1 J: 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 in the Near East 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE BALKANS 
 
 Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and 
 Montenegro. 
 
 Vol. 44 of the " Story of the Nations." Large 
 crown 8w, cloth gilt, $s. 
 
 Press Opinions. 
 
 . "A book which cannot fail to give English 
 readers a fuller and clearer grasp of some of the 
 essential conditions of the problems now awaiting 
 solution, or in course of solution, in South-Eastern 
 Europe." — The Times. 
 
 ** Mr. Miller's handbook is as useful as it is 
 opportune, while it is not overloaded with dry 
 historical details." — Scotsman. 
 
 London : T. FISHER UNWIN. 
 
1 1 1 > > 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 IN 
 
 THE NEAR EAST 
 
 By 
 
 William Miller 
 
 WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Bfc ^^? 
 
 ATHENS. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1898 
 
nf7 
 
 [^// rights rcsctved^ 
 
TO 
 
 MY WIFE, 
 
 THRICE MY COMPANION ON 
 THE BALKAN 
 
 '* El §£ vtt' evbg ap\oiTO, r) ^povioi Kara rtovro^ afxaxov 
 T av elr}-, koI woXXif KpaTiarov Travrwv lOvlwVj Kara yvw/irfv 
 Tijv tfiijv. 'AXXci yap tovto airopuv acjn Koi ctfiti^avov jui] Kort 
 tV 7£vr?rai." — HERODOTUS, V. 3. 
 
 iv*211533 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book Is the result of four visits to the Balkan 
 Peninsula in the years 1894, i^Q^, 1B97, and 1898, 
 and of a long study of the Eastern question. 
 While I can honestly say that I have acquainted 
 myself with all the principal works which have 
 appeared on the Near East during the last ten 
 years, I have in all cases relied upon my own 
 personal observations and inquiries, conducted 
 upon the spot, for the statements made in the 
 following pages. Most persons who have written 
 upon South- Eastern Europe have treated the 
 subject in a partisan spirit, some championing the 
 claims of one nationality, others espousing the 
 cause of another. Not being an enthusiastic 
 admirer of any one Balkan race to the exclusion 
 of all others, I have endeavoured to discover what 
 is most for the material progress and welfare of 
 them all. The critics of " The Balkans " were 
 kind enough to say that I had been impartial in 
 narrating the history of the Peninsula ; I trust 
 that I may be found to have been equally so in 
 describing its present condition. 
 
 I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to a 
 host of persons who have assisted me with in- 
 
 ix 
 
Preface 
 
 formation and advice. Among them I would 
 specially mention Baron Kutschera, Baron von 
 Benko and Baron von Molllnary, of Sarajevo ; 
 Baron de Goumoens and M. Bohumll Para of 
 Plevlje; Mr. R. J. Kennedy, C.M.G., British 
 Minister to Montenegro ; the Montenegrin Prime 
 Minister and his colleague, the Minister of 
 Finance ; M. Zaimis, the present, and M. Rhallls, 
 the ex-Prlme Minister of Greece ; General Con- 
 stantlne SmolenskI, the Greek Minister of War ; ^ 
 M. Dellgeorgis, M. Lambros Coromelas, and Mr. 
 Arthur Hill, of Athens, as well as the editors 
 of the "Ao-ru and the 'A/c/ooVoXtc ; Dr. and Mrs. 
 Dawes, of Corfu, and Professor G. Gelcic, of 
 Ragusa ; Sir A. BlllottI, Herr Pinter, Herr 
 Berlnda, and M. Lyghounes in Crete ; H.H. 
 the Prince of Samos and Mr. Denys L. Marc,. 
 British Consul In that Island; H.E. Baron Von 
 Callce, Austro- Hungarian Ambassador at Con- 
 stantinople ; Mr. Block, dragoman of the British 
 Embassy, and Mr. Tarring, late judge of the 
 Consular Court ; Sir J. W. Whittall, Mr. F. S. 
 Cobb, British Postmaster, Mr. Edwin Pears, Dr. 
 Washburn, Professor Panaretoff, Dr. Dickson 
 and Mr. Whitaker, of the same place ; Consul- 
 General and Mrs. Blunt and Dr. House, of 
 Salonica ; Mr, Wratlslaw, M. Shopoff, and M. 
 Constantlne Caltcheff, of Phlllppopolls ; Dr. Clark 
 and Dr. Kingsbury, of Samakov ; M. Grekoff and 
 Professor Slaveikoff, of Sofia ; and the Bulgarian 
 
 ' Left otiice November lo. 
 
Preface 
 
 diplomatic agents at Constantinople, Athens, and 
 Cetinje. I am also much obliged to Miss M. 
 Chadwick for a number of photographs. 
 
 I have adopted the Croatian system of spelling 
 the Slav names of persons and places, because it 
 is usually found in the best books, and avoids the 
 confusion which other methods of transliteration 
 produce. Moreover, Croatian has this advantage 
 for Western readers — that it employs the Latin 
 character. For those who are not familiar with 
 it I append a short table of pronunciation. 
 
 c is pronounced tz e.g. Marica = Maritza 
 c ,, ch e.g. Petrovic = Petrovich 
 
 c „ tch e.g. BoSac = Botchatz 
 
 j „ y e.g. Jablanica = Yablanitza 
 
 s „ sh d.^. Dusan = Dushan 
 
 z „ j e.g. Zabliak == Jabliak 
 
 No good English map of the Peninsula being in 
 existence, I have obtained permission to use the 
 best German map, which I have corrected so as 
 to show the strategic rectification of the Thessalian 
 frontier at the peace of December 4, 1897. Un- 
 fortunately this has necessitated leaving the bulk 
 of the names in the map in their German dress. 
 
 W. M. 
 
 10, Cheyne Gardens, Chelsea. 
 October 31, 1898. 
 
 XI 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 When the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula are 
 meditating a journey to any of the countries which 
 lie to the west of them, they speak of " going to 
 Europe," thereby avowedly considering themselves 
 as quite apart from the European system. So far 
 as '' Europe " is concerned this geographical inac- 
 curacy possesses considerable justification. For of 
 all parts of our continent none is so little known to 
 the average traveller as the Near East, from which 
 he is nowadays but two-and-a-half days' distant by 
 rail. It is no exaggeration to say that many 
 regions of Africa are more familiar to the cultured 
 Englishman or German than the lands which lie 
 beyond the Adriatic. Only when a newspaper 
 correspondent reports from time to time that some 
 fresh conspiracy has been detected against the King 
 of Servia or the Prince of Bulgaria, that the Greeks 
 are fighting against the Turks or paying their 
 creditors, and that Prince Nicholas of Montenegro 
 is disposing of one of his daughters in marriage, 
 does public attention turn for a moment to the 
 Balkan States. Yet to the politician and the his- 
 torical student, to the traveller and the artist, to 
 
 xiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 the man of business and the man of letters, few 
 countries should prove so interesting as these. 
 In the Balkan Peninsula that uncanny bird, the 
 Eastern question, has its eyrie, and there one day, 
 when Russia is ready, the fate of the Ottoman 
 Empire may be decided. There, too, under the 
 auspices of Austria- Hungary, perhaps the most 
 remarkable experiment in the government of an 
 Oriental country is being conducted ; while, in 
 other parts of the same Peninsula, young and 
 newly-emancipated nations are demonstrating their 
 capacity, or incapacity, for managing their own 
 affairs on European lines with all the modern 
 apparatus of Parliament and Press. It has been 
 reserved for the Balkans, too, to present us with 
 the most curious instance of patriarchal government 
 now extant ; and, in common with Asiatic Turkey, 
 to prove to the world that great military power may 
 co-exist with the feeblest and most corrupt of civil 
 administrations. Here again, in the past, great 
 empires, of which Western Europe is almost uncon- 
 scious, rose up at the bidding of some Bulgarian or 
 Servian Tsar, and then fell at his death, yet, falling, 
 left memories behind them which have had a lasting 
 effect on the politics of our time. The battlefield of 
 Kossovo, the exploits of the great Emperor Dusan, 
 and the feats of the mediaeval rulers of Bulgaria — 
 these are scarcely even names to most of us in the 
 West, but in the Balkans are living, and sometimes 
 very awkward, realities. Here, four times within the 
 present century, the armies of the Russian and the 
 
 xiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 Turk have met ; and here, just twenty years ago, 
 the collective wisdom of Europe closed the last 
 great war of our time. The traveller in pursuit of 
 the picturesque or in flight from the commonplace 
 will find here what he seeks and can escape what 
 he shuns. Full justice has scarcely even now been 
 done to the natural beauties of South-Eastern 
 Europe. The splendid primaeval forests of Bosnia, 
 the azure fiords of Dalmatia, the snow mountains 
 on the Macedonian frontier of Bulgaria, the gentle 
 English scenery of Servia, and the grim magni- 
 ficence of Montenegro's limestone citadel — these 
 remain, even now, almost unvislted. And in the 
 Balkan Peninsula the interest of travel and the 
 beauties of the landscape are immensely enhanced 
 by the extraordinary variety of costume and cus- 
 toms, which still happily linger on in most parts of 
 the Near East. No Italian market-place can show 
 such an amount of colour as the squares of the 
 Dalmatian coast-towns ; no Swiss mountaineer can 
 compare in physique or in dress w^ith the gigantic, 
 crimson-clad highlanders of Cetinje ; no artist's 
 model is half so artistic as the shaven Albanian, 
 with his arsenal of weapons. From the practical 
 standpoint, too, the British trader might with 
 advantage turn more attention to countries which, 
 though individually small, between them muster 
 over ten million inhabitants, and where the British 
 commercial traveller is almost unknown. And, 
 finally, to the literary man, the Balkan Peninsula, 
 with its extraordinary medley of races and languages, 
 
 XV 
 
Introduction 
 
 affords a field of observation which is all but virgin 
 soil. Here the Bulgarian and the Greek, the 
 Albanian and the Serb, the Osmanli, the Spanish 
 Jew and the Roumanian, live side by side. Here 
 we have the curious phenomena of people speaking 
 practically the same language yet using a different 
 alphabet ; of the same race, split up into three 
 distinct religions ; of converts from Christianity 
 becoming more Mussulman than the Turks them- 
 selves. In short, the Balkan Peninsula is, broadly 
 speaking, the land of contradictions. Everything 
 is the exact opposite of what it might reasonably 
 be expected to be ; the traveller finds himself in the 
 realms of romance, where all his wonted ideas are 
 turned topsy-turvy, and soon falls into the native 
 distinction between what they do ''on the Balkan" 
 and what they do in " Europe." 
 
 XVI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE THRESHOLD OF THE NEAR EAST : ISTRIA AND 
 DALMATIA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 From Trieste to Pisino— Istrian politics — The Foiba — Abbazia — 
 Pola — Characteristics of Dahnatia — Dalmatian seamen — Lussin- 
 piccolo — Zara — Sebenico — The Kerka Falls — Dalmatian dress — 
 Slavs and Italians — Want of railways — Trau — Spalato — Ragusa, 
 the "South Slavonic Athens" — Dalmatian politics — Lacroma — 
 Valley of the Ombla— The Bocche di Cattaro . . . 1-40 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 A PATRIARCHAL PRINCIPALITY : MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Effects of Princess Helena's marriage — Grow^th of Cetinje — 
 Character of Prince Nicholas — His relations with England — His 
 political aims — His relations with Austria-Hungary — A benevolent 
 autocrat — His Court— Montenegrin dress — Crown Prince Danilo — 
 Montenegrin Ministers — Christmas at Cetinje — The standing 
 army — Roads and Post-ofBce — Montenegrin harbours — Trade and 
 Education — Scenery — Rjeka — Podgorica — Dioclea — Danilovgrad 
 — The Monasteries of Ostrog — Niksic— Ride to Risano . 41-86 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MODEL BALKAN STATE : BOSNIA AND THE HERCE- 
 GOVINA. 
 
 History prior to the Occupation — The first four years — Religious 
 equality: Catholics, Orthodox, and Mussulmans — Education — 
 Technical training— The land question — Railways— Government 
 hotels — Trade— The Press — Administration — Montenegrin aspira- 
 tions — Taxation — Public health — Baron and Baroness Von Kallay 
 — The future of the Occupied territory .... ^7-130 
 
 xvii 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THROUGH THE OCCUPIED TERRITORY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 From Ragusa to Metkovic : the Narenta Canal— Incidents of rail- 
 way-travel — Pocitelj — Mostar — Bridge and bazar — Costume — 
 The source of the Buna — Radobolje — Jablanica — The Bogomiles 
 — Konjica — The Bosnian Capital —Its buildings old and new— 
 Cemetriesand dervishes — A Bosnian bath — Travnik and its tattooed 
 women — Jajce — The last Bosnian king — Jezero— Banjaluka — The 
 Croatian frontier — By wood train to the Bosna — Maglaj, past and 
 present — Vranduk I3i-i77 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 'tWIXT AUSTRIAN AND TURK : THE SANDZAK OF NOVI- 
 BAZAR. 
 
 From Sarajevo to the frontier — Cajnica — Administration : the 
 mixed Occupation — Judicial system — Political importance of the 
 " military colony " — From the frontier to Plevlje — Plevlje — The 
 Pasha — Monastery of the Holy Trinity — Railway prospects — 
 Down the Drina on a raft — Visegrad and Rogatica — Back to 
 Sarajevo 178-205 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BARBARISM AND CIVILISATION : THE ALBANIAN COAST 
 AND CORFU. 
 
 The Albanian question — Medua — Durazzo, past and present — 
 Valona — Santi Quaranta — Corfu, Homeric and British — The 
 King's Villa — Corfu during the war — Palaeokastrizza — Ascension 
 Day — Cephalonia — Zante 206-236 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GREECE : THE COUNTRY AND THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Greek inn — Olympia — Railways — Patras — Monasteries : Mega- 
 spelaion— Greek saddles — Delphi— Corinth : its canal and citadel 
 — Nauplia — The Easter dances at Megara — Characteristics of 
 Athens — Good Friday and the earthquakes — Athens during the 
 war : the Press, the hospitals and the refugees — Piraeus — 
 Marathon — Brigandage — Volo — The Turks in Thessaly . 237-278 
 xviii 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GREECE : DEMOCRACY UNLIMITED. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The King : the reversion of feeHng in his favour — Greek politi- 
 cians : MM, Delyannis, Rhallis, Zaimis, Streit, Deligeorgis, and 
 Karapanos — General Smolenski — The Greek Padiament — Parties 
 — Salaries — Reforms now advocated — The "spoils system" — 
 Over-education — Neglect of the provinces — Police — Is a second 
 chamber possible ? — The King's duty — Importance of Greece to 
 Great Britain — The future . . . . . . . 279-320 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CRETE UNDER THE CONCERT. 
 
 The quay at Canea — Western amusements — Conflicting jurisdic- 
 tions — Russia's aims in Crete — The British at Candia — The Chris- 
 tians at Aliakanou — Isolation of the two parties — Devastation of 
 the island — The bright side — A Mussulman picnic — The market at 
 . Halmyros — The Candidature of Prince George : conditions of 
 its success — Disadvantages of the Prince — Will Crete desire ulti- 
 mate union with Greece ? — Specimens of Turkish misrule — Cost 
 of Crete to Turkey 322-352 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SAMOS : A STUDY IN AUTONOMY. 
 
 Vathy — The Prince of Samos — No analogy with Crete — Prosperity 
 of Samos — Its Government and educational system — Success of 
 Autonomy — Another autonomous island : Ada Kaleh . . 353-362 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PROMISED LAND : MACEDONIA. 
 
 Salonica, seen from the sea and on land — The Macedonian ques- 
 tion — The doctrine of nationalities — Mixture of races in Mace- 
 donia — The Bulgarian claims — The Servian claims — The claims 
 of Greece — Those of the Roumanians and of the Albanians 
 — "Macedonia for the Macedonians" — Austria-Hungary at 
 Salonica 363-389 
 
 xix 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CYNOSURE OF THE NEAR EAST : STAMBUL. 
 
 / PAGE 
 
 Turkish officialdom — The spy system — Censdrship of the Press — 
 The foreign post-offices — The currency — A bookseller's experi- 
 ences — Yol tcskerch — Impediments to trade — The Sultan and his 
 system — Cause of the Armenian massacres — Robert College — 
 Turkish women — Brusa — Society at Stambul — The dogs — Monte- 
 negrin cavasscs — Fires — A householder's woes — Turkish time — 
 Suburban resorts ......... 390-432 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN EMANCIPATION : BULGARIA. 
 
 Bulgarian coinage — Bourgas — Philippopolis — Through the Valley 
 of Roses to the Shipka Pass — Bulgarian surgery — The "Bulgarian 
 Switzerland " — Missionaries at Samakov — The servant question — 
 Sofia — New railways — The Sohranje — Prince Boris — Prince 
 Ferdinand^The politicians : Dr. Stoiloff, M. Grekoff, and M. 
 Nacevic — Treatment of Mussulmans — Slivnica — Relations with 
 Servia — King Alexander and his father — Servia and Austria- 
 Hungary — Servian scenery — Ni§ — Belgrade . . . 433-478 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE GREAT POWERS IN THE NEAR EAST. 
 
 Solutions of the Eastern Question — A Balkan Confederation — A 
 Servian, Bulgarian, or Greek Empire — A reformed Turkey — A 
 settlement by the Great Powers — The Eastern policy of Great 
 Britain — Decline of British trade and influence — Growth of Ger- 
 man power — France and Italy in the Near East — Austria-Hungary 
 and Russia — The " sick man's " protracted death-agony . 479-509 
 
 Index 
 
 511 
 
 XX 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 STAMBUL ..... 
 
 ATHENS . . . . . 
 
 THE FOIBA, PISINO ..... 
 
 THE AMPHITHEATRE, POLA .... 
 
 CASA ROSSINI, SEBENICO .... 
 
 THE LOGGIA, TRAU . . . ' . 
 
 SPALATO ...... 
 
 THE MARKET-PLACE, RAGUSA 
 
 PALACE OF THE RECTOR, RAGUSA 
 
 CASTELNUOVO ...... 
 
 CATTARO 
 
 PALACE AT CETINJE. PRINCE NICHOLAS AND THE KING 
 OF SERVIA ...... 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PRINCE NICHOLAS OUTSIDE *BRITISH LEGA- 
 TION ...... 
 
 POSTMASTER AND LANDLORD .... 
 
 MONTENEGRIN BOYS ..... 
 
 DANILOVGRAD ...... 
 
 COFFIN OF LAST BOSNIAN KING 
 
 CORPUS CHRISTI DAY AT MOSTAR . . . 
 
 MOSTAR, HERCEGOVINA . . . . 
 
 xxi 
 
 Frontispiece 
 Vignette 
 
 PAGE 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 17 
 
 • 23 
 25 
 
 • 29 
 31 
 
 . 37 
 39 
 
 48 
 
 57 
 70 
 76 
 80 
 88 
 92 
 
 93 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MECCA PILGRIMS . . . . . -95 
 
 A MUSSULMAN WOMAN .... lOO 
 
 SARAJEVO ....... 124 
 
 BARONESS VON KALLAY. . . . . I26 
 
 *'A whole boatload of MEN AND WOMEN" . . I32 
 
 MUSSULMAN WOMAN OF MOSTAR . . . 135 
 
 CHRISTIAN WOMEN AT MOSTAR .... I36 
 
 THE SOURCE OF THE BUNA . . . . I39 
 
 "a BOSNIAK CARRYING A RAM ON HIS BACK " . . I46 
 
 THE BAZAR AT SARAJEVO . . . . I48 
 
 STREET IN TRAVNIK ..... 154 
 
 IN THE BAZAR AT TRAVNIK . . . • I56 
 
 JAJCE : THE OLD BOSNIAN CAPITAL . . . 158 
 
 PENANCE AT JAJCE . . . . . 160 
 
 ''the beautiful MINARET . . . WHICH ADORNS THE 
 
 FERHADIJA MOSQUE " .... 166 
 
 VRANDUK . . . . . . . 175 
 
 CAJNICA ...... 180 
 
 PLEVLJE . . . . . . .191 
 
 ''the SERB WOMEN, WHO HERE WEAR . . . KILTS OVER 
 
 THEIR LONG GARMENTS" . . . , I93 
 
 THE BAZAR, PLEVLJE . . . . 195 
 
 OUR RAFT ON THE DRINA .... I98 
 
 OLD BRIDGE AT VISEGRAD . . . . I99 
 
 GIPSIES, VISEGRAD . . . . . 200 
 
 A STREET SCENE, V1§EGRAD .... 201 
 
 xxii 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHILDREN AT VISEGRAD .... 202 
 
 OUR CARRIAGE AT PODROMANJA ... . 2O4 
 
 OLIVE GROVE, CORFU ..... 215 
 
 ROYAL PALACE, FORMER RESIDENCE OF BRITISH LORD 
 
 HIGH COMMISSIONER ..... 221 
 
 ROUGH MOUNTAINEERS . . . WITH THEIR VAST CLOAKS 
 
 224 
 
 ''a humble HAN . . . SUPPORTED ON WHITE- WASHED 
 
 pillars" ...... 228 
 
 palaeokastrizza, corfu .... 230 
 
 corfiote woman ...... 234 
 
 DELPHI ...... 248 
 
 the corinth canal . . . . • 251 
 
 m. delyannis . . . . . . 286 
 
 m. rhallis ...... 290 
 
 general smolenski (minister of war) . . 299 
 
 canea, after the riots of february, 1897 . . 32i 
 
 the quay of canea ..... 322 
 
 mound at canea (showing flags of turkey and the 
 
 powers) ...... 324 
 
 street in candia ..... 327 
 
 christian insurgents at aliakanou . . . 33o 
 
 rethymno ...... 333 
 
 a mussulman picnic near candia . . . 336 
 
 sir a. biliotti and colonel sir h. chermside with 
 
 group of cretan chiefs . . . 34i 
 
 cretan boys ...... 343 
 
 CANDIA ....... 345 
 
 A BAIRAM RAM : CANEA . . . . • 35° 
 
 xxiii 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CRETAN LADIES SHOPPING . . . 35^ 
 
 VATHY : SAMOS ...... 353 
 
 POLICEMAN AT VATHY . . . . . 355 
 
 SAMIANS . . . . . . . 359 
 
 ^' SALONICA, SEEN FROM THE SEA " . . . 364 
 
 '^THE FINE OLD ARCH OF THE EMPEROR GALERIUS " . 368 
 
 A JEWESS OF SALONICA .... 383 
 
 THE BRITISH POST OFFICE, GALATA . . . 396 
 ''the lord of THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE GOES FORTH TO 
 
 HIS devotions" ..... 406 
 
 CARTS USED TO CONVEY MASSACRED ARMENIANS . . 4O9 
 
 ''the great towers of THE ' CASTLE OF EUROPE'" 413 
 
 BRUSA ....... 419 
 
 russian monument, san stefano . . . 43i 
 
 bulgarian bride . . • . . . 434 
 
 philippopolis . . . . . . 438 
 
 bulgarians dancing ..... 442 
 
 bulgarian peasants ..... 446 
 
 the palace, sofia ..... 457 
 
 "the tiny prince drives out" . . . 461 
 
 bridge over the marica, scene of the philippo- 
 polis murder . . . . . 464 
 
 joseph hanemian, the murdered clerk of the 
 
 british post office .... 492 
 
 MAP (in pocket a end of volume). 
 
 XXIV 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE THRESHOLD OF THE NEAR EAST : ISTRIA AND 
 DALMATIA 
 
 OF the countless travellers who pass through Trieste 
 every year on their way to the East, few have the 
 curiosity to explore the peninsula, which runs far out 
 into the azure-blue waters of the Adriatic and divides the 
 great Austrian seaport from the lovely gulf of the 
 Quarnero. Istria is still the least known of all the 
 Austrian provinces, although the ^^ discovery " of Abbazia 
 by an enterprising railway company has in recent years 
 attracted the attention of Viennese society to the charms 
 of its eastern coast.. But, in spite of the excellent service 
 of steamers, which call at all the principal places on its 
 shores, and the state railway, which traverses the interior 
 from end to end, the Istrian peninsula is less familiar to 
 British tourists than that of Sinai, and many educated 
 m Englishmen have never so much as heard its name. 
 H Yet no country in Europe presents such rapid and 
 B remarkable changes of scenery. At one point you have 
 ^fcvaving groves of laurel and smiling vineyards, with a 
 ^^limate which recalls that of the French Riviera ; at 
 another, barren rocks and a total lack of vegetation 
 remind you that you are in the domain of the bora, that 
 terrible wind, which is the scourge of the Adriatic, which 
 
 I B 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 blows railway trains off the track and sweeps away trees 
 and unroofs buildings in its headlong course. The soil, 
 too, is all the colours of the rainbow. White Istria, 
 yellow Istria, red Istria follow each other in quick suc- 
 cession, and, when lighted up by the rays of the setting 
 sun, the red earth becomes a gorgeous purple, marvellous 
 to behold. 
 
 The Istrian railway, which slowly winds its tortuous 
 path up the hills above the gulf of Trieste, enters the 
 stony desert of the Karst, a region which for barrenness 
 is unequalled in all Europe. Yet there is something 
 quaint and even attractive about these limestone boulders 
 scattered hither and thither broadcast over the land, like 
 missiles in some battle of the giants. We pass by deep 
 ravines, formed by almost perpendicular walls of rock, with 
 here and there a tiny chapel clinging on to the mountain- 
 side, while, far below, the sea shimmers in the sunlight. 
 And then the line turns down into the peninsula, and the 
 quaint old towns of Istria, with names as picturesque as 
 their situation, begin to appear. The fat fingers of a very 
 loquacious lady, who is going to Pola, wave to and fro in 
 front of the carriage window, as she discusses her family 
 affairs with a new-found acquaintance, and prevent us 
 from seeing as much of the view as we could wish. But 
 a lucid interval fortunately intervenes as we approach 
 Pinguente, once the seat of the margraves of Istria, who 
 built the walls which still surround it. Perched on a 
 hilltop, Pinguente seems the very ideal of those old 
 Italian cities which Virgil has so graphically depicted as 
 ^' piled by force on the summit of steep rocks " — congesta 
 manu prcemptis oppida sax is. 
 
 It was evening when we arrived at Pisino, the most 
 interesting place in the interior of the peninsula, and we 
 wondered whether a habitable inn existed in so primitive 
 a spot, for we had read strange descriptions of Istrian 
 
 2 
 
in the Near East 
 
 accommodation. But our fears were speedily set at rest 
 by a smart young fellow, who at once stepped forward 
 and offered to escort us to the AqiUla Neva. The ^^ Black 
 Eagle " proved to be a comfortable inn, such as one finds 
 in small Italian towns, where the linen was of spotless 
 whiteness and the Istrian wine at 80 kreuzers (or 
 IS. 4d.) a litre, as sound a vintage as the heart of man 
 could desire. Our host, though an Istrian by birth, was, 
 like some of his compatriots, an Italian by sentiment. 
 He had, indeed, hung up in his parlour the inevitable 
 portraits of the Austrian Emperor and Empress, which 
 adorn every inn, however humble, throughout the length 
 and breadth of the Monarchy. But his real interest was 
 centred on a map of the seat of the war, then going on 
 in Abyssinia, by the aid of which he was following the 
 fortunes of the Italian troops with the closest attention. 
 Indeed, some Italian extremists go so far as to include 
 Istria in that '^ unredeemed Italy" which they hope one 
 day to see comprised within the kingdom of Umberto. 
 It is true that, though Istria has been in the uninterrupted 
 possession of the House of Hapsburg ever since 1814, a 
 large section of the population, amounting at the last 
 census to 45 per cent., is Italian by race and language, 
 just as it was in the days when, prior to 1797, Venice 
 owned the peninsula. Three years ago the Italian 
 element in Istria was particularly demonstrative against 
 the Slavs, for here, as in Dalmatia, though in vastly 
 different proportions, these two races practically divide 
 the country between them. When it was decided that 
 public notices at the Courts of Justice should be put up 
 in both languages, and that jurymen should be expected 
 to understand the two idioms, the indignation of the 
 Italian party found vent in acts of violence. At Pirano 
 the military had to be called out ; at another place the 
 mob tore down the offending notice-boards ; and finally 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 the commotion was such that the Government dissolved 
 the local assembly, which meets to discuss the internal 
 affairs of the province. At the beginning of this year 
 that body was convoked, not, as usual, at Parenzo, but 
 at Pola. Since then, encouraged by a section of the 
 Italian press, the agitation has gone on intermittently. 
 But no sensible statesman in Italy regards the Irredentists 
 as serious persons, or the cession of I stria as within the 
 range of practical politics. 
 
 We were aroused early in the morning by the sound 
 of the bells, which were being rung with tremendous 
 energy in the adjacent campanile. It was a great festival 
 of the Church, and a long line of peasants, cap in hand 
 and with their fingers devoutly clasped in front of them, 
 defiled through the streets behind the priests, who were 
 bearing the sacred banners before them. The men were 
 excellent types of the Istrian people — stolid, phlegmatic 
 fellows, who never manifest the smallest interest or 
 curiosity in a stranger, though strangers are none too 
 common in their country. In Sicily I have known a 
 whole crowd of street loungers come up to my bedroom 
 for the mere pleasure of hearing me order my dinner or 
 pay my driver, while a single question, addressed to a 
 bystander, would at once attract a host of inquisitive 
 onlookers, each eager to know my business, and have a 
 finger in it, if possible. But your Istrian is not of that 
 sort. He goes on his way, perfectly regardless of the 
 stranger within his gates. In his rough frieze coat and 
 short breeches he looks intensely bucolic, but the huge 
 earring, which he wears in one ear, gives him a dis- 
 tinguishing characteristic which is quite his own. 
 
 Pisino possesses in the Foiba a natural attraction, 
 which is at present undefiled by the hoof of the tripper. 
 If situated in Germany or Switzerland it would have long 
 ago been disfigured by advertisements of chocolate, a 
 
 4 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 cog-wheel railway, tin edifices from which to admire the 
 view, and all the other abominations invented by tourist 
 associations for the ^'improvement" of nature. Here 
 the Foiba is left in its native wildness, and the visitor to 
 his own devices. Suddenly, at the end of the main 
 street, one comes upon a grand old donjon, dating from 
 the eleventh century, whose walls are still emblazoned 
 with the arms of the counts who once dwelt there, while 
 a whole colony of swallows have made their nests beneath 
 its hospitable eaves. The castle is built on a terrace of 
 rock, and 300 feet below it the river Foiba winds its way 
 along the bottom of the ravine, and disappears in a deep 
 chasm beneath the earth. Slowly and by a precipitous 
 path we descended into the gulf and climbed over the 
 boulders of rock, which mark the course of the stream, up 
 to the mouth of the chasm. No human being has ever 
 explored its inmost recesses and discovered w^here the 
 river ultimately emerges from its subterranean channel. 
 A young Austrian official. Count Mathias Esdorf, once 
 made the attempt in a small boat, but with no other 
 result than to inspire M. Jules Verne with the plot of one 
 of his most exciting novels. In the French romance a 
 prisoner escapes from his cell in the donjon, climbs dowai 
 into the chasm and gains his freedom through the hole, 
 or biico, as the natives call it, into which the Foiba pours 
 its waters. It is, however, supposed that the channel 
 communicates with the fiord of Leme, which runs inland 
 towards Pisino from the west coast of Istria. At any 
 rate, objects tlirown into the biico have been picked up 
 near the estuary of the fiord. I have seen several of 
 these mysterious underground passages in the Balkan 
 Peninsula, where they are not uncommon, but only one 
 of them, that near Mostar, can compare in grandeur with 
 that of the Foiba. The view from below of the beetling 
 rocks, rising perpendicular from the chasm, wath the 
 
 6 
 
in the Near East 
 
 town nestling on the summit, the grey old walls of the 
 donjon, and the distant roar of the waters beneath the 
 ground, make a great impression, only partially conveyed 
 to those who have not seen and heard them by the aid of 
 a travelling photographer from Pola, whom we unearthed 
 in a back-yard. 
 
 It would be difficult to conceive a greater contrast than 
 that between this mediaeval spot, which has not changed 
 since the days of its ancient counts, and the lovely 
 watering-place of Abbazia, the gem of the Istrian coast. 
 Centuries ago a Benedictine Abbey was founded there 
 and gave Abbazia its name, but until the last sixteen 
 years that now celebrated health resort, patronised by 
 emperors and kings, and striving to rival Cannes and 
 Mentone, was nothing but a few fishermen's huts. But 
 in 1882 the manager of the Southern Railway Company 
 of Austria, struck with the charms of the place, resolved 
 to make Abbazia into a fashionable Curort. Large hotels, 
 the property of the railway company, now rise amidst 
 groves of laurel, with gardens running down to the bright 
 blue waters of the bay. Shops and a colonnade have 
 been built to exhibit all the latest fashions of Vienna, and 
 when we arrived at the little station of Mattuglie, which 
 serves Abbazia, we realised at once from the photograph 
 in the booking-office, which represented the meeting of 
 the German and Austrian Emperors on the occasion of 
 their visit in 1894, that the fortune of the place was made. 
 But nothing could spoil the beauty of Abbazia, though its 
 sweet simplicity was gone, and the scale of prices at its 
 palatial hotels is somewhat different from the modest sum 
 of 3 gulden, 27 kreuzers (or about 5s. 6d.), which we had 
 paid for bed and a whole day's board for two persons at 
 Pisino. The walk along the coast through luxuriant 
 vineyards, the blue sea and sky, and, in the distance, 
 floating as it were in the water, the islands of the 
 
 7 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Quarnero — broad Veglia, and long, rocky Cherso, where 
 the old Argonautic legend placed the crime of Medea — 
 this may, indeed, compare with the view from the 
 Corniche over the Mediterranean littoral. No wonder 
 that to an ardent yachtsman like the German Emperor 
 Abbazia was specially attractive, or that the poetic 
 Queen of Roumania chooses it as a favourite spot. In 
 fact, were it not for the occasional blasts of the dreaded 
 bora, the curse of the Austrian, just as the mistral is the 
 bane of the French, Riviera, the place would be an earthly 
 paradise. 
 
 Comparatively small as it is, I stria presents in Pola yet 
 another contrast, which after mediaeval Pisino and nine- 
 teenth century fashionable Abbazia comes as a striking 
 change. And, indeed, Pola is in itself a town of opposites, 
 where the two extremes of ancient remains and modern 
 naval w^orks coexist side by side. For Pola is at once an 
 Austrian Portsmouth and an old Roman town. Here a 
 superb amphitheatre rises on the edge of the water, where 
 the last new ironclad is lying at anchor ; here the Golden 
 Gate and the Temple of Augustus have dockyards and 
 arsenals as their neighbours, and the statue of Tegetthoff, 
 the Austrian Nelson, looks down on the narrow, stone- 
 paved streets, where Diana's ruined fane affords silent 
 record of the past. The mailed figure of an Istrian 
 margrave on the wall of the town-hall seems out of place 
 among the naval officers, who are strolling in what was 
 once the forum. But Pola is more prosperous now than it 
 has been for centuries. The recent movement in Austria- 
 Hungary for a development of the navy and the 
 foundation of a newspaper this year for the express pur- 
 pose of combating the old theory, which considered the 
 Monarchy as essentially, and almost exclusively, an inland 
 State, cannot fail to benefit the place, even though the 
 Bocche di Cattaro are likely to divide with it in the 
 
 8 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 future, even more than in the present, the privilege of a 
 great naval harbour. 
 
 Given fair weather, nothing can be more delightful 
 than a voyage along the eastern shores of the Adriatic. 
 There is none of the monotony of ocean travel in Dalma- 
 tian waters, for, with one or two exceptions, the steamer's 
 course is never out in the open sea, and even then land 
 is always in sight. For most of the way you glide as in a 
 river between the islands and the coast, threading mag- 
 nificent fiords — but fiords beneath a Southern sky — or 
 stopping beneath the grey walls of some mediaeval town, 
 whose inhabitants, dressed in the most artistic of cos- 
 tumes, throng the quays and fill the steep, narrow 
 streets and old-fashioned squares, like the chorus in 
 ItaHan opera. Dalmatia, it is true, lacks vegetation, and 
 the eye is somewhat wearied by the eternal whiteness 
 of her conical hills and stony uplands. But the colour 
 harmonises well with the intense blue of sky and sea, and 
 the brilliant scarlet costumes of the peasantry. In places, 
 too, as between Trau and Spalato, at Ragusa,in the island 
 of Lesina, and on the hills above the lovely Bocche di 
 Cattaro, trees and shrubs grow luxuriantly, and the great 
 success which has attended the efforts of the Austrian 
 Government at planting the shores of the Bocche and a 
 part of Istria during the short space of eighteen years proves 
 that in course of time the bare Dalmatian coast may, with 
 proper care, become green and fertile. Last year alone 
 3,219,000 new trees were planted in the Karst regions of 
 Gorz and Gradisca at a cost of 9,782 gulden, so that in 
 course of time the ravages of the Venetian shipbuilders 
 and the destructive goats will be repaired. Dalmatia is, 
 indeed, the Cinderella of the Austrian provinces, and 
 she has been neglected in the past by the statesmen of 
 Vienna. As a Dalmatian priest once remarked to me, 
 *^ the Austrians regard Dalmatia as the other end of the 
 
in the Near East 
 
 world/' and I am told that nearly all the roads in the 
 country date from the brief French occupation between 
 1805 and 1 8 14, when Marshal Marmont employed his 
 soldiers in improving the means of communication. 
 Indeed, far more has been done for Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina during the twenty years of the Austrian 
 occupation than for Dalmatia in the eighty-four which 
 have elapsed since she definitely became a part of the 
 Monarchy. Politics have, unfortunately, had a great 
 deal to do with this neglect. It is pitiful to read the 
 bitter articles with which the Slav and Italian journals of 
 Dalmatia attack one another, instead of uniting for the 
 common weal and endeavouring to raise the material 
 standard of the country. '^ Politics," said a very 
 distinguished Dalmatian to me, " have been our ruin," 
 and here, as in so many parts of the Monarchy, politics 
 are entirely a question of race and language. But there 
 are signs that Austria has at last begun to recognise the 
 great value of the Dalmatian ports and the Dalmatian 
 seamen. The Imperial navy is entirely recruited from 
 the seafaring population of this coast ; the captains of the 
 merchant marine are all Dalmatians, in many cases 
 Bocchesi, or natives of the Bocche di Cattaro, and the 
 shores of that lovely fiord and the peninsula of Sabion- 
 celio are dotted with white houses, where these veterans 
 spend the evening of their days on the borders of that sea 
 which they know so well. A British admiral once said 
 that the Dalmatian sailors could alone compare with the 
 men of our own eastern coast, thanks to the early ex- 
 perience which they gain of the treacherous currents, 
 the fickle breezes, and the intricate navigation of the 
 Adriatic. For, though on all my visits that sea was as calm 
 as a lake for days together, there are seasons when it well 
 merits the epithet of '' turbid," which Horace long ago 
 applied to it. Woe betide the unskilled mariner who 
 
 II 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ventures out in those narrow channels when the bora is 
 blowing. Their very names are indicative of bad 
 weather^ and one of them is significantly called the 
 Canale di Mai Tempo. But Hadria, as I know him, has 
 always proved mild and gentle. 
 
 The Austrian-Lloyd and Hungarian-Croatian steamship 
 companies, which divide between them the passenger 
 traffic of the coast, do all they can to make the trip 
 pleasant and comfortable. The vessels of both lines are 
 well appointed, the officers are most polite, and the table 
 is excellent. The only complaint which I had to make 
 with the meals was that they were too long — a criticism 
 which could not be applied to the berths. The wine is 
 everywhere good in Dalmatia, and in some places, such 
 as Sebenico, far above the average quality. Dinner on 
 board is always a most sociable meal, even for travellers 
 who cannot speak any language but English, for the cap- 
 tain is sure to have been at some time or other in British 
 ports, and has usually picked up a good many English 
 words. I know one captain in the employ of the Austrian- 
 Lloyd who speaks German, English, Italian, French, 
 Serb, Turkish, and a little Albanian^the last a very rare 
 accomplishment even for those who have lived in Albania. 
 So proud was he of his acquaintance with our country 
 and speech, that he used to keep Whitakers Ahnanack on 
 the dinner-table and read passages out of it for my edifica- 
 tion. He could tell without reference to the precious 
 volume the exact emoluments of every British Consul in 
 the south-east of Europe, and I never saw him at a loss 
 for a phrase, except when he endeavoured to translate 
 into Austrian currency the income of the Duke of 
 Westminster for the benefit of his first officer. I fancied 
 that I traced his handiwork in the 12th and last rule of 
 the steamship regulations which adorned the cabin. The 
 English version of this remarkable announcement ex- 
 
 12 
 
in the Near East 
 
 pressed the belief that '^ Passengers, having a right to be 
 treated Hke persons of education, will no doubt conform 
 themselves to the rules of good society, by respecting 
 their fellow-travellers and paying a due regard to the 
 fair sex." 
 
