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diff --git a/41499.txt b/41499.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 35fc91a..0000000 --- a/41499.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9053 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Through the Land of the Serb, by Mary Edith Durham - -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: Through the Land of the Serb - -Author: Mary Edith Durham - -Release Date: November 27, 2012 [EBook #41499] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE LAND OF THE SERB *** - - - - -Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org -(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive) - - - - - -THROUGH THE LANDS OF THE SERB - -By - -MARY E. DURHAM - -LONDON - -EDWARD ARNOLD - -1904 - - -DEDICATED - -TO - -MY MOTHER - - -[Illustration: MONTENEGRIN WOMEN, CETINJE.] - - - -CONTENTS - -PART I - -MONTENEGRO AND THE WAY THERE - - I. CATTARO--NJEGUSHI--CETINJE - II. PODGORITZA AND RIJEKA - III. OSTROG - IV. NIKSHITJE AND DUKLE - V. OUR LADY AMONG THE ROCKS - VI. ANTIVARI - VII. OF THE NORTH ALBANIAN - VIII. SKODRA - IX. SKODRA TO DULCIGNO - -PART II - -OF SERVIA - - X. BELGRADE - XI. SMEDEREVO--SHABATZ--VALJEVO--UB--OBRENOVATZ - XII. NISH - XIII. PIROT - XIV. EAST SERVIA - XV. THE SHUMADIA AND SOUTH-WEST SERVIA - XVI. KRUSHEVATZ - -PART III - -MONTENEGRO AND OLD SERVIA - -1903 - - XVII. KOLASHIN--ANDRIJEVITZA--BERANI--PECH -XVIII. TO DECHANI AND BACK TO PODGORITZA - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - MONTENEGRIN WOMEN, CETINJE - CEMETERY NEAR CETINJE - BAKER'S SHOP, RIJEKA--ALBANIAN AND TWO - MONTENEGRINS - BULLOCK CART, PODGORITZA - UPPER MONASTERY, OSTROG - RUINS OF ANTIVARI - MOUNTAIN ALBANIANS IN MARKET, PODGORITZA - STREET IN BAZAAR, SKODRA - SKODRA - MOSQUE, SKODRA - SHOP IN BAZAAR, SKODRA - MONTENEGRIN PLOUGH - SERVIAN PEASANT - TRAVELLING GIPSIES, RIJEKA, MONTENEGRO - SOLDIERS' MONUMENTS - CHURCH, STUDENITZA--WEST DOOR. - CORONATION CHURCH, KRALJEVO - TSAR LAZAR'S CASTLE - CHURCH, KRUSHEVATZ--SIDE WINDOW OF APSE - THE PATRIARCHIA, IPEK (PECH) - PODGORITZA - MAP OF THE LANDS OF THE SERB - - - PUBLISHER'S NOTE - - In the spelling of proper names the - system adopted in the _Times Atlas_ has - been followed as nearly as possible. - Owing to the absence of Miss Durham in - Macedonia, the following pages have not - had the advantage of her revision in - going through the press. - - - -PART I - -MONTENEGRO AND THE WAY THERE - - "What land is this?" - "This is Illyria, lady." - _Twelfth Night._ - - - - -THROUGH THE LANDS OF THE SERB - - -CHAPTER I - -CATTARO--NJEGUSHI--CETINJE - - -I do not know where the East proper begins, nor does it greatly matter, -but it is somewhere on the farther side of the Adriatic, the -island-studded coast which the Venetians once held. At any rate, as soon -as you leave Trieste you touch the bubbling edge of the ever-simmering -Eastern Question, and the unpopularity of the ruling German element is -very obvious. "I--do--not--speak--German," said a young officer -laboriously, "I am Bocchese"; and as we approached the Bocche he -emphasised the fact that he was a Slav returning to a Slav land. Party -politics run high even on the steamboat. - -We awoke one morning to find the second-class saloon turned into a -Herzegovinian camp, piled with gay saddle-bags and rugs upon which -squatted, cross-legged, a couple of families in full native costume, and -the air was thick with the highly scented tobacco which the whole party -smoked incessantly. The friendly steward, a Dalmatian Italian, -whispered hastily, "This is a Herzegovinian family, signorin'. Do you -like the Herzegovinese?" Rather taken aback, and not knowing what his -politics were, I replied, stupidly enough, "I find their costume very -interesting," This frivolous remark hurt the steward deeply. -"Signorin'," he said very gravely, "these are some of the bravest men in -the world. Each one of these that you see would fight till he died." -Then in a mysterious undertone, "They cannot live without freedom ... -they are leaving their own land ... it has been taken, as you know, by -the Austrian.... They are going to Montenegro, to a free country. They -have taken with them all their possessions, and they go to find -freedom." - -I looked at them with a curious sense of pity. Though they knew it not, -they were the survivors of an old, old world, the old world which still -lingers in out-of-the-way corners, and it was from the twentieth century -quite as much as from the Teuton they were endeavouring to flee. All -these parti-coloured saddle-bags and little bundles tied up in cotton -handkerchiefs represented the worldly goods of three generations, who -had left the land of their forebears and were upon a quest as mystical -as any conceived by mediaeval knight--they were seeking the shrine of -Liberty. "Of old sat Freedom on the heights"; let us hope they found her -there! I never saw them again. - -On the other hand, in a boat with Austrian sympathies, the tale is very -different. "I am a Viennese, Fraeulein. Imagine what it is to me to have -to travel in this dreary place! The people?--they are a rough, -discontented set. Very ignorant. Very bad. No, I should not advise you to -go to Montenegro--a most mischievous race." "And what about Bosnia and -the Herzegovina?" "Oh, you will be quite safe there; _we_ govern that. -They are a bad lot, though! But we don't stand any nonsense." - -Thus either party seizes upon the stranger and tries to prevent his -views being "prejudiced." He seldom has need to complain that he has -heard one side only; but there is a Catholic side, an Orthodox side, a -Mohammedan side, there are German, Slav, Italian, Turkish, and Albanian -sides; and when he has heard them all he feels far less capable of -forming an opinion on the Eastern Question than he did before. - -Dalmatia has its charms, but tourists swarm there, and the picturesque -corners are being rapidly pulled down to provide suitable accommodation -for them. Let us pass on, then, nor pause till we have wound our way -through that wonderful maze of fiords, the Bocche, and landed on the -quay at Cattaro. Cattaro is a tiny, greatly coveted, much-fought-for -town. The natural port for Montenegro but the property of Austria, it -swelters, breathless, on a strip of shore, with the waters in front of -it, and the great wall of the Black Mountain rising sheer up behind. Its -"heart's in the Highlands," but the enemy holds it as a garrison town; -the Austrian army pervades the neighbourhood, and a big fort, lurking -opposite, commands the one road from mountain to coast. Cattaro, after -all, is only a half-way house to Montenegro, and this is why Austria -lavishes so many troops upon it. - -Behind the town starts the rough zigzag track, the celebrated "ladder of -Cattaro," which until 1879 was the only path into Montenegro, and is -the one the peasants still use. The making of the road was for a long -while dreaded by the Montenegrins, who argued that a road that will -serve for a cart will also serve for artillery. A tangible, visible gun -was their idea of the means by which changes are wrought; but the road -that can let in artillery can let in something more subtle, -irresistible, and change-working. The road was made, and there is now no -barrier to prevent the twentieth century creeping up silently and -sweeping over this old-world land almost before its force is recognised. -Whether the hardy mountain race which has successfully withstood the -gory onslaught of the Turk for five hundred years, will come out -unscathed from a bloodless encounter with Western so-called civilisation -Time alone can tell. - -The road from Cattaro to Cetinje has been so often written of that it is -idle to describe it once again, nor can any words do it justice. After -some three hours' climbing, we pass the last Austrian black-and-yellow -post, and the driver, if he be a son of the mountain, points to the -ground and says, "Crnagora!" (Tsernagora). Crnagora, gaunt, grey, drear, -a chaos of limestone crags piled one on the other in inextricable -confusion, the bare wind-swept bones of a dead world. The first view of -the land comes as a shock. The horror of desolation, the endless series -of bare mountain tops, the arid wilderness of bare rock majestic in its -rugged loneliness, tell with one blow of the sufferings of centuries. -The next instant fills one with respect and admiration for the people -who have preferred liberty in this wilderness to slavery in fat lands. - -Wherever possible, little patches of ground are cultivated, carefully -banked up with stones to save the precious soil from being washed away, -and up on the mountain sides scrubby oaks dwarfed and twisted by the -wind find a foothold among the crags. Most of the men carry revolvers, -and the eye soon becomes so much accustomed to weapons that on a return -to unarmed lands everyone appears, for a few days, to be rather -undressed. The road winds, the red roofs of Njegushi come in sight, and -we make our first halt in a Montenegrin town, and rest our weary horses. - -We enter the little inn, and our coachman claims his revolver, which is -hanging with several others behind the bar, for none are allowed to -enter Austria; they are deposited in some house near the frontier and -picked up on the way back. George Stanisich, the big landlord, hurries -up his womenkind to make ready a meal, looks after the drinks, and -converses cheerfully on the topics of the day--preferably on the war, if -there happens to be one. "Junastvo" (that is, heroism--"deeds of -derring-do") is a subject that occupies a large space in the Montenegrin -mind, and no wonder, and every man's ambition is to be considered a -"dobar junak" (valiant warrior) and worthy of his forefathers. - -Njegushi cannot fail to make a most vivid impression on the mind, for it -is the entrance to a world that is new and strange. The little -stone-paved room of the inn, hung with portraits of the Prince and the -Tsar and Tsaritsa of Russia; the row of loaded revolvers in the bar; the -blind minstrel who squats by the door and sings his long monotonous -chant while he scrapes upon his one-stringed gusle; and the tall, -dignified men in their picturesque garb, all belong to an unknown -existence, and the world we have always known is left far below at the -foot of the mountain. In Njegushi one feels that one has come a long way -from England. It is, in fact, easy to travel much farther without being -so far off. Yet the Montenegrin love of liberty and fair play and the -Montenegrin sense of honour have made me feel more at home in this far -corner of Europe than in any other foreign land. - -Njegushi is the Prince's birthplace. His ancestors were some of a number -of Herzegovinians who, intolerant of the Turk, emigrated in the -fifteenth century. The village they left was called Njegushi, and they -gave the same name to their new home. In connection with this I give -here a curious tale which I have met with more than once. I repeat it as -told; my informants, Servians, believed it firmly, but I can find no -confirmation of it. - -When these Herzegovinese migrated to Montenegro, a large body of them -went yet farther afield and settled in the mountains of Abyssinia, among -them a branch of the family of Petrovich of Njegushi, from which is -directly descended Menelik, who preserves the title of Negus and is a -distant cousin of Prince Nikola of Montenegro, and to this large -admixture of Slav blood the Abyssinians owe their fine stature and their -high standard of civilisation, as compared with the neighbouring African -tribes. - -The house of the Prince stands on the left of the road as we leave the -town. The road ascends once more; a steep pull up through a bleakness of -grey crags; we reach the top of the pass (3350 feet), and turn a corner. -"Cetinje!" (Tsetinye), says the driver briefly, and there, in the -mountain-locked plain far below, lies the little red-roofed town, a -village city, a kindergarten capital, one of the quaintest sights in -Europe, so tiny, so entirely wanting in the usual stock properties of a -big town and yet so consciously a capital. Two wide streets which run -parallel and are joined by various cross streets make up the greater -part of it, and it has some 3000 inhabitants. As we enter the town the -first building of importance stands up on the left hand, brand-new, a -white stone building with a black roof. To any other capital it would -not be remarkable either for size or beauty; here it looms large and -portentous. It is the biggest building in the town, and it is the Palace -of the Austro-Hungarian Legation. Not to be outdone, Russia has just -erected an equally magnificent building at the other end of the town, -which now lies between representatives of the two rival powers. "Which -things are an allegory." Twenty years ago Cetinje was a collection of -thatched hovels. To-day, modest as they are, the houses are all solidly -built and roofed with tiles. Few more than one storey high, many -consisting only of a ground floor, all of them devoid of any attempt at -architecture; not a moulding, a cornice, or a porch breaks the general -baldness: they are more like a row of toy houses all out of the same box -than anything else. The road is very wide, and very white; a row of -little clipped trees border it on each side, so clipped that they afford -at present about as much shade as telegraph posts, and they all appear -to have come out of the same box too. It is all very clean, very neat; -not a whiff offends the tenderest nostril, not a cabbage stalk lies in -the gutter. It is not merely a toy, but a brand-new one that has not yet -been played with. - -Cetinje is poor, but dignified and self-respecting. A French or Italian -village of the same size clatters, shouts, and screams. Cetinje is never -in a hurry, and seldom excited. It contains few important buildings. The -only ones of any historic interest are the monastery, the little tower -on the hill above it where were formerly stuck the heads of slain Turks, -and the old Palace called the Biljardo from the fact that it contained -Montenegro's first billiard-table. It now affords quarters for various -officials and the Court of Justice. There are no lawyers in Montenegro, -and this is said to simplify matters greatly. The Prince is the final -Court of Appeal, and reads and considers the petition of any of his -subjects that are in difficulties. Such faith have folk in his judgment -that Mohammedan subjects of the Sultan have been known to tramp to -Crnagora in order to have a quarrel settled by the Gospodar. That he -possesses a keen insight into these semi-civilised people and a -remarkable power of handling them is evident from the order that is -maintained throughout his lands even among the large Mohammedan Albanian -population, and it would undoubtedly have been much better for the -Balkan peoples had he had larger scope for his administrative powers. - -Cetinje's other attractions are the park, the theatre, and the market, -where the stranger will have plenty of opportunity of wrestling with the -language. - -The language is one of the amusements of Montenegro. It is not an easy -one. I hunted it about London for months, and it landed me in strange -places. The schools and systems that teach all the languages of Europe, -Asia, Africa, and America know it not. In the course of my chase I -caught a Roumanian, a Hungarian, and an Albanian, but I got no nearer to -it. I pursued it to a Balkan Consulate, which proved to consist entirely -of Englishmen who knew no word of the tongue, but kindly communicated -with a Ministry which consisted, so they said, entirely of very charming -men, with whom I should certainly be pleased. The Ministry was puzzled, -but wished to give me every encouragement. It had never before had such -a run upon its language. It suggested that the most suitable person to -instruct me would be an ex-Minister who had come over to attend the -funeral of Queen Victoria. The ex-Minister was very polite, but wrote -that he was on the point of returning to his native land. He therefore -proposed that a certain gallant and dashing officer, attache to the -Legation, should be instructed to call and converse with me once a week. -"No remuneration, of course," he added, "must be offered to the gallant -captain." "But suppose," I said feebly, "the captain doesn't care about -the job; it seems a little awkward, doesn't it?" "Oh no," said the -Consul, exultant; "when he hears it is by the orders of X., he won't -dare refuse." As I am not a character in one of Mr. Anthony Hope's -novels, but merely live in a London suburb, I thanked everybody and -retired upon a small grammar, dazzled by the fierce light that my -inquiries had shed upon the workings of this Balkan State, and wondering -if all the others were equally ready to loan out Ministers and attaches -to unknown foreigners. - -There is a childish simplicity about the conversation of the up-country -peasant folk that is quite charming. They are as pleased with a -stranger who will talk to them as is a child with a kitten that will -run after a string, and, like children, they have no scruples about -asking what in a more "grown-up" state of society would be considered -indiscreet questions, including even the state of one's inside. The -women begin the conversation and retail the details to their lords and -masters, who, burning with curiosity, stand aloof with great dignity for -a little while, and end by crowding out the women altogether. Neither -men nor women have the vaguest idea whence I come nor to what manner of -life I am accustomed. When they learn that I have come in a train and a -steamboat, their amazement is unbounded. That I come from a far countrie -that is full of gold is obvious. "And thou hast come so far to see us? -Bravo!" Much patting on the back, and sometimes an affectionate squeeze -from an enthusiastic lady, who at once informs the men that I am very -thin and very hard. "Bravo! thou art brave. Art married?" "No." Great -excitement and much whispering. "Wait, wait," says a woman, and she -shouts "Milosh! Milosh!" at the top of her voice. Milosh edges his way -through the crowd. He is a tall, sun-tanned thing of about eighteen -years, with the eyes of a startled stag. His mother stands on tiptoe and -whispers in his ear that this is a chance not to be lightly thrown away. -A broad smile spreads over Milosh's face. He looks coy, and twiddles his -fingers. "Ask her! ask her!" say the ladies encouragingly. "Ask her!" -say the men. Milosh plucks up courage, thumps his chest and blurts out, -"Wilt thou have me?" "No, thank you," I say, laughing; and Milosh -retires amid the jeers of his friends, but really much relieved. -"Milosh, thou art not beautiful enough," say the men; and they suggest -one Gavro as being more likely to please. Gavro takes Milosh's place -with great alacrity, and the same ceremony is repeated. The crowd enjoys -itself vastly, and tries to fit me out with a really handsome specimen. -I glance round, and my eye is momentarily caught by a very goodly youth. -"No! no! he's mine, he's mine!" cries a woman, who seizes him by the -arm, and he is hastily withdrawn from competition amid shouts of -laughter. "I have no money," says one youth frankly, "but thou hast -perhaps enough." "And he is good and beautiful," say his friends. For -they are all cheerfully aware that their faces are their only fortunes. -There is a barbaric simplicity and a lack of any attempt at romance -about the proposed arrangements which is exquisitely funny, for they are -far too honest to pretend that I possess any attractions beyond my -supposed wealth. I have often wondered what the crowd would do if I -accepted someone temporarily, but have never dared try. Five offers in -twenty minutes is about my highest record. - -But all these are country amusements. Cetinje is far too civilised a -city to indulge in them, and to "see Montenegro" we must wander much -farther afield. - -[Illustration: CEMETERY NEAR CETINJE.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -PODGORITZA AND RIJEKA - - -Travelling in Montenegro--in fine weather, be it said--is delightful -from start to finish. And to Shan, my Albanian driver, whose care, -fidelity, and good nature have added greatly to the success of many of -my tours, I owe a passing tribute. He is short and dark, a somewhat -mixed specimen of his race, and hails from near the borders, where folk -are apt to be so mixed that it is hard to tell which is the true type. -Careful of his three little horses, and always ready in an emergency, he -yet preserves the gay, inconsequent nature of a very young child. His -veneer of civilisation causes him to assume for short intervals an -appearance of great stiffness and dignity, but it melts suddenly, and -his natural spirits bubble through. Thus, at an inn door before -foreigners, he is stately, but in the kitchen to which I have been -invited to accompany him, he waves his arms wildly and performs a war -dance, chaffs the ladies, and makes himself highly agreeable. His tastes -are simple and easily satisfied. I have stood him several treats of his -own selection, and they usually cost about fourpence. One was an immense -liver which was toasted for him in hot wood ashes, and which he consumed -along with a whole loaf of bread--whereupon he expressed himself as -feeling much better. His generosity is unfailing; at the top of a pass, -in a heavy storm of sleet, he offered me the greatcoat he was wearing, -and he is always ready to help a distressed wayfarer. One awful evening, -when the rain was falling in torrents and it was rapidly growing dark, -we were hailed, between Rijeka and Cetinje, by a man in distress. A -sheep, his only one, which he was driving up to Cetinje, had fallen, wet -and exhausted, by the roadside, and he knew not what to do. Shan was -greatly concerned. He explained to me that the man was very poor, the -sheep very tired and also that the sheep was a very little one, then he -took it in his arms like a baby and arranged it on the box, where it -cuddled up against him for warmth, and, through wind, rain, and the -blackest night I have ever been out in, he drove three horses abreast, -held up an umbrella, nursed the sheep, and sang songs till we arrived -safely at our journey's end. - -Acting on the principle of "Do as you would be done by," when his pouch -is full, he distributes tobacco lavishly along the route with a fine -"Damn-the-expense" air which one cannot but admire, and when not a shred -remains, he begs it, quite shamelessly, of everyone he meets. When I -first made his acquaintance, his appearance puzzled me. Learning that he -was an Albanian, I remarked upon the fact to him; he immediately crossed -himself hastily. "Yes, an Albanian," he admitted, "but Cattolici, -Cattolici," and he added as an extra attraction, "and I came to -Montenegro when I was very little." He persists in regarding me as a -co-religionist; for the fact that I am neither Orthodox nor Mohammedan -is to him quite sufficient proof. His Catholicism is quite original. -Unlike most Catholic Albanians, who display a horror of the Orthodox -Church, he is most pressing in his attentions to the Orthodox priests, -and will never, if he can help it, be left out of a circle of -conversation that includes one. One Easter Day I saw him persist in -kissing, in Orthodox fashion, the village priest, who having more than -enough osculation to go through with his own flock, did his best to -dodge him, but was loudly smacked upon the back of the neck. His views -upon doctrinal points are mixed, but his simple creed has taught him -faith, hope, and charity "which is the greatest of the three." - -Withal he is a bit of a buck, and likes to cut a dash in what he -considers large towns. He strolls in when I am having dinner and -converses with the company at large; he makes me a flowery speech--he is -my servant; it is mine to command and his to obey; whatever I order he -will carry out with pleasure. When he learns that I shall not require -him till to-morrow, he beams all over his sun-tanned face. Then he -fidgets and makes pointless remarks. I do not help him. He strolls with -elaborate carelessness behind my chair and whispers hurriedly that towns -are very expensive, and if I would only advance him a florin or two of -his pay--I supply the needful, and later I meet him, a happy man, -playing the duke among a crowd of friends, to all of whom he introduces -me with great style and elegance. But his dissipations are very mild, -though from the swagger he puts on you would think they were bold and -bad. I have never seen him the worse for drink, and he is punctuality -itself and very honest. Child of the race with about the worst -reputation in Europe though he is, I would trust him under most -circumstances. - -Leaving Cetinje by its only road, we soon reach the top of the pass, and -a sudden turn reveals the land beyond. We have come across Europe to the -edge of Christianity, and stand on the rocky fortress with the enemy in -sight. The white road serpentines down the mountain side, and far below -lies the green valley and its tiny village, Dobrsko Selo; on all sides -rise the crags wild and majestic; away in the distance gleams the great -silver lake of Skodra. Beyond it the blue Albanian mountains, their -peaks glittering with snow even in June, show fainter and fainter, and -the land of mystery and the unspeakable Turk fades into the sky--a scene -so magnificent and so impressive that it is worth all the journey from -England just to have looked at it. - -We cast loose our third horse, and rattle all the way down to Rijeka, -skimming along the mountain side and swinging round the zigzags on a -road that it takes barely two hours to descend and quite three to climb -up again; for Cetinje lies 1900 feet above the sea, and Rijeka not much -more than 200 feet. - -Rijeka means a stream, and the town so called is a cluster of most -picturesque, half-wooden houses, facing green trees and a ripple of -running water and backed by the mountain side--as pretty a place as one -need wish to see. The stream's full name is Rijeka Crnoievicheva, the -River of Crnoievich, but for everyday use town and river are simply -Rijeka. But its full name must not be forgotten, for it keeps alive the -fame of Ivan Beg Crnoievich, who ruled in the latter half of the -fifteenth century, in the days when Montenegro's worst troubles were -beginning. Unable to hold the plains of the Zeta against the Turk, Ivan -gathered his men together, burnt his old capital, Zabljak, near the head -of the lake, retired into the mountains, and founded Cetinje in 1484. He -built a castle above Rijeka as a defence to his new frontier, and swore -to hold the Black Mountain against all comers. But he meant his people -to grow as a nation worthily, and not to degenerate into a horde of -barbarians. He founded the monastery at Cetinje, appointed a bishop and -built churches. And--for he was quite abreast of his times--he sent to -Venice for type and started a printing press at Rijeka. In spite of the -difficulties and dangers that beset the Montenegrins, they printed their -first book little more than twenty years later than Caxton printed his -at Westminster. Ivan is not dead, but sleeps on the hill above Rijeka, -and he will one day awake and lead his people to victory. The printing -press was burned by the Turks, and the books which issued from it--fine -specimens of the printer's art--are rare. - -The stream Rijeka is a very short one. It rises in some curious caverns -not much farther up the valley, and flows into the lake of Skodra. The -town is built of cranky little houses, half Turkish in style, with open -wooden galleries painted green--gimcrack affairs, that look as though -they might come down with a run any minute, when filled as they -frequently are with a party of heavy men. It has an old-world look, but, -as most of the town was burnt by the Turks in 1862, appearances are -deceptive. A perfect Bond Street of shops faces the river. Here you can -buy at a cheap rate all the necessaries of Montenegrin existence. In the -baker's shop the large round flat loaves of bread, very like those dug -up at Pompeii, are neatly covered with a white cloth to keep off the -flies. - -Plenty of tobacco is grown in the neighbourhood. In the autumn the -cottages are festooned with the big leaves drying in the sun, and you -may see Albanians, sitting on their doorsteps, shredding up the fragrant -weed with a sharp knife into long, very fine strips till it looks like a -bunch of hair, shearing through a large pile swiftly, with machine--like -regularity and precision. Tobacco is a cheap luxury, and I am told -Montenegrin tobacco is good. Almost every man in Montenegro smokes from -morning till night, generally rolling up the next cigarette before the -last is finished. - -The town possesses a burgomaster, a post-office, a steamboat office, a -Palace, and an inn, which provides a good dinner on market days. It is a -clean, prosperous, friendly, and very simple-minded place--I did not -realise how simple-minded till I spent an afternoon sitting on the wall -by the river, drawing the baker's shop, with some twenty Montenegrins -sitting round in a crimson and blue semicircle. It was in the days when -I knew nothing of the language, and the Boer War was as yet unfinished. -I drew, and my friend talked. A youth in Western garb acted as -interpreter. He ascertained whence we had come, and then remarked -airily, "Now, I come from Hungary, and I am walking to the Transvaal. -This man," pointing out a fine young Montenegrin, "is coming with me!" -Stumbling, voluble and excited, in very broken German, he unfolded their -crazy plan. They were both brave men and exceedingly rich. "I have two -thousand florins, and a hundred more or less makes no difference to -him," kept cropping up like the burden of a song. Their families had -wept and prayed, but had failed to turn them from their purpose. They -were going to walk to the Transvaal. "But you can't," we said. He was -hurt. "Of course not all the way," he knew that. They had meant to walk -across Albania to Salonika, but the Consul at Skodra had put a stop to -this dangerous scheme. Now they were going by sea from Cattaro to -Alexandria, and thence, also by sea, to Lorenzo Marques. After this, -they should "walk to the Transvaal." "Why don't you walk from -Alexandria?" we asked. He answered quite seriously that they had thought -of this, but they had been told there was a tribe of Arabs in the centre -of Africa even more ferocious than the Albanians, so, though they were -of course very brave men, they thought on the whole they preferred the -boat. When they arrived, they meant to fight on whichever side appeared -likely to win, and then they were going to pick up gold. We thought it -our duty to try and dissuade them from their wild-goose chase, but our -efforts were treated with scorn. "What can you do? You speak very little -German, and your friend nothing but Servian." "No, he doesn't," said the -Hungarian indignantly. "He speaks Albanian very well, and I--I know many -languages. I speak Servian and Hungarian." The idea that a place -existed where no one spoke these well-known tongues was to him most -ridiculous, and the Montenegrin, to whom it was imparted, smiled -incredulously. We urged the price of living and the cost of Machinery -required in gold-mining. The first he did not believe; the second he -thought very silly. The gold was there, and he was not such a fool as to -require a machine with which to pick it up. - -[Illustration: BAKER'S SHOP, RIJEKA.--AUJAMAN AND TWO MONTENEGRINS.] - -The Montenegrin, who had been bursting with a question for the last -quarter of an hour, insisted on its being put. "Could he buy a good -revolver in Johannesburg?" He waited anxiously for a reply. "You see," -explained the Hungarian, "he must leave his in Montenegro." "But why? It -looks a very good one." The Montenegrin patted his weapon lovingly; he -only wished he could take it, it would be most useful, but ... in order -to reach the boat at Cattaro he must cross Austrian territory, and you -are not allowed to carry firearms in Austria! He shook his head -dolefully when we said that permission could surely be obtained. "No, -this was quite impossible; under no circumstances could it be managed. -You don't know what the Austrians are!" said the Hungarian mysteriously. -The unknown land, the unknown tongues, the British, the Boers, the -rumble-tumble ocean and the perils of the deep were all as nothing -beside the difficulty of crossing the one narrow strip of Austrian land. -We told him revolvers were plentiful in Johannesburg, and the prospect -of finding home comforts cheered him greatly. We parted the best of -friends. - -From Rijeka the road rises rapidly again, and strikes over the hills, -winding through wild and very sparsely inhabited country. The mountain -range ends abruptly, and we see the broad plains stretching away below -us, with the white town of Podgoritza in the midst of it. The plain is -very obviously the bed of the now shrunken lake of Skodra, and the -water-worn pebbles are covered with but a thin layer of soil. But both -maize and tobacco seem to do well upon it, and every year more land is -taken into cultivation. The rough land is covered with wiry turf and low -bushes, and swarms with tortoises which graze deliberately by the -roadside. The river Moracha has cut itself a deep chasm in the loose -soil between us and the town, and tears along in blue-green swirls and -eddies. We have to overshoot the town to find the bridge, and we clatter -into Podgoritza six or seven hours after leaving Cetinje, according to -the weather and the state of the road. - -Podgoritza is the biggest town in Montenegro, and has between five and -six thousand inhabitants. It is well situated for a trading centre, for -it is midway between Cetinje and Nikshitje, and is joined by a good road -to Plavnitza, on the lake of Scutari, so is in regular steamboat -communication with Skodra and with Antivari _via_ Virbazar. Its position -has always given it some importance. As a Turkish garrison town it was a -convenient centre from which to invade Montenegro; to the Montenegrin it -was part of his birthright--part of the ancient kingdom of Servia--and -as such to be wrested from the enemy. It was the brutal massacre of -twenty Montenegrins in and near the town in time of peace (October 1874) -that decided the Montenegrins to support the Herzegovinian insurrection -and declare war. Podgoritza was besieged and taken in October 1876. The -walls of the old town were blown to pieces with guns taken from the -Turks at Medun, and an entirely new town has since sprung up on the -opposite side of the stream Ribnitza. Podgoritza (= "At the Foot of the -Mountain"), if you have come straight from the West, is as amusing a -place as you need wish to visit. It has not so many show places as -Cetinje even, and its charm is quite undefinable. It consists in its -varied human crowd, its young barbarians all at play, its ideas that -date from the world's well--springs, subtly intermingled with Manchester -cottons, lemonade in glass-ball-stoppered bottles, and other blessings -of an enlightened present. The currents from the East and the West meet -here, the old world and the new; and those to whom the spectacle is of -interest, may sit upon the bridge and watch the old order changing. - -The Montenegrin town of Podgoritza is clean and bright. The long wide -main street of white stone, red-roofed shops with their gay wares, and -the large open market square where the weekly bazaar is held, are full -of life. Both street and market-place are planted with little trees, -acacias and white mulberries; and the bright green foliage, the white -road, the red roofs, the green shutters, the variety of costume, make an -attractive scene in the blaze of the Southern sun. Across the gold-brown -plain rise the blue mountains where lies that invisible line the -frontier. The slim minarets of the old Turkish town shoot up and shimmer -white on sky and mountain; the river Ribnitza flows between the old town -and the new, and over the bridge passes an endless stream of strange -folk, the villagers of the plain and the half-wild natives of the -Albanian mountains passing from the world of the Middle Ages to a place -which feels, however faintly, the forces of the twentieth century. -Bullock carts, with two huge wheels and basket-work tops, trail slowly -past, groaning and screeching on their ungreased axles. Look well at the -carts, for our own forefathers used them in the eleventh century, and -they appear in the Harleian MSS. - -Everything moves slowly. All day long folk draw water from the -stone-topped well on the open space between the old town and the -new--draw it slowly and laboriously, for there is no windlass or other -labour-saving contrivance, and the water is pulled up in a canvas bag -tied to a string. Three or four bagfuls go to one bucket. - -In spite of the fact that Podgoritza is the centre of the -Anglo-Montenegrin Trading Company and deals in Manchester cottons, the -day seems distant when it will lose its other simple habits. I was -walking one day down the "High Street" with a friend, when a young -Albanian went to call on his tailor. He came out presently with a fine -new pair of the tight white trousers that his clan affects. He exhibited -them in the middle of the road to two or three friends, and they were -all evidently much struck with the make and embroidery. If the garments -were so charming "off," what would they be "on"! The whole party hurried -across to the shop door of the happy purchaser, and such an alarming -unbuckling and untying began to take place that we! discreetly went for -a little walk. On our return the transfer had been effected. Two -friends were grasping the garment by the front and back, and the wearer -was being energetically jigged and shaken into it. This was a tough job, -for it was skin-tight. The legs were then hooked-and-eyed up the back, -and presently the youth was strutting down the middle of the road -stiff-kneed and elegant, with the admiring eyes of Podgoritza upon him, -and a ridiculously self-conscious smile. - -[Illustration: BULLOCK CART, PODGORITZA.] - -Wandering gipsy tribes turn up here, too; mysterious roving gangs, their -scant possessions, tin pots and tent poles, piled on ponies; their -children, often as naked as they were born, perched on top of the load. -They have no abiding place; impelled by a primeval instinct, they pass -on eternally. Extraordinarily handsome savages some of them are, too. I -have seen them on the march--the men in front, three abreast, swinging -along like panthers; half stripped, clad in dirty white breeches and -cartridges; making up with firearms for deficiency in shirts, and -carrying, each man, in addition to his rifle, a long sheath knife and a -pistol in his red sash, their matted coal-black locks falling down to -their beady, glittering black eyes, which watch you like a cat's, -without ever looking you straight in the face. Their white teeth and the -brass cases of the cartridges sparkling against their swarthy skins, -they passed with their heads held high on their sinewy throats with an -air of fierce and sullen independence. Behind follow the boys, women, -and children, with all their worldly goods; golden-brown women with -scarlet lips and dazzling teeth, their hair hanging in a thick black -plait on either side of the face, like that of the ladies of ancient -Egypt; holding themselves like queens, and, unlike their lords and -masters, smiling very good-naturedly. So entirely do they appear to -belong to an unknown, untamed past, that I was astonished when one of -them, a splendid girl in tawny orange and crimson, addressed me in -fluent Italian outside the Podgoritza inn. "I am a gipsy. Are you -Italian?" Italy was her only idea of a foreign land, and England quite -unknown to her. She hazarded a guess that it was far off, and imparted -the information to a little crowd of Albanian and Montenegrin boys who -were hanging around. When the servant of the inn thought the crowd too -large, he came out to scatter it. The boys fled precipitately; the girl -stood her ground firmly, as one conscious of right, and told him what -she thought of him volubly and fiercely, her eyes flashing the while. He -retired discomfited, and she informed us superbly, "I told him the -ladies wished to speak to me!" Unlike the Montenegrins, she understood -at once that we were merely travelling for travelling's sake, and -regarded it as perfectly natural. She retired gracefully when she had -learnt what she wished to know. - -The Montenegrin and Albanian gipsies are mostly Mohammedans, and what is -vaguely described as Pagan. They seldom or never, it is said, intermarry -with the people among whom they wander, but keep themselves entirely to -themselves. One day the old quarter of Podgoritza was agog with a -Mohammedan gipsy wedding. From across the river we heard the monotonous -rhythmic pulsation of a tambourine, and at intervals the long-drawn -Oriental yowl that means music. We strolled down to the bridge and -joined the very motley collection of sight-seers. Gay and filthy, they -gathered round us, and enjoyed at once the spectacle of two foreigners -of unknown origin and the festivity which was going on in the back -garden hard by. It could hardly be called a garden, it was the yard of a -squalid little hovel backing on the river, and was filled with women in -gorgeous raiment walking backwards and forwards in rows that met and -swayed apart, singing a long howling chant, while the pom-pom and -metallic jingle of the tambourine sounded over the voices with -mechanical regularity. Presently all fell aside and left a space, into -which leapt a dancing-girl, a mass of white silk gauze with a golden -zouave and belt and a dangling coin head-dress. She wreathed her arms -gracefully over her head and danced a complicated _pas-seul_ with great -aplomb and certainty, her white draperies swirling round her and her -gold embroideries flashing in the sunlight. When she ceased, the party -withdrew into the dirty little hut, and as we were now the whole -attraction to the obviously verminous crowd we withdrew also. The hut -was the headquarters of the bridegroom, and this was a preliminary -entertainment. Next morning, four carriages dashed into the town at -once, bringing the bride and her escort from Skodra in Albania. The -horses' heads were decorated with gaily embroidered muslin -handkerchiefs, and the bride's carriage was closely curtained and -veiled. The amount of men and weapons that poured out of the other -vehicles was astounding. When three carriages had unloaded, the bride's -carriage drove up close to the entrance of the yard in which the hut -stood, and the men made a long tunnel from door to door by holding up -white sheets; down this the bride fled safe and invisible, while -curiosity devoured the spectators on the bridge. Every window in the hut -was already shuttered and barred, and we thought there was no more to be -seen. - -But our presence had been already noted. A commotion arose among the men -at the door of the hovel. A young Montenegrin onlooker came up, pulled -together all his foreign vocabulary and stammeringly explained, "They -wish you to go into their house." All the men in the crowd were consumed -with curiosity about the hidden bride, and obviously envied us the -invitation. We hesitated to plunge into the filthy hole. We didn't -hesitate long, though. The bride and her friends meant to show off their -finery to the foreigners; a dark swagger fellow who would take no denial -was sent out to fetch us, and we followed our escort obediently to the -cottage door. We paused a half-second on the doorstep; it looked bad -inside, but it was too late to go back. A passage was cleft for us -immediately, and we found ourselves in a long low room with a mud -floor--a noisome, squalid den in which one would not stable an English -donkey. There was no light except what came through the small door and -the chinks. It was packed with men; their beady, bright eyes and silver -weapons glittered, the only sparks of brightness in the gloom. - -As my eyes got accustomed to the subdued light, I saw in the corner a -huge caldron of chunks of most unpleasant-looking boiled mutton, with -floating isles of fat, and my heart sank at the thought that perhaps -our invitation included the wedding breakfast. The men guarding the door -of the inner apartment parted, and we went in. No man, save the -bridegroom, entered here. It was a tiny hole of a room, but its dirty -stone walls were ablaze with glittering golden embroideries and it was -lighted by oil lamps. The floor was covered with women squatting close -together, their brown faces, all unveiled, showing very dark against -their gorgeous barbaric costumes. It was a fierce jostle of -colours--patches of scarlet, orange, purple and white, mellowed and -harmonised by the lavish use of gold over all, coin head-dresses, -necklaces, and girdles in reckless profusion. In the light of common day -it would doubtless resolve itself into copper-gilt and glass jewels, but -by lamplight it was all that could be desired. On a chair, the only one -in the room, with her back to the partition wall, so as to be quite -invisible to the men in the next room, sat the bride, upright, -motionless, rigid like an Eastern idol. Her hands lay in her lap, her -clothes were stiff with gold, and she was covered down to the knees with -a thick purple and gold veil. There she has to sit without moving all -day. She may not even, I am told, feed herself, but what nourishment she -is allowed is given her under the veil by one of the other ladies. At -her feet, cross-legged on the ground, sat the bridegroom, who I believe -had not yet seen her--quite the most decorative bridegroom I ever saw, a -good-looking fellow of about five-and-twenty, whose black and white -Albanian garments, tight-fitting, showed him off effectively, while the -arsenal of fancy weapons in his sash gave him the required touch of -savagery. He gazed fixedly at the purple veil, endeavouring vainly to -penetrate its mysteries, and, considering the trying circumstances in -which he was placed, seemed to be displaying a good deal of fortitude. -The air was heavy with scented pastilles, otherwise the human reek must -have been unbearable. - -Everyone began to talk at once, and it was evident from their nods and -smiles that we had done the correct thing in coming. Unfortunately we -couldn't understand a word, but we bowed to everyone, repeated our -thanks, and tried to express our wonder and admiration. Whether we were -intended to stay or not I do not know, but, haunted by a desire to -escape with as small a collection of vermin as possible, and also to -evade the chunks of mutton in the caldron, we backed our way, bowing, -into the outer room after a few minutes, and were politely escorted to -the entrance. Judging by the smiles and bows of everyone, our visit gave -great satisfaction. After we left, the doors were shut, and there was a -long lull, during which the mutton was probably consumed. If so, we -escaped only just in time. In the afternoon the tambourines and -sing-songs started again, and far into the night the long-drawn yowls of -the epithalamium came down the wind. - -In spite of the mixed Christian and Mohammedan population, excellent -order is maintained. The more I see of the Montenegrin, the more I am -struck with his power of keeping order. It is a favourite joke against -him that when he asks for a job and is questioned as to his -capabilities, he replies that he is prepared to "superintend," and it -turns out that he is unable to do anything else. But not even our own -policeman can perform the said "superintending" more quietly and -efficiently. To the traveller the Mohammedan is very friendly. The -attempt of a man to draw or photograph a woman is an insult which is not -readily forgiven and may lead to serious consequences, but as long as -one conforms to local customs these people are as kindly as one could -wish, and not by a long way so black as they have often been painted. As -a matter of fact a large proportion of the rows that occur all over the -world between different nationalities arise from someone's indiscreet -attentions to someone else's girl. And this is why a lady travelling -alone almost always has a friendly welcome, for on this point at any -rate she is above suspicion. - -The Orthodox Montenegrin is equally anxious to make one feel at home. At -Easter-tide, when the whole town was greeting each other and giving pink -eggs, we were not left out. "Krsti uskrshnio je" ("Christ has risen") is -the greeting, to which one must reply, "Truly He has risen," accepting -the egg. People go from house to house, and eggs stand ready on the -table for the visitors, who kiss the master and mistress of the house -three times in the name of the Trinity. Montenegrin kisses--I speak -merely as an onlooker--are extremely hearty. It is surprising what a -number they get through on such a festival. For four days does the -Easter holiday last. - -Montenegrins take their holidays quietly. It used to be said of the -Englishman that he takes his pleasures sadly. But that was before the -evolution of the race culminated in 'Any and 'Arriet. The Montenegrin -has not yet reached this pitch of civilisation. I wonder whether he -inevitably must, and if so, whether what he will gain will at all -compensate for what he must lose. For civilisation, as at present -understood, purchases luxuries at the price of physical deterioration. -High living is by no means always accompanied by high thinking, and ... -the end of it the future must show. When the Montenegrin has learnt what -a number of things he cannot possibly do without, let us hope he will be -in some way the better. It is certain he will be in many ways the worse. - -Things Christian lie on one side of the Ribnitza, and things Mohammedan -on the other. The Turkish graveyard lies out beyond the old town, -forlorn and melancholy as they mostly are. The burial-ground of the -Orthodox is on the Montenegrin side of the town. The dead are borne to -the grave in an open coffin, and the waxen face of the corpse is -visible. The coffin-lid is carried next in the procession. I was told -that this curious custom originated in the fact that sham funerals were -used when the Balkan provinces were under Turkish rule as a means of -smuggling arms. But I doubt this tale. For the custom used to prevail in -Italy, and does still, I believe, in Spain. It is, in all probability, -much older than the Turks, and a tradition that dates from the days when -burning and not burial was the usual way of disposing of the dead and -the body was carried to the funeral pyre upon a bier. The open coffin, -the funeral songs, and the commemorative feasts annually held on the -graves by many of the South Slavs, the lights and incense burnt upon -the graves, and the lighted candles carried in the funeral processions -together reproduce, with extraordinary fidelity, the rites and -ceremonies of the Romans. And how much older they may be we know not. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -OSTROG - - -I have driven the road many a time since, and I have been again to -Ostrog, but I shall never forget that day three years ago when I went -there for the first time. It was the only part of that journey about -which our advisers said we should find no difficulty; "foreign -languages" were spoken, and there would be no trouble about -accommodation. We started from Podgoritza early and in high spirits. - -The valley of the Zeta is green and well cultivated. It narrows as we -ascend it, and an isolated hill crowned with the ruins of a Turkish -fortress stands up commandingly in the middle. This is the "bloody" -Spuzh of the ballads, the stronghold that guarded the former Turkish -frontier. Montenegro at this point was barely fifteen miles across, and -Spuzh and Nikshitje gripped it on either hand. From being a border town -with an exciting existence Spuzh has subsided into an unimportant -village. Danilovgrad, on the other hand, a few miles farther on, a town -founded in memory of the late Prince, is full of life, and though a bit -rudimentary at present, shows signs of soon becoming large and -flourishing. It is possible now to drive right up to the lower -monastery of Ostrog by a fine new road, but this did not yet exist on -my first visit, and we pulled up at Bogatich--a poverty-stricken -collection of huts and a tiny church. A tall, lean, sad-eyed -Montenegrin, with his left arm in a sling, came out of the little "han" -to greet us, bringing with him a strong whiff of carbolic. They were a -melancholy little household. His wife, who brought water for our reeking -horses, had had her right arm taken off an inch or two below the elbow, -and carried the bucket horribly in the crook of the stump. They cheered -up when they heard we wanted a guide to the monastery, and called their -daughter from the shed for the purpose. - -She came out, a shy, wild-looking thing of about fifteen, barefooted, -her knitting in her hands, accepted the job at once, tied our two -hand-bags on her back with a bit of cord, and we started up in search of -the unknown, armed with a leg of cold mutton, a loaf of black bread, a -sketch-book, and a flask of brandy. - -It was midday, and almost midsummer; the air was heavy with thunder, and -no breath of a breeze stirred as we scrambled up the loose stones. The -girl snorted loudly like a pig, to show us the way we should go, and -took us, in true Montenegrin fashion, straight up from point to point -without heeding the zigzags of the horse-track except where the -steepness of the rock compelled her. The way soon became steeper and -steeper, in fact a mere rock scramble, and it was abominably hot; and -when suddenly our plucky little guide, who had as yet shown no signs of -fatigue, gave out all her breath with a long whistle and pointed to the -nearest patch of shade, we gladly called a halt. The great advantage of -a girl-guide is that she takes you to the right place and you can rest -on the way. Little boys as a general rule are vague and inconsequent; -they pick up crowds of friends _en route_, even in the most desolate and -apparently uninhabited spots, and you don't generally arrive at your -destination. Either they don't know the way, or they conduct you to -another spot, for reasons of their own. - -We sat with our girl, and made futile attempts to converse with her. It -was a wild, lonely spot, and save the rough track worn by generations of -pilgrims, as rugged as it was created. Great grey limestone rocks arose -around us, with sturdy young trees sprouting in the crannies; a small -grey snake wound its way over the sunbaked stones, and a tortoise -scrambled about the grass alongside. The valley shimmered in a hot haze -far below, and beyond towered the bare crags of the opposite mountains. -We seemed a very long way from anywhere. Appearances were however -deceptive, as a short scramble brought us to a wall, a gateway, and some -buildings. The girl seemed to think we had now arrived, and we imagined -that we were about to find the guest-house where French, Italian, and -German were spoken. We passed through the gateway on to a long wide -shelf on the mountain side, 1900 feet above the sea. Two or three very -poor cottages stood at the entrance, and at the farther end a tiny -church, crudely painted with a maroon dado of geometrical patterns, and -three small houses all apparently shut up and uninhabited. Not a soul -was to be seen. The girl went into one of the cottages and fetched a -tin pot of cold water, which we all drank greedily, seeing which the -cottage woman came out and supplied us with as much as we required, and -gave us a bench to sit on. She was mildly concerned at our appearance, -for we had sweated all through our shirts, and the girl had left a black -hand-print on my back, but she spoke no word of any other language but -her own, and speedily retired again to her cottage. We sat on the bench -and pondered, feeling very forlorn. If this were Ostrog, as the girl -assured us with vigorous nods, it was not worth the roasting scramble. -We were miserably disappointed, but decided that, as we had come to see -Ostrog, we would see it properly, and that, if there were any -inhabitants, they had not finished the midday siesta. We squeezed into a -patch of shadow and cut up the mutton and black bread with a -pocket-knife; the girl gladly assisted, and ate like a wolf, bolting -large chunks with great appetite. There was quite a cheery lot of brandy -in the flask, and as we carefully packed up the remains of the meal, in -case of a siege, we felt very much better. - -Then down the wide white path from the houses came a man, an old, old -man in Western garb. He tottered up, and we hailed him in all our known -languages; French and Italian failed, but he responded to German, and -started at once on his own autobiography. He was an old soldier, he had -fought under Karageorgevich. Now he had retired here to end his days. -"They" had sent him here, and "they" had made him dig his grave. It was -waiting for him on the mountain side. He was very lonely, and had no -one to talk to. As soon as we could stem the torrent of his remarks, we -asked him about quarters for the night. "Had we an introduction from the -Archimandrite at Cetinje?" "No?" Then we had better go back where we had -come from, and we had better start at once, if we meant to get to -Nikshitje that night. We were appalled. He repeated obstinately, "You -must go, and if you take my advice, you will go at once. I can do -nothing for you. They," he admitted mysteriously, "cannot bear me. It is -useless for me to ask them. They can speak nothing but Servian, and you -will not be able to make them understand. They would have to send for -me. Moreover, they are asleep." He pointed to "their" house. We asked -when "they" were likely to wake up again, and he said it would be in -about an hour's time. We doubted his statements, for his air was very -malevolent, so as our little maiden was already coiled up on the ground -fast asleep, we thought it would be just as well to rest until "they" -could be appealed to. The old gentleman "who had no one to talk to" went -off and indulged in an animated conversation with the cottage woman, -while we dozed under a tree. When we aroused ourselves again, not much -rested, we saw the shutters of "their" house were now open, so we -marched up to the front door, knocked, and awaited results tremulously. - -Nothing happened; we knocked a second time, and fled down the steps. -Immediately the door flew open, and there was the Archimandrite of -Ostrog himself, in long black gown, crimson sash, and high velvet hat--a -little old man whose thin iron-grey locks flowed on his shoulders. He -came rushing down the steps and shook us by the hands, saying, "Dobar -dan, dobar dan" (good-day), as heartily as though he had been expecting -us and we had come at last. We said, "Dobar dan," also, with enthusiasm, -and then the conversation came to an abrupt conclusion. He showed us -with great ceremony into his sitting-room, and made us sit on the sofa, -while he sat opposite on a chair. We felt acutely uncomfortable--not one -single word of English, French, German, or Italian did the good man -know. We made him understand that we had come from England, which amazed -him, and that we had walked from Bogatich. Then we stuck hopelessly and -helplessly, while he, undaunted, went on in his native language. It -seemed as if our climb to Ostrog had failed, and that flight was all -that was left for us. We got up and said "good-bye" politely. Our -departure he would by no means permit. "Sjedite, sjedite!" he cried, -waving us back to the sofa, and down we sat again, feeling much worse. A -Montenegrin about six feet four inches in height, clad in a huge brown -overcoat, answered his summoning bell, and presently returned with two -glasses of cold water on a brass tray which he offered to us -ceremoniously, towering over us and watching us with lofty toleration, -as a big dog does a little one. He waited patiently until we had drunk -every drop, collected the glasses, and silently retired from the room -backwards. - -A horrible silence ensued. We took out our watches and showed them to -each other, in hopes that the Archimandrite would then understand that -our time was really up. But no. A fearful wrestle with the language -followed, and lasted till the Big-Dog Montenegrin reappeared, this time -with two cups of coffee. We obediently began to consume this, and the -Archimandrite, despairing of ever making us understand single-handed, -instructed his servant to fetch the gentleman-who-spoke-German. Through -him we were at once informed that the Archimandrite offered us -hospitality for the night in the house over the way. We were much -amazed, and accepted gratefully. With apologies, he then inquired if we -were married, and hastened to assure us that there was no disgrace -attached to the fact that we were not. We were slightly dismayed when we -were told we now had the Archimandrite's gracious permission to visit -the shrine, and that we were to start at once. - -We were put upon the right track and left to our own devices. We had -been up since five, and had only had a scrappy, unhappy doze under the -tree, so we told each other we would go to sleep on the first piece of -ground that was flat enough. Having zigzagged up some way through the -wood, we lay down on a piece of grass, and should have been asleep in a -minute had not two natives appeared, an old man and a handsome lad. They -seemed much interested and concerned. I merely said it was very hot, and -hoped it would be enough for them. Not a bit of it. They started an -argument. I said I didn't speak the language, so they shouted to make it -clearer, and kept pointing up the path. What they meant I did not know. -It was evident, though, that the Handsome Lad did not mean to be trifled -with. He squatted alongside of us and shouted in my ear, while the old -man sat down and showed signs of staying as long as we did. So we -wearily started upwards again, and the Montenegrins, delighted at having -made us understand, went their way much pleased with their own -cleverness. We dared not rest again, and soon reached the upper -monastery of Ostrog, which was so strange and unexpected that the sight -of it did away with all thoughts of fatigue at once. - -The path ended on a terrace cut in the rock 2500 feet above the sea. The -small guest-house stood against the mountain side, and a flight of newly -made steps led up through a stone doorway to a series of caverns in the -cliff face, cunningly built in and walled up to form tiny rooms, which -cling to the rock like swallows' nests. The big natural arch of rock -that overshadows them all is grimed with the dead black of smoke, and -two great white crosses painted on the cliff mark the shrine. Straight -above rises the almost perpendicular wall of bare rock, and far below -lies the valley. This is the eagle eyrie that, in 1862, Mirko Petrovich, -the Princes father, and twenty-eight men held for eight days against the -Turkish army of, it is said, ten thousand men. The Turks tried vainly to -shell the tiny stronghold, and even a determined attempt to smoke out -the gallant band failed. Mirko and his men, when they had used all their -ammunition and had rolled down rocks upon the enemy, succeeded in -escaping over the mountains, under cover of night, and reached Rijeka -with the loss of one man only. It is a tale which yet brings the light -of battle to the eyes of the Montenegrin and sends his fingers to -caress the butt of his revolver, and must be heard from Montenegrin lips -to be appreciated. A hundred years before, thirty men held this same -cavern against an army, and wild as these tales sound, the first glance -at the place forces belief. Twice only have the Turks succeeded in -occupying it. Once after Mirko and his men left it, and once in 1877, -when Suleiman Pasha held it, sent the proud message to Constantinople -that he had conquered Montenegro and that it was time to appoint a -Turkish governor--and was soon in hot retreat to Spuzh, losing half his -men on the way. The lower monastery has, on the other hand, been burnt -and rebuilt some ten times. - -We sat and stared at the scene of these wild doings. The black, -smoke-grimed cavern told of the fierce struggle, and the great white -cross of the holy man whose body rests within. Sveti Vasili (St. Basil), -a local saint, was, early in the eighteenth century, Metropolitan of the -Herzegovina. In his old age he sought refuge in the mountains from -Turkish persecution, and passed his last days in this remote cavern -cared for and reverenced by the Christian peasants. Shortly after his -death they scooped out the rock and formed and dedicated to him the tiny -chapel where his body still rests. His shrine is held in the profoundest -veneration, and on Trinity Sunday (O.S.) pilgrims flock thither in -thousands, tramping on foot from Bosnia, the Herzegovina, from Albania, -even from the uttermost corners of the Balkan peninsula--a wonderful and -most impressive sight. Not Christians alone but also Mohammedans come to -the shrine of St. Vasili of Ostrog, for "four hundred years of apostasy -have not obliterated among the Bosnian Mussulmans a sort of -superstitious trust in the efficacy of the faith of their fathers," and -they come in hopes of help to the shrine of the man who suffered for it. -And so also do those strange folk, the Mohammedan Albanians. I have -passed the night up there in pilgrimage-time, when the mountain side was -a great camp and the greater part of the pilgrims slept by watch fires -under the stars; but in spite of the mixed nationalities and the -difference of religion, perfect order prevailed, and I saw many acts of -friendliness and consideration between folk from very different parts. - -The precious relics have always been removed in times of danger, and -saved from the fate of those of the Servian St. Sava, which were -publicly burned by the Turks. They were, of course, removed during the -last war. The coffin is not a weighty one and the soldiers were strong, -but it became so heavy as they were carrying it down the valley that -they knew not what to do. This they took as a sign from the saint that -they should stop. They awaited the Turks, and triumphantly defeated -them. At the close of the war the relics were restored to the chapel -without any difficulty. - -As we sat and looked at the knot of little cliff huts, a figure quite in -keeping with them came through the doorway and slowly approached us. A -magnificent old giant, with a silver beard and long white locks that -flowed upon his shoulders, and showed him to be a priest. A tall black -astrachan cap was on his head, and in spite of the heat he wore a heavy -cloak of dark blue cloth lined with fur, a long blue tunic, and wide -knickerbockers shoved into heavy leather boots at the knee. His high cap -and his big cloak gave him great dignity, and he welcomed us with superb -stateliness. Then, intimating we were to follow him, he conducted us to -his residence. It was a narrow little cave fronted in with planks. Here -we had to sit down while he fumbled at what was apparently a small -cupboard door. He threw it open, and behold--an oil painting of himself, -set in a gorgeous gilt frame that contrasted oddly with its rough -surroundings. It was evidently a presentation portrait, and he sat down -beaming by the side of it, for us to have every opportunity of admiring -the likeness. We