MONTENEGRO 
 
 
 '<*> r u. 
 
 °% 
 
$g Hie Sitmt &nt\iot. 
 
 THE 
 
 CHRISTIANS OF TURKEY : 
 
 THEIR CONDITION UNDER MUSSULMAN 
 RULE. 
 
 Third Edition, crown 8vo, 5s. 
 
 " Those who are still curious to learn what the status 
 quo actually is in Turkey, will find a variety of data in 
 a popular form in Mr. Denton's book." — Academy. 
 
 " The tone of the book is sober. There is no rhetoric 
 and no passion. It is simply a calm statement of facts, 
 based chiefly on official testimony."— Spectator. 
 
 " How blue books on the condition of Turkey have 
 been manufactured by way of official answer to former 
 complaints of hideous cruelty, fraud, and oppression, 
 is snown in these pages with a clearness which un- 
 happily can leave no room for doubt."— Daily News. 
 
 " Mr. Denton has framed a formidable and unanswer- 
 able indictment. We trust that his book may be widely 
 and carefully studied."— Church Times. 
 
 " Mr. Denton does not write from hearsay. He is 
 himself a Servian scholar, he has resided in the country, 
 studied the people and their ways, and in a good deal 
 speaks as an eye-witness. His book is a valuable sum- 
 mary and argument, and should be widely read and 
 pondered." — Nonconformist. 
 
 " Mr. Denton has resided in Servia, and is well ac- 
 quainted with the Turkish rule. He knows, therefore, 
 where to find evidence, and what its value is. His 
 book should sting the political conscience of Europe to 
 the very quick.*'— British Quarterly Review. 
 
 DALDV, ISBISTER & CO., 56. LUDGATE HILL, 
 LONDON. 
 
MONTENEGRO 
 
 ITS PEOPLE AND THEIR HISTORY 
 
 By the REV. W. DENTON, M.A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'SBRVIA AND THE SERVIANS,' * THE CHRISTIANS OF TURKEY,' 
 ETC. ETC- 
 
 LONDON 
 DALDY, ISBISTER & CO. 
 
 56, LUDGATE HILL 
 1877 
 

 LONDON : 
 FEINTED BY VIBTUE AND CO., LIMITED, 
 CITY BOAD. 
 
 • • « »• 
 
NICHOLAS THE FIKST, 
 
 $xincc of $tontint&to anb tlu gterba, 
 
 A BEAVE SOLDIER, A PATRIOT PRINCE, 
 
 AND 
 
 A CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN. 
 
 •^92974 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I owe it to the courtesy of the proprietors of the 
 Church Quarterly Review that I have been able to 
 embody in this small volume the greater part of an 
 article on ' Montenegro/ contributed by me, in 
 October last, to that periodical. By the like permis- 
 sion on the part of the publishers of Good Words, I 
 have also made use of two papers written by me a few 
 years since, and printed in that periodical. For the 
 information contained in these papers and in the 
 present volume I am indebted to my own observations 
 made whilst travelling in Montenegro, to replies 
 sent me in answer to inquiries made with a view to 
 publication, and to such books as I believe may be 
 depended upon for their accuracy. The information 
 so obtained I have sought fairly to place before the 
 reader; and that I may enable him to verify any 
 statements made by me, I have cited my authorities 
 
VU1 PREFACE. 
 
 throughout. I have made full use of the testimony 
 and the language of others, because I prefer to 
 use their words rather than my own. I have, so 
 far as I could, avoided all questions of momentary 
 political strife, believing that whatever may be 
 thought of the present aspect of the Eastern question, 
 most persons, be their party predilections what they 
 may, will sympathize with the Montenegrins in 
 their heroic struggle for independence and freedom of 
 religious worship. In addition to the description of 
 the physical aspect of the country and the institutions 
 of its people, I have given a brief sketch of the 
 history of Montenegro, which, without possessing 
 any claim to research, will be, I imagine, new to 
 most readers. But though I have sought to avoid 
 all allusion to mere party politics, politics themselves 
 it were impossible to avoid, even if I wished to 
 do so, since politics is only another name for the 
 history of the present. 
 
 22, Westbourne Square, 
 May, 1877. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 tag a 
 Introduction 
 
 PART I. 
 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 I. — Name — Boundaries — Superficial Extent — Pass 
 
 FROM CATTARO 9 
 
 II. — Rivers — Mountains — Geology of Montenegro — 
 
 Mount Lovchen 21 
 
 111. — Climate — Production — Exports and Imports — 
 
 Roads 38 
 
 IV. — Political Divisions — Cetinje — Niegush — Rjeka 
 
 — DlOCLEA — OSTROG 52 
 
 V. — Population — Military Forces — Tactics . . 79 
 
 VI. — Present Military Organization • . . .93 
 
 VII. — Physical Characters — Longevity — Dress — Cot- 
 tages — Home Life 103 
 
 VIII. — Moral Characteristics — Position of "Women — 
 Honesty — Chastity — Court of Appeal — 
 Code of Laws — Equality of People . .119 
 
 IX. — Occupations — Land Tenure — Offices — Income — 
 
 Expenditure 141 
 
 X. — Language — Literature — Printing Press . . 151 
 
 XI. — Ecclesiastical State — Education . . .161 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PART II. 
 HISTORY OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGK 
 
 XII. — Montenegrin History until the Battle of 
 
 Kossova * 179 
 
 XIII. — Montenegro an Independent Principality (1389 
 
 —1516) 189 
 
 XTV. — The Legend of Stanicha 200 
 
 XV. — Montenegro under the Pjrince-Bishops : Period 
 the First, Elective Bishops (a.d. 1516 — 
 1696) . .210 
 
 XVI. — Hereditary Prince-Bishops — Danilo Petrovic 225 
 
 XVTL— The Vladikas Sava and Vassali (a.d. 1735—1782) 237 
 
 XVIII.— Peter I. (1782—1830.) 249 
 
 XIX.— Peter II. (1830—1851) 264 
 
 XX. — Restoration of the Secular Rule — Danilo II. 274 
 
 XXI.— Nicholas I. (1860) 288 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The war which has just broken out between Turkey 
 and Russia, and which may yet involve at least 
 some of the other powers of Europe in the struggle 
 to obtain a better government for the long oppressed 
 Christian subjects of Turkey, has made Montenegro 
 a household word in this country. As this small 
 Principality is but little known to Englishmen, and 
 as it has now acquired an importance wholly incom- 
 mensurate with its size and with the number of its 
 inhabitants, it is my purpose to give, in part from 
 notes made during a short visit to that country, in 
 part from materials collected for this purpose, a brief 
 account of the territory and people of Montenegro, 
 together with an outline of the history of the Prin- 
 cipality. 
 
 Apart from its share in the present war with 
 Turkey, Montenegro, however, though the { smallest 
 
' '2' ' ' ' ' Wokte'negro . 
 
 among peoples/ * deserves our respect for the suc- 
 cessful efforts it lias made for the preservation of 
 its independence, and may fairly claim a portion of 
 that gratitude which we owe to the memory of John 
 Sobieski and of the conquerors at Lepanto. A larger 
 share, indeed, than they ; since this small handful 
 of mountaineers has struggled for four centuries 
 with hardly any intermission against the Ottoman 
 power, has never submitted to its yoke, has kept 
 alive the hope of freedom in the Serb provinces 
 on the south of the Danube, has beaten back the 
 forces of Turkey even when in the full career of 
 victory, and has thus served, often at the most critical 
 moments of European history, as a breakwater against 
 the inundation which once threatened to sweep away 
 all vestiges of civilisation, of freedom, and of Chris- 
 tianity from the face of Europe. In short, for long 
 years and centuries the whole life of the people of 
 Montenegro was one prolonged fight of Marathon 
 or Morgarten : one long unbroken struggle against 
 the assaults of the most cruel and faithless of enemies, 
 the common foe of the religion and the civilisation 
 of Europe.' f 
 
 Another fact in the history of this people is equally 
 deserving of our respect and admiration. Monte- 
 
 * Tennyson. t Freeman. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 negro has not only offered at all times a ready- 
 asylum to the suffering subjects of the Ottoman 
 Government, without distinction of race or creed, but 
 so sacred is this right of asylum regarded by them, 
 and so great is the confidence of their enemies in 
 their chivalrous character, that during the wars along 
 the frontier Mussulman women and children have 
 frequently sought and found a haven of safety, not 
 at a distance from but in the midst of their foes, and 
 have lived without molestation among the Monte- 
 negrins, whilst these people were engaged in a fierce 
 struggle for their existence with the brothers and 
 husbands of the fugitives.* In striking distinction 
 from the practice of their enemies, female honour 
 and life and the helplessness of childhood have been 
 always respected by them. 
 
 To recount our obligation, and the obligation of 
 all Christendom, to this small state is to acknow- 
 ledge the difficulties which lie in the way of any 
 one who may attempt to give even an outline of 
 the history of the Montenegrins. Their life is one 
 
 * In the early part of the present war Turkish women 
 and children were received by the Montenegrins, and fed 
 and lodged with the same care as the Christian fugitives 
 from the Herzegovina. In October, 1875, the official returns 
 give a list of fifty-two Turkish women and children who 
 were at that moment receiving shelter within the Princi- 
 pality. 
 
4 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 of primitive, and but for the warfare to which they 
 have been compelled of almost arcadian, simplicity. 
 Their history is one long epic, in which the deeds of 
 heroism, wrought out in their mountain home, seems 
 more fitted for the verse of the poet than for the 
 sober pen of the historian. It is, indeed, hardty 
 possible to relate the fortunes of this heroic people 
 without appearing to encroach upon the province of 
 the writers of romance, and thus ' begetting in the 
 mind of the reader a restless suspicion of exaggera- 
 tion and of fable/ * It is impossible that it should 
 be otherwise. The fact that a state which makes but 
 a mere speck on the map of Europe, with a popu- 
 lation at the most of about thirty thousand men, 
 women, and children, f should at the time when 
 the Sultans of Turkey were most powerful and most 
 bent on conquest have been able successfully to 
 maintain its independence, is as marvellous as many 
 of the fables of romance. And yet this is in brief 
 the history of Montenegro.^ 
 
 * Gladstone. 
 
 t The population of Montenegro did not reach thirty thou- 
 sand until the accession of the Berda towards the middle of 
 the last century. 
 
 J ■ In many eyes it must be an ideal land where military 
 service is absolutely universal, where primary instruction is 
 also absolutely universal — I may add, where the ownership 
 of land is universal also. In Montenegro, as in prehistoric 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 The marvels which run through their history will 
 be better understood after an examination of the 
 physical aspects of the country and a survey of the 
 habits and condition of its people. 
 
 Greece, every man goes armed ; every man, dressed in the 
 picturesque costume of his tribe, carries his pistol and 
 yataghan in his girdle. But if he can wield pistol and 
 yataghan, he can also turn either to his spade or to his pen. 
 Here, and perhaps here only in the modern world, we can 
 see the very model of a warrior tribe, a nation of a quarter 
 of a million who have known how to maintain their inde- 
 pendence with their own right hands, and who at the same 
 time are making rapid strides to a higher place among 
 civilised nations than some of the great powers of the 
 world. '—Freeman. 
 
PAET I. 
 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 NAME BOUNDARIES SUPERFICIAL EXTENT PASS 
 
 FROM CATTARO. 
 
 The reason for one half of the name by which this 
 land of sombre desolate mountains is known in all 
 modern languages has long been matter of dispute. 
 Its cold grey limestone ridges, looking black by 
 contrast with the lighter hue of the Dalmatian 
 hills ; * the masses of dark pines, and of other forest 
 trees, which, it is said, once covered large portions 
 of its mountain heights ; f the terror with which the 
 
 * ' Quiconque aura vu le front calcaire, la face grise 
 des cimes du Montenegro sous los sombres nuees qui les 
 enveloppent en un jour d'orage, comprendra aisement 
 qu'on leur ait donne le nom de Montagne Noire, comme sur 
 les confines du pays de Bade on a donne, a une large et 
 profonde pyramide de sapins le nom de Schwarzwald (Forefc 
 Noire).' — Lettres sur VAdriatique et le Montenegro, par 
 M. X. Marmier, t. ii. p. 98. See also Sir J. Gardner 
 Wilkinson's Dalmatia and Montenegro, vol. i. p. 402. 
 
 t ' All along the road, and in all that I saw of Monte- 
 negro, the mountains are of that bluish-grey which darkens 
 so curiously in the afternoons and the winter into rich 
 
10 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegrins inspired the Turkish inhabitants of 
 the lowlands who dwelt along their frontiers ; and 
 the name of one of the dynasties which formerly 
 ruled this country* — have been severally assigned 
 by one writer or another as the meaning of part 
 of its name of Montenegro in the Venetian dialect 
 of Italian, of Tzrnagora, in Slavonic, and of Kara- 
 dagh in Turkish.f Be this as it may, there is 
 no doubt as to the remainder of the name by which 
 the country is known. Politically, as well as geo- 
 graphically and historically, Montenegro is pre- 
 eminently a land of mountains. Its strength, in 
 all wars with Turkey, is due as well to the sterility 
 of the country J as to the inaccessible nature of 
 
 purple and absolute black, while in the bright daylight it 
 ia only cold grey and at midday almost whitish. But see- 
 ing the rock covered with the dark-leaved dwarf oak and 
 other brushwood, which grows out of every crevice in black 
 masses, the traveller recognises at once the meaning of the 
 name so dear to its inhabitants — the Tzerna-Gora, or Black 
 Mountains.' — Lady Strangford's Eastern Shores of the 
 Adriatic, p. 139. 
 
 * Le Montenegro Contemporain, par G. Frilley et Jovan 
 Wlahovitj. Paris, 1876. 
 
 + In pure Italian the name is Montenero, in Greek Mavro 
 Youni, in Albanian Mal-Esija, and in Arabic maps Al- 
 jubal-al-Aswad, all of which have the same meaning, ' the 
 Black Mountain.' 
 
 % 'Here a small army is beaten, a large one dies of 
 hunger.' — Paton. 
 
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 11 
 
 the retreats, from which swarms of irregular soldiers 
 have issued to defend their homes and liberties, 
 and to repel alike the attacks of fanatical hordes 
 and of veteran armies. Its songs, almost its 
 only literature, are inspired by the mountain breeze. 
 The character of its hardy inhabitants is such as is 
 only found in mountainous countries. And the 
 chaos of limestone, either prolonged in short ridges, 
 serrated and rugged with bluff irregular spurs, or 
 bent in a circle enclosing a small plain of fertile 
 land, as the crater is girdled by the sides of a volcano, 
 is the key to the history of this people, and will 
 account in some measure for the success which has 
 crowned their long struggle to maintain their faith 
 and independence, from the day when at Kossova 
 the Serbian power was broken and its monarchy 
 lost, down to our own time, when the troops of 
 Turkey keep ceaseless watch over its northern, 
 eastern, and southern frontiers.* The chronicles of 
 Montenegro are written for the most part in the 
 popular songs which record feats of individual hero- 
 ism, such as rugged mountain territory alone renders 
 possible, but such as no other highland country can 
 rival. 
 
 * * La nature a ete gratuitement elle-meme le Vauban dos 
 Montenegrins. La nature leur a fait un cercle do remparts, 
 une enceinte continue.' — Lenormant, Tares et Montenegrins. 
 
12 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegro has the Austrian province of Dalmatia 
 on the south-west, on the other three sides it is 
 bounded by Turkey. The north-eastern frontier of 
 Montenegro, formed by a ridge of the Dinarian 
 Alps, is separated from free Serbia by a strip of 
 broken ground, connecting the provinces of Bosnia 
 and the Herzegovina with the district of Stara 
 Serbia, in the occupation of Turkey. On the north- 
 west it has for its boundary an offset from the same 
 ridge of mountains, running nearly at right angles 
 with the rest of the range, and stretching almost to 
 the Adriatic near Eagusa. Within this line, how- 
 ever, lies the beautiful and fertile vale of Niksic, 
 held by the Turks, although ethnologically, as well 
 as geographically and socially, it is a part of Mon- 
 tenegro, to which indeed it previously belonged. 
 Another mountain ridge, broken by a succession of 
 lofty peaks, of which Mount Yegli Yerch and Mount 
 Lovchen* are the highest, shuts out Montenegro 
 from the sea, and forms its south-western boundary. 
 On the south-east towards Albania the frontier 
 differs in character from those on the other three 
 sides. Here the mountain sinks into the plain, the 
 gorges are wider, the breadth of fertile land greater, 
 and the country depends for its defence rather upon 
 
 * The Monte Sella of the Italians. 
 
BOUNDARIES. 13 
 
 the valour of its sons than upon any feature of 
 nature. At this point the line of separation be- 
 tween Montenegro and Turkey is made up in part 
 of the easy slopes of various mountain ridges, 
 which, however irregular in their formation, have 
 almost always a south-eastern direction ; in part 
 by the rivers Zeta and Moratcha and by smaller 
 streams. 
 
 Two ideas lie at the root of all Slavonic political 
 organizations, the family and the race, not, as with 
 other people, the individual and the territory. Until 
 1859 no official limits had been defined between 
 Turkey and this Principality,* and Montenegro meant 
 rather the country occupied by the Montenegrins 
 than a district of country with a rigid line of demar- 
 cation, a fact which it is not easy to obliterate from 
 the minds of this people. In 1859, however, a 
 commission appointed by the five chief European 
 powers laid down for the first time with precision 
 the frontier line, which includes the present inde- 
 pendent principality of Montenegro. Unhappily 
 for the preservation of peace, this line was drawn 
 with so little regard to the fair claim of this people 
 and to their means of subsistence, that it has added 
 
 * The boundary between Austria and Montenegro had 
 been settled about thirty years before this date. 
 
14 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 a fresh perplexity to the relations between the Porte 
 and the Montenegrins.* 
 
 In shape Montenegro has been compared to the 
 leaf of a plane-tree, to which it bears a general re- 
 semblance. Perhaps a better idea of its shape may- 
 be obtained by joining two right-angled triangles 
 at the apex of each, allowing one somewhat to over- 
 lap the other. It lies between 42° 10' and 42° 56' of 
 north latitude, and between 18° 41' and 20° 22' of 
 east longitude of Greenwich. f The greatest length 
 of the Principality, which is from east to west, is 
 about fifty-five miles ; its greatest breadth, from 
 north to south, about thirty-eight miles. In the 
 centre, however, the Turkish territory on both sides 
 indents that of Montenegro so considerably, that its 
 northern frontier — that on the side of Herzegovina 
 — is only distant some twelve miles from the first 
 Turkish post in Albania : an arrangement which 
 seriously impairs the defensive power of the country, 
 and is provocative of fresh struggles between the 
 
 * ' La delimitation qu'elle resulte du travail de la com- 
 mission international de 1859, ne saurait etra considered 
 comme propre a fixer dans l'avenir les limites definitives de 
 la principaute. Ce n'est en effet que par exception que nous 
 y voyons des confins bien naturels et surtout indiscutables, 
 tels que ceux de la Zeta et de la Sitoritza.' — Le Monte- 
 negro Contemporain, p. 87. 
 
 t Or between 16° V and 16' 58' east longitude of Paris. 
 
AREA. 15 
 
 Porte and Montenegro. The superficial extent of 
 the Principality is estimated at seventy geographical 
 miles square. The frontier line is, however, so ir- 
 regular, that the traveller who would trace the line 
 of limitation would have to pass over two hundred 
 and eighty miles before reaching the point from 
 which he started.* 
 
 It is not easy to compute the area of Monte- 
 negro because of this great irregularity of its 
 frontier; nor, when computed, do the figures give 
 more than an imperfect idea of the quantity of the 
 land that can be brought under cultivation, nor 
 indeed of the real extent of the country, since the 
 sides of the mountains, sterile as they are, are 
 tenanted by peasants who cultivate with the utmost 
 care the smallest patch of ground which has been 
 formed in the hollows and crevices of the mountain 
 slopes by the decay of vegetable matter and by the 
 disintegration of the rocks during long ages. There 
 are few more striking instances of parsimonious 
 industry than that presented to the traveller on his 
 ride from Cattaro to Cetinje— than the small plots, 
 we can scarcely call them fields, of wheat, maize, 
 capsicums, or potatoes lying in the hollows of the 
 rocks. Corn-fields twenty feet by twelve, and 
 
 * Le HlonUnigro Contetnporain, p. 90. 
 
16 MONTENEGKO. 
 
 potato-grounds less than six feet square, are of 
 frequent occurrence.* Such a spectacle of industry 
 can hardly be seen in any other country in the 
 world. In the valleys on the southern frontier, 
 where the country descends on one side towards 
 Lake Skodra,f and on the other overlooks Budua and 
 Antivari on the Adriatic, the soil is not only more 
 fertile than the rest of Montenegro, but agriculture 
 and horticulture have advanced to a degree of per- 
 fection which would be observable in any country. $ 
 There the hills are terrassed for vineyards, and fig 
 and pomegranate orchards add largely to the exports 
 of the Principality. 
 
 Most travellers who visit Montenegro enter the 
 
 * ' I saw clearings of so small a size as barely to admit of 
 one potato plant or three of maize, and little fields but one 
 yard in diameter.' — Rambles in Istria, Dalmatia, and Monte- 
 negro, p. 249. 
 
 * On a ledge of rock, in a little depression between the 
 rocks, in a niche, in a mere crevice, in short everywhere 
 within possibility, a little field has been made, the stones 
 picked off, the rocks torn out, and, perhaps, earth added 
 artificially ; and behold, a patch of potatoes or of maize ! 
 Nothing else seems grown here, but I declare that I saw 
 many flourishing little crops not a yard square.' — Lady 
 Steangpord's Eastern Shores of the Adriatic. 
 
 t The Palus Labeatis of Livy, xliv. 31. Skodra, the 
 Scutari of our maps, is the name of the lake and the city at 
 its southern extremity. 
 
 X CYPEIEN Eobeet, Les Slaves de Turquie, t. i. p. 121. 
 
PASS OF CATTARO. 17 
 
 country from Cattaro in Dalmatia. Immediately 
 above the small city, which is built on the narrow 
 strip of land interposed between the waters of the 
 Bocche and the mountain rampart of the Princi- 
 pality on that side, lies the pass into Montenegro. 
 Viewed from below the road appears drawn along the 
 face of a cliff almost precipitous. It is only, indeed, 
 by a series of zigzags reaching to the top that any 
 road could have been constructed. For about half- 
 way up this road, or ladder (scala), as it is properly 
 called, is Austrian, and has been made with all the 
 appliances which military science possesses. This 
 part of the way consists of seventy- three zigzags per- 
 fectly well made, smooth, tolerably wide, and guarded 
 at all the angles by a parapet.* For the first three- 
 quarters of an hour the Venetian citadel, which looks 
 very ruinous, hovers above the head of the traveller, 
 and hangs over Cattaro. Passing almost close to 
 this, and by the Morlacco hamlet of Spigliari, the 
 traveller soon quits the territory of Austria and 
 takes leave of the road. From this point the terri- 
 tory of Montenegro begins. The way is left almost 
 in its primitive wildness — a chaos of rocks and 
 water- courses. A pass which no military array could 
 hope to force, and which a handful of such moun- 
 
 * Lady Straxgford, p. 134. 
 c 
 
18 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 taineers as Montenegro rears might hold against a 
 large army. The top of this pass, which opens upon 
 the plateau of Niegush, is almost five thousand feet 
 above the level of Cattaro. If the traveller chances 
 to mount this scala on a market-day, which appa- 
 rently is almost every day in the week, he will pass 
 files of mules and small ponies laden with the pro- 
 duce of Montenegro, and groups of men and women, 
 the latter nearly as heavily laden as the animal with 
 bundles of firewood or of sumac, with fruit, vege- 
 tables, or flesh, whilst the men, with some exceptions, 
 are unburdened, except with their rifle and long 
 pipe.* In ascending the pass the Montenegrins 
 follow the windings of the road, but in descending 
 these hardy and agile mountaineers usually shorten 
 the distance by leaping from boulder to boulder in 
 a straight descent, where the least false step would 
 lead to almost certain death. After mounting to the 
 top of the pass, if the traveller ascends the adjoining 
 height of the Lovchen, his eye will take in almost 
 
 * Misses Mackenzie and Ieby, speaking of their visit 
 to Cetinje by this scala, say expressively, ' Although it was 
 not market-day, the Ladder of Cattaro swarmed with 
 Montenegrins as the ladder of a beehive with bees.' — 
 Travels in South Slavonic Provinces, vol. ii. p. 221, second 
 edition. No image brings back to the mind the lively scene 
 better than this. 
 
PASS OF CATTAKO. 19 
 
 the whole of Montenegro proper, the plains of 
 Upper Albania with Lake Skodra, together with the 
 long parallel ridges of the Herzegovina and the 
 Berda, and he will thus be able to trace the long 
 lines of mountainous passes which have enabled the 
 people to maintain their independence, or quickly 
 to recover from any momentary reverses of the 
 fortune of war. 
 
 The impression which this prospect is calculated 
 to make on a traveller is thus described in a private 
 letter now before me : ' After nearly three hours 
 of toil, partly on foot and partly on horseback, I 
 reached the top of the pass, and was able to look 
 down upon everything within sight. The view was 
 one which will not be soon forgotten. Below me 
 lay the Bocche di Cattaro, smooth as glass, reflecting 
 as clearly as in a mirror the towers and white- 
 fronted houses which rise far above the margin of 
 the sea. Every mountain and ravine, every path- 
 way winding to the top of the ridge opposite to me, 
 every village or town, every vineyard and oliveyard, 
 was sharply defined in the clear atmosphere, and the 
 whole tract of country seemed more like a raised 
 map than solid earth and deep sea. Turning from 
 the road which I had passed over, I was now able to 
 look inland towards Bosnia and Albania, and the 
 
20 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 sio-ht in this direction, though totally different 
 from that behind me, was not less striking. I 
 seemed to be looking out upon a turbulent sea of 
 grey limestone, an ocean of rolling boulders and 
 petrified breakers.' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 RIVERS — MOUNTAINS— GEOLOGY OF MONTENEGRO — 
 MOUNT LOVCHEN. 
 
 Though springs of water gush from the sides of the 
 loftiest mountains, there is 5 if we except the time 
 when on the melting of the snows they are furrowed 
 for awhile by torrents, a singular absence of an} r - 
 thing resembling a cascade in the whole country, 
 and streams which rise here to the dignity of rivers 
 would elsewhere be considered unimportant. Of 
 these the Zeta, or Zenta, which gave its name to the 
 whole country formerly ruled by the Princes of 
 Montenegro, of which the present Principality is 
 but a fragment, rises in the southern declivity of 
 the mountain range to the west of the town of 
 Niksic, and marks for a short distance the boun- 
 dary between Montenegro and the Herzegovina ; it 
 is then lost in the earth, and pursues a subterranean 
 course until it reaches the neighbourhood of Ostrog, 
 
22 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 when bursting forth again it flows through the 
 beautiful valley of Bielopavolic, and falls into 
 the Moratcha, between Spouj and Podgoritza, near 
 the ruins of Dioclea. The extreme length of this 
 river, including its subterranean course, is about 
 seventeen miles. i 
 
 The Ejeka, or rather the Tzrnovichi-rjeka,* rises 
 near the little town or village of the same name, 
 and though possessing a larger volume of water 
 than the Zeta, has a shorter course than that river, 
 its length being less than ten miles. | It is, how- 
 ever, navigable for large boats or barges almost 
 to its source. It is a characteristic of several of 
 the rivers on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic 
 that they burst from their source in a full volume of 
 water. Thus the Rjeka rushes out of a deep arched 
 gloomy cavern, which has been compared to the vast 
 portal of a Gothic cathedral, and after turning the 
 flank of the mountains in which it has its source 
 broadens into a wide sheet of water near the little 
 arsenal of Obod, and having at length hollowed out 
 for itself a deep bed, flows under the arches of a pic- 
 turesque bridge, and past the village or small town 
 to which it gives its own name, Rjeka. The waters 
 
 * This river, because of its importance to Montenegro, is 
 known generally by the name of ' The River ' (rjeka). 
 
THE KJEKA. 23 
 
 of this river, after being joined by those of a smaller 
 stream, the Karatuna, near Jablac, fall into the 
 Lake of Skodra. Viewed either from the rocks above 
 or from its surface, this stream is one of rare beauty. 
 Its borders are fringed with the Eaketa (Salix caprea, 
 Lin.), with pomegranate bushes and fig-trees, and 
 through a great part of the year are gay with the 
 purple blossoms of the former shrilb, or afire with 
 the scarlet blossoms of the pomegranate. Except ir. 
 the character of its vegetation, the Rjeka resembles 
 a highland river, and widens throughout its course 
 into lake -like reaches, which appear to be closed in 
 on all sides by the grey sterile rocks rising from its 
 bed. The eifect of this breadth of water is, however, 
 in a great measure, lost, in consequence of the fields 
 of rushes and water-lilies, white and yellow, which 
 cover the whole surface of the water except in the 
 centre of the stream. These form a cover for gulls and 
 other aquatic birds, and shelter numerous families of 
 coots, water-hens, and dab-chicks, or dive-dappers.* 
 The mouths of the ravines which open upon this 
 river give the traveller glimpses of white-gabled cot- 
 tagcs, peeping out of clusters of walnut, cornel, and 
 
 * ' Dive-dapper,' the old poetic name of the dab-chick. 
 
 ' Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave.' 
 
 ShakspebB, Venus and Adonis. 
 
24 MONTENEGEO. 
 
 pomegranate trees. A third river, the Tzrnitza, has its 
 source in the mountains of Triroga, overhanging the 
 Bay of Spizza, near the junction of the Turkish, Aus- 
 trian, and Montenegrin frontiers. This river is the 
 shortest of any of the streams which rise in Monte- 
 negro. It falls, like all the others, into the Lake of 
 Skodra, at the north-western corner. It is navigable 
 for boats only for a short distance above Yir-bazar 
 at its mouth. The Moratcha, the most considerable 
 of these rivers, though it rises within Montenegro, 
 near the foot of Mount Dormitor, on the north- 
 eastern angle of the Principality, flows through the 
 Berda in a general south-western direction, loses the 
 character of a Montenegrin river for a great part of 
 its course, and runs exclusively through the Turkish 
 territory of Albania, where, augmented by the waters 
 of the Zeta, it passes the town of Podgoritza, and 
 falls into the Lake of Skodra. This river is navi- 
 gable from its mouth up to Podgoritza, but ceases 
 to be so where it runs through Montenegrin terri- 
 tory. In addition to these rivers there are also 
 some small rivulets, which acquire importance in 
 the general deficiency of water in large districts 
 of this country.* The Mala rjeka, the Brestica, 
 
 * The Eibnitza (Jish-river) rises at the foot of the moun- 
 tains on the frontier of the Koutchi nahia, and falls into the 
 
ASPECT OF COUNTRY. 25 
 
 the Matica, and Sitanica, which fall into the Mo- 
 
 ratcha — these, though full of water in the winter 
 
 and spring, are almost dry, and hardly to be traced, 
 
 in the summer and autumn months. The peculiar 
 
 surface, combined with the absorbent nature of 
 
 the limestone rocks, prevents the accumulation of 
 
 water into rivulets and streams. Even wells are 
 
 extremely rare. The inhabitants are therefore 
 
 obliged to collect rain-water in cisterns for their 
 
 household use and for their cattle.* 
 
 The principality of Montenegro is divided into 
 
 Montenegro proper, on the west, and the Berda, on 
 
 the east. The former is for the most part a rocky, 
 
 irregular plateau, rising on the north upwards of four 
 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, but falling 
 
 in a rapid descent towards the south,f basin-shaped 
 
 depressions like enormous craters; and valleys or 
 
 gorges resembling deep chasms occur throughout 
 
 the broken table-land ; whilst from the rocky plateau 
 
 itself solitary peaks and short irregular ridges of 
 
 mountains rise to a great height above the rough 
 
 Moratcha near Podgoritza. It belongs, however, to Albania 
 rather than to Montenegro. 
 
 * Paper of Count Karaczay on Albania in Journal 0/ 
 Royal Geographical Society, vol. xii. p. 48. 
 
 f ■ Entre Cettigne et le lac de Scutari, la difference de 
 niveau est d'environ 1,200 metres pour uno distance do 24 
 kilometres.' — Delakue, Le MonUnegro, p. 19. 
 
26 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 "base from which they spring, looking at a distance 
 like the waves of a storm-tossed sea suddenly turned 
 into stone.* This great plateau, Montenegro proper, 
 terminates eastward at the valley of Bielopavolic 
 and the banks of the'Zeta. The Berda,f though a 
 great part of it is, like the western part of the Prin- 
 cipality, an irregular plain of mountain country 
 rather than a land of mountain ranges, is here and 
 there broken by a succession of wild irregular val- 
 leys, and partakes more than "Western Montenegro 
 of the general character of mountainous countries, a 
 land of steep precipitous ridges rising directly from 
 the plain. Though these peaks and broken ridges 
 lie for the most part in the interior of the country 
 and on the northern or Herzegovinian frontier, 
 yet Yegli Yerch, a little to the north of Risano, 
 rises considerably above the average height of the 
 rest of the mountains; whilst Mount Lovchen, which 
 towers above Cattaro, is one of the three most con- 
 siderable of the mountain heights of the Tzrnagora. 
 
 * ' Suivant une legende, Dieu, lorsqu'il crea le monde, 
 disposant les vallees et les Montagnes, portait dans 
 un sac les pierres necessaires a. son ceuvre. Le sac, use 
 par un long service, se dechira et les rochers tombant 
 formerent ce chaos de pierres nomme plus tard Monte- 
 negro.' — Delabue. 
 
 t ' Berda,' plural of ' berdo,' a mountain. 
 
MOUNTAINS. 27 
 
 Mount Korm, or Kom,* on the south-east angle of 
 Montenegro, which projects like a bastion into the 
 frontier of Albania, rises in two peaks to an estimated 
 height of from seven thousand five hundred to eight 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is 
 covered with snow during greater part of the year. 
 The other mountains attain an elevation at the most 
 of five thousand feet. Mount Dormitor, on the 
 north-east angle of Montenegro, and overlooking 
 Bosnia and the Herzegovina, is estimated to be of 
 equal height to Mount Korm.f Montenegro, how- 
 ever, it must be borne in mind, is not so much a 
 mountainous country as a mountain mass, hollowed 
 by fissures and penetrated by occasional gorges, which 
 open occasionally into valleys of moderate width. 
 
 The valleys throughout the Principality are seldom 
 more than three or four miles long, nor wider than 
 one mile. The valley of the Zeta, however, is an 
 
 Kum, the Arabic l mountain,' the cumulus of the 
 Latins, is the name given to some mountains in Turkey, 
 generally such as are isolated. This is the name given to 
 a mountain islet in the Lake Skodra, near the Montenegrin 
 frontier. 
 
 t 'La hauteur de ces trois montagnes est a peu pres 
 la meme, et peut s'evaluer a 2,500 metres au-desous du 
 niveau de la mer. Dans l'interieur du pays aucun sommet 
 n'atteint cette altitude, et les cretes sont escarpees plutot 
 qu'elevees." — Lexormant, Turcs et [Mo n UnS grw* . 
 
28 MONTEXEGRO. 
 
 exception to this. It is in some parts nearly six 
 miles wide, and is cultivated to a distance of nearly 
 three miles on each side of the river.* In this 
 valley occur almost the only hedgerows found in 
 Montenegro. 
 
 The geological formation of the Principality is for 
 the most part compact grey limestone, passing in 
 some places into marble, with occasional instances of 
 dolomite. The plains in the south are of the same 
 character as those of North Albania, which they join : 
 a coarse conglomerate, so coarse, indeed, as to be 
 scarcely distinguished from the ruins of Eoman 
 masonry, which abound in all directions on the fron- 
 tier of Montenegro. On the opposite side of the 
 country, overlooking the vale of Niksic, the tra- 
 veller will meet with singular deposits of small 
 pebbles thrown up in heaps as on a sea-beach, and 
 almost as difficult to walk over as the loose stones of 
 a sea-shore. Lignite is found near the banks of the 
 Rjeka ; and it has been satisfactorily ascertained that 
 there are, in the province of Tzrnitza, near Lake 
 Skodra, deposits of anthracite coal of considerable 
 extent, though, so far as experiments have tested its 
 qualities, apparently but of small value. Of the 
 value, however, of such coal it is impossible to speak 
 
 * Journal of Geographical Society, vol. xii. (1842), p. 51. 
 
THE LOVCHEN. 29 
 
 with any certainty, since the geology of Montenegro 
 has never been investigated.* Probably, when the 
 country has been carefully explored by scientific 
 travellers, the limestone ridges will be found of 
 greater importance than they seem at present. 
 As yet the chief value of these ridges is in the 
 supply of stone for the purpose of building. The 
 hardness of this stone and the polish which it 
 takes render it well adapted for this; and it 
 supplies the only material of which palace and 
 churches, monasteries and peasants' cabins, alike 
 are built. 
 
 As one of the great objects of attraction in Mon- 
 tenegro is the summit of the Lovchen mountain, 
 and as I have not seen it elsewhere described, I ex- 
 tract from my note-book the account of a day spent 
 there a few years since. To the lover of the pic- 
 turesque the view from the top is the finest, as it is 
 also the most extensive, in the whole Principality. 
 To the Montenegrin it has another charm ; it is the 
 burial-place of the late Vladika, Peter the Second, 
 
 * Dr. Barth, the celebrated African traveller, contemplated 
 making a careful geological survey of Montenegro. This 
 project, however, was frustrated by his early death. The best 
 geological survey of Montenegro, so far as I know, is the 
 Aper^u GSologique de Montenegro, by COLONEL KovALEVOKY, 
 in the Annates de la Geologic Paris, 1842-43. 
 
30 MCWTENEGKO. 
 
 great-uncle to the reigning Prince, and the last 
 bishop who united in his person the civil and eccle- 
 siastical power over Montenegro. Having arranged 
 over night to visit this shrine, I rose at five o'clock 
 in the morning, and by half-past five was in the 
 saddle and on my way to the Lovchen, accompanied 
 by M. Yaclic, the secretary of the Prince, and Cap- 
 tain Zegar, of the Austrian army. For the first 
 half-hour of the journey our way lay across the 
 sandy plain of Cetinje ; at the end of that time we 
 began to mount by a road which was a perfect chaos 
 of stones, along which I left it to my horse to pick 
 his way as he chose, satisfied that my reason was not 
 equal to his sagacity in this matter. A road cer- 
 tainly there was, but one on which no constructive 
 skill had ever been exerted. When I looked at it, 
 the thought flashed across my mind that the couplet 
 of the Irish road-overseer in the Highlands was after 
 all very sensible. The appropriateness of the words 
 was so great that I could not drive the jingle out of 
 my head: — 
 
 "If you'd seen these roads before they were made, 
 You'd have held up your hands and have bless'd 
 General Wade." 
 
 Here certainly were the roads, but as yet wholly un- 
 made ; so that another generation of Montenegrins 
 
THE LOVCHEN. 31 
 
 may have reason, like their brother mountaineers, to 
 bless some future road-maker who will do for them 
 what the luckless Hanoverian general did for the 
 Highlands of Scotland. 
 
 After about three hours' scramble over the 
 boulders which were strewed along our path, past 
 hazel hedges and through beech scrub and fern 
 brake, up precipitous heights, along dangerously 
 narrow ridges of rock, and down into sunless 
 ravines, we at length reached the foot of the moun- 
 tain which we were to climb. Our path now was 
 across a limestone ledge, which at a distance looked 
 as though it had been turned up by some gigantic 
 plough, probably in the prehistoric age. A preci- 
 pitous descent on one side and a sharp slope on the 
 other, without vegetation of any kind, compelled 
 us to be cautious. At length we dismounted at 
 the base of the lofty height in which the moun- 
 tain terminates. Rude stairs, partly worn by the 
 course of time, and in part cut for this purpose, lead 
 to the top of the ascent on which stands the small 
 mortuary chapel which is the object of so many 
 pilgrimages by the people of Montenegro, as well 
 as by strangers. This chapel was built by the 
 Vladika, Peter II., and contains the tomb in which 
 he left directions that he should be buried. When 
 
32 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 his death took place, his nephew and successor 
 Danilo was absent in Yienna ; and on his return 
 he found, to his regret, that the difficulty of the 
 ascent, and probably the wish that the body of their 
 revered chief should rest in the midst of the people 
 over whom he had ruled with so much advantage 
 to them, had led the Montenegrins to disregard 
 his wishes, and to inter his body at Cetinje. As a 
 law inexorable as that of the Medes and Persians 
 prohibits the removal or the disturbing in any way 
 of a body until it has been buried five years, Prince 
 Danilo was unable to carry out the wishes of the 
 Yladika for that length of time. When, however, 
 the five years had expired, the body was removed 
 from. Cetinje to its present resting-place at the top 
 of Mount Lovchen. The chapel is a very simple 
 one, and, though built only in 1845, is, from defects 
 in its construction, already partially in ruins. It 
 consists of a vaulted dome surmounting a round 
 chapel of some twelve feet diameter, with a small 
 recess or sanctuary at the east end. In this is a 
 small altar. There is neither iconostasis nor furni- 
 ture of any kind. The tomb occupies the whole 
 south side of the chapel, and from its size recalls 
 the memory of the gigantic stature of the Vladika 
 who lies buried within. The part of the mountain 
 
THE LOVCHEN. 33 
 
 on which it stands seems intended as the base for 
 some such building as this, for after rising gra- 
 dually and at a moderate angle, the top of the 
 Lovchen consists of a small rugged plateau resting 
 on a precipitous base above the rest, and apparently 
 placed on it, rather than itself forming a part of the 
 mountain. In fact it resembles a gigantic pedestal. 
 This is the part which we found it necessary to 
 ascend on our feet. This pedestaled top is entirely 
 destitute of vegetation, except that some few tufts of 
 long coarse grass, and a wild thorn or two springing 
 from the fissures of the rock, are found there. 
 
 But however difficult and fatiguing the ascent to 
 the top of the mountain, and however sterile the 
 summit, all is forgotten in the singular but mag- 
 nificent view which bursts upon the sight of the 
 traveller as he stands beside the chapel-tomb. The 
 eye then roams over the tops of the mountains 
 of Montenegro, without seeing the plains which lie 
 between their ridges, or getting a glimpse of the 
 crater-like hollows which are to be found on almost 
 all the heights. Grey in its silent sterility, the spec- 
 tator seems to be looking down upon a stony sea, in 
 which, without hyperbole, the waves may be said to 
 be running mountains high. The woods of stunted 
 oak and beech, which clothe with a scanty robe the 
 
34 MONTENEGEO. 
 
 sides of the mountains, are lost to the sight ; and the 
 few traces of vegetation which may be seen appear 
 like floating seaweed on the surface of the ocean. 
 On one side the view embraces, as in a panorama, 
 the whole of Montenegro, several ranges of moun- 
 tains in Bosnia, great part of the Herzegovina, the 
 large Lake of Skodra in Albania, and the adjacent 
 plain veined with the silvery streams of water which 
 fall into the lake. On another side is the Bocche di 
 Cattaro, with every feature of the varied shore sharply 
 defined ; and beyond this the dark Adriatic, on the 
 bosom of which can be seen the snowy sails of its 
 merchant vessels and the smoke of the passing 
 steamboats. 
 