 The steamer from Pola soon passes the southern point 
 of the low-lying Istrian peninsula, beyond which the lofty 
 peak of Cherso, in the gulf of the Quarnero, is clearly 
 visible, and begins its voyage among the hundred islands 
 and islets which lie scattered along the north-east coast of 
 the Adriatic. Lussin-piccolo is the place at which these 
 vessels usually stop first — a fine harbour formed by 
 two arms of the island of Lussin. The town, though 
 christened ^' the small" to distinguish it from Lussin ^^the 
 great," on the other side of the island, has now outgrown 
 its name. It has long been an important seat of the ship- 
 building industry, and during the last few years, thanks to 
 its mild winter climate, has blossomed out into a fashion- 
 able health resort. The presence of the Austrian heir- 
 apparent here one winter at once drew attention to the 
 charms of the spot, and Lussin-piccolo is rapidly developing 
 into a Curort, w'lih a Fremdenliste, a circulating library, and 
 a special German guide-book, all to itself. But the 
 visitors, who come to enjoy the balmy air of Lussin- 
 piccolo, must occasionally be English, for I noticed on 
 the library shelves a copy of Sir Edwin Arnold's poems, 
 not just the sort of reading which one would expect 
 to find on an island in the Adriatic, and a susceptible 
 Austrian lieutenant confessed to me that he had lost his 
 heart to a young English lady whom he had met there. 
 Meanwhile, Lussin ^'the great" has remained stationary, 
 and her old Venetian houses and battlements show that 
 her *' greatness " is of the past. 
 
 The traveller usually arrives at Zara, the capital of 
 Dalmatia and the headquarters of the maraschino manu- 
 
 13 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 facture, very early in the morning, and the arrangement 
 is a good one, as it enables him to obtain his first glimpse 
 of a Dalmatian coast town under the most favourable 
 circumstances ; for the situation of Zara, always pictur- 
 esque, is seen to the best advantage in the morning light, 
 and it is then, too, that the country folk come trooping 
 into the city with their fowls and their market produce. 
 Built on a narrow tongue of land, Zara possesses two 
 harbours, one on either side of the peninsula, and the 
 steamers lie alongside the quay at the foot of the ramparts. 
 A lion of St. Mark over the gateway, which leads into 
 the town, reminds the visitor at the entrance of the seven 
 centuries of Venetian domination, now gone for ever. 
 Once inside the gate you might fancy yourself in Venice. 
 It is true that the ^' high walls and great towers " which 
 made the Crusaders exclaim, '^ How could such a city be 
 taken unless our Lord Himself besieged it ? " have long 
 since crumbled into dust, and the later fortifications, with 
 which the famous Venetian engineer, Sammichieli, sur- 
 rounded Zara, have been converted into peaceful pro- 
 menades, where the natives take the air in the cool of the 
 day. But the narrow streets and lanes, the well-paved 
 squares, and the stone cisterns, suggest the City of the 
 Lagoons. When you reach the Piazza dei Signori you 
 might imagine yourself back in the Piazza di San Marco. 
 There is the clock tower, just as at Venice ; there, too, is 
 the loggia with the stone bench, where once the Venetian 
 judges sat and administered justice, and to complete the 
 comparison, there, as in Venice, is the principal cafe of 
 the city, where maraschino is served out to you in 
 tumblers, just as if it were taken from the cask. There 
 is a touch of Venice, too, in the market-square, or Piazza 
 deir Erbe, where a huge column, in ancient days a pillar 
 of Diana's temple, surmounted by a broken-winged lion 
 of St. Mark, towers above the stalls and the clatter of the 
 
in the Near East 
 
 market women, while near its base still swings in the 
 morning breeze the iron chain, which once bound the 
 tradesmen who could not pay their debts. Zara is even 
 now the most Italian of Dalmatian cities ; it is there that 
 // Dalmata, the organ of the Italian party in Dalmatia, is 
 published, and the proportion of those who speak Italian 
 is larger there than in other places on the coast. The 
 recent ^* discovery " of the Adriatic towns by tourist 
 agencies has already had its effect upon the trade of Zara, 
 and I noticed on my second visit, as an evidence of this 
 increasing traffic, that elaborately coloured postcards, 
 containing pictures of, and greetings from, Zara, had 
 within the last two years found a ready sale in the shops. 
 Indeed, the rage for these Atisichtskarten is now such, 
 that the most obscure places in the East seek to advertise 
 themselves by this means. Even in Crete and in the 
 Sandzak of Novi-Bazar I had them thrust upon me, and 
 I shall not forget the excitement of a small and remote 
 Bosnian town, when the first specimens, specially ordered 
 by the principal official of the place, arrived from the 
 engraver. 
 
 The weather was magnificent, and the sky and sea of 
 the most azure blue, when we continued our voyage, 
 along the narrow channel of Zara, towards Sebenico and 
 the South. We stopped on the way at the tiny town of 
 Zara Vecchia, now little more than a fishing village, but 
 famous in Dalmatian story as the spot where, on the 
 threshold of the twelfth century, Koloman, King of 
 Hungary, had himself crowned King of Dalmatia and 
 Croatia — the commencement of the long duel between 
 Hungary and Venice for the possession of this coast. A 
 little later the Venetians took their revenge by burning 
 ''the white city," or Biograd, as it is called in the 
 Croatian tongue, and from that day it has never recovered 
 its ancient prosperity. Farther on we anchored off the 
 
 15 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 island of Zlarin, celebrated for its coral and sponge 
 fisheries, and no less remarkable for the quaint costume 
 of its women. It was curious to see these ladies coming 
 alongside the steamer with their brown skirts suspended 
 over their shoulders and gathered under their armpits, 
 their white handkerchiefs on their heads, and huge ear- 
 rings, usually of plain gold, in their ears. Closer 
 examination disclosed the further marvels of their toilet 
 — their black or green under-bodices, made without 
 sleeves, and slashed so as to show a white shirt in front, 
 and their girdles of red. Very picturesque they looked, 
 as they stood in the boats and helped their husbands, 
 while, as if to compensate for this elaborate costume, the 
 garb of the small boys, who accompanied them, w^as 
 simplicity itself — nothing more than a single piece of 
 cloth, serving for coat and trousers alike, and fastened 
 down the back with a row of buttons. Here, indeed, 
 one feels that one has left the conventionalities of Western 
 Europe far behind. 
 
 Through a narrow^ channel, guarded jealously by an 
 old Venetian fort, in whose dungeons political prisoners 
 were wont to languish in days gone by, we entered the 
 bay of Sebenico, next to Ragusa the most picturesque of 
 Dalmatian coast towns. On the quay the host of the 
 Hotel Pellegrino met us and conducted us through quite 
 the most remarkable collection of passages that I have 
 ever traversed, to our chamber. We began at the billiard- 
 room, then crossed the scullery, passed by way of the 
 pigsties and the pigeon-house, climbed a flight of outside 
 stairs, explored the lumber-room, walked across a landing 
 containing a meat-safe and stacks of empty bottles, in- 
 vestigated a huge ante-room full of old chests and cup- 
 boards, plunged into a short passage, and finally emerged 
 in a vast bedroom decorated with pictures of the Virgin 
 and the Saints, and commanding a splendid view of the 
 
 i6 
 
in the Near East 
 
 bay. As our host put it in epigrammatic Italian, "the 
 approach was gloomy, but the room very beautiful." It 
 
 CASA ROSSINI, SKBENICO. 
 
 will be seen from this that the hotel at Sebenico is 
 nothing if not roomy, and that the traveller will not have 
 
 17 C 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 time to perform the gigantic journey to his apartment 
 more than once a day. The food was excellent, although 
 a commercial traveller had assured me on the steamer 
 that Sebenico possessed only two dishes — lamb with peas 
 and peas with lamb. But even so it would have been 
 ahead of many parts of the Near East, where lamb, and 
 lamb alone, is the sole item in the bill of fare. The wine 
 of the neighbourhood is noted, and we sampled with 
 much satisfaction the red vintage known as Tartaro, and 
 the wine called locally maraschino, which is not to be 
 confounded with the liqueur of the same name, but is 
 like milk-punch in colour and very strong. Wine costs 
 next to nothing in Dalmatia, and the beer is also good. 
 Thus fortified, we set out to see the great sight of the 
 district — the Kerka Falls, one of the finest spectacles of the 
 kind in Europe. The road traverses a typical Dalmatian 
 landscape — stones, stones everywhere and not a tree to 
 be seen, with the blue Adriatic gleaming amid the grey 
 limestone rocks. The only inhabitants were a few 
 shepherds and goatherds, watching their flocks, and 
 playing in quite Arcadian fashion on the bagpipes or the 
 Pan's pipe, and here and there a woman, spinning as 
 she walked along the road. Leaving our carriage, we 
 struggled down a very rough path — moUo hnitta, our 
 driver called it — to the mills at the foot of the falls. 
 Amidst luxuriant vegetation, rare indeed in this land of 
 stones, a splendid mass of water comes rushing down the 
 rocks and gliding like a river of glass over a series of 
 steps, while the flakes of foam cover the brushwood on 
 either side. The Kerka Falls are, on a smaller scale, the 
 Niagara of Europe, and will one day, when Dalmatia is 
 more generally known to tourists, bring in a great profit 
 to the natives. Already the waterfall has, like Niagara, 
 been used for the generation of electricity, and it is 
 curious to find so mediaeval a town as Sebenicg lighted 
 
in the Near East 
 
 by electric light, the motive power of which is derived 
 from the Kerka. But an even stranger contrast was that 
 between our very European selves and the five strapping 
 Dalmatians, all clad in the national dress, who lent us 
 their pony for the ride up from the falls. The costume of 
 the Dalmatians, physically one of the finest races in the 
 world, is nowhere more picturesque than at Sebenico, 
 unless, indeed, at Ragusa. Its most striking characteristic 
 is a very small, flat, red cap, with black embroidery at 
 the back and fringe hanging over the edge. This beretto, 
 as it is called, is fastened on the back of the head by 
 means of a piece of elastic, and is so small that it affords 
 absolutely no protection from the sun, which in the 
 Dalmatian summer is of a fiery heat. Yet the dandies 
 of Sebenico pride themselves on wearing the smallest 
 possible size. The Dalmatian is, indeed, a very gorgeous 
 person, with his string-covered shoes, or opaiike, turned 
 up at the toes, his blue breeches, slit at the back of the 
 leg so as to display his bright-coloured socks, with his 
 waistcoat of blue, adorned with two rows of silver 
 buttons, and his short hussar's jacket of brown frieze, 
 covered with red fringe and barely hanging on his 
 shoulders. A striped purse of wool, a leather belt, and a 
 bone-handled knife complete his costume, and, to make 
 it still more theatrical, the true Dalmatian draws his 
 beloved blade at frequent intervals and whets it as he 
 strides along. During our stay at Sebenico we saw the 
 natives in their very best attire, for the narrow streets 
 were filled by a, procession of Orthodox Serbs, headed by 
 two high ecclesiastical dignitaries in robes of blue and 
 yellow, each of the faithful carrying a long taper, which 
 was doled out by a quaint old gentleman. Nothing can 
 exceed the devoutness of the people here, for both the 
 Catholic and the Orthodox churches were crammed with 
 men. And Sebenico affords an appropriate, old-world 
 
 19 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 background to these gorgeously apparelled natives. 
 Although it is one of the termini of the solitary Dalmatian 
 railway, along which two trains saunter leisurely each 
 way every day, it has not greatly altered since the times 
 of the Venetian doges, who for more than three centuries 
 ruled over it. For Sebenico is essentially a Venetian 
 town, although just a hundred years have passed over its 
 grey walls since the lion of St. Mark gave way to the 
 double eagle. The lion is, indeed, still rampant above 
 the ancient doorway in the wall by which you enter the 
 city. The quaint steps and vaulted arch, or sottoporticOy 
 which confront you inside, are Italian ; the narrow streets 
 and handsome balconies have the unmistakable mark of 
 Venice upon them. The magnificent cathedral, with 
 the strange figures of Adam and Eve on either side 
 of the doorway, was the w^ork of two Venetian archi- 
 tects ; and, hard by, the ancient palace of the Vene- 
 tian governors, now converted into a club and cafe, 
 still remains standing. The town is still crowned by 
 the Venetian fort, which the Turks in vain besieged 
 two and a half centuries ago. But the population of 
 Sebenico, as of all Dalmatia, is to-day more Slav 
 than Italian. It is true that the Italian party in 
 Dalmatia is making efforts to regain its lost supremacy, 
 and receives a certain amount of sympathy from the 
 advanced newspapers in Italy. This year, for instance, 
 the Italian Chamber was agitated because the Italian 
 Consul at Spalato had, in his private capacity, subscribed 
 to the Slav Society of Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of 
 Christianity in the Balkan Peninsula, the former of whom 
 has given his name to the Cyrillic alphabet. But the 
 whole Italian population of Dalmatia, according to the 
 last census, was only 16,000 out of 521,117, while the 
 Serbs and Croats of the province numbered 501,307, or 
 about 96 per cent, of the whole. It is therefore in vain 
 
 20 
 
in the Near East 
 
 that // Dalmata insists on the restoration of the Italian 
 language to its old predominance. Under the heading of 
 "Our Demands/' this journal wrote ^ : "We demand the 
 autonomy of the province, and that to the Italian nation- 
 ality in Dalmatia should be given, above all in the schools, 
 the place which belongs to it by the right of centuries." 
 But the present policy of Austria in Dalmatia is to favour 
 the Slav element, which forms the vast majority of the 
 population and has become so important to her since 
 the occupation of Bosnia and the Hercegovina. But at 
 Sebenico there is considerable antagonism between the 
 Slav and the Italian sections, for that place was famous 
 for the high degree of Italian culture to which it attained 
 in Venetian days. A statue of one of Sebenico's modern 
 men of letters, Nicolo Tommaseo, was ready to be un- 
 veiled during our stay there, and Italian is still the most 
 useful language for the traveller, not only there but all 
 along the Dalmatian coast, though German has made 
 great headway at Kagusa, owing to the presence of 
 German-speaking soldiers. But the future of these sea- 
 port towns is indissolubly bound up with the development 
 of the countries behind them, and these countries are all 
 Slav. What is now most wanted is an extension of the 
 railway system in Dalmatia, which is still completely 
 isolated from the great lines of Europe. Even the single 
 railway, 99J miles long, that the country possesses, which 
 runs from Spalato to Knin, with a branch to Sebenico, 
 and which Austrians describe as a Sackhahuj because it 
 goes nowhere in particular, would hardly have been made 
 if it had not been for the important collieries of Dernis, 
 behind Sebenico, whose brownish products cover the 
 quays of this port whenever a steamer is due. There is 
 
 * May 9, 1896. This paper appears twice a week. Two other Dalmatian papers, 
 La Rassegna Dalmata and L'Awisatore Dalmato, are pubHshed half in Italian and 
 half in Croatian. A German monthly periodical, called Dalmatien, and published 
 at Vienna, is devoted to the commercial progress of the province. 
 
 21 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 now, however, a scheme on foot for extending this hne 
 to Novi on the existing railway, which connects Bosnia 
 with Croatia, and thus making a communication between 
 the interior and the coast. Moreover, the subsidies 
 granted by the Government to steamship agencies have 
 done much to benefit the Dalmatian ports. But so long 
 as Dalmatia, separated from Bosnia and the Hercegovina, 
 remains a narrow strip of seaboard, its inhabitants will 
 naturally turn their attention to the sea rather than to 
 the development of their country. The Dalmatian Diet 
 has, however, lately taken up the railway question, re- 
 afforesting, the establishment of a tobacco manufactory 
 and an industrial school as all urgent needs of the 
 province. 
 
 A few hours' voyage brought us to the most exact 
 model of a mediaeval town that Dalmatia has to show. 
 Trau is beautifully situated on an island, which is con- 
 nected by two bridges with another island on one side 
 and with the mainland on the other. The town itself is 
 completely walled in, and over its hoary gateways the 
 usual lion of St. Mark bears silent witness to its former 
 masters. Within, the narrowest of streets, arched here 
 and there, lead to a piazza, where a still finer winged lion 
 at the end of a loggia keeps guard over the splendid 
 cathedral of Trau. To the classical scholar Trau is in- 
 teresting, as having preserved that most curious novel 
 of antiquity, the " Trimalchio's Supper " of Petronius 
 Arbiter. But its classical fame pales before that of Spalato, 
 now, thanks to a swing-bridge, but one hour's steam from 
 Trau, past a strip of coast the most fertile in all Dalmatia, 
 where the ^' Seven Castles," small towns like the castelli 
 of the Roman Campagna, peep out from the refreshing 
 verdure in a climate, the best in Dalmatia, and seem to 
 swim in the water. On a height up the country stands 
 out the ancient castle of Clissa, the key of the old main 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 road into Bosnia, which has stamped its name in letters 
 of blood in the stormy history of these Illyrian lands. 
 And then round a point the town of Spalato comes into 
 view, the tower of its cathedral covered with perpetual 
 scaffolding — for on both of my visits it was thus dis- 
 figured. Spalato is no longer entirely built inside the 
 famous Palace of Diocletian, from which, by a slight 
 corruption, it derives its modern name. It still, indeed, 
 presents the unique spectacle of houses, streets, and 
 churches, all massed together within the walls of what 
 was one vast imperial mansion. But the new town has 
 overflowed beyond the walls, for Spalato is not only the 
 largest town in Dalmatia, but is also rapidly growing, and 
 has a great future as well as a great past. Hitherto it has 
 suffered from the jealousy of Hungary, which has re- 
 solved at all costs to prevent it from competing with the 
 favoured Hungarian seaport of Fiume. It is for this 
 reason that the Hungarians have steadily opposed Baron 
 von Kallay's project of uniting Spalato by railway via 
 Arzano with the Bosnian branch line, whose present 
 terminus is Bugojno, and thus making it the dchouche of 
 the occupied territory. Again and again this plan has 
 been brought forward, but Baron von Kallay has this 
 year been forced to admit in a public speech that it is not 
 at present feasible. That there are considerable natural 
 difficulties in the way of such a line is true ; but, as 
 everywhere in Dalmatia, the political obstacles are more 
 serious than those imposed by nature. Once let this line 
 be made, in place of the diligence route over Livno, 
 which now alone connects Spalato with the Hinterland, 
 and the town will blossom out into considerable com- 
 mercial importance. Smartly dressed men and women, 
 fine big cafes and a theatre, in the auditorium of which 
 we took our dinner according to a practice not un- 
 common in this part of the world, all attest the modern 
 
 24 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 development of Spalato ; and, having for centuries 
 afforded material to plodding antiquaries, it seems likely 
 to become, on a smaller scale, a Dalmatian Trieste. 
 
 Winding about from the islands to the mainland and 
 from the mainland to the islands, we pass Brazza^ famous 
 for its wine, and Almissa's ruined castle, once the boundary 
 line between the two Slav tribes of Croats and Serbs in 
 the early days of Dalmatian history, and later the abode 
 of the most dreaded pirates of the whole lUyrian coast. 
 High among the mountains behind Almissa there existed, 
 till the early years of the present century, the quaint 
 Highland Republic of Poljica, w^hich has been styled the 
 *' lUyrian San Marino." But, unlike the small Appennine 
 Commonwealth,^ \vhich still lingers on within the boun- 
 daries of United Italy, Poljica has disappeared as a separate 
 State from the map. The great French Emperor, who 
 '' bade spare " San Marino, that it might remain '^ a 
 pattern of a Republic," swept away Poljica in a moment, 
 and thus destroyed one of the most picturesque ana- 
 chronisms of these South Slavonic lands w^hich Austria 
 had tolerated. But a much more important and inte- 
 resting Republic perished at the same time and by the same 
 hands. Ragusa is, from every point of view — from that of 
 history, that of art, and that of natural beauty — the gem 
 of the Dalmatian coast, and Ragusa lost her Republican 
 liberties at Napoleon's command. There is preserved in 
 the Ragusan archives a complete list of the Republican 
 magistrates down to the year 1808, w^hen the French 
 forces put an end to Ragusan independence. Much that 
 could have thrown light on the secret story of the Re- 
 public's past — and in powers of intrigue the Ragusans were 
 not inferior to their dreaded Venetian rivals — has perished 
 in the flames, to which, on the approach of the French, 
 
 ^ Perhaps I may be allowed to refer to an account of San Marino, which I 
 wrote in the Memorial Diplomatique of December 8 and 15, 1894. 
 
 26 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the conscript fathers committed their most compromising 
 records. But across the history of the Balkan Peninsula 
 the name of Ragusa is written in letters, not of blood, 
 like that of most Balkan States, but of gold. For the 
 Ragusans were the great traders of the Near East in days 
 gone by. Their ^^ argosies" — said to derive their name 
 from the city which sent them forth — were in every sea ; 
 their agents were in every corner of the land, and their 
 lives and liberties were guaranteed wherever they went. 
 Rough Bosnian kings and proud Servian tsars sued for 
 their friendship in return for mining concessions, and 
 ^^the most favoured nation clause" of modern commer- 
 cial treaties finds an early parallel in the exceptional 
 trading facilities accorded to them. The great earthquake 
 of the seventeenth century, the memory of which still 
 terrifies the citizens of Ragusa whenever a quiver shakes 
 the white Dalmatian mountains or the trim capital of 
 Carniola, is usually ascribed as the cause of the city's 
 decay, though I am told by the highest local authority ^ 
 that the destruction wrought by that awful calamity was 
 less serious than has been commonly supposed. Masses 
 are still sung in commemoration of it, and a friend of 
 mine once- brought all the inhabitants into the streets 
 by telling them that an earthquake was expected. But 
 despite the ravages of these shocks, even now, the streets 
 and gates and walls of Ragusa bear witness to its splendid 
 past. To me no town in the whole East of Europe is so 
 fascinating as this. Against its rocky coast the bright 
 blue waves are ever beating, and I could well understand 
 the patriotic enthusiasm of a much-travelled Ragusa n 
 officer who, after describing the beautiful places that he 
 had seen in the course of his travels, exclaimed, ^^ Aber 
 incln Meer gebe ich nicht aiif!" Ragusa enjoys, too, as 
 
 I Prof. G. Gelcic, whose book. Dcllo Sviltippo Civile di Ragtisa, is a mine of 
 information about Ragusa's art treasures. 
 
 27 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 its Slav name of Dubrovnik, or '' the place of oaks," 
 implies, a vegetation rare in stony Dalmatia. Inside the 
 gates the pigeons and the swallows are flying about by 
 hundreds, and the market-square is alive with people, 
 clad in the most picturesque of costumes. I used to rise 
 every morning at daybreak at Ragusa to watch the 
 peasants in their national garb come into this square to do 
 their marketing. Close as is Ragusa to the Hercegovinian 
 frontier, it naturally attracts the natives of that old Turkish 
 province, where, more than in any other part of the Near 
 East, artistic dress has held its own against the hideous 
 products of the slop-shop, with which the emancipated. 
 Oriental too often seeks to disguise his splendid physique. 
 The women from the Hercegovina in long, dark coats, 
 scarlet fezes with a flower behind one ear and white veils 
 streaming down their backs may here be seen buying 
 vegetables and then trudging off in their thick felt leg- 
 gings, despite the summer heat. But they by no means 
 monopolise the artistic treasures of this piazza. 
 
 There are other women from the valley of Canali on 
 the road to Cattaro, who vie with their Hercegovinian 
 sisters in the picturesqueness of their headgear — a 
 pleated white handkerchief, contrasting pleasantly with 
 the scarlet and orange colours with which the Ragusan 
 dames love to cover their hair. The men, too, are 
 resplendent in blue and crimson, which show off to the 
 utmost advantage their magnificent stature. The figure 
 of the hero Orlando, which here, as at Bremen, adorns 
 the town, might well have been moulded on that of 
 some stalwart Dalmatian. But the glories of Orlando, 
 and even the restoration of his sword some twenty years 
 ago, are eclipsed by the greater fame of San Biagio — the 
 St. Blazey of our own Cornwall — who has been in all ages 
 the patron saint of Ragusa. If Orlando had the privilege 
 of supporting the standard of the Republic, if the traders of 
 
 28 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 old converted his right arm from the elbow to the wrist 
 into a measure; once known all over the Balkan as the 
 hraccio raguseOf or '^ Ragusan arm," it was reserved for 
 San Biagio to hold the city of Ragusa in the hollow of 
 his left hand. Thus holding his beloved town, the saint in 
 silver gazes at the visitor to his church, while from many 
 a niche in the city walls his figure in stone looks down 
 serenely on the modern fortunes of his chosen people. Go 
 into the old Palace of the Rector, the Government House 
 of the Ragusan Republic, and you expect to see a group 
 of mediaeval senators descending the stairs into the court- 
 yard. But here all is still, and there is nothing save a 
 silent statue — that of a shrewd Ragusan corn merchant, 
 who saved his city from the anger of a mediaeval emperor, 
 and asked as his sole reward not riches, for he possessed 
 them already, not honours, for none was higher than 
 that of Ragusan citizenship, but the towel which the 
 monarch had tucked beneath his half-shaved, half-soaped 
 chin. Out in the main street, where every house stands 
 detached as a precaution against another earthquake, 
 or up in the steep alleys with their rows of steps, one 
 seems in Italy, were it not for the colour of the dress 
 and the Croatian names over the shops. On an old door 
 you may still see one of those iron knockers, of which 
 the Ragusan patricians were so proud, and which a 
 travelling Englishman once carried off and hung on his 
 London mansion, there to be recognised by the rightful 
 owner. Ragusa is, indeed, essentially a Slav town, and 
 the proportion of Slavs to other nationalities there is four 
 to one. Her admirers have sometimes called her the 
 ^' South Slavonic Athens," and in some respects the title 
 is deserved. For here arose the ^^ Ragusan school " 
 of poetry, whose best representative, Gundulic, early 
 preached the independence and unity of the Slavs, in his 
 epic, Osman, scenes from which now adorn his statue in 
 
 30 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the market-place. At no time, I am told, was Slav the official 
 language of the Republic, which used sometimes Latin 
 and sometimes Italian in its state papers, and had even 
 to employ a Slav interpreter on an emergency, as one 
 volume of the Ragusan records shows. But, though the 
 best Ragusan families, some of whom still pride them- 
 selves on their patrician origin, can still speak Italian, the 
 names of the streets are now put up in Slav alone, and 
 that is the tongue of the vast majority of the people. 
 Small, indeed, as Ragusa is — at the last census it numbered 
 11,177 souls — it possesses the dubious advantage of 
 three separate clubs, the Italian, the Croatian, and the 
 Serb, each representative of the three sections into which 
 Dalmatia is unhappily divided. While the Italians and 
 the Croats have the same Catholic religion but different 
 languages yet the same alphabet, the Croats and the Serbs 
 have practically the same language, except for the fact 
 that the Croats employ the Latin and the Serbs the 
 .Cyrillic character, but in religion are separated by the wide 
 chasm which keeps the Roman and the Orthodox Greek 
 Church asunder, and which in South-eastern Europe has 
 been one of the greatest drawbacks to national unity. As 
 in the East ties of religion count for more than anything 
 else, the Dalmatian Serbs are apt to be drawn towards the 
 independent Serb communities outside the boundaries of 
 the Monarchy. Ragusa received many a Bosnian exile 
 when the old Bosnian kingdom fell before the Turks ; 
 during the insurrection in the Hercegovina in 1875 she 
 was the headquarters of the insurgents, and the eyes of 
 Prince Nicholas of Montenegro are still directed at 
 times towards the city, which ninety-five years ago his 
 people, with their Russian allies, besieged. The Ragusan 
 newspaper, Dubrovnik, does not hesitate to foster this 
 feeling, and during my visit published letters from a 
 correspondent at Mostar which were intended to be as 
 
 32 
 
in the Near East 
 
 distasteful as possible to the Austrian Government in the 
 Hercegovina. A Ragusan, too, who had gone to Niksic, 
 in Montenegro, lately founded a Serb paper with the 
 ominous title of Nevesinje — the place in the Hercegovina 
 where the insurrection of 1875 first broke out — for the 
 purpose of fomenting a Montenegrin agitation in the 
 occupied territory. The fate of this paper w^as, as I 
 anticipated when I saw a copy, to be excluded from the 
 Austrian post-office.^ It is amusing, too, to notice on the 
 drop-scene of the theatre at Cetinje a picture of Ragusa, 
 so that after a performance of the Prince's political 
 drama, the Balkanska Carica, or Empress of the Balkans, 
 the curtain may fall and display the '' South Slavonic 
 Athens" to the applauding mountaineers. The thoughts 
 of the Croatian party in Dalmatia, on the other hand, are 
 turned towards Agram rather than towards Cetinje. At 
 present Dalmatia sends deputies to the Austrian Reichs- 
 rath and has a diet of its own for provincial affairs, 
 which meets at Zara. But the Croats desire the complete 
 amalgamation of Dalmatia with Croatia, which at present 
 enjoys a large measure of Home Rule from Hungary, and 
 has a provincial assembly of its own at Agram. Just 
 before I visited the Croatian capital a learned professor of 
 Agram had made some sensation by demonstrating the 
 historical rights of the old kingdom of Croatia over 
 Dalmatia. As we have seen, Koloman, King of Hungary, 
 united both Croatia and Dalmatia under his sceptre in 
 1 102, and before that date the Croatian rulers had, under 
 one title or another, exercised power over the Dalmatian 
 people. Another section of public opinion at Ragusa is in 
 favour of reviving the Republic— an idea which is almost 
 as unpractical as the dream of a great Serb Empire. The 
 
 ^ A similar fate has befallen a violently anti-Austrian book, Le Balkan slave et 
 la crise niitrichieiine, lately written at Ragusa by M. Loiseau, brother-in-law of the 
 Prince of ^Montenegro's private secretary. 
 
 33 ^ 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 most probable, and also the most practical, solution of 
 these questions is the ultimate amalgamation of Dalmatia 
 with the occupied territory behind it. Until 1878 it was 
 geographically isolated, except where it bordered on 
 Croatia in the north, from the rest of the Monarchy, and 
 was regarded, as an Austrian official once put it to me, in 
 the light of a '^ transmarine colony." The famous visit 
 of the Emperor Francis Joseph to Dalmatia in 1874, of 
 which the Ragusans still talk, was, however, a new de- 
 parture, and now, with the occupation of Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina, Dalmatia is no longer, in Mr. Paton's classic 
 phrase, ^' a face without a head," and Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina "a head without a face." More especially 
 will this be the case when the new railway, now in course 
 of construction from Gabela, the next station to Metkovic 
 on the Metkovic — Mostar line, to Castelnuovo at the 
 entrance of the Bocche di Cattaro — is finished. This 
 railway, which is primarily intended for military purposes, 
 and, like the Bosnian line, will be of a small gauge, will 
 pass by Ragusa, and a branch is to be made from the 
 Ragusan port of Gravosa to Trebinje in the Hercegovina, 
 which is a most important military point. It is a curious 
 example of history repeating itself, that the outlet of this 
 line should be at Castelnuovo, for that was the spot where 
 Tvrtko I.,^ the first and greatest of Bosnian kings, 
 founded in the latter half of the fourteenth century a 
 town, which he intended to be the harbour of the whole 
 interior. Under him and his predecessor, Stephen 
 Kotromanic, Bosnia had for the first time a coast-line, 
 and Tvrtko even added the style of King of Dalmatia to 
 his other titles. But at his death this brief union of 
 Dalmatia and Bosnia was quickly severed, and though 
 Hrvoje, the great Bosnian king-maker of the early part 
 
 I For a detailed account of this I may refer to my article, " Bosnia before the 
 Turkish Conquest," in The English Historical Revicic, for October, 1898. 
 
 34 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the fifteenth century, extended his authority over parts 
 of the coast and some of the islands, it was not till the 
 present generation that Dalmatia belonged to the same de 
 facto master as the lands behind it. At two points alone, 
 one in the Sutorina at the entrance of the Bocche di 
 Cattaro, the other at the harbour of Neum behind the 
 long peninsula of Sabioncello, did the jealousy of 
 Ragusa cede outlets on the sea to the Turkish rulers of 
 the Hercegovina, so that the confines of the Ragusan 
 Republic might not march with those of her Venetian 
 rival. But the new railway, when completed, should 
 have other than purely military uses. Connected for the 
 first time with the railway system of the Monarchy by 
 way of Bosnia, Ragusa will then be able to derive far 
 greater benefit from those gifts which nature has lavished 
 on her. The heir-apparent to the Austrian throne re- 
 marked last summer to a Dalmatian deputation, which 
 waited upon him, that the natural beauties of the 
 Austrian Riviera were superior to those of the French, 
 but hitherto they have been strangely ignored. The 
 surroundings of Ragusa are, indeed, delightful. Here, 
 almost alone in Dalmatia, rich southern vegetation, the 
 palm, the cactus, and the aloe may be seen flourishing 
 luxuriantly. Take a boat across to the island of Lacroma, 
 where our own Coeur-de-Lion, according to tradition, was 
 shipwrecked on his return from the Crusades and vowed 
 to erect a monastery in gratitude for his deliverance. 
 Among the charming gardens of the Dominican 
 brothers, which a single gardener keeps in artistic dis- 
 order, the unfortunate Emperor Maximilian used to wander 
 before he was tempted with the offer of the Mexican 
 throne, and in the cells, which he occupied as his apart- 
 ments, a number of his English pictures still recall his 
 memory. Here, too, another ill-starred Hapsburg, the 
 late Archduke Rudolph, loved to stay, and his pet dog, 
 
 35 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 now old and grey, greeted us as we strolled through the 
 gardens with one of the monks. The loggia at the top of 
 the monastery with its superb views on all sides might 
 w^ell attract the Archduke's widow^, who often makes 
 Lacroma her temporary home, and the two Dominicans, 
 who live here and keep a school, are, indeed, to be 
 envied. A ^^ dead sea," into which the salt water enters 
 by a subterranean passage, while in winter, chafing 
 against this narrow entrance, it dashes right over the 
 rocks into the basin below, completes the wonders of 
 Lacroma. For the quiet exercise of religious duties no 
 spot could be better suited ; for the world- wearied 
 monarch, the scholar, or the monk, it should be a happy 
 isle. Or ask your boatman to row you up the valley of the 
 Ombla, past a deserted cloister with a garden straggling 
 down to the stream, to the mills, where the waters issues 
 from beneath a great rock and the ground is strewai with 
 mulberries white and purple. Or, in the evening, walk out 
 to San Giacomo, another of these mouldering monasteries, 
 and enjoy the view back over Ragusa's rocky peninsula, 
 where bastions and turrets stand out in the bright sun- 
 light. Here, one feels sure, will be one of the winter 
 resorts of the future ; here, already, a big hotel has sprung 
 up since my first visit, and quick steamers are doing their 
 best to brmg visitors from Fiume, and Pola and Trieste. 
 
 But Dalmatia has one further treat in store for the 
 lover of nature. No fiord that I have seen can compare 
 with the Bocche di Cattaro, that magnificent haven, or 
 rather series of havens, where all the navies of the world 
 could easily lie at anchor. Austria has, indeed, fully 
 recognised the value of this coveted possession, for which 
 in the past so many nationalities have striven, and which 
 is being developed by art into an even stronger position 
 than it is by nature, for a mole is to be constructed across 
 the mouth, and 3,000,000 gulden figured in this year's 
 
 36 
 
in the Near East 
 
 estimates for fortifications here.^ When one enters the 
 gulf, Austrian forts are visible on either hand, as well as 
 on the little island in the middle of the entrance. The 
 walls of Castelnuovo's castle, no longer '' new," next rise 
 to the left in a climate where soon invalids will come to 
 winter. As one penetrates farther within the recesses of 
 the gulf, one sees a flotilla of Austrian men-of-war and 
 torpedo-boats lying at anchor in the lovely bay of Teodo, 
 and commanding the zigzag road which scales the 
 frowning cliffs of the Black Mountain. Virgil must 
 
 CASTELNUOVO. 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 have been thinking of some such series of winding 
 gulfs and bays and channels when he wrote the lines : 
 
 " Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus 
 Regna Liburnorum." 
 
 In one place the passage is so narrow that in olden times 
 chains were stretched across it, but no sooner is the strait 
 passed than another large sheet of water opens out before 
 
 ^ An officer of engineers is said to have been arrested twt) months ago on a 
 charge of having sold the plans to Russia for a large sum. 
 
 37, 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 one's eyes, with Risano, the oldest town of the Bocche, 
 to which in Roman times it gave its name, and the chief 
 deboiiche of Montenegrin trade, at the end of it. To the 
 right of two fairy islands, each with a church upon it, 
 to which the faithful go on pilgrimage, a splendid bay 
 extends up to the quay of Cattaro, nestling at the foot 
 of the Montenegrin mountains. Along the shores on 
 either side of the Bocche are pleasant hamlets with sweet- 
 sounding names, the home of the ships' captains ; and I 
 shall never forget how once, when I entered the Bocche 
 with a favourite captain, many a handkerchief waved 
 from the white villages which peeped out from the trees 
 as the popular commander saluted his friends and rela- 
 tives from the bridge. On high-days and holidays the 
 Bocchesl still appear resplendent in their crimson gar- 
 ments, but at Cattaro costume has almost disappeared 
 from the ancient streets and squares, save where outside 
 the walls a Montenegrin stalks along on his way to 
 the market. Nowadays, Cattaro is essentially a place of 
 arms, and within its quaint old Venetian ramparts, on 
 which the lion of St. Mark still keeps watch, there are 
 swarms of military and naval men. For this is the 
 Austro-Montenegrin, or in other words, Austro-Russian 
 frontier, and it accordingly behoves Austria to keep con- 
 stant guard at this extreme point of the empire. For 
 one brief moment, in 1813, Cattaro was actually united 
 with Montenegro, whose people had captured it with the 
 aid of a British squadron. But Russia compelled her 
 ^Mittle brothers" to hand over the haven to Austria — an 
 event which is sometimes forgotten by those who 
 reproach the Austrians for having taken Spizza. The 
 first time that I arrived in Cattaro I, indeed, thoroughly 
 appreciated, after an experience of the Albanian coast- 
 towns, the remark of a Turkish official with whom I was 
 travelling : ^' I'Autrlche, cest le commencement de la civili- 
 
 38 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 sation." Cattaro, with its fine, spacious quay, its old 
 Venetian buildings, and its public garden, where the band 
 plays in the evening, strikes one as civilised indeed after 
 the squalid shanties and rickety landing-stages of the 
 harbours over which the Turkish flag still flies ; and if 
 the food is not up to the usual Dalmatian standard one 
 feels here that one is in Europe. Here and there an 
 ancient house with its finely-carved balcony reminds one 
 of the Venetian palaces, or the statue of a mailed warrior 
 in a courtyard takes you back to the days of Cattaro's 
 many sieges. High above the town, at the apex of the 
 triangle formed by the walls, stands the old citadel, 
 perched on a spur of the grey mountain, which 
 seems to push the little town into the gulf at its 
 foot. Shut in by impenetrable walls of rock, Cattaro 
 is moved by no breath of air, and in the hot summer 
 days the temperature is terrible. But the situation is 
 unique in South-eastern Europe, and in sublime grandeur 
 would be difficult to surpass anyw^here. No photographer 
 can do justice to the charms of Cattaro and her fiords ; 
 but those who have once sailed through therri beneath the 
 shadow of the tall cliffs, where the Austrian and the 
 Montenegrin eagles meet, will not soon forget the scene. 
 
