +doctors--Change for a ten pound note--Our horses. + + +After this we visited the bazaar. Imagine a labyrinth of narrow lanes, +paved with large round blocks, polished by the feet of many +generations; the open booths laden with every variety of European and +Eastern goods; the roofs of every height and at every angle, projecting +far over on either side--almost meeting in places--joined by festoons +of vines, that keep out the glare of the midday sun; and a thick crowd +of armed men and veiled women, some mounted, some on foot, in every +variety of barbaric costume. + +Here is an armourer's shop, the owner, a sour-looking Mohammedan, in +snowy festinelle, jacket stiff with gold embroidery, sits cross-legged +on his counter, surrounded with every sort of weapon. The Arnaut gun, +with flint lock, narrow steel stock beautifully worked, and Damascened +barrel fully five feet long, silver inlaid, and hooped with gilt bands, +first attracts our attention. The barrels of these guns are rarely of +Albanian make, but have been handed down from father to son for +generations, and are re-stocked over and over again ere they are +condemned. Most of them are of Venetian make; the marks of the most +famous gunmakers of the old republic are found inscribed on them. I +came across several Tower-marked barrels of antique date, seeming +strange in their Albanian stocks. Here we have yataghans, some with +plain ivory hilt, others glittering with gold and precious stones, +worth a prince's ransom. Here is the long-barrelled Miridite pistol, +with quaintly-carved brass stock. Here all the accessories for killing +one's fellows--cartridge belts, carved brass cartridge and oil-rag +boxes, flints soaking in a pan of water, and so on. + +The next stall is a potter's. He works steadily at his wheel, and +surrounds himself with gracefully-formed bowls and pitchers of red +clay. + +Then we have the fruiterer: pomegranates, figs, oranges, vegetables, +and fruits too unknown to us, lie in profusion on his counter. + +Here is a worker in leather. He provides you with richly-ornamented +saddlery, belts for your sweetheart ornamented with the heads of pins, +purses, and the curious treble sack which the Arnaut straps in front of +him to hold his yataghan and two lengthy flint pistols. Here is a man +embroidering a piece of black or red cloth with the most artistic and +delicate patterns in gold or silk. This is to be portion of the garment +of a woman of rank. + +Here is the carpenter. He is at work on a large square box of deal, +coarsely painted with bright colours. This is intended to contain the +_trousseau_ of the bride, and is the prominent object of the woman's +apartment in an Albanian house. + +In short you can buy anything in the bazaar, from a horse to a para's +worth of halvar. + +One of the most curious sights of the bazaar is its gipsy quarter. +After traversing one or two sordid alleys, one comes upon a sort of +terrace, where, scorning the sun or rain, unprovided with stall or +booth, are the zingali tinkers. A wilder and more uncouth lot I never +cast eyes upon. Dressed, or rather ragged, in a strange Oriental +costume of their own, blackened by exposure, speaking a tongue unknown +to all here, there is something very uncanny in them--no wonder that +the superstitious Arnaut fears and dislikes them. The women are +unveiled, their breasts are bare, and the old hags could well stand as +models for a witch of Endor, or any other unearthly and fearsome thing +in female human form. + +The gipsy has a greater _raison d'etre_ here than elsewhere in Europe. +The proud races of these regions, more especially the Montenegrins, +consider it degrading in the highest degree to work in iron, except in +the case of the manufacture of arms. Thus, whereas the Albanians of +Scutari, Jakova, and Priserin are excellent workers in other metals, +all tinkering is left to the despised zingali. + +It is quite the proper thing to have a stall in the bazaar. Men of the +highest rank sit behind their wares for a few hours of the day, not +perhaps caring much whether they sell or not; but this crowded mart is +the common rendezvous, and answers the purpose of a club. + +As you force your way through the crowd some friend will recognize you, +and beckon you to squat by him on his counter, among the cheap +Manchester goods, while you talk over the latest gossip over coffee and +cigarettes. We soon had formed so many friendships, that a stroll +through the bazaar meant for us the swallowing of prodigious quantities +of the thick Eastern coffee, which, by the way, is the best of all, if +properly made. + +It is by no means unusual to have your shopping disturbed by the report +of fire-arms. I have already alluded to the blood feud, or vendetta of +Albania. This is here carried to an extent quite unknown in other +countries. Indeed, the Franciscan missionaries told me that it is very +rare indeed to find a really old man in the mountains, the chances +being so much in favour of any given man being killed sooner or later +in these constant feuds. + +It is in the bazaar, on market-days, that men of two families engaged +in a vendetta are most likely to meet. You can generally tell whether a +man has a feud on hand, by his furtive look; his pistols are cocked, he +carries his gun also cocked in his hand, and looks behind him +constantly, for fair play is unknown here. To stab a man behind his +back is quite legitimate. + +The Arnauts are Roman Catholics, and, as Christians, are by law +forbidden to carry arms in the towns. But these powerful tribes are too +strong to heed the government regulations. No Arnaut ever comes into +the town without his arms, and no one dares interfere with him. + +Our friend the gendarme took us to the stall of a friend of his--a +notable man, Bektse Tchotche by name. He was an ill-featured Albanian +Mussulman, about forty years of age, dressed in a national costume that +must have cost hundreds of pounds, so rich it was. The blade of his +yataghan was inlaid with an elaborate gold device from point to hilt. +Its handle was rough with large diamonds. His long Albanian pistols +were gold hilted, and beautifully carved. This fellow, a man of rank, +does not seem to carry on any ostensible trade at his stall, but it was +hung with a collection of weapons similar to those on his person. Our +gendarme whispered to us, "This is a brave man; much respected; has +killed more of his fellow-townsmen than any other Scutarine." + +Imagine a policeman in England seriously pointing out, as an admirable +character and brave nobleman, the most atrocious murderer of the +county. Yet this is what this Bektse Tchotche is. Murder is not a crime +here, however cold-blooded and cowardly. The assassin has but to fear +the vengeance of the family--there are no police to interfere with him, +especially if he be a Mohammedan. This state of things breeds in the +towns a race of ferocious bullies, ready and waiting to wash out any +fancied affront with your heart's blood. This man, who is in the +enjoyment of several hundreds of pounds sterling per annum, has devoted +himself entirely to murder. If you meet him in the town you see him +sitting erect on a gaily equipped horse, which he encourages to prance +and caracole from one side of the street to the other, to the great +danger of passers-by. In Albania furious riding is not an offence--in +fact, it is difficult to find what is. If an unoffending passer-by jolt +against him accidentally on his promenade, a bullet is most probably +sent into him _instanter_. As all his pistols are at full cock, and +have hair triggers, they not unfrequently go off accidentally in the +crowded bazaar. + +Perfectly incredible to any one who has not visited these countries, is +the light in which assassination is regarded. It is more an amusement +than anything else--the sport of men. Walk through the streets of +Scutari, and you will find the marks of bullets on every house. + +The following was quite a recent affair. A young swell one morning was +presented with his account, a few shillings only, by his shoemaker. His +noble blood could not suffer the indignity long. He walked down the +bazaar, found the beast of a tradesman standing in front of his stall, +holding his child in his arms, and, without a word, blew his brains +out. This gentleman, I need hardly say, is still at large, and swaggers +about as usual. + +We drank coffee with Bektse Tchotche, and had a long conversation with +him, the gendarme acting as interpreter. He was very kind and polite, +and invited us to see him again. + +The bazaar at Scutari is full of strange sights, but the most strange +and pitiful is a scene one can witness every day outside a certain +baker's, who has made a contract with the government. Here for hours +patiently waits a miserable crowd of wretches, men, women, and +children, thin and pallid, with--yes, even smelling of--starvation. At +last a door opens in the loft, and at once they seem to wake from their +death-like lethargy; they press up, each trying to be first; they raise +their lean arms, and utter prayers and objurgations, hoarse and cracked +with hunger. A piece of undercooked maize bread is given to each, and +they depart, devouring it in silence. These are Bosnian refugees, +families that have emigrated from their homes at the instance of the +Turkish government, which now can do so little for them. Better for +them had they stayed in their native valleys, and trusted to the +justice of the Austrian giaours. Outside the town, by the roadside, one +comes across some that are so worn with travel and hunger that they +have not the energy to come with the others to receive the scant +rations. Here is a typical group. A veiled woman, sitting patiently by +the wayside, with several small children lying by her, all starving, +and one evidently dying. The father is dead--killed while resisting the +infidels, far away in Bosnia. These unfortunates do not beg--they sit +there in mute apathy. The children, maybe, crouch up nearer to their +mother when they see a giaour passing. If you show some small coins, +and beckon to them, the eldest child will perhaps take courage, and +painfully drag itself to you, will take the gift, look wonderingly at +you with his big eyes (unnaturally big in the white shrunk face), say +not a word, and return to his mother to pour what he has received into +her lap. The mother all the time sits there impassive, to all outward +appearance, quite heedless of what is going on, and utters not a word. +It is the daily sight of these poor wretches, and the tales they have +to tell, that so excited the Albanian Mussulmen to resist _a outrance_ +any occupation of their country by Austria, for of course that power is +considered by them as the accursed cause of all this suffering. + +We returned to the house of our friend the gendarme, and had a most +interesting conversation with him on the customs of his country. He +narrated to us, among other things, the last little affair in the way +of blood feuds. + +"A friend of mine," said he, "was playing at cards in the bazaar with +another gentleman. The latter accused my friend of cheating. His reply, +of course, was a pistol-bullet, which instantly killed the other. My +friend, knowing that many of the dead man's relations were about, +escaped from the town to a house he has in the mountains, where he +could stay in safety for awhile. The relations of the other, being +unable to avenge his death on the person of his murderer, adopted the +following very clever plan to entrap and kill, without incurring any +risk themselves, the nearest relative of my friend, his father. Two men +went to the old man's house, and told him that his son had been slain +by a man of Koplik, and that his murderer was now staying in a khan on +the road to that village. They offered to accompany him and assist him +to avenge his son's death. The old man swallowed the bait without +suspicion. On a lonely part of the road, as he rode somewhat in advance +of his two companions, they at the same moment fired their pistols into +his back, then cutting off his head, sent it in a package to his son." + +Thus are things managed in this pleasant land of Albania. + +It was dark before we left our friend's house, so he sent his Miridite +servant to accompany us with a lantern to our hotel. + +Scutari is not lit by night with lamps of any kind, so it is almost +impossible to find one's way in the dark through the narrow intricate +alleys. Besides, as the paving is laid down carelessly, to say the +least of it, one would run a good chance of breaking one's neck, if one +dispensed with the services of a link-man. One occasionally comes +across deep pits in the middle of a street, or against a rough stone +projecting up quite three feet above the average level of the others. +As the town is subject to floods, high stepping-stones are placed +across the streets at intervals. All this makes walking in the dark +exceeding unpleasant in this city. + +I said somewhere back that the police have little to do in Scutari. +They have one function at any rate. They patrol the streets at night, +and arrest all who are not provided with lit lanterns. This rule is +strictly enforced. If any one were walking lanternless any night in the +town, and did not immediately respond to the patrol's challenge and +surrender himself, he would most probably receive a rifle-bullet or +so into him. Burglars, provided they carry lamps, are, as far as I +can make out, not interfered with by the police. An attempt to break +into our consul's house was made not long ago. A watchful _cavasse_ +(body-servant) saw the men in the garden, and opened fire on them with +his gun from a window. The fire was returned, and kept up for half an +hour or so between the two parties, simply by way of passing the time +pleasantly, I suppose. The Albanians are vile shots, and no damage was +done on either side, beyond may be a window or so broken. The police +kept carefully out of the way all the time. + +Three army doctors dined with us at the hotel table d'hote. They were +not in a happy state of mind. Their whole conversation was a vehement +abuse of the Turkish Government. As they understood Italian we were +able to join in the talk. One of them, a very amusing old fellow, an +Armenian, waxed very warm over his grievances. "Ah, Signor, you have no +idea what a corrupt, vile thing this Turkish Government is. The court +eats all the country. We who work, the employes of the state, the +doctors, the soldiers, never receive any pay now. We are put off with +excuses on excuses, lies on lies. As long as they think they can obtain +our labour for nothing, not a para will they let slip through their +fingers. Look at my case. I have been a doctor in the Turkish army for +forty years, I have been through the Crimea, over all Asia, in the +service of the Porte. I am entitled to a good pension. I have been day +after day to the office at Constantinople, and put my case before the +authorities. They put me off with all sorts of fair promises, but I +knew what that meant, so went to them day after day, and worried them +so much that they decided to get rid of me in some way. 'There is a +permanent hospital in Scutari, in Albania,' they told me. 'In +consideration of your long service we appoint you as head doctor of it. +Start at once to your post.' Now that I have travelled all this way, at +my own expense mind you, what do I find? The permanent hospital no +longer exists--it is a myth, and they knew it at Constantinople all the +time, and no doubt chuckled merrily, when I had turned my back, at the +clever way they had rid themselves of the importunate old nuisance." + +Our friend the gendarme called on us after dinner. He too had his +grievance. He had just called on his commandant, in hopes of receiving +some small portion of the arrears of pay due to him. The following +brief conversation ensued:-- + +"What do you want here, Lieutenant P.?" + +"I want money." + +"What? Eh! Money! What on earth for?" + +"To procure bread." + +"Ah! bread; that is well. Do you know what there is in the _caisse_?" + +"No." + +"Well, there is nothing; and I see little chance of there being a +single para there for some time. So go, young man, and do not indulge +in extravagant habits. I advise you as an older man." + +After a few consultations with Mr. Green, Brown and myself determined +to carry out our original plan of riding to Janina, and of visiting +Priserin on our way, if the Leaguesmen were willing to receive us in +that city. + +Our friend the gendarme offered to accompany us the whole way for a +small consideration. This suited us exactly. For with him we could +converse, and the chances were small of our meeting people who could +understand any Western language, on our route. Besides, the Turkish +government compels all travellers to take an escort of zaptiehs. At +certain stages these are changed, and another escort is given, of +greater or less numerical strength according to the state of the +country to be traversed. In the company of this officer, we should +probably be able to dispense with this nuisance, except perhaps on a +few stages where brigands were supposed to be prowling about. An escort +of zaptiehs is really of little use; for when brigands are come across +here, it is not in twos and threes, but in overwhelming numbers. + +We were rather surprised when our intended companion told us that he +could easily procure letters of safe-conduct for us to the chiefs of +the League at Priserin and Jakova, as he himself had many intimate +friends among the head men of that formidable organization, at Scutari. +Curiously illustrative was this of the present condition of this +country. Here was an official of the Turkish Government, an officer of +police, openly associating and sympathizing with rebels, whose avowed +object it is to throw off the Turkish yoke by force of arms, and place +a prince of their own choice on the old stone throne of Scanderbeg at +Kroia. + +The next thing to do was to make preparations for our journey. We had +spent all our gold, so found that we were obliged to change some of our +English notes. This was no easy matter. After some difficulty, with the +assistance of Mr. Green we found an old Christian merchant, Shouma by +name, reputedly of great wealth. He might be able to manage the little +affair for us. + +We called on him, and according to the custom of the country we +indulged in coffee, sweetmeats, sherbet, and cigarettes before +commencing to state our business. Very suspiciously he looked at the +notes. Bills of exchange he would have discounted without hesitation; I +believe our own promissory notes would have satisfied him. But in +governments this wise man had no faith. He did not believe in a paper +currency. + +He had observed how in his own country it had depreciated till at last +it was absolutely valueless. He knew that even Austria's notes were +worth considerably less than the sum they are supposed to represent. I +tried to explain to him what Bank of England notes really were--what +the difference between a convertible and an inconvertible paper +currency was; but Shouma evidently considered that the convertible +paper was a still more subtle device of a more clever government to +hoodwink and swindle the people. + +However, he agreed to change a ten pound note for us, provided that Mr. +Green guaranteed that it really was worth ten golden sovereigns. Mr. +Green was of course willing to do this for us. Shouma accordingly took +our note, but told us that it would take three days at least to rake +together so large a sum as ten pounds in Scutari. He would go that very +day to the bazaar, and get as much as he could, for us to go on with. + +In three days, a huge packet of metallic discs, of every size and +inscription, was ready for us. This was accompanied by a document, +lengthy as the manifest of a mail steamer, specifying the value of this +wonderful ten pounds' worth of coins. + +He gave us 131 piastres and a fraction for each sovereign. It took us +two hours to count and verify our change. There were silver medjidies +at 22-1/2 piastres each, all sorts of curious concave plates of base +metal, worth 11-1/2, 6-3/4, 13-1/2, and many other odd sums nasty to +calculate. + +There were Greek coins, Russian roubles, old Austrian swanzickers +bearing the effigies of Maria Theresa, Peruvian and Mexican dollars, +and I know not what besides. Verifying one's change, is no joke in +Albania. + +To shop in the bazaar of Scutari is a maddening operation, unless one +heroically resigns oneself to the certainty of being cheated twice over +in every transaction; for not only must one bargain fiercely and +cunningly, and beat down the price the merchant asks for an article in +the first instance, but after one has come to terms, and is about to +hand over his fifty piastres, say, another still warmer and more +utterly confusing discussion is sure to ensue as to the value of the +coins one presents to him. + +The piece of money you yourself received as a twenty-piastre bit, he +insists is worth only eighteen. + +"See here," he says, "this swanzicker you give me has a hole through +it; that diminishes its value by two paras." Two or three neighbours +are called in to decide the question. Each has a different opinion on +the subject. + +The fact is that all money is acceptable here, and that, especially +since Turkey's reduced circumstances, the currency consists of the old, +semi-defaced coinage of a dozen nations at least, whose value is +arrived at by guesswork. I met no one in Albania capable of telling +off-hand how many piastres a given piece was worth. + +We spent the three days Shouma had given us, in preparing for our +journey, and seeing as much as we could of the habits and customs of +the Scutarines. + +As we had made up our minds to ride, we paid a visit to the bazaar to +purchase two horses. All sorts of extraordinary animals were produced, +and refused. + +At last we came across one that struck our fancy--a long-legged, +extremely lean creature, tall for the country, of a red-brick colour. + +Brown, who is a horsey man, proceeded to examine him in a scientific +manner, to the admiration of the Arnaut stablemen. + +He pointed out the weak points of the animal by signs to the dealer, +who was quite as sharp as any of his fraternity in England. + +Brown, wishing to express his disapproval of the extremely emaciated +condition of the horse, pointed to his ribs; whereon the man, +misunderstanding his meaning, deliberately counted them before him--a +very easy process in the case of this Albanian Rosinante--and +indignantly signified to my companion that he was too much of a +gentleman to offer for sale a horse that was not provided with a +sufficient number of those necessary costal supporters. + +The animal was then trotted out, down one of the crowded alleys of the +bazaar. He found favour in Brown's critical eye, so the bargaining +commenced. + +"_Sa pare?