spread all our scanty stock of Servian adjectives of -approval about recklessly, and the result was that from some mysterious -corner he produced a black bottle and a small liqueur glass, opaque with -dirt. He held the glass up to the light and looked at it critically; -even he realised that it was unclean; then he put in his thumb, which -was also encrusted with the grime of ages, and he screwed it round and -round. No effect whatever was produced on glass or thumb, for the dirt -in both cases was ingrained. For one awful second he contemplated his -thumb, and I thought he was going to suck it and make a further effort; -but no, he was apparently satisfied, and he filled the glass with a pale -spirit, which we hoped was strong enough to kill the germs. We drank his -health with a show of enthusiasm which seemed to gratify him, for he -patted us both affectionately. - -[Illustration: UPPER MONASTERY OSTROG.] - -He then showed us up a wooden step ladder to a still tinier cavern, a -dim cabin almost filled up by his bed, whose not over white sheets -betrayed the unpleasing fact that Ostrog was still subject to nocturnal -attacks and much bloodshed. In a glass case on the wall hung his two -medals, one Russian, the other Montenegrin, and, next these, three -signed and sealed documents in Cyrillic characters. He began reading out -place-names in Montenegro, Bosnia, and the Herzegovina, pointing to his -medals, and would gladly have "fought all his battles o'er again," if we -could but have understood him. His great treasure he displayed last, a -large and handsome walking-stick elaborately mounted in gold filigree -set with plates engraved with the said names. His admiration for it was -unbounded, and he handled it respectfully. The rugged old giant, and his -trophies, standing huge in his tiny lair up in the heart of the -mountains, the light from the little window falling on his silver hair -and beard, the glittering filigree, the dim squalid background, his -pride and glee over his treasures, and the royal air with which he -showed them, conjured up a whole life-drama in one swift instant. He -broke the spell himself by putting the stick carefully back into its -case, and, bowing and crossing himself reverently before a little ikon -of Our Lady, led the way out to the chapel. - -The entrance was a low, narrow, rough-cut slit; he bowed twice and -crossed himself, saw that we did the same, then stooped down and went -into a small irregular cavern, its rough-hewn walls rudely frescoed with -Byzantine figures. It was very dark; one small window, hacked through -the cliff face, and the narrow doorway alone lighted it. Upon the rough -ikonostasis he pointed out the figure of St. Vasili in bishop's robes. -Then slowly and solemnly he began lighting the candles, striking a light -with flint and steel. It took him a long time, and his age was betrayed -by his tremulous hands and evidently weak sight. When he had finished, -and the cavern was a-twinkle with tiny flames, he approached the shrine. -Removing the covering, he fumbled with the lock, opened it, and then -threw back the lid slowly and respectfully. There lay the embalmed body -of the saint; the slipper-clad feet, the embroidered robes, and the gold -crucifix on the breast, only, showing. Modern science and ancient faith -had combined for perhaps the first and the last time, and the face and -hands of the saint were neatly covered with carbolised cotton-wool. I -was jolted back into the twentieth century with a rough shock. The sense -of smell--perhaps because it is a wild-beast one--brings up its trains -of associations more swiftly than any other, and the life of the old -world and the life of the modern one leapt up in sharp contrast. - -To the old man, on the other hand, the scent was the odour of sanctity. -He was filled with awe and reverence, and gazed at the body like one -seeing a wondrous vision for the first time. He bent down slowly and -kissed the slippered feet, the crucifix on the breast, and the -cotton-wool over the face, crossing himself each time. Then, fearful -lest we should omit any part of the ceremony, he seized us each in turn -by the back of the neck, poked our heads into the coffin and held them -down on the right spots. We followed carefully the example he had set, -and completed our pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Vasili. He slowly -closed and locked the coffin, and rearranged the drapery upon it. Then -we debated together as to how an offering was to be made. He, however, -helped us out of the difficulty. He took a small metal bowl from the -window, placed it reverently upon the coffin and counted some very small -coins into it ostentatiously, clink, clink, then turned his back -discreetly and began slowly extinguishing the candles. He allowed just -sufficient time to carry out the approved ritual, and hurried back -eagerly to inspect the bowl. It appeared that we had acted quite -correctly on this occasion also. Coming out through the narrow door into -the open air again, we prepared to go; but the old man stopped us, -pointed upwards, and shouted for someone. The "someone" came, and turned -out to be the Handsome and Haughty Lad who had so cruelly chivied us -down below. He gazed at us with a superior smile, and in obedience to -his orders led us up to a yet higher cavern, where he showed us a spring -of very cold clear water. This is highly prized by the pilgrims to the -shrine, who all bring bottles or gourds to fetch some away in. The Lad, -I think, expected us to do so, and as he had, as he imagined, made us -understand by shouting before, he tried the same system again with great -violence. We hastily remunerated him for his trouble, in hopes of -changing his ideas, and he was sufficiently mollified to shake hands -with us. Whereupon we said good-bye, and left him. - -Evening was drawing in when we reached the lower monastery, and service -had just come to an end in the little church. The Archimandrite, -followed by his small congregation, came out as we approached. We were -sleepy, dirty, and hungry, and the prospect of another interview in -Servian before getting food or rest was almost too much for us. To our -dismay, we were again conducted to the Archimandrites sitting-room. Our -relief was great when we heard the words, "Vous parlez francais, -mesdemoiselles?" and we were introduced to a tall man in the long black -robes and high cap of the Orthodox ecclesiasts. Singularly beautiful, -his long brown hair flowing on his shoulders, he stood there more like a -magnificent Leonardo da Vinci than a living human being. He spoke gently -and kindly in the oddest broken French, expressing himself in little -rudimentary sentences, begging us to be seated and telling us we were -very welcome; "for we are Christians," he said simply, "and is not -hospitality one of the first of the Christian virtues? I, too, am a -guest here to-night. But you who have come so far to see us, it is the -least we can do for you. From England," he repeated, "alone, all the way -from England to see Montenegro, quelle voyage! veritablement des heros! -In Montenegro you are as safe, vous savez, as in your own homes, but the -journey--all across Europe, that is another thing!" The Archimandrite, -he explained, regretted that our room was so long in being prepared for -us. "It is because we have had a pilgrimage here lately and have had to -accommodate very many people. Therefore there was no place suitably -furnished for you, but they are putting down the carpets, and it will -soon be finished." We were horrified, and begged they would not take so -much trouble; but he would not hear of it. "Oh, it is a great pleasure -to us all to know that in England there is such a good opinion of -Montenegro that two ladies will come all alone into our country and -trust us; that the English should wish to know us!" I felt like an -impostor; it was embarrassing to be given hospitality as the bearer of -good-tidings from Great Britain, but to our innocent-minded entertainer -the idea seemed quite simple and sufficient. He had nothing but good to -say of everyone. For the two small boys who came in with the usual cold -water and coffee, he was filled with admiration--their build, their -muscular limbs, their honest, open faces. "Montenegrin faces," he said, -"ah! but they are beautiful my faithful Montenegrins! It is my life," he -went on, "to help these poor people. I have a church, a little, little -church, away among the rocks. It is there that I live. If I had known, -mesdemoiselles, before, that you were travelling this way, it would have -given me great pleasure to show it to you. But I did not know until -yesterday"; and he added, with a smile at our astonishment, "Oh yes, in -this country, vous savez, one hears of all strangers." - -The conversation was broken off by the announcement that our rooms were -ready, and we all went over in a solemn little procession to the house -over the way, the two ecclesiasts, the four servants and ourselves, and -were shown in with many apologies for the poorness of the accommodation. -The dear good people were putting the finishing touches when we entered, -and had arranged two large rooms most comfortably. The Archimandrite -satisfied himself that the water jugs were full, that we had soap, and -that the beds were all right. Then both gentlemen shook hands with us -and wished us good-night, and withdrew. An anxious quarter of an hour -followed, during which we wondered whether we were going to be fed or -not, and regretted that we had bestowed the remains of the bread and -mutton on the girl; for we had been knocking about since five a.m., and -it was now eight p.m. Then there came a most welcome knock at the door, -and we were taken to a large dining-room and a good dinner. It was a -solemn meal. We were waited on by four men, who came in and out -silently, supplied our wants, stood at attention and gazed at us -stolidly. The largest was about six feet four and built to match, but -extremely tame in spite of his weapons and his I size. I don't think he -had the least idea how very small he made us feel. - -Early next morning the Archimandrite and our friend were already about, -and came to see us breakfast and to beg that we would write our names in -the visitors' book. We said all that we could in the way of thanks to -our kind entertainer; he murmured a blessing over us, we shook hands, -and were soon wandering down the mountain side. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -NIKSHITJE AND DUKLE - - -Nikshitje is but two hours' drive from the beginning of the Ostrog -track, over a mountain pass and down on to a big plain. Nikshitje, says -the Prince, is to be his new capital, and work is going on there -actively. That it cannot be the capital yet a while seems pretty -certain, for it is a very long way from anywhere, and the foreign -Consuls and Ministers, who at present lament their isolation from the -world and all its joys at Cetinje, would all cry "Jamais, jamais!" in -their best diplomatic French, if called upon to transfer themselves to -the heart of the land. It is certainly very beautifully situated; the -wall of mountains which encircle the big plain is as fine as any in the -country, and it is neither so cold in winter as is Cetinje, nor in -summer so hot and close as the low-lying plain of Podgoritza. But until -there is a road or a railroad that will connect Nikshitje quickly with -the coast, it cannot compete in importance with Cetinje. A line that -would connect Servia with Antivari _via_ Nikshitje, join the two Servian -peoples, and give Servia a port for export, is so much against Austrian -interests, both commercial and political, that Austria will under no -conditions permit it to pass through any territory over which she has -control. There is no speedier way of drawing truthful political -opinions from a mixed company of various nationalities than to design -fancy railroads over tender territories. At present no line exists in -the Balkan peninsula that runs from north-east to south-west. And in the -present disgraceful state of all territory that is under Turkish -"government" no new lines through any of the Sultan's property are -probable. The love of the Montenegrin for Nikshitje is based partly on -sentimental grounds; for the taking of Nikshitje, the biggest Turkish -stronghold on their northern frontier, was one of the chief events of -the last war. Nikshitje fell in 1877, after a four months' siege -conducted by Prince Nikola himself. - -That the Prince really intends Nikshitje to be the capital of his -country is evident. We have a forecast of its coming splendour in the -large and really fine church dedicated to St. Vasili, which stands well -placed on a little hill, close by a solid and well-proportioned -building, designed with a stern simplicity well in keeping with the -Montenegrin spirit. Within, it is lofty and spacious, and the bare stone -walls are hung with lists of those who fell in the last war. Russia -found the money, and Montenegro the labour. The mouldings and capitals -are all cut by Montenegrins, and the engineer that built it is a -Montenegrin. Nikshitje has a right to be proud of it. At the foot of the -hill on which the new church stands is a tiny little old church, the -church of the Montenegrins in Turkish times. In those dark days it was -almost completely buried under the earth for safety. Now, with the -addition of a fat new tower, it shows itself in the light of day. - -The battered ruins of the great Turkish fort that was once a thorn in -Montenegro's side stand on the long low hill that overlooks the town, -and a stone or two with Turkish inscriptions and a few Turkish guns upon -the grass are all that tell of its former holders. Whatever the future -may have in store for the Montenegrins, let us hope that it will always -be remembered to their credit that they have played an heroic part in -the freeing of Europe from the Ottoman curse. A tumbledown mosque and -some dozen Mohammedan Albanian families are now the only traces left in -Nikshitje of the Asiatic invader. - -Beyond the town, the land is well cultivated, and maize, tobacco, rye, -and potatoes flourish, provided there is sufficient rainfall in the -summer. Montenegro at present needs, more than anything, some system of -water storage. A superfluity of rain falls in the wet seasons, and the -melted snow swells the streams to torrents, but this all flows away for -lack of dams or cisterns, and in a spell of hot weather the ground is -parched. In the summer of 1902 no drop of rain fell between the middle -of May and the beginning of September; there was no corn for food, and -no tobacco for export. The people in the mountains, who depend on the -plains for corn, were in terrible straits, were reduced to eating fern, -grass, and beech bark, and were only saved from starvation by buying -foreign maize with the money that had been intended for road-making and -other public works. - -While Nikshitje, the capital that is to be, is slowly growing, Dukle -(Dioclea), the capital that was, the birthplace of the line of Nemanja -kings who led Servia to greatness, is slowly mouldering on the plain of -Podgoritza. Long prior to Servian days Dukle was known to the world. -Already in the early years of the Christian era the Romans had conquered -Illyria and organised it as a Roman province, and Dioclea, as it was -then called, has come down to fame as the reputed birthplace of -Diocletian. Some two and a half miles from Podgoritza, where Zeta and -Moracha meet, lies all that is left of the old town. "The parents of -Diocletian," says Gibbon, "had been slaves in the house of Anulinus, a -Roman senator; nor was he himself distinguished by any other name than -that which he derived from a small town in Dalmatia from whence his -mother deduced her origin." Whether Dukle is or is not the "small town -in Dalmatia," I cannot tell. It is, at any rate, known to be among the -first towns taken from the Illyrians by the Romans. It would be -interesting to learn whether it is not to a considerable intermixture of -the aboriginal Illyrian blood that the Montenegrins owe their -superiority to the other Serbs. Some theory is required to account for -it, and as the strength of the Servian empire arose from this particular -corner, and as the Albanians, their next-door neighbours, are believed -to be direct descendants of these same Illyrians, this seems to be the -most workable one. There is a certain indefinable quality best described -as "gameness," and this both Albanians and Montenegrins possess to a -marked degree. It is also the quality of the Herzegovinese, who are -mountain men too, and it was in the mountains, we are told, that the -aboriginal inhabitants lived after the Servian invasion. - -Be this as it may, Dukle, by Podgoritza, was a Roman town of some size, -and was afterwards the capital of the early kingdom of Servia. It is a -forlorn, lonesome, "sic transit" spot, inhabited by numbers of tortoises -peering about with their aged, old-world little faces and wrinkled, -leathery necks. Tesserae work up through the turf, fine cornices and -mouldings lie about among the brambles, and the live green acanthus -flourishes near the stony leaves of big Corinthian capitals. One -slab-paved road remains, all that is left of what appears to have been a -forum, some fifty yards long, with the bases of columns strewn along it -at intervals, and at the farther end of it the remains of a small -building with a round apse. A man lives in a hut hard by and cultivates -a few patches of ground among the ruins, which are so smothered in -vegetation that it is difficult to form any good idea of the plan of the -town. It was explored about ten years ago by some archaeologists, but -there is probably a good deal yet to be found, as the peasants still -pick up many coins and odds and ends of bronze work. The remains of a -small basilica church have been dug out, whose broken shafts and bits of -marble chancel rails are strewn on the ground, and tesserae are plentiful -among the grass. The marble remains of the forum and many of the -cornices and mouldings that are scattered about the ruins are Roman, but -a large proportion of the houses, the foundations of which cover several -acres, are, I believe, of a later date, and may belong to the old -Servian town. A bas-relief of Diana--a mediocre enough specimen of -art--lies among the bushes on a bank, gaining a strange pathos from her -surroundings, as she stares with stony eyes, the only survivor of the -dead capital. All around stand the everlasting hills, keeping majestic -watch over the ruins which have seen the passing of two empires, and the -river tears along through a stony chasm hard by, and the lean rugged -figures of the one or two peasants among the ruins only add to the -loneliness. - -But this place was once the centre of such learning and civilisation as -the land possessed, and "the Monk of Dioclea" was one of Servia's -earliest chroniclers. The now almost forgotten town is marked in the map -of Ptolemy (_circa_ 150 A.D.). It is mentioned as a famous town in 1162, -and it was given by King Milutin as the residence for his son in 1317. -After this date little or nothing is heard of it, nor is it known when -finally it ceased to be inhabited and crumbled into decay. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -OUR LADY AMONG THE ROCKS - - - "To drawe folk to Heaven by fairnesse - By good ensample, this was his busynesse. - For Christe's lawe and his apostles twelve - He taught, but first he followed it himself." - - -A rough jolt over the wide bare plain; a heavy rainstorm blurring the -bleak mountains of the Turkish frontier; no living being in sight save -an Albanian woman with her few sheep cowering under the lee of a bush; -cut off from the rest of the world by the enshrouding mist, we drove -over one of the desolate places of the earth in quest of the little -church among the rocks. Of a sudden the sun burst through, hot and -brilliant; the plain quivered, golden and glittering, through the rising -steam; the clouds parted and rolled back, and revealed the mountains all -around us, fiercely, vividly blue, and as lonely as the day they were -created. - -Two small rocky hills rose up out of the plain, and our driver pulled up -suddenly. "You must go on foot," he said; "it is not far," and he -pointed to a stony track round the hillside. Doubtfully we started among -the rocks and wild pomegranates, till turning a corner we struck a -well-marked footpath, and saw the tall black-robed figure of our friend -awaiting us at the top of the ascent. "I saw a carriage across the -plain," he said, as he came forward, "and I knew it must be you." He -welcomed us cordially, and turned towards his little domain. A bare -stone wall built up against the hillside with a big wooden cross at the -top, and a tiny cottage with a patch of cultivated ground close by, were -all that could be seen of it. All around were wild and untouched rock -and bush. "My little church," he said, as he led the way to the -entrance, "was not built by hands. It was made by God. His church among -the rocks." He crossed himself, and we entered. - -He lit a taper and held it aloft. We were in a long narrow cavern, -water-worn, with traces of stalactite deposit on the rough walls. At the -farther end the altar candles burned brightly, lighting up the picture -of Our Lady over it, and making the rest of the cave darker by contrast. -"See," he said, "it is veritably a church! Is it not in the form of a -cross?" and he showed us how a smaller cave opened into it on either -side, making a rude nave and transept. The walls at the chancel end were -painted with saints and angels, quaint and stiff, their archaic -Byzantine forms in perfect keeping with the rough surroundings, and -therefore true decoration. "When I have celebrated the Messe here," he -continued, "when I have prayed all alone in the silence, then holy -things come to me, pictures, vous savez, and I paint them here upon the -wall." He held up his taper and threw light upon a great head of Christ. -"This is the last I have made. There is no paint left," he added simply. -"Nor do I know really which is the proper way to use it. I cannot, I -think, take long to learn. My poor attempts, they give pleasure to my -people, and they understand." - -He led the way into the tiny transept on the left. "Here, you see, I -have made for them the Holy Sepulchre"; and we saw by the light of the -little taper a bier covered with a black and gold cloth, and a painting -of the dead Christ. "They come to me, the poor wayfarers, for -consolation, so weary, so suffering. I tell them of Him. I bring them in -here and I show them the wounds on His feet. Then they understand. So I -can teach them. To help the afflicted, that is religion. Some days I -write, songs of religion, of the visions that I see; for the light that -is given to us we must employ to show the path toothers." He looked -inspired as he stood there, a majestic black-robed figure, the taper, -like a guiding star, in his hands, the light of the altar candles -falling on his finely cut spiritual features, the solitary sentinel of -this Christian outpost. "The church of God, built by His hands in the -wilderness; to care for it is all my life," he said humbly. He -extinguished the lights, and we stepped out into the sunshine. By the -side of the church he pointed out a second cavern in which rises a clear -spring of water, the same, maybe, which carved the nave and transepts. -It makes the hermitage possible in this otherwise waterless spot, and -flows off underground to hew its way silently through the rock. - -We turned to say good-bye to him. "But no!" he cried, "you have come so -far to see me, I beg you will rest for a while in my house. When shall I -again see visitors from England?" He led the way into his cottage; -visitors, not only from England but from the outside world at all, are -scarce with him. I think we called to his mind a whole host of -recollections; for he started at once, and the time flew as he unfolded -the story of his life in little sentences, earnestly and quickly, from -time to time drawing his black gown across his breast with a swift -dramatic action that gave point to his speech. He had been educated in a -Russian university, and thence had gone to Paris. He regretted not -having visited London. "It seemed so far," he said; "now it seems that I -was so near!" But all the time the mountains called to him. "I cannot -live away from the mountains and my poor Montenegrins. In the great -towns, it was here that I wished to be. I intended to come here and to -make a large monastery. But my family did not wish me to lead the -religious life. My grandfather was a rich man--not what in England you -would call rich, but rich in Montenegro. When I became religious, he -gave me none of the money, not any. I have not been able to carry out my -plan. It was God's will. My work is here. It is to help my poor -Montenegrins to keep their faith. Without faith what is a nation? Ah! I -have travelled and I have seen sad things. But in your country, -mademoiselle, they have faith. The Church of England and our Church, -they have differences, that is true, but they are slight. We are all -Christians; there are so many points upon which we can agree. We must -not let those others separate us. Your Church has shown great friendship -to ours. Your Archbishop has sent us a letter not long ago. It has given -great pleasure. Your Church is a Church; you have deacons, bishops; but -in Switzerland--the Protestants--that I cannot understand. It is sad. - -"Savez-vous," he went on, "I know what a war is. I was a soldier in our -last war. We are all soldiers here, you see." "Where were you?" I asked. -"It was in the valley of the Zeta--the Turks came down." He stared -wide-eyed at a vision of horror and broke off. "It is too horrible to -speak of--these scenes; it is all horrible in war. I have seen it. Pray -God that we shall have peace. But a day of trial is coming to my poor -Montenegrins. Ah, mademoiselle, you understand them. They are so -uncivilised and so rough, but they are so good, so simple. You, who -travel among them, know how good they are. You will tell them in -England--will you not?--of my poor people. Civilisation brings knowledge -and many, many wonders, but it does not bring happiness. These poor good -people, they have no idea what life is out in the great world, and it is -coming to them. And I know what it means, this civilisation. I have -lived in Paris--in Paris, savez-vous," he said vehemently. "All I can do -is to help them to keep their faith. Till now they have lived with God -and the mountains. Here they come to me, the poor, the afflicted, they -come to me for help. Some nights I give shelter to as many as fifteen -wayfarers. Then they tell me their troubles, and I pray with them. Some -of them," he admitted regretfully, "have not lived quite rightly. In the -morning I celebrate the Messe in my little chapel, and then they go on -their way comforted. On Sundays many people come, and I speak to them, -here before the chapel, the words that are given to me. It is very -little that one needs in this life. We have so short a time here." - -A boy, his pupil and his only companion in his hermitage, came in with -coffee, and the giving and the accepting of this simple refreshment -seemed to give our host great pleasure. He questioned us about our -relatives, and told us of his own. "Once," he remarked quite casually, -"I was married," but he did not pursue the subject. He told us of the -days when there were only twenty houses in Cetinje--when the chiefs of -the land used to meet in council with the Prince, all sitting on the -ground in a bare shed where a sheep was roasting for their dinner; how -the Prince used to sit under a tree and try prisoners; how there were no -roads, no towns, only a few collections of thatched huts. All this only -twenty years ago! The poetic, imaginative nature of the Montenegrin. "He -lives with the things he imagines. Even now, you see how he carries his -gun, his revolver, his knife! He likes to think that he is guarding his -house and his land. The weapons are a symbol to him. No Montenegrin -likes to go unarmed. In the evening, when he returns to his little -cottage, his wife meets him. She takes his gun and puts it in the -corner. His weapons are laid aside. It is all peace; he is returned to -his wife and children. That is old life. Now it is even said that a -railway will be made. But who knows? Where can there be money for such -an undertaking?" Truly railway companies and all such things seemed -impossibly remote as we sat in this lonely hermitage listening to the -hopes and fears of the ascetic visionary. When we arose to say good-bye, -he stood over us in the doorway and gave us his blessing. - -We stepped out into the world again, and looked over the rough moorland -plain. The Turkish frontier fort shone white upon the mountain side -some three miles away, and there was no other sign of life as we stared -over the lonely land. He read our thoughts at once. "It is a wild spot, -yes, and a rough journey that you have made to see me. Few strangers -have yet been here. One day three of your countrymen came, but you are -the first Englishwomen. It is lonely, and even a little dangerous. You -must not try to cross the plain when it is dark, for there are bad men -who rob and kill. Yonder, that is Albania. It is so easy for them to -come across. Even last night there were armed men; they came up towards -my little house and they threatened me with their guns." "And what did -you do?" we asked eagerly. "I stood here," he said simply, "and I cried -to them, 'The Lord God has said, Thou shalt not kill.' Then they went -away," he added, after a pause, in a matter-of-fact manner. - -What a scene! The fearless figure alone under the night sky, and the -gang of human beasts shrinking awestruck down the rocks as they heard -out of the darkness "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." We said -farewell. He stood at the top of the path for a few minutes watching our -descent, and as we turned the corner we saw his tall dark figure turning -towards the little chapel "which is his life." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ANTIVARI - - -Antivari is not easily reached from Cetinje. You can retreat to Cattaro -and then take the weekly steamer. If, however, you have come to -Montenegro to see Montenegro, it is better to choose the cross-country -route. I have been there more than once, but the first journey thither -will suffice. We were raw to the country and knew nothing of the -language, so everyone tried to persuade us not to go, or at any rate to -take an interpreter. But unless a route is so complicated that a guide -is absolutely necessary, I infinitely prefer worrying it out alone; and -as for languages, everyone knows that one wants food, drink, and sleep. -The only precautions we took were to ascertain that there was an "inn -with three beds" at Prstan, the port for Antivari, and to get the hotel -to telegraph for a couple of horses to meet us at Virbazar, and we -started from Rijeka in the early morning, by steamer. Arrived off -Virbazar, we clambered down into a large canoe, along with sixteen -Montenegrins, to whom we were a deeply interesting sight, and proceeded -very slowly up the river, for the boat was heavily laden with freight -and passengers. Neither Montenegrins nor Albanians have much idea of -paddling their own canoes. They merely stab and prod the water at -irregular intervals with wooden shovels, expending a good deal of energy -with very little result; but they wobble along somehow. We speculated -anxiously as to what we should do if the horses had not turned up, and -were much relieved to see a respectable pair of steeds on the bank. -Virbazar is a tiny village on an island on the river, and has no -particular features save its bridge. This is a singular structure. It is -built of stone, but is so narrow that it is only passable by foot -passengers single file. Even if wide enough, though, vehicles would find -a difficulty in tackling it, for it changes its style of architecture -abruptly in the middle, and, having begun well and loftily, drops -suddenly and proceeds to the farther bank with smaller arches and a -narrower path at a much lower level. Whether rival architects started -from opposite sides, or whether one-half is a "restoration" of the -other, and if so which, I do not know. I think, however, it must have -been evolved by Turks. - -We picked our way across it, attended of course by a fair proportion of -the population, and made our way towards the horses. The population -objected strongly to our claiming them, but as we persisted, someone had -the sense to go and fetch the horse-boy. He, a swarthy Albanian--a wiry, -cheerful thing about twenty--produced from the recesses of his garments -our telegram. This was read aloud, everyone was satisfied, our -mysterious appearance was explained, and the "two good horses" were led -up on to the high road. In Montenegro one must always ride astride. Of -course it would be possible to take a side-saddle, but I do not think -it would be any advantage. The horses are not accustomed to it, and the -mountain tracks are very bad. It is much easier to balance on a -scrambling horse when astride; it is possible to dismount in a hurry on -either side, and it is far less tiring for a very long day's ride, both -to horse and rider. - -There is a very good carriage road to Antivari, but no carriages to go -on it. The only diligence runs once a week; sometimes it fits the boat, -and sometimes it doesn't. There is a bridle path which is a short cut, -but is so rough that a good deal of it must be done on foot. The road -winds up the Crmnitza valley--green, rich, and fertile, a land of vines, -maize, and tobacco. Higher up, the mountain sides are well wooded. At -the top of the pass the scenery is superb. There is always a strange -fascination about the top of a pass. When once it is reached there seems -to be no limit set to our wanderings; we enter a new land, and plunge -into the beyond--the beyond that is ever a-calling. The top of the -Crmnitza valley is crowned by the ruins of a Turkish fort; twenty-five -years ago this was Turkish territory, and our horse-boy was a son of the -conquered soil. He was a Mohammedan Albanian, and seemed to think he had -got a most amusing job. He made the most violent efforts to talk to us, -roared with laughter when we did not understand, and poured out torrents -of conversation when we did. We plunged down the old bridle track, and -scrambled over rocks and bushes along the mountain side. At one point he -stopped us and treated us to an amusingly realistic pantomime of cutting -off heads and throwing bodies down the rocks. It was a pity we had not -command of his language, for this pathless, rugged hillside, with the -battered remains of another Turkish fortress on the shoulder below us, -was a fine background for a gory tale. Far away below us, beyond the -silver-grey olives on the slopes and the fertile plain, gleamed the blue -Adriatic; a few cottages clustered on the edge of the bay, and the road -led straight to them. "Prstan!" said the boy, and we thought we were -nearly there; but there were weary zigzags before we reined up our tired -beasts in the waning light by the edge of the sea. - -A gipsy camp, a post-office, half a dozen dilapidated cottages, a -harbour about the size of a pocket-handkerchief, the Prince's country -house, and a lonely beach where the waves splashed--this was Prstan, and -the farthest and smallest of the cottages was the "inn with the three -beds." The beds are all in the same room, which is also the dining-room, -and there is nothing of the stiff conventionality about the -establishment that one finds in a hotel starred by Baedeker, but all is -clean and the food is excellent, and Maria Bulatovich, the kindly -hostess, speaks Italian. - -We started betimes next morning to see Antivari. The local coffee -stall--a packing-case set up on end with an Albanian coiled up inside -it--was doing a roaring trade, and the gipsy camp hard by was getting up -and shaking itself. Antivari lies some three miles inland. You don't see -it till you are nearly arrived, as it is stowed away between two great -mountain spurs. The road twists and twines through magnificent olive -gardens, where huge hoary giants sprawl in a thousand grotesque shapes; -you turn a corner, suddenly Antivari appears, and the first sight of it -is very startling. On a rocky eminence in the midst of the hollow stands -gaunt and grim the dismantled Turkish town--battlements, walls, -roofless houses and shattered churches--just as it was left after the -war, a terrible relic, the grey bones of a city mouldering under the sun -and sky, like a gibbeted felon. - -We climbed up the steep street of the modern bazaar, with its cranky -little wooden shops and gay Albanian inhabitants, to the big gateway of -the old town. A sentinel is always on guard here, but in response to the -magic word "Engleske" he smilingly passed us in. It is a dead, creepy, -ghostly city, strangled and throttled with a tangle of vines and -brambles which rend the walls and wreathe door and arch. A forest of fig -trees and cherry plums run riot in room and court, and find root-hole on -the topmost battlements. Grass grows knee-high in streets that, even -now, are thickly strewn with rusty fragments of shells; beautiful pieces -of mouldings and a window or two tell of the old town of the Venetians, -and the remains of fresco still fade and crumble on the church walls. -Man has departed, and nature has stepped in, and is surely and silently -finishing the work of destruction. We wandered for an hour in this -ghostly spot, looking over the battlements, a sheer drop into the valley -below, wrestling with the vegetation, and haunted by a feeling that in -spite of the blue sky and sunshine none of it was real. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF ANTIVARI.] - -Antivari fell in January 1878, after a long siege. The defenders made a -gallant resistance, and, when forced to surrender, laid a train to -the powder magazine. Prince Nikola had a very narrow escape from the -ensuing explosion, and the already shattered city was ruined beyond the -possibility of repair. - -Antivari is marked on the map, but one's first impression of it is that -there is now no such place, so scattered are the houses and so scanty -the population. Yet it speaks three languages--Turkish, Servian, and -Albanian; is divided by three religions--Mohammedan, Orthodox, and Roman -Catholic; and has a Roman Catholic Archbishop all to itself. The -bishopric is a very old one, established originally at Dioclea, but -transferred to Antivari, some say as early as the tenth century. -Antivari was Venetian till 1479, and the flock must then have been a -large one; now it is reduced to some six hundred souls, all Albanian. At -least, so they call themselves. But just as every Mohammedan tells you -he is a "Turk," and every one of the Orthodox that he is a Montenegrin, -so does every Roman Catholic say that he is an Albanian; and three men -who in feature, complexion, and build are as alike as three individuals -can well be, will all swear, and really believe, that they all belong to -different races. It is not improbable that they are a blend of all -three. Most of the inhabitants are Mohammedan. The district is but -thinly populated, and is said to be fever-stricken. - -Down below on the plain, among the scattered houses, are the ruins of -the konak of the former Turkish Pasha, Selim Beg, whose tyranny is still -fresh in the minds of the people. The Christians especially were his -victims, and many are the tales of the tortures he inflicted. To one -unfortunate man he gave a thousand blows upon the soles of the feet -When Antivari fell, Selim Beg, who was as cowardly as he was cruel, fled -in terror to hide himself from the victorious Montenegrins. Fate so -ordained that he rushed for shelter to the house of this same tortured -Christian. Terror--stricken, Selim recognised his former victim, and -abjectly begged for mercy, and the man to whom he had shown none threw -himself on his knees before the crucifix and in an ecstasy poured forth -his thanks to the Lord, who had thus permitted him to witness the -humiliation of his enemy. "He hath thrown down the mighty from their -seats, and exalted them of low degree." He spared the life of his -torturer, and Selim Beg, after making a servile attempt to gain the -friendship of Prince Nikola, retired to Corfu, where, according to my -informant, he died "like the beast that he was." This curiously dramatic -tale, the truth of which is, I believe, undisputed, throws a strong -light upon the Albanian and the sanctity of the "guest"--the man who -begs shelter. - -We returned to Prstan and Maria's hospitable roof, and all further -explorations in the afternoon were put a stop to by the weather. In -rushed Maria and shut and barred the door, for the wind was hurling the -rain in sheets against the cottage, and we sat in semi-darkness, lit up -now and then by a blaze of lightning. Suddenly there came a loud -knocking at the door. I grappled with the iron bar, dragged it back with -difficulty, and admitted a tall old Montenegrin, whose wet coat, -dripping pony, and travelling-bag showed he had come to stay. His -amazement at seeing us was quite funny. I thought of the third bed and -my heart sank. But Maria transferred herself to the kitchen, and gave up -her room to the new-comer. It was evident from her excitement that she -considered him to be of great importance. He was, in fact, a relative of -the Prince. - -We had a gay dinner that night. The little Austrian Vice-Consul, who was -a Hungarian, turned up, and the old Montenegrin was resplendent in his -best clothes, for he was going to the Palace that evening. He was a -tall, thin, handsome man, with a most kindly face and exquisite manners, -and was painfully anxious that we should have the best of everything the -resources of the place could supply. He told us (the Hungarian -translating) that he had met two English ladies once before, in 1865! It -was a very long journey, he wondered how we had dared to come. When once -in Montenegro everyone was safe--but travelling through all the other -countries! The English, he had been told, wanted to see and know -everything; they travelled everywhere. It must be a very expensive -habit! It had perhaps cost us one hundred florins (about L8) to come -this distance. We admitted that it had, and he seemed overcome by the -amount. "And it takes not only money but _time_" said my companion. He -laughed merrily. "Time! What is time? Time is nothing. You live, and -then you die." The idea of reckoning "time" tickled him vastly. "Time," -said the Hungarian, to show his superior knowledge, "is thought very -much of by the English. I have been told that they have a proverb which -says 'Time is money.'" We corroborated this report--to the astonishment -of both men, for even the Hungarian thought this was going rather far. -The Montenegrin thought it one of the wildest statements he had ever met -with, and shook his puzzled head, but his kindly eyes twinkled with fun. - -I think I see him now as he wished us good-night--a resplendent figure -in his green embroidered coat, his crimson and gold waistcoat, his dark -blue knickerbockers, white gaiters and new sandals, bowing himself -backwards through the little door with simple dignity, his tall lean -form slightly bent by age--a splendid type of the Montenegrin of the old -regime. I had a strange feeling of having known him years ago. As he -passed from the room I recognised, with a sudden illuminating flash, -Chaucer's - - "A knyghte there was and that a worthy man - That from the time that he first began - To riden out, he loved chivalrie, - Truth and honoure, freedom and courtesie. - Full worthie was he in his lordes warre.... - He was a very perfect gentle knyghte," etc. - -And had he not too "fought often for his faith" against "a hethen in -Turkeye"? The truth of the mediaeval picture charmed me, and the knight -armed with a white cotton umbrella went off in a shandrydan to pay his -respects at the Palace on the beach. - -The weather never cleared, so we saw no more of Antivari that time. -Blinding torrential rain and fierce blasts of wind crashed on the -cottage walls. The fat frogs in the pond sat up, and their hoarse -shouts, "brek-kek-kek-kek-koax-koax," resounded in every lull of the -storm. We waited for the only diligence, and returned by it to Virbazar, -and had as travelling companion our old friend of the inn, who, to our -distress, would persist in occupying the small seat back to the horses, -and was miserably uncomfortable in consequence. At last neither of us -dared stir, as the slightest movement on our part brought an apology for -the inconvenience he was sure he was causing us. To make up for this, he -tried to tell us all about the road as we went along, though speaking -Italian was a great labour to him. He had taken part in the siege of -Antivari. "Ah!" he said, "that was terrible. All those weeks. And in the -winter. They are brave men, the Turks." He pointed down the valley -where, through rifts in the mist, we could see the stream. "The Austrian -frontier," he said sadly. "Austrian. And we gave our blood for that -land. It was ours. And they took it from us. They gave it to Austria. I -do not understand it." I do not think that the affairs of the outer -world entered into his head at all. Montenegro and abstract justice were -all he wanted. Russia was a distant Providence who would assist the -right to prevail. But the wheels within wheels and the shuffling of -international politics were a mystery to his primitive, honest soul. - -There were many things that puzzled him. We passed a village. "This is -all Mohammedan," he said. "There is a mosque below. We have built them a -school. It is a good school, but they will not go to it. They say they -do not care for education! They are strange people, these Albanians!" He -sighed and shook his head. He looked on the village school as the first -step on the path of sweetness and light. I had a vision of the Board -School child, the "penny dreadful," and the novelette with a paper -pattern of the last new sleeve included. I think he was double my age, -but he made me feel very old. We passed a school; the sun had come out -at last, and the playground was full of sturdy young Montenegrins. He -smiled at them with pleasure, and I was glad to think that he cannot -survive long enough to have his dream of enlightened Montenegro -shattered. He said good-bye to us not long after, and we saw the last of -him as he entered his modest little house on the mountain side. - -The remainder of the drive did not take long. We were soon in Virbazar, -and once again a cause of local excitement. By the help of a man who -spoke a little German, we were made to understand that we could go for -nothing in the common boat to the steamer, but that for a florin we -could have a very good one all to ourselves. It would have been too -unkind to disappoint them, and we were such rare birds! We delighted -every one by accepting the offer of a private boat. - -When the boat was ready, we did not feel quite so pleased. It was a -canoe with two bent-wood chairs arranged in it as a sort of throne at -one end, and looked remarkably topheavy. The crew, two tall youths and a -boy, were in great glee at having secured such a job, and conducted us -to our seats with much ceremony before a large crowd. Off we pushed, and -made a lordly, if somewhat wobbly progress down stream. All went well -till we were suddenly aroused by the steamers hooter. Then our crew were -seized with a wild and irresistible desire to make a rapid, showy finish -to the voyage. "Really," said my friend, "it requires all my faith in -Montenegrins to feel safe." The words were scarcely out of her mouth -when round swung the canoe in response to a violent stroke of the -paddle, and out she shot, chair and all, as if from a catapult. I hadn't -even time to grab at her. A vision of grey skirts, a splash, and she was -gone! "Well, never mind; she can swim," thought I, as the waters closed -over her. The next instant I had to hurl myself almost over the other -side, to right the boat, as the two men, completely scared, both leaned -out at once, and as nearly as possible capsized the whole thing. The boy -came to my side, the men perceived that the foreign lady was not going -to drown, and the panic passed over. Their idea of helping her in was -remarkable--they grasped large handfuls and tugged. I believe they -pulled her in by one leg. The misery and dismay on their faces when she -at last stood up in the boat dripping and streaming were so unutterably -funny that we both roared with laughter. They were greatly relieved at -this, but most anxious to make her look respectable before going on -board the steamer, and wrung her out with such vigour and muscle that I -thought she would come to pieces. Then having picked up the chair and -hat, they paddled in a subdued and gingerly manner to the steamboat, -were shy about accepting the florin, and thanked for it repeatedly. The -captain, when he learned our plight, laughed as though he would never -stop, and put the one cabin and a bucket at our disposal. We improvised -a costume out of two nightgowns, a waterproof, and a brush-and-comb bag, -poured olive oil into her watch and brandy into her, and although it -rained all the rest of the way back to Cetinje no evil results ensued to -either of them. But the episode has become a legend of the lake, and -two years after I heard an Albanian retailing it to an interested -audience. The point of the story was the extreme cold-bloodedness of the -English, as shown by the heartless way I laughed at my friend's -misfortune! - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -OF THE NORTH ALBANIAN - - - "The wild ass, whose house I have made the - wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He - scorneth the multitude of the city, neither - regardeth he the crying of the driver." - - -The difficulty of the "Eastern Question," as it is called, lies in the -fact that it is not "a" question at all but a mass of questions, the -answering of any one of which makes all the others harder of solution. -Of all these, the Albanian question is the hardest to solve, and has not -as yet received the attention that it calls for and will shortly compel. -Few people in the West--none, I might almost say, who have not been to -Albania--can realise that to-day in Europe there lives a whole race, a -primeval lot of raw human beings, in a land that is not only almost -entirely without carriageable roads, but in which in many cases the only -tracks are even too bad for riding, the conditions of life are those of -prehistoric barbarism, and the mass of the people have barely even -attained a mediaeval stage of civilisation. - -When the Albanian arrived in Europe none knows, and authorities differ -as to his possible relationships with other people, but there is no I -manner of doubt that he is the direct descendant of the wild tribes that -were in the Balkan peninsula before the Greeks and before the Romans, -and have been variously described as Thracians, Macedonians, and -Illyrians, according to the part they inhabited. They are described as -having been fierce fighters and very wild, and they furnished Rome with -some of her best soldiers. Nor were they lacking in brain power; men of -barbarian Balkan blood arose who ruled their conquerors and provided the -Roman empire with a list of emperors that includes Diocletian and -Constantine the Great. - -Empires have risen and empires have passed away, and the Albanian has -remained the same wild thing. The might of Rome waned; the Servian, the -Venetian, and the Ottoman have followed in turn. "Annexed" but never -subdued, the Albanian merely retired to the fastnesses of the mountains -and followed the devices of his own heart, regardless of his so-called -ruler. The Albanian of to-day is nominally under Turkish rule, but -nominally only. - -The Albanian's position with regard to Turkey is a very peculiar one. -The Turk, so his friends tell us, has many admirable qualities, but even -those who love him best do not pretend that he has ever attempted to -civilise, cultivate, or in any way improve the condition of, his subject -races. Under the Turk all development is arrested, and nothing ripens. -The Albanian, for the most part, remains at the point where he had -arrived when the Turk found him, and except that he has adopted the -revolver and breechloading rifle, he has not advanced an inch. He is the -survival of a past that is dead and forgotten in West Europe. - -His language has troubled philologists considerably. It is a soft, not -unpleasant-sounding tongue, full of double "shshshes" and queer -consonant sounds; such queer ones that it fits no known alphabet, and he -has never found out how to write it down. Quite recently several -attempts have been made, mostly by foreigners, to tame this wild -language to an alphabet, and three or four different systems have been -evolved, all more or less unsatisfactory, as no alphabet unaided can -cope with its peculiar sounds. One in which Roman letters are used and -plentifully strewn with accents, both above and below, is the most -favoured in North Albania, but the Turk does not allow Albanian as a -school language, the mass of the people speak nothing else, and Albania -remains a land without a literature, without a history, without even a -daily paper. To possess and use an unwritten language in Europe in the -twentieth century is no mean feat It carries one back to remote -prehistoric times, confronts one with blank unwritten days, and suggests -forcibly that the Albanian is probably possessed of raw primeval and -perhaps better-left-unwritten ideas. Our search for the live antique -cannot take us much further. But the Albanians, in spite of their -antiquity, are incredibly young as a people, and blankly ignorant of the -outer world. They are still in the earliest stage of a nation's life -history, and have not yet advanced beyond the tribal form of life. - -At an early date--some say as early as the fourth century, but this -seems doubtful--the Albanians became Christian. I have failed to -discover what man or men succeeded in thus powerfully influencing this -very conservative people. It is a remarkable fact that, though all the -other Christians of the Balkans early declared for the Eastern Church -and all the Pope's efforts to reclaim them failed, the Christian -Albanians of the North have remained faithfully Roman Catholic. - -The mountains of Albania, like those of Montenegro, are a series of -natural fastnesses, among which a small army of attack is massacred and -a large one starves. Moreover, a large part of the land was not worth -the expense of taking. The tribes were exceedingly ferocious, and would -have taken a great deal of conquering, but as they had no leader under -whom they could combine and make organised attacks, they were not the -danger to the Turks that the Montenegrins were. Moreover, the fact that -they belonged to the Western and not to the Eastern Church prevented -them from making common cause with the other Christian peoples. Once and -once only were they on the point of obtaining recognised national -existence, and this was under the leadership of the great Skender Beg. -But Skender Beg died in 1467, and as yet no one has arisen capable of -welding the semi-independent tribes into a solid whole. The Turks -purchase peace from them by leaving them to do as they please among -their mountains. The Albanians purchase privileges from the Turks by -fighting for them and supplying the Turkish army, as they did formerly -the Roman, with some of its best soldiers. And Albania to-day remains -separated into a number of distinct tribes, which are governed by their -own chieftains according to unwritten laws which have been handed down -orally from a very remote past. The Turkish "Government" has -practically no say in the matter. At any rate, what it says it has not -the power to enforce. - -The Albanian is ignorant and untrained, but he is no fool. His one -ruling idea has been to go on being Albanian in the manner of his -fathers. He perceived quickly all the points that would enable him to do -so, and he seized upon them. The mountain people in the more -inaccessible parts retained their Christianity. The Albanians who -swooped upon the plains vacated by the Serbs found it greatly to their -advantage to profess Mohammedanism, and both Mohammedan and Roman -Catholic were ready to make common cause against the Christians of the -Eastern Church. So indispensable have the Albanians made themselves to -the Turkish Government that it has been forced to concede to them every -license, lest it should lose their support. Far from making any attempt -at civilising them, it has never scrupled to make use of their savagery -in warfare, and in warfare the Albanian can be exceedingly savage. Never -from the beginning of time has he been taught anything that the Western -world thinks necessary; never in the majority of cases has the most -rudimentary education come his way. His Mohammedanism and his -Christianity he practises in an original and Albanian manner, and in his -heart he is influenced mainly by traditional beliefs and superstitions -which are probably far older than either. He purchased his freedom by -making himself useful to the Turk, and the Turk has left him in the -lowest depths of barbarism. The only schools that exist in the land are -those of the Italian and Austrian Frati, and such civilisation as the -Albanian possesses he owes to the labours of these devoted men. As for -travelling and means of communication, it seems probable that the roads -to-day are far inferior to what they were in the time of the Romans. And -this is the land of the only one of her subject races with which Turkey -has been "friends." The deplorable state of Albania is an even stronger -indictment against Turkish "government" than that of Macedonia. To-day -the country is practically in a state of anarchy. Little or nothing is -done in the way of cultivation; blood-feuds rage, and men are shot for -quarrels that are family inheritances and originated for long-forgotten -reasons in the dark ages. - -Human life is cheap, very cheap. An ordinary Englishman has more -scruples about killing a cat than an Albanian has about shooting a man. -Indeed, the Albanian has many of the physical attributes of a beast of -prey. A lean, wiry thing, all tough sinew and as supple as a panther, he -moves with a long, easy stride, quite silently, for his feet are shod -with pliant leathern sandals with which he grips the rock as he climbs. -He is heavily armed, and as he goes his keen eyes watch ceaselessly for -the foe he is always expecting to meet. There is nothing more -characteristic of the up-country tribesman than those ever-searching -eyes. I have met him many a time in the Montenegrin markets, in the -weekly bazaar in his capital, and on the prowl with his rifle far in the -country. Up hill or down hill, over paths that are more like dry torrent -beds, it is all the same to him; he keeps an even, swift pace, and he -watches all the time. Dressed as he is, in tightly-fitting striped -leg-gear and in a short black cape, his appearance is extraordinarily -mediaeval, and he seems to have stepped straight out of a Florentine -fresco. His sash is full of silver-mounted weapons, he twists his -tawny-moustache, and he admires himself exceedingly. He walks with a -long rolling stride, planting his feet quite flat like a camel or an -elephant--a gait which gives him an oddly animal appearance. His boldly -striped garments, with their lines and zigzags of black embroidery, -recall the markings of the tiger, the zebra, and sundry venomous snakes -and insects. He seems to obey the laws that govern the markings of -ferocious beasts; his swift, silent footsteps enhance the resemblance, -and his colouring is protective; he disappears completely into a rocky -background. The black patterns vary according to the tribe he hails -from. If you ask his name, he generally gives you his tribal one as -well, and points over the mountains towards his district. He is -So-and-So, for instance, of the Hotti or the Shoshi. Most men, whether -Christian or Mohammedan, have their heads shaven; sometimes on the -temples only, the rest of the hair standing out in a great bush; -sometimes the entire head, with the exception of one long lock that -dangles down the back. There are two distinct types of Albanians--a dark -type with black hair, brown eyes, and clean-cut features, and a very -fair type, grey or blue-eyed, taller and more powerfully built. To this -class belong almost all the shaven-headed men with the dangling locks, a -row of whom, squatting on their heels, look remarkably like a lot of -half-moulted vultures. According to popular belief, the long lock is to -serve as a handle to carry home the head when severed. A head, it seems, -can be carried only by the ear, or by inserting a finger in the mouth, -and this latter practice the owner of the head, when alive, objects to! - -But in spite of his wild-beast appearance and his many obvious faults, -the Albanian is by no means all bad. I will almost say that he possesses -the instincts of a gentleman. At any rate, he "plays fair," according to -his own very peculiar creed. He boasts that he has never betrayed a -friend nor spared a foe. It is true that "not sparing" includes torture -and various and most horrible atrocities, but it is a great mistake in -considering any of the Balkan peoples to make too much capital out of -"atrocities." A century ago every race, including our own, considered -the infliction of hideous suffering the legitimate way of punishing -comparatively small crimes. At the risk of being laughed at, I will say -that I do not believe the Albanian is by nature cruel. The life of the -poor up-country peasant is hard and rough beyond what anyone who has -only lived in a civilised country can realise, and the life of such a -man's beasts is of necessity a hard one also. But though I have met him -with his flocks on the hillsides and have watched him carefully in -street and market, I have never seen the Albanian torturing an animal -for the fun of the thing, as does the Neapolitan, the Provencal, and the -Spaniard. The revolting "jokes" with lame and helpless animals which can -be seen any day in the streets of Naples are not to be met with in the -capital of the bloodthirsty Albanian. - -[ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN ALBANIANS IN MARKET, PODGORITZA.] - -I have trusted the Albanian somewhat recklessly, I have been told; I -have given him plenty of chances of robbing me, and several of making -away with me altogether; but he has always treated me with a fine -courtesy, and has never taken a mean advantage. He is a brave man, and -he is an intelligent man. When he gets the chance, he learns quickly and -picks up foreign languages speedily. And when he succeeds in leaving his -native land and escaping the awful blight of the Ottoman, he often shows -great business capacity, and a surprising power of adapting himself to -circumstances. - -The ordinary Christian Albanian of the town is very different from the -up-country savage, and is a pathetically childish person. He tries very -hard to be civilised, but his ideas on the subject are vague. How far he -is from understanding the prejudices of the twentieth century the -following conversation will show. It is one of many similar. I was -walking up the steep, cobble-stony bazaar-street of Antivari late one -afternoon in the summer of 1902. The shop owners stood at their doors to -see me pass. Presently a man came forward, a tall, fair, grey-eyed -fellow. He spoke very politely in a mishmash of Servian and Italian. "I -have never seen a foreign woman before," he said, "will you come into my -shop and talk to me?" I followed him into his shop. As I was -unmistakably from the West, he gave me a tiny box to sit on, and then -squatted neatly on the ground himself, called for coffee, and started -conversation. He was amazed at my nationality, and showed me some cotton -labelled "Best hard yarn" among his goods. Otherwise "England" conveyed -no idea to him. England, having no designs on Albania, does not count -much as a Power with the ordinary Albanian, but is merely something -distant and harmless that does not matter, whereas an eye is kept on -Austria and on Italy, and Russia is regarded with extreme suspicion. - -"And you have come all this journey to see us!" he cried. "It is -wonderful! I am a Christian Albanian. I am Catholic." Here he crossed -himself vigorously to show that he really was, for in these lands your -position in this world and the next depends mainly upon how this is -done. "Ah, but you should see Skodra!" I told him I knew it well, and he -beamed with pleasure. We discussed its charms and the unsurpassed -magnificence of its shops. "And it is in the hands of those devils the -Turks. Ah, the devils! I came here eighteen years ago with my father, -because this is a free land. Here all is safe, but it is a poor country. -When I was a boy I was bad. I went to the school of the Frati, but I -would not learn. Now I know nothing, and I speak Italian, oh, so badly!" -He rocked himself sadly to and fro with his big account-book on his -knees. Son of the race with the worst reputation in Europe and born in -one of Europe's worst governed corners, he lamented (as which of us has -not done?) the lost chances of his youth and his lack of book-learning. -To comfort him, I told him his people in Skodra had been very good to -me. He cheered up. "Why do you come here?" he asked. "Why do you not -travel in my country?" I said that I was told that it was a bad time and -the country very dangerous. He considered the question earnestly, and -looked me all over. Then he said seriously, "No; my people are very good -to women, they will not hurt you. But there is no government, so the bad -people do what they like. There are some bad people; Turks, all Turks. -But there is no fear. Truly they will take all your money, but they will -not hurt you. That," he said simply, "would not be honest. My people are -all honest. You must not shoot a woman, for she cannot shoot you. Now -with a man it is different; you must shoot him, or he will shoot you -first. Also you cannot take his money if you do not shoot him first." To -all of which points I agreed. - -"Truly it is a misfortune," he continued, "that there is no government. -If we had only a king!" "Do you think you will have one?" I asked. He -chuckled mysteriously. The air just then was thick with rumours of a -Castriot descendant of the Skender Beg family who at that very moment -was reported to be awaiting an opportunity for landing in Albania. -Reports of his fabulous wealth were arousing much excitement in the -breasts of his prospective subjects, but I fancy a rumour of their -custom of "shooting first" must have reached his ears; for, so far, this -middle-aged gentleman, whose life has been passed in Italian palazzos, -has shown no hurry to take up his inheritance. My friend's ideas were -vague and formless, and he could get no farther than "a king for Albania -and death to those devils the Turks." After a little more talk, I got up -to say good-bye. But he insisted upon my having more coffee first. "It -is true that I am poor," he said, "but I am not too poor to give two -cups of coffee to one who has come so far to see us. Some day in your -country