 This is the general aspect of the scene. By going, 
 however, to the edge of the precipice and looking 
 down upon the country immediately below, the tra- 
 veller gets a totally different view. He then sees 
 not only solitary homesteads, but groups of cottages 
 and fertile fields, and the vale between the opposite 
 mountains, the limestone ridge on the top of which 
 he is standing, seems alive with flocks of sheep and 
 goats, and with men and women busied with the 
 tillage of their fields.* 
 
 * Mariano Bolezza appears to have enjoyed the same view, 
 and found things in 1614 much the same as a traveller may 
 
THE LOVCHEN. 35 
 
 And now, when we had examined this singular 
 scene, our attendants, whose number, by accessions 
 from the farm cottages which we had visited, had 
 swelled to eight, brought us a pail of new milk, 
 and a large lump of frozen snow from some 
 caverns at the foot of the Lovchen. This, with 
 the aid of provisions brought with us from Cetinje, 
 some bottles of good Montenegrin wine, ham, cold 
 chicken, and excellent cheese, supplied us with a 
 meal, for which the long journey and the clear 
 mountain air had duly prepared us. Then came 
 the invariable mid-day slumber, or at least rest, 
 our attendants skilfully availing themselves of pro- 
 jecting pieces of the rock, and thus finding shelter 
 from the blaze of the noonday sun. At three o'clock 
 we scrambled down to the point where we had left 
 our horses, and, sometimes on horseback and some- 
 times on foot, as the nature of the ground compelled, 
 we reached the base of the mountain — it would be a 
 misnomer to say that we reached the plain, as the 
 
 find them at the present day. He speaks with delight of 
 the view from, the summit : * Quando e sereno,' embracing 
 ' verso levante Durazzo et Scuttari ; ' whilst at its base he 
 notes the Peccorella, ' Si che pasciutasi et abeverata se no 
 riposa le piu arse hore del giorno, sotto a grandissimi, nume- 
 rosissimi et amenissimi faggi, alberi, frasini, zappini che lo 
 fan'ombra tutto il giorno.' — Itelazione. 
 
36 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 low ground was nearly as rough as we had found the 
 sides of the mountain in the course of our descent. 
 
 On reaching the bottom of the Lovchen we 
 were invited to rest at the house of one of our 
 attendants, and to eat roasted eggs and more ham, 
 which for compliment's sake we did. This enabled 
 me for the first time to see an ordinary Monte- 
 negrin cottage. It consisted of one room built 
 with stone without cement, the floor being the bare 
 earth. When I entered cooking was going on, and 
 for a time the smoke, which escaped on all sides, 
 prevented me from seeing anything. When I was 
 accustomed to this I found two little children, half 
 naked, crawling on the floor and trying to get away 
 from the stranger. Children generally in Monte- 
 negro dread strangers. Besides these two children, 
 my host had the care of two belonging to a brother 
 killed in the recent war with the Turks, and also the 
 mother of these children, so that there was no room 
 to spare in the cottage ; but then in this climate 
 there is for the greater part of the year the ' out-of- 
 doors/ which is of unlimited dimensions. The little 
 patches of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables in 
 front of this cottage were, like similar pieces of 
 ground throughout Montenegro, very clean ; indeed, 
 not a weed was to be seen. What the people of 
 
THE LOVCHEN. 37 
 
 Serbia have no notion of — namely, the value of 
 manure and the necessity of keeping the ground 
 free from weeds — their Montenegrin brothers gene- 
 rally seem to understand thoroughly. Their little 
 fields are usually fenced in with walls of uncemented 
 stones as this one was. Behind the house was a 
 good- sized pigsty, and farther away were several 
 beehives. The little niece of my host was watching 
 a goat and a few sheep, and preventing them from 
 wandering into the potato-garden and from getting 
 among the maize ; and the bowl of milk which was 
 placed before me indicated the possession of cows, 
 though I saw no signs of them. After resting and 
 doing justice to the hospitality of our attendant, who 
 was one of the Prince's guards, we again mounted, 
 and reached Cetinje about seven o'clock in the 
 evening. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CLIMATE PRODUCTION EXPORTS AND IMPORTS — 
 
 ROADS. 
 
 The soil of most part of Montenegro is of so porous 
 a character that after a few hours no trace remains 
 of the heaviest rains, and the hay-crops are often 
 burnt up during the prolonged drought of summer. 
 Some small streams, after a short course, are alto- 
 gether absorbed, and disappear underground.* The 
 plain around Cetinje, the capital, girdled by high 
 crags, and resembling the huge crater of an extinct 
 volcano, is almost wholly composed of sand, as though 
 it had once been the bed of the sea. "Were it not 
 that the excessive dryness of the climate is in part 
 corrected by the dense fogs of the Adriatic, which 
 
 * ' Quelquesunes rentrent tout a coup dans les entrailles 
 du sol, comme si elles s'ennuyaient de leur voyage dans 
 notre monde trop tniyant, comme si la nostalgie les rame- 
 nait sous le dome de leur silencieux empire.' — Marmiee. i 
 
CLIMATE. 39 
 
 bring with them torrents of rain, this territory would 
 be utterly sterile, and the few rivers which flow 
 through it would be soon dried up. Delarue thus 
 describes one of these fogs and its attendant fall of 
 rain : — * 
 
 'Some days after my arrival in Montenegro I 
 witnessed one of those storms which are so welcome 
 during the intense heat of summer. About seven 
 o'clock in the evening a dense fog covered the whole 
 plain. The darkness was so great that the nearest 
 objects were invisible. The rain fell in sheets of 
 water ; the lightnings played along the heights 
 which rise around the basin of Cetinje, and crowned 
 them with circles of fire. All night long and until 
 the next day the thunder crashed without inter- 
 mission. "When morning came the plain around 
 the capital wore the appearance of a swamp, and 
 broad pools covered the whole of the ground. The 
 corn wis entirely under water, and the wells, which 
 the eveiing before were almost dry, were now over- 
 flowing. Every trace of the storm, every vestige of 
 water, disappeared during the day.' 
 
 The dry clear climate of the high grounds enables 
 the Montenegrin to be heard, and even to carry on 
 conversation, at a great distance. From ridge to 
 * Le Monttnegro, par Henei Delarue. 
 
40 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 ridge, to an incredible distance, they are able to 
 communicate any news of importance, or to summon 
 the armed array and direct its movements, without 
 the need of signals for the eye. To use the words 
 of a French traveller, they are thus able to dispense 
 with the help of the electric telegraph, and each 
 one becomes for himself a living telegraph {S'eriger 
 eux ?nemes en telegraphes vivants).* This power of 
 making themselves heard, and the practice of 
 talking at a great distance, is thought to give a 
 loudness and sharpness of tone to their customary 
 voice. 'To be heard continuously, so as to be 
 heard for miles off, is a highly valued accomplish- 
 ment.' f 
 
 The different elevation of the various districts of 
 Montenegro causes some diversity of climate. In 
 the south, where the country is more depressed, the 
 summers are scorching and the winters mild. In 
 the north, where the country is much higher than 
 on the Albanian frontier, the breezes which sweep 
 across Hungary temper the heat of summer though 
 they increase the rigour of winter. Here there is 
 much cold weather in the autumn and spring. On 
 the highlands snow remains for most part of the 
 
 * Marmier, t. ii. p. 112. 
 
 t Travels in Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, vol. ii. p. 223. 
 
PRODUCTION. 41 
 
 year, and Bjeka is smiling with, the luxuriant ver- 
 dure of June whilst the heights overlooking the 
 town are white with the snows of December. 
 
 This difference of climate according to the differ- 
 ent elevations of the stony plateau gives variety to 
 the productions of Montenegro. In the north, 
 wheat, rye and barle}~, maize, capsicums, and a 
 little tobacco are reared. In the south, vines, 
 pomegranates, figs, peaches, apples, cherries, citrons, 
 oranges, olives, mulberries, and tobacco are the 
 chief productions. Cabbages, cauliflowers, potatoes, 
 white and scarlet runners, pease, melons, radishes, 
 and onions grow around almost every cottage, and 
 supply food alike for the peasant and his family as 
 well as for the litter of pigs in the sty, which yield 
 them the chief part of their animal food. In the 
 swamps near the source of the Ejeka, Mirko, the 
 father of the reigning Prince, had a few years since 
 several fields of rice, and on the hills between 
 Danilograd and Selo-Gradatz, the same warrior 
 farmer had an experimental plantation of coffee ; 
 what success, however, he met with in his attempts 
 to increase the number of the productions of Mon- 
 tenegro, I am unable to say. The potato was intro- 
 duced into the country in 1786 by the Vladika 
 Peter I., and the cultivation of the root extended in 
 
42 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 a very short time throughout the whole Principality, 
 where it is largely used by the inhabitants. It is 
 also sold by them in considerable quantities in the 
 adjacent market towns of Turkey and Austria. 
 
 According to Sir Gardner "Wilkinson, the common 
 trees of this country, in addition to those just enume- 
 rated, are the oak, ilex, beech, ash, acacia, firs, hazels, 
 wild pears, poplars, larches, cypresses, pines, yews, 
 chestnuts, planes, limes, willows, and alders. The 
 underwood on the hillsides consists of oak and beech 
 scrub, arbutus, juniper, rosemary, myrtle, black- 
 berry, and other brambles, and where the ground is 
 not covered with these shrubs, savoury wild thyme 
 and mint scent the air, and a profusion of clematis 
 and other wild flowers climb the rocks on all sides, 
 and furnish the pasture -ground from which the 
 excellent honey of Montenegro is extracted.* These 
 wild flowers, I believe, are the only flowers in 
 Montenegro, except in the nahia of Tzrnitza. 
 Ground is too precious to be used for unproductive 
 purposes; and ornamental flowers are, so far as 
 my experience serves, unknown. Perhaps the most 
 valuable of all the trees in Montenegro is the scot- 
 tano, or Yenus sumach (Rhus cotinus), which grows 
 
 * Voyage Historique et Politique au Montenegro, par Col. 
 
 VlALLA DE SOMMIERES, t. i. p. 175. 
 
PRODUCTION. 43 
 
 in considerable quantities in the Katunska nahia ; 
 the wood and leaves of this tree are much esteemed 
 for tanning and dyeing, and large quantities are 
 exported to Trieste, to Ancona, and to Marseilles.* 
 The mulberry-tree, chiefly the white variety, is cul- 
 tivated by most of the cottagers in the southern part 
 of the country ; and silk is fast becoming one of the 
 most important articles which are exported from Mon- 
 tenegro. Around Danilograd are nursery- grounds 
 belonging to the Prince, and in these large quanti- 
 ties of mulberry-trees are reared and distributed 
 gratuitously to any peasant who may desire them. 
 In the war of 1862 the army of Omar Pasha, how- 
 ever, penetrated as far as this village, and destroyed 
 every tree which Prince Danilo had planted. The 
 same war against this tree was pursued wherever the 
 Turkish soldiers reached ; and though the mulberry 
 plantation at Danilograd again flourishes, the trees 
 are but young, and it will take many years to repair 
 the waste made by the troops* of Turkey. 
 
 Sheep and goats are reared in great numbers 
 throughout Montenegro, especially on the mountain 
 slopes and in the valleys of the Berda. Their flesh, 
 fresh or salted, supplies the markets on the frontier, 
 
 * The sumac of Montenegro is considered superior to that 
 of Sicily for the purpose of dyeing. 
 
44 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and their skins and wool are largely exported. The 
 smoke-dried mutton (castradina) of these mountains 
 is well known in the markets of Istria and Venice, 
 and is purchased in large quantities for the supply 
 of the Austrian navy. Other productions which 
 are exported are dried fish (scoranza), tortoise-shell, 
 wax, honey, hides, figs, olives, butter, cheese, tallow, 
 dyewood, firewood, charcoal, cattle, sheep, pigs, mats, 
 ice, maize, vegetables, silk, and tobacco.* A large 
 proportion of these productions is carried across the 
 Turkish and Austrian frontiers and shipped to 
 distant countries. The potatoes, onions, and other 
 vegetables of Montenegro, supply the markets of 
 Cattaro and Podgoritza, whilst the wine of Tzrnitza 
 has acquired a reputation for its sound and whole- 
 some qualities. An inconsiderable quantity of this 
 wine, however, passes the frontiers of the Princi- 
 pality. All these various productions would pro- 
 bably be reared in greater quantities for exportation 
 if there were any prospect of a market and remune- 
 rative prices. The heavy transit dues of Austria, 
 however, deprive the labourers of much of their fair 
 profits. It is one of the hardships which press upon 
 
 * The districts of Liechanska, of Tzrnitza, and Bielo- 
 pavlic produce good tobacco, which brings a good price in 
 the neighbouring markets of Turkey and Austria. 
 
EXPORTS. 45 
 
 this people, that they are debarred from the small 
 and, to Turkey, almost useless ports at the foot of 
 the mountains, such as Spizza and Antivari. "Were 
 they in the possession of Montenegro, these outlets 
 for their produce and their energies would have 
 prevented many a war with Turkey. In justice to 
 this latter power, it must be recorded that the 
 Porte, it is generally believed, would long since 
 have yielded them to the Montenegrins but for the 
 interference of Austria, fearful lest the existence of 
 a free port so near her Dalmatian territory would 
 interfere with the monopoly which her goods pos- 
 sess, and give to English fabrics an entrance into 
 the markets of the northern and western provinces 
 of European Turkey. 
 
 A recent writer enumerates the chief articles of 
 exportation, and thus gives, with some corrections, 
 the following estimate of their value :* — 
 
 Meat, salted or smoked . . £25,000 
 
 Cattle 85,000 
 
 Pigs 20,000 
 
 Fish, fresh or salted . . . 6,500 
 
 Silk, cocoons, and silkworm eggs 5,000 
 
 Carried forward £141,500 
 * Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 115. 
 
46 
 
 
 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 
 
 Brought forward £141,500 
 
 Shumac 
 
 . 
 
 1,500 
 
 Pellitory (Pyrethre insecticide) 
 
 3,000 
 
 Cheese, butter, eggs, fruit 
 
 2,600 
 
 Wool 
 
 . 
 
 1,000 
 
 Firewood . 
 
 . 
 
 2,000 
 
 £151,600 
 
 Wine, brandy, wheat, maize, and tobacco are not 
 enumerated, since these articles are only exported 
 in small quantities. The chief articles of importation 
 are furniture and agricultural implements, cloth, 
 linen, coffee, salt, lead, powder, and firearms.* In 
 1867 Turkey conceded to the Montenegrins the 
 right to import without duty two millions of okes 
 (upwards of two thousand tons) of salt, by way of 
 the Bojano and Skodra. Afterwards this amount 
 was diminished one-half; but at the time when the 
 present war broke out Montenegro possessed the 
 right of importing about eleven hundred tons of salt 
 
 * 'Comme leur besoins sont fort peu considerables, la 
 somme des exportations surpasse notablement celle des im- 
 portations. Ainsi pour l'annee 1860, la derniere dont nous 
 possedions les chiffres officiels, l'ensemble du commerce ex- 
 terieur des Montenegrins est monte a un total de 1,305,000 
 francs, dont 992,000 francs pour les sorties et 313,000 francs 
 seulement pour les entrees.' — Lenormant. 
 
FISHERIES. 47 
 
 free of duty to Turkey. Most of this is used in 
 salting flesh and fish, afterwards exported. All 
 other articles are subject to heavy import dues paid 
 to that power or to Austria. The moneys which 
 circulate in Montenegro are chiefly Austrian ducats, 
 zwanzigs, and kreutzers. The Montenegrins, how- 
 ever, are well acquainted with the value of English, 
 French, Turkish, and Russian coins. 
 
 The scoranza (ouklieva, Serb, the Mugil cephalus 
 of Linnaeus), which is an important item in the 
 exports from Montenegro, leaves the Lake of Skodra 
 in the month of September, and finds its way into 
 the Rjeka, where it is taken in great quantities, 
 cured, and exported to Turkey, Dalmatia, and Italy. 
 In size and flavour these fish resemble sardines, 
 and they are excellent whether salted or fresh.* This 
 fishery is the property of the Government, and is of 
 such importance to the Montenegrins that the season 
 for taking the fish is formally opened by a state 
 visit of the Prince, who comes for this purpose with 
 his court to Plush, a village situated on a rock 
 jutting out from the right bank of the Rjeka. 
 
 Though the scoranza is the chief article of com- 
 merce, the rivers throughout Montenegro abound 
 in other kinds of fish. The trout, which is excellent 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 415. 
 
48 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 in flavour, attains to an enormous size. Sir Gardner 
 Wilkinson mentions some white trout which weighed 
 twenty okes, or sixty pounds,* and there are tradi- 
 tions of fish larger even than these. The trout in 
 these rivers are of two kinds — the white, which 
 attains a large size, and a smaller kind, salmon in 
 the colour of its flesh, and more delicate as food. 
 The eels of the Ejeka are also large and excellent in 
 quality, as well as considerable in size, and in addi- 
 tion perch and carp are taken in great numbers., 
 Martino Bolizza, a native of Cattaro, in the begin- 
 ning of the seventeenth century (1614), celebrated 
 the abundance and excellency of the fish in the 
 rivers of Montenegro, and they have not degenerated 
 in these respects since his time. 
 
 Game is not abundant, though hares and rabbits 
 are found; the bird most in request is the red- 
 legged partridge. Wild ducks, however, frequent 
 Lake Skodra ; the traveller may see flocks of wild 
 pigeons in many parts of the country, and the black- 
 cock is not an uncommon bird. Those who prefer 
 the more exciting objects of the chase may, in addi- 
 tion to the stag, the roebuck, and fallow deer, chance 
 to meet with the bear, especially on the Bosnian 
 frontier, the fox, the lynx, and the wolf, which in 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 532. 
 
ROADS. 49 
 
 sharp winters prowls even to the neighbourhood of 
 Cetinje, and the wild boar, which makes its lair on 
 the banks of the Moratcha. As to the smaller birds, 
 the absence of forest-land in one -half of the Prin- 
 cipality, and the infrequency of hedgerows every- 
 where, may, perhaps, account for so few song-birds 
 visiting Montenegro. Flocks of starlings, however, 
 Royston crows, and magpies may be seen on the 
 open ground, and coots, water-hens, and gulls are 
 common on the rivers ; whilst hawks, eagles, and 
 occasionally a vulture, hold undisputed possession of 
 the mountain solitudes. The rocks, which abound in 
 fissures, shelter large numbers of lizards of various 
 kinds. Travellers are also cautioned against the 
 viper, the bite of which is frequently fatal. In that 
 part of the country which is near Lake Skodra 
 tortoises swarm, and attain a size which makes their 
 shells valuable as an article of commerce. 
 
 The extent and state of the public roads are some- 
 times assumed as criterions by which to test the 
 social condition of a nation. This, however, would 
 not afford a true test of Montenegrin civilisation. 
 Here a bad road has hitherto been a cherished poli- 
 tical institution. Surrounded on all sides by watch- 
 ful enemies, in an almost chronic state of warfare 
 with Turkey, coveted by Austria, and more than de- 
 
50 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 sired by the first Napoleon, the maintenance of Mon- 
 tenegrin independence has been a hindrance to the 
 construction of such roads as the commerce of the 
 country, and even the necessities of the simple social 
 life of its inhabitants, would seem to demand. In 
 the time of the Yladika Peter I., the Emperor Napo- 
 leon offered in vain to construct a road from Cattaro 
 to Cetinje, probaby with a view of extending it to 
 Skodra. However inconvenient to the traveller the 
 want of good roads may be, what is of far greater 
 consequence, the safety of the country, is best main- 
 tained without them ; and this consideration in past 
 times prevented their construction, except to a very 
 limited extent. The present Prince, however, has, 
 like his predecessor, Prince Danilo, constructed seve- 
 ral roads for interior communication. Long use and 
 highland agility render the rough road of the Prin- 
 cipality as easy to its inhabitants as level ground. 
 Between Cetinje and Kjeka the Yladika Peter II. 
 constructed what on the whole must be considered a 
 fair road; and between most villages paths have 
 been formed which diminish the fatigue of travel- 
 ling without impairing the defensible nature of the 
 country. The road from Ejeka, running south along 
 the precipitous heights overlooking the left bank of 
 the river of the same name, is of this description : 
 
ROADS. 51 
 
 wide enough at the narrowest point for two horse- 
 men to pass — at least with some manoeuvring — easy 
 for the sure-footed and agile horses of the country, 
 but capable of being blocked and destroyed in the 
 face of any hostile force which might attempt to pene- 
 trate into Montenegro from the Albanian frontier. 
 
 The state of the roads throughout the country 
 being such as I have described, it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to remark that carts and carriages are unknown 
 in any part of Montenegro, and that horses are 
 rare. Except in the district of Tzrnitza, probably 
 four wheels are not to be found in the whole of the 
 mountain territory, and few persons mount on horse- 
 back except the chief and the Perianik guards. 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 POLITICAL DIVISIONS CETINJE NIEGUSH RJEKA 
 
 DIOCLEA OSTROG. 
 
 The principality of Montenegro is divided into two 
 provinces, Montenegro proper and the Berda. The 
 former lies to the west, and is bounded chiefly by the 
 dominions of the Emperor of Austria ; the latter, 
 lying to the east, reaches almost to the frontiers of 
 Serbia, and is wholly bounded by Albania and Bos- 
 nia. The valley of Bielopavlic,* through which the 
 river Zeta flows, separates these two portions of the 
 territory of the Prince of Montenegro. Montenegro 
 proper is divided into four nakias or provinces :f 
 Katunska, Tzrnitza, Bjetska, and Liechanska. 
 
 Of these four provinces the first is of the chief 
 
 * The district of Bielopavlic is so called from a certain 
 Bielo-Paulo, * or Paul the White (white probably in the sense 
 of handsome), who took refuge here soon after the battle of 
 Kossova in 1389, and whose descendants still possess much 
 of the land of this nahia. — Ubicini. 
 
 t Nahia, an Arabic word adopted by the Turks for a 
 
POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 53 
 
 political importance, from its vicinity to Cattaro, 
 its extent, and from its containing Cetinje, the 
 capital of the United Principality, and Niegush, 
 the hereditary home of the reigning family. This 
 province has also fair claims to be regarded as the 
 innermost citadel of Montenegrin independence. Its 
 almost inaccessible gorges and sterile heights have 
 furnished in past times a secure refuge when Turkish 
 armies have overrun the rest of the country, and 
 have even penetrated to Cetinje. Descending from 
 the crags, which none but a veteran highlander could 
 climb, the patriot bands of Montenegro have more 
 than once compelled the Turkish commanders to 
 withdraw from the plain around Cetinje, to abandon 
 their hardly-won vantage ground, and to retreat 
 with heavy loss into Albania. 
 
 But though politically the province of Katunska 
 is the most important of all those into which the 
 Principality is divided, economically it is — consider- 
 ing its size — of but small value. No river fertilises 
 the fields of this nahia, and as a consequence it 
 contains, in proportion to its extent, less soil capable 
 of cultivation than any other of the provinces into 
 
 canton or district, literally " a portion," or, as a French 
 writer translates the word, " a department." Plei?iena, in 
 the singular pleme, is a Serb name for an agglomeration of 
 families of the same origin. 
 
54 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 which Montenegro is divided. The traveller to this 
 country, whose route almost always lies across 
 the nahia of Katunska, naturally forms a less 
 favourable idea of the agricultural capabilities of 
 the Principality than if he were to approach Cetinje 
 by the valley of the Bjeka, or by crossing the moun- 
 tains from Antivari. In this latter case his course 
 would lie through the Tzrnitza, and though the 
 grandeur of the scenery would, remind him that he 
 was still in Montenegro, the quantity of land under 
 cultivation, the white-gabled cottages, each peeping 
 out of its separate croft and surrounded by an apple - 
 garden fenced in by pomegranate and fig-trees 
 and ringing with the joyous shouts of children, 
 the bleating of sheep and goats, and the audible 
 murmur of bees, would impress him far differently 
 than the long sterile solitude which he had tra- 
 versed under a scorching sun from the top of the 
 pass over Cattaro until he reached the sandy waste 
 which lies around Cetinje, a solitude only broken 
 by the village of Niegush, but with scarcely a patch 
 of fertile soil, and, except at one point, destitute of 
 trees. But though the road from the Austrian fron- 
 tier to the Montenegrin capital is stern, and the 
 scanty soil gives austerity to the view, the valleys 
 which lie off the road and under the shadow of the 
 
TOLITICAL DIVISIONS. 55 
 
 Lovchen mountain are fertile by nature, are pro- 
 ductive by industry, and remind the traveller of some 
 of the fairest parts of Switzerland, whilst they support 
 as numerous and hardy a race of small peasant pro- 
 prietors as are to be met with in that country. At 
 the last census the province of Katunska contained 
 nearly 64,000 inhabitants, almost a fourth of the 
 whole population of Montenegro and the Berda. 
 This nahia is subdivided into thirteen plemena (com- 
 munes or tribes), each pleme being again divided 
 into cela. There are one hundred and fifty-two of 
 these cela in the whole thirteen plemena of the 
 Katunska nahia. The other nahias are subdivided 
 in the same way into plemena, and these further 
 divided into cela. Thus the Tzrnitza nahia has 
 seven plemena and seventeen cela; Ejetska five, 
 with thirty cela ; and Liechanska three, with four- 
 teen cela ; or in all twenty-eight communes in Mon- 
 tenegro proper, and two hundred and thirteen cela * 
 The Tzrnitza nahia possesses the richest soil 
 of all the districts of Montenegro, and its neigh- 
 bourhood to the Lake of Skodra, which forms part of 
 
 * The numbers of the plemena vary in accounts of 
 travellers, chiefly from the circumstance that Grahova and 
 Joupan, the two districts added to Montenegro in 1858, are 
 sometimes rendered apart; officially, however, they are 
 portions of the Katunska nahia. 
 
56 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 its eastern boundary, together with its proximity to 
 Budua and Antivari, give it a commercial import- 
 ance which is not possessed by any other nahia. 
 The poorest district as well as the smallest, the least 
 defensible by natural advantages, and consequently 
 the nahia most exposed to the hostile attacks of the 
 Turks, is that of Liechanska, which extends from the 
 Turkish fortress of Spouj to the neighbourhood of 
 Jablac. Like Montenegro proper, the Berda is 
 divided into four nahias : those of Bielopavlic, being 
 further subdivided into three communes, Peperi into 
 three, Moratska into three, and Yasojevichi into five, 
 to which may now be added the Koutchi. This last, 
 having joined Montenegro in 1835-6, took umbrage 
 at the imposition of taxes in 1843, and separated in 
 that year from Montenegro, returning, however, to 
 its former allegiance at the commencement of the 
 present war between Montenegro and the Porte.* 
 
 The last-named nahia is Roman Catholic ; the 
 other parts of Montenegro belong to the Orthodox 
 
 " :: ' The Koutska nahia was originally independent of 
 Montenegro, but, about 1835-36, the people put themselves 
 under the authority of the Vladika, sent a senator to Tzetinie, 
 and enjoyed the privileges of the other departments, until, 
 taking umbrage at the imposition of taxes, they seceded in 
 1843 from their allegiance.' This nahia returned to their 
 allegiance to the Prince of Montenegro at the beginning of 
 the present war, and the refusal to give these people up to 
 
POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 57 
 
 Church, and acknowledge the authority of the 
 Metropolitan, who has his seat at Cetinje. The 
 nahias of the Berda are sometimes spoken of as the 
 First, Second, Third, and Fourth Berda, and com- 
 prise twenty-five plemena. The nahias of the 
 Berda contain eighteen communes, or aggrega- 
 tion of families, and one hundred and thirty-six 
 cela. Each ndhia is governed by a sirdar and a 
 voivode, their civil and military commanders. In 
 like manner each pleme, or commune, has two chiefs, 
 a kniez and a berakdar, or flag-bearer. Each pleme 
 is again divided into cela (sing, celo), sometimes 
 translated villages, but meaning really village terri- 
 tories. Each of these cela has a judge or head man 
 elected by the members of the celo.* Thus the pleme 
 of Cetinje has seven cela, Niegush ten.f Each celo 
 is further divided into koutcha, or houses, tenanted 
 
 the Porte was one of the two points which led to the nego- 
 ciations for peace between Turkey and Montenegro being 
 broken off. 
 
 * ' Le Tsernogore ne referme ni villes in forteresses, a 
 peine a-t-il des villages, car ce qu'on appelle de ce nom au 
 Tsernogore n'est que le terrain souvent tres- variable occupe 
 par une confrerie (bratstvo), c'est-a-dire la reunion des 
 differents menages composent une communaute dont tous 
 les membres se regardent comme parents.' — Cypbien 
 Eobert, t. i. p. 118. 
 
 t See for all these details the Czrna Gora BeJjeshJce of the 
 Archimandrite Douchich. Belgrade, 1874. 
 
58 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 by a family owning one head. These undivided 
 families may consist, however, of several generations. 
 Between those who say that, with some three or 
 four exceptions, Montenegro possesses no villages, 
 and those who reckon the number of the villages 
 scattered throughout the country at some six or 
 seven hundred, the difference is rather verbal than 
 real. In the English use of the word there are very 
 few villages, and no town, with the single exception of 
 Rjeka. When the capital of the country, the seat 
 of Government and the residence of the Prince and 
 Archbishop, consists of about sixty houses, it is not 
 to be expected that the villages will be populous. 
 Except JSTiegush and Rjeka, most villages are too 
 inconsiderable to deserve that name.* In no other 
 country, at least in Europe, would three or four 
 cottages, detached, but standing at a greater or less 
 distance from each other, be called a village. In 
 fact, the celo, or village, of Montenegro is a territorial 
 division of the pleme, or tribe, and the celo is made 
 up. of scattered houses, koutcha — that is, of families, 
 more or less numerous, aggregated together. When, 
 then, we read, according to a recent census, of 11,811 
 
 * ' The largest does not contain a population of 1,200 
 souls.' — Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 406. Delarue estimates that 
 an average village should consist of thirty or forty houses, 
 and contain about 170 inhabitants (Le Montenegro, p. 27). 
 
VILLAGES. 59 
 
 houses in the Principality,* we must remember that 
 this does not mean cottages divided by a party- wall, 
 but families owning obedience to one head, and pre- 
 serving a family relationship, f and numbering, in 
 some cases, as many as sixty or seventy men able 
 to bear arms.J The small farmsteads and cottages 
 throughout this country, whether standing alone or 
 clustered near each other in villages, are built with 
 reference to convenience in the culture of the land, 
 rather than to safety, in accessible not inaccessible 
 sites, principally in hollows and on the slopes of the 
 mountains, none on the points of hills, as in the 
 neighbouring provinces of Turkey. § This is in 
 keeping with the self-dependent, fearless character 
 of these mountaineers. The same fearlessness has 
 led the Montenegrin peasants to build their cottages 
 detached instead of seeking to cluster them together. 
 This custom, coupled with the fact that almost every 
 cottage, and indeed almost every monastery and 
 church, is provided with loop-holes for defence 
 against an invader, presents a singular admixture of 
 consciousness to danger and of reliance on their own 
 
 * Bid ' Societe de Geographic, April, I860. 
 
 t Ubicini, Les Serbes de Turquie, pp. 148—150. 
 1 Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, vol. ii. p. 330, 
 2nd edition. 
 § Wilkixsox, vol. i. p. 407. 
 
60 MONTEXEGRO. 
 
 valour to repel hostile assaults. 'It is the know- 
 ledge of his own power to protect his family and 
 his home which makes the Montenegrin live with- 
 out dread of his many neighbouring enemies. The 
 rugged barriers of rocky mountains that surround 
 his village are his sentinels to prevent a surprise ; 
 and never did the Turks make an inroad upon Mon- 
 tenegro, whether in large or small numbers, without 
 paying dearly for the injuries they inflicted.' * 
 
 Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro, may claim the 
 distinction of being the smallest metropolis in the 
 world. It stands in the midst of a sandy plain, 
 about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
 is shut in by precipitous rocks, and consists of little 
 more than two streets, the longer one containing two 
 or three poor inns and about sixty other houses, 
 most of which rise to the dignity of one story, though 
 scarcely any of them are better than those of a 
 superior Highland village in Scotland. From this 
 street a shorter one runs at right angles, containing 
 the new residence of the Prince, f and opposite to it 
 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 410. 
 
 t ' I was struck with the good sense of the Prince who, 
 reigning over a simple people of his own blood, is satisfied 
 with a palace which does not even pretend to the privacy of 
 a squire's mansion, but simply stands as the great house of 
 an open village.'— Freeman. 
 
CETINJE. 61 
 
 the Government printing-office — the old half-Turkish 
 house, built by Peter II., formerly occupied by the 
 Yladika, and until recently tenanted by Prince 
 Nicholas, but now chiefly used for a lodging for the 
 sruests of the Prince — and a house or two of the 
 ordinary European type, inhabited by the senators 
 during their residence in Cetinje, one of which, 
 distinguished by a balcony, is occupied by the Yice- 
 President of the Senate. 
 
 Thus much of the outside of the house. I shall 
 best give an idea of the interior of a senatorial 
 home in the capital of Montenegro by extracting 
 from a letter, written immediately after a visit made 
 by me to the Vice-President and to two of the other 
 senators, a description of the apartment which I 
 entered. ' On calling I was ushered up or at least 
 walked up- stairs, which in two cases out of the 
 three had no balustrades, into rooms which — I 
 describe one — contained a bed, a chest of drawers, 
 a table, a pier-glass, two cane-bottomed chairs, an 
 arm-chair, a sofa, two painted trunks, and a German 
 stove. The floor was partially covered with carpet. 
 On the walls hung a picture of a saint with silver 
 plating of the usual Byzantine or Kussian type, 
 large photographs, an engraved portrait of the late 
 Emperor Nicholas, a splendid sabre, two or three 
 
62 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 pistols, a rifle, and a dress or two of Montenegrin 
 manufacture, in fact, the court dress of the host. 
 The senator, who was in his shirt- sleeves, helped me 
 to raki, his son brought me a glass of water and cut 
 up a fragrant melon, whilst I examined his library, 
 which consisted of Millet's Universal History trans- 
 lated into Serbian, some religious works, and four or 
 &ve collections of Montenegrin and other Serbian 
 songs. There was no servant to be seen ; but then 
 we were not waited upon by the women, as we 
 should have been in Serbia. For this is a custom 
 derived from the Turk, and as Montenegro has 
 never been held by the Turks long enough to in- 
 troduce the customs of the East, female attendance 
 is found less often at least in Montenegro than in 
 Serbia. I do not mean to be understood to imply 
 that a Montenegrin woman does not wait on her 
 husband's guests, but only that she does so far less 
 frequently than women in the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces.' * 
 
 A few paces from the old palace stands, on an 
 abrupt ascent, the monastery of Cetinje, containing 
 within it the cathedral of the diocese, the parish 
 church of Cetinje, and the chapel of the monastery, 
 built by the Vladika Danilo (1697—1737) on the 
 * Good Words, February, 1866. 
 
CETINJE. 63 
 
 ruins of a monastery founded in 1484 by Ivan 
 Tzrnojivic, and partially destroyed in 1714. The 
 small church, itself was restored or rebuilt by the 
 late Prince Danilo and the Princess Darinka on the 
 occasion of their marriage. The building is capable of 
 holding about 150 persons.* It contains the coffin of 
 the Yladika Peter I., who died in 1830, and also the 
 tombs of Prince Danilo and his brother, the Grand 
 Yoivode Mirko, father of the reigning Prince. The 
 capitular, the parochial, and the monastic authorities 
 are on a scale befitting the size of the capital, and 
 consist of the Archbishop, the archimandrite of the 
 convent, and one priest, who, in addition to being 
 secretary to the Prince and Senate, was at the time 
 of my visit, a few years since, also director of the 
 
 * Dr. Neale thus describes this building : ' The church is 
 Komanesque and very small. It consists of apse, two little 
 transepts, and nave. The apse arch is plain First Pointed ; 
 the nave is two bays, also First pointed. At the east end of 
 the south transept lies the shrine of St. Peter : it is simply a 
 bier with its hearse, over which a pall is thrown, there being 
 no picture or other external symbol. The tower has a low 
 pyramidal head. The facade of the monastery has three 
 stages. The upper is a series of circular arches, supported 
 on short circular piers, with square base and square cap ; 
 the second, of the same arches with square shafts ; the 
 third, of obtuse arches of contraction, rising out more than 
 two feet from the ground. You enter the church at the 
 right hand of this facade by a kind of vestibule additional to 
 the south transept.' — Notet on Dalmatia, Croatia, fyc, p. 181. 
 
64 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 printing-press of the Principality. If I add that he 
 was not only director of the press, but also com- 
 positor, and occasionally pressman, that he compiled 
 as well as printed the Cetinje Almanac, and wrote 
 many of the poems which enliven its pages and adds 
 to its popularity throughout Montenegro, I believe 
 that I shall only assign to him some of his proper 
 offices. Let not the reader smile ; this concentration 
 of duties is in keeping with the economy which reigns 
 throughout the Black Mountains; and both Prince 
 and people are fortunate in the holder of so many 
 offices, the exercise of which recalls the times when 
 the printing-press of England was sheltered within 
 the cloisters of Westminster. Near the Prince's 
 residence is the new boarding-school for girls, esta- 
 blished a few years since at the expense of Prince 
 Nicholas, and opposite to it a large but cheerless inn, 
 erected for the accommodation of travellers from a 
 distance. Near this inn is the small post-office of 
 the Principality, from whence letters go to all parts 
 of the world.* 
 
 In front of the old palace is a few yards of 
 coarse grass shadowed by a carob-tree, under which 
 the Prince dispenses justice, and idlers meet for 
 
 * ' Montenegro was a member of the Postal Union some 
 months before France ' — Freeman. 
 
CETINJE. 65 
 
 a gossip during the heat of the day. On a 
 small patch of green adjoining lie some eight or 
 nine pieces of artillery, of various sizes, the tro- 
 phies of past wars with the Turks. A stone's 
 throw from this, at the other end of the street, 
 is a small triangular piece of ground, rising from 
 which is a small oil-lamp, lighted on very dark 
 nights. Here, under a plane-tree, round a well, 
 which is opened twice a day for the supply of a 
 stated quantity of water to the inhabitants, the tra- 
 veller will find market women seated with baskets 
 of eggs and vegetables for sale. The number of 
 houses in 1858 was but sixteen, now it has upwards 
 of sixty.* The entire population of the city is esti- 
 mated at about six hundred residents, in addition 
 to a small number of visitors, who at certain seasons 
 of the year are attendant on the Senate, or may 
 be waiting for the decision of the Prince in cases 
 of appeal. 
 
 The route of the traveller who crosses Montenegro, 
 either from the west and across the heights above 
 
 * Ubicini. ' The plain on which Cetinje is built forms 
 an oblong, skirted by a little wood in the horizon. About 
 the centre, but inclining towards the Cattaro side, some 
 dozen white houses cluster around this fortified convent of 
 the Vladikas, forming what in England would be called a 
 small village or hamlet.' — A Tour to Dalmatia and, Monte- 
 negro, by W. F. WnYGFiELD, 1853. 
 
 F 
 
66 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Cattaro, or from the plain of Albania at the south- 
 east, lies through the two most important villages 
 in the Principality. Should he be travelling from 
 the west, an hour and a half s ride from the top 
 of the pass over Cattaro will bring him to 
 Niegush, the seat of the powerful family or clan of 
 Petrovic, the birth-place of Prince Nicholas, who 
 belongs to this family, and the sanctuary of Monte- 
 negrin independence. This village was founded 
 in the fifteenth century by refugees from the Herze- 
 govina, who, under their Knes Petrovic, settled 
 here, and gave to their new quarters the name of 
 their native village. In 1697 one of the family, 
 Daniel, or Danilo, became Yladika, since which 
 time the ruler of Montenegro has been chosen or 
 nominated from this family. This village, or 
 rather cluster of seven villages, is scattered over 
 a plain of about half a mile in extent.* As in 
 the rest of the country, the chief care in build- 
 ing is not to encroach on land fit for cultivation ; 
 hence the houses are built on the rocky slope, and 
 perched here and there, without regard to symmetry, 
 
 * ' Neigouchi, mentione dans les livres et sur les cartes 
 comme une des principales localites du Montenegro, designe, 
 non point une ville ou un bourg, mais Tin pleme compose 
 de sept villages dont aucun ne porte le nom de Neigouchi.' 
 — Umcini, p. 150. 
 
NIEGUSH. 67 
 
 like grey blocks of stone scattered at random over a 
 rocky plain. Formerly the houses, like those of the 
 other villages throughout Montenegro, were thatched 
 with straw or reeds, or were covered with wood 
 shingles; these, however, are fast giving place to 
 red tiles. Another improvement is visible in this 
 village : the little cottages, with their one long room 
 divided, and often imperfectly divided, between the 
 family of the owner and the cattle which it pos- 
 sesses, are being superseded by houses built with a 
 story above the ground-floor, and with separate 
 accommodation for man and beast. Most travellers 
 who have passed through Montenegro from Cattaro 
 have mentioned the little inn or restaurant at this 
 place, which was their first waiting-place. It will 
 probably in a few years be so improved as hardly 
 to be recognised. At present it is extremely charac- 
 teristic. It consists of four small rooms, all in front, 
 and two on each story. In one of the upper rooms 
 the kitchen is placed, the floor being made of slabs 
 of stone, supported on a frame of beech timber. 
 The hearth is simply a square hole of some two feet 
 diameter, sunk about six inches below the rest of the 
 floor. The smoke — so much of it, at least, as escapes 
 at all — is expected to escape through the proper hole 
 in the roof. The other room on this floor is the 
 
68 MONTEXEGRO. 
 
 sleeping apartment of the inn ; it holds three beds. 
 One half of the building is the Niegush inn, the 
 other half is the village shop, very much on the 
 modest scale of a shop in a small neglected village 
 in England. 
 
 Each village of the cluster of villages which 
 make up Niegush has its own humble church ; 
 and by the roadside is a school-house, built of good 
 hewn stone by the present Prince, and serving for 
 the whole of Niegush. In front of the cottages are 
 little irregular patches of garden ground, shaped as 
 the rocky soil admits, and filled with the usual 
 vegetables, potatoes, beans, melons of various kinds, 
 radishes, cabbage, maize, capsicum, and horse-radish. 
 
 The other large village which the traveller passes 
 if his route be through Montenegro from the south- 
 east, a village which rises, indeed, almost to the 
 dignity of a town, and approaches nearer to the 
 character of the Dalmatian towns on the Adriatic 
 shore than any other cluster of houses in Monte- 
 negro, stands near the Albanian frontier, and on 
 the banks of the stream from which it has derived 
 its own name, Rjeka. Built on the margin of the 
 river, which sweeps in a semicircle at this spot, the 
 houses rise to the unwonted height of two stories 
 .above the ground floor. The town is laid out in 
 
RJEKA. 69 
 
 streets, and protected from inundation by an em- 
 bankment with a parapet, built by Prince Danilo. 
 A small bazaar and market-place, surrounded by a 
 colonnade, lie behind the houses which face the 
 river, near to which is a small house belonging to 
 the Prince, and used by him as a hunting-box. 
 Here most of the embroidery work for the dress of 
 both sexes is executed ; and the handsome features of 
 the women engaged in this feminine task show what, 
 but for their hard toil in the fields, the women of 
 Montenegro would be. This town is the chief market 
 in the Principality for muslin, linen, cloth, and other 
 articles of dress. On the Saturday, when the market 
 is held, the town presents a gay and animated appear- 
 ance. It is attended by purchasers not only from 
 other parts of Montenegro, but by many from Pod- 
 goritza and even Skodra. Ejeka has good and well- 
 attended schools for boys and girls, and probably the 
 best inn in the whole Principality. 
 
 About three-quarters of a mile from the town, at 
 Obod, is the small manufactory of firearms, main- 
 tained by the Government. It is chiefly employed, 
 however, in repairing and converting such rifles 
 as have been purchased in Albania or captured from 
 the Turks. Near this place may be seen some ruins, 
 which are said to be those of the printing-house esta- 
 
70 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 blished here in the fifteenth century, but destroyed in 
 one of the invasions of the Turks. At this town and 
 in this printing-office the first book in the Slavonic 
 language was printed, so that Ejeka is in this way 
 the cradle of the literature of Russia, of Serbia, and 
 of a large part of Austria. A copy of this book, the 
 1 Osmo Glasnik/ is in the library of Prince Nicho- 
 las. It was printed in 7001 of the Greek era, corre- 
 sponding to a.d. 1493. The river at this place is 
 spanned by a bridge of three arches, built by Prince 
 Danilo, which, having been destroyed by the Turks, 
 was afterwards rebuilt by Prince Nicholas. The 
 town labours under one disadvantage: the swamps 
 near the river of the Ejeka render it unhealthy at 
 certain times of the year. 
 