_" (how much) I asked. + +The dealer held up both his hands, and said, "napoleon Frank"--to +signify that he wanted ten napoleons. + +Brown expressed infinite disgust, and held up two fingers. + +The dealer in his turn turned his back, with indignant gesticulations +and exclamations at the ridiculously low offer. + +At last a bargain was struck, the money counted out, and the purchase +delivered to us. + +We were mounted at the time on two horses Mr. Green had kindly lent us; +so we led off Rosso--as we named our animal, in consequence of his rosy +hue--with a rope behind us. + +Through Mr. Green we managed to procure another steed, a younger +animal, and of more robust habit than the lean and haggard Rosso. From +his more gentlemanly appearance we gave him the name of Effendi. + +We managed to pick up two saddles in the bazaar--one the regular +Turkish saddle, at first so uncomfortable to the novice, but gaudy with +flimsy metal ornament; the other was a secondhand Turkish officer's +saddle, similar to that used in Europe, and provided with +formidable-looking holsters. + +We felt very proud of our purchases, and took a long ride the same +afternoon over the plain, to a very fine old Venetian bridge that spans +a branch of the Bojano, Mr. Green's son accompanying us. + +Rosso and Effendi proved to be all that could be desired. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Our Lady of Scutari--A miracle--The fete--A funeral--A drunken +Arnaut--Our escort--Two more Britons--Warm discussion--War--Marco. + + +The morrow (October 18th) was the great holiday of North Albania, the +day of Our Lady of Scutari. + +Long ago all this country was Christian. In this city there then stood +a beautiful wooden image of the Virgin Mary. Thousands of the faithful +were wont to flock hither year by year to offer their devotions at her +feet, and to be healed of their infirmities; for no sick man that had +faith was ever known to kiss the white feet of the image and not depart +whole. + +But it came to pass that a certain priest made himself very unpopular +among the people. I do not quite know for what cause, but at any rate a +large multitude came to the church one day, and declared that unless +something that they desired was granted to them they would then and +there abjure the religion of Christ and embrace Mohammedanism. Rightly +or wrongly, the priest would not give in; whereupon the people tore +their rosaries from their necks, and marched off to the nearest +Mohammedan village, that the mollahs might receive the renegades into +the fold of the Prophet; whereupon Our Lady of Scutari, sorrowful and +angry at the desertion of those for whom she had wrought so many good +things for so many years, left her shrine in this ungrateful land. + +That night the wooden image disappeared. It was not heard of for +months--when tidings came that on the very same night that this event +happened, an image of the Virgin miraculously entered a church in a +remote village of Italy, and there took up its abode. A loud voice was +also heard, crying out over Scutari, that not till the last Turki +(Mohammedan) had left Albania would Our Lady of Scodra be appeased and +forgive her children: then, and not till then, would she return to her +old shrine. + +This day was the anniversary of the miraculous departure of the image, +long ago; and an impressive service was held in the great ugly square +church of the Christians in this city. + +The interior of this building is almost entirely devoid of any ornament +whatever, and bears no resemblance to any church elsewhere. + +The priests that minister to the spiritual wants of the Albanians are +Franciscans and Jesuits, all of whom are Italians. The Franciscan monks +have a convent and schools. The Jesuits have tried their best to +monopolize the education of the people, but are not much liked. + +It was difficult, standing in this bleak building, in the midst of so +wild and outlandish though very devout a congregation, to imagine +oneself attending a Christian service. + +The fierce-eyed shaven-headed Arnaut mountaineer jostled with the +mild-looking Scutarine Christian and kilted Mussulman; for those of the +other faith, curiously enough, offer their devotions on this day to the +mother of the Christ whom they despise. Indeed though one half the +Albanians call themselves Christians, and the other half profess to be +Mohammedans, there is really little distinction between them. The +Mohammedans worship the Virgin Mary; the Christians make pilgrimages to +the sepulchres of Mussulman saints, and mingle all sorts of grotesque +alien superstitions with their Christianity, which the priesthood in +vain strive to eradicate. + +I was told that even some relics of the old Greek paganism linger in +these mountains. + +I myself have seen the Arnauts attempt to read the future from the +entrails of a sheep which they had slain for a feast. + +Before the service we had an opportunity of witnessing a Christian +funeral. The coffin was borne on the shoulders of men, while the women +followed at a distance, crying and wailing, as is and has been the +custom, in all the East, for all time:-- + +"He was strong in the chase, he was handsome, he was lovable, he was +brave. Alas! no more will he be loved, no more will his swift feet +carry him to the hunt. His enemies will rejoice, and throw away their +fear. Alas! alas! he has gone from us! he will be hidden in the cold +earth." + +In the evening a band played outside the church, and the jolly +Franciscan monks tucked up their gowns, and proceeded to amuse the +crowd with several balloons, which they filled with hot air and +liberated, to the great delight of all. + +It was a good-humoured though savage-looking mob, and would set a good +example to many a gathering of Western civilization. The streets were +gaily lit with many-coloured Chinese lanterns. As we walked home after +the termination of the proceedings, I noticed that there were one or +two cases of drunkenness. + +There was one man, an Arnaut, pretty far gone. As I consider the +different effects of alcohol on the brains of different races to be a +very interesting and curious study, I stood and watched the mountaineer +for some time, at a safe distance; for he bristled with arms of course; +and if a drunken man, carrying with him two loaded pistols, a gun, and +yataghan, should run amuck, or conceive a sudden dislike to the English +foreigners, the consequences might be unpleasant. However, he did +nothing of the kind. The sole effect of the raki was to make him +exceedingly devotional. He knelt down, raised his hands, and prayed in +a loud voice, and with a most intense and passionate earnestness. He +swung backwards and forwards--wrung his hands, as he worked himself +into a phrenzy of religious excitement. Then he kissed the muddy ground +over and over again with fervour, under the impression perhaps that he +was still at the foot of the empty shrine of the Madonna. + +Lastly, he fell prone, face down in the mud, dead drunk, when his +friends raised him and carried him off, with looks of shame on their +faces, for drunkenness is considered to be a beastly and degrading vice +in this uncivilized country. + +While we were breakfasting on the following morning, our friend the +gendarme appeared, with a very downcast and despondent visage. + +"The beasts!" he said. "O, these Turks! I cannot go with you, friends. +I had obtained leave, as you know, to accompany you on your journey +through Albania. Well, late last night I was sent for, and told that I +must stay at Scutari. They had seen me often in your company, and, as +is their custom, became jealous and suspicious; so they have got up +some idle excuse to prevent my going with you. This is the way they +treat us. They give us no pay; and when we do get a chance of making a +little money, do their best to get in our way." + +Our poor friend was very cut up, and naturally so, for to be guard of a +party of Inglezi was a rare windfall for him, and very acceptable in +these hard times. + +The authorities sent us a passport, and a very strange-looking being, +who was to be our escort on the morrow, one man being deemed a +sufficient protection, for the first stage at any rate. He was a tall, +miserable-looking zaptieh, in very ragged uniform. His face was of +extraordinary length, and lantern-jawed. He was almost skeleton-like in +his extreme thinness. He had evidently not known what a good meal meant +for a very long time. + +We discovered him to be an intensely stupid and unintelligent being. +This did not promise well. Here we were, two Englishmen, utterly +ignorant of Turkish or Albanian, about to ride right across the country +in the company of a man who would not be of the slightest use to us in +any way. + +We gave him a good feed, in hopes that this might develop some traces +of intelligence in his dense skull. All in vain. The only effect was, +that after having thoroughly gorged himself, he closed his eyes, gave +vent to a sort of choking sound, and fell fast asleep. + +Everything was ready; we had bid adieu to our Scutarine friends, left +orders that our horses should be brought round early on the +morrow--then we retired to our beds among the sausages. + +It was scarce dawn. There was a loud knock at our door--a rather +violent knock. The door opened; we expected to see the smiling face of +Toshli, who had come to announce the arrival of our ghostly zaptieh and +our brave steeds; but to our astonishment there entered, boisterously, +two bronzed and travel-stained Britons--in short, the long-lost Jones +and Robinson, whom we had given up long ago. + +They stood laughing before us; but Brown and myself considered it +incumbent upon us to receive them in a slightly distant and dignified +manner as we sat up in our beds. We asked them to give an explanation +of their great dilatoriness in catching us up. + +We found that they had started from England a fortnight after us, but +had been delayed at Cattaro and other ports, in consequence of some +extremely ingenious arrangement Robinson, the inventor, had made for +receiving money at different places on the route. + +They had followed in our footsteps exactly--had taken boat from Trieste +to Cattaro, and thence walked, via Cettinje, to Rieka, where they had +taken a londra for Scutari. We inquired where the white elephant and +other Robinsoniana were. + +They had left them at Cettinje, they said, and were going to return for +them. This further delay was by no means pleasing to Brown and myself. +We laid our programme before them, and expected that they would fall in +with it at once. A very warm discussion ensued, very nearly resulting +in a re-separation of our forces. + +They had been very well received, it seems, by the Montenegrins, and +had promised some of the chieftains at Cettinje that they would return +to that capital as soon as they had seen Scutari. + +The war between the principality and the Albanians, so long talked of, +was, they said, now but a question of a few days. They had been invited +to accompany the army of Prince Nikita, which was on the point of +advancing on Gussinje, as the honoured guests of the general in +command. + +There are certainly two sides to every question. From the little we had +seen of the two countries, Brown and myself had formed a decided +preference for the Albanians over the Montenegrins; but we found that +our two friends were full of praises of the Black Mountaineers, and +abuse of the Skipitars. The Montenegrins have rather a knack of +wheedling over strangers to their own views of the question. Jones and +Robinson, however, to a great extent modified their opinions later on, +when we had seen a little more of both sides. + +The discussion progressed with considerable warmth. Our recently found +friends insisted on returning to Montenegro. Brown and myself were very +loth to give up our projected ride across the little-known countries of +North Albania. We often wandered from the point into hot dispute as to +the virtues or the reverse of the respective races. Ultimately a +compromise was effected. We decided to convert Rosso and Effendi into +baggage animals, and walk from Scutari to Podgoritza, an important +town, acquired by Montenegro from Turkey during the late war, and which +was but two days' march from Gussinje. Here the Montenegrin forces were +to concentrate, before advancing against the enemy. If we found that +war was really intended, we agreed to carry out the programme of our +friends. If we found that it was being indefinitely delayed, we would +return to Scutari, and march to Previso by the route Brown and myself +had decided on. + +Brown and myself gave in with great reluctance, feeling that our +friends, after delaying us so long, were now about to take us on a wild +goose chase after a phantom war. I do not think either of us recovered +that sweetness of temper which distinguishes us until after the dinner +we partook of that evening at the hospitable board of the British +Consulate. + +During the above discussion our ghostly zaptieh was announced. With the +aid of our landlord we tried to explain to him that his services were +no longer needed by us. This man, as I have said, was the incarnation +of stupidity; as a Turkish soldier, he was also a model of obedience to +those who were put in authority over him. + +He had been ordered to conduct us to Priserin--so much had got into his +head; and conduct us to Priserin he would, notwithstanding our +insistence that we had now altered our intentions. "The Pasha told me +to take you to Priserin," was all we could get out of him. He would +have attempted to take us there by force, I believe, had we not quieted +him with another full meal, which had the same soporific effect as that +of the previous day. + +When we told Mr. Green of our altered plans, in the evening, he +remarked that at any rate our throats would be safe in Montenegro, +which is more than they would be in this country. "But," he added, "if +you visit Podgoritza you will not be able to return here and visit +Priserin. They will have heard of your friendship with the Montenegrin +general, and will inevitably take you as spies, and treat you as such +in a very summary manner. If you return here and wish to travel to +Janina, you must do so by the other route, which takes you through the +cities of Tirana, Elbessan, and Berat." + +The next day we made preparations for our journey. + +As it was a doubtful question whether we should find food on the road +to Podgoritza, an unfrequented track, with rather a bad reputation for +Arnauts, we purchased a horse-hair saddle-bag, and laid up a good stock +of rice bread, mutton, raki, and other necessaries. Robinson had +brought his cooking apparatus with him to Scutari, and was very anxious +to bring it into use on the earliest occasion. + +The evening before our start we very luckily came across a man who had +served as groom to Captain Sale, of the late frontier commission. He +seemed to understand a word or two of English and Italian, and had a +very good character from the Consulate. So we hired him for a month. A +very useful fellow he turned out to be. He was dressed in full Arnaut +costume, which never left his back during the whole of his stay with +us--five weeks, and yet, in some mysterious manner, it ever appeared +snowy and new, indeed, his appearance did us credit. He was a young +fellow of pleasing countenance, the chief characteristic of which was a +perpetual grin. Like all I met of his race, he was faithful and honest, +and soon became attached to his masters. His preparations for the +journey did not require much time, for his luggage consisted simply of +a large gingham umbrella. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +March to Podgoritza--An Albanian khan--Our cook--The Fund--Across the +lake--Night visitors--The frontier--Podgoritza-The armourer--The war +minister--Dobra Pushka. + + +Over our last glass of grog before turning in for the night, we had +determined to start at daybreak this morning. So abominable was the +weather, however, that we preferred to indulge in the comfort of our +beds a little longer. An unbroken mass of cloud covered the whole sky, +from which poured down a steady deluge, which had a deliberate look +about it, as if it had no intention of ceasing for a month at least. +Jones looked out of the window, scanned the horizon mournfully, and +remarking that he thought the rainy season would soon begin, got into +bed again. + +At last we mustered courage enough to rise, ordered a substantial +breakfast, and sent the faithful Marco to saddle Rosso and Effendi. +When Rosso was brought in front of the hotel, he evidently objected to +standing out there in the rain while we breakfasted in comfort within; +so he walked into the room in which we sat, and made a very fair meal +off a deal box that stood in the corner. Our saddle-bags and blankets +were placed on the horses' backs, and the expedition started. Our +gendarme and landlord saw us well out of the town, where a stirrup-cup +was indulged in. We must have looked very imposing: first Marco in his +Arnaut dress, sheltering himself with a huge umbrella, the only article +of luggage he brought with him; then the two horses; and lastly, our +four selves. + +All in top-boots--Jones, Brown, and myself well protected with hooded +military macintoshes we had bought in Turkey, while Robinson was +enveloped in a ponderous English yeomanry great-coat, which must have +weighed something when it was thoroughly soaked. Our rifles were slung +to our shoulders. Jones was the proud bearer of an Arnaut gun, of which +I shall have to say more anon. He also carried a pocket filter, slung +to his shoulders. + +This day's journey was certainly not a pleasant one. The road from +Scutari to Podgoritza is not much of a road at the best of times; it is +a mere track. For the first day's march it traverses the plain which +borders the east shore of the lake. + +This day it was difficult to know what was intended for lake, what for +road; it was all the same. The lake had the advantage, if anything, of +being the less muddy of the two. We were up to our knees in water all +day. I endeavoured to enter into conversation with Marco, and was +grieved to find he was a fraud. Yesterday, when we hired him, I spoke +to him in Italian and French, curiously mixed together; for I was told +he understood a little of both these languages. To everything I said he +replied briskly, _Ca bonne, monsor, ca bonne_. This is the man for +us, I said; he understands all I say. "Then he must, indeed, be a +wonderful man," my friends replied; "let us have him." + +But alas! I now discovered that Marco's linguistic powers were very +limited. Give him an order; he never confessed to his absolute +ignorance of what you were talking about, but blithely came out with +his perpetual _ca bonne, ca bonne_, as if that was all that was +required of him. However, by degrees I discovered what words he knew of +French, what of Italian, and what of English (for he had even picked up +some words of our tongue when in the service of the commissioners). +With the addition of a few words of Sclav and Albanian, I then +manufactured a mongrel tongue, which was common to Marco and myself, +and utter gibberish to any one else. About midday we halted for lunch. +We stood up to our knees in mud and water under the pouring rain, ate +sausage, and each in turn made use of the filter, which was placed in +the muddy water of the road, while the purified fluid was sucked +through an indiarubber tube. + +Marco was much astonished and pleased at this proceeding. A tot of rum +all round completed our modest repast. On the way we were joined by a +man who was also travelling to Podgoritza--a Montenegrin, on horseback. +Being alone, he was glad to join our party, well armed as we were, for +the Arnauts that inhabit the mountains that were to the right of us +have a bad name, and are much given to plundering travellers. + +At last a large house rose before us. "That is the khan of Coplik," +said Marco. "We must pass the night here, for the next house of any +kind is eight hours off." + +We entered the khan, and found it to be a more luxurious place than we +expected to find. An upper room was given to us for our use. It had no +windows, but the rough stone wall and raftered roof admitted plenty of +daylight, not to mention rain and wind. The floor was also well +ventilated, as was the door that opened on the wooden gallery outside. +As Jones remarked, our chamber combined the comforts of a home with the +sanitary advantages of a hydropathic establishment. There was no +furniture of any kind, and the whole of the elegant chamber was +blackened with smoke. We soon spread our blankets, and made ourselves +very comfortable. We had brought some provisions with us, but Marco was +sent out in search of any dainty there might be in the establishment. +In a Turkish khan you are supplied with shelter and firing; bedding and +provisions you are supposed to bring with you. + +The landlord, a grim-looking Arnaut, came in with Marco, and said he +could let us have two fowls, but would be pleased if we came out and +shot them. He evidently wished to see our weapons in use, so we +gratified him. Our Nimrod, Robinson, blew one rooster to pieces. Brown +was satisfied with knocking off the head of the other with a Winchester +bullet. (We were charged 5_d._ each for them.) A brazier of charcoal +was brought up to our room, and a large pot; whereupon Brown, taking +upon himself the office of cook, commenced to prepare our meal, and +very successful he was. + +He cut up the fowls, and boiled them up with slices of sausage, +macaroni, grease-meal, salt, pepper, all from our commissariat bag. I +am not sure he did not even add some of the flea powder as seasoning. +We watched him hungrily and anxiously. Awful would have been his end +had he spoiled that dish. Wet through as we were, we thoroughly enjoyed +the meal, which we washed down with the rum we had brought with us, and +raki we bought from the khanji. Very contented and jovial I know we all +felt afterwards as we squatted round the fire on our blankets, smoking +our pipes and drinking our coffee. Marco too seemed to thoroughly +appreciate our cookery, and grinned happily for the rest of the day. + +Our retiring for the night did not involve much preparation. To take +off one's boots and roll oneself up in one's blanket sufficed. Robinson +suggested that the door should be left open, as the fumes of the +charcoal fire might suffocate us in the night. Considering the number +and size of the orifices in roof and wall we thought this would be +excess of caution. The prudent Robinson had also heard many awful tales +of Eastern khans, and suggested that some one should remain awake. In +England, before starting on this expedition, we had determined to +station regular watches every night. Here was a good opportunity to +begin, but somehow no one seemed quite to see it; I think we were too +sleepy. One good and