 40 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 A PATRIARCHAL PRINCIPALITY : MONTENEGRO 
 
 UNTIL the marriage of Princess Helena of Monte- 
 negro and the future King of Italy two years 
 ago the European pubUc knew little, and cared less, 
 about the Highland Principality which for five centuries 
 had maintained its independence against the Turks. 
 Well-educated people in London drawing-rooms have 
 asked me whether Cetinje was not the capital of 
 Bulgaria, and whether the Montenegrins were not 
 blacks. The reason of this indifference was partly 
 the isolated position of the country and partly the 
 fact that, alone among Balkan States, the Black 
 Mountain possessed no professional newspaper corre- 
 spondents, except one laconic individual, whose tele- 
 grams were of the shortest and most concise character. 
 A Balkan statesman once observed that happy was 
 the Balkan State, where journalists were unknown, and 
 this form of happiness was for a long time almost 
 monopolised by Montenegro. One ofBcial journal, the 
 Glas Cniogorca, or Voice of the Black Mountain^ expressed 
 the opinions of the Prince upon the affairs of the day, and 
 obtained a limited circulation in the Slav districts of the 
 Monarchy. But until the Prince of Naples wooed and 
 won the beautiful Princess, Montenegro, despite her past 
 military glories and her almost unique form of govern- 
 ment, was left to blush unseen, save by a few travellers 
 and a handful of diplomatists. Indeed, when I first went 
 
 41 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 to Cetinje, several of the latter, although they were 
 accredited to the court of Montenegro, resided at Ragusa, 
 preferring the civilisation of the "South Slavonic Athens " 
 to the Spartan simplicity of the Montenegrin capital. 
 But when the news of the Italian marriage took Europe 
 by surprise, immense interest was suddenly displayed in 
 this little Principality. Italian journalists visited Monte- 
 negro in swarms, German photographers found the 
 Prince and his people most artistic subjects, and 
 tourists from all lands discovered, to their surprise, 
 that the Near East is not quite so dangerous as many 
 European capitals. Montenegro, in fact, awoke one 
 day to find herself famous, and, so far as notoriety is 
 concerned, the marriage of Princess Helena, followed 
 by that of Princess Anna to Prince Francis Joseph of 
 Battenberg, has done more for the country than all 
 the brave deeds of this nation of warriors. 
 
 A change has naturally came over Montenegro since she 
 suddenly became of interest to Europe. When I revisited 
 Cetinje this year, I was struck by the alterations in the 
 place. I do not mean mere agglomerations of new 
 houses, although in the last four years the little capital 
 has increased by about a third. Now there are more 
 churches than ever, to the great delight of the Prince, 
 who tells you with pride that his country possesses more 
 churches in proportion to its population than " holy 
 Russia " herself — the standard by which, in Monte- 
 negro, everything is measured. Now, too, all the 
 foreign representatives, whose number has been 
 increased by the arrival of Greek, Bulgarian, and 
 Servian agents, live on the spot and in houses of 
 their own, so that the "diplomatic table" in the 
 spacious upper room of the " Grand Hotel/' where 
 once European ministers and Montenegrin senators 
 used to take their meals, is abandoned to young 
 
 42 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Prince Mirko's Swiss tutor — one of the standing 
 institutions of Cetinje. The Crown Prince has now 
 a separate estabhshment of his own, where he Hves 
 in state such as no Montenegrin heir-apparent has 
 enjoyed before, and a mausoleum for the founder of 
 the dynasty, erected on the occasion of the Bicen- 
 tenary, and inaugurated last year, crowns the summit 
 of the Orloff, or '^ Eagle " Hill, whence the Turkish 
 soldiers fired on the Montenegrin cattle, and so kindled 
 the desire to be done with the Turks for ever. But the 
 changes which one notices most are not expressed by 
 stones and monuments. One sees that Montenegro has 
 reached that critical point at which most States of the 
 Near East sooner or later arrive, when contact with 
 ^' Europe " and '^ European " ideas begins to shake the 
 inborn conservatism and primitive faith of a nation. 
 
 Prince Nicholas, even by the admission of his severest 
 critics the ablest of Balkan sovereigns, has hitherto 
 solved the problem of reconciling the old order with the 
 new, and so long as he lives Montenegro will go on in 
 the way which he has so ably marked out for her develop- 
 ment. The Gospodar, or ^' Lord," as his people call him, 
 is, indeed, one of the most remarkable men of the day. 
 He combines two qualities usually considered incom- 
 patible — ^that of great practical common sense and that of 
 a poet by the grace of God. No one can understand his , 
 character, and therefore the policy of his country, which V 
 entirely depends upon his will, without taking both of 
 these characteristics into consideration. The Prince 
 most emphatically knows on which side his bread is 
 buttered, and his public acts are carefully calculated 
 towards the improvement of his political position. If 
 Russia offers him, as she has twice lately done, a ship- 
 load of rifles and other materials of war, he thankfully 
 accepts the gift, without greatly fearing the givers. If 
 
 43 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Austria — that Austria whom he fears and hates so much — 
 provides him with subsidies for his roads and for the 
 pubhc dihgence^ which now carries the mails and 
 passengers over them, he carries out the' bibhcal 
 precept of *' spoiHng the Egyptians." When his old 
 enemy, the Sultan, sends him cavalry instructors with 
 characteristic sense of humour — for cavalry is useless 
 in Montenegro — or promises him a yacht, which he 
 cannot afford to keep up, he couches a letter of 
 thanks in that diplomatic language of which he is 
 a past-master. ^^J'a'une beaucoup les Anglais," he once 
 said to me, and I do not think that there can be any 
 doubt of his and his people's admiration for Great 
 Britain, though what precisely he expects to gain from 
 British friendship is not clear. He told me that he had 
 brought back from England des souvenirs et des espolrs, 
 but of what these '^hopes'' consisted he did not explain. 
 But ever since the British Government of 1880 secured 
 him his second outlet on the sea at Dulcigno, the name 
 of England in general, and that of Gladstone in par- 
 ticular, has been extremely popular in Montenegro. 
 Chancing to be in Montenegro on the morrow of 
 the Prince's return from his first visit to London, 
 which coincided with Mr. Gladstone's fatal illness, I 
 found both Prince and people fully conscious of the 
 loss which they had sustained. Nowhere in the 
 Near East, not even in the Bulgaria which he helped 
 to free, nor in the Greece whose cause he always 
 pleaded, did our countryman's death evoke such 
 demonstrations of sorrow as in Montenegro. The 
 Prince once said, that had Mr. Gladstone visited his 
 country the whole nation would have formed a guard 
 of honour along the road from the frontier to the capital. 
 He told me, when I last saw him, that never again would 
 any foreign statesman do or care as much for the Black 
 
 44 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Mountain. He remarked, too, that if Mr. Gladstone had 
 been in power in 1878, instead of Lord Beaconsfield, 
 the Treaty of Berlin, if it had existed at all, would have 
 been very different. The article which the dead states- 
 man wrote in the Nineteenth Century about Montenegro 
 twenty-one years ago was reproduced on his death at full 
 length in the official journal of Cetinje, and column after 
 column about his life was read by every mountain 
 warrior who could procure a copy. But Prince 
 Nicholas, although, like some other absolute rulers, 
 he professes a preference for politicians of Liberal 
 opinions, provided that they are not his own subjects, 
 did not pin his faith on Mr. Gladstone alone. His 
 daughters, during their winter sojournings on the 
 Riviera, had met the Queen, and the charm of their 
 unaffected manners at once won her sympathy. The 
 Prince, who prides himself on his knowledge of English 
 politics, about this time gave a handsome subscription 
 of ;^8o to the Indian Famine Fund. A little later 
 the Queen bestowed upon him the Grand Cross of 
 the Victorian Order, and expressed the desire to see so 
 picturesque and chivalrous a gentleman. The Prince 
 visited her at Nice, displayed his usual charm of manner, 
 his magnificent national costume, and his smooth, 
 Parisian French. Soon after the world learned, that 
 another of his daughters was engaged to a Battenberg, 
 and the Protestant marriage was celebrated at the British 
 Legation at Cetinje. Then Prince Nicholas overcame 
 his dread of the English Channel, and paid his first visit 
 to England, whither his eldest son had gone to represent 
 him at the Diamond Jubilee. Not merely the Queen and 
 the members of the Royal Family, but the people of 
 London, he told me, had welcomed him with the utmost 
 kindness. Nothing, he said, had struck him more on his 
 visit than the extraordinary fact — for such it must have 
 
 45 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 seemed to a benevolent autocrat like himself — that in the 
 most constitutional country in the world there was so 
 much genuine respect for the Queen and the throne. 
 The Prince's ideal of government is a Liberal autocracy 
 in a Conservative nation ; reforms, according to his 
 system of administration, all come from above and not 
 from below, and his conception of his duty is to recognise 
 and bring about such necessary changes as will civilise 
 his people without making them lose their national 
 characteristics. It was thus that he persuaded them to 
 make roads, which hitherto they had regarded rather as a 
 possible source of danger than as a commercial advantage. 
 But he is fully alive to the excellence of our constitutional 
 methods in a land so different in every respect from his 
 own, although he assured me that he had not the slightest 
 intention of bestowing such a doubtful advantage upon 
 Montenegro. His satisfaction at the alliance of his 
 daughter with the Prince of Naples is yet another proof 
 of his shrewdness, for the average Montenegrins, whom 
 one meets, and who judge men by their inches rather 
 than their wealth or position, think less highly of the 
 marriage than those who have more knowledge of the 
 world. And, last year, when Greece threw down the 
 gauntlet to the Turk, and for a moment it seemed as if 
 Montenegro and the other Balkan States might join in the 
 struggle, the Prince checked the natural desire of his 
 subjects to go on the w^arpath, and earned the encomiums 
 of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Foreign Ministers, 
 who praised him for his ''correct" attitude, the motive 
 for which was undoubtedly the hope of favours to come. 
 But the other side of the Prince's character must not 
 be ignored. He possesses to an uncommon degree the 
 common South-Slavonic love of poetry, and his master- 
 piece, the Empress of the Balkans is not merely a 
 remarkable piece of writing, which has earned for its 
 
 46 
 
in the Near East 
 
 author the title of ^^ the foremost Serb poet," but is a 
 pohtical document of much importance. Into this 
 drama the Prince has put those grand ideas which every 
 Serb imbibes with his mother's milk and cherishes 
 dearly, however unpractical he may admit them to be in 
 his calmer moments. The restoration of the old Servian 
 Empire, which rose with Dusan and fell, I believe, for 
 ever, on the fatal field of Kossovo five centuries ago, is 
 one of the Prince's day-dreams. ^^The small States, 
 among whose number we are," he says in this play, 
 "ought not to be the counters of the Great Powers." 
 Recent events have greatly accentuated his ambitions. 
 He has followed with the keenest interest the recent 
 racial troubles in the Monarchy, and believes that he may 
 profit by them by attracting to his banner some of 
 Austria's Slav subjects. The uncertainty of politics in 
 Servia and the possibility of King Alexander's abdica- 
 tion, coupled with the improbability of that sovereign's 
 marriage in the near future, have opened up vistas of 
 aggrandisement in that direction also. For Prince 
 Nicholas, whose eldest daughter, now dead, married 
 Prince Peter Karageorgevic, the pretender to the Servian 
 throne, considers himself as one of the two chiefs of the 
 Serb people. With King Milan of Servia he was never 
 on good terms, and his feelings were reciprocated by that 
 monarch. King Alexander he has visited at Belgrade and 
 received at Cetinje, and the resumption of good relations 
 between the rulers of the two Serb States led Prince Peter 
 Karageorgevic to find that the Lake of Geneva afforded 
 better scope for amateur photography than his father-in- 
 law's capital, where I saw him some years ago. The 
 solidarity of the Serb race is a favourite subject in after- 
 dinner speeches, and in the homely Montenegrin inns 
 you may see rough pictures of the old Servian tsars 
 and the crowning of Stephen Dusan. But it may be 
 
 47 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 doubted whether the Belgrade politicians would care, 
 in any event — even that of the Obrenovic dynasty's 
 collapse — to take their orders from Prince Nicholas, 
 while it is quite certain that he could not govern the 
 Belgrade politicians and his own mountaineers on the 
 same system. With Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria he 
 has exchanged enthusiastic telegrams, and the meetings 
 of the two at Abbazia and Cetinje this year have been 
 interpreted as an attempt to form an alliance of the three 
 Slav States of the Balkans against Austria-Hungary. On 
 the Turkish-side, in Albania and old Servia, his hopes of 
 expansion are brighter, because it is a maxim of diplo- 
 macy that, whenever there is a war in the East, the Turk 
 shall provide the spoils for the combatants or the umpires. 
 Besides, Prince Nicholas has managed the industrious 
 Albanian subjects, whom he received twenty years ago, 
 extremely well, and has accordingly shown his capacity 
 for further acquisitions in that direction. He told me 
 himself that these Mussulmans, one of whom sometimes 
 accompanies him on his journeys, had never, even at 
 Dulcigno, given him the least trouble, when he had once, 
 in a notable instance, made it clear to them that bakshish 
 was not an argument recognised by a Montenegrin judge. 
 He emphasised also the complete freedom which they 
 enjoyed, and eulogised their loyalty and industry under a 
 proper government. The late skirmishes at Berane do 
 not affect the matter, even if the Turks extend the 
 present railway from Mitrovica to that point, as lately 
 rumoured. For, as every Montenegrin will tell you, 
 there is no fear now that the Turkish Government will 
 molest Montenegrin independence, even though the 
 increase of Turkish prestige by the late war has made it 
 harder for Montenegro, as for the other Balkan States, 
 to deal with the Porte ; the only difficulty is, as the 
 President of the Council once said to me, that "the 
 
 49 ^ 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Sultan fears, and cannot control, his Albanians." The 
 consequence is, that from Albania and the Sandzak of 
 Novi-Bazar bands of Christian refugees come over into 
 Montenegro, as in old days from the Hercegovina, and 
 the poor little Principality is expected to support them. 
 
 But nowadays the vital question for Montenegro is not 
 her relations with Turkey, but her relations with Austria- 
 Hungary. With the disappearance of Turkish rule from 
 the Hercegovina and the Austro-Hungarian occupation 
 of that old Turkish province in 1878, the foreign policy 
 of the Black Mountain entered upon a new era, for 
 Austria-Hungary, in the words of Baron von Kallay, has 
 " become a Balkan State." ^ Montenegro is naturally a 
 very poor country, and in olden days the practice had 
 grown up of making forays over the Hercegovinian 
 border when food was scarce at home ; for the Herce- 
 govina, though not the most productive of lands, is still 
 fertile indeed by comparison with its neighbour. '' You 
 may think Bilek barren," said a Montenegrin to an 
 Austrian official, ^^ but it is a paradise to us who live at 
 Cevo." In Turkish times these forays did not greatly 
 matter, and were regarded by raiders and raided as all in 
 the day's work ; but a civilised Power could not be 
 expected to take the same lenient view of them, and w-hat 
 had formerly been an obscure frontier raid now became 
 a diplomatic incident. Moreover, as the Montenegrin 
 cattle are small, and the Austro-Hungarian import duty 
 is calculated at so much per head, without regard to the 
 size of the animal, a certain amount of smuggling takes 
 place, which leads to bloodshed between the Montenegrin 
 smugglers and the Austro-Hungarian guards. To these 
 material difficulties there are added those awkward 
 historical memories, which disturb the peaceful develop- 
 ment of Balkan States. Prince Nicholas does not forget 
 
 ^ Speech to the Budget Committee, June 12, 1896. 
 50 
 
in the Near East 
 
 that his remote forbears came from the Hercegovina, that 
 many of his comrades He buried beneath its stones, and 
 that the Hercegovinians are of the same Serb race as his 
 own subjects. He has always coveted the land in which 
 he fought against the Turks in 1876, and he still frets 
 against a fate which he was powerless to prevent. Austria- 
 Hungary now holds his Principality as in a vice. Her 
 long row of fortifications hem in Montenegro along the 
 Hercegovinian frontier. The heights above the Bocche 
 di Cattaro are all commanded by Austrian cannon, and 
 the most critical part of the road is held by an Austrian 
 block-house. The road itself is so constructed just above 
 this point as to be fully exposed to the fire of the men-of- 
 war in the bay of Teodo below, and every year sees these 
 precautions increased. The coast line, too, as far as the 
 centre of the shore in the bay of Antivari is in Austrian 
 hands, for Dalmatia, here reduced in many places to a 
 narrow strip of a few hundred yards, shuts off the 
 mountaineers from the Adriatic. The cession of Antivari 
 to Montenegro in 1878 has been largely neutralised by 
 the Austrian acquisition of Spizza, which commands the 
 bay. While I was at Cetinje this summer the Prince 
 was greatly disturbed by the sudden appearance of seven 
 Austrian torpedo-boats in front of his villa on the bay — 
 an event, probably accidental, but none the less ominous 
 of what could be done in certain contingencies. Again, 
 by her garrisons at three points in the Sandzak of Novi- 
 Bazar, Austria-Hungary holds Servia and Montenegro 
 apart, and is able to keep an eye on the Turk at the same 
 time. And, finally, even at Scutari in Albania, she has 
 the Albanians in her favour. As a diplomatist once said 
 to me, '' Montenegro is suffocated, for the Austrians 
 surround her on three sides by their territory, and on the 
 fourth by their influence, though the latter is a fact which 
 we never mention, but which we never forget." But even 
 
 51 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 this does not exhaust the whole of Austria's power over 
 the Black Mountain. Without firing a shot, without 
 drawing a sword, the Austrians could, by one of the 
 ordinary devices of diplomacy, starve Montenegro out. 
 They have but to imitate the policy, for which, with the 
 linguistic approval of a German acquaintance, I once 
 suggested the name of ScIiwelnJieberpoUtik. Whenever 
 Servia is tiresome and restive, the discovery that swine- 
 fever exists in that country, and that accordingly pigs, the 
 staple industry of the kingdom, cannot be exported to 
 Hungary, is sufficient to quell all disturbance. Should it, 
 for any similar reason, be found inexpedient to allow 
 imports of food into Montenegro — a plan actually 
 adopted this summer by the Pasha of Scutari after the 
 Berane troubles — that country would soon be reduced to 
 the verge of starvation, and even now famines are by no 
 means uncommon in the winter. The knowledge of all 
 these things naturally rankles in the Prince's mind, and 
 the splendour of the new Austro-Hungarian Legation at 
 Cetinje has got on the nerves of the natives, who this 
 summer could talk of little else. Matters are aggravated 
 by the acrimonious Press campaigns which frequently go 
 on between the two countries. Prince Nicholas, like 
 many other public men, greatly exaggerates the import- 
 ance of newspaper articles, which those who write them 
 well know are forgotten by most readers as soon as they 
 have been read. He accordingly takes to heart every 
 gibe which a Vienna comic paper may level at him, and 
 he complained bitterly to me of the newspaper attacks 
 upon his government. On the other hand, his own 
 journalistic inspirations are sometimes ill-advised, and he 
 repented of his hasty message to a London journal, 
 written, as he said, *' on Court paper, when my baggage 
 was buckled and I had no Englishman by my side," in 
 which he quoted Mr. Gladstone's cry of '' Hands Off ! " 
 
 52 
 
in the Near East 
 
 to Austria-Hungary. The whole Press of the Monarchy 
 took this up, and finally the official organ of the Austro- 
 Hungarian Foreign Office, the Fremdenblatt, 3.dmin'istei-ed 
 a severe lecture to the Prince. It may surprise English 
 readers that a great Power like Austria-Hungary should 
 take her small neighbour so seriously ; and, in fact, 
 Russia herself hardly causes the statesmen of the 
 Monarchy so much annoyance as Russia's outpost at 
 Cetinje. I never thoroughly understood the reason, until 
 one day a politician, who knew both Austria-Hungary 
 and Montenegro well, explained to me the situation in a 
 sentence : 'Mf a dog tries to bite me, I can kill him ; 
 but if a flea tickles me, what can I do ? " Montenegro is 
 the flea, constantly tickling the Austrian giant, and one 
 can easily understand, from the Austrian standpoint, the 
 objections raised to the cession of Antivari and Dulcigno 
 to the Principality, as being so many places where Russia 
 can land arms, to be used against — her enemy. The 
 truth of Mr. Gladstone's prophecy that ^' no Austrian 
 eagle will ever build its nest in the fastnesses of the 
 Black Mountain," the future alone can decide. For the 
 present the salient fact of Montenegrin foreign policy is 
 that Austria, the Erzfeiiid, not Turkey, the Erbfeind, is now 
 dreaded at Cetinje. 
 
 But Prince Nicholas is not wholly absorbed by ques- 
 tions of high statecraft. Like most able statesmen, he 
 finds time for small matters as well as great. Indeed, he 
 has a hand in every department of administration, and 
 knows everything that goes on in his dominions. When 
 some friends of mine, staying at the ^^ Grand Hotel," which 
 his paternal care called into existence for the benefit of 
 travellers, found the water undrinkable and the landlord 
 deaf to their complaints, they went in person and laid the 
 matter before his Highness. The Prince at once took the 
 subject up, and issued the proper order for the inspection 
 
 53 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of the well. A mouldy Montenegrin ham, which had 
 been hung over the water to cool, was discovered to be 
 polluting the supply, and the landlord was reprimanded 
 by his sovereign and told not to let it occur again. When 
 one of the British Minister's children broke her arm in 
 Ireland, the Prince, as soon as he heard of the accident, 
 telegraphed desiring iiiie prompte giierison a ma petite ainie. 
 In the midst of a political conversation he paused to ex- 
 press to me his admiration at the way in which our police- 
 men managed the immense street traffic of London, 
 although, as he put it, '' there are more omnibuses in one 
 big London thoroughfare than in all Paris." He showed 
 also a just appreciation of the historical treasures of the 
 Tower and Windsor Castle, which, with characteristic 
 curiosity, he explored '^ down to the kitchens," and was 
 greatly interested in the Sevres china, the relics of 
 Napoleon I., and the bullet which killed Nelson. On 
 one occasion, when he was leaving his country for a 
 considerable time, he resolved to provide employment for 
 his warriors, who strongly object to any form of work 
 that is not w^arlike, and at the same time improve the wine 
 trade of the Black Mountain. He accordingly summoned 
 the chief men together and in their presence planted a 
 vine-stock with his own hands, bidding them all go home 
 and do likewise. Finding that the art of farriery was 
 despised by the Montenegrin braves, he is said to have 
 caused a smithy to be erected outside the palace, and 
 there to have hammered a horseshoe for the benefit of his 
 haughty subjects, who were thus convinced that what 
 was good enough for their Gospodar was good enough for 
 them. A very early riser, he once called upon a slumbering 
 diplomatist at six in the morning, and I saw him giving 
 orders to his architect and laying the foundation-stone of a 
 new church soon after daybreak. He usually gets through 
 two hours' work before breakfast, as his time is naturally 
 
 54 
 
in the Near East 
 
 much occupied. For he is everything in Montenegro and, 
 as a friend of mine once said, ^^a sparrow cannot fall 
 from the roof without his issuing an Order in Council for 
 its restoration." Besides, in one respect he resembles the 
 German Emperor in that he is perpetually travelling about 
 his country, in each town of which he has a villa. At 
 Njegus, the home of the first Petrovic prince-bishop of 
 Montenegro, the traveller on the way up from Cattaro 
 will see his simple mansion, and he has similar establish- 
 ments dotted about the Principality — near Podgorica, at 
 Niksic, at Rjeka, and on the bay of Antivari. He never 
 neglects to attend any national festival, and his hasty 
 return from England was due to his desire to be present 
 at the fortieth anniversary of the Battle of Grahovo, where 
 his late father, Mirko, inflicted an overwhelming defeat 
 upon the Turks. 
 
 Unlike Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, whose Court is 
 one of the most formal in the world. Prince Nicholas is 
 not a great stickler for etiquette. I beheld his aide-de- 
 camp bring into the salon of the hotel the Grand Cordon 
 of the Order of Danilo for the Duke of Connaught, 
 wrapped up in a boot-box, while a grave discussion took 
 place in French as to the best means of sending it to 
 England. You may see his Highness laughing and joking 
 on the steps of his palace with his father-in-law, Peter 
 Vukotic, a jovial Montenegrin warrior of the old school, 
 one of the heroes of the war of 1876-7, who speaks only 
 one language, Serb, and is the hero of a hundred fights. 
 In the midst of a Court procession the Prince hailed the 
 postman, whom he spied in the distance, and stopped his 
 carriage in order to seize his letters and newspapers. His 
 portly form, under a vast umbrella, may be observed at 
 the gate of the Russian Institute, an educational establish- 
 ment for girls, in which he takes a keen interest. On the 
 betrothal of his daughter to the Prince of Naples he 
 
 55 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 allowed twelve stalwart mountaineers to seize him in his 
 palace and carry him shoulder-high down the main street. 
 Like his namesake, Nicholas I. of Russia, on a memorable 
 occasion, he talks of the Princess as '' my wife," and 
 affably invites you to '' take a potage " with her. There is 
 no pomp, no circumstance about the palace, a comfort- 
 able but quite unpretentious two-storeyed building, which 
 opens straight on to the street. From the outside it looks 
 like a French country house or a commodious Swiss 
 hotel. A couple of sentry-boxes painted red and white, 
 the Montenegrin colours, stand on either side of the flight 
 of steps which lead up to the door. Several perianiks of 
 the Prince's bodyguard, so called from the perianica, or 
 ''tuft of feathers," which they wear in their caps, are 
 usually lounging about the entrance awaiting any orders 
 that their sovereign may have for them. Passing through 
 the hall and up the staircase to the first floor, you are 
 ushered into a large reception-room, upholstered in dark 
 red and ornamented with portraits of the Russian tsars and 
 the Prince's uncle and predecessor, Danilo II. Out of 
 this opens the Prince's stud}^, on the walls of which hang 
 portraits of the King and Queen of Italy. The Gospodar 
 is, like the Queen of Roumania, a great believer in the 
 national dress, and during his recent stay at Buckingham 
 Palace he purchased his first dress suit. In " European " 
 garb he would probably look very ordinary, but in his 
 full, dark blue knickerbockers and his crimson jacket with 
 flowing sleeves, the breast of which is covered with 
 decorations, he looks every inch the Highland chief. Out 
 of doors he wears the usual Montenegrin cap of crimson 
 and black — crimson for the streams of blood that have 
 flowed down these rocks, black in token of mourning for 
 Kossovo's fatal field — which bears in one corner his 
 initials, surrounded by five strips of gold braid, to 
 signify Montenegro's five centuries of independence. 
 
 56 
 
in the Near East 
 
 In his case the cap bears in the front the highest of the 
 nine Montenegrin mihtary insignia. Like every one of 
 his subjects, he carries in the silaf, or red morocco pouch 
 at his variegated girdle, the inevitable revolver, without 
 which no Montenegrin's toilet is complete. So long as he 
 lives there can be no doubt that the picturesque national 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PRINCE NICHOLAS OUTSIDE BRITISH LEGATION. 
 {From a PJioto. by Miss La Toiiche.) 
 
 costume will be preserved. But the rising generation 
 may not be able to resist the desire to imitate the Serbs 
 of Belgrade and assume '^ European " garb, especially 
 as the full native dress costs from 32 to 300 gulden 
 {£2 13s. 4d. to £2^). The Princess of Montenegro always 
 dresses as the women of Crnagora have done for genera- 
 tions, but her daughters hate the native attire, and put^it 
 on only once a year. I • noticed, too, among the younger 
 
 57 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 men who had been to ^^ Europe," a growing disindination 
 to continue wearing it. It was only by asking it as a per- 
 sonal favour that we could induce Tomo, the charming 
 waiter of the hotel at Cetinje, to cast aside the frock-coat, 
 which some Frenchman had bequeathed him, and resume 
 his silafiind his revolver. A theory has been started that 
 these huge revolvers and enormous leather belts which the 
 Montenegrins carry at their waists, injure their stomachs 
 and impede digestion, and Tomo was desirous to have, 
 like the Prince, a small pistol of British make. At the 
 Russian Institute, too, the mistress makes the girls don 
 homely " European " dress, as soon as they enter as pupils, 
 because she thinks that the more artistic national gar- 
 ments divert their attention from their work. This question 
 of costume is, in the Near East, of more than merely 
 artistic interest ; for I have observed that the Oriental is 
 apt to deteriorate morally when he assumes Western garb. 
 An American poet has ridiculed the man who ^' puts off 
 his religion with his Sunday pantaloons." The native of 
 the Balkans seems not infrequently to ^^ put off" his 
 primitive faith and his simple ideas when he puts on a 
 black coat. The frock-coated Balkan politician is not by 
 any means the same ingenuous person as the peasant, who 
 is of the same stock as himself, and the silk hat too often 
 converts an unsophisticated son of the soil into a very 
 poor imitation of a Parisian man-of-the-world. At present, 
 however, there is no fear that the Montenegrin headdress 
 will perish, and the English firm of hatters which asked 
 our Minister as to the best means of effecting a sale of 
 top-hats in the Principality might just as well have sent a 
 sample of their wares to the Polar regions.. As a specimen, 
 however, of the absolute ignorance of, and indifference to, 
 national customs, which our traders usually display in the 
 Near East, the incident has its practical as well as its 
 humorous aspect. 
 
 58 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Not only the future of Montenegrin dress but much 
 more will depend upon the Prince's successor, whose 
 character is sure to be largely influenced by his future con- 
 sort. This question of providing the Crown Prince 
 Danilo with a wife is a very difficult and delicate one for 
 Montenegro, just as the choice of a spouse for the young 
 King of Servia is a pressing problem for the other Serb 
 State. Prince Nicholas has been one of the most success- 
 ful match-makers of his time, and the King of Denmark 
 alone has done better for the princesses of his house. 
 When a visitor to Cetinje once told the Prince that his 
 country was very beautiful and interesting, but that it 
 appeared to have no valuable exports, his Highness replied 
 with a twinkle in his eye, ^' Sir, you forget my daughters." 
 But it is much easier, as the Prince has found out, to 
 marry a Montenegrin Princess in Italy or Russia than to 
 discover a wife for the heir-apparent. In the first place 
 Cetinje is not a capital where many young ladies of fashion 
 would care to pass the remainder of their natural lives. 
 It possesses few shops, and those that it does possess are 
 exclusively devoted to the sale of the simplest necessaries of 
 existence. Four years ago it did not even boast a dentist, 
 and that branch of surgery was represented in the Princi- 
 pality by such persons as the Albanian tooth-doctor of 
 Dulcigno, whose methods were once feelingly described to 
 me by the Turkish Consul at that place. This Albanian — 
 who, in the intervals of tooth-drawing pursued the calling 
 of a blacksmith — made his luckless patient sit down on the 
 ground with his hands tightly clasped round his knees, 
 while he tugged and tugged at the refractory tooth till it 
 came out. ^' If some of your philanthropic English 
 travellers," slily added the Consul, 'Svere to see such an 
 operation they would write to the papers, protesting that 
 they had witnessed a poor prisoner being tortured." 
 Even the Princess, who was born in the country, once 
 
 59 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 remarked, when asked why Cetinje had been preferred 
 as the capital to other and better sites, that it was very- 
 convenient because it was so easy to get away from it to 
 '^ Europe." 
 
 There are '' European " residents, indeed, who, after five 
 years' residence protest that they would have no objection 
 to five years more, and M. Piguet, the tutor of the Prince's 
 family, has collected butterflies and played whist there for 
 the last thirteen. But, outside the palace, the houses of 
 a few officials, and the diplomatic circle, there is no 
 society, and the means of giving entertainments, even 
 with assistance from Cattaro or Ragusa, are limited. The 
 Princess of Naples had to purchase her trousseau in 
 Vienna, and when anything is wanted in a hurry at the 
 palace a messenger must be sent on foot — for that for a 
 Montenegrin is the quickest way — down the famous 
 ^Madder" of stones to the nearest Austrian town, seven 
 hours distant by the carriage road. But, it may be said, why 
 should not the Crown Prince marry, like his father, in his 
 own country, if it is so difficult to fin's him a foreign 
 bride ? But to this course there are social obstacles. 
 Prince Nicholas, it is true, played as a boy with other 
 Montenegrin boys in the streets ; his old mother, to 
 whom he was devotedly attached, lived and died in a tiny 
 house in a small village outside Cetinje ; and the Princess 
 was the daughter of a homely, if very distinguished, 
 Montenegrin. But the Crown Prince has been brought 
 up as an heir-apparent, and was always treated by his 
 tutor as such. Outside his palace two sentries are 
 stationed, and when he drives out to take the air along 
 the Cattaro road in the cool of the day an aide-de-camp 
 accompanies him. He would accordingly regard the 
 women of Montenegro as beneath him, while his 
 father, as a young man, was merely primus inter pares. 
 Prince Nicholas, too, has social as well as political aspira- 
 
 60 
 
in the Near East 
 
 tions, and is well aware that at the punctilious Court of 
 Germany, for example, in the words of a German 
 Court ofBcial, which were reported to me, he is not 
 considered, even now, as Jiojfdhig. Compared with 
 the Obrenovic dynasty in Servia, whose founder was 
 keeping pigs only a century ago, the long line of 
 the Petrovic princes and prince-bishops, which has 
 never dabbled in trade, possesses, one w^ould have 
 thought, sufBcient antiquity for even a German high 
 chamberlain, quite apart from the fact that every Monte- 
 negrin is by nature a gentleman. But the opinion has 
 been expressed that a Prince of Montenegro will only be 
 fit to associate with a German Kaiser when he has married 
 into the great '' European " family of princes. This, ac- 
 cordingly, is what the Prince is anxious that his successor 
 should do, and over four years ago he wrote a poem for 
 the dedication of his eldest son's palace, in which he 
 prayed that Prince Danilo might '' lead a happy life with 
 his loving companion." That '' companion," who was 
 not, it was added, to be, like his mother, a Montenegrin 
 lady, has not, however, been found, and it is possible 
 that, in the phrase of a Teutonic commentator, eine 
 chimnie Deutsche will have to be the next Princess of the 
 most poetic Principality in the world. Of the Crown 
 Prince himself it is perhaps too early to write with much 
 certainty. Prince Danilo is a passionate lover of the chase, 
 and his exploits as a mighty hunter have been extolled, 
 but not exaggerated, in an enthusiastic German pamphlet, 
 which I was fortunate enough to have lent me at Cetinje. 
 It is owing to his initiative that a close time has been 
 instituted for various kinds of game, and, even for a 
 Montenegrin, he is a deadly shot. After one of the 
 shooting-parties in the mountains, in which the whole 
 Court took part, his father expressed the wish that the 
 Prince of Wales and the Duke of York would visit 
 
 6i 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Montenegro for purposes of sport ; and the son is an 
 even keener sportsman than Prince Nicholas. He gave 
 a tennis-court to the British Legation, just as his father 
 presented the British Minister with a stretch of fishing 
 up-country, and in every way shows himself an amiable 
 personality. He is also a close observer, and his father 
 told me that he had been delighted to find London exactly 
 as his son had described it. But if appearance be any 
 criterion of character he hardly gives promise of being a 
 great ruler, like his sire. He has not a strong face, and 
 strikes one as being more '' modern " than the average 
 Montenegrin. Besides, the history of the Balkan Penin- 
 sula teaches the melancholy fact that each nationality in 
 turn produces some great man, who for a brief space 
 makes himself the foremost figure of the peninsula and 
 rapidly acquires a power which is as rapidly dissipated 
 at his death. Bulgaria can point to her mighty Tsars, 
 Simeon and Samuel, Servia cherishes the memory of 
 Stephen Dusan, the Albanians have found a national hero 
 in Skanderbeg, the Bosnian kingdom attained its zenith 
 under Tvrtko L And so, in a lesser degree, Montenegro 
 has come to fame under Nicholas L But the absolute 
 government, which the present Prince has so skilfully 
 conducted for nearly forty years, depends entirely for its 
 success upon the personality of the monarch. Now it 
 is not so easy as outsiders imagine to administer a 
 country so small as Montenegro ; for the Prince of such 
 a peculiar State has to ignore the advice which Plato 
 sagely gave to despots in all ages, to keep themselves as 
 far as possible from the public gaze. But Prince Nicholas 
 has lived all his life in the public eye ; his subjects know 
 every fact of his career, they see him daily in the streets, 
 they can seek his counsel and invoke his aid whenever 
 they choose. Under these circumstances it is no small 
 praise to the Prince's tact and charm of manner that 
 
 62 
 
in the Near East 
 
 he has succeeded in remaining a prophet in his own 
 country and that by ahnost all his subjects he is regarded 
 with unstinted veneration. As an example of this may 
 be instanced the case of one of them, who was thrown 
 into the depths of despair by being deprived for five years 
 of the privilege of kissing his sovereign's hand as punish- 
 ment for an offence. But now and again, as in one 
 remarkable incident this spring, when a haughty Monte- 
 negrin, against whom the Prince had decided in his 
 capacity of supreme head of the judicial system, left the 
 country in indignation and went to Russia, there is 
 evidence that a younger and less experienced man might 
 not be able to impose his will upon this proud race of 
 mountaineers. Besides, it is difficult to imagine that 
 even Crnagora will resist for another generation the 
 temptation to become more " European." All that can 
 be affirmed about it with safety is that the present Prince 
 is emphatically the right man in the right place, and that 
 the heir-apparent is not, so far as can be judged, a second 
 Nicholas. The Prince's second son, Prince Mirko, 
 inherits his father's poetical talents and has already 
 composed songs and dance music ; the third, Prince 
 Peter, a dear little boy, means, so he says, "to be a 
 soldier." The two unmarried daughters share their 
 parents' good looks. 
 
 Autocratic as he is, the Prince has ministers w^ho carry 
 out his policy. The President of the Council and 
 Minister of the Interior is his cousin, the Voivode Bozo 
 (a Serb form of Theodore) Petrovic, who has lately 
 obtained European notoriety by his candidature for the 
 governorship of Crete. The real facts about this candida- 
 ture have never yet been published ; the truth w^as that 
 the late Russian Minister to Montenegro, who disliked 
 the Prince, proposed Bozo Petrovic in order to annoy his 
 Highness, who was very glad that a body of strapping 
 
 63 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Montenegrin gendarmes should be sent to Crete, but was 
 by no means anxious that his cousin should be moved 
 from Cetinje to Canea. During the conversations which 
 I have had with the President of the Council, he has 
 struck me as a shrewd and capable administrator, and, 
 like most of his contemporaries, he won many laurels, 
 which he modestly wears, for his conduct as commander 
 of the Army of the South in the Turco-Montenegrin 
 campaign of 1876. M. Nicolas Matanovic, the Minister 
 of Finance, approaches more nearly to one's idea of a 
 European minister, not because of his excellent P'rench — 
 for that is a common accomplishment among the higher 
 Montenegrin officials — but from his grasp of figures and 
 his very diplomatic manner. M. Matanovic has on many 
 occasions rendered important services to his country 
 abroad, and three years ago was entrusted with the 
 delicate task of expressing his master's thanks at St. 
 Petersburg for the Tsar's gift of rifles and explaining at 
 Vienna that they were a further guarantee of peace. 
 One of the most interesting figures in the Ministry is 
 that of the Voivode Elia Plamenac, the Minister of War, 
 a bronzed veteran who has spent most of his life in fighting 
 his country's battles, and whom I met four years ago, at 
 a rather critical moment, at Podgorica, when he was on 
 his way to discuss the Albanian frontier question with 
 the Turkish Commissioner. His name, " the little flame," 
 is emblematical of his career, for the fire, which he 
 helped to direct in the last war, was, if small, extremely 
 bright. 
 
 To see the Court at its simplest one should be at 
 Cetinje at Christmas-time. The quaint Serb proverb 
 says, '' If Christian had been good, he would have stayed 
 at home on Christmas Day," ^ and the Montenegrins 
 
 ^ I have had to translate Bozo in the original by '' Christian," so as to preserve 
 the pun on Bozic — " Christmas Day." 
 