 In addition to the villages or towns of Cetinje, 
 Niegush, and Ejeka, the most important village in 
 Montenegro is that of Vir-Bazar, at the mouth of 
 the Tzrnitza river, and in the nahia of the same 
 name. 
 
 The most considerable and interesting relics of 
 its old Eoman rulers which are found in Monte- 
 negro are the remains of Dioclea, the birthplace 
 of Diocletian, on the southern frontier of the 
 Principality, and almost opposite the town of 
 Podgoritza. This city was a place of considerable 
 
DIOCLEA. 71 
 
 importance, not only in classical times, but far 
 down into the period of the Serbian monarchy. 
 It commands the only road from Albania to 
 Bosnia, and stands at the southern entrance of 
 the valley of Bielopavlic. It was built at the 
 junction of the Zeta with the Moratcha, on a 
 site of an irregular triangular form, having the 
 Zeta on the south-west and the Moratcha on the 
 south-east, and a rivulet — the Siralija — on the 
 north-west. To the north of the city is the old 
 Roman cemetery, and to the east the burial-place 
 of Rogame, still used by the Montenegrins. The 
 great gate of the city is .on the north side ; the 
 defences which remain along the whole extent of 
 the ancient city consist of a massive wall, strength- 
 ened at short intervals by square towers, the site 
 being surrounded by a broad fosse on three sides. 
 The two rivers which flow along the southern face 
 of the city have eaten for themselves a course so 
 far below the plain on which Dioclea stands that 
 they add considerably to the strength of the forti- 
 fications. 
 
 From the time of its Roman builders down 
 to the fourteenth century the name of this city 
 repeatedly occurs in the annals of the Greek and 
 Bulgarian wars. It was the seat, for a time, of 
 
72 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 an archbishop. In 1199 a synod was held here; 
 and it is frequently mentioned as the residence of 
 one or another of the ancient kings of Serbia. At 
 present it consists of ruins only and of half-a-dozen 
 cottages standing in the midst of vineyards and 
 maize-grounds, which occupy the site of the imperial 
 palace and the spacious basilica. Inscriptions and 
 fragments of marble walls are found in great plenty, 
 and some beautiful sculptured stones in a vault be- 
 low the surface indicate the place of burial of the 
 notabilities of the city. The bulk, however, of the 
 marble which once covered the walls of the imperial 
 residence has gone to the neighbouring cemetery. 
 Here may be seen fragments of fluted columns cut 
 into the requisite size and laid as tombstones. The 
 covers and the bottoms of ancient stone coffins have 
 been taken for the same purpose. Fine fragments 
 of marble friezes, pagan altars, and in one place 
 a magnificently carved console, serve the same pur- 
 pose. The church round which the cemetery was 
 first formed has for ages been in ruins ; the church- 
 yard, however, remains a favourite place for the 
 burial of the villagers in the neighbourhood. 
 
 These ruins of a city once famous are almost 
 wholly unknown to travellers, but are deserving 
 of a careful examination. Coins, medals, terra 
 
OSTROG. 73 
 
 cotta seals, intaglios, and other antiquities are 
 often dug up in and around the ruins, but it is 
 evident that still much remains underground. 
 Prince Nicholas has a small collection of Roman 
 imperial coins of silver which have mostly been 
 found here. 
 
 Leaving the gates of this city the road runs 
 northward along the narrow pass through which 
 the river Zeta flows, and across a fine bridge 
 of Roman or early Serbian work. Another bridge 
 — the Hadzin Most, or pilgrim's bridge — which 
 spans an arm of this river is a remarkable struc- 
 ture of one arch, and rises at so acute an angle 
 that it is more usual for passengers to scramble 
 across the bed of the stream than to pass over 
 the bridge. Soon after crossing this bridge the 
 traveller will begin to ascend the heights, near the 
 top of which the monastery of Ostrog is situated. 
 The monastery of Lower Ostrog — for there is a 
 Higher and Lower Ostrog — is perched on a small 
 plateau formed by the fall of a portion of the 
 mountain behind it. Two or three immense boul- 
 ders, resembling the bastions of a regular fortifica- 
 tion, lie in front of the monastic buildings, and shut 
 out the sight of them from below. There, wedged 
 between two of these boulders, one of which has 
 
74 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 been converted into a small garden, and the earth 
 which has accumulated in the crevices on its top 
 planted with kitchen vegetables, stands the little 
 church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, rebuilt in 
 1840, after being partially destroyed by the Turks. 
 The apartments of the monks lie on the one side 
 of this church, and on the other are the storehouse 
 and rooms for the monastic servants. At some dis- 
 tance from the monastic buildings the present Prince 
 has lately erected a long suite of rooms for the use of 
 the pilgrims who on Trinity Sunday come in great 
 numbers to Ostrog. Outside the gate of the monas- 
 tery is another church — that of St. George — built 
 in 1799 ; this, however, is seldom used ; it seems to 
 be the parochial church of the district, as distin- 
 guished from the monastic one. 
 
 Ostrog the higher is reached by a series of step- 
 ping-stones only affording room for one person to 
 pass at the same time ; it is scooped out of the 
 face of a precipitous rock about two hundred feet 
 below its summit. It is a hermitage rather than a 
 monastery, except that the monk who inhabits 
 it solaces himself by descending at times to enjoy 
 the company of his brethren below. In the narrow 
 dingy cell are a few Slavonic manuscripts and some 
 early printed books from the press at Keiff. The 
 
LITTLE OSTROG. ib 
 
 small and singular chapel, in which the services of 
 the Orthodox Church are sung daily, is a cavern 
 in the live rock, with a lean-to roof of wooden 
 slabs, under which it is just possible to stand up- 
 right. Its shape is as singular as everything else 
 in the hermitage. The altar, placed on a natural 
 shelf in the rock, stands north-east. Adjoining the 
 chapel is the powder magazine belonging to the 
 district. A spring gushing from the rock in this 
 out-of-the-way place aifords an unfailing supply of 
 water. Near is a little garden of herbs, which is 
 only accessible from the hermitage. A loopholed 
 wall, two or three rifles, besides piles of stones, con- 
 veniently placed for hurling on the head of any 
 intruder, make the place impregnable, whilst the 
 garden and spring of water save it from many of the 
 privations of a blockade. It is said never to have 
 been entered by the Turks except for a short time 
 during the war of 1862-3.* 
 
 On that occasion the Grand Voivode Mirko held 
 
 * Upwards of a hundred years ago Upper Ostrog ■ was 
 besieged by thirty thousand Turks for several months, when 
 every effort was made to set fire to and destroy the fortress 
 by lighted brands, and stones hurled from above ; but all 
 glanced off into the depth below, and though defended only 
 by thirty men, the enemy was obliged to retire with immense 
 loss. The Turks had laid waste everything in the neigh- 
 bourhood with fire and sword; they had burnt the lower 
 
76 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 this post with twenty- six men, and for eight days 
 such cannon as the Turkish army had been able to 
 drag to this point played from the heights opposite 
 upon the living walls of this monastic fortress, but 
 without making much impression upon the rock. 
 Three or four assaults were easily repelled, with 
 great loss to the assailants ; and when provisions failed 
 him Mirko withdrew with the loss of only one man, 
 and reached Cetinje without molestation, in the face 
 of thousands of hostile troops, who entered the 
 hermitage only after the last of its defenders had 
 retired. 
 
 The chapel of Upper Ostrog was hollowed out — I 
 can hardly say built — by St. Basil, to whose memory 
 it is dedicated, and was re-edified in 1774. His 
 body, enclosed in a coffin, rests in the little choir 
 of this miniature chapel. This St. Basil is not 
 either of the theologians of that name, but a less 
 distinguished local saint, formerly Metropolitan of 
 the Herzegovina, who, tired out by the persecution 
 of the Turks, took shelter in Montenegro some- 
 convent, which had already been destroyed nine times before, 
 and they had advanced to a ledge of rocks a short distance 
 to the south of the convent, when, stopped by an impassable 
 precipice, they were all picked off by those within ; and this 
 last effort was the signal for the retreat.' — Wilkinson, vol. 
 vi. p. 543. 
 
LITTLE OSTROG. 77 
 
 where in the seventeenth century, and made this 
 almost inaccessible spot his retreat. Here he died, 
 and the little chapel or hermitage-monastery of 
 Upper Ostrog was scooped out and consecrated to 
 his memory soon after. His shrine, and indeed the 
 two monasteries of Upper and Lower Ostrog, are 
 held in such veneration that it is said that some- 
 times as many as twenty thousand pilgrims climb 
 the heights and visit the churches there. These 
 come from Bosnia, Albania, and the Herzegovina, 
 as well as from all parts of Montenegro, and their 
 great happiness is to be able to carry off little 
 chippings of the rock for amulets. It is singular 
 that the veneration for St. Basil is by no means 
 confined to the Christians. The Bosnian Mahom- 
 medans esteem his shrine quite as highly as their 
 Christian neighbours, and come in sickness and 
 distress to pray before the coffin of the saint, and 
 to entreat the prayers of St. Basil for themselves, 
 their family, or friends. The tenacity with which 
 the Bosnians, who were compelled to embrace Ma- 
 hommedanism, cling to these and other observances 
 of their old creed distinguish them from the rest of 
 the worshippers of the false prophet. The annual 
 offerings of the pilgrims are the chief source of 
 revenue to these two monasteries, but in addition 
 
78 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 to these they possess some landed property in the 
 neighbourhood of Dioclea, which is let out to 
 tenants who return one-third of the produce by 
 way of rent. A school has been built by Prince 
 Nicholas near this monastery for the use of the sur- 
 rounding Tillages. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 POPULATION — MILITARY FORCES — TACTICS. 
 
 It is not easy to arrive at any satisfactory conclu- 
 sion as to the population of Montenegro in past 
 times, nor consequently to estimate with precision 
 the rate of its increase. The estimates made by 
 travellers in their transit across the Principality 
 are generally vague and almost worthless, whilst 
 the alterations of the frontier-line of Montenegro 
 at different periods of its history diminishes the 
 value even of these vague estimates. 
 
 In the seventeenth century (1614) Mariano 
 Bolizza, a Venetian nobleman residing at Cattaro, 
 in his 'Relatione/ computed that Montenegro con- 
 tained 90 villages, 3,524 houses or families, and 
 8,027 fighting-men * In 1800, according to M. 
 Cyprien Robert, the population of Montenegro, with 
 
 * ' Montenegro e constituta da novanta villagi, che fanno 
 case tre mille cinqnecento vintiquattro, puo far gente armata 
 da combatter otto mille vinti sette, fra quali vi possono esser 
 mille archebuggieri ; il resto epada, targa e giavarina.' 
 
80 MOXTENEGRO. 
 
 the recent addition of the Berda, only reached about 
 50,000 — an estimate confirmed by the researches 
 of Colonel Vialla. The same writer states that, 
 according to the census of 1812, the popula- 
 tion was 53,168, and the number of men bearing 
 arms and available in time of war to be 13,292. 
 In 1825 the population had increased to 75,000, and 
 the military array to 15,000 ; and fifteen years later, 
 in 1835, the population was believed to be 100,000. 
 In 1846 it was estimated that the numbers of the 
 Montenegrins had reached 11,700 families, with a 
 military strength of 20,000 combatants, and a 
 presumed total of 120,000 individuals; and about 
 twenty years later, in 1864, the official return, 
 according to the Cetinje Almanac of that date, 
 gives 196,238 as the number of people belonging to 
 the Principality.* Supposing the estimate made in 
 1800 to be correct, the population has doubled itself 
 twice during the present century, that is to say, 
 
 * Of these 99,889 were males and 96,349 females. These 
 were thus distributed : — 
 
 Katunska Nahia .... 63,738 
 
 Ejetska Nahia 
 Tzrnitza Nahia . 
 Liechanska Nahia 
 The four Berda . 
 
 Giving a total of 
 
 26,097 
 28,269 
 15,367 
 62,767 
 
 196,238 
 
 (The Oorlitza. Cetinje, 1865.) 
 
POPULATION. 81 
 
 once in about thirty years— a much higher rate of 
 increase than that of any of the adjoining Christian 
 provinces of Turkey.* 
 
 As the sterility of the rocky soil and the absence 
 of any outlets for their industry prevent an increas- 
 ing population from finding scope for their energies 
 in their own country, or even permit of their finding 
 the means of subsistence, a large number are yearly 
 compelled to emigrate to various surrounding 
 countries ; and the gardens on the Bosphorus, the 
 vegetable markets of Constantinople and of the 
 towns of Asia Minor, are supplied by Monte- 
 negrin gardeners — who, however, are enrolled on 
 the books of the Principality, and return to their 
 respective villages at fixed intervals, to be exercised 
 and mustered with the effective strength of the 
 community. f In time of war, as at present, these- 
 
 * The births in 1864 were 6,577 ; the deaths, 3,93S 
 (Ubicini). I am unable to supply later figures. In answer 
 to my inquiries for such information I received from Cetinje,. 
 while these pages were passing through the press, the 
 characteristic reply : * As to the statistics you require, I am 
 sorry to be quite unable to satisfy you. The events of the 
 late years have given so much to do to everybody on urgent 
 every-day business, that no time was left to the very few 
 officials who havo all the work to do themselves to compile 
 statistics.' 
 
 t As Montenegro at the best of times barely furnishes food 
 for its people, an unfavourable harvest causes famine, starva- 
 
82 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 men throw up their occupations abroad and flock 
 hack to their native country. These men and their 
 families are no doubt included in the census returns 
 of Montenegro together with the stated inhabitants. 
 At present the Montenegrins may be safely estimated 
 to number about 220,000. 
 
 The proportion of men, able, ready, and expected to 
 bear arms in case of war — for these terms are converti- 
 ble — is higher in Montenegro than in other countries. 
 Age claims no exemption, and familiarity with arms 
 from, and indeed in, the cradle, makes its sons 
 available at a far earlier age than elsewhere. In 
 the war with Turkey in 1862 * corpses of children 
 under fourteen years of age were frequently reported 
 as found among the slain.' * The present captain of 
 Megush, Juro Petrovic, narrowly escaped with his 
 life from a battle-field at the age of twelve, and a 
 recent writer relates that on the occasion, a few years 
 ago, of a review at Cetinje, Prince Nicholas, remark- 
 ing a young man terribly scarred, asked him how 
 he had met with his accident, on which the soldier 
 
 tion, and those diseases which, follow upon insufficient food. 
 To this Colonel Vialla attributes in great measure the slow 
 increase of the population during the last century {Voyage 
 Historique, t. i. p. 88). 
 
 * Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, by Misses 
 Ieby and Mum Mackenzie, vol. ii. p. 199, 2nd edition. 
 
MILITARY SERVICE. 83 
 
 replied, * I was wounded in the war under Mirko/ 
 ' How old/ said the Prince, ' could you have been ? 
 you are scarce a man yet/ ' I was thirteen,' said 
 the young hero quietly.* 
 
 So predominant are the ideas of military service, 
 so certain the necessity of being called upon to take 
 up arms in defence of his country, that at his baptism 
 the butt of a pistol is put to the child's mouth for 
 him to kiss, and the pistol itself placed in his cradle 
 as naturally as with us a coral is given to an infant 
 for a plaything. Boys of six or seven years old are 
 indulged with a dagger, and at ten may be seen 
 strutting about with a rifle suitable to their age. 
 One favourite toast at the baptism of a boy is, ' May 
 he not die in his bed ; ' and no taunt goes home so 
 surely to a Montenegrin's heart as this, ' Your fore- 
 fathers all died in their beds.' f 
 
 Nor is the obligation of military service confined to 
 the laity. So far from holy orders hindering any one 
 from rendering active service in the field, in many 
 districts the village pastor, who leads the devotions of 
 his people in peace, approves himself an able captain 
 
 * Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 132. 
 
 f VlALLA DE SOMMIEKES, Voyage Historique, &c, t. i. p. 102. 
 Researches on the Danube and the Adriatic, by A. A. Paton, 
 vol. i. p. 180. Tares et Montini 'grins, par F. Lenormaxt 
 p. xvi. 
 
84 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 in times of danger. Like the rest of the Montene- 
 grins, the priests carry arms, and 'are generally 
 good " heroes," the first at a gathering, the leaders of 
 their flocks in war.' The instinct of self-preserva- 
 tion, and the half-religious character of their wars 
 with the Turks — for all the wars of the Montenegrins 
 hitherto have been defensive — excuse or even make 
 a virtue of what would be regarded as an impro- 
 priety in other civilised communities. Indeed, until 
 the separation of the ecclesiastical and civil functions 
 of the ruler, the Prince-Bishop, like many of the 
 German and even some English bishops in the 
 Middle Ages, led his subjects into the field ; and the 
 last two predecessors of Prince Danilo were men who 
 had earned the respect of their people, not only by 
 their administrative ability in Church and State, but 
 also for their physical powers and martial skill. In 
 fact, Montenegro is an armed camp, even more than 
 a nation in which a division of duties and labour 
 can be recognised — a camp girded by the almost 
 inaccessible rampart which nature has thrown up in 
 front of the Albanian plain, and manned by soldiers 
 accustomed to confront danger from infancy, and to 
 regard death in the battle-field as their special 
 privilege and glory.* For if 36,000 men, or more 
 * 'A part quelques couvents, dont ils ont pris a tache de 
 
MILITARY SERVICE. 85 
 
 than one- fourth of the male population, can be 
 depended upon to obey the summons of their Prince 
 to arms, a larger number even than this would, not 
 need to be called upon but would, hasten unbidden 
 to hurl back invasions from their mountain homes. 
 Even this number of men, however, by no means 
 represents the armed force which would resist the 
 advance of a Turkish army, and guard the rugged 
 defiles which open upon their plains.* Feeble old 
 -age vindicates its right to share in the fray, and 
 even cripples at such times compel their neighbours 
 to carry them to the post of danger, so that 
 from the rocks they may fire upon the invaders.f 
 But not only men, the girls and women, who, to say 
 the least, share with their brothers and husbands in 
 
 batir solidement les murs, on ne decouvrirait pas dans leur 
 principaute un travail de fortification. La nature a ete gra- 
 tuitement elle-meme leur Vauban. La nature leur a fait un 
 cercle de remparts, une enceinte continue qui n'exigent 
 aucuns frais de reparation.' — Marmier, t. ii. p. 105. 
 
 * The ordinary proportion of males in a population be- 
 tween the ages of seventeen and sixty is estimated at 7-2oth 
 of the whole. 
 
 t Lenormant. ' During the war with the Turks in 1796, 
 Giuro Lottocich was confined to his bed by a broken leg, 
 but hearing of the battle, in which Kara Mahmoud (Bush- 
 ullia) was defeated and slain, he insisted upon being carried 
 out to a rock, from whence he could fire on the enemy, 
 which, in spite of every remonstrance, he continued to do, 
 supported against a rock, for three whole hours ; and when 
 
86 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the labours of agriculture, claim also the right to share 
 with them the toils and dangers of war ; and whilst 
 the past history of this people abound in instances 
 of female heroism, the national songs which have 
 had so large a share in moulding the Montenegrin 
 character, have preserved the memory, and hold up 
 to imitation the deeds of the wife who has not only 
 hurried to and fro with food for her husband 
 engaged in the thick of the fight, but has stood by 
 his side through the long day of conflict, has loaded 
 his rifle, has borne his banner in the field, and has 
 even aided him, with sword in hand, in defending 
 their common country.* 'Pity she is not a boy, 
 she would be a second Mirko/ was a remark often 
 made in admiration of the sister of Prince Nicholas, 
 
 they told him of the victory, he exclaimed, "It is time, 
 indeed, for I have no more cartridges, and I should have 
 died of rage if I had been forced to surrender." ' — Wilkin- 
 son, vol. i. p. 408. 
 
 * ' Le chiffre que nous avons indique n'est que celui des. 
 combattants toujours prets a entrer en campagne, eta porter, 
 si les circonstances y sont favorables, la guerre sur le terri- 
 toire ennemi ; mais qu'un danger serieux menace le pays, 
 qu'une armee turque s'avance pour le reduire, la premiere 
 balle qui frappera les rochers de Tsernogore en fera sortir de 
 tous cotes des bras et des carbines; femmes, vieillards, 
 enfants, soutiendront les hommes faits la defense nationale. 
 Au lieu de 35,000 guerriers, la montagne noire en comptera 
 ce jour-la 100,000.' — Lenormant. 
 
FEMALE WARRIORS. 87 
 
 who, whenever her father would suffer it, followed 
 him to the war. 
 
 'The finest story of a fair warrior in Montenegro 
 was told us by one of her fellow combatants, who 
 seemed truly proud of his countrywoman. Her 
 husband was a standard-bearer. He fell in battle, 
 and was succeeded in office by the eldest of his 
 grown-up sons. That son fell, and was followed by 
 a second, and he in turn by a third. The woman's 
 fourth and last son was still a child, so she shouldered 
 the banner herself, saying, " I will bear it till my 
 son be grown. "'* 
 
 "Whilst, however, the military force of Monte- 
 negro is in this way out of all proportion to the 
 number of its inhabitants, its army, in the technical 
 term of the word, can hardly be said to have any 
 existence, or at least is the smallest in the world. 
 Up to the year 1853 the army of Montenegro was 
 only the armed array of the inhabitants, self-dis- 
 ciplined, and kept in a continual state of eflficienc}'- by 
 the incessant wars on the frontier. A hundred men 
 (perianiks), chosen from the various districts of 
 Montenegro, acted, as they still act, as guards to 
 the Prince and as messengers to the court. About 
 
 * Travels m the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, vol. ii. p. 200, 
 2nd edition. 
 
88 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 four hundred others {pandours) are charged with 
 the preservation of the peace within the various 
 divisions of the country, and act as police officers. 
 These receive a small, almost nominal, pay, and 
 gain their livelihood, as almost every one else in 
 the Principality, by tilling their rood or bit of land. 
 The age when military service is expected is fixed 
 at seventeen; though, as I have already shown, 
 it practically commences much earlier : it extends 
 legally to fifty, but in fact it is limited only by ex- 
 treme old age and decrepitude. 
 
 None of the soldiers receive pay unless those 
 selected as the Prince's guards or as pandours; 
 these have a small, almost nominal, pay. When 
 called out for active service all provide their own 
 provisions. When their services are required by 
 actual or prospective hostilities, with the summons 
 to the field is indicated the probable duration of the 
 expedition to which they are summoned, so that 
 they may be able to bring with them the requisite 
 quantity of food. The contingent of each nahia 
 is commanded by its own voivode. The soldiers of 
 each pleme have their own capetan, under whom are 
 the stotinalch, a centurion commanding fifty houses, 
 or, estimating two soldiers to each house, a body 
 of one hundred men, and subordinate to these a 
 
MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 89 
 
 number of decurions (decetcharj), each commanding- 
 five houses or ten men. Each tribe has its own 
 banner. The standard of Montenegro is tricoloured, 
 as the French, but ranged in horizontal bands. 
 These, according to the Montenegrins represent 
 faith (blue), hope (white), and charity (red).* The 
 ancient arms of the Principality are the double- 
 headed eagle of Byzantium, with a lion passant on a 
 kind of escutcheon of pretence. These arms, stamped 
 on a medal with the significant motto of Viera 
 znoboda za hrabrost (' Faith and freedom the 
 reward of valour '), are given by the Prince to those 
 who distinguish themselves in battle with the Turk. 
 The captains and standard-bearers of the various 
 districts have the whole charge of the military 
 array of their respective territories, and the zeal 
 and training of the people supply all deficiencies. 
 Upwards of 10,000 men can be assembled at any 
 point of the frontier within twelve hours of the 
 first intimation of danger, and twenty-four hours 
 are sufficient to concentrate almost the whole male 
 population above the age of fourteen. These are 
 all active skirmishers, efficient marksmen, and ex- 
 cellently suited for such irregular warfare as their 
 country alone admits of. Being inured to hardships 
 * Lenormant. 
 
90 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and privations, they perform, without fatigue and in 
 high spirits, very long and forced marches. They 
 leap over wide ditches, supporting themselves on 
 their long rifles, and pass over precipices where 
 bridges would be absolutely requisite for any other 
 kind of troops, and they climb the steepest rocks 
 with the greatest facility; they also bear, with the 
 utmost patience, hunger, thirst, and every kind 
 of privation. When the enemy is defeated and 
 retiring, they pursue him with such rapidity that 
 they supply the want of cavalry, which it is impos- 
 sible to employ in their mountainous country.* 
 
 The commissariat of these troops is of the simplest 
 description, being a small loaf of bread, a cheese, 
 some garlic, a little brandy. An old garment and 
 two pairs of sandals made of raw hide form all the 
 equipment of the Montenegrins. On their march 
 they disdain to seek any shelter from rain or cold. 
 In rainy weather the Montenegrin wraps around his 
 head, or more frequently round his rifle, the strooka,f 
 or shawl of coarse cloth, lies down on the ground, 
 and, putting his rifle under him, sleeps comfortably. 
 Three or four hours of repose are quite sufficient for 
 
 * M. Broniewski in Count V. Krasinski's Montenegro 
 and the Slavonians of Turkey. 
 f Marmier. 
 
MILITARY TACTICS. 91 
 
 his rest, and the remainder of his time is occupied in 
 constant exertion. In accordance with their usual 
 tactics, if in great force they conceal themselves in 
 ravines, sending out a small number of marksmen, 
 who, by retreating, lead the enemy into the ambus- 
 cade. When they have surrounded their foes, on 
 the slightest appearance of disorder in their ranks, 
 they throw aside their rifles, and rush to the attack 
 with their handgars, and rely upon their personal 
 strength and individual bravery, in which they have 
 almost always the advantage of their enemies. When 
 their numbers are too small to justify their advanc- 
 ing in the open field, they seize positions amid inac- 
 cessible rocks, and harass their foes with a deadly 
 fire, which they are unable to return with any 
 effect. A hole, a stone, or the trunk of a tree offers 
 them a cover from their enemy. As they usually 
 fire in a prostrate position, they are seldom hit in 
 these encounters, whilst their rapid and sure shots^ 
 carry destruction into the ranks of the enemy. Their 
 history is full of well-attested but almost incredible 
 exploits done in these conflicts. It is of frequent 
 occurrence that whilst their own number may not 
 have reached a tenth of their opponents, the number 
 of these opponents which they have left dead on the 
 field have exceeded that of the whole number of 
 
92 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegrin combatants. These levies resemble, in 
 short, the Highlanders of a century ago, and their 
 military array and accoutrements carry us back to 
 the days of Prince Charles Edward and to the bands 
 which fought under his standard at Prestons-pans 
 and Culloden. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PRESENT MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 
 
 In the previous chapter we have seen what the mili- 
 tary characteristics of these people are. To these 
 rather than to any scientific organization they have 
 owed the preservation of their independence in past 
 times. So long as the Turkish armies were drilled 
 after the ancient rules of military tactics, and were 
 armed with the old-fashioned weapons in use during 
 the European war which closed in 1815, individual 
 courage sufficed the Montenegrins without any 
 great amount of military discipline or organization. 
 "With the change of tactics and with the introduc- 
 tion of new arms it was evident, however, that 
 Montenegro would have to modify its old military 
 system, and to furnish its soldiery with improved 
 weapons of war. The accession of Danilo, in 1851, 
 the first secular prince since the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, was signalised not only by a new 
 
94 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 code of civil laws for the Principality, but also with 
 the commencement of a reform of its military forces. 
 Attention was now directed to military science, of 
 which hitherto there had been but little account in 
 Montenegro, and the beneficial results were evident 
 in the war of 1853. 
 
 In 1862, however, before any considerable step 
 could be taken in this direction, the Montenegrin 
 forces, untaught to act in large bodies, and armed 
 with the old muzzle - loading rifle, were called 
 upon to encounter troops disciplined after the 
 most approved modern system of tactics, led by 
 a renegade Serb from Austria, and armed with wea- 
 pons of precision. These were advantages on the 
 side of the Turks which no courage on the part of 
 the Montenegrins could overcome. The losses of 
 the Montenegrins, accordingly, were greater in this 
 war than at any previous time. It was evident, if 
 their cherished independence was much longer to be 
 a possession, science must come to the aid of courage. 
 The people were quick to learn the lesson, and had a 
 prince who knew how to put it to a practical use. 
 Prince Danilo and his brother, the Grand Voivode 
 Mirko, had already directed their attention to the 
 systematic organization of the armed array of the 
 country. Little, however, had been done to supply 
 
NEW MILITARY ARRAY. 95 
 
 the army with new and efficient weapons at the 
 time of the death of Danilo. Indeed the great 
 European powers had hardly done more than com- 
 mence this work, and had not come to any decision 
 as to the best weapon for their troops. The cam- 
 paign, however, of 1862 satisfied the present Prince, 
 who found himself the inheritor of a war with veteran 
 Turkish troops drilled by English officers, and fresh 
 from the campaign in the Crimea, that it was neces- 
 sary to improve the military organization of the 
 Principality.* As soon as peace was established, 
 the task of arming the nation with new weapons 
 was seriously undertaken. 
 
 To procure a sufficient quantity of such arms 
 entailed an expense which it seemed, at first, that 
 Montenegro could not bear. Patriotism and energy, 
 however, furnished the means. With the consent of 
 the Imperial Government of France, a lottery was 
 established in Paris, and the proceeds, augmented by 
 a gift of money from the Emperor Napoleon, were 
 devoted to the purchase of twelve thousand Minie 
 rifles, and these, as soon as they reached Cetinje, 
 
 * Among more substantial fruit of the victory at Grahova, 
 in 1858, was a quantity of medals given by the English 
 Government to the men of the Turkish contingent for bravery 
 in the Crimean campaign. These medals aro now at Cetinje. 
 
96 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 were served out to the most active soldiers and best 
 marksmen. To the sum thus obtained was added a 
 seasonable gift from Prince Michel of Serbia, and 
 a donation of about £1,500 made by a patriotic 
 Serb, and these together were devoted to the pur- 
 chase of five hundred rifles, five hundred swords, and 
 paper for a million of cartridges for the new rifles. 
 
 As the geographical position of Montenegro 
 allowed Austria to prevent at any time the intro- 
 duction of arms into the country, and the power of 
 doing so was often exercised by the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, and always at a time when such arms were most 
 needed, it was necessary that the means of manu- 
 facturing and repairing firearms should exist in 
 Montenegro itself, and that workmen should be 
 taught how to convert the old weapons, taken from 
 time to time from the Turks or purchased in Albania, 
 into modern firearms, as well as how to manufacture 
 rifles of an improved pattern, and how to make the 
 cartridges necessary for such new rifles Hitherto 
 this had been done to so small an extent at the little 
 arsenal near Bjeka, as to make the Montenegrins 
 almost wholly dependent upon a foreign supply. 
 To meet this necessity Prince Michel of Serbia sent, 
 in 1866, a skilful workman from Belgrade, under 
 whose superintendence the old armoury at Obod 
 
ARSENAL. 97 
 
 was brought to a state of efficiency, and a number 
 of Montenegrins instructed bow to convert the old 
 muzzle-loading weapons into breecb-loading rifles. 
 At the request of Prince Nicholas, the help thus 
 afforded by the Prince of Serbia was supplemented 
 by the arrival of three artillerists, who commenced a 
 foundry for cannon near Cetinje. In this little 
 arsenal is stored up a reserve of arms, of powder, 
 and of the munitions of war. A manufactory for 
 the making of cartridges for the new rifles was next 
 established at the extremity of the plain in which 
 Cetinje stands. This has succeeded so well, that 
 when the present war commenced the storehouses 
 contained a stock sufficient to allow of four hundred 
 cartridges being served out to each man under arms. 
 
 In addition to the artillery officers and instructors 
 furnished by Prince Michel from Belgrade, a trum- 
 peter was sent in order to teach the Montenegrin 
 troops the various signals employed in the Serbian 
 army, and to enable them to communicate at a 
 greater distance than before. Hitherto their only 
 means had been the human voice. In 1869 two 
 thousand needle-guns were added to the stock of 
 warlike materials. 
 
 As soon as these expensive works were achieved, 
 in 1870, the scientific organization of the Montene- 
 
 H 
 
98 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 grin peasantry was undertaken. At present the 
 army is thus organized and equipped. 
 
 The military array of Montenegro, the men be- 
 tween the ages of seventeen and sixty, consists of two 
 divisions, each of which contains 10,000 men, sup- 
 ported by a battery of mountain artillery. Each divi- 
 sion is divided into two brigades, each brigade being 
 composed of five battalions, four of which are armed 
 with the Minie rifle, and the remaining battalion of 
 picked marksmen with the needle-gun. Every bat- 
 talion is composed of eight companies, the battalion 
 being commanded by a major and the various com- 
 panies by a captain. Every company consists of 
 ninety men rank and file, ten corporals, a trum- 
 peter, an ensign, two subalterns, and the captain. 
 Thus the company is of the strength of 105 men, 
 while the whole battalion contains 842 men. 
 
 The army is thus armed : 12,000 men are sup- 
 plied with the Minie" rifles, rather more than 3,000 
 have the needle-gun, about 1,000 men have old 
 rifles converted into breechloaders, and the re- 
 mainder are still armed with the old Albanian 
 rifle, which is loaded at the muzzle. The moun- 
 tain artillery attached to each brigade is regulated 
 after the Swiss model, and consists of four guns, 
 served by forty-eight men, with three officers. The 
 
MILITARY STAFF. 99 
 
 various nahias are called upon to furnish battalions 
 in proportion to the number of their population. 
 The strength of these battalions are equal to most 
 ordinary regiments. They can seldom, however, 
 act in a body. The nature of the ground in most 
 parts of Montenegro would prevent this. This gives 
 to the companies which compose the battalions a 
 greater degree of independent action, and makes 
 them of greater importance. 
 
 The staff of the army consists of the Prince, who 
 is the commander-in-chief. He is assisted in this 
 command by a chief of the staff and by a certain 
 number of aides-de-camp. Each of the divisions of 
 the army is under the charge of a voivode as general 
 of division, and under him are two voivodes as gene- 
 rals of brigades. All these officers are appointed by 
 the Prince. The selection of the officers of a lower 
 grade rests with these general officers. 
 
 The Prince supplies to the soldier the rifle which he 
 uses in action and such cartridges as he may require. 
 He gives nothing more. No Montenegrin receives 
 pay for his services in the field. The soldiers are 
 summoned to fight for their homes and their 
 common country, and this it is their duty to do 
 as much as it is that of the Prince.* They have no 
 
 * The captain receives a gratuity of about four pounds a 
 
100 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 special uniform beyond the distinctive national dress 
 which all wear. They move without ambulances. 
 They are not hampered with tents. They need no 
 baggage waggons since they have no baggage. 
 There is no commissariat required to supply them 
 with food, nor has any one the duty assigned to 
 him of serving them with ammunition. Their war 
 being one of defence, they are always within reach 
 of their homes ; and just as with us the wife or child 
 brings to the harvest field the food which the 
 reapers require, so day by day the wife [seeks her 
 husband on the battle-field, and supplies him with the 
 food which she has prepared for him, or brings to him 
 from the public stores the powder which, he requires. 
 If the course of the war carries him beyond the fron- 
 tier of Montenegro, a little maize bread, washed 
 down by water from the running stream, satisfies 
 the wants of the soldier until he is again within 
 reach of home. No arrangements can be more 
 simple. A "War Office clerk would despair in such an 
 absence of all commissariat provisions. Yet these 
 arrangements have enabled the Montenegrin pea- 
 sant soldier to check the advance of the most dis- 
 
 year. This small sum is not given as a payment for services 
 but in order to meet certain expenses to which they are sub- 
 jected in the fulfilment of their military duties. 
 
INFANTRY. 101 
 
 ciplined armies, and effectually to guard the inde- 
 pendence of his country. 
 
 As all their wars have strictly been wars of 
 defence, and as no campaign beyond the bounds of 
 their own rugged homes has been contemplated, 
 they have not employed cavalry for some three hun- 
 dred years or more, that is since they lost possession 
 of the plain which stretches from the banks of the 
 Moratcha to the southern shore of the Lake Skodra. 
 Cavalry could not act in Montenegro and hardly in the 
 Berda, and even if it were possible for such an arm of 
 the military service to be of use, few of these soldiers 
 could maintain a horse. Twenty pounds a year is 
 beyond the means of all save a few of the large 
 landowners ; and their estates, as I have already men- 
 tioned, are not large enough to enable them to spend 
 so much money uselessly. The Montenegrin army 
 therfore consists entirely of infantry and artillery. 
 
 They have no fortresses to defend. No semblance 
 of blockhouse or fortification of the humblest descrip- 
 tion exists in Montenegro. Their whole country is 
 one natural fortress — they need no other.* 
 
 The organization of the Montenegrin army aims at 
 
 • For the details of the now military organisation of 
 Montenegro I am chiefly indebted to the authors of Le 
 ilontenegro Contemporain. 
 
102 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 obtaining the advantage of discipline and the power 
 of combined action without fettering too much the 
 individual action of the soldier. On this indivi- 
 duality the ultimate reliance is still placed. The new 
 discipline is but supplementary to the long-tried 
 tactics which have proved so effective in their 
 mountain warfare of four centuries. Nor, again, 
 does the enrolment of the able-bodied men in 
 two divisions in any way exclude the very effi- 
 cient help which in a conflict amid the rocks] of 
 their homes, old men, boys, and women yet still 
 hasten to give.* 
 
 * 'Ce qui caracterise surtout le Montenegrin comme 
 guerrier, et ce qui lui conserve sa superiorite sur toute'espece 
 de soldats europeens, c'est le sentiment de son individuality, 
 l'orgueil de cette independance meme avec laquelle il accom- 
 plit les actes de bravoure les plus andacieux et quelquefois 
 meme les plus inconsideres. Le gouvernement ne devra done 
 point, en exagerant sa tendance actuelle, chercher a substi- 
 tuer completement Taction du commandement a l'initiative 
 particuliere.' — Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 452. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS LONGEVITY DRESS 
 
 COTTAGES HOME LIFE. 
 
 Their life, passed in the pure mountain air, the 
 necessity of being always under arms, and always, 
 therefore, in activity, together with the frugality 
 of their homes, save the Montenegrins from 
 many of the diseases of our more artificial civilisa- 
 tion. They possess in general robust health, the aid 
 of the physician and the surgeon is rarely required, 
 since in no country are gun-shot and sabre wounds so 
 speedily healed as among these mountains. Instances 
 of greatly prolonged life are common among the 
 peasantry. Colonel Yialla de Sommieres * mentions 
 a family he saw in the village of Schieclic, near 
 Niegush, which included in its living members six 
 generations. Its aged patriarch was one hundred 
 and seventeen years old, his son was one hundred, 
 
 * Voyage Tlitftoriqvc et Politique au Montenegro, t. i. p. 123. 
 
104 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 his grandson eighty-two, and his great-grandson 
 sixty years old; the son of this great-grandson 
 was forty -three years old ; he had a son aged 
 twenty- one, who was the father of a two-years- old 
 child. 
 
 These descendants down to the great-great-grand- 
 children inhabited the same house as the father of 
 their great-great-grandfather. This would be more 
 incredible were it not for the fact that the Monte- 
 grins generally marry very early. This instance of 
 longevity is, however, in keeping with the reputa- 
 tion for long life which was enjoyed by the people 
 of these countries in old time.* 
 
 The acuteness of their hearing rivals that of the 
 North American Indians, and the quickness of their 
 eye enables them to see at immense distances, and 
 to adjust their rifles without artificial aid. Short- 
 sightedness is almost unknown among these 
 mountaineers. f Intermittent fevers, especially in 
 the neighbourhood of Bjeka, rheumatism, scrofula, 
 and dysentery in one form or another, are the chief 
 maladies of the country, and among females, but 
 more rarely, cases of consumption occur. In 1867 
 Montenegro was visited with a very severe attack 
 
 * Pliny, vii. 48. Wilkinson, vol. i., p. 419. 
 t Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 130. 
 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 105 
 
 of cholera, which carried off a large number of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 In stature the men are athletic, and well-propor- 
 tioned, though many of them, especially in the dis- 
 tricts of Tzrnitza and Bielopavlic, are unusually 
 tall ; their mien is warlike, and their tread firm, 
 like that of mountaineers in general. A recent 
 ruler of Montenegro was six feet eight inches in 
 height, and instances of men who reach six feet six 
 inches are far from uncommon. Their frame 
 is sinewy and lithe. Their eyes are large and 
 strikingly intelligent and animated, though without 
 the fierce expression of the Turks.* Their nose is 
 short and moderately aquiline or straight ; their 
 mouth and chin are firmly moulded ; their forehead 
 is somewhat square ; and whilst most of them wear 
 the moustache, all except their clergy shave their 
 beards. Their complexion, from exposure, is usually 
 of a sun-burnt red, and their hair mostly brown. 
 Intermingled, however, with people of this Serb 
 type are those who have features of a more clas 
 sical character, and some writers have seen in these 
 the remains of the Greek and Roman colonies which 
 were displaced by the first Slav immigrants. 
 
 * Sir Gardner Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 481. Travels in 
 South Slavonic Countries, vol. ii. p. 222. 
 
106 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 The women are scarcely of middle height, thick- 
 set, with fair but weather-beaten complexions, 
 and generally with harsh features, the result of 
 early toil, which robs them of the beauty of early 
 life. Those of the Berda are usually blonde, whilst 
 those of Montenegro proper are distinguished for 
 their black hair and dark complexion. In manners, 
 both men and women have a natural unembarrassed 
 air, and all travellers agree in praising their intel- 
 ligence. Their food is as simple as their mode of 
 living is hardy and primitive, and to this the general 
 good health of these mountaineers must be attributed. 
 Their usual food consists of coarse unleavened bread 
 made of Indian corn, polenta, cheese, milk, and vege- 
 tables. Meat and fish are rarely eaten, except on 
 great occasions, and poultry seldom appears on the 
 table, except when the visit of a stranger calls them 
 to exert their hospitality. They are fond of wine, 
 though few are able to drink it because of the 
 expense ; on some of the greater festivals, however, 
 such as Easter, Christmas, or the feast-day of St. 
 Elias, they indulge their taste in this respect. 
 Brandy and spirituous liquors in general are in 
 esteem, but their poverty fortunately prevents their 
 using them, except when a visit to Cattaro enables 
 them to obtain the luxury at a cheap rate. 
 
DRESS. 107 
 
 Of the dress of these people Lady Strangford, 
 describing the dress of the Prince and of the men 
 in general, says : — 
 
 1 The Montenegrin custom is the handsomest and 
 most graceful I have seen in any country. The 
 Prince wore dark-blue cloth pantaloons, cut in the 
 square style, very full and wide, gathered in at the 
 knee, with scarlet garters ; a Damascus silk scarf 
 round the loins, and at his waist a huge crimson 
 leather band, in which his arms are placed ; the 
 Prince, however, is the only man who carries none 
 at home. The scarlet waistcoat, embroidered and 
 buttoned with gold, is half concealed by a closely 
 fitting tunic of white cloth, also richly embroidered 
 in gold ; the full court dress is the same, only that 
 the tunic is then worn of green. Sometimes fur 
 edgings are added, and all the gentlemen about the 
 court have rows of large silver buttons sewn so 
 thickly on the front of the tunic as quite to conceal 
 the cloth, and to give the appearance of armour; 
 while some had enormous shoulder-pieces of solid 
 silver covered with bosses, completely covering the 
 head and shoulders. Tho cap is of fur, with a 
 panache of white cloth, embroidered and tasselled, 
 hanging down at one side; this is in war, or in 
 travelling, or in winter; in summer, or at home, 
 
108 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the Montenegrin wears a peculiar pork-pie cap, with 
 a black silk border and a scarlet centre. All the 
 Montenegrins wear embroidered leggings. The 
 Prince alone wears high leather boots. He wore 
 gloves, as did every one at court, constantly. 
 