useful suggestion was, however, made. This was, +that when sleeping in perilous places we should keep Brown away from +his flea-powder. He would then of a certainty keep an admirable watch. +In the middle of the night a gruff and sleepy voice was heard to issue +from the blanket in which Jones was enveloped, "Bother that crumb." +"What is the matter?" we inquired. "There is a crumb in my bed," was +the reply. "It got under my side, and woke me up." On searching for the +crumb, Jones found it was his Colt revolver that had thus troubled his +sleep. We slept very well in spite of rain, wind, and insects, and were +up at daybreak, packing our baggage for the day's march. + +As we gradually discovered each other's talents, we apportioned to each +his particular duty on the march or in the camp. Brown had displayed +such great culinary skill that we unanimously elected him _chef_ to the +expedition. As a branch of this important office, it was his province +to decide what vegetables and other comestibles should be purchased +when the commissariat bag was light. He was also a capital muleteer, +and would urge on our steeds, when lazily inclined, with considerable +results. Robinson was so occupied with the carriage of his weighty +rifle, that none of his talents had scope for manifestation on the +march. However, he was a wonderful man at packing the tent and baggage, +and so made himself very useful every morning in getting things in +order. Jones, the philosopher, was general supervisor of the others, +saw that all went well, and pensively looked on while others worked. On +me was inflicted the most arduous duty of all. I was dubbed the +Fund--that is, I was banker and paymaster. This office was conferred on +me in consideration of a certain smattering I had of the Latin tongues. +French and Italian are far more useful in Turkey than are any other +European languages. When we came across the Franciscan missionaries, in +the mountains, I conversed with these fluently and rapidly, in dog +Latin crossed with Italian--a language that would have much astonished +my masters at Westminster in the olden time. + +There was one advantage in being Fund. Having command of the wealth of +the party, I was followed, flattered, and made much of by the others. +Later on, on our return journey across Europe, the office changed +hands. Brown became Fund, and the old Fund was neglected and forgotten +for the new--such are men. + +This was a hard day's march. Our route for many hours lay across the +same little cultivated and monotonous plain. We saw but little game, +and that we could not get at. We caught glimpses occasionally of the +long line of the lake of Scutari, to the left of us; while on our +right, behind the rolling plains, rose the huge bare mountains of +Castrati. At last, as we approached the termination of the lake, the +flat country came to an end, and the mountains fell down to the edge of +the water. Our road now became exceedingly difficult, a mere goat-track +up and down the rugged hill side, now across _couloirs_ of _debris_, +as they call them in the Alps, now through jungles of thorn, and +now up almost perpendicular rocks. The rain had ceased, and the +sun was uncomfortably hot for such work as this. Our Montenegrin +fellow-traveller, who started with us this morning, dismounted from his +horse, and was obliged to push him bodily over the worst parts. We had +to keep a sharp eye on Rosso and Effendi; they slipped and stumbled +incessantly. Rosso proved to be the best mountaineer of the two. +Effendi was far less sure-footed. This little animal again was so well +fed that his circumference was a mathematical circle in form. Thus, as +he had none of the Rosinante-like angles of Rosso, which gave hold to +the strappings, his pack was continually twisting round and rolling +under him. At last, hot and thirsty, we reached a little plateau just +over the lake, where were pitched three or four tents, the quarters of +a small party of the most utterly miserable-looking Turkish soldiers I +had ever cast eyes upon. All were in rags. Their uniforms were +supplemented with some garments of the country. They were bare-footed, +or wore the native punkoa. + +"What important garrison town may this be, Marco?" said Jones. + +"_Ca bonne, monsor, ca bonne_," replied our grinning domestic. I +don't know whether the place has a name; I should say it had, being in +this country, where three houses constitute a town. There were three +officers here, who shared one miserable tent. The poor fellows had not +seen pay for a very long time. One, a Crimean medallist, a defender of +Kars, was down with fever badly. They invited us into their wretched +quarters, and ordered coffee for us. They had no sugar, but this we +were able to provide them with. We also had some cakes of chocolate, +which we presented to them, and which they seemed very glad to get. +They were fine-looking fellows, but all had that sad look which true +Turks wear in these latter days. With the aid of Marco as interpreter, +we were able to converse with them on various subjects. They seemed to +despair of their country, and, like all I met, put all the blame on the +evil system of government. They told us that a londra would be here +soon, bearing provisions from the fortress of Helm for this post. The +londra would then return, and we could go with it, thus saving +ourselves a five hours' very rough march. We gladly availed ourselves +of the offer, and waited for the arrival of the boat. We studied our +maps, and tried to make out where we were, and what branch of the lake +this might be which we were to traverse. The maps on this occasion, as +on all others, gave no information on the subject. The fact of the +matter is, there is no map of this part of the Turkish dominions. The +rivers, lakes, and towns, are put in by guess-work. + +The londra at last arrived. It was manned by six or seven disreputable +and hungry-looking soldiers. The provisions were landed; these +consisted of a few maize loaves and a small bag of rice. + +We bid adieu to our friends the officers, with a little difficulty +persuaded Rosso and Effendi to embark, and were soon gliding swiftly +across the smooth lake. In about an hour we had reached the opposite +side. Here were three or four houses, occupied by Turkish officers, +while the men were camped out on the edge of the lake in tents, so +ragged and torn that they must have been next to useless. In the +background, a few miles from the lake, there was a steep mountain, on +whose summit was a large fortress. This place we found is called Helm. +We landed, and at once resumed our march, which lay under the mountain, +and across a broad and lengthy plain which lies between Podgoritza and +the lake. There was no sign of cultivation anywhere. The plain was a +pebbly desert, scanty grass and a sort of prickly thorn being the sole +vegetation. + +The heavy rain had once more set in, and before we had marched very +far, the waters, rushing down from the distant mountains, converted the +plain into a lake, across which we waded, the muddy compound rising +above our top-boots. Darkness at length came on, so as we should +certainly have lost ourselves had we gone much further, we entered a +khan, which turned up before us just in time. It was a rougher and less +civilized khan than that of the previous evening. There was but one +room in it; the floor was of clay; the walls, as usual, black with the +smoke of ages; and the ventilation almost too perfect. + +They had some goat's flesh here, so we were enabled to make an +excellent meal. Being tired after our long march, we then retired to +our beds. + +Just by the bar, as we chose to call the corner of the room where the +raki and wine were stored, there was a broad wooden slab against the +wall, supported on logs, and sloping down outward at a slight angle. + +This was to serve as our bed for the night. We lay side by side rolled +up in our blankets. The neighbourhood was soon made aware of our +arrival; the khan was filled with armed Arnauts, who came and stared at +us inquisitively, while they whispered to each other in a mysterious +manner. + +There was something very comic in the situation. There we lay, +stretched out in a row on that deal board, for all the world like the +corpses lying side by side, in similar fashion, on the marble slab of +the Paris morgue. + +However, enveloped as we were in our voluminous blankets, nothing could +be seen of us but four projecting nasal organs. But this was quite +enough for our friends. Throughout the night they came and went through +the open door: there were never less than a dozen admiring us at a +time. + +Towards the morning the bard of the district came in, tuned up his +guzla, and favoured us with a dismal selection from his _repertoire_. + +His voice was high and cracked, but he sang fiercely and energetically, +while all the natives listened, spellbound and silent. I presume he was +singing our praises--he was evidently chanting the doings of some great +warriors. + +Jones at last sneezed so violently in the middle of his song that the +minstrel was quite disconcerted, and sadly laying down his instrument, +stretched himself on the floor and slept. Being now at peace, we +followed his example. + +I might as well mention the fact that I have never seen a Montenegrin +or Albanian take off his clothes before retiring for the night. I +believe, except when one of these people buys a new suit, he never +does, on any occasion whatever, undress. The poorer people, who never +do indulge in new suits, merely patch up the old while on them. + +The next morning, at daybreak, we swallowed some boiling coffee, and +prepared for the march. Our toilet was simple enough: as Jones said, +"All I have to do is to rub in dubbin on my boots, and sling on my +pocket filter, and I am ready." + +It was a bright, sunny morning. This change of the weather was very +welcome to us, wet through as we had been, night and day, since we left +Scutari. Half-way between Helm and Podgoritza a river crosses the +plain. The rapid water has eaten for itself a deep, narrow channel with +perpendicular sides. This forms the frontier between Turkey and +Montenegro. We crossed this torrent on a well-made bridge, in whose +centre was a stone, on one side of which were inscribed the arms of the +mountain principality, on the other side the star and crescent of the +Sublime Porte. From here we saw, far away over the plain, the minarets +of Podgoritza, standing out white against a background of dark +Montenegrin mountains. + +It was not long before we were outside the town. It had been a dreary +morning's march. The plain, which with care might return much to the +agriculturist, was left bare and uncultivated. One need not search far +for a reason. We were on the frontier, on the scene of perpetual border +frays. He who sowed here would sow for the whirlwind only. + + [Illustration: PODGORITZA. + _Page_ 177.] + +Close to the town was a rough sentry-box; out stepped a Montenegrin +sentry, quite a boy, and challenged us. We amused him by showing him +our passports, which he gravely considered, first upside down, then +sideways; then he held one up to the sun, then shook his head and +returned them. He questioned Marco as to what we were. "These are +consuls Inglesi," replied the faithful one; "English consuls on the +spree." This was sufficient. We were saluted and allowed to pass. + +I believe that throughout our stay in Montenegro we were invariably +taken for English Consuls, on a sort of happy-go-lucky holiday; anyhow, +we were highly appreciated by all the natives we came across. + +It was very amusing to hear Marco explain us to inquisitive people. +Some passers-by would stalk by us--too polite and proud to stare or +show any surprise at our appearance; but having passed us, they would +stop Marco, and whisper to him, "What are these men?" "Great +diplomatists," would reply Marco, with dignity. "Consuls Inglesi. That +one in the spectacles is the head diplomatist. All great diplomatists +wear spectacles, you know." + +We passed through the ruined walls which surround Podgoritza, and +marched down several badly-paved streets to the chief khan of the +place. + +Podgoritza is a considerable town, with a population, I should say, of +8000 at least. It is picturesquely situated on the east bank of the +Moracha, a turbulent stream, and one of the chief feeders of the Lake +of Scutari. A large proportion of the inhabitants are Mohammedans. + +The treaty of Berlin handed over this important Albanian fortress to +Montenegro. The Black Mountaineers had only occupied the place a short +time before our arrival. But all seemed to be going on peaceably; the +inhabitants appeared quite reconciled to their new government. + +Our khan had been recently the house of a wealthy Mohammedan, and was +quite an imposing building. An archway led through to a court-yard, +surrounded by stables; above the stables run a wooden gallery, on to +which opened the various apartments. It was exactly like some of the +old-fashioned inns of the posting days, which one still comes across so +frequently in Normandy. + +We had a very pleasant chamber handed over to us for our use. A window +filled one side of it. As this window was unglazed, this was rather a +chilly residence at this time of the year, when the bora blew strong +and fresh from the snow-capped mountains. In our honour, one half of +the window was glazed. I suppose this exhausted all the glass in the +town, for no effort was made to complete the work, though we were here +for several days. A divan ran round the wall, on which we were to +sleep. They cooked for us at this hotel, but there was little variety +in the cuisine; one day stewed fowl and stewed mutton, the next stewed +mutton and stewed fowl, and so on. We found there were some bottles of +Cyprus wine downstairs, at the bar. We very soon exhausted these, for +Cyprus wine seemed a great delicacy, after the rough Albanian wines and +rakis. + +After breakfast Robinson and Marco rode off to Cettinje, fifteen hours +from here, to fetch the tent and the rest of their baggage. + +While they were away we explored the town, and made the acquaintance of +a very good fellow, Gospodina Milosh, the government armourer, who was +now very occupied in putting into order the rifles which the +mountaineers brought down to him, anticipating the invasion of Albanian +territory, the orders to march being daily expected. This gentleman had +been sent to Vienna to learn his trade, and spoke German well, so was a +useful interpreter for us during our stay. + +There was a large building adjoining our hotel, which was occupied by +the minister of war for Montenegro. It was he who led the highlanders +in those successful battles they fought with the Turks on the +Herzegovinan frontier during the last war. His name I have forgotten. +Every morning we saw him and a dozen chiefs, and others, stalk up and +down the river side in front of our window, for it was out of doors he +transacted his business, received his despatches, gave his orders, and +formed plans for the investment of Gussinje. + +The next morning we went outside the town with our landlord (who by the +way was a sergeant in the army, as the metal eagle in his cap +betokened), for a little practice with our rifles. + +We easily beat the natives on this as on all other occasions, and gave +them a very high idea of our skill as rifle shots. + +I hit the target (a pocket handkerchief) at a 200 yards' range, at the +first shot, which so pleased the spectators that they gave me the name +of the "dobra Pushka." + +There is a little bazaar in Podgoritza, through which we strolled. We +purchased some of the native caps, for it is always advisable to wear +these when in Montenegro; the people like one to assume their national +head-covering, and have a strong dislike for European hats. + +We tried to catch some fish in the river, but failed, so returned to +our caravanserai for our usual mutton and fowl. A curious lad waited on +us--he was very open-eyed and solemn, his dignity was not to be +disturbed by any amount of chaff. We called him Johnny, and spoke to +him in any language that came handy, "Asht hazer bouka, donno me +hongr?" (Is the food ready? we want to eat) was a sentence--half of +which, by the way, is Sclav and half Albanian--which was frequently +inflicted on him. "Yest, yest, hazer" (Yes, yes, it is ready) was the +welcome answer he vouchsafed to us on our entry this evening. _Yest_, +which literally signifies "It is," is the affirmative in this language, +and at first surprises an Englishman by its resemblance to his native +"yes." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +War preparations--Our camp visitors--An impromptu ball--English Consul +fashion--Robbers--Ruins of Douka--A dangerous bath--Bastinado--Karatag +yok mir. + + +The following day we took a walk in the country, with our friend the +armourer. The sheltered hollows literally swarmed with tortoises; one +could count as many as sixty within the space of a few yards. A gap was +pointed out in the distant hills behind the town, where was fought one +of the most sanguinary battles of the last war--the battle of Medun--in +which Prince Nikita gained a signal victory. + +Our friend told us some wonderful story about a rich Turk who inhabited +the present ministry of war some four years ago, before the war broke +out. He was tyrant of Podgoritza, and forbade any one to bear arms in +the town. This restriction seems to have excited the wrath of the +Montenegrins, who were wont to come down to the Albanian city on +market-day. Two of these daring highlanders came into the town one +morning, concealing pistols on their persons. They met the aforesaid +rich Turk in the bazaar, called him a dog and a thief, and thereupon +blew his brains out. + +The Mohammeddans then rose, and put every Montenegrin in the town to +death--some twenty or thirty. + +This, he said, was one of the causes which led to Prince Nikita's +taking part in the Russo-Turkish war. + +We had invited our new friend to sup with us. He seemed to appreciate +fowl and mutton very well. + +He gave us much interesting information as to the prospects of war and +other matters. He said that artillery was already posted on the heights +above Gussinje, and that the prince's troops would not be long in +driving out the enemy. He told us he was not allowed to fight himself, +his services as armourer being so exceedingly important. This was a +source of great grief to him. In the last war he ran away from his work +and joined the troops. The prince caught and rebuked him, sent him back +to his forge, and told him to consider himself as a prisoner there. He +once more sneaked down to the front during a great battle, his warlike +ardour being too much for him. This time again the prince found him +out, but could not refrain from laughing, and was obliged to pardon +him. + +The next day Robinson rode in with both horses. He had made rather a +muddle of his errand, for having come down from Cettinje as far as +Rieka, he then left Marco, to bring the tent and baggage on by londra +to a place called Jabiak. It ultimately turned out that Jabiak was just +as far from here as Rieka was. Brown rode off with a guide to this +place, and then found the unhappy Marco sitting alone, disconsolate, +tobacco-less, on the white elephant, mid the sedges by the shores of +the lake, waiting till he should be called for. Brown described him as +being an indescribably piteous object, as he meditated alone in that +dismal swamp. + +When, on the following day, Brown, Marco, the white elephant, and the +two horses returned, we held a council; and though all unanimous in +desiring to leave Podgoritza as soon as possible, could not decide as +to whither we had best go until this dilatory war, which had been +promised us by Robinson and Jones as an inducement to postpone our +Albanian travels, should commence. As we discussed warmly the armourer +came in, and said, "The minister of war wishes to see you as soon as +you can give him an hour." "We can come now," we replied. So he ushered +us into the reception-room of the war ministry, where sat the courteous +and handsome old veteran, looking fully twenty years younger than he +is. We sat on a divan, and were presented with coffee and cigarettes in +the Turkish style. The armourer acted as interpreter, translating the +general's words into German, which language both Jones and Robinson +understood well. He said "he was exceedingly glad to see English +travelling in his wild native country, and trusted we liked the people. +Go all over it," he added; "you will be safe. Pilfering and highway +robbery are quite unknown among us." On being questioned as to the +preparations for war, he said, "It was to tell you about this I desired +to see you. You wish to see the campaign: you shall do so. You shall +come with me as my guests. My servants shall be yours. On no account +leave the country just yet. What will be done will be worth your +seeing." On being told that we were rather pressed for time, he went on +to say, "Negotiations are pending at Constantinople. In four days we +shall know all. Come to me then, and I can tell the very hour we march. +That war will be, I am certain. The Albanians are sure to resist. +Prince Nikita too has sworn to take Gussinje. It is his by treaty. We +will take it, and no quarter will we give the dogs. Why should we? They +are rebels. Turkey says she has given up the place to us, and that it +is not her fault if the inhabitants resist. We will not spare one of +them. If you wish to see something of the country before you see me +again, go to Douka, where the great ruins are--they are worth +visiting--then you can return here." + +This proposal pleased us, so the commissariat was sent out to procure a +large quantity of raki, mutton, flour, and other necessaries. Robinson +was anxious to try the white elephant as soon as possible, so it was +determined to take one of our horses to bear our impedimenta, and march +out to as near Douka as we could manage this afternoon, and then camp +for the night. + +Douka is situated on the right bank of the river Moracha, some miles +above Podgoritza. + +Our landlord came with us, for as the sun was setting we did not expect +to march for more than an hour, and he wished to see us comfortably +settled for the night. Marco we left behind. + +We marched on the left bank of the Moracha, thus cutting off a long +loop which the stream formed here, and by sunset had arrived at a spot +just opposite to the ruins of Douka, the broad and foaming river +dividing us from it. + +We pitched our tent in the plain not far from the precipitous edge of +the river. The white elephant certainly looked very imposing, and was +very comfortable. We unpacked the horse, and arranged all our property +in an orderly manner in our new home. Then our landlord rode back to +Podgoritza. The sun was now setting over the western hills, so we lost +no