 64 
 
in the Near East 
 
 fully share this feeling of reverence for the great family 
 festival of the year. Montenegro observes, like Servia, 
 Bulgaria, and Greece, the orthodox calendar, so Christmas 
 at Cetinje falls on the 6th of January. For several days 
 before, long logs of wood or tall young trees are dragged 
 into the town and placed outside each house. It seems, 
 indeed, as if ^^ Birnam wood " had '' come to Dunsinane," 
 for a young forest suddenly springs up before the palace 
 windows and the gates of the Crown Prince's abode. 
 When Christmas Eve arrives every householder throws 
 the yule-log, or badnjak, on the fire, which is kept alive 
 for three days and nights. The entrance-hall of every 
 house and one room are covered with straw, and the 
 princely family, like the rest, take their Christmas dinner 
 sitting or lying on this natural carpet. Every orthodox 
 family keeps open house that day, and Homeric banquets 
 are served up, of which pigs, roasted whole, and sheep 
 deftly carved with a Montenegrin claymore, form the 
 principal part, while the air resounds with the crack of 
 revolver-shots — here, as in most countries of the Near 
 East, the favourite mode of expressing the people's joy. 
 Of all the recent reforms in the Black Mountain, none 
 is greater than the decision, arrived at three years ago, to 
 celebrate the Bicentenary of the dynasty by the formation 
 of a standing army. Hitherto the army had simply been 
 the nation under arms, and every man of the Prince's 
 warrior subjects, with the exception of the Mussulman 
 inhabitants of Antivari and Dulcigno, who were exempt 
 on payment of a capitation tax of 7 gulden a-head, 
 was liable to serve in time of war. Even the women 
 bore their part in campaigns by carrying provisions for 
 the men, in the absence of a proper commissariat, and 
 the Prince's sister was a perfect paladin of warfare. The 
 only nucleus of a standing army which existed was the 
 Prince's bodyguard of 64 perianiks, and no special 
 
 65 K 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 uniform was worn. It was calculated in 1894 that, in the 
 event of war, the Principality could put into the field, or 
 rather on to the mountain, eight brigades of infantry, con- 
 sisting of 35,548 men, and eight batteries of artillery, 608 
 strong. With the artillerymen and officers in charge of 
 depots, the total strength was 36,222 men. But the 
 Prince, during his visit to the Tsar in the winter of that 
 year, made such a favourable impression upon his name- 
 sake, that the latter not only sent him a number of time- 
 expired Russian non-commissioned officers to act as 
 military instructors, but a Russian vessel, laden with 
 30,000 rifles, not, however, of the newest make — a fact, 
 which somewhat damped the enthusiasm of the Monte- 
 negrin people. The next steps were the erection of 
 barracks at Cetinje and the foundation of a military 
 college under the superintendence of native officers, 
 who had studied abroad, at Podgorica. To these 
 barracks, which are the largest public buildings of the 
 little capital, a battalion is sent for three months' training, 
 and then succeeded by another, so that in this way every 
 Montenegrin will have three months' drill every ten or 
 twelve years. The soldiers wear special caps, and the 
 second Russian gift of arms in the present year has pro- 
 vided them with more weapons. But experts doubt 
 whether Montenegro will greatly gain by these military 
 changes. In the first place, the Montenegrin is an 
 admirable fighter in guerilla warfare, but has had little 
 experience of regular campaigns. He is brave to the last 
 degree — only one Montenegrin was captured alive in the 
 last war — and ready at any moment to die for his Prince ; 
 but bravery is not everything in modern warfare, and it 
 is doubted whether a regular army of these mountaineers 
 would be of much use against trained soldiers, especially 
 if the war were carried on beyond the limits of their own 
 rocky country. Moreover, a high military authority has 
 
 66 
 
in the Near East 
 
 pointed out that the extension of Montenegrin territory 
 since the last war has made the country less easily 
 defensible than before. Roads, too, beneficent as they 
 are in times of peace, may prove to be dangerous in 
 time of war, and it must not be forgotten that the 
 future enemy whom the Montenegrins may have to 
 fight is of a very different calibre from that of their 
 ancient foes whom they have worsted in a thousand 
 battles. The Prince once said that the next war would 
 be, so far as he w^as concerned, a bloody one; and the 
 Montenegrins are warriors of very different stuff from 
 that of which Greek soldiers are made. But in one 
 respect they resemble the Hellenic army, in that they 
 do much better as freelances among their native 
 mountains, of which they know every hole and cranny, 
 than in a pitched battle, where their crimson dress alone 
 would, in that white landscape, make them an easy target 
 for artillery. 
 
 The Prince is very proud of his achievements as a road- 
 maker, and the 156 kilometres (or 97 J miles) of excellent 
 driving roads which the Principality now possesses are 
 all his work, while 60 kilometres (or 37J miles) are in 
 course of construction, and sixty more are fairly good. 
 It is now possible to drive from the Montenegrin frontier 
 above Cattaro into the heart of the country at Niksic by 
 way of Cetinje and Podgorica, and what is now chiefly 
 wanted, as the Prince pointed out to me, is a road from 
 Niksic, 40 kilometres in length, as far as the Austrian 
 boundary in the mountains behind Risano, which would 
 greatly develop the trade of that region. The Austrians 
 have much encouraged and assisted the Prince in his 
 efforts at opening up the country, for obvious commercial 
 and strategical reasons. From 1881, when the late Arch- 
 duke Rudolph inaugurated the splendid serpentine from 
 Cattaro along the face of the mountain by driving up it 
 
 67 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 in a magnificent coach, Austria- Hungary paid to the 
 Prince a yearly subsidy of 30,000 gulden (;£2,5oo) for this 
 purpose. Six years ago, however, during one of the 
 perennial Press campaigns between the two countries, 
 the Monarchy stopped this subsidy, for which, in the 
 opinion of its statesmen, Montenegro had latterly done 
 very little road-making. The result was what was ex- 
 pected. The Glas Criiogorca moderated its language, and 
 more work was put into the roads. The greater part of 
 the Austrian subsidy is, for very practical reasons, given 
 in materials, such as spades, picks, carts, and blasting- 
 powder, but even so the Montenegrin Government 
 cannot accomplish very much, partly because it has such 
 small funds at its disposal, and partly because spade labour 
 does not commend itself to the sons of Crnagora. 
 Original in this, as in most of his arrangements, the 
 Prince usually waits till a '^famine year" comes round, 
 and then distributes the supplies of grain, which he has 
 obtained from Russia, on condition that the recipients 
 earn his charity by working on the roads. In addition 
 to this, all male inhabitants of districts through \vhich 
 roads pass are compelled to give four days' labour twice 
 every year, or to pay 4 gulden (6s. 8d.) towards the 
 repairs of the roads. Until three- years ago the Princi- 
 pality was unique among the States of the world in that 
 it possessed no public conveyances of any kind. But 
 Austria-Hungary here again stepped in, and agreed to 
 pay a subsidy of 8,000 gulden (;£666 13s. 4d.) a year 
 towards the expenses of a diligence for mails and 
 passengers between Cattaro and Cetinje. The arrival 
 and departure of the two vehicles which perform this 
 duty are now events of every day at Cetinje, and the 
 drivers show that, if the Montenegrins can shout like 
 the war-god in Homer, they can also tootle on the horn 
 in a manner not unworthy of the White Horse Cellars. 
 
 68 
 
in the Near East 
 
 But paternal government has left a curious mark upon 
 the rules and regulations of the diligence. Article 13 of 
 this document provides ^^ That the traveller is entitled to 
 the seat marked upon his ticket, but the respect due by 
 the young to the old requires that the former should 
 always yield the best places to their seniors." Of his 
 postal arrangements the Prince has, indeed, every reason 
 to be proud. Montenegro early joined the Postal Union, 
 and her Post Office is well managed, and in every 
 respect the opposite of the miserable Turkish postal 
 arrangements. There is a telegraph to all the principal 
 places in the country, and telegrams are not, as so often 
 happens in Turkey, delayed a week in transmission. I 
 once sent from Santi Quaranta, a place which has since 
 gained European notoriety from its bombardment by 
 the Greek fleet in the war of last year, a telegram to 
 Scutari in Albania, asking for some horses to be sent to 
 the little Albanian port of Medua. I arrived at Medua 
 on the following evening, only to find no horses there, 
 and was subsequently informed that my message had not 
 been received for six days after its despatch. But such 
 things do not happen at Cetinje. The postmaster is a 
 most artistic person, about as different as possible in 
 appearance from all one's ideas of what a postmaster 
 should be. Gigantic in stature even for a Montenegrin, 
 he always wears the national costume and lays his revolver 
 down on his desk as he postmarks your letters. To the 
 philatelic mania of the day Montenegro has contributed 
 two sets of Jubilee stamps and envelopes, one on the 
 four hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the first 
 Slavonic printing-press, the other on the Bicentenary of 
 the dynasty. But the latter issue, picturesque as it is, 
 did not realise the anticipated profit, and was only a 
 month in actual circulation, owing to the prejudice of 
 the best dealers against commemoration stamps. Another 
 
 69 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 enterprise, the steamship service on the Lake of Scutari, 
 which is partly in Montenegro and partly in Turkey, is, 
 curiously enough, in the hands of an "Anglo-Monte- 
 negrin Trading Company," established by a Mr. Hammer 
 a few years ago, and shows each year an increase in 
 the number of passengers and the quantity of goods 
 which it carries. Every now and again there is talk of 
 a railway in Montenegro. Article 29 of the Berlin Treaty 
 
 POSTMASTER AND LANDLORD. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss CJiadtvick.) 
 
 contemplated the construction of a line round the bay 
 of Antivari in conjunction with Austria-Hungary, and 
 a few years ago there were rumours, revived at the 
 Bicentenary, of a Decauville railway. Other more am- 
 bitious schemes have at times been evolved from the 
 brains of Servian politicians, anxious to connect the two 
 Serb States together. But, as the Finance Minister said 
 to me, " It is no use to make railways in Montenegro, 
 a country with a population of under 300,000 souls, 
 
 70 
 
in the Near East 
 
 because of its small trade." A Montenegrin line would 
 not pay, and at present what is much more needed is an 
 extension of roads into the eastern half of the Princi- 
 pality. There virgin forests still await the woodman's 
 axe, which can only be wielded with profit when some 
 means of transport is provided for the wood. 
 
 It was expected after the cession of the ports of 
 Antivari and Dulcigno to the Black Mountain that 
 there w^ould be a considerable development of Monte- 
 negrin trade through these outlets to the sea. ^' Give us 
 a port," used to be the cry of the landlocked moun- 
 taineers, '' and we shall go ahead." But neither of these 
 openings on to the Adriatic has come up to expectations. 
 Both are exposed to the north and west, and Dulcigno in 
 particular is a mere open roadstead, where the waves beat 
 restlessly against the rocks and foam in and out of the 
 caves, above which the old Venetian town stands in 
 picturesque dignity. Eighteen years ago this old pirate 
 stronghold made a wholly disproportionate noise in 
 Europe by reason of the famous Dulcigno demonstra- 
 tion ; but Count Beust's witticism, Dulcigno far niente, 
 has certainly proved to have a great deal of truth about 
 it. A distinguished ecclesiastic, ^' sent aw^ay from 
 Bosnia," as he expressed it, ^^for political reasons, and 
 now^ living at Dulcigno as a pensioner of Russia and 
 Montenegro," dilated to me w^hen I was there on the 
 desirability of building a mole across the mouth of Val 
 di Noce, a prettily wooded bay between Dulcigno and 
 Antivari, where a small but safe haven could be formed. 
 But here again the eternal question of funds would arise, 
 and a similar difficulty would prevent the erection of a 
 breakwater at Antivari. Besides, the latter bay is com- 
 manded by the Austrian position at Spizza, the place 
 which was awarded to Montenegro at San Stefan o but 
 given to Austria at Berlin. Spizza is not otherwise of 
 
 71 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 much importance, though it looks very picturesque with 
 the old-world fortress on the hill behind it and a twin 
 fortress on the right-hand side of the harbour, but its 
 strategical value makes its loss rankle in the mind of the 
 Prince. Probably, for this reason, little has been done 
 by the Montenegrins with the bay of Antivari ; besides, 
 Montenegro is debarred by the Berlin Treaty from having 
 a fleet, and the yacht Jaroslav, which the late Tsar gave 
 the Prince, was a white elephant, and had to be returned. 
 But recently this port has attained to considerable 
 notoriety as the landing-place for those distinguished 
 guests who wish to visit Cetinje without the etiquette of 
 a formal reception by the Austrian authorities at Cattaro. 
 Indeed, had the ruler of Montenegro been easily tempted 
 by cash, this silent bay, on whose shores the Prince's villa, 
 the post-office, and a couple of steamship agencies are 
 almost the sole dwellings — for the ruinous town of Anti- 
 vari is two miles inland, and remains much as it was after 
 the cannonade of the last war — might have blossomed 
 out into a second Monaco. For some years ago a body 
 of speculators approached the Prince on the subject of 
 building a casino, but his Highness retorted that he was 
 Prince of Montenegro, and had no wish to become 
 Prince of Monte Carlo, so the matter dropped. Antivari 
 is, however, the nearest port to Bari in Italy, with which 
 there is steamship communication, and since the Italian 
 marriage there has been an increased traffic by this route. 
 In order, too, to encourage the Austrian- Lloyd and 
 Italian steamers, which call there, the Montenegrin 
 Government allows them a considerable reduction on 
 tonnage dues. Another difficulty in the way of Monte- 
 negrin commerce is the constant blocking up of the river 
 Bojana, which forms the effluent of the Lake of Scutari. 
 This is in Turkish hands, and when it becomes choked, 
 as it does every winter, the lake rises and floods not only 
 
 72 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Scutari, but the Montenegrin districts at the other end of 
 this huge sheet of water, the largest in the Balkan 
 Peninsula. Diplomatic notes are periodically sent by 
 the one party, and promises periodically received from 
 the other, but the state of things continues much as 
 before. 
 
 Trade, indeed, in Montenegro must always remain 
 small, partly because of the natural dislike of the natives 
 to business, and, even if that were overcome, owing to 
 the natural poverty of the country as a whole. '' When 
 God made the world," says a Serb maxim, '^ the bag which 
 contained the stones burst, and the stones all fell upon 
 Montenegro." Large parts of the Principality resemble 
 nothing so much as a vast sea of stones, a veritable 
 steinernes Meer, in which here and there a tiny islet 
 appears in the shape of a minute patch of corn, little 
 larger than a tablecloth. The ^^new Montenegro," which 
 was added to the Principality after the last war, is more 
 fertile, but, as we have seen, is still largely undeveloped — 
 and whence is the capital to come to develop it ? For in 
 Montenegro a man is '' passing rich " on £^o a year, and 
 what he can afford to spend he spends on his clothes and 
 his weapons. Podgorica is the only place where any 
 real trade can be said to exist, for Cetinje is entirely a 
 town of officials. The work, too, being largely done by 
 women, except in the case of the Albanians, who live in 
 the country, and those Dalmatians who have settled 
 there, is not such as it might be if the men put their 
 shoulders to the wheel. Successive years show no 
 improvement in the commerce of the country, though I 
 have met Montenegrins who have been sent to Marseilles 
 to study commercial matters. Austria- Hungary has, of 
 course, the lion's share of the imports, but since the 
 establishment of the ''Anglo-Montenegrin Trading Com- 
 pany " Great Britain has done better than before, and 
 
 73 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 easily occupies the second place, other nations being 
 practically nowhere. Were more attention paid to the 
 preparation of tobacco, which grows well in some parts 
 of the Principality, and is usually bought up by the 
 Austrian Regie, much better results might be achieved ; 
 and flea-powder is so necessary in many parts of the 
 Near East that that commodity, which is one of Monte- 
 negro's staple exports, should command a wide sale. But 
 here, at any rate, there is little prospect of ^^new markets" 
 for British philanthropists ; for even her ammunition, 
 like so much else, Montenegro receives gratis from the 
 benevolence of Russia, while the natives have a prefer- 
 ence for slivovic over our alcoholic liquors. 
 
 Prince Nicholas in conversation with Englishmen 
 naturally avoids unnecessary reference to his close 
 friendship with Russia, and I do not believe that he 
 would for a moment accept the position of a Russian 
 governor. But the Montenegrins are warm admirers of 
 most things Russian, and in their houses and inns you 
 will see pictures of the Tsar and Tsaritsa side by side with 
 those of the Gospodar and his consort. No one can 
 deny that Russia has done a great deal for the Black 
 Mountain, and perhaps the fact that, in the words of the 
 Serb proverb, ^' The clouds are high and the Tsar a long 
 way off," makes the Montenegrins more zealous for Russia 
 than they might be if they were, say, in the geographical 
 position of Roumania, or even Bulgaria. Into the 
 precise pecuniary relations of the two ^^ friends" it is 
 impossible to enter, because, among other advantages of 
 autocracy, the Prince has not to publish a budget, and 
 can therefore keep his financial concerns to himself. 
 But it is generally understood that the Principality 
 receives annual subventions from the Tsar, who is also 
 said to have provided a considerable sum for the dowry 
 of the Montenegrin Princess, whom rumour at one time 
 
 74 
 
in the Near East 
 
 had marked out for his own bride. One of the most 
 unquaHlied benefits which the Russian Imperial family 
 has conferred on the Principality is the Russian Institute, 
 a long building to the right of the hotel, where an accom- 
 plished Russian lady is training up sixty girls, the largest 
 number yet known in the history of the institution. 
 About half of these pupils are natives of the Principality ; 
 the others come mostly from Dalmatia and the Herce- 
 govina. But I saw one Albanian girl among them, one 
 student from Odessa, and one from Port Said. They all 
 sleep on the premises, and their dormitories and class- 
 rooms, which the lady superintendent showed me, are 
 beautifully clean. The education is so good that the 
 daughters of our minister received their early training 
 there, and indeed this is one of the subjects in which 
 the Prince takes a keen interest. He was himself 
 educated in Paris, but holds that it is better to bring up 
 Montenegrins in Montenegro, in which he is probably 
 right. He has accordingly had his own family most 
 carefully educated at home, and provides good elementary 
 schools for his subjects in most parts of the country. It 
 is a curious sight to see the Montenegrin schoolmaster, 
 who is not in the least like any other pedagogue in the 
 world, instructing his class in geography and writing. 
 Their maps and their copy-book headings about their 
 sovereign do them credit, and a merrier or brighter set of 
 lads it would be difficult to find than these children of 
 the Black Mountain. No university exists in the country, 
 and higher education must be sought at Belgrade. But 
 Cetjnje, small as it is, possesses a good public reading- 
 room in the same building as the theatre, where the 
 warriors in their superabundant leisure devour the news- 
 papers of the Servian and Russian capitals, as well as the 
 two organs which now compose the Press of the Princi- 
 pality. Sometimes, too, the Prince provides them with 
 
 75 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 literature in the shape of a new poem of his own, printed 
 in letters of gold, and the eight battle-songs which he 
 composed for the eight battalions of the new regular 
 army were as much admired as the famous ode to the 
 sea which he wrote when his standards for the first time 
 waved on the shore of Antivari's beautiful bay, where a 
 heap of Turkish cannon-balls and cannon, one of which 
 
 MONTENEGRIN BOYS. 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. C. A. Miller.) 
 
 once saw Sebastopol, still bear testimony to his prowess in 
 the last war. 
 
 Most visitors to Montenegro turn back when they have 
 reached Cetinje, and have therefore little idea of the 
 beauties of Montenegrin scenery beyond the superb 
 views which they enjoy along the road to the capital. I 
 have, indeed, seen few sights which can compare with the 
 panorama of the Bocche di Cattaro as one mounts the 
 serpentine and beholds one fiord after another opening 
 
 76 
 
in the Near East 
 
 out far below one. But the country beyond Cetinje has 
 charms too of its own. To comprehend the full 
 fascination of this limestone wilderness, one must walk 
 or ride through it by moonlight. Then the gaunt rocks 
 assume the most fantastic shapes. At one moment one 
 seems to be approaching a populous town or a ruined 
 castle ; and then, as one draws nearer, one perceives that 
 the town is merely a vast mass of white rocks and the 
 castle nothing but a crannied cliff. In springtime, too, 
 the bright green foliage relieves the monotony of the 
 limestone, and shows that even in Montenegro trees will 
 grow. From the Belvedere, a picturesque summer-house, 
 built at a corner of the road, about twenty minutes beyond 
 Cetinje, there is a splendid view of the blue lake of Scutari, 
 stretching far away in the distance, with the old Montene- 
 grin capital of Zabliak perched on a hill in the foreground 
 and the snow-capped Albanian mountains bounding the 
 horizon. From here the road winds down to Rjeka, a 
 little town beautifully situated, as its name, ^^ the river," 
 implies, upon a stream which is famous for its fish. 
 These fish, called in Italian scorange, are considered 
 great delicacies, and form one of the principal exports of 
 Montenegro. It was near this picturesque place that the 
 first book in the Slavonic language was printed, and the 
 monastery is one of the oldest in the country. Having 
 obtained candles and a guide, we ascended the stony valley 
 of the Rjeka and penetrated the vast underground cavern 
 from which that river issues. After we had been climb- 
 ing for about half an hour over the huge boulders of rock 
 which form the floor of the cavern, we arrived on the 
 shore of an underground lake, similar to that over which 
 visitors to the salt-mines near Berchtesgaden are ferried 
 by the glare of pine torches. If Montenegro should ever 
 become a haunt of tourists, the grotto of Rjeka, with its 
 fine stalactites and its infernal lake, will make the fortune 
 
 77 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of some Montenegrin Charon. It is unfortunate that a 
 place so beautifully situated as Rjeka should, like Antivari, 
 be unhealthy and malarious in summer, though in winter 
 it is patronised by the Prince as an agreeable change from 
 the cold of the capital. 
 
 From Rjeka, which boasts of a very fair inn, we drove 
 for four hours to Podgorica along a wild and desolate 
 desert of rocks which soon becomes almost as trying to 
 the eye as the brilliant glare of an Athenian street or the 
 dazzling whiteness of a Swiss glacier. Presently we 
 descended into the plain in which Podgorica, the largest 
 town in the Principality, is situated. By position 
 Podgorica is destined to become on a small scale the 
 Manchester of Montenegro. It is connected by an excel- 
 lent road with the Lake of Scutari, and lies in a sheltered 
 situation, as its name implies, *^at the foot of a hill." 
 Ceded to Montenegro by the Turks after the last w^ar, it 
 still retains the appearance of a Turkish town. In the 
 old quarter may still be seen ancient Turkish houses, with 
 their latticed windows and rambling balconies, w^hile the 
 chief mosque has a beautifully carved doorway. All day 
 the bazaar in the main street is full of people, for the 
 population of Podgorica is about 6,000, and politics and 
 commerce are eagerly discussed. In former times the 
 town was the scene of many skirmishes, and the fine 
 bridge over the river outside it was particularly noted in 
 the annals of this border - warfare. ^^ Noils soinmes 
 toujours en guerre," said a native to me, and the remark 
 exactly expressed the conditions of life at Podgorica some 
 years ago. Even now the Prince is said to look upon an 
 occasional frontier incident as good for public morals. 
 Disputes not unfrequently arise out of rights of pasture 
 which have been greatly complicated by the absurd 
 delimitations of the Turco-Montenegrin boundary subse- 
 quently to the Treaty of Berlin. The Boundary Com- 
 
 78 
 
in the Near East 
 
 missioners so drew the frontier in some places that a 
 man's cottage was in one country and his back-garden in 
 another, and a journey to cut a cabbage was sometimes 
 followed by unfortunate results, for so long as an Albanian 
 has cartridges he feels it his duty to use them, and thinks 
 as little of taking the life of a man as that of a pig. The 
 Montenegrins are naturally ready for a fight, and these 
 quarrels are greatly complicated by the survival of the 
 blood-feud as a leading institution of Albania. In Monte- 
 negro the Prince's predecessor stamped it out by his 
 extraordinary firmness, and succeeded, at the cost of 
 considerable unpopularity, in convincing his people that 
 it was the business of the law and not of the individual 
 to punish the murderer. But in Albania, despite the 
 religious exhortations recently addressed by the Sultan to 
 the Albanian chiefs, the blood-feud remains unchecked, 
 and when once it has begun the only method of stopping 
 it is for both parties to meet on the banks of a stream and 
 throw stones into the water corresponding to the number 
 of the slain. The flat ground outside Podgorica produces 
 a good deal of corn, for wherever the Montenegrin women 
 can snatch a few yards from the rocks they will turn 
 them to good use. The fish, fresh from the river, were 
 very fine and large, and it seems a pity that this country 
 is so neglected by the British angler. But the most 
 interesting feature of the neighbourhood is the old 
 Roman town of Dioclea, which claims to be the birth- 
 place of Diocletian, and is about a mile beyond Pod- 
 gorica, in the angle of two rivers. A considerable part of 
 the ancient remains has been excavated, and the site is 
 well worth a visit, not merely from its Roman associa- 
 tions, but because it was once the capital of the old 
 kingdom of Dioclea, which played a considerable part in 
 the Balkan history of the Middle Ages. From Dioclea 
 we drove along through a beautiful avenue of flowering 
 
 79 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 acacias up the fertile valley of the Zeta to the busy little 
 town of Danilovgrad. Travellers who have only seen the 
 western part of the Principality have no idea that Monte- 
 negro contains any fertile district, but the vale of the 
 Zeta is rich in corn and vines, and the oak is once more 
 visible on the hills. Before the last extension of territory 
 this beautiful valley w^as the weak point of Montenegro 
 
 l^^^>w-€:^-^--ite 
 
 DANILOVGRAD. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. C. A. Millei.) 
 
 from a military aspect. It was here, if anywhere, that the 
 mountain fastness was vulnerable ; for prior to the Berlin 
 Treaty it was only about fifteen miles across from the 
 Turkish territory on one side to the Turkish territory on 
 the other, so that the eastern and western halves of the 
 Principality could be cut asunder, and the usual Turkish 
 plan of campaign was to despatch simultaneously one 
 army from Albania and another from the Hercegovina. 
 
 80 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Danilovgrad was alive with people as we drove up, and 
 the open space between the shops and the river was 
 crammed with rough-looking peasants from far and 
 near who had brought their flocks and herds to sell. 
 There were wild Albanians clad in sheepskins, with the 
 white fez which is the badge of all their tribe stuck on 
 their shaven heads. There were shepherds carrying their 
 lambs on their shoulders, and goatherds, the meanness of 
 whose dress contrasted strangely with the richly inlaid 
 handles of their pistols, driving their goats before them. 
 A knot of thirty soon gathered round us on the bridge as 
 we stood there to take a photograph of this curious scene, 
 for the camera is not yet common in the Black Moun- 
 tain. Beyond Danilovgrad there is another of those 
 curious phenomena of which the Foiba at Pisino is so 
 remarkable an example. Here the river Zeta disappears 
 beneath the mountain, and flows in a subterranean 
 channel from which it emerges at the head of the valley 
 below the famous monastery of Ostrog. 
 
 This ancient monastery, object of pious veneration to 
 every Montenegrin, amply repays the toil of climbing and 
 slipping for three hours over the sharp, jagged rocks 
 which are by a polite fiction described as a bridle-path. 
 Thither once a year the sturdy folk of the Black Moun- 
 tain go up, prince and peasant alike, and I saw Prince 
 Nicholas and his whole Court leave Cetinje in a procession 
 of five modest conveyances, quite in keeping with the 
 patriarchal traditions of the country. For the monastery 
 contains the bones of the famous Vladika, or Prince- 
 Bishop Basilus, who took refuge in Montenegro from 
 the Turks some time in the seventeenth century, and 
 lived and died in this lonely spot. It was thundering 
 and lightning, and the valley of the Zeta far below was 
 hid in mist as we arrived at the lower monastery — for 
 there are two — one on a rocky plateau on the mountain- 
 
 8i G 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 side, the other in a cavern of the cUff, half an hour higher 
 up. A ring at the bell was quickly answered, and we 
 were ushered into a plainly furnished cell by a youth 
 without shoes or stockings, who kissed my hand and after 
 a profound bow went in search of the priest. It was 
 extraordinary to notice the respect which the holy father 
 evoked when he entered the room. Our Montenegrin 
 guide w^ent down upon his knees and did obeisance 
 before him, and the juvenile attendant proceeded to go 
 through a series of extraordinary antics and grimaces. 
 He bowed and scraped and crossed himself, and saluted 
 in military fashion, running about the room all the while 
 in quest of refreshment for the guests. After the usual 
 glass of brandy and cup of coffee the priest asked us who 
 we were and whence we came quite in the Homeric style. 
 As soon as the thunderstorm was over we started for the 
 upper monastery, which we could just see protruding 
 from the mouth of the cavern in the rock several hundred 
 feet above us. Arrived at the entrance of this remote 
 hermitage, we knocked at the gate, and a venerable man 
 with flowing locks of snow-white hair, the very picture of 
 the typical man of God in the old stories, came down the 
 steps to greet us after the manner of the early Christians. 
 He kissed us on both cheeks, to our great embarrassment, 
 and then led us by the hand up a winding stair and along 
 a stone balcony into his lonely cell. Refreshments were 
 at once produced, and the hermit taking up two eggs 
 dyed crimson like the pace-eggs which we still see in the 
 North of England at Easter, gave me one of them and 
 requested me to hold it in my hand with the end 
 upwards ; he then took another egg himself, and having 
 made the sign of the cross upon his forehead and mur- 
 mured a prayer in Serb, he struck the end of my egg with 
 the end of his. Having thus cracked one end, he made 
 me turn the other end of my egg upwards and repeated 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the same operation with the other extremity of his own, 
 after which he peeled my egg for me and invited me to 
 eat it. This done, he led me by the hand into a beautiful 
 little refectory ornamented with coloured portraits of the 
 Prince, the late Tsar and Tsaritza, and containing a well- 
 spread table covered with Turkish delight, almonds, 
 raisins, prunes, and other delicacies. It was with the 
 greatest pride that he showed me the books of the 
 monastery, some of them being among the earliest pro- 
 ductions of the Slavonic printing press at Kiev, the gift 
 of the late Tsar. But the greatest curiosity next to the 
 old hermit himself had been reserved to the last. With 
 much solemnity my host produced a huge key from his 
 pocket and led me by the hand towards the chapel, where 
 repose the bones of the saint. The chapel is hewn out 
 of a cavern in the living rock and the roof is so low that 
 it is just possible to stand upright without knocking one's 
 head. One side is occupied by a large chest covered by 
 a richly ornamented cloth, which the old priest proceeded 
 to remove with reverent hands. The box was soon 
 unlocked, and on the lid being opened I perceived the 
 mortal remains of the Vladika Basilus lying in his robes 
 of state. The body was entirely covered up, but the 
 priest permitted me to see the feet of the saint, and looked 
 on with evident gratification, while my guide went down 
 on bended knees and kissed a little crucifix which lay 
 inside the chest. Then the lid was closed and we made 
 our exit, going out of the narrow doorway backwards so 
 as to avoid turning our backs upon the saintly shrine. 
 It was not an easy performance, but as the priest and the 
 guide set me the example I determined to go through 
 with it. Outside in the rock there is a clear spring of 
 water, and, strange to say, a tiny patch of earth about six 
 feet square, where a vine has been planted and is trained 
 against the mountain-side. A quainter spot it would be 
 
 83 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 difficult to imagine, and it has more than once proved a 
 place of refuge for the Montenegrins in time of trouble. 
 Again and again the Turks have beseiged Ostrog and on 
 one occasion 30,000 of them encompassed it for several 
 months without success. The attacks from the valley 
 below were easily repulsed ; the stones hurled down from 
 the rocks above glanced off the sloping roof of the cave 
 into the ravine far beneath, and although it was defended 
 by only thirty Montenegrins the enemy had to retire. In 
 more recent times the Grand Vol'vode Mirko, father of 
 the Prince, held this natural fortress with only twenty-six 
 men, and his defence of the place and his subsequent 
 march to Cetinje with the loss of only one soldier, after 
 emerging from the cavern ^^ as black as a coal " are 
 favourite themes with his son. In the last war, how- 
 ever, the Turks captured the cavern and set fire to the 
 monastery below. 
 
 Bidding goodbye to the old priest we set out for the 
 pass in the mountains where our carriage was to meet us 
 and take us on to Niksic, where the road ends. The 
 bridge over the river had been washed away, so that we 
 had to take the horses out and make them swim the 
 stream, while our driver shouted across the river for a 
 raft. The distance for which a Montenegrin's voice will 
 carry is most extraordinary, and some years ago when a 
 murder was committed not very far from the Austrian 
 frontier the whole army was mobilised in a couple of 
 hours by means of scouts, who shouted from one cliff to 
 arouse their comrades on the next, with the result that 
 the miscreants were caught before they could escape over 
 the border. Niksic, I think, has a future before it. The 
 natural advantages of its position in a broad and well- 
 watered plain would make it a better capital than Cetinje, 
 which is much less central and has a much colder climate 
 in winter. For some years past there has been talk of trans- 
 
 84 
 
in the Near East 
 
 ferring the seat of government thither, but the obstacle 
 of expense has hitherto proved insurmountable ; besides, 
 until a carriage-road is constructed down to the Austrian 
 frontier, from which a tolerable track has been made to 
 the port of Risano, the trade of Niksic cannot be deve- 
 loped, for at present everything has to be transported on 
 the backs of mules over a mountain path. The capture 
 of the place from the Turks in the last war after a four 
 months' siege, conducted by the Prince in person, was 
 considered a great feat of strategy, and his Highness is 
 fond of talking about his '^Homeric battles" under its 
 walls. By its acquisition and that of Podgorica the keys 
 of both ends of the Zeta valley have been placed in his 
 hands. The old Turkish fortifications are now in ruins, 
 and the Mussulman population is gradually disappear- 
 ing, while a large new church, the biggest in the 
 whole Principality, is a sign of the new order of 
 things. 
 
 The ride from Niksic to the sea is extremely 
 fatiguing ; for ten hours we were in the saddle — 
 a Turkish one — only stopping for a cup of coffee 
 and a glass of cognac at a miserable han. One of 
 the Prince's periaiiiks accompanied us as far as the 
 frontier, and, like a true Montenegrin, preferred to stride 
 over the rocks instead of riding. For miles and miles on 
 every side there was not a house, and scarcely a tree to 
 be seen. Everywhere the eye fell upon the eternal grey 
 rocks, which seemed to stretch to infinity. The path, 
 such as it was, consisted of loose stones and went on 
 and on through a succession of valleys and rocky 
 basins. Then we reached the summit of the pass 
 and could see the stony desert of the Hercegovina, far 
 away on the right. Emerging from a deep and rocky 
 ravine, down which the horses scrambled, slipping at 
 almost every step, we saw before us the plain of Grahovo, 
 
 85 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 the Waterloo of Montenegro. Thence to the Austrian 
 frontier is a short ride, and next day we traversed the 
 mountains of the Krivosije, whose warHke inhabitants 
 gave the soldiers of the Monarchy so much trouble thirty 
 years ago. Nestling at the foot of these mountains, now^ 
 crowned with many a fort, we saw the town of Risano 
 reflected in the waters of the Bocche di Cattaro. 
 
 86 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MODEL BALKAN STATE I BOSNIA AND THE 
 HERCEGOVINA 
 
 WHEN, at the eighth sitting of the Berhn Congress, 
 Lord Sahsbury proposed that Austria- Hungary 
 should occupy the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina, a new era was opened in the history of the 
 Balkan Peninsula. Twenty years have now passed away 
 since the Berlin Treaty regulated the political conditions 
 of South-Eastern Europe, but of the various arrange- 
 ments then made the most remarkable and, as subsequent 
 events have shown, the most successful was that proposed 
 by the second British plenipotentiary and embodied in 
 the 25th Article of the treaty. The experiment, for 
 such it was, is valuable, not only for its own sake 
 but also because it is calculated to serve as a model 
 for the future guidance of statesmen dealing with the 
 Eastern Question. But before describing what has been 
 accomplished under the auspices of Austria-Hungary in 
 so comparatively short a space of time, it may be well 
 to remind the Western reader of the initial difficulties 
 which the government of Bosnia and the Hercegovina 
 presented in 1878. 
 
 Of all the Balkan lands that passed beneath the sway 
 of the Turk, Bosnia and the Hercegovina were the last 
 to be conquered and the least amenable to the adminis- 
 tration of the Ottoman authorities at Constantinople. 
 The social condition of the country had been one of 
 
 87 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 feudalism under the old Bosnian kingship, whose last 
 representative fell in 1463 and now lies a grim skeleton 
 in the Franciscan Church at Jajce ; and it remained 
 
 COFFIN OF LAST BOSNIAN KING. 
 
 under the Turks what it had been in the days of 
 Tvrtko I. and his successors. The sole exception was 
 that the Bosnian landowners embraced, as a rule, the 
 
 88 
 
in the Near East 
 
 creed of their conquerors, while their serfs continued 
 constant to the Christian faith. Lord Sahsbury was 
 therefore historically accurate when he told the Congress 
 that these were " the only provinces of Turkey where the 
 owners of the soil have, almost without exception, a 
 different creed from the labourers." Called even to the 
 present day in popular parlance die Tilrkeii, the Bosnian 
 Mussulmans are in reality of the same race and speech 
 as the Bosnian Christians and have almost to a man little 
 or no acquaintance with the Turkish language. Like 
 the Pomaks in Mount Rhodope and the Greek Moslems 
 in Crete, they had religious but no racial affinities with 
 the Turks ; yet, as is usually the case in the Near East, 
 the ties of religion, especially when that religion has 
 been adopted with the zeal of a convert, counted with 
 the Bosnian Mohammedans for far more than the com- 
 munity of blood. But the Bosnian nobles showed 
 repeatedly, as the Albanians still continue to do, that 
 they had no intention of allowing the Sultan's deputies 
 to interfere with their privileges. Geographical and 
 political circumstances tended to w^eaken the power of 
 the Turkish officials and to strengthen the hands of the 
 native magnates. The mountainous character of Bosna 
 ponosna, or ^Mofty Bosnia," its distance from Stambul, 
 and the constant changes of the governors sent from 
 headquarters, whose average tenure of office was but 
 twenty months, and two of whom were actually recalled 
 before they had ever set foot in the country, all prevented 
 a complete conquest of these provinces. In a highly 
 aristocratic community like Bosnia, the head of an old 
 family enjoyed far more respect, even though he were 
 poor, than an upstart from Constantinople who had 
 nothing to commend him but his ostentation and liis 
 office. Now and again we hear of a Turkish governor, 
 Hke Usref, the conqueror of Jajce, whose word was 
 
 89 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 supreme and whose religious endowments were '^ richer 
 than those in any province of the Empire." But the 
 general rule was that the native nobles were the re- 
 positories of power while the Sultan's representative was 
 a mere fleeting figure, here to-day and gone to-morrow. 
 It was not till 1850 that the Bosnian magnates were 
 constrained to allow the Turkish vail to fix his official 
 residence at Sarajevo, and nowhere did the well-meant 
 reforms of Mahmud II. meet with such stubborn 
 resistance as from the fanatical Bosnian begs. Bosnia 
 might be ^^the lion that guards the gates of Stambul," 
 but it \vas a lion that had never been properly tamed 
 by its Turkish master. No wonder, then, that one of the 
 Turkish envoys, finding the grapes sour, left the council- 
 board at Berlin with the remark that his Government 
 had never been able to do aught with Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina during its 415 years of sovereignty, and 
 that no one else could manage such a refractory people. 
 But the Austrians speedily and triumphantly falsified 
 these forebodings of failure. The task of carrying out the 
 mission of the Berlin Congress was only temporarily 
 impeded by the fanaticism of the Bosnian Mussulmans. 
 Sarajevo, after a desperate resistance, fell into the hands 
 of the Austrian forces, the Hercegovina was soon sub- 
 dued, and the first four years of the Occupation sufficed 
 to put an end to the reign of anarchy which four 
 centuries of Turkish rule had failed wholly to quell. In 
 1882 Baron von Kallay appeared upon the scene, and 
 with his advent the period of constructive work, which 
 has gone on ever since, began in earnest. 
 