 ' The dress of the peasants is made more or less 
 in the same form, of commoner materials. All of 
 these add, for cold and rainy weather, a thick cloak, 
 called the strooka, which is made of undyed wool, 
 coarsely spun in long frills, so as closely to resemble 
 an untanned sheepskin.'* 
 
 In the description of the dress of Prince Nicholas, 
 which differs but little save in the quality of the 
 material from that worn by Montenegrins in general, 
 there is one noticeable omission. Except in actual 
 warfare the Prince never, or but very seldom, carries 
 weapons : his people are rarely without them. The 
 sash and leathern girdle round their waist is rarely 
 without a brace of pistols, and if a peasant walks 
 beyond the bounds of his own village he has usually 
 a long rifle swinging behind him. The arms 
 assumed in boyhood are never laid aside. f 
 
 * The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, pp. 146, 147. 
 
 t ' Ici ne depose rien de les instruments de guerre. Ici 
 les armes font partie essentielle du vetement. On peut 
 bien n'avoir qu'une chemise eraillee et un pantalon en 
 loques, mais quelle honte si on ne pouyait etaler sur sa 
 
DRESS. 109 
 
 Of the people in general Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
 says : — 
 
 ' They wear a white or yellow cloth frock, reach- 
 ing almost to the knees, secured by a sash round 
 the waist ; under it is a red cloth vest, and over it 
 a red or green jacket without sleeves, both richly 
 embroidered ; and the whole covered with a jacket 
 bordered with fur. 
 
 1 The female dress consists of a frock or pelisso 
 of white cloth, without sleeves, and open in front, 
 like that of the men, but much longer, reaching 
 nearly to the ankles, and trimmed with various 
 devices in braiding, or coloured cloth, and tassels, 
 and in front are several gold ornaments/ * 
 
 Though there is much the same relative distinc- 
 tion between the farmhouses of the larger proprie- 
 tors of twenty or thirty acres of arable land and 
 the cottage of the owner of two acres of ground, as 
 between the house of a small farmer and of a labourer 
 in England, yet, as the larger proprietors are few in 
 number, and poverty is the lot of the bulk of the 
 people of Montenegro, the description of an ordinary 
 cottage will give a tolerably correct idea of the habits 
 
 poitrine deux crosses de pistolefet la poigneod'un glaive.' — 
 Marmier, t. ii. p. 115. 
 * Dalmatia and Montenegro, vol. ii. pp. 152, 153. 
 
110 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and mode of life prevalent throughout the Princi- 
 pality. I therefore borrow from my note-book a 
 sketch of a Montenegrin cottage : — 
 
 ' After about six hours' ride we found ourselves 
 in the middle of the little village of Gradatz. On 
 one side of the road was a threshing-floor, raised 
 about ten feet above the pathway, and resting on 
 large uncemented stones. The space below the floor 
 was used as a storehouse for straw and maize stalks. 
 The threshing-floor itself, like all others throughout 
 Montenegro, was well cemented and finished with 
 care, and surrounded by a wall of about two feet in 
 height. A white mulberry-tree in the centre of the 
 road flung its shade over the threshing-floor. On 
 the other side of the way was a garden wall of 
 uncemented stones, flecked with lichens and half- 
 covered with blackberry-bushes. Inside the wall a 
 pigsty and another mulberry- tree filled up the little 
 court. The house itself was but one apartment, 
 partially divided in the centre by hurdles. It had 
 two doors in front, so that it had the appearance of 
 two small houses instead of one large one, and each 
 end was lighted by a small unglazed window or 
 loophole. Behind, the roof of thatch, kept down by 
 means of bands and large stones, rested on the live 
 rock. In front, the wall was of hewn, cemented 
 
COTTAGE INTERIOR. Ill 
 
 stone, with here and there a loophole for defence. 
 In the part which I first entered, one or two logs and 
 a wooden chair were all the ostensible seats ; others, 
 however, could be extemporised out of the boxes, 
 clumps of wood, and large stones which lay on the 
 earthen floor. Overhead were a few rafters, not, how- 
 ever, to support a ceiling, for there was none, but 
 ranged from wall to wall as a convenient means of sup- 
 plying the place of cupboards. From these rafters 
 hung strings of onions, a ham or two, some salted fish, 
 and two or three sheets of paper, covered with silk- 
 worms' eggs hung up for hatching. Two or three 
 earthen jars for water, a wooden bicker for milk, 
 a coarse woollen rug, a child's cradle of primitive 
 construction, a couple of reaping-hooks, a heavy 
 horse-pistol and a rifle, were all visible through the 
 dingy atmosphere. On one of the logs sat a woman 
 nursing her infant, two or three other children 
 crowded behind their mother and peered over her 
 shoulder with awe and astonishment at the strangers. 
 In another part of the room, stretched at full length 
 in a sound sleep, was a girl of some fifteen years, 
 and at her feet lay a young calf in apparently the 
 same state of unconsciousness, whilst a couple of 
 dogs contested with the children the occupancy of 
 the floor. Behind the hurdle other members of the 
 
112 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 family had collected, to watch our movements from 
 a safe distance. This apartment contained the rough 
 boards on which the bedding of the various members 
 of the family could be laid. A mass of rugs and 
 other furniture for beds occupied one corner, and 
 firewood was heaped up in another. On a fire in 
 the centre of the cottage was placed a pot, the steam 
 from which announced that preparation for dinner 
 was going on. What else there might be I could 
 not see, as the smoke from the beech logs obscured 
 the room before it escaped from the regular outlets 
 in the roof, as there was no chimney. It was just 
 such a picture as Sir "Walter Scott has left us of a 
 Highland cottage of the last century, or, indeed, 
 such as several estates in Scotland can show even 
 at the present day. The heaps of maize for man 
 and pig, the mulberry- tree, the fig-branches trail- 
 ing over the wall, the vine heavy with purple 
 clusters of grapes, and the hedges of pomegranate 
 bushes on fire with scarlet blossoms, were southern, 
 and gave a local colouring to the scene ; but, apart 
 from these, it was easy to imagine oneself in some 
 unfrequented spot, at a distance from railways, in 
 the northern part of Great Britain.' * 
 
 Monsieur Lenormant, who lived for several years 
 * Good Words, September, 1866. 
 
COTTAGE LIFE. 113 
 
 in the country, has drawn from the life a picture of 
 the home occupations of a Montenegrin's family, 
 which will best convey to the reader a notion of the 
 life of peaceful pastoral simplicity of these highland 
 warriors. Let us lift the latch with him and look 
 around the house, which may be taken as a fair type 
 of a cottage home in the mountains. 
 
 An aged couple, bent with years and toil, are 
 the sole occupants of the cottage, except some 
 infants too young for labour, who are playing on 
 the floor. The long flaxen hair and light blue 
 eyes of the children speak of a northern race. 
 The aged couple are the grandparents — often the 
 great- grandparents — to whom all pay the utmost 
 deference — not only their own children, but their 
 grandchildren and their children; the sons-in-law 
 and the daughters-in-law submit to their authority. 
 Their white hair tells of their great age. The old 
 man is no longer reckoned in the military strength 
 of the celo to which he belongs, and wounds re- 
 ceived in past wars have had their share in making 
 him less active. But though no longer compelled 
 to take the field, let but the sound of the Turkish 
 drum be heard in the valley where he lives, and 
 he will be seen hurrying to defend their home, 
 and will be found fighting, surrounded by his 
 
 I 
 
114 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 children and grandchildren. At present the sole 
 occupation of himself and his wife is the care of 
 the . infants. Whilst smoking around the fire 
 he spends his time in carving some pieces of 
 wood intended for the use and decoration of the 
 cottage; she employs herself in repairing the 
 tattered garments of the household, and in watch- 
 ing the children at their sports. 
 
 And now the sun, the only clock which is known 
 to these mountaineers, the only clock found in all 
 Montenegro, except at Cetinje or at Ostrug, tells 
 that the day is declining.* The hour for the family 
 supper is drawing on ; soon one by one the family 
 will come in from the fields, and the old woman 
 now hastens to prepare the simple meal. A joint 
 of smoked mutton, taken from the racks over- 
 head, is laid on the hot cinders, and by the time 
 the family have assembled it is roasted. This joint 
 is sometimes varied with salted fish or a pilau. Very 
 commonly, however, flesh and fish are alike wanting, 
 and only vegetables appear upon the table. However, 
 all are content. The maidens come home from the 
 fields, where they have been employed in digging 
 or in hoeing, or engaged in tending the sheep or 
 
 * In some cottages an hour-glass is found, hut this is not 
 of frequent occurrence. 
 
COTTAGE LIFE. 115 
 
 cattle on the upland pasture. The sons stroll in 
 armed to the teeth with pistols and rifles, as though 
 from a foray in Albania. Their occupation, however, 
 has been more peaceful than their appearance indi- 
 cates, they having just returned from the market 
 at Cattaro, where they have been selling garden- 
 stuff, the produce of the ground round the cottage, 
 and the poultry which was roosting last evening 
 in the midst of the family. 
 
 Every one, as he or she enters the house, kisses 
 with respect the hands of the old couple, and not 
 until this necessary salutation is over do they 
 begin any familiar conversation. They now all 
 prepare for the evening meal. First the old grand- 
 father eats, then the men of the family seated round 
 a large block of wood which serves them for a 
 table, and then the women and children take their 
 meal. 
 
 After the meal the evening rest commences. All 
 the family gather around the hearth. The men 
 smoke, the women sow, knit, or attend to the wants 
 of the children. Then turn by turn the men relate 
 stories of personal adventure. As a matter of 
 course they begin to speak of past battles. The old 
 father has some story of the days of the great 
 Vladika, and tells of the number of white plumes 
 
116 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 which he himself received in acknowledgment of 
 the Turks which he had slain with his own hands. 
 Then the younger ones tell of the days of Grahova 
 and of their exploits under Mirko, and look for- 
 ward with undisguised satisfaction to the call that 
 Montenegro will send forth when danger next 
 threatens their mountain homes. 
 
 After these warlike recollections, which are always 
 listened to with profound interest, those who have 
 been at the market in Cattaro tell the news which 
 they had heard there, and especially of anything that 
 is taking place in Western Europe which promises to 
 have an influence upon their own destinies. In the 
 course of the evening neighbour after neighbour 
 drop in and join the friendly circle, and the gusle is 
 then brought out/ and lays of the ancient days of 
 Servia, of Bosnia, of Ivan Beg, of Milosh Obilic, 
 and of the glories of the reign of Stephen Dushan, 
 
 * ' This instrument is remarkable from having only one 
 string, which is stretched from a long rack, and a wooden 
 body, covered with parchment ; its general shape being like 
 a guitar. It is played with a bow. The sound is very 
 plaintive and monotonous, and is principally used as an 
 accompaniment to the voice; the performer singing the 
 glorious wars of Montenegrin and Servian heroes ; of Tzerni 
 George and Milosh Obrenovich ; of Tzernoievich and Milosh 
 Obilich, or of the far-famed Scanderbeg, under whom their 
 ancestors fought against the Turks.' — Wilkinson, vol. i. 
 p. 440. 
 
COTTAGE LIFE. 117 
 
 are droned out from that monotonous but national 
 lyre. And when enough of these have been recited, 
 songs of domestic love, of the deeds of the Hay- 
 duks, or weird lays of the Vila of the mountains,* 
 fill up the evening. 
 
 And thus night draws on, and the time for bed, 
 or at least for sleep, arrives ; the friends who have 
 come from the neighbouring cottages disappear, and 
 as they move homeward the chant of a prayer is 
 heard, until lost in the distance. At length the 
 family are alone, and the members of it cluster into 
 a corner of the room where hangs a rude painting 
 of the name-saint of the family with a lamp burn- 
 ing before it. The old father then recites aloud a 
 short prayer, which ends with the ancient form of the 
 Orthodox Church, in which our Lord is asked to 
 accord one and all ' a peaceful rest and safety from 
 all evil angels.' And now, the day-duties at an end, 
 the fire is covered up with ashes, and the mattresses 
 are stretched out upon the floor of the cottage, and, 
 wrapped in their strookas — but not before they 
 have again kissed the hand of the house-elder and 
 received his blessing — the different members seek 
 their allotted places with their feet turned towards 
 
 * The Banshee, wraith, fairy, or protecting genius of the 
 Serb people. 
 
118 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the fire, and without dreaming of fastening the 
 door, in patriarchial simplicity they drop asleep, 
 free from thought of danger because consciously 
 under the protection of their God.* 
 
 * Lenormant, Turcs et Montenegrins. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MORAL CHARACTERISTICS POSITION OF WOMEN 
 
 HONESTY CHASTITY — COURT OF APPEAL CODE 
 
 OF LAWS — EQUALITY OF PEOPLE. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the situation and 
 poverty of the Montenegrins, and the life of unceas- 
 ing warfare, or readiness for warfare, which their 
 position forces upon them, can be unattended with 
 evils which affect the character of these moun- 
 taineers, though it may be questioned whether these 
 evils and disadvantages are not more than counter- 
 balanced by much of solid gain, and the growth of 
 virtues which are frequently lost sight of in more 
 civilised communities. The life of the women is 
 one of hard toil. They have to bear more of the 
 material burdens of daily existence than the men, 
 to the loss of their beauty. Their life is one of 
 humiliation, perhaps of inferiority, though not, as in 
 the Turkish provinces, of degradation. They are the 
 
120 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 companions, not the toys and slaves, of man, even 
 though they may get more than their fair share of 
 the duties which such companionship entails. 
 
 The need of constant watchfulness against the 
 enemy on their frontiers has, it is said, produced a 
 hajbit of craft in all classes in Montenegro ; which is 
 probably true, since this is almost always the result 
 of a similar condition of the kind of warfare which 
 they have to endure. And though their practice of 
 ready obedience to their Prince has put an end, 
 within the borders of the Principality, to the 
 vendetta, which was formerly resorted to, the Monte- 
 negrins, when at a distance from their own homes, 
 and away from the control of their ruler, are said 
 to be treacherous and implacable. They are, more- 
 over, inclined to be vain of their personal prowess, 
 and have an inordinate thirst for admiration. In 
 .matters of personal cleanliness there is much to be 
 desired. It is the testimony of an admirer that 
 1 Cetinje supplies everything but a tub/ but then 
 he adds, 'a wise traveller carries that with him.'* 
 As to the people, water is scarce in their country, 
 and is seldom resorted to for ablutions. Their linen 
 is worn without change until it almost falls to 
 pieces; add to this, they possess a fondness for 
 * Freeman. 
 
VIRTUES. 121 
 
 spirituous liquors as great almost as their brethren 
 and sisters in England. 
 
 All the vices attributed to the people of Monte- 
 negro, even if we grant their existence to the full, 
 are, however, blended with great virtues. Their 
 loyalty and patriotism are unimpeachable. Their 
 courage, both active and passive, is undoubted. 
 Though they are possessed with a reckless dis- 
 regard of life when their country is endangered, 
 suicide is seldom heard of among them ; such an act 
 being justly contemned as a proof of moral cowardice 
 unworthy of a Montenegrin.* Their honesty is 
 remarkable; crime is rare in Montenegro, and the 
 respect paid by the men to females, not only to those 
 of their own race, but also to those of their enemies, 
 is generally acknowledged. Hence injuries to 
 women and children are seldom if ever heard of 
 in their inroads upon Turkey ; f and the chastity of 
 
 * Le Montenegrin Contemporain, p. 393. 
 
 t ' Whatever their degradation may be, they possess broad 
 distinctive marks of superiority over their Mussulman 
 neighbours. One example of this is apparent in their heroic 
 struggles against an overwhelming force for freedom. 
 Another is the difference of their treatment of the weaker 
 sex. Besides which the Turk is under superstitious in- 
 fluences from which the wildest Montenegrin is free, and 
 labours under a savage fanaticism which presents, so long 
 as it lasts, a hopeless bar to all progress.' — Wingfield, Tour 
 in Dalmatia and Monteneyro, p. 209. 
 
122 MONTENEGBO. 
 
 both sexes is witnessed to by all who have written of 
 the Montenegrin people, even by those not disposed 
 to regard the Serb character too favourably. After 
 speaking of their social customs, Lady Strangford 
 says : — 
 
 ' They have another virtue beside this simplicity 
 of life ; this is their perfect honesty. I happened 
 to mention that I dropped a gold bracelet in 
 Albania. u Had you dropped it here, even in the 
 remotest corner of the Black Mountains, it would 
 have been brought to me in three days," said the 
 Prince. I am sure this was not mere talk, for I 
 heard it confirmed by enemies as well as friends of 
 the Montenegrins. I was frequently told of a 
 traveller who left his tent, with the door open, on 
 a Montenegrin hillside, and returned after three 
 years' absence to find every single thing as he had 
 left it. It is the old story of the devotion of a 
 simple-minded people, and the just administration 
 of a Homeric chieftain — all the more easily carried 
 out in such a country as the Tzrnagora, because 
 the Prince can be acquainted with the people as 
 individuals, and can set them a personal example 
 eagerly caught up by each of his loving subjects/* 
 
 Be the reasons what they may, I add my testi- 
 
 * Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, p. 159. 
 
HONESTY. 123 
 
 niony to the rigid honesty of the Montenegrin 
 people/ 1 ' One use which is made of the little plane- 
 tree in the centre of Cetinje is a deposit for found 
 goods. Travellers in this country are as yet few, 
 and the simple peasant, perhaps for that reason, is 
 unperverted by contact with what is called ' civilisa- 
 tion/ Now if one chanced to drop an article on 
 the road, and it was found by any one in Monte- 
 negro, the person who had lost the property might 
 reckon on finding it laid at the root of the tree, 
 or dangling from its branches, to be reclaimed by 
 its owner. Few crimes, indeed, blacken the simple 
 annals of these highlanders, and, save for border 
 feuds and forays, now, however, rare, there would 
 occur nothing to disturb the quiet of the Black 
 Mountains save actual hostilities with the Turks or 
 the expectation of approaching invasion. During 
 the first five years of the reign of the present 
 Prince, three executions occurred within the Prin- 
 cipality, and when it is borne in mind that Prince 
 Nicholas succeeded to power after the assassina- 
 tion of his predecessor at Cattaro ; that vendetta 
 had always been the practice, but had only two 
 
 * A writer not disposed to do full justice to these people, 
 yet observes, • I have not a word to say against the personal 
 honesty of the Montenegrins.' — Wingfield, A Tour in Dal- 
 wnatia and Montenegro, 1853, p. 184. 
 
124 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 or three years before been made punishable by 
 death; and that recent legislation had placed the 
 murder of a Turk on the same footing as that of a 
 Christian ; and this in the teeth of inveterate prac- 
 tice and of old and even honoured tradition not soon 
 nor easily forgotten — the criminal business of the 
 Principality must be acknowledged light. This 
 state of absolute security along the frontiers has not, 
 indeed, been attained without the employment of a 
 vigorous hand and the exercise of a determined will. 
 During one of the progresses of the Yladika 
 Peter II. (1830—1851), he is recorded to have left 
 as many as fifteen culprits for execution. This, 
 however, is a state of things which has wholly 
 passed away. 
 
 In all that effects the position of woman and in 
 the laws concerning personal purity, the principles 
 of equity, which in communities boasting of a greater 
 advance to civilisation are too frequently disre- 
 garded, have not been lost sight of by Montenegrin 
 legislators. On this subject I cite the testimony of 
 competent and unprejudiced witnesses. 
 
 'According to Danilo's code, the Montenegrin 
 woman has, in every respect, the same legal rights 
 as a man, and especial provision is made to secure 
 her a full share in the division of property. When 
 
PURITY OF LIFE. 125 
 
 a father's possessions are parted among his children, 
 daughters inherit as well as sons, and an only 
 daughter can succeed to the whole property of both 
 her parents. "When a woman marries, she receives 
 a dowry which passes to her husband's family, but 
 in return, should she be left a widow, she is entitled 
 to her husband's share in the common stock, and, 
 should she marry again, the family of her first hus- 
 band must continue her a certain pension. In cases 
 of domestic quarrel, where a man refuses to dwell 
 with his wife, they are at liberty to separate, but not 
 to break the marriage. Neither of them may wed 
 any one else, and the maintenance of the wife must 
 be provided for by the husband. Further, care is 
 taken by law that no woman be married against her 
 inclination. When, as is usual, persons have been 
 affianced in childhood, the priest is forbidden to 
 marry them without having ascertained that the 
 bride is a willing party ; and if a girl should dislike 
 the spouse chosen for her by her parents, and choose 
 one for herself, the family is not allowed to interfere. 
 1 Such couples/ so runs the sentence, ' are united by 
 love.' 
 
 1 A woman who murders her husband shall be put 
 to death like any other murderer, only no weapon 
 may be employed in her execution, for it is shameful 
 
126 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 to use arms against one who cannot take arms in 
 defence/ By what agency a woman shall be exe- 
 cuted is not provided by the code Danilo, but, ac- 
 cording to ancient usage, in cases of gross crime she 
 is stoned, her father casting the first stone. With 
 this fearful doom was visited every transgression of 
 social purity, and though Danilo's code sanctions 
 capital punishment only in the case of a married 
 woman, by popular custom there is no exception. 
 Nor, according to Montenegrin standard, is the 
 crime less degrading to the stronger than to the 
 weaker culprit ; the male offender equally forfeits 
 his life, the honour of his family receives as deep a 
 stain ; while her father undertakes the punishment 
 of the girl, the man is shot by his own relatives. 
 Thus have they 'put the evil away from among 
 them ; ■ the Montenegrin spurns social impurity as 
 unworthy of his manhood,* and even when dealing 
 with their Mahommedan enemies, even in their 
 wildest tchetas, with these ' barbarians ' a woman is 
 safe. 
 
 ' It has been remarked that the social virtue of 
 
 * ' I asked the Prince what would be done to a woman 
 who was unfaithful to her husband. He looked surprised, and 
 said simply, ' They never are ; if they had been, in former 
 days they would have been put to death : I should confine 
 them for life." — The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, p. 156. 
 
KESPECT FOR WOMEN. 127 
 
 the Montenegrin is not less admirable in itself than 
 as an evidence of what the precepts of Christianity 
 can do for the moral life of a people even when its 
 material life has been reduced to the verge of bar- 
 barism. ' * 
 
 The respect evinced for women shows itself in a 
 remarkable way. The protection of a woman gives 
 to a criminal or to an enemy the most perfect immu- 
 nity from danger. No one would venture to seize or 
 attack any man to whom a woman had extended the 
 sanctuary of her presence; so that in the most 
 dangerous times, amid the conflict of war, her com- 
 panion, however obnoxious he may be, either from 
 private or public causes, is safe from the slightest 
 molestation at the hand of a Montenegrin. 1 
 
 Though the poverty 'of the Montenegrin people 
 
 * Travels in Slavonic Provinces of TurJcey, vol. ii. pp. 267, 
 268, 2nd edition. 
 
 t ' A ce point de vuo les mocurs des Tsernogortses sont 
 entierement chevaleresques. La femme est pour eux un 
 etre inviolable. Les vengeances, les querelles de tribus ou de 
 families ne l'atteignent pas. Elle jouit meme du plus noble 
 privilege. L'homme qu'une femme a pris sous sa sauve- 
 garde, eut-il coinmis un meurtre, fut-il sous le coup de la 
 plus implacable vendetta, deviont aussi sacre qu'elle ; il peut 
 avec elle venir s'asseoir au foyer de ses ennemis, mil n'ose- 
 rait toucher a un cheveu de sa tete, car co serait se dis- 
 honorer a jamais aux yeux de toute la nation.' — Lenoe- 
 
 MA2JT, p. 21. 
 
128 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 stands greatly in the way of an extended hospitality 
 to travellers, what they have is freely offered, and 
 there is no country in Europe in which the safety 
 of a visitor is regarded so greatly, and where his 
 protection is deemed so much a point of national 
 honour, as among these rugged mountains. In the 
 times even of the greatest commotion the traveller 
 in this country, wherever he may be, is absolutely 
 safe.* 
 
 Such petty disputes as arise among so primitive a 
 people are settled by the judges of the village or the 
 sirdar of the district. The senators are the chief 
 judges of all matters which arise within their own 
 districts, and the assembled Senate is the ultimate 
 court of appeal from that of the palica or district. 
 In more intricate or difficult disputes the decision of 
 the Senate is given by the mouth of the President. 
 The Prince, however, is commonly appealed to to 
 settle disputes, and his decision is sought not only 
 by his own subjects but by the inhabitants of the 
 Herzegovina, which, though once a part of Mon- 
 tenegro, has been for a long time in the posses- 
 sion of the Turks. 'Every peasant in the land, 
 however poor/ says Lady Strangford, 'has a 
 right to come to the Prince himself for judgment ; 
 * Cypeien- Robert, Lcs Sclavs de Turquie. 
 
COURT OF APPEAL. 129 
 
 and such is their affection for him that no one 
 would dream of questioning his justice. If the 
 justice of his sentence is not evident to them, 
 they say, ■ He has a reason for it,' and ac- 
 quiesce quietly. They are satisfied with the de- 
 cisions of the Senate only as believing them to 
 come from the Prince himself/* A more recent 
 traveller thus describes the court of justice at 
 Cetinje : — 
 
 1 In speaking of the metropolis of Montenegro I 
 must not pass over unnoticed the senate-house and 
 the senators of the Principality. Although for the 
 trial - of offenders charged with great crimes the 
 senators meet within doors and have the assistance 
 of a secretary to make a record of the cause, yet in 
 ordinary cases this is not resorted to. The senate- 
 house is, as the Prince's secretary jocosely remarked 
 to me, the largest in Europe, and indeed in the 
 world. All ordinary assemblies, whether for counsel 
 or for the trial of civil and criminal causes, are held 
 under the plane-tree in front of the palace, the 
 heavens its roof and the horizon its boundaries, if 
 indeed it has any. The Sunday evening after my 
 arrival I strolled out of my lodgings about six 
 o'clock, and found a court of justice then sitting. 
 * Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, pp. 157, 158. 
 K 
 
130 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 The Prince was seated on a low wooden stool under 
 the shade of the tree, whilst around him were ranged 
 all the senators who happened to be in Cetinje. A 
 few attendants with their rifles stood outside the 
 circle of the senators, intermingled with a group of 
 listeners, amongst the most interested of whom I may 
 reckon myself. In the middle of the circle stood the 
 plaintiff and defendant. The case was a disputed 
 debt of a few piastres. Both spoke at once, and 
 their pleadings were racy enough to elicit a joke or 
 two from the Prince and laughter from the spec- 
 tators. In the midst of the examination of the two 
 parties to the suit — the only witnesses who appeared 
 on this occasion — the horses were brought out for 
 the use of the Prince in his customary afternoon's 
 ride. Thereupon he soon summed up and gave 
 judgment, apparently to the satisfaction of both 
 parties, though evidently more to the satisfaction of 
 one than of the other ; since, though both came 
 forward and kissed his hand, the successful suitor 
 kissed the hem of his coat also. . It was a very patri- 
 archal scene, and such, I suppose, as might have 
 been witnessed in the Highlands of Scotland little 
 more than a century ago. The Prince told me 
 afterwards that only trifling causes were thus dis- 
 posed of, such in fact as required not so much the 
 
COURTS OF JUSTICE. 131 
 
 discrimination of a judge as the intervention of an 
 arbitrator.' * 
 
 If the court of appeal is of this primitive character, 
 the simplicity which reigns throughout the ordinary 
 courts of justice would astonish men accustomed 
 to the more artificial systems of Western Europe. 
 !No lawyer is reared on the soil of Montenegro. The 
 judges, chosen by the peoplef yearly, on the Feast 
 of St. Basil, J have no stated periods for their assize. 
 The occurrence of a fair or a market, since it 
 brings together a large number of people, is selected 
 for the time of the gaol delivery of the district. 
 Before this tribunal, seated always in the open air, 
 plaintiff and defendant make their appearance, 
 together with any witnesses they may deem neces- 
 sary. The principals, having spoken in turn, and 
 the witnesses having been heard, withdraw, and the 
 judges discuss the merits of the case with the spec- 
 tators, and consider the judgment they are about 
 to give by the aid of the light which any one 
 present may throw upon the matter in dispute. 
 Having arrived at a conclusion, they then recall the 
 plaintiff and defendant, and pronounce sentence, 
 which is thereupon registered. Nothing else, how- 
 
 * Good Words, February, 1866. 
 f Code Danilo, art. 13. % Ubicini. 
 
132 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 ever, is written. There are no records of the plead- 
 ings and therefore no precedents ; and, beyond a 
 few brief paragraphs in the code of Prince Danilo, 
 no statutes and no rules to guide the judge. 
 Equity, common sense, the immutable laws of 
 morality, and the acknowledged principles of Mon- 
 tenegrin justice alone regulate the proceedings. 
 As there are no special advocates, should either of 
 the principals in the suit be not gifted with sufficient 
 eloquence to plead his own cause — a circumstance, 
 however, which rarely happens — one of the auditors 
 is always ready to lend his aid and to enact the part 
 of an advocate. * 
 
 The principles of equity, which are common to all 
 people, the traditionary laws of the old Serbian mo- 
 narchy, and especially some precepts attributed to 
 Stephen Dushan, made up until almost our own time 
 the common law of Montenegro, and this unwritten 
 code was for a long time the only law known through- 
 out the Principality. At the close of the last century, 
 however, Peter I. issued a code of laws consisting of 
 thirty- three articles. These were republished with 
 additions in 1855 by Prince Danilo, extending the 
 code to ninety-three articles. 
 
 A few of these articles will give the reader som« 
 
 * LENC-miAXT. 
 
CODE OF LAWS. loo 
 
 idea of the spirit of the laws which regulate the 
 lives and actions of the Montenegrin people.* The 
 code contains simple laws to restrain murder, acts 
 of violence, the vendetta formerly practised, and 
 robbery. It provides for the appointment of judges 
 and defines their qualifications, and prescribes the 
 punishment for unjust judgment. Since judges are 
 chosen by the people, one of the articles of the code 
 declares it to be their duty to fulfil the obligations 
 imposed upon them by this choice, and to labour to 
 maintain peace among their fellow-countrymen. 
 For this end the judges are forbidden to engage in 
 traffic or to travel out of their own country, f On 
 taking their seat for the trial of any cause they are 
 to remember : 1. That by the voice of God and the 
 will of the people they have been chosen judges, the 
 fathers and lovers of their country. 2. They are to 
 pray God to enlighten their minds and to give them 
 
 * This codo was printed under the title of ■ Zakonek. — 
 Daniela Prvog Knesa e Gospodara Slobodne Chrnegore e 
 Brdah. — lSoo." An official translation into Italian, " Codice 
 <li Danilo, Primo Principe e Signore del Libero Montenero e 
 della Berda," was at the same time printed. The code occurs 
 also in a French translation, in the volume of Mox. Delarue, 
 Le Montenegro (Paris, 18G2), and, together with the codo of 
 Peter J., in Mox. Lexorm ant's book, Turcs et Montenegrins 
 (Paris, 1886). 
 
 t Art. 13, Cudo Danilo. 
 
134 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 intelligence to discern the right and the wrong of 
 the matter before them.* 3. They are to remember 
 their oaths to act impartially and to decide with 
 equity without regard to the position of either party 
 in the suit. 4. They are to hear each party, and 
 not to allow both to speak at the same time, but 
 they are to require them to speak without passion 
 and slowly, so that the clerk may take notes of their 
 evidence, and the judges may understand the grounds 
 of their complaint or defence.f Should a judge ask 
 or receive a gift, he is at once to be degraded from 
 his office. The judge who insults either party in a 
 suit is to pay a fine to the Treasury, whilst an insult 
 offered to a judge is punished by a like fine, and the 
 imprisonment of the guilty party. Theft of cattle 
 — oxen or horses — belonging to natives of Monte- 
 negro or the Berda, whether living there or in 
 Austrian territory, is, according to the Code of 
 Peter L, to be punished as murder, and that because 
 'he who steals the ox or horse of another causes 
 more sorrow and tears to the whole family than 
 if he had killed one of its members, especially if 
 the owner be poor, and has no other ox or horse, 
 for then being unable to buy another he would be 
 
 * Art. 22, Code Peter I. 
 
 t Art. 22, Code Peter I. ; Art. 6, Code Danilo. 
 
CODE OF LAWS. 135 
 
 compelled to sell his land or other goods in order to 
 buy those animals, without which he could not live/ * 
 It is to bo noted that whilst the code of Peter I. 
 only makes it an offence to steal cattle from Mon- 
 tenegrins, either within the territory of the Prince, 
 or from those living in Herzegovina, Albania, 
 Dalmatia, and other Austrian states, the code of 
 Danilo has extended the prohibition to the whole 
 of the border, whether Turkish or Austrian.f 
 
 If a man wishes to sell his real property — his 
 house, fields, vineyard, or forest ground — he must 
 first offer it in the presence of witnesses to his 
 relatives; if these are unwilling to purchase, he 
 must then offer it to his nearest neighbours, and 
 only on their refusal can he put it up to public sale ; 
 the relatives or the neighbours are, however, not to 
 take advantage of this law to the detriment of the 
 seller. If they purchase they are to do so at the 
 same price which others are willing to give, since it 
 is to be offered at a fixed valuation. J As markets are 
 instituted for the good of the people, no one must 
 
 * Art. 17, Code Peter I. ; Arts. 24 and 25, Code Danilo. 
 
 t 'Qualunque trasgressione commessa da un Montene- 
 grin© o Berdiano in uno etato contermine andra soggotta 
 alia pena, dacui sarebbe colpita se awenuta nelT interne' — 
 Cod. Danilo, ar: 
 
 X Art. 45 and 4G, Code Danilo. 
 
136 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 disturb the peace at such places 'any more than 
 they would quarrel in a church/ and those who 
 commence or excite disturbances in either market 
 or church are to be similarly punished.* Injury to 
 the person is assessed according to the members 
 injured, and the aggressor is required in addition to 
 pay all costs incurred in the cure of the wounded 
 man.f A blow by hand, foot, or pipe may be 
 avenged by killing the aggressor ; but if the injured 
 person allows a day or two to elapse and then kills 
 his opponent, he is guilty of murder. All brigan- 
 dage on the Turkish frontier is forbidden in time 
 of peace or during a truce, and in case of breach of 
 this law the booty is to be restored and the criminal 
 punished.J The son or daughter who treats either 
 parent with disrespect is for the first offence to be 
 fined, for the second to be imprisoned and flogged, 
 for the third the father is at liberty to turn the 
 offender out of the house and to deprive him or her 
 of all the rights of a child. § 
 
 That these laws may be observed throughout 
 Montenegro, it is enjoined not only upon all priests, 
 but also upon the chiefs of each district, in church 
 
 * Art. 19, Code Peter I.; Art. 83, Code Danilo. 
 t Art. 33, Code Danilo. 
 
 § Art. 58, Code Danilo. 
 
CODE OF LAWS. 137 
 
 on all holy days, to call upon all the heads of families 
 to live in peace and brotherhood one with another, 
 to fear God, to abstain from evil deeds and evil 
 speaking, and to obey the laws, for, as this docu- 
 ment "very sensibly goes on to say, ' since the law is 
 made in order to prevent crime, it is necessary that 
 it should be known by every one, so that none may 
 plead ignorance in excuse for breaking it/ * By the 
 last article of the code of Peter I. it is declared to 
 be the duty of every Montenegrin to be faithful to 
 his country, from which no prosperity should separate 
 him, as nothing should induce him to change his 
 religion or betray or in any way be unfaithful to his 
 brethren or his nation ; for the lawgiver goes on to 
 say ' we are all bound to these conditions, since we 
 are born and have been brought up in one and the 
 same country. ' f 
 
 In 1871 the attention of the present Prince was 
 directed to the improvement of the code of his 
 predecessor, and a commission was formed for the 
 purpose of drawing up a new code of laws. Little 
 progress had been made in this when the urgent 
 need of attending to the reform of the military 
 organization, and then first the prospects of 
 war, and afterwards actual warfare, prevented the 
 
 ♦ Art. 32, Code Petor I. t Art. 33, Code Peter I. 
 
138 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 intentions of the Prince from being carried into 
 effect. The Montenegrins are still controlled 
 and regulated by the patriarchal institutes of 
 Peter I. and Danilo, of which I have given some 
 specimens. 
 
 Until recent times the most treasured trophy of 
 a Montenegrin was the head or heads of the Turks 
 whom he had slain in battle ; a row of these ghastly 
 tokens of victory used formerly to decorate the 
 tower which rises behind the monastery in Cetinje, 
 the residence of the Vladika who ruled over the 
 Principality, in the same way that only a few years 
 before Temple Bar in London was adorned with the 
 heads of Tory gentlemen who preferred the House 
 of Stuart to that of Hanover. These heads have 
 disappeared from Cetinje for more than twenty 
 years, and it is now denounced as a crime, punish- 
 able by imprisonment, for a Montenegrin to carry 
 off the head of his enemy from the field, of battle. 
 It is a great testimony to the deference paid to the 
 commands of these Princes that the last three 
 rulers have succeeded in repressing this savage 
 practice. Two years ago, among the few criminals 
 suffering imprisonment, was one whose crime was 
 that he had brought away the head of a Turk slain 
 at Podgoritza. At present the ramparts of the 
 
CODE OF LAWS. 139 
 
 tower on which, these trophies of war were once 
 placed is occupied with beehives. 
 
 The first article of the code of Prince Danilo 
 recites the fact that all the inhabitants of Monte- 
 negro and of the Berda are equal in the eyes of the 
 law ; * all are regarded as noble ; all possess property 
 in land ; all are eligible for the few offices which 
 exist in the Principality; there is no standing 
 army, whilst all bear arms, and almost all are 
 skilled in their use. Where these conditions 
 exist, it matters little what the form of government 
 is : the result must needs be a free constitution. 
 The technical terms of Western constitutional law 
 are hardly applicable to either Montenegro or Serbia. 
 In both countries we have the full tide of democratic 
 liberty controlled and regulated by that idea which 
 lies at the root of all Slavonic institutions — the 
 sacredness and strength of the family tie.f To the 
 
 * ■ Ogni Montenerino e Berdiano e equale in faccia alia 
 legge.' 
 
 f ' Sur aucun point du globe, l'egalite n'existo peut-etre 
 aussi complete que dans lo Tsernegore; mais le principe 
 d'egalite, tel qu'il est compris et pratique par les Slaves, ne 
 menace point les droits et l'existence do la famine, comma les 
 theories qu'on fait reposer en France sur ce meme principe. 
 Chaque Serbe, en jouissant de son independance, continue 
 d'etre devoue aux interets do tous ; il ne se separe presque 
 jamais de see parents.' — Cyprien Bobert, t. i. p. 104. 
 
140 MONTENEGKO. 
 
 Montenegrin the Prince is the father of the country 
 and of every individual within its limits ; his orders 
 are obeyed as dutiful children obey the commands 
 of a father whom they love and honour ; his wish is 
 law, as the wishes of a parent are regarded and 
 esteemed by dutiful children, whilst he, on his part, 
 is bound to regard not only the interests of his 
 subjects, but also their wishes* 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS LAND TENURE OFFICES INCOME 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 The Montenegrins are a nation of agriculturists, 
 herdsmen, and shepherds. This may have arisen 
 from choice ; it is imposed upon them by necessity. 
 Cut off from the coast, they are unable to employ 
 their energies in commerce, and their poverty 
 prevents them, as a general rule, from employing 
 or even requiring the aid of skilled artizans. Each 
 family manufactures the coarse cloths and linen 
 required for its own use, and the simple garments, 
 sandals, and shoes which they wear are of home 
 workmanship. The arms which they carry, and 
 which are inseparable from the Montenegrin, were 
 until recently manufactured at Prisrend, at Ipek, at 
 Travnik, or at Sera'ievo, in Bosnia and in Albania. 
 Now, however, the arsenal and armoury near Rjeka, 
 where rifles and pistols can be made, or old ones 
 
142 MONTENEGKO. 
 
 repaired and adapted to modern requirements, 
 renders them in a great measure independent of 
 foreign supplies. The masonry and carpenters' work 
 required in the construction of their houses does not 
 call for specific workmen, and if greater skill is 
 demanded than the peasants possess workmen are 
 hired from Dalmatia and Serbia.* The ablest senator 
 or the most trusted warrior employs himself like 
 the Romans of old in the manual labour which his 
 small patrimony demands, but the same legislator 
 or soldier would consider it a degradation to be 
 engaged in a trade or to labour at some profitable 
 art. The possession of a seaport, so greatly desired, 
 and surely not for ever to be withheld from them, 
 will produce a change in this respect ; but so long 
 as the people of Montenegro are excluded from 
 the coast, and are menaced by Turkey and their 
 territory coveted by Austria, the labours of the 
 field are alone possible or even desirable for them. 
 The occupation of the peasant mountaineer is that 
 which fits him best for the maintenance of his 
 freedom, and prevents him from sinking to the 
 
 * ' There are few Montenegrins who exercise any trade ; 
 though some perform the offices of blacksmiths, farriers, or 
 whatever else the immediate wants of a village may require/ 
 —Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 430. 
 
LANDED PROPERTY. 143 
 
 level of his brethren in the adjoining provinces of 
 Turkey. 
 
 The land of Montenegro is divided into two 
 classes, arable and grazing : the former possessed by 
 individuals, or more usually by families ; the latter 
 is the common possession of the people of the whole 
 district in which it is situated. There are no State 
 domains in the Principality beyond some small pro- 
 perty belonging to the two monasteries of Cetinje 
 and Ostrog, and the largest landed proprietor is the 
 holder of sixty acres. The other possessions range 
 from freehold estates of two acres up to the modest 
 dimensions of twenty acres. Although the arable 
 lands are commonly held by a family, or, to use the 
 significant Montenegrin phrase, ' by the house/ not 
 by the individual, yet each member of a family has 
 the right, after conference with the rest, to separate 
 his own share from the family estate, and to sell or 
 mortgage his possession to his relatives, and, on their 
 refusal to purchase, then to sell it to any other 
 person. No child, however, can claim a separate 
 possession in land during the lifetime of the father.* 
 Up to the present time the practice has been for 
 the sons to reside with their parents, to cultivate the 
 family land in common, so long as the father is 
 * Art. 47, Code Danilo. 
 
144 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 living, and on his death to continue to till the soil 
 and share the proceeds in partnership (Zadrooga) ; * 
 though when the father is dead they may exercise 
 the right of dividing their share from that of the 
 rest. Accordingly, the primitive and patriarchal 
 system of holding their lands in common has been 
 of late years frequently departed from. 
 
 A Montenegrin thus explained this custom to me : 
 ' With us the bad divide the land and live apart ; 
 the good keep the land undivided and live together.' 
 Where this is accepted as an axiom, of course ' the 
 good ' predominate ; and in houses of only two large 
 rooms three generations, or even more, may often 
 be found living together ; brothers with their wives 
 and large families dwelling harmoniously in the 
 same apartment. 
 
 When lands are shared, each son has a right to 
 an equal part, as well as of the movable property, 
 and no distinction is made between the elder and 
 the younger son, except as a matter of practice, 
 
 * For an account of the Zadrooga, as it exists in Free 
 Serbia, see Appendix B to Travels in South Slavonic 
 Countries, by Misses Mackenzie and Ikby, vol. ii. p. 329, 
 2nd edition, 1877. ' The Zadrooga is a sort of community of 
 property, household, labour, and revenue, among the 
 members of the same family living together, under a 
 stare'shina, or free-elected, well-qualified leader, most fre- 
 quently the father or grandfather of all.' — YoVAtfOViTCil. 
 