time in cutting down some of the brushwood, and making a large fire +some ten yards from the entrance of the tent; the pot was then put on, +and a tasty stew prepared of mutton, grease-meal, onions, pepper, and +salt. + +I do not know whether, in Montenegro, to pitch a tent and light a fire +signifies a general invitation to the country-side to come and make +merry and carouse, but that was the result on this occasion. As night +set in, first one and then another armed highlander would drop in, walk +into our tent in the calmest manner, quite _sans gene_, shake us by the +hand, with a "_Dobro Eutro Gospodina_," then sit down, roll himself a +cigarette, and commence smoking. At first we thought these people +rather cool, but they were so polite that it was evident they did not +imagine their conduct to be in any way extraordinary. + +At last a large crowd had assembled round our tent--a very curious +people. Where they came from we could not imagine. Houses there were +none in sight. They seemed to have no homes, no occupation. It was a +matter of utter indifference to them where they were at any time, or +where they slept. We were at this encampment for two days: all the time +they remained outside the tent in a most contented matter. They were +just as well there as anywhere else. After dinner we provided coffee +and raki for our visitors. Then an impromptu entertainment followed. +Robinson and myself gave a conjuring entertainment for the amusement of +the wild people. We sat at the remote end of the tent. About seventeen +of the audience sat inside in a double row: these were the swells in +the stalls. The gods outside filled up the open door and looked over +each other's shoulders, in a compact and surging mass. The conjuring +was much appreciated by our audience. + +When we had exhausted our repertoire of tricks, all cleared out of the +tent, which had become very stuffy. It was a magnificent night. The +moon was rising over the distant mountains, and there was not a breath +of air to stir the rising smoke. We piled up the fire and made up a +glorious blaze, which threw a bright light on our fantastic visitors. +They were all now very merry and boisterous. They wrestled, sang, and +ran, like a lot of children. Why not get up a ball? proposed some one. +It was a happy idea; every one fell into it with delight. With loud +shouts and wild gestures they whirled round the fire hand-in-hand, +treading energetically, almost fiercely, a measure of their own. There +were two charming young ladies in the crowd, who were the decided +belles of the ball--Neda and Zekitza. Zekitza made a great impression +on Robinson's sensitive heart. She was a powerful young lady, for once +she disagreed with one of her partners about something, and caught him +a resounding slap, which felled him to the ground. She also wrestled +with another youth, and easily laid him low. It was a curious scene; +not the least curious object was the gallant Jones handing round +refreshments--raw raki in a saucepan, which girls and all partook of +freely. + +"Verily," the Montenegrins must have thought, "these are consuls +Inglesi, and they do things in right good English consul fashion." + +It was rather difficult to get rid of our guests when we wished to turn +in for the night. That any one should like privacy at times is +incomprehensible to Montenegrin or Albanian highlanders. They walk into +each other's huts, uninvited, at every hour of the night, to chat and +drink coffee. They seem to need a very small amount of sleep. I found, +in the cabins and khans we visited, it was the rule to turn in about +twelve and be up again at two, jabbering and coffee drinking; for it is +not that they have any work to do that these people are so early in +rising. After all, when you have no dressing or washing to get through, +getting up early becomes easier than when the complicated toilets and +tubbings of the Anglo-Saxon are before you. + +When we arose the next morning the cook was horrified to find that a +saddle-bag, containing our mutton and tobacco, had disappeared in the +night. A burglarious entrance must have been made into our tent while +we slept. We remembered having seen two suspicious-looking young +fellows prowling about the camp during the ball, who were evidently +strangers to the rest of the Montenegrins present, and who seemed to be +shunned by them as disreputable vagabonds. These doubtlessly were the +thieves. + +One of our visitors, seeing us searching for something, understood the +state of affairs, and told us by signs he would soon recover our +property. This we thought rather improbable; but he knew what he was +promising, as events showed. + +The peasantry kindly brought some provisions to our camp this morning. +Tubs of veronica, a sort of sour milk, goat's-milk cheeses, and wheaten +cakes. + +As our tobacco had all been stolen, I mounted Rosso and galloped into +Podgoritza, to procure some more. On my return to the camp we started +for the ruins of Douka, all our new friends following us. Further up +the stream an ancient man had a boat, in which he ferried us over, +three or four at a time. The boat was very rickety, and over-grown with +moss; the boatman of great age, ragged, and of exceeding ugliness. He +and his craft irresistibly called up Charon and his Stygian ferry to +our minds. + +Douka was evidently a Roman city. The peasantry gave us several coins +they had found among the ruins; these were of the time of Diocletian, +and bore his effigy. There was not much to see--a few ruined walls, and +some slabs bearing illegible inscriptions, were all we could find. The +ruins were thickly overgrown with brushwood. However, I should say this +place would repay the labours of an excavator, for it must have been a +place of considerable importance once. We amused ourselves with some +rifle practice, and then returned to camp. + +This evening Brown did a very imprudent thing--he washed himself. He +went down to the river, stripped, and jumped into a deep pool. We +warned him, told him he might be misunderstood by the people; but he +was obdurate. + +Some Montenegrins on the other bank saw him. "What is it?" they said, +for at first they could not believe it was a man. Who ever saw a man +with his clothes off--in water, too? + +They were about to fire at the mysterious object, when somehow they +recognized it as a human being. They were evidently much puzzled to +know what on earth he could be doing there. Was this a curious +religious rite of the Inglezi church? Was it a mystic ceremony +connected with witchcraft? + +We were bound to make some explanation for Brown, for we found the +people fought very shy of him when he came out of the bath, and looked +upon him with evident suspicion and dislike, so we put our fingers to +our foreheads, shook our heads sadly, and intimated to them that our +poor friend was not quite right in his mind. + +The next morning we were awoke early by the sound of voices outside our +tent. On looking out we found an officer of some rank, and several +armed men, bringing two prisoners to us. These were the very two men we +had suspected of stealing our mutton. Our saddle-bag and its contents +were restored to us by the captors. They had tracked the fellows up +into the mountains during the night, with the assistance of a +bloodhound. The officer stayed to converse with us awhile in very +limited Italian. + +As for the prisoners, he merely turned to them, pointed towards +Podgoritza, and said "Go." They obediently skulked off in the given +direction, and awaited him in the bazaar. + +We found afterwards that the poor fellows were sentenced to be +bastinadoed, thirty cuts on the sole of the foot each, and were then +imprisoned for some days in a sort of open prison or cage. + +We had exhausted the charms of Douka, so packed our baggage, and +marched back to Podgoritza. Robinson superintended the lowering of the +tent. This was the sole occasion during the whole tour on which the +white elephant was brought into use. It was afterwards mildly suggested +to its inventor that it might be a question whether all the tribulation +and expense attending its carriage was made up for by these two nights' +encampment on the plains of the Moracha. He was silent on the subject. + +On arriving at Podgoritza we at once called on the minister of war, to +learn the latest news of the war. He had heard of our little adventure +with the mutton pilferers. + +He was much amused at our account of it. "Ah!" he said, "and I had only +just told you that robbers were unknown in Montenegro." As to the war, +he had no news to tell us. Orders to advance might come to-day, might +not come for a month. He knew no more than we did. + +We left him, and retired to our chamber at the khan. After dinner we +were smoking silently and sulkily, when Brown, addressing Jones and +Robinson, sternly said, "This war of yours is a fraud, you have brought +us out here under false pretences." I joined in to assist my ally, and +laid stress on the delights of Brown's and my own projected march to +Janina, which we had put off to hunt this phantom war all over this +uninteresting country. + +After a warm discussion it was decided to march back to Scutari on the +morrow. I communicated our design to Marco. The worthy fellow's face +broke into broad smiles, as he whispered hoarsely, "Good, monsor, good; +_Karatag yok mir_. Montenegro no bonne, no bonne." He evidently did not +feel comfortable among his hereditary enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +An escort--A Turkish dinner-party--Brigands--Our sportsman--A chief +of the League--Objects of the rebels--Achmet Agha--A meeting of the +League--The Boulem-Bashi of Klementi--An Arnaut chieftain. + + +The next day (Saturday, November 1st), after our black coffee, and the +usual bustle attending the packing of our animals, we shouldered our +rifles, and made a start. Our landlord insisted on our pouring down +numerous glasses of raki in his house, and, according to the general +custom over here, accompanied us to about half a mile or more from the +town, when a halt was called. Then he produced a glass, and a large +bottle of mastic, which had to be finished by us ere bidding a final +adieu. We all highly approved of this good old custom. + +It began to rain soon after we commenced our march, and the plain +assumed very quickly that lake-like appearance which we had observed +the last time we crossed it. + +On arriving at the khan where we had slept on our march to Podgoritza, +we found in front of it a large encampment of Turkish soldiers. We +entered the house to get some coffee, and were then pounced upon by +some of the officers, who wished to see our passports, and learn who we +were, and whither we were bound. They insisted on sending an escort of +four men with us as far as Helm, for, as they told us, we were breaking +through all the regulations laid down by the government for the +security of travellers in journeying thus without zaptiehs. That +travellers should be thus escorted we knew to be the rule throughout +Turkey, but we evaded it whenever we could. In Albania such an escort +is worse than useless. In the first place, the zaptiehs will not +venture to go with you into the mountains, where the Arnauts would +probably attack them for the sake of their arms; and on the other hand, +their company is sure to make you very unpopular in every village you +go through, for these defenders of the peace consider they have a legal +right to requisition provisions, and all they want, without paying for +them. + +On reaching Helm we found that the provision boat had left, thus we +were obliged to pass the night here. Robinson proposed that we should +pitch our tent. While we were discussing the point a Turkish officer +came up, and spoke to us in French. He pointed out a dismal stone house +by the lake side, and told us that the commandant of the troops +stationed here resided in it, and would be very glad if we would accept +his hospitality for the night. We were all delighted, with the +exception of Robinson, who sighed deeply--his beloved tent was not to +be pitched after all. + +We were shown into a rough, unfurnished room, and dinner was soon +announced. We dined with the commandant and the French-speaking +officer, Marco and a negro soldier waiting on us. It was a regular +Turkish dinner--no chairs, no knives and forks. We had to squat down in +Eastern fashion, and eat the savoury pilaf with our fingers. After +dinner we entered into a lengthy conversation with the commandant, the +other officer acting as interpreter. He hated Albania, and the +Albanians. "Why," he said, "these dogs of Arnauts should be smoked out +of their fastnesses. My soldiers dare not leave the camp; if a few of +them stray a mile or two away, 'ping, ping,' a dozen bullets hiss about +their ears. The beasts murder them for their rifles. We might as well +be in an enemy's country at once. I advise you to be cautious in +travelling among these mountains. It is really very unsafe." + +The conversation turned on politics. The old soldier seemed very +excited. "Ay!" he said, "all our friends have forsaken us; you English +even are no longer allies of the Turk. And this being so, why should we +do anything for you? why assist you? why listen any more to your +counsels? I will tell you, by Allah! there is but one stick left that +Turkey may lean on. Her only hope is in an alliance with the strong, +with Russia; that is what it will come to, you will see." + +"I am afraid you will find that Russia devours her allies." + +The commandant laughed. "There is something in that," he said. "The +truth is, that poor Turkey has no friends, and no hope. We shall have +to leave your Europe, I fear; but I do not think you will find that +Turkey, overrun by Sclavs, will be so much better than it is now." + +The next morning our host ordered a special londra for us, and ordered +his men to row us down to a point on the lake, whence we could march to +Scutari before nightfall. Our crew of ragged soldiers, grim, +half-starved, some of negro, some of Arab blood, brought us, in about +two hours, to a sheltered little bay on the east shore of the lake. Our +course had lain across a regular forest of half-submerged trees, which +grew in fantastic shapes, and whose lower ends were thickly surrounded +with sedge and water-plants. The effect was curious, not unlike those +tropical swamps where vegetable life is so profuse and varied. + +On landing we repacked Rosso and Effendi, and were just on the point of +bidding adieu to our crew, and commencing our march, when an incident +worthy of mention occurred. + +With the exception of snipe, and such like small deer, we had come +across little game in Albania. The _ferae naturae_ have little chance in +this barren country, where war is frequent, peopled as it is too by men +who never leave their thresholds without carrying their loaded guns +with them. But now, however, the keen eye of Jones suddenly lighted +upon a large and unknown bird, perched on a stump not fifteen yards +from the shore. It was a curious and melancholy-looking creature, +something like a mangy pelican with a moulting tail. + +Now Jones, my readers will remember, had purchased an Arnaut gun at +Scutari, an orthodox flint-locked _pushka_, with barrel as long as +himself. This weapon had been strongly recommended by the vendor for +sporting purposes. On inspecting it, Jones noticed the barrel was most +decidedly bent. He pointed this out to the merchant. "Bent! Ah, that is +nothing," said he; "easily remedied." So saying he inserted the barrel +between two of the beams of his roof, bent it straight, squinted down +it, and handed it back. "There you are! Excellent pushka!" + +With this weapon Jones proceeded to slay the mysterious bird on the +stump. Marco and the soldiers, on observing his intentions, became very +alarmed. "Do not shoot here," said our follower. "The noise will bring +down the Arnauts upon us; they will kill us." + +But the sporting instinct of the Englishman was up. Slowly and warily, +with the lengthy pushka held out at full-cock, with finger on the +trigger, Jones crept nearer and nearer to the lake's edge. His +reputation as a mighty Nimrod in the stubble of his native land was at +stake. All our reputations were at stake as Inglesi, and therefore of a +race of sportsmen. + +Silently, yet excitedly, the soldiers watched. The eyes of Marco +gleamed as he looked round. He was proud of us. "Now, you look out; you +watch," he whispered to the men. He nodded his head with a knowing nod, +that unmistakably said, "You will see." And "I told you so!" was ready +to jump from his lips as soon as the report of the gun awoke the echoes +of the wilderness. Our Nimrod crouched down; there was a pause; a great +suspense. Then his finger pulled the trigger; the lock snapped! There +was a fizzing sound, as of those "devils" the school-boy makes of damp +powder. With the fizzing there rose a pale blue smoke from the pan. The +bird heard the sound, looked round at the stranger and his fizzing +instrument curiously for a time, then, having satisfied his curiosity, +he deliberately shook himself, spread his rickety wings, and flew +slowly and majestically over the lake. It was nearly out of sight when +there was a report. The pushka went off with an imposing bang that +awoke the echoes of the mountains. A roar of Homeric laughter burst +from the assembly. + +In the rainy season of Albania it becomes very difficult to preserve +the powder in the pan of one's gun in a properly dry condition. After a +few days it becomes a slow fuse. But Jones soon mastered the ways of +his mighty pushka, and was fairly successful in his future sporting +expeditions; for having carefully timed the fuse, his method was to +take aim and fire at least ten minutes ere the game was even in sight. + +It was pitch dark when we reached Scutari, and walked through the +abominably roughly-paved streets to the Hotel Toshli, where the +brothers received us with open arms. + +The next morning we held a council, to decide whither we should wander +next. We came to no immediate conclusion, as there was great diversity +of opinion. As Robinson was expecting a remittance from London, we +should most probably have to remain a few days at Scutari. Having +nothing better to do, we persuaded our friend the gendarme to introduce +us to a chief of the Albanian League, who was a friend of his. + +The interview had to be arranged with caution, for, as our friend said, +"They know here you have been to Montenegro, and may suspect your +motives in wishing to question a member of the League." + +It was settled that we should go to the gendarme's house in the +afternoon; there the chief in question would meet us. + +In the afternoon Jones and myself were shown by the gendarme's Miridite +servant into a room, where, squatting on mats, coffee-drinking, were +our friend and a shrewd-looking old Albanian Mussulman, with +deeply-lined face, and anxious and restless eye. After the customary +salutations I entered into conversation with him, the gendarme, as +usual, acting as interpreter. + +I told him the English wished to know what were the objects of the +League. + +"Our object," he said, "is to defend our countries against the enemies +that surround us. The dogs of Montenegrin, the Servian and Greek swine, +all wish to steal a portion of Albania; but, praise be to Allah, we are +strong. The Albanians are brave; and guns and ammunition are not +wanting." + +He tried to sound me as to the views of England, for he thought this +frontier dispute was absorbing all the attention of our countrymen. He +said, "England is our friend. They all say here she has supplied the +League with weapons and money." + +That some power--most probably Turkey--has assisted the League in this +way, is certain. But it is curious that all the Albanians I met were +positive as to England being the friend in question. + +The Government of Turkey does not find favour in the eyes of the +Albanians. "The Turks!" cried out the chief, angrily, "what do they do +for us? Tax us, rob us--that is all. These effeminate pashas, these +farmers of customs, do nothing for us in return for what they steal. +Can they defend us? protect us? No! They have sold us to the cursed +giaours of the Karatag. I tell you we will have the Turk no more. The +chiefs of the League have sworn it. Independence has been given to +Montenegro--to Bulgaria. Albania shall have her independence, and the +great powers shall recognize us. If not, we care not. Leave us alone; +that is enough for us." + +He had now worked himself up into a furious rage, and was almost +choking with it; so he stopped, drank some sherbet, then turning +suddenly to me, said, "What do you English think of Midhat Pasha?" + +"He is much liked by us," I replied. "He is looked upon as one of the +few honest and worthy Turkish officials." + +He seemed very pleased at hearing this, and said, "What we wish is to +create an independent Albanian principality, with this Midhat Pasha as +our Prince--a principality under the protectorate of England. You will +see we shall have it." + +I asked him whether this League was a purely patriotic movement, or +whether it was a religious one, confined to Mohammedans only. + +"We are fighting for our independence," he replied. "There are as many +Christians in the League as Mussulmen. You know the Christians here are +of the Latin Church, and hate the Greek Christians as much as we +Mohammedans do." + +He told me that one party of the League were not averse to the +occupation of Albania by some big power; not Russia, he said, nor +Italy, nor Austria; but England or France. For his part he did not wish +this. + +With regard to the defence of Gussinje, he said, "We have 35,000 men +there, who will fight to the death. The Montenegrins cannot take +Gussinje. Why, they never yet have fought us in the plain. The beasts +can fight well enough behind their own rocks, but they are cowards to +attack. When the Skipitars raise their shout, and charge with the +yataghan, the Karatags tremble; they turn, they fly. Then we pursue +them, seize them by their long hair, and with a sweep of our blades cut +off the beasts' heads. Ah! it is sweet to see." And turning sharply to +me, "Why do not you go to Gussinje and see the fighting? Parties leave +Scodra every night for the front. I will give you a letter to Ali Bey. +He will welcome you as a brother." + +The proposal was pleasing; Jones and myself at once agreed to accompany +the next party to Gussinje. We knew that the expedition was rather a +risky one. The garrison of Gussinje had been worked up to a high pitch +of fanatical madness, and might treat us with little ceremony did they +hear of our journey into the enemy's country. Under these circumstances +we thought it better that two of our party alone should go to Gussinje, +while the other two could make a sporting expedition into the mountains +beyond the plains of Scutari. + +The next morning accordingly, Brown