 In addition to the Mussulman element of the popula- 
 tion, the Austro-Hungarian Government had to reckon 
 with two distinct parties among the Christians of the 
 country. At the last census, held in 1895, the whole 
 population amounted to 1,568,092 of which 42*94 per 
 
 90 
 
in the Near East 
 
 cent, were Orthodox, 21-31 per cent. Roman Catholics, 
 and 34*9 per cent. Mussuhnans. The Orthodox Serbs 
 of Bosnia and the Hercegovina had racial affinities with 
 Servia and Montenegro, who had gone to war against the 
 Turks after the insurrection of 1875, and who expected 
 territorial compensation as the reward of their efforts. 
 Stimulated by Servian and Montenegrin journals, these 
 feelings of kindred nationality are still apt to influence 
 those who prefer the barren and impracticable glories 
 of the ^' great Servian idea " to the solid material advan- 
 tages which impartial European administration alone 
 can bestow upon such a composite country. The Roman 
 Catholics, on the other hand, who had long looked to 
 Austria for aid and naturally welcomed her advent as 
 that of a great Catholic Powder, have felt somewhat 
 disappointed that they, who form little more than a 
 fifth of the population, have not been allowed to act 
 as ^' the predominant partner " in the Bosnian firm. To 
 my mind there can be no better proof of the even-handed 
 treatment which these various confessions have received 
 from the Government, than that such disappointments 
 should be felt. Of this equality of religious bodies in 
 the eye of the law some examples may be given. I 
 witnessed on Corpus Christi Day, in front of the Roman 
 Catholic Church at Mostar, one of the most extraordinary 
 gatherings of peasants from the surrounding villages 
 that can be conceived. All the worshippers appeared 
 in the picturesque garb of the district, and the whole 
 enclosure was one waving mass of white, which swayed 
 hither and thither as the faithful fell upon their knees 
 or rose from their prayers. The red, white, and blue 
 of the Croatian flags was almost universal, and the 
 military band played a stave of the Austrian national 
 anthem. Yet Mostar is one of the three strongest 
 Moslem centres of the whole country, and such was 
 
 91 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 the local fanaticism in Turkish times that down to the 
 middle of the present century the Mussulmans refused to 
 tolerate a Catholic priest in their town. Now the Mostar 
 Catholics need no protection at their devotions. Again 
 at Reljevo, near Sarajevo, I was present at the annual 
 examination of the Orthodox Training College, where 
 young Bosniaks, assisted by Government scholarships, 
 are educated for Holy Orders. The old Orthodox Bishop 
 of Mostar was greatly delighted at the way in which the 
 
 CORPUS CHKISTI DAY AT MOSTAR. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 candidates acquitted themselves, and punctuated their 
 dissertations on Anglican theology and the Council of Bale 
 with exclamations of ^^ Dohro, dobro !" (^^Good, good ! ") 
 at frequent intervals. The Russian press is fond of com- 
 plaining that the Austro-Hungarian authorities interfere 
 with the liberties of the Orthodox Church, but a very 
 marked improvement in the character of that body has 
 been perceptible since the Occupation. Prior to that 
 date, as in Bulgaria before the finnan of 1870, the eccle- 
 
 92 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 siastical appointments were all bought and the bishops 
 recouped themselves for their outlay at the expense of 
 their unfortunate dioceses. But although the Orthodox 
 Church in Bosnia is still dependent upon the authority 
 of the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople, an arrangement 
 was made with him in 1879 by which his nominations 
 to Bosnian bishoprics w^ere subject to the approval of the 
 Austrian Emperor. A general purification of religious 
 life and a higher standard of theological attainments 
 have followed this change^ and though difficulties some- 
 times arise, as at Mostar last year, the Orthodox clergy 
 is yearly becoming better educated — a great advantage 
 in an Eastern country where religion plays such a large 
 part in all the relations of life. The Mussulmans, too, 
 enjoy in Bosnia the fullest liberty of public worship. In 
 almost every Bosnian village the mosque and the church 
 may be seen side by side, and the muezzin calls the 
 faithful to prayer from the minaret of stone or wood, 
 while the church bell invites the Christians to their 
 devotions. One of the ornaments of the capital is the 
 beautiful Scheriatsdmle, or college for the education of 
 Moslem jurists, which was erected by the present ad- 
 ministration, where young Mohammedans are taught, by 
 teachers of their own religion, the Scheri, or Mussulman 
 law, and the Arabic language. Within its walls there 
 is all the order of an English college, each student has 
 his room and his shelves of books ; a tiny mosque opens 
 out of the fountained courtyard, and a dining-hall is 
 provided for the general use of the students. We noticed 
 that forks w^ere laid upon the table — an arrangement 
 intended, we were told, to familiarise the students with 
 ^' European " table manners, because they w^re fre- 
 quently asked out to dinner. Close to, the Mussulmans 
 have a reading-room of their own, where the latest 
 papers from Stambul and their own organs in the 
 
 94 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Bosnian press are eagerly devoured, and for their special 
 convenience the Government is building a new hotel 
 at Ilidze, the watering-place of Bosnia. The Austrians 
 willingly admitted those Turkish officials, who entered 
 their service at the outset, to fill places for which they 
 were qualified, so that they might not consider them- 
 selves badly treated. I met one of these personages in 
 a small Bosnian town, who, being no scholar, had been 
 provided with a sinecure post as a policeman, and enjoyed 
 the double advantage of an elegant leisure and a regular 
 salary. The administration also affords its Mohammedan 
 employees every facility for making the pilgrimage to 
 Mecca, and eighty to a hundred Bosnian pilgrims 
 annually set out on the sacred journey with the joyful 
 conviction that on their return they will be regarded by 
 their co-religionists as saints, while at the same time they 
 will be reinstated in their old posts. A doctor accom- 
 panies the pilgrims, and in times of plague I have seen 
 messages about their safety arrive in the Government 
 offices at Sarajevo. In one case, where a minor official 
 had disregarded the advice of his superiors and had sold 
 all that he possessed in order to make the pilgrimage, 
 his family was supported by them until his return. 
 In the Town Council at Sarajevo, the members of 
 which are elected in proportion to the numbers of the 
 various confessions, there are twelve Mussulmans, and 
 the present mayor, Mehmed Bey Kapetanovic, the head 
 of one of the oldest Bosnian families, and a writer and 
 speaker of talent, is, like his predecessor, a Mussulman, 
 while his deputy is an Orthodox Serb. The mayor, who 
 has held office for some years, has won considerable 
 notoriety by his collection of several thousand national 
 proverbs ; and a recent speech, in which he illustrated 
 by a racy anecdote the greater security of life and 
 property under the present dispensation, was a striking 
 
 96 
 
in the Near East 
 
 tribute to the Austro-Hungarian administiation. Finally, 
 even the Protestants, who form only -23 of the whole 
 population, are encouraged by the Government, which 
 has granted a good site and made a substantial contribu- 
 tion for a Protestant church at Sarajevo. 
 
 The Austrians have handled the delicate question of 
 religious education with great tact. There are in Bosnia 
 and the Hercegovina, broadly speaking, two classes of 
 schools — public schools supported by the Government, 
 for all confessions alike, where instruction, including 
 school-books, is absolutely free, and confessional schools 
 for the separate religious communities, partly supported 
 by the State. A parent is not compelled to send his 
 children to school at all, but arguments are used by the 
 local authorities to persuade him of the advantages of 
 education should he desire to keep his offspring ignorant. 
 It is left absolutely at the discretion of the parent to 
 choose between a public school, where his child will 
 consort with children of other creeds, and one of his own 
 religious way of thought. But even in the non-con- 
 fessional schools there is religious instruction, only it is 
 given to the Mussulman children by Mussulman liodzas, 
 to the Orthodox pupils by their own Orthodox divines, 
 and to the Catholic boys and girls by Catholic priests. 
 Care, too, is taken to respect the racial prejudices of the 
 Orthodox Serbs. Practically the only difference between 
 the Croatian and Serb languages is the script. Both 
 alphabets, the Latin and the Cyrillic, are current in Bosnia ; 
 but the lesson-books used by the Orthodox pupils are 
 printed in Cyrillic letters, and those studied by the others 
 in the ordinary Latin characters. A similar motive has 
 led to the invention of the term Bosnisch for the language 
 of the country, so as not to offend the one party by 
 calling it Croatian or the other by describing it as Serb. 
 In all the public schools the native tongue is the vehicle 
 
 97 H 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of instruction, and in the elementary schools, of which 
 there are i88, the subjects taught comprise reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, a book of literary extracts, and a 
 short compendium of Bosnian history down to the time 
 of the Occupation. The children, so a very experienced 
 teacher told me, are very fond of learning, and like all 
 the Southern Slavs have a special love of history, w^hich 
 has been transmitted from generation to generation in 
 the form of ballads. As, during the Turkish times, there 
 was little or no secular education, and even the well-to-do 
 Moslems had to send their children to the Franciscan 
 schools to be taught, many of the older people are unable 
 to read and write, but it is no uncommon thing to 
 find them learning laboriously with their children, and 
 begging the schoolmaster to lend them a history book 
 to study at home. The boys usually enter the public 
 schools at seven years of age, and remain there four or 
 five years. Their studies are stimulated by prizes, and as 
 an instance, the master of a school, in a place of about 
 four thousand inhabitants, is annually allowed 40 
 gulden by the Government, to be spent on prize books. 
 Four classes form the usual division of both the boys' 
 and the girls' schools, but sometimes, from lack of space, 
 the four are reduced to two, or grouped together. Above 
 the elementary schools there are two gymnasia, one at 
 Sarajevo and the other at Mostar, a Realschiile at Banja- 
 luka, a technical intermediate school and institution for 
 the training of male and female teachers at Sarajevo, the 
 lack of whom is still felt, but will be gradually supplied 
 as time goes on. A military school for boys turns out a 
 number of smart lads, w^ho are one of the features of the 
 capital. There is no university in the country, for, 
 warned by the example of Greece, the Government is 
 desirous not to flood so purely agricultural a country 
 with a host of highly educated men, for whom there is 
 
 98 
 
in the Near East 
 
 little or no opening, and who would inevitably become 
 discontented members of society. At the same time 
 promising young Bosniaks are sent to study in Vienna 
 at the public expense, on condition that they abstain 
 from joining political associations. This desire to keep 
 education apart from politics explains the selection of 
 Vienna rather than Agram for this purpose. A somewhat 
 similar policy — that of sending the natives to see some- 
 thing of the Monarchy — has suggested the plan of posting 
 Bosnian regiments at Buda-Pesth, Graz, and elsewhere in 
 Austria- Hungary. This system is more expensive, it is 
 true, than keeping the Bosnian soldiers at home ; but the 
 Government considers that the broader views which the 
 Bosniaks thus acquire are well worth the extra cost. As 
 regards the confessional schools, I may cite the instance 
 of a Serb seminary in the Hercegovina, where the 
 children showed me their history books, which con- 
 tained a complete synopsis of Servian history, in Cyrillic 
 characters, from Stephen Nemanja down to Milan 
 Obrenovic. It would be difhcult to find a better in- 
 stance of educational liberty, because the young Serbs 
 are thus permitted by the Government to study the 
 history of that '^ Great Servia " which the enemies of the 
 Austrian Occupation desire to revive. The most re- 
 actionary party in educational matters is composed of 
 the Mohammedan women, who usually have the strongest 
 objection to sending their daughters to school with the 
 Christian girls, for fear lest they should be perverted from 
 those strict usages of Islam which are nowhere so severely 
 observed as in Bosnia. For while the Bosnian Mussul- 
 mans are more conservative than those of other countries, 
 the women are naturally more conservative than the men. 
 Here veiling is practised with far more rigour than else- 
 where in the Near East, and the contrast with Con- 
 stantinople is in this respect most striking. Every effort 
 
 99 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 is made to respect these customs, and at Sarajevo there 
 is a special school, supported by the Government, for 
 Mussulman girls. A high compliment has been paid to 
 the Bosnian system of education by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment, which last year sent one of its inspectors of schools 
 to examine and report upon the educational system of the 
 occupied territory. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the aim of the Government 
 from the first has been to make the education of the 
 people thoroughly practical and technical, rather than 
 theoretical and literary. To my mind this is one of the 
 
 A MUSSULMAN WOMAN. 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 chief advantages which Bosnia possesses over the other 
 Balkan States. Greece, Servia, and to a less extent even 
 the "peasant State" of Bulgaria, suffer from the evil 
 effects of too much higher education, and too little 
 technical training. In all these young countries farmers 
 are more wanted than doctors and lawyers, and the 
 greatest danger is the creation of a Gelehrten-proletariat, 
 which takes to politics as a means of getting a living. 
 
 100 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Such is not the case in the occupied territory. Here 
 the Austrians have sought to revive native industries, and 
 improve native art on Hues not divergent from the 
 national genius. Next year Londoners will have an 
 opportunity of judging for themselves at the Bosnian 
 Exhibition, which is to be held at Earl's Court, of the 
 work produced here under Government auspices. One 
 of the most interesting institutions in Sarajevo is the 
 Government art workshop and school, where sixty 
 persons are employed, all Mohammedans, some in 
 giving or receiving lessons in metal-work, and others in 
 executing highly finished designs in silver, copper, brass, 
 wood, and other materials. With characteristic regard 
 for the religious feelings of the pupils, a room has been 
 specially fitted up as a mosque for the use of these 
 Mussulmans, so that they can perform their devotions 
 without leaving the building. A similar establishment is 
 the Government carpet manufactory, where two hundred 
 girls may be seen at work, and a speciality is the so- 
 called Bez-weberei for the production of the veils and 
 dresses of the Mohammedan ladies — an industry in which 
 six hundred workwomen are engaged, in and out of the 
 building and its Mostar branch. Ladies assure me that 
 this Bosnian work is of beautiful quality, and compares 
 very favourably with the fabrics of Briisa and Constanti- 
 nople, which in finish are very inferior to it. It need not 
 be pointed out that the amount of employment thus 
 afforded to the natives is very considerable, for these 
 industries either did not exist at all in the Turkish days, 
 or were conducted on the most humble scale. Moreover, 
 the Government is doing everything it can to improve the 
 condition of agriculture by the creation of model farms 
 and similar institutions in different parts of the country. 
 I went over the agricultural school at Ilidze, where nine- 
 teen pupils are at present being educated in farming and 
 
 lOI 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the three R's, and whence, when their course is com- 
 pleted, they go forth as apostles of practical husbandry to 
 their own homes. It struck me as an excellent idea that 
 their subsequent careers were carefully followed, for in 
 too many educational establishments the pupil ceases to 
 be of interest to his master as soon as he has left school. 
 Close by is a model dairy, with sixty-six cows in its stalls, 
 a large vegetable garden, and at some distance, near the 
 source of the Bosna, an establishment for scientific 
 pisciculture. At Prjedor, near the Croatian frontier, is 
 a Government poultry farm. There are also model farms 
 at Livno, Gacko, and Modric, and at the last-named place 
 a certain number of village schoolmasters have every year 
 a six weeks' course of practical agriculture. The course 
 comprises almost every branch of husbandry, and as soon 
 as sufficient schoolmasters have obtained this instruction 
 they will impart it to the pupils in the two upper classes 
 of the village schools. A Government station, for the 
 improvement of viticulture, exists near Mostar, and has 
 done much to improve the wine industry of the Herce- 
 govma. But the Hercegovina possesses another natural 
 product which has been greatly developed under the 
 new regime. I allude to its excellent tobacco, the finest 
 of which comes from Trebinje. I inspected the chief 
 Government tobacco manufactory at Sarajevo — there are 
 others at Mostar, Banjaluka and Travnik — and observed 
 all the processes through which all the tobacco passes. 
 This one manufactory employs three hundred girls — all 
 Christians — and one hundred and fifty men — all Mussul- 
 mans, because the latter are more accustomed to this kind 
 of labour than the Christian males, while no Mussulman 
 woman would do such w^ork. Here one sees all the 
 twelve qualities of the native tobacco from the best Herce- 
 govinian down to the worst Bosnian — for Bosnia is not so 
 favourable to the growth of tobacco as the Hercegovina, 
 
 102 
 
in the Near East 
 
 and the plant is indeed cultivated at three places only 
 in Bosnia proper — at Banjaluka, Foca, and Srebrenica. 
 The output at the Sarajevo factory is 70 centners a day, 
 and in addition to the large quantity of tobacco con- 
 sumed in the country, there is now a considerable export 
 to Laibach and Fiume for the respective halves of the 
 Dual Monarchy. The paper — and most of the cigarettes 
 have paper mouthpieces — is also made in the country at 
 the paper-mill at Zenica. Efforts have also been made 
 to improve the breed of horses and sheep in the country, 
 and there is a stud farm just outside the capital. During 
 the period of the Occupation, up to the last census, the 
 Bosnian sheep had increased by 2,390,732, the goats by 
 924,926, the cattle by 655,264, the pigs by 430,354, and 
 the horses by 78,458. These figures are, in a country 
 like Bosnia, a very good index of the national prosperity. 
 At the exhibition at Vienna this year special commen- 
 dation was bestowed upon the animals which were 
 exhibited in the Bosnian section. It is not the fault of 
 the authorities if the natives do not improve their 
 primitive style of cultivation ; but in this respect, as in 
 everything else, the Bosniak is intensely conservative, and 
 even on the edge of the model farms you will find 
 peasants whose agricultural implements and methods 
 have changed little from those described by Virgil. 
 
 The land question was indeed a difficulty scarcely 
 less serious than the animosities of rival creeds, when 
 the Austrians arrived in the country. Long before that 
 time it had been a burning problem in Bosnia. It was 
 the real cause of the insurrection of 1875, and had at 
 repeated intervals before that date produced troubles and 
 disorders among the people, which had spread over the 
 border and caused constant friction between the Austrians 
 and the Turks. On several occasions the former had to 
 take upon themselves the duty of chastising the Sultan's 
 
 103 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 unruly vassals, and at last matters came to such a pitch 
 that the Austrian Government, in the interests of its own 
 subjects, urged upon the Turkish authorities the necessity 
 of land reform. In consequence of these remonstrances 
 the Turkish law of Sefer 14, 1276 (September 12, 1859), 
 was introduced, but like many other Turkish arrange- 
 ments, this law was admirable in theory but a dead letter 
 in practice. Upon their arrival in the country, however, 
 the Austrians made it a living reality and it still remains in 
 force, having proved itself, after twenty years' experience, 
 to be, in the phrase of a very competent authority, " a 
 golden law for the peasant." The system, which re- 
 sembles the Metayer principle of Southern 'Europe, is as 
 follows : The landlord, or aga, and the cultivator, or kmet, 
 share between them the produce of the soil, in a propor- 
 tion fixed by the custom of the district. The kiiiet has 
 first to pay a tithe in cash to the Government, and one- 
 third, one-fourth, or one-fifth, as the custom may be, in 
 kind to the aga ; but on his cattle he pays nothing to 
 the aga, and in Bosnia, as we have seen, cattle form a 
 very important item of the national income. The agUj on 
 the other hand, is bound to provide and keep in repair 
 the kjiiefs farm buildings. If the former wishes to sell, 
 the latter enjoys the right of pre-emption, and the 
 Landeshank, founded some three years ago with a capital 
 of 10,000,000 gulden advances money at 6J per cent, to 
 those who desire to exercise this right but have not the 
 requisite amount of spare cash for the purpose. The last 
 census proved that a considerable number of cultivators 
 had become possessors of their own holdings, and that 
 the agricultural population consisted in about equal 
 proportions of kinets and peasant-proprietors. But the 
 peasant-proprietor is not always better off in the long run 
 than the unenfranchised kmct, for the latter cannot be 
 evicted unless he either fails to pay the share due to his 
 
 104 
 
in the Near East 
 
 aga or leaves his land uncultivated ; the peasant-pro- 
 prietor, on the other hand, may lose the roof over his head 
 as the result of a bad harvest. Suitable as this system is 
 to the peculiar circumstances of Bosnia, it has not wholly 
 satisfied either party ; indeed, if it had, that would be a 
 proof that it had favoured the one at the expense of the 
 other. The occupied territory, it must be remembered, 
 is largely agricultural, and the Bosnian and Hercegovinian 
 peasants have an earth-hunger not less intense than that 
 of the Irish farmer. The Austrians were accordingly 
 besieged on their arrival by cries from the Christians, 
 that the Mussulmans had ^^ robbed them of their lands," 
 and by demands for a general division of the soil among 
 the poor. The outcry sounded plausible enough at first, 
 but diligent investigations proved to the officials that this 
 ^' robbery," if it had ever been perpetrated at all, dated 
 from the early days of the Turkish rule, and was therefore 
 centuries old. The Austrian authorities therefore resolved 
 to make the best they could of the existing law without 
 risking one of those agrarian revolutions which redress 
 an old wrong by committing a new one. The position 
 of the peasant is now a certain and assured one, while in 
 the Turkish times he was practically the slave of his 
 landlord, and, worst of all, the exactions of the tax-farmers 
 were such that he seldom kept for himself more than 
 a third of his crop. It was this last iniquity w^hich 
 occasioned the outbreak at Nevesinje in 1875, which was 
 primarily directed, not against the Sultan but against the 
 local authorities and against the Mussulman landowners. 
 The agay on the other hand, now complains that the 
 cultivator can no longer be treated like an inferior being. 
 But both sides have gained confidence in the impartiality 
 of the Government which allows assessors chosen from 
 the various religious persuasions to assist the judges with 
 their local experience in the settlement of their agrarian 
 
 105 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 disputes. Under the Turkish rule the kmet was always 
 at a practical disadvantage, in spite of the theoretical 
 equality of all Ottoman subjects before the law, so 
 ostentatiously proclaimed by Abdul Med j id in the famous 
 Hatti-cherif oi Gul-khane. No Christians were employed 
 in the administration ; the police purchased their places, 
 and reimbursed themselves by extorting money from 
 those whom they were intended to defend ; and, in the 
 words of the British Consul of that day, ^' all provincial 
 authorities, with rare exceptions," acted, '^according to 
 the inspirations of their own personal interest." It would 
 have been impossible to introduce the jury system into 
 the occupied territory, because no Mussulman jury 
 would sentence a Mussulman, and no Christian jury a 
 Christian. So in criminal cases the Austrians have pre- 
 ferred a system of assessors chosen from among the 
 people, known as the Schojfensystem. But in civil matters, 
 which are naturally more difficult, assessors are only 
 employed in the least important cases. In some matters 
 Bosnia is even ahead of the Monarchy, for the practice 
 of oral instead of written proceedings existed here before 
 it was adopted in Austria. When a bad season occurs, as 
 was the case last year, there is a Cassa for making advances 
 to the peasants. The Government buys corn for them 
 and lets them have seed, not, however, as a free gift, 
 according to the reckless Turkish method, but as a loan, 
 so as not to pauperise them. For the Bosniak, owing 
 to his long subjection to the Turks, lacks that moral 
 strength and feeling which characterises those Balkan 
 races which have never bowed beneath the Ottoman 
 yoke. Owing to the subdivision of land under the 
 Turkish law, which distributes the testator's real property in 
 equal shares among all his children, sons and daughters 
 alike, the agas have frequently had hard work to make 
 both ends meet, and they also can get assistance from the 
 
 io6 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Landeshank. One great advantage of the Bosnian land 
 tenure is that it prevents foreign speculators from buying 
 up the land, and keeps it in the hands of the natives. 
 Another advantage is, that all three parties concerned — 
 the Government, the aga, and the ^;w^/— share profits and 
 losses among them, according to the yield of the year. 
 Possibly as time goes on and the peasants become better 
 educated, the old Turkish law may be altered ; but that 
 will not be just yet. However, the Bosnian kmet is 
 better off than the Dalmatian or Sicilian peasant, and a 
 ^^ European," resident in the country for many years, has 
 praised '^the admirable sense of humanity and justice 
 exercised by those who are at this moment the highest in 
 authority." In the north of Bosnia there are some large 
 Mussulman landowners, or begs, and the prizes which 
 these sporting landlords give every year for the races 
 at Prjedor, to encourage the breed of horses, are only 
 second in importance to those awarded annually at the 
 race-meeting at Ilidze. 
 
 The Austrians have had to create practically everything 
 in the occupied territory, for what Crete, Albania, and 
 Macedonia are to-day that was Bosnia in 1878 ; and 
 nothing was more urgently needed than some decent 
 means of communication. In no respect has the decline 
 of Turkish administration been more marked than in 
 its incapacity to make and keep up roads. The great 
 Turkish Sultans of the past were, like the Romans, 
 celebrated as road-makers, and in the Roman times three 
 great thoroughfares connected Bosnia and the Herce- 
 govina with the Adriatic. But, as everywhere in Turkey, 
 the roads were allowed to fall into ruin, and if an 
 energetic monarcli or minister sent a sum of money to a 
 provincial governor for road-making, it invariably stuck 
 in the governor's pockets. Thus in 1878 there was an 
 almost impenetrable barrier between this romantic 
 
 107 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 country and the civilisation of the West. Miss Irby,^ 
 who has given so many years of her hfe to educa- 
 tional work among the Southern Slavs, tells how, 
 when she visited Bosnia shortly before the Occupa- 
 tion, the only means of reaching Sarajevo from the 
 frontier at Brod was the post-cart of the Austrian 
 Consulate which passed once a week each way and 
 took two days and a night or more on the journey. 
 As the vehicle had no springs and the road was truly 
 Turkish, resembling nothing so much as the bed of 
 a river, the delights of the journey may be imagined. 
 The father of a friend of mine was in charge of the first 
 waggon that went from Metkovic to Mostar. The sole 
 piece of railway in the country was the fragment of 
 Turkish line from Dobrlin on the Croatian border to 
 Banjaluka, which was intended to be the first instalment 
 of a great highway to Salonica, but which, like so many 
 Turkish undertakings, remained a magnificent torso ! 
 At the time of the Occupation grass had grown on the 
 track, and Bosnia was still without a single train. The 
 Turks had ordered iron in London for bridges over 
 the Narenta, but this, too, the Austrians found strewn 
 about the country on their arrival. At the present 
 moment the Bosnian and Hercegovinian State Rail- 
 ways, including the Imperial and Royal Military line 
 from Banjaluka to Dobrlin, consist of exactly five 
 hundred English miles of line, the fares are low, 
 and a 4th class has been provided for the use of 
 the peasants. One of the most interesting features 
 of Bosnian travel is to see the doors of the 4th class 
 opened at the stations, and the natives {die Einheimi- 
 schen, as the Austrians call them) descending and ascend- 
 ing in the most picturesque of costumes. Two things 
 are now wanted in connection with the railway system. 
 
 ^ " Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of ,Turkey-in-Europe," i. 2 
 108 
 
in the Near East 
 
 When the Bosnian Hne was built, it was intended for 
 military purposes, and was required to be quickly and 
 cheaply constructed. It was therefore made on a very 
 small gauge, so that passengers and goods have to be 
 transhipped at the frontier at Brod, the one normal gauge 
 line being that from Banjaluka to Dobrlin. A new 
 station has lately been opened at Brod, but even that 
 does not obviate the disadvantages of the nocturnal 
 change of carriages at that place, while goods suffer 
 considerably from transhipment. The second want in 
 the country is a direct railway communication with 
 Dalmatia, the natural coast-line of the occupied territory. 
 The Hercegovina, it is true, touches the sea at two points, 
 on the Bocche di Cattaro, near Castelnuovo, and on an 
 arm of the Adriatic near Klek, but the harbour of Neum 
 is of no use, and at present the only direct route by rail 
 to Dalmatia is the line to Metkovic on the Narenta, 
 whence steamers ply to the Dalmatian coast, down the 
 Narenta Canal, constructed by the Austrians, as the stone 
 monument at Fort Opus relates, '^ between the years 1881 
 and 1889." It is now proposed to connect the Herce- 
 govina by rail from Gabela, the next station to Metkovic, 
 with Ragusa, Gravosa, and Castelnuovo. This line, which 
 will be a small gauge and is primarily intended for mili- 
 tary purposes, is to be completed in three years, and 
 another military railway is contemplated from Gravosa to 
 Trebinje, a most important strategic point. The former 
 plan of continuing the Bosnian line from Bugojno to 
 Spalato has been temporarily shelved, owing to the natural 
 difficulties of the mountain route, and still more perhaps 
 to the opposition of Hungary, w^ho does not wish to see 
 her port of Fiume injured by the competition of Spalato. 
 Another suggestion is to extend the existing Dalmatian 
 railway from its present terminus at Knin to a junction 
 with the Banjaluka-Dobrlin line at Novi. At any rate it 
 
 109 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 is imperative, in the interests alike of Dalmatia and 
 Bosnia, that some direct railway communication should 
 be made between the coast and its natural Hinterland. It 
 should be added that the portion of the main line from 
 Zenica to Sarajevo has been so laid that it could easily be 
 adapted to the ordinary European gauge, and there is a plan 
 of making a new broad-gauge line next spring, direct from 
 Buda-Pesth by way of Samac to Sarajevo. In almost 
 every part of the country where there is no railway the 
 Government has a post or diligence service, so that Bosnia 
 and the Hercegovina are now the easiest of all the Balkan 
 lands in which to travel. Here the wretched han, which 
 is all the accommodation that can be found in the country 
 districts of Greece or Bulgaria, is replaced in the prin- 
 cipal places by Government hotels, commodiously built 
 and let to some landlord, often an old soldier who took 
 part in the campaign of 1878. This interesting and novel 
 experiment in State Socialism was necessary, owing to the 
 uncertainty of the Austro-Hungarian occupation at the 
 outset. It was naturally improbable in the early days 
 that capital would be invested in a country which might 
 revert to the Turk. On the other hand, it was imperative 
 to provide accommodation for officials and men of 
 business, so the Government took the matter up and built 
 hotels of its own. In Sarajevo, however, private enterprise 
 has enabled the authorities to dispense with this arrange- 
 ment, and at Brcka on the Save, the headquarters of the 
 Bosnian plum trade, which is one of the specialities of the 
 province, a private individual has, at the suggestion of 
 Baron von Kallay, erected a large hotel. At all the 
 Government hotels there is a fixed tariff for everything, 
 and the traveller is thus spared the constant higgling, 
 which is usual in the East. Elaborate rules are drawn up 
 for the guidance of the landlord by the Bezirksvorsteher, or 
 head of the district. It may be of interest to give some 
 
 no 
 
in the Near East 
 
 specimens of these rules, which I copied down in the 
 Government hotel at Mostar, and of which the following 
 is a translation : — 
 
 ^^ Government Hotel in Mostar. 
 RegtUatioiis. 
 
 1. The management of the Government hotel, including 
 the restaurant, is conducted exclusively by the landlord 
 for the time being, and the whole establishment is at his 
 orders. 
 
 2. Any complaints on the part of the guests in respect 
 of insufBcient cleaning of the private and public rooms of 
 the hotel, or impoliteness of the attendants, are to be 
 brought before the landlord for immediate consideration. 
 
 3. Stairs and passages must be cleaned at 7 a.m and 
 3 p.m. in the summer months, and at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. 
 during the rest of the year. After these hours there must 
 be no knocking nor dusting on the stairs or passages. 
 Each visitor's room is to be properly cleaned within 2J 
 hours, at the most, after it has been vacated by the 
 visitor. 
 
 4. In order to avoid any danger of fire, all the doors 
 leading to the roof are to be closed and their keys entrusted 
 to the porter. Under no circumstances, except the utmost 
 necessity, are lights to be taken into the attics. 
 
 5. At II p.m. the principal entrance of the hotel is to be 
 closed, and persons can only enter it after that hour 
 through the cafe on the garden side. 
 
 6. The staircases of the hotel must be kept lighted all 
 night. 
 
 7. It is forbidden to take dogs into the private rooms, 
 and the fabric and furniture are recommended to the care 
 of the travellers, who are liable to make good any damage 
 done. 
 
 Ill 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 8. Excessive noise, by which the night's repose is dis- 
 turbed, is prohibited, and it is the duty of the servants to 
 speak in a low voice in the corridor, and to shut the doors 
 slowly and cautiously. 
 
 9. In order to show^ proper consideration for the night's 
 rest of the visitors, it is requested that, except in cases of 
 emergency, no use shall be made of the electric bell for 
 the purpose of summoning the chambermaid or the 
 boots. 
 
 10. Under no circumstances can the landlord be com- 
 pelled to tolerate in the hotel, or offer accommodation to, 
 persons suffering from an infectious complaint, or desirous 
 of using the hotel for immoral purposes, or else causing 
 general annoyance by their unwarranted demands. 
 
 11. Every visitor is bound at once to fill in legibly the 
 notice of his arrival, required by the police." 
 
 Where no hotel exists, rooms can generally be found 
 at the Gcndarmerie-posteiiy where strangers, officers and 
 officials on service pay 60 kreuzer, or is., officers of the 
 lower rank only half that sum. 
 
 The increased means of communication and the estab- 
 lishment of hotels have had the natural effect of intro- 
 ducing the commercial traveller to the country in large 
 numbers. Baron von Kallay pointed out in his account 
 of the occupied territory two years ago, that ^' with few 
 and unimportant exceptions, all articles imported came 
 from Austria-Hungary." A study of our Consul-General's 
 annual reports proves the truth of this statement, though 
 in some respects, such as the trade in salt and the manu- 
 facture of sugar, Bosnia is practically self-supporting. 
 The country has, from time immemorial, been celebrated 
 for its salt, and one of the earliest events in its history was 
 the quarrel between the old lUyrian inhabitants over the 
 salt springs, from which later on the Romans derived con- 
 
 112 
 
in the Near East 
 
 siderable profits Under the Turkish rule this, like most 
 other natural resources of Bosnia, was never properly 
 developed, for the officials placed in charge of the salt 
 works of Siminhan, near Dolnja Tuzla, found it more 
 profitable to themselves to keep the output low and eke 
 out their salaries at the expense of the Government. 
 With Austrian administration all that has been changed, 
 and Bosnia no longer needs to import sea-salt from the 
 Dalmatian coast. Similarly, the Government sugar factory 
 at Usora now almost meets the demands of the inhabi- 
 tants, while petroleum also is produced in sufficient 
 quantity at Brod. British imports are comparatively few, 
 and so long as British merchants continue to send out 
 their circulars in their own language and to express their 
 prices in their own currency they will have no chance of 
 success. As a partial result of the competition caused by 
 the visits of commercial travellers from the Monarchy, the 
 normal rate of interest, which used to be 12, 15, or 
 even 20 per cent, in the Turkish days, has now sunk 
 to 8 or 10 per cent. Some of the native shopkeepers, 
 who previously had a monopoly, make a grievance of this, 
 forgetting that this considerable fall in prices is also 
 partly due to the far greater security of life and property 
 under the new order of things. Even during the last 
 two years I noticed an improvement in the shops at 
 Sarajevo, which is now very well supplied with the 
 necessaries and many of the luxuries of ^^ European " 
 capitals, while it is far ahead of Belgrade and Sofia in 
 this respect, as well as in its picturesque situation and 
 still-surviving Oriental character. Mostar and Banjaluka 
 
 » It has even been proposed to derive " Bosnia " from the Albanian words 
 meaning " land of salt," and " Hercegovina " from the Turkish phrase for a 
 " land of stones." The usual derivations of the two names are from the river 
 Bosna, in Latin Basante, and from the German Herzog, because, in 1448, that 
 title was conferred upon Stephen Vukdic by the Emperor. Prior to that the 
 Hercegovina had been known as the " land of Hum," or Zahumlje, from the 
 mountain of that name. 
 
 113 I 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 are also well provided alike with Western and Eastern 
 wares. There seems to be a fair sale of books, in both 
 German and the vernacular, at all these three places, and 
 the occupied territory has now a considerable number of 
 newspapers in various languages. There is in German 
 the semi-official Bosnische Post, which two years ago 
 blossomed out into a daily paper, and is now also pub- 
 lished thrice a week in the vernacular under the title 
 of Bosanska Posta. It contains the latest telegrams, a 
 feuilleton and several articles on political or economic 
 subjects, and used formerly to be edited by a talented 
 lady, Frl. Milena Mrazovic, who has published a very 
 readable volume of Bosnian tales, illustrative of the native 
 customs, under the title of Selam. Since her marriage 
 she has retired from journalism, and her place is now 
 filled by Herr Oscar Hirth. Another ofBcial organ is the 
 Sarajevski List, printed in the vernacular. The Bosnian 
 Mussulmans have two organs, the Bosnjak, published in 
 Croatian characters, and the Rehbcr, which appears in 
 Turkish. The museum at Sarajevo publishes an illus- 
 trated magazine in the vernacular, the principal articles of 
 which are translated into German and issued annually 
 in a valuable scientific work, entitled, Wissenschaftliche 
 Mittheilungen ans Bosnien tmd der Hercegovina, of 
 which, up to the present, five volumes have appeared. 
 It is not too much to say that this work has supplied 
 students of history, folk-lore, and kindred sciences with a 
 vast number of new facts, for under the Turks antiquaries 
 were looked on as either criminals, condemned for a cer- 
 tain time to walk among the tombs, or madmen, and the 
 antiquities of Bosnia and the Hercegovina were neglected. 
 An Austrian ofBcial, who has spent many years in the 
 country, tells me that in the early days after the Occupa- 
 tion the natives regarded men of science as lunatics, and, 
 on one occasion, when he sent a Bosniak as guide with 
 
 114 
 
in the Near East 
 
 an enthusiastic collector of beetles and butterflies, the 
 man returned in alarm for the sanity of his charge. The 
 Nada and the Bosanska Vila are journals devoted to light 
 literature, and the Orthodox Church, the Franciscans, 
 and the Archbishopric of Sarajevo all have their organs 
 in the vernacular. A new quarterly represents educa- 
 tional interests. Mostar has one weekly paper, and 
 another is shortly to be issued there. Thus it will be 
 seen that the Bosniaks fully share the South Slavonic 
 craving for news of all kinds. During the Greco-Turkish 
 war of last year the Bosnian Mussulmans took the deepest 
 interest in the success of the Turkish arms, several of 
 them volunteered for service, and I have seen in Moslem 
 houses in the country pictures of the battles and portraits 
 of the Turkish commanders. To this section of the 
 community the Turkish labels on my baggage rendered 
 me an object of interest as soon as I arrived on the 
 platform at Sarajevo. 
 