you will see some poor devil from Skodra, and you will be good -to him because his people are your friends." Nothing could exceed the -grace with which he proffered hospitality to a stranger guest, but he -saw no objection to robbery with murder if committed according to rule; -and he prided himself on his Christianity. He shook hands with me very -heartily. "A pleasant journey," he said. "Remember me when you meet a -Skodra-Albanian in London. I shall never see you again--never, never." -The sun was setting rather dismally, and with "nikad, nikad" (never) -ringing in my ears and the gaunt ruins of the dead city before me, I -felt quite as depressed as the Albanian. Truly the Albanian outlook is -not a cheerful one. - -In the larger towns, where Turkish troops are quartered and there are -plenty of Mohammedan officials, the Christians are in the minority, and -their cowed manner makes it fairly obvious that they have a poor time. -But the Christians of the mountains very much hold their own. The -Mirdite tribe in the heights between the Drin and the coast is entirely -Christian and one of the most fiercely independent. The town Christian -who has picked up a smattering of education from the foreign Frati, has -had a peep at the outside world and vaguely realises the blessings of -life in a well-ordered land, sighs for some form of civilised -government. Some have even told me that they wish to be "taken" by -somebody--"by Austria, or Italy, or you, or anybody. It could not be -worse than it is now." But the mass of the people resent most fiercely -the idea of any foreign interference, and cling fast to their wild and -traditional manner of life. Whether Christian or Mussulman, the Albanian -is intensely Albanian. A Christian will introduce you to a Mohammedan -and say, "He is a Turk, but not a bad Turk; he is good like me; he is -Albanian." The Christian that the Albanian Mussulman persecutes is, as a -rule, the Christian of another race. Between Christian and Mohammedan -Albanian there is plenty of quarrelling, but then so there is between -Christian and Christian, Mohammedan and Mohammedan. It is of the -blood-feud, intertribal kind, played according to rule; for even in -Albania it is possible, if the rules be not observed, for killing a man -to be murder. When a common enemy threatens, a "bessa" (truce with one -another) is proclaimed, and they unite against him. The chief tribes in -Northernmost Albania are the Hotti along by the Montenegrin frontier and -by the lake; the Shoshi and the men of Shialla and of Skreli in the -mountains above the plain of Skodra; the Mirdites in the mountains -between the Drin and the coast; and the Klementi on the Montenegrin -frontiers by Mokra and Andrijevitza. - -The Turks from time to time, when the Albanians have been more than -usually lively, by various means (including treachery) have contrived to -give the chieftains of one and another "appointments" in remote corners -of Asia Minor, but with no results so far, except that the people, -deprived of the only man who had any authority over them, became yet -more unmanageable. Even the mildest of the town Christians takes a -delight in pointing out in the bazaar the tobacco which has paid no duty -and saying, "We pay no tax for tobacco; we are Albanian, and we do not -like to." The Turks have been unable to enforce this tax, and have to -content themselves by searching the baggage that leaves the country and -opening the hand-bags of tourists to prevent tobacco from leaving -untaxed. - -The Albanians seldom do anything they "do not like," and they are quick -to object to any interference. Just now they have been objecting to -"reformation" on Austro-Russian lines. The so-called reforms were the -laughing-stock of everybody--Servian, Montenegrin, and Albanian--when I -was out there last summer. For the Albanian's "unreformedness" has -always been his chief attraction in Turkish eyes, and in order to give -him every opportunity to behave in an "unreformed" manner, when the -spirit moved him, the Turk in recognition of his services in the last -war supplied the Albanian lavishly with weapons. Christians throughout -the Turkish dominions have always been forbidden to carry arms. The -Christian Albanian alone has this privilege. Every mountain man has -firearms of some sort, many of them fairly modern rifles. It is one -thing to give a man a gun and quite another to take it away from him. -When the weapons were merely used upon the wretched unarmed Servian -peasants in the plains of Old Servia, not a soul in any part of Europe -save Russia paid the smallest attention; but when Stcherbina, the -Russian Consul, fell a victim, it was a different matter, and the Turks -found themselves in the unpleasant position of having either to offend -Russia or to quarrel with their best allies. They proceeded to "reform" -Albania on truly Turkish lines. They chased the Albanians out of the -territory they had had no business to have swooped upon, and they -arrested a few leaders as a matter of form. The Albanians were -astonished and rather aggrieved, for they had done very little more -than they had always been given to understand they might do. Further -interference might have alienated the Albanians altogether, but as for -the sake of appearances and the "reform scheme" some non-Mohammedan -officials had to be appointed, the Turks sent an Armenian and a Jew, -called respectively Isaac and Jacob, to Skodra. Isaac and Jacob were -shot in the main street in the day-time, and as far as I have heard -their situations are still vacant. The affair caused some little amount -of excitement, nevertheless the Albanians did not wish to resort to -violence so long as the "Government" did not make itself disagreeable. -There is an old tomb in Skodra, the last resting-place of some minor -Mohammedan saint. Shortly after the deaths of Isaac and Jacob some -mysterious writing was found upon the tomb. Though written in very -ordinary charcoal, it was obviously of more or less divine origin, and -the people anxiously waited the deciphering of the message. It proved to -be merely a piece of a verse from the Koran conferring a vague blessing -upon somebody. "Allah be praised!" said an old hodja, greatly relieved, -"it has not told us to go and shoot any more reformers!" - -There were a great many more soldiers in Skodra than before. I asked -several people the reason of this, in order to see what they would say. -They one and all said, with a smile, "The Turks want to reform Albania, -but they are obliged to send the soldiers to the towns, because the -people in the country do not like them!" The town swarmed with soldiers. -An officer rushed at my old guide, whom I was employing to interpret for -me in the bazaar, and abused him in a loud voice till I interfered; a -soldier seized and beat very severely a wretched little boy who begged -of me, and my efforts on his behalf were of no avail; and these were all -the results of the reforms that I saw or heard of in Skodra. - -But the idea seems gaining ground that the Albanian in the event of a -war may cease to support a dying cause and elect to play a game of his -own. When, as must inevitably be shortly the case, Macedonia is under a -Christian governor, Albania will be yet more separated from the present -seat of government (Constantinople), and the situation will become -acute. I heard a good deal about "the king that is to be." Many Serbs -even expressed their opinion that the Albanians would be a great deal -better if their independence were recognised; saying that at present -they are responsible to no one; the Turk incites them to commit -atrocities, and washes his hands of all they do; and that left to -themselves the Albanians would develop into a fine people. That they -have the makings of a fine people is probably true. That they are now -capable of self-government is quite another thing. Unlike the other -Balkan peoples, they have no past, no former empire. Their history is -all "years that the locusts have eaten." What is to become of the -Albanians? is one of the hardest of all the Eastern questions. Austria -desires to have the answering of it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -SKODRA - - -Skodra is the capital of North Albania. In our maps it is usually called -Scutari--a name which causes it to be confused with the other and far -better known Scutari on the Bosporus. In a French paper I once read an -account of "the Prince of Montenegro's palace on the Bosporus" which -described the Princes country place at Podgoritza, near the lake of -Scutari. But the French seldom shine as geographers. - -Skodra can be reached from the port of St. Giovanni di Medua, at which a -line of Lloyd steamers calls regularly. From thence a ride of nine -hours, if you can find a horse, will take you by a very bad road to the -town. But even from the Turks, who take a _couleur-de-rose_ view of the -resources of their land, I failed to learn that the route offered any -attractions. It can also be reached by a steamer which, when there is -enough water in the river, ascends the Bojana as far as Obotti, whence a -barge will wobble you up to the town in an hour or thereabouts. - -By far the prettiest and pleasantest route is that from Cetinje by the -lake. The _Danitza_, the chief vessel of the Montenegrin squadron -according to the engineer, runs twice a week from Rijeka. It is a -clean, tidy little boat built in Glasgow, and is very fairly punctual as -to time. The sluggish stream meanders slowly in and out the hills; the -channel of deep water serpentines through acres of water-lilies, white -and yellow, whose leaves form a dense mat on the surface and a happy -hunting-ground for the water birds--duck, moorhens, herons, spoonbills, -and pelicans. It is a faerie river, with the magic of the hills upon it, -all silent save for the flap of the herons that rise as the boat glides -past. Half choked with reeds and weeds which grow rankly luxuriant and -rot in tangles, it tells of the making of the fertile lands of -Montenegro, for the plains are all ancient lake beds from which the -water has retreated. One hears without surprise that fever haunts the -river in autumn, but, judging by the healthy appearance of the folk of -the neighbourhood, it cannot be of a very virulent type, and at no time -of the year have I met with any mosquitoes. - -At the rivers mouth stand wretched shanties of rock and brushwood, the -dwellings of the fisher-folk who reap, in the late autumn, a plenteous -harvest. Vast shoals of small fish called "scoranze" rush up the lake -from the sea, and are netted in such thousands that, dried and salted, -they form one of Montenegro's chief exports. - -[ILLUSTRATION: STREET IN BAZAAR SKODRA.] - -We pass the island of Vranina and glide out into the great green lake, -leave the heights of Montenegro behind us, and see at the farther end -the "Accursed Mountains" of Albania purple in the distance. The waters -of the lake, according to the Albanians, are endowed with marvellous -curative properties. You must drink of them for a month, and then, no -matter what is your disease, you "throw it all up," or else you die!--a -severe kill--or--cure remedy upon which I have never experimented. We -stop at Plavnitza and at Virbazar to pick up passengers, who come out in -big canoes with long, upturned, pointed prows, and the deck is soon -crowded with gay baggage and its strange owners, all of whom are usually -anxious to make friends. You have only to show an interest in the -women's babies and the men's weapons to secure entertainment for the -rest of the voyage. "Show the lady your new gun," said a tall Albanian -to a youth. He passed over a Russian repeating rifle. A woman who was -standing near hastily got out of the way. The Albanian expressed -contempt. "It might go off," said the woman. "Well, what if it did?" -laughed the Albanian. "Look at me. I've been shot twice. It's nothing. -Once I was hit here," he touched his shoulder; "and the doctor cut out -the ball with a knife," he added with great satisfaction. "My brother -died," said the woman briefly. - -So on, in leisurely fashion, till at the end of the lake we see the -Crescent flying from an antiquated warship--the red flag and the dying -moon that we falsely call the "crescent," for it will never wax again. I -confess that I never see it on the borders without a curious thrill. I -was brought up to consider the Turk a virtuous and much injured -individual. Now I never cross his frontier without hoping soon to be -able to witness his departure from Europe. - -A shattered fortress frowns on the hill, a row of ramshackle buildings -lines the shore, a filthy crowd fills the custom-house steps. -Scutari--Albanese, Skodra at last. Time rolls back from the invisible -boundary against which the centuries have beaten in vain, and before us -lies the land of a prehistoric people and the life of past ages. Canoes -big and little come paddling out in a scrambling hugger-mugger; -Montenegro becomes, for the time being, a type of all that is most -civilised in West Europe, and we leave it behind us on the steamboat. - -The custom-house is a dark den, in which everyone shouts at once and -tumbles over everyone else. Smuggle your dictionary, if you have one, in -an under pocket; there is no knowing, says the Turk, what a book in a -foreign language may contain, so away with them all. There are few -things more deadly. Passports are, or are not, asked for according to -the amount of political tension. I have heard of two individuals who -"rushed" that frontier by the aid of receipted bills, the stamps on -which gave them a pleasingly official air, and have twice myself crossed -the Turkish frontier "when I hadn't ought." Anyone with an ounce of wits -can, I believe. And really there is something to be said for a passport -system that is warranted to exclude no one but the fools. The Persian -who inspects the passports, on this occasion, merely asked for our -names, which were too much for him. We gave him our visiting cards; he -copied our Christian names letter by letter, then, exhausted by the -effort, he added London as sufficient address, and the ceremony was -complete. He is a humble youth, will accept twopence as bakshish, and be -your dog for a florin. Like most Turkish officials, he exists, I -presume, on the pickings of his office. And the nation he loves the -best in all Europe varies according to the nationality of the individual -he is addressing. - -One gets used to arriving at Skodra as one does to most other things, -but the first visit is an amazement. It will be some time before I -forget that day when we emerged for the first time from that -custom-house. The captain of the steamer ruthlessly whacked off all the -would-be porters except one small boy, and bade him take us to the -carriage stand. Off sped the boy like a hare, threading the mazes of the -bazaar, dodging round corners and plunging down dark airless passages, -his bare feet gripping the pavement, we following hard on his heels, -dazzled by sun-spots, blinded in the darkness, confused by the unwonted -sights, and slithering on the slippery cobblestones which slope down to -the gutter in the middle where the pack-asses walk and the muck -accumulates. Finally, after a ten minutes' chase, he halted us -breathless on an open space on the farther side of the bazaar, stowed us -into the remains of a peagreen fly, and accepted sixpence with -gratitude. Off we rumbled down a lane that, but for its wayfarers, might -be English, so familiar are its hedges, ditches, bramble and clematis, -and we reached the residential part of the town and a decent hostelry in -about twenty minutes. - -Skodra is not merely an interesting spot to visit from Cetinje; it also -belongs rightly and properly to Servian history. From a very early -period (it is said the seventh century) it formed part of the Servian -territories, and it remained unconquered after the fatal battle of -Kosovo. It was the capital of George Balsha, Prince of the Zeta, and was -resigned by him into the hands not of the Turks, but the Venetians, -traces of whose architecture yet remain in the town. Though more than -once attacked, it was not taken by the Turks until 1479, and then only -after a siege of six months. Now the Turk holds Skodra, the Albanian -calls it his, and the Montenegrin has never forgotten that it once -formed part of the great Servian Empire. According to the Albanian, it -is the finest city in Europe, and when he tells you so he is proudly -speaking what he believes to be the literal truth. To him it is an ideal -spot, the model of what a capital should be, and the centre of his -universe. - -The Albanian may be caught young, and tamed; he may wander into far -countries; he does a good trade in Rome; he may even live years in -England; but for him a glory always hangs over the capital of his -country. He is rare in London; there are only two or three of him, and -he was hard to find. I tracked him to a far suburb, and when he learnt -whence I had come his enthusiasm was unbounded. The greatness and -magnificence of his country made it not at all surprising that the whole -of Europe coveted it, and he gloried in the fact. "Not that Russia, nor -them Austria, nor nobody," he said, "was going to have it! English mans -silly mans; no understand my people. My people all one week like that"; -here he whirled his arms wildly round his head; "next week go back work. -Olright. War with Turks? No, ain't going to be none." "Isn't the Turkish -government a hard one?" I asked. "There ain't no government," said he -gleefully. "What about the taxes?" "Oo pay?" said the Tame Albanian; -"you tell me that." Money, he admitted, had to be raised at intervals, -but you always lived in hope that it would be raised in some other -district, and if you displayed a proper amount of spirit it was. In the -days of his youth he had fought for the Turks. "I Bashi-bazouk," he said -with pride; "reg'lar army all them Mohammedans. I Catholic. I good -Christian. I Bashi-bazouk." To us Bashi-bazoukdom and Christianity are -odd yoke-fellows. To him, quite right and proper. - -Head of a flourishing business in London, and clad in a smart overcoat -and a billycock hat, he sat down cross-legged on the floor, and his eyes -sparkled as he thought of the good old Bashi-bazouk days. To London he -came because, as everyone knows, "there is lot of money in London." He -knew no word of English and but little Italian; had scarcely any money; -his entire stock in trade consisted of some native costumes and some -silver filigree work. Failure would seem to have been inevitable, but -the pluck and enterprise of the ex-Bashi-bazouk overcame all -difficulties. "You think my country wild country," said he; "now I tell -you--London; it big bad place. Five million peoples in London. My God, -what a lot of criminals! In my country no man starve. He knock at door. -'What you want?' 'I hungry.' 'Olright, you come in.' He give him bread, -he give him wine. In London you say, 'You git 'long, or I call a -p'leece.'" Wherever a Christian Albanian requires help, he has but to -knock at the door of another Christian Albanian and say so. No payment -is ever thought of. "How should we live," said a man to me, "if we did -not help one another?" Compared with Albania, London, even now in the -eyes of the ex-Bashi-bazouk, is a vast and uncivilised wilderness. -Perhaps he is right. Nevertheless, he has found it an excellent place to -get on in. His wife--"my Albanian missus," as he called her--had, he -confessed, a very poor time. Knowing no language but Albanian, and -sighing always for the sun and the shores of the lake of Skodra, she was -near weeping when she heard that I had just come from the beloved spot. -She wore a red cap with coins round it, and a medal dangled in the -centre of her forehead. She seemed singularly out of place in a London -back-shop. "By God," said her husband casually, "I'm sorry for that pore -fem'le!" And he had a certain sympathy for her, in spite of his cheerful -tone. - -"Earth hunger," the fierce desire for a particular plot of ground, a -plot which reason may point out to be barren, arid, lonesome, and in -every way unlovable, but which is the cradle of the race, is and perhaps -will always be one of the most unconquerable of human passions. The Tame -Albanian says he means to end his days in "the finest city in Europe, -Skodra." - -It is not a salubrious spot. It is suffocating in summer and flooded in -winter. It suffers from heavy rains, and lies low. Its one virtue is -that it does not possess mosquitoes, but it makes up for this by being -full of tuberculosis. Nevertheless, it grips one's imagination, it -arouses the sleeping spirit of first one and then another long dead -ancestor who lived in the squalid, glittering Middle Ages and before, -and they point the way and they whisper, "Such and such we did, and this -also--_do you not remember_?" and strange things that one has not seen -before seem oddly familiar; three or four hundred years ago, they or -something very like them were part of one's daily life. - -In the bazaar down by the river, with its maze of narrow crooked -streets, its crazy wooden booths and its vile pavement, life goes on -much as it did with us ages ago. Each trade has its own quarter, as in -all Eastern bazaars. And narrow ways, called Mercery Street, Butchers' -Row, Goldsmiths' Alley, in many an English town, still tell of the time -when so it was in England, in days when timber was as cheap, streets as -crooked and narrow, and pavement as bad as they are now in Skodra. And -then in England, as now in Skodra, people wore colours--red, blue, -green, yellow--and those that could afford it were brave with -embroideries. Their wants were few, luxuries there were few to be -purchased, and they showed all their worldly goods upon their persons in -a blaze of gold and finery on high days and holidays. Skodra does so -still, and so does every peasant and many a nobleman in the old-world -Balkan peninsula of to-day. Gorgeous garments solidly made they are, for -they will not go out of fashion next season, nor the season after, never -indeed until Albania is "civilised," and when will that be? So the -finery is made to last, and is worn and worn till it descends to -"Petticoat Lane" and is bought by the very poor. And when the stitchery -is all rubbed off by the friction of years, still the garment hangs -together, and is worn until it finally drops off piecemeal in squalid -rags. All these garments, however gorgeous without, are lined with -coarse materials, often pieces that do not match patched together, for -the Albanian ideas of dressmaking are old-world. The modern modiste has -invented cotton and linen costumes lined with silk or satin. Her -ancestress, however, acted on the Albanian plan, and the beautiful silk -and brocade costumes that have come down to us from Elizabeths and -Charles I.'s time are finished within with coarse and unsightly canvas. - -Near the entrance of the bazaar are the workshops of the carpenters, who -make and carve great chests to hold the clothes, gaudy things painted -peagreen and picked out with scarlet and gold, degenerate descendants of -the beautifully carved and coloured chests in which all Europe kept its -clothing in Gothic and Renaissance days. The makers of the chests -fashion, too, wonderful cradles, coloured in the same gay manner, and in -them the babies are packed and slung on pack-saddles or on women's -backs. In a land of rough travelling, a strong box in which to pack the -baby is a necessity, and doubtless our ancestors used the solid oak -cradles we know so well in a like manner. Any day in the bazaar is -interesting, for the shopmen nearly all make their own goods. The -gunsmiths fill cartridges all day long, for they are an article much in -demand, repair rifles and revolvers, and fit fine old silver butts, -gorgeous with turquoise or cornelian, on to modern weapons. The -silversmith squats cross-legged on the floor with a tray of burning -charcoal, some tweezers, a roll of silver wire, and a little box full of -silver globules. He works silently, deliberately, with long, nimble -fingers picking up the tiny globules and arranging them, snipping and -twisting the little bits of wire, building up and soldering with great -dexterity the most effective designs--designs with sides that match, but -are never quite symmetrical, like Natures own work, satisfying the eye -in a way that no machine-made article ever will. However rough his -workmanship, his idea is almost always good, and he produces daring -effects with glass rubies and emeralds of the largest size. In work of -this sort the Albanian excels. When he comes to larger constructions, -his trick of working by eye and getting balance by instinct is not so -successful; his rooms are all crooked, his houses out of the square. -Perhaps this is the inevitable out-come of his odd-shaped mind. It is -rumoured that three-sided rooms may be found in Skodra, for the simple -reason that somehow the builders, owing to a nice confusion of angles, -could not squeeze in a fourth wall. - -They are an honest, civil lot, these Skodra tradesmen; and though your -money will probably fly from hand to hand and disappear round the -corner, the change always comes back correctly in the end, and you pass -the interval drinking coffee with the shop owner. If your purchases are -many, he will kindly send out to buy a piece of common muslin in which -to wrap them; for Skodra does not supply paper, and when you have bought -a thing, conveying it away is your own affair. We in London are used to -having paper included lavishly with the goods, but an old lady once told -me that in her young days the fashionable drapers of London would lend -linen wrappers to those who bought largely, and the said wrappers had to -be returned next day. In this particular Skodra is not more than eighty -or ninety years behind London. - -To see the bazaar in all its glory one must go on a Wednesday; that is -"bazaar day," and all the folk of the surrounding country flock -thither. "Which is bazaar day in London?" I have been asked any number -of times by Serb, Montenegrin, and Albanian. And "Every day is bazaar -day in London" is the one thing that gives them any idea of London's -size. The five million inhabitants, railway trains, electric lights, and -so forth, are all quite beyond their ken; but "bazaar every day" stuns -and dazzles them, and at once calls up a picture of vast crowds and -illimitable wealth. On "bazaar day" Skodra is thronged with strange -types--costumes bizarre, grotesque, wild and wonderful, and the road -from an early hour is crowded with flocks, pack-animals and their -owners. Flocks as strange as their drivers, for the ram of the pattering -drove of sheep is often dyed a bright crimson, and his horns instead of -curling neatly round by the sides of his head are trained to stand up -like those of an antelope with their tight twist pulled out to long -spiral His fashion is an even older one than that of his masters, for we -find the ram with the same head-dress in early Egyptian frescoes. For -some of these people it is three, even four days' tramp down to the -market from their mountain homes, and over the rough tracks the women -carry incredibly heavy burdens; not only the bundles of faggots or hides -that are for sale, but the baby in a big wooden cradle is tied on the -top. The men march in front with their rifles and look after the flocks. -Firearms have to be left outside the bazaar. It is true that a good -number of people are still privileged to carry them, but I have haunted -the bazaar quite alone so often that I have ceased to believe in the -many blood-curdling tales about its murderous possibilities with which -travellers are usually favoured. Nor, when you once know your way, do -I think any guide or kavass necessary. It is very dull with a kavass, -for no one comes to play with you. I tried it once for an hour or so, -and never again. But though you see no murders, you may see cases where -apparently vengeance has been satisfied with mutilation, and meet a man -whose nose has been cut off so lately that a bloodstained rag covers the -vacancy. And the mountain-man swaggers up to the cartridge shop and -fills the many spaces that have occurred in his belt since last he came -to market. - -[ILLUSTRATION: SKODRA.] - -I have no space to describe the dresses of the various tribes; the women -with stiff, straight, narrow skirts boldly striped with black that -recall forcibly the dresses upon the earliest Greek vases; the great -leathern iron-studded belts; the women with cowries in their hair; the -wild men from the mountains in huge sheepskin coats with the wool -outside; town Christian women blazing in scarlet and white, masses of -gilt coins, silver buttons and embroidery; Mohammedan ladies shapeless -in garments which may be correctly termed "bags," or to be still more -accurate, "undivided trousers," of brilliant flowered material, not only -thickly veiled but with blue and gold cloth cloaks clasped over the head -as well, shrouding the figure and allowing only a tiny peephole through -which to see; poor women, veiled down to the knees in white, looking -like ghosts in the dark entrances; Turks in turbans, long frock-coats -and coloured sashes; little girls their hair dyed a fierce red and their -eyebrows blackened. They all unite in one dazzling and confused mass -which one only disentangles by degrees, and when I plunged for the first -time into that unforgettable picture, saw the blaze of sunlight, the -dark rich shadows, the gorgeousness, the squalor, the glitter, the -filth, the colour, the new-flayed hides sizzling in the sun and -blackened with flies, the thousand and one tawdry twopenny articles for -sale on all hands, I thought with a pang of the poor Albanian "fem'le" -who was passing weary, colourless hours in a grey London suburb, and -understood the sickness of her soul. - -Of all the old-world things in the town--older than the neatly cut -flints for the flintlocks that are still in use, older than the tight -mediaeval leg-gear--the loose tunic bound round the waist by a sash and -the full drawers tied round the ankle, as worn by the common Mohammedan -men and boys of the town (a very ordinary dress throughout the East) is -the oldest. It is the dress of the men on the early Greek vases; of the -Dacians on Trajan's column; of the captive Gauls in the Louvre; the -dress, in short, of all the "barbarians," the "braccati" of the Romans. -The Romans and the toga and the chlamys are all gone, and here, in the -same old place, the barbarians are cutting their skirts and trousers on -the same old pattern, and are very fairly barbarous still. But they have -learned to shave their heads and to wear a white fez, and with this -modification we at once recognise them as our old friend Pierrot, whose -history points to the fact that he really did come from the Near East. -Venice held all the Dalmatian coast and part of Albania. Venice was the -home of masques and pantomimes, and among the existing prints of the -pantomime characters is one "Zanne" in the familiar "Pierrot" dress. -What more likely than that the fool of the piece should be represented -as a boor from a conquered province? To this day, in so-called civilised -towns, an unhappy foreigner is still apt to be considered a fair butt by -the lower classes. Zanne came to England, and figures among the sketches -for one of Ben Jonson's masques. - -Skirts with us are purely feminine garments, but the skirt of the -barbarian has grown in Albania into a vast unwieldy kilt, and the -Mohammedan Bey swaggers about in a cumbrous fustanella which reaches -down to his ankle and sticks out like an old-fashioned ballet-girl's -skirt. He cannot work because he wears the fustanella, and it is said -that he wears the fustanella in order to be unable to work. Forty 1 -metres of material go to this colossal and ridiculous garment. The -greater part of the fulness is worn in front, and sways clumsily from -side to side as the wearer walks. The Greeks adopted it in a modified -form, but it must be seen on an Albanian to realise its possibilities. -The Albanians have rarely, as yet, succeeded in doing anything in -moderation. After seeing what the men were capable of in the skirt line, -I was not surprised that the shepherd-folk out on the plains began by -asking my guide with great interest if I were a man or a woman. - -But we must leave the bazaar, though many days do not exhaust its -interests; leave the butchers' quarter, a harmony in pinks and -blood-red, where the dogs lap red puddles, the butcher wipes a wet knife -across his thigh, and the people run about with little gobbets of mutton -for dinner, a fiercely picturesque place sicklied with the smell of -blood; leave the "Petticoat Lane" of Skodra, where the cast-off finery -of Albanian ladies and the trappings of beauty are displayed alongside -heaps of the most hopeless rags. Aged crones as antique as their wares -squat upon the ground. The sunlight blazes on the gold stitchery till it -sparkles with its pristine splendour; the hag in charge of it, -Atropos-like, points out its beauties with a large pair of shears, while -Lachesis spins a woollen thread alongside. I vow they are the Fates -themselves selling the garments of their victims. - -By the afternoon the crowds of country-folk are already reloading the -pack-animals, decked with blue bead headstalls and amulets to keep off -the evil eye, that await them at the entrance of the bazaar, where the -gipsy smiths and tinkers work, half stripped, a-ripple with tough -muscle, under little shanties made of sticks and flattened-out petroleum -cans. How the land got on before the petroleum can was introduced it is -hard to imagine. In the hands of the gipsies it is the raw material from -which almost everything is made. - -The peasants load their beasts--they are adepts at pack-saddling and you -rarely see a sore back--and trail slowly across the plains towards -their mountain homes. The bazaar is shut up, darkness comes on fast, and -belated foot passengers pick their way with lanterns. - -Night in Skodra is uncanny. The half-dozen tiny oil lamps do not light -it at all. When there is no moon, the darkness is impenetrable and -absolute, save perhaps for a long streak of light from the door-chink of -the next shop and the lighted windows of the mosque opposite. The black -silhouettes of praying figures rise and fall within them, but the mosque -itself is swallowed up in the surrounding blackness. A spark appears on -the roadway, someone passes with a lantern and disappears. The street is -dead still till a sword clanks and the patrol marches past. The lights -are extinguished in the mosque. The darkness is dense and dead, and -there is no sound. It is only nine o'clock, but all Skodra seems asleep. - -Skodra the town, as distinguished from the bazaar, has not a great deal -to show. It is a big town with some 40,000 inhabitants, and as all -houses of any size stand in a large yard or garden, it covers much -space. Here every man's house is his castle, and the high walls are not -only for seclusion but for defence. Skodra, from time to time, receives -a rumour that thousands of armed men are marching upon it. All the shops -are shut, the guards are doubled on the bridges, and folk shut -themselves in their houses. The phantom army does not appear, and in two -or three days things are going on as before. "But it will come some -day," said a man, when I laughed about a reported army of forty thousand -that had never turned up. - -The Mohammedan quarter has the air of being far more wealthy and -high-class than the Christian. The houses that one gets a glimpse of -through the gateways are large and solid. But the streets are lonesome -and deserted. Now and then I met a couple of veiled ladies, who, if no -man were in sight, usually strove hard to make my acquaintance, and -partially unveiled for the purpose. But as I know neither Turkish nor -Albanian, we never got farther than the fact that I was "a Frank" and a -deal of smiling and nodding. Two in particular walked a long way with -me, chattering all the time, and for the benefit of the inquisitive, I -must say that they were both very pretty girls. In Skodra not only the -Mohammedan but the town Roman Catholic women go veiled, though the -country-folk do not, and until married are often kept in a seclusion -which to our ideas is little short of imprisonment--facts which throw a -strong light upon the unlovely state of society which has made them -necessary; for the etiquettes of society are usually based upon raw and -unpleasant truths. It is idle folly to ascribe Western and -twentieth-century ideas to these primitive people, but the fact remains -that the life of the average Albanian woman is an exceedingly hard one. -That of the country-folk is a ceaseless round of excessive physical -toil; that of the poorer town woman is, I am told, often spent at the -loom from morning till night--labour that only ends when the Black Fate -snips her thread. - -[ILLUSTRATION: MOSQUE, SKODRA.] - -Though the Mohammedans far outnumber the Christians in the town, the -mosques are all small plain buildings, only saved from ugliness by the -elegance of their tall slim minarets, nor are there many of them. With -a grotesque lack of a sense of the fitness of things, the Turkish army, -when it has a washing-day, uses the largest graveyard as a -drying-ground, and a shirt or a pair of drawers flaps on each tombstone. -It was not until I saw this sight that I had any idea that the Turkish -soldiers ever had a washing-day. A lean, unkempt, ragged lot of poor -dirty devils with scowling faces, they look more as if returning from a -disastrous campaign than as if quartered in the barracks of the capital. -And the sight of them is enough to make one have no difficulty in -believing the tale that they not unfrequently help themselves to mutton -from across the frontier when the "Government" is discreetly gazing in -another direction. Their powers of endurance in war-time are not -surprising when their life during "peace" is taken into consideration. A -fight in which you may loot all you want must be a pleasant holiday by -comparison. - -The Christian quarter of Skodra looks less flourishing, and there are -crosses on some of the doors, otherwise the two quarters are much the -same. The Roman Catholic townsfolk wear a special costume. That of the -men is odd; that of the ladies perhaps the most hideous that has been -ever devised. Their gigantic trouser-petticoats of purple-black -material, in multitudinous pleats, fall in an enormous bag that sticks -out all round the ankles, and impedes the wearer to such an extent that -she often has to hold it up with both hands in front in order to get -along. With her face veiled and the upper part of her body covered with -a scarlet, gold-embroidered cloak with a square flap that serves as a -hood, she forms an unwieldy, pear-shaped lump--grotesque and gorgeous. -The streets here are apt to be flooded in wet weather, and the side -walks are high. Big blocks of stepping-stones, like those at Pompeii, -afford a way over the road, nor do carts seem to find any difficulty in -passing them. - -The cathedral of the Roman Catholics is a large brick building, some -fifty years old, with a tall campanile, standing in grounds which are -surrounded by a high wall. Its great blank interior, owing to lack of -funds, has not suffered much from "decoration." At the gateway the women -loosen their veils and go into God's house with uncovered -faces--beautiful faces, with clean-cut, slightly aquiline noses, clear -ivory skins, red lips, and dark eyes with long lashes. There are benches -in the nave, but a large proportion of the congregation, especially the -country-folk who crowd in on feast days, prefer to sit on the floor; -they spread a little rug or handkerchief, kick off their shoes and squat -cross-legged on it as in a mosque; women with their breasts covered with -coins that glitter as they sway to and fro in prayer; mountain-men with -their cartridge belts upon them ready for use against a brother -Albanian. A fine barbaric blaze of colour, scarlet and scarlet and -scarlet again. The service begins; harshly dissonant voices, loud and -piercing, chant the responses; and the deep sonorous voice of the young -Italian at the altar rings out like the voice of civilisation over the -barbaric yowling of the congregation. As he mounts the scarlet and gold -pulpit there is a hush of expectation. The sermon, in Albanian, is a -long one, and the crowd hangs breathless on his words. His delivery and -his action are simple and dignified, and I watch him sway his -congregation with deep interest, though I can understand no word. He is -working up to a climax, and he reaches it suddenly in a sentence that -ends in the only non-Albanian word in the sermon, "Inferno." The word -thunders down the church on a long-rolled "rrrr," and he stands quite -silent, grasping the edge of the pulpit and staring over the heads of -the people. There is a painful hush, that seems like minutes. Then he -suddenly throws himself on his knees in the pulpit and prays. Violently -moved, his flock prostrate themselves in a passion of entreaty, and -those who sit on the ground bend double and touch the floor with their -foreheads. - -The barbaric gaudy congregation, the ascetic earnest young teacher, the -raucous wailing voices that rang through the great bare church, made up -a poignantly impressive, quite inexplicable whole. I gazed upon the -praying crowd and wondered vainly what their idea of Christianity may be -and what old-world pre-Christian beliefs are entangled with it. The -Albanian clings to these through everything, and in spite of all their -efforts the Frati have as yet made little or no headway against -blood-feuds. The Albanian has never adapted himself to anything; he has -adapted the thing to himself. He practises the Christianity upon which -he prides himself, with the ferocity with which he does everything else. -He fasts with great rigour, wears a cross as a talisman, and is most -particular to make the sign of the cross after the Latin and not after -the Orthodox manner. But his views are very material. "Have you got the -Holy Ghost in your country?" I have been asked more than once. And an -affirmative answer brought the enthusiastic remark, "Then England is -just like Albania!" The life of Benvenuto Cellini is interesting reading -after a tour in Albania, for it represents with remarkable fidelity the -stage in religious evolution to which the wild Albanian of to-day has -arrived. - -Difference of religion is usually given as the reason for the fact that -the Albanian has almost invariably sided with the enemies of the other -Christian peoples of the Balkans. One suspects, however, that it is -rather "the nature of the beast" than the particular form of belief that -he has chosen to profess that has cut him off, his fierce independence -rather than his religious creed, and the more one sees of him the more -probable does this appear. - -There are very few Orthodox Albanians in Skodra. Such as there are wear -the same dress as the Mohammedans, but the women are not veiled. - -Skodra, except in the way of customs, possesses few antiquities, save -the ruins of the old citadel which crown the hill overlooking the town. -These are said to be of Venetian origin and to have been fairly perfect -till some thirty years ago, when the local Pasha, having heard of -lightning conductors, determined to buy one for the better protection of -the tower, which was used as a powder magazine. To this end he chose a -handsome brass spike, and then found he was expected to pay extra for a -lot of wire. Being economical, he took the spike only, had it fixed to -the topmost tower, and anxiously awaited a storm. It soon came! The -handsome brass spike at once attracted the lightning. Bang went the -powder magazine, and the greater part of the citadel was shattered -before his astonished gaze. The hill now is crowned with a heap of -ruins, but as strangers are strictly forbidden to visit it, I presume -the Turks have constructed something that they consider a fortress among -them. - -At the foot of this hill are the ruins of a small church. Big white -crosses are painted upon it, and it is considered a very holy spot. -Every Christian peasant stops as he passes it and crosses himself, and -though all that is left are fragments of the walls, I have been told -that a service is still occasionally held in it. The only other relic of -past days in the neighbourhood is the fine stone bridge with pointed -arches near Messi, about four and a half miles from Skodra across the -plain. This is undoubtedly Venetian work. The stream it spans is a -raging torrent in the wet season, and has wrought much damage in the -town and devastated a large tract of the plain. The rest of this is -covered with short turf and bracken fern, and grazed by flocks of sheep -and goats. The herdsmen, shaggy in sheepskins and armed with rifles, the -strings of country-people and pack-animals slowly tramping to or from -market, and the blue range of rugged mountains make up a strange, wild -scene. Nor, if you take an Albanian with you to do the talking,--for -everyone "wants to know,"--does there appear to me to be any danger in -wandering there. - -Skodra is the capital, but it has no decent road to its port. It is -situated on the outlet of the lake, but though a little money and work -would make the Bojana River navigable for small steamers, and all the -shores of the lake would thus be put in direct communication with the -sea, nothing is done, and this, which should be the chief trade route -for North Albania and a large part of Montenegro, is of little use. -Skodras exports are not enough for Skodra to worry about greatly. Hides, -tobacco, some sumach root and bark for dyeing and tanning, some maize -and fruit, and a number of tortoises, which the Albanian finds -ready-made, form the bulk of the exports of the neighbourhood. Skodra is -one of the few capitals which you can leave with the certainty of -finding it exactly the same next year. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -SKODRA TO DULCIGNO - - -I have on one point, at any rate, a fellow-feeling with the Albanian. -Skodra fascinates me. When I am not there--only then, mind you--I am -almost prepared to swear with him that it is the finest city in the -world, and a year after my first visit I found myself again on the -steamer, hastening Skodra-wards, with the intention of riding thence to -Dulcigno. Skodra greeted me warmly as an old friend. That exalted -official the Persian beamed upon me and said that for Mademoiselle a -passport was not necessary, the customs let me straight through, and I -was soon settled comfortably in my old quarters. The Persian, because, -so he said, of our long friendship, but really because he was aching -with curiosity, called upon me at once in the crumpled and unclean white -waistcoat in which he fancies himself, and chatted affably. - -He comes, so he tells me, of a most exalted family; were he only in -Tehran, instead of, unfortunately, in Skodra, he would be regarded with -universal respect and veneration. As I have no idea of the standard -required by Tehran, I condoled with him gravely, and accepted his -statement. It was a great joy to Skodra, he informed me, that I should -have come alone. No other lady had ever done so. Only une Anglaise -would; for the English alone understand Turkey--are her dear friends. -Here his enthusiasm was unbounded. Upon Turkish soil every English -person was as safe as in England. This was owing to the excellence of -the government. "There is," he said, "no government like ours." I told -him the latter statement was universally believed, and pleased him -greatly. He soared to higher flights. It was astonishing, he said, and -most annoying, that false accounts of Turkey were published by foreign -papers. He would go so far as saying that they never told the truth. It -was even said that in parts of Turkey there had been considerable -disturbances lately. Parole d'honneur, this was quite untrue. Never had -the land been in a more tranquil or flourishing condition, and as a -proof of his assertion he told me that his information was entirely -derived from official sources. - -Now at this time, "according to foreign papers," Russia, aided by -Turkish troops, was vainly trying to force a Consul into Mitrovitza, -encounters between troops and desperate villagers were reported almost -daily from Macedonia, trains on the Salonika line had been more than -once "held up," and the governor of the very district we were in had -been shot at some months before. But he burbled on of the beauty of the -British Government and of the support it always afforded in the hour of -need. Everything desirable, including liberty and equality, flourished -under the Crescent, he said. At this moment a poverty-stricken little -gang of ragged men tramped past, bearing in turns upon their shoulders a -long battered old coffin, from which the paint was almost worn away. - -They stopped to shift it nearly opposite us. It was lidless, and the -dead man's white face, his knees, and his great sheepskin stood above -its edge. He lay in his clothes just as he died. The Persian, with -ill-timed merriment, pointed to the corpse. "A dead sheep, -Mademoiselle!" said he contemptuously. He addressed some remark in an -unknown tongue to the mourners. The coffin-bearers passed sullenly. "A -dead Christian," I said to him sharply. "Yes, yes, a Catholic," he -admitted. I stared hard at his shifty eyes; he hastily dropped into -politics again, and I thought about equality. - -Not being desirous of emulating Miss Stone, and as the Persian for -imaginativeness rivalled his fellow-countryman, Omar Khayyam, I -collected advice from various quarters. Great as were the joys of -Skodra, Dulcigno was my object; but I did not seem to get any nearer -arriving there. Everybody combined to try to frighten me off the ride. -Having played about Skodra for over a week, however, I persuaded myself -that the Albanian was a friendly and much maligned being, took all the -responsibility upon myself, and decided to carry out my plan. I fixed -the matter up with a rush. Dutsi, the man who was to guide me, turned up -early in the morning with a sturdy pony; I said farewell, and started -through the town on foot. It was no use my mounting, said Dutsi -mournfully, till we had passed the passport place; the Turks were very -bad about passports--_diavoli_, in fact. This with a gentle air of -resignation, as if it were highly possible it would not be worth while -to mount at all. We walked along the banks of the Bojana till we came to -its point of union with the Drin. Over the Drin is a big wooden bridge -with a fantastic arch of wood across it, and on the bridge stood -soldiers in the dirty rags that the Turks call a uniform. "Your -passport," said Dutsi hurriedly. I produced it; but as none of the -authorities could read anything but Turkish, it was useless. Dutsi -looked anxious. "They want your name," he said, and looking at the -passport-case, which is stamped "Mary E. Durham," he read out "Marie" -with triumph. Everyone was satisfied. I entered Skodra as "Edith of -London"; I left it as no less a person than "Mary of England." Great and -obvious are the blessings of the passport system. I gave a twopenny -bakshish, and we passed on to the bridge. Dutsi was a changed being; his -spirits rose as soon as the Turks were left behind. He told me he was -much attached to the English, and that now I might mount. - -After an hour or so of enjoyment, the road got worse, and then rapidly -worse still, and fuller and fuller of water. The Bojana was in flood, -and the waters were out. My beast splashed through water almost up to -his belly, and Dutsi took circuits through peoples maize fields. Then it -got so bad that we left the track and laboured fetlock--deep through -ploughed land, and saw ox-carts bogged to the axle in the sea of mud -that was all that was left of the road. And after a little of this, the -track was lost altogether, and we wandered round through tracts of mud -and streams, forced a passage through an osier bed only to come to a -swirling sheet of water, tried back, and finally made for a hovel and -hallooed for help. The owner came out, took us over his own grounds, and -started us again on something like a path, which soon disappeared. -Dutsi, however, now knew the direction, and the pony was extraordinarily -clever at climbing greasy banks, boring his way through the willows on -top, and scrambling over the ditch the other side without even once -"pecking." We came to some low hills, and got on to dry ground at last. -Then Dutsi discovered to his distress that my umbrella, which he had -tied to the back of the saddle, was gone. This was a sad loss, but it -was evidently gone beyond recall. Dutsi in despair laid the blame -entirely on those devils the Turks, who made such devils of roads, and -were such devils to the good Christians that they were unable to improve -the country. "Oh, the devils!" said Dutsi; "they have lost your devil of -an umbrella." This relieved his feelings, and when I pointed out the -inky clouds that were rapidly rising and said we had better hurry, he -remarked piously, that though it looked like rain he believed that, in -consideration of the loss of my umbrella, God would not permit it, for -He does not like the Turks. Thus comforted, we proceeded, over low -ground again, splashing over fields that, properly drained, should be -magnificent water meadows, but were liquid slush in which great yellow -spearwort flourished. At last we came to the river's edge and the -ferryman's hut. - -A great barge was dragged alongside the bank and the pony persuaded to -enter it. I sat on the edge and curled up my toes, for the bottom was -covered with water, and we were soon off. The boat was towed some -distance up stream and let loose, and the force of the current combined -with skilful steering swept it across. Dutsi was now happy; we should -have a "buona strada" all the way! He began telling me of a noble and -wealthy Englishman, one X. of the Foreign Office, to whom he had acted -as guide in the spring in a shooting expedition, one of the best and -kindest signors that existed, and we progressed slowly over the "buona -strada," which was like a dry torrent bed, for we were now back among -the limestone rocks again. Presently we arrived at a stream with a plank -across it. "The frontier, the frontier!" cried Dutsi, and, as we set -foot on the other side, he announced that we were in a free and -Christian land, Montenegro! Now, he said, we would rest and eat some -bread. So we sat down under a tree, and I discovered that the -improvident creature had brought nothing more filling with him than a -few cigarettes. As my chances of getting to Dulcigno depended entirely -on him, I supplied him with two of my three eggs and three-quarters of -my loaf, and we were just setting to work when we heard a loud -"tom-tom-tomming." Out of the bushes came a gang of seven very black -gipsies, four muzzled bears, and a loaded ass. Between them they carried -five rifles and seven revolvers, and they certainly looked the "Devils -Own." The pony snorted and stamped at the bears, and would have bolted -had he not been tied fast; we hadn't a weapon between us, and Dutsi -looked so green that I thought "all the fun of the fair" was about to -begin. "Dobar dan," said I, through a mouthful of egg, for it is always -as well to be civil. They made no answer, but scowled upon us and went -surly by, single file, the boy who was in charge of the bears beating -his tambourine rhythmically the while. As soon as the last of them had -disappeared round the corner, Dutsi announced that they were very, very -bad and all Turks (_i.e_. Moslems), and that now we must have a long -rest. He was obviously afraid of catching them up. - -Meanwhile the storm clouds were rapidly catching us up. We waited some -ten minutes. I insisted upon starting then, and came upon the gipsies -almost immediately, for they were making the bears dance in the yard of -a lonely cottage on one side of the road. Dutsi caught the pony's head, -led him round silently on the grass and behind some bushes, and we -passed unseen, to his great relief. As he was very tired, I dismounted -and gave him a ride. The free and Christian road was no better than the -heathen one, but we got on very cheerfully for some way. Then the -floodgates of the heavens opened, and, in spite of the loss of my -umbrella, the rain came down in sheets. Dutsi most gallantly offered me -his, but as I had a mackintosh I begged him to keep it for himself, and -remounted and rode through the worst rain I was ever out in. Luckily we -had just arrived at a decent road, and we took shelter under the first -large tree. The whole landscape disappeared behind the grey torrent, and -out of it suddenly rushed the wildest figure I have ever seen--an old, -old woman, tall and lean, clad only in a long pair of cotton drawers -tied under her armpits. Her lank wet hair streamed from her head like -long black snakes, and she stood out in the rain and waved her arms -madly round like mill sails, as she poured out a torrent of Albanian. -"She wants us to go to her house," said Dutsi. "It is over there," as -she pointed into the rain, "half an hour away! I tell her, 'No, thank -you.'" Still the old woman gesticulated and shouted. "Fale miners" -(thank you), repeated Dutsi over and over again in a deep sing-song. She -made a last effort. "One million times in the name of God, she asks us -to come," said Dutsi, with a smile. "She says she can do no more." Nor -could she, apparently, for she disappeared again into the rain as -suddenly as she had come. "It is better to sit here in the dry," said -Dutsi. "How far is it to Dulcigno?" I asked. "Two hours at least," said -Dutsi. I wondered miserably whether the saddle-bags were water-tight, -and thought of my only change of clothes; and as there was no prospect -of food, and I had only had one egg and a little bread since early -morning, I attacked my Brand's beef lozenges and blessed the maker. - -When the storm lifted, we started again, and through sun and storm -arrived in a heavy shower in sight of Dulcigno just as that most -melancholy sound, the clink of a loose shoe, caught my ear. I suggested -the best inn to Dutsi. He said dismally, "There is only one," and we -climbed the hill and entered the town,--a row of houses, a forge, a -mosque, and some shops,--and to my dismay pulled up at a tiny Albanian -drink-shop. "Ecco l'albergo," said Dutsi. I jumped off the pony and -hurried in, out of the downpour. I was streaming, Dutsi was streaming, -the pony had cast his shoe, and we had been nearly nine hours instead of -five and a half on the way. It was a case of any port in a storm. The -stripey-legged owner welcomed me effusively in broken Italian, and led -me through into an earth-floored kitchen and up a few wooden steps to a -"molto bella camera" over the shop, talking excitedly. It was a minute -apartment, quite unfurnished, except that a trouser-legged lady was -curled up fast asleep on a heap of mattresses on a sort of divan of -packing-cases. "My wife," said he, giving her a poke, whereupon she -jumped up like a jack-in-the-box, threw her arms round my neck, and -kissed me three times. Dutsi appeared with the saddle-bags. He glanced -round the room appreciatively, for it was the sort of place he felt at -home in, and said it was "dosta dobra" (pretty good), also that the -people were very good and all Christians. Then he very considerately -suggested that I had better change my clothes and would perhaps prefer -to be alone, and they left me. My "change," wrapped in a sheet of -waterproof and in saddle-bags, was quite dry, and my mind relieved on -this point was free to contemplate the possibilities of the -establishment. One window had once had glass in it, the other never. -Except the heap of bedding, there was nothing in the room but a rifle, a -cartridge belt, and a picture of St. George. The rain was falling in -sheets; seeking for other quarters would result in soaking my only dry -clothes; moreover, I was tired. I decided to stay in shelter for the -present, and descended to the "kitchen." - -The floor was of earth and sloped up, for the house was built on the -hillside. In one corner Dutsi, my host, and another striped gentleman -were all squatting on their haunches round a splendid wood fire which -blazed on a big slab of stone; Madame was making coffee, and Monsieur -lemonade. A place was made for me at once, and I joined the squatting -circle. They were most anxious about my health, felt me to see if I were -really dry; and Madame, as she was unable to make me understand, kissed -my hands and face. The fire had been lighted expressly for me, said -Monsieur, and now they would all enjoy it. I appealed to Dutsi in an -undertone about the possibility of better accommodation, but he was -positive about this being the only inn. A room in a private house could -be found perhaps by the sea, but that was half an hour away; moreover, -these were most excellent people, and had lent him a coat and a pair of -shoes. Their hearty friendliness filled me with trust from the first; -the extreme primitiveness of the place attracted me. I said to myself, -"You wanted to see the Albanians, and the Lord has delivered you into -their hands. This is a unique opportunity," and I settled in and tried -to behave like one of the family. Dutsi took a tender farewell of me, -and begged me to give his love to X. of the Foreign Office, that -bravest, noblest, and most admirable signor in the whole world, and to -tell him that he (Dutsi) was praying God night and day to protect him -and bring him back to Albania. Then the rest of the company, whose -curiosity had been aroused, were told of the glories of X., and the fact -that I was his compatriot counted greatly in my favour; for in these -out-of-the-way corners the reputation of the Empire depends entirely on -the conduct of the two or three individuals who happen to have -represented it, and the responsibility upon them is heavy indeed. - -Dutsi departed, and I felt a bit lonesome; but the company rejoiced over -me like children over a new kitten. They patted and stroked me, and -broke off little pieces of bread for me, and, as I could not understand -Albanian, grunted and burbled over me like friendly guinea-pigs. The -place was thick with pungent wood smoke, which escaped from a window -near the roof. The rafters overhead were black and smoky, the walls -rough stone; there was a heap of logs and brushwood in the farther -corner, and a few pots hung on pegs. Otherwise there was nothing. In -England, even in Anglo-Saxon times, my ancestors had tables and chairs. -I sat cross-legged by the blazing logs with streaming eyes, and wondered -which century I was in. And the firelight danced on the only up-to-date -thing in the room, the barrels of a rifle and revolver and the brass -tops of the cartridges in the belt of the man next me. For living, we -can go on as before with the same old things, but when it comes to -killing we really require something better. From time to time Monsieur -retired to the bar to deal out rakija to customers, and the fame of my -arrival soon spread. If the customers were of lowly standing, they were -invited in to see me; if, on the contrary, they were great men, -Montenegrin captains for instance, Monsieur asked me if I would be so -good as to step out and speak to them. These were all huge, all -courteous, all friendly, and all unable to speak anything but Servian. -Rain still poured, but as everyone who came to see me took a glass of -something, trade was good. One gentleman who spoke Italian was such a -tremendous swell that I asked him if there were any better hotel in the -place. This surprised him, and he replied that there was no other, and -the cooking here was excellent. Having interviewed some half-dozen -captains and a lot of shaven-headed up-country Albanians, I retired to -the kitchen again, and began drying my wet under-garments one by -one--an operation that interested Monsieur so deeply that he insisted -upon helping, and singed them freely. In came, in a dripping overcoat, a -strapping, cheerful, great Montenegrin, who hailed me joyfully in -Italian, sat down, and, smiling gleefully, remarked in English, "a cat, -a dog, a orse, a and, a man," and some dozen other words. Everyone -looked on in admiration. I returned in Servian, to his delight, and he -explained to me that he was kavass to the British and Foreign Bible -Society in Constantinople, and was home for a holiday. His friendliness -was unbounded; he insisted that I was to breakfast with him next -morning, and demanded to know what I was going to have for supper. He -knew all about the English, he said, and I must have roast beef. -Monsieur retired to a corner and came back with the carcase of a lamb -and a caldron. The kavass was greatly opposed to this; Monsieur was much -excited; anything I required he was willing to try! A great debate -ensued. They appealed to me, and I chose the lamb and the pot, for the -mere idea of an Albanian culinary experiment alarmed me. So Madame -fetched a hatchet, and the lamb was chopped in chunks on the hearthstone -and put into the caldron with a sheaf of onions, and I reflected that I -had at least secured mutton broth. The kavass was greatly disappointed, -as he wished to show them how to make a real English dinner. I thanked -him for his trouble, promised to breakfast with him, and he took his -leave. - -As it had now ceased raining and was still light, Monsieur proposed that -we should go for a walk. The town is a large one, the shops built of -wood, many in Turkish style. We went into quite a number, not to buy -anything, but just so that the people could really have a good look at -me, and I shook hands with them all, Monsieur the while swelling with -pride. Throughout the walk he expatiated on Montenegro and the joys of -living under the government of the Prince; so good, so just. Here a man -was free. They were saved from those devils the Turks. He was himself an -Albanian of a Skodra family. "You are Catholic?" I said, for nearly all -Skodra Christians are Catholics. "Oh no," he said, "now I am a -Montenegrin, of the Church of Montenegro. Oh, what good people!" We got -under shelter just in time, and he showed me his other means of gaining -a living. He was an umbrella-mender, and also he embroidered the gold -patterns on the tops of caps. "I am always at work," he said, "and this -house is my own." Everything he possessed he admired and valued. As for -his wife, he informed me she was one of the best women in the world, and -he called upon me to admire everything she did. God had not given him a -son, and this was, it was true, a grief to him, but then "I have so much -else," he said cheerfully, "a house that is warm and dry, and a good -wife and plenty of friends, and a good daughter." The daughter had last -year delighted her father by making a most excellent marriage. She had -married a Montenegrin, and lived in Podgoritza. His shop was a chilly -open shed, his kitchen an English peasant would have considered an -inferior coal-hole, and he was so pleased with them that I was ashamed -of having doubted whether they were good enough for me. - -I returned to Madame and helped stir the pot. Monsieur shut up and -barred the outer shop, some other men appeared, and we sat down to -supper. We each had a basin, a spoon and a fork, and used our own -knives. We all stood up while they crossed themselves; then Madame -uncovered the caldron, and we squatted round it and set to work. The -broth, being the stewing of a lamb, was excellent, and as my friends -greatly preferred the meat with all the goodness boiled out of it, there -was plenty for me. On my account there were extra luxuries, and all were -pleased. We dipped out of the caldron and offered one another the -tit-bits. When the lamb's head was fished up, Monsieur was grieved that -I should not have had it, and pulling out the eyes and tongue, offered -me them in his hand. In order to make me understand exactly what the -morsel was, they put out their own tongues and waggled them about. I -said I had had quite enough and thanked him, and they divided the -delicacies carefully between them, each taking a bite. - -A discussion took place, and then Monsieur produced a little picture, an -ordinary, crude colour-print of the Virgin. It seemed to bother them -greatly. Monsieur evidently admired it, his friends doubted its -orthodoxy. There was something written under it that alarmed them. "Ask -the lady," said one of them in Servian. "Do you know Latin?" said -Monsieur. "Oh yes," said I, for I am always willing to oblige, if -possible. "She knows everything," they said, and the little picture was -handed to me. Under it was written "Ave Maria, etc." "What language is -that?" said the first man eagerly. "That is Latin," said I. "Latinski!" -they cried in horror. Instantly, as though it were infectious, the poor -little picture was whipped out of my hand and poked into the fire. -Monsieur shoved it down with his foot. The Roman Catholic Madonna flamed -up, and everyone breathed freely again. Monsieur made an apologetic -explanation, but his friends were obviously shocked at finding such a -thing in a respectable house. Oddly enough, in spite of my acquaintance -with the wicked language, it did not seem to occur to anyone to doubt my -orthodoxy. - -Madame, however, had evidently something on her mind which she wanted to -tell me, and held an Albanian debate with the company. Unable any longer -to bear the cross-legged attitude, I had retreated, when I had eaten -enough, to the bottom step of the little ladder that led to the upper -room, and watched the strange scene. The smoke eddied in wreaths round -the room and drifted out above; the farther corners were quite dark. The -bizarre group squatted round the fire; the trouser-legged woman voluble -and eager; the sandal-shod, mediaevally-clad men, their clean-cut -profiles silhouetted against the blaze, or outlined with red light, -handed round a tiny pair of tongs with which they picked out fragments -of burning wood and lighted their cigarettes. All were interested. I -wondered what it was all about. Monsieur turned and explained. His wife, -he said, liked me very much; their only daughter was married; they were -lonely. Would I stay with them for always and be a daughter to them? Now -I had seen what the house was like; they would all be very good to me, -and we should all be "molto contento." Everyone waited anxiously for my -reply. They were quite serious about it, and I replied in the same -spirit, that I had a mother and that, naturally, I must return to her. -They inquired her age and where she lived, and then agreed that it would -be impossible for her to live alone, and that I was right, though they -lamented the fact. Then they told me their ages and asked mine, and we -were all equally astounded; for they had regarded me as a very young -thing, and I had put them all down as at least twelve years older than -they were. I have no doubt that they were speaking the truth, and that -it was the roughness of their lives that had so aged them, and Monsieur -was really not more than forty, and his wife forty-two. - -About nine o'clock the company from outside all left, having first stood -up and crossed themselves and wished each other good-night -ceremoniously. Monsieur lit a tiny lantern, of which the glass was -grimy, and led the way up the steps to the "molto bella camera." Here -there were three heaps of bedding in a row. "This," said he cheerfully, -"is yours, this is my wife's, and this is mine." I had been quite -Albanian for some hours. Now the West arose in me and would not be -gainsaid. I murmured something about the other room. It was my host's -turn to be scandalised now. Horrified, he exclaimed, "The gentleman in -there is not married!" and called for his wife. They talked it over, and -then he kindly said that he and his wife could sleep with the other -gentleman if I really preferred it; "but," he added, "you are not -married, you will be all alone." Then he gathered up the bedding in a -bundle, they wished me good-night, and left me with a sackful of dried -maize husks on two packing-cases, and a wadded coverlet. He returned -almost immediately to ask if I should like a key, which, he said, was -quite unnecessary. I reflected that if he meant to burgle me he would do -so, key or no key, so I thanked him and said I was sure it was not -needed. This gave him great pleasure, and he told me repeatedly that his -house and all he possessed were mine. Then he left me, and at once -through the thin partition wall I heard three flops as the three lay -down on their mattresses. I followed the Albanian plan, curled up on the -packing-cases as I was, and slept for nearly nine hours without -stirring. - -When I woke, quite refreshed, the sun was streaming through the cracked -shutters. I heard my neighbours shake themselves and issue forth, so I -shook myself and issued forth too. Monsieur, Madame, and the -gentleman-who-was-not-married were all flat on the floor blowing up the -fire. They were enchanted to see me and hear I had had a good night, and -shook hands enthusiastically. Except that their hair was a little -rougher, they looked just as they had the night before, but by the -bright morning-light I saw that Madame's dirty grey jacket was really -purple silk with a silver pattern, and had once been very gorgeous. -Washing was my chief idea, and I told Monsieur I should like some water. -He replied the coffee would be ready in a minute. I said it was for my -hands, so he fetched half a tumblerful and poured it over them. As they -had not been washed for twenty-four hours, it made very little -difference. I indicated a tiny tin basin. Madame understood at once, and -filled it for me. I took it to my room, and she followed. Her delight -and astonishment when she found I had taken the precaution of bringing -soap with me were really beautiful, and the sponge was an article she -had never seen before. She immediately called to her husband, and he and -the gentleman-who-was-not-married hurried to see the sight. They danced -with glee when they saw how the water ran out of the holes, and were all -seized with a wild desire to try it. This I steadily refused to -understand in any language. Owing, indeed, to the scarcity of water and -the quantity of spectators, the wash was hardly satisfactory. They -forgot the sponge in the joys of seeing me brush my teeth. A tooth-brush -was a complete novelty. Monsieur, whose teeth were as white as a dog's, -begged to be allowed to use it only for a moment, but just then the -coffee opportunely boiled over, they rushed to the rescue, and I was -saved. - -I was then reminded of the invitation to breakfast with the Montenegrin -kavass, and was hurried off to his house. In spite of his brave attire -of the night before, his top-boots, his green embroidered coat, and his -gold waistcoat, his mansion was only one degree more civilised than the -Albanian's. The ground floor was used as a shed. We ascended a -step-ladder to the floor above, where he stood beaming, and conducted me -at once to the bedroom. The outer room, or kitchen, was quite bare, with -smoke-grimed rafters, and a heap of firewood and a few pots and pans in -it. The fire blazed on the hearthstone in the corner, and his wife was -making coffee. He introduced me to her, and told her that I was English -and must have a large cup with milk in it. He swelled with pride about -his knowledge of the English, and introduced me with ceremony to the -company five men and a woman, who had, it seemed, all been invited to -meet me. The top-boots, a rifle, a cartridge belt and a revolver hung on -the wall, and of course the patron saint of the family. There were two -iron bedsteads, a table, a chair or two, and a bench. I sat on the -bench, and the Albanian on one of the beds, which he admired very much. -He then favoured the company with the details he had learned about me -the night before--my age, my brothers and sisters, etc.