and Robinson, taking Marco with +them, shouldered their rifles, strapped their blankets on their +shoulders, and marched off towards the Miridite mountains--a lofty and +wild range, inhabited by the tribe of the same name, the most savage +and desperate of all the Christian highland class, a race that has +waged a perpetual war with the Turk for centuries. The Miridites are +exceedingly poor, in a condition of half starvation, for bodies of +Turkish troops ever and anon make incursions into the debouchures of +their valleys, driving off their flocks, burning their villages, and +compelling them to fly for safety into the cold and utterly barren +highlands. + +The gendarme brought to our room at Toshli's, the morning of our +friends' departure, another member of the League, a chief of influence. +He slipped off his shoes at our door, and shuffled in, a short-legged, +stout, dropsical old fellow, with not over-clean festinelle, and a four +days' beard: he had the fierce eye which is the characteristic of the +Northern Albanians. The shaven head too of the Mussulman lent a +peculiar ferocity to his expression. I never cast eyes upon a more +blood-thirsty-looking old scoundrel. "Will your friend take some coffee +or sherbet?" I asked the gendarme. "He likes raki best," was the reply, +"when no one is looking on. He is not a very strict Mohammedan in this +respect." I found few Albanians indeed had very delicate consciences +when raki was in question. + +This gentleman, who was introduced to us as Achmet Agha Kouchi, kept a +coffee-house in the Mohammedan quarter of the town. He purposed going +to Gussinje in a few days, and would be pleased if we would accompany +him. + +We were to visit him at his cafe in the afternoon, to arrange matters. + +After lunch we traversed the dismal streets of the Turkish quarter till +we reached the little cafe of our new friend. It was full of +Leaguesmen, who had evidently come to inspect us. I wish I had taken a +sketch of that interior. No slum of an Eastern city could show a group +of more cut-throat-looking, fierce ruffians than those Scutarine +conspirators. + +They did not rise when we entered, but stared at us with savage, +lowering looks, that betokened suspicion and hatred of the giaour. + +Achmet Agha told us that a party would start the night after next for +Gussinje; and that to-night there would be a meeting of the Scutarine +Leaguesmen, in the mosque near the river, to decide whether we should +be permitted to visit the besieged town. + +In the morning he would let us know what had been decided. + +In Toshli's this evening, I read an account in a Trieste paper of a +battle which had been fought near Gussinje, in which the Albanians had +been victorious. Rumours of all kinds had for days been flying about +the bazaar; but though Gussinje is but a three days' march from here, +nothing certain was known. Indeed the Scutarines were entirely without +information on the progress of matters. + +Some excitement was caused by the departure of Mr. Green to-day for +Cettinje. He had of course gone thither to take a part in the +negotiations now pending, the Turks having sent a representative to the +Montenegrin capital, to try his utmost to arrive at an amicable +solution of the difficulty. The Scutarines, however, were quite certain +that Signor Green had gone off to threaten Prince Nikita with an +immediate declaration of war on the part of England, did he not without +delay withdraw his troops from the frontier. + +The League met as usual at midnight, in the mosque, and till daybreak +discussed Jones and myself. The meeting was described to us. Said some: +"Let them not go; who knows that some of the men of Gussinje will not +murder them as giaours? Then what difficulty we shall be in. We will +have to avenge them, for they are our guests; there will be strife +between the defenders of our country, and the dogs of Karatag will +rejoice. Again, their blood will be upon our heads. Zutni Green will be +wrath. The English will be our friends no longer." + +However, the dissentients were in the minority. The League of Scutari +gave its permission to our departure. + +We were advised to wear the fez instead of our English hats, as this +would reduce the risk of our irritating the intensely excited +inhabitants of Gussinje: accordingly we purchased two of the orthodox +head-coverings. + +Achmet Agha again called on us; he seemed rather uncomfortable. We +could see he had heard something about us, and did not like to carry +out his promise. Said he: "Who are you? Why do you wish to go to +Gussinje?" We replied: "In England we will write a book. The English +wish to know what the Albanian League means, whether it is good. It is +for that we wish to go to Gussinje, that we may see, and be able to +tell our countrymen the truth." "Ah," he said, "so your 'krail,' your +chiefs, have sent you for this. _Mir_, _mir_--it is good." + +Then he paused, and said abruptly, "We shall not go to-morrow." + +"Why not?" + +"Because we know not how the other Leaguesmen will receive you. We must +first send to inquire of our general, Ali Bey, if he will have you." + +This did not sound very pleasant to us. Ultimately he agreed to take us +on the morrow to a hut two hours distant from Gussinje; there he would +leave us while he rode into the town, to acquaint the chieftains with +our wishes, and obtain permission for us to visit Ali Bey. + +The next morning we rose at daybreak, and found a strong "bora" was +blowing, and the snow lay thick on the distant mountains. + +We prepared for the start. + +Luggage we took none, except one blanket; but as it promised to be +exceedingly cold in the mountains, we each put on two flannel shirts +and two pairs of socks. + +Achmet Agha called two hours after his time; he seemed confused and +troubled. Our host, Toshli, came forward as interpreter, for I managed +to make out a good deal he said. With him I conversed in a strange +mixture of Italian and Greek, one of the _six_ compound tongues I +had to invent in Albania in order to get on with the different people I +met. + +Said Achmet Agha, "I cannot go with you. I have been told by the +authorities that if anything happens to you I shall be held +responsible; my house and property will all be confiscated. Besides, I +have to tell you that you are forbidden on any account to go to +Gussinje; the pasha will not have it." This all seemed very strange. +That the Turkish pasha and police authorities should have acted thus +seemed improbable. We afterwards found they did not even know anything +about our intended journey. + +We did, however, hear something later on, which led us to very strongly +suspect that the attempt to stop us originated in a certain foreign +consulate at Scutari. + +Naturally suspicious and jealous of English influence in Turkey, the +representatives of this power concluded that our government had sent us +here on some secret errand; and so, not being able to discover the +object of our mission, attempted to frustrate it altogether in an +underhand manner. + +Jones and myself had now thoroughly made up our minds that we would go +to Gussinje, in spite of an over-officious consul, so we proceeded to +hunt about Scutari for a guide and dragoman. + +No one could we find. Those we spoke to smiled grimly, drew their hands +significantly across their throats, and emphatically objected to go +anywhere near the hot little town. + +One person, however, did volunteer to accompany us. This was the +English Consul's cook. He was a plucky little Albanian, very vivacious +and clever. He spoke two words of nearly every language in Europe, and +in default of better, would make a very fair dragoman for us. He had +adopted European costume, and wore jauntily on his head an English army +forage cap, the gift of the British sergeant who accompanied the +frontier commissioners last May. This cook was a man of some rank. In +Albania, a calling such as was his is not derogatory to a gentleman. We +had made his acquaintance at Toshli's, where he was famed for his skill +as a billiard-player. He went to Mrs. Green, told her of our intended +journey, and implored her to give him leave of absence, in order that +he might guide and protect the Inglezi travellers. Alas! It could not +be; his presence was indispensable in the consulate kitchen. Cooks are +not to be picked up every day in Scutari, at any rate such cooks as +this, for we had several opportunities of perceiving how skilled he was +in his profession, under Mr. Green's hospitable roof. + +No one to be found to come with us! This looked bad; we almost +despaired of effecting our purpose, for to find our way alone across +the roadless mountains would have been impossible. To have travelled +among the savage Arnauts, without knowing ten words of their +language--madness. + +As we discontentedly discussed the question in our bedroom, the head +cavasse of the English Consulate was announced. He brought with him a +tall, handsome, and very pleasant-looking Albanian Mussulman, evidently +a man of high rank, superbly dressed and armed. "This," said the +cavasse, "is the Boulim-Bashi of Klementi. He will accompany you to +Klementi, which is a day's march from Gussinje. There he will hand you +over to the chieftain of the Klementi, Nik Leka, who is a friend of +Signor Green. He will say to Nik Leka, these are friends of Signor +Green; treat them as his brothers, and if the danger be not too great +take them to Ali Bey." + +My readers can imagine our delight. We could not travel under better +auspices. The condition of a boulim-bashi is curious. The Turks, as I +have before said, have never really conquered or assimilated Albania; +the Christian highlanders are allowed considerable independence. Now, +each Arnaut tribe is obliged to elect from the Mussulmen of Scutari a +representative, a sort of consul, who mediates between it and the +Turkish Government, who acts as their advocate in case of any dispute. +As he is chosen by the tribe from among the townsmen of rank, and as he +can be dismissed any day if the highlanders in any way object to him, +the boulim-bashi is always a popular man, liked by the tribe he +represents, and a very safe person in whose company to travel among the +highlands, for he is sure to be known to, and treated as a friend, by +every man met on the way. It was a great honour to be thus escorted, +and we afterwards discovered, the cause that led to the kind proposal. +The men of Klementi are deeply indebted to our consul, who took their +part in a certain quarrel between them and the Turkish Government, in +which justice was entirely on their side. Grateful for this, the +Klementis are ever glad to do any service for Zutni Green. Thus it was +that we as friends of the consul received this invitation. The Klementi +is the most powerful tribe of this district. There are 6000 fighting +men, all armed with Martini-Henry rifles, stolen from the Turks. Their +chieftain, Nik Leka, to whom the boulim-bashi was to escort us, is the +hero of the Scutarine Christians. The timid townspeople of the Latin +faith, unarmed as they are by law, live in fear of the Mohammedan +population, who have more than once fallen on and massacred them. It is +to the armed Arnauts of the hills, their fellow-Christians, that they +look for protection, for these are better warriors than the Mussulmen +themselves, never have been a subject race, but stalk, bristling with +arms, through the bazaars of the cities on market-days, as erect and +haughty as the most blue-blooded young Mohammedan emir of them all. + +This Nik Leka had a little adventure recently in the bazaar of Scutari. +He was discussing some matter with a young Mussulman of rank, who had +three retainers with him. A quarrel ensued. The other called the Arnaut +chief a dog of a Christian. Nik Leka is a man of few words. He whipped +out his yataghan with his right hand, seized his enemy by the little +tail of hair which the faithful leave on their closely-shaven heads to +give Mahomet something to lay hold on when he pulls them into Paradise, +and the next moment there was a flash of bright steel, and the Arnaut +held up a bleeding head, while the body fell into the foul gutter +below. The man's retainers fell upon Nik Leka, but the wiry highlander +was too much for the effeminate townsmen. He slew two of them, the +third escaped; then he picked up the three heads with a grim smile, +tucked them under his arms, and marched off to his mountains, where he +exhibited the ghastly trophies to the tribesmen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +To Gussinje--The valley of the Drin--A rough road--In the mountains-- +Hospitality--A pretty woman--A scientific frontier--Franciscans--Dog +Latin--Marco Milano. + + +It was settled that we should start early on the following morning. +Then the boulim-bashi bowed low, shook hands, and left us. We had +learnt something of the nature of the place we were about to visit from +Mr. Green and others. About three days' march from Scutari, across the +great Klementi mountains, there is a long and beautiful valley, which +penetrates deeply into the central range of the Mount Scardus. Down +this valley flows the White Drin, a stream of considerable importance, +that flows into the Adriatic, near Alessio. In this valley are Ipek, +Jakova, and Priserin, three of the most interesting cities of Albania, +inhabited by a population very skilled in the working of metals. The +most beautiful saddlery, filigree work, gold-hilted and jewelled +yataghans and pistols, are here worked by an industrious people. + +But the population of these towns is ferociously fanatical. Surrounded +as they are by Christians, knowing that the day is not far off when the +rising ambitions and energies of the oppressed race will drive them +from their homes eastwards and southwards, the Mohammedans here hate +the Christians with a hatred more intense than even the followers of +this fanatical creed entertain in other parts. At the very head of this +valley of the Drin, where the river springs out from the grey rock, is +a ridge of forest-clad mountain, the ancient Pindus, which forms the +watershed of the tributaries of the westward-flowing Drin, and Bojana, +and the Lim, a river that flows northwards, joining the Drina and the +Save, across Bosnia and Servia, till it ultimately pours its waters +into the mighty Danube at Belgrade. At the head of the valley of +the Lim, situated in the centre of a green and fertile _cirque_, +surrounded by stupendous mountains, is the little town or village of +Gussinje, a congregation of sordid wooden huts. It is a place of great +strategic importance, for just behind it, on the ridge of the +forest-clad mountains, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Albania join. + +By the provisions of the treaty of Berlin, Gussinje and its +neighbourhood was handed over to the Black Mountaineers--wherefore it +is difficult to see. + +As conquerors in the war, it seems just enough that the Montenegrins +should have acquired Antivari by that treaty, a place of no strategic +importance, yet which gave them what they so long and eagerly thirsted +for, a seaport. But it was decidedly a mistake to extend Prince +Nikita's territory beyond the mountain ridge, a natural frontier, down +into the valley of the Lim, giving a command of it--a standing menace +to Turkey and Bosnia, a bone of many future contentions. It must be +remembered, too, that the inhabitants of the district to be given up +are not Sclav in race or language--not of the Greek church--but +Mussulmen or Roman Catholics. The Montenegrins have been made too much +of lately. They now imagine that they are a great people, and have a +holy mission of aggrandisement at the expense of Turkey. + +Gussinje is a curious sort of a place, and has never enjoyed a very +sweet reputation. As in all parts of Northern Albania, the people do +pretty much what they like, and do not feel the Turkish yoke very +heavily. Situated as it is on the frontier, it has become a city of +refuge. Montenegrin renegades whose country has become too hot for +them, Bosnian Mohammedan refugees, and vagabonds of all sorts, have +flocked hither. It is in this town of Gussinje that the chiefs of the +Albanian League have concentrated their forces, determined to fight to +the bitter end, in spite of the Austrian troops in Bosnia to the north +of them, Turkish troops in their rear, Montenegrins before their walls, +and the doubtful neutrality of the Christian Arnauts, who are all round +them in the mountains, lying in wait to murder and strip small parties +of either side--for this is the idea of neutrality among these people, +an armed neutrality with a vengeance. Thirty-five thousand Albanians, +we were told, occupy Gussinje, at the head of whom is Ali Bey. + +Ali Pasha, as he has styled himself, is a Gussinian of rank, owner of +lands and houses in the town and neighbourhood, a man of great +intelligence, and a devout Mussulman. + +He was one of the principal people implicated in the assassination of +Mehemet Ali at Jakova. + +This general, as my readers will remember, was sent by the Porte on the +dangerous mission of negotiating the transfer of Turkish territory to +her enemies. He was strongly advised not to venture into that hotbed of +fanaticism and fierce patriotism, Jakova. The League held possession of +the town; the population was worked up to the highest pitch of +excitement; every one knew the history of the envoy. As a foreigner, a +Pasha's favourite boy, a renegade, he was certain to be disliked and +suspected by rigid Mussulmen, and was the very last man that should +have been sent on so delicate an errand. It is rumoured that the +jealousy of his enemies at Constantinople sent him on this surely fatal +journey. + +His death was decided on by the League. The projected murder was talked +about freely in the bazaars of Albania fully two weeks before it was +perpetrated. Contrary to advice, he entered Jakova. He had not long +been there before the house in which he and his companions were shut +up, was besieged by a furious mob. One man, a Franciscan father, whom I +met at Scutari, was with him, and managed to escape, disguised as an +Arnaut. + +Mehemet, seeing that resistance was hopeless, died like a brave man. He +opened a door, rushed out, unarmed, with hands stretched out, into the +thick of his enemies, crying, "Kill me, but spare the others." He was +beheaded, and his head was stuck on a pole, and held up to the jeerings +and desecrations of the populace. + +We were up at daybreak the next day. It was a sunny, exhilarating +morning, that seemed to send fresh blood coursing through our veins as +we mounted Rosso and Effendi, and rode through the Mohammedan quarter +to the house of the boulim-bashi. Our luggage was simple enough. I had +one blanket and my waterproof, strapped behind me on Effendi's saddle; +while Jones carried, in the same way, a saddle-bag of provisions and +his waterproof. The house of the boulim-bashi was enclosed within lofty +walls, as are all the residences of the Mussulmen. We were ushered into +a large room, where the brother of the boulim-bashi received us +smiling, and motioned to us to be seated on the luxurious cushions +which were strewed on the thickly-carpeted floor. He was a tall and +very handsome man, like most of his countrymen, possessing small, +delicately cut features, and tiny hands and feet. He looked like an +aristocrat, and his costume was exceedingly rich. + +The boulim-bashi came in with coffee and sherbets. He had thrown off +the dress of the town, with its ample festinelle and rich linen, and +had donned the simpler dress of the Arnaut chieftain, which showed off +his fine person to great advantage. His cartridge-boxes betokened the +man of rank, being of gold, beautifully worked, as were the handles of +the pistols in his variegated silken sash. The coffee was prepared over +a silver brazier on the floor, and the cups were handed to us on trays, +covered with napkins cleverly embroidered in coloured silk and golden +thread. We found that we were expected to take these napkins away with +us. We did not know the custom, but our host soon set us right. + +There is something particularly pleasing and refined in the manners of +the high-caste Albanians. Their politeness is charming; they anticipate +your every want; and their movements have a cat-like softness, +noiselessness, and suppleness about them, which is very striking. + +The boulim-bashi seized his Martini-Henry, leapt on his horse, an +active-looking little grey, with undocked mane and tail. + +We were soon out of the town, and then broke into a canter, which we +kept up across the plain of Scutari till we reached our old friend the +khan, at Koplik. + +We felt very jolly this morning. We had made a start. There was a spice +of adventure and risk in this expedition, that lent it zest, and +excited us. How we were to get on at Gussinje we did not know: our +guide spoke no language but his own. It was improbable that we should +find any one in the mountains who could understand us. And again, how +would Ali Bey and his men treat us. We had no valid excuse for visiting +him. Would they know that we had interviewed the prince and war +minister of Montenegro? If so, our reception might prove almost too +warm. We trusted to luck, and determined to see all we could. + +At Koplik we left the track by the lake, and turned to the right, +towards the desolate and lofty mountain range. + +These were the very mountains that the Turks at Helm seemed so afraid +of, as being inhabited by the fiercest and bravest of the Arnaut +tribes, addicted to plundering Turk and Montenegrin indiscriminately. +With our friend, the representative of the tribe, we were, however, +quite safe, certain of being received with every hospitality; and as +friends of Zutni Green, every man of the tribe would be friendly to us. +For the Arnaut is very grateful, is never treacherous--and once a +friend is always a friend, and an excellent friend too. + +We gradually reached the foot of the mountains, and then our route lay +through the heart of them, for to reach Klementi we had to cross this +stupendous chain. For seven hours we were nearly constantly ascending. +There was no pretence at a road. We had often to dismount to haul our +horses up a higher block of rock than usual, and had to use the +greatest care, as we rode along some track not two feet wide with a +wall of rock on one side and a precipice a thousand feet in depth on +the other. + +The shades of night were falling--it would be impossible to travel +after dark on such a route. But the boulim-bashi had timed himself +well. It was just dusk when we heard that welcome sound to the +traveller--the baying of dogs. Our guide signed to us to dismount. We +led our horses down an incline, when suddenly a door opened, and a +blaze of light fell on us and dazzled our eyes. A gigantic Arnaut, gun +in hand, came out suspiciously. He at once recognized our companion, +and kissed him