 Although Bosnia and the Hercegovina, which were 
 historically separate, with occasional intervals, in pre- 
 Turkish times, are still geographically and ethnologically 
 somewhat distinct — for the Hercegovinian character 
 differs in several important respects from that of the 
 Bosniaks, just as that of the Montenegrin Serbs differs 
 from that of the Serbs of Servia — the two provinces have 
 been amalgamated together for administrative purposes 
 by the present Government. The Austro-Hungarian 
 system divides the whole country into six Kreise, or 
 counties, which are composed of fifty-two Bezirke, or 
 districts. The Kreise take their names from the six towns 
 of Sarajevo, Mostar, Banjaluka, Travnik, Dolnja Tuzla, 
 and Bihac, and are each placed under an official, known 
 as a Kreisvorsteher, while the districts are each adminis- 
 tered by a BezirksvorsteheVf or in small places by a 
 Leiter der BezirksexposiUir. The Bezirksvorsfeher is the 
 
 115 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 head of all the various district officials, and the Bezirks- 
 amt, in which his office is situated, is the centre of local 
 government. It will thus be seen that the machine of 
 local administration in the occupied territory is a very 
 elaborate one, and a special publication, the Bosnischer 
 BotCy is largely filled with the names of the officials. The 
 country is administered with the utmost thoroughness, 
 which forms an immense contrast after the slovenly 
 government of the Turks. '^We have written more in 
 twenty years than the Turks in four hundred," said a 
 local official to me, as he described how, just after the 
 Occupation, at Zepce, he had found that an old bag of 
 scrappy papers represented the whole of the Turkish 
 archives. Every time that a document was wanted this 
 bag had to be shaken out and its contents emptied on to 
 the floor. Now all papers are filed and docketed, and 
 "commissions" are issued for even the smallest matters, 
 such as the death of a horse. I have heard it said that 
 Bosnia is over-administered, and have met people who 
 regretted the lax Turkish methods, when a single illiterate 
 scribe took the place of the present trim and highly 
 educated officials. But it is difficult to see how the 
 country could have been systematically developed without 
 the collaboration of a large staff of trained men. More- 
 over, it is much cheaper in the long run to pay officials 
 good salaries and thus secure honest administration, than 
 to follow the usual Turkish practice of giving them little 
 or nothing and leaving them to support themselves by 
 robbing the Government, the people, or both. From a 
 considerable experience of the Austro-Hungarian authori- 
 ties, not merely in the chief towns and on the beaten 
 track, but up country and off the ordinary routes, I have 
 come to the conclusion that they resemble our own civil 
 servants in their integrity, their absolute devotion to their 
 duty, and their unflagging energy, while, I think, they 
 
 ii6 
 
in the Near East 
 
 surpass the average Anglo-Indian official in their keen 
 interest in the welfare of the people committed to their 
 charge. Every official whom I met, from whatever part 
 of the Monarchy he might have come, spoke the language 
 of the people — a task which is, of course, lighter for the 
 Austrian Slavs than for the Germans and the Magyars. 
 There are in Bosnia examples of Austrian and Hungarian 
 Barons, who might have obtained high posts in the 
 Monarchy, but who have voluntarily sought service in 
 this new and interesting country, where there was a far 
 greater scope for their constructive faculties. Right up 
 in the little country towns you will find gentlemen of the 
 highest culture and the oldest family, who ^^ scorn delights 
 and live laborious days," simply and solely for the sake 
 of their work. One and all, these officials take the 
 utmost pride, as they have every reason to do, in the 
 achievements of the last twenty years, and nothing gives 
 them greater pleasure than to show off the country to the 
 stranger. One Kreisvorsteher, who fought in the campaign 
 of 1878 and has since spent all his life in the occupied 
 territory, told me that he would rather have his present 
 work than any other, and spoke in the highest terms of 
 the native intelligence and judgment of even the most 
 illiterate Bosniaks. It is impossible not to be struck by 
 the sympathetic attitude of the officials towards the 
 people, without distinction of class or creed. ^' Wir niusseii 
 iiiit den Einlieiinischen Imnnoniren," remarked to me a smart 
 young officer, whose superior had rebuked him for excess 
 of zeal in putting into force the law against fishing out of 
 season. To respect the prejudices of the natives is the 
 watchword of the administration, and it would be difficult 
 to find a more remarkable contrast than that between 
 the Russian methods in emancipated Bulgaria and the 
 Austrian policy in occupied Bosnia. So fast has been 
 the rate of progression that not a few officials complain 
 
 117 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of *' nerves " as the result of overwork, and their functions 
 grow every year. Many of the district officials have to 
 cover a very wide area, and it is no uncommon thing to 
 find them working early and late, in order to get through 
 their business. The chiefs of the various departments 
 have a happy knack of inspiring their subordinates with 
 their own enthusiasm, and a strong conviction of Austria- 
 Hungary's mission, as the apostle of culture in the 
 Balkans, animates the officials, one and all. Already, 
 too, the minor posts are beginning to be filled by the 
 rising generation of Bosniaks, which has grown up since 
 the Occupation. But, though the natives of Bosnia and 
 the Hercegovina are better than most Orientals, it is said 
 that they still share in the common Oriental defect, a lack 
 of public spirit. For the average native of the East is 
 perhaps more apt than the " European " to consider 
 himself and his family first and the community a long 
 way after those primary interests. Hence the Austrians 
 regard it as still desirable to have a commissioner at the 
 side of the local authorities, whose duty it is to see that 
 the public money is not wasted. In time the natives 
 may attain to larger powers of self-government; but the 
 example of Servia is not encouraging, and at any rate in 
 Bosnia that time has not yet arrived. For my part, I am 
 convinced that the only form of government suited to 
 an Oriental people, lately emancipated from centuries of 
 Turkish misrule, is a benevolent autocracy. Of all forms 
 of political folly the worst is to bestow full representative 
 government upon an Eastern nation before it has had 
 any chance of obtaining a training in public affairs. 
 Disastrous as such a procedure has proved in Greece, in 
 Servia, and to a less degree in hard-headed Bulgaria, it 
 would be worse in Bosnia, because of the mixture of 
 creeds in the latter country. It is the impartial rule of 
 Austria- Hungary, which keeps the various conf-essions 
 
 ii8 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the country at peace, while the Monarchy possesses 
 resources, ahke in men and money, which no indepen- 
 dent Balkan State, no fantastic '^ Servian Empire " could 
 produce. Unity has never been a feature of the Southern 
 Slavs, except at rare intervals, under the sublime influ- 
 ence of some great man, whose successors were unable 
 to hold his heritage together. Were the Austrians to 
 withdraw from Bosnia the various creeds would be at 
 each other's throats, and the last state of the country 
 would be worse than the first. History and common 
 sense both point to the present system as the best for 
 the peculiar circumstances of this land. That Prince 
 Nicholas of Montenegro should covet the Hercegovina — 
 the land whence his ancestors came, the land where 
 many of his subjects died sword in hand — is not un- 
 natural. But it may be doubted whether the Herce- 
 govinians, after twenty years' experience of the material 
 blessings of Austro-Hungarian rule, would care to become 
 his vassals. Even during the war of 1876-7 there was 
 considerable jealousy between the leaders of the Monte- 
 negrin and Hercegovinian forces, and no less doughty a 
 warrior than the old brigand chief, Pero Radovic, whose 
 image now adorns cigarette boxes, was on the point of 
 drawing the sword against the men of Prince Nicholas. 
 Every year it is announced that on St. George's Day 
 (April 23rd) the Montenegrins will begin their crusade 
 against the Austrians ; then St. Elias' Day (August ist) is 
 chosen for the invasion ; and, finally, November 9th, is 
 selected for the attack. These frequent cries of "Wolf !" 
 have taught the Hercegovinians to disregard these notifi- 
 cations, and since 1882, when there was a small insurrec- 
 tion in the occupied territory, chiefly owing to the 
 Mussulman dislike of serving with the Christians, public 
 security has been undisturbed. The Austro-Hungarian 
 forces, which this year were estimated at 18,881 non- 
 119 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 commissioned officers and men, have been diminished 
 without the slightest risk, and the country, as 1 know 
 from my personal experience in journeying to and fro 
 across it, is perfectly safe. Neither here nor in Monte- 
 negro have I ever carried a revolver, and in neither land 
 have I ever felt the want of one. Financially, Bosnia 
 pays its way, as Baron von Kallay explained in his last 
 budget speech ; and when a loan was brought out a 
 couple of years ago for public works, it was at once 
 covered. The budget for the current year shows a 
 considerable surplus, which will probably be increased 
 as a result of the harvest. It is a great financial advan- 
 tage to the country, that, unlike Cyprus, it has no tribute 
 to pay to Turkey. 
 
 It is said by some critics that the natives feel the 
 burden of taxation much more than in Turkish times. 
 To compare the two administrations in this respect is 
 difficult, because the Turkish Government did practically 
 nothing for its Bosnian subjects, and what it did was 
 dear at any price. The present system of taxation 
 consists, first, of the already mentioned tithe — in cash — 
 to the Government, on the fruits of the field, but this 
 does not press as heavily as might appear upon the 
 cultivator owing to the fact that cattle and not crops 
 form the staple industry of the country. There is a tax 
 of 10 kreuzers, or twopence per sheep, the first ten sheep 
 being allowed free. There is no tax on cows, but the 
 tax on goats has been deliberately raised, not for purposes 
 of revenue but in order to prevent further destruction of 
 the woods by goats. The idea of the Government was to 
 make it prohibitive by taxation to keep a flock of goats 
 more than fifty in number. But in spite of the graduated 
 taxation on goats the peasants still keep large flocks of 
 th^m, preferring them to sheep as being hardier and 
 requiring less attention. The figures already quoted of 
 
 120 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the increased numbers of these destructive animals prove 
 that this taxation has not in the least crippled this branch 
 of farming. The Government, warned by the awful 
 example of the bare Dalmatian mountains, is anxious to 
 preserve the fine Bosnian forests, and its success has 
 been proved by the recent request of the Servian authori- 
 ties to Baron von Kallay to send them an ofBcial from 
 the Bosnian Woods' and Forests' Department for the 
 benefit of their own country. Nor can any one who 
 crosses the Bosnian frontier into the Sandzak of Novi- 
 Bazar fail at once to mark the difference between the 
 state of the trees on the Bosnian side and the charred 
 trunks or blackened stumps to which Turkish ignorance 
 or indolence has reduced what was once a waving forest. 
 The Government also derives a considerable revenue 
 from the salt monopoly, and from the mines which are 
 almost exclusively in its hands or in those of companies 
 in which it is interested. The mineral wealth of Bosnia 
 was known as far back as the Roman era. Roman authors 
 extolled the Bosnian gold, of which as much as 50 lbs. 
 were obtained in a single day, and a special functionary 
 presided over the administration of the Bosnian gold- 
 mines. As Mussulmans object to mining and the 
 Orthodox were chiefly employed on the land, the iron 
 ore of Bosnia was entirely worked by the Catholics 
 before the Occupation. The latest returns show a 
 considerably increased output of most of the Bosnian 
 minerals. In Turkish times, of course, as a Bosnian 
 peasant told me, the taxes were collected only once in 
 ten years, and even then it was possible to escape pay- 
 ment by means of those arguments against which the 
 ill-paid Turkish official is seldom proof. But it must be 
 observed that whereas now the peasant has discharged 
 all his liabilities to the Government as soon as he has 
 paid his tithe, in Turkish times, when these taxes were 
 
 121 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 farmed out the exactions of the tax-gatherer were such 
 that the peasant seldom kept for himself more than a 
 third of his crop. Even if the harvest were a bad one, as 
 was the case in 1874, the tax-gatherer did not on that 
 account diminish his demands, while redress was prac- 
 tically impossible. Those who prefer the irregular collec- 
 tion of taxes, the lack of law and order, the blood-feud, 
 and all the other delights of the Middle Ages have but to 
 go beyond the Austrian military posts in the Sandzak and 
 they will find what they seek. 
 
 In one other respect — the health of the people — the 
 traveller will notice a marked contrast. Before the Occu- 
 pation, small-pox, that scourge of the Near East, com- 
 mitted terrible ravages in Bosnia, as it still does in Novi- 
 Bazar and other parts of Turkey, and the number of 
 elderly people who are pitted with pock marks is con- 
 siderable. The director of the fine new hospital at 
 Sarajevo, of which Professor Virchow has spoken so 
 highly, informed me that in his experience there had 
 been no case of small-pox in his wards and practically 
 none since the population was vaccinated. Vaccination 
 is not compulsory, but it is very popular with the natives 
 who fully comprehend its advantages — in fact the hos- 
 pital, which receives about 3,400 patients a year, is much 
 appreciated by Bosniaks of all creeds. As I walked 
 through the wards, which contain three hundred beds, I 
 saw Mussulmans lying comfortably cheek by jowl with 
 Christians ; while I was told that the Mussulman women, 
 who can, if they choose, have a screen to keep them from 
 the gaze of their Christian sisters, make no objection to 
 occupying the same wards with the females of other 
 confessions. This is another hopeful sign for the future. 
 Alcoholism, unfortunately, has become more common 
 than it was, especially among the Mussulmans ; there 
 were two fresh cases of it the day that I visited the 
 
 122 
 
in the. Near East 
 
 hospital, and it is curious to hear that nervous com- 
 plaints are not infrequent among this primitive people. 
 The drainage works at Sarajevo, which are now being 
 carried out, will improve the health of that town. It 
 should be added that in all the eight district hospitals 
 of the country and in the large hospital at Sarajevo the 
 natives are treated free of charge, while in the lattei 
 institution paying patients can receive superior accommo- 
 dation in one of the fourteen separate pavilions which 
 compose the building. At present all the thirteen 
 doctors of this institution come from the Monarchy, 
 but native doctors will soon be available. As in the 
 Turkish times there w^as only a small hospital in 
 Sarajevo, this foundation constitutes a great improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The progress of the last sixteen years has been largely 
 due to the energy and judgment of Baron von Kallay. 
 Not yet sixty years of age, he has played many parts. A 
 Hungarian by birth, he early devoted himself to the 
 study of Slav languages, and during his eight years' 
 sojourn at Belgrade as Consul-General, he not only 
 collected the materials for an excellent history of the 
 Serbs, but made himself acquainted with the character 
 of the Servian people. When, in 1878, the Hungarians 
 opposed the Occupation of Bosnia and the Hercegovina, 
 because they did not wish to increase the Slav population 
 of the Monarchy, he strongly defended the new policy 
 which he had already foreshadowed in a newspaper. 
 Appointed in 1882 Common Minister of Finance for the 
 two halves of the Monarchy and head of the Bosnian 
 Administration, he was on familiar ground, for he had 
 already visited Bosnia during his appointment at 
 Belgrade. Assisted by a "Common Ministry for the 
 affairs of Bosnia and the Hercegovina" which has its 
 seat at Vienna, and of which Herr von Horovic is 
 
 123 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 departmental chief, and by a staff of officials in Bosnia 
 itself, Baron von Kallay has laboured unceasingly for the 
 civilisation of the country. He possesses an intimate 
 acquaintance with its topography, and a young official 
 told me that when Baron von Kallay appointed him to 
 an out-of-the-way post he gave him offhand a complete 
 description of the neighbourhood. He makes periodical 
 tours of inspection, and has ridden the length of the 
 mountainous frontier of Montenegro and the Hercego- 
 vina. Probably no other statesman of the Monarchy 
 understands the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula so well, 
 and in his choice of officials he has been actuated by 
 the desire to obtain specialists as far as possible. The 
 military head of the Government, Baron Appel, has as. 
 his Chnl-adlatus Baron Kutschera, who came to Bosnia 
 seven years ago, in consequence of his large previous 
 acquaintance with Turkey. Baron von Benko, the 
 Sedionschefdii Sarajevo, was an old comrade at Shanghai 
 of Baron von Calice, the present doyen of the diplomatic 
 body at Constantinople, and has had eighteen years' 
 experience in Bosnia and the Hercegovina, where he 
 was appointed at his own desire. Another interesting 
 figure of the official world is Baron von MoUinary, the 
 Kreisvorsteher of Sarajevo, who, as head of the tourist 
 club, has done more than any one else to make the 
 beauties of Bosnia known to strangers. 
 
 Baron von Kallay's work has been greatly aided by his 
 wife, who is, not without reason, called ^' the Queen of 
 Bosnia." She passes a considerable part of each year in 
 Bosnia, and her receptions at Ilidze form the centre of 
 society. In her salon representative men of all creeds 
 meet, and officials and natives assemble together. 1 saw 
 at the race-ball which she gave one of the leading Mussul- 
 mans of Sarajevo dancing the Hungarian Csdrdas as well 
 as the national Kolo, while the Chief Rabbi of the Spanish 
 
 125 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Jews— for, like Salonica and Smyrna, Sarajevo has a 
 considerable number of Jewish inhabitants, whose fore- 
 fathers emigrated from Spain in the sixteenth century — 
 sipped his coffee in the midst of Catholics, Orthodox, and 
 
 MADAME VON KALLAY. 
 
 Mohammedans. Baroness von Kallay is absolutely de- 
 voted to her husband's work in Bosnia, and as she 
 speaks the vernacular, as well as Magyar, German, 
 
 126 
 
in the Near East 
 
 French, and English, she is well equipped for the great 
 social position which she fills and which may be com- 
 pared with that of a Viceroy's wife in India. She is an 
 extremely practical lady, takes a keen interest in the 
 hospital, and expressed to me her belief in the mistake of 
 some Balkan peoples in sacrificing their material pro- 
 gress to politics, '^ which bring nothing into the kitchen." 
 She is naturally proud of the success achieved in the 
 occupied territory, and told me how gratified she had 
 been by the desire which the King of Greece had once 
 expressed to her in Vienna, of visiting a country about 
 which he had heard so much.^ She understands better 
 than most people how to attract the Mussulman women, 
 who come readily to the receptions, which she organises 
 for them, in order that they may see something of 
 ^^ European " ways. Like every one else in Bosnia, she 
 is wrapped up in the country, where she and her 
 daughters pass so much of their time. No function is 
 complete without her, and one sees fountains dedicated 
 to her and springs called by her name of *' Vilma." 
 
 Although the Emperor takes special interest in the 
 development of Bosnia and the Hercegovina, in which 
 he sees a compensation for the loss of Lombardy and 
 Venetia, he has, for diplomatic reasons, avoided visiting 
 the occupied territory, except on the occasion when he 
 crossed the Save at Brod in 1885 at the spot where his 
 forces had entered Bosnia seven years earlier, and where, 
 in 1697, Prince Eugen of Savoy had started on his dash- 
 ing march to Sarajevo. But the late Archduke Rudolph, 
 who was greatly beloved by the Southern Slavs, travelled 
 in Bosnia and the Hercegovina, and other members of 
 the house of Hapsburg have also been there. What 
 
 I The King of Servia a couple of months ago, after visiting the Bosnian section 
 of the Exhibition at Vienna, paid Baron von Kallay a warm compliment on the 
 progress of Bosnia. 
 
 127 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the future may bring forth it is hard to say. But to me 
 it seems at once unjust and unpractical that Austria- 
 Hungary should not be allowed one day to reap the 
 reward of her labours in the occupied territory. She has 
 expended large sums of money and a great store of 
 energy in reclaiming this beautiful land from barbarism. 
 Africa, according to the old saying, began at the Pyre- 
 nees ; Europe, before 1878, began at the Save and the 
 Una. What we have accomplished in Egypt, what in 
 less measure the French have achieved in Tunis, that has 
 Austria-Hungary performed in these wild Turkish pro- 
 vinces. That Bosnia and the Hercegovina should now 
 be allowed to go back to barbarism is an absurdity of 
 which even the ''Concert of Europe" would not be 
 guilty. Baron von Kallay said two years ago that ''if 
 the state of affairs existing prior to 1878 were to be 
 suddenly restored in Bosnia it would make the whole 
 population thoroughly unhappy." A return to Ottoman 
 rule being thus out of the question, there are only two 
 alternatives to the Austro- Hungarian rule. One, the 
 erection of Bosnia and the Hercegovina into an inde- 
 pendent Balkan State is contrary to all the lessons of 
 their past history and would lead to a renewal of those 
 religious quarrels between the various sections of the 
 population which stained with blood the turbulent 
 annals of the old Bosnian kingdom. The other, the 
 creation of a great Servian Empire, of which Bosnia and 
 the Hercegovina would form a part, or parts, is one of 
 those fantastic day-dreams, which are repugnant alike to 
 the teachings of Balkan history and the dictates of 
 common sense. Under no other Government, which is 
 at all within the range of practical politics, would Bosnia 
 and the Hercegovina be so well off materially as under 
 that of Austria- Hungary, and the question now remains, 
 whether the Occupation will last much longer, or 
 
 128 
 
in the Near East 
 
 whether annexation will shortly be proclaimed. For a 
 time, undoubtedly, the present system worked better 
 than any other would have done. If it somewhat 
 checked the import of private capital, it had the advan- 
 tage of postponing the question, to which half of the 
 Monarchy the new province was to belong — to Austria or 
 to Hungary. The Hungarians have certain historical 
 claims to its possession-— and historv counts tor more in 
 the Near East than with us— for they early tried to obtain 
 a footing in the country, and in 1135 we find one of their 
 kings, Bela II., for the first time styling himself " King of 
 Rama " — the name of a river in Bosnia, which Magyar 
 chroniclers applied first to the surrounding district and 
 then to the whole land. From that time onward, who- 
 ever the actual possessors of Rama might be, it was 
 always included among the titles of the Hungarian 
 monarch. The Hungarian sovereigns continued to in- 
 terfere in Bosnian affairs, and, as in Montenegro to-day, 
 so in Bosnia there was no national coinage until the 
 fourteenth century. Even when the rest of the country 
 had been conquered by the Turks, Hungarian viceroys 
 lingered on in the baiiats of Jajce and Srebrenik for 
 nearly two generations. Towards the end of the seven- 
 teenth century the house of Hapsburg remembered the 
 ancient claims of the Hungarian Crown and ten 
 expeditions one after the other culminated in that 
 of 1878. The Hungarians, although then hostile to 
 the Occupation, have since become sensible of those 
 rights of which Count Andrassy spoke in 1869. 
 Another solution, the creation of a ^^ Great Croatia," 
 which would include both Dalmatia and Bosnia as well 
 as Croatia, under the House of Hapsburg, is not within 
 the range of practical politics. But the respective 
 claims of Austria and Hungary for the possession of 
 Bosnia might be obviated by its erection into a Reichs- 
 
 1 29 K 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 landy on the analogy of Alsace-Lorraine, which would 
 belong to the Monarchy as a whole, not to either half of 
 it. It is the opinion of commercial men whom I have 
 consulted, that the trade of the country would be im- 
 mensely developed by annexation, while politically a firm 
 and final answer would be given to the intrigues against 
 the Occupation. In foreign politics no policy is so suc- 
 cessful as that of the fait accompli. At present rumours 
 are constantly being circulated in Montenegro and Servia 
 that Bosnia is about to be annexed, and the twentieth 
 anniversary of the Occupation, coinciding with the 
 Emperor's Jubilee, has this year increased the agitation. 
 Were the country once amalgamated with the Monarchy 
 these disquieting rumours would be effectually silenced. 
 But in any case, whether Austria-Hungary annexes the 
 country or no, the clock of civilisation cannot be put 
 back in Bosnia and the Hercegovina. 
 
 130 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THROUGH THE OCCUPIED TERRITORY 
 
 IF any one had predicted twenty years ago that the 
 Hercegovnia, the scene of the terrible insurrection 
 of 1875, the wildest and least known of all the Turkish 
 provinces, was destined to become a peaceful haunt of 
 tourists, he would have been derided as a dreamer by 
 every one who knew the country. But facts, as usual, 
 have falsified the forecasts of diplomacy, and to-day, after 
 twenty years of Austrian administration, the occupied 
 territory is the newest and not the least charming '^ play- 
 ground of Europe." 
 
 At the present time there are practically three ways of 
 entering the country. There is the railway route from 
 Vienna by way of Brod, there is the line from Agram to 
 Banjaluka, and there are the steamers from Trieste, Fiume, 
 or Gravosa. It is also possible to go by diligence from 
 Spalato over the Dinaric Alps, through the scene of the 
 terrible Dalmatian earthquake of this summer, down to 
 Livno in Bosnia, and so on to the railway at Bugojno. 
 But the last route, although extremely beautiful, is less 
 used than the other three. For those who wish to com- 
 bine a visit to Dalmatia with a tour in the occupied 
 territory, Ragusa is undoubtedly the best starting-point. 
 From the Ragusan harbour of Gravosa a tiny little steamer 
 takes you over an azure sea sprinkled with islands, past 
 the famous plane-trees of Cannosa and the old station of 
 the Ragusan fleet at Mezzo, to the harbour of Stagno 
 
 131 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Grande, on the peninsula of Sabhioncello, once the seat of 
 a bishopric and a pirate stronghold from which the early 
 sovereigns of the Hercegovina used to ravage the Italian 
 coast opposite. A rickety omnibus crosses the isthmus 
 in half an liour, and drops you at the harbour of Stagno 
 Piccolo on the other side, a little town almost as ruinous 
 as the fortifications which surround it. Here another 
 tinv steamer awaits the traveller, while a whole l^uatload 
 of men and women, in the picturesque native dress, are 
 
 " A WHOLE BOATLOAD OF MEN AND WOMEN. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chachvick.) 
 
 setting sail for their work on the mainland. The steamer 
 stops at one or two places on the long peninsula, and 
 then goes straight across and enters the mouth of the 
 Narenta Canal. Up the muddy waters it pants along, 
 while weird-looking aborigines, descendants of those old 
 Narentans who struck terror into the hearts of the old 
 Roman legionaries, and were the worst pirates of the 
 whole coast, paddle their primitive coracles in the wash. 
 We had heard much of the dangers of the foul air which 
 is said to arise from these swamps, but since the marshes 
 
 132 
 
 
in the Near East 
 
 have been drained and the sluggish Narenta forced into 
 a single channel, quinine is superfluous and malaria is 
 less deadly, and claims fewer victims at the river towns of 
 Fort Opus and Metkovic. The latter place, which is the 
 terminus of the steamer, has grown considerably in 
 importance since the canal was made. It is here that the 
 Bosnian and Hercegovinian State railway begins, and 
 five minutes in the train bring you over the Dalmatian 
 border into the Hercegovina. The military character of 
 the line is at once apparent: the smart railway guard with 
 his picturesque fez gives you a martial salute as he 
 examines your ticket ; the obsequious porter, clad in all 
 the colours of the gorgeous East, who carries your port- 
 manteau makes a profound obeisance over the kreuzers 
 which he receives. No passports are now necessary for 
 travellers in the country, and all that is required of you 
 is to fill in your Meldezettel as soon as you arrive at the 
 hotel. As for the tiny carriages of the State railway, 
 they are fitted up with all Western comforts — only the 
 fourth class, which is provided for the poorest natives, 
 is of that horse-box variety still dear to some English 
 companies. It is true that the train stops — and some- 
 times stops, as the Austrian officers say, ^'a Bosnian 
 minute" — at every station, but then no one wants to 
 hurry in the East ; besides, there is so much life and 
 colour on a Hercegovinian platform. There being 
 usually only one train a day each way, the whole popu- 
 lation comes down to see it. A dancing-man, who 
 performs antics like a bear, will perhaps amuse the 
 travellers while they wait; the water-carrier, too, is a 
 constant figure at every station, and does a large business 
 with the Mussulman inmates of the fourth class. It is as 
 good as a play to see the latter coming forth in solemn 
 procession at the end of their journey, each man carrying 
 the tiny roll of carpet on which he has been sitting in the 
 
 133 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 train. At the larger stations the natives may be seen 
 squatting on their heels on the platform devouring their 
 food and rolling their cigarettes. The scenery, too, as 
 the train ambles along, is of striking beauty ; here, for 
 instance, is Pocitelj — ^^ eine ivahre Perle," as an enthusiastic 
 traveller calls it — a perfect gem of a town, perched like 
 some Moorish robbers' nest in a semicircle on the grey 
 cliffs above the green Narenta. Before the Occupation 
 Pocitelj lived up to its appearance, and its inhabitants 
 were the terror of their neighbours ; but law and order 
 now reign supreme, and it is only on the Montenegrin 
 frontier that an occasional affray with smugglers reminds 
 the older generation of the bygone Turkish days. 
 
 But the charms of Pocitelj pale before the delights of 
 Mostar. An old Turkish poet has sung in enthusiastic 
 verse of ^' the perfumed air, and the bright, clear water, 
 the laden fruit trees, and the trim gardens " of the Herce- 
 govinian capital. ^' From Mostar," cries Dervish Pasha, 
 ^^ sprang mighty heroes of sword and pen, from Mostar, 
 the home of all the arts and sciences." No other city can 
 match the beautiful span of the famous old bridge from 
 which the town derives its present name. Antiquaries 
 may dispute as to the origin of this graceful structure of 
 stone, beneath which the narrow^ Narenta rushes past the 
 rocks on its way to the sea. But whether it be Roman or 
 Turkish work, a few centuries more or less cannot detract 
 from, or add to, its incomparable charm. Below, the 
 swallows are flying by hundreds in and out of the crevices 
 in the cliffs, while from the tall, tapering minarets on 
 either bank the muezzin may soon be heard calling the 
 faithful to prayer. In the neighbouring bazar the 
 Mussulman Bosniaks are washing their hands and feet 
 and making ready for their evening devotions. Here, 
 earlier in the day, you will find the East and the West 
 elbowing one another — smart Austrian officers and strap- 
 
 134 
 
in the Near East 
 
 ping Hercegovinians, Albanians with their braided white 
 trousers and shaven heads, tall Montenegrins from over 
 the border, and a sprinkling of Dalmatians, easily distin- 
 guishable from the rest by their tiny scarlet caps. A 
 peculiarity of Mostar is the costume of the Mussulman 
 
 W^ 
 
 MUSSULMAN WOMAN OF MOSTAR. 
 
 women, whose huge blue cloaks cover the head with a 
 projection in front like a vast poke-bonnet. Among 
 the Mussulmans of Bosnia and the Hercegovina poly- 
 gamy never obtained to the same extent as in the rest of 
 the Ottoman Empire, and one wife is considered a fair 
 allowance for even a Bosnian beg. For example, in the 
 
 135 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 district of Visegrad, a very large one, there are only three 
 Mussulmans who have more than one wife. On high- 
 days and holidays you may see a crowd of Christian 
 women from the surrounding villages, clad in white 
 knickerbockers, thick, woollen, parti-coloured leggings, 
 and opanke, or even bare feet. Over the knickerbockers 
 they wear a long white garment of coarse striped cotton, 
 
 CHRISTIAN WOMEN AT MOSTAR. 
 
 (Front a Photo, by Miss Chadivick.) 
 
 and over that again a Zouave embroidered in colours. 
 When walking or working they usually tuck up the long 
 garment into their girdles. Their headdress consists of a 
 flat fez, covered in front with coins — a decoration called 
 in the vernacular sirit. Over the fez there is an embroi- 
 dered muslin or net veil, and round their necks more coins 
 and glass amulets. Others, again, vary the headdress by 
 wearing a fez entirely covered by black silk fringe. The 
 
 136 
 
in the Near East 
 
 weekday attire is made of darker materials. Mostar, 
 which is not more than about five centuries old, and 
 was of no importance till the Turkish times, has grown 
 considerably since the Occupation. At the last census it 
 numbered 17,010 inhabitants, about half of whom were 
 Mohammedans, and it is one of the strongest Mussulman 
 towns in the country. A friend of mine who visited it 
 before the Occupation tells me that it was one of the 
 dirtiest towns in Turkey, and had no better accommo- 
 dation for strangers than was afforded by a few wretched 
 caravanserais, where the beds swarmed with vermin and 
 the daylight poured in at the roof. But smce 1891 the 
 place has possessed an excellent hotel, built by the 
 Government, commanding a beautiful view of the river. 
 The porter, a veteran of the campaign of '78, meets you 
 on the railway platform, and tells you the number of 
 your room before you have left the station. But the 
 great disadvantage of Mostar is its climate, for, placed as 
 it is between two bare hills, it is scorching in summer, and 
 when the bora blows it is almost impossible to go out. I 
 have fortunately had no personal experience of the 
 papadaci, a peculiarly venomous kind of mosquito, of 
 which the inhabitants are fond of talking. An official 
 who had spent fifteen years in the place told me, how- 
 ever, that planting had greatly improved the climate since 
 he first came there. There are several very pleasant 
 excursions wnthin easy reach of the town. When the 
 heat of the day was over, and the sun no longer scorched 
 the bare rocks of Mount Hum, we drove behind a capital 
 pair of Hercegovinian horses along the plain which 
 stretches southw^ard from the town. Our driver, clad in 
 the picturesque native dress with a many-coloured 
 cummerbund twined round and round his waist, pointed 
 to the flourishing establishment for the improvement of 
 viticulture and fruit-growling which we passed on the 
 
 137 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 road. A little farther on, an ancient stone cistern by the 
 roadside testified to the care which the Turkish rulers 
 of the Hercegovina had devoted to the storage of water 
 in the fiery summers. At Blagaj, the old capital of the 
 land at a time when Mostar, as a national ballad says, was 
 ^* only a hamlet/' we left the carriage and walked under 
 the guidance of two sharp-eyed lads along the narrow 
 path between the cliff and the stream. These native 
 urchins are as sharp as any London street arab ; in 
 a moment they divine the wishes of the stranger, and 
 I had but to make a sign to set them scouring the 
 hillside for flowers and twigs of pomegranate and myrtle. 
 The grey rocks were all ablaze with the scarlet glow of 
 the pomegranate, while masses of white clematis hung 
 festooned on the bushes. A sudden bend in the path dis- 
 closed a gigantic rock rising perpendicular from the 
 stream, which flowed clear as crystal from a cavern at its 
 base. A multitude of birds glided ceaselessly over the 
 water or flew in and out of the countless crannies in the 
 limestone cliff, while the fish darted to and fro in the 
 rapid current of the Buna. Nestling under the shadow 
 of the rocks at one side of the cavern, hard by a ruined 
 mosque is a tiny house, the goal of many a pious Moslem's 
 footsteps, containing the tombs of a Mohammsdan saint 
 and his faithful servant. On the wall above, the scimitar 
 and battleaxe of the holy man still remind the pilgrims of 
 the unbelievers whom he slew, while every evening the 
 custodian religiously places a jug of water and a towel by 
 the coffin for the saint's ablution. Every morning, so they 
 told us in awestruck tones, the towel is moist and the jug 
 half empty. To a wooden verandah overhanging the 
 stream a skiff is moored, in which, to the immense delight 
 of our two small companions, I pulled myself inside the 
 mouth of the cavern. Huge stalactites hang from the roof 
 and almost kiss the deep-blue water, and in the distance 
 
 138 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 far under the mountain one hears a noise as of thunder. 
 No one has ever navigated this subterranean stream, but the 
 local legend tells how one day a shepherd threw his staff 
 into the Zalomska river, which disappears in the earth 
 some thirteen miles away, and how his father, a miller at 
 Blagaj, found it floating in the Buna. Father and son 
 communicated with one another and resolved to profit by 
 this freak of nature. Every day the shepherd slew one of 
 his master's sheep, threw its carcass into the Zalomska, 
 and so despatched it to his father, who fished it out of the 
 Buna a few hours later. At last the owner of the flock 
 became suspicious, set a watch upon his shepherd, and 
 one day caught him in the act of throwing a dead sheep 
 into the stream. That evening the miller saw in the 
 waters of the Buna, instead of the usual sheep, the 
 headless trunk of his son. 
 
 High on the rocks above the source of the Buna there 
 stand the majestic ruins of ^' Stephen's Castle," or Stjepa- 
 nograd. There, four centuries ago, Duke Stephen Kosaca, 
 from whose ducal title the Hercegovina derived its German 
 name, defied all comers, till his own son made him a 
 captive in his own impregnable stronghold. '^ Here do I 
 sit a prisoner, Stephen Kosaca," says an old inscription, 
 carved on a stone of the dismantled fortress, where now 
 the eagles have their eyrie. Here, too, stood the Monte- 
 negrin gunners, when the bitter cry of their brethren 
 summoned them to the Hercegovina in the great uprising 
 of twenty years ago. To-day the old walls look down 
 upon the new life and the modern spirit which Austria 
 has infused into the land, upon the railway which leads 
 to Metkovic, and the line, broad road which goes towards 
 Montenegro. Peace and industry now reign supreme 
 where all was once bloodshed ; and the very dogs — long, 
 lanky, kind-eyed creatures, very different from the curs of 
 Greece and Asia Minor — fawn upon the stranger and 
 
 140 
 
in the Near East 
 
 would follow him back to Mostar, if he would accept 
 their company. Here in the Orient there is no torture of 
 animals such as mars a holiday in Southern Italy, and 
 even the pigeon-shooting at Ilidze is now a thing of the 
 past. 
 
 The source of the Buna is not the only beauty of 
 Mostar's surroundings. On Sunday evenings all the rank 
 juid fashion of the Hercegovinian capital, the dapper 
 officers of the garrison with their wives and children, and 
 the well-to-do Christians, Catholics and Orthodox alike, 
 betake themselves to the lofty rocks an hour distant, from 
 which the waters of the Radobolje rise and supply the 
 town with water. The local legend tells how, in a time 
 of great drought, an angel struck the rock at this spot, 
 like another Moses, and when the people rushed to drink, 
 cried out to them : ^^Radi bolje" {'' Make haste !"), whence 
 the present name of the place. No one who has seen 
 Delphi can help being struck with the resemblance of that 
 famous spot to this unknown valley. But the innkeeper 
 has followed in the wake of the occupying army, and the 
 red vintage and excellent tobacco of the Hercegovina 
 would make one believe that one was in some German 
 Gartenwirthschaft, were it not for the melancholy strains 
 of the ^usla, that favourite one-stringed instrument of 
 the Southern Slavs, which are re-echoed by the cliffs. Of 
 the bygone glories of the ancient Servian tsars, of '^ the 
 king's son, Marko," the greatest hero of the South Slavonic 
 muse, of Kossovo's fatal field, and of the traitor Brankovic 
 ^so sang the singer, till the shadows deepened and the 
 setting sun illumined with a purple glow the snow-capped 
 range of the Velez Planina. 
 
 But no one can have any idea of Hercegovinian moun- 
 tain scenery until he has travelled along the line which 
 connects Mostar with Sarajevo. For a great portion of 
 the journey the road, the river, and the railway run side 
 
 141 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 by side. In places the perpendicular cliffs have been 
 blasted away, to make room for trains and vehicles to 
 pass. At one moment you cross the foaming waters of 
 the Narenta on a boldly constructed iron bridge, at 
 another you are winding in and out of a tunnel hewn in 
 the solid rock. For miles the narrow defile of the Narenta 
 traverses the solitude of the mountains, where in the old 
 days no Turkish tax-gatherer ever penetrated. In one 
 lovely valley there dwells to this day a race of hermits 
 whose village, called Dreznica, concealed hundreds of 
 golden pieces bearing the image and superscription of the 
 old Byzantine princes. Once upon a time, so the story 
 goes, these anchorites gave a falcon of striking beauty to 
 the Sultan, who made them free from taxes for all time. 
 A little farther on, the rocks assume fantastic shapes such 
 as one sees in the strongholds of the Dolomites. Here 
 needles of stone point skyward, there vast mushrooms 
 seem to be growing out of the cliff, ever and anon some 
 mountain torrent rushes down from the mountain-side to 
 join the Narenta ; and in one place the valley opens and 
 the shining yellow barracks and a modern landes drarisches 
 Hotel proclaim the spot to be Jablanica, the new health 
 resort which the Government has created in the heart 
 of the Hercegovinian mountains. From the parklike 
 grounds of the trim hotel you look upon the glaciers of 
 the Prenj mountains — *' snow-white meadows," as the 
 aborigines picturesquely called them in the old lUyric — 
 which contrast with the green plain and the flourishing 
 cherry-trees around. Not many years ago a filthy Turkish 
 hail stood in the place of this comfortable house, which 
 is furnished throughout with pretty Bosnian rugs and 
 hangings from the Government workrooms at Sarajevo. 
 The landlady is a most excellent cook, and welcomes 
 the traveller with a geniality which greatly adds to the 
 pleasure of his visit. The bedrooms are spotless, the 
 
 142 
 
in the Near East 
 
 prices low, and the trout delicious. While the visitors' 
 book is full of appreciation, the book for complaints is 
 empty, and it is difficult to see how the cuisine and 
 accommodation could be improved. In olden days 
 Jablanica was a centre of the Bogomile faith, that curious, 
 mystic heresy which defied the thunders of Hildebrand, 
 and, by dividing the Christians against each other, made 
 Bosnia an easy prey for the Turk. Scattered up and 
 down the Hercegovina the tombs of the Bogomiles, great 
 square blocks of stone, still tell of their numbers, and the 
 Mussulmans of Jablanica are said to be their descendants. 
 For here alone in Islam do the women go unveiled — 
 a privilege which their Bogomile forebears reserved to 
 themselves when they embraced the Mohammedan 
 religion at the time of the Turkish conquest. Around 
 this quiet valley the fight must have been very hot, for 
 the hillsides are thickly covered with gravestones, and 
 the banks of the Narenta from here to Konjica, the old 
 frontier town of the Hercegovina, are one vast mausoleum 
 of mediaeval warriors. It used to be thought that the 
 Bogomiles were quite extinct as a sect long ago. But it 
 is stated by a recent ecclesiastical historian that only a 
 few years before the Austrian Occupation a family named 
 Helez, living near Konjica, abandoned the " Bogomile 
 madness" for the Mohammedan faith. We saw ourselves 
 a fine specimen of a Bogomile tombstone between 
 Jablanica and this place. It was at Konjica, now the 
 seat of the district authorities, that the parliament of 
 the old Bosnian kingdom met in 1446 to pronounce 
 sentence on these heretics who fled, to the number of 
 40,000, into the Hercegovina. The document embodying 
 the resolutions of this grand council has been preserved 
 and bears the name and seal of the king. It provided 
 that the Bogomiles "shall neither build new churches 
 nor restore those that are falling into decay," and may be 
 
 143 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 regarded as the death-warrant of the Bosnian kingdom. 
 Nowadays Konjica is the starting-point for the steep 
 cHmb up to the heights of Ivan, the watershed between 
 the Adriatic and the Black Sea. Slowly we pant up the 
 cog-wheel railway, traversing on iron girders chasms of 
 appalling depth, until we steam out of the tunnel at the 
 summit and find that we have left the Hercegovina 
 behind us. From this point down to Sarajevo, about 
 twenty-tive miles away, the line tor the most part 
 descends through pleasant scenery. A short distance 
 outside the capital a small branch diverges to Ilidze, 
 whither the yellow and red carriages of the local trains 
 carry their hundreds during the season ; and then the 
 traveller finds himself at ^'golden Saraj," the centre of 
 official life and society in this land. 
 