LAND TENURES. 145 
 
 though not of right. The rifle, knife, and pistols 
 of the father are given to the eldest son. If there 
 are sons the married daughters have no share either 
 in the landed or movable property of the family, 
 each of them having received at her marriage a 
 portion of linen, dresses, and personal ornaments.* 
 When a man, however, dies without sons, the 
 daughters inherit his land and other possessions, 
 with the exception of the house and the garden 
 around it and also his arms, which become the 
 property of his brothers or their sons. This is in 
 the case of several daughters surviving. When 
 there is only one daughter, she usually, with the 
 consent of her relatives, brings as her dower the 
 whole of her father's property, of whatever kind it 
 may be.f 
 
 As to the grazing lands and woods, these are the 
 property, not of individvals, but of the community 
 or clan (pleme) which is settled on them. All 
 houses or families belonging to this clan have equal 
 right of pasturage for cattle on these lands, and an 
 equal right also to cut what wood they may require. 
 This common right and a common church are the 
 only ties which unite the whole clan, as there are no 
 municipalities, and the Prince is the only authority 
 
 * Art. 51, Code Danilo. t Arts. 53, 55, Code Danilo. 
 
 L 
 
146 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 which binds together the whole country into one 
 state. Formerly, indeed, except in time of war, there 
 was no central authority to which the whole country 
 could defer. The affairs of each celo, or village terri- 
 tory, were regulated by the stareschina, assisted by 
 the heads of the various families assembled in 
 council ; that of the pleme by the knez, assisted by 
 the assembly of the tribe or clan ; whilst each nahia 
 was directed by an obor knez and by the assembly 
 or diet of the whole nahia. The chiefs formerly 
 possessed these various offices by virtue of hereditary 
 right. JNow the persons who fill these offices are 
 selected by the Prince, but yet with a certain 
 deference to the expressed wish of the celo, pleme, 
 or nahia. 
 
 In Montenegro every one is included in the 
 pleme where he resides. In every pleme, clan, or 
 district, inhabited by families having a common 
 ancestor,* there is one voyvoda and one civil gover- 
 nor. The dignity of voyvoda and of civil governor, 
 however, is sometimes united in the same person ; 
 but more commonly the voyvoda is of one family, 
 and the governor of another. The voyvoda is 
 the military leader of the pleme. His office was 
 hereditary, and descended from the father to the 
 
 * ' Plemens ou grandes families.' — Delarxte.^ 
 
POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 14T 
 
 eldest son. When a voyvoda died without sons, 
 this dignity passed to the brother, nephew, or 
 cousin who was the oldest male in the family, and 
 remained in his hands until a like failure of direct 
 descendants took place. Every pleme has, in addi- 
 tion to the voyvoda, a deputy (serdar), a dignity, 
 like that of the voyvoda, formerly hereditary, but 
 latterly it has been conferred by the Prince accord- 
 ing to his pleasure ; a change necessitated indeed 
 by the new military organization of the nation. 
 The administration of justice and the civil govern- 
 ment of the pleme is usually entrusted to one who, 
 though chosen by the Prince, has been marked out 
 for the office by the confidence of the clan to which 
 he belongs, and this consequently, like that of voy- 
 voda, is not now an hereditary office. These two, the 
 military leader and the civil governor of each nahia, 
 assemble at Cetinje and compose the Senate of four- 
 teen — or, with the president and vice-president, 
 sixteen — members, the standing council of the 
 Prince. Five of these senators reside wholly at 
 Cetinje, the remaining nine are only in residence 
 for three months in the year, in lodgings provided 
 for them at the public expense, and receive, as an 
 honorarium rather than a stipend, the first class of 
 five a sum of £60, the latter class only £30, of 
 
148 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 English money yearly. The President of the Senate, 
 who holds rank next to the Prince, and is the most 
 considerable of his civil subjects, receives an annual 
 income of about £140, and the Yice-President about 
 £120 ; the secretary of the Prince, who is also 
 * clerk of parliament ' to the Senate, receives about 
 £100 of English money * These senators, like the 
 €onscript Fathers of the old Roman Republic, are 
 not only the leaders in war, but they also guide the 
 plough, or more frequently handle the spade and 
 reap the harvests of their paternal fields.f 
 
 The income and expenditure of the Government 
 of Montenegro are arranged on a most economical 
 scale. The most considerable item in the receipts 
 consists of an annual sum of 10,000 sequins, or 
 almost 47,000 florins, paid by Russia as an idemnity 
 for losses in the days of Peter the Great, and in 
 acknowledgment of services rendered by Montenegro 
 in the war of the French Revolution. To this has 
 of late years been added an annual gift from France 
 of 50,000 francs.J Whether, however, this latter 
 
 * Until the last five or six years this honorarium was 
 about two-thirds of the present amount. 
 
 t ' Comme le reste de ses concitoyens, le senateur monte- 
 negrin se fait lui-meme sa chaussure et les harnais de son 
 mulet.' — Lenoemant. 
 
 X Ubicint. 
 
TAXATION. 149 
 
 sum is still paid I am unable to say. The family 
 or house tax brings into the treasury about 35,000 
 florins. Ad valorem duties of four per cent, on 
 articles exported and imported produce about 25,000 
 florins. A tax of one zwanzig, or twenty kreutzers 
 (4(£), on every plough land (kalo), that is as much 
 land as an ox can plough in one day; * five kreutzers 
 on each hive of bees, and the same sum on every 
 pig ; three on each vine ; two on every sheep ; ten 
 on every cow, ox, or other beast of burden ; toge- 
 ther with the appalto of tobacco; a tithe of the 
 fishery on the Rjeka ; and the rent of certain con- 
 vent lands let to peasants — make up a sum reaching 
 to about 220,000 florins, or £25,000 English money. 
 These taxes, with the exception of course of the ad 
 valorem duty on goods imported, are levied in 
 October and January, of each year, and for the 
 payment of these the captain of each district is 
 responsible. The customs duties are collected at 
 Niegush, Rjeka, and Grahova. In times of war no 
 taxes are levied. 
 
 In 1868 the civil list of the Prince was fixed at 
 6,000 Austrian ducats, or about £2,820 of English 
 money. This sum, however, was charged with the 
 
 * This tax was formerly two zwanzigs, but it has been 
 recently reduced one-half. 
 
150 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 payment of some of the state officials. The next 
 year, however, the Prince was released from these 
 payments, and since 1869 he enjoys this civil list 
 without abatement.* 
 
 The chief items of expenditure are the palace 
 expenses, which are extremely moderate ; the cost 
 of maintaining the printing-office, established by 
 Peter II. ; gratuities to the Prince's guards, each of 
 whom receives 60 thalers yearly ; payments to the 
 senators, and compensation money for expenses in- 
 curred by the captains and by the small body of 
 artillerymen who compose the nucleus of the army, 
 and salaries to the masters of the schools established 
 by the present Prince and his two immediate pre- 
 decessors. Add to this, in times of want — and times 
 of want are not infrequent in those sterile domains 
 — the purse of the Prince is the common fund to 
 which all feel a right to resort. For what is the 
 Prince but the father of the country ? and to whom 
 have children, when in need, a better right to apply 
 than to their father ? 
 
 * Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 352. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LANGUAGE LITERATURE PRINTING PRESS. 
 
 The Montenegrins are Serbs, consisting in part of 
 the descendants of the old inhabitants of the Princi- 
 pality, in part of Serb refugees from Serbia, the 
 Herzegovina, and Bosnia, who, at the time of the 
 conquest of these provinces by the Turks, or sub- 
 sequently, fled from their homes and found shelter 
 within the natural defences of this rugged territory. 
 At that time Montenegro, with the -shores of the 
 Bocche di Cattaro, formed the western verge of the 
 empire of Stephen Dushan and of Lazar, who was 
 defeated and slain at Kossova. It cannot be doubted 
 that when these provinces of the Eastern Roman 
 Empire were conquered and first tenanted by the 
 Slavs, several of the old colonists — whether of 
 Greek or Roman race — remained in their old posses- 
 sions and became assimilated to the conquerors. To 
 this cause writers on Montenegro have attributed 
 
152 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the classical features, unlike the Slav type of coun- 
 tenance which are to be found in various parts of 
 the present Principality.* 
 
 The language spoken throughout Montenegro is 
 the Serbian dialect of the Slavonic. As the Serbian 
 language itself has been spoken of as Italianized 
 Slavonic,! so the Serbian of Montenegro — though 
 probably the purest existing form of this language 
 — has been enriched beyond that of Serbia with a 
 number of Italian words, as well as with several 
 from the Turkish. Original, scientific, and historical 
 treatises are as yet infrequent in Serbian ; but its 
 capabilities to give expression to the language of 
 fancy and of passion has been shown in the collec- 
 tions of poems, which form a considerable item in 
 Serbian literature. It is believed to approach 
 nearer than any other of the Slav dialects to the 
 
 * ' Le Serbe, emigrant au quatorzieme siecle au Monte- 
 negro, y trouva les descendants de la race primitive aux- 
 quels Grecs efc Eomains s'etaient deja successivement meles ; 
 plus tard le contact des Turcs, des Bosniaques et des Alba- 
 nais apporta necessairement son contingent d'influence, et 
 enfin d'assez nombrenses families, telles que la famille 
 regnante actuelle, proscrites ou fuyant le commerce des 
 Ottomans ou leur persecutions, vinrent des pays voisins 
 chercher un refuge dans la Montagne-Noire.'— Le Montenegro 
 Contemporain, p. 127. 
 
 t SCHLEGEL. 
 
LANGUAGE. 153 
 
 original or old Slavonic language, into which the 
 Scriptures were translated in the ninth century 
 by Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slav 
 lands. The language which they fixed by their 
 translation of the Scriptures into it remains the 
 ecclesiastical language of all the Orthodox Chris- 
 tians of the various Slav countries to the present 
 day. 
 
 The Serbian language is at the present day spoken, 
 with modifications, from the Black Sea to the 
 Adriatic. A Montenegrin in Russia, Dalmatia, 
 Croatia, or Serbia understands the speech of these 
 several countries, and is in turn perfectly under- 
 stood by these people when using his own tongue. 
 Even in Bulgaria he has little difficulty in making 
 himself understood. The Serbs, however, who have 
 embraced the Roman Catholic faith, have, with many 
 other national traits, laid aside the Cyrillic letters 
 in use among their Orthodox brethren, and have 
 long employed the Latin alphabet. 
 
 Although comparatively few treatises on history 
 have been written in modern Serbian, the history of 
 Montenegro has been transmitted in the ballads and 
 poems which constitute the larger portion of its 
 literature, and which, being independent of the 
 printing-press, and having been preserved by 
 
154 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 popular recitations, have done much to keep alive 
 the intellectual vigour of these peoples. These songs 
 are stored up in the memory of the whole people, 
 and are the delight alike of youth and old age, of 
 prince and of peasant. The poems which celebrate 
 the actions of the heroes of Serbia in the national 
 struggle to arrest the armies of the Ottoman 
 invaders have been compared to the cycle of 
 Arthurian romances, in which the exploits of the 
 heroes of the Round Table have been preserved and 
 embodied in the literature of Europe. Allowing 
 for the strictly historical character of the incidents 
 celebrated in the Serbian songs, and the large, or as 
 some assert the exclusively, mythological elements 
 of the English poems, the comparison is not an inapt 
 one.* The heroes of the cycle are King Lazar, 
 Milosh, Strachimir Ivo, or Ivan-Beg, George Bran- 
 kovic, and those other warriors who for a time 
 upheld the falling fortunes of the Serbian race. In 
 these songs enthusiastic travellers have seen, or 
 imagined that they saw, the materials for a new 
 Iliad and Eneid, which only await the hand of 
 genius to be added to the great poems which are 
 the common heritage of the world, f 
 
 * Les Slaves de Turquie, par Cyprien Robert, t. i. p. 124. 
 t Cyprien Robert, t. i. p. 125. . 
 
POETRY. 155 
 
 Specimens of these Serbian poems were made 
 familiar to English readers of a past generation 
 by means of a small volume of translations "pub- 
 lished by the late Sir John Bowring,* and to 
 the present generation by a volume of paraphrases 
 rather than translations printed by the present 
 Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) .t Most travellers 
 and writers on Montenegro have given selections, 
 abstracts, and literal translations of several of 
 these songs. It is true that these translations 
 have for the most part been derived from French 
 or German sources, and therefore can hardly be 
 depended upon for minute accuracy, yet they are 
 sufficiently close to the original to allow of a general 
 idea being formed of the usual character of the 
 popular songs of Serbia and Montenegro. 
 
 The vein of poetry, to which we are indebted for 
 the old records of these mountaineers, is by no 
 means exhausted amongst the Montenegrins of the 
 present day. The present Prince has added to 
 the literary stores of his country by the publication 
 of a tragedy as well as by a volume of songs, which 
 
 * Servian Popular Poetry. Translated by John Bowbing. 
 1827. 
 
 t Serbaki Pesme; or, National Songs of Servia, by Owen 
 
 Meredith. 1861. 
 
156 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 are popular throughout the Principality. The late 
 Grand Yoivode Mirko, the fiery paladin of Monte- 
 negro, the commander-in-chief of the people in the 
 late war, the President of the Senate, the father 
 and first subject of Prince Nicholas, was the author 
 of a volume of poems which has reached a second 
 edition.* The gift of song seems indeed to be one 
 of the hereditary possessions of the house of Petrovic 
 of Niegush ; and the last two Vladikas, the sainted 
 Peter^ I. and Peter II., were both poets of no mean 
 power. The pleasure which these songs afford to the 
 whole people may in part arise from the interest felt 
 by all for the stirring incidents celebrated by the 
 Montenegrin lyre ; but in part it is to be attributed 
 to a fondness and a taste for literature in the 
 abstract which has ever honourably distinguished 
 these mountaineers. 
 
 The first books printed in the Slavonic language 
 issued from the presses of Cetinje and Bjeka from 
 types cast at Yenice, by the direction of Prince 
 George IV., who governed Montenegro from 1490 
 to 1497. Copies of church books printed at his 
 expense are preserved in the library of Prince 
 Nicholas at Cetinje, and in the public library at 
 
 * Junacke Spomenek. od Velekoga Vojvode Merka Petrovic. 
 The second edition was printed at Cetinje in 1864. 
 
PRINTING PRESS. 157 
 
 Belgrade, and are of rare beauty.* The original 
 printing-presses both at Rjeka and Cetinje having 
 been destroyed during one or other of the numerous 
 wars with Turkey, one was re-established by Peter, 
 the second Vladika of that name, at Cetinje. The 
 few books which I have seen printed at this press 
 are of very creditable workmanship. 
 
 That at such an early period a fugitive people 
 should have taken advantage of the new art is 
 among the most creditable facts of their remarkable 
 history. 'It was in 1484 that the printing-press 
 was set up at Cetinje, in a petty principality ; they 
 who set it up were men worsted in war and flying 
 for their lives. Again, it was only seven years 
 after the earliest volume had been printed by Caxton 
 in the rich and populous metropolis of England ; 
 and when there were no printing-presses in Oxford, 
 or in Cambridge, or in Edinburgh. It was only 
 sixteen years after the first printing-press had been 
 established (1468) in Rome, the capital of Christen- 
 dom ; only twenty-eight years after the appearance 
 (1456) of the earliest printed book, the first-born of 
 the great discovery.' f This printing-press, how- 
 ever, was destroyed when the Turks occupied Cetinje 
 for a short time. The present office, the Clarendon, 
 
 * See note at end of this chapter. t Gladstone. 
 
158 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 or Pitt Press of the Principality, only dates from 
 the days of Peter II. This Yladika re-established 
 printing in Montenegro in 1832. 
 
 Whilst the constant state of warfare in which 
 these people have been born, reared, and died have 
 not permitted any leisure for the pursuit of litera- 
 ture, the destructive forays of the Turks have 
 deprived them of such means as they required to 
 keep alive the least vestiges of literary taste. 
 What the Turks did not destroy was concealed by 
 the Montenegrins to escape falling into their hands, 
 and afterwards often forgotten until accidentally 
 discovered at some distant time. An office-book, 
 printed on vellum, and heavily covered with silver, 
 which lay for many years thus hidden in a well, is 
 still shown, damaged, dilapidated, but respected as a 
 relic of the past literary glories of Montenegro. In 
 the monastery at Ostrog a few old tattered books, 
 the remains of the former library in the place, are 
 still shown ; but, with the exception of the private 
 library of the Prince, no collection of books worthy 
 of the name of a library is to be found in the whole 
 of Montenegro. 
 
 The popular folk-lore and tales which circulate 
 round the cottage hearth have been collected by 
 Yuk Stephanovic, who has done much in the way of 
 
BOOKS. 159 
 
 collecting and preserving the folk-lore, proverbs, 
 and popular history of the different branches of the 
 Serbian people. From his collection of popular 
 tales and myths a selection was made and translated 
 into German more than twenty years ago by Jacob 
 Grimm.* In English some specimens of these popular 
 tales may be seen in a volume translated by Madame 
 Mijatovic ; f and, under the auspices of Bishop 
 Strossmayer, a collection of Serbo-Bosniac legends 
 and folk-lore tales have been recently published in 
 Croatia. 
 
 * Volksmarchen der Serben. Berlin, 1854. 
 
 t Serbian Folk-lore. London, W. Isbister and Co., 1874. 
 
 \* The learned keeper of the public library at Belgrade 
 furnished me, when I was about to visit Montenegro, with 
 the accompanying note on three of the earliest volumes 
 which were printed in the Principality during the fifteenth 
 century : — 
 
 1. The Octoechos, or book of songs and hymns of the 
 Church, from the writings of S. John Damascene, was 
 printed by the Eeverend Archimandrite Macarius at Cetinje, 
 with the blessing of Vavila, or Babylas, Metropolitan of 
 Zeta, in a.d. 1493. The book, which is in folio, is printed 
 in Cyrillic type of a beauty which has never been sur- 
 passed by any book printed in after times. It contains 270 
 folios. 
 
 2. The Psalter, with the canons of the Blessed Virgin and 
 the chief saints of the Church, together with the Hours and 
 Matin and Vesper offices. Printed by command of Prince 
 George Tzrnoievic, with the blessing of the Metropolitan 
 
160 MOKTENEGEO. 
 
 Vavila, by the Archimandrite {per hyeromonachum) Macarius, 
 in Cetinje, in Montenegro, a.d. 1495, in 4to. This contains 
 348 folios, and is printed with the same type as the last- 
 named book. 
 
 3. The JEncJwlogion, to which is added a Bituale, printed at 
 Cetinje, a.d. 1495, in 4to. It contains 256 folios, and is 
 printed with the same type as both the last-named books. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL STATE EDUCATION. 
 
 In ecclesiastical matters Montenegro is a portion 
 of the Orthodox Eastern Church, and, with the 
 exception of a few persons who have taken refuge in 
 this country, and who for the most part live on the 
 southern frontier, all the inhabitants are members of 
 this Church. The Koutchi nahia, however, which 
 has just reunited itself to Montenegro, is for the 
 most part Roman Catholic, and there are several 
 Serb Mussulmans living in the Berda, who enjoy 
 perfect toleration in religious matters, and who join 
 with their Christian brethren in the defence of 
 their common country.* It is expressly declared 
 
 * ' La tolerance religieuse est si absolue dans la Prin- 
 cipaute montenegrine, quo certaines parties des Berdas sont 
 habitees par des Mussulmans qui ont paisiblement' leurs 
 imans et lour mosquees. Malgre la difference des religions, 
 ces Mussulmans sont les freres d'armes des Tsernogortses 
 
 M 
 
162 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 by the Code of Prince Danilo that all strangers 
 settled in Montenegro shall possess the same civil 
 and religious rights as the natives of the Princi- 
 pality.* 
 
 The whole Principality, with the exception of the 
 Koutchi, is governed in ecclesiastical matters by an 
 archbishop — Hilarion Ragonovic — who, however, as 
 is not unusual in the Eastern Church, has no suf- 
 fragan bishop under him.f The full title of this 
 prelate is 'Metropolitan of Scanderia and the sea- 
 coast, Archbishop of Cetinje, Exarch of the Holy 
 Throne of Pek, and Vladika of Tzrnagora.' Much 
 of this, however, is entirely titular. As Monte- 
 negro was at one time a province of the "Western 
 Empire, its people were then in communion with the 
 see of Rome and under the jurisdiction of the Pope. 
 The see of the Metropolitan of the old province of the 
 Zeta was at first at Skodra.J It was then removed 
 
 Chretiens; ils combattent avec la meme ardeur contre les 
 Ottomans, et chez eux la passion de l'independance na- 
 tionale remplace l'exaltation de la foi religieuse qui anime 
 leurs compatriots.' — Lenormant, Introd. p. lxxvi. 
 
 * " Strainero di qualsivoglia professione religiosa potra 
 vivervi tranquillamente e fruire della liberta e dei nostri 
 diritti speciali godnti dai nativi del Montenero e della 
 Berda."— Cod. Danilo, § 92. 
 
 t Codintjs, NotiticB Grcecorum Epi&copatuum. 
 
 X Le Quien, Oriens. Christ., ii. 275, 278. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT. 163 
 
 to Dioclea, and in the ninth century had at least 
 twelve bishops suffragans under it. In the same 
 century Montenegro was included within the Patri- 
 archate of Constantinople. Its possession was for 
 many years a point of dispute between the Pope and 
 the (Ecumenical Patriarch, when finally it was 
 acknowledged as a part of the Patriarchate of the 
 East. 
 
 From the time of the independence of Monte- 
 negro, after the battle of Kossova, and until the 
 flight of the Patriarch of Ipek in 1769, the 
 Montenegrin prelate was under his jurisdiction, 
 but from that date he has been independent of any 
 superior, except in reference to the spiritual defer- 
 ence due to the Patriarch of Constantinople. His 
 income reaches the modest amount of £250 yearly, 
 derived from the rent of lands belonging to the 
 monasteries of Cetinje and Ostrog. Next in rank 
 to the Archbishop are the Archimandrites of these 
 two monasteries : the only convents in Monte- 
 negro deserving this name. Scattered over the 
 country there are indeed ten monasteries, several 
 of great antiquity, but almost all these are incon- 
 siderable as regards the number of their inmates. 
 Throughout the whole of Montenegro, probably, 
 there are not twenty monks, and several of the 
 
164 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 monasteries are ruled and served by one priest, 
 who is at once hegemon and simple monk, the 
 governor and the body governed. 
 
 The monasteries^ Montenegro are — 1, at Ostrog, 
 including Upper Ostrog, a hermitage with a famous 
 shrine, which is sometimes mentioned as a distinct 
 monastery from that of the Lower Ostrog; 2, 
 Cetinje ; 3, Moratcha ; 4, Bratcheli, a double 
 monastery ; 5, Dobrisko ; 6, Sdrebanik ; 7, Celija 
 Piperska ; 8, Dugas ; 9, Yikenlina Celija, near 
 Gablac ; 10, Malinsko. The monasteries throughout 
 Montenegro, I believe with hardly an exception, 
 are merely parish churches served by unmarried 
 priests. These priest-monks, in addition to the care 
 of the people within a certain district or parish, 
 undertake the education of one or more lads, who are 
 at the same time their pupils and assistants. The 
 utter decay of the old monastic spirit of these 
 countries is evident both in Serbia and in Monte- 
 negro. This arises in part, it may be, from a dis- 
 inclination of the people for the monastic life — a 
 disinclination which will extinguish the last ves- 
 tiges of monasticism in these countries before many 
 years are over ; in part it is due to the circumstances 
 of the country, which demands the active powers of 
 all its sons — a demand hardly compatible with the 
 
MONASTERIES. 165 
 
 monastic state. The description of one of these 
 monasteries will give a fair idea of most of these 
 establishments : — 
 
 'The church and the half-a-dozen rooms which 
 make up the monastery of Celija Piper ska, are 
 situated on a small plateau or mound overlooking 
 the Turkish territory near Spush. It has only one 
 monk, who has to enforce and obey his own rule. 
 In a small apartment — a part of the belfry — how- 
 ever, I was introduced to an old bed -ridden monk, 
 who has been blind for the last ten years, and has 
 found an asylum at this place. Like everything 
 else near the Turkish frontier, the outer walls of the 
 monastery, the walls of the church within, and even 
 the walls of all the apartments, are loopholed for 
 defence. The church, as an inscription over the 
 west door informs the visitor, was restored in 1848. 
 In the choir is the coffin of a Montenegrin saint — 
 one Stephen, who, flying from the persecutions of the 
 Mahommedans in the Herzegovina, towards the end 
 of the seventeenth century, lived a saintly life at this 
 place. On his death the people living near his re- 
 treat built a church to perpetuate his memory, and 
 canonized him, [as it were, by acclamation. This 
 is the case with most of the Montenegrin saints, 
 whose names will not be found in any calendar save 
 
166 MONTENEGEO. 
 
 this popular one. The church is remarkable for a 
 low stone synthronus* behind the altar, the only 
 one which I saw in Montenegro/ 
 
 The parochial clergy are about four hundred and 
 twenty in number. The churches, however, exceed 
 the number of priests, and several, built as votive 
 offerings, or within reach of a very few persons, are 
 served by the same pastor. These churches are of 
 one type, and are chiefly remarkable for their poverty. 
 The services are of a very simple character. Though 
 in most countries the fact that the parochial clergj^ 
 work Kke the rest of the inhabitants with the spade 
 and hoe, go armed with pistols and rifles, and are 
 the captains of their parishioners in time of war, 
 would prove injurious to their spiritual influence, 
 even if it did not deteriorate their character, the 
 Montenegrin priests, according to the testimony of 
 most travellers, are respected by, and are deserving 
 of the respect of, their flocks. A Montenegrin, if he 
 should chance to meet one of these priests, is not 
 content with lifting his hat to him ; he places his 
 hand on his breast, and taking with the other the 
 hand of the priest, he lifts it to his lips. Whenever 
 a priest enters a house he is saluted in the same 
 
 * Synt7irorws, a seat for the bishop and clergy behind the 
 altar of a Greek church, and facing west. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL REVIVAL. 167 
 
 respectful manner.* Poverty and their semi-mili- 
 tary duties have, however, led to much neglect of 
 ecclesiastical proprieties, and, except from his beard, 
 and not always from that, it is often difficult to 
 distinguish the priest from the lay people of his 
 parish. This, however, is being remedied : the great 
 ecclesiastical movement of our day has not been 
 without influence even in these distant regions. 
 
 An effort has recently been made, though with 
 but partial success, to found a seminary at Ostrog for 
 the education of candidates for the ministry of the 
 Church. The training for the priesthood is yet sadly 
 deficient. Sermons are still rare ; only in exceptional 
 cases do any of the parochial clergy preach, and then 
 only at Christmas and Eastertide. With the better 
 education of the clergy, however, this exceptional 
 condition of things will pass away. The cassock 
 is being resumed by the parochial as well as by the 
 monastic clergy ; and the observances of the eccle- 
 siastical state are more cared for than has at least 
 been the case for many years. Baptism is now, 
 
 * ' J'aime a le dire, au Montenegro, comme partout ou 
 j'ai vecu, j'ai toujours vu la majeuro partie des cures etre les 
 veritables imitateurs du Christ, les depositairos fideles do sa 
 doctrine, et les dignes organos de la primaire instruction.' — 
 VlALLA DE S0MMIBRE8, Voyage Jlisiorique et Politique au 
 Montcneyro, t. i. p. 3G7. 
 
168 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 according to the custom in countries inhabited by 
 the Greek race, at least occasionally administered by 
 immersion. As yet, however, this is but of rare 
 occurrence ; the almost universal practice being that 
 of trine aspersion.* A few years ago I was informed 
 by Prince Nicholas that he believed his own child 
 — he had then but one — was the only child within 
 the bounds of Montenegro who had been baptized by 
 immersion. Communicants, again, are rare,f and 
 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is scarcely ever 
 received except on the eve of a journey, or, perhaps, 
 at long intervals, on one of the greater feast days of 
 the year. 
 
 It has been the practice to send a few young 
 men destined to such official positions as require 
 acquaintance with European ideas to Paris or St. 
 Petersburg for their education. This, however, has 
 been found to be attended with inconveniences 
 which to some extent counterbalance the advan- 
 tages of such education, and this, together with the 
 general poverty of the Montenegrins, has prevented 
 it being resorted to, except in a very few cases, and 
 the people look forward with eagerness to the time 
 when not only the simple but the higher and scien- 
 tific education also may be received within their own 
 
 * Yialla, t. i. p. 101. t Cypriex Eobert, t. i. p. 103. 
 
EDUCATION OF CLERGY. 169 
 
 territory, and thus be wholly Montenegrin. This 
 the great advance made in the general education 
 of the people of Montenegro may render possible in 
 a few years. 
 
 Until the time of the Vladika Peter II., the only 
 semblance of instruction for children was that 
 afforded by the monks or clergy, who received two 
 or three youths to assist them in the cultivation of 
 their fields, to wait upon them in their houses, and 
 in the performance of their clerical duties ; and who 
 received in return just a sufficient amount of educa- 
 tion to enable them to read the Church service. 
 These servitors received ordination when of age, and 
 became parish priests. Occasionally a Montenegrin 
 youth, better educated in the schools of Serbia and 
 Dalmatia, returned to his native country, and was 
 ordained to the charge of a parish, or entered the 
 ranks of the monastic clergy. This, however, was 
 of infrequent occurrence, and the main body of the 
 clergy had only such an imperfect education as they 
 had been able to obtain whilst acting as servants 
 in the small monasteries. As to the people, in the 
 spirit of Goldsmith's Dutch Professor, they were 
 content to know that they tilled their ground with- 
 out book-learning, and could defend their country 
 from the attacks of the Turks and fulfil the duties of 
 
170 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 soldiers and subjects of the Vladika without reading 
 or writing. 
 
 Peter II. attempted to remedy this general lack 
 of education, and during his rule, and by his care, 
 two schools were instituted. One of these, how- 
 ever, disappeared in the subsequent war with 
 Turkey.* His successor, Prince Danilo, not only 
 revived these schools, but collected some young 
 men of the chief families of Montenegro, and himself 
 superintended their education within the walls of his 
 palace at Cetinje. This example was not lost upon 
 his people.f It stimulated them to corresponding- 
 exertions, and now the traveller, as he passes through 
 the country, may see the youthful shepherd or goat- 
 herd sheltering himself from the rays of the noon- 
 day sun, under the shadow of a tree or of a rock, or 
 at his cottage door when the day's work is at an 
 
 * ' It is owing entirely to the influence of the two last 
 Vladikas that the Montenegrines have been raised from the 
 level of mere savage defiant barbarism to the first stage of 
 progressive civilisation. This civilisation is yet in its in- 
 fancy ; but from all I saw and heard, I venture to assert 
 that the Montenegrines have all, from the Prince down to tho 
 poorest, awakened to a genuine desire for improvement.' — 
 The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, p. 143. That which was 
 a desire in 1863 has brought forth good fruit since. 
 
 + Le Monte'ne'gro Contemporain, p. 363. Turcs et Montene- 
 grins, Introd. p. lxxiv. 
 
SCHOOLS. . 171 
 
 end, poring over a New Testament or a volume of 
 Serbian poetry, or absorbed in the study of the 
 songs which preserve with more fidelity than poetry 
 the heroic history of their country. 
 
 At the death of Peter II., in 1851, the only 
 school which existed in the whole Principality was 
 an elementary one at Cetinje, established by him in 
 1832, and this only accommodated eighteen or 
 twenty scholars, whose instruction was limited to 
 reading and writing. A few years ago there were 
 eight or ten boys' schools in Montenegro, and in 
 1868 a small seminary was established by Prince 
 Nicholas at Cetinje, where youths destined for the 
 ecclesiastical life, as parish priests or as school- 
 masters, may be trained. The enlargement of the 
 course of instruction has kept pace with the in- 
 crease in the number of the schools. Within three 
 years of the establishment of this seminary forty 
 teachers were sent from it to conduct schools in 
 various parts of Montenegro. The stipends assured 
 to these teachers are fixed on a liberal scale, though 
 the sum will appear small to us. They rise progres- 
 sively until they reach about £24 a year. In addi- 
 tion to the stipend the teachers are provided with 
 lodging and with firewood, contributed by the parents 
 of the scholars. 
 
172 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 At Cetinje, for several years past, some of the 
 scholars have been maintained as boarders, in part 
 at the expense of the Prince. The course of instruc- 
 tion, extending over four years, includes reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, ecclesiastical music, the rudi- 
 ments of geography, and sacred and profane his- 
 tory.* As to the national history, that is taught 
 
 * ' As to the school of Cetinje, our visit happened in the 
 Christmas holidays, when regular lessons were not going on ; 
 but one afternoon, hearing from without the voices of 
 children singing hymns, we entered and found scholars, but 
 no teachers. It appeared that the boys of the first class 
 were met to sing and read together. Their song was rough- 
 voiced as that in a Scotch kirk ; the books they had just laid 
 down were church books; we were told that the Cyrillic 
 translation of the Bible can be mastered with ease by a 
 Montenegrin child. Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, 
 and geography are taught at Cetinje; but the master not 
 being present, there was no one to put the class through it 
 individually. The boys showed their copy-books, in which 
 the writing was very fair — of course in the Cyrillic character. 
 Like the rest of the race, the Slaves of Montenegro show 
 much eagerness for historical knowledge and quickness in 
 picking up foreign languages. At present the poetic gift 
 is common among them, and a poem on the death of the 
 late Prince was produced by the Cetinje scholars. Schools 
 were established by Danilo in many a village ; but since his 
 death the unsettled state of the surrounding country has 
 gone much against their progress. In case of a Turkish 
 inroad, the people know that their villages will be burnt and 
 everything like civilisation put an end to ; and in the mean- 
 time we heard of schoolmasters forsaking their desks for the 
 more congenial post of volunteers in the Herzegovina. No 
 
girls' schools. 173 
 
 by the songs, which all have been long accustomed 
 to learn, whether they could read or not.* 
 
 Practically, at the present time, education, 
 though not compulsory, throughout Montenegro, 
 since that would be alien to the independent spirit 
 of the people, is yet universal. The desire for 
 learning indeed is so great, that it is a common 
 occurrence to find aged persons trying to learn to 
 read. Until recently, however, though boys could 
 receive their education in Montenegro without 
 going any considerable distance from their own 
 homes, there were no schools for girls in any part 
 of the Principality. This, however, has been now 
 remedied by Prince Nicholas, who has not only 
 established a school at Cetinje for the daughters of 
 what, for want of a better term, we may term the 
 upper classes, but has provided for the general edu- 
 cation of the youth of the Principality ; so that at 
 the present moment there is scarcely a single pleme 
 which has not a school for girls as well as for boys.f 
 
 subject appears to be more earnestly taken up by the present 
 Prince than that of education.' — Travels in South Slavonic 
 Countries, vol. ii. pp. 238, 239, 2nd edition. 
 
 * Delabue. 
 
 t " Avant dix annees on ne saura trouver en Tsernogoroo 
 un adolescent ne sachant point lire et £crire, et la Montagne- 
 noire pourra, non sans raison, jeter un coup-d'ceil de mepris 
 8ur certains Grands Etats vante*s pour leur science, leur lit- 
 
174 MONTENEGEO. 
 
 The female school at Cetinje — the Jenski Tzerno- 
 gorski Institute — will accommodate forty pupils. It 
 is superintended by a highly accomplished Russian 
 lady, assisted by two efficient governesses. The 
 charge for board and education is what we should 
 consider very small, being only a little more than 
 £20 per annum.* But then money is scarce in 
 Montenegro, and this represents a much larger sum 
 than it would in England, f 
 
 Both the Prince and Princess take great interest 
 in the work of education throughout Montenegro, 
 and visit the schools of Cetinje frequently, in order 
 to examine the scholars and to ascertain their pro- 
 gress. J In addition to these visitors there is a regu- 
 lar inspector of schools for the whole of Monte- 
 negro. Relatively to his means and to the extent 
 of his territory, no prince in Europe has laboured 
 more assiduously nor has spent so much in the work 
 
 terature et leur Industrie, ou. le tiers des contingents mili- 
 taires ignore jusqu'aux premieres notions de la lecture et de 
 recriture.' — Le Montenegro Contemporain, p. 364. 
 
 * Rambles in Istria, &c, p. 190. 
 
 t 'In this particular department of female education 
 Cetinje is a missionary centre. Girls come up from the 
 shores of the JBocche for the better instruction which is to be 
 had'on the Black Mountain.' — Freeman. 
 
 X Lady Steangeord, Eastern Shores of the Adriatic, 
 p. 162; Misses Mackenzie and Irby, Travels in South 
 Slavonic Countries, vol. ii. p. 239, 2nd edition. 
 
A SCHOOL INSPECTOR. 175 
 
 I 
 
 of the education of his people as Prince Nicholas, 
 and every farthing so contributed has been given 
 out of very limited means, and at the cost of much 
 personal sacrifice.* 
 
 * At the time of my visit to Montenegro I made the 
 acquaintance of the Archimandrite Nicephorus Doucich, at 
 Cetinje, where I found him busied with the schools of which 
 he was inspector, and interested in the literary questions 
 discussed in the learned societies of Europe. He is a 
 member of the scientific and historical societies of Dalmatia 
 and Serbia, and his contributions to literature are nume- 
 rous and esteemed. One of his latest publications, ■ Tzrna 
 Gora' (Belgrade, 1874), is a valuable contribution to the 
 history of the land tenures, the social organization, and pre- 
 sent condition of Montenegro. Of polished, pleasing address, 
 set off by a physique which becomes a Montenegrin, he is a 
 remarkable man. When the woes of Herzegovina drove the 
 people into insurrection, he was peaceably pursuing his 
 clerical duties at Belgrade, whither he had gone from Ce- 
 tinje. From these and his books he rushed at the cry of his 
 country, and has since proved himself one of the ablest of 
 its soldiers. Few troops have been better led; none by a 
 more learned commander. 
 
PART II. 
 HISTORY OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MONTENEGRIN HISTORY UNTIL THE BATTLE OF 
 KOSSOVA. 
 
 In ancient times Montenegro {Prevalitana) was com- 
 prised in Illyricum, and its history must be sought 
 in that of the province of which it was a portion. It 
 was included in the district of the Labeates, of which 
 Skodra, the Albanian Scutari, was the capital.* After 
 the defeat of Gentius, King of the Illyrians, by Lucius 
 Anicius Paulus, the praetor, in the year 168 B.C., it 
 remained for a while the independent member of a 
 confederacy of small states, but was at length united 
 to the Roman empire by Augustus. The importance 
 in which the line of coast on the eastern shore of the 
 Adriatic was held by the rulers of Italy is evidenced 
 by the number of military stations and colonies which 
 
 * ' Scodra in Illyricum marked the limit of the dominion 
 assigned to Octavius in the West and Antonius in the 
 East.'— Meri vale's History of Rome, ch. xxvii. 
 
180 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the jealousy or policy of the Roman Government 
 planted in Dalmatia. Within the Bocche di Cattaro 
 the modern town of Risano recalls the memory of 
 the ancient Rhisinium, or Rhizinium, which gave 
 its name to the whole of the waters of the Gulf of 
 Cattaro (Rhizonicus sinus). The little city of Cat- 
 taro itself stands on the site of the old Roman city 
 of Ascrivium, which, in the days of Porphyrogenitus,. 
 was known by the name of Decatera, in which the 
 Romans seem to have attempted to preserve the old 
 Illyrian word Cottor, which is the origin of the 
 modern name of the city, Cattaro.* 
 
 On the division of the empire into East and West, 
 Montenegro, with the rest of Illyricum, was for a 
 time reckoned in the Eastern empire ; but from 
 the time of Honorius to the days of Augustulus 
 (a.d. 496) it was a part of the Western empire On 
 the extinction of the Roman empire in the West, 
 Pannonia, and the various districts on the borders of 
 the Adriatic, reverted to the Eastern, or Byzantine, 
 empire, f Their possession, however, added little to 
 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 381. The ancient Rizona to which 
 Queen Teuta fled (Polybius) is supposed to be represented 
 by the modern Podgoritza, on the river Ribnitza. (lb.) 
 
 t ' Quelques annees auparavant (421), l'lllyrie orientale 
 avait ete mise, malgre la volonte du Pape de Eome, sous la 
 dependance spirituelle de l'eyeque de Constantinople.' — Les 
 
SLAV IMMIGRATION. 181 
 
 the strength of that empire. Tribes of strange bar- 
 barians contended with the Greek Emperor for the 
 rich plains of Bulgaria, the forests of Serbia, and 
 the rugged territory which descended to the Adriatic. 
 Unable to control the swarms of invaders who crossed 
 the Danube and the Save to encounter the Roman 
 armies, the Emperor at Constantinople resorted to 
 the policy of former emperors, and invited fresh 
 hordes of barbarians to arrest the progress of those 
 tribes which offered the greatest resistance to the 
 Roman power. 
 
 In a.d. 548 we read of an inroad of Slavs in 
 great numbers into Illyria. Though they defeated 
 the Roman armies which attempted to repel their 
 incursions, yet they appear not to have made any 
 permanent settlements at that time. At the invita- 
 tion of the Emperor Heraclius (a.d. 610 — 641), how- 
 ever, two Slavonic tribes from beyond the Danube,* 
 the Croats and Serbs, were invited to settle in the 
 countries which lie to the north of the Balkan 
 
 Slaves Meridionaux, par E. P. DE Sainte-Marie. Paris, 
 1874. 
 
 • * Slovan, slovjen, slovjan, tels sont les noms que les 
 Slaves se donnent eux-memes depuis rantiquite", tandis que 
 les auteurs strangers du moyen age les appelaient Slavi, 
 Sclavi, Sclaviniy Slavini. (Voyez Schafarik, § 25 p. 8.)' — 
 E. P. de Sainte-Marie, p. 15.3. 
 
182 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Mountains and border on the Adriatic, with the- 
 expectation that they might be able to check the 
 dangerous power of the Avars, which at that time 
 threatened to overthrow the Imperial Government. 
 These tribes for a time yielded assistance to, and 
 acknowledged the sovereignty of, the Emperor at 
 Byzantium ; but overrun, at length, by the Goths, 
 in their devastation of Dalmatia, and deriving no 
 support from the forces of the Empire, Montenegro 
 became a member of the Slav state, or confedera- 
 tion of states, which occupied the area now com- 
 prised within the provinces of Free Serbia, Bosnia, 
 Herzegovina, Montenegro, Stara Serbia, and North 
 Albania, having for its seaboard on the Adriatic 
 the line of coast extending from Spalato to Dyr- 
 rhachium, the modern Durazzo. 
 
 But though practically independent, the supremacy 
 of the Roman empire was not formally, rejected by 
 this confederacy, and Serbian Zupans and Bans for 
 a while accepted titles from the Emperor at Con- 
 stantinople, and at least called themselves his sub- 
 jects. After the fall, however, of this confederation, 
 Montenegro became an integral part of the Serbian 
 monarchy, which, in addition to the modern princi- 
 pality of the same name, contained, at various 
 periods of its history, Bosnia, most of Bulgaria, 
 
FEDERAL SERBIA. 183 
 
 Dalniatia, and Slavonia, and extended beyond the 
 Balkan Mountains to the coast of the Archipelago 
 on the south, to the River Danube on the north, 
 to the Adriatic on the west, and to the Black Sea 
 on the east. 
 
 The government of these several states was from, 
 the first rather federal than autocratic, with many 
 elements resembling that of the feudal states of 
 Western Europe. Each district was governed by a 
 Zupan,* who, whilst independent within his own 
 Zupa, owed obedience to a Grand Zupan, who was 
 elected by the Zupans of the various states. As the 
 area of this confederation was extended, four Grand 
 Zupans were appointed, whose respective jurisdic- 
 tions answered to the several provinces of Free Serbia, 
 comprising Stara Serbia, Rascia, Bosnia, and Dioclea, 
 in which latter Zupa Montenegro was included. 
 