affectionately. + +On hearing that we were English, friends of Zutni Green, he shook us +kindly by the hand, and bid us enter. + +"Bramiamir. Mir s'erd" (A good night to you. Be welcome) were the +salutations we exchanged on entering the house. Then, according to +Albanian custom, we unstrapped our arms, and handed them to our host (a +sign of confidence in a friend), who proceeded to suspend them with his +own on the wall. + +We were seated on mats by the blazing fire, and the women pulled off +our boots. It was a curious scene, highly interesting, and taking one +very far indeed from Europe and civilization. A large room, the walls +of rough stone, admitting the wind freely; the roof of huge, rough-hewn +rafters of larch--wall and roof blackened with smoke; the floor of +clay; in the centre a fire of great logs, the smoke allowed to find an +exit as it could, the result being very unpleasant to unaccustomed +eyes; no lamps or rushlights, but a pale and flickering light given out +from a sort of iron cup, supported on a rod, into which little chips of +resinous wood are occasionally thrown; the walls decorated with arms, +the only ornaments in the place. A few cups, a bowl, an iron pan, and +one or two other utensils, complete the _menage_. This is the house of +a great man, a chieftain; and we were told the name of the place is +Castrati. A large family occupied the hut, for it was no more. There +were several women and young men. + +By the fireside there sat a very old crone, who paid no attention to +what was going on, but rocked her palsied body to and fro, and mumbled +constantly to herself. A little child--maybe a great-great-grandchild--whose +sturdy limbs were a strong contrast to the withered legs and arms of +the old woman, sat by her side. The grandame attempted now and then to +stroke the little thing's head, the only sign she showed of being +conscious of the world around her. All the occupants of the hut were +remarkably handsome. Leslie, who so well delineates pretty childhood, +should visit Albania. I verily believe no children in the world are so +beautiful as these little Arnauts. Their costume is not graceful. A +woollen sack is thrown over them, and their arms and legs are thickly +swathed with the same material. + +They are quaint little things, and the smallest has the proud, +fearless, free carriage of his fine race. There was one little fellow +who stood in front of us here, erect, with head well up, and hands +behind his back. He stared at us for a long time with big, wondering +eyes, and a wonderful smile at the corners of the mouth, and then came +boldly up to investigate the material of our clothing, which was +evidently new to the little mountaineer. + +Dinner was soon prepared. The boulim-bashi had brought some sweet cakes +with him, and some mutton, which he cut into small lumps, and stuck on +a skewer. They looked for all the world like catsmeat; but, when +peppered, salted, and grilled in the glowing fire, they turned out +those sweet and succulent morsels so appreciated by every old +campaigner, known under the name of "kybobs." According to Eastern +custom the wife of the master of the house poured water over our hands +from an iron jar, and then we commenced to devour our dinner with our +fingers, washing it down with excellent raki. + +This lady of the house, by-the-bye, created a great impression on both +our hearts. She was indeed exceedingly comely. Her figure had not been +spoiled by labour, as are those of most of the countrywomen, nor by the +want of exercise and cramped sitting position in which the legs soon +lose their shape, as is the case with most of the townswomen. Her legs +were bare, not swathed in the ugly manner in usage when out of doors, +and very shapely legs and ankles she possessed. Her face was oval, of a +rich carnation in tint. Her mouth small, and very beautiful; but her +eyes were her chief feature--long, almond-shaped, and with a voluptuous +dreaminess in them. Their length owed nothing to the artificial +blackening of their corners with henna. She saw we admired her, and was +evidently pleased. She laughed, and made eyes at us throughout the +evening; and at night, when all the inmates of the room rolled +themselves up in their blankets, and stretched themselves round the +fire in a circle, feet to the blaze, she brought us some mats for +pillows, and tucked us in very nicely with her delicate fingers. + +"Bothmir, mik" (Good health, friends), was the frequent challenge of +our jovial host. He insisted on our drinking a fair amount of raki. He +was not backward himself; I am sorry to say even an Arnaut will get +drunk upon occasion. After dinner a happy thought struck me. I rose, +and plunging my hand into our saddle-bag, produced a bottle of brandy +we had brought with us from Scutari. This was a great and unaccustomed +luxury to the Arnauts. I do not think they had ever tasted it before. +They smacked their lips over it, and repeatedly said, "Raki Inglesi +mir, mir" (The English raki is good). + +At last to bed. Comfortably rolled up in blankets, in spite of +insects--we did not mind anything in that line now--we slept till +daybreak. + +The boulim-bashi then awoke us. The fire was raked up, coffee was made, +our horses were saddled, the stirrup-cup was drunk over our good-byes +to our friends, and we were off. + +The Arnauts are very proud. It would be a grievous insult to offer a +man money in return for his hospitality. The proper thing to do is to +distribute what you intend to give among the children. When you are +gone, the mother goes round and collects it from her offspring; it is +then put away, to be expended in sugar, salt, and other necessaries, on +the next market-day at Scutari. + +At this great elevation the morning was bitterly cold. The aspect was +very desolate--a wilderness of rock and stone, with scanty vegetation. +Far away, thousands of feet beneath us, stretched the white sheet of +the Lake of Scutari, looking cold in the early morning, with the bleak +grey Montenegrin mountains in the background. + +From sunrise to sunset we rode over the trackless and almost +inaccessible mountains. We met several men during the day, fine and +fierce-looking members of the Klementi tribe. Every one had a +Martini-Henry rifle and a belt of cartridges. The stories we had heard +of these people from the Turks at Helm were evidently true; these +weapons had never been bought. Indeed their owners had little idea of +their value. One mountaineer we met pointed to his rifle, and said, +"Inghilterra, sa pare?" signifying that he wished to know what was its +value in England. On hearing the amount he seemed much astonished, +smiled grimly, stroked the weapon, and said, "Ah! the Skipitar get them +for less than that." + +Such an abundance of cartridges have these highlanders managed to steal +that it is a common sight to see a shepherd firing his rifle in the +air, at frequent intervals, to drive his sheep. The people we passed +all stopped, and questioned the boulim-bashi as to who we were, and +whither we were bound. On hearing that Gussinje was our destination +they looked surprised, and made that clicking noise with the tongue and +teeth which with us signifies pity or annoyance--in Albania, mere +wonder or admiration. The sign language of this people is so utterly +different from ours that it is impossible to get on with them at first. +For instance, they do not shake the head when they wish to refuse +anything, but bow and wave the hand, in a manner which would lead any +one to imagine they meant to accept. + +It was evident they all looked on us as doomed if we entered Gussinje. +So far I could not make out whether they sympathized with the rebels or +not. + +Towards midday we reached the summit of the range, and on turning a +bluff of rock there lay beneath us one of the most magnificent gorges I +had ever seen, even in the Alps. The great mountain was rent into a +profound ravine, whose sides were nearly perpendicular. There were +places where the precipice ran down sheer, for 4000 feet at least. +Where there was any footing, grand larches and beeches, tinted with the +golden shades of autumn, covered the slopes. Far below one heard the +roar of the great torrent, but a purple haze lay at the bottom of the +gorge, and concealed the foaming waters. This ravine forms the frontier +of Montenegro and Albania. As Jones suggested, a very scientific-looking +frontier too. + +Our destination, the village of Klementi, was situated on the edge of +the torrent, some miles higher up the valley. We now had to descend +from the mountain to the bottom of the ravine. A perilous descent it +was. The path, a mere goat-track, zigzagged down the precipice. It was +necessary to dismount, and watch the horses carefully. They stumbled +every moment, and slid rather than walked. In places the path would +give a sharp turn, and here the boulim-bashi would hold on to each +animal's tail as he passed the awkward corner, to prevent him going +right over the edge. There were some very nasty bits, and even these +mountain horses trembled with nervousness at times. + +We passed a house on the bank of the torrent in the afternoon. The +whole family came out to see the travellers. These people were friends +of our companion. The men came out, shook hands with us, and then +entered into an animated conversation with the boulim-bashi on the +subject of the war. While we sat on our saddles outside the house the +women brought to us refreshments, apples, cakes, and raki, first taking +our hands and kissing them respectfully. + +This was a very long day's journey. Now riding, and now walking, we +ascended the ravine, fording the torrent several times, whenever one or +the other side of it afforded the better path. + +The scenery was grand, but desolate; in the higher portion of the +valley the forests that clothed the lower end were wanting. Great walls +of rock fell sheer into the turbulent stream; and in places great +fan-shaped slopes of debris--masses of mountain broken up by +hurricanes--jutted out across the gorge, damming up the waters into +profound pools. These gigantic wastes of black stone, streaked as they +were by patches of snow in strong contrast with their whiteness, gave +an impressive weirdness and desolation to the scenery. + +About an hour after dark we halted before a large two-storied hut. +"_Scpiia Nik Leka_," said the boulim-bashi--the house of Nik Leka. +Here, then, we were at last in the stronghold of the notorious Arnaut +chieftain. We entered the large lower room, which in every respect was +similar to that in which we passed the previous night at Castrati. +There were at least fifteen people squatting round the fire--men, +women, and children. A tall, splendidly-built, and very handsome man +came up and greeted us. He was about fifty years of age, very dark, +with a much-lined, sad-looking face. He had fine black eyes, deeply +sunk, and surmounted by bushy black eyebrows. There was something +exceedingly frank and noble in his look--a man one could trust. + +This turned out to be the brother of Nik Leka, and, as we afterwards +found, much resembled that chieftain. We sat down by the fire, and all +were busy in attending to our comforts, when a door opened, and, to our +astonishment, there bustled in a jolly-looking little fat Franciscan +monk, a very Friar Tuck. He wore the brown frock and girdle of his +order; but, like all the Franciscan missionaries in Turkey, his head +was covered with a fez. He was followed by a quaint, lean, smiling old +Arnaut with a lamp, a simple, goodnatured-looking being--the faithful +old servant of the mission; he had been for forty years in the service +of the Franciscans. + +The friar came up to us and shook us by the hands in a most cordial +manner. "Come up to the mission," he said; "come up to the mission, and +stay with us. Ah! what joy to see Europeans up in our wilderness! Come +along!" and he fairly dragged us off. + +Not thirty yards distant was the mission-house, a very comfortable +establishment for this country--a low building, with a small church +adjoining it. At the door we were met by the three other brothers, as +cordial and jolly as the first. + +Never did traveller fall into better hands. They all bustled about, +jabbering and laughing incessantly, doing all they could for our +comfort. Maccaroni and mutton kybobs were soon prepared; and they stood +round, pressing us to eat, and helping us to abundant portions as we +sat at the table. + +I have seldom heard men laugh so heartily and boisterously as did our +jolly hosts. The feeblest joke set them off in a roar. "This," said the +fat little Father Luigi, pointing to the smiling servant, "this is our +Lord Mayor; he looks after our corporation--ha! ha! ha!" + +The dinner over, we sat down over pipes and coffee, and talked for half +the night. They were really glad to see us; never were strangers so +quickly made at home as we were. Of course the conversation soon turned +on the object of our journey. + +"Go to Gussinje!" said Father John; "impossible! You cannot go. Why +they will at once cut your throat. These Turchi at Gussinje are +animals--beasts--swine. O, my dear brother Edouardo, you must not go. +Why, even we dare not go there; the Arnauts dare not go. Nik Leka went +there three days ago, to see Ali Bey; for that beast desires an +alliance with the Klementi. Nik Leka has not returned; we fear they +have killed him. If so, God help this country; for the Klementis will +take their guns and yataghans, and march on Gussinje to avenge their +chief." + +This did not sound very encouraging to us; but we had come so far that +we did not relish the idea of abandoning our project now. We knew the +timid monks would most probably, with very good intentions, exaggerate +the dangers. As they were the only people we could converse with, we +saw it would be necessary to impress them with the absolute necessity +of our progressing, else they would lend us no assistance in what they +considered to be a fatal journey. + +Our four hosts were Italians; Luigi came from Turin, John from Naples, +and the two others from Modena. I am not a proficient at Italian, so we +conversed in dog Latin, putting in an Italian word now and then, when +we could not call up the Latin equivalent. It was a curious mixture, +but we got on fairly well with it. I had a little conversation with +Jones; he was as determined as myself to visit Gussinje if at all +feasible; so we decided to dissimulate a little, in order to obtain the +very necessary assistance of our friends. + +I said, "I know to go to Gussinje is dangerous--very dangerous +possibly; but we have been sent to see Ali Bey at all hazards, and must +not go back without doing so. We have friends at Gussinje, and I do not +think we run so much risk as you imagine." + +The worthy monks now, of course, concluded that we were political +envoys; that our mission was secret, and not to be divulged to them; +but that its object was to settle the Gussinje difficulty and hinder +bloodshed. + +They then saw that we were right in insisting in running the risk, for +it was our duty to do so. They would do likewise in our place. They +looked very sad, shook their heads, and said, "Ah, my brothers, but you +go to a certain death. However, as you must go, we will help you; we +will write a letter in Arnaut to Ali Bey, asking whether he will see +you, and send men to escort you to the town. The brother of Nik Leka +will take the letter. To-morrow you can ride to the hut of Gropa, in +the mountain; it is but two hours from Gussinje. There you can await +the reply." + +The letter was written. I did not quite like the idea of playing the +amateur diplomatist in this way; but we had gone too far to go back +now, and without doing this there was no chance of our seeing Gussinje. + +The missionaries evidently looked upon and admired us as noble martyrs, +sacrificing our lives to duty. They insisted on our drinking an +abundance of wine. I suppose they thought this was our last chance of +so doing. We found from them (and what they said was confirmed by +others) that we had been greatly misinformed by the leaguesmen of +Scutari as to the strength and nature of the organization. There were +not 35,000 men at Gussinje, but between 6000 and 7000. These were all +Mussulmen--Albanians and Bosnian refugees, and deserters from the +Turkish army--a frightful rabble, the scum of this part of Europe. +Artillery they had none. + +They told us that an army of 10,000 Montenegrins, with some field +artillery, was encamped in a strong position, not two hours' march from +Gussinje. + +The general of the Black Mountaineers was Marco Milano, a man who has +already made himself a name in former wars. Of him, most probably, the +world will hear more some day. From all accounts he is a man of +uncommon ability, one of those strong characters that inspire +confidence in all whom they come across. He is an Albanian by birth, +from the neighbourhood of Gussinje. Irritated by some injustice he had +received at the hands of the Turks, he fled from his native land, and +took refuge in the Black Mountain, where his talents soon brought him +to the front. As a renegade always is, he is the bitterest foe to his +race, and his voice is ever for a policy of war and aggression. This, +at any rate, is his reputation in Albania. + +As for the Catholic Arnauts, who the Scutarines told us were fighting +for the league, not one of these people sympathized with the insurgents +in the slightest degree. They knew too well that if these Mussulmen +succeeded in their projects it would go hard with the Christians. At +this time the mollahs in Gussinje had taken up arms, and were exciting +the population to religious frenzy, preaching the death of all +infidels. Ali Bey, a wise man, was indeed working hard to gain as +allies the powerful Arnaut tribes. He had invited Nik Leka, the most +influential chieftain of the north, to Gussinje for this object. "Nik +Leka," said Padre Luigi, "will talk to him--talk as much as Ali +likes--he is a regular diplomat; but fight for the beasts of +Turchi--not he. He may promise to allow bands of men to go unmolested +through these mountains on their way to Gussinje, but he will want an +equivalent for that. The Arnauts hate the Montenegrins and Turchi +alike; most probably they will shoot and plunder detached parties of +both sides." + +The missionaries spoke very highly of the Christian highlanders. + +"Ah! they have many virtues," they said. "Good friends, good fathers, +good husbands; kind to each other, truthful, hospitable, never +treacherous; they are a noble people. But," continued Luigi with a +sigh, "they are such savages, so utterly indifferent to human life. +They have but one absorbing vice, and that is their love of murder." + +This cruel vendetta of theirs, which decimates the population, is +horrible. There are no really old men. Every man is murdered sooner or +later. It is thus they wish to die. To die in bed is a disgrace. In +battle they behead their own wounded friends; this is looked on as a +favour; for to survive, maimed and unfit for war, would bring lasting +reproach on a warrior and his family. + +Nik Leka's brother walked off with the letter for Ali Bey at midnight. +He carefully loaded his pistols and rifle before starting. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The mission-house--Gropa--The mandolin--A letter from Ali Bey--A +trap--Our throats in danger--Retreat--Nik Leka--Proverbs--A pleasant +evening. + + +The next morning we were up early. The good priests would not hear of +our leaving them till after the midday meal. "Gropa is but three hours +or so from here," they said; "you have lots of time to stay and look +over our church." + +The little mission-house of Selz, as this the chief hamlet of the +Klementi is called, is built on a terrace in the hill side, which +commands a grand view of the ravine; gigantic bare cliffs of dark stone +shut it in on every side. A small graveyard, where are buried all the +monks that have died since the institution of the mission, lies to the +front of the residence. + +We went inside the little chapel. Very primitive and rough paintings of +Biblical incidents ornamented the walls, the productions of the monks. +Most of these were some 200 years old at least. The Franciscans have +undoubtedly done much good in Albania. They have been here from a very +remote time. They have suffered persecutions, have died the death of +martyrs, but have succeeded in completely winning the affections of the +wild Arnauts. As Luigi said to me, "Why, should one of us be ill-used +by the Turks, the whole of the mountains would rise in our defence. We +need fear nothing here now." The headquarters of the order in Albania +is at Scutari, where there is a large convent. I was much struck by the +evidently sincere respect and love all the mountaineers entertained for +their spiritual fathers. One could see that these men must be doing +good here. + +Before we started for Gropa, the snow began to fall heavily. We bid +adieu to our good hosts. They kissed us and wept over us, for they +feared we should never return, and insisted on filling our saddle-bag +with wine, maize, bread, and mutton. Gropa, which signifies in the +Albanian tongue the hollow, is not a village, but a miserable +one-roomed hut, situated at the extreme end of the ravine, by the +source of the torrent. + +The path was coated with ice, and very perilous for the horses. Our +guide, a savage-looking Klementi, walked bare-footed over the sharp +stones and frozen snow with utter indifference. + +The hut was nearly snowed up when we reached it. It was a desolate +spot. A black pine-wood rose behind it on the hill-side. An hour's walk +through this would have brought us to the summit of the ridge which +overlooks Gussinje. The hut was inhabited by a man, his wife, and one +child. A blazing fire was made up; then converting our mutton into +kybobs, we made a capital dinner. They gave us coffee, but sugar they +had none. Our guide, who had lately walked bare-footed over the ice +quite at his ease all the time, now placed his feet in the ashes of the +fire with a like indifference. Extremities of heat and cold affected +the hardy highlander very little. + +Our host was a musician in his way. He took down his mandolin, and with +it accompanied one of the monotonous songs of his country. The Albanian +mandolin is like a small banjo with three strings, and is played not +with the fingers, but a chip of hard wood or bone. + +These Albanian songs are not unpleasing, barbarous as is their music. +The first line of each verse is the same as the last line of the +preceding verse. There is a peculiar sadness and subdued fierceness in +the way they sing which is really very affecting. The song is always of +war, of victories over the Karatag, feuds with the Turk, or the doings +of the heroic Scanderbeg. The mandolin is peculiar to Albania. The +guzla of Montenegro has but one string, and is played with