 Modern Sarajevo differs not a little from the Bosna 
 Saraj of the Turkish times. In the first place, the popu- 
 lation has largely increased, and the Bosnian capital bids 
 fair to leave Sofia and Belgrade soon behind it in this, as 
 in several other respects. At the last census Sarajevo 
 contained, exclusive of the military, 37,713, of whom 
 17,074 were Mussulmans, 10,473 Roman Catholics, 5,855 
 Orthodox, and 3,994 Jews, the remainder belonging to 
 other confessions. Inclusive of the garrison, this total 
 reached 41,173. In order to accommodate this increased 
 population, which had risen by 43*57 per cent, in the 
 brief space of ten years, there has been a large amount 
 of building in the town, and new quarters have sprung 
 up which did not exist in the Turkish days. Hence 
 the cost of house-rent, which w^as high in the early years 
 of the Occupation, has now considerably fallen. The 
 large plain, which extends westward and would have been 
 preferred by some as the site of the new city at the time 
 of the Occupation, affords ample scope for expansion, 
 and the principal railway station has been placed at a 
 
 144 
 
in the Near East 
 
 great distance from the centre of the town, because it 
 is considered that one day the capital will completely 
 surround it. In point of situation, indeed, Sarajevo is 
 the most favoured of all Balkan capitals. It is traversed 
 by a small stream, called by the poetic name of the 
 Miljacka, or ^^ gently murmuring," which has been 
 dammed up so as to increase the amount of water. 
 Inferior in this point alone to the Servian capital with 
 its two splendid rivers, Sarajevo has many other advan- 
 tages which Belgrade does not possess. The town lies 
 picturesquely in a hollow between two hills and is 
 commanded towards the east by a castle, from whose 
 bastions there is an admirable view of the old wooden 
 Turkish houses and the modern European buildings. 
 Unlike Athens and Belgrade, it possesses a considerable 
 amount of vegetation. No doubt the modern part of 
 the town has greatly grown at the expense of the Oriental, 
 but Sarajevo is still the most Oriental city of the Balkan 
 Peninsula. In Belgrade and Sofia you have nothing 
 but brand-new edifices, while in Athens there is no 
 alternative between the venerable ruins of antiquity and 
 the modern German town constructed under King Otho. 
 But at Saraj the West and the East meet, and the 
 Oriental houses with their courtyards and gardens have 
 not been improved out of existence as at Sofia. You 
 may take a walk through the bazar or carsija, and 
 imagine yourself in a purely Eastern town, while at a 
 few minutes' distance the shops of the Franje Josipa 
 Ulica transport you back to an Austrian city. In point 
 of picturesqueness the Sarajevo bazar is unrivalled in 
 the Near East. It cannot perhaps be compared with 
 the suks of Tunis or the large covered bazar at Con- 
 stantinople, because it is almost entirely in the open 
 air. To see it at its best one should visit it on a market- 
 day. Then the country folk come in from all the neigh- 
 
 145 L 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 bourhood with their wares, every one of them in costume. 
 Here and there yon may see a Bosniak carrying a 
 
 A BOSNIAK CARRYING A RAM ON HIS BACK. 
 
 ram on his back, and I noticed one or two of the 
 peasants panting and sweating beneath their hving load 
 as far as the castle, while the animals looked on with the 
 
 146 
 
in the Near East 
 
 most sublime complacency. A good many of the mer- 
 chants are Spanish Jews, who wear thick fur coats, like 
 Svengali, in summer and winter alike. They have 
 picked up German remarkably well, and there is no 
 difficulty in making purchases in that language — a fact 
 which is all the more curious because they never showed 
 much aptitude for the Bosnian idiom. Their women 
 are easily distinguishable by their headdress, which 
 consists of an unbecoming stiff silk cap trimmed round 
 the edge with sequins and completely covering the hair. 
 As in all Oriental bazars, each trade has a quarter 
 devoted to its particular industry, so that all the shoe- 
 makers are in one part and all the metal-workers in 
 another. There is here far less of the bargaining which 
 is inevitable at Constantinople, and I have known an 
 instance where a salesman was absolutely indifferent to 
 the sale of his goods, and declined to abate a single 
 kreuzer of his price. At Sarajevo only the Bosniaks 
 are permitted to have stalls in the bazar — a privile^ 
 which they much appreciate, and which is shared by 
 all the confessions alike. Only one part of the bazar 
 is under cover, and is almost entirely devoted to textile 
 fabrics. In the midst of the bazar is the great beauty 
 of Sarajevo — the famous mosque, called Begova-Dzamija, 
 which was built by Usref, Pasha of Bosnia and conqueror 
 of Jajce in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. 
 Usref was the real founder of Turkish Saraj, which under 
 the old Bosnian kingdom had little importance, and of 
 all his works this mosque is the finest. Standing in a 
 cool courtyard, where the plash of a beautiful foun- 
 tain never ceases, and a splendid lime-tree of vast age 
 gives shade to the worshipper as he perform his ablutions, 
 the Begova-Dzamija is typical of that repose which the 
 Moslem so dearly loves, and of that cleanliness which 
 in his religion is not second, but equivalent, to godliness, 
 
 147 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Out in the courtyard, too, is a quaint old stone, the top 
 of which is traversed by a groove exactly the length of 
 a Turkish ell. The local legend says that a pasha, hearing 
 how the merchants used various measures, set up this 
 stone, that all might know the exact length of a Turkish 
 ell, or arslii. To-day no such necessity exists, but this 
 grooved block still bears the name of " the ell-stone," and 
 reminds the worshipper of that injunction of the Koran 
 which forbids the faithful to use false measures. An old 
 clock-tower and some Mussulman graves, one of the 
 founder, another of the late mayor, complete the picture, 
 while over the way an old Mohammedan school still 
 remains, a striking contrast to the spick-and-span Scheriat- 
 schule which we have already described. Of the modern 
 buildings the two handsomest are the new town hall and 
 the Government ofHces ; the former, which stands on the 
 bank of the river, has only been completed within the 
 last few years, and is constructed in the old Bosnian 
 style of architecture and in the two colours, red and yellow, 
 which are those of the country. The rooms inside are 
 extremely handsome, and one of them in particular is 
 expressly adapted for public entertainments. The Govern- 
 ment offices at the other end of the town are large and 
 roomy, and their ample corridors are filled every morning 
 by groups of picturesque natives waiting to have inter- 
 views with the authorities. Another valuable institution 
 of the new era is the museum, which forms an historical 
 and scientific epitome of Bosnia and the Hercegovina. 
 Even persons to whom the name of museum is anathema 
 cannot fail to be interested in the collection of figures 
 dressed in the costumes of different parts of the country 
 and placed in appropriate surroundings. Here, amidst 
 the old wood-carving of a harem, you may see the figures 
 of Moslem ladies. Here, too, you have tall Herce- 
 govinians, handsomely dressed Bosniaks, and an occa- 
 
 149 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 sional Albanian and Bulgarian — for the museum is chiefly, 
 but not exclusively, devoted to the inhabitants and pro- 
 ducts of the occupied territory. The collection of gems 
 and coins is of much historical value, and the fauna and 
 flora are very rich. This collection is indeed one of the 
 sharpest contrasts between Bosnia and Turkey proper, 
 for the Ottoman Government rarely pays the smallest 
 attention to matters of this kind, and, like the dog in the 
 manger, forbids foreigners to do for it what it is too lazy 
 or too suspicious to do for itself. 
 
 From a picturesque point of view Sarajevo, like Bel- 
 grade and Athens, suffers from the electric tram, which 
 traverses the Appel-Quai, along the right bank of the 
 Miljacka, but this Western mode of locomotion has not 
 been allowed to spoil the shady turn of the river where 
 the Mussulman delights to drink his coffee in the garden 
 of the Bendhasi. It is near this part of the river that the 
 town is most artistic. On the left bank tier after tier of 
 wooden Turkish houses peer out of the greenery, with 
 here and there a minaret rising above the foliage. Here, 
 too, the river is not embanked, but left to nature, and 
 instead of a level promenade there are charming contrasts 
 between the undulating shore and the rocks which here 
 and there rise direct from the river-bed. Formerly Sara- 
 jevo, like all Turkish tow^ns, possessed a large number 
 of Mussulman cemeteries, whose gravestones stood at all 
 angles, and whose neglected vegetation formed green 
 oases between the houses — for as every one knows the 
 Mussulman loves to live in close proximity to the last 
 resting-place of his kinsman. This was one of the diffi- 
 culties with which the Austrians had to deal when they 
 entered the country, for these picturesque cemeteries 
 were permanent obstacles to the expansion of the town. 
 Gradually, however, this difficulty has been overcome : some 
 have disappeared, others have been turned into gardens, 
 
 1^0 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 but here and there one still comes across a few stones, 
 while the hills above the town are still covered with Jewish 
 and Mussulman graves. One historic monument has not 
 been allowed to fall into decay — the Mosque of Ali Pasha, 
 towards the entrance of the town, where the insurgents 
 made a desperate resistance to the Army of Occupation 
 on the memorable 19th of August, 1878, when Sarajevo 
 fell, the second time in its history that the Bosnian 
 capital, temporarily occupied by Prince Eugen in 1697, 
 came into the hands of the Austrians. Mohammedan 
 fanaticism now finds vent in the weekly exercises of the 
 dancing and howling dervishes, which take place in the 
 Sinan tekkeh, or cloister. When I visited this building 
 I was first of all escorted into a cafe, where a number 
 of people were sitting, playing cards and drinking coffee. 
 Traversing a stableyard I reached the wooden gallery of the 
 place in which the dervishes perform. I expected every 
 moment that the gallery would fall down, as it was sup- 
 ported by only one pillar on either side, and creaked 
 and groaned with every movement of the spectators. 
 There was also a latticed gallery for women. There were 
 fourteen dervishes in the building, arranged in three lines 
 of one, nine, and four respectively. The leader in front 
 kept bowing his head and kissing the ground, swaying 
 his body, and every now and again uttering cries of 
 ^^ Allah ! " and ^^ Mohammed ! " The others followed his 
 example, one of them being always late in his movements. 
 This performance began a little after nine, and about 
 ten we were told that there would be no dancing, as at 
 least thirty dervishes were required for that. I afterwards 
 found that the best of the dervishes had gone to the 
 Exhibition at Buda-Pesth, so that here, as in Constanti- 
 nople, their religious ecstasies have been turned into a 
 show, to which the visitor is expected to contribute a 
 small offering. 
 
 152 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Of all their improvements near the capital the 
 Austrians are proudest of the watering-place which they 
 have created at Ilidze, about seven miles distant. It is 
 true that the sulphur-baths of Ilidze were known to the 
 Romans, who built a town there, of which considerable 
 remains have been discovered. In the Middle Ages, too, 
 here was the centre of the Government, and the baths 
 enjoyed considerable reputation under the Turks. But 
 at the time of the Occupation the arrangements were of 
 the most primitive description, so that the history of 
 Ilidze as a bath may be said, like all other civilised insti- 
 tutions in the country, to date from the present regime. 
 A constant service of trains takes you out there during 
 the season, and on Sundays and holidays le tout Sarajevo 
 assembles at Ilidze. Special compartments are on this, 
 as on all the lines, reserved for Mussulman women, and 
 as a curious instance of Western progress I noted a special 
 van for bicycles, which are very popular with the natives. 
 Three hotels and a restaurant provide for the visitors, and 
 it is the fashion in the season to take supper there, or to 
 reside there altogether, and go into town every day. A 
 very low scale of charges has been drawn up with a view 
 of inducing people to come from a, distance — in short, 
 Ilidze has now most of tJie attractions, without the high 
 prices, of '^ European " watering-places. The inhabitants 
 take special interest in the three bears, natives of the 
 Bosnian mountains, whose cage is one of the features of 
 the grounds. When we first saw them two years ago, 
 Mall, the ^' little one," was much bullied by Misko, the 
 tyrant of the three, and filled the air with his piteous 
 howls, but this year we found him bigger and somewhat 
 more courageous. Every visitor takes as a matter of 
 course the drive of two and a half miles to the sources 
 of the Bosna at the foot of Mount Igman. The natural 
 beauties of this spring, which is clear as crystal, have 
 
 153 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 been too much '^improved" to my taste, and the artificial 
 embankments, bridges, and gardens might well have been 
 spared. The swimming-bath in the other stream, the 
 Zeljesnica, is a great attraction, and doctors extol highly 
 the sulphur springs of the place. During the race week 
 in June it is impossible to get a room in the hotels, and 
 the presence of Madame von Kallay there gives the place 
 social importance. 
 
 From the present to the former capital of the country, 
 which, previous to the middle of the present century, was 
 
 STREET IN TKAVNIK. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadivick.) 
 
 Travnik, is an easy journey of barely four hours by rail 
 through beautiful country intersected by the yellow 
 Bosna for the greater "part of the distance. At two places 
 in this valley, where now all is peaceful, the army of the 
 Occupation had to fight its way twenty years ago. At 
 the junction of Lasva we leave the main line, which 
 follows the Bosna, and branch off to Travnik past one 
 of the chief wood company's establishments. Travnik 
 does not, of course, possess the political importance that 
 
 154 
 
in the Near East 
 
 it had when it was the residence of the Turkish Governor. 
 But it contained at the last census a population of 6,894, 
 and is one of the purest Mohammedan towns in the 
 country, although the Catholics are on the increase there. 
 Should this branch line ever be prolonged to the 
 Adriatic at Spalato, its commercial value would be much 
 enhanced, and in the interval between my two visits I 
 noticed a considerable advance in its development. Last 
 year, for instance, the local authorities thought it de- 
 sirable to build a new hotel, containing a theatre, an 
 officers' casino, and a hall where entertainments can 
 be given, so that it contrasts very pleasantly with most 
 towns of the same size in England. But these modern 
 improvements have not in the least detracted from its 
 Oriental charm. No place in Bosnia is so famous for its 
 Mussulman tombs — huge edifices fenced in with u'on 
 railings and covered with canopies, like the immense 
 state-beds of our ancestors. These turbeh, which are 
 almost as large as houses, are, for the most part, the last 
 resting-places of the Mohammedan governors of Bosnia. 
 Another historic memorial of a very different kind is the 
 Cafe Dervent, where the unfortunate Archduke Rudolph 
 drank the Turkish coffee, for which the establishment 
 is famous, during his visit to Travnik. The cup out of 
 which he drank and the glass which, filled with water, 
 invariably accompanies coffee in the Near East, are still 
 preserved ; but the cafe itself seemed to me more and 
 more ruinous and fly-blown each time that I sat down 
 by the rushing stream in its shady garden. The gardens 
 and the abundance of fresh water are, indeed, the delights 
 of Travnik, whose name means '^ the grassplot," and 
 whose situation is such as Mussulmans love. The long, 
 straggling street, of which the town chiefly consists, is 
 full on a market-day of the quaintest figures. Then many 
 Catholics come in from the country, and you may see 
 
 155 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 tattooed women among them, for in the district round 
 Travnik and Jajce tattooing is by no means an un- 
 common practice of the female CathoHcs, although it is 
 almost unknown in the other confessions, and not often 
 observed in the case of Catholic men. It is supposed 
 by Dr. Gliick, a medical man, who has investigated 
 the subject, that at the time of the Turkish conquest, 
 when conversions to Islam were frequent, the Catholic 
 priests hit upon this way of preventing their flocks 
 
 IN THE BAZAR AT TRAVXIK. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 from going over to the creed of the conquerors. Now 
 that the necessity for such a precaution has ceased 
 to exist the custom is still kept up, and old women 
 usually officiate as tattooers. Another curiosity of the 
 Travnik market was an important Mussulman, armed 
 with a blue stick, who went about sampling the wares 
 which the country folk had brought in. The old castle, 
 which dates from the days of the Bosnian kings, looks 
 down grimly on this variegated scene, while a new Jesuit 
 academy and a modern Mussulman college point to the 
 
 156 
 
in the Near East 
 
 difference which exists between the reUgious toleration 
 of the nineteenth, and the fierce theological conflicts of 
 the fifteenth century. Here, too, one notices the con- 
 trast between the extreme affability and pleasant manner 
 of the Slav Mussulman and the aloofness of his co- 
 religionist at Constantinople. Here there seems to be 
 no dislike of the Schwahl — an elastic term in which 
 the Bosniaks include not merely Austrians (even Austrian 
 Slavs) and South Germans, but all " Europeans "■ — while 
 there we are all Giaours, but the subjects of the Aleuian 
 Pddislidh are by far the most acceptable. 
 
 Yet another Bosnian capital — the last stronghold of the 
 Bosnian kings — lies beyond Travnik, and is the goal of 
 every visitor. To travel through Bosnia without seeing 
 Jajce would be unpardonable, for it is undoubtedly the 
 gem of the country, and has a beautiful setting. Past a 
 gigantic poplar hundreds of years old, beneath which a 
 famous dervish lies buried, we traversed a smiling country 
 and then climbed up a steep ascent to the summit of the 
 pass. A pleasing landscape, sprinkled here and there with 
 a Bogomile tomb, lies on the other side, and we are soon 
 at the picturesque little town of Dolnji Vakuf, with its 
 ancient clock-tower and old bridge. From this point 
 one line goes off to Bugojno, from which place a dili- 
 gence runs through the beautiful valley of the Rama to 
 jablanica, while another traverses the equally charming 
 valley of the Vrbas, and has its present terminus at Jajce. 
 In old Hungarian days the Keglevic family, to which the 
 defence of Jajce was entrusted, commanded this valley 
 with a castle, the ruins of which have survived the Turkish 
 conquest. But nowadays this region is of small strategic 
 importance, and since 1895 there have been no soldiers 
 at Jajce. 
 
 Of all the towns in the Near East few have such a 
 beautiful position as this last capital of the Bosnian king- 
 
 157 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 dom^ where the last native ruler of Bosnia sought in vain 
 a refuge from the invading Turk ; where for two genera- 
 
 JAJCE : THE OLD BOSNIAN CAPITAL. 
 
 tions more a Hungarian garrison held out, as the farthest 
 outpost of Christendom ; where, according to the local 
 legend, the Evangelist Luke is said to have been buried 
 
 158 
 
in the Near East 
 
 beneath the Italian tower that bears his name ; and where 
 perhaps the finest waterfall in Europe crashes in thunder 
 from the rocks on which the town is perched into a 
 swiftly running stream below. Round the egg-shaped 
 castle hill, from which the place derives its name of the 
 ^' little eggf" rather than from a fancied resemblance to 
 the Castel dell' Uovo at Naples, cluster the black and 
 white wooden houses, embowered in the foliage of the 
 Avalnut-trees, while the slim Italian campanile of the 
 ruined church looks as if it were out of place in so 
 Oriental a setting. Down in the bazar, outside the old 
 gate, the Bosnian peasants, in their white clothes with red 
 turbans wound round their heads, are chaffering over the 
 wares. Stalwart Dalmatians, in sheepskins and fragmen- 
 tary scarlet caps, are buying whetstones for their scythes, 
 and the Catholic women here, as at Travnik, with their 
 hands and arms tattooed, are chattering in the old gate- 
 way over their children's ailments or their new aprons. 
 These striped aprons, made of wool, and almost square, 
 distinguish the women of Jajce from those of the rest of 
 Bosnia. Here the Catholics and the Moslems are in 
 about equal proportions, and, as is usually the case in 
 Bosnia, these two confessions get on much better together 
 than the Mohammedans and the Orthodox. Even before 
 the Austrians came the Mussulmans of Jajce used to send 
 their children to learn their letters in the Franciscan 
 school, and such is the influence of the Franciscan 
 monks, who have played an important part in the history 
 of the country, that we saw one Sunday a peasant woman 
 crawling on her knees round the church, followed by a 
 boy, either in fulfilment of some vow or as a penance for 
 some misdeed that they had committed. We saw, too, a 
 girl kneeling durmg the whole service outside the door, 
 and learnt that this was a common punishment for 
 offences against morality. Within the church scores of 
 
 159 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 men were kneeling, with their quaint pigtails hanging 
 down from their close-shaven heads, as is the fashion in 
 many parts of this country. And, grim relic of the past, 
 beneath a glass case at the side of the building reposed 
 the skeleton of the last Bosnian King, Stephen Tomasevic, 
 the skull severed from the neck, just as it was cut off by 
 the treacherous Sultan's orders over four centuries ago. 
 The King had relied upon the pardon offered to him, and 
 had given himself up to Mohammed II.'s lieutenant, who 
 brought him as his prisoner to the Sultan at Jajce — the 
 
 PENANCE AT JAJCE. 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Cliadivick.) 
 
 same place whence, a little earlier, he had hurled defiance 
 at his conqueror. But the captive King was an encum- 
 brance to the victor. A legal excuse was speedily 
 invented for an act of treachery which justice brands as 
 inexcusable. A learned Persian pronounced the pardon 
 to be invalid because it had been granted without the 
 previous consent of the Sultan. Mohammed thereupon 
 summoned Tomasevic to his presence on the spot still 
 called the " Emperor's meadow." The captive came, and 
 
 i6o 
 
in the Near East 
 
 as he approached within reach the hthe Persian drew his 
 sword and, with a spring in the air, cut off the head of 
 the last Bosnian King. According to another account 
 Tomasevic was first flayed aHve. By the Sultan's com- 
 mand the fetva, in which the Persian had composed the 
 captive monarch's sentence, was carved on the gate of 
 Jajce, where as late as the middle of the present century 
 could be read the words : '' The true believer will not 
 allow a snake to bite him twice from the same hole." 
 The body of Tomasevic was buried, by order of the 
 Sultan, at a spot only just visible from the citadel of 
 Jajce. Curiously enough, just ten years ago Dr. Tru- 
 helka, the distinguished archaeologist from Sarajevo, 
 discovered on the right bank of the river Vrbas the 
 skeleton of the King just at the spot where tradition 
 described it to have been buried. The skull was severed 
 from the trunk, and two small silver Hungarian coins, 
 known to have been current in Bosnia in the fifteenth 
 century, lay on the breast-bones. Since that date it has 
 found a resting-place in the Franciscan church. 
 
 Up on the castle hill another famous Lord of Jajce, 
 Hrvoje, the ^^ kingmaker " of these parts in the pre- 
 Turkish times, the '^ most respected man between the 
 Save and the Adriatic, the pillar of two kings and king- 
 doms," had built a mausoleum for himself in the famous 
 catacombs which are one of the sights of the Bosnian 
 royal burgh. What Warwick, ^^ the kingmaker," was in 
 the history of England that was Hrvoje in the annals of 
 mediaeval Bosnia. An ancient document has preserved 
 the features of this remarkable man, whose gruff voice 
 and rough manners so disgusted the polite nobles of the 
 Hungarian Court. By the flickering light of a torch one 
 can still descry his coat-of-arms — the helmet, the shield 
 with the lilies, and the sword-wielding hand. It was here 
 that he bade an Italian architect build him a castle, and 
 
 i6i M 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 his power extended to the Adriatic as far as Spalato and 
 Cattaro ; while the shrewd Ragusans wrote to him that 
 ^' whatsoever thou dost command in Bosnia is done." 
 The castle is now deserted, and the old walls are aban- 
 doned to the lizards and the red admirals ; while from 
 the ramparts one looks down on the trim schoolhouse 
 where the boys of all creeds alike now meet for their 
 lessons. From one of those towers a Magyar and a Turk 
 fell into the abyss below in the struggle for victory during 
 one of Jajce's many sieges. On yonder greensward 
 down by the waters of the Vrbas once danced the 
 maidens of Jajce on a moonlight night to draw away 
 the attention of the besieging Ottoman army from the 
 tactics of the crafty defenders. Here in the meadows 
 above the falls are those inohilihns pomarla rlvis of which 
 Horace sang at Tivoli. Swiftly rushing in a series of 
 miniature rapids, under a rambling wooden bridge, in 
 and out of green islets of vegetation, the green waters of 
 the Pliva leap suddenly a waving mass into the yellow 
 waters of the Vrbas, which flow through a deep gorge a 
 hundred feet below. A huge rock, which was at some 
 time hurled down by the force of the water, is covered 
 with the spray, which rises and extends as far as the town- 
 park on the other side of the Vrbas. Even the hideous 
 iron edifice which has been erected, most inappropriately, 
 as a memorial of that most artistic of princes, the late 
 Archduke Rudolph, cannot spoil the natural magnificence 
 of this spectacle. Nor, it is to be hoped, will the electric 
 works, which are intended to utilise to some extent the 
 water-power of the Bosnian Niagara, detract from the 
 charms of this beautiful fall. Any damage done to Jajce 
 would be irreparable, and the Government has shown so 
 much sense in preserving the natural beauties of the 
 country that it w^ould hardly permit such an act of 
 vandalism. 
 
 162 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Not far away are the beautiful lakes of the Pliva, 
 between which the decisive battle between the natives 
 and the army of Occupation took place. The green 
 cones of the mountains — for here as everywhere the 
 Balkans are conical in shape — reflect themselves in 
 the water, and all is still and peaceful save for an 
 occasional and very primitive boat. Beyond, in the 
 village of Jezero, or '^the lake/' the Mussulmans are 
 sitting over their thirtieth cup of coffee, smoking their 
 cigarettes until such time as the mtiezzin shall next call 
 them to their devotions from his simple wooden minaret. 
 They are talking of the Bosnian pilgrims gone to Mecca, 
 of the horse-races just over at Ilidze, and of the late 
 skirmish on the Turco-Montenegrin frontier. Here 
 and there an Austrian official or a '^ European " visitor 
 enters the tourist-house, which is pleasantly situated in 
 a garden on the bank of the stream, and orders a dish of 
 the trout for which Jezero is so famous. An Englishman 
 once talked of fixing his abode here, and a fisherman or 
 an artist would find it a pleasant residence. But as soon 
 as the electric tramway is made from Banjaluka to Jajce 
 this charming district will be overrun with tourists. The 
 Romans, who considered communication between the 
 coast and Banjaluka very important, made one of their 
 three great roads in this country to pass through Jezero ; 
 but until three years ago there was no direct communica- 
 tion with Banjaluka, and such as there was took fourteen 
 hours. The highway which now traverses the magnificent 
 defile of the Vrbas between Jajce and Banjaluka has been 
 justly called the ^' Via Mala" of Bosnia. Following the 
 course of the Vrbas, even in places where there is barely 
 room for aught else than the river between the cliffs on 
 either bank, sometimes penetrating a tunnel hewn in the 
 solid rock, sometimes covered by some projecting mas.s 
 of stone, which serves as a natural shelter froni the rain 
 
 163 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 or snow, the road pursues its course of forty-five miles. 
 After stopping for a moment to take a last look at Jajce 
 we drove on past a tiny Franciscan church, which the 
 local legend believes to have been transferred thither in 
 the night from the other side of the valley, and which 
 every 24th of June welcomes a crowd of pilgrims of more 
 sects than one. Tunnel after tunnel follows, and now 
 and again some foaming mountain torrent joins the 
 stream and gives us a glimpse of some unexplored side 
 valley, where even the sure foot of the chamois hunter 
 would find no path. Once, when travelling along this 
 road with the landlord of the flourishing hotel at Jajce, I 
 found him ecstatic over the possibilities of sport in these 
 regions. He pointed with a wave of his hand in one 
 direction, and explained that there was nothing but 
 chamois — alles lauter Gemsen ! Then he indicated 
 another wood-covered hill, and informed me that it 
 was swarming with bears alone — alles nur Bdren. At 
 the halfw^ay house at Bocae, where a fountain, in- 
 scribed ^^ Vrelo Vilrna : 1894," testifies to the visit of 
 Madame von Kallay in that year, we had time to climb 
 up to the ruins of the old castle, which commands a 
 superb view of the valley on both sides. But the 
 finest scenery of this drive was yet to come. For 
 between Bocae and Banjaluka the road enters a very 
 narrow defile, the approach to which was guarded in 
 olden times by another castle, the ruins of which are 
 still standing, said to have been inhabited by the great 
 Hrvoje himself. This defile is nearly two miles long, 
 and the road has been blasted through the perpendicular 
 rock on the river's edge. When one emerges from it 
 one finds oneself out in a level country, which lasts 
 all the w^ay to Banjaluka. But we had other attractions 
 besides that of the scenery on our journey. We met 
 crowds of peasants returning from the Whitsuntide fair 
 
 164 
 
in the Near East 
 
 at Banjaluka in the peculiar costume of the district — the 
 women wearing many coins and richly embroidered 
 jackets, the men clad in turbans and sheepskin coats, 
 worn with the fleece inwards, and adorned outside with 
 tin spangles arranged in elaborate patterns. This work 
 on leather, used also for belts, saddles, &c., is a speciality 
 of Banjaluka. Next morning we strolled through the 
 fair : a very busy scene, where there was a great variety 
 of costume, some of the women's dresses being particu- 
 larly gorgeous. But in spite of the general merrymaking 
 the salesmen were very stolid, making no attempt to puf¥ 
 their wares or induce customers to buy. 
 
 Banjaluka is one of the three most important towns in 
 the occupied territory, and even before the Occupation 
 had acquired a considerable importance as the terminus 
 of the one railway which then connected Bosnia with 
 '' Europe." Its name, ^^ The baths of St. Luke," point to 
 an early, if legendary, origin, of which we have already 
 had an example in the tower of St. Luke at Jajce. Its 
 proximity to the Croatian frontier made it an important 
 strategic point for the Turks. Again and again it wit- 
 nessed combats between the two armies, and earlier in 
 the present century the ^^ Dragon of Bosnia," one of the 
 most picturesque heroes of the country, unfurled here the 
 green flag of the Prophet against the Sultan and his 
 ofBcials. To-day Banjaluka has been greatly Euro- 
 peanised, although it still preserves the wide, straggling 
 street, the mosques, and the bazar of an Eastern town. 
 Space here counts for nothing : the hotel covers an acre 
 or so of ground, and the street seems iis if it would never 
 end. To the artist Banjaluka is chiefly interesting 
 because of the beautiful minaret, certainly the finest in 
 the country, which adorns the Ferhadija Mosque, so 
 called from the Turkish Governor, Eerhad Pasha, who 
 built it out of the ransom which he had exacted for a 
 
 i6s 
 
THE BEAUTIFUL MINARET 
 
 WHICH ADORNS THE FERHADIJA MOSQUE. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 distinguished Austrian captive. At the picturesque 
 suburb of Gornji Seher, ^^the upper village/' the Mussul- 
 man may be seen at his ease^ drinking his coffee at the 
 roadside cafes, or going to the baths where once the 
 Romans discovered the hot springs. On the other side 
 of the town the Trappist monastery affords a very 
 different aspect, and the cheese which the worthy monks 
 produce is well known in every part of Bosnia. From 
 Banjaluka to the Croatian frontier by railway — the only 
 normal gauge line in the whole country — the distance is 
 only sixty-nine miles. But, although I have once followed 
 this route, I found it much less interesting than the 
 journey across the hills and down to the valley of the 
 Bosna. The north-west corner of Bosnia is, indeed, rich 
 in pasture, and is well watered by the Sana and the Una, 
 so that the people are in many respects better off here 
 than in other parts of the country. As we passed along 
 we traversed fields of kiiktiruc, or maize, one of the staple 
 products of Bosnia and Servia, and here and there saw a 
 fine-looking heg riding a well-groomed steed. One place 
 on the route, called Prjedor, will doubtless one day 
 become a convenient centre for the farm products of this 
 district, while another town, Novi, is likely before long 
 to be an important railway junction, just as in the last 
 century it was a coveted military position by reason of 
 its situation at the meeting-place of the two rivers Sana 
 and Una. From this point onward the latter river forms 
 the boundary between Bosnia and Croatia, and when we 
 had crossed it we saw the last minaret on the Bosnian 
 bank rising from out of the picturesque town of Kostaj- 
 nica, half of which is in Croatia and half in the occupied 
 territory. In olden days many a conflict took place here 
 on the ^^ military frontier " between the Austrians and 
 the Turks. But Croatia and Bosnia are almost merged 
 now, and, except for the lack of the Mussulman element, 
 
 167 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 one might almost imagine oneself back in Bosnia for 
 some distance further. Were it not that the Croats wear 
 hats, their costume is not greatly different from that of the 
 Christian Bosniaks, while their language is practically the 
 same. But at Agram w^e are back in the dull West, 
 amidst all the advantages of European civilisation, while 
 the presence of Bishop Strossmayer at the palace on his 
 way to a watering-place alone reminds us of the Eastern 
 question now behind us, in which he has been a con- 
 siderable factor. 
 
 To reach the Bosna valley from Banjaluka is somewhat 
 difficult without going back upon one's tracks, for there is 
 no direct line joining these two parallels. But we dis- 
 covered that we could drive to a place called Pribinic, 
 forty-five miles distant, whence we could be conveyed 
 along a private railway belonging to a wood company 
 down to Usora on the main line. We could get hardly 
 any information about the route, which no one seemed 
 ever to have travelled ; but, armed with a letter of intro- 
 duction to the manager of the wood company, we set out 
 on what seemed to be a tour of discovery. We drove 
 through the finely \vooded valley of the Vrbanja to a 
 small place enjoying the grandiloquent name of Varos, or 
 "town," and stopped for lunch at a very picturesque 
 village known as " Catholic Kotor." Here to our 
 surprise we found an excellent inn kept by an Austrian, 
 who was absolutely amazed at the idea of any one pre- 
 ferring to visit his village instead of going to see the 
 Buda-Pesth Exhibition. Although visitors are scarce, 
 the inhabitants, in true Slav fashion, paid absolutely no 
 attention to us, but were all engaged in endeavouring 
 to catch fish with huge nets. No power on earth could 
 persuade Misko, our driver, to spend less than two and a 
 quarter hours at this place, although we represented to 
 him that we wished to arrive at our destination before 
 
 i68 
 
in the Near East 
 
 dark, nor when we had started could we induce him to 
 drive his horses at anything much beyond a walk, although 
 the road was excellent during the first part of the journey. 
 In the glades of this woodland country the pigs were 
 feeding in herds with the sheep just as I have seen them 
 in Servia. Then a dense beech forest, which extended 
 for several miles, shut out all the view. I have rarely seen 
 stems of such huge circumference, which go straight up, 
 often without a branch, to an immense height. Down 
 below we could hear the Vrbanja roaring in its bed, but 
 could not see it. Here and there a kola, the local waggon 
 of great length and without springs of any kind, which is 
 sometimes offered to you as an alternative to the carriage 
 of civilisation, passed us on the way. After passing the 
 summit the road soon became frightfully bad ; for it had 
 been raining hard, and the heavy kolas, laden with wood, 
 had worn huge ruts in the roadway. To add to our 
 difficulties darkness came on, and as our carriage had no 
 lights, at last we stuck on a huge stone in a rut, and it 
 was long before the driver could remove it. By way of 
 further impeding our progress he insisted on using his 
 brake all the way, remaining absolutely deaf to our 
 remonstrances. At last we got out and walked at im- 
 minent risk of twisting our ankles, for we could not see 
 six inches before us, and the ruts were vast. Through 
 the dark wood the fires of the wood-cutters gleamed 
 picturesquely, while their weirdly clad figures completed 
 the scene. We stumbled on as best we could, leaving our 
 carriage to creak and groan behind us, and at last reached 
 a gendarme's post. Then the moon rose and the road 
 became better, so that after a drive of twelve hours, which 
 ought to have been seven, we arrived as Pribinic at ten 
 o'clock. On entering the first house I found Herr 
 Weichsel, the manager of the wood business, enjoying 
 his evening pipe with a number of other Austrians. The 
 
 169 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 only bedroom in the inn was full, but our friend at once 
 got us a clean and excellent bedroom in an adjoining 
 house. Next morning we discovered that Pribinic con- 
 sisted of a few houses, all made of wood, and was the 
 centre of the trade in wood, which is first sawn into 
 small pieces, and then brought down from the forests in 
 kolas or on the backs of ponies. We had been some- 
 what surprised on the previous evening at being asked 
 by which train we would prefer to travel, but we 
 found that the wood trade is so extensive that several 
 trains a day are required to convey the wood down to 
 the main line. It is said that this company has the 
 largest works of the kind in Europe ; for, in addition to 
 the trade in timber, it distils alcohol and other products 
 from the wood^a process which greatly interested the 
 Austrian Emperor v/hen he visited the Bosnian pavilion 
 in Vienna. We had expected to travel with the timber, 
 but found that a so-called Salonwagen, a comfortable 
 carriage with a stuffed seat all round, like the second- 
 class compartment on a Greek railway, had been pro- 
 vided for our accommodation and tacked on to the end 
 of a long wood train. In this fashion we made a trium- 
 phant entrance into Usora, twenty-five miles distant, after 
 a most comfortable journey of three hours along the 
 river of that name. Any natives who desire to travel — 
 and there are six intermediate stations where they can be 
 loaded on with the wood — are stowed away in an open 
 truck or else ride, as we saw one woman and a fowl 
 doing, on the step. As there is no regular passenger 
 traffic, and persons can only use the line by permission, 
 the money which we tendered for our fares was refused. 
 
 Usora, although it gave its name to an important mili- 
 tary district, or Banat, in the old history of Bosnia, is now 
 only interesting on account of the Government sugar fac- 
 tory, while Doboj, close to it, is a much more picturesque 
 
 170 
 
in the Near East 
 
 place. From the old ruined castle of Doboj, which was 
 captured by Prince Eugen on his memorable march to 
 Sarajevo^ one has an admirable view of the battlefields of 
 1878 and of the Bosna and Spreca valleys, through the 
 latter of which a branch line runs to the manufacturing 
 town of Dolnja Tuzla, and the salt works of Siminhan. 
 But from every point of view the most interesting place 
 in this part of the country is the little town of Maglaj, 
 on the right bank of the Bosna, rather less than an hour 
 from Doboj. Maglaj, with its quaint wooden bridge, its 
 black and white wooden houses, and its disused fortress, 
 seems to-day the very picture of peace. But it was here 
 that the blackest act of treachery during the whole cam- 
 paign of twenty years ago w^as perpetrated. I have heard 
 the story of the massacre of Maglaj told many times, so 
 great is the impression which it has made. On the 3rd 
 of August, 1878, this horrible event occurred. A body 
 of hussars arrived at Maglaj, and were received by the 
 fanatical Mussulmans of the place w^ith the utmost defer- 
 ence, the head man of the place even handing over, as a 
 token of submission, the keys of the fortress. Trusting in 
 the apparent friendliness of the natives, the hussars rode 
 on to Zepce, about twenty-two miles farther, to look for 
 forage, intending to return as soon as their quest was 
 completed. Meanwhile the Maglaj Mussulmans armed 
 themselves to the teeth and lay in ambush on the left 
 bank of the river in some hanSy between which and the 
 stream the returning hussars were bound to pass. Un- 
 suspicious of their doom the cavalry returned, but when 
 they had reached the fatal spot the people fired upon 
 them and killed them almost to a man. I have heard two 
 stories, both from Austrian officers, which give different 
 accounts of the sequel. According to one, a laconic tele- 
 gram arrived at the Austrian headquarters from Vienna 
 with the words, '' Burn down Maglaj ; level it with the 
 
 171 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ground." According to the other version, orders were 
 given to abstain from indiscriminate punishment. So far 
 was this carried out that one sergeant, who cut off a 
 child's arm, was, on the complaint of the mother, at once 
 shot by order of the commanding officer, as an example 
 of that justice which General von Filipovic had promised 
 in the name of the Emperor-King a few days before. 
 The boy was still living in 1884, and for all I know may 
 be still. No one who visits Maglaj now can fail to be 
 struck by the change in the little place. A monument 
 has been erected to the hussars, and we saw their graves, 
 overgrown with vegetation, in a peaceful little cemetery. 
 Close by the cemetery we were invited to witness a game 
 of tennis on a cinder court just outside the new barracks. 
 It is not every day that you can see a real live Bosnian 
 6^^ playing tennis ; the popular conception of a Mussulman 
 is that of a lethargic person who considers it beneath his 
 dignity to take violent exercise of any sort, and sits all 
 the afternoon contentedly sipping his coffee and smoking 
 his pipe in mute amazement at the tremendous energy of 
 the Franks. But your Bosnian beg differs in this respect, 
 as in many others, from the Turkish landed proprietor, 
 to whom he corresponds in point of position, and among 
 Bosnian begs those of Maglaj are among the most 
 advanced in their ideas. ^^ Fortschrittler" — such was the 
 commentary with which a little Austrian lieutenant 
 introduced Rifat Beg and his brother, the Mayor of 
 Maglaj. The little lieutenant, Mali, as the natives were 
 wont to call him, had a way of patting the tall, strapping 
 beg on the back which caused that worthy individual 
 and the rest of the company unbounded amusement, and 
 as his knowledge of the vernacular was about equal to 
 the beg's very slender acquaintance with German, the 
 partnership between them was conducted on the 
 quaintest methods. To make the jargon of tongues still 
 
 172 
 
in the Near East 
 
 more confused, the scoring was in English, and it was 
 comical to hear the beg and his diminutive companion in 
 arms shouting out ^^ fifteen," ^' deuce," ^' out," ^^ net-ball," 
 '^thirty-forty," and the rest of it in the strangest of 
 accents. More remarkable still, one of the players on 
 the other side was a typical Englishman, to judge from 
 his gait and figure, who yet could speak hardly a word 
 of our tongue, which he had not heard for fifteen years. 
 The son of an English father and a Hungarian mother, 
 he had entered the Civil Service of the Monarchy and was 
 now Bezirksvorsteher at this little Bosnian town. He told 
 me in one of the seven languages which he knew that he 
 was trying to rub up his long-lost English by means of 
 Cosmopolis, which he had ordered for the purpose from 
 the bookseller at Sarajevo. Rifat Beg soon showed that 
 he was the best player on the ground. As he warmed to 
 his work, he actually threw aside his fez and played bare- 
 headed — a thing unknown in most Oriental lands — and 
 his service was terrific. Every now and then, as a proof 
 of his ^'advanced" ideas, he took a drink of fresh 
 Sarajevo beer. Meanwhile the privates stood behind the 
 court, two at each end, and fielded the balls. 
 