 Montenegro, or the provinces of the Upper Zeta, 
 as the Principality was called, embraced, however, 
 
 * Zupa, zupan — 'Zupa means "band," or confederation, 
 and each zupa was simply a confederation of village com- 
 munities, whose union was represented by a magistrate, or 
 governor, called a zupan. ' — Evans's Through Bosnia and the 
 Herzegovina, p. 21. It seems to have meant the territory, 
 or canton, inhabited by a distinct plemena, or tribe, which, 
 as before stated, is made up of different cela. — Vlad. Yovan- 
 OVITCH on The Emancipation of the Serbian Nation, p. 5 
 Geneva, 1871. 
 
184 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 a wider territory than is now known by that name, 
 including within its limits the present country of 
 Herzegovina, whilst to the south it extended to 
 Skodra, on the southern shore of the lake of the 
 same name. The Grand Zupans who governed these 
 provinces were at length superseded by Bans, who, 
 with greater power within their own jurisdiction, 
 usually became free from the central authority. 
 These Bans resembled the various kinglets of the 
 Saxon Heptarchy, and, like them, were subordinate, 
 in reality if not formally, to that Ban whose 
 strength of character, or the importance of whose 
 dominions, gave him a controlling power over the 
 rest of the Bans. 
 
 In the eleventh century the Emperor of Constan- 
 tinople, Basil II., a man of a singularly vigorous 
 character, and as unscrupulous as he was vigorous, 
 crushed the Bulgarian kingdom, and reduced the 
 countries, from the Balkan to the Danube, and from 
 the Black Sea to the Adriatic, with hardly any 
 exception, again under the power of the Eastern 
 Empire. From that date the history of these pro- 
 vinces is obscure, and merges in that of the 
 empire, into which they were incorporated. The 
 present principality of Montenegro appears at one 
 time as virtually independent, at other times as 
 
SERBIAN KINGS. 185 
 
 a portion of the Bulgarian or the Serbian kingdom. 
 It was girdled b}^ a rugged frontier, and lay remote 
 from the central authority, which for that reason 
 was often unable to assert its claim to the submission 
 of its dependant. The mountain Principality, how- 
 ever, with its harbours on the Adriatic, was of such 
 consequence, that Douka, or Dioclea, its capital, was 
 from time to time the residence of the Kings of 
 Serbia. 
 
 In 1050 Michael Boislav, Grand Zupan of 
 Dioclea, made himself King of Serbia, and received 
 investiture from Pope Gregory VII. After a reign 
 of thirty years he died, in 1080, and was succeeded 
 by his son Bodin, who subjected to his authority the 
 Zupans of Bosnia and Rascia. Domestic strife, how- 
 ever, assisted in the decline of this dynasty and of their 
 country, and we find hardly any traces of its exist- 
 ence until the reign of Stephen Nemania* (a.d. 1139 
 — 1196). From his accession to the throne of Serbia 
 the history of Montenegro is included in that of the 
 
 * All the Serbian monarchs assumed the name of Stephen, 
 which was, however, a title rather than a Christian name. 
 Stephen is but the ' possessor of the crown,' or * conqueror's 
 wreath ' (2ri0a»/oc). Lazare Grebelianovic, who succeeded 
 Stephen Ourosh V., is never called Stephen, but then 'he 
 had only the title Knais, prince or despot.' His son was made 
 * King ' by Bajazet, and was therefore a ' Stephen.' 
 
186 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 kingdom of which it became an integral portion. A 
 viceroy, however, under the designation of Zupan or 
 Ban, still ruled the province, and resided either at 
 Skodra or Dioclea. 
 
 This latter city, the birthplace of Diocletian, 
 was also the seat of an archbishop, within whose 
 jurisdiction Montenegro was situated; and here, 
 in 1199, an important synod for the correction 
 of practical abuses in the Church was held. St. 
 Saba, the great popular saint of the whole Serb 
 family, and the youngest son of Stephen Nemania, 
 resided here. To him the Serbian Church was in- 
 debted for the regulation of its hierarchy, and by 
 him the first bishop of Montenegro was appointed. 
 Dioclea was destroyed in the tenth century by 
 Samuel, King of Bulgaria. It rose, however, from 
 its ruins, and was for a time of importance. At 
 present few remains of the city exist, except the lofty 
 wall which surrounded it, some turrets, and fragments 
 of sculpture and pottery. The churchyard of an 
 adjoining village, however, white with its tombstones 
 of purest marble, still retains slices of fluted columns, 
 portions of rich friezes, and elaborate pagan altars 
 overturned ; whilst patches of Roman roads, and the 
 remains of two or three noble bridges in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the city, prove the existence of a con- 
 
STEPHEN DUSHAN. 187 
 
 siderable population on the southern border of Mon- 
 tenegro in the time of the Roman and Serbian 
 empires. At Podgoritza, on the Turkish side of the 
 frontier, the traveller will find fragments of Latin 
 and Greek inscriptions built into the walls of many 
 of the houses. 
 
 Stephen Dushan, who ascended the throne of Serbia 
 in 1334, had held the province of the two Zetas, com- 
 prising the whole of the Herzegovina, the present 
 principality of Montenegro, and Albania, as viceroy 
 to his father, Stephen Ourosh IV.* On his accession 
 to the throne of Serbia he made war with the Greek 
 Emperor, and overran Macedonia, Thessaly, and Acar- 
 nania. In 1347 he proclaimed himself Emperor of 
 the Serbs, Greeks, and Bulgarians ; and, whilst pre- 
 paring to besiege Constantinople, in order to make 
 it the seat of his empire, he was carried off by fever, 
 December 18, 1355. To arrest the progress of Dushan, 
 
 * In Serbian regal genealogy the numeral represents the 
 order of descent or the surname, not the identity of the 
 Christian name; for instance, the late Prince Michel was 
 called the Third, though no other prince had borne this name. 
 lie was the third Obrenovic. The present prince is Milan 
 Obrenovic IV., that is, he is the fourth of this family though 
 only the second of his name — Milan. Inacquaintance with 
 this practice has caused a confusion in books which profess 
 to treat of the early history of Montenegro. The present 
 practice of the Principality is in accordance with general 
 usage. 
 
188 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the Greek Emperor had invited the presence and 
 co-operation of the Turks, who swarmed over from 
 Asia to the defence of the Byzantine empire. But 
 not till upwards of thirty years after the death of 
 Dushan was the Serbian empire overthrown on the 
 fatal field of Kossova, June 1, 1389. 
 
 This battle was lost nearly five hundred years ago. 
 It is, however, still freshly remembered and plain- 
 tively lamented wherever the Serbian race is settled, 
 as though it had been fought but yesterday. It 
 forms the burden of well-nigh half the songs which 
 the Serbian Muse has uttered ; arid for the loss not of 
 men but of freedom on the plain of Kossova, the red 
 head-dress of every peasant warrior in Montenegro 
 is to this day veiled with a band of black silk. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MONTENEGRO AN INDEPENDENT PRINCIPALITY 
 
 (1389—1516). 
 
 In 1389, the date of the invasion of Serbia by the 
 Turkish army under Amurath I. (Murad), George 
 Balsha,* the second of that name, was the Ban of 
 Montenegro. This prince had married Youvalitza, 
 one of the daughters of Lazar, King of Serbia. 
 When the disastrous result of the battle of Kossova 
 was known to him, whilst he was on his way to join 
 the forces of Lazar, he fell back, and prepared to 
 defend the province which he governed. At this 
 time the territory over which he ruled embraced, in 
 addition to the present principality of Montenegro, 
 
 * Ducange (UHistoire de V Empire lathi de Constantinople) 
 thinks it probable that the Balsha were descendants 
 of a French family from Baux, in Anjou, who had settled 
 on the coast of Albania two or three generations before tho 
 date of the battle of Kossova. Of this, however, he is 
 content with conjecture rather than with probable evidence. 
 
190 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the southern part of Herzegovina, the coast from 
 Hagusa on the north to the mouth of the Drin on 
 the south, comprising therefore the whole of Albania 
 north of that river. Montenegro now became the 
 asylum of those Serbians who preferred exile from 
 their country to submission to the yoke of the Otto- 
 mans, and many of the noblest families of the king- 
 dom sought a refuge amidst its almost inaccessible 
 rocks. This fact, were there no other provocation, 
 would have sufficed to direct the attention of the 
 conquerors to this fragment of the subjugated state, 
 and the first Turkish invasion of Montenegro soon 
 followed. In 1394 Balsha was compelled to solicit 
 assistance from the Venetians, and to purchase it by 
 surrendering to the republic the cities of Croia, 
 Durazzo, and Skodra, his capital. The defeat and 
 capture of Bajazet by Timour, in 1402, arrested, 
 however, the Turkish armies, and did more to save 
 Montenegro than any assistance rendered to it by 
 Venice. 
 
 On the death of George Balsha, his son, Balsha III., 
 succeeded. He retook from the Venetians Durazzo, 
 Skodra, and the other towns which his father had 
 been compelled to cede to that republic. On his 
 death, a relation of Balsha, Stephen Tzernolevitj 
 (1423 — 1450), succeeded as ruler of Montenegro, 
 
STEPHEN TZERNOIEVITJ. 191 
 
 which, though contracted, still comprehended, in 
 addition to the territories known at present by this 
 name, the strip of land interposed between the 
 western border of the Lake Skodra and the Adriatic 
 as far as the River Bojana, the country to the east of 
 the Lake Skodra as far as the city of that name — 
 the city itself, however, being in the hands of the 
 Venetians — the whole of the islands in the lake, and 
 the shores of the Bocche di Cattaro to the Adriatic* 
 As Skodra had been ceded to the Venetians, Stephen 
 fortified Jablac, on the north-eastern side of the 
 lake, and made it his capital. Though the wars of 
 the Sultans Murad II. and Mahomed II. in other 
 directions hindered any very active operations against 
 Stephen, yet at this time Montenegro, from which 
 the Herzegovina had been torn, seemed fast sinking 
 like the surrounding states into vassalage to the 
 Ottoman. 
 
 * ' In the interval from 1424 to 1436 the Montenegrins 
 fought no less than sixty- three battles against the Turks, and 
 the latter were sixty- three times beaten.' — La Souverainete 
 du MotiUnegro, par Jean Vaclik, Paris, 1858. Such constant 
 warfare must have destroyed the handful of men which was 
 found in Montenegro at the period, even though always 
 victors, but for one circumstance : Montenegro was an asylum 
 open to all who preferred independence to submission to the 
 Turk. Thus its population was replenished, and the number 
 of the people who found shelter there and fought its battles 
 was only limited by the capabilities of the soil. 
 
192 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 The Albanian war, and the heroic exploits 
 of George Oastriotes, or Scanderbeg, awoke the 
 slumbering spirit of prince and people. Stephen — 
 who had married Yalsava, either the sister or the 
 daughter of Castriotes, for authorities differ as to the 
 actual relationship of his wife to Scanderbeg — joined 
 the army of the Albanian hero with a Montenegrin 
 contingent, and by his side shared in the dangers of 
 the long campaign (1450 — 1490). He lies buried 
 in one of the islets on the Lake of Skodra. In 
 acknowledgment of services rendered to the republic 
 of Venice in the defence of her Albanian possessions, 
 he was made a patrician of that city, and in 1474 his 
 name was inscribed in the Golden Book of the 
 republic. Ivan (John) the Black, eldest of the three 
 sons of Stephen, succeeded his father, and at first in 
 conjunction with his brothei George, and after his 
 death, alone, governed Montenegro. 
 
 Up to the accession of Ivan, the Zupan, or prince, 
 who led the soldiers of the Principality was vigor- 
 ously employed in keeping the forces of the enemy 
 at a distance from the present territory of Monte- 
 negro. He was closely occupied in warfare, just as 
 his successors since, but it was warfare on the whole 
 forced upon him to prevent the barbarian from in- 
 vading his dominion, not warfare to repel an actual 
 
IVAN BEG. 193 
 
 invader. Now properly commenced the history of 
 Montenegro, and that series of assaults upon Monte- 
 negro itself which has lasted to our own times, and 
 which has called forth all the skill and strength of 
 ruler and people to preserve their narrow territory 
 from being swallowed up by the all - devouring 
 armies of Turkey. In 1453 the small remnants of 
 the Eastern empire, which had shrunk to a corner 
 of Thrace, were taken, together with Constantinople, 
 its capital. In 1459, seventy years after the battle of 
 Kossova, Serbia ceased to be a tributary principality, 
 and became an Ottoman province ; and in the same 
 year, on the death of Scanderbeg, Albania submitted 
 to the same power, or at any rate ceased from active 
 resistance. Six years later, in 1463, Bosnia was 
 overrun by the Turks, and incorporated into their 
 empire. In 1476 the Herzegovina was subdued ; 
 and Montenegro, hemmed in on all sides by Turkish 
 territory, and consisting only of a handful of men, 
 was compelled to wage a seemingly hopeless contest 
 for its bare existence. That existence was the more 
 necessary now, not only for the sake of her own sons, 
 but still more for the sake of the suffering people 
 of the subjugated states along her frontiers, since 
 the rocky citadel which Nature had heaped up, 
 as though to be the refuge from oppression, was 
 
 o 
 
194 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 the only asylum open to those Serbs who preferred 
 freedom, though attended with heavy privations, to 
 submission to the Ottoman rule. 
 
 The heroism of this handful of men — for every 
 Montenegrin woman and child possessed a man's 
 heart — rose with the occasion which demanded its 
 exercise. The spirit which animated their Prince 
 was exhibited by the whole Montenegrin people in 
 their now hourly struggles against the Turks, and 
 is well illustrated by a unanimous decree of the 
 assembled Principality. In this it was first enacted 
 that, in time of war against the common enemy, 
 no Montenegrin should on any pretext quit the 
 field of battle without the express order of the 
 Prince. That he who should turn his back upon 
 the enemy, and attempt to seek safety in flight, 
 should be for ever disgraced, and treated with every 
 mark of contempt; and then, dressed in woman's 
 garments, and armed with a spindle instead of a 
 sword, he should be turned out of his home, and 
 beaten by women armed with the same implements. 
 Finally, he was to be driven to the frontiers as a 
 coward and traitor to the cause of Montenegrin 
 liberty. So long as such a spirit animated prince 
 and people — and it still animates them — cowardice 
 must have been all but unknown, and regard for 
 
IVAN BEG. 195 
 
 mere personal safety generally disregarded.* It would 
 be too much to assert that no acts of cowardice have 
 occurred in Montenegro since the time that this law 
 was promulgated. All that can be said is that no such 
 act of cowardice as is here stigmatized has been 
 recorded in song or tradition during four centuries 
 of warfare. 
 
 Finding Jablac to be no longer tenable, and 
 being refused the assistance of the Venetians, who 
 dreaded the injury to their commercial interests 
 from the vengeance of Mahomet II., Ivan retired 
 from that city, and, having burnt it, took refuge in 
 Cetinje, which from that moment has remained the 
 capital of Montenegro, the seat of its bishop, and the 
 residence of its princes, f Here he built a monastery, 
 
 * By the 18th article of the Code Danilo it is declared that 
 if any one shall refuse to take up arms or hesitate to march 
 against the enemy, he shall be deprived of his arms, never 
 be allowed to wear them again, shall be stripped of any 
 honour he may have received, and be compelled to wear 
 a woman's apron in proof that he has not the heart of a man. 
 (E gli verra inoltre cinto un grembiule in contrassegno della 
 mancanza in lui d'un cuore virile.) 
 
 • t 'Au regne d'lvan, c'est-a-diro vers l'an 1480, com- 
 mence Thistoire distincte du Monten6gro ; j usque-la elle est 
 confondue avec celle des principautes auxquelles ce petit 
 pays etait adjoint; jusque-la son sol n'etait, en grande 
 partie, occupe que par des patres. De la vient le nom de 
 Katunska applique a l'un de ses principaux districts, et qui 
 
196 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and made the city the see of the Metropolitan of the 
 Zeta. On the Obod, the name of the river which is 
 now known by the name of the Tzrnoievitza Rjeka, 
 he erected a fortress to check any advance of the 
 Turks into Montenegro from that quarter, and esta- 
 blished at the same time, under the protection of its 
 walls, the first printing-office erected in these coun- 
 tries. The types, which have never been exceeded 
 in beauty, were procured by him from Yenice ; and 
 from this press the first copies of various volumes of 
 the Slavonic Liturgy were issued. Here, five years 
 after his retreat, he died, and was buried in the 
 monastery which he had founded in that city. Under 
 the familiar designation of Ivan Beg, the popular 
 songs of the time abound with tales of his exploits, 
 and he is still the most popular hero of the South 
 Slavs, and 'his memory survives as freshly in the 
 mountains as though he had died but yesterday. 
 Springs, ruins, caverns are called after his name, 
 Ivan Begova, and it is hoped that he will re- 
 appear one day as a celestial liberator or political 
 Messiah.' * In 1490, on the death of Ivan, he 
 was succeeded by his son George, who married 
 
 signifie cahanes de vergers.' — Lettres sur VAdriatique et Mon- 
 tenegro ', par X. Marmier, t. ii. p. 136. 
 * Cyprien Eobert, t. i. p. 129. 
 
GEORGE AND STANICHA. 197 
 
 Elizabeth Erizza, of a noble Venetian family. In 
 the struggle against the Turks, domestic trouble was 
 added to foreign invasion. His brother Stanicha, 
 or Stephen, having apostatized, and received assist- 
 ance from Bajazet II., led an army of Turks and 
 renegade Montenegrins against his brother and his 
 native country. In this attempt he was defeated. 
 The lives, however, of the Montenegrin apostates 
 were spared, and on their submission they were 
 allowed to settle in the country. This permission 
 led to troubles at a subsequent period. Stanicha 
 himself attempted to fix his residence at Skodra, 
 which was assigned to him by the Sultan. The 
 inhabitants of that city, however, refusing to permit 
 him to do so, he retired to the village of Bouchati, 
 in Albania, and from thence his descendants were 
 known as the Bouchatlia — a name not yet extinct. 
 Notwithstanding the necessity which then, as now, 
 compelled a Prince of Montenegro to be in continual 
 warfare with the armies of Turkey, this Prince de- 
 voted every moment, when not engaged in actual 
 warfare, to the intellectual improvement of his sub- 
 jects. Almost before any other European sovereign 
 had interested himself in the advancement of popular 
 education, George IV. of Montenegro had exerted 
 himself in the cause of education and in the erection 
 
198 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 of schools throughout his rugged Principality. The 
 marriage of Prince George led to a great evil : the 
 contrast between the gaieties of Venice, where his 
 wife possessed a house, and the dangers, and still 
 more the austerity, of her mountain life, made her 
 regret her paternal home, and the visits of George 
 and his wife to that city grew more and more pro- 
 longed, and his absence from Montenegro more fre- 
 quent, until at length it became a practice in his 
 house which paved the way for the ready abdication 
 of his successor. According to the annals of the 
 Principality, George IV. was succeeded by his son 
 Stephen, of whom nothing more is recorded than 
 that he reigned only a short time. His son Ivan, 
 who succeeded him, reigned, it is said, but a few 
 months, and his son George V. succeeded. This 
 prince, the last of the dynasty of Tzrnoievic, 
 abandoned his sterile home in 1516, and took up 
 his abode, first at Venice, and, when this retreat 
 became unsafe, in France. He migrated to Rome, 
 and at length settled at Constantinople, where part 
 of his family apostatized from Christianity. At the 
 same time that the Prince left Montenegro, many of 
 the chief families of the Principality deserted their 
 homes, not unnaturally tired, as it would seem, of 
 these sterile lands ; and, hopeless of resistance to the 
 
A BULWARK TO ITALY. 199 
 
 advance of the Ottoman power, at length finally 
 abandoned Montenegro. 
 
 Of this period of the history of the Principality 
 and of its alliance with Venice, Cyprien Robert re- 
 marks, that ' from the moment when Venice, in the 
 height of its greatness, courted the alliance of Ivan, 
 the Tzrnogorski never ceased to serve the whole 
 of Northern Italy as a bulwark against the Turks, 
 who, having become masters of Bosnia and Albania 
 since the death of Scanderbeg, would certainly have 
 put an end to the republic of St. Mark but for the 
 Slav corsairs and haiduks* that lined the eastern 
 shores of the Adriatic.' f The safety of Italy was 
 secured by the heroism of Montenegro, and Ma- 
 homet II. was checked in his expeditions, by which 
 he hoped to overthrow Venice and to conquer Naples, 
 by the unflinching resistance of these mountaineers. 
 
 * Partizans engaged in warfare by land as privateers by 
 sea. 
 
 t 'Les Slaves de Turquie,' t. i. p. 120. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LEGEND OF STANICHA. 
 
 Whether of the two sons of Ivan Beg, George, who 
 succeeded his father, or Stanicha, who apostatized 
 to the faith of Mahomet, were the elder is matter of 
 uncertainty. It is, however, probable that George 
 was the younger, and that his brother forfeited the 
 right to succeed to the rule of the Principality by 
 abandoning the Christian religion.* The grounds 
 for the apostacy are detailed in several piesmas 
 which are still sung, not only in Montenegro, but 
 throughout the other Serb lands which border on 
 the Danube. These songs, there can be but little 
 doubt, have preserved the records of events in 
 history, however heightened and disfigured they 
 may possibly be by the fancies of the bards to whom 
 we are indebted for their preservation. 
 
 * Stanicha, or Stephen, is sometimes called Maximus, a 
 name given him possibly to denote that he was the elder. 
 
LEGEND OF STANICHA. 201 
 
 According to these history-ballads Ivan Beg, in 
 his visit to Venice in 1483, undertaken for the 
 purpose of urging the obligations of the treaties 
 made between Montenegro and the republic of 
 St. Mark, had sought for each of his sons a wife 
 from among the influential patrician families of 
 that city. George was eventually married to a 
 daughter of the Erizzi, whilst Stanicha was be- 
 trothed to a daughter of the Doge Mocenigo, who 
 had been the companion of Ivan in the deli- 
 verance of Skodra when besieged by the Turks. 
 The romantic incident of this ill-omened be- 
 trothal of the Orthodox prince with a Latin bride, 
 and its consequences to Montenegro, can, how- 
 ever, best be told in the language of the original 
 piesmas. 
 
 1 The Tzrnoievic Ivo writes a letter to the 
 Doge of great Venice : " Hearken to me Doge ! as 
 they say that thou hast in thy house the most beau- 
 tiful of roses, so there is in my house the hand- 
 somest of pinks. Doge, let us unite the rose with 
 the pink." The Venetian Doge replies in flattering 
 terms ; Ivo repairs to his court, taking with him 
 three loads of gold, in order to woo the fair Latin 
 in his son's name. When he had lavished all his 
 gold, the Latins agreed with him that the wedding 
 
202 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 should take place at the next vintage. Ivo, who 
 was wise, yet uttered foolish words at his departure : 
 " Friend and Doge," said he, " thou shalt soon see me 
 again, with six hundred choice companions ; and if 
 there is among them a single one who is handsomer 
 than my son Stanicha, give me neither dower nor 
 hride." The delighted Doge pressed his hand, and 
 presented him with the apple of gold,* and Ivo re- 
 turned to his country. 
 
 'He was approaching his castle of Jablac, when 
 from the koula, with its elegant balconies, and its 
 glazed windows glittering in the sun, his faithful 
 consort perceived him. Instantly she flies to meet 
 him on the Livada, covers the hem of his mantle 
 with kisses, presses his terrible weapons to her 
 heart, carries them with her own hands into the 
 castle, and has a silver chair placed for the hero. 
 The winter passed off cheerfully ; but in the spring, 
 Stanicha was seized with the small-pox, which pitted 
 his face all over. When the old man assembled his 
 six hundred Svati, or boon companions, at the ap- 
 proach of autumn, it was easy for him, alas ! to 
 find among them a warrior handsomer than his son. 
 
 * Among the Slavo-Greek people, the apple is to this day 
 the symbol of wedlock and beauty, as in the time of Helen 
 and the shepherd Paris. 
 
LEGEND OF STANICHA. 203 
 
 Then his forehead was gathered into wrinkles, and 
 the black moustaches that reached his shoulders grew 
 limp. 
 
 ' His wife, having learned the cause of his grief, 
 upbraided him with the pride that had made him 
 wish to ally himself with the superb Latins. Stung 
 by her reproaches, Ivo burned with wrath ; he would 
 hear no more of the wedding, and sent the Svati 
 away. Long time elapsed : when suddenly came 
 a ship with a message from the Doge : the letter 
 fell on Ivo's knees. It said: " When thou enclosest 
 a meadow with hedges, thou mowest it, or thou 
 leavest it to another, that the snows of winter may 
 not spoil its flourishing grass. When one asks for 
 a fair one in marriage, and obtains her, one should 
 come and fetch her, or write to her that she is free 
 to form a new engagement." 
 
 i Jealous of keeping his word, Ivo determines at 
 last to go to Venice; he assembles all his noble 
 brethren in arms from Dulcigno and from Antivari, 
 the Drekalovic, the Koutchi, and the Bratonojic, 
 the falcons of Podgoritza and Bielopavlic, the 
 Vassojevic, and all the young men as far as to the 
 green Lim. He takes heed that the Yunaks* come 
 each in the costume peculiar to his tribe, and that 
 * Warriors. 
 
204 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 all are dressed as sumptuously as possible. He is 
 resolved, he says, that the Latins shall be in ecsta- 
 sies when they behold the magnificence of the 
 Serbs. They have many fine things, those noble 
 Latins ! they know how to work metals with skill, 
 and to weave precious stuffs : but they lack what is 
 more worthy of envy ; they have not the lofty brow 
 and the commanding look of the Tzrnogorski. 
 
 * Seeing the six hundred Svati assembled, Ivo 
 relates to them the imprudent promise he had made to 
 the Doge, and the punishment inflicted on him by 
 Heaven, in the person of his son, smitten with small- 
 pox. u What say you, brothers ? " said he, " shall 
 we put one of you in place of Stanicha during the 
 journey, and leave him, on our return, half the 
 presents which will be made to him as the real 
 bridegroom ? " All the Svati approved of this 
 stratagem, and the young Yoivode of Dulcigno, 
 Obrenovo Djuro, having been declared the hand- 
 somest in the assembly, was requested to accept the 
 feigned part. Djuro refused for a long time, and 
 was only prevailed on to consent by the most 
 sumptuous gifts. Then the Svati embarked, crowned 
 with flowers ; and were saluted on their departure 
 by the whole artillery of the Black Mountain, and 
 by the two enormous cannons named Kernio and 
 
LEGEND OF .STANICHA. 205 
 
 Selenko, which have not their match in the seven 
 Frank kingdoms, nor among the Turks : the mere 
 report of these pieces makes coursers bend the knee, 
 and knocks down many a hero. 
 
 ' Arrived at Venice, the Tzrnogorski stop at the 
 ducal palace. The festivities of the betrothal last 
 a whole week, at the end of which Ivo exclaims, 
 " Friend Doge, we must back to our mountains. " 
 The Doge then rising, asks his guests where is the 
 bridegroom Stanicha ; they all point to Djuro. 
 The Doge then gives Djuro the kiss and the golden 
 apple of wedlock. The Doge's two sons then ad- 
 vance, bringing two damasked fusils of the value of 
 a thousand ducats ; they ask where is Stanicha, and 
 all the Svati show them Djuro. The two Venetians 
 embrace him as their brother-in-law, and deliver 
 their presents to him. After them come the Doge's 
 two sisters-in-law, bringing two shirts of the finest 
 linen, all wrought with gold ; they ask which is the 
 bridegroom, and all the Svati point with their 
 fingers to Djuro. Satisfied with their stratagem, 
 Ivo and the Tzrnogorski took their way back to 
 their country.' 
 
 On arriving at her destined home, the piesma 
 goes on to tell that the bride was soon undeceived. 
 Instead of the handsome Voivode to whom she had 
 
206 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 been bethrothed she was presented to a husband 
 disfigured with the scars of the small-pox, and 
 repulsive from the wasting disease which had 
 followed upon the original disorder. A prince, 
 however, at worst is a prince, and the republican 
 damsel seems to have easily reconciled herself to the 
 momentary disappointment, and to have made but 
 little difficulty in giving up the blooming proxy 
 for the wasted princelet. One surrender, however, 
 was not so easy. Half the bridal presents, accord- 
 ing to the agreement of Ivan, was to remain in the 
 possession of the Yoivode and was to be the pay- 
 ment for his share in the stratagem by which the 
 bride was lured from Yenice. These she had not 
 the heart to relinquish* The surrender of a husband 
 was one matter, to give up so much of the l costly 
 array and broidered apparel ' at the same time was 
 another. 
 
 ' " I cannot/' she cries to Stanicha, weeping for 
 vexation, " I cannot surrender that marvellous tunic 
 of gold, embroidered by my own hands, under 
 which I dreamed of caressing my spouse, and which 
 nearly cost me both my eyes, by working at it night 
 and day for three years. Though a thousand 
 broken shafts of lances should form thy bier, my 
 Stanicha, thou must fight to recover it ; or if thou 
 
LEGEND OF STANICHA. 207 
 
 dare not, I will turn my courser's bridle, and hurry 
 him to the sea-shore. There I will pluck a leaf of 
 aloes ; I will scratch my face with its thorns, and 
 drawing blood from my cheeks, I will write with 
 that blood a letter which my falcon will carry 
 swiftly to great Venice, whence my faithful Latins 
 will hasten to avenge me." At these words of the 
 daughter of Venice, Stanicha can no longer control 
 himself ; with his whip of three lashes he smites his 
 black courser, which bounds like a tiger, and having 
 come up with Djuro, the Tzrnogorski pierces him 
 with his javelin through the middle of the forehead. 
 The handsome Voivode falls dead at the foot of the 
 mountain. 
 
 'Petrified with horror, all the Svati stared at 
 each other for a while ; at last their blood began to 
 boil, and they exchanged pledges — terrible pledges 
 — which were not now those of friendship, but of 
 fury and death. All day the chiefs of the tribes 
 fought one against the other, until their ammuni- 
 tion was spent, and night had added its darkness to 
 the bloody reek of the field of battle. The few 
 survivors walk up to their knees in the blood of the 
 dead. See with what difficulty an old man ad- 
 vances ! That hero, so changed in appearance, is 
 the Tzrnoievic Ivo; in his irremediable woe he 
 
208 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 invokes the Lord : " Send me a wind from, the 
 mountain, and disperse this horrible fog, that I may 
 see which of my people has survived." Moved by 
 his prayer, God sent a blast of wind that swept the 
 air. Ivo could see the whole plain covered afar with 
 horses and riders cut in pieces, and the old man 
 went about from one heap of slain to another, look- 
 ing for his son. 
 
 * Yovan, one of Ivo's nephews, who lay dying, saw 
 him pass, and, collecting his strength, raised him- 
 self on his elbow, and cried out, "Halloa, uncle 
 Ivo ! how proudly thou passest, without asking thy 
 nephew if the wounds he has received for thee are 
 deep. What makes thee so disdainful ? Is it the 
 presents of the fair Latin ? " Ivo turns back at 
 these words, and, bursting into tears, asks the Tzrno- 
 £orski Yovan how his son Stanicha died. " He is 
 alive," replied Yovan; "he is fleeing towards Jab- 
 lac on his swift steed, and the repudiated daughter 
 of Venice is going back a virgin to her father." ' 
 
 Flying from the vengeance of the clansmen of the 
 murdered Voivode, and from the execrations of those 
 who, but for this murder, would have been his future 
 subjects, Stanicha escaped with a few personal fol- 
 lowers to the Turkish fortress of Jablac, and after- 
 wards retired to Constantinople. Here he embraced 
 
LEGEND OF STANICHA. 209 
 
 lslamism, and soon sought means to recover his 
 share of the family possessions and his right to 
 rule over the Principality. The aid of the Sultan 
 was readily given for this purpose, though he 
 happily failed to attain what would have rendered 
 Montenegro tributary to the Turkish power, and 
 eventually a part of the empire. Stanicha, how- 
 ever, long remained a standing menace and a source 
 of danger to his native country. After being 
 defeated in an invasion of the Principality he settled 
 first at Skodra, and, when driven out by the people 
 of that city, then at Bouchati in Albania, where his 
 children remained invested with a certain rank 
 and authority, until in 1833 the last of the known 
 descendants of Ivan Beg, Mustapha Pasha, was exiled 
 by the Porte. 
 
 One unhappy consequence resulted from this 
 murder ; it was one, if not the chief, cause of the 
 separation which has existed from that time between 
 the mountaineers of Albania and those of Montene- 
 gro. This separation was effected — the course of the 
 present war forbids me to say permanently — by the 
 acceptance on the part of the Miridites and 
 Albanian clans of the Latin rite, whilst the Mon- 
 tenegrins have remained zealous adherents of the 
 Orthodox Eastern Church. 
 
 p 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MONTENEGRO UNDER THE PRINCE-BISHOPS: PERIOD 
 THE FIRST, ELECTIVE BISHOPS (A.D. 1516 — 1696.) 
 
 On the retirement of the last of its hereditary 
 princes, the Bishop, not only by the appointment of 
 George V., but as the next important person in the 
 Principality, became, first the regent, and, on the 
 final renunciation of the duties of his station by the 
 secular prince, the actual ruler of Montenegro; and 
 for one hundred and eighty years the government 
 was directed — like some of the provinces of Germany 
 — by a prince-bishop. Unlike the bishops, how- 
 ever, who succeeded to that office after the year 
 1696, these ecclesiastical governors either confined 
 themselves to the spiritual duties of their office, or 
 at any rate subordinated their civil functions to 
 those of their episcopal duties. In order to assist 
 the " Yladika " in the government of the Princi- 
 pality, a governor was appointed, to whose care was 
 
PRIXCE-BISHOPS. 211 
 
 assigned all matters concerning the military array 
 and defence of the country, yet with a certain 
 inferiority of position to the Bishop himself. This 
 civil governor was always the " obor knes," or 
 Voivode of the Katunska nahia, the cradle and 
 citadel of Montenegrin independence. In all spiritual 
 matters, however, the Bishop owed obedience to the 
 Serbian Patriarch of Ipek, who was expected to 
 visit the territory of his suffragan once in seven 
 years, and whose right it was to consecrate the 
 bishops of Montenegro. 
 
 "We learn, from the imprint of books printed in 
 Montenegro, that at the time of the abdication of 
 the secular Prince, Vavyl, or Babylas, who had been 
 consecrated to the office of bishop in the time of 
 George IV., was the first episcopal regent. On his 
 death, shortly after this event, German was elected, 
 in 1520, to succeed him, and his episcopate was 
 signalized by the recommencement of the struggle 
 between Turkey and Montenegro. To this the 
 Turks were encouraged by the favourable circum- 
 stances of the times. Montenegro in fact had 
 come to be divided into two camps. If hereditary 
 principles were to be regarded, and they had great 
 weight, Stanicha, the renegade, was the rightful heir 
 to chief power within the Principality. Although 
 
212 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 he had been defeated at Liekopolje, on the Moratcha, 
 when, in the reign of his brother, he led a force 
 composed of Turks and his Montenegrin followers 
 against his country, he had never relinquished the 
 hope of occupying the position of his father at 
 Cetinje. His followers, though renegades for the most 
 part like himself, had on their defeat been allowed 
 to reoccupy their possessions in Montenegro, and 
 these were at that time, and long remained, a source 
 of weakness and of positive danger to their country. 
 Despising, then, the pacific duties and character of 
 the new ruler, the Pasha of Skodra, availing himself 
 of the divisions in the country, with a large army 
 of Turks and renegades, made a desperate effort to 
 subjugate the Principality. In this attempt he was 
 defeated with heavy loss, and Montenegro obtained 
 unwonted rest for several years. The season of 
 repose was prolonged in consequence of the employ- 
 ment of the Turkish forces in their struggle against 
 the Hungarians, who had invaded Bosnia. This 
 period is memorable for the expedition undertaken 
 to serve the common cause indeed, but at a dis- 
 tance from the frontiers of the Principality. In 
 the struggle Ivan Youkotic, the civil governor of 
 Montenegro, rendered effectual assistance for a time 
 to the Hungarian troops besieged by the Turks at 
 
PRIXCE-BISHOrS. 213 
 
 Jajeze, and in a fiercely contested battle the Turkish 
 army was defeated with great slaughter. 
 
 The repose which, on the whole, Montenegro 
 enjoyed at this period is attributed in some degree 
 to the policy of the Sultan. To all appearance a 
 few years of such rest would end in transferring the 
 rule of the Principality to the Turks. Montenegro 
 seemed to be gradually lapsing into a Turkish pro- 
 vince. The population was becoming infiltrated 
 with Mussulman settlers, in part the descendants 
 of the renegades, in part emigrants from the 
 neighbouring provinces of Turkey. As all these 
 enjoyed toleration, and Montenegro was an asylum 
 against fiscal exaction and wrong, it was sought 
 alike by Christians and Mussulmans. But for the 
 impatience of the Turkish authorities, the history of 
 Montenegro might have been as cheerless as that 
 of the other provinces of the old Serbian empire. 
 Tired, however, of waiting for the gradual decay of 
 the Christian power, or relying in the strength of 
 the Mussulman settlers, the Turks in 1570 renewed 
 the war with this people. 
 
 This invasion lasted for several years, and the 
 frontiers were so insecure, that on the death of 
 the Bishop, which took place soon after the war 
 had recommenced, his successor was unable to 
 
214 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 proceed to Ipek for consecration, nor could the 
 Patriarch of that city make his usual visitation of 
 Montenegro, and perform the act of consecration 
 at Cetinje. Favoured by the state of uncertainty 
 and confusion, and by the number of renegades 
 scattered throughout the country, Ali, Pasha of 
 Skodra, overran great part of the country, and com- 
 pelled the portions of which he held momentary 
 possession to pay tribute to the Sultan. In the 
 war the printing-press which Ivan Beg and his son 
 George IV. had introduced was destroyed and the 
 types dispersed ; but whether these were destroyed by 
 the Turks, or melted down by the Montenegrins into 
 bullets in defence of Rjeka, is uncertain. What is 
 certain is, that from that time until the days of 
 Peter II. no printing was executed in Montenegro, 
 and the few who learned to read within its borders 
 had to turn to foreign sources for the books which 
 they required. 
 
 This period of distress was rendered more calami- 
 tous to Montenegro by the falling away of the 
 Koutchi and other tribes of the Berda from the 
 Orthodox Eastern Church, and their submission to 
 the Roman See. This was effected by the labours 
 of Latin missionaries sent from the Propaganda at 
 Pome. This religious separation destroyed the poli- 
 
PEINCE-BISHOPS. 215 
 
 tical and national unity of these people, and was 
 the cause of many subsequent misfortunes to both 
 parties. Montenegro was weakened by the schism, 
 and the Koutchi and the other Roman Catholic 
 tribes, whether Slavs or Albanians, fell under the 
 dominion of Turkey. 
 
 In 1604 the Montenegrins refused any longer to 
 pay the tribute which had been imposed upon them, 
 and expelled the Turkish garrison which had been 
 left to overawe them; and on the advance of the 
 Turkish force to compel them to submission, the}' 
 defeated the army sent for that purpose. In the 
 battles which took place on the banks of the Morat- 
 cha the Turks suffered a great loss, and Ali, the 
 Pasha of Skodra, who commanded, escaped sorely 
 wounded from the field. At this time, as we know 
 from the Venetian relation, the whole number of 
 the combatants belonging to the Principality was 
 8,027. These, with the help received from their 
 wives and sisters, were the warriors who foiled the 
 ablest generals of the Ottoman, and prevented the 
 Sultan from hurling his armies on the coast of Italy, 
 at a moment when, in all human probability, but 
 for this diversion, he must have succeeded. In this 
 war the Montenegrins fought on horseback, and 
 their victories were now gained, in hand-to-hand 
 
216 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 fights, by a motley army of armed men, fighting 
 with the handjar, cross-bow, the occasional musquet, 
 but, above all, with the stones, which they rolled 
 down from their almost inaccessible heights upon 
 the heads of their invaders. The result was that 
 the Turks were everywhere chased from Montenegro 
 with heavy losses, both of men and arms : the last 
 item being of the utmost importance to the con- 
 querors, since it gave the mountaineers that which 
 they so much needed — weapons wherewith to resist 
 in any future invasions. For, in the absence of 
 arsenals and military stores, the Montenegrin people 
 have always depended upon the arms which the 
 Turkish fugitives have thrown away in their flight, 
 or the slain have left upon the field of battle. 
 
 The next year a new governor of Albania, Arstan 
 Pasha, advanced at the head of 60,000 Turks to 
 avenge the defeat of his predecessor. Under these 
 disproportionate odds the Montenegrins sought and 
 received the assistance of some of the neighbouring 
 tribes, and about 10,000 men assembled to repel the 
 new invasion. From April until far in the month of 
 September war rolled around the southern fron- 
 tier. On the 10th of the latter month the Turkish 
 commander encountered the Montenegrin army on 
 the plain of Lieko, where Stanicha had been de- 
 
A KEW CRUSADE. 217 
 
 feated by his nephew, Stephen II., in the early part 
 of the century. The battle was a decisive one. 
 After a short but sanguinary engagement the main 
 body of the enemy broke and fled, leaving the 
 field strewn with the bodies of the Turkish sol- 
 diers. Among the heads carried off and exhibited 
 on the tower at Cetinje was that of the Pasha's 
 lieutenant. 
 
 The blow was felt at least along the whole 
 frontier, and the departure of the Turkish army 
 brought a short cessation of hostilities to the Monte- 
 negrins. The clash of arms was suspended, whilst 
 a singular project was formed, which, though dic- 
 tated primarily by personal ambition and private 
 aims, recalls the policy and memory of the Crusades. 
 Margaret, one of the last descendants of the Paleologi, 
 had years before married Frederick, the first Duke 
 of Mantua. His grandson, Charles, Duke of Nevers 
 and of Eethel, was now the sole representative, and, 
 what was more, the sole recognised heir of the 
 Paleologi. He conceived the not unnatural scheme 
 of a combination of European powers to restrain the 
 dreaded power of the Sultan, to expel the Turkish 
 troops from Europe, and as a result to seat the heir 
 of the Paleologi upon the imperial throne of his 
 fathers. Ships were bought, troops were to be levied, 
 
218 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 money was promised, the Pope was to bestow his 
 future blessing upon the expedition, and gave his 
 present encouragement to the scheme. Albania and 
 Montenegro were reckoned upon as factors in the 
 campaign to come, and the great Cardinal Richelieu 
 lent support to the intended crusade. Agents ac- 
 knowledged and unacknowledged flitted from court 
 to court; soldiers of fortune pledged their swords, 
 in consideration of the pay they were to receive ; 
 and — all ended in smoke. Whilst, however, the 
 scheme was a possibility, Turkey was too much 
 occupied to consider its small hereditary foe. Mon- 
 tenegro obtained a short respite from war, and the 
 annals of the little Principality are barren of events 
 of general interest. 
 
 No sooner, however, had the alarm of this attack 
 upon his European provinces ceased, than the Sul- 
 tan resumed his war with Montenegro. An expedi- 
 tion was planned, formidable from the forces engaged 
 and the determination evinced of at length crushing 
 at all hazards the resistance of these people, and 
 destroying them by the mere force of numbers, 
 without regard to any losses that might accrue to 
 the invaders. The army of Turkey, under the com- 
 mand of Suleiman, Pasha of Skodra, was led to the 
 southern frontier of this country. A battle ensued, 
 
THE TURKS AT CETINJE. 219 
 
 which is said to have lasted twenty days, nightfall 
 only separating the combatants. In this long con- 
 flict or series of engagements, though the arms of 
 Turkey gained no honour, the Montenegrins, un- 
 able to recruit their numbers, and overwhelmed by 
 the fresh troops which were daily brought up and 
 opposed to them, were compelled to fall back. 
 Cetinje itself was now occupied and the con- 
 vent plundered, while those who resisted were 
 put to the sword. Those who submitted to the 
 Turks were compelled to pay the haratch ; whilst 
 those who refused to submit took shelter in the 
 broken ground along the Lovchen Mountain, and 
 harrassed the invaders from their vantage-ground. 
 Again the Turkish commander retired from this 
 inhospitable country, where a small army was use- 
 less, where a large army was certain to be starved. 
 Small garrisons, however, were left behind, which 
 were to hold the country in subjection. His retire- 
 ment was the signal for the reappearance of the 
 soldiers who had sought a refuge in the heights 
 around Cetinje, and who commenced attacking 
 these garrisons, and preventing any supplies reach- 
 ing them, as soon as the main body was out of 
 sight ; whilst the various tribes which inhabited 
 the Berda and the adjacent fastnesses of Albania, 
 
220 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 especially the Koutchi and Clementi, sallied out, 
 and attacking the retiring army unexpectedly in 
 the neighbourhood of Podgoritza, almost totally 
 destroyed it. Again the expedition of Turkey was 
 an ignominious failure, attended with the destruc- 
 tion of the army destined to effect the conquest of 
 Montenegro. 
 