a bow like a +violin. + +At midnight we were awakened by the entry of two men. One was the +brother of Nik Leka; the other a Bosnian Mussulman, by his dress. The +Arnaut clapped me on the back. "Mir, Mir," he said, "Gussinje." Then he +pointed to a letter. I understood what he meant. Ali Bey had given his +permission, had written a letter to the fathers to that effect, and had +sent this Bosnian soldier with it to Seltz. The soldier returned to +Gussinje at once, while Nik Leka's brother also left us, to carry the +epistle to the Franciscan mission. All seemed now to be going well, and +very delighted we were. We should see Gussinje after all. + +It was early the next morning, when Father John suddenly made his +appearance at the hut. He looked alarmed and anxious, and talked +rapidly to our host. Something unpleasant had evidently occurred. We +waited patiently till he vouchsafed to explain matters. + +"I have heard from Ali Bey," he said. "Here is his letter. I will +translate it to you. He writes thus:-- + + "'To Father John, greeting. + + "'We have read--we have understood. The chiefs have assembled. If + these people will be hostages, will guarantee that Marco Milano + withdraw the Karatags within three days, let them come to Gussinje; + if not, they had better not come. + + "'From ALI PASHA.'" + +This was hardly what could be called a hearty welcome. Said John, "You +understand what that means. If you can guarantee that the Montenegrins +withdraw their troops--" + +"We cannot do that." + +"Of course not. Well, if you go they will wait three days, then cut off +your heads. Now Nik Leka's brother has also brought this news from +Gussinje. When they heard of your arrival, some of the men said, 'We +have heard of these people. They have been to Podgoritza; they are +friends of the Montenegrin chiefs. They must be spies. One is a +red-bearded Russian (this was Jones). They are accursed giaour +traitors.' Then thirty men decided to leave Gussinje last night, and +surprise and murder you here in this hut. Ali Bey heard of it, and +stopped them. But Nik Leka's brother says that you had better not stay +here. The Gussinians are violently excited about you; they thirst for +your blood. Come back to Seltz." + +We were sitting down to breakfast when we heard all this cheering and +appetizing information. My back was to the door, as was Jones's, when I +heard a noise outside, and the next moment I saw the Franciscan drop +the meat he was holding, turn very pale, and stare in a frightened way +in that direction. I turned; the doorway was blocked up by two men, +evidently two of the defenders of Gussinje--one in Bosnian dress, one +in Albanian festinelle. Both were armed to the teeth. Their faces were +not prepossessing. There was a fierce, stern look in their eyes, which +wandered anxiously and fiercely round the hut, and a determined +expression in their tightly compressed lips, which meant mischief. +Whether more were behind, we could not yet see. + +Jones and myself were unarmed. According to the custom of the country, +we had delivered our revolvers over to our host. He too, and also the +priest, were without weapons. The two parties looked at each other +without speaking for a moment or two. Our host's wife took her child by +the hand, and looked steadily on with compressed lips, to see what +would happen next. An Arnaut woman is familiar with bloodshed. However, +bloodshed was not intended, it seemed. "We are envoys from Ali Pasha," +said the Albanian. "Come in, then," said our host, suspiciously. + +They entered, but seemed ill at ease, and suspicious of foul play. +However, we made no advance towards our arms, and keeping a sharp eye +on the men, continued to eat our kybobs. They sat by us. + +The Albanian went on, the Franciscan translating,--"Ali Bey will see +these Englishmen, but he does not wish them to enter the town; he +cannot rely on his men. Ali Bey is but one man; he cannot protect them, +if some wish evil to these men. Ali Bey and the chiefs will therefore +meet them outside the town. Let them come with us." + +It seemed improbable that Ali should have sent these men with another +message, so soon after the first. The Albanian is deliberate in +counsel, and does not alter his mind in this way as a rule. + +"Do not go," whispered the Franciscan. "Do not believe them; there is +some treachery." After what we had heard, we thought our friend might +be right, therefore we refused to avail ourselves of their escort. +Their faces fell. They talked long and eagerly to the priest and our +host. + +The priest said to me, "Listen to what I say, but show no surprise or +alarm. Let them not think I am telling you this. They are talking to +our host about you. They say you are spies, and they are endeavouring +to raise his suspicions of you; they mean you evil. O amici," he said +in his dog Latin, "multum est periculum per vos." + +I now entered into an explanation of our journey. I showed that it was +the most natural thing in the world that we had visited Montenegro; and +soon disarmed any suspicion our host entertained; but the two +Gussinians stuck to the point. The Bosnian turned fiercely to the +Arnaut. "By Allah," he said, "they are spies. We have twenty friends in +the hills behind here; since they will not come with us, we will kill +them here; now is the time." I remember the very words in which Father +John, with pale face, translated this to us: "Ille homo," he said, +"dixit ad alium, Nunc est tempus intercidere illos homines." The Arnaut +spoke. He stood up in his hut with quiet dignity, and without showing +the least excitement said, "These are my guests. You think that I will +assist you to kill them. They are my friends; I will defend them. Now +you are armed; we are not. Possibly you may kill us; but remember, it +is nearly three hours to Gussinje. Men of our tribe have seen you +approach; rest assured there are many rifles of the Klementi among the +rocks. If you wish to go to Ali Bey, and not rot on the Klementi +hill-sides, you had better go in peace." The men looked at each other +in silence; they knew the words of the Arnaut were true, and not being +yet weary of existence, swallowed their coffee and sulkily left the +hut. We took our revolvers and went outside, to see if any others were +in sight. There were none; but on a rock that commanded an extensive +view, we saw the erect form of a white-clad Arnaut, rifle in hand, +scanning the ridge of the hill. The Klementis had evidently kept their +eyes open. The probability is that these men had left Gussinje without +the permission or cognizance of Ali Bey, and hoped with a fabricated +message from the chieftain to tempt us to follow them to some spot, +away from our friends the Klementis, where an ambush lay in wait for +us. In their annoyance at our refusal to accompany them, they had +betrayed their object. + +No sooner was this adventure concluded than the occupants of the hut +sat down and continued their coffee-drinking and smoking, as if nothing +had happened. + +Little events of this kind are every day occurrences in this wild +country, and are thought nothing of. + +The woman put her hand to her throat and drew it backwards and +forwards, then laughed merrily, evidently chaffing us about the two +separate risks we had so recently run of losing our heads. + +As it was now evident that the people of Gussinje were not very anxious +to entertain us, we saw there was nothing left but to return to +Scutari. We were very disappointed; but what could we do? + +We rode back with Father John to Seltz. The missionaries and the Lord +Mayor rushed out. They were delighted to see us return in safety. "Ah! +Frater Edouardo, Frater Athol, come in. My poor friends, come in and +sit down. How alarmed you must have been. Fear not; here you are safe." + +During dinner our story was repeated over and over again by the +gesticulative little Father John, and great was the commiseration +expressed for us by the kind-hearted fellows. The Lord Mayor became +very warlike. "Had they hurt you, I would have taken a gun, gone to +Gussinje, and shot Ali Bey--that devil!--myself," he shouted. + +While we sat round the fire after our meal, the door opened. "Nik +Leka!" joyfully cried out our hosts, "Nik Leka safe! Praise be to the +Lord." + +The celebrated Arnaut chieftain stalked in smiling, kissed each father +on the cheek, shook us warmly by the hand, and sat down by the fire. He +was very like his brother, a splendid specimen of a barbarian warrior; +very handsome, with an expression that curiously combined great +good-nature with a certain amount of latent ferocity. + +He corroborated all we had heard about the feelings entertained towards +us at Gussinje, and said, "You would not live long were you in that +_ferri_--that hell over the mountains." He himself had been obliged to +escape, for his life was in danger among the fanatical inhabitants. + +"They are like madmen," he said, "now--starving, desperate." + +He expressed intense hatred of the _Turkis_, as the Albanians call all +Mohammedans. "Devils," he said, "robbers. '_Ku Turku vee kambet atu +sdel baar_' (Where the Turk puts his foot, the grass grows not)." + +Nik Leka has one vanity--he likes to be called a diplomatist. Talk to +him on politics, the handsome warrior puts on a very knowing and wise +expression. + +Our conversation ran very much on politics to-night. + +The fathers said, "These Arnauts have one wish. They know that an +Albanian autonomy means Mussulman fanaticism, war, and Christians +driven from the plain to starve in the mountains. What they wish is, +that you English would take the country. All the mountaineers discuss +this and desire it. So too do the Christian townsmen. Do you think +England will occupy Albania?" + +This was a poser. I did not like to say England would never dream of +doing such a thing, and that Austria would have a word to say in the +matter, so merely pleaded ignorance as to the counsels of my country. +Nik Leka nodded his head when my response was translated to him, smiled +and winked at me, as much as to say, "Ah, these priests don't +understand politics. We diplomatists hold our tongues." + +Nik Leka told us that our old friend the bullying Bekir Kyochi, for so +is spelt a name pronounced as Bektse Tchotche, was in Gussinje with the +leaguesmen. "I should say the Scutarines will not weep much if the +Montenegrins take his head," I said. "Ah," wisely replied the +chieftain, "we say in Albania, '_Ana e kecie nuk schet_'" (The +worthless pot does not break). + +Nik Leka, I found, considered that the discourse of a great diplomatist +should be liberally interspersed with pithy saws and proverbs. He +rolled them out with unction, and repeated each two or three times till +he arrived at what he considered to be a properly emphatic delivery. + +He told us he would accompany us back to Scutari; we should start early +on the morrow. We were in luck; we had travelled hither with the +boulim-bashi of the tribe, we were to return with its head man. We +conversed till a very late hour. "A veritable Tower of Babel," said +Father John, with his stentorian roar. Latin, Albanian, Italian, Sclav, +and English words were flying about the room, to the utter confusion of +the Lord Mayor, who sat, looking very wise and sleepy, trying to make +out what on earth it all meant. + +I rose very high in the estimation of Nik Leka, when he heard that it +was in Latin I conversed with the fathers. I was a greater diplomatist +than ever in his eyes. He was a curious fellow. He would look at me +thoughtfully, then suddenly jump up, shake me violently by the hand, +and cry, "_Mik, Mik_" (You are my friend; you are my friend)--and +then burst out laughing. + +A very jovial evening we all spent over the log fire, drinking the +fathers' wine and raki. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Rosso and Effendi--A barbaric feast--Patoulis--Mead--The future of +Albania--The Italia Irridenta--Sport in Meriditia--Dick Deadeye. + + +Very warm and affectionate were our farewells on the morrow, when we +left the good Franciscans. "Ah!" said Luigi, "it is a sad thing thus to +make friends, and so soon part for ever. We may meet perhaps in some +other remote land. For we Franciscans are ever changing the scene of +our labour--now here, now there; in the deserts, in the teeming cities; +but always _in regionibus infidelium_." + +We saddled and mounted our horses, and commenced our ride down the +ravine. Nik Leka walked; he carried with him two long pistols and a +Martini-Henry rifle, all, I observed, at full cock. This was all the +luggage he took with him. Honour should be given where honour is due. +Never did member of the equine race behave so well as did the fat +little Effendi and the lean and haggard Rosso. For twelve hours out of +the twenty-four from dark to dark, for six consecutive days, did these +worthy animals carry us over this wilderness of rock and ice. Fodder +was scarce. Rosso lived chiefly on the rare bits of timber he met on +the way. He did not care much for live trees, but had a preference for +the more tasty, decayed fallen wood. He was a _gourmand_ in his way. + +Effendi had a more delicate stomach; a diet of fresh fallen snow had +greater charms for him than any other. We found they were of one mind, +or rather stomach, in their intense relishing of maize bread. + +Our return journey was rendered difficult and dangerous by the frozen +snow which covered the mountains. However, just as the sun was setting +we approached the hut of Castrati. + +Half a mile from it we passed a woman. She stopped, and spoke to us. We +at once recognized the pretty, smiling face. It was our old friend the +wife of the owner of the house. She ran on before us to apprize her +husband of our arrival. Nik Leka evidently saw that we admired the +lady. He was much tickled, slapped me on the shoulder, and said, +"Castrati mir" (Nice place, Castrati). + +"Ah," I said, "Grue Castrati fort mir" (The women of Castrati very +nice). + +The chieftain roared with laughter. My remark was repeated over and +over again in the hut this evening, and much amused every one. + +On entering the hospitable house, our host and all the other +inhabitants of it came forward, and gave us a very cordial welcome. +They were genuinely glad to see us back safe. Nik Leka told our story. +They laughed, pointed to their throats, and shook us by the hands. Our +pretty hostess, speaking broken Albanian, so that we might understand +her, added, "Gussinje yok mir, Castrati mir." + +A lot of neighbours came in. Every one was bustling about; preparations +were being evidently made for a grand feast in our honour. + +The old crone in the corner was just where we had left her; I don't +suppose she had moved since. She was awakened from her lethargy by the +unwonted hubbub, looked peevishly round now and then, and mumbled +savagely. + +I must describe this evening's feast in full, so characteristic was it. +The fire, as I before said, was lit in the middle of the mud floor, the +smoke escaping as it could. Huge logs--I ought rather to say +trees--were now piled on. A tremendous blaze was made up. + +When we entered, the fire was low, a loaf of maize cooking in the +embers. + +The method of making these loaves is simple. When the fire has burnt +long, and the floor beneath is thoroughly hot, the ashes are scraped +away in the centre, the loaf is placed on the bare mud, and an iron +cover, which fits closely to it, placed above it. Then the hot ashes +are once more raked back till they entirely bury the loaf and its +cover; and the baking commences. + +Our host went out and killed the fatted sheep, and proceeded to prepare +it for roasting whole. A slit was made down the belly, the entrails +were taken out, the feet were tucked into the slit, which was then +carefully sewed up, and a wooden spit was run right through the carcase +from head to tail. + +It was brought in and placed over the fire. The spit worked on two +rough logs, one of the women turning it with her hand. + +We commenced our dinner by coffee drinking. There is certainly but one +way of making coffee--that in vogue in these regions. Let my readers +attend to this receipt, and try it. + +On the fire is a pot of boiling water. A small saucepan, with a long +handle, just big enough to hold a coffee cup of water is taken (N.B. a +small Turkish coffee cup). Into it is thrown a teaspoonful of coffee, +freshly ground and freshly roasted, also a lump of sugar. + +Boiling water is poured on it till the saucepan is full. Then the +saucepan is put on the fire. It boils over, is taken off for ten +seconds. Three times this operation is repeated, then the thick fluid +is poured into the cup; and delicious it will be found to be, if you +once get over your prejudice against grounds. We and all the other men +squatted on our rugs round the blazing fire and roasting sheep, and +commenced our dinner, the women, according to Eastern fashion, standing +or sitting in the corners of the room, watching us, and waiting till we +had done, when they would come in for their share of the feast. The old +crone was a favoured person; a bone was occasionally thrown to her by +the host while we dined, which she seized in her skeleton hands, and +sucked greedily with her toothless chaps. + +There was a knowing old dog by her who knew, and took a mean advantage +of, her blindness and weakness, for he managed occasionally to steal a +succulent morsel out of her very hands. + +While the sheep was roasting we were obliged to eat little delicacies, +intended, I suppose, to tickle our appetites. Our host would take +"patoulis" from the ashes of the fire (a sort of rancid, heavy dripping +cake), smear them thickly with honey, then on the top of all scatter +large lumps of goat's-milk cheese, and hand them to us in a pressing +way that permitted no refusal. + +We were forced to eat so many of these that the roasting sheep, of +which we knew we would have to partake freely, turned before our eyes +like a horrid nightmare. Meanwhile Nik Leka looked on benignantly as he +put away the cakes in a way that surprised us. + +We washed down all this with a very greasy sort of mead. Though of a +fairly omnibibant nature, we could hardly stomach this. At last we came +to the "_misch i pickun_," as the roasted sheep is called. Our host cut +it up with his yataghan, then proceeded to tear the flesh with his +fingers. We were well looked after, and treated as honoured guests. The +Arnaut would pull off some rich lump of fat, enclosing a kidney, and +hand it to one of us. The meat was really very good; all its richness +is kept in by this way of cooking, but probably a delicate-stomached +person might not relish the idea of devouring lumps of tepid mutton fat +with his fingers, without bread or salt. + +I think I did very creditably at this meal. I know Jones, who finally +collapsed and could do no more, looked at me with amazement. Fat and +lean and crackling followed each other. Our host and Nik Leka did not +leave me alone for a moment. Now and then one of them would tear off a +large shred of meat, and stuff it into our saddle-bag for the next +day's provision. + +At last we were as replete as Homer's heroes. Indeed the whole scene +carried one back to those days. The besiegers of Troy lit the fire of +logs, and roasted the beasts whole, and ate till they could not stand +or talk, just as did these no less savage Arnauts. Just like these too, +when the banquet was over, did they show their gratitude to their host, +and appreciation of his hospitality, by frequent hiccups and belchings. + +The women and dogs gobbled up the remains in their corner, as we smoked +our cigarettes and toasted ourselves in old raki. + +We were up before daylight the next morning. It had snowed heavily in +the night, so our descent to the plain was slow, and not unattended +with danger. Our good-byes at Castrati before starting were +affectionate and protracted. "_Me teneson miku idaxtun!