--all of which -appeared to interest them greatly, as did also the plan of adopting me -as a daughter, which they strongly urged me to accept. The kavass, -however, did not mean him to do all the talking, but fetched a key and -unlocked the chest in which he kept his best clothes and other -valuables. From this he extracted a good pair of laced-up boots and -handed them to me with delight. They were stamped inside with the name -of an English maker, and were nearly new. He had scarcely ever worn -them, he valued them so--had bought them in Constantinople for two -pounds "sterline." They made quite an impression on the company, and I -expressed my great joy at beholding them. His wife brought in the -coffee, black for everyone but myself. Mine was a large bowl full of -boiled milk with a little coffee in it. The kavass showed it to the -company and explained that, besides that, the English always ate a -little piece of pig with an egg on it. This so fired the Albanian's -imagination that he leaped up with the intention of scouring the -neighbourhood for fragments of pig, and I had some difficulty in -checking the pig-chase. Whatever was cooked for me I knew I should have -to eat, and boiled milk and bread were at any rate safe. They all -begged me to make a long stay at Dulcigno. I could spend the evenings at -their respective houses, and they would all be glad to see me. As, -however, it was a fine day and the weather had lately been most -unsettled, I determined to take advantage of it and ride to Antivari -while it was possible. I therefore thanked everyone, and said I should -like a horse and guide that day at eleven o'clock. Then an odd -complication ensued, for they only knew Turkish time, and by Turkish -time twelve o'clock is sunset, nor could I make them understand. They -settled the matter, however, in the simplest way by saying that they -would get the horse at once, and let it wait till I was ready. "Two -gentlemen," said the Albanian, were also going to Antivari, and as their -private affairs were not urgent, they too would wait and accompany me -when I pleased. So, everybody being satisfied, I thanked the kavass, -shook hands all round, and went off to have a look at Dulcigno by -daylight. - -The bay, with the old town on the promontory and its Venetian walls, is -very beautiful. The town stretches down the valley and round the bay, -and several mosque minarets tell of the Turk. The Mohammedan women here -wear an odd and hideous great hooded cloak of coarse brown woollen stuff -bound with red. In this they slink about like bogies, and the Moslems, -both men and women, have a furtive and rather ashamed appearance, very -different from their swagger in Skodra. In the old town, pieces of -carving built into walls and well-hewn stones are all that is left of -the Venetian occupation: Dulcigno fell into Turkish hands in 1571, and -though Venice made two attempts to recapture it, Turkish it remained. -It was taken by the Montenegrins in 1877, restored to the Turks by the -Berlin Congress, and finally handed over to Montenegro by the Powers in -1880. Dulcigno has a fine bay, but as it is not yet connected with the -interior by a decent road, there is not much done in the way of traffic. - -When I returned, I found a white pony and three men awaiting me. One was -the guide, the others the "two signori" who, I had been told, were going -my way; fearsome objects. Both were cartridge-belted and be-weaponed, -and looked like two half-moulted birds of prey perched each in a heap on -the edge of the doorstep. They fixed me with their grey hawk's eyes and -snorted when introduced. I went into the inn and asked for my bill. -Monsieur was coy about it. He looked me all over and considered how rich -I was. Then he said, would I think three francs too much? He was -delighted when I paid it without a murmur, and thanked me repeatedly. I -took a tender farewell. Madame embraced me three times, and matters -having gone so far, with a final effort at being Albanian, I kissed her -three times, shook hands with numerous stripey-legged gentlemen, tied my -bags to my saddle, and mounted. - -The scenery was magnificent and the path bad. Rock, rock, almost all the -way, either very steep up or very steep down. The white pony climbed -like a cat; all he bargained for was to have his head loose. I hitched -the reins on the saddle peak and let him have his own way. The three -Albanians shot ahead, walking swiftly and silently with a long, swinging -stride. Neither the quality of the ground nor its steepness made any -apparent difference to them, nor did they trouble about me in the least, -and I often lost sight of them altogether, for one cannot hustle a horse -over wet rock. Nothing, however, bothered the white pony; he was used to -heavier weights than myself. When we came to a series of smooth steep -inclines, he simply spread out his legs and tobogganed in the neatest -manner, gathering his hoofs together at bottom and starting down the -next one so easily that I did not think it worth while to dismount. The -country was almost uninhabited, though fertile and wooded. Wherever -cultivated, it appears to yield well. Olives and figs flourish, and I -noticed a few fields of flax. Then below us the Adriatic and the bay of -Antivari blazed blue, we zigzagged down a very steep hillside all loose -stones, I saw the ruined town up the valley and the Prince's palace upon -the shore, and felt at home again. We reached the plain and a good road, -and a carriage dashed round the corner at a smart trot with the -Archbishop in it. He waved and hailed me at once, and roared with -laughter at my turn-out and escort, which would really have done -admirably at home on Guy Fawkes Day. The "two gentlemen" disappeared -quite suddenly by a short cut to the town, without even a farewell -snort, and I never saw them again. Why they accompanied me at all I -never fathomed. They may have conversed with my guide when they were -ahead, in my presence they scarcely spoke a word even to each other. -When we got to the cross roads, I turned the white pony Prstan-wards, -and was soon welcomed by Maria in the little cottage on the beach. I had -been told the ride was a six hours' one, and we had done it in six and -a half, which was not bad. - -For the benefit of such travellers as wish to see Dulcigno and who do -not crave to understand the domestic arrangements of the Albanians, I -ought to add that it is possible to find decent rooms in private houses -in the Montenegrin part of the town. - - - -[ILLUSTRATION: MONTENEGRIN PLOUGH.] - - - - -PART II - -OF SERVIA - - "The Standing is slippery and the Regress is - either a Downfall or at least an Eclipse; which is - a Melancholy Thing."--BACON. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -BELGRADE - - -Servia is only some thirty-six hours distant from London by rail, but -for England it is an almost undiscovered country. Nor do the other -nations flock thither. I gathered this on my journey on the main line -from Agram to Belgrade through the crown-lands of Hungary, over endless -plains and miles of floods. Guards and ticket-collectors alike agreed in -telling me that it was impossible for me to go to Belgrade. "You will -require a passport," they said. And when I said that I had one, they -replied sadly, "It is probably not good." "Belgrade," said an old lady -in the corner, "and you are English! Oh, then you are the new school -inspector. You have come, have you not, from an English Society to -report on Servian education? Two other ladies have been already." -"Perhaps I shall meet them," I suggested. "Oh no," said the old lady -cheerfully; "that was when I was a girl. It was about 1864 that I saw -them. Naturally I thought you came for the same purpose!" As I had no -mission from the Government, she agreed with the guards that the -expedition was impossible, and I was soon left alone in the carriage. As -Agram had refused to book me farther than Semlin, I did not feel -particularly cheery about it myself. Semlin opined I was a governess, -and made no difficulty about booking me on! The train crashed across the -iron bridge over the Save, and we arrived. It was half-past ten at night -when I alighted in Belgrade--alone, friendless, and knowing nothing of -either country or people except what I had gathered from a few books, -mostly not up to date. Guide-book there is none, and a little of the -language was all that I had to rely upon to see me through a strange -land. - -The first Servians I encountered were the two soldiers who take the -passports, which have to be reclaimed next day. I grasped this fact and -passed through, with some satisfaction, as I heard behind me the -wrathful voices of several Italians and Germans who were fiercely -refusing to part with their papers, and were being shouted at in -Servian. Thinking it would wound their pride to be offered female -British assistance, I left them to fight it out, and was the first, in -consequence, to get through the "Customs." Then I rattled uphill through -the dark deserted streets, where the night sentries with greatcoats and -rifles were already on guard, and arrived at my hotel. - -My only letter of introduction was a failure, as the addressee was -abroad; the British Consul, whom I had been specially told to inform of -my proceedings by the Servian Minister in London, had not yet arrived, -and the secretaries at the British Ministry were quite new. This is a -fate that pursues me. When I arrive at a place for the first time, the -Powers that arrange such things always give the Consul a holiday, or -appoint a new one who has not yet learnt the language. But having never -yet failed to find friends on my travels, I did not worry about my -possible fate up country. Several things began to happen at once. -"Where," said I to the waiter, when he brought me my coffee on the very -first morning, "where am I likely to see the King and Queen?" He looked -at me with a peculiar expression. "You want to see our King?" he said. -"You won't see him. He dare not come out of the konak. He is probably -drunk," he added contemptuously. I made no remark, for there was none -that it seemed expedient to make, and though I haunted the neighbourhood -of the konak industriously, each time that I returned to Belgrade, I -never saw either King or Queen. This was in the summer of 1902. - -Belgrade (Beograd = "The White City") is most beautifully situated. For -a capital to be so placed that the enemy can shell it comfortably from -his own doorstep is of course ridiculous, but for sheer beauty of -outlook Belgrade is not easy to surpass. Perched on a hill, at the foot -of which Save joins Danube, it commands westwards a wonderful expanse of -sky and stream and willows, with a pale mauve distance of Servian -mountains, while opposite lie the rich plains of Hungary and the little -town of Semlin. Belgrade is a new town, a quite new town, and no longer -deserves the name of "The White City," its general effect from a -distance being dark; but the name is an old one, and "white" is a -favourite Servian adjective. It is a bright, clean town; the houses, -seldom more than two storeys high, look solidly built; there are plenty -of good shops, and the streets are wide and cheerful. It looks so -prosperous and the inhabitants so very much up to date, its soldiers are -so trim, its officers so gorgeous, and the new Government offices are -so imposing, that one is surprised to find that the country, owing to -mismanagement, is financially in an almost desperate condition. - -There is little wheeled traffic in the streets, nor is this a wonder, -for the pavement is indescribably vile. "Ah, but you should have seen it -in Turkish times," say the Servians, and they do not worry about it; for -they have two lines of electric trams, and your Servian is not a -pedestrian. Coming as I did, straight from Cetinje, I spent the first -few days in wondering whether the very dark, short people who crowded -the trams of Belgrade, for lack of energy to walk up the street, were -really blood-relations of the long-legged giants who stride tirelessly -over the crags of Montenegro with never a sob. I never saw a Servian who -looked as if he took exercise because he liked it. Neither did I ever -see any attempt at an athletic sport. On the other hand, wherever I -went, people expressed amazement that I could find any pleasure in -travels that entailed so much exertion. I have never met folk that -walked so slowly. I used to try not to pass people in the street, and -vow it is as difficult as to win the slow bicycle race. An average Serb -seems to think two miles an hour sharp going; his ordinary pace I cannot -pretend to estimate, and when he has nothing particular to do, which is -often, he sits down and plays cards. In my whole life I do not think I -have seen so many cards as I did in Servia. In the cafes, hotels, and -restaurants the soft slither and plap-plap of the painted pasteboards -and the tap of the chalk as the players write the score goes on from -morning till night, and forms a running accompaniment to every meal. -When asked what struck me most on arriving in Servia, I often referred -to this habit, and astonished my questioners. "We are obliged to play -cards," they said; "chess is too difficult, and we cannot afford -billiard-tables." In public, very little money changes hands, it is -merely a matter of a few coppers, a way of killing the time that hangs -so heavily on their hands; for Servia, in spite of the West European -look of its capital, has not yet I learned to be in a hurry. - -Card-playing has comprehensible attractions, but the Servians are -possessed of a quite original vice which is not likely to lead other -folk astray. They drink too much cold water, and they drink it till they -are pulpy. An average Serb drinks enough cold water for an English cow. -I doubt whether the language contains an equivalent for "bad training," -for when I tried to explain the idea it created surprise. A doctor told -me he had never heard the theory before. To him it seemed a natural and -wholesome habit; moreover, he added, "there is plenty," and seemed to -think it was rather wasteful to leave any unswallowed. To me it -explained the lack of activity; the nation is water-logged. All day long -and every day the Serb calls for a glass of cold water, and when he has -drunk it he calls for another. Perhaps owing to this he has little space -left for alcohol; at any rate, I never saw a drunken man, even amongst -the peasants returning from market. - -Belgrade, in fine weather, is a very agreeable town to do nothing in for -a day or two. But its historic fortress, its beautiful garden, and the -woods of Topchider are all too well known to require describing. One -mosque only, and that a dilapidated one, tells of the departed Turk. The -mass of the inhabitants (60,000) are Orthodox Serbs, and a colony of -Spanish-speaking Jews lives in the low-lying quarter called Dorchol. I -think I saw the whole colony, from the tiniest beady-eyed baby to the -stoutest grand-mamma, for they flocked to see me pass as though I were a -coronation procession. Unaware that a foreign woman travelling alone in -Servia was a unique event, I wished them "good day" cheerfully, and went -my way. - -The "old konak," a rather mean-looking building painted a raw cream -colour, and standing in a small garden with sentry boxes in front of it, -has since acquired hideous fame. For in it, but a year later, did -Alexander's ill-starred reign come to its awful end. Belgrade was so -civil to me, there was such perfect order in the streets both by day and -night, all was outwardly so quiet, that even now I find it hard to -realise that that ugly yellow house has been turned into a shambles. -That the King would have to leave and at no distant date was obvious, -but I believed it would be by the usual route, and as I watched the -swirly yellow Save hurrying along below, I murmured, "There's one more -river, one more river to cross." It is a marvel that Servian rulers -continue to dwell within sight of the Save. It is the most -"men-may-come-and-men-may-go" river in all Europe. But in Servia, though -you may flee from the Save, you can never lose sight of the political -situation, which is a parlous one. Servia is too small to stand quite -alone. Without, she is surrounded by Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria. The -first is slowly squeezing her, preparatory to swallowing her whole, -should a favourable chance arise; the second yet holds the heart of the -old Servian Empire; and with the third Servias quarrel dates from the -seventh century. Internally Servia is torn by parties who differ as to -which of the Powers it is advisable to propitiate, and these parties -dance to external wirepulling. - -Things being as they are, it is small wonder that the Serb suspects -everyone that crosses his frontier and believes he has come for obscure -political reasons. I entered Servia cheerfully unaware of this, and soon -learnt that the police were watching my movements. Belgrade, like -Montenegro and Dalmatia, took me for a Russian, otherwise I neither knew -nor cared whether Belgrade thought about me at all. Wishful of learning -the language and of seeing things Servian, I determined to go to the -theatre, and in the old happy days, when I was as yet guileless and -unsuspicious, I stopped and began to slowly decipher a playbill at a -street corner. I had struggled through but little of it when I was -approached by a policeman on duty, a picturesque personage in a brown -uniform with red braiding. He touched his cap to me and said most -politely in very fair French, "Our language, Mademoiselle, is very -difficult for une Anglaise. Permit that I assist you," and proceeded to -translate the bill. Surprised and pleased, I asked myself, "Which of our -own bobbies could thus assist a foreigner?" and being accustomed to be -called Russian, I asked, "How did you know that I am English?" "Oh," he -replied cheerfully, "Mademoiselle only arrived here on Monday, and I, -you see, am in the police. Naturally I know. Also the officer at the -custom-house has stated that Mademoiselle knows some of our language, -and that is most unusual in a foreigner." As a freeborn British subject, -I was considerably taken aback to find that the police were so well -informed about me. Immediately and rashly I said to myself, "When in -Rome do as the Romans. I too can ask questions." There was something -about the policeman that was oddly familiar; he was a tall fair man, -quite unlike the short dark type that I was beginning to recognise as -Belgrade-Servian. So I said to him, "Yes, I am English. Where do you -come from? You are not a Serb of Servia." "Ah no," he said, with a sigh; -"I am far from my people. I come from a quite little place of which -Mademoiselle has never heard. I come from the neighbourhood of -Kolashin." This at once enlightened me. Foolishly proud of my knowledge, -I laughed and replied, "Kolashin? Oh yes, in Montenegro, near the -Albanian frontier. You are Crnagorach!" - -It was his turn to be astonished now, and he almost leapt with -amazement. He broke into his native tongue. "You know my fatherland! You -know my fatherland!" he cried in great excitement. "You have been there! -Have you seen my Prince, our gospodar Nikola? Have you seen Prince -Danilo? Prince Mirko? the Princesses Milena? Militza? Have you been to -Podgoritza? to Ostrog?" etc. "Yes, yes," said I to everything. "Bogami! -Bogami!" (Oh my God!), he cried. Then he took a long breath, pulled -himself together, and started a torrent of the most fluent French. -"Mademoiselle," he said, "I will tell you everything. I came from -Kolashin twelve years ago with a comrade. He also is a policeman; he is -now in the next street. As soon as he arrived here he married a Servian -woman, and he has been unhappy ever since. I, Mademoiselle, am -unmarried. I detest these Servian women. They are bad, Mademoiselle, -they are unfaithful! I would not take one on any account, and I cannot -afford to go back to my own country for a wife. But you, Mademoiselle, -you are half Montenegrin; you have the heart of a lion; you know my -country; you have seen my Prince; you speak my language! Unfortunately, -Mademoiselle, I must remain in this street,"--here I mentally offered -thanks to the powers that had rooted him to this spot, "but on Sunday -afternoon I shall be free. I shall come to take you out to Topchider. We -shall have something to eat; soon we shall become good friends; soon we -will be married. I am a very good man, Mademoiselle," here he smote his -chest. "The British Consul can learn all about me from my captain. _You_ -can teach English in Belgrade, and _we_ shall soon be very rich. But," -he added very seriously, "you are staying at the Grand Hotel, a most -expensive place! You must not stay there. I shall tell you of a much -cheaper one, and on Sunday we will go out together!" He paused, rather -for want of breath, I fancy, than for a reply, the favourable nature of -which he took for granted. I seized the opportunity. "Thank you very -much," I said, "but I am leaving Belgrade to-morrow, and I have no -time." "Oh, but why, Mademoiselle? You have only been here a week, and -it is a so charming town! Restes, je te prie, jusqu'a Dimanche, jusqu'a -Dimanche!" "Impossible!" I cried; "adieu, adieu!" and fled round the -nearest corner. As I left for Nish early next morning, I saw him no -more, and on my subsequent return to Belgrade dodged, with the speed of -a pickpocket, whenever I saw a tall policeman looming in the distance. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -SMEDEREVO--SHABATZ--VALJEVO--UB--OBRENOVATZ - - -Smederevo from the Danube is a most impressive sight. A huge brick -fortress surrounds the promontory with castellated walls and a long -perspective of towers; a grand mediaeval building lying grim on the -water's edge, a monument of Servias death-struggle with the Turks. Built -in 1432 by George Brankovich, son of Vuk the traitor of Kosovo, it was -Servia's last stronghold, and its makers, in defiance of the Crescent, -built the Cross in red bricks into the wall where, now the tide of -invasion has at last ebbed, you may still see it. And all the nineteen -towers still stand. - -Having landed, and reflected that I could not escape for many hours, I -walked up the main street and I prayed that the populace would prove -friendly. It was--very. I had not gone far when I was marked by the -policeman. He was much perturbed. He walked all round me at a very -respectful distance, and discussed with everyone on the way what he had -better do. Finally he came up and asked me in Servian, if I spoke it. -"Very little," said I, and volunteered that I was English, which caused -him to call up reinforcements. By this time a fair audience was -collected, for the hope of seeing some one "run in" will gather a crowd -anywhere. Having ascertained that I understood German, he called up a -man to speak to me. The man, pleased with the importance he was gaining, -poured out a long string of mysterious noises which resembled no known -tongue. Then he turned to the policeman and said, in Servian, "She -doesn't know German." The policeman was in despair, and so was the -populace. "Speak Servian slowly," I said. "Where do you come from?" -"London." "Where are your friends?" "In England." "What are you doing?" -"I have come to see Servia." This pleased him very much. "Have you any -brothers?" "Yes." "Where are they?" I supplied the information and other -family details. Finally he summed up the evidence, and imparted to the -surrounding multitude the information that I had come all alone to see -Servia and the Servians. This, he said, was "very good." He touched his -cap and smiled affably, and the assembly broke up. All this amused me, -but I lived to see the day when these interviews became a weariful -burden. - -I had luckily hit on the day of a great cattle and pig fair. The open -space between town and fortress was filled with peasants and their -beasts, great grey draught oxen, sheep, horses, goats, and, above all, -the staple product of Servia, pigs. The Servian pig is a great -character. He rules indeed large tracts of country. He is cared for, -tended, and waited upon. I have seen a large sow walking with dignity -down the middle of the road, followed by a number of human retainers, -each carrying one of her piglets like a baby in arms, while she set the -pace, stopped to grubble at anything that interested her, and looked -back from time to time with her beady little eyes to see that her -infants were being properly cared for. - -Here in the market the pigs were the most important personages present, -and knew it. They are great woolly beasts, some of fair complexion, -beautifully curly as to their backs. Their snouts are long and unringed. -Being of a highly practical nature, the first thing they did on arriving -at the market field was to dig themselves cubby-houses. Those that were -lucky enough to find a hole full of water sat in it, and were supremely -happy. Some quite small mud-holes were packed with pigs lying on the -black ooze and crammed together like sardines in oil. All talked -incessantly. There were hundreds of tender babes wandering about, but -the families never got mixed. The little ones are longitudinally -striped, like young wild boars, and very elegant. Their mothers found -mud-holes if possible, and the children sank in up to their eyes. All -were extremely tame. If the owner of a pig family wished to shift camp, -he strewed a few beans to start them with, and the whole lot followed, -conversing cheerfully, and rearranged themselves neatly whenever he -chose to sit down again. The mud-coated ones lay and baked in the sun, -like live pork pies, till their mud casing was hard and bricky. - -While I was absorbed in pigs, a gentleman came up, took off his hat, and -launched me into the language again. He knew a very little French, and -with that and Servian extracted the same information as the policeman -had done. But he went farther. "Had I been into the fortress?" was his -next. I have a great respect for frontier fortresses in all parts of the -world, and it had not occurred to me to do more than examine it from a -distance. "It is the only thing to see here; I will take you over it," -he said. I gratefully accepted the offer, imagining the place was now -public like the fortress of Belgrade, and we approached the gate and -were saluted by the sentry, who made no objection. Passing in, I found -to my astonishment that it was full of soldiers, and very much the -reverse of a public promenade. My friend, who seemed to be a well-known -person, asked the first private we met for the Commandant. "The -Commandant," he said, "is over there, with the artillery." Off we -started in search of him, and were soon hotly pursued by an apologetic -soldier, who explained that no foreigners were admitted. I suggested -retreating, but my escort would not hear of it, and, quite undaunted, -took me over to a party of very smart officers who were sitting at a -table under some trees. To them he introduced me with a flourish. They -leapt to their feet, made most elegant bows, and were all struck dumb -with amazement. My friend then persisted that, as I was English and had -come so far, I ought to be shown the fortress. None of them could speak -anything but Servian, and were very shy. I said all I could to them in -answer to their questions and tried to say good-bye, as it was obvious -that their orders did not allow them to take foreigners round. Moreover, -it did not seem to me that there was anything of further interest to me -to be seen. I was inside and had a good view of the huge walls and -towers, the great open space they surrounded, and the rough irregular -masonry they were built of. To send for the Commandant, as my friend -urged, seemed absurd. I got up to go. However, after a whispered debate, -the officers asked me if I would like to see the view from the walls, -and one of them volunteered to take me. He hustled me with elaborate -care quickly and guiltily past the artillerymen, who were taking a gun -to pieces, and must have been inventing horrible secrets. Poor things! -they might have explained it all to me without my being any the wiser. I -remembered Dreyfus, and could scarcely help laughing at the ridiculous -position I had managed to get into. The wall was soon ascended, and the -view over the Danube certainly very fine, but I felt sure I ought to -depart, so skipped quickly down again; but the poor officer in spurs -took a long while arriving at the bottom. We returned to the gate, and I -endeavoured to thank him; he shook hands in an elaborate manner, -saluted, and I emerged from George Brankovich's great fort, which has -been besieged by Servian, Turk, and Hungarian, but never before, I -believe, surprised by the English. My friend kept repeating, "You are -English, and they ought to have shown it you," and was very much vexed. - -Smederevo has no other sights, and Shabatz on the Save was my next -experiment in towns. It can be reached by a local boat from Belgrade, -also by rail. Let no one, however, be persuaded into taking the train -unless he wishes to realise thoroughly, once and for all, the joys of -living upon a hostile frontier. The train journey was an hour and a half -shorter than that by boat, and I imagined that to book from one town to -another in the same country was a simple matter, though I was aware that -the frontier had to be crossed, so I walked cheerfully down to the -station. I asked for a ticket to Shabatz, and was, as a result, -immediately conducted to the station police bureau, where a youth in a -light blue coat was busily stamping passports and inquiring into -every-one's past and future existence. My advent upset the dull current -of everyday routine. I said I wanted to go to Shabatz, thinking to -smooth matters down, but it only created more excitement. The pale blue -youth put everything aside in order to fathom the mystery of my -movements. Servian frontier police are funny and amusing people. They -spare no pains to unravel plots; I hope they will find one some day as a -reward for their efforts. If, instead of only myself, there had been say -forty or fifty tourists in Servia, the entire land would possibly have -been disorganised, trains delayed, criminals left unarrested, and -burglaries committed, while the police officials were straining every -nerve to ascertain the number of brothers and sisters, and past, -present, and future actions of the visitors! I did my best to assist -their plans, and have in fact provided them with the materials for a -fairly accurate biography of myself, should one ever be required. Its -excessive dulness went a long way towards soothing their agitated -nerves. Pressure of business forced the pale blue youth to stamp my -passport and let me go while his appetite for details was yet -unsatisfied, and I hastened to buy a ticket for Shabatz. This was -impossible. I could only book across the river to Semlin. By this time I -was really interested in frontier existence, and began to regard the -trip as a sporting event. Feeling righteous and bold as a lion, being -armed with a stamped passport and a ticket, I walked down the platform -only to be stopped short by sentries. The pale blue youth from the -office came flying up. Having hurried up through his business, he -intended learning a little more about me while yet there was time. As he -spoke nothing but his native tongue and was fluent and excited, we did -not get on very well; but I imparted my proposed plan of seeing Servia -to him, and he stood on the step of the carriage till the train started. -Hardly were we off when another officer turned up. He took the passport -and wrote my name in a little book, but had unfortunately no time to ask -more than three or four questions. - -At Semlin we were quite busy. First we went through the customs, and -then we had to go and find our passports. The stout and smiling police -official selected mine, and without venturing to pronounce my name -cried, "The English one." More conversation, this time in German. I told -him that I had made nine journeys with that passport without its ever -being looked at, and now it had been stamped twice in an hour. This -pleased him, and he pointed out that it showed how superior the -Hungarian police are to those of other nations. Then I re-booked, and -learned that I had to change trains! My fellow-passengers dazed me with -Magyar. They none of them agreed as to where I must change, but were all -convinced that I had been wrongly informed by the railway guard, and -when I arrived at last on the banks of the Save and saw the ferry-boat, -I felt as if I were returning to a well-known and civilised land. Even -Servian is better than Magyar. - -Hurrying to the boat, I was checked suddenly by crossed rifles. Magyar -again. As I could not understand a word, I was conducted between the -rifles to a police bureau hard by. Here it was explained that I had -endeavoured to evade the sentries. I was regarded with extreme -suspicion, and the officer assumed a fine air of standing no nonsense. -He poured out a torrent of Magyar. As I did not understand him, but -wished to convey the idea that it is a waste of time to try to scare -British subjects, I laughed, held out my passport, and said "Good -morning" in four languages. Of course he chose the worst, Servian, and -as he had apparently never seen an English passport before, said it was -not correct. So bad did he consider it, in fact, that had I been coming -into Hungary, he would have detained me if possible; as I was only going -out of it into an enemy's country, he had not so many qualms about -letting me loose. He began to inscribe me as "Salisbury" in the -police-book, and was annoyed when corrected. Then he required my age, -which I truthfully stated. Finally I held up my fingers for him to -reckon it up on, but, for reasons best known to himself, he preferred to -put it down according to his own fancy, some years too young, and did so -defiantly, with the air of a man who will not let himself be taken in. -He tried to get my home address, but gave it up as too much for him. At -last he stamped the passport, and told me to be quick. I dashed on -board, and the boat started. The transit only takes some five minutes, -but the passengers and crew found time to interview me, and then huddled -up at the other end of the boat, presumably to show the Servian police -they were not mixed up in the affair. - -Shabatz had lately had a revolution. An enterprising personage disguised -as a general had, not many weeks before, crossed the stream and had -called out the police and garrison with a view--rather a confused one, I -believe--of causing them to do something in favour of Prince Peter -Karageogevich. The imposture being discovered, he found himself at the -wrong end of a revolver, where he speedily expired; but Shabatz had not -yet got over its surprise, and as it could not read my passport, thought -it best, though I was not really disguised as a general, to be careful. -I had only hand luggage with me, but this had four books in it, which I -was told had to be examined, and "if in a foreign language, a reason -must be given for importing them." The fact that they were all -dictionaries, however, caused so much amusement that I got happily -through. - -I was in Shabatz at last. Before they drown, people are said in a few -moments to live through a lifetime. It was only four and a half hours -since I had left Belgrade, but into that short time had been compressed -the experiences of a whole Continental tour. I had encountered three -languages, studied the peculiarities of two nations, been in four police -bureaus, two custom-houses, three trains and a boat, and bought two -tickets in two coinages; all very amusing for once in a way, but hardly -a good way of encouraging traffic on the line. Without these games the -journey could be done in a couple of hours. They are, however, -absolutely necessary, the Servians assured me, on account of the extreme -wickedness of the Hungarians. The Hungarians, on their part, were the -first to begin, and were, they tell me, driven to it by the depravity -of all nations except themselves. The Hungarians, according to -themselves, suffer a great deal for righteousness' sake. - -Shabatz, when I had run the frontier gauntlet successfully, received me -very kindly; for the Servian, when not soured by politics, is a most -kindly creature. The town was quite accustomed to English tourists, for -it had had no less than two in the last six years, but I was told that I -was the first lady of any nationality that had ever toured round alone. -Servia had, in fact, not been aware that it was possible for a lady to -do so. I was not at all pleased to learn this, as I knew that, in the -future, wherever I went I should be an exciting event, and from the -detailed account I received of the proceedings of the two -fellow-countrymen who had visited Shabatz in recent times, I foresaw -that all that I did would be considered typically English for the next -twenty years. Shabatz, however, was very pleased with my plan, as it -showed I knew the country was safe and displayed great confidence in the -inhabitants. Mad though my proceedings were undoubtedly considered, they -gave Servia the opportunity of showing she was trustworthy, and she rose -to the occasion. Shabatz opined that I was "emancipated," but thought -that now England had a King instead of a Queen, the liberty of women -would probably be curtailed. - -All Servian towns are much alike. They have wide, clean streets; solid -red-roofed little houses built of stone; a church which is unlovely, for -the modern Serb has no gift for church architecture; a school, which is -often a handsome and very well-fitted building; a town hall, or -something more or less equivalent to one; and a market-place. The -houses in the suburbs all stand in their own gardens, and there are -plenty of clipped acacias in the streets. And in every town a few -tumbledown timber shops and shanties are almost all that is left of -Turkish times. Shabatz is no exception to the general rule, and I left -early next day for Valjevo. - -It was a ten and a half hours' drive in a burning sun and a cloud of -white dust, through miles of very fertile and most English-looking -country, with English hedges, English oak trees, and English post and -rail fences. My first experience of travelling inland in Servia was a -very fair sample. There were days when I sighed for the drivers of -Montenegro and their wiry ponies, but I always reflected that it was the -Servians that I had come to see and that I was seeing them. The -Montenegrin is always anxious to get to the journey's end, but the -Servian never seems to care whether he arrives or not, provided he can -get enough black coffee on the way. He slugs along, takes innumerable -rests, and is disappointed if you won't go to sleep in the middle of the -day at a way-side inn. Nothing hurries him up; he looks at his watch and -says it isn't dark yet, and lets the horses stand still while he rolls -his hundredth cigarette. The horses are like the driver, and seldom trot -unless urged to, though they are generally in fair condition. But the -average Servian does everything in a leisurely manner, and horses and -driver but follow the national fashion. I thought at first I was being -taken along slowly because I was a foreigner, but I found that when I -had native fellow-travellers we went slower still. Though my driver was -a slug, he was always a very amiable and honest one, and he more than -once offered to pay for my drinks. - -Valjevo is a large town (20,000 inhabitants), very prettily situated in -well wooded country. Everyone was anxious to forward my plans. One -gentleman most kindly made me out a tour for the whole of East Servia, -drew me a map, and wrote the distances and fares upon the roads. Servia -just now has a bad reputation in England; I owe it to Servia to say that -in no other land have I met with greater kindness from complete -strangers. Valjevo is a smart place, lighted by electric light. The -crowd of fashionable ladies and swagger officers who were listening to -the military band in the Park would not have looked out of place in the -Rue de Rivoli or the Row. My new acquaintances were delighted to hear -that I had learnt Servian in London. When I said that my teacher was a -Pole, their joy was dashed, but they agreed that it was better than if I -had learned from "a dirty Schwab" (_i.e_. German). The idea that the -whole of London had to depend on one Pole for instruction did not seem -right to them. Five million people in London and only one Pole to teach -them! That Pole must be very rich! They were anxious to export native -teachers at once, but I assured them that the Pole had all the pupils. - -Valjevo is a garrison town, and this brings us to the subject of the -Servian army. There is, of course, compulsory military service; this is -for two years (with six years in the reserve), and is under the -circumstances very necessary; moreover, to Servia the army means Old -Servia, and Old Servia is yet to be redeemed. But self-defence is one -thing and the military tournament another, and to the non-military -outsider it appears that much of Servia's money is spent upon outward -show, and that she is like one that walketh in silk attire and lacketh -bread. Endeavouring to make a brave show in the eyes of Europe, she is -being eaten out of house and home. She builds a noble War Office, and -has not the wherewithal to pay her officers; and while she masquerades -like the great Powers, the resources of the land, as they are at -present, are strained almost to breaking point. Though inland Servia -cries for capital and would pay good interest on it, Servia puts her -money into military display. I have seen few armies more smartly -uniformed. "Tommy" is very fine; but his officers are gorgeous. There -seems no end to them; every garrison town--and that means every frontier -town of importance and a good many inland ones--is filled with them. -Surely no land was ever so hopelessly over-officered. One wonders if -there are privates enough to go round. I was told, on good authority, -that there are more officers in training in the military schools of -Servia than in those of our own country. Not all, however, that glitters -is gold, as I learnt at a garrison town that shall be nameless. - -I arrived late, tired and hungry, at the inn. The innkeeper and his wife -were most anxious to accommodate me to the best of their ability, and -called in the local money-changer to act as interpreter. The fame of my -arrival spread like lightning through the place. Scarcely had the -money-changer and the innkeeper left me alone, when a captain, in his -anxiety to have first chance, introduced himself to me in such an -impertinent manner that I had to speak to him very severely, and he -fled covered with confusion. - -Next morning early came the money-changer. He said the innkeeper was -very much vexed, and feared that I had been annoyed by one of the -officers; which one was it? I did not know, as they all looked alike to -me, and a whole lot of them were having coffee at the other end of the -room; so I said, "It was a tall ugly one, very ignorant and very young; -I will say no more about it, because he knew no better." The -money-changer grinned, and I felt sure that the remark would be -repeated. Then he said, indicating the uniformed group, "It is very -unfortunate that it should have occurred, for these gentlemen wish to -speak to you, and they have asked me about you." "Why?" said I. He -grinned again. "You do not understand them," he said. "It is true they -are very ignorant, but they are perfectly honest. You need not be -afraid. Ils ne desirent pas vous dire des choses sales, _seulement_ ils -desirent vous marier! It is such a chance as has scarcely ever occurred. -And Someone-avich has an English wife! She is _very_ happy. What shall I -tell them?" "Tell them I have no money," said I. "That is no use," said -he; "what you call not rich, they call wealth. Perhaps what you spent -coming here even would be enough for a 'dot.'" "That is spent," I -remarked. "But you have some to return with." "Oh, tell them I don't -want to marry them," I said, rather vexed, for the man stuck so fast to -the point that I began to think he had been promised a percentage on the -deal. He laughed. "Oh, that is no use; ces Messieurs are so handsome -they believe that you would think differently if you would only speak -to them." I tried again. "Well, tell them my money cannot come out of -England." "Oh," he replied, "ces Messieurs don't mind where they live; -they will leave the Servian army and live in England--or America. -Perhaps Mademoiselle lives with her father and mother? They wouldn't -mind that at all." The idea of "them"--for it seemed "they" had to be -taken wholesale--arriving at my suburban residence was too much for me, -and I roared with laughter. He looked at me, saw his percentage was -hopeless, then he roared also. - -"Well," he said, "now I'll explain. I'm not ignorant, like they are. -I've been in Egypt and Malta and Gibraltar. I've met hundreds of English -ladies travelling as you are, and I know how funny this must appear to -you. I'll tell you how it is for them. They have sixty or seventy pounds -a year, and not one of them has been paid for six months. They play -cards with the trades-people in hopes of winning enough to buy tobacco. -I do wish you would point out to me the one that spoke to you last -night; I think it is perhaps the one I lent ten francs to yesterday. The -innkeeper is very pleased to see you, because he knows you will pay. -When these poor boys get their pay, it will all be taken from them at -once for their debts. That is the situation. Then you come, as it were -from the heavens! They hear you are English. It is seen at once you have -no ring on your finger. It is evident, then, that you hate all -Englishmen. On the other hand, you like Servia, or why should you have -come? My God! they think, what a chance! Not twice in a hundred years! -But one of them was undoubtedly too hasty." He went on to inform me -that a very nice one could be had for about forty pounds a year. - -I gazed upon the enemy's entrenchment, decided that I was hopelessly -outnumbered and that flight was the only way, mobilised my force of one -man and two horses, and retired in good order while yet there was time, -slightly humiliated by the feeling that Britain was flying from a -foreign army, but bowing graciously to such of its representatives as -were kind enough to salute as I passed. - -And as I left and passed through the rich valleys and grassy uplands, -and thought of the many kind friends who had helped me on my way, I was -grieved that a land with so many possibilities and so much that is good -and beautiful in it should be brought, by bad government, to such a pass -that the officers are reduced to hawking themselves upon the streets. -But all this I was to learn later. At Valjevo I merely looked at the -officers and admired. - -My journey to Obrenovatz, the next town on my route, was amusing, as I -shared a carriage with a "commercial," a Jew who among other things was -agent for a life-insurance company. He was on his return journey, and we -halted from time to time at various houses, that he might, if possible, -reap the results of the seeds he had sown on his outward march. -Everywhere he preached the benefits of life insurance. He suggested at -last that I should insure for the sake of my fiance! When I said I -hadn't one, he saw a fresh opening for business. He had, he said, -married his own daughter extremely well. He enlarged upon the highly -successful nature of his own marriage, and told me about Someone-avich -who had married an English wife who is exceedingly happy. Finally, worn -out by his fruitless exertions, he fell asleep. - -At eleven we put up at Ub, and I had plenty of time to amuse myself. -Sitting on the bench by the inn door, I made folded paper toys for the -children, and soon had a semicircle of tiny boys round me. A little -gipsy girl looked on at them with superb contempt. As soon as they had -cleared off, she sailed up and seated herself by my side with the air of -one conferring a favour. She was a slip of a thing, nine years old, but -with the self-possession of fifty. "I am ciganka" (gipsy), she said. -"Where do you come from?" I told her, but she had never heard of my -native land. She was brown as a berry, and had on nothing but a dirty -old scarlet frock which had shed its fastenings. She dangled her skinny -brown legs and fixed me with her sparkling black eyes; her hair, she -told me, was far superior to my own; in proof of her words, she took off -the yellow handkerchief in which her head was swathed and offered for -inspection a small and most filthy plait of coal-black hair in which -were fastened three or four coins, which she pointed out with glee. It -was, in fact, the savings bank in which she had just opened an account. -I at once produced a nickel 2d., which she accepted with much -satisfaction. A man on the next bench threw down a cigarette end, and -she pounced on it like a cat on a mouse. When she returned with it, she -looked cautiously round to be sure that no one else could see, and then, -sheltered by my skirts, she extracted from inside her frock a -handkerchief tied up in a bundle, and displayed with great pride a mass -of cigarette ends and other valuables. I duly admired; the new one was -added to the collection, and it was all stowed away again with great -precaution. Then she tried to look unconscious. Muttering something I -didn't understand, she peeped in at the inn door. The floor was richly -strewn with cigarette ends. She slipped in and crept round the room -swiftly and silently. The lady of the inn and most of the other people -saw her quite well; I don't think they had the least objection to her -clearing the floor of rubbish. She preferred, however, to consider it as -a dangerous raiding expedition, dashed from cover to cover quite -scientifically, collecting as she went, and sneaked out again with her -spoils, the spirit of all her horse-stealing ancestors twinkling in her -eyes. She displayed her loot to me, for she took it for granted that I -was a sympathetic soul; and as there is reason to believe that one of my -forefathers sold horses in Queen Elizabeth's reign, it is possible that -we may have had ideas in common. - -By the time the carriage and my travelling companions were ready, I had -interviewed several other people, and felt quite at home in Ub. It was -hot on the road. Both the "commercial" and the driver felt it very much, -and stopped at all the wells and drank quantities of cold water, and as -a natural consequence perspired a great deal. When they had had seven or -eight drinks to my one, they began to get anxious about me, and when -they found I had been playing about the streets of Ub instead of going -to sleep as they had both done, they were still more astonished, and -foretold that by the time I reached Obrenovatz I should be exhausted. We -arrived there safely, however, at about 2.30 without my expected -collapse. - -Obrenovatz was fearfully excited by my arrival, and produced a -commercial (a Hungarian) who spoke English, in order to extract a full -and particular account of me. My fame had flown before me, for he had -seen me a few days ago in Shabatz, had gleaned a few facts about me, and -Obrenovatz had already learned that there was an Engleskinja loose in -the land, though it had not hoped to see me. When I went out for a walk, -all Obrenovatz stood at the door to see. Such notoriety was -embarrassing. However, I succeeded in concealing my feelings so -effectually that in the evening the conversation turned mainly on the -cold-bloodedness of the English nation. Nothing surprised them! nothing -upset their equanimity! "Fish blood," they said, "fish blood and steel!" -And the insurance agent recounted how I had only had one drink on the -road and had remained quite cool all the day, though he and the driver -felt the heat badly; here he gave an unnecessarily realistic description -of the state of his shirt. - -Obrenovatz is remarkable for nothing but its hot sulphur springs and its -well-arranged bath house, where it hopes to work up a rheumatism cure. I -returned to Belgrade by boat, nor, save the floating watermills and the -timber rafts that drift from the forests of Bosnia and Servia down the -Drina to the Save and thence to the Danube, is there much to see upon -the river. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -NISH - - -From Belgrade to Nish, down the valley of the Morava, the mark of the -Turk is still upon the land, and a minaret tower shoots up from more -than one little town by the rail-side. The train rushes into Stalacs, -where the two Moravas join, and we are on the track of recent -fighting--fighting that we can all remember; we are in the valley which -was the scene of poor Milan's unsuccessful attempts, when in 1876 he -resolved to take his part in that uprising against the Turks which had -already been begun by the Herzegovinians. Near Alexinatz we cross -Servia's old frontier, and enter the land that was Turkish twenty-five -years ago. - -I arrived at Nish, and found myself in a new and more oriental Servia. -Nish, like other places, was surprised to see me. The hotel hoped I was -leaving to-morrow, as it feared the police, and got more and more -nervous about harbouring me as I stayed on. Nevertheless, I liked Nish. -Its position on the highways both to Bulgaria and Turkey make it -strategically and commercially important, and it is gay with soldiers -and with peasants from all the surrounding districts. The Turk has not -yet quite left; closely-veiled women shuffle furtively down the -streets, and both men and women have an apologetic and subdued -appearance, very different from the swagger of the Mohammedan on the -other side of the frontier. The new Servian town lies one side of the -river Nishava, and the old Turkish one and the big fortress upon the -other. - -I saw Nish at its best, for I had the good luck to light upon a great -fair and cattle market, and spent the day wriggling between buffaloes' -horns and horses' heels, with a dense crowd of strange folk and their -wares, who trailed into the market field in a ceaseless stream from -early dawn. The buffalo is the favourite draught animal here, a -villainous-looking beast with a black indiarubber hide, a sprinkling of -long bristles, a wicked little eye, and heavy back-curved horns; but his -appearance belies him, he seems extremely tame, and grunts amiably when -scratched. Goats, sheep, pigs, horses, and cattle, all were equally -tame, having been probably all brought up with the family, which was a -good thing, as they were none of them penned, and the greater number not -even tied up. Their owners were just as friendly, and showed me -everything. A mounted patrol rode round at intervals, but did not seem -necessary; good-nature and friendliness prevailed everywhere. There was -plenty of food both for man and beast. The hot-sausage man ran about -with his goods in a tin drum. The cake man sold his from a large wooden -tray placed on a tripod. The roast-meat man brandished his knife over an -impaled lamb roasted whole, which sent up a rich odour and oily swirls -of steam in the sunshine. Under little huts, built of leafy beech -branches, cooks were grilling bunches of peacock's feathers, and tufts -of feathery grass to their bodices and white head-dresses, already -a-sparkle with coins and dingle-dangles. The peasants took to me quite -naturally, and offered me young pigs and buffaloes without any idea of -the difficulty I should have in getting them home. - -[ILLUSTRATION: SERVIAN PEASANTS.] - -The officer, however, in charge of the hut in the kebabs on long -skewers, over a heap of charcoal embers; there was a great run on iced -lemonade, and a crowd was always waiting its turn at the well. The women -were extraordinarily gaudy; not content with their brilliantly orange or -scarlet sashes and white dresses, they pinned great bouquets of -flowers, middle where the market tolls were paid, was much mystified. -"Mademoiselle doubtless speaks French?" he asked politely. "Yes," I -said. "Then please tell us from what land you come," he begged, "for we -cannot imagine. Mademoiselle is perhaps Russian?" he hazarded. "No, -English," said I. "Bogami! is it possible? English, and in Nish! Where -are your friends?" "In England." "You are alone in Servia? Bogami, -Mademoiselle, but you have courage!" "Oh no, I haven't," said I, "only I -am English." Then he laughed and repeated my remark to his friends, and -they all appeared to be highly amused. I went on, "Besides, Monsieur, -your country is doubtless civilised?" "Perfectly," said he, "perfectly; -there is no danger, but no one knows it. How have you learned this in -England? We are a Balkan state, and all the world believes the Balkan -states are wicked. If I can assist you in any way, pray command me." I -told him I was not needing help and thanked him for the offer. "No," -said he gallantly, "it is we who owe thanks to you, for you pay us a -great compliment." He saluted and withdrew, and I returned to my quest -after things old-world and Servian. - -A man was driving wire hooks into wooden bats, and his wife squatted -near and carded wool with them with great dexterity to show how well -they worked, and not far off a great trade was going on in big wooden -chests, rough-made boxes on legs, pegged together with wood, stained -crimson and decorated with a scratched curly pattern that showed white -on the coloured ground. And the gipsies were selling troughs and bowls -of prehistoric simplicity hacked and dug out of chunks of wood without -much attempt at symmetry, and very thick and clumsy. - -The horse market was very full. There were some showy little beasts -whose outstanding plumy tails and slim legs showed their Eastern blood. -A tall snaky Albanian was riding them bare-backed, and held only by a -halter, through the thick of the crowd. He rode slowly along till he had -bored a passage of sufficient length, then turned suddenly and came back -_ventre a terre_. Every bare space of ground was used to gallop horses -across, and it was a case of a cloud of dust, a hammer of hoofs, and -everyone for himself. - -At midday and past, when the sun blazed overhead, the air was thick with -dust and rich with billy-goats, and the bulls were roaring and the -stallions squealing insults at each other, the people who had finished -eating hot sausages in the sun thought it an admirable opportunity for -beginning to dance. The bagpipe man appeared, and struck up at once one -of the odd monotonous airs for the "kolo"; men and women joined in a -long line, each holding the next at arm's length by the sash, and were -soon serpentining in and out and round and round, surrounded by a -suffocating crowd of lookers-on. The Albanian was showing off a roan -stallion, a red-hot beast, which he managed beautifully almost entirely -by his knees. Its apparent docility tempted a young officer to mount. He -picked up the curb, drove in his spurs, and in another moment the -squealing, plunging animal was in mid-air, over the dancers. The -scattering was great, the roan appearing at intervals high above the -crowd. No one was hurt, the interruption was only temporary, but the -roan did not change hands that time at any rate. Nothing will stop a -Servian from dancing the kolo. - -All the animals had been supplied with green forage, for the Servians -are kind and careful of their beasts, and now the draught oxen were -being taken in detachments to the river to drink. As each pair of oxen -returned from watering, it was yoked and set off on its homeward -journey, till there was a processional frieze all along the road. The -market slowly dissolved, and by four o'clock there was not much of it -left but debris on the field. - -Nish is a bright and attractive town, with about 20,000 inhabitants. Two -slim minarets show that it was once Mohammedan, and a fat new church, -bloated with cupolas, proclaims its orthodoxy. The buffalo carts in the -streets, the variety of peasant costume, the wild luxuriance of crimson -roses in the Park, the pretty wooden trellis bridge over the river, the -number of houses still remaining with screened windows, the silver -filigree workers and the veiled women give it picturesqueness and a dash -of the Orient; but you must not tell it so, unless you wish to hurt its -feelings. If a long pedigree be a claim to respect, Nish deserves much; -for Nish, as Naissus or Nissa, existed before Servia, and quite early in -the Christian era was a considerable town in Upper Moesia. It claims to -be the birthplace of Constantine the Great, and the claim is very -generally admitted. Constantine's mother, the celebrated St. Helena, the -discoverer of the True Cross, was the daughter of an innkeeper at -Naissus, while his father was of "Illyrian" blood. - -I looked with interest at the Albanians who cantered through Nish with a -lot of half-broken ponies, and with interest also upon the stout -daughter of the inn, but I did not feel that either were destined to -disturb the balance of Europe. - -Nish was part of the kingdom of Stefan Nemanja in the twelfth century, -and Servian it remained till the Turks took it in 1375. Though not freed -till 1878, Nish made a gallant struggle for liberty in 1809, when the -general uprising was taking place--all the characteristics of which are -now being repeated in Macedonia. - -The "chela kula" (tower of skulls), on the Pirot road, is a grim -monument of the times. A little Servian stronghold near this spot, -commanded by Stefan Sindjelich, resisted successfully for a short while. -Then the Turks brought up a large force and "rushed" the place. As the -Turkish soldiery were pouring in, Sindjelich seeing all was lost, fired -his pistol into the powder magazine and blew up self, friend, foe, and -the whole place in one red ruin. The Turkish losses were very heavy, and -the Pasha, enraged at losing so many men over such a hole of a place, -commemorated his costly victory in a manner most hateful to the -vanquished. He ordered the heads of the dead Serbs to be collected, -paying twenty-five piastres apiece for them, and obtained over nine -hundred. These were embedded in rows in a great tower of brick and -cement, the faces staring horribly forth, till the flesh rotted and -nothing but the bare skulls remained. From time to time these were -removed and buried by patriotic Servians, but the ruins of the tower -still stand to tell of Turkish vengeance and to keep alive the hatred -of the two races. By order of King Alexander Obrenovich, a chapel has -been built over it. Four skulls yet stare from the sockets where the -Turk placed them. An inscription in several languages tells of -Sindjelich's heroism. - -A polite young officer, reeking with carbolic from the military hospital -hard by, admitted me to the chapel, and doubted which language to point -to. I need hardly say English was not one of them, for in Europe except -in the most beaten of tracks English is one of the least useful -languages. As soon as it was known in Nish that I was English I was -asked to go to someone's office to translate an English business letter. -"It is impossible to trade with England," said the man; "many of their -goods are better than those of Austria, but they will not write in a -language that we can understand. We wrote them in French, and begged -them to reply in either French or German. They have replied for the -second time in English. This is the first and last time that I do -business with England." I, of course, went to the office at once, but -was too late. The letter had just been posted to Belgrade for -translation. This I gathered was a fair sample of the proceedings of -British traders in this country. The profits that are to be made in the -poverty-stricken states of the Balkans are not great, but such as they -are they are all swept up by the ubiquitous Austrian bagman. - -Nish tries hard to be Western, but, as I walked about it, I grinned to -think of the man who had written in English to it Even the hotel has so -many peculiarities that the solitary traveller from the West is well -amused observing them. Like other hotels, it provides beds and drinks -and food, but the latter also flows in freely from the streets, and the -hotel does not seem to care from whom you buy. All day long the -bread-roll man runs in and out with his basket; or two or three -bread-roll men, if there is much company. The Servians rarely seem tired -of eating rolls, and eat them all day long. Next in frequency to the -bread man is the salad man, with a tray of lettuces and a big bunch of -onions. The cake man does a good trade in the afternoon. But the oddest -of all is the hot-stew man. He appears in the evening with a large tin -drum slung round his neck, in which is an enamelled iron soup tureen. -Such a cloud of steam rolls out when he lifts the lid that I think there -must be heating apparatus in the drum, but he wears it next his stomach -and does not appear unduly warm. The pockets of his white apron are full -of not over-clean plates, and a formidable array of knives and forks -bristles about the drums edge. His customers take a plate and clean it -with their handkerchiefs, serviettes, or the tablecloth, and then select -tit-bits from the pot, and the man returns later and removes the plate, -knife and fork, when done with. If you do not care for stew, there is -the hot-sausage man, whose wares look singularly unattractive; and, -lastly, there is a man who sells very dry nuts. Except for wine and -beer, you can get your whole meal from wandering caterers; the supply -seems unfailing. Servian food and cooking, I may here note, is on the -whole very good. It is peppery and flavoursome; mint, thyme, and other -herbs, and the very popular "paprika" (a mild variety of red pepper), -are largely used, and the soups are meaty and nourishing. A fourpenny -plate of kisela chorba (soup with lemon juice in it) often includes half -a fowl, and is enough for a meal. - -Having explored the town and seen all the shops, I wandered about and -waited for people to do something Servian, nor had I long to wait. - -Servia is striving to be Western and striving to be up to date, and this -is the side she shows to the world from which she was for so long cut -off. In her heart she cherishes old, old customs, whose origins are lost -in dim antiquity, and one of these is the commemorative funeral feast -When we wander through the outskirts of Pompeii or visit the tombs on -the Latin Way, we look at the stone benches and recall vaguely that the -Romans here held banquets in honour of the dead; but the banqueters are -dead and buried and the feasts forgotten. It all belongs to a distant -past and is hard to realise, it seems so far away. But the Christian -Church in early days adopted many of the existing rites and ceremonies -of pagan times, and the Orthodox Church has clung tightly to its old -traditions. So much so that the Orthodox Church of to-day is said to -bear far stronger resemblance to the Church of the fourth or fifth -century than do now the Churches of either England or Rome. - -And from the time of the Turkish invasion till the nineteenth century -the mass of the people of the Balkans stood still and had no -communication with the outer world. The Macedonian peasant still -sacrifices sheep on ancient altar stones, and the Servian reads the -funeral feast in the Christian graveyard. - -Quite early in the morning solemn little parties of women and children -were walking down the streets carrying big baskets and trays covered -with clean white cloths; I followed, and we crossed the railway line and -turned to the cemetery on the hillside. Round the gates sat the lame, -the aged, and the blind; each with his wooden bowl, his bottle gourd and -bag. "A Bagge and a Bottle, he bar bi his seyde," sang Langland in -England in the fourteenth century; thus did the folk of Piers Plowman -gather alms. Within the gates, in the big graveyard, through the long -thick grass and by the rose-tangled headstones went each little party to -the grave it sought, and the wailing of the death-songs arose on every -side. The women brought little girls with them and taught them how to -honour the dead. They lighted little beeswax tapers stuck into the -grave, and they filled a green earthen pot with incense and lighted that -too. Then they stood round, and one began the long-drawn, melancholy -cry, "Kuka mene, kuka mene!" (Woe is me, woe is me![1]) and beat her -breast and clasped her hands, swaying to and fro, as she sang the verses -of the song; the other mourners joined in, the song became a -heart-breaking wail, she caught her breath in long sobs and she threw -herself on the grave, clasping the cross at its head and weeping -bitterly. When the lament was finished, they spread their white cloth on -the grave and arranged the meal, for it was a real meal, not merely a -symbolic mouthful; a large bowl of the favourite hash (gulyash), and -another of rice, which steamed as it was uncovered, a large loaf of -bread and perhaps cheese, and a handkerchief full of cherries. - -The very poor sat on the ground. Those that were wealthy engaged a -priest to pray with them by the graveside. There were wooden or stone -benches and tables built up by some graves, and sometimes railed in. It -was a dull day; the crimson roses were shedding petals everywhere, the -tapers twinkled like glow-worms in the grass, and the thin blue smoke -curled from the censers. The air was heavy with the mingled scent of -dying roses and incense, there was a hum of prayer, and the minor notes -of the long laments rose and fell, swarms of pigeons and grey hooded -crows soared round and, settled on the grave-stones near, greedily -waited to pick up the crumbs of the feasts. It was a strangely -impressive scene. Forty days after the funeral does this feast (the -dacha) take place, then after six months, and then yearly, either upon a -Saturday, a Sunday, or a Saints day. - -As each group of mourners left the graveyard, they distributed food -among the beggars at the gate. Their bowls were heaped with stew and -rice, their bags stuffed with bread, and their gourds filled by means of -a funnel with a mixture of all the various wines. The tapers were left -to twinkle out in the grass, and by the middle of the day the graveyard -was deserted. - - -[1] Kukavichiti = to lament, to cry like the cuckoo; for in -Servia the cuckoo is not the depraved bird that it is with us, but is a -bereaved woman who wails ceaselessly for the dead. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -PIROT - - -I left Nish, in a chill wet fog, at 4.30 a.m. by the only quick train in -the day. It was full of sleeping men, and I stood in the corridor that I -might not disturb them. Scarcely anyone got in besides myself, and the -train rushed on over the plain of Nish, plunged into the mountains, -began to climb the valley of the Nishava, and entered the pass of Pirot. -The scenery is of the kind that the Germans call "wild-romantic." The -defile is extremely narrow and the rocks high and steep; there is but -room for the stream and train at the foot of them. It is like travelling -through a deep cutting, but is considered very fine. The earth is dark -red, like anchovy paste, and gives the river such an unpleasantly gory -appearance that one half expects it to steam, and the station at the top -of the pass is called Crvena Reka, "The Red Stream." - -"What is the name of this station?" asked a stout man in Servian. - -I replied. - -"What is ..." he began again, and stuck fast. "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" he -ended rather feebly. - -We conversed for some minutes. Then "You come from Nish?" he said. - -"Yes," said I. - -"You speak German very well for a Servian. I did not know that the -ladies learned foreign languages." - -"I am English." - -"Dear God!" he cried, and came out into the corridor to have a better -view of me. "You are English and you come from a town in the middle of -Servia! Ach! how dangerous! Now I am a man. I am making a pleasure trip -to Constantinople with my friends. _We_ should never think of stopping -in a country like this. We are travelling straight through from Vienna." - -"I also am making a pleasure trip, but it is possible that the same -things are not interesting to us. I am going to Pirot." - -"My God, how English! Look you, Fraeulein, your nation does things that -are quite fearfully silly, and it succeeds because the things are so -unexpected that no one is prepared for them. You are like your own army, -some day you will walk into an ambush." - -"But it always comes home when it has done all that it meant to do," I -persisted; for I never allow the Empire to be scored off if I can help -it. - -Then he told his friends of the strange wild beast he had found in the -corridor, and they looked at me cautiously and discussed the propriety, -or perhaps I should say the impropriety, of my proceedings in awful -whispers, with many Teutonic invocations of the Deity, until I had a -hail-Caesar-we-who-are-about-to die-salute-thee feeling, which became -less and less dignified as the West Balkans themselves came into sight. -We reached Pirot, and I descended from the train in a state not unlike -"funk." - -No one else got out, and I crossed the rails, with the eyes of all the -officials upon me. As the gentleman in the corridor had remarked, Pirot, -unprepared for such an event, was temporarily paralysed. I walked -straight to the exit and held out my ticket to the man in charge. He -promptly blocked the door and, though he wore a revolver, called for -help. There now being need of immediate action on my part, I began to -enjoy myself. I offered him my passport by way of soothing him, and -mentioned my nationality, but it made him more agitated. He told me to -"come," conducted me back into the station and shut the exit door. Then -he left me in a small office and told me to "wait." I waited. Nothing -happened. I remembered the ambush I was to fall into, and thought it -would be better to meet the enemy in the open, so went in search of it. -It was holding a council of war on the railway lines. I walked into the -middle and said, "Please, I want to go to the Hotel National." The shot -told, and the enemy scattered in all directions. The first who rallied -was a young officer, who spoke a very little German. He was very polite, -but said I must state how long I meant to stay. He added that there was -a train in the afternoon by which I could depart. As I had not yet seen -the place, I did not know at all what its attractions might be, so I -repeated, like a lesson, a simple and pleasing little Servian -composition I had made up the day before. "I am English. I travel that -I may see Servia. Servia is a very beautiful country. Everything is -good. I learn the language. The Servian language is very beautiful." -Seeing how perfectly innocuous I was, the officer promptly said it was -all right, but I must deposit my passport in the station and reclaim it -on leaving. I was not to leave Pirot except by train. By this wily ruse -he saved the Servian nation from the possibility of my negotiating with -Bulgaria in some lonely spot upon the frontier. I thanked them, escaped -from the station, called a cab and drove to the town. - -The Hotel National, though the best in the place, was not cheering. It -was a large bare barrack, with a billiard-table in the middle, and a -pale-brown, skinny boy of about fourteen was its only apparent manager -and proprietor. I never saw another. He showed me a free bedroom -somewhere at the top of a wooden ladder. A piece of torn sacking was -nailed over one side of the window. There were two beds, neither clean, -and a man's coat and other garments lay on one of them. The youth -collected them, and considered the room ready. I thought we would not -begin to disagree at once, so I descended the ladder again and had -breakfast, for it was now eight o'clock and I had had to leave Nish on -one small cup of coffee. I then felt exceedingly brave, and reflecting -on the importance to an army of the commissariat, went out to explore -Pirot. - -It was Sunday. Of all Continental nations Servia's Sunday is the most -Britannic, and there was no buying nor selling of any kind, and scarcely -any life in the place. It is a largeish town, with about 10,000 -inhabitants; a street of modern houses, a maze of little tumbledown -Turkish mud hovels in gardens, and a mosque--a dilapidated, melancholy -collection as a whole. For Pirot, taken by the Servians in 1877, was -taken by the Bulgarians in 1885 and looted, and is not yet healed of her -wounds. - -Pirot is very poor, miserably so, and many of the people have a starved -and wretched look. But poor though it is, Pirot is important, owing to -its situation on the way to Sofia and Constantinople. It is an old, old -town on an old, old trade route, and it remains simple and childish. I -was perfectly frank with it, and I told it I meant to see all I could, -and wished to draw and perhaps to photograph. And the virtuous -inhabitants who had questioned me were shocked; "for," they said, "we -have a fortress, and only yesterday a stranger was arrested for -attempting to photograph it. At this very moment he is in prison, and we -do not know what will happen to him." I asked the criminal's -nationality, and learnt that he was a Bulgarian. Being in Servia, I was -horrified at his iniquity, but, being English, did not wish to be turned -from my purpose. I explained that I wished only to note things -characteristically Servian, such as the costumes of the peasants, the -houses, and so forth. "In short," said a gentleman, "you are making -geo-ethnographical studies." This struck me as a remarkably luminous -idea; I should never have thought of it myself. I said I was, and -everyone was very pleased. - -As it was Sunday, I went to the church, and the church gripped me at -once, for it is unpretentiously barbaric. There is an arcaded porch -frescoed with bizarre, colossal archangels, not a bit like people; I -entered, and it was all as picturesque as it ought to be, with a blue -haze of incense through which gleamed the great gold ikonostasis. All -was primitive, as befits the oldest form of the Christian faith in -Europe. - -The service was just over; some women in front were kissing a holy -picture before leaving. Round the gate was a little group of the poor -and afflicted, all either blind or horribly maimed, who were waiting for -their usual dole. As the congregation began to file out of church, two -bakers with loaves and rolls hurried up and set their trays opposite the -gate. As they left, folk bought pieces of bread and distributed them in -the wooden bowls which the suppliants held out. It was pitiful to see -the anxious quivering fingers of the blind feeling the crusts before -transferring them to the bag each one wore for the purpose, and the -eager eyes of those who could see, as they watched expectant. I had no -idea of the price of bread, so I laid down the smallest coin I had, and -received such a huge loaf in exchange that I knew that I was behaving -with the vulgar parade of a Carnegie or a Vanderbilt. I dealt round the -bread rather shamefacedly, for I felt unpleasantly as though I were -feeding animals at the Zoo, and escaped hastily from a storm of -blessings, with a new idea about the power of twopence to relieve -misery. - -I walked through the town. The remains of a mediaeval castle at the foot -of a hill struck me as a suitable subject for a drawing, and I crossed -the road to find a point of view. As I did so I ran my eye over the -castle and became aware suddenly that there was a sentry in front of it, -and that behind it rose innocent-looking grass slopes that mean -mischief. It was the fortress, with which I had promised to have nothing -to do, and I retired hastily, filled with sympathy for the incarcerated -Bulgarian, who, after all, was perhaps only making geo-ethnographical -studies. - -By the afternoon I was an accepted fact in Pirot and had several -friends. By Monday morning Pirot was ready to show me everything. - -Pirot is the only town in Servia which carries on a beautiful and -original local industry, and its rugs and carpets deserve to be far more -widely known than they are. They are hand-woven, and the process is -incredibly simple. Four roughly hewn tree stems, or big branches, are -pegged together into a frame, which either leans against the wall of the -house or is supported by struts, and a sufficient number of strings is -bound across it. The woman squats on the ground in front of the frame -with her shuttles of coloured wools beside her. With the fingers of her -left hand she pulls up the requisite number of threads with great -swiftness, slips the shuttle beneath them with her right, and, with no -pattern to copy from, carries out very complicated designs with -astonishing speed and precision. When she has put in some dozen threads, -she takes up a heavy wooden mallet with a row of teeth in it and with a -few blows drives the threads very tightly together. Thus she works hour -after hour for a franc a day. The colours most largely employed are -scarlet, indigo, black and white, with sometimes touches of green and -yellow in the border; the designs are bold and effective. The weavers, -dark women with coins plaited in their hair, were cheery and friendly, -and always asked me in to have a look. An ordinary-sized rug takes -about a fortnight to make, and many of the big carpets occupy several -women for months. I was glad to hear that the Town Council, which looks -after the carpet trade, is on the look-out for good old designs for the -workers. Also that it had forbidden imported dyes, as these were in many -instances found not to be permanent, and the wools used are coloured by -local and traditional methods. Pirot is justly proud of a medal won in -the Paris Exhibition, and the trade, if carefully looked after, should -greatly increase. I made one bad mistake; I suggested that the work was -of Turkish origin. My friends would not hear of this, and declared that -it was Servian, purely Servian. I felt crushed, but am by no means sure -that they were right. - -There is not entertainment for more than a day in Pirot, and the hotel -accommodation is lean. I said good-bye that evening. At the station I -met the gendarme who had originally blocked my passage. Now he regretted -my departure. He seemed a childlike and simple personage, not at all -intended by nature for a policeman. He carried my bag in for me, and -beamed with joy when he felt its weight. "May I open it?" he asked. When -he found the weight was entirely caused by three dictionaries and an old -pair of shoes, he was disappointed. "I thought it was all English gold!" -he said. - -As the time for the departure of the train drew near the gendarme grew -anxious. Something weighed heavily on his mind, and that was that he had -to write the name of each departing passenger in the police-book and did -not know how to manage mine. He wrote down everyone else, and then shook -his head despairingly. He restored me my passport and explained that he -could not read the name on it, for it was printed in "Latinski." I -boldly offered to write it myself in the sacred volume. He was -incredulous of my powers. It must not be written in Latinski, he said. I -promised, took the pencil and wrote my name very large in Cyrillic; he -was delighted, and everyone came to see. "It was a great wonder," they -said, and they all wanted to know where I had learnt it. - -"In London," said I. - -"Of a Serb?" - -"No, of a Pole." - -"Of a Pole! That is impossible." - -"But it is true." - -Then a superior person explained to me, "It is impossible that you -should have learned these letters of a Pole, because Poles are Roman -Catholic, and these letters are Orthodox." I stuck to my statement. Then -the superior person, who even spoke a little German, had a bright idea. -"This Pole," he said, "was Catholic, but has now become converted." And -this explanation amply satisfied everyone, for it is obviously easier to -change one's religion than to learn the alphabet belonging to an -opposition one--if you are a South Slav. - -My leaving Pirot was very different from my arriving. Now they said it -was a pity I was going. The stationmaster thanked me for trusting a -Balkan state, and I promised to look in next time I was in the -neighbourhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -EAST SERVIA - - -At Nish the hotel received me on my return with much friendliness, but, -though evidently anxious to oblige, was quite unable to give me any -information as to East Servia, and prayed me to return to Belgrade by -train. This not suiting my ideas at all, I started from Nish at 5 a.m. -for Zaichar, and trusted the unravelling of the route to luck and my -driver, one Marko, a stolid and friendly being. - -Servia is an amazing land. The more I saw of it the more struck was I -with its great fertility and its great capabilities, its rich and breezy -uplands and its warm well-watered valleys. Corn, vines, tobacco, green -crops, and every variety of fruit grow luxuriantly even with the present -most primitive methods of cultivation. With knowledge and a little -capital Servia should be a rich land. Unluckily both are wanting; the -lamentable political differences which tear the kingdom make both almost -impossible of attainment, and the small minority of plucky and -intelligent men are struggling against almost impossible odds. - -Nish had suspected me vaguely, but the farther I got up country the more -forcibly did I realise that Servia was a raw quivering mass of politics, -and that a change of some sort was imminent. Being provided with no -letters of introduction, no one knew to which party I belonged, and I -was cross-questioned and re-questioned with a persistency that, to put -it mildly, was fatiguing. Before I had realised the extreme state of -political tension, I rashly revealed, in reply to a straight question, -that I had come direct from Cetinje, and was at once supposed to be -supporting the possible succession of Prince Mirko to the Servian -throne. - -"If you say such things," said a man to me, "you must expect to be -suspected, because we have no heir to the throne." - -"But what is that to me? I have no wish to occupy your throne." - -"Why have you come here?" - -"To see Servia." - -"Why do you wish to see Servia? Have you ever spoken to Prince Mirko?" -and so on and so on, a long string of questions directed towards finding -out which of the possible successors to that rickety seat I favoured. - -I replied, "I am English, and naturally I prefer the Prince of Wales," -and laughed so much that to my no little relief everyone else did so -too, and the examination came to an end. By and by people began to -confide in me, and I got used to "I tell you this that you may know the -truth and tell it abroad. You are English, and I trust you not to say -that I told you, nor that you heard it in this town." It was pointed out -to me that had I come provided with introductions I should have been -spared much annoyance. That is true. But I should not in that case have -"seen Servia," nor--for my tormentors always ended by being -amiable--should I have learnt how kind the Servian can be to a -friendless stranger. - -I drove through this beautiful and sunny land much harassed by the pity -of it all. Marko was a cheerful companion, and did his best to amuse me. -He pointed out that there were always at least three women to one man -working in the fields and that the "man" was usually a boy. Men, he -explained, did not like working in fields. Moreover, the women did it so -well that he seemed to think that it would be a pity to dissuade them. -And so long as there was enough to eat, why trouble? For a man it is -much better to be a "pandur" (policeman), especially in a large town. -Then you do nothing in the streets, and are paid for it; also you wear a -revolver and a uniform. Even this delightful career has its drawbacks, -for it means a lot of standing and walking about. Best of all is to be a -"gazda" (head of a large household or family community), then you tell -all the others what to do, and you spend your leisure elegantly in a -kafana. A coachman's lot was very hard and ill-paid. Thus Marko, and his -astonishment was intense and genuine when I walked up all the hills. I -think he ascribed this act of folly to the fact that I was a woman, for -he pointed out that the women in the fields had to tramp long distances -to work. They have a hard time of it, poor things, for they carry their -tools and their babies with them; and babies rolled in shawls and slung -up hammockwise dangle like gigantic chrysalids from the branches of the -trees round the fields where their mothers toil. "Hush-a-bye, baby, on -the tree-top; when the wind blows, the cradle will rock," is true in -Servia. Probably our own nursery rhyme dates from days when field -labour in England was in just such a primitive state. - -We made no long pause save at Kniazhevatz (= "Prince's Place"), a little -town that was formerly almost on the frontier, and was burnt to the -ground no less than three times in the nineteenth century by the Turks, -the last time in 1876. It consists mainly of wooden frame houses with -mud walls and big eaves and balconies, and the streets are straggly and -irregular. This makes it quite the most picturesque town on that side of -Servia. What the Serb likes is a perfectly straight street in which all -the houses are as much alike as possible. This is, however, also the -modern Parisian's idea, and some people admire Paris, so perhaps the -Serb is right. - -I was supposed to "rest" at Kniazhevatz, but did nothing of the sort. I -had not long swallowed my lunch when I was told that "a gentleman who -spoke German" wished to talk to me. He and his friends had previously -interviewed Marko. He now offered to show me the town. I accepted, and -we started. His idea of "showing the town" turned out to be to walk me -up and down the main street and let loose a perfect torrent of questions -about me and my affairs. I grasped this fact, and ran my eyes over him. -He was youngish, fair, and far too stout for his years. A Teutonic -ancestor somewhere, I thought. I replied cheerfully to his questions, -and walked at a fair pace. When we arrived at the top of the street -again, I did not turn back; I pursued bye streets and side streets, and -walked on the sunny side of the way. I reckoned on his being in very bad -condition, and he was; moreover, he had just dined solidly. The more -personal his questions became, the faster I walked. Till a week or two -ago I had been panting after tireless Montenegrins, now the situation -was reversed; the perspiration stood on his brow, and he had not yet -discovered what I was worth in pounds sterling. He asked if I did not -find the sun too hot, and I replied that I liked it. He kept up -manfully, and inquired the incomes of my father, my brothers, and my -brothers-in-law. Baffled on these points, but still persuaded that I was -a multi-millionaire, he suggested that I should remain permanently in -Servia; this with noble disinterestedness, for he was already another's; -but in the middle of the good old tale of how Someone-avich had married -an English-wife-who-was-extremely-happy, he was forced for lack of -breath to suggest that there was no need to walk fast. "No," said I, "it -is very foolish to walk fast, for then one can see nothing." As there -was rising ground before us and the "going" was very bad, I forced the -pace slightly, his questions died away, and I brought him back uphill to -the hotel a limp and dripping thing, with the great problem still -unsolved. He threw himself into a chair and called for beer. I jumped -into my carriage, which was by this time ready, and drove off without -enlightening him. "That man," said Marko, "wanted to know everything, -but I told him nothing." As Marko knew nothing at all about me, I was -not surprised. - -We arrived at Zaichar late at night, after a fourteen hours' drive. -Zaichar had little to detain me. Beyond the motley crowd of Bulgarian -and Roumanian peasants--for this is very much a borderland place--there -is nothing to see. Some villages in the neighbourhood have scarce a -Serb in them. Gold is found not far off at the Maidan Pek, and I was -strongly urged to go and see the diggings. By way of an attraction, I -was told that I should find specimens of every race in Europe there -except English, and as by no means the best specimens of humanity haunt -gold diggings, I thought that a herd of them loose upon the -Servo-Bulgarian frontier might be more than I could grapple with -single-handed. So I contented myself with looking at some small nuggets -in a bottle. The mines, I was told, pay fairly well, and I enough -alluvial gold is also found in the bed of the river Timok by the -peasants to make the search worth while. The Timok forms the frontier -for a considerable distance, and as a river is a clearly marked line -that all can see, the frontier is a quiet one, and no "mistakes" occur -upon it.: - -We started for Negotin as a heavy thunderstorm! cleared away and a big -rainbow overarched the sky. "When the old people see that green and red -thing," said Marko, pointing to it, "they say, 'Now we shall have good -wine and maize.' Red for wine and green for maize." It was an uneventful -drive over land that once produced Servia's best wine, and is now but -slowly recovering from the phylloxera. As we approached Negotin, Marko -became more and more uneasy. He told me repeatedly that the people of -Zaichar had asked him all about me and he had told them nothing; merely -that I was English; otherwise nothing at all! This he considered very -meritorious. As he knew nothing more about me, I did not see the extreme -virtue of his reticence. However, as he was dying for information and I -was going to part with him in the evening, so should be no more -bothered, I thought I would gratify him, and told him the number of my -brothers and sisters, etc., all of which crave him infinite -satisfaction. We arrived at Negotin the best of friends. - -Negotin stands in a swamp; there are water-meadows and marshes full of -frogs and reeds all round it, but I saw no mosquitoes, and the town did -not look unhealthy. There are about 6000 inhabitants, a new and unlovely -church, and a newly-erected bronze statue to Milosh Obrenovich, but the -chief glory of Negotin is the monument to Hayduk Veljko,--Veljko, the -popular hero, the story of whose career casts a fierce light on the -condition of Servia less than a hundred years ago, and makes one wonder -not that Servia should be, as some folk say, so backward, but that in so -short a time she should have reached such a high point of civilisation. - -At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Servia was resolved no -longer to tolerate Turkish tyranny, the land was overrun with bands of -desperate men, who sheltered in wood and mountain, lived on plunder, and -perpetually harassed the enemy by guerilla warfare. They called -themselves Hayduks (brigands), and they gloried in the name. To-day, -just one hundred years later, the same conditions exist in Macedonia, -and the causes are the same. Dreaded, beloved, and admired, these -Hayduks were the heroes of the peasants, whom they alternately protected -and oppressed; their names and deeds were sung in songs, and they cast a -halo of glory round the profession of brigandage which has only lately -faded from it. The greatest of all was Hayduk Veljko. Associated with -Karageorge at the beginning of the uprising, his extraordinary -lawlessness and ferocity made it impossible for him to work in -co-operation with any plan or person. With a gang of followers, he -carried on war in East Servia on his own account. Insatiable for -plunder, he would risk his life for a few piastres, but what he had he -would give away lavishly. He boasted that he grudged his goods to no -man, and that it was better for no man to grudge his goods in return. -When the Russians reproached him with calling himself "Hayduk," he -answered, "I should be sorry if there were any greater robber in the -world!" Drunk with blood and the lust of battle, he prayed "Give us war -in my time, O Lord!" for though he was kind enough to wish Servia peace -after his death, the joys of the insurrection quite obliterated for him -its object, and any form of government was intolerable to him. He was a -terror to the Turks, whom he was always surprising, and his reputation -was so great that it excited the jealousy of the other Servian leaders. -He and his men held all East Servia, and without further assistance kept -the foe at bay. Negotin was his stronghold. The Turks, enraged by the -heavy losses he repeatedly inflicted upon them, determined to destroy -him, and besieged him with a force of 18,000 men. Undaunted, he made -sallies at night, harassing the enemy, slaughtering many, and retiring -into his fortifications with slight losses. But his garrison gradually -became smaller. When he saw that it was impossible to hold out much -longer, he was forced to humble his pride and send for help to -Karageorge. Alas! Karageorge had no force to spare, and the other -leaders were reluctant to help. Hayduk Veljko had always wished to stand -alone, they said, and he might do so now. The Turks were reinforced by -artillery, and Veljko's fate was sealed. They battered down his towers; -the buildings within the walls were smashed: still the garrison held out -and sheltered in the cellars. Hayduk Veljko grew desperate; every scrap -of metal, spoons, lamps, even coins, were made into bullets, and no help -came. When at length it came by the Danube, in the shape of a ship full -of men and ammunition, it was too late. Veljko was dead. His prayer was -fulfilled, and he did not live to see peace. Making his morning rounds, -he was recognised on the redoubts by a Turkish artilleryman who fired at -him. He fell terribly mangled, and with his dying breath urged his men -to stand firm. They buried his body at night, and tried to conceal his -death from the enemy; but the spirit which had animated them had fled, -and the garrison, which had not before thought of retreat, held out for -a day or two only, and then escaped at night across the marshes. A panic -ensued among the Serbs of the district when they learnt the death of -Veljko, nor do the other Servian leaders seem to have realised what a -power Veljko was till it was too late. The Turkish army pursued the -fugitives, and for the losses that Veljko had inflicted upon them -exacted an awful vengeance at the first place they came to, the little -town of Kladovo, where they impaled the men alive, captured the women, -and immersed the children in boiling water, in derision of baptism. - -Such is the story of Hayduk Veljko. His was a strong soul blackened by -the terrible times into which he was born, and in spite of his many -faults he played a great part in the freeing of Servia. His monument, an -obelisk with commemorative lines and the date of his death (1813) on the -four sides of its base, stands in a little flower garden. His portrait, -fierce with black moustachios and a scarlet fez, is carved and painted -on the stone. I spelt slowly through the inscriptions; the old woman, -caretaker of the spot, came out and picked me some roses. "He was a very -good man," she said; "here are some roses from his garden." Poor plucky -barbarian, whose ambition it was to be the greatest robber in the world, -he had come to this--roses and a very good man! I took the flowers and -strolled back; I looked at the older people and reflected that they had -heard these things from the living mouth, for their grand-fathers had -seen them. Yet with these traditions barely a century old the land is -now orderly and peaceful; in this short space of the world's history it -has leapt from savagery to civilisation. It has yet far to go, but it -has done much. - -When I returned to the inn, I found the landlord beaming. "You have two -brothers and five sisters," he said. "It is so pleasant to know all -about one's guests!" Marko had lost no time in spreading short -biographies of me, and had done his work effectually. He parted from me -with regret, for with recollections perhaps of Veljko, he had -overcharged me liberally, as I learned when I was older and wiser; -barring this slight defect, he was a most agreeable travelling -companion, and, as he himself pointed out, "gave me Servian lessons for -nothing." - -The landlord was all friendliness. He knew all about the English, and he -told me about Someone-avich-who-married-an-English-wife. "She is so -happy," he added rapturously, "and he is now just like an Englishman!" - -"What does he do?" I asked. - -"Do? He does not do anything. He sits in Idepark like an Englishman." - -"She must be an American," I said firmly; "Englishwomen are not rich -enough for that." - -Radujevatz, on the Danube, the port for Negotin and the last station -before reaching the Bulgarian frontier, is but a couple of kilometres -away. I returned to Belgrade by boat. All the world and Cook go down the -Danube, so it needs no description. My guardian angel was as kind as -usual, and gave me two most courteous Servian artists as travelling -companions. There is nothing like a "brother brush" for help in need, -and as a general rule my sketch-book is a great passport and finds me -more useful friends than does my Foreign Office one. These two gave me -lessons in the language and told me of their fatherland. That I should -have come so far to see it pleased them greatly, but they were both, -especially the elder man, very sad about it, and told me mournfully that -I could scarcely have come in a worse period of its history. "Our old -patriarchal system is dead, and we have nothing to replace it. Our -people have had thrust upon them too suddenly Western ideas which they -do not understand; we are in the most critical period of a nation's -history, the half-educated period. The nations that criticise us passed -through this period so long ago that they have forgotten it." He talked -of the Great Empire and of Kosovo and of the black years that followed. -"Look at the few old churches that the Turks have left us. In those days -we were not behind the whole of Europe. Our past was heroic; our future -looks black. I am an old man, and I shall die with all my hopes -disappointed. No one in the West knows how we have suffered. I, of -course, remember when the Turks still occupied our forts." They sang me -snatches of Servian ballads--all monotonous wails over the slaying of -someone by the Turks, ending in a cry for vengeance. I commented on -their unrelieved melancholy. "Ah, Fraeulein," said the elder, "it is the -suffering of five hundred years, and it is your nation that keeps the -Turk in Europe. The Crimean War was a blow to us, and the Berlin Treaty -was only a shade less bitter. They did not consider us as peoples. They -marked out the Balkan peninsula into _spheres of influence_ awaiting the -pleasure of the great Powers, and we are in the Austrian sphere. England -has never troubled about us. Russia is our only friend; Russia could -save us, but she is too busy in the Far East. The only other land -situated as we are, with no outlet to the sea, is Switzerland. All -Europe takes care of Switzerland. We have no one to help us in the whole -world." - -We reached the Iron Gates. The stream was enormously swollen, and we -steered up the middle, a huge wide swirl of water eddying and coiling -with terrible rapidity. The boat began its upward climb, shuddering and -trembling violently; it seemed to be straining every nerve, and the deck -vibrated underfoot. Beyond and above gleamed the line of smooth water, -and the panting vessel struggled into it and regained its breath. As I -stood in the bows and watched the struggle and heard the tale of -Servia's woes, Servia seemed to me like the struggling boat, with the -melancholy difference that there was no strong hand at the helm to save -her from shipwreck. - -This was, however, the boat's supreme effort. We lay off Orsova all -night, were more and more behind time next day, and did not lounge up to -the quay at Belgrade till very nearly midnight. Belgrade was fast asleep -when I walked through the silent streets that were entirely deserted -save for the sentinels standing motionless at the street corners with -rifle and revolver. Belgrade, I had been told in West Europe, was a gay, -reckless, dissipated capital. In outward appearance it is about as wild -as Little Peddlington. Appearances may be deceptive. I do not know. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE SHUMADIA AND SOUTH-WEST SERVIA - - -Everyone said I must go to the Shumadia, because it is the "heart of -Servia," the centre in which arose her struggle for freedom. So to the -Shumadia I went. Having read in a German book that it was quite -impossible to explore that part of the country without a guide and -letters of introduction, I took only as much luggage as I could carry -easily in one hand and set out by train for Kragujevatz. As the -best-laid plans are apt to go wrong, I left this expedition entirely to -Fate. People like being trusted; often, in fact, serve you much the -better for it. Fate did this time. She put me into the carriage with a -gentleman who most kindly furnished me with an introduction that took me -round all the rest of Servia. That I should have been thrown on the land -quite unassisted distressed him. "You must yourself see," he said, "that -if your Consul and Minister have given you no letter, it looks very bad. -But that is the way your country behaves. If you had been German, for -example, you would have had plenty of letters." This astonished me; my -new friend, on the other hand, seemed still more astonished that I had -got so far letterless. Servia loves letters of introduction and is not -happy without them. From this time forward I made a sort of triumphal -progress, was passed from town to town, and received so much -hospitality and kindness that Servia and the friends that helped me on -my way will ever remain in a warm corner of my memory. I changed my -plans from day to day, and I went wherever the police captains and the -district engineers advised me; nor can I wish anyone better guides than -these gentlemen. They lent me maps, they planned my routes, they took me -walks, they hired my carriages, found my guides and horses, and drove my -bargains. What they were pleased to consider the mad Englishness of my -enterprise appealed forcibly to their sense of humour, and my various -adventures made them shout with laughter. I cannot repay their kindness, -but I certainly amused them. - -The Shumadia takes its name from "shuma," a forest; the woods of Servia -were the last shelter of a desperate people and the rallying-point of -the nation. If it be true that "all that is most Servian is in the -Shumadia," it is here that we should look for the type of the race. The -peasant of the Shumadia is tall, fair, and blue-or grey-eyed. He is more -strongly built and more active than his brethren in other districts, and -is more like the fair type of Montenegrin than are the men of any other -part of Servia. The race question in the Balkans is so exceedingly -complicated that I cannot attempt to unravel it, and can only note -marked types where they occur. - -So much for the peasant. The country now is no longer a forest, though -well supplied with woods and trees; it is a most fertile district, and -is better cultivated and far more enterprising than any other part of -Servia. - -Kragujevatz, Milosh' capital, is a very go-ahead place, and next to -Belgrade is Servia's most important commercial town, busy and -flourishing, with some 14,000 inhabitants. It has a fine gymnasium and a -large girls' school, both handsome and spacious buildings very well -fitted; the girls' school built by private gift. All trace of the Turk -has been wiped out of the town, but the relics of Milosh are carefully -preserved. His konak, a medium-sized whitewashed house, now forms part -of the officers' quarters. The old church stands near, a small plain -whitewashed building with a wooden annexe for the women, who were not -then admitted to worship in the main body of the church--which shows -forcibly how deeply the Turk had set his mark upon the Servian people. -By the church stands the long low whitewashed shed that was Servia's -first parliament house. Milosh, like Karageorge, took care to assemble -his parliament very seldom and to pay little or no attention to it then. -Kragujevatz otherwise is brand-new, and here as elsewhere it is easy to -see that the Servians have done more in fifty years for the improvement -of the place and the conditions of life than the Turk did in four -centuries. Much yet remains to be done, nevertheless a journey from -Servia into Turkey is like stepping off the pavement into the sewer. - -On leaving Kragujevatz I left the railway. None exists in West Servia, -which has to rely entirely on ox-carts for the transport of its produce. -Carriage travelling in Servia is, as I have said before, but slow work. -But it gives one excellent opportunities of seeing the country. The -start must be made early. The man usually suggested 4 a.m., but I made -it 5 when possible. The peasant was always on the road or already at -work; for he, like the coachman, likes to take his time about things, -and has to get up very early in order to spread a six or seven hours' -job very thinly over sixteen. This gives him ample leisure to lie under -a beech tree and play upon a wooden pipe (a double pipe it is, too, two -pipes with one mouthpiece), but in spite of the old proverb it has not -yet contributed much either to his wealth or wisdom. He is descended -from a long line of forefathers who lived oppressed by foreign rule in -troublous times, when the accumulation of property would have been -labour in vain and would have but enriched the pocket of Pasha or -Janissary. He sees no object in exerting himself; it is unjust to call -him lazy. He is undeveloped; his wants are so simple that he can satisfy -them easily without working up to his full power, and he has no ideas -beyond. He walks, thinks, and acts in leisurely fashion, and appears to -be slow to wrath and very good-natured. The spare time which remains -upon his hands unfortunately is not always harmlessly employed upon the -penny whistle, for your Servian peasant is a great politician. Slow to -grasp a new idea on this as on all other subjects, and with no -traditions of good government behind him, he is eternally dissatisfied -with the government he happens to be under. For centuries "government" -in Servia meant "the Turk" and was a thing to be resisted or at least -evaded, and the Servian peasant still ascribes every evil to it. So the -corn waited while the reaper sat in the shade and discussed the latest -scandal about Queen Draga. "If our women," said a Serb to me, "took to -politics like yours do, I do not know what would happen. All work would -be at a standstill." - -Very early in the day, even before the peasant has begun politics, the -coachman is ready to rest at a "mehana" (inn), and in spite of all my -efforts I became acquainted with the interior of a vast number. The bare -whitewashed room with fly-blown portraits of Milan and Natalie, and new -and gay ones of Alexander represented as about forty, and Draga as, say, -five-and-twenty; the boarded floor; the rush of chickens in at the door -when they heard the refreshments coming; the cavern in the brick wall -where the little copper pots of black coffee are heated in glowing -charcoal; the miniature glass bottles about three inches high, in which -the slivovitz (plum brandy) is served; the white-kilted, sandal-shod men -who sat round on rough benches and consumed it; and the host and hostess -eager both to serve me and to find out all about me, made up a homely -and not unpicturesque scene. And a plateful of white curd cheese covered -with clotted cream (kaimak), a lump of rye bread, some onions, and some -thin red wine, are a breakfast a Prince would not disdain, after driving -for three hours with nothing but a thimbleful of black coffee inside -him. By midday every inn has dinner ready, and supplies food, which is -generally far better than the outside of the den leads one to expect, at -a very cheap rate. The penny wine of the country is good of its kind, -and shows that Servia only requires science to become a first-class -wine-growing country. The untravelled Serb has at present but vague -ideas as to what West Europe considers first-class wine. "Our wine," -said a Serb to me, after I had tasted a thin red variety, "is not so -well known as it ought to be. We send a great deal of this to Marseilles -and sell it very cheap. The French probably sell it as the best -champagne, at a high price!" which showed he had much to learn as yet -about vintages. - -I had long days upon the road, but was never lonely. All the country -life of Servia dawdled past; living pictures of which I never tired. The -school children, who often have to tramp a great distance, are out -early, carrying their books and inkpots. In bad winter weather they are -often unable to return, and are put up at the school for many nights. Or -there will pass a gang of Albanian horse-dealers, their tight striped -leg-gear, their scarlet sashes and shaven heads looking outlandish even -in this out-of-the-way spot. Sitting high on their saddles, they amble -smartly past, driving a herd of ponies in front of them. The Albanian -does not let the grass grow under his feet, and his movements are full -of nervous energy. - -Wildest of all in appearance are the gipsies--brown untamed animals, -long, lean, sinewy, and half-clad. As a matter of convenience they adopt -the dress of the country they happen to be in; their individuality they -never change. The Servian looks down on them with contempt; they are the -lowest of the population. "Tsiganin! do this," shouts a Serb to any of -the swarthy young rascals who are hanging about the street corner, and -the boy obeys like a dog. But the gipsy is fiercely proud of his race. -"You are English, but I am a Gipsy!" said an old woman to me, with -indescribable majesty, as she drew up her head; the coins glittered in -her filthy elf-locks, and she fixed me with her eagle eyes. She took the -black pipe from her mouth and waved it round her head till she was -wreathed in blue smoke, and she smote her bare breast dramatically. "I -am a true Gipsy," she repeated. In a piece of a dirty shirt and half a -petticoat, she looked like an empress. Yet the savage who possesses a -hut, even the wild beast with a den, is a more civilised being. Without -any kind of a tent, much less a cart, will they camp; some poles propped -against a bush and covered with an armful of fern are often their only -covering from the weather, and a couple of lean unhappy bears may share -with them the bundle of filthy rags that is their bed, for your gipsy is -a great showman. I once passed a group encircling a caldron, asquat and -eager for the pot to boil; they turned as I drove by to look at me, and -I saw, with something of a shock, that one of the party was a huge -blue-nosed baboon. He wore about as much clothing as the others, and it -was not till I saw his face that he was distinguishable from his -friends. The cavemen and the prehistoric lake-dwellers cannot have lived -less luxuriously than do these strange wild folk now, in Europe in the -twentieth century. When I met them upon the road, they seemed to have -walked out of another age, another world. Untrustworthy and dishonest -are the mildest terms applied to them, and they are said to be -responsible for a large proportion of the crime of the land. More -extraordinary than their filth and their savagery, more wonderful than -their superb vitality, is their marvellous gift--a gift that amounts to -genius--for playing stringed instruments. It is in the blood to such an -extent that there are fiddlers in every gang; it seems as natural for a -gipsy to fiddle as for a fish to swim. I am not speaking of those who -wear civilised garments and perform in the large towns,--many of these -are known to fame,--but of the ragged ruffians who fiddle for their own -amusement on the road, by the camp fire, or sprawled under a tree, and -who display a command of the instrument and a technical facility that -tends to confirm the theory that music is the least civilised of the -arts. I have seen a child, of certainly not more than ten years, perched -on the top of a loaded waggon, executing the wildest runs, turns, and -flourishes upon his fiddle with an ease and certainty that the -industrious student of a conservatoire does not attain to after years of -labour, the ease and certainty of a singing skylark. But he and his -associates were such that it was disgusting to pass on the lee side of -that waggon. How these people have attained this art is an insoluble -mystery; that it belongs pre-eminently to them as a birthright is shown -by the curious fact that most of the world's fiddlers hail from -gipsy-haunted lands. - -And these strange wild things, with life running fierce in their veins, -passed in their turn, and I was alone with the dead. - -[ILLUSTRATION: TRAVELLING GIPSIES, RIJEKA, MONTENEGRO.] - -By every roadside, even by lonely mountain tracks, stand the monuments -of the soldiers who have fallen in war--tall stones, sometimes solitary, -sometimes in groups of two or three, almost all carved in very flat -relief or incised with a rude full-length portrait of the dead man, -painted in bright colours. Some of these stones are small, others five -or six feet high. With a blue coat and black moustachios, with his arms -and fingers straight and stiff by his side and his feet turned out at -right angles, stands the soldier, staring straight in front of him with -round black eyes, and presents arms to the passer-by. Upon the older -stones, he wears a scarlet tarboosh and carries a sword; upon those put -up since the last war, he carries a gun and wears the present uniform. -An inscription tells how he met his death: "For the Glory and Freedom of -his brother Serbs." The monument is usually near his home, but sometimes -on the actual spot where he fell. To the Serbs these stones are an -everyday sight. To me it seemed sometimes that I was the only thing left -alive out of the slaughter and was passing constantly through the ranks -of a phantom army awaiting the trumpet call. Their grotesque and -childish simplicity added a strange pathos. Thus I travelled through a -land green as our own, with oaks and beeches and fern, and everywhere -the print of war was upon it, and through storm and sun and wind and -rain I passed from town to town. - -[Illustration] - -Chachak, on the Morava, stands on flat land down by the river. I drove -through the ford by moonlight and entered the town with a terrible -clatter, but, having come properly introduced, I met with a very -hospitable reception. I was travelling to see Servia and the Servians; -that was now a recognised fact. Should I like to see something truly -Servian? It was fortunate that I had arrived this night, for I was in -time to see four murderers shot on the spot where they had committed -their crime! I was urged to go, and offered special facilities. Taken -aback, I listened, speechless, while the plan was unfolded. I was to -rise very early and to drive for three hours up the mountains with the -condemned men and the file of soldiers who were to carry out the -sentence. The words called up before me a picture of the grisly little -procession crawling uphill in the grey of the dawning. Adding up the -pros and cons rapidly, I said to myself that it was my duty to see -everything, but searched my brains for a decent way out of it. Then I -recollected that if I went, for the next fifty years it would be said -that all Englishwomen were in the habit of seeing men shot before -breakfast. Gripping thankfully at this idea, I said I had rather not -accept the invitation; I had not come so far to see Servians killed. My -reply caused disappointment, and I was strongly urged to go. The murder -had been a peculiarly atrocious one, so that I need not mind seeing the -punishment; for the murderers, after cutting the throats of their -victims, had gouged out the eyes and otherwise barbarously mutilated the -corpses. Twenty men had been arrested, the last gang of Hayduks on that -side of Servia. Four were to die to-morrow. Moreover, my route lay that -way, and there was nothing at all to be seen in Chachak. My coachman -listened anxiously for my decision, but was doomed to disappointment. I -did not go. - -Chachak is proud of being the first town taken from the Turks by -Karageorge. It is a bright and enterprising place, and dreams of -constructing an electric railway that shall connect it with the world. -It boasts a church that was church, then mosque, and is now church -again. At least so I was told, but I believe myself that it was born a -mosque and that the old bells belonging to the former Christian period, -which were found recently when digging the foundations of one of the -public buildings, belonged to an early church long since destroyed and -forgotten. I spun out the resources of Chachak as long as I could, and -my coachman hung about, buoyed up by the hope that we should yet be in -time. I even found the horses harnessed and ready, waiting for me, a -most unusual event in Servia, and he started off at a great pace for the -first and last time in that land. He had a pleasant, smiling face, and -was very civil, and as he looked at his watch every few minutes, I -marvelled that he should crave so ardently to see red blood run in the -sunshine. To have once seen it hurrying down an Italian gutter was -enough for me. - -So we drove on through woods that I knew were beautiful, but they gave -me only a sickly feeling of being on the track of death, and the farther -I got, the less I liked it. In starting, I had calculated that I was -late enough, and then began to wonder if there was any limit to the -lateness that a Servian is capable of. - -When we arrived at Markovich, the village nearest the top of the pass, I -saw the soldiers stopping outside the inn to cheer themselves with -rakija on their homeward march, and I knew that the deed was done. An -officer rode up, touched his cap and told me politely where I should see -the graves; he expected me to be disappointed, but I was greatly -relieved. We reached the top of the hill, a large grassy plateau, and -there were the four raw heaps of damp mould. A peasant was patting down -the last one, and a stake had been driven in at the head of each. My -coachman pulled up and said regretfully, "We are only three-quarters of -an hour too late!" "Drive on," said I, cutting short the details of how -they had stood in their graves and been shot down into them, and as the -peasant shouldered his spade and turned away too, we left them alone on -the hilltop. - -At Pozhega we had to put up the horses for an hour and find food for -ourselves. The landlady--a stout woman with a good-natured face--was -considerably exhausted, having been to the top of the hill to see the -men shot. She had risen very early and had walked all the way, but there -was a great crowd, and much to her annoyance she had not got a good view -of the end. Nor could I make her understand that I had purposely avoided -the sight myself. - -From Pozhega it was but a few hours' drive to Ushitza, my next -stopping-place, the prettiest little town that I know in Servia--a place -that no traveller in the country should omit to visit. It sprawls -through two wooded valleys in a mountainous country as beautiful as -anyone need wish to see. It is hospitable and cheery, and should make an -excellent centre for a sportsman, for I am told that the surrounding -mountains are well supplied with game birds, that there is no lack of -wolves and bears, and no difficulty about procuring permission to shoot. -I clattered up to the inn, and it received me with characteristic -simplicity; its landlady asked if I wanted a place as chambermaid, and -was much mystified, for it seems that she had never before seen a lady -travelling alone. Laughing over this, I gave my letter of introduction -to the master of the establishment and asked him to have it delivered at -once. It seemed a simple enough request, and I sat down to some coffee -without any anxiety, unaware that he had stowed the letter away -carefully behind the rakija bottles in the bar and had sent the potboy -to tell the gentleman that his sister had arrived! He turned up in a -great hurry, much mystified, as his only sister lived in America and had -shown no symptoms of visiting him. The innkeeper then produced the -letter and explained that, as the gentleman was a Bohemian and possessed -the only pair of blue eyes in the town and I also was a blue-eyed -foreigner, it had never occurred to him to doubt our relationship. I had -a gay time in Ushitza. The schoolmasters, the head of the police, and -other local authorities all came to call on me and devise plans for me, -and we drank beer festively by the market-place, for as I was the first -Englishwoman in Ushitza, health drinking was necessary. - -Ushitza is plucky and enterprising. It not only makes plans, but it -carries them out. It is blessed with good men at the head of affairs. -For all the world over, in spite of the old saying, the voice of the -people is very seldom the voice of a god; it is far more frequently -simply a "row," and in most places we find that all good work is due to -the brains and energy of a few individuals, and not to the collective -wisdom of the mass, except in the sense that the mass has had the wit to -know a good man when they see him and to follow his lead. - -Ushitza, poked away in a lonely valley in a far corner of Servia, has a -very good school, well fitted with modern apparatus, maps and diagrams -and plaster casts; is well lighted by electricity, and has started an -electric cotton and linen weaving factory, which is the pride and joy of -the town. Three years did it take in the making; every bit of the -machinery had to be imported from abroad and carried over the mountains -on ox-carts, but in spite of all difficulties it is well started and -beginning to pay its way, and Ushitza, like Chachak, is trying to find -the ways and means for an electric railway. - -Ushitza was Ushitza in the glorious days of the Servian Empire, and was -the seat of its first arch-bishop, the great St. Sava. Stefan VI. -transferred the archbishopric to Ipek (Petch), that lies in Stara Srbija -waiting to