 The destruction of much of the sympathy which 
 existed between the Albanian tribes south of 
 Skodra and the Montenegrins to the north of that 
 city, through their separation into the two camps of 
 Orthodox and Catholic, has been a fertile cause of 
 disaster to both. At the very time when the closest 
 unity was necessary, division was introduced by the 
 passing over of one portion of the Albanian Slaves from 
 the Eastern to the Western Church. The latter turned 
 for protection to France, and at that time the protec- 
 tion was not accorded, except at the price of abandon- 
 ing their religious convictions, together with much 
 which constituted national life. Another evil was 
 impending : the protection accorded by France to the 
 one body was to be met by protection accorded by 
 Hussia to its own co-religionists, and the jealousies 
 of Europe and subsequent wars have been the result. 
 Undivided, these tribes might have relied on their 
 own powers of resistance and the defensive strength 
 
CETINJE DELIVERED. 221 
 
 of their territory ; divided, they have been unable to 
 protect themselves, which, but for this division, they 
 might have done. During the invasion of Monte- 
 negro the Turks were allowed by the Albanian tribes 
 for the most part to crush the resistance of their 
 neighbours of the Black Mountain ; and it was only 
 when this was accomplished that the Clementi awoke 
 to the danger which menaced themselves. It was, 
 however, too late. Their country was overrun, and 
 they were crushed in their turn, though not without 
 terrible loss to their Turkish invaders, and also not 
 without examples of the most heroic courage on the 
 part of the Clementi. 
 
 To return, however, to the people of Montenegro. 
 The main body of the Turkish army had no sooner 
 withdrawn from Cetinje, where it was impossible for 
 them to find food, than the bands which had taken 
 shelter in the unassailable parts of the Katunska 
 nahia swarmed down from the heights of the 
 Lovchen and from the crests which surround 
 Niegush, and drove the Turkish garrisons from 
 their posts. Nor was the Sultan able at that 
 moment to chastise these assailants. All his avail- 
 able forces were then engaged in the siege of 
 Vienna or in maintaining his communications with 
 the army encamped before that city, and Monte- 
 
222 MONTEKEGKO. 
 
 negro was able to free itself from the presence of 
 the Turkish troops. 
 
 In 1687 the Venetian republic proposed an alliance 
 with Montenegro , in order to induce these people to 
 attack the Turkish posts lying on the northern fron- 
 tier of the Principality, and thus cause a diversion 
 which would prevent the Turks from concentrating 
 their troops in the Morea, which country was then 
 being invaded by the Yenetians. But though the 
 Montenegrins, true to their instinct of combating 
 the Turks at all times, responded to the call of the 
 republic of Yenice, they failed to procure that return 
 in the hour of their own necessity which had been 
 promised them, and which they had a right to 
 expect. 
 
 In 1688 the Turkish Government made another 
 energetic effort to reduce these people to subjection. 
 The struggle was desperate, and the Turks were 
 beaten in a sanguinary engagement at the foot of 
 Mount Yertielki. Meanwhile another column of the 
 Ottoman army had already penetrated to Cetinje. 
 Hopeless of succour, and determined not to fall into 
 the hands of the Turks, the monks who occupied 
 the monastery which Ivan Beg had built threw 
 their treasures, their plate, and their books into 
 the wells or other secret places, and then blowing 
 
PEACE OF CARLOWITZ. 223 
 
 up the monastery, perished in the destruction of 
 the building. 
 
 In the course of the ensuing year the Emperor 
 Leopold sought the alliance of the Montenegrins, 
 and prevailed upon them to co-operate with his 
 troops in the campaign against the Turks of Bosnia 
 and Serbia. The armies of the Emperor, however, 
 were unsuccessful, and as usual the Montenegrins 
 found themselves deserted, and were again exposed 
 to the fury of the Turks. At the peace of Carlowitz 
 which followed, Austria, Russia, and Venice made 
 stipulations in their own interests with the Porte ; 
 but the ally whom all had found useful in the hour 
 of their struggle against Turkey was unnamed in 
 the treaty which was then made, and Montenegro 
 was abandoned to the vindictive assaults of the 
 Ottoman. During the whole of this period of one 
 hundred and eighty years, though Montenegro was 
 governed by its bishops, assisted by a civil governor, 
 we only obtain an occasional glimpse of these rulers. 
 The whole period was one continued national struggle, 
 in which every man, armed with his own weapons, 
 fighting at his own cost, and relying upon his own 
 bravery, warred against the enemies of his religion 
 and his freedom. At a later period the chieftains 
 present a stronger individuality, but for the period 
 
224 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 comprised in this chapter it will suffice if I subjoin 
 a list of the Yladikas in the order of their succes- 
 sion :-— « 
 
 Babylas, Macarias,* German (1520), Eubin, or 
 Eufim, Pa. Koman, M. Korpetchani, Eubin Yelia- 
 kraiski, Basil, Yisarion Baitcha (1687), Sava Kalu- 
 geric.f 
 
 * GescJiichte des Fiirstenthums Montenegro. Von Alexan- 
 der Andrie. Wien, 1853, p. 18. 
 
 t Les Slaves Meridionaux, leur origine et leur etablissement 
 dans Vancienne Illyrie y p. 162. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 HEREDITARY PRINCE-BISHOPS (1697). DANILO 
 
 PETROVIC. 
 
 The election of a ruler over a nation in which 
 every member claims the same rights and performs 
 the same duties, is attended with inconveniences 
 and dangers which no advantages arising out of 
 the free choice of a governor can ever compensate. 
 This practice convulsed and eventually destroyed 
 Poland ; it tJu*eatened to overthrow the freedom of 
 Montenegro. At the close of the seventeenth century, 
 however, a change took place which enabled these 
 people to consolidate their power, to concentrate 
 their energies, and successfully to defend their 
 independence without losing any portion of their 
 old liberty. They agreed to abolish the elective 
 episcopacy, and to substitute an hereditary one in 
 its place. Montenegro, reduced within the straitest 
 limits, seemed, at this date, on the point of becom- 
 ing subject to Turkey. 
 
226 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Before the first years of the eighteenth century 
 the small principality of Montenegro was almost 
 entirely comprised within the limits of the two 
 nahias of Katunska and Bjeka. Of these, Bjeka 
 was in part occupied by families of renegades, 
 whose allegiance was divided between attachment 
 to their race and obedience to their religion, whilst 
 the whole of the Katunska nahia east of Cetinje 
 had been held, overrun, and reduced to more than 
 its normal desolation by the Turks. If Montenegro 
 is to be regarded as a fortress, the country between 
 Cetinje and Cattaro maybe considered as the citadel 
 of its independence. This district has never been 
 penetrated by an enemy, and hither the strongest 
 and most active of the people have always fled for 
 shelter, and from it have sallied forth to harass the 
 Turks until they were compelled to retire, when the 
 Montenegrins have always returned and reoccupied 
 their old homes. Towards the centre of this im- 
 penetrable district is the village of JSTiegush, the site 
 of which had, at the close of the seventeenth century, 
 been occupied for about two hundred years by 
 families who had fled from the Turks, when the Her- 
 zegovina submitted to their rule. These settlers had 
 given to the grey rocky solitude where they had 
 found refuge the name of their native village. 
 
DANILO I. 227 
 
 Among the families settled at Niegush, one of the 
 most influential was that of Petrovic, and from the 
 house of that family the people chose their new- 
 Bishop. Strenuously did Danilo Petrovic refuse 
 the proffered office. The times demanded a man of 
 iron will, of clear head, and large influence. He 
 was but young, too young he deemed himself to 
 be for the important office. Long he refused to 
 comply with the wishes of the people. At length 
 their importunity conquered, and he consented to 
 be the new Yladika. This happened in 1697. 
 It was not, however, until full three years after, 
 1700, that he could be consecrated to this office. 
 
 As the bishops throughout the Orthodox Eastern 
 Church are unmarried, the succession could not, 
 therefore, devolve in the right line, and the people 
 of Montenegro having experienced the inconvenience 
 of an elective sovereignity, now authorised the 
 Vladika to recommend his successor from among 
 the members of his own family. It is true that 
 the people still retained their right to elect their 
 Prince. They exercised this right by consenting 
 to receive the person recommended to them by 
 the testament of the Yladika. The rule of a prince- 
 bishop and their right of nominating a successor 
 to the people for election ended at the accession of 
 
228 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Prince Danilo in 1851, having at that time con- 
 tinued upwards of one hundred and fifty years. 
 From that time the succession was settled by the 
 act of the Skupschina. 
 
 Most writers say that from the time of his election 
 the thoughts of the new Vladika were directed to- 
 wards finding means to rid Montenegro of its great 
 source of weakness, the presence of the renegades, 
 who, dwelling in various parts of the Principality, 
 aided the enemy in his attempts to subjugate the 
 country. For this there seems no grounds except 
 conjecture, and the evident necessity for some such 
 action. Be that as it may, whether this determi- 
 nation was suggested by, or was merely 'accelerated 
 by, the conduct of the Pasha of Skodra, it followed 
 hard upon an act of treachery but too common in 
 the history of the Ottomans. 
 
 In 1702, whilst Demir Pasha was governor of 
 Skodra, the people of the Lower Zeta, included 
 within the episcopal jurisdiction of the Montenegrin 
 prelate, and still inhabited largely by Christians, had 
 built a church, which they desired should be conse- 
 crated by their bishop. As it was dangerous to 
 adventure upon Turkish territory for this purpose, 
 Danilo hesitated to comply with their wishes. To 
 remove his objection, the people purchased from the 
 
DANILO I. 229 
 
 Pasha a safe conduct for him whilst engaged in this 
 duty. Still he hesitated, declaring that he had no 
 faith in Turkish promises. After a while, however, 
 moved by the importunity of the people, and se- 
 cured, as they thought, by the solemn promises of 
 the Pasha, Danilo visited the Zeta, and consecrated 
 the church without molestation. No sooner, however, 
 had he performed this duty than he was seized, 
 and, in spite of the promises of safety, thrown into 
 prison and there tortured. 
 
 From prison the Yladika was brought forth to 
 death; and to make this death more terrible and 
 more significant he was condemned to be crucified. 
 In order, moreover, that no circumstance should be 
 wanting to make this a real martyrdom, in imit- 
 ation of the death of his Divine Master, he was 
 compelled to drag the wood of which the lofty cross 
 was to be composed to the place of execution. The 
 cross was to be erected close to the Montenegrin 
 frontier, so that he might die in the face of the 
 whole of the people of the mountains. Over the 
 arid, treeless plains of Upper Albania Danilo dragged 
 the materials a weary day's journey from Podgoritza 
 to Spouj. At the sight of his sufferings, and moved 
 by the prospect of his death of torture, the people 
 of the Zeta, who had purchased his safety, and the 
 
230 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegrins, whose ruler lie was, sent a deputa- 
 tion to the Pasha and implored that the life of their 
 Bishop should be spared, and that he might be set at 
 liberty. At the price of three thousand ducats this 
 was promised by the Pasha. The sum was a large 
 one for men to collect who had been deprived of all 
 save their lives, their liberty, and their arms. They 
 did not, however, hesitate. The people of the Zeta 
 promised to contribute the third of the sum ; Monte- 
 negro undertook to raise the remaining two-thirds. 
 The churches gave up their plate, the women brought 
 the silver of their girdles, the men forestalled the 
 price of their maize and vegetables and borrowed 
 money from the Venetian traders at Cattaro. The ran- 
 som was thus raised and duly paid, though not without 
 precautions against further treachery, and Danilo, 
 to the great joy of his subjects, was set at liberty. 
 
 With such an enemy it was evident no terms 
 could be kept. The desire of revenge and the obli- 
 gations of their own safety alike spurred on the 
 Montenegrins to an act of desperation. Monte- 
 negro must be free, and must also be rendered safe 
 from further invasion, so far at least as the lives 
 and deaths of its people could insure its safety. In 
 a council of the chiefs it was resolved to rid the soil 
 of Montenegro of every renegade. The eve of the 
 
MONTENEGRIN VESPERS. 231 
 
 coming Christmas was fixed upon for the execution 
 of this deed. Five brothers of the Martinovic family 
 are said to have had the lead in this act whether of 
 patriotic defence or of vengeance. On the night of 
 that day the home of every renegade was entered — 
 instant flight, death, or renunciation of the religion 
 of Islam was proposed to him. When morning 
 dawned not a Mussulman remained alive on the soil 
 of Montenegro ; all had either rejected the creed of 
 the false prophet and had been baptized, had fled 
 to the Herzegovina, or had died. Only the women 
 and children were spared in the massacre. A ballad 
 thus commemorates these Montenegrin vespers. 
 
 1 The hallowed eve draws onward. The brothers 
 Martinovic kindle their consecrated torches. They 
 pray fervently to the new-born God. Each drains a 
 cup of wine; and seizing the sacred torches, they 
 rush forth into the darkness. Wherever there was a 
 Turk there came the avengers. They that would not 
 be baptized were hewn down every one. They that 
 embraced the cross were taken as brothers before the 
 Vladika. Gathered in Cetinje, the people hailed 
 with songs of joy the reddening dawn of the Chris- 
 mas morning : all Tzrnagora now was free.' 
 
 For a while the Turks appear to have been para- 
 lysed by this act of vigorous audacity, and made 
 
232 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 for nearly four years no direct attempt to enter 
 Montenegro. The Montenegrins on their part made 
 use of the time to rebuild their churches and dwell- 
 ing-houses, and to prepare for that struggle which 
 they knew to be impending. Those of the rene- 
 gades who had chosen banishment rather than either 
 death or baptism hovered along the northern frontier, 
 and, encouraged by the presence and assistance of 
 Turkish troops, at length entered Montenegro. 
 They were met, attacked, and defeated. The field 
 of battle was strewn with the slain, the rest found 
 safety in flight or in surrender. The families of the 
 prisoners sent to propose terms of ransom. ' You 
 estimated the life of our Vladika/ said the Monte- 
 negrins, ' in gold, we estimate the lives of yours 
 at what they are worth : pay us a pig for every 
 prisoner, and they shall be sent back to you/ The 
 insult was great to the Mussulmans, but the pigs 
 were sent, the captives were exchanged, and this 
 invasion was at an end. 
 
 The immediate effect of this success was of the 
 utmost importance to Montenegro. The hardy, 
 warlike tribes of the Berda, who occupied a terri- 
 tory equal in extent to that of Montenegro itself, 
 now united themselves to the Principality for mutual 
 defence, and, though the formal union was somewhat 
 
MONTENEGRIN VICTORY. 233 
 
 later, they became substantially from that moment 
 one people with the Montenegrins. Another event 
 of moment to the Principality was the opening of 
 relations with Russia, then under Peter the Great, 
 and rising to importance in the politics of Europe. 
 This, however, was at the first of no advantage to 
 Montenegro, for though a treaty was signed between 
 Russia and this small Principality, these people were 
 abandoned by Peter when he was compelled to make 
 peace with Turkey and to give up his conquests on 
 the Black Sea. 
 
 On the defeat of Russia the arms of Turkey were 
 again directed towards Montenegro. Fifty thousand 
 disciplined troops were assembled on the plain of 
 Podgoritza for the conquest of a country which 
 contained at most twenty thousand men, women, 
 and children. Collecting a force less than a tenth 
 in number of the Turkish army, the Vladika led his 
 hasty levies suddenly against the enemy, and, falling 
 upon them at daybreak, routed, or rather destroyed, 
 their army. Three hundred Montenegrins were 
 killed ; of the enemy it is estimated that twenty 
 thousand perished either on the field or in the 
 flight. 
 
 It was evident that Montenegro was not to be 
 subdued without efforts which would tax even the 
 
234 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 resources of Turkey in the hour of its greatest 
 strength. The disgrace on the plain of Podgoritza 
 must, however, be avenged by a signal overthrow of 
 the puny antagonist. Under the Grand Yizier and 
 Governor of Bosnia, Kiuprili, the Turks assembled on 
 the northern frontier of Herzegovina an army of a 
 hundred and twenty thousand men. Before, how- 
 ever, entering upon the campaign, Kiuprili proffered 
 terms to Danilo, to which it appeared desirable that 
 he should assent. To settle these terms a conference 
 was proposed by the Turkish commander, and thirty- 
 seven of the chiefs met him at his desire for this 
 purpose. No sooner were they in his power than he 
 seized and confined them, and, falling unexpectedly 
 on the Montenegrins, bewildered with the loss of 
 their leaders, put them to flight. Without leaders, 
 with no ammunition, though they offered a deter- 
 mined resistance, yet they could not stay the march 
 of the Ottoman general, who penetrated to Cetinje, 
 and there hung the thirty- seven envoys whom he 
 had enticed into his power. What the Montenegrins 
 could not effect in a general engagement they accom- 
 plished, however, in a ceaseless series of harassing 
 attacks, and though Kiuprili held Cetinje for a time, 
 he purchased the advantage with the loss of nearly 
 half his army. He revenged this loss by the devas- 
 
NHW INVASION. 235 
 
 ation of the country. When at length he was 
 compelled to retire through the adverse fortunes of 
 the war in Croatia and Bosnia, and the victorious 
 march of Prince Eugene through Hungary, it is 
 recorded that he left not a house standing, not an 
 altar which he Jiad not overthrown. 
 
 From the time of this great failure to subdue the 
 Montenegrins, from 1718 to 1737 history records 
 only three invasions and attempts at invasion of Mon- 
 tenegro on the part of Turkey. Disorders at Con- 
 stantinople, the murder of the Sultan Achmed III., 
 the revolt of the janissaries, and the war with 
 Persia, prevented the Porte from turning its arms 
 more frequently against these people. To recount the 
 history of these campaigns is to relate over again, 
 with hardly a variation, the story of past invasions. 
 In 1722 Houssen Pasha, of Trebinje, endeavoured 
 to do what so many others had failed to achieve, 
 and yet what Turkey was reluctant to leave undone, 
 if by any chance it could be accomplished. Under 
 him twenty thousand men were hurled against the 
 northern frontier, on which Kiuprili had been for a 
 time successful. Houssen, however, was not destined 
 to succeed even up to the measure which the Grand 
 Vizier had attained. He was attacked by a Monte- 
 negrin chieftain at the head of a thousand men, and 
 
236 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 for the Montenegrins to make an attack had become 
 almost synonymous with achieving a victory. The 
 twenty thousand men were ignominiously defeated 
 by a force one twentieth of their own number, and 
 their general was made prisoner. 
 
 In 1732 Topal Osman Pasha resumed the war, 
 and with the same want of success as that which 
 had attended Houssen Pasha. The Montenegrin 
 annals speak of the battle on this occasion as lasting 
 seven days, only interrupted by nightfall. At the 
 end of the fight the remains of the Turkish army fled 
 in disorder, abandoning tents, baggage, and artillery 
 to the Montenegrins. 
 
 This was the last combat which took place under 
 Danilo. Full of years, with more than a soldier's 
 share of military exploits, amidst the regrets of his 
 subjects, who still sing of his heroic deeds, the Vladika 
 warrior died, in the early days of the year 1737, 
 having recommended to the people or nominated to 
 them as his successor his nephew Sava, who had been 
 consecrated by the Serbian patriarch, and had acted 
 for some years as the suffragan of the great Yladika, 
 his uncle, and had thus relieved him in a large 
 measure of the duties of his episcopal office. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE VLADIKAS SAVA AND VASSALI (A.D. 1735 1782) . 
 
 Danilo was succeeded by a ruler of a character 
 widely different from his own. He had in his lifetime 
 appointed his nephew Sava as his coadjutor, and had 
 devolved upon him the larger share of his episcopal 
 duties, so as to allow himself to bestow greater 
 attention to his secular duties. To this division of 
 labour Sava seems to have readily assented, and when 
 called to undertake the joint offices implied in the 
 title of Prince-bishop, his temper inclined him to 
 the ecclesiastical rather than to the civil functions 
 of his position. His rule was marked by the emi- 
 gration of the Serb patriarch, Arsenius, from Ipek, 
 together with, it is said, 80,000 of the Christians 
 of Old Servia. These sought a momentary refuge 
 from Turkish oppression in Montenegro, on their 
 way to find a permanent settlement in Austria. 
 A detachment of warriors from Montenegro and the 
 
238 
 
 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Berda, aided by Albanians, safely escorted the emi- 
 grants to Nish, at that time occupied by Austrian 
 troops. 
 
 In 1739 the Pasha of Skodra invaded the terri- 
 tory of the Koutchi, then in close alliance with 
 Montenegro. Medun, the chief town of the Koutchi, 
 was destroyed. Here however, the success of the 
 Turks ended. Attacked by a Montenegrin force in 
 the defiles, the Turkish army was routed with great 
 loss. Montenegro was now blockaded by the Turks, 
 who, mindful of past defeats, however, did not attempt 
 to penetrate into the Principality. The blockade 
 lasted for seven years. The army of Austria had just 
 been defeated by the Turks, and compelled to sign 
 the Treaty of Belgrade, and to restore to Turkey all 
 the conquests of Prince Eugene and of the other im- 
 perial generals on the south of the Danube. Venice, 
 unmindful of the assistance rendered by Montenegro 
 in her past struggles with the Ottoman power, and 
 fearing for her commercial interests, now forbade 
 any of her subjects, under pain of death, to sell arms 
 or powder to the Montenegrins. The strait of these 
 people was terrible, but their spirit and resources 
 rose with the occasion for their exercise. In accord- 
 ance with the Montenegrin axiom, they sought their 
 arsenal and magazine of powder in the lines of the 
 
THE VLADIKA SAVA. 239 
 
 enemy, and an opportune capture having replenished 
 their stores, they sallied in great force from their 
 homes and utterly defeated the blockading forces. 
 In revenge for the death of the thirty-seven envoys 
 whom Kiuprili had seized and hung in the last 
 war, the Montenegrins avenged themselves in a way 
 unusual to them — they burnt alive seventy of the 
 officers whom they had captured. 
 
 The powerlessness of Austria and the hostile action 
 of Venice in preventing supplies of ammunition 
 reaching Montenegro, now led their Bishop to turn 
 to Russia, which he visited in order to interest the 
 Empress Elizabeth in the struggles of his people 
 with the Turks. The chief result of this visit was 
 the confirmation of the promise made by Peter the 
 Great, but hitherto not performed, by which he 
 undertook to pay to Montenegro the annual sum of 
 3,000 roubles, in compensation for the losses incurred 
 by Montenegro through her alliance with Russia 
 in the last war. 
 
 Sava had desired to devote himself strictly to his 
 religious duties, and wished to escape from the 
 turmoil both of ecclesiastical and civil life ; but such 
 a division of his offices was hardly possible under the 
 circumstances of the country. He now resolved to 
 find the quiet which he had long sought in vain. 
 
240 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Having therefore selected his nephew, the Archi- 
 mandrite Yassali, as his coadjutor, and chosen, or 
 indicated, one of the family of Badonic, of Niegush, 
 to the people for their choice, he himself retired into 
 a monastery, having devolved on these two the real 
 care of the Principality, though he continued to bear 
 the title of Prince. His rule is for this reason 
 sometimes called a ' regency.' 
 
 The war of 1750 is marked by an incident preserved 
 in the popular songs. Montenegro was again assailed 
 by the Turkish troops. The attack now came from 
 the Bosnian frontier; but, before marching, the 
 Pasha, or Yizier, of Bosnia, sent to 'the Black Monk,' 
 as the Turks commonly called the Yladika, and 
 demanded the haratch, or tribute, paid by the bor- 
 dering provinces of Turkey, and required at the same 
 time that the Bishop should add an annual gift of 
 twelve Montenegrin maidens from twelve to fifteen 
 years of age, and should see that they were good 
 looking. The danger was great, the array of the 
 Pasha was a menacing one, and he had the reputa- 
 tion of being a successful soldier. In this strait the 
 Yladika summoned the captains of the celos and 
 the voivodes of the various nahias, and laid the 
 demand before them. They waited for his word. 
 'He that advises compliance/ thundered forth 
 
MONTENEGRIN DEFIANCE. 241 
 
 Vassali, 'I will instantly excommunicate.' All 
 declared that they would never consent to terms of 
 such ignominy as the Pasha had required. The 
 demands of the Bosniac were answered with scorn, 
 not to say with such a scolding as recalls the custom 
 of Homeric heroes. 'Renegade/ was the reply of 
 the Vladika, ' eater of the plums of the Herzegovina ' 
 — we may suppose the words were not spoken at 
 random — ' we will pay you tribute, indeed ; it shall 
 be tribute, however, not of gold, but of stones from 
 our rocks; and, as to the twelve maidens, Monte- 
 negrin girls are not born and brought up for your 
 service. Twelve tails from our swine to decorate 
 your turban is all that shall be given to a renegade. 
 Come for the tribute, and we will give you Monte- 
 negrin welcome. But, when you come, prepare to 
 leave behind your skull. There are plenty of 
 comrades for it among the Turkish skulls which 
 whiten our fields.' 
 
 The confidence of the Montenegrins seemed for a 
 time hardly justified. The Turkish forces advanced 
 in overwhelming numbers. Powder again failed 
 the Montenegrins, and Venice renewed the former 
 prohibition, and warned all her subjects not to aid 
 in any way the gallant troops of Montenegro in their 
 dire distress. No one was to sell pistol, gun, nor 
 
 R 
 
242 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 powder to the mountaineers, lest Venetian commerce 
 might chance to suffer from the vengeance of 
 the Turk. A Serb from Cattaro, however, dis- 
 regarding the interdict of the selfish republic, con- 
 veyed a store of war material into Montenegro. The 
 supply came when the war stock was quite ex- 
 hausted. The unexpectedness of the succour inspired 
 them with fresh courage, and, making a desperate 
 assault upon the Turkish position — as, to use the 
 words of a Montenegrin song, a pack of wolves 
 upon a flock of sheep — they defeated their invaders. 
 The commander did not, however, leave his skull 
 behind, according to the invitation of the Yladika : 
 wounded in the action, he wisely fled from the 
 scene of defeat and slaughter. 
 
 However brilliant the exploits of these unconquer- 
 able people might be, and though they had main- 
 tained the priceless gifts of liberty and national inde- 
 pendence, it is not to be supposed but that they had 
 at this period suffered greatly in these ceaseless 
 invasions. The annals of Montenegro present a 
 sad picture of destitution and suffering. Their 
 printing-presses had been long destroyed, their 
 schools were in ruins, the whole country seemed to 
 be lapsing into the same state of barbarism as the 
 surrounding provinces occupied by the Turks. 
 
DEATH OF YASSALI. 243 
 
 Hardly any one was left who could read or write, 
 and even the priests had barely enough knowledge to 
 allow of their repeating the offices of the church. 
 Vassali now undertook a mission to Russia, to pro- 
 cure means to renew the schools, and to concert as 
 to the civil and military organization, which had 
 been greatly neglected. His first journey was made 
 in 1754, and he was partially successful. This led 
 to a second journey, in 1758, when he succeeded in 
 obtaining a gift of 1,000 ducats from the Empress 
 Elizabeth, and an authorization for the admission of 
 fifteen young Montenegrins into the military aca- 
 demy at St. Petersburg. During a third journey, in 
 1765, Vassali was taken ill and died, and was buried 
 in the church of St. Alexander Nevski, in that city. 
 
 By the death of Vassali, the real though not 
 titular Prince of Montenegro, the rule reverted to 
 the feeble hands of the aged Sava, who continued 
 to preside over its destinies until his death. 
 
 Montenegro was at this time the theatre of an 
 incident which relieves the monotony of its records of 
 invasions and victories. In 1762 the Czar Peter III., 
 the husband of the Empress Catherine, was mur- 
 dered, and his body exposed to public view at St. 
 Petersburg. However, as is the case with most 
 murdered princes, a report soon spread that he had 
 
244 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 escaped from his assassins, and was at large. The 
 report probably suggested to an adventurer the 
 deception successfully practised upon the Monte- 
 negrin people. This was the easier to accomplish 
 because scarcely any there had known the late 
 Emperor. A Russian, giving himself out to be the 
 Emperor, whose real name, according to other 
 authorities, was Stephen the Little (Stiepan Mali), 
 suddenly appeared on the southern confines of 
 Montenegro. His own statement was that he had 
 escaped from the assassins of his wife, and that he 
 had, after many adventures, succeeded in reaching 
 the Albanian coast. He asked to be allowed to find 
 in Montenegro the asylum which it was always ready 
 to offer to the distressed. As to the future, he had 
 no desire to remount the throne of Russia ; his sole 
 ambition was to live and die for the cause of Monte- 
 negro, and to aid in reversing the disastrous day of 
 Kossova. He thus enlisted the sympathies of the 
 people, engaged their pride, and led captive their 
 ambition. The Yladika Sava was at best but weak, 
 he had long renounced the world, and was now en- 
 feebled by old age. Stephen engrossed the business of 
 the Principality, and spared the aged Yladka, glad to 
 be relieved of the cares of secular life, and content 
 that the new comer should be, for a time, the virtual, 
 
STEPHEN THE LITTLE. 245 
 
 if unacknowledged, ruler of Montenegro. He was 
 evidently a man of energy and ability, and Venice 
 was alarmed for the quiet of her possessions and her 
 commerce. Austria distrusted the motives of the 
 pretender. Russia, though deeply interested, appears 
 to have treated his claim with contempt; and this 
 has led to the supposition that Stephen the Little 
 was only an instrument in the hands of the Russian 
 court, which sought by his means to obtain a foot- 
 ing and position in Montenegro. This, indeed, is 
 the Turkish version of the whole incident. Whether 
 the Turkish suspicions had any grounds or not, the 
 presence of Stephen was made the pretext for a 
 new invasion of the Principality, and three armies, 
 one from the north by way of Niksic, and the other 
 two on the southern frontier, advanced simultane- 
 ously upon Montenegro. These forces were variously 
 estimated ; one account makes them reach the num- 
 ber of 67,000 men, another account swells their 
 number to 100,000. hi addition to these, the Vene- 
 tian troops were encamped at Budua, and menaced 
 the Montenegrin frontier from that quarter. To 
 oppose these armies the Montenegrins, with the 
 allied nahias of the Berda, could only depend upon 
 from 10,000 to 12,000 troops. 
 
 Powder again was wanting to the Montenegrins, 
 
246 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and resistance seemed hopeless. Suddenly the whole 
 face of affairs was changed. On the 2nd of Novem- 
 ber — the Montenegrin annals have preserved the 
 exact date of their deliverance — a violent thunder- 
 storm burst over the southern frontier. A flash 
 of lightning destroyed the Venetian magazine of 
 powder. The thunder rolled and the lightning 
 played with unaccustomed energy around the 
 Turkish troops, and either dreading an explosion, 
 or, as another account states, in consequence of a 
 similar explosion, the Turkish troops fled. On 
 the northern frontier the Montenegrins captured a 
 large convoy destined for the Bosnian troops, and 
 paralyzed by this loss — to them serious, as winter 
 was fast approaching — this army withdrew. 
 
 The ballad which narrates the deliverance of the 
 country from this invasion ends with a thanksgiving 
 which reads like a verse from one of the books of 
 Maccabees. ' Thus/ cries the Montenegrin bard, 
 ' thus does the true God send help to them who pray 
 to Him. Believe therefore in Christ, dear brother ; 
 believe in the God whom the Tzrnogorski adore, 
 the God from whom they receive gladness and 
 courage and health.' * 
 
 Though it would seem, that Stephen the Little 
 * Cyprien Eobert, t. i. p. 155. 
 
STEPHEN THE LITTLE. 247 
 
 had taken no part in the struggle, and doubts have 
 even been cast upon his personal courage, yet on 
 the withdrawal of the Turkish armies the pretender, 
 with the concurrence, it is affirmed, of Prince Dol- 
 gorouki, the Russian envoy, was now invested with 
 the regency on behalf of the aged Sava. In this 
 position Stephen showed great capacity and vigour. 
 He laboured with success in reforming the harsher 
 features of the long border warfare. He shot all 
 Montenegrins convicted of robbery, and instituted 
 a police force' of such efficiency, that it was said if a 
 purse or, what was a greater temptation, a pistol 
 lay exposed on the rocks in any part of Montenegro, 
 no one would venture to appropriate the one or the 
 other. Add to this he laboured in the construction 
 of roads throughout the Principality, established 
 courts of justice, caused a census to be made of all 
 men able to bear arms, and, in short, proved by his 
 capacity to rule that he could not have been 
 Peter III. 
 
 In one way, however, Stephen the Little bore a 
 resemblance to the unfortunate Czar whom he per- 
 sonated. In the midst of his labours for the good of 
 the country which had given him an asylum and 
 had endorsed his claims to royalty, during 1774, ho 
 was strangled in his bed by a Greek whom he had 
 
248 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 taken into his service, but who is believed to have 
 been the emissary of the Pasha of Skodra, Mehemet 
 Bouehatli. 
 
 His death left the government of Montenegro 
 again in the incompetent hands of Bishop Sava. 
 This was the signal for a fresh invasion of Turks 
 under the same Pasha of Skodra, who is charged with 
 procuring the assassination of Stephen Mali. This, 
 however, like the former invasions, was repulsed by 
 the Montenegrins, and the Turks retired, having 
 suffered great loss. In the same year the treaty of 
 Kainardji gave peace to Turkey and Russia, and 
 though, as usual, no mention was made in the 
 treaty of the Montenegrins, they had the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that their efforts and successes had 
 prevented the Turks from sending troops from the 
 Herzegovina and Albania to arrest the march of the 
 Russian armies. It was the only satisfaction they 
 had. 
 
 Sava died full of years in 1782, having been con- 
 secrated bishop- coadjutor to his uncle Danilo in 
 1719, to whom he succeeded in 1735. He had 
 attained the sixty- third year of his episcopate, and 
 the forty-seventh of his rule as Prince-bishop. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 peter i. (1782—1830.) 
 
 On the death of Sava, his great-nephew, the Archi- 
 mandrite Peter Petrovic, was appointed Prince. He 
 had been present with Vassali at the time of his 
 death at St. Petersburg, and since the murder of 
 Stephen the Little had assisted the aged Vladika 
 in the government of Montenegro. On his appoint- 
 ment he proceeded as far as Vienna on his way to 
 Russia for consecration. On the refusal, however, 
 of the Russian ambassador in that city to grant him 
 a passport to enter Russia, he made application to 
 the Serb Patriarch at Carlowitz, and was by him 
 consecrated in 1784. At that moment Montenegro, 
 a prey to the intestine disorders which the feebleness 
 of Sava had encouraged, or at least had not permit- 
 ted him to repress, was menaced with a formidable 
 Turkish invasion. The resources of the country 
 were well-nigh exhausted, and the supplies of arms 
 
250 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 and powder had as usual failed. In this strait the 
 new Vladika turned towards Russia, which he 
 reached the following year, in order to obtain the 
 necessary means of defence. He had, however, no 
 sooner reached Russia than an order of Potemkim 
 was handed to him directing him to quit the country 
 in twenty -four hours. 
 
 On his return to Montenegro the Vladika found 
 that the disorganization which reigned throughout 
 the country menaced it with more serious evils than 
 the Turkish armies on the frontier, and he devoted 
 his great energies and abilities to repress the daily 
 outrages which were perpetrated, and to restore 
 peace and concord among his subjects. 
 
 On the breaking out of war in 1788 between 
 Turkey and the allied forces of Austria and Russia, 
 the Vladika was invited by the court of Vienna to 
 join with those two powers in the war against Turkey. 
 The tempting offer was made by Austria that the 
 Prince of Montenegro should be reinstated in the 
 territories held by the old princes of Zeta, and should 
 include within his dominions Albania and the strip 
 of land lying between Lake Skodra and the Adriatic 
 as far as the outlet of the Bojana River, and also 
 the Herzegovina. I need hardly remind the reader 
 that Dalmatia was then in the possession not of 
 
TREACHERY OF KARA MAHMOTTD. 251 
 
 Austria but of Venice. For a time Peter hesitated 
 to involve the country in war at the instigation of 
 Austria ; when however, these overtures were backed 
 by the invitation of Russia, the Yladika prepared 
 for active hostilities. 
 
 The state of things on the side of Albania was in 
 favour of the Austrio-Russian alliance. Kara Mah- 
 moud, the Pasha of Skodra, the direct descendant of 
 the renegade Montenegrin Prince Stanicha, and the 
 acknowledged leader of the powerful clan of Mon- 
 tenegrin Mussulmans, had made himself virtually 
 independent of Turkish control, though still nomi- 
 nally a subject of the Porte. This state of semi- 
 independence had been acknowledged, or at least 
 had been acquiesced in, by the Turkish Government. 
 With him Austria opened direct communications 
 with a view to obtain his support in the war, and in 
 order to settle the terms of co-operation sent an 
 envoy to Skodra. Affecting to entertain the pro- 
 posals, Kara Mahmoud enticed the envoy and his 
 companions into his power, and having murdered 
 them, forwarded their heads to Constantinople as a 
 proof of his own fidelity. 
 
 When this murder was known, Austria endea- 
 voured to induce the people of Montenegro to take 
 arms. The request met with a direct refusal. They 
 
252 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 could do nothing unless directed by their own 
 Yladika. As the intentions of Kara Mahmoud to 
 invade Montenegro were no longer a secret, and 
 Turkish troops were mustering on the frontier, 
 Peter gave the order, which was joyfully obeyed by 
 the people. The Koutchi and Piperi, as the tribes 
 immediately threatened by the Pasha, assembled in 
 force, but only to find themselves without powder 
 for the campaign. A small contingent of about four 
 hundred men, sent by Austria, either disheartened 
 by this want or acting under obedience to orders 
 from Vienna, withdrew first to the inaccessible re- 
 treats of the Lovchen, and then to Cattaro, leaving 
 the Montenegrins to carry on the war as best they 
 could. The vigour with which the war was pressed 
 on the Dneiper and the Danube seemed for a time to 
 promise lasting advantages to Montenegro. Every- 
 where the Turks were defeated with heavy loss of 
 men and material. These prospects, however, were 
 suddenly clouded over. Sweden declared war with 
 Russia. Joseph II. of Austria died, and his death soon 
 occasioned a change of policy at the Austrain court. 
 Russia withdrew from the war. Austria in 1791 
 made peace and abandoned her conquests. "Worse 
 than even this, or more galling to the Montenegrins, 
 Austria gratuitously, in making peace, included Mon- 
 
INCORPORATION OF THE BERDA. 253 
 
 tenegro in the list of revolted Turkish provinces for 
 which terms were demanded. 
 
 The four nahias of the Berda, which had for several 
 years been virtually united to Montenegro, were now 
 definitely incorporated into the Principality. About 
 this date all the people of the district round Trebinje, 
 wearied with the oppression of the Turks, emigrated 
 to Montenegro. The refugees at first attempted to 
 settle in the district of the Bielopavlichi, but the 
 lands there not supplying the needs of such an in- 
 crease to the inhabitants, they withdrew to the dis- 
 trict of the Uscogues in the Upper Moratcha, where 
 they found the means of living, and brought a con- 
 siderable accession of strength to Montenegro. The 
 territory of the Principality, though still a prey to 
 internal division, was daily consolidating, a fact 
 which was watched with natural jealousy by the 
 Government of Turkey. 
 
 Kara Mahmoud collected a force of about 20,000 
 men on the south frontier, and prepared to penetrate 
 into Montenegro from Podgoritza. The evident 
 object of the threatened invasion was to hinder the 
 union of the eight nahias which compose the present 
 Principality. As I have mentioned in the early 
 part of this volume, the territory of Turkey indents 
 that of Montenegro both on the north and the south, 
 
254 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 so that the distance from Spouj on the south to Niksic 
 on the north, both fortresses being in the possession 
 of Turkey, is only about twelve miles. East of a 
 line drawn from one to the other fortress lies the 
 country known as the Berda. West are the four 
 cantons of Montenegro. It is clear that if the Turks 
 could have effected a lodgment at any point between 
 Spouj andOstrog the connection between Montenegro 
 proper and the Berda would have been seriously 
 weakened. As soon as the news of the advance of 
 the Turkish troops reached Cetinje, Peter hurried to 
 the frontier, summoning the various tribes as he 
 passed on, and found himself in face of the advanced 
 guard of the Turks with a handful of men who had 
 kept up with his rapid advance ; in a few hours, 
 however, he was joined by nearly 8,000 soldiers. 
 For several days each of the armies were con- 
 tent to watch the movements of the other. At 
 length Kara Mahmoud, trusting in his great supe- 
 riority, attacked the Montenegrins in the early dawn, 
 expecting to find them off their guard. He was 
 deceived. They were ready for the encounter, 
 which took place at a little cluster of houses near 
 Spouj. The Turkish forces were totally defeated, 
 and, leaving 1,500 men on the field of battle, 
 Mahmoud, himself wounded in the action, fled 
 
ATTACK OF KARA MAHMOUD. 255 
 
 for shelter to Spouj, and finally retired across the 
 Moratcha. 
 
 A few years later, in 1796, Mahmoud assembled a 
 force of 30,000 and crossed the Zeta, as though about 
 to attempt to penetrate to Cetinje. The energetic 
 Vladika, collecting a few hundred men, left the capi- 
 tal, and waited only until the reinforcements which 
 came to his assistance allowed him to offer battle to 
 the Pasha. The Turkish troops were now powerfully 
 aided by the Koutchi, who had sent their contingent 
 into the'camp of Mahmoud. Peter chose a favourable 
 spot, and having divided his small force into two 
 bodies, he placed one of these, consisting of the best 
 marksmen, in a pass which it was necessary for the 
 Turks to force. He directed these to distribute a 
 number of red fez caps on the rocks, so as to deceive 
 the Turkish commander into the belief that every 
 Montenegrin was present, and then taking the rest 
 of his troops, by night he reached the rear of the 
 Turkish camp. In the morning the Turks advanced 
 to force the pass. The resistance was vigorous, 
 and the Montenegrin defence so well sustained, that 
 the Turkish troops could make no impression upon 
 the Montenegrins, posted as they were amid the 
 the rocks. In a short time they were in confusion, 
 when suddenly the Vladika, at the head of his other 
 
256 MONTENEGRO . 
 
 division, attacked them in the rear. The vigour and 
 unexpectedness of the onset decided the fate of the 
 day. The Turkish troops broke and fled, or at least 
 attempted to fly. Nearly the whole of them perished. 
 Kara Mahmoud was among the slain, and his head 
 was carried in triumph to Cetinje, where it long re- 
 mained as a trophy.* 
 
 The year after this battle Venice, was erased from 
 the map of Europe, and the territory of the republic 
 was, by the treaty of Campo Formio, divided between 
 France and Austria, the Dalmatian possessions of 
 Yenice falling for a time to the latter power, much 
 to the discontent of the people of Cattaro and the 
 shores of the Bocche. This arrangement brought 
 Montenegro eventually in contact with a new enemy, 
 disciplined after a different sort, and led by the 
 ablest generals of France. 
 