_" (Good-bye, +dear friends), were the last words of our pretty hostess, as she waved +her hand to her departing admirers. + +At the khan of Koplik, where we were beginning to be well known (this +was our fourth visit to it), we lunched off the fragments of the sheep +which our host had thrown into our saddle-bags in the exuberance of his +hospitality on the previous night. It was dark long before we entered +the intricate lanes of the faubourg of Scutari. So here we were once +again, having failed in our attempt to reach Gussinje. However, the +expedition had not been altogether a vain one. We had seen a good deal +of the manners and customs of the Arnaut; had journeyed away from the +main roads into the heart of the great mountains, where, I believe, +none of our countrymen had ever ventured before; and again, we had +learnt a good deal more of the real strength of the league than a +month's inquiries at Scutari could have taught us. Not that I did not +take the Franciscans' account with a few grains of salt. The fathers +hated the Mussulmen, and were anxious to withdraw our sympathies from +the defenders of Gussinje. + +The world will hear a good deal of the doings of this Albanian League +some day, so a few remarks on what, from my observations, I consider to +be the real condition of affairs, will not, I think, be here out of +place. + +The chiefs of the association are, I believe, honest men, patriotic, +and determined to carry out their programme to the death. + +Ali Bey is spoken very highly of even by the Montenegrins, and if +reports prove true, will show himself no indifferent general. + +Nearly every Mussulman in Albania is a member of the league, and its +forces are daily swollen by refugees from Bosnia and deserters from the +Turkish army. + +That Turkey at first secretly assisted and encouraged the movement, I +think there can be no doubt. At any rate it is certain that the Porte's +representatives, even her highest officers in this country, openly +sympathized with it. + +But the league has waxed too strong for the government, who could not +crush it now were it desirous of doing so. The leaguesmen, feeling +their strength, have extended their programme. Defence of their native +land against foreign invasion is now not their only cry, but Autonomy, +and the shaking off of the Turkish yoke are boldly discussed in the +bazaars of the garrison towns. + +The Montenegrin difficulty may be settled; the principality may agree +to take some lands near Antivari in lieu of the Gussinje and Plava +district; but there are other and more serious complications behind. + +To resist the advances of Austria on the north and Greece on the south +are the avowed objects of the league. It is only too probable that the +dual empire will be compelled to carry her arms into this province; for +a lawless, fanatical, self-ruling Albania will be far too troublesome +and dangerous a neighbour for her disaffected Bosnia. An occupation of +Albania is confidently spoken of by all the Austrian officers I met in +Dalmatia. + +But an invasion of this country will be no mere military promenade. As +mountainous, and as easy of defence as Montenegro--inhabited by at +least as warlike a race, and better armed, Albania may prove as hard a +nut to crack, as the Black Mountain has proved to Turkey, who for +hundreds of years has in vain hurled army after army to perish on those +grey rocks. + +I think there can be little doubt, too, that the Christian Arnauts will +join the league, in case of any invasion. They, too, love their +independence--for independent they practically are, the Turkish yoke +never having been felt in these wild hills. + +Passionately fond of war, poor and starving, as the highlanders have +been since the Turco-Russian war, the certainty of plunder, if nothing +else, would compel them to join one side or the other,--and which that +side would be it is not difficult to say. That the Turks can +effectually interfere is quite impossible. Any one who knows how +high-strung the Mussulman sentiment now is, how insubordinate the +generally obedient ill-treated Turkish soldier has now become, can +easily foresee what would be the natural result of a Turkish general +leading his men to fight against their co-religionists, in order to +force them to deliver their country to the giaour. They would mutiny, +lay down their arms, fraternize with the men they had been incited to +slay. It would be the tale of Mehemet Ali over again. + +I see some wild story went the round of the European papers, to the +effect that Muktar Pasha had led a force against Gussinje, and had been +assassinated. As a matter of fact he was, to my knowledge, nowhere near +Gussinje at the time. But such would be the fate of any commander who +led Turkish troops on so unholy an errand. + +The Montenegrins have openly declared that they will treat the soldiers +of the league as rebels, giving no quarter. They are very sanguine; but +in my opinion if the Black Mountaineers and the Albanians are allowed +to settle their quarrel by themselves, no other power intervening, we +may hear of Ali Bey at Cettinje, before we hear of Marco Milano at +Gussinje. + +How the Albanian difficulty will end it is difficult to see. That the +troubles of this lawless province of Turkey may indirectly lead to +serious complications is more than likely. + +Beyond the Adriatic, too, lies another power, that is eagerly watching +the progress of matters--Italy. + +The Italia Irridenta party is very anxious that the government should +lay a claim to Albania, when the day of Turkey's dismemberment comes. + +All Italians consider that their country has been slighted and left in +the cold in the recent adjustment of oriental affairs. The Austrians, +without striking a blow, have acquired Bosnia and Herzegovina. England +and France have assumed a sort of protectorate over Egypt, even Greece +has gained territory. + +That Italy is casting covetous eyes on Albania is certain; and equally +certain is it, that she would be seriously annoyed if Austria should +occupy the whole eastern Adriatic shore, from Trieste to the AEgean. + +In Albania, one half of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics. The +priests, who here have great influence, are all Italians by birth. + +These are accused of intriguing in the interest of their government, of +sowing seeds of rebellion among their flocks. On this point I am not +capable of giving an opinion. The Franciscan missionaries I met seemed +to be anything but friendly disposed towards the rulers of their native +land. + +That the Italians have carried on intrigues down the whole East +Adriatic coast is certain. At the present moment the Albanian League +are in doubt whether to offer the princedom of their country, when they +have liberated it, to Ali Pasha, Midhat Pasha, or to a prince of the +house of Savoy. Whatever may eventuate, there is one thing very +certain; this is, that neither Mussulman nor Christian in Albania are +likely ever again to take up arms in defence of the Turkish Government. +They are sick of it. + +The Mohammedans see that it is impotent to forward their interests in +any way. The Arnauts, who fought well for Turkey in the last war, have +been treated with great ingratitude ever since. They will only fight in +the future in independent defence of their country against the +foreigner. + +If we are to believe the latest news from these regions; most of the +Christian clans have at last decided to join the league. When I was in +the country they were in a wavering and undecided state. + +If this news be true, there is every prospect of a long-protracted and +ferocious war, for the Albanians are a terrible foe, and not easily to +be crushed when they once rise in earnest to defend their country, as +history has more than once showed. With such a leader as Ali Pasha +seems to be--of great ability, of intense zeal, ambitious to be a +second Scanderbeg--the autonomy of Albania may not be far off, and +probably may not be so very undesirable a thing. + +For here we have a people in religion, sentiment, and race, utterly +differing from those Greeks and Sclavs, to whose mercies Mr. Gladstone +would like to see their native land delivered. They are a people quite +apart from the other eastern Adriatic peoples--a noble race, that +deserves its opportunity quite as much as do Montenegro and Bulgaria. +This question is attracting little attention now, but I should not be +surprised to find that before long this attempt of a brave people to +acquire its independence will gain the sympathies of the English. + +Ingratitude is not an Albanian vice. It might happen that an Albanian +principality might prove, in some future time, an ally not to be +despised. + +I will conclude these remarks by once more repeating, that any one who +travels in these countries with unbiassed mind must be of opinion that +the Albanians are quite as likely--to say the least of it--to prove +capable of self-government, as are any of the southern Sclav peoples, +and that unless it be deemed best that Austria, or some other great +power, occupy the country, it would be well that autonomy were granted +to them, and exceedingly unwise to deliver them over to Greece and the +neighbouring Slav states, who have quite enough to do in looking after +their own affairs. + +On arriving at Toshli's, Brown, Robinson, our landlords, and other +friends, expressed their delight, and even astonishment, at seeing us +once more with our heads securely planted on our shoulders. + +We exchanged experiences with Brown and Robinson. They chaffed us a +little on our failure in Gussinje; but we found that we could return +the compliment. When they left us for the Miridite mountains they +(Robinson especially) were exceedingly sanguine as to the success of +their sporting expedition. They would return to Scutari with a train of +mules laden with the skins of the beasts they had slain. They were +going to make such a bag as had never been heard of in Albania. + +Now that they had returned they were remarkably reserved as to their +doings in the mountains. They came back empty-handed--of course because +they could not procure horses to carry the spoil. + +At last--first from one, and then from the other--the true story leaked +out. Their sport had been a dismal failure. They found that the +highlands were, to say the least, chilly at this late season. + +Marco struck, and would proceed no further into the snow-covered +wilderness, for our Arnaut follower had a liking for warmth, and a not +unnatural hatred and fear of the fierce brigands of the Meriditia, who +are the terror of all the country in the vicinity of their mountain +fastnesses. + +Under these circumstances they returned to the lowlands, and visited +the seaport of Alessio, and some other neighbouring towns. The chief +events of their expedition were the great hospitality they received +from a Roman Catholic bishop in one place, and from a self-elected +pasha, an ex-brigand, in another. + +Another follower had been added to our party during our absence. This +was one of those Bohemian dogs one occasionally comes across in cities. +A disreputable improvident, albeit clever and good-natured animal. He +had a profound contempt for orientals, and we were told invariably made +the acquaintance of any Europeans who visited Scutari. He generally +managed to pick up something at the consulates, but lived a very +hand-to-mouth sort of life; he was liked as a jolly fellow by the +decent dogs of Scutari. If any canine that ever prided himself on his +respectability scorned to associate with him, he, at any rate, had +cause to repent, if he audibly expressed his disgust in the vagabond's +presence. When the frontier commission was in Albania, this dog +attached himself to the English delegates, and was by them named "Dick +Deadeye," from his striking personal resemblance to that discontented +mariner on board H.M.S. "Pinafore." Dick Deadeye was out of town when +we were last at Scutari; but as soon as he returned and heard that +Englishmen were in the town, he hurried off to Toshli's, called on +Robinson and Brown, and kindly offered to accompany us whithersoever we +might wish to go. + +A very affectionate old friend he turned out to be; very useful, too. +When the savage Albanian dogs would rush out from some wayside +farm-house to yelp at the strangers' heels, Dick Deadeye would soon +settle them. + +The season was now far advanced; snow fell nearly every other day; and +it was evident that it would be difficult, and very unpleasant, to +travel further in this roadless country this year. Some of our party, +too, wished to be in London by Christmas. So, after holding a somewhat +stormy counsel, we decided to leave Scutari in three days' time, and +march to the port of Dulcigno, where we should just arrive in time to +meet the coasting steamer from Corfu to Trieste. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +The coffin--A pasha's death--Horse-dealing--The postman--Brigands--An +hotel bill--Down the Bojana--Dulcigno--Pirates--Farewell. + + +We spent these last three days in purchasing arms and other +curiosities. Between us we collected a very arsenal of strange weapons +of every kind. A carpenter at the bazaar constructed a box for us in +which to pack them. This box was about six feet in length, and somewhat +more than two feet in breadth. It looked uncommonly like a coffin. The +ever-ingenious Robinson, when it arrived at Toshli's spent a whole +evening in painting a ghastly-looking mummy on the cover, and other +horrible ornaments on its sides. As may be imagined, it created some +interest on our journey. + +The day after our return to Scutari the pasha very suddenly died, +whereupon the whole city rejoiced much and openly, and indulged in more +raki than was good for it. + +The doctors attributed his decease to apoplexy. It seems he had drunk a +cup of coffee, when suddenly he complained of intense pain, and +vomited. In ten minutes he was no more. Turkish pashas are strangely +subject to this curious and fatal illness, which, in nearly all cases, +follows the drinking of a cup of coffee or sherbet. + +Perhaps it is in consequence of the well-known antipathy between these +beverages and the pashaic stomach that so many of these distinguished +men have taken to Veuve Cliquot, notwithstanding the Koran's strict +ordinance. No one in Scutari for a moment doubted that poison was the +true cause of the mysterious complaint. Of course there was no +post-mortem. The Mussulman has a superstitious objection to any +mutilation of the human body, in life or death. + +Our faithful companions, Rosso and Effendi, had next to be sold. We +marched them up and down the bazaar day after day, Marco loudly +dilating on their many virtues. No one seemed very anxious to purchase +at our price. The dealer who had sold us Rosso offered us one-fifth of +the sum we had paid for him originally. Yet we had decidedly improved +the animal's condition. + +At last we managed to sell Effendi to the Austrian consul. But Rosso +hung on our hands to the very morning of our departure. No one would +have him at any price, even his original owner retracted his offer. +Should we be obliged to leave the poor animal a homeless vagabond, to +wander about the streets of Scutari in search of a master, begging for +crusts to keep life within those pathetic ribs? It seemed like it. + +Brown, in despair, wandered through the alleys of the bazaar, eagerly +informing the merchants that he had a red horse for sale. + +"Rosso Vendetta," as he expressed it, which, if it means anything, +means a sanguinary blood-feud. The quiet Christian merchants must have +imagined that the Englishman was running amuck, and was about to +slaughter them all. + +At the last moment the khanji of the khan where Rosso was lodged and +fed came to us, and offered us 200 piastres--about 30_s._--for our +noble steed. We had to accept it, for the animal was hardly worth +taking to England with us. + +It was a bright sunny morning when we bid a final adieu to our numerous +friends at Scutari, and started for the coast. We had sent the coffin +and our other baggage on in advance, on the backs of the mules of the +British consulate postman. There is no post-office or postal service of +any kind in North Albania, so letters are sent to the coast in this +way, to be taken up by the passing steamers. + +The office of letter-carrier is of some importance in this country, for +it is in the gift of the government, the carriers having the monopoly +of the transport of all goods from town to town. As there are no roads, +and hence no carts in North Albania, everything has to be carried on +the backs of horses or mules; this of course accounts for the very high +prices of all imported goods. + +Each carrier owns some twenty horses, and his calling would be an +exceedingly lucrative one were it not for the heavy black-mail levied +on him by the brigands. + +The carrier to Dulcigno to whom we had entrusted our baggage, had, we +were told, been stopped on his road three times within the last few +months. + +The whole business is managed very quietly. On some lonely portion of +the way, a picturesque gentleman, armed to the teeth, suddenly appears, +and in few words persuades the drivers to deliver up their charge. +These in a philosophically resigned manner accept their ill-luck; +discussion they know would be useless, as the muzzles of several long +Albanian guns peep ominously from the rocks above. + +We paid Toshli's bill, which was quite a curiosity in its way. + +Our landlord had been to some conventual school in his youth, and had +acquired the rudiments of the classic tongues. He now utilized his +knowledge, by setting down the many items of his account in what he +imagined was Latin. + +Occasionally, where his memory of that language failed him, he would +put down the name of some comestible in Greek. + +He must have taken great trouble in the composition of this document; +he came up with it smiling, evidently very proud of it, and remarked +that as we did not understand Albanian, he had done his best to make it +intelligible for us. + +The total looked enormous, calculated as it was in piastres, more like +a national debt than an hotel bill. We shuddered as we contemplated the +four figures of the total. However, a little calculation showed us that +we were not about to be burdened with an impossible debt, which might +keep us here in pawn for the rest of our days. + +The port of Dulcigno is situated half a day's march north of the mouth +of the Bojana, the river that takes off the waters of the Lake of +Scutari to the sea. + +The pleasantest way of making the journey, we were told, was to descend +the river by boat to a certain bend near the sea, and thence go on on +foot. + +We accordingly hired a londra which lay alongside the quay by the +bazaar. + +Our landlords, the Boulem-Bashi of Klementi, and some of our other +friends, came to see us off. After a good deal of hand shaking the four +Englishmen, Marco, Dick Deadeye, and two Albanian boatmen, embarked, +and we were soon descending the river on the top of a strong current. + +It would be a very good speculation to run a small steamer to Scutari. + +The navigation of the Bojana is easy, and the imports into Scutari from +abroad are considerable. But I suppose this would be an infringement of +the monopoly granted to the carriers; and it will be long ere the +authorities perceive the advantages of this mode of transport over the +slow, expensive, and dangerous carriage on the backs of mules and +horses, across a land unprovided with roads. + +Dick Deadeye was in a very melancholy state of mind during this voyage. +He lost his appetite, and grumbled to himself a good deal. + +He had before this descended the Bojana with Frankish friends, and knew +that there was a great water further on, associated in his mind with +partings and sorrow; for whenever his companions reached its shores, +they would go away from him in a big londra, never to return. + +He looked very plaintively at us all the day, for he knew that the +cruel old story was to be repeated. + +Early in the afternoon we reached the bend in the river that had been +described to us, so once more shouldered our guns and commenced our +march. Our way lay across a flat country covered with a dense jungle of +thorn. The road was if possible more abominable than any other we had +met with during our whole journey. + +It was not till late at night that we reached Dulcigno, and took up our +quarters in a dirty little khan, for this port possesses no such thing +as an hotel. We cooked some beef, and after a good supper retired to a +hay-loft, where we were able to make ourselves very comfortable for the +night. + +The next morning we were able to inspect Dulcigno. A very picturesque +little place it is, built at the foot of a fine valley, which opens on +the sea. There is no harbour, properly speaking--merely an unprotected +roadstead. We were told that the Austrian Lloyd's steamers did not +touch here now, but anchored off a valley some two hours further north, +where there was better shelter. When the wind blows strong on shore, +the steamer cannot touch even there. + +Dulcigno is a town of about 6000 inhabitants. These are for the most +part Mussulmen. They have a peculiarly ferocious look, and seem to have +little occupation. + +Dulcigno was once a prosperous place, for many a ship was here launched +and equipped for piratical purposes. Her sailors were renowned as being +the bravest and most ferocious buccaneers of the Mediterranean. We have +now come to look upon piracy as such an extinct profession, in the +Mediterranean at least, that it seems strange to remember that it is, +after all, but a few years since this was the ostensible occupation +of the whole population of this coast. Many of the discontented, +wild-looking fishermen we saw mending their nets on the shingle beach +well remembered the good old times, and had themselves taken a part in +seizing some stately Italian schooner, or bright-coloured Dalmatian +felucca. We found the carrier and his string of horses just starting +for the spot off which the Austrian Lloyd anchors, to unload or take on +board goods for and from Scutari. As several of the horses were without +burdens, we were able to ride. The road from Dulcigno to the little bay +to which we were bound was across the most fertile and cultivated +country we had yet seen in Albania. We passed through very forests of +olives; groves of oranges covered the steep hills that sloped down to +the calm Adriatic; pretty white houses, built in the Italian style, +were seen rising from the groves; and the people we met on the way had +a prosperous look about them, which astonished us, and reminded us that +we were approaching civilization. + +At last we came on a valley whose slopes were entirely covered with +olives. At the foot of this valley, the two hills that formed it +projected into the sea, terminating in precipitous cliffs, thus forming +a little shingle-fringed bay. This was our destination. By the shore +were pitched three or four tents, where were encamped a body of +soldiers--I presume, on coast-guard duty; for their officer had rather +a queer discussion with Marco as to the contents of our coffin. He +wished to have it opened. Marco indignantly refused to allow anything +of the sort to be done. "They are Englishmen," he said. This, he +thought, was a sufficient explanation. The good fellow had one definite +and fixed idea, at any rate, on the subject of Englishmen. He +considered that they were a worthy and eccentric people, who had no +country of their own, but who, by divine right, were entitled to do +exactly what they liked in any country, not being subject to any laws +whatever. This idea, I have found, is shared with him by many of my +travelling countrymen. + +There was a shrill whistle, and the steamer suddenly appeared round the +southern point. + +We placed our baggage in a boat, bid adieu to Marco, who kissed our +hands over and over again, and wept to see us go; enjoined him to see +Dick Deadeye safely back to Scutari--and embarked. Poor Dick Deadeye +was inconsolable. It required Marco and two soldiers to hold him back +from jumping into the boat after us. The wailings of the poor old dog +were most pathetic. + +I suppose that he is now vagabondizing about the capital once more, +philosophizing on the inconstancy of human friendship. By this time, +probably, he has re-attached himself to his old friends the frontier +commissioners, who, I believe, were to renew their labours this May. +Our general appearance, our baggage, especially the coffin with its +painted lid, caused some amusement on the steamer. + +I will not enter into the incidents of our return journey. For seven +days we steamed along the wild coast, and among the rocky islands, till +we reached Trieste, whence we took train for Calais, and so back to +London. It was just after that heavy snowstorm that extended over +nearly half of Europe. + +From Trieste to London the whole country was deeply buried. At Venice +the snow was two feet deep. In Paris all traffic had been stopped. +London was little better. + +And now I must bid farewell to those that have followed me thus far; +and to those that seek a tourist-unexplored, not over-inaccessible +country, for a summer tour, let me strongly recommend these interesting +lands of ancient Illyria. + + +FINIS. + + + LONDON: + GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, + ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. + + + + +_A Catalogue of American and Foreign Books Published or Imported by_ +MESSRS. SAMPSON LOW & CO. _can be had on application._ + +_Crown Buildings, 188, Fleet Street, London, April, 1880._ + + +A Selection from the list of Books + +PUBLISHED BY + +SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON. + + +ALPHABETICAL LIST. + +_A Classified Educational Catalogue of Works_ published in Great +Britain. Demy 8vo, cloth extra. 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