 Our friend the beg, having polished off his adversaries 
 at tennis, proceeded to hold forth on the other great 
 pastime of which Maglaj — and Maglaj alone of all 
 Bosnian towns — can boast. By a curious accident this 
 is the only place in the country where the ancient sport 
 of hawking still survives. August is the month when the 
 begs take forth their falcons in quest of game, and Rifat 
 told us that he had a lot of these beautiful little birds, all 
 females, for the males 'are too fierce and tear the quarry. 
 He first caught the young birds in nets by means of a 
 white pigeon or a magpie as decoy. He then trained 
 them up in the way they should go, fastening a piece of 
 leather on to the young birds' feet, accustoming them to 
 
 ^73 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 sit upon his fist, putting bells upon their legs, and then 
 when they were quite tame allowing them to practise 
 upon sparrows. Then at last the real business begins, 
 and the falcons are taken out to catch bigger game. 
 They are not hooded, as was the custom in England 
 in former days, but are given full liberty as soon as 
 they have been taught. When once they, have seized 
 their prey, usually a quail, the falconer runs up, covers 
 the quail's body w^ith his hand, and deftly cuts off the 
 head, which the falcon carries off, leaving the body in its 
 master's possession. In the early years of the Occupation 
 there were also considerable numbers of wolves on the hill 
 just above Maglaj, but the soldiers shot them off because 
 they killed the peasants' sheep, and as a price is set upon 
 their heads their number has greatly decreased. 
 
 On arriving at the Maglaj railway station we were 
 much entertained by the apparition of the town jester 
 on the platform. This fellow— a good-for-nothing, good- 
 humoured Bosniak, who spends most of his time in 
 loitering about the station and doling out water to the 
 fourth-class passengers — had lately been presented by the 
 waggish mayor with a parti-coloured suit, half red, half 
 yellow, with a huge pink patch at the seat of his breeches. 
 The object of our excursion was Vranduk, a small village 
 situated above a bend of the Bosna, which is one of the 
 most curious spots in the whole country. The station is 
 on the right bank of the river, the village is on the left, 
 and the only means of reaching it is a boat constructed 
 out of a hollow tree. By means of shouts, taken up by 
 some children on the opposite bank, we succeeded in 
 summoning the boatman. This worthy requested us to 
 sit down in the bottom of this primitive boat — there were 
 no seats — and skilfully ferried us across the swollen 
 stream, which the heavy rains had made as yellow^ as 
 the Tiber. We then scrambled up a narrow path to the 
 
 174 
 

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 1 ■ ; ;f 
 
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 L ,; JL- 
 
 
 • ! 
 
 f 
 
 • 1 
 
 { 1 
 
 H ,1 
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 p..' 
 
 i 1 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 top of the hill, on which the wooden houses of Vranduk 
 are clustered exactly like so many swallows' nests. The 
 place seemed absolutely deserted, for all the men were 
 away minding their herds on the hills, and the few women 
 whom we saw hid their faces and fled at our approach. 
 There was no place where we could get food or drink, 
 and no hospitable Gendarmerieposten, for that had been 
 removed to the next village, live miles away — in fact there 
 was not even a Mussulman cafe like that at Maglaj, the 
 proprietor of which had pounded for us the most delicious 
 coffee in the hollow of a tree, according to the custom 
 common in Bosnia. A band of children, however, quickly 
 guessed that we wished to see the sights, and one of them 
 ran and fetched the key of the old castle, a lovely old ruin 
 the inside of which is now converted into a garden full of 
 trees ; from the old battlements we had a commanding 
 view of the river on either side. We realised at once the 
 important strategical position of Vranduk in former days, 
 which earned it its name of "the gate of Bosnia." The 
 road now goes right underneath the castle by means of a 
 tunnel, which bears the name of the Emperor. We could 
 find, however, no traces of the well which is said to go 
 down to the level of the river. The inhabitants seem to 
 live almost exclusively on Indian corn, which is stacked 
 in large wicker edifices of rectangular shape fastened 
 together with pieces of wood. Thanks to the kindness 
 of the stationmaster, whose whole apartment, including 
 the chandelier, bore evidence to his marvellous talents as 
 an artist in fretwork, we were enabled to refresh ourselves 
 while he discoursed on the great and unexpected develop- 
 ment of the traffic on the line. We then returned to Maglaj, 
 and went back next day to Doboj. From there to the 
 frontier at Brod there is nothing of great interest, except 
 the beautifully situated little town of Dervent. As one 
 approaches the Save the country becomes flat, but still 
 
 176 
 
in the Near East 
 
 preserves its Oriental character until the river is crossed. 
 Then one feels oneself transported all of a sudden 
 into another and a much more commonplace world. 
 Slavonia has fine grassy plains, it is true, which stretch as 
 far as the eye can reach ; but there are no more bright 
 costumes at the stations, where every one goes about in 
 the dull, serious garments of Western civilisation. And 
 when, at the end of this journey, I reached Belgrade, I 
 found that the Serbs of the Servian capital were far less 
 artistic than those of the occupied territory. 
 
 177 
 
 N 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 'TWIXT AUSTRIAN AND TURK : THE SANDZAK OF NOVI- 
 
 BAZAR 
 
 OF all the arrangements made by the Berlin Treaty 
 the most remarkable was that part of the 25th 
 article which entitled Austria-Hungary to ^'keep garrisons 
 and have roads" in the district, or Sandzak, of Novi-Bazar. 
 This district is situated between Bosnia, Servia, Monte- 
 negro, and Turkey, forming, theoretically at any rate, a 
 part of the Ottoman Empire, but occupied militarily at 
 three points by Austro-Hungarian troops. It is therefore, 
 perhaps, the most anomalously governed part of Europe, 
 with the possible exception of the present ^^ temporary " 
 administration of Crete. The best means of reaching it 
 is from Sarajevo, whence a military post performs the 
 journey to Plevlje, the chief of the three occupied 
 towns of the Sandzak, a distance of ninety-nine miles, 
 in about two days, while a private carriage takes a little 
 longer. 
 
 We left Sarajevo early in the afternoon, in one of 
 Sarajcic's vehicles, and drove up the defile of the 
 Miljacka, past the '' Goat's Bridge," which is one of the 
 favourite drives of Sarajevo. In the Napoleonic days 
 the route between Salonica and Sarajevo, by way of the 
 Sandzak of Novi-Bazar, was one of the main arteries of 
 commerce ; for during the Continental Blockade pro- 
 visions were carried this way on the backs of mules. 
 Even to-day there is an immense traffic in wood in carts 
 
 178 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 drawn by bullocks. The first village, Han Pale, contains 
 some pretty villas among its splendid beech woods, one 
 of them belonging to the British Consul-General. As we 
 drove along we saw yellowhammers on almost every 
 bough, and as it grew dark the fireflies flitted through the 
 gloaming. On a fountain at which our two horses, Pram 
 and Misko, wished to drink, the inscription, '^ Kako ti slf" 
 (^^How art thou ?") greeted us, and reminded us that it 
 is the fashion in the vernacular to address everybody in 
 the second person singular, a mode of address which our 
 Bosnian driver always used to me, even when he '^ raised 
 me to the peerage" by styling me ^^ Herr Baron." We 
 spent the first night at Praca, a quiet little village with a 
 very clean inn, which boasts of a Roman sarcophagus in 
 the grounds of a mosque opposite. On the hill above 
 the village we saw for the first time the initials of the 
 Austrian Emperor, ^^ F. J. I.," in large wooden letters. It 
 is a common practice in this part of the occupied terri- 
 tory, and at the Austrian stations in the Sandzak, to erect 
 these letters in wood, or to mark them out in stones on 
 the hillsides, where they are illuminated on his Majesty's 
 birthday and other great occasions. After a couple of 
 hours' drive through a magnificent beech forest we 
 reached Han Bare, the summit of the pass, where a 
 fine Bogomile tombstone was standing, according to the 
 driver a hundred years old — his usual phrase for great 
 antiquity. The most splendid view is usually to be had 
 from the next stopping-place, Ranjen-Karaula ('^the watch- 
 house of the wounded"); but it was so misty that we 
 could barely see the outlines of the grand Montenegrin 
 mountains, the highest of which, Mount Dormitor, was 
 quite hidden. About midday we reached Gorazda, a 
 little town which lies in a complete hole, and is very hot. 
 The blue Drina flows past it under a new iron bridge, 
 built, as the inscription says, in 1891 ; in fact civilisation 
 
 179 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 has made great progress at this spot. There is a very 
 good hotel here, in the dining-room of which is a 
 thriUing picture of the surrender of Maglaj, and one 
 shopkeeper in the bazar describes himself as ^' Civil und 
 Militdr Snajder" — a praiseworthy attempt to spell the 
 German word for tailor in the Croatian alphabet. We 
 then climbed up through the woods, and reached, towards 
 
 CAJXICA. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 evening, the pretty Alpine town of Cajnica, situated on 
 the edge of a deep ravine, in a beautifully bracing atmo- 
 sphere. The Bezirksvorsteher, Baron von Nagy Barcsa, a 
 Hungarian ex-hussar officer, showed us the sights of the 
 place. He took us over the new Servian church, which 
 is very rich, having a capital of 50,000 gulden (^4,167), 
 drawn from the pilgrims who flock there at the Festival 
 
 180 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the Assumption of the Virgin (August 27th) and on 
 her birthday (September 8th), called the great and 
 the small festivals of Mary. So great are the numbers 
 of the worshippers that a large buildnig has been erected 
 in the courtyard of the church for their reception. The 
 new church contains a famous picture of the Virgin and 
 child, with John the Baptist in the background, said to 
 be by St. Luke. The old church, close to the new one, 
 is very small, and is now almost unused, though it is 
 memorable for the girdles of the Servian women whose 
 husbands had been slain by the Turks, which were hung 
 there as soon as the slayer had been killed. 
 
 The Bezirksvorstelier then took us to the chief mosque 
 and to two tiirbeh, in one of which is the tomb of the great 
 Bosniak, Sinan Pasha, who was a native of this place. 
 Cajnica is a very good specimen of what has been 
 accomplished by the officials. The opponents of the 
 Occupation are fond of saying that a certain number of 
 places, on the beaten track, have been worked up to a 
 high pitch of civilisation, in order to impose upon the 
 visitor. Russia, it may be remembered, initiated this 
 plan, and Potemkin ordered the erection of model 
 villages on the route by which Catharine II. was to 
 travel. But the road from Sarajevo to the Sandzak is 
 probably the least frequented by foreigners of any in the 
 country, and no journalist had visited it since Herr von 
 Mack, of the Kolnische Zeihing, two years ago, yet I found 
 that in all the places along the route just as great progress 
 had been made, in comparison to their size, as at the 
 more frequented spots to which tourist agencies take 
 their excursions. Here at Cajnica, for example, the 
 Bezirksvorstelier has laid out and planted, opposite his 
 offtce, a public garden, and made a path through the 
 woods, past the ice-cold spring called the Appel-Qnelie, 
 In his official capacity he has six different authorities 
 
 181 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 under him, and takes especial interest in the building of 
 the new and larger school which is to supersede the 
 present one. For in this small town there are already 
 a hundred children of all confessions in the public 
 school, in addition to those who frequent the Serb 
 educational establishment. He is beginning to find that 
 his ofBces are too small for his ever-increasing work, for, 
 as he said, ^^ Our duties increase, our bureaux remain the 
 same." He has at his own house, where I was his guest, 
 a fine collection of Bosnian embroideries, some ancient 
 pottery, and Roman remains, of which Bosnia is still full, 
 and a splendid bear-skin as well as a stuffed baby bear. 
 His talents as an organiser were put to a severe test four 
 years ago, when he provided food and entertainment 
 in the wilderness of Glasinac for the Anthropological 
 Congress, which numbered two of our own countrymen 
 among its members. 
 
 Leaving Cajnica next morning we reached, after a two 
 hours' drive through splendid forests, the frontier between 
 Bosnia and the Sandzak, a place called Metalka-Sattel, 
 ii8 kilometres (or about 74 miles) from Sarajevo. As its 
 name in German denotes, Metalka-Sattel forms the 
 ^' saddle " between the two hills on either side of it, one 
 of which on the right is crowned by the Austrian, the 
 other on the left by the much smaller Turkish, barracks. 
 An Austrian toll-bar crosses the road at the frontier, where 
 we descended from our vehicle and went off to lunch at 
 the Austrian barracks. Two lieutenants, in the temporary 
 absence of their captain, did the honours. These two 
 are known among their acquaintances as der weitschonste, 
 und der zweitschonste, Lieutenant von Metalka, although 
 no one has been unkind enough to specify which is 
 which. The military doctor from Cajnica, and two 
 Austrian ladies from Plevlje, made up the party, and 
 the view from the arbour was very beautiful. After 
 
 182 
 
in the Near East 
 
 lunch one of the Heutenants took us to the house of the 
 Turkish Customs ofificial, a very affable personage, with 
 whom the Austnans get on very well and who, in the 
 course of his eight years' sojourn at Metalka, has picked 
 up a considerable amount of German. Of course the 
 Turk insisted on giving us coffee and cognac, and passed 
 our baggage without opening it ; while, as a token of the 
 excellent relations which exist between the Austrian 
 military, and the Turkish civil, authorities at the frontier, 
 the lieutenant and he marched off arm in arm as we 
 departed. 
 
 But before going any further, it is desirable to state 
 the conditions under which this remote district of 
 European Turkey has been governed for the last twenty 
 years. The same article of the Berlin Treaty which 
 entrusted Austria - Hungary with the Occupation of 
 Bosnia and the Hercegovina, gave her also the right 
 of occupying military points in the Sandzak^ — a word 
 which means literally in Turkish ^^ a flag," but is used 
 figuratively by the Turks to denote a district. " As the 
 Government of Austria-Hungary does not wish to burden 
 itself with the government of the Sandzak," so runs 
 this article, ^'the Ottoman administration shall continue 
 to act there as before. None the less, Austria-Hungary 
 reserves to herself the right of keeping garrisons and 
 having military and commercial roads throughout the 
 whole extent of that part of the old vilayet of Bosnia, 
 so as to secure the new political situation and the 
 freedom of the population." But, although this arrange- 
 ment remains fully in force, the present situation is 
 settled by a Convention, dated April 21, 1879, and 
 entitled, ^^ Convention entre l' Antriche-Hongrie et la Tnrquie, 
 a I'egard de Novi-Bazar." Article 8 of this Convention 
 provides that: ^' The presence of the troops of H.M. 
 the Emperor and King in the Sandzak, shall not in 
 
 183 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 any way hinder the functions of the Turkish adminis- 
 trative, judicial, or financial authorities of any kind, 
 which will continue to act as in the past under the 
 exclusive and direct orders of the Sublime Porte." 
 Article 9 provides that nowhere in the Sandzak shall the 
 Porte place irregular troops. The most important part 
 of the Convention is the Annexe, which runs as follows: 
 *^ It is understood that in the actual circumstances, the 
 Government of Austria-Hungary has no intention of 
 placing garrisons except at three points, situated on the 
 Lim, between the frontiers of Servia and Montenegro. 
 These points shall be Priboj, Priepolje, and Bielopolje. 
 The number of troops at present destined for the service 
 of these garrisons shall not exceed the number of 4,000 
 to 5,000 men." The Annexe goes on to state that, if 
 circumstances should require it, Austria-Hungary may 
 place troops at other points of the Sandzak, by giving 
 notice, according to a form provided in article 7. The 
 only exception to this is the case in which Austria- 
 Hungary should desire to place troops '^ snr les points 
 du Balkan de Ragosna." In this case she must make 
 a direct arrangement with the Porte. Almost as soon as 
 this Convention was signed, Bielopolje was changed for 
 Plevlje, and the Austro-Hungarian troops never went to 
 the former place at all, but came direct to Plevlje on 
 September 10, 1879. There are now under 2,000 
 Austro-Hungarian troops in the whole Sandzak, placed 
 at the three above-mentioned points, and at a few 
 watch-posts between them, e.g., Boljanic and Gotovusa, 
 between the frontier and Plevlje ; Jabuka between 
 Plevlje and Priepolje, and Uvac beyond Priboj. It 
 will be observed that the most important words of the 
 Annexe are " actual " {" acinellcs" in the original French), 
 and "at present" {^^ actnellement " in the French, and 
 ^^ vorldnfig" in the German version). Austria-Hungary 
 
 184 
 
in the Near East 
 
 has only one civil official in the Sandzak, who is called 
 colloquially Consul, but whose real title is Civil-com- 
 missar, 
 
 This official, who has been longer in the place than 
 any one except the Turkish Pasha, and has therefore 
 almost unique knowledge of its conditions, exercises 
 considerable judicial powers. He has full jurisdiction 
 in all civil cases, as he was kind enough to inform me, 
 where both parties are Austro-Hungarian subjects. In 
 civil cases, between an Austro-Hungarian and a Turkish 
 subject, the Turkish tribunals have legal jurisdiction, 
 provided that the Civil-commissdr is present at the trial ; 
 but, as a matter of fact, Turkish subjects prefer to come 
 to the Austrian Commissioner. In criminal cases, where 
 both parties are Austro-Hungarian subjects, the Com- 
 missioner has jurisdiction, if the matters are of small 
 importance, such as an insult, or a blow on the ear ; but in 
 bigger criminal cases the Commissioner draws up the pre- 
 liminaries at Plevlje and then sends them to the home of 
 the accused person, in the Monarchy, where they are tried 
 by the local criminal court. Finally, in mixed criminal 
 cases between a Turkish and an Austro-Hungarian subject 
 the same theory and practice prevail as in mixed civil 
 cases, i.e. the Turkish Court has legal jurisdiction ; but as 
 a matter of fact, the parties usually prefer to go before the 
 Commissioner. The Austrians have a military post of 
 their own, for which Bosnian stamps are used. There is 
 also an Austrian wire, but this is only available for mili- 
 tary men, and when I wished to despatch a message by 
 it I had to write it out beforehand and ask an officer to 
 send it for me. There is, for ordinary purposes, the 
 Turkish telegraph, and parcels for Plevlje have to pass 
 through the Turkish custom-house there, which is 
 managed on the same happy-go-lucky principles as 
 everywhere else in Turkey. Time is absolutely no con- 
 
 185 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 sideration, and one day is as good as another to the 
 Turkish official. The Austrian officers, however, who 
 enjoy exceptional privileges to compensate them for 
 their exile in the Sandzak, are exempt from payment 
 of customs dues, and the Turkish eight per cent is 
 much less troublesome than the delay usually caused 
 by the necessity of paying it. Both currencies, Austrian 
 and Turkish, pass in the Sandzak, the medjidieh, having 
 how^ever, as in other parts of Turkey, a variable value for 
 all non-official payments. It is worth twenty-six piastres 
 at Plevlje and twenty-two at another place, while for 
 official payments it is taken at nineteen piastres. The 
 piastre is reckoned at eleven kreuzers. 
 
 A glance at the map will convince the reader of the 
 importance of this Austrian outpost in the Balkan Penin- 
 sula. Whether it be considered as a wedge between 
 Servia and Montenegro, or as a stepping-stone on the 
 way to Salonica, the Austrian position in the Sandzak 
 possesses great strategic importance. It will be observed 
 that the number of soldiers which the Monarchy is 
 entitled to keep here, is entirely dependent upon the 
 circumstances of the moment. At the present crisis in 
 Balkan politics, those circumstances are more likely to 
 arise out of friction between Austria-Hungary and Mon- 
 tenegro, that from any immediate desire to take up the 
 policy of Count Beust and " run down to Salonica." I 
 have discussed this point with a great many persons, 
 Austrians and others, who are resident in the Balkan 
 Peninsula, including inhabitants of Salonica. Of course 
 I found among them considerable divergence of view ; 
 and for my own part, as I hope to show in a later 
 chapter, I consider it for the real interest alike of 
 Salonica, of Macedonia, and of Western Europe, that 
 this route to the Indies should be in the hands of the 
 only civilised power which is sufficiently strong and suffi- 
 
 i86 
 
in the Near East 
 
 ciently near to hold it. But I have reason to believe that 
 for the present and the immediate future, the Austrian 
 Government will not go beyond its present out-posts in 
 the Balkan Peninsula, as against Turkey. It has of 
 course, by virtue of the Berlin Treaty, the right of 
 going as far as the farther end of the Sandzak, close 
 up to the terminus of the Macedonian railway at 
 Mitrovica. If the Austro- Russian agreement, about 
 which so much has been written, be really a fact, and 
 the two rival empires have really agreed upon their 
 respective spheres of influence in the Balkan Peninsula,. 
 Austria possesses at Plevlje a starting-point from which 
 she can go forth on her mission as an Eastern Empire. 
 But personally I must confess that I have no great 
 faith in the permanence of arrangements based upon 
 international agreements. Supposing, as seems pro- 
 bable, that the Austro-Russian agreement really exists, 
 its validity will no doubt continue just so long as suits 
 the convenience of Russian policy in the Near East. There 
 are Austrian officials who think that the Monarchy gains 
 no material advantages from this purely military colony in 
 the Sandzak, and who even regret that their Government 
 has extended its military power so far. But the main 
 idea of the military occupation in Novi-Bazar was not so 
 much to defend Bosnia from the Turks, whose mission 
 as a conquering power seemed in 1878 to be, and pro- 
 bably still is, over, as to keep the two Serb states of 
 Servia and Montenegro apart. For these two countries 
 the Sandzak possesses great political and historical value. 
 Servian writers are fond of reminding us that their remote 
 ancestors inhabited, not merely Servia and Montenegro, 
 but Bosnia, the Hercegovina, and the Sandzak as well. 
 It was here too that Stephen Nemanja, one of the greatest 
 names in Servian history, formed the nucleus of his 
 power; and this district, which, in those days included, 
 
 187 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 under the name of Rascia; the modern Turkish vilayet 
 of Kossovo as well, was always regarded as the appanage 
 of the Servian heir-apparent. It was in the famous 
 monastery of Milesovo, not far from Priepolje, that the 
 remains of S. Sava, the apostle of the Serbs, were 
 deposited. The constantly recurring idea, which this 
 summer has been considerably discussed, that in the 
 event of a termination of the reigning dynasty in Servia 
 the two Serb states should be united under Prince 
 Nicholas of Montenegro, is rendered absolutely futile so 
 long as the Austrian troops are in the Sandzak. Had the 
 Treaty of San Stefano been carried out, in this as in other 
 respects Montenegro would have gained and Austria- 
 Hungary would have lost. But at no other point is the 
 famous definition of the latter power as the '^ Sentinel of 
 the Balkans " so accurate as in the Sandzak, which is 
 certainly the most critical position in the whole peninsula, 
 and one of the most beneficial to the preservation of 
 European peace. 
 
 The Austrians themselves are under no illusions as to 
 the feelings of the inhabitants of the Sandzak towards 
 them ; the natives, mostly Serbs, who have not forgotten 
 the Treaty of San Stefano, are liable to be moved by 
 the promptings of national feeling or of nationalist agita- 
 tion against the ^' European " garrison. When we were 
 there, there was some fear of disturbances, and the 
 lieutenants at the isolated posts never went out without 
 firearms. Between the Turkish authorities and the Aus- 
 trians very friendly relations prevail, and this lack of 
 friction, just where it might have been anticipated, is 
 largely due to the tact and experience of Ferik Suleiman, 
 the Turkish Pasha of Plevlje, who has held that delicate 
 position for eighteen years — in fact almost ever since the 
 Austrians came. But although there is so little difficulty 
 with the Turks, the Austrians believe . that they are 
 
 i88 
 
in the Near East 
 
 regarded as intruders, whose benefits to the trade of 
 Plevlje are ftilly recognised, but whose departure would 
 be acceptable to the Ottoman authorities and subjects. 
 Wherever the Turkish Empire is concerned, anomalies 
 seem to be so inevitable that this particular anomaly of 
 the Austrian garrisons co-existing with a Turkish civil 
 administration is likely to continue until the next great 
 liquidation of the Balkan Peninsula. It should be added 
 that with characteristic ingenuity the Turkish authorities 
 have kept up their dignity by creating a separate Sandzak 
 of Plevlje out of the three points occupied by the Aus- 
 trians, and have reconstituted the rest into, a new and 
 smaller Sandzak of Novi-Bazar which contains the town 
 of that name. ^' Europeans," however, still give the latter 
 name to the whole district. 
 
 From the frontier at Metalka-Sattel to Plevlje is exactly 
 twenty-iive miles, and there is an excellent road all the 
 way. One notices as soon as one crosses the frontier that 
 one has reached Turkish territory, for the country has 
 become, through the carelessness of the Turkish authori- 
 ties, bare and stony, though a hundred years ago it is said 
 to have been covered with wood. There are small rocky 
 basins in the ground, just as one sees in Montenegro, and 
 here and there an occasional haii is the only sign of 
 human habitation. At the first Austrian post, called 
 Boljanic, an officer at once stepped out to meet us, 
 clicked his heels together and said that lunch was ready. 
 When we told him that we had already lunched, he 
 insisted on our at least drinking the Samian wine which 
 is one of the privileges enjoyed in this remote corner of 
 Turkey. At first sight it would be difficult to conceive 
 of anything more lonely than the position of an officer 
 posted at a solitary hamlet like this. He is usually here 
 for a year at a time, and except for the soldiers whom he 
 has under his command, he has no society on the spot. 
 
 189 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 But he has one great mitigation of his lonehness in the 
 fact that there is communication by telephone between all 
 these stations and with Plevlje. In this way each officer 
 is able to hold long conversations with his friends, of 
 which we had many examples. As we were sitting in the 
 lieutenant's room at Boljanic, a message came by tele- 
 phone from Plevlje to ask where we were ; and after 
 replying, he told us that he had heard of our arrival at 
 Gorazda on the previous day by similar means. After 
 Boljanic, the country is perfectly bare, as all the trees had 
 been burnt off to the stumps, just as if an army had 
 ravaged the country. The barrenness of the country 
 would alone have sufficed to explain the curious inscrip- 
 tion cut in German on a stone, ^^ MenscJi, aiich liter drgere 
 dich nicht ! " (^' Man, even here vex not thyself ! ") But 
 the officers say that the inscription was placed here 
 because the road winds in serpentines at this point, so 
 that the rear of an army had the vexation of seeing the 
 van apparently a short distance above them, while at the 
 same time they well knew that they had to make a long 
 detour in order to reach the summit. Traffic there is 
 hardly any; only goats can get a living in this bare 
 country. One misses too the cheery salutation of ^^Dobor 
 dan " (^' Good-day ") with which the peasants greet one 
 in Bosnia ; for here the natives pass one in gloomy 
 silence, being naturally suspicious of any one who is not 
 wearing a uniform. The next Austrian post, Gotovusa, is 
 in a less desolate situation than its predecessor and com- 
 mands fine views of the mountains. The neighbourhood 
 seems also to have considerable botanical merits, for the 
 officer in command there politely handed two elaborate 
 bouquets of wild flowers to the ladies of my party, 
 which he had specially prepared for them. Like his 
 comrade at Boljanic, he declared that he never felt dull, 
 for he studied a great deal and was a great naturalist. 
 
 190 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Certainly his spirits did not seem to have suffered from 
 his temporary isolation. Here, too, in the midst of our 
 conversation the telephone began to tick, and a message 
 arrived from the last station to know if we were there, 
 followed by another to the same effect from Plevlje. It 
 was obvious, therefore, that even in the wilds of the Sand- 
 zak the whereabouts of the traveller could be ascertained 
 at any moment by means of the telephone ; and when 
 during our visit the telegraph wire was found on one 
 
 PLEVLJE. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 occasion to have been cut by some mischievous person, 
 the precise spot where the telegraphic communication 
 had been broken was speedily ascertained by means 
 of the telephone. It is of course, from a military point 
 of view, essential that these advanced posts should be 
 connected with Bosnia. After Gotovusa we descended 
 rapidly, and after crossing the ''Appel Bridge" we 
 saw the towers of the Plevlje aqueduct and arrived at 
 the comfortable rooms provided for strangers in the 
 officers' quarters. 
 
 191 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 The town of Plevlje, or Taslidza, to give it its Turkish 
 name, is by far the most important of the three points 
 occupied by the Austrians, and even in Roman times was 
 the site of a considerable settlement known as Sapua, 
 which was connected by a road with the Adriatic coast. 
 Plevlje, which has greatly grown since the Occupation, 
 consists of two entirely distinct parts — the Austrian can- 
 tonments on the slope of the hill as you enter from the 
 Metalka road, and the Turkish town which lies in a 
 complete hollow. All the hills around are perfectly bare, 
 but are picked out in several places with the initials 
 ^^F. ]. I." (in one place surmounted by a double eagle) and 
 the crescent and star, in white stones. The only shade 
 in the place is that provided by the trees of the park 
 which the Austrians have laid out, and before they came 
 Plevlje was destitute of vegetation. The barracks of the 
 Austrian and of the Turkish soldiers are, of course, quite 
 distinct. The town is of considerable size, and there is 
 a good Turkish bazar. The inhabitants are all either 
 Mohammedans or Orthodox, except four Catholic 
 Albanian families who attend the Austrian church and 
 are said to be very devoted to the Austrians. These 
 Albanians do a good trade in the little silver filigree 
 coffee-cups and ornaments w^hich they alone make, and 
 which are usually on sale outside the officers' casino. 
 One of the most remarkable features of the town is the 
 Serb women, who here wear curious short kilts over their 
 long garments. The centre of military society in Plevlje 
 is the officers' casino, a large roomy building, where one 
 evening, on the occasion of a military inspection, we saw 
 some sixty officers sit down to mess. The hall was 
 decorated with flags — the Turkish among them in honour 
 of a recent visit of the Pasha — with pictures and busts of 
 the Emperor and Empress, and with devices, all the work 
 of the officers, made out of fir-branches. There is a stage 
 
 192 
 
in the Near East 
 
 at the end of the room where gipsy music is performed 
 during dinner ; one of the performers being a left-handed 
 soldier who enjoys a high reputation in the country. The 
 stage is at other times used for amateur theatricals, and 
 dances are held in this room. For Plevlje, remote as it 
 is, possesses a considerable amount ot military society. 
 There are no less than twenty-four ladies there, mostly 
 from Vienna, as the present regiment, largely composed 
 of Hungarians and Roumanians from Transylvania, spent 
 five years in the Austrian capital before it came for three 
 
 " THE SEKB WOMEN, WHO HEKE WEAR . . , KILTS OVER 
 THEIR LONG GARMENTS." 
 
 {Fivni a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 years to Plevlje. The sudden change from the Austrian 
 capital to this place was no doubt much felt at first, but 
 Plevlje enjoys the reputation, as one ofEcei- remarked to 
 me, of a true marriage-market, and the girl who comes 
 to Plevlje is certain speedily to find a husband. The 
 General, Baron de Goumoens, Chamberlain of the 
 Emperor, who is in command of the troops is, curiously 
 enough, of Scotch descent, for his ancestors hailed from 
 either Glasgow or Stirling. 
 
 The Pasha whom we visited with the Austrian Commis- 
 
 193 O 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 sioner at the konak is a man of fifty-six, but looks older. 
 He received us in full uniform outside his house, and took 
 us into his sitting-room, furnished with two book-cases, 
 in one of which I noticed a French translation of Lord 
 Palmerston's private correspondence. The Pasha, who 
 speaks French, is rather nervous in ladies' society, although 
 his manners are charming. He sat on the edge of his 
 chair while we smoked cigarettes and drank coffee and 
 syrups. He has no wife, but lives with his old mother, 
 and has probably stayed longer in one post than any other 
 Turkish official, for the usual practice of the Sultan is to 
 move important functionaries from one end of the empire 
 to another, lest they should gain too much influence. He 
 took us over the Turkish barracks, which adjoin his small 
 konak. The soldiers are mostly Anatolians, but some are 
 Albanians, as is the Pasha himself. They looked fine, 
 healthy fellows and are said to be well-fed, but, as is usual 
 with most Turkish employes, their pay is never forth- 
 coming, and their turn-out was horribly bad. Those who 
 have only seen the Turkish soldier in Constantinople 
 sometimes have the pleasant delusion that his undoubted 
 bravery and fine physique are accompanied by a smartness 
 and neatness such as we are accustomed to in European 
 armies. But go to the provinces, to Crete or to Novi- 
 Bazar, and the soldiers of the Pddishdh are seen to be very 
 different, so far as their outfit goes. In these last two 
 places one naturally notices their defects of dress and drill 
 all the more because one sees them side by side with well- 
 dressed and well-drilled European troops. Of course, the 
 provision above mentioned . which excludes Turkish 
 irregulars from the Sandzak, has had a most excellent 
 effect upon the state of that district, which has thus been 
 spared the performances of the Bashi-Bazouks, so active 
 in Crete. 
 
 Apart from its political and strategic importance, Plevlje 
 
 194 
 
in the Near East 
 
 possesses, in the Serb monastery of Sveta Troica, or the 
 Holy Trinity, an historical monument of considerable 
 interest. The monastery, which is situated about twenty- 
 five minutes from the town, in a bend of the mountains, 
 is quite hidden from view by the trees of the ravine until 
 one is close upon it. One of the monks, who entertained 
 us there, told us that there were fifteen of them altogether, 
 and on the occasion of any great national or religious 
 festival, the great courtyard and the rambling wooden 
 balconies above it are crammed with people. In the 
 
 THE BAZAR, PLEVLJE. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadivkk.) 
 
 courtyard are the monuments of the abbots, and an old 
 church which contains some quaint media3val frescoes 
 emerging from the whitewash. There are also old pictures 
 of several ancient Servian rulers, such as Uros, Milutin, 
 and Helena. The church also contains the pastoral staff 
 of S. Sava, which was bought from the Turks by some 
 devout Serb when they pillaged the monastery at Milesovo, 
 a few miles away, and brought here. Half underground 
 in the courtyard we saw a small library, which boasted a 
 curiously illuminated Serb Bible, with some extraordinary 
 
 195 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 pictures ; but most of the books seemed to be modern 
 and all of them were mouldy with the damp — for here, as 
 in most places in the East, the monks seem to know and 
 care very little about literary matters. 
 
 From Plevlje to the terminus of the Macedonian line 
 at Mitrovica, it takes four days to ride over a very rough 
 country. I am told that the Turkish officials are not 
 desirous of carrying out the original plan, and continuing 
 this line to Plevlje. On the contrary, they prefer to place 
 as many obstacles as possible in the way of travellers. 
 For example, the road which formerly existed between 
 Priboj and Priepolje was purposely placed under three 
 separate Turkish authorities so that traffic over it might 
 be made as hard as officialdom could make it. When a 
 great inundation destroyed this section of the road at the 
 end of 1896, nothing was done to make good the de- 
 struction ; and though the Pasha, like all Turkish officials 
 whom I have met, was ^'just telegraphing" or '^ had just 
 telegraphed " to have it repaired, I suspect that it will be 
 long before any carriage will be able to perform the 
 circular route from Plevlje, via Priepolje and Priboj, back 
 into Bosnia. 
 
 The importance of direct railway communication from 
 Salonica, by means of an extension of the present line 
 from Mitrovica, through the Sandzak to Sarajevo, it 
 would be difficult to exaggerate. There are consider- 
 able natural difficulties to be overcome, but the political 
 obstacles are probably greater at present. One day, 
 however, but not under Ottoman auspices, as a former 
 Sultan dreamed, Plevlje will be a station on the "quick 
 route" to India, and Brindisi will have ceded to Salonica 
 the privilege, which she has enjoyed since the days of 
 the Romans, of being the chief port of departure for 
 the East. Of one thing we may be certain, that the 
 Sandzak is bound to play an important part in the history 
 
 196 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the future, just as it did in that of the past. But under 
 whose auspices, those of Austria-Hungary, or those of the 
 two Serb states on either side of it ? — that is the question. 
 But that the Turk will ever recover his full and exclusive 
 overlordship of this at present anomalous district, I do 
 not believe. For one has but to talk to the Ottoman 
 officials in Albania, to find that they regard the wave of 
 Turkish conquest as spent in Europe. The Sandzak is, at 
 present, its high-water mark ; but no one considers the 
 present situation as final. The French proverb, Ce n'est 
 que le provisolre qui reste, has been tolerably true so far of 
 the arrangements made for the Near East at the Berlin 
 Congress. Yet no diplomatist regards them as the final 
 settlement of an almost eternal question — to whom shall 
 the Balkan Peninsula belong ? 
 
 Bidding good bye to our hospitable friends at the 
 casino, who, on the last day of our stay, drank to the 
 health of the two ladies as ^' the only Englishwomen who 
 had ever visited Plevlje," we returned to the Bosnian 
 frontier, and, after a short delay, caused by the desire of 
 the captain that the ladies should visit an old Mussulman 
 woman, we drove down through the dark woods, illum- 
 inated by fireflies, to Cajnica. On our arrival we found 
 that the Bezirksvorsteher had arranged for us, during our 
 absence, an excursion on a raft down the Drina from 
 Gorazda to Visegrad. These Flossparticn, as they are 
 called, are a peculiarity of Bosnia. The river Drina flows 
 through the occupied territory, and for a considerable part 
 of the way forms the boundary between Bosnia and 
 Servia, finally joining the Save. It is thus an excellent 
 means of conveying wood from the Bosnian forests down 
 to Belgrade, or even further, the raftsmen returning on 
 foot. When the state of the water is favourable, it is 
 customary to form large rafts of the wood, partly composed 
 of sawn planks, and partly of rough beams of timber. 
 
 197 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 When travellers are invited to make the journey in this 
 way, a seat of planks is provided in the middle of the raft 
 on which they can sit, or if necessary stand, while the 
 raft is temporarily submerged w^hen passing the rapids. 
 During the Turkish times, these rapids were much worse 
 than they are now ; for a scheme which had been drawn 
 up for blasting the rocks away was pigeon-holed for a 
 number of years in some Ottoman bureau. The men in 
 charge of the raft are generally two in number, and stand 
 
 OUR RAFT ON THE DRINA. 
 {Frcm a Fhcio. by Miss Cliacwickt) 
 
 at either end grasping the handle of an immense rudder. 
 They are usually Mussulmans from the little town of 
 Foca, which lies some distance above Gorazda. We had 
 also a third native on board, who earned his passage by 
 taking a turn at one of the rudders, and who skilfully 
 jumped off the raft at a place on the shore near his 
 destination. We embarked just below the bridge at 
 Gorazda, and glided slowly down the stream, every now 
 and then racing hurriedly along as we shot the rapids. 
 The men amused