 In 1805 Cattaro, and the coast around the strip of 
 land formerly in the possession of Yenice, and after- 
 wards ceded to Austria, was again in the possession 
 of France. In the general hostilities which ensued 
 Montenegro took part with Austria and Russia. 
 Assisted by a squadron of the latter power, the troops 
 of the Yladika besieged and captured Castle JNuovo 
 at the entrance to the Bocche di Cattaro. On the 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 489. 
 
DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH. 257 
 
 advance of the French troops from Ragusa, the Mon- 
 tenegrins attacked them near Troitsa, and, notwith- 
 standing the artillery fire, compelled them to fall 
 back upon Ragusa, which they besieged, and were 
 on the point of capturing, when directions were 
 received from Russia that all the Montenegrin con- 
 quests were to be given up to Austria, at which the 
 Montenegrin troops retired in disgust. 
 
 [Notwithstanding the efforts of Marmont and 
 Lauriston, the French were unable to hold posses- 
 sion of the Dalmatian shore and subdue the Monte- 
 negrins. Even the strategy of Marmont failed before 
 the assaults of the Montenegrins. The rage of the 
 French at their constant defeat was exhibited in the 
 savage revenge taken when any of these people fell 
 into their power. The savagery was met with equal 
 savagery on the part of the Montenegrins. 
 
 At length came the treaty of Tilsit, by which the 
 Bocche di Cattaro was added to the dominions of the 
 French empire. As soon, however, as war broke out 
 with Austria and Russia, Montenegro again came to 
 the aid of, and lent much effectual assistance to, the 
 allies. Before hostilities commenced, Marmont, 
 however, sought an interview with the terrible 
 Vladika, which took place above Cattaro. There, 
 among other accusations, the Montenegrin chieftain 
 
 s 
 
258 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 was reproached with the national practice of cutting 
 off the heads of their enemies. ' We do so/ said the 
 Yladika; 'and why not? Which is worse, that 
 we should take off the heads of the French who are 
 our enemies, or that the French should take off 
 the heads of their king and of their fellow-citizens ? 
 We do so to our foes, you to your fellow- subjects.* 
 History has not preserved the reply of the French 
 general to the Montenegrin prince. 
 
 When peace was established for a moment between 
 France and Montenegro, the offer was made by the 
 Emperor Napoleon to send a consul to reside at 
 Cetinje, and to make a road across Montenegro for 
 the convenience of its inhabitants — and, of course, 
 of any French troops who might wish to cross the 
 territory of the Prince. The latter offer was declined. 
 The border tribes were still at war with the French. 
 They were Montenegrins by race, and, as usual, the 
 Montenegrins, f openly or furtively, at any rate 
 efficiently, supported their brethren. On this occa- 
 sion, irritated at the success of these vexatious 
 inroads upon the newly acquired French territory, 
 Napoleon is said to have threatened to bathe Mon- 
 tenegro in blood, and make it a veritable Monte 
 Rosso. 
 
 The threat was never fulfilled. 
 
SIEGE OF CATTARO. 259 
 
 In 1813, when the disasters of the French army 
 in the Moscow campaign were known, the Yladika 
 opened communication with Sir William Hoste, 
 who commanded the British fleet in the Adriatic, 
 and in conjunction with him operations were con- 
 ducted against the French possessions on the shores 
 of the Bocche. Cattaro was besieged by a Montene- 
 grin force under the command of the civil governor. 
 Finding the fort of S. Trinita, which includes Cat- 
 taro, was in danger of being taken, the French 
 commander withdrew, having first mined the place 
 and prepared for its destruction. It blew up soon 
 after the last of the French troops had withdrawn. 
 The capture of Spagnuolo and of Castle Nuovo soon 
 followed, and in October of that year Cattaro sur- 
 rendered to a joint force of Bocchesi and Monte- 
 negrins. The whole of the shores of the Bocche 
 were now in the hands of the Yladika, and at an 
 assembly of the people it was resolved to unite the 
 district with Montenegro. The English ships under 
 Sir William Hoste, which had assisted in the reduc- 
 tion of Cattaro, withdrew, leaving the whole of the 
 conquered territory in the hands of the conquerors. 
 
 Montenegro did not loDg remain in possession of 
 the coveted strip of sea- coast. By an agreement 
 between Austria and Russia the whole was seized by 
 
260 MONTENEGEO. 
 
 Austria, and has since remained a portion of her 
 
 Relieved from the duties of war by the treaty of 
 Vienna, and for awhile by the exhaustion of the 
 Turks, the Vladika was now enabled to turn his 
 attention to the domestic affairs of the country. 
 Notwithstanding all his endeavours, the internal 
 affairs of Montenegro were extremely unsatisfactory. 
 Want had gone on almost to famine. "Worse than 
 this, broils and strife prevailed throughout the 
 country. Dissension had grown into disorganiza- 
 tion. Village was arrayed against village, as well as 
 province against province. Many families, despair- 
 ing of repose, emigrated from their native country. 
 Many of these went to Servia, some to E-ussia. 
 The common enemy, taking advantage of these 
 untoward circumstances, again invaded Montenegro. 
 An army of 12,000 men entered the Principality, 
 sacking and burning the villages on the frontier. 
 This invasion partook more of a border raid on a 
 large scale than of regular war. It was repelled 
 with the loss of 1,500 of the enemy. Large booty 
 and a number of horses became the prize of the con- 
 querors, together with a number of prisoners, many 
 of whom the exasperated Montenegrins decapitated 
 amid the yet burning ruins of their villages. 
 
LONG PERIOD OF PEACE. 261 
 
 Then ensued an unusually long period of peace. 
 From 1821 to 1830 the troubles which had arisen in 
 Greece and Moldo- Wallachia sufficiently engaged the 
 attentions of the Turks, and prevented their under- 
 taking any formal invasion of Montenegro during 
 these ten years. On the part of the Montenegrins, 
 however, this time was marked by perpetual forays 
 into the Turkish provinces, in order to procure the 
 subsistence which their impoverished and desolated 
 country could no longer yield to them. Their 
 necessities were the greater because, from 1814 
 till 1825, the annual payment first made by Peter 
 the Great of Russia as compensation for their losses 
 as the allies of that power had been withheld by the 
 Emperor Alexander. This payment was, however, 
 resumed in the latter year, and has since been 
 paid with regularity. 
 
 This period of cessation from war, if not of repose, 
 was employed by the Yladika Peter in stringent 
 measures to remedy the disorders which had grown 
 up within the country. The limits between Austria 
 and Montenegro were now settled, the border raids 
 were checked, the vendetta successfully repressed, 
 and a great step made towards the amelioration of 
 the condition of Montenegro by the rigid application 
 of the code of laws promulgated by the Vladika in 
 
262 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 1796. The severity with which he visited any 
 breach of these laws is still a tradition of the 
 country over which he ruled so long and with so 
 great advantage to his people. They reverenced 
 him as a father, he treated them as his children, and 
 did not spare the rod in their correction. 
 
 As the history of his reign and his conduct in 
 the wars with Turkey and afterwards with France 
 sufficiently witness, he was a man of iron will and 
 of dauntless bravery ; but, more than this, his ad- 
 ministrative abilities were considerable ; he possessed 
 the art of influencing others ; he had the gift of 
 great eloquence. His energy in war and his activity 
 in the government of the country were in striking 
 contrast to the gentleness of his disposition. In 
 his personal habits he was simple even to austerity, 
 so much so that in his last illness he had not even 
 a fire within the four bare walls which served him 
 for a bedroom. 
 
 His end was characteristic. In October, 1830, the 
 heads of the various plemena had assembled in 
 Cetinje to discuss the best means for the settlement 
 of the differences which still existed in several parts 
 of the united Principality. Gathered around the 
 fire in the ample apartment which served as 
 the Vladika's kitchen and the senate house of the 
 
DEATH OF PETER I. 263 
 
 people, the Vladika, whilst addressing the senators 
 and others whom he had summoned, was seized with 
 a fainting fit. He was removed to his bed-chamber, 
 and thither, when sufficiently recovered, he called 
 the assembled chiefs, dictated his will, and received 
 from them the promise of obedience to his wishes 
 as expressed in this his last testament, and then 
 amid the prayers of his subjects he commended his 
 soul to God, and quietly expired in the eighty-first 
 year of his age and the forty-eighth of his rule. 
 
 An annual feast day and a pilgrimage to his 
 coffin at Cetinje, which is attended by large 
 numbers of Serbs, not only in Montenegro but 
 beyond its frontier, perpetuate the memory of the 
 great Vladika and saint, Peter I. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PETER II. (1830—1851). 
 
 The task which had engaged the last thoughts 
 of the great Yladika was not intermitted by his 
 death. By his will, which the assembled chiefs 
 had promised to obey, and to which, without such 
 promise, the reverence entertained by them for 
 their Prince would have ensured a ready obe- 
 dience, enjoined upon them to promote by every 
 means within their power the concord of all 
 classes in Montenegro. In this will he urged 
 them to discourage the reprisals and acts of revenge 
 which so fatally disturbed the peace of their com- 
 mon country, and that he might assist them in 
 commencing this great work he called upon them 
 to swear to abstain from all deeds of personal 
 hostility until St. George's day in the coming 
 year. 
 
 Around the coffin of the Yladika whom they had 
 
FUNERAL OF PETER I. 265 
 
 so often followed to the field the chiefs swore to 
 observe these his last injunctions. 
 
 This done, they prepared for the funeral, and, 
 amid the tears of the whole people, carried his 
 coffin to the little chapel of the convent. There 
 he lies, coffined but unburied, the object still of the 
 affectionate reverence of the Montenegrin people. 
 At the urgent entreaties of his children, his subjects, 
 his successor proclaimed his canonization ; and St. 
 Peter Petrovic at this day divides with St. Elias 
 and St. George the honours paid in Montenegro to 
 the saints of God. 
 
 Though no formal instrument had given to the 
 Vladika the right of nominating his successor, yet 
 he was permitted to do this, and by his last will 
 Peter I. named his nephew, Radatamova, to the 
 office of Prince and Bishop of Montenegro. The 
 young man shrank from the post. He refused for 
 a time the honour. His desire indeed had been to 
 fit himself for a military life. His literary tastes 
 also led him to wish to avoid the life of active toil 
 and self-denial which the proferred post demanded. 
 Add to this, he was but seventeen years of age. 
 His disinclination did not divert the chiefs from 
 their choice, and at length he consented to obey the 
 wishes of his deceased uncle. It was fortunate for 
 
266 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegro that he did so. Of course at this age 
 he had not been set apart for the ecclesiastical life. 
 Notwithstanding this, on the day after his uncle's 
 death, the assembled chiefs of the various plemena 
 vested him in ecclesiastical costume, placed in his 
 hand the pastoral staff, and presented him to the 
 people as their future ruler. 
 
 A slight opposition was manifested to his succes- 
 sion. It was natural that this should be the case. 
 This, however, was speedily repressed, and among 
 the first persons who pressed around to offer him 
 their homage were the Archimandrite of Ostrog and 
 the civil governor, Vuk Radovic, the representatives 
 of the ecclesiastical and secular authority of the 
 Principality. 
 
 A short time after his accession to power the 
 Bishop of Prisrend was invited to ordain the new 
 Prince. In the little chapel of Our Lady in the 
 Island of Kom, on the Lake of Skodra, the young 
 Prince was advanced to the offices of deacon and 
 priest, and invested with all ecclesiastical rights and 
 duties entrusted to and enjoined upon an archiman- 
 drite. 
 
 Three years after his ordination the new Prince 
 made a journey to St. Petersburg, and was there 
 consecrated to the episcopal office, and took the 
 
TURKISH PROPOSALS. 267 
 
 name of Peter in honour of his deceased uncle. 
 The year before such consecration (1832) was, how- 
 ever, made memorable in Montenegrin history by 
 two events. 
 
 At the time of the death of Kara Mahmoud, 
 Pasha of Skodra, Albania had become virtually 
 independent of the Sultan, though still owning a 
 nominal subjection to his government. His son, 
 Moustapha Boutchali, was less able or less fortunate 
 than his father, and was compelled by the Grand 
 Yizier, Mahmoud Rescind, to recognise the authority 
 of the Porte. He had no sooner succeeded in this 
 than the Grand Vizier turned his attention to Mon- 
 tenegro, and offered substantial advantages to the 
 people and to their Prince if they would acknow- 
 ledge the suzerainty of the Sultan. An extended 
 territory and a concession of hereditary right to 
 rule was to be given to the Prince, in the same 
 way that it had been just given to Serbia. The 
 conditions of the two Principalities were, however, 
 essentially different. Serbia had for a long period 
 been a province of Turkey. Montenegro had 
 always asserted, and had made good its assertion, 
 to independence. Peter refused the offer of the 
 Grand Vizier. On this refusal a Turkish force, 
 the advanced guard of a larger force to follow, was 
 
268 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 directed against Montenegro. So sudden was the 
 attack, that the first intimation of the invasion was 
 the appearance of a small army of 7,000 men on 
 the frontier near Spouj. These troops invaded the 
 Montenegrin territory at Martinic, the scene of 
 a desperate engagement in the time of the late 
 Vladika. The attack might have been in some 
 measure successful but for the bravery and self- 
 devotion of the village priest. Assembling his 
 parishioners, he resisted the Turkish force, and 
 succeeded in delaying their advance, and though he 
 laid down his life in accomplishing this, yet the 
 delay allowed the armed levies of the Bielopavlic 
 and of the Piperi to assemble. The Turks were 
 driven back over the Moratcha with great slaughter 
 — the invasion was at an end. 
 
 The other event which happened in the same 
 year was of a different character. The civil 
 governor, which office had come to be regarded, 
 like that of the Vladika, as an hereditary right, 
 and was always bestowed upon one of the Eadovic 
 family of Niegush, though he had been one of the 
 first to render homage to the Bishop, had resented 
 his election. He was now accused of a design 
 to place Montenegro under the control or suzerainty 
 of Austria. What were the proofs of the charge 
 
OBEDIENCE TO THE LAWS ENFORCED. 269 
 
 we are not informed. That lie was plotting the 
 overthrow of the Vladika there can be little doubt.* 
 He was banished, and the office of civil governor, 
 which in the time of the energetic Peter I„ had 
 been stripped of most of its importance, was now 
 formally abolished. 
 
 Up to this time, though the late Vladika had 
 promulgated a code of laws, he had not succeeded 
 in establishing respect for these laws. The sturdy 
 independence of the chieftains refused to obey their 
 requirements, without, however, contesting the 
 authority of the lawgiver. Laws were alien to 
 the Principality, which had been governed — so far 
 as it could be said to be governed — by old, unwrit- 
 ten, and variously interpreted customs. The present 
 Vladika enforced obedience with salutary rigour. 
 In his visitation of his diocese he threatened the 
 refractory with excommunication, and punished with 
 the secular arm those who violated the laws. 
 Up to this time revenge for the death of a 
 Montenegrin was so deeply impressed upon all the 
 members of the community as a sacred duty, that 
 the execution of the sentence of the law often led to 
 bitter feuds and blood-shedding between the pleme 
 of the criminal and that to which the executioner 
 
 * Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 461. 
 
270 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 belonged. To prevent the indulgence of this pas- 
 sion the Vladika condemned the criminal to be 
 shot, and caused a selection of men from various 
 plemena to be made, who fired at the same instant, 
 and so prevented the possibility of any one person 
 being responsible for carrying out the sentence 
 of the law. Every form of the vendetta was severely 
 repressed. Theft was trampled out. The quar- 
 rels which existed, and led oftentimes to bloodshed, 
 between the different vplemena of the Principality, 
 were sternly punished. National customs and 
 national habits were not allowed to stand in the 
 way of the laws. Time-honoured practices, such as 
 raids and cattle-lifting, were no longer permitted, 
 and even the custom of cutting off the heads of the 
 slain and preserving them as public trophies was 
 made illegal, and in a great measure abolished, by 
 the exertions of the Yladika. In all parts of the 
 Principality, between the rigour of his acts and the 
 respect felt for his commands, a great improve- 
 ment was effected in the political and social life of 
 the Montenegrins before his death. 
 
 According to the very competent evidence of an 
 eye-witness of these improvements — l Until the 
 late reforms the power of the Vladika was more 
 limited, being rather a moral influence than an 
 
PAST CUSTOMS. 271 
 
 actual jurisdiction. He had no right to punish any 
 one for the greatest crimes ; and though he might 
 interpose his episcopal authority and threaten with 
 excommunication, his commands might be defied ; 
 and he was obeyed rather out of respect for his holy 
 office, for his superior understanding, and from a 
 belief that he acted from just and wise motives. In 
 the absence of laws, every one defended his own 
 cause by force ; none were amenable to justice, and 
 none were deterred by fear of punishment which 
 none had the right to inflict. Blood was avenged 
 by blood, and the lex talionis was carried out much 
 in the same way as among other people in a primi- 
 tive state of society. If the murderer had left the 
 country, their vengeance fell on his nearest rela- 
 tion. He in turn found new avengers; and some- 
 times whole villages made war in this way, so that 
 neither governor nor Vladika could stop the effusion 
 of blood. Families were obliged to avenge the 
 violent deaths that happened in their villages, and 
 villages, or even whole districts, to take the part of 
 their inhabitants against those of another village or 
 district. Truces were sometimes established between 
 the hostile parties, as, for instance, when they had 
 common or adjoining fields to cultivate. In cases 
 where one party stood more in need of the truce 
 
272 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 than the opposite one, it must pay for it ; and the 
 attack of the foreign enemy alone established a 
 general truce for all private hostilities.' * 
 
 The contrast between the past and the present 
 condition of Montenegro is the best testimony to 
 the abilities and patriotism of Peter II. 
 
 The office from which he had shrunk proved no 
 light one to the conscientious Vladika. In the 
 moment of danger, at the alarm of the invasion of 
 the Turks, Peter approved himself an able and 
 intrepid captain. "When the duties of his military 
 command permitted, he was the laborious priest and 
 eloquent preacher, to whom his people flocked for 
 advice and instruction ; and when these failed to keep 
 his people in the right way, he sat under the shade 
 of the tree of justice, heard their complaints, adjusted 
 their differences, and condemned the criminal. 
 These multiform duties he lightened by literary pur- 
 suits, and by indulging his hereditary genius for 
 poetry. He was thus at once the leader of his people 
 in war, their priest and bishop in peace, their in- 
 structor, their judge, and the bard to whose poems 
 they listened, and still listen, with delight. 
 
 The solitude of the Black Mountain, together 
 with the absence of congenial society, were felt 
 * Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 456. 
 
DEATH OF PETER II. Zt6 
 
 deeply by the Yladika ; but he bravely resisted all 
 temptations to a life of ease. He was a man not 
 only remarkable even among these men of large 
 stature for his height, which reached six feet eight 
 inches, and for his skill with the rifle, in which he 
 excelled, but also for his mental accomplishments. 
 He spoke and wrote German, Italian, French, and 
 Russian, and found time amid the pressure of his 
 many duties to correspond with the various literary 
 societies of Slavonia and other lands.* 
 
 He died, after a short illness, in October, 1851, 
 at the early age of thirty-nine years, and, according 
 to his request, his body lies entombed in a mortuary 
 chapel, for which he had provided the funds, on the 
 top of the Lovchen Mountain. 
 
 * ' Besides his talents as a governor, the Vladika has the 
 merit of being a distinguished Servian or Slavonian poet ; 
 and he unites all the qualities of a good soldier and an able 
 diplomatist. He is also a member of several learned societies 
 of Europe.' — Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 471. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE SECULAR RULE — DANILO II. 
 
 Like his predecessor, Peter I., the last public care 
 of the dying Yladika had been to summon the chiefs 
 of the various districts to Cetinje, and make known 
 to them his dying commands. In a short address 
 he informed them that he had by his last will 
 appointed Danilo, son, of his brother Stanko, to 
 succeed him, and that, in order to fit him for this 
 post, he had sent him abroad for his education, and 
 he added, ' I bequeath my curse to every one who 
 does not honour and obey this my last will, which I 
 direct you to read to all the people, solemnly as- 
 sembled for that purpose.' The following morning, 
 the 18th of October, 1851, he died, after a reign of 
 twenty-one years. 
 
 Immediately after his death the chiefs present 
 and others assembled at a solemn skuptchina, or 
 council, at Cetinje. Here the will of the Vladika 
 
DANILO II. 275 
 
 was read to the chiefs, and by them made known to 
 the people of the various districts which they repre- 
 sented. 
 
 Danilo, at that time twenty-three years of age, 
 was the youngest son of Stanko Petrovic. He was 
 at Vienna when the death of his uncle took place. 
 He immediately returned to Montenegro. He came 
 to find his right of succession disputed. His uncle 
 Pero, brother of the late Vladika, and President of 
 the Senate, had already won over the chiefs to sup- 
 port his own elevation to the dignity of Prince, and 
 was prepared to resist the appointment of Danilo. 
 For a time it seemed that he would be successful in 
 his usurpation. The prudence and patience of the 
 young Prince, however, and the influence which the 
 known wishes of the deceased Vladika exercised 
 over the Montenegrin people, frustrated these in- 
 trigues, and soon after his arrival at Cetinje Danilo 
 was recognised as the successor of his uncle, 
 Peter II. 
 
 The President and Vice-President of the Senate, 
 as well as their chief adherents, resigned their 
 offices, but were reinstated in them by the young 
 Prince. 
 
 The inconveniences of the ecclesiastical rule, the 
 need and yet danger of a divided authority, of a 
 
276 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 prince-bishop and a civil governor subordinate to 
 him, both of which had been recognised, formerly 
 by the long existence of that office, and now by its 
 recent abolition, were fully comprehended by Danilo. 
 Add to this, he was personally averse to entering 
 the ecclesiastical state, and left Cetinje on his way 
 to St. Petersburg meditating on the means to 
 separate for the future the functions of the prince 
 and the bishop. With the exception of the handful 
 of influential chiefs who had endeavoured to prevent 
 the sucession of Danilo, the people of Montenegro 
 were prepared to acquiesce in the change. A 
 skuptchina was summoned to consider the proposal 
 which the Prince had caused to be laid before it in 
 his absence, and, after some discussion, the funda- 
 mental articles of the constitution of Montenegro 
 were declared to be : — 
 
 (1.) That Montenegro is a secular state, with the 
 hereditary government of a prince. 
 
 (2.) The illustrious Danilo Petrovic is acknow- 
 ledged and recognised as Prince. After his death 
 the succession shall ever belong to the male line of 
 his family, in order of primogeniture. On the 
 failure of direct succession the power shall pass to his 
 nearest relation. Should there be more than one of 
 the same relationship, then the eldest shall succeed. 
 
NEW CONSTITUTION. 277 
 
 (3.) The archbishop or bishop who shall exercise 
 the oversight of ecclesiastical affairs shall be chosen 
 from the family of Niegush — that is, the Petrovic 
 family — or from one of the other principal families 
 in the country. 
 
 (4.) The organic law, the legislative acts, and 
 customs which have hitherto served as rules for the 
 government of the country, shall continue to be in 
 force, save and except in the case of such as may be 
 altered by this decree. 
 
 (5.) His Highness the Prince is invited to return 
 as speedily as may be to his country, to make 
 known his wishes, and to proceed, in conjunction 
 with the Senate, to execute the same. 
 
 (6.) Commissioners extraordinary shall be imme- 
 diately sent to make known the present decree to 
 Prince Danilo and also to the Emperor of Russia. 
 
 Though Prince Danilo had, for public reasons, 
 urged the secularization of the government of the 
 Principality, he was now further stimulated by a 
 private motive to carry out the contemplated change. 
 At Trieste he met with a young, accomplished, and 
 patriotic Serb lady, whom he afterwards married — 
 Darinka, daughter of a wealthy merchant of that 
 city, Marko Kochoic. 
 
 Having obtained the acquiescence of the Emperor 
 
278 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Nicholas of Russia to the future separation of the 
 civil and ecclesiastical offices, Danilo returned to 
 Montenegro. 
 
 The Porte viewed the change with disapproval. 
 That these should have been carried out without 
 seeking the support of Turkey was a direct asser- 
 tion that Montenegro was independent of that 
 power, and acknowledged no suzerainty in it. The 
 hostility of Turkey led to a declaration of war, and 
 Omar Pasha was directed to invade Montenegro. 
 On the part of the Montenegrins the war com- 
 menced with the surprise and seizure of Jablac on 
 the south-western frontier of the Principality. The 
 war itself was for a time unattended with any deci- 
 sive success on either part, until by a night attack, 
 a few days after Christmas, 1852, the camp of Omar 
 Pasha was destroyed, seventeen standards captured, 
 and a large part of the Turks slain. On this reverse 
 Omar Pasha changed the direction of his attack, 
 and endeavoured to penetrate Montenegro from the 
 northern frontier. He found this quarter guarded 
 as watchfully and energetically as the opposite 
 quarter. And on his advance from Grrahova to 
 Ostrog, he was met by the Prince himself, at the 
 head of a Montenegrin corps, and was totally 
 defeated, with great slaughter. On this he retired 
 
PEACE MADE WITH TURKEY. 279 
 
 from the Herzegovina. No sooner had he done so, 
 than his active opponent joined his troops on the 
 opposite frontier, and compelled the Turks to fall 
 back from the banks of the Zeta, when, at the 
 mediation of Austria, the Porte made peace with 
 Montenegro, and received from the hands of the 
 Prince 900 prisoners who had been kept at 
 Cetinje. The Turks lost in this war 4,500 men 
 on the fields of battle, beside those who died in the 
 military hospitals, either of their wounds or from 
 disease. 
 
 In the war between Russia and Turkey assisted 
 by England, France and Italy, Montenegro re- 
 tained an attitude of neutrality, somewhat to the 
 danger of the popularity of Prince Danilo with his 
 subjects. This was increased by the severe measure* 
 taken by him to repress all forays upon the Turkish 
 frontier. These he forbade by proclamation, and 
 when this appeared insufficient, by the punishment 
 of the offenders. It was hard to eradicate the feeling 
 that reprisals such as these were lawful and right. 
 The Turks were ceaselessly invading the land of 
 the Montenegrins, and now the Prince had forbid- 
 den them to harrass their turbulent neighbours, 
 who had forcibly taken possession of the lands 
 which belonged to the people of Montenegro. 
 
280 ATONTENEGEO. 
 
 The nahias of the Berda were profoundly agitated 
 on this question. The warlike Piper i, the Koutchi, 
 who, in addition to this grievance, were Roman 
 Catholics, with but a slight attachment to the 
 Vladika of Montenegro, and the Bielopavlichi, who 
 were the first to suffer when the armies of Turkey 
 were invading the Principal^, flew to arms, and 
 proclaimed their separation from Montenegro pro- 
 per. The insurrection was suppressed, but the 
 determination of Prince Danilo that no more forays 
 should be permitted upon Turkey severely tried 
 the loyalty of his people. The Prince, however, 
 persisted in the course on which he had deliberately 
 entered. 
 
 As soon as this insurrection was suppressed, and 
 the Prince was at leisure to turn for a moment 
 from public occupations, he was married to Darinka 
 Kochoic, to whom he had been betrothed nearly 
 three years before. At a skuptchina summoned for 
 that purpose, in the same year (1855), the new code 
 of laws prepared by the Prince was presented for 
 acceptance. This, though based on that promul- 
 gated 1 by Peter I., contained many provisions on 
 matters not contemplated by the code of his pre- 
 decessor. At the same assembly a decree was passed 
 to regulate the succession to supreme power, and 
 
CLAIMS MADE BY DANILO. 281 
 
 his nephew, Nicholas Petrovic, then a lad of 
 fourteen, was recognised as heir, in default of sons 
 living at the death of Danilo. Nicholas was son 
 of Mirko, the elder brother of Prince Danilo. 
 
 In order that he might be fitted for the post 
 to which he might be hereafter called, Nicholas 
 was sent to Paris to complete his education. 
 
 The discontent caused along the border by the 
 vigorous suppression of the raids which the Mon- 
 tenegrins had been accustomed to make upon the 
 Turks led to an insurrection, which, though soon 
 repressed by the vigour of Mirko, the brother of the 
 Prince, bore fruit afterwards in the withdrawal 
 of the Koutchi from their allegiance. 
 
 At the end of 1856 Prince Danilo addressed to the 
 great powers a memorial claiming on behalf of Monte- 
 negro, first, the official recognition of its independ- 
 ence, which, though a fact, was sometimes contested 
 by the Porte ; secondly, the extension of the frontier 
 line both on the side of the Herzegovina and on that 
 of Albania, so as to obviate the inconvenience to the 
 country by the deep indentation of Turkish territory 
 on cither side ; thirdly, the delineation of the frontier 
 where Montenegro was bounded by Turkey, in the 
 same way as it had been determined on the Austrian 
 frontier ; fourthly, the re- union of Antivari with 
 
282 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Montenegro, so as to allow of the inhabitants of the 
 Principality obtaining access to the sea, for the ex- 
 portation of their own productions as well as for the 
 free importation of the produce of other countries. 
 These four demands were presented to the Porte by 
 envoys accredited by the Prince. Instead of com- 
 plying with these demands the Porte replied by 
 requiring the Prince to acknowledge the supremacy 
 of the Sultan, and promised, on condition that this 
 was done, to make over to the Prince the portion of 
 territory to which he had laid claim on the side of the 
 Herzegovina, the Prince undertaking, on his part, 
 to pay to the Government of Turkey the tithes of 
 the portion so assigned ; the Sultan promised, more- 
 over, that then he would assign to the Prince a 
 civil list and a Turkish title, and would give the 
 Montenegrins access to any of the Turkish ports. 
 
 These proposals of Turkey caused the intensest in- 
 dignation in Montenegro, and the utmost surprise 
 and discontent were excited by the news that the 
 Prince was willing to acknowledge the suzerainty 
 of the Porte on condition of his people receiving 
 certain substantial advantages. This unexpected 
 resolve of the Prince for a while caused him great 
 unpopularity. 
 
 War, however, with Turkey prevented any further 
 
AVAIL WITH TURKEY. 283 
 
 consideration of this subject. This time the storm 
 burst on the frontier of Herzegovina, at the point 
 where the Austrian territory touches that of Turkey 
 and of Montenegro. The Turkish troops were pushed 
 forward from Trebinje with orders to occupy the 
 valley of Grahova. Seven thousand men under 
 Hussein Pasha taking the road for Klobuk, reached 
 the plateau of Grahovatz and encamped there. The 
 only Montenegrin force opposed to them was a 
 small contingent of 400 men. On the news of 
 the invasion Mirko hurried to the point which was 
 menaced in order to assume the command of this 
 small body. On his arrival he dispatched the Prince's 
 secretary, Delarue, to remonstrate with the Pasha at 
 this unprovoked invasion. On his arrival in the 
 Turkish camp he was seized and detained as a hostage. 
 Finding, however, that the Montenegrin troops were 
 posted on ground which offered great difficulties in 
 the way of the attacking forces, and that the various 
 contingents were hourly hastening to the post of 
 danger and ranging themselves under the command 
 of Mirko, the Turkish commander determined to 
 fall back from the ground which he occupied. The 
 retreat commenced in good order. Mirko, however, 
 who had already divined that the Turkish forces 
 would be compelled to retreat, refusing to give way 
 
284 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 to the entreaties of his men, who burned to attack 
 the Turkish troops, had the evening before directed 
 the contingent of 400 men who had at the first 
 opposed the advance of the Turkish commander to 
 march to the rear of the enemy, and ordered its 
 leader to post himself across the only line open for 
 the retreat of Hussein Pasha. JSTo sooner had the 
 retreat of the Turkish troops commenced than the 
 main body of the Montenegrins were seen crossing 
 the heights along their line of march, and almost 
 as soon as they were seen the battle commenced. 
 A few rounds from their rifles were fired, when, 
 throwing them aside, the Montenegrins rushed, 
 yataghan in hand, helter-skelter upon the Turks. 
 Before the Turkish commander could form his line 
 of battle his troops broke and fled, but only to 
 fall under the swords of the mountaineers. In vain 
 two battalions of the Imperial Guard attempted by 
 their firmness to arrest the advance of the Mon- 
 tenegrins. In vain the artillery, of which the Mon- 
 tenegrins were destitute, scattered death into the 
 ranks as they advanced to the attack. The artillery- 
 men were shot down at their posts, and the artillery 
 was speedily silenced. For two hours the fight and 
 flight had continued under these circumstances, 
 when a short sharp rifle fire in their front told the 
 
BATTLE OF GKAIIOVA. 285 
 
 Ottoman troops that their retreat itself was cut off. 
 One division of veteran Turkish soldiers thrown into 
 a square attempted to arrest the Montenegrins. 
 The attempt only insured their slaughter. The 
 Montenegrins, seizing the bayonet with one hand, 
 dealt death with the yataghan in the other. The 
 Turkish troops, according to the testimony of their 
 enemies, behaved with great bravery, but all in vain. 
 The Pasha who commanded these troops was slain, 
 and his men perished, each one in the ranks with 
 their commander. The resistance, however, which 
 was offered by a portion of the Turkish force enabled 
 many of the troops to save themselves by flight. 
 The main part of the army, however, under Hussein 
 Pasha, were strewn along the plain of Grahova. 
 The Montenegrin loss was 400 men. Of the Turks 
 2,237 corpses were counted on the plateau of Gra- 
 hovatz, and their whole loss before reaching a place 
 of safety amounted to 4,000; in addition to this the 
 whole of their artillery, military stores, and standards 
 fell into the hands of the victors. Well might these 
 wonder at the completeness of their victory. The 
 expression of their wonder broke out in utterances 
 which breathe the spirit of Hebrew poetry, and the 
 Montenegrin song which recounts the events of the 
 battle thus concludes : * Dear God, the miracle of our 
 
286 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 victory is the work of thine omnipotence. Thine, 
 dear Lord, be the glory of all the works of thine 
 hands.' 
 
 The victory of the Montenegrins at Grahova was 
 revenged by the fugitives upon the peasants of the 
 Herzegovina, who it was known could not fail to 
 rejoice at the defeat of the Turks. The news of this 
 victory was carried to the farthest east, and increased 
 the respect which was entertained for the Monte- 
 negrin name, whilst Grahova itself has from that 
 day become a part of the territory ruled over by 
 the Prince of Montenegro. 
 
 According to the request of the Prince, the great 
 powers of Europe joined in marking out the limits of 
 Montenegro and deciding upon its future boun- 
 daries. No rectification of the frontier has, however, 
 followed upon the labours of this commission. 
 Their frontier remained as open to attack as before, 
 and no port was granted to them as an outlet for their 
 commerce. During the next year no event of im- 
 portance took place in Montenegro, and the Prince 
 was fully occupied in carrying out the scheme for 
 the social reformation of his people. The new code 
 was enforced in all its parts, and the people, how- 
 ever at the first they might have been averse to the 
 novelties which it sanctioned or enjoined, recognised 
 
ASSASSINATION OF DANILO II. 287 
 
 the patriotism and wisdom of their Prince in the 
 various actions of his government. The end, how- 
 ever, was near at hand. 
 
 In July, 1860, Prince Danilo left Cetinje for the 
 baths at Persano on the Boche di Cattaro. After a 
 residence of several weeks there, and whilst at Cat- 
 taro enjoying an evening walk on the promenade 
 with the Princess on the 13th of August, he was shot 
 by an exiled Montenegrin who had arrived in that 
 city the day before in disguise. Danilo died the 
 next day, and his assassin, having been tried, was 
 hung without revealing the motives for the murder 
 of the Prince. Attended by his young widow, the 
 body was borne up the great pass, and was buried 
 in the chapel re-erected by the Prince and Princess 
 in memory of their marriage a short time before. 
 If any expectation existed that the death of the 
 Prince would effect any change in the Montenegrin 
 succession, this was frustrated by the prompt action 
 of the Princess Darinka, who, in conformity with 
 the decree which had settled the succession, pro- 
 claimed the son of Mirko as Nicholas I., Prince of 
 Montenegro and the Berda. Prince Danilo left 
 behind only an infant daughter, Olga. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 NICHOLAS I. (1860). 
 
 I have no intention of attempting to review the 
 history of the seventeen years during which Prince 
 Nicholas has directed the affairs of Montenegro. 
 They have been most momentous years in the life 
 of the nation ; but the ruler is alive, and I shrink 
 from the expression of my judgment upon the acts 
 of his reign. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The order of succession made during the life- 
 time of the late Prince had named Nicholas the son 
 of Mirko, elder brother of Prince Danilo, as his heir. 
 The practice in the selection of a prince had never 
 followed the rules applicable to the descent of 
 landed property. Fitness, not birth, was the one 
 consideration in the eyes of prince and people; 
 and though neither contemplated that the suc- 
 cession would devolve on so young a prince, and 
 
CHARACTER OF MIRKO. 289 
 
 some misgivings were naturally felt and freely 
 expressed that lie might prove unequal to the task, 
 yet these have been forgotten in his successful 
 rule.* 
 
 Mirko had thus been destined to see any birth- 
 claims which he might seem to have possessed 
 postponed in 1851 to the intellectual claims of his 
 younger brother; while, in 1860, he saw himself 
 again passed over, and his son selected to be the 
 ruler of Montenegro. On both occasions he appears 
 to have acquiesced loyally in the choice by which 
 he was thrust aside. Only this acquiescence pre- 
 served peace to Montenegro. No one within its 
 bounds was more popular, no one more calculated to 
 secure the popular suffrage than the Grand Voivode 
 Mirko. A fiery paladin, the very beau-idial of 
 Montenegrin chivalry, he was the trusted leader in 
 every campaign, and his exploits and the exploits 
 of those whom he commanded at Grahova are still 
 favourite subjects for the evening conversation in 
 the cottage homes throughout Montenegro. His 
 presence, it was believed, would secure victory to the 
 troops whenever he might be called to command 
 
 • Prince Nicholas was born 13th September, 1840 (O.S.), 
 married 10th September, 1860 (O.S.), to Milena, daughter 
 of Peter Voukotic, and has one son, Danilo Alexander, and 
 six daughters. 
 
 U 
 
290 MONTENEGRO. 
 
 them. His deeds of bravery sound more like those 
 of the Homeric heroes than of a nineteenth-century 
 soldier. His exploit at Ostrog when he foiled the 
 Turkish army and withdrew, without giving them 
 any advantage during his retreat, reads like a tale of 
 romance. His victories carry us back to the days 
 of Montrose or of Charles Edward. Yet he was 
 not a mere fiery chieftain. He laboured with 
 patient industry in the reorganization of the forces, 
 and in adapting their tactics to the new requirements 
 of the times. His experiments in rice and coffee, 
 and his labours to render the rocks around Bjeka 
 productive, give us a picture of a scientific agricul 
 turist. A volume of the poems which he printed 
 shows that the gift of song, hereditary in his family, 
 was cultivated by him with success. The abnegation 
 of such a man was remarkable, more remarkable 
 indeed than his military skill, sagacity, and fierce 
 courage. 
 
 Mirko died of cholera in 1865, and lies buried 
 by the side of the Great Vladika, Peter I., in the 
 same church where his brother Danilo had been 
 buried five years before. 
 
 Of Prince Nicholas, a recent writer thus 
 speaks : — 
 
 ' In appearance the Prince is tall and remarkably 
 
TRINCE NICHOLAS. A\)L 
 
 handsome ; his hair is black, he wears both beard 
 and moustaches, contrary to the fashion of his 
 country, where only the latter are worn, often of 
 Immense size and length. With a commanding 
 appearance, he still has a most benevolent expression 
 of countenance, due to the softness of a very fine 
 pair of eyes, and his manners are most captivating. 
 He is very dignified, but at the same time most 
 kind, without being in the least patronising ; and 
 I was told by those who know him best that he has 
 a most equable temper, and that an angry word 
 seldom was heard from him.' * 
 
 Add to this, however brave and skilful in war, 
 his tastes are those of peace. His delight is in the 
 schools which he has planted throughout Monte- 
 negro, in his farm, in his collection of antiquities, 
 and his study. Like his predecessor, he belongs to 
 the class of ' royal and noble authors/ and his 
 songs circulate from the northern extremity of 
 Herzegovina to Skodra. Over this tract of country 
 he rules, if not by right of territory, yet by the 
 gifts of personal influence, over hearts, if not over 
 lands. To him disputants in the Herzegovina 
 submit their differences. In him the hopes of the 
 inhabitants of the whole of the Zeta and of lands 
 • Rambles in htria, &c, p. 225. 
 
292 MONTENEGKO. 
 
 beyond the boundaries of the old principality of 
 Montenegro yet centre, whilst his people obey him 
 implicitly as they would obey a father whom they 
 love. If he has at any moment tried the loyalty of 
 his subjects, it has been when the moderation and 
 self-restraint of his dealings with Turkey have con- 
 flicted with the fiery impatience of the Montenegrins 
 at the rejection of their fair demands. Yet even 
 then they have in the end dutifully acquiesced in his 
 wisdom, and have acknowledged that " Mkita " 
 knew what was best, even though they were unable 
 to sympathize with his moderation. Such a Prince 
 is worthy of a larger sphere of usefulness, and if his 
 life be spared amid the dangers of the battle-field, 
 this part of Turkey may yet find in Prince Nicholas 
 Petrovic one who is able to heal its wounds and 
 restore to it its long-forgotten peace and prosperity. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 MHNTEI> BY VlitTUE A.\D CO., UJUTKD, CITY LOAD, LONDON. 
 
33j? tfje same gUttijov. 
 
 A COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES for the Sundays and 
 other Holy Days of the Christian Year. 2 vols. 8vo. Second 
 Edition. 
 
 A COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPELS for the Sundays and 
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* By far the best book I have seen upon the interior of Turkey? 
 —Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 TRAVELS IN THE 
 
 SLAVONIC PROVINCES 
 
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 TURKEY-IN-EUROPE. 
 
 By G. MUIR MACKENZIE and A. P. IRBY. 
 <gte:b.attb 'gltbizzb ©fcitixm. 
 
 WITH 
 
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 With Maps and Illustrations, 2 vols, demy 8vo. f 2ls. 
 
 ' I do not mean to disparage the labours and services of others 
 when I say that, in my opinion, no diplomatist, no consul, no tra- 
 veller, among our countrymen, has made such a valuable contri- 
 bution to our means of knowledge in this important matter. Here, 
 much more than in any other work I have been able to discover, is 
 exhibited to view, without passion or prejudice, as well as without 
 reserve, the normal state of life among the subject races, the stand- 
 ing relation, both between them and their government, and likewise 
 between them and those Mahometans who are at once their fellow- 
 subjects and their masters.' — Mr. Gladstone's Preface. 
 
 * A vivid and circumstantial picture of the three races now inte- 
 resting all Europe ; and, being written before 1867, it is equally 
 free from the exaggerated Slavophilism and Turcophilism of Eng- 
 land in 1877.' — Captain Burton in the Athenceum. 
 
 * It is most useful that the history of Bosnia should be known in 
 England, and that Englishmen should really understand what it was 
 that made the Bosnians revolt, and impelled 200,000 persons to 
 cross the Save and live on a daily penny a-head in the territory of 
 Austria. Miss Irby writes very soberly and with an anxious desire 
 not to exaggerate or make up a sensational picture. She only 
 relates what she has seen, or what has been stated to her by per- 
 sons whom she has known personally, and on whose good faith she 
 can rely.' — Saturday Review. 
 
 * This work appears at an opportune moment. When the 
 authoresses first undertook their philanthropic mission in the pro- 
 vinces of Turkey, they could not possibly have dreamt of the after- 
 benefits that were to flow from their work.' — Daily Express. 
 
 1 It will have great interest and value at the present juncture.' — 
 Scotsman. 
 
 1 Only to ladies of a brave and resolute spirit could such an 
 undertaking have been possible. There is, however, no parade of 
 this ; nothing can be more modest, self-restrained, and unassuming 
 than the tone of the whole narrative, and yet there is not a chapter 
 which does not give the English reader cause to be proud of the fearless 
 and really heroic spirit with which the beneficent and self-sacrificing 
 undertaking was carried through.' — Birmingham Daily Post. 
 
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