be redeemed; but Ushitza worked out her own redemption in -1862, and after severe fighting evicted the Turk, and is once more the -seat of a bishop. The Djetina, a tributary of the Morava, rushes past -the town from a narrow valley, where leaps the fall that works the -150-horse-power electric engines, and high on the opposite hill tower -the ruins of the big castle that once guarded the town. Fortified by the -Turks, it was taken by the Servians and blown to pieces, and its -shattered walls hang perilously on the precipice edge. I was told it was -a Turkish building, but I scrambled all over it, and believe it to be a -Servian mediaeval castle belonging probably to the palmy days of the -Empire. - -Everything else in Ushitza is new, except the stone bridge over the -river, which is mediaeval, and the big Roman altar stone found in the -neighbourhood that stands in the entrance of the school; but the town, -though so new, is very picturesque. I left Ushitza with regret, for it -was very good to me. I said good-bye for ever and ever, promised to send -picture postcards of London, and was soon again on the road. - -Ivanitza was my destination, and my midday halt at Arilje, where I -arrived cold and damp in a heavy rainstorm. The police captain and the -priest were kindly folk and offered to take me to see the church. -According to tradition, it is the oldest church in Servia, and is said -to have been built to the memory of one Aril, a Christian priest -martyred by heathen Servians early in the ninth century. It is a -cruciform building with a central dome, a very flat apse, the usual -narthex, and is barrel-vaulted. My guides could tell me nothing at all -except that it was "very old." I suggested thirteenth century, which -astonished them. That the building itself had anything to say on the -subject was a new idea to them. After a little discussion with the -priest, the captain said that someone had said it was of the time of -King Milutin, and added naively that they did not know when that was. -Milutin (Stefan Milutin Urosh) reigned from about 1275 to 1321. This -date fits in with its appearance, but not with the tradition that it is -the oldest church in Servia. Probably it is a later building on an old -site. It is old and dim enough, at any rate, to have seen the Great -Servian Empire and the rise and the fall of the Ottoman. Frescoes stiff -and Byzantine in style cover its walls. Big saints in long straight -white robes with bizarre black patterns stand in a row along the walls, -and a king (Milutin himself) in a high crown and a long cloak decorated -with large discs of gold. The faces have been scraped out by the Turks, -and the whole of the paintings are dim and faded, but they are scarce -examples of early art, and appear to have never suffered restoration. I -am sorry that I allowed damp, cold, and general discomfort to prevent my -staying to draw them. - -We pushed on through the storm along a richly wooded defile through -which tears the Morava, and arrived chill and stiff in the evening at -Ivanitza, where the mere sight of the inn made me feel much worse. As it -was not possible to get anything to eat till supper-time, and as the -bedroom offered me was uninhabitable, and as both my letters of -introduction were to gentlemen who only spoke Servian, I wondered why I -had come. It was too wet to go out, so I sat in the doorway and drew the -shops over the way, and soon forgot all the surrounding circumstances. I -was aroused by the most cheery police officers, in very smart uniforms, -who came in answer to my letters of introduction, and who were -extraordinarily amused to find me already settled down to draw. They -brought the burgomaster, called for drinks, and in the approved fashion -each stood me a glass. When the doctor, who spoke German, turned up and -tried to stand me one on his own account, I cried off. My Montenegrin -sketches here were the topic of the day; for the nearer you get to the -frontier the more beloved and admired is Montenegro. Central, Eastern, -and Northern Servia seem to dislike it. Everyone here wanted to hear -both about the place and the people, and I sat in that little -low-ceiled, dark, messy, stone-floored room filled with officers and -peasants, and explained things as best I could, the company all helping -me out with the language. The rain poured in torrents outside and -splashed in at the open door; everyone offered me tobacco, which I -declined; and there was a good deal of glass clinking. Helped out by -German and the doctor, I told tales of Skodra, which Ivanitza thought -was a place perilous. And we talked of the virtues of the Black -Mountains and the sins of the Turks. The two oil lamps made the black -corners blacker and threw odd shadows of fur-capped peasants on the -walls, and as I looked at my surroundings, saw the white kilts, the -leathern sandals and the uniforms, and heard the clank of sword and -spur, I wondered to which of my ancestors I owed the fact that I felt so -very much at home. Presently two men slunk in who were greeted by a roar -of laughter. "How are the Turks?" cried everyone. Chaff flew much too -thickly for me to see my way through it. When it cleared, I was told -that the two had strayed over the frontier, had been caught by the -Turks, and, as they had no passports upon them, were promptly put into -prison. There they had stayed some days, and they had only just been -released. Everyone treated this as a huge joke except the victims, who -looked extremely silly. There was more in the episode than met the eye, -for in the course of the arrest shots had been exchanged, and two -Servians--a shepherd and a border patrol man--killed. My officers told -me seriously that I was to keep off the edge. Never having lived on a -ruddy frontier, I was much interested. All my life I had heard of the -value of our "silver streak," but I had to go to a public-house in South -Servia before I realised it. - -The fact that I had come so soon after the affair of Miss Stone charmed -everyone, as it conclusively proved that England had a high opinion of -Servia. I was, as someone naively stated, the most remarkable event -since the war. An English officer had ridden through the town three -years before, but he had had an interpreter and had carried a revolver. -Also two Frenchmen had once passed that way. That was Ivanitza's -complete visitors' list for the last twenty years. I was the first who -had tackled it alone and unarmed. When a fresh arrival turned up, he was -told "She is English; it is not a joke; she really is"; and I was shown -to some children as a unique specimen: "Look at her well; perhaps you -will never see another." Yet the country is so beautiful that it only -requires to be known to attract plenty of strangers. - -Having first asked me if I were quite sure I had a room that I could -sleep in, they all wished me good-night. I said the room was good -enough, and went to find out if I had spoken the truth, through into -the stableyard. It was pitch dark and the rain was falling. I called for -a light. Something came out of the night, and I followed it up a rickety -ladder and on to a wooden gallery. It thrust a tallow candle into my -hand, and struck a match. The light revealed a lean, hairy man, -bare-legged, bare-chested, and sparsely clad in dirty cotton garments. -Clasping the candle, I followed him into a very small room. It was a -different one from the one I had been shown on arriving. There was an -iron bedstead in it, covered with a wadded coverlet, and there were -three nails in the wall. Otherwise, nothing; not even a chair. The -gentleman produced an empty bottle, stuck the candle into it, put it on -the window sill, wished me good-night, and was going. "The room is not -ready," said I firmly. He looked round in a bewildered manner and said -it was, and shouted for female assistance. A stout lady panted up the -stairs, beaming with good-nature. She apologised for the room. The best -one contained four beds and they had quite meant me to have one of them, -but unfortunately a family had arrived and taken all of them! It was -most unlucky! I assured her that I did not mind having to sleep alone. -But this room was not ready. She glanced round, appeared to realise its -deficiencies, rushed off, and returned in triumph with a brush and comb. -I thanked her, but said that what I wanted was some water to wash in. -She seemed surprised at this, but went off again, and came back this -time with a small glass decanter and a tumbler. I ended by getting a -very small tin basin and a chair to stand it on. The seriousness of my -preparations then dawned upon her, and of her own accord she brought me -two towels and a little piece of peagreen soap stamped, in English, -"Best Brown Windsor." I had met this kind before. It is, I think, made -in Austria. - -The room proved to be quite clean, and I fared much better than I had -expected. They were all as kind as possible, and in return I was as -Servian as I knew how to be, except that I never patronised the well in -the stableyard, which is, I believe, the proper way of getting up in the -morning--presuming that you are dirty enough to require washing. The -stray officers who rode up without even a saddle-bag and passed the -night at the inn were, as far as I could make out, satisfied with waxing -their moustachios in the morning and having their boots polished, and -the effect was much better than one would have expected. Of course you -are washed when you arrive. This is, most likely, the survival of some -Eastern reception ceremonial. It is a little surprising at first, but -you soon get used to it. A girl or a man--the latter is usually my -fate--invades your bedroom, shortly after you have been shown to it, -with a little basin, a bottle of water, a towel, and a cake of the "Best -Brown Windsor." He holds out the basin solemnly and dribbles water over -your outstretched hands, for it is very dirty to wash in standing water. -When he thinks your hands are clean, he gives you the towel to dry them. -Then you have to hold them out again, and he pours more water on them; -this you are supposed to rub on your face. This being accomplished, he -retires, taking the apparatus with him. In the old days, it is said that -foot-washing was part of the ceremony, but I am glad to say that this -has now gone out of fashion. When asking for water, it is always -necessary to add "that I may wash," for the Servian invariably imagines -that it is for internal application and brings it in a tumbler. These -remarks apply, be it said, only to the inns in the villages; in the -larger towns the arrangements are quite civilised as a rule, and quite -clean. - -Ivanitza was so kind to me, and so beautiful, that in spite of its -primitive accommodation I stayed on. As long as the food is good, one -can stand rough surroundings well enough. The long street of -picturesque, tumbledown wooden shops straggles along the valley; the -West Morava tears through a wooded deep--cut gorge, and the -cloud--capped mountains tower around. It is a lonely and lovely spot, -and one that I shall never forget. - -On Sunday afternoon there was a little festival, and we sallied forth to -a meadow about a mile and a half away. An ox-cart or two brought chairs, -tables, beer, bread and cherries--all that Ivanitza required for a happy -afternoon. I myself formed no small part of the entertainment, as all -who had not yet made my acquaintance had now the chance of doing so. - -The priest arrived on horseback with his vestments in his saddle-bags. -He made a little altar in the middle of the field with three sticks and -a board, spread a cloth on it, and planted a green bush by the side. -Then the men stood round close to it, and the women stood behind very -much in the background, and the service began. The incense curled thin -and pale against the dark background of mountains that ringed us round, -and the peasants, in their gayest and best, sang the responses -heartily, while the oxen chewed cud alongside. Suddenly down the narrow -valley the sky turned dark and red; everything was blotted out by a -dense storm-cloud that burst overhead almost immediately. The priest -picked up his petticoats and books, and we all fled precipitately to a -group of cowsheds a couple of hundred yards away, and crowded into them. - -The one I ran into was so dark that we could hardly see one another. I -climbed out of the mud into the manger and held a sort of reception. I -answered all the usual questions, and then they tried to find out my -accomplishments by asking, "Can you do this? can you do that?" etc. I -did all my little tricks, and felt like a circus. Finally it was -suggested that I should sing--a thing I never do in public at home. The -ever-increasing darkness suggested "Abide with me," and I started -boldly. When, however, I got as far as the words "and comforts flee," -they struck me as being so ridiculously appropriate to the circumstances -in which I found myself that I ended abruptly by laughing, which made -the audience think that the song was a comic one and beg to hear more of -it. But the storm was passing over, and though the rain was still -falling and the water standing in pools, the devoted priest hurried out -to finish the service; out rushed everybody from the sheds and plashed -back to the meadow. By the time I arrived on the scene it was all in -full swing, the incense rising and the sun struggling through a -cloud-rift. As soon as it was over, music struck up and the kolo dance -began, and, regardless of the wet, they frisked and splashed through the -deep and sopping grass. Even the doctor thought it was all right. When -he told me later that he had a great many patients, because the place -was so damp, I was not surprised. - -The weather did not seem likely to improve, and the police officer told -me with a grin that whenever I said I wanted to go they hoped it would -rain; now that I knew everyone I had better stay, and he called upon his -friends to describe the horrors of my proposed route. But as I could not -stay on indefinitely, I asked him to find me a man and a pony, and -decided to risk a wetting. The start had to be made at 5 a.m., too early -to see what manner of a day it was likely to be, and it is but a chilly -hour at best. A border officer saw me off, and assured me I should find -friends wherever I went, which cheered my rather depressed feeling that -I was leaving all my friends behind me. - -I had come to the end of the road, and the onward track was very much a -plunge into the unknown. The mist was thick and clammy as we struck up -the mountain path, but was beginning to clear slowly. It was not a bad -road at all. A Montenegrin pony would have laughed at it, and a -Montenegrin man have done it on foot; but my guide was a Servian and -therefore required a mount, and the beasts were fat and sluggish. My -baggage consisted of a small hand-bag and a little bundle. These I had -carefully made of equal weight, meaning them for either side of my own -saddle. Regardless of the fact that I was by far the lighter weight of -us two, the Serb insisted on putting them on his own saddle and on tying -them both on the same side. Consequently, as the girths were very loose, -his saddle kept turning round. This he strove to prevent by sitting -crooked! As he obstinately persisted in this plan in spite of all I -could do, he was perpetually re-saddling. I broke a switch from a bush, -stirred up my pony and rode ahead in hopes of hurrying him; but all in -vain, for I came to the end of the path in about half an hour, saw -before me an endless succession of wild and apparently trackless valleys -and mountains, and had to wait my guides arrival. He appeared at last, -crawling along quite happily, and at once hopped off to take another -futile pull at the girths. This time I succeeded in getting a better -arrangement of the bags, which saved the twisting; but the saddle still -slipped towards the beast's head going downhill, and towards its tail -going uphill. Moreover, both animals were weak in their hind fetlocks, -and we had to dismount pretty often. Luckily I had a pocketful of black -bread handy, and as there seemed no prospect of ever arriving at a -feeding-place, I gnawed crusts as I rode over that lonely land--land -that has an awful magnificence, for it is untouched by the hand of man. -Silently we went through huge and dripping beech woods, dim with fog -wreaths, where great trees lay and rotted where they had fallen, and -silently out over rich grassy uplands where no flocks feed. Deep valleys -lay below us, and mountain peaks rose all around. For miles and miles it -was absolutely lonely, there was no sign of a living thing and no sound -save the squelching of our horses' hoofs in the deep wet leaf-mould. In -a dip of the hills we came upon two most primitive villages, collections -of wooden wigwams with high pitched roofs of twigs and branches; through -their open doors I could see that they were mere unfurnished dens. -Wild--looking, ragged people squatted in the doorways, who stared like -startled animals as I passed. Nothing more primitive in the way of a -village could exist. It seemed the kind of place that the Romans might -have come upon when they conquered ancient Illyria, and I drew rein. My -guide, however, was so determined that I should neither stop nor -dismount that I thought he might be aware that its customs were Illyrian -also, and I yielded regretfully to his request, for the first time, to -hurry on. - -At midday we reached another collection of huts, the village of Mlantza, -not quite so primitive as the last one, but all of wood. A man with a -revolver and cartridge belt, one of the gendarmerie, was resting here -and nursing his rifle. Two very tall and incredibly ragged men came out -of a hut, and at my guide's request made us some black coffee and boiled -us some eggs. We off-saddled, and our ponies were soon blowing -themselves out with grass and water, and there seemed every prospect of -the girths fitting better after lunch. My guide said we must rest an -hour, and inquired the way from the man with the rifle. I wondered that -anyone knew it, for there was no track to be seen anywhere. There are -not enough people even to wear a footpath. And folk live and die in -these lonely spots, and a grave, quite fresh made, with a gaudily -painted gravestone, stood close by. One or two men, black-eyed, -barefooted, and in clothes that were torn to ribbons, sauntered up. None -of them made an attempt to speak to me, and they scarcely exchanged a -word with my guide. They were too far removed from the outer world to -take any interest in it. They seemed part of the wild, dumb rocks and -forests, and only the cluttering of the hens that came to pick up the -crumbs I had dropped broke the heavy silence. - -My guide re-saddled the ponies, and we started off again. Downhill most -of the way, often very steep, and there was a good deal of dismounting -and leading to be done. For some way the rocks were all of green -serpentine in wildly contorted strata. A very tiny church stood high on -a ledge, far up the mountain side, that looked quite inaccessible from -below; one of those built as a retreat by the early kings; a lone -wilderness in which some soul had wrestled with temptation, or more -probably striven to expiate guilt. And this and the primitive wooden -huts of the morning were the only buildings I saw on that long ten -hours' ride, until at last, in the valley below, the little white church -and the monastery of Studenitza came in sight. - -Down past the back of the monastery buildings we joggled, and round to -the door of the little inn, where I dismounted thankfully, stiff and -somewhat dazed. The kindly peasants who thronged the little bare room -made a place for us, and refrained from questioning me till I had eaten -a huge meal of rye bread, red wine, onions and kaimak, which was all -that the place afforded, and I ate with an appetite that delighted -everyone. - -Revived and cheered by the food, the wine, and the company, I arose when -the inevitable interview was over and strolled across to the open gate -of the monastery. Within the walls lay smooth green lawns from which -arose the little lily church, its white marble pale gold with age; -beyond were the quaint wood and plaster buildings of the monastery, with -wide wooden balconies and tall bell tower. Little acacias, clipped to -round balls, were ranged stiffly along the paths, the air was heavy with -the scent of lime blossoms, and a stillness so dead that it seemed -supernatural hung over all. I stole quietly round the church, which was -shut, and saw no living creature. - -As I was returning I came face to face with an armed youth, a -picturesque figure who, but for his weapons, looked very mediaeval in -closely-fitting black leg-gear of the Albanian pattern and a very short -straight jacket. His feet were shod with leathern sandals, into the -straps of which were twisted long spurs; his rifle was slung on his -back; the bright green cord to which his revolver was fastened hung -round his neck, and his cartridge belt was well filled. He stood up -straight, a lithe slim young thing, saluted with great style, and told -me that he was a "pandur" (gendarme), had been sent over from Rashka to -take care of me and to escort me thither when I was ready to go. -Meanwhile he was entirely at my service. His captain had received a -telegram about me from Ivanitza and had sent him at once. He added that -Rashka expected me and wanted to see me. I was greatly astonished. I had -intended going to Kraljevo. The pandur looked grieved. He thought -evidently that he should have failed in his duty to his captain if he -did not produce me at Rashka. Impelled largely, I confess, by a wicked -desire to have such a very good-looking fellow at my beck and call, I -was inquiring the means of arriving at Rashka, when the pandur said -suddenly, in an awestruck whisper, "Gospoditza, here is the -Archimandrite!" and there was the Archimandrite himself advancing slowly -down the path towards us. - -A very beautiful old man, with a kindly, benevolent face, tall and -stately in his black robes and high velvet hat. His long grey hair -flowed over his shoulders, and he fingered a string of amber beads as he -came along. The pandur bared his head, dropped on one knee reverently -and kissed the hand extended to him, and I wondered miserably whether it -would be foolish or polite to follow his example. The Archimandrite -relieved me at once by shaking hands with me and welcoming me to -Studenitza. Anyone who had come so far, he said, must be his guest. It -would have been grossly rude to refuse such a kindly-meant invitation, -but I accepted it with fear. To the manners and customs of a Servian inn -I was now accustomed. The primitive building outside the monastery walls -suddenly seemed to me to be a homelike and wholly desirable -resting-place, and the monastery was a strange unknown world. The -pandur, on the other hand, was filled with joy. "This is very, very -good," he whispered to me; "they are very rich here"; and we followed -the Archimandrite over the lawn to the long low guest building on the -other side, up a wooden staircase and along a long blue-and-white -corridor, to a room at the end which he offered me. It was a beautiful -room, luxuriously furnished. I accepted it gratefully, and the pandur -whispered his admiration and enthusiasm. He was sent off at once to -fetch my bag from the inn, and the Archimandrite, who was greatly -overcome at learning that I had come on horseback from Ivanitza, begged -that I would rest myself. To-morrow, he said, I should see all, and was -at liberty to draw what I pleased. At what time would I have supper? He -added with a little smile, "I fear that to-day I cannot feed you well. -We are monks here, and it is one of our great fasts." (It was that of -SS. Peter and Paul.) He knew no word of any language but Servian, and -waited patiently while I looked up words in the dictionary. I told him I -would eat whatever they had. "But no," he said, and he shook his head; -"those of our own Church do not keep these fasts as they should. For us -monks it is our duty; but for you, who are a stranger, it is different." -His words I can give, but not the charm of his manner, nor his simple -dignity and his courtesy. His amber beads clicked as he went. - -And when he had gone there was a great silence, and I sat at the window -and stared at the little white church and at the mountain that rose up -just behind it. The world beyond was a vague, far-off recollection; part -of a previous existence. I felt that I had passed all my life in that -lonely hollow among the hills, and then wondered whether I had any right -to be there at all. But I did not wish to ever forget the scene, and in -spite of the old man's recommendation to sleep, I coiled up on the -window-sill and began a drawing. - -Time passed like a flash, and the light was rapidly dying, when I became -aware of the clink of spurs and the clicking of the amber beads, and the -Archimandrite followed by a servant and my pandur, bearing lamp and -supper, came in a little procession down the corridor. I had not -realised till then that I was to sup with the Archimandrite himself. He -was distressed that I remained standing, and spoke to the pandur, who -hurried away, and returned with a big and throne-like arm-chair. -Meanwhile Nikola the servant spread two newspapers on the table, put the -lamp in the middle and arranged the plates and dishes. Then he placed a -small cane-bottomed chair and stood attention by it. My pandur drew -himself up by the arm-chair, the Archimandrite motioned me to it -ceremoniously, murmured a blessing, and took his seat. He tucked his -large table napkin under his chin, spread the other end of it on the -table and stood his plate upon it, thus making a bridge from food to -mouth. Foolishly, I did not imitate him, but put mine on my knees. Now -the tablecloth was a product of Western civilisation, of that make -called "tapestry" in Tottenham Court Road. It was black-and-yellow, and -round the border were pyramids, palm trees, camels, Arabs and damsels--a -very secular tablecloth. It was greatly treasured by the old man, and -the centre only was protected by newspaper. He was distressed to see -that I did not know how to use a table napkin, but he was far too polite -to say so. He murmured something to Nikola, and before I had realised -the mistake I had made, Nikola returned with another newspaper, which he -put under my plate. Then the meal began. "Nikola, serve rakija," said -the Archimandrite, and Nikola filled two little glasses with slivovitz -and put them before us. "This," said the Archimandrite, "is from our own -plums," and he raised his glass and bowed gravely; I raised mine; he -clinked with it. "God give you health," he said, and drained his glass. -I drained mine, and restrained a violent desire to gasp as the spirit -went down like a red-hot poker, for it was the fieriest liqueur I had -ever met. "Nikola, serve the rakija," said the Archimandrite again, and -we repeated the ceremony. I left some at the bottom of my glass. He -pointed this out, and waited patiently. I swallowed it. "Nikola, serve -the rakija," said the Archimandrite a third time. "No, thank you," said -I timidly. "Three times is Servian," he said pleasantly. My glass was -filled. "God give you health," said I bravely; we clinked, and the -ceremony was completed. - -With a burning gullet, I began dinner. There was no sign of anything -else to drink. Bread, cheese, kaimak, onions and poached eggs were -spread before me, and a dish of haricot beans and a lettuce before him. -"You had better see what I eat," he said, with a funny little smile; -"your friends in England will wish to know how an Archimandrite in -Servia lives." - -I had my dictionary and struggled hard to follow his conversation and to -reply, but was sometimes entirely lost, for the strain after the long -day was almost more than I could stand. A very great many English, he -told me, had been to Studenitza. I was surprised. He counted upon his -fingers, and said that since 1865, including myself, there had been -eight. "Yes," he said gaily, "here we know the English very well, and -your Church is not unlike our own," Feeling quite unequal to discussing -theology in Servian, I did not rise to this remark. "At any rate," he -said cheerfully, "we both dislike the Pope." "How old are you?" asked -the Archimandrite. I told him. "And you are not married?" he said. I -agreed. "That, Gospoditza," and he bowed to me, "is very good--it is -the best"; and the pandur smiled a little smile under his moustache. -Nikola removed our plates, and appeared with three small trout on a -dish. Very excellent trout, fresh from the river, which the -Archimandrite shared with me with great relish. But he seemed anxious -and had little private housekeeping whispers with Nikola, and produced -large keys furtively from his flowing garments. The good man was certain -I had not had enough. I assured him I had had plenty; but Nikola -returned presently with a small mutton ham, off which he chipped pieces -which he offered me. Meanwhile my pandur had removed my knife, fork, and -plate. The Archimandrite remedied this by taking his own fork, wiping it -on the newspaper and presenting it to me ceremoniously. I accepted it in -the spirit in which it was offered and ate as many of the little pieces -of meat as I could manage, thereby pleasing my host a good deal more -than myself, and the meal was concluded. - -It was a dry meal. We now began to wash it down. "Nikola, serve the -wine," said his master. Nikola appeared with a bottle of red wine and -two small tumblers. The Archimandrite uttered pious wishes for my -welfare, we clinked and drank together. I perceived very shortly that -politeness did not permit him to take more while there was any left in -my glass, and hoped that he was not very thirsty. He, on his part, tried -to encourage me by saying that it was excellent wine and not at all -strong, and the latter part of the remark fortunately was perfectly -true. - -When I thought we had nearly done, Nikola again went on a mysterious -errand, and returned with two young monks to whom I was introduced. The -two younger men were more interested in the outer world than the old -one, and I had to work the dictionary hard. Then came more wine, -fortunately not much, for we all four had to clink with each other and -utter polite wishes, and this occupied time and made a little go a long -way. Obedient to the Archimandrite, we raised and emptied our glasses -simultaneously with military precision. - -Each day of my life seemed stranger than the last, and I wondered how -much longer this one was to be, for I had begun it at 4 a.m. When at -9.30 they arose and wished me good-night, I was more grateful to them -than for anything they had yet done for me. - -Towels, curtains, bed linen, all were pious offerings to the monastery. -Each was embroidered with the donor's name and a motto, and the cushions -were covered with beings who looked painfully like Cupids but were -doubtless Cherubim. But none of these interesting facts did I discover -till the next morning, when the monastery bell clanged loudly at four -o'clock and woke me up. I struggled with a desire to sleep for several -days, but as I had to see the church, draw it, and ride to Rashka, I got -up at five and went out into the corridor. All the land was hidden in a -dense white mist. The moisture clung clammily to tree and wall, and fell -heavily, plap, plap, to the ground, and I shivered in a thin cotton -shirt. Nikola appeared almost immediately with coffee and milk and -bread, and my pandur with my coat, and, by the time I had breakfasted, -the Archimandrite was waiting below to show me the church. - -The old man unlocked the door, and he, I, and the pandur went in. We -entered a narthex, a late addition to the church which spoils its -proportions, and saw before us the original west front of the building, -all of pure white marble, and the exquisite doorway--a square-headed -door surmounted by a lunette with the figure of the Virgin between two -angels in high relief, and framed with the most delicate mouldings upon -which the fanciful monsters and arabesques of Byzantine art interlace, -and the invention and execution are alike perfect. A small detached pier -standing upon the back of a grotesque beast, as in the early churches of -the North Italian towns, stood on either side of the door and supported -the projecting upper mouldings; but they have both been sadly mutilated, -for the Turks occupied the Imperial monastery (Tsarska Lavra) and -stabled their horses in its church. To do them justice, however, they -did not treat the building more cruelly than our own countrymen treated -our own cathedrals, and much of the carving is as clean cut as when -Stefan Nemanja raised it, in 1190. The Archimandrite sighed over the -mutilations, but was pleased at my delighted appreciation of his church. -We passed into the old building, through the little old narthex, into -the body of the church. This is entirely frescoed, but the paintings are -all newly restored, except those just inside the door, where great -figures of weird Byzantine ascetics, the hermit saints--Onofrio, Marcus, -Peter Antony, and Alexis--show grimly in the original fresco, and a rude -painting of the Last Supper with fragments of some other subjects still -cling to the walls. The north and south doors have also been beautiful, -but they have suffered more severely than that of the west. Of the -windows, one only is intact; the others have been adequately restored. -The present dome, a recent and very poor attempt in plaster, is to be -shortly replaced. Again the old man bewailed the destruction wrought by -the Turks. "And it is your own country that has helped them," he said -sadly, and shook his head. - -He showed me the treasures of the church, the shrine of St. Simeone -(King Stefan Nemanja) and the great silver casket, adorned with reliefs -of scenes from the saints life, presented by Alexander Karageorgevich, -in which to worthily preserve the sacred relics. He called the pandur to -assist him, and together the young soldier and the Archimandrite -unfolded with exceeding care the splendid crimson velvet covering for -it, a gift from the then reigning king (Alexander Obrenovich), destined -to cover the shrine on the saint's day. The Archimandrite looked at it -lovingly, the pandur with awe and amazement, and then they tenderly put -it away again, while I wondered over the much detested king who had -presented it, and the king who had died seven hundred years ago and had -wrought so well for his land that he is yet revered in it as a saint. In -spite of time and the Turks, the Imperial monastery still preserves many -of its old treasures, church vessels and vestments. A magnificent -crimson-and-gold one, the Archimandrite told me, undoubtedly belonged to -St. Sava, and it may have done so; but a gilt censer, also said to be -the saint's, one of the church's precious relics which he looked on with -believing eyes, betrays both by design and workmanship that it is of a -later date. There was a very old reliquary, also the property of St. -Sava, and there were three or four old manuscript books, and all he -handled with a simple pride that was pretty to see. The last cupboard -that he unlocked was perhaps the most interesting of all to me, for it -contained a mass of votive offerings, most of them personal ornaments, -splendid specimens of Turkish, Albanian, Bosnian, and Herzegovinian -work, things barbaric and beautiful, choice examples of the finest -native work, some of it undoubtedly very old. The last of the treasures -was locked up again, and we left the treasury. - -[ILLUSTRATION: CHURCH, STUDENITZA, WEST DOOR.] - -Then the pandur and the Archimandrite had a little discussion, and the -kind old man told me that the ride to Rashka was a long one, that I had -better stay until to-morrow, then I should have time to draw the church -and to rest. I was his guest, and he begged I would stay. The church -should be left open, and I might draw what I pleased. I accepted the -more gratefully as the sky threatened rain and it was damp and cold. He -instructed the pandur to bring a table and chair into the church, and -then I was left to my own devices. The time flew, and when I heard the -clink of spurs on the marble floor, and the pandur saluting said, "Are -you hungry?" I merely said "No," and went on. When, however, he -reappeared in about twenty minutes and repeated his inquiry with an -anxious face, I looked at my watch, realised I had been working for four -hours, and hastily followed him to the corridor, where the poor -Archimandrite was pacing up and down by the table, evidently wanting his -dinner badly, and much relieved by my appearance. The forms observed -were much the same as on the previous evening, and he talked of the sad -state of "our people" in Macedonia and Old Servia, and lamented that -the quarrels of great nations should cause the suffering of little ones. -"Between your country and Russia we can do nothing. You keep the Turk in -Europe." A portrait of Peter the Great hung on the wall. Here, as -everywhere else in Servia, I found Russia the Serbs' only hope of -salvation. - -I spent the afternoon drawing the monastery buildings. It was very -still, and the plash of the tiny fountain and the clink of the pandur's -spurs as he hovered about me were the only sounds. The air was heavy -with lime blossom; now and then a long-haired, black-robed monk glided -silently by, and it was all unreal and dream-like. As evening drew on I -heard the clicking of the amber beads, and the Archimandrite appeared. -"You are always doing something," he said; "you have no rest. They say -all the English are like that"; and he instructed Nikola to bring me a -glass of slivovitz and a plateful of jam. - -Nor did his kindness and courtesy ever cease, and his stately black -figure bowing farewell was the last I saw of him as I passed through the -monastery gates in the early morning and rode out into the world again -with my escort. - -This time I made good progress, for the pandur was no slug. I followed -him up a torrent bed, over stock and stone, in a pretty straight line to -the top of the mountain ridge, where we struck the high road, and after -resting the horses an hour, rode easily down into and along the valley -of the I bar. The nearer we got to the frontier the more conversational -the youth became. He pointed out the ruins of two churches burnt by the -Turks, and then cried, "See, here they are!" as a cart full of turbaned -men creaked down the road. "Turks!" he said with contempt, "all Turks!" -As a turn in the road revealed a hill at the end of the valley crowned -with a building, "There is the Turkish fortress," he said, "and the -frontier." "That is all Turkish?" I asked, pointing ahead. "It is Old -Servia" (Stara Srbija), he replied firmly. I was on the edge of the -coveted land, and the cartridges in my companion's belt were meant for -those who hold it. Rashka is a tiny village on the very edge. We pulled -up at the inn door, and the pandur went off to report me to the -authorities. They arrived almost at once, the Nachelnik and the police -captain, reinforced by the doctor, who spoke a little French, and a -friendly youth who spoke some German. I was dimly aware of questions in -three languages, blinked at them helplessly, and said that I was going -to sleep. At which they all laughed, wished me good repose, and left me. -By the time I had slept off Studenitza and the ride, the pandur had -reported that I drew, also that I had been in Montenegro. Consequently, -when I reappeared, I had a festive time over my sketch-book with the -authorities. Pictures "done by hand" were quite a new idea. - -Rashka, a tiny place, was founded in 1846. It is only the fact that it -is on the very edge that makes it a place at all. It feels itself very -important, and its talk is of Turks, and of Macedonia and of Old Servia. -That I must cross the line and be able to say that I had been in Old -Servia was taken for granted. It was discussed as seriously as though it -was a raid we were about to make. Having the permission of the police -and having reported our proposed expedition to the Nachelnik, who saw -no objection to it, the doctor and the gentleman-who-spoke-German -escorted me through a sentry-guarded gate to a wooden bridge guarded at -one end by a Servian and at the other by a Turkish soldier. We explained -that we had come to see Someone-Effendi, and were allowed to pass. On -this side the river there is nothing but a custom-house, a coffee-shop, -and a cottage or two. From the bridge the track winds to Novibazar, -which is but three hours distant, and, on the hills above, two -fortresses guard it. I could get there and back in a day, and imparted -the notion at once to my companions, who were horrified, and thought -that the chances of returning were extremely remote. The Servian -frontier regards the Turk as hopelessly untrustworthy. It has had, at -any rate, plenty of opportunity of judging. - -We waited humbly the appearance of Someone-Effendi, quite on our p's and -q's. The enemy soon appeared, rather grubby, in a tarboosh and a scrubby -European overcoat. My presence was explained. We were all very polite to -one another. I was irresistibly reminded of the meeting of two dogs who -approach each other growling from opposite sides of the road, decide not -to bite, wag stiff tails and pretend to be glad to see one another, -while their bristles stand up on their backs. Chairs were brought, we -were asked to sit down, and the inevitable black coffee appeared. Then I -was told that as I was in Turkey I must see the coffee-shop, and we -adjourned thither. - -The owner of it, a burly handsome fellow with a yellow moustache and -eyes as blue as an Anglo-Saxon's, sprawled, picturesque in -black-and-white striped costume, on the bench in the balcony. He was -friendly, and we had more coffee and some sticky sweet stuff, while he -smoked cigarettes in a holder the mouthpiece of which was a fine lump of -amber and the stem black wood and silver filigree. "He is a Turk," said -my companions. "He doesn't look like one," said I; for every Mohammedan -calls himself a "Turk," and this one was like a fair Albanian. They -repeated my remark to him, upon which he laughed and said that he did -not speak Turkish. He wore a very handsome silver chain round his neck, -and that and the cigarette-holder attracted my attention. "Those are -from Skodra," I said. He beamed. "You know Skodra!" And he vowed -gleefully that of all cities in the world Skodra was the finest, and -appealed to me to support him. My companions were incredulous, they had -never been there. The statement that I had been there twice satisfied -him, and he smiled at me frankly, for now we knew that we had the same -tastes. "You have seen the bazaar?" I nodded. "Oh, that is fine, very -fine," he said. The bazaar would indeed have been a suitable background -for him; I could imagine him cheerily filling up the gaps in his -cartridge belt, and even more cheerily fighting on the Turkish side -against all and any who should wish to force Western ideas into that and -other happy hunting grounds. - -Drinks differ in all lands, but everywhere it is correct to offer and -accept too much of them; so we drank an inordinate quantity of coffee, -said farewell to the Effendi, and were soon safely off the premises and -in our own territory. - -The captain took me a walk along the Servian frontier by the rivers -side, a rich and beautiful land ablaze with a wonderful variety of wild -flowers; only the two Turkish fortresses kept in mind the fact that the -green land across the narrow stream was one of the sorest spots in -Europe. The captain's tale of a boy who had been shot not long before by -the Turks was concluded as we came in sight of the last fort, and we -turned back. I think we went about three miles and took an hour over it; -but the captain was very warm, and all his friends agreed that the -English walked at an alarming pace. - -By request, I made a drawing. It was of the frontier, the Turkish -custom-house, and the fort-capped hill. It was supposed that it would -annoy the Turks greatly if they knew, but they didn't. "And where," I -asked, "are your forts? I have only seen Turkish ones." "Oh," was the -cheerful answer, "forts are for defence--we are only going forward!" - -Rashka was very hospitable. It gave me coffee; it gave me wine, beer, -jam, water, eggs and bacon; it entertained me to the best of its -ability. I was sorry to leave it, but time pressed. The diligence said -it would start at 5 a.m., but did not do so till 6; I hung about -waiting. It was a perfect morning; the mountains were blue on a pale -lemon sky, and the grass was hoary with dew. "What a beautiful day!" I -said to a man who was standing by the inn door. "No," he said gloomily; -"to-day is Kosovo Day. That was a bad day for us." It was June 15 -(O.S.). In the churches throughout the country there were solemn -services in memory of the defeat in 1389, and there in front of us was -Stara Srbija across the river. - -The diligence proved to be a springless cart with a basket-work top, -and as the horses were poor and the roads bad, we were eleven and a half -hours upon that road, instead of eight, as I had been promised. It was -dark when at last the crazy vehicle jogged painfully into Kraljevo. - -Kraljevo ("The Town of the Kings") did not receive me amiably. I crawled -into the hotel stiff and sore, was awaiting soup, and had just sent off -my letter of introduction, when a severe personage in black arose from a -little table at the other end of the room and made straight for me. -Striking his hand heavily on the table to compel my attention, he said -very loudly, "You have come from Rashka?" He spoke Servian, and did not -even stop to inquire if I understood it. Having a clear conscience and -an introduction to one of the leading men of the town, I returned his -stare and said "Yes." "You will leave here to-morrow morning," he -asserted. "No," said I firmly. We paused for a moment. "Have you a -passport?" he asked. "Yes," said I. "Show it me at once." "It is a very -good passport," I remarked, spreading it on the table; "it is English." -I watched with some amusement his vain and elaborate pretence of -deciphering it. Then he said, "When are you going?" "I don't know," said -I. He chose to imagine that this meant I did not understand, so he -shouted the question at me again very aggressively. As I meant him to -know that it was no use chivying the English, I said, "Perhaps Monday, -perhaps Tuesday, I do not know." "You will leave to-morrow early," he -said. I reflected that if I did not stand to my guns the next British -subject would have a bad time; so I said firmly, "I will not. I am -English, and that passport is good." He looked at it again, reflected -that, if it were good, things might become awkward, threw it down, and -left abruptly. "Good-night," said I, but he did not respond. - -Shortly afterwards the two gentlemen to whom I had been recommended came -on the scene. They were so anxious to help me in every way that I did -not betray the fact that I had already had a skirmish. But the landlord -did. Next day I learned that my aggressor was the Nachelnik -(burgomaster) himself, and that my new friends were extremely angry with -him. He was introduced to me and told by whom I was recommended. He -looked at me suspiciously, shook hands in a guarded manner, and spied -furtively at my sketch-book, which was lying open on the table. I -immediately offered it him for inspection, but it did not reassure him -at all. Greatly to my surprise, however, he volunteered to take me for a -drive in the afternoon. As I was quite used to being suspected, I only -thought the episode funny; but my two acquaintances were so much upset -about it that I was sorry they had been told. - -Kraljevo still figures on most of the maps as Karanovatz, and has only -recently been re-named. Zhitza, the monastery church where the kings of -the Nemanja line were crowned, is once again Servias coronation-place. -A melancholy monument of former greatness, it stands upon rising ground -about a mile and a half from the town, and a long straight avenue, fit -background for a royal procession, leads up to it. The church itself, -built in 1210 by St. Sava, still stands. Here he crowned his eldest -brother and announced him as Prvovenchani, the "First Crowned." Of -the monastery founded some years later by the said Stefan nothing now -exists but a few rocky masses of wall. The Turks wrecked the royal -building, the richest monastery in Servia, and left the church in ruins. - -The church is Byzantine in character, with a large cupola and two -smaller ones (all three restorations), and a round apse. It is -barrel-vaulted, and has two tiny chapels. The walls are still covered -with old frescoes, for fortunately the monastery is too poor to afford -re-decorating. It has been frescoed twice. The upper layer, which shows -strong Italian influence and might indeed be by an Italian hand, dates -from the sixteenth century--an interesting fact, as it shows that though -under Turkish rule, the monastery must then have still been fairly rich. -The lower layer, which is visible where the upper is broken away, I -believe to be contemporaneous with the church, but could get no -information at all about it. Half the building has been restored and -roofed. The other end is entirely in ruins; its tall tower only is well -preserved. - -In the side walls of the ruins are blocked-up openings. I was told they -were doors, they looked like windows. Where the blocking stones are -loose, you can see the fresco that clings to the sides and sills--fresco -of the earlier kind, showing that the openings were blocked previous to -the re-painting of the walls. One of these openings was built up at each -coronation, I was told--a curious custom that requires explanation. All -that I could learn was that the "doorways" proved the "fact," and the -"fact" accounted for the "doorways." Six kings of the old days were -crowned here, it is said. The first was Stefan Prvovenchani; who the -others were I have failed to learn. The personages of Servian history -are apt to loom large through a fog of uncertainty and to elude all -attempts at exact information. The tradition of coronation has been -revived, and Alexander Obrenovich was here crowned king. It was just a -week before the day appointed for the coronation of Edward VII. when I -stood in the roofless ruins of the hall of Servia's kings, and I felt -glad that we were at the other end of Europe when the Turks came. In the -archway under the tower are some fairly preserved frescoes, and a -crowned figure, said to be a portrait of Stefan Prvovenchani himself, -stares from the ruins of the building raised to glorify his line. The -likeness, I take it, is a purely fancy one. - -These were the last old frescoes I saw in Servia. All of them tell the -same tale, namely, that judging by the architecture, the costume, -furniture, and various articles for domestic use that appear in them, -the Servians of those days were not behind Europe in general -civilisation. My guide, a friendly young monk, knew naught of -architecture, and his ideas of history were but vague. - -As we came out of the church, up came a second monk, a young man with a -dark flat face, coal-black hair, and a strange Eastern cast of -countenance that seemed oddly familiar to me. He greeted me at once, and -began a long tale of how he had met me at Ostrog, in Montenegro, the -year before. The other monk and my Servian companion cried, naturally -astounded, "This gentleman says that he knows you!" It turned out that -he was a pupil of the monk at the chapel of Our Lady among the rocks, -by Podgoritza. "You too," said he to me, "know him"; and he spoke of him -with great affection and reverence, and accounted him holy. I was deeply -interested to find that the gentle ascetic of the Albanian frontier was -revered in Central Servia. That I, a Londoner, should be the one to -bring news of him seemed to me not a little strange. But to the black -monk there was nothing strange about it. "He said that God guided your -footsteps," said he, and he added, as an explanation to the others, "She -is the friend of the Montenegrins." After this, I had to go and take jam -and water and coffee with the Archimandrite, and tell how I had been to -the little chapel that very Easter and had received the hermit's Easter -greeting. I said good-bye to the kindly, simple-minded monastery, and I -returned to the worldly suspicions of civic life. - -The Nachelnik never appeared in the afternoon, and I determined not to -say anything about it. But when my friend and champion reappeared, he -asked me point-blank as to how the Nachelnik had behaved on the -afternoon's drive, and there was no help for it. He flew off in a rage -to attack the Nachelnik. He came back even more angry. The Nachelnik had -said that he had decided he would not be mixed up with the affair and -had then turned the tables on him and questioned him as to all I had -done in the morning. "What did she do? Where did she go? With whom did -she speak? What did she draw? Did she talk politics, and what did you -tell her?" "I told her," he said furiously, "that the Servians are fools -and that it is a waste of her time to come and see them. And she shall -stay if she wishes, and draw anything she likes!" He begged me not to -think that they were all so ignorant. The Nachelnik of Kraljevo was in -fact the only official in Servia who was unpleasant to me, and even he -succumbed more or less to a British passport. - -I left Kraljevo pleasantly enough, for the last person I saw as I -rattled out of the town was the young black monk smiling and waving his -hand. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -KRUSHEVATZ - - -Upon the eve of the day when Tsar Lazar was to go forth, says the -ballad, his wife, Militza the Empress, spoke to him, saying, "O Tsar -Lazar, thou golden crown of Servia, to-morrow thou goest to Kosovo and -with thee thy chieftains and thy followers. Not one man dost thou leave -behind thee at the castle who may carry news to thee at Kosovo and -return again to me. Thou takest with thee all my nine brethren, the nine -sons of old Yug Bogdan. O Tsar Lazar, I beseech thee, of my nine -brothers leave me one of them." - -And Tsar Lazar answered, "O Militza, my lady and my empress, which one -of thy brethren dost thou wish should remain with thee in the white -castle?" And she said, "Leave me Boshko Jugovich." And he answered, "O -my lady Militza, speak thyself to Boshko Jugovich the barjaktar -(standard-bearer), and bid him, with my blessing, yield up his standard -and remain with thee." - -[Illustration: TSAR LAZAR'S CASTLE.] - -Now when the white dawn broke and the gates of the town were thrown -open, the lady Militza went down, and she stood before the gateway, and -behold, there came the soldiers upon their horses, rank upon rank, and -at their head was Boshko the barjaktar upon a bay steed, and he -glittered with gold, and the golden fringes of the standard hung upon -his shoulders. Then the Empress Militza turned towards him, and she -seized the bay by the bridle; she stayed her brother by the gateway, and -softly she spoke to him, saying, "O my brother Boshko Jugovich! the Tsar -has given thee to me, and he gives thee his blessing. Thou shalt not go -to the fight at Kosovo. Thou shalt yield up thy banner and remain with -me at Krushevatz." But Boshko the barjaktar replied unto her, "Go thou -to the white tower, my sister. Not for all Krushevatz would I return -with thee, nor will I give up my standard, that all men may say 'Boshko -Jugovich is afear'd; he dare not go to Kosovo to shed his blood for the -cross and to die with his fellows,'" And he spurred his horse through -the gates. Then followed old Yug Bogdan and seven sons in battle array -and all in order, and they would not look upon her. Then behold! the -youngest, Vojina Jugovich, and he led the Tsar's grey war-horse, which -was decked and trapped with gold. And he too denied her, and he urged -the steed through the gateway. And when the lady Militza heard his words -she fell down upon the cold stones, and her soul fainted within her. - -And lo, there came Tsar Lazar himself, and when he saw the Empress the -tears flowed down his cheeks. He called to his faithful follower, -Goluban, saying, "Goluban, my trusty servant, alight from thy steed, -take my lady by her white hand and lead her to the tower. May God's -blessing be upon thee! Thou comest not with me to the fight at Kosovo, -for thou shalt remain with my lady here in the white castle." And when -Goluban heard these words the tears ran down his face. He alighted from -his horse, he took his lady by her white hand and he led her to the -tower. But he could not withstand the desire which burnt in his heart; -he mounted his horse and he rode to the fight at Kosovo. - -When the next day dawned, there came two black ravens from the wide -field of Kosovo, and they settled upon the white tower. And one of them -croaked, and the other cried, "Is this the tower of the mighty Lazar?" -The Empress Militza heard them, and she stepped forth from the white -castle, crying, "God save you, O ye ravens! Have ye seen the meeting of -two mighty armies?" And they answered her, saying, "God save thee, O -Empress. We have flown from Kosovo field. We have seen the meeting of -the mighty armies, and the leader of either is slain. Lo, lady, here -comes thy servant Milutin, and he sways in his saddle from right to -left; for he has seventeen wounds upon him, and his blood streams upon -his steed." And the Empress called to him, "O Milutin, why hast thou -deserted thy Tsar at Kosovo?" But Milutin answered her, "Take me from my -horse, O lady; wash me with cold water; give me red wine, for I am -sorely stricken." And she did as he begged her. And when he had come to -himself a little, she prayed of him, "O Milutin, what has come to pass -upon the field of Kosovo? Where is the glorious Tsar Lazar? Where are -old Yug Bogdan and his nine sons?" Then the serving-man began to speak. -"Lady, they all lie on the field at Kosovo by the cold waters of the -Sitnitza, and where Tsar Lazar fell there are many weapons broken, and -the Serbs lie thick around him. And old Yug Bogdan and his nine sons -fell in the front of the fight: all are dead, lady, and the last that -fell was Boshko Jugovich. Milosh is dead that slew Tsar Murad, and dead -also is Banovich Strahinja that fought knee-deep in blood. All lie dead -on the field at Kosovo; all save Yuk Brankovich, whose name be for ever -accursed. He betrayed the Emperor; upon the field of battle he betrayed -all glorious Lazar!" - - * * * * * - -On the hill in the midst of Krushevatz there stands one shattered lonely -fragment of the white castle up against the sky--all that is left of -Tsar Lazar's palace. But time has worked its revenges, and the Turkish -mosque that was built of its stones in the town below is now too but a -heap of ruins. - -The church, which dates from the days of the Great Tsar Dushan (_circa_ -1350), alone has survived the warring of the nations. Used as a powder -magazine by the Turks and all the interior decoration destroyed, the -exquisite details of its tracery still make Krushevatz worth a journey; -its delicate pierced work, round windows laced with stone, strange -monsters and wild Byzantine fancies--in a word, its barbaric -imaginativeness, struck me as more characteristic of its land and times -than anything I met with in Servia. - -[ILLUSTRATION: CHURCH, KRUSHEVATZ, SIDE WINDOW OF APSE.] - -Here as elsewhere the restorations are not skilful, but Servia should -always be deeply grateful to Alexander Karageorgevich, who with such -means as he could command saved her most interesting monuments from -complete ruin. Better an unsatisfactory roof than no roof at all. - -For a brief time, during the first reign of Michael Obrenovich, -Krushevatz was again the capital. Now it is merely an industrious and -flourishing country town, and a most friendly one. No one suspected me, -although I came with no letter of introduction, nor was I -cross-questioned about personal and political matters. - -From Krushevatz I drove to Stalacs, and at Stalacs is a railway station. -Ponies, post-waggons, carriages and mountain tracks, and the life of the -old world were all left behind, and I was soon whirled back to Belgrade, -where the pale blue youth in the police bureau welcomed me back, and -forbade the officials in search of town dues to open my bundle. And when -for the goodness--knows--how--manyeth and last time he stamped my -passport, that I might leave Belgrade altogether, he remarked -cheerfully, "And now, Gospoditza, please speak well of us. Tell all your -friends to come to Servia, and come back yourself." - - * * * * * - -POSTSCRIPT - -Recent political events make it necessary to add a few words to the -account of Servia written in 1902. That the King was not popular I was -aware before I went to Servia, but I was unprepared to find things at -such an acute stage. Through all the land I did not hear one good word -spoken of him. That he was more fool than knave was the best said of -him. For him there was nothing but contempt. What was said of Draga by -an exasperated people it is impossible to repeat. The hatred of her was -deep and bitter. As to the truth of the accusations, I have no means of -judging. I can only say that they were believed not only in Servia, but -in Montenegro, and by the Serbs of Old Servia. And everywhere I heard of -Peter Karageorgevich, so that there was no possible doubt as to who -would be the successor. I was even asked by partisans of his to write up -their cause in England. The only English tourist, I was told, who had -lately written about Servia, had done great harm by writing up the -Obrenovich. People were very bitter indeed about this, and begged me to -tell England the true state of things. That the King must go, and that -at no distant date, seemed certain. That his fate would be so terrible, -I had no idea. Nor would it have been so, I believe, but for his -headstrong obstinacy. - -His father, in spite of his many and glaring faults, never entirely lost -the affection of the army. He was of the handsome, dashing, jovial type -that wins popularity, but the unfortunate Alexander had none of his -fathers redeeming points. His short and luckless reign, which began -with an act of treachery, was a series of hopeless blunders; he had five -_coups d'etat_ and twenty-four Ministries. His fatal entanglement with -Draga Maschin was the beginning of the end. Heedless of the entreaties -of both his parents and blind towards the duty he owed his country, he -paid no attention to the prayers of friends, relatives, or statesmen, -and married her in July 1900. He never saw either his father or his -mother again, and his country never forgave him. To save a revolution, I -was told it was prepared to do so even then, in the eleventh hour, if he -would divorce Draga. The people viewed with growing dismay the elevation -of her relatives, and the rumoured scheme to make her brother heir -provoked the final outburst. The truth about what took place in the -early hours of June 11 will probably never be exactly known. Those who -took part in the tragedy were too drunk with blood and passion to give a -coherent account, and there are at least half a dozen versions. Nor does -it greatly matter. The fact remains that the mass of the Serbs desired -the removal of the King and Queen; it was effected, and many of those -who shuddered at their awful end said, "Since it is done, it is well -done." More than this, very many hailed it as a holy and righteous act, -a cleansing of the temple, a purification, a casting out of -abominations; nor could I make any of those who were of this opinion see -it from any other point of view. The King and Queen, they held, had -sinned against the laws of God and man, and were justly executed. "They -could have been tried," I said. "They could not. One or other of the -Powers would have intervened, to further its own plans." This is -probably true. "They could have been expelled," I said. "We have tried -that too often," was the grim reply; "with an expelled monarch in an -enemy's land, there is no peace. Their guilt was known. Alexander could -have abdicated any time in the last two years. He had his choice, and -preferred to remain on the throne. The Court was no better than a house -of ill-fame, and the Servians who tolerated it were a scandal to -Europe." And this they honestly believed. - -In Montenegro I found the view taken of female virtue was curiously Old -Testament. It is the pride of the Montenegrin that a woman may travel by -day or night in his land alone and in perfect safety. But Draga they -considered to have overstepped all right to protection or consideration. -"All such women ought to be shot," said the elder of a large group of -men briefly. The others agreed, and I saw by their eyes that they meant -it. Things look so different from the other end of Europe that I caught -myself reflecting that, after all, two penn'orth of cartridges would -save us many most unsavoury proceedings in the Divorce Court, and settle -matters once for all about as fairly. Only those, and they are few, who -have travelled in West Europe knew how the deed would be regarded there, -and understood the terrible nature of the step. These foretold that the -reign of King Peter would be brief and troublous. - -It is idle to speculate about the future. It is equally idle to pretend -that the events which have raised King Peter to the throne of his -grandfather can be regarded in the light of an unmixed blessing to the -nation. The crime of blood-guiltiness always has to be atoned for, and -the Serbs must work out their own salvation. Meanwhile it must not be -forgotten that they cannot fairly be judged by twentieth-century -standards. Servia has had nearly four centuries of Turkish rule. While -West Europe was advancing in humanity, civilisation, and the arts of -peace, the people of the Balkans rotted helpless under a ruler who, -whatever other good qualities he may possess, has never yet done -anything to improve the lot of the peoples under him. And should these -people sin, and sin heavily, those nations who have helped to keep the -Turk in Europe, and so to prolong their degradation and demoralisation, -are not innocent of all share in the causes of their crime, and have no -right to throw stones. - - - - -PART III - -MONTENEGRO AND OLD SERVIA - -1903 - - - "If a man be Gracious and Courteous to Strangers, - it shews he is a Citizen of the World and that his - Heart is no Island cut off from other Lands, but a - Continent that joynes them." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -KOLASHIN--ANDRIJEVITZA--BERANI--PECH - - -We are apt to speak of the Serbs of Servia as "the" Servians, and to -forget that modern Servia is a recent state mapped out arbitrarily by -the Powers, and that the truest representatives of the Great Servian -Empire are the Montenegrins, who for five centuries have fought "the foe -of their faith and freedom" and have lived for an ideal, the redemption -of the nation. It has been said that every nation gets the government -that it deserves. If so, Montenegro has deserved greatly. Instances, it -is true, have not been wanting of the Serb tendency to split into -parties, which has been so fatal to the Serb people and now threatens to -ruin modern Servia; but in the hour of need Montenegro has always found -a strong man to guide her and has had the sense to trust to his -guidance. She can point with pride to a line of Petrovich princes who, -even in the darkest and most hopeless days, have striven not only to -maintain freedom, but to train their people worthily as a nation. And -herein lies the main difference between Montenegrins and Servians. The -Montenegrins during all these years have been learning to obey, while -the Servians have learnt to oppose all forms of government. The subjects -of Prince Nikola are disciplined and self-respecting; of those of King -Peter it has been not inaptly remarked that where there are four -soldiers there are five generals. - -We have seen the Montenegrin in his towns, let us follow him into his -mountains. - -Kolashin (with a long "a") can be reached in one day of sixteen hours -from Podgoritza. It is better to make two easy ones of it and to enjoy -the way. With a very dark youth, one Boshko, and a chestnut pony, I left -Podgoritza at five one morning in June. Up we went through the wild, -rugged valley of the Moracha, where the green water hurries between huge -limestone crags, and on up, up, over loose stones, till by midday we -were in an aching wilderness of hot limestone on the crest of the hill -and were following the direction of the Mala Rjeka ("Little River"), a -tributary of the Moracha, which flows in the valley below. One tree with -an ink-black shadow cooled us for an hour. Boshko then began to discuss -our chances of shelter for the night. Ljeva Rjeka, the usual -halting-place, was bad, he said; moreover, he knew no one there. His own -home, on the other hand, was not far. It was not "very good," but -"pretty good." Would I sleep "kod nas"? (_chez nous_). I looked at -Boshko, reflected that "kod nas" would have interesting peculiarities, -and decided to risk it. - -We started off again. I had three loaves of rye bread on my saddle, and -milk, boiled and tasting strongly of wood smoke, can be got at every -cottage, so that there was no fear of starvation. Goat, sheep, and cow -milk is the staple food of the mountain people. We fell in with several -caravans, and in company with a long string of men and beasts went down -a green and fertile valley till we came to a point where the telegraph -posts which had hitherto accompanied us and bound us to the outer world -went one way and Boshko indicated another. "Our house is yonder." "Is it -far, thy house?"--"One hour and a half." "And Ljeva Rjeka?"--"One hour." -We left the caravan, the path, and the telegraph posts, forded die -stream and struck into a trackless wilderness--that is to say, that only -a native could have found the way. It was far too bad for the horse to -carry me over. On we scrambled. After an hour of it, I asked, "How far?" -"Yet one hour and a half," said Boshko cheerfully. It grew late and -chilly; there was no sign that any human being had ever been this way -before, and we were over 3000 feet up. We trudged on almost in silence -for another hour. Then again, "How far?" and again, "Josh jedan sahat i -po," said Boshko thoughtfully, looking for landmarks in the waning -light. I bore up as best I could. To the third "How far?" he replied, -"It is now but a little way." We walked another hour, and then made a -rapid descent over loose stones into a forlorn and darksome valley -fenced in by cliffs, the pony floundering badly. A white church gave -promise of habitations. "My village," said Boshko, pointing to some -scattered hovels, "Brskut." He proposed calling on the priest, "the -handsomest popa in Montenegro." I, however, would not then have turned -from my path to see the handsomest man in the world. "Kod nas" proved to -be almost the best house in the valley. - -We arrived at 7.30. I was so glad to see anything with a roof on that I -did not even shudder at the sight of it. It was a shanty of loose -stones. The family's room was reached by a wooden ladder, the cattle -shed was below it. "Mother" came out to greet us, and was at first -struck speechless by the sight of me. She reminded Boshko that they had -no beds, to which he replied airily that it was of no consequence. I -went up the ladder into pitch darkness. Someone lit a pine splinter in -the ashes of the fire and dragged up the only chair. This serves as a -sort of throne for the head of the family. It is large with widespread -arms, and has legs not more than three or four inches high, to suit the -comfort of gentlemen used to sitting cross-legged on the ground. -"Mother" most kindly took my boots off and set a huge wooden bowl of -fresh milk on my knees. People came out of dark corners, blew up the -fire, slung the caldron over it, threw on logs, and as many flocked in -to see me as the place would hold. It was a narrow slip of a room, about -twelve feet by six, with the hearthstone at one end of it, and a barrel -that served as larder. The smoke surged round the room. Father, mother, -brother, brothers-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, uncles, and friends -all shook hands with me and bade me welcome. They were all bare-legged, -and their clothes were dropping off them in rags. I was vaguely -conscious of a mass of faces haloed in wood smoke; several huge warriors -towered up to the roof; a very courteous and aged veteran, to whom the -chair probably belonged, was smoking his chibouk by my side, then I -nodded forward and should have been asleep in a minute, but they woke me -by laughing. Not only had they the excitement of seeing me, but we had -brought the latest news of the death of the King of Servia, and the -conversation was lively as they supped. Here as elsewhere, they said -the deed was "strashno" (horrible), but that it was a good thing he was -dead. But in most instances the extreme loyalty of the Montenegrins for -their own Prince caused them to express disgust for the officers who -betrayed their King while "still eating his bread." - -Supper over, we went into the next room and went to bed. They gave me a -large wooden bench against the wall. I put my cloak under me and my -waterproof over me, and a man took off his strukka, folded it, and put -it under my head. They swept the floor, spread sheets of thick felt, -stripped the children and rolled them in pieces of blanket, took the -cartridges out of their various weapons; I heard a murmured prayer, they -lay down in rows on the floor, and the whole twelve of us were very soon -asleep. I don't think I stirred till I was wakened by the family getting -up, and found the owner of the strukka waiting to take it from under my -head. I woke to a horrified consciousness that I had not wound up my -watch. But it was still ticking, and said 3.30 a.m. I slept sweetly till -six, then washed my hands and face in the stream in Montenegrin style, -and returned to have breakfast with Boshko, who, in elegant -_deshabille_, was loading his revolver on the doorstep. His mother had -captured and washed his only shirt and was now drying it at the fire, so -that the upper part of his person was in a very airy condition. We -breakfasted amicably out of the same bowl, and "Mother" boiled me a -glassful of sugar and milk so sweet that I could hardly swallow it. But -I had to, for it was meant for a great treat. Boshko was so pleased with -his home comforts that he proposed we should stay "kod nas" for several -days, and I had some difficulty in tearing him away. - -It was half-past seven before he got into his shirt and saddled the -pony. "Mother" kissed me when I left, and refused at first to take any -payment, as she said I was a friend of Boshko. Poor thing, she had done -all she could for me, and had even given me the last of their precious -sugar. When the money was really in her hand, her joy was great, and she -thanked me over and over again. We started in pouring rain. "You had -better not mount," said Boshko cheerfully, and made straight for what -looked like an inaccessible cliff. The path was the worst I have ever -tried. We crawled up an awful zigzag. It was as much as he could do to -urge the pony up it; twice it was near rolling over, for the streaming -rain made the foothold precarious. Then I slipped over the edge, and -Boshko was badly scared, but when I stuck on a bush and crawled up -again, he proposed that we should add four hours to our journey by going -to see a very beautiful lake which he vaguely said was "over there." I -refused; we scrambled up about 1000 feet, and found ourselves safely on -the top. We were soon over the pass and descending the other side into a -magnificent wooded valley through dripping grass. The pony sat down and -slid, and at the bottom we struck the proper track again. Boshko took -stock of the heavens, foretold speedy sunshine, and suggested taking -shelter meanwhile at the nearest house. He was a casual young thing, -with no idea of either time or distance, and loved exhibiting me. - -We were warmly welcomed in a big wooden chalet, and passed an hour with -the most delightful people. The teacher, the captain (a beauty), the -priest, and some dozen friends sat in a ring round the heap of logs that -blazed in the centre. They made room, and insisted on boiling milk for -me and roasting an egg in the wood ashes, because I had come so far to -see them. "Where is King Peter?" was the topic of the day. His election -was not generally expected in Montenegro. Most folk I met thought the -Serbs would proclaim a republic. I never could resist laughing at the -idea of a Servian republic, and was snapped at rather fiercely for doing -so one day. "Why do you laugh? It is not a joke." "I laugh because -everyone in Servia will wish to be President. That will be a joke." -There was a solemn silence. Then someone, with a twinkle in his eye, -said, "There is no doubt she _has_ been in Servia!" But nobody liked the -remark. The Montenegrin is hurt if things Servian are criticised by an -outsider. The Servian, on the other hand, usually tries to glorify -himself at the expense of his relations, and speaks of the Montenegrins -as a savage tribe. In this he errs fatally. - -A youth in an exceedingly bad temper came in, sat down and explained his -wrongs--an affair of florins--at the top of a most powerful voice. The -roof rang with his wrath. The company took it most stolidly, blew clouds -of smoke, and let him finish. An elder then argued the matter through to -him. All nodded approval. This annoyed him, and he fairly bellowed. -Someone pointed him out to me with a smile, drew one from me, and cried -out at once, "The Gospoditza is laughing at you!" which had the effect -of stopping him suddenly. Then the girl who was sitting next me gave me -a little poke, and looking up, said with a pleasant smile, "He is my -husband; he is always like that!" and she seemed as much amused as -everyone else. Nor did she display any emotion when he strode out still -bubbling. - -The rest of the journey along the beautiful valley of the Tara was easy -and uneventful, and we reached Kolashin early in the evening. Kolashin -is tiny, primitive, and most kindly. Rich grass meadows surround it; -wooded hills, thick with fir and beech, ring it round, and over them -tower the rugged blue peaks of the mountains; a new Switzerland waiting -to be explored. Timber is cheap, the houses are I wood-roofed with -shingles which bleach to a warm silver-grey, and the upper storeys of -such houses as possess them are mainly of wood. We pulled up at the door -of a small drink-shop. Boshko, in great form and very important, -explained me volubly to all inquirers. We went upstairs into a big -guest-room; Montenegrin, inasmuch as it contained bedsteads and rifles -and a long divan; Western, for it had a table and several chairs; -altogether sumptuous and luxurious as compared with "kod nas." To Boshko -it was a sort of Cecil or Savoy. Mine host, ragged and excited, his -wife, a dark lean woman with anxious eyes, a girl from next door who was -always referred to as "the djevojka" (maiden), and Ljubitza, the -thirteen-year-old daughter and maid-of-all-work, flocked in with rakija -and suggestions. The telegraphist and another man, who were regular -boarders, came to help. Then the djevojka came straight to the point. -"Which bed shall you sleep in?" she asked. I had been wondering this -myself, for it is undoubtedly easier to be Montenegrin by day than by -night. The telegraphist, one of the goodliest of Montenegro's many -handsome sons, came to my rescue. "She is a stranger and does not know -us," he said; "perhaps she will wish to sleep alone." To the surprise of -the rest of the company, I rose at once to this suggestion. "You are -just like the Italian Vice-Consul at Skodra," they cried. "He came here -once for ten days' shooting, and he had a room alone all the time!" -There was luckily a second apartment, and I was soon installed in great -state, and all the company too. My letter of introduction to the Serdar -produced a profound impression. The simple-minded folk seeing that the -envelope was open, thought it public property, and read it joyfully -aloud. It was couched in complimentary terms. "What a beautiful letter!" -they cried, and as the room was pretty full, I was thus favourably -introduced wholesale. As for the jovial Serdar, nothing could exceed his -kindness. He and the doctor, much-travelled men, asked me as to my -journey and where I had slept _en route._ "Brskut" overpowered them, for -they knew the sort of life to which I was accustomed. After Brskut, it -did not matter where I went. "Lives in London and has slept at Brskut -'kod nas'! You are a Montenegrin now," cried the Serdar, and he and the -doctor roared with laughter. But another man, who knew only Montenegro, -could not see where the joke came in. - -Kolashin, as I have said, is primitive, but that it should be civilised -at all is greatly to its credit. Thirty years ago this out-of-the-way -corner was under Turkish rule and as wild as is Albania to-day, for the -whole energy of the people was devoted to wresting the land back from -the Turk. Three times did they take Kolashin, three times were they -forced to yield it again to superior numbers. The grim persistency of -the men of the Kolashin district succeeded, and since 1877 Kolashin has -become the fourth in importance of Montenegrin towns. Cut off from the -world by the lack of a road, snowed up for nearly four months of the -year, its resources are at present unworked and unworkable, but its -magnificent forests and its fine pasture should spell money in the -future. Montenegro has been blamed for not opening up more speedily her -newly acquired lands. It is possible that the delay is by no means an -evil, for it has saved the people from being overwhelmed by a mass of -Western ideas for which their minds are as yet unready; ideas which, ill -assimilated and misunderstood, and forced with a rush upon Servia, have -worked disastrously in that unhappy land. The men of Kolashin are huge -and extremely strong, and are good hewers of stone, road-makers, and -builders, when shown how to set to work. With their splendid physique, -they require a good deal of labour to work off their steam and keep them -out of mischief. Inter-tribal blood-feuds are not yet quite extinct, but -the rule of the present Serdar is fast putting a stop to them; the place -is growing under his hands, and the people look up to him as to a -father. - -The Serdar took me to the "weapon show" of the district. The battalion, -500 strong, was drawn up in a meadow outside the town, three companies -of stalwart fellows, each company with its barjak (colours), a white -flag with a red cross. A row of hoary old war-dogs had come out to sun -themselves and see what sort of a show the younger generation made; -grand old boys--long, lean, sinewy, with white hair and bright deep-set -eyes, their old war medals on the breasts of their ragged coats; some of -them arrayed martially for the occasion with silver-mounted handjars, or -flintlocks, thrust in their sashes. And about the Serdar's popularity -with young and old there was no mistake. He introduced me to the old -soldiers. The Montenegrins' pride in the veterans who have helped to -redeem the land is very touching. "Look at him," they say, pointing to -an old, old man who is sitting almost helpless at his door. "He is a -'veliki junak' (great hero); he fought," etc. etc. To be thought -"veliki junak" is every man's ambition. "Junashtvo" (heroism) fills a -large place in the mind of the Montenegrin, who is brought up on tales -of the cool daring and extraordinary pluck of his forebears. "Be a brave -boy, like Milosh Obilich," I heard a mother say to her little boy who -was crying; nor can I easily forget the mighty youth, clean-limbed, -clear-eyed, and the pink of courtesy, who told me with great earnestness -that he wished to be "a hero like Hayduk Veljko!" - -Every man is a soldier. The "weapon show" takes place ten times a year, -either on a Sunday or a saint's day. Marching and formal drill are -hateful to the mountaineers, but they love their guns like their -children, and it is the pride and joy of every man that he is always -ready to fight for his country. The Serdar's five hundred were, so he -told me, all splendid shots. As we were leaving, one of the veterans -came forward and said that they thanked me for coming so far to see -them, and thought I was "very brave." "Very brave" is what the -Montenegrin likes best to be considered, so it was the poor old boys -prettiest idea of a compliment. - -Every thing at Kolashin was kind to me but the weather. I was -storm-bound for many days, and riding over the mountains was impossible. -I resigned myself till the clouds chose to lift, and tried to see Europe -through the eyes of Kolashin; and learnt much of the earth and the -bareness thereof; and how little it requires to make life worth living, -provided there are no Turks about; and of people who live looking death -in the face on bloody frontiers; and of simple, honest souls who have -lived all their lives among these mountains, who burn with a patriotism -that only death can destroy, men the guiding star of whose existence is -the Great Servian Idea, who would lay down their lives cheerfully any -day to help its realisation. The nearer you come to the frontier, the -more do you feel the ache of the old wound. "Old Servia" lies but a few -miles away crying to be saved, and such is the force of environment that -you find yourself one day filled with a desire to sit behind rocks and -shoot Turks for the redemption of that hapless land. - -My companions all regarded Kolashin as a great centre of business and -civilisation, for they had come from far wilder parts. My hostess was -born at Gusinje, the stronghold of one of the fiercest Arnaout tribes. -"It is a beautiful town," she says, "larger even than Kolashin; but you -cannot go there; they will shoot you." She and her friends spent a happy -hour turning out the meagre contents of my saddle-bags, pricing all the -articles, and trying some on. That none of my clothes were woven at -home amazed them, "all made in a fabrik," they could scarce credit it. -It seemed too good to be true. What with spinning, weaving, and making, -they said they had hardly time to make a new garment before the old was -worn out. More and more women came to see the show, and their naive -remarks threw a strange light upon their lives. - -The family's hut was a windowless, chimneyless, wooden shanty, devoid of -all furniture save a few lumps of wood and a bench, and the rafters were -black and shiny with smoke. Plenty of light came in, though there was no -window, for no two planks met. A Singers sewing-machine, which sat on -the floor, looked a forlorn and hopeless anachronism, for all else -belonged to the twelfth century at latest. Certainly the huge and -shapeless meals did--the lumps of flesh, the lamb seethed whole in a -pot, and the flat brown loaves of rye bread. A Montenegrin can go for a -surprising time without food, can live on very little, but when food is -plentiful his appetite is colossal. These worthy people used to serve me -with enough food for a week. Because I could not clear it all up, -Ljubitza used to run in at odd intervals with lumps of bread, bowls of -milk, glasses of sliva, onions, and other delicacies, to tempt my -appetite. My window gave on the balcony, so there was room for many -people to look in, see me eat and urge me to further efforts. When they -assembled also to see my toilet operations, about which the ladies were -very curious, I had to nail up my waterproof by way of protection. -Whereupon a baffled female opened the window. The establishment -possessed one tin basin, which I shared with the gentlemen in the next -room. I captured it over night and handed it out to them in the morning -on the balcony, where they took it in turns to squat while Ljubitza -poured water over their hands and heads and they scrubbed their faces. -It is not the thing to wash in your room in Montenegro, and my hostess -thought me very peculiar upon this point. And in spite of the -"lick-and-a-promise" system, folk always looked clean. - -On market day the inn was crammed. Supper in the big room went on till -ten o'clock. Ljubitza hung around the door of my room and suggested that -there were two beds in it, did I still prefer sleeping alone? I said -very firmly that I did, whereupon her mother came and threw out sketchy -suggestions of a similar nature. For in these parts no one ever thinks -of undressing to go to bed, and it never occurs to anyone that you could -wish to do so. The "guest-room" is made to contain as many as it will; -mattresses are spread on the floor and coverlets supplied; nor did the -regular boarders seem to have the least objection to sharing their room -with ten or twelve strangers. But there are no "strangers" in -Montenegro. You ask a man all his private affairs to begin with, address -him as "my brother," and call him by his Christian name. Nor in spite of -the overcrowding are the rooms ever stuffy, for all the windows, and -possibly the door too, are left open. Not even the tiny cottages are -close. At Cetinje one day I met two excited Frenchmen who had just been -over the barracks, and their astonishment was so great that they -imparted it to me. "Figure to yourself," they said, "two hundred men -slept in there last night and the air is as fresh as upon the mountain! -But it is astonishing! Parole d'honneur, if you but put your nose into -one of our casernes, you are asphyxiated, positively asphyxiated!" And -I, who am acquainted with the rich, gamey odour of the French "Tommy," -had no difficulty in believing it. - -Life up at Kolashin is mainly a struggle to get enough to eat and a roof -overhead. In the lamb season meat is cheap and plentiful. Corn comes -chiefly from the lower plains, and there is often lack of bread; in the -winter folk fare very hardly. Even in fat times milk and maize-flour -boiled in olive oil form the staple food of the peasantry. Nature is -quite unthwarted by Science; only the very fit survive, and those have -iron constitutions. - - -A good deal has been written about the very inferior position of women -in Montenegro. Some writers have even gone as far as saying that the -Montenegrins despise their wives, apologise for mentioning their -existence, and do not allow them to appear in company at all. My own -experience does not bear out these reports, which possibly originate in -the fact that most books on the Serb people have been written by men, -and that centuries of experience of the Turk and his methods have -implanted a deep distrust of every foreign man in the heart of the wild -Montenegrin, both man and woman. Men I had never seen before used to say -to me, "Good-night. Sleep safely, I shall be near," and I regarded it -only as a formula until one night it was varied by "Good-night. Lock -your door to-night. There is an Italian in the house!" But their belief -in each other seemed to be great. The women were always telling me what -wonderful men their husbands were, and the men were equally -complimentary about their wives. They laid great stress on the part -which the women had played in Montenegro's struggle for freedom, saying -that the Montenegrins were fine soldiers because not only their fathers -but their mothers were heroes. The conditions of life have been such -that until twenty-five years ago defending his home and his flocks took -up almost the man's whole time. All other work fell naturally to the -women. The work is certainly very heavy, but so it was and is in every -country where there is no labour-saving machinery. The women themselves -do not appear to regard it as at all unfair. At any rate, they -constantly advised me strongly to settle in the country and do as they -did. It is very usual for many members of the same family to live -together. The real thorn in the side of a Montenegrin woman, then, is a -sister-in-law who does not do her full share of the work. "Is your -sister-in-law good?" was a stock question. "Very good." The fervour of -the immediate reply, "Thank God. How fortunate!" was most enlightening. - -Kolashin was hospitable, and pressed me to stay indefinitely. Boshko, -gorged with lamb, was in great glory and in no hurry to go. But one day -the clouds lifted, the mountain tops showed clear, and I issued marching -orders. Armed with two letters of introduction to Voyvode Lakich, the -head man of Andrijevitza, we started in the grey of the morning in the -company of a ragged Mohammedan Albanian and a young Mohammedan tradesman -from Podgoritza, a great swell, who Boshko assured me was one of his -dearest friends. He rode a showy white pony and gave himself airs. -Boshko admired him hugely, and referred to him always as the Turchin. -Boshko had a great faculty for hero worship, and recommended several of -the objects of his admiration to me as likely to make suitable husbands. -All being ready for a start, the inevitable rakija appeared, and I had -to drink stirrup-cups with the friends I was leaving. I thought two -sufficient. "You must take the third," said one of the regular boarders, -"for the Holy Trinity." "She does not know about the Trinity," said -someone hastily in an undertone; "they do not have the Trinity in her -land." The surprise and delight of the company on learning that we did -was great. We all swallowed a third glass with enthusiasm, and I said -adieu. Alat, my chestnut, was very cheerful after his long rest, but the -steep path soon tamed him. We went up a thousand rugged feet quickly, -Alat hurrying after the Turchin, who sang, shouted, and rode recklessly. -Boshko panted behind. We drew rein at the top of the ridge and awaited -him. The ragged man kept up with never a sob. Below, around, above, lay -wild and wooded mountains and bare peaks. "Which way?" said the Turchin. -"Knowest thou, O Boshko?" "Not I, so God slay me!" was his cheerful -answer; "I thought that thou knewest!" "By the one God, not I." "This -way or that, as there is a God above me, I know not." And so on and so -on. The Turchin, a reckless, feckless young thing, burst out laughing, -dug a spur into his pony and swung him round, whipped out his revolver, -fired it over my head out of pure light-headedness, and saying, "We will -go this way; God grant it does not lead to the frontier," plunged into -a wood on the left. "God grant it doesn't," said Boshko fervently, for -he had a mighty respect for frontiers. - -The track was mud and loose rock. We dismounted and filed through the -wood, winding higher and higher up the mountain side. From time to time -all three men halloed to herdsmen above and below us, to learn if we -were on the right track. Some said we were and some that we were not. -The Turchin said it was less trouble to go on than to go back, but that -we should probably arrive at Berani of the Turks, and then "God help -us," which terrified Boshko. The ragged man observed the peaks carefully -and said he thought he knew. Then down came a driving, drenching mist -and hid everything. The Turchin shivered and got into a greatcoat. I -struggled, streaming, over slippery stones, and the loose ones bounded -down the mountain side. At last we came to a wide level where the track -branched, the fog lifted, and the ragged man was certain of the way. The -rain was bitterly chill, snow lay in patches on the ground, and the -aneroid registered 5200 feet. Above us rose the bare peak of Bach. We -were on good turf, could mount again, and Alat was as tame as a snail. -The ragged man steered us cleverly across country, and the sun came out. -We put up at a bunch of incredibly wretched huts, mere lean-to's of -planks, so low that one could only stand upright in the middle. The -people, who were in rags that barely held together, brought us milk in a -wooden bowl, out of which we all three ate with wooden ladles. For the -Turchin, being Albanian, had no scruples about feeding with -unbelievers. A very aged woman, ninety years old, crouched by the fire, -which was stirred up to dry my wet clothes. When I wished to pay on -leaving, the master of the house flared up. He was a -magnificent-looking fellow, who bore himself right kingly in spite of -his rags. "I am a soldier," he said; "nothing is sold in my house." I -had to leave with thanks and handshakes, for they would take nothing at -all, and I felt ashamed of having eaten their food, they were so poor. -We tracked down to Andrijevitza, which we reached about four in the -afternoon. The scenery when the mist rose was grand. Great snow peaks -above and flowery grassy slopes below, with all the wild charm of an -undiscovered country upon them. - -Andrijevitza is a tiny, tiny place (2200 feet above the sea), nestled in -a valley on the banks of the Lim, which hurries down from the lands of -Plava and Gusinje, and is here joined by a little tributary. I put up at -the bakers shop, a funny little house built on a slope. It accommodated -a cow in the basement and fowls in the roof. These began to scrattle and -peck about four in the morning, you woke with the feeling that they were -raking for corn in your head, and the baker's wife, who kindly let me -share her bedroom and saved me from the general guest-room, used to -hammer on the ceiling with my umbrella by way of quieting them. Life at -Andrijevitza is somewhat rough, but I fared exceedingly well; for the -kindness, courtesy, and hospitality of everyone more than made up for -the barbaric simplicity of all domestic arrangements. Nor did it ever -occur to anyone that I was not living in the lap of luxury, for I had -every comfort that money can buy--in Andrijevitza. Compared with -Andrijevitza, Kolashin is large and wealthy. Andrijevitza is poor, -proud, honest and self-respecting--and it has a right to be proud, for -it is the very last outpost of civilisation in that direction. The -border and the Turk are but four miles away, the men of Andrijevitza are -fighting frontiersmen, and their head is that "veliki junak," Voyvode -Lakich. - -Voyvode Lakich--the eagle-eyed, grey-headed warrior, the beloved of his -people, a terror to the Turks--is a type of all that is fine in Old -Montenegro. One of a long line of fighting men, his honest eyes, his -hearty laugh, and the simple dignity of his bearing command entire trust -at first sight, and the respect with which he is regarded tell that he -is a born leader of men, a Duke (dux) in the old sense of the word. His -courtly old wife called on me at once with her daughter-in-law, and -proceeded to welcome me in the orthodox style with glasses of rakija. -Poor old lady, she was really no more addicted to raw spirits than I am, -and gasped between each glass; but in spite of my efforts the proper -forms had to be observed, and we duly swallowed the three glasses -required by Christianity and the laws of hospitality. She marvelled -greatly over my journey, for she herself had never left the -neighbourhood. Her nephew, she said, was a great traveller; "he had been -to Nikshitje, Podgoritza, and Cetinje." She was the great lady of the -land and much respected, but has lived a life of toil and poverty and -danger compared with which the life of our own "working classes" is one -of pampered luxury. I do not think that there is anyone in Montenegro -whose soul is imperilled by great possessions. When I had once left -Podgoritza, and the world, behind me, my two small saddle-bags were -regarded as an inordinate amount of luggage. "You have quite enough -clothes on. What can you need these for? Leave them here, and call for -them on the way back." No one travels with more than can be tied up in a -pocket-handkerchief, and what that minimum consists of I have never -rightly fathomed. - -Life at Andrijevitza is earnest; it is either quiet to dulness, or it is -filled with very grim realities. For the Albanians across the border are -an ever-present danger. The Powers of Europe, represented by many worthy -gentlemen, met at Berlin in 1878, and together they swept and raked the -Turkish Empire and bedded it out into states. Now, it is no light task -to plant out nationalities about which you know little, in a land about -which you possibly know less. Nor was the welfare of the said -nationalities quite the only thing that absorbed the Council's -attention. It is therefore not very surprising that the nationalities -most concerned were not best pleased with the results. The nearest -brothers of Montenegro are in Old Servia, but the uniting of the Serb -peoples did not fall in with Austria's aspirations. Montenegro cried for -bread and her brothers; she was given, largely, stones and Albanians. -Gusinje and Plava were included in Montenegrin boundaries, and trouble -began at once. Order was only restored by substituting Dulcigno for this -robbers' nest. Gusinje and Plava were left to the Albanians, but the -corrected frontier was not delimited for some time, was the source of -much fighting, and to this day is not strictly observed. As someone -picturesquely observed, "it floats"--mainly on blood. And the -representations made on the subject to Constantinople by the -Montenegrins have not been more successful than any other -representations made in that quarter unbacked by ironclads. At -Andrijevitza not only the Crimea but the Treaty of Berlin are writ up -very large against us. And the apathy of England towards the suffering -of the Balkan Christians is a bitter thing to all the Serb peoples. Down -on a frontier with the enemy almost in sight, the feeling becomes -intense. "Your people have been our enemies," said someone, "and you -know it, but you have come alone all the way here among us. When you go -home, you must tell the truth about us. It is all we ask of you." For -that England can be really aware of what life under the Turk has meant -for the Balkan people, none who have lived that life,' can credit. - -The peasants and flocks had not yet gone to the upper pastures for the -summer, and until they are there, travelling on the border heights is -dangerous for solitary wanderers, owing to constant Albanian incursions. -The murder of a Montenegrin herd-boy last year gave rise to a good deal -of fighting, and at Mokra, on the very edge, things were still "not -good." - -Owing to the farce of Austro-Russian reform, and other reasons, Gusinje -was apparently just then in a supersensitive frame of mind. I gave up -Gusinje reluctantly, and planned to see Berani on a market day. The -valiant Boshko was reluctant. "We must go without a revolver," he said, -"and I do not know the road." "We go freely to market," said I. "O -Boshko, thou art afraid." "I am not afraid," said Boshko indignantly, -"but I dare not." So I consented to his engaging a second man, and -relieved his mind. When the moment for departure came, he divested -himself mournfully of his beloved six-shooter, hung it on a nail next my -spare skirt, and looked ridiculously nude and ashamed. - -We rode with a long string of pack-beasts on a good track down the -valley of the Lim. Before we had been going an hour, grey clouds swept -down upon us and rain began; but everyone vowed it would be fine, and I -foolishly pushed on. A guard of dirty Nizams cowered at the entrance of -a loopholed shanty, and a Turkish "kula" (blockhouse) was perched on the -hill on either side of the valley. The telegraph wire, which had -hitherto run trim and straight between upright and regular poles, now -drooped in limp festoons from one crooked "clothes-prop" to another. We -were in Turkey. No place looks really jolly in the rain, but in many -lands rain means new life, hope, and plenty. In Turkey it is grey -desolation; the untilled land, the wretched Christian peasantry, the -squalid huts, sodden and soaked, seem all rotting together in a land -whereon the sun will never shine again. We splashed on. No one took any -notice of us, for we were going to market. The Turkish blockhouses, -"half an hour apart" along the frontier, were left behind us. We slopped -past a yellow guard-house and more gaunt Nizams and rode into Berani, a -small town of, for the most part, crooked houses of timber and mud, a -wide main street, a large market-place, two wooden mosques, and a -fortress. - -The inn, kept by a Serb, was far better than the look of the place led -one to expect. The man was from Ipek and his wife from Novibazar, and -they welcomed me warmly, A visit from a foreign Christian was an unusual -event, and the question was what course it would be most diplomatic to -pursue with regard to the authorities. I was begged not to seek them, -but to leave them to hunt me, if they thought fit. A Czech who had come -about a fortnight ago had gone straight to the Kaimmakam, had been -promptly ordered back across the frontier, and a guard had been set to -watch the inn and see that he did not leave it except to return whence -he came. Mine host hoped I would not bring the police upon him. "But I -have a letter and a passport," I said; for, with the blood of the -dominant race in me, the idea of sneaking in corners from the Ottoman -eye was most unpleasing. To the Christian subjects of the Ottoman it -seemed the only natural and sensible way of acting. "What is a letter or -a passport?" they cried; "here you are with the Turks." There was a -marked unwillingness on the part of everyone to take me to the -Kaimmakam, and the Czechs plan had failed, so I decided, by way of -experiment, to see Berani before I was hunted out of it. Meanwhile they -pointed out the great man to me through the wooden grating that covered -the window. He went into his official residence, and it was suggested -that we should now go out. It was interesting to see how entirely -suitable this furtive way of setting about things was considered. - -The rain had ceased, and the market was crowded with Montenegrins and -the Serb peasants of the neighbourhood. In this part of the country the -peasantry is all Serb and Christian. The Mohammedans are the army of -occupation that holds the land, the Nizams, Zaptiehs (police), and -officials, and a certain amount of tradesfolk in the town. These latter -are in many cases the descendants of Mohammedanised Serbs, as is also -the Kaimmakam himself. The most remarkable fact about Berani is that the -Montenegrin national cap is on sale in the main street. That this is -permitted is astonishing, for it does not take one long to see that the -Christian population is heart and soul with the Prince. In the course of -the last war Berani was taken several times and was held by the -Montenegrins. The people's hopes ran high. "But," they say, "it lies in -good land, so the Council of Berlin gave it back to the Turks. See the -fine meadows and the fields that should be ours! And but little grows in -them, for they gave it back to those devils." - -Down came the rain like a fusillade, and I spent a cold, damp afternoon -in the public room of the inn. A man who said he was German was waiting -to interview me. He was a watchmaker by trade. He started at once on the -death of King Alexander. Which of the Powers did I think had brought -this about? Did I think it would affect the future of Old Servia? He was -so anxious to know my opinion on the subject that I had none. "Servia" -was the only word that the Serbs at the next table could understand, and -it made them nervous. They ordered drinks and got me into their circle -as soon as possible, asking, "What have you told him? He is a dirty -German. He will denounce you to the authorities." They were a frank, -hospitable, kindly set, of whom I afterwards saw much. I did my best to -convince them that the manner of Alexander's death was worse than a -crime--for it was a blunder; but though we remained very good friends, I -never succeeded. - -I went to Berani on purpose to see Giurgovi "Stupovi, the monastery -church of St. George; for in Turkey you should always have a harmless -and suitable reason for travelling, and I watched the rain dismally. It -looked like the Deluge, and forty days of it would have settled the -Eastern Question as far as the Turk is concerned. Monastery hunting was -out of the question. I went upstairs, sat cross-legged on a divan to -warm myself, and nursed the cat for the same purpose. My hostess did her -best to entertain me and called in any number of her friends, and I -began to make the acquaintance of the women of Old Servia, of whom I was -to learn more later. These women came to see me whenever they had the -chance; I was a stranger and quite a new sight, and no matter what I was -doing or how tired I might be, they questioned me with pitiless -persistency. Such interviews on the top of a long day's ride are -wearisome to the last degree, but in travelling in these lands there is -only one road to success, and that is, never to lose patience with the -people under any circumstances. They were extremely ignorant; England -conveyed no idea to them. Beyond their own immediate surroundings they -knew nothing at all, and their mental horizon was bounded by Turks. I -asked no questions, and let the information dribble out unaided. -Omitting a mass of childish and personal questions, the conversation was -always more or less on this pattern:-- - -"Hast thou a father?" - -"No." - -"Did the Turks kill him?" - -"No." This caused surprise. - -"Hast thou brothers?" - -"Yes." - -"Glory be to God! How many Turks have they killed?" for my male -relatives were always credited with a martial ardour which they are far -from possessing. The news that they had killed none caused -disappointment. Then-- - -"Is thy vilayet (province) far off?" - -"Very far." - -"Five days?" - -"More." - -"God help thee! Are there many Turks in thy vilayet?" - -"None." - -"No Turks? Dear God, it is a marvel!" And so on and so on. Attempts to -start a new topic brought back the old one. "What a pretty child!" -elicited only "He has no father. The Turks killed him." And all these -things are trivial details; but "little straws show which way the wind -blows," and their dull "everydayness" is more eloquent of helpless -suffering than are columns of disputed atrocities. And through it all -these people cling with a doglike fidelity to their Church and the -belief that the God of their fathers will one day give them back the -land which should be theirs. I remember few grimmer things than these -wretched women and their Turk-haunted lives. - -Tired out, damp and chilled right through, I shrank from facing the -ceaseless downpour, and to the great relief of my two men, stayed the -night at Berani. The trouser-legged landlady made me a very respectable -bed in a room with a lock on the door. Supper--which was always on the -point of coming, but did not arrive till ten o'clock--consisted of a -great chunk of flesh in a large tin dish full of funny stuff. The lady -tore the shoulder-blade off with her fingers and offered it me to begin -on. It was a failure as a meal. I dismissed the whole company, to their -infinite regret, locked the door, ate all my "siege ration" of -chocolate, went to bed, and slept like a log. In the middle of the night -a violent attempt to open the door woke me. I was too tired to worry at -first. Then I cried, "What is it?" No answer and stillness. It was pitch -dark, and there were no matches. In a little while the attempt began -again. Then I recognised that the sound was inside the room, and grasped -the situation. The cat I had been nursing was shut up inside the room, -and her two kittens were squealing outside. She was making wild efforts -to get to them. I let her out, and saw by a flickering lamp that the -rain was streaming through the roof and the whole landing was a lake. -Next morning my landlady said the cats had frightened her very much in -the night. Midnight noises were more alarming to her than to me, and -probably for very good reason. - -It was still drizzling when I left Berani early for the monastery, which -is but a little way outside the town. The church is celebrated as being -the oldest in the Balkan peninsula. It was built by Stefan Nemanja, the -first of that line of Nemanja kings who led Servia to glory. He ruled -from the middle of the twelfth century, abdicated a few years before -his death (which took place in 1195?), and retired to Mount Athos. He -was canonised, and as St. Simeone is still greatly revered. The old -monastery was burnt by the Turks, but the church, wrecked of all -decoration and robbed of its treasure, still stands. It is a long, -barrel-vaulted building, with an apse at one end and a narthex at the -other. The masonry is rough, coarse, and irregular. A Roman gravestone -is built into the wall upside down near the side door. Inside no trace -of wall painting remains, but one piece of an inscription in which -Stefan's name appears. All is forlorn and melancholy. A large assembly -of folk were there to welcome me, and we had to retire to the monastery -and partake of rakija. The most interesting figures were the head of the -monastery and a wild-eyed priest, whose long grey locks were twisted up -under his cap. He wore striped Albanian leg-gear and had a revolver -thrust in his sash, though Christians are forbidden to carry weapons in -Turkey. He rode off on a pony, and had presumably leaked in over the -frontier and evaded the authorities; but I thought it would be useless -to ask questions on such a delicate subject. We returned to Andrijevitza -by another road, thus avoiding Berani and the guard at its entrance, -which seemed to me a very unnecessary precaution, but pleased my guides -extremely. - -At Andrijevitza I found the Czech of whom I had heard at Berani, a -Professor of botany who was making a detailed study of the flora of -Montenegro, a good-natured, jolly man, who was a good friend to me, and -to whom I am indebted for several interesting pieces of information. -Commenting on the number of vipers which are to be met with on the -hillsides, he told me that the people all still believe in the existence -of serpents of enormous size, fabulous dragons in fact. A man once told -him that he had seen one, 20 metres long, and swore "By God, I saw it -with these eyes." Nothing would convince him that his eyes had deceived -him, and his comrades firmly believed the tale. They have many medicinal -herbs, the secret of which they jealously guard. One plant in particular -they consider an infallible cure for snake-bite, but he never succeeded -in inducing them to show it him. It would lose its power, they said, if -they told. Cats all know it, and go off and eat it if bitten. - -The Montenegrin flora, which includes many plants peculiar to the -district, had never been completely worked before, and beyond the -frontier was quite unknown to science. He was wild to plant-hunt there, -but his encounter with the Kaimmakam had been so unpleasant that he had -reluctantly given up all hopes of doing so for the present. The -Kaimmakam, he said, and the Voyvode were friendly enough a short time -back, but the political situation was just then strained, and I had been -lucky to escape an interview. - -Everyone wanted to know how I had fared, and I was asked round to the -Voyvode's house. The baker's lady took me. We went up an outside -staircase into a tiny room with a hearthstone and an iron pot in it, and -from this into another room, where the Voyvode's lady welcomed me -cordially. Her daughter-in-law and her son came in, followed by the -Voyvode and his secretary, the kapetan. It was a tiny whitewashed room -with a bare wooden floor, a table, three wooden chairs, and a -bench--quite devoid of all the comforts of an English labourer's -cottage; and portraits of Prince Nikola and the Russian and Italian -Royal Families were the only exceptions to its Spartan simplicity. -Hospitality was the order of the day. Rakija was produced, a plate of -cheese and another of little lumps of ham, and a fork. All clinked -glasses, took it in turns to eat little bits of ham off the fork, and -were very festive. I have seldom met more charming people. The Voyvode -was loud in his contempt for Boshko, and vexed that I should have had to -pay a second man. This sealed Boshko's fate. He was, though -well-meaning, quite incompetent as a guide. I paid him off and dismissed -him. Alat had to go too, and the saddle, as Boshko dared not return -without them. - -Events followed thick and fast. Sunday was Kosovo Day, and Monday market -day. A crowd of strange beings flocked in from Gusinje, wild mountain -Albanians, with heads swathed in white cloths and restless, watchful -eyes. But the bringing of weapons to market has been lately forbidden, -and they had nothing more lethal upon them than well-filled cartridge -belts, with which even the little boys were equipped. Our interest in -one another was mutual, and I spent most of the morning in the market -and down by the river, where they were selling and slaughtering sheep -and goats, and the purple puddles were so suitable to the scene that -they ceased to be revolting. Gusinje, being forbidden, fascinated me -exceedingly, and I was charmed to find a Gusinje man had put up for the -night at my hostelry. Djoka was his name; he was as stripey as a tiger; -his sun-tanned face was baked and weathered into lines, and his dark -brown eyes glittered and sparkled. "Art thou Christian or Mohammedan?" -he was asked when his "visitors' form" was being filled in. He looked up -lazily from the bench where he was a-sprawl, and "By God, I know not," -was all the reply he vouchsafed. We entertained one another for most of -the afternoon. He had never seen drawing done before, and his interest -was intense. He asked to be drawn so that people could see his new -cartridge belt, and posed with a view to showing as much of it as -possible. "But I must have a gun," he said. The idea of lending a -Gusinje man a rifle even for the purposes of fine art was scouted by the -Montenegrins, and we had to do without. He sat motionless and unblinking -for twenty minutes; then unluckily the onlookers told him it was quite -finished. He jumped up, and so many came to see that further sitting was -impossible. - -The Botanik and I consulted him about going to Gusinje. He was in high -good humour, for his portrait pleased him greatly. "We only want to -see," said the Botanik. "I pick flowers and make them into hay, and the -lady will draw you pictures. We will make no politik." "Thou art a man, -and they will not believe thee," said Djoka firmly; "and for thee, lady, -it is better not. Perhaps there is danger, perhaps there is not. In -Gusinje there is no law. Next year thou shalt come, and thou also." "Why -will it be possible next year and not now?" I asked; but Djoka merely -stared straight in front of him with a blank face and repeated what he -had said before. And his final good-bye to me was an oracular "Next -year, O lady." - -Meanwhile, outside in the street people were busy putting up flags, for -it was the eve of Prince Danilo's birthday. Night fell--it grows dark -early in these valleys--and one Marko rushed in to say the Voyvode -wanted me at once. We flew to the market-place, where flared a huge -bonfire ringed round by all the men of the neighbourhood, squatting or -standing in an expectant circle. On one side sat the Voyvode, with the -priest on his right hand and all his officers round him. There was a -table in front of him with five glasses and a huge flagon of rakija. -Place was made for the Botanik and for me on the Voyvode's left. He -turned to me. "My falcons!" he said in a voice of love and pride, as he -glanced round his men. There was a blue-black night sky overhead with -never a star in it. The petroleum-fed bonfire leapt into a waving banner -of flame and threw hot light on the faces of veterans, stern -frontiersmen, and eager boys, illuminating weapons, blue and crimson -uniforms, medals and gold stitchery in one brave blaze. The kapetan, who -was sitting next us, whipped out his revolver, fired it overhead, and -the fun began. Anyone who felt inspired burst into song, and anyone that -chose joined in. The village rang with national ballads shouted at the -full pitch of huge voices, with the wildest enthusiasm, and a running -fire of revolver shots marked time barbarically--ball cartridge, of -course. Anyone who, carried away by his feelings, fired all six barrels -in succession, was loudly applauded. The glasses were filled, and the -rakija flowed with embarrassing profusion. The Montenegrins are very -moderate drinkers, but it was etiquette for every man of rank to drink -with the guests. The five glasses flew from hand to hand, and the -Botanik and I were hard put to it as one captain after another filled a -glass to us; for to refuse is an insult. "Drink," said the Botanik -desperately, "drink. What must be, must." From time to time the fire was -fed, and, as it blazed again, one youth with a wild yell would challenge -another to dance. Leaping up into the air like young stags, they dashed -into the middle of the ring, dancing madly a kind of Highland fling, -with the flaming bonfire as background, yelling savagely the while they -drew their revolvers, leapt higher and higher, and on the top of the -leap fired over the heads of the shouting crowd, who in their turn beat -time with a volley of bullets; while against the darkness of the night, -fire flashed from the muzzles of upturned weapons all round the ring. -"Take care, brothers! take care!" cried the Voyvode at intervals, when -the angle of fire was dangerously low. And as each pair of youths -finished their dance they threw their arms round each others necks and -kissed one another heartily on both cheeks before making room for -another couple. When both cartridges and rakija were about exhausted, -the Voyvode stood up. "Enough, brothers! Enough!" and he started the -national hymn, "God save Montenegro," which was sung with a wild fervour -about which there was no mistake. Glasses were filled for the final -toast, and we drank to the Gospodar and all his family, and to the -speedy restoration of the ruler of Great Servia to his rightful throne -at Prisren. "Now, my falcons, go!" said the Voyvode. The party abruptly -dispersed, and the bonfire died away. - -But the wave of patriotism had surged too high to subside at once. The -musical talent of the neighbourhood flocked to the guest-room at the -baker's, the gusle passed from hand to hand, and each man in turn vied -with his comrades in long historic ballads. Those who meant to go home -brought their rifles with them, "for it is dark"; those who meant to -stay hung up their revolvers and took their belts off. How those fellows -sang!--sang till the sweat glistened upon their brows, their faces -flushed, and the veins stood out upon their throats. Nor did there seem -to be any end to the number of verses each man knew. The gusle has but -one string, and as a musical instrument it is about as poor a one as has -ever been devised; it was monotonously on one or two minor notes varied -only by a curious trill that recurs perpetually, but to the Montenegrin -it is what the bagpipes are to the Highlander. It calls up all that is -Montenegrin within him. They sang of Kosovo and of the Servo-Bulgarian -war and of the border fights of the neighbourhood. The song ended often -in a yell of triumph, and the singer threw himself back exhausted by the -emotions he had lived through. Djoka, the man from Gusinje, took his -turn and varied the subject of song by singing the sorrows of a Turkish -woman whose husband the Montenegrins had killed. He sang in a clear high -voice, and manipulated the gusle more skilfully than any other man I -have heard. "Dost thou hear the wailing of the cuckoo till the city -echoes to her woe? The snow is falling and the earth is frost-bound. -That that thou hearest is no cuckoo; it is the voice of a woman that -cries for her murdered man," etc., and the Montenegrins retorted with a -similar song in which the conditions were reversed. When everyone had -sung himself hoarse we suddenly discovered it was one o'clock in the -morning. The boy began hastily strewing mattresses, and I retired into -the back bedroom with the baker's wife, to find there the tired-out -Botanik, who was sleeping the sleep of exhaustion and had to be aroused. - -Next morning at nine o'clock there was a solemn service in the little -church. The "heads," in gala costume, marched in front and the rest of -the village trailed after. I could not follow the prayers accurately, -but the name of Prisren recurred many times, and the church was filled -with kneeling warriors who prayed with painful intensity for the -redemption of Stara Srbija. For the saving of Old Servia and the union -of the Serb peoples is the star by which the Serb steers, the goal of -his desires, the ideal for which he lives and is ready to die. We walked -out serious and very silent into the sunshine, and the emotional strain -was visible on many faces. The Voyvode introduced me to an officer who -had arrived that morning and explained my tour to him briefly. "We want -you to see Old Servia," said the Voyvode. I was formed up in line with -the "heads," and we marched back to the village, and on the way they -talked of Stara Srbija and of Stara Srbija. "It was the heart of our -empire, and you must see it," said the officer. This was a new idea to -me and soared beyond my wildest plans. That hapless corner of the -Turkish empire was left after the last war to be ravaged by the -Albanians. Until the Russians insisted upon forcing a consul into -Mitrovitza, none of the Powers knew or cared what was passing in that -dark corner, and travellers were denied access. My map ceased at the -Montenegrin frontier, and beyond was a blank. I pondered the question -till we arrived at the village. - -The market-place was arranged as on the night before; we took our seats -and repeated last nights entertainment, minus the bonfire and revolvers, -for the Voyvode said that more firing would make the Albanians think -that fighting was taking place and bring them over the border in force. -Patriotism was hotter than ever, and "the falcons" sang "Onamo, onamo," -"Yonder, yonder let me see Prisren," with great energy. We drank all the -proper healths, we sang the national hymn, and the party broke up. This -time, however, the "heads" adjourned to the Voyvode's and took the -Botanik and me with them. The little room was quite full of men in -festal garb covered with gold and medals; we ate hot mutton and little -bits of ham with our fingers, and drank rakija. The Voyvode proposed my -health, said I was like the swallow that flew south, and that, like the -swallow, I must come again next year. And they all drank to me but not -to England, though I noticed that they drank to Bohemia as well as to -the Botanik with much warmth. Then they turned their attention to urging -me to Stara Srbija. I consulted the Botanik. "Go," he said; "the only -danger is from Albanians, and they never touch a woman." I looked at all -the "heads," and trusted them. The Voyvode said he would give me a -letter that would take me over, and the kapetan that he would find me a -man and a horse. The "heart of our empire and the throne of our kings" -began to exercise an irresistible fascination over me. I said I would -start that very afternoon, and did. I was to ride to Berani, thence to -Pech (Ipek), thence to Dechani; from Dechani to Prisren and back to -Andrijevitza across country--or rather, I was to try to do so, but the -whole expedition was pleasingly vague, as it depended entirely upon -"circumstances," that were all Turks, and therefore uncontrollable. -Everyone was full of enthusiasm, and told me above all things to go to -Dechani, the most holy shrine in Stara Srbija. My belongings were then -overhauled, for it was necessary to ride as light as possible. I tipped -all my things on to the bed. Quite a number of people came to help. My -idea was chocolate and underclothing. The Montenegrins thought -otherwise. One stalwart fellow took my second skirt off the wall. -"This," he said, "is very pretty and not heavy. Take it. Then if you -meet any foreign consuls you can walk about with them." This bright idea -pleased everyone, for your Montenegrin dearly loves "to peacock." They -selected a scarlet silk necktie to complete the conquest of the consuls, -and considered that this was all the outfit that was absolutely -necessary. The kapetan arrived with the letter, the pony, and the guide. -"I give you this lady to take care of," he said; "you will protect her -and serve her well, or when you come back you will go to prison." I -laughed. "I am not joking," he said sternly. I mounted with my gay -light-heartedness rather dashed, waved "good-bye" and started. The pony -was a wiry one, the wooden pack-saddle padded with a cape quite -comfortable, except that loops of cord were its only stirrups, and the -clean, honest eyes of Radovan, the man to whom I had been handed over, -filled me with trust from the first. The road to Berani was now lonely. -Near the border a man on horseback suddenly clattered across the valley. -"Woman," he shouted, "stop!" "Go on, and do not speak," said Radovan; -"he is a Turk, and a bad one. If he wishes to ask something he knows -that he should ask me." The Turk drew alongside. "Woman, answer me. What -is the time?" Radovan looked at the sky and gave the approximate hour. -The Turk took no notice but shouted at me again. After this he said a -good deal in a language I did not understand, and rode away. Radovan -laughed. "I know that man," he said; "he wanted to see if you had a good -watch." - -We reached Berani, and this time, as there was no market to explain our -errand, were challenged at once and told to wait at the inn. The inn was -amazingly excited at hearing my proposed route, and foretold failure. No -foreigner had been passed through for many years. I awaited a summons -before the Kaimmakam with anxiety. "There he is!" they cried, and I was -suddenly shouted for to be interviewed in the middle of the main street. -He was a long, lean, morose individual, who snapped, "What do you want?" -in Serb, and was taken aback at my errand and nationality. He was -doubtful, very doubtful. Inspired by previous experience of Turkish -ignorance, I tried a bold bluff that was not "bakshish," and rather to -my own surprise I scored a sullen permission. Having successfully played -the empire, I gave him the Voyvode's letter. "Voyvode Lakich," he said, -"h'm, Voyvode Lakich, Voyvode Lakich." He tore it open, read it, smiled -grimly, indicated that he had had quite enough of me for the present, -and turned away with my passport and the letter, muttering "Voyvode -Lakich" as he went. The inn and its customers were exultant. "You will -be quite safe," said a woman; "the Turks will not dare touch you. They -are afraid of your friends across the frontier, and know you would be -nobly avenged." She believed this piece of nonsense, poor thing, and her -chance remark threw a swift sidelight on a dark life where "safety" -depends on power of revenge. My host, hostess, Radovan, and I passed the -evening together round a pan of food. They were in high good-humour, for -I was expected somehow to champion the Christian cause! If England only -knew she could not fail to act! "The Turks," said my host, "killed my -father before my eyes when I was fifteen"--His wife, with a cry of -alarm, shut the window lest he should be overheard. - -I had planned to start early next morning, but had no such luck. My -passport had not been stamped. This was explained by the fact that the -gentleman to whose department it belonged had lost a daughter. He -intended to weep all day, and could not be interrupted. I protested, and -was told that two or three days could make no difference to anyone, and -was kept in a pleasing state of uncertainty as to what was to happen. - -Late in the evening I received orders to start next morning at four with -some traders and a zaptieh as escort. Radovan disguised himself as a -Turkish subject, and we started punctually in the grey dawn. It was very -cold, and the entire landscape was blotted out by driving rain. We -crossed the Lim by a wooden bridge full of holes, which a portion of -the Turkish army had been trying to mend by stuffing sticks into them. -Half blinded by the rain, we breasted the hill and waited on the top for -the "drushtvo" (company) and the zaptieh, who soon appeared like ghosts -out of the fog. The track was pretty bad, the landscape quite invisible, -and we rode through a wilderness in a ceaseless downpour. The way was -enlivened only by murder stones, which were pretty frequent. "That's the -Bohemian," said the zaptieh. "Who shot him?" said someone. "God knows," -said the zaptieh stolidly, "how should I?" We slopped on. "Those were -traders," said the zaptieh presently (there were two stones this time). -"Were they robbed?" asked one of the drushtvo, a trader himself. "By -God, I know not. There was nothing on them when they were found." And so -on and so on. At eleven the weather cleared quite suddenly; the clouds -rolled away and disclosed scenery that was startlingly magnificent. We -had been mounting all the time and were on vast uplands. The huge peak -of Kom of the Vassoievich towered from Montenegro and a border -blockhouse showed clear on a ridge. "That's Mokra," said the zaptieh, -and he laughed and tapped his rifle--an unnecessary pantomime, for the -land told its own tale. - -It is "a land that is not inhabited." There are miles and miles of the -richest pasture, where no flocks feed,--they would cost the herdsman's -life,--rich valleys where no man dwells, and great lonely forests of -stately fir trees. We were in Arnaoutluk (Albania), a land where nothing -is done and where under Turkish government nothing can be done. A few -most wretched shanties--Albanian, of course--were the only human -habitations I saw. The Albanian hordes who till lately had held the -district and completely blocked the trade route had been for the time -being driven back, and now the road was once again practicable. Radovan -spoke Albanian fluently, as did also the zaptieh. We got some smoky milk -and some coffee at an Albanian hut (which stank frightfully, for the -walls were covered with raw ox-hides nailed up to dry), and sat on the -floor and drank out of the same bowl while a party of weird wild men -sprawled round and asked questions. They kindly threw logs on the fire -that I might dry my clothes, and only charged fivepence for our -refreshments. Then on, and we passed through Rugove, a small Albanian -village consisting of a handful of cottages and a wooden mosque, a -sinister spot, the scene of the recent arrest of some revolutionary -chieftains and a good deal of bloodshed, and plunged into the valley of -the Bistritza, thickly forested with fir trees. The steep hillside was a -tangle of roots or streaming with liquid mud, through which I slithered -on foot for some miles, and the pack-animals staggered along with -difficulty, pecking and stumbling. We got ahead of the drushtvo, but as -the light was beginning to wane the zaptieh called a halt, and we waited -for them. I had been told ten or twelve hours would take us to Ipek, and -my heart sank. When we joined forces everyone was dead tired. Poor -Radovan was so done that I begged him to ride my pony, but he refused, -and the track was soon such that I too had to walk. - -It was an extraordinarily wild and impressive scene. The cliffs on the -opposite side rose in a perpendicular wall, there was a night sky -overhead, and the moon came out and glittered on the torrent that -spouted and roared below. It was pitch dark under the trees, and -numberless tiny fireflies flashed and disappeared. We staggered and -scrambled over the rocky path, which was too narrow in many places to -let one animal pass another. I walked ahead with the zaptieh, who -uttered loud yells to warn any other caravan of our approach. We heard -yells ahead, and the narrow valley echoed with unearthly howls. We met, -and as we were all cross and tired, we backed, scrambled, and shouted, -in a tangle as each party tried to make the other give way. I divided -the last lump of dry bread with the zaptieh and Radovan as we tramped -out from under the trees, and the valley was wide and bare. On the steep -cliff was an inscription in Turkish with a great blot of crimson under -it--only paint, but it showed mysterious in the moonlight and struck -awe into all beholders except myself. As no one could read it they -called a halt, began to discuss its probable meaning, and were in no -hurry to start again. I walked on and the zaptieh followed, and we came -to the end of the gorge. "Pech very soon," said the zaptieh; "ride, -lady, ride, the way is good." I mounted reluctantly, for it was not, and -very nearly came to grief in consequence. - -At last, after sixteen and a half hours on the march, we clattered over -a stony breakwater by the river's edge to the big iron-faced gates of -the monastery, which is surrounded by a high stone wall. The zaptieh -banged the heavy knocker, the gates were opened cautiously, I slid from -my weary beast, and we entered. Here were some long white buildings, a -fountain, and a group of men sitting on the ground. The Iguman came -forward to welcome me. He proved later to be a friend indeed, but now he -and the others were too much overcome by astonishment and curiosity to -think of anything else but satisfying it. They gave me a chair, a -rickety hard thing, and I sat stiff and tired in the chill moonlight and -enumerated my brothers, sisters, and other relatives in answer to a -flood of questions. One man who was gnawing a piece of meat kindly -offered me a clammy lump by way of refreshment. Radovan asked if we -could have some hay for the horse, and was told there was none at all -and none could be got till the next day. I was so sorry for the poor -brute that I forgot my own fatigues. It was turned loose in the -monastery enclosure to pick up what it could, but as that had been fed -over by geese the fare was very scanty. The Iguman meanwhile was -arranging for me. It was lucky that there were other guests in the house -or I should have fared hardly, for it was the fast of SS. Peter and -Paul. As it was, supper was just ready. The company was most kind to me, -and, when I had fed, the Iguman conducted me to the room which was -reserved for the Vladika when he visited the monastery. It had a proper -bedstead in it! I wished the Iguman "good-night," tumbled into bed -without further investigations, and did not find out till next morning -that I had not only the Vladika's room but in all probability his sheets -also. - -The Iguman came early to see me, gave me a lump of sweet stuff and a -tumbler full of boiled milk and sugar for breakfast,--for no one in -these parts thinks of eating anything solid before midday,--and we went -out to see the churches. The Patriarchia of Pech, formerly the seat of -the Archbishop of Servia, was, to the grief of the Serbs, made dependent -on the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1766 by the Turkish Government. -Of the four little churches neatly fitted together to form one large, -irregular, dome-sprinkled building, three, including the Church of the -Virgin and the Saborna Crkva (cathedral), were built by the Patriarch -Arsenio, and are, I was told, nearly eight hundred years old. The fourth -and smallest, St. Nikola, was added later by the Patriarch Makario. The -churches are entered by a portico, the tiled roof of which is supported -on wooden posts and which leads into a long narthex. The Saborna Crkva -is by far the largest. Nor is it easy to give an idea of the interior of -any of these churches. The general effect, made up of a mass of -extraordinary detail, is old-world and barbaric in the extreme. The -walls are entirely covered with frescoes of the most primitive -description, a jumble of fierce colours toned by age into a rich -harmony. Quantities of cut glass chandeliers hang from the roof, and -from these again dangle numbers of ostrich eggs. Dim gilt ikons and holy -pictures, blackened by the tapers that with pious zeal are stuck on -their frames by a blob of hot wax, hang on the walls. Reading desks, -taper stands, candle-sticks, all are of the most early pattern and the -rudest make. A curious seat, under a canopy hung with dingle-dangles, is -the throne upon which was crowned Stefan Dechanski, the Sveti Kralj. And -this curious primitive art, that now looks exotic, Eastern, foreign, -once swayed the art of all Europe. We find its traces in our own Norman -architecture; we find them in the early churches of Italy. It reached -its highest stage of development in St. Sophia, and St. Mark's, Venice, -but it is now dead and done for. Art is no exception to the rule, that -all things are blighted in the land on which the Turk has laid a hand. -After his arrival all further development was arrested. - -The monastery covers a good deal of ground. There are long rambling -guest-houses for the crowds that come on pilgrimage days, rooms with -long fixed tables spreading out into a large round at one end for the -accommodation of those of high degree. One of these buildings is of the -same date as the church. Timbered, wide-eaved, and picturesque, it is a -wonderful relic of mediaeval days. This was doubtless the sort of -accommodation Chaucer's pilgrims put up with. Pilgrims in those days -were as ready to sleep in rows on the floor as they are in the Balkans -now, and their luggage was doubtless brought down to the same -irreducible minimum. - -[Illustration: IPEK, OLD SERVIA.] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -TO DECHANI AND BACK TO PODGORITZA - - -Having shown me all over the monastery, the Iguman suggested that -Dechani was only three hours' ride, and that, as my pony was fed and -refreshed, I could easily ride over in the cool of the afternoon. -Dechani was his joy, and no English traveller had been allowed to go -there for twelve or fifteen years. Though my interest in the churches of -the Patriarchia pleased him much, "You must see Dechani," was his -constant cry, and he spared no pains to get me there. But my passport -had been taken off to the Sud (police bureau) by the zaptieh, and -without a passport even a three hours' ride was, I was told, an -impossibility. It is one thing to give up a passport and quite another -thing to get it back. It was a Friday, moreover, the Turkish holy day, -and the passport department refused to act till the evening. I proposed -to employ the afternoon by a walk through Pech, and evoked a chorus of -dismay and horror. Radovan said briefly, "It is better that thou goest -not"; the monastery people prayed me not to go. And the reason was "the -Nizams." It was Friday, and the streets would be full of them. The fear -of the Christians as to the fate of a woman among Nizams off duty -amounted to terror; they offered instead to take me up a little hill -whence I could see the town in safety. They would not hear of my going -to town with only one protector, and as, in event of "a row," the blame -would probably fall most heavily upon any local Christian mixed up in -it, I gave up my plan reluctantly. - -Now the Nizams were part of the much-vaunted Austro-Russian reform -scheme, and were supposed to be there in the interests of the Christian -population. - -The story of Old Servia is one of uninterrupted misery. The suffering of -the Christian peoples in the Balkans is no new thing. It began with the -advent of the Turk, and will continue while he remains. As long ago as -1690 the intolerable lot of the Serbs of Old Servia induced no less than -37,000 zadrugas (family groups, including uncles and cousins) to migrate -to Hungary. The Albanians then spread over the vacated lands, which they -have been permitted to harry with impunity ever since. A small unarmed -Christian population "regulated" by Albanians is not merely unable to -rise, it is unable to cry loudly enough to be heard, and there was no -foreign consul to make reports. It was not until the Russians (who with -extraordinary diplomatic skill lose no opportunity of winning the love -of the Slavs of the Balkans) forced Stcherbina into Mitrovitza in 1902 -that any light was shed upon the condition of this hapless land. The -Albanians promptly shot him. The Christians regard him as the man that -died to save them, and cherish his portrait. Until Stcherbina came they -lived in a state of terror, and all that the tax-gatherers spared the -Albanians looted. Owing to his death, the Government had sent the Nizams -to subdue the Albanians. - -There were some 30,000 Nizams quartered in and around Pech, I was told, -and from the "safe little hill" the vast camps around the town were very -visible. It was only the presence of these troops that made it possible -to go from one place to another; the pass I had ridden had been open a -bare two months. The situation, as I found it, was that the people lived -in present terror of the Nizams and in future terror of the Albanians, -who would return as soon as they were withdrawn. The town had to feed -the troops, and bread and hay were dear. All Friday afternoon Turkish -officers came sight-seeing to the Patriarchia, dashed into the -courtyard, shouted for someone to hold their horses, were supplied with -coffee and tobacco, and were conducted round the churches by the Iguman. -Gangs of Tommies, too, swarmed in, and the monastery people, who, I -noticed, never let them enter the church unattended, were quite tired -out. By request I sat well apart on the farther side, for "the Turks -will say bad things to you." Knowing no Turkish, I thought this would -not matter; but as the others could not see things from this point of -view, I spent the afternoon with the various Christian visitors who came -in. Among these were a schoolmaster and a young theological student who -came from Dechani. - -By the evening, as nothing had been heard of my passport, the Iguman -became very anxious; folk seemed to think there was going to be trouble, -and told me that the Pasha was a "ljuta zmija" (a fierce serpent). A -final message to the Sud brought the reply that the passport and two -zaptiehs would arrive at the monastery at eight next morning. Eight -came and passed, and nothing happened. The monastery decided I must go -myself to the Sud. The Iguman, another monk, the schoolmaster, the -theology student, Radovan, and the pony all came too. I was very much -ashamed of giving so much trouble, but they would not hear of my going -with less escort. We first went round outside the town, as "our Catholic -brethren" wished to see me before I left. They were Franciscans, mostly -Italian, and were exceedingly civil. Their house was far better found -and evidently much wealthier than the Orthodox establishment, and the -rakija which they pressed upon me with lavish hospitality was most -alarmingly strong. I was glad to find that the representatives of the -two Christian Churches were on very friendly terms, and was given to -understand that the Frati were the only people who had any civilising -effect upon the Albanians. Unfortunately, their flock is but small, the -mass of the Albanians here being Moslem. - -From the Catholic house we went through the town. It is a fairly large -place, too dirty to be picturesque. Filthy and awful with a frowsy -squalor, it swarms with street dogs, dogs that explain why the dog is -called an unclean animal in the East, great wolfish beasts, a mass of -unhealed scars, scabby, covered with mange, hairless, horrible. The -shops are all mean little booths with little in them and nothing of -interest; water, fairly clean, flows in a channel down all the main -streets. Most of the houses are built of mud, and are mere hovels. The -pavement, of course, is vile, and there are a dozen or more small -mosques. It was bazaar day, and crowds of filthy, ragged people were -swarming in, but seemed to have little for sale. Weapons had recently -been prohibited in the town, so, said the Iguman, there was now no -danger on bazaar day. Of well-armed zaptiehs and of Nizams there was no -lack--the place swarmed with them. - -At last we arrived at the Sud, went into a yard full of zaptiehs and -armed men, were sent into an office by the entrance, and told to wait a -little. We did. A man came in and said he knew nothing about an English -passport. The Iguman and I were sent up a ramshackle wooden staircase on -to a large landing crowded with awful filthy people, stinking and a-buzz -with flies, wild-eyed and apparently half starved. The air was hot and -heavy, and the constant clamour of imploring voices ceased only when -from time to time a zaptieh bounced in and bellowed. Streaming with -perspiration, I pulled out my handkerchief, and with it a little hard -crust of the day before yesterday's bread. A man snatched it almost -before it touched the floor, and bolted it like a wild beast. It was -terrible; but I dared not offer money, nor show that I had any. At last -an official asked us into an office, a stuffy den, but better than the -Inferno outside. Clerks who tried to look European on chairs, but spoilt -the effect by sitting cross-legged, were scratching backwards writing, -and passing it through "buttery hatches" with desperate energy. We were -told to "wait," and were given coffee. The Iguman up till now had shown -no signs of impatience. "They must give you permission; you are -English," was his constant cry. Now he began to ask questions of -everyone that came in. And no one had heard of an English passport. I -told him I would give up Dechani. He replied that the Turks were always -like this, "and you must see it, you must." - -Then we were ordered to another office. This belonged to a very great -personage, the Pasha himself, I believe. After a hurried and whispered -conversation between several people, I was told to wait outside the -door. A voice was loudly raised within, and the Iguman came flying out. -We were to return to the first office again! We went. It was crowded, -and we were told to wait. - -By this time I felt so strongly that Oriental methods did not suit me at -all that I said "No, thank you" to coffee, and told the official that -if he did not give me my passport at once I would go back to Berani -without it. This great linguistic effort amazed him so much that he -explained the delay. They had sent a telegram about me, and were -awaiting the reply. A voice from the crowd said suddenly in French, -"Mademoiselle is without doubt English! They do not know what to do -about you. They are afraid to stop you, but they dare not let you travel -farther. They have sent for instructions to Uskub. I too am waiting for -my teskereh, but you will have yours first; you are English. No one here -understands French; one may talk. If you had been here a few weeks ago -you could have gone to Uskub, and met the newspaper correspondents. Now -they are all gone." He came nearer, and added in a lower voice, "They -think it is all over, and it has not begun." I was aware of this, and -hastily squashed his remarks on such a dangerous subject. The official -was occupied in bellowing at the crowd of poor wretches who were -applying for passes. And they were all told to wait. One luckless boy -who had two women with him cried out wildly that they had nothing to -eat, that they wished to go to work as reapers, and had waited many -days. "By God, it is true," cried a voice from the crowd; but the -official only bellowed at him, and he had to give place to the next -applicant. They were all Serb-speaking peasants in the last stages of -misery. Finally, I was told that my passport should be sent me very -soon, and that I was to go. - -We went to a house in the Christians' quarter of the town, where the men -who had accompanied me were waiting with many others. Everyone was -absorbed in a handful of newspaper cuttings that had just been brought -in a dirty, much-worn envelope. They contained an account of the Servian -murders. It was the 6th of July, and till then no details of the affair -had come through! Even then the accounts were so meagre that they -appeared to be some of the first published. They were grim and brief. -"Death of Queen Draga," ran one. "Queen Draga is dead. The circumstances -of her death are not exactly known, but there were many revolver wounds -in her body." A piece of journalism which requires some beating. - -Two mounted zaptiehs clattered into the yard at one o'clock, and I was -told to start at once. They were to take me to Dechani and bring me -back. I was to go nowhere else, and the Pasha would keep my passport. I -had hoped to push right on to Prisren from Dechani, but was outwitted. -As for returning across country to Andrijevitza, that, I was told, was -out of the question. The Albanians were up, and even with an escort of -Nizams we should probably not get through without a fight. We set off -for Dechani at once. The school teacher and the student both rode with -me, and the former most kindly lent me his horse, a very good one. We -rode over the undulating plain, and they showed me where Kosovo lay, -where Mitrovitza, and where Prisren. The two zaptiehs, both Moslem, were -apparently as much interested in Kosovo as were the Christians. One, -Yakoub, was a Bosnian, and his Mohammedanism sat exceeding light upon -him. He was delighted with the job of riding about with me; his -discourse was all of the Montenegrins, and their great valour, and of -that hero, Milosh Obilich, who slew the wicked Sultan Murad. "He was a -veliki junak! Come with me, and I will show you his grave," said Yakoub -enthusiastically. But he wore the Sultan's uniform, and of his two -uncles one was a Pasha and the other a Kaimmakam! He was a fair-haired, -blue-eyed young fellow bubbling with animal spirits, singing songs and -making his horse plunge out of pure light-heartedness. The conversion of -his forefathers, doubtless for the sake of peace and quiet, to Islam had -placed him in the class of the rulers and not of the ruled. It therefore -naturally never occurred to him to doubt the superiority of -Mohammedanism, but the heroes that he cherished in his heart were all -Christian, and belonged to the days of Tsar Lazar and the great Servian -empire. - -The ride was a short and easy one. The land is rich and fertile but -little cultivated, for it is constantly liable to be raided. Such crops -as there were, were splendid, and the grass grew thick in the fields. -It was hard to believe that the country had been impassable two months -before, or that there was any present danger, but the few peasants who -were going our way clung to our party carefully; all the houses, and -there were very few, were more like blockhouses, had no windows on the -ground floor and none larger than loopholes above, and Yakoub thought it -necessary to assure us every few minutes that nothing would happen -to-day. The monastery, which lies about 1500 feet above sea-level, -appeared as a white church surrounded by outbuildings at the entrance of -a magnificently wooded valley, through which flows a small river, the -Dechanski Bistritza, the one slope rich with stately chestnuts and the -other fir-clad. Robbed of its broad lands, which have been swooped on by -the Albanians, who at the time of my visit made further progress up the -valley impossible, it lies precariously on the bloody edge of things, -and only the wonderful white marble church tells of its former glory. It -was being used as a military outpost, and twenty-five Nizams and an -officer were quartered on the monastery, which had also a guard of its -own, a set of Mohammedan Albanians, who were said to be very loyal. They -looked like a wild-beast show, spoke nothing but Albanian, had the most -elegant manners, and I was never allowed outside the monastery gate -without a couple of them. - -Dechani dates from the palmy days of the Servian empire, and is its -finest monument. The church, built by a Dalmatian from Cattaro, is of -white and dull red marble, striped in the manner familiar to us in -Italy, and would be a fine building anywhere. Here, a unique specimen -in a land almostly entirely given over to barbarism, it is looked upon -as something almost miraculous, and is regarded with a veneration which -has not improbably worked upon the superstitious souls of the Albanians -and saved it from destruction. And to the Serb it is an outward and -visible sign that this land is his. Though it has been the Turk's for -five hundred years, he has set no such mark upon it. Roughly speaking, -he has spent those five centuries in camping out on it temporarily as an -army of occupation! Nothing is more surprising about him than the speed -with which all visible signs of his existence can be wiped out, but the -stain he has left upon the souls of the people is, alas! harder to -erase. - -Stefan VII., King of Servia, known on account of his pious works as the -Sveti Kralj (holy king), built Dechani in the first half of the -fourteenth century. Mediaeval Servia, like the rest of Mediaeval Europe, -was a place were careers were apt to be brief, bloody, and brilliant. -The Turks did not find a highly civilised people and overwhelm them with -barbarism. They found a people who, though steadily progressing, were no -better than their neighbours, and they arrested their further -development. Stefan VII.'s career as king was covered with glory--he -subdued the Bulgarians and was successful against the Greeks--but it -came to an abrupt and untimely end. He was murdered in 1336 in his -castle, Zvechan, near Mitrovitza. It is said by some that he was -strangled by order of his son Stefan, whose nickname, Dushan, has been -interpreted to mean the Strangler (dushiti, to strangle). But the -patriotic Serb, who cannot bear to cast a slur on the maker of great -Servia, states simply that he "was murdered," and derives Dushan from -"dusha," the soul, Stefan the Soul of the nation. The dead king was -canonised as St. Stefan Dechanski and is extraordinarily celebrated as a -miracle worker. His death is pictured upon his shrine; two men tug the -ends of a cord that is twisted round his neck, and an angel fetches his -soul. He is, I was told, exceedingly good, and it is of no use to -approach him in prayer if you have any bad thought in your heart. He -helps the poor and performs the most marvellous cures. The belief in his -power is far spread, even Yakoub had a sort of sneaking respect for him, -and I was bidden to prepare my mind for the visit to the Sveti Kralj -even before I had left Berani. Nor does he, alone, protect the church. -Once a Turk stole a jewel from a picture of the Holy Mother of God. -Shortly afterwards he was found dead and unwounded! Then the jewel was -found upon him, and it was known that the Holy Mother of God had slain -him, for to die of anything but a wound was clearly a great marvel. I -stood by the shrine of the murdered Sveti Kralj in the church that he -had built, and thought of Alexander and his end as reported in the dirty -newspaper cuttings of that morning. The school teacher talked of -Stcherbina's death at Mitrovitza, and the old world and the new seemed -very close together. - -The whole interior of the church is elaborately frescoed. All the faces -that are within reach from the ground have been poked out, but those -above are very well preserved. The line of Nemanja kings that covers one -wall of the narthex is especially interesting. The magnificent old -Ikonostasis is of carved and gilt wood (cleverly restored). Its pillars -are all wreathed and twined with plants, birds, and beasts elaborately -coloured and carved in very high relief, and the whole mass of brown -gold and colour is very rich in effect. The floor is paved with white -and dull red marble, and the piers which support the roof are in several -instances monolithic. The tomb of the Sveti Kralj's sister Helena (also, -I believe, canonised) stands in the body of the church, and a big cross -from Russia, recently presented. - -The two marbles from which the church is entirely built were quarried in -the immediate neighbourhood. It is thirty metres high to the base of the -cupola. Doors and windows are all elaborately and splendidly carved, and -the whole is in such a wonderfully good state of preservation that it is -small wonder that the people have deep faith in the protecting power of -the Sveti Kralj, and believe that in the whole world there is no -building quite so beautiful. The treasures of the monastery are all -dispersed, and its books and MSS. relating to the old kings of Servia -are scattered. The folk at the monastery are now miserably poor, and -toil in their few fields for a bare living. The feeding of the soldiers -quartered upon them strained their resources sadly. - -Having seen the church, I was taken to see a spring of effervescent -mineral water which rises on the bank of the river opposite the -monastery, and is considered a great wonder. To get at it we had to walk -up the valley for about ten minutes and cross a bridge. The student and -the schoolmaster took me, and the two Albanian zaptiehs and Yakoub came -too. It was very hot, and they all felt the heat much more than I did. -When we had duly drunk of the water and cooled a bit, Yakoub remarked it -was a pity to go all the way back in the sun, when the monastery was so -near; if the lady would only take her boots off, we could all cross the -river. This tender care for his own comfort was very characteristic of -Yakoub. The student asked me timidly if I had ever done such a thing. I -had. They were delighted, and we all took to the water. It was very much -deeper and swifter than I expected, and the bottom very slippery. I -narrowly escaped having the bath that I was greatly in need of, but we -all got through, climbed the hedge into the monastery orchard, and lay -out in the shade. Yakoub being warm, took off his cartridge belt, threw -down his rifle, strewed his weapons about, bared his chest, spread a wet -handkerchief on it, and sighed with satisfaction. Weapons as worn by him -were certainly uncomfortable. He had a large revolver and a sheath-knife -with a blade some ten inches long shoved down inside his trousers, and -could not bend till he had fished them out. He gave me the lot to play -with, and took my lock-backed pocket-knife to examine in return. His -knife was a beauty, with a broad, deeply grooved blade, "for the blood," -he explained. It tapered to a fine point, slid into a leather -silver-mounted sheath, and had belonged to his grandfather. He pointed -out its fine edge, spat on the blade, and shaved the tip of his chin -delicately. - -The Albanians contributed their silver-mounted revolvers to the -collection, for they were most anxious to assist in entertaining me, and -the conversation ran entirely on murdered monarchs. Yakoub was in his -element. He ran through all the recent assassinations, including that -of President McKinley. "And not one in England!" he said regretfully. -Not wishing to be out of it, I contributed Charles the First. No one had -heard of him, and it excited great interest. "How did you kill him?" -asked Yakoub eagerly. "We cut his head off." He roared with laughter. -Shooting is a death for soldiers and gentlemen; head-cutting is a way of -triumphing over a contemptible foe. The idea of cutting off a king's -head pleased him so that he passed it on to the Albanians, whose faces -became wreathed in smiles. "But we killed one," said Yakoub, for he felt -that I at present held the record, and did not wish to be cut out. "We -killed Abdul Aziz like this," and he turned up his sleeve and prodded -the veins of his arm with his knife tip. Alexander's death struck him as -very humorous, but he disapproved most strongly of the shooting of -Draga. He pondered some minutes on the list of dead rulers, then he -cried suddenly, "I would not be a king; if I could, I would not be a -king! A king lives in a prison. Everyone wishes to kill him. He is -always afraid. Day and night he is afraid. I would be like thee, O lady. -I would have enough money to live, and I would see the world. Thou goest -everywhere, seest all things, and no one wishes to kill thee. Thou art a -woman, but men serve thee. By God, that is a marvel!" - -We returned to the monastery, and I went to evening service in the -church. The tiny congregation consisted of the half-dozen men of the -monastery and a few Christian peasants. I was put in a conspicuous -place, had a special censing all to myself, and felt much embarrassed. -The evening was exhausting, as the whole party, zaptiehs and all, took -it in turns to keep me company and ask me questions, and displayed -endless patience in making me understand and reply. I did not get supper -till half-past nine, and then, dead tired, begged the company to leave -me. They all left but the student, who had been specially instructed to -look after me. He was a very civil, gentlemanly youth of Servian blood, -with a sad face and a timid, hunted air. He waited till the footsteps -died away down the corridor; then he said anxiously, "Lock the door -to-night. The Nizams will come. They are very, very bad; all from Asia." -I had, of course, intended to lock the door, Nizams or no Nizams, and -thought he was nervous, so did not pay much attention to this. As he -left, Radovan came in. He looked all round, tried the iron window bars, -the lock, and the staple the bolt shot into. "All is strong," he said; -"lock the door and turn the key twice. The Nizams will come in the -night. They have been talking about you. They are devils. All from Asia. -They have long knives." He drew his finger across his throat, dropped -his head on one side, and gave a clicking gasp so horribly realistic -that I suspect it was studied from nature. "They will do 'that,' just -for what is in your saddle-bag. They will say the Christians have done -it, and the officer will believe them." Radovan was in grim earnest. He -waited outside till he heard the lock shoot twice, said "Sleep safely," -and left me. I had no weapon of any kind, and was excessively tired, so -I decided that there was no object in sitting up to have one's throat -cut, and that violent surgical operations are better performed under -chloroform. I slept heavily till morning, and shall never know if that -door were tried. Personally, I think that the danger was exaggerated. -People, after all, are mainly governed by expediency, and killing a -British subject was really not worth the trouble. I tell the facts as -they occurred, to show the estimation in which the army of the reformers -is held. To put the position briefly: no man's life or property is -considered safe from the Albanians, and no woman's honour from the -Nizams, in "Old Servia." Savage as are the Albanians, I have been told -repeatedly that they never assault women. - -Next morning I woke up and shook myself, and the student brought a -quarter of a pint of water, and kindly superintended the washing of my -hands and face. The arrangements were all primitive: towel and -table-napkin were one and the same, and the spoon and fork were cleaned -on my pillow; but then it is a great thing to have a spoon, fork, or -pillow at all. - -I went down into the yard and began drawing. Out came the Turkish -officer, a young lieutenant. I was scared, for Turks are said to -disapprove of all drawing, and I feared to lose all my notes. As luck -would have it, he had never seen anybody sketch before, and was -childishly delighted. He looked at everything I had done, and then -wanted to see a drawing made. Yakoub, the enterprising, at once -suggested sitting for his portrait, and did so. The lieutenant was now -enthusiastic, made no objection to my little camera, which I had -hitherto carefully concealed from all but Christian eyes, and would, I -believe, have let me photograph him had I dared ask. He left to drill -his men, but his curiosity soon brought him back again. This time we -had a formal interview in my room. The monastery people attended humbly, -the officer came in style with several zaptiehs; there was much saluting -and salaaming. Radovan stood in the background and listened. I alone -knew that he was a Montenegrin. The lieutenant was quite a young -fellow--small, slim, and dark, with clean-cut, good features. He was -smart and dapper as to his uniform, and wore tight, shiny boots of a -most unpractical nature. He spoke nothing but Turkish, of which I know -no word. He had never before, I believe, talked with a foreign lady, -seemed to find my unveiledness most embarrassing, and spoke with his -eyes discreetly cast down. He preferred speaking sideways over my -shoulder. In striving to understand him I once looked him squarely in -the eyes, and he turned his head abruptly. - -The conversation was sufficiently droll. Yakoub stood at attention and -translated. Turkish is a flowery tongue. The lieutenant began glibly -with many bows and smiles, using his hands to gesticulate freely. He had -very good hands and neat joints. After some minutes he paused. "The -officer says," said Yakoub briefly, "that it is a great pleasure to him -that you have come." "I thank the officer very much," said I. Yakoub -enlarged this into a speech three minutes long, punctuated with salaams -and gesticulation, and the lieutenant again expressed himself as highly -delighted. He himself was from Stamboul, and was in this part of the -country for the first time. It was a great wonder to him to find it so -savage. He hoped I did not think all Turkey was like this. In -Constantinople it was very different. There all was good; Christians -and Turks lived together as friends, and there was no danger, "no more -than with you in England." I accepted this statement, and thought of the -Armenian massacre. "The officer," said Yakoub, "hears that you have been -before among the Albanians. He sees them for the first time. He wishes -to know what you think of them." "They are brave," I replied, "and -intelligent, but they are wild, they know nothing, and they live like -animals." I dared not add, "They have no government and no law." This, -edited by Yakoub, met with great approval. "The officer says that is -true. They have great intelligence; they must have schools in all the -towns and villages. There will be schools, and all will be reformed." It -occurred to me that the Turks, having held Albania for some four -centuries, might have thought out some plan of the sort before, but I -merely replied that schools were truly necessary. The officer was great -on reform. The Sultan of Turkey, the King of England, and the Emperor of -Germany were, he said, the only sovereigns in Europe who had -intelligence, and, between them, all would soon be reformed. I was -overcome with the company with which we were classed, and struck dumb, -but Yakoub expressed the delight which I ought to have felt. There was -much more of reform, of which the lieutenant seemed very sanguine. -Already all was very well. He was young and enthusiastic, and I felt -sorry for him, for I knew of the storm that was about to burst in -Macedonia, and had already been warned to travel in no train on Turkish -territory, more especially in none that contained troops. And all the -time, the people of the monastery sat round and said nothing, and all -the while the lieutenant babbled on. Then to my surprise Yakoub said, -"The officer wishes you to see everything. Take as many Nizams as you -wish, and go to Gusinje if it is pleasing to you, and thence back into -Montenegro." This was a handsome offer, and I wanted badly to go. But -the officer did not propose to come himself, and I remembered the -warnings of the night before. My passport was in the hands of the Pasha -at Pech, and I felt I was responsible for Radovan. If Radovan were -detected as a Montenegrin in the heart of Albania, it might cost him his -life; if anything happened to me he had been promised prison. I glanced -at him for a casting vote, and the haggard anxiety of his face left no -room for doubt. I thanked the officer, and said I should return to Pech. -Whereupon he gallantly said that he would escort me thither, and I -returned in great style with five zaptiehs and an officer. Conversation -was difficult, for he considered it polite to ride so that his horse's -head was level with my knee, and Yakoub had to ride by him and shout it -all on. He pointed out that I was being well taken care of, and begged -that I would tell my people of the reformed state of the country. I must -therefore emphasise the fact that it was possible to ride for three -hours without being shot at, for this he admired greatly. He was -exceedingly kind, and said he would see that I had zaptiehs to take me -back to Berani. When we came to the parting of the ways--for he was -going to the camp and I to the monastery--he suddenly rode up alongside, -and with a valiant attempt at being European, looked me full in the -face, shook hands rather shyly, said, "Bon voyage, mamzelle," and -clattered off. We rode through the Christian side of the town, and the -people came to their doors and said, "Welcome, lady," as I passed. -Yakoub followed me in high good-humour, to say that the officer had -promised him the job of escorting me to Berani. This had been manoeuvred -by Radovan. "Yakoub," he said, "is a Turk, but he is a good Turk. He has -no money. Give him a bakshish, then he will come to Berani with us." - -The gay Bosnian, with his crude views and the schoolboy glee with which -he accepted his "tip," was such an amusement to me that I was glad of -his further society. His conversation was often quaint to excess. At the -monastery he was severely Turkish. They offered him a glass of wine, -which he refused with contempt. "I am a Turk! I drink no wine," and the -conscious virtue upon his countenance was a sight to see. He, however, -expended my gift on copious libations of rakija, which he tipped down -like so much water, and he came furnished with a large bottleful in his -saddle-bag for the return trip. Rakija, it seems, is not mentioned in the -Koran. Not that what is or is not mentioned in it seemed to trouble him. -I spent almost the whole of three days with him, and I never saw him -make the least attempt at a prayer. The foreign Nizams, on the other -hand, prayed about the country freely. But he was very certain that he -was a good Mohammedan. He told me one day, with a wicked grin, that he -was on the side of the Boers. "Why?" I asked. "Because they are Turks," -said Yakoub promptly. The student and the schoolmaster were present, -and we all roared with laughter. Yakoub was disconcerted. "What are -they, then? Catholic or Pravoslavni?" "Prodesdan," said I. This was a -blow to him, for it seems that "Prodesdan" is quite the lowest form of -Christian. "But war is always between Turks and Christians," he -objected; "they must be Turks. How many mosques are there in the -Transvaal?" "None." He thereupon lost all further interest in the Boers. -He came from near Prijepolje, and had great contempt for Bosnians who -live under Austrian rule. As for the Austrians--he made a face and spat. -But in spite of his Turkish sympathies he had acquired none of the -Turk's imperturbability, and leapt from one emotion to another. Over his -wife he was quite sentimental; over the fact that he was childless he -was greatly depressed. "I am twenty-eight," he said gloomily, "and in -three months I shall be an officer, but I have no son." He counted on -his fingers, and did a little arithmetic. "I might have three by now," -he added simply, "but there is not one, not one." "Dost thou very much -wish a son?" I asked. Yakoub was very much in earnest. "By God," he -cried, "it would be a great delight to me. I wish a son that shall be a -veliki junak!" and he entered into some very quaint particulars. No -longer the rollicking gendarme, he sat on the floor, an unhappy man who -required comforting. "Thou are yet young," I said; "I hope thou wilt -have a son that is a veliki junak." "Mashallah I will and I hope that -thou wilt too!" said Yakoub politely. After which I considered the -subject sufficiently thrashed out. - -The return ride to Berani was easier than the previous journey. -Unhampered by a caravan, and provided through the lieutenant's kindness -with two mounted gendarmes, we made good progress. The Pasha stuck to my -passport till the last minute, as Yakoub pointed out with a grin when he -returned it to me as we were starting. He also volunteered that it was a -good thing that I had not gone with the officers Nizams, but gave no -answer when I asked "Why?" The Pasha, it may be of interest to note, -has, according to the papers, been recently dismissed from his post. -Yakoub's relatives are, for all I know to the contrary, still in power. - -The defile by daylight was extraordinarily beautiful. About half-way -through it Yakoub announced that he thought it was safe now, and that if -I were not afraid the second zaptieh might go back. I told him I was -quite willing, as I had had but one man before, and he was on foot. This -seemed to surprise him much. They pulled up at the only hut in the pass, -and had a long consultation with its Albanian owners, the result of -which was that the second man rode with us to the top. I was glad that -when riding this road in the dark I had not realised it was in quite -such a touch-and-go condition. "No danger now," said Yakoub cheerfully -as we rode out into the open, and the second man returned with a party -of four zaptiehs and an officer that we here fell in with. "Three months -ago I would not have dared ride that way with only one other man; by -God, no! Not if the officer had told me. All the woods filled with wild -Arnaouts, perhaps a man behind every rock. Piff-paff and you are dead, -shot in your living heart! As there is a God I would not have dared it. -If one had to go, it was with thirty men or more. Now the caravans can -pass again." But he continued to ride with his rifle ready on his knees -until we were almost at Berani. - -A sudden and most violent thunderstorm on the hilltop drove us in a -hurry to the stinking "Han," and the rain came down in such sheets that -I was glad to be under cover, even in such a hole. It was full of -Albanians. We waited full three-quarters of an hour and drank coffee. I -was anxious to start as soon as the rain slackened, but Yakoub did not -mean to get a wetting. He was very happy discoursing in Albanian to a -large and admiring circle, to whom he was a great man. He told them, so -he explained to me, that in my country the men always waited on the -women, which they all agreed was a most extraordinary state of things. -They all sat round and gazed at me as though I were possessed of -peculiar power, and I returned their unblinking stare. "He and I both -serve her," said Yakoub, pointing at Radovan, and Radovan murmured, -"They think you are like an officer." - -The rain lifted. Radovan went out with my saddle-bag. Yakoub rolled up -his overcoat, and went down to strap it on his saddle. His parting words -of affection, and the kisses which he lavished on the most casual -acquaintances, always took much time; so to hurry matters I picked up -the rest of our belongings, followed out on to the balcony, and handed -down my waterproof and cape. Yakoub looked up from his saddle-girths. -"Give me my Martini and my cartridges," he said. I dangled the belt down -to him, tucked the rifle under my arm with my umbrella, and descended. -He took his Martini with a beaming smile and a twinkle, most humorous, -in his eyes. "Now _thou_ hast served _me_?" he said; "it is right." He -got off his little trick with great neatness, and was vastly pleased -with himself. I have no doubt he left the rifle on purpose. He -considered it a very fine weapon. It was of American -make--Peabody-Martini. All the Turkish gendarmerie are thus armed. It -carries only one cartridge, and according to Radovan is very inferior to -the repeating rifles of the Montenegrins. The ride over the grassy -uplands was splendid; the ground was ablaze with flowers, and the peaks -rose violently blue from a black belt of pinewood. Yakoub hopped off his -horse and played like a child. The hill sloped away steeply below us in -a great incline of grass, down, down for full a thousand feet. His joy -was to balance flat rocks on edge, and to send them spinning into the -depths. He shouted with laughter as they leapt and span. Even Radovan, -the serious, found it amusing, and we wasted some minutes over this -pleasing pastime, which people who are inclined to giddiness would not -have enjoyed. - -It was quite dark when we got into Berani. The landlady rushed out when -she heard our horse hoofs, for she was expecting her husband, who had -also gone to Pech. Their only daughter, who had married and gone there a -year ago, had just had her first child. It was a boy. The happy -grandfather, on hearing the news (brought through by a caravan), leapt -on his horse and rode over in hot haste. The joy of grand-mamma, aged -thirty-one, was boundless. It is a grand thing for a woman to have a -son, she said. Then all the men in the place go to her room and sing -and dance and drink rakija, for joy that another man is born! Having -seen "grandpapa," I was able to report that all was well; and she took -us in and fed us on eggs and milk, for nothing else could be got at that -time of night. I bakshished Yakoub for the last time, and told him it -was "for coffee," which delighted him immensely, and he filled himself -up with rakija until Radovan, who was exceedingly temperate, was -scandalised. But no amount of liquor seemed to affect the Moslem's hard -head. - -We left for Andrijevitza early next morning, Radovan once more a happy -man in a Montenegrin cap. As we passed the guard-house Yakoub flew out -for a final farewell, and discovered, for the first time, that Radovan -was a Montenegrin. This he considered a splendid joke; he slapped his -thigh and shouted with laughter, and we parted very good friends. -Frontier life contains many mysteries which I am unable to unravel. -Radovan was much relieved when we had crossed the Montenegrin border, -and I too felt that I had come home again. The vague, indescribable, -ever-present dread of "something"; the sense of general insecurity that -leads people to shut the window before speaking, to glance mechanically -round to see who is within earshot; the general sense of oppression -hanging like a cloud over all things, rolled away. We were in a land -which is wild and rough, if you will, but safe and free. - -I have no space to tell of all the fun I had on my return. Andrijevitza -was pleased with me, and was lavishly hospitable. Time was flying, and I -was due home. The herdsmen had driven their flocks to the summer -pasturage, and I arranged that Radovan should pilot me over the -mountains on the first fine day. We had a final grand night with the -gusle, and then, having kissed the ladies and drunk stirrup-cups with -the men, I tore myself away with extreme reluctance, and started up Kom -of the Vassoievich shortly after the "white" dawn, with the knowledge -that I might wander many leagues over the face of the earth before I met -a set of kinder friends than the fighting frontiersmen of Montenegro. -Proud, self-respecting, fiercely unyielding by long inheritance of -temper, they are outwardly very gentle and courteous, so courteous that -it is only on very rare occasions that a certain grim tightening of a -strong, square jaw, a gleam of very white teeth, and a sudden leap of -lightning to the eye reveal in a flash their possibilities as foes. With -an extraordinary lot of strength in their physique, they have very -little knowledge how to apply it and hardly any enterprise. This is due -mainly to entire ignorance of how to set about things. In the one branch -of industry they understand, "junashtvo," they are certainly not -deficient in energy. They are very pious, and never say they are going -to do anything without adding, "God willing." If you forget to say this, -someone generally puts it in for you very seriously. They are very -honest, and their standard of morality is high. And they are -extraordinarily visionary, and dream dreams of the great Servian empire -that is to be, where everyone will be free and happy. Exceedingly poor, -they are also exceedingly hospitable, and will share with a friend as -long as they have anything to share. It is true that they have the -defects of their qualities, but their qualities are such that there are -many more civilised places that would be the better for a leavening of -them. - -Radovan and I started up the slopes of Kom of the Vassoievich, and I was -promised a fine day. I owed a good deal to this strong, ragged, -level-headed man who had piloted me safely through a somewhat risky -enterprise, and was glad of his further company. He had displayed the -most extraordinary tact throughout the tour, and, while playing the part -of a humble horse-boy who asked for my orders, had managed and arranged -everything. Silent and watchful, he was always in the background; he -slipped in his pieces of information quietly, told me what to pay, whom -to pay, had very definite ideas as to whom I was to speak to or could be -left alone with; ascertained, when buying forage for the horse in the -town, the state of the country, and passed me the news in three words -when he handed me the change. But he never spoke a word unless it was -required. On his native hills he was conversational. He had been again -to Berani, and told me with a grin that the "ljuta zmija," the -Kaimmakam, had asked, "Where is that Englishwoman?" and had been very -angry when told, "She has eaten, has fed her horse, and is gone." "It -was better so," said Radovan oracularly, and he added, with a laugh, -"and Yakoub knew." I was unaware that I had been spirited back across -the frontier, and it gave me much food for reflection. - -The ascent was easy over steep grass slopes, Radovan pointing out all -the landmarks. He told of the Voyvode's prowess. He loved the Voyvode, -and showed me down below at the head of the valley the old home of the -Voyvode's family. He told me of his own little cottage, his field of -corn and his plum trees, and of his wife and three children, one, thank -God, a boy. - -We had just reached the shoulder of the mountain, and were about 5300 -feet up, when a thick fog swept down upon us and driving rain. "We must -go to a friends hut," said Radovan; "it is poor but dry." We forged on -through the most awful weather; dense mist-wreaths swathed everything, -and all the world was blotted out. We came to a collection of tiny -hovels, Radovan's friend welcomed us, and we crawled in out of the wet. -His hut was a shed made of a few planks; I could only stand upright in -the middle. The mud floor was dug out about six inches and a heap of -logs blazed in a hole at one end. Near the fire a very young calf was -tethered; there was also a half-blind woman, three girls, and two hens. -We were warmly greeted; my host spread a straw mat for me to sit on, -brought in my saddle-bags, and threw wood on the fire. "This is how we -live in the 'katun,'" said he. "We are poor, and it is the best we can -give you. You are very welcome." He made me a couch with his greatcoat -and my saddle-bags, and started cooking the dinner, for it was midday. He -slung a big pot, poured olive oil in it, and stirred in coarse maize -flour as it boiled. "My poor wife cannot see well," he said, "and I do -all this. We went all the way to Cetinje to the doctor, but he did -nothing to the eye that is blind, nothing at all; he only did things to -the eye that she can still see a little with." He finished making the -porridge, sprinkled some sugar on it, and poured it into a bowl. - -"Here we never see bread or meat; we eat milk and maize. It is good -food. Up on the mountains it is very healthy, thanks be to God and St. -Peter, and the water is good." He insisted on my eating his food and not -my own, saying, "You will need that to-morrow." And as it was warm, and -I was cold and hungry, I found it not unpalatable, and finished up with -a bowl of milk. The rest of the party found it very good, as it was -extra sweet on my account. - -The youngest girl, a child of fourteen, I had not noticed much before, -as she had sat all the time huddled in a heap on the other side of the -fire, and the hut was full of smoke. Now she began rocking to and fro, -crying, "Oh, my foot, my foot!" Her father explained that a few days -before she had upset the caldron of boiling milk over her foot, and that -it pained her so that she could not sleep. An old woman from the next -hut came in to look at it. The poor girl drew up her skirt and showed -the foot swathed in the filthiest handkerchief. I was horrified, jumped -up, and hurried round to the wind side of the fire where she lay and -there was no smoke and one could see. The people here have enormous -faith in the healing power of any stranger, and they were most delighted -when I offered to look at the injury. She peeled off the dirty rags. The -skin was off the whole instep; it was dressed with mud and grass, and -the edges were angry and forming matter. It evidently pained her -horribly. She was a plucky little thing, and let me strip off the -pudding of mud and matter, clear the place of grass, and dress it with -clean handkerchiefs and lanoline. Her skin was very thick and as hard as -leather. The fresh dressing relieved her greatly, and as the rain had -just lifted I went out to have a look round. - -For a few minutes the view was incomparably grand. The huge jagged -summit of Kom rose up abruptly from the grass not a quarter of a mile -away, and stood all bare and lonely, quite white on an angry purple sky, -for the fog had frozen upon it. Down below great snakes of mist clung -and crawled, and the distant peaks rose one behind the other, violently -and vividly blue. It was extraordinarily majestic and as silent as -death. Down swept the storm again with a fusillade of chill hail. Even -the hut a few yards away was invisible. We struggled back to it, my host -remarking, "You will have to stay the night 'kod nas.' If you try to go -farther you will be lost on the mountains." - -The little girl with the bad foot was much happier and her father -greatly pleased. "Here," he said, "we either get well or we die. There -is no help for us. But, thanks be to God and St. Peter, we are very -healthy. We have had much trouble. My only son is dead; my poor wife -nearly blind. My three brothers are all dead and have left no sons!" He -sat down by the injured child and cuddled her. "She is very brave," he -said; "I call her my little son." The child smiled with pleasure. They -begged me to do something to the woman's eye, but that, of course, was -impossible. The rain fell in torrents! We huddled round the fire. At -Radovan's request I gave them my sketch-book to look at, and was -surprised at the rapidity with which they recognised everything, telling -the names of all the people who lived in the houses, and laughing -heartily over the Gusinje man and Yakoub. The wind whistled between the -planks, the dense smoke eddied round the little hut; they piled on -sticks and began preparations for supper. Then a terrible thing -happened. The woman threw down a little maize and called the hens. They -came, a white and a yellow one. There was a whispered talk, and I heard -"the pretty one." The yellow hen was caught and given to the lame child -to hold. "Now we shall have no more eggs!" she said sadly. I was -horrified, for I grasped at once that the hen was to be sacrificed to -me. I begged for its life. "Thou must eat meat," said my host. I pleaded -vainly that I had eggs and cheese in my bag. "Thou hast given," he said, -pointing to the child's foot, "and we must give. This night thou shalt -eat meat." The child caressed the hen. I cannot tell how unhappy I felt. -Two cows, a little flock of sheep, and these two hens were all they had -in the world. Last year they had had to eat ferns, and they were braver -and better and in all ways more deserving than I. "He that hath, to him -shall be given," is a bitter thing. My prayers shook the man's -resolution for a moment, but so anxious was he to do what he believed to -be his duty, that without more ado, and before he should alter his mind, -he suddenly whipped out a big knife and sliced off the hen's head with -one swift stroke. The neck twitched convulsively. We sat round and -watched the blood drip, dripping in silence. Everyone felt it was a -rather serious event. He tore the bird to pieces with his fingers with -great dexterity, and put it to boil in a tin basin. As it had no lid, he -went out and picked dock leaves to cover the pot with and replaced them -as fast as they were burnt. Meanwhile he gave me the liver, warmed -through in the wood ashes, as a snack. In due time I was seated before -the fowl's remains spread on a piece of board, and the family sat round -to see me enjoy it. Alas! the muscular bird, swiftly boiled, was like -the hardest indiarubber, and I knew not what to do. Eat of it I must -somehow. With the little blade of my pen-knife I minced it fine, and -said that the English did so. Then I swallowed pellets of it, and -everyone was much pleased. I handed round bread, which was a rare -luxury, and they polished off the rest of the fowl in a jiffey, drank up -the broth, and were quite lively after their meal. - -I dressed the bad foot again, and was pleased to find that the rest of -the dirt came off with the dressing and the place looked healthy. The -child lay down and went to sleep at once. Outside all was blackness and -wet, and I began to feel that the rest of my life was going to be spent -storm-bound on Kom of the Vassoievich. They pitched wood on the fire. -The man said it would be a cold night. We lay down with our feet towards -the blaze. I wrapped my head in my waterproof to keep off the bitter -blast that whistled through the wide crannies. Radovan went to the next -hut. There was not room for us all on the floor. My host took off his -coat and spread it over me, wrapped himself in his greatcoat, and lay -down by my side. "So thou shalt sleep warm," he said. His wife and -daughters cuddled up on the other side of him, and in five minutes they -were all asleep. I lay and listened to the drip of the rain outside and -the steady grind of the calf chewing cud in the corner. The surviving -hen roosted on a peg and muttered softly to herself, and I slept, and -slept soundly. We woke in the chill grey dawn, and they kindled the -fire. The lame child had slept the whole night through. I dressed the -wound a third time, gave them the lanoline and most of my handkerchiefs, -and told them to keep the place clean and it would soon be well. Their -gratitude was painful, and they thanked God and St. Peter who had sent -me. The death of the hen lay heavy on my soul, and I succeeded in making -the woman accept a little money. She refused at first, but when she -found I really meant it, the tears came to her eyes and they all kissed -my hands and dress. I rode away feeling much overcome. The sun had not -struggled out, and we tracked through dripping beech woods dim with -mist, out on to lone slopes and into solemn valleys, where we were the -only living things, till in the evening I saw once more the little -shingled houses of Kolashin, and drew rein at the inn door. - -There is little more for me to tell. On my return journey I was deeply -touched by the reception we met everywhere, and filled with amazement. -Now at last, people said, England would know what life was in Stara -Srbija. Many of them considered I had risked my life for the cause, and -could not thank me enough. They even sent their greetings to the mother -who had let me come to help them. I felt very humble, and had to accept -hospitality that was undeserved, for I knew that I had done very little -and the results would be still less. - -After Stara Srbija the route seemed absurdly easy. I avoided Brskut and -went by way of Morachki Monastir. It is the oldest monastery in -Montenegro, and was founded by Vuk, governor of the Zeta, brother of -Stefan Prvovenchani and St. Sava, which makes it six hundred years old. -It stands in a lonesome valley, sheltered and fertile but quite cut off -from all the rest of the world, and has successfully resisted the Turks, -who have more than once attacked it furiously. Like all the other -monasteries that have had to struggle for existence, it is surrounded by -a high wall. It was the eve of St. Peter's day, and the courtyard was -filled with mountain men, who had come to take the communion on the -morrow. The Archimandrite, a man of splendid stature and military -bearing, and courteous as they all are, came out and welcomed us right -royally. He was vividly interested in our journey, gave Radovan the -praise he so well deserved, and filled him with joy. For the -Archimandrite is a "veliki junak," and praise from his lips was very -sweet. I rejoiced that Radovan was getting his due. - -This monastery church is of very great interest to the archaeologist, as -it has never fallen into Turkish hands and is in perfect preservation. -The inner doors of black wood inlaid with ivory are very beautiful and -the frescoes which cover the walls are in excellent condition. The -church is whitewashed without and roofed with wooden shingles. The outer -wall is boldly frescoed on either side the main door, St. George slays -the dragon decoratively from a white steed, and a large picture of the -Last Judgment shows souls struggling to ascend the ladder to heaven, -aided by angels above and torn at by devils below. The doorway and whole -group of paintings are protected by a big wooden porch. Service on -St. Peter's day was very solemn, and the crowd of communicants made it -last for several hours. I came out from it, more deeply than ever -impressed with the fact that it is largely her loyalty to her church -that has, so far, saved Montenegro. - -[Illustration: PODGORITZA.] - -I dined at midday with the Archimandrite, who was most hospitable and -jovial, and gave me a massive, solid meal, to tackle which required a -good deal more heroism than a trip to Stara Srbija. - -He saw me off next morning with a stirrup-cup of rakija so potent that -neither Radovan nor I could manage the Trinity in it, and we made our -way back to Podgoritza. Podgoritza was a surprise to me. I came to it -out of the wilderness, and was astonished at its size, luxury, and -magnificence. Then I understood the point of view of the man who had -asked me a quantity of questions about London, its population, whether -it were really true that there were a hundred trains a day, bazaar every -day, electric light, etc., and ended by saying, "And do the potatoes -grow well there?" "London is a large town," I said, "all houses, -houses." "I know that," he replied; "I asked, do the potatoes grow well -in London?" "Do potatoes grow in London? What extraordinary ignorance! -One can scarcely believe it possible," said an Englishman in a London -suburb when he heard this tale. He is "culchawed," and devotes time and -labour to improving the minds of "our parish." "And what were the -theatres like in these out-of-the-way places?" he asked. We were talking -of Stara Srbija. - -Now I sat under the white mulberry trees at the door of the inn and -admired Podgoritza. For a few weeks I had looked at civilisation across -a gap of centuries from the "back of beyond," and things look very -different from that point of view, more different than anyone who has -lived at one end of Europe only can ever realise. And, still in the grip -of the wilderness, I parted from Radovan with regret and many promises -to return next year for a tour so wild and extensive that it is to -resemble a young campaign. - -It was the end of July; Podgoritza was sizzling and sweltering in the -summer sun. It received me warmly in every sense of the word. But the -change from the chilly heights of Kom to the baking plain was too trying -to induce a long stay. Besides, as everyone said, "you are coming back -next year." I made a pilgrimage one morning to the grave of Marko -Drekalovich, the "dobar junak" to whose wild valour, military skill, and -indomitable spirit this corner of Montenegro largely owes its freedom, -and who now sleeps on the rugged heights of Medun that he tore from the -Turks, and I returned to Cetinje. A carriage and a road were a strange -enough experience, and as for Montenegro's joy, the only motor car, I -admired it almost as much as do the Montenegrins. Once at Cetinje the -spell was broken, and from Cetinje to London one whirls in a few days in -the lap of luxury, second class. - -I left the Balkan peninsula not with "good-bye" but with "do vidjenja" -(au revoir). The story of its peoples is tragic, their future looks -black, and they have few friends. It is the fashion just now to make a -great deal of capital out of the fact that these Christian peoples do -not love one another as, of course, all Christians should, and to say -that each one is so jealous of the other that it is impossible to help -them. This is rather idle talk, and not unlike that of the pot that -called the kettle black. Race instinct, one of the strongest of the -human passions, has as yet shown no tendency to die out anywhere. It -seems, therefore, a little unreasonable to expect the Balkan peoples to -be the ones to set an example to the rest of the world by dropping all -international jealousies and national aspirations. After all, they do -but love one another as France does Germany. International jealousy is -certainly at the root of the present grievous condition of affairs in -the Balkans, but it is the jealousy not only of the Balkan peoples but -that of other nations which are supposed to be older and wiser and whose -quarrels are of even longer standing. - -I have no patent medicine to offer for the present trouble. It has got -beyond pillules and homoeopathic doses, and nothing but the extirpation -of the centre of disease can have any lasting effect. As long as the -Turk is permitted to "govern" Christian peoples, so long will there be -trouble in the Balkans. That the Balkan Slavs are not as black as they -have often been painted I have tried to show by telling how they have -treated me. If they do not possess all the virtues of civilisation they -are free from many of its vices. I have found them kindly, generous, and -honest, and I wish them very well. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Land of the Serb, by Mary Edith Durham - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE LAND OF THE SERB *** - -***** This file should be named 41499.txt or 41499.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/4/9/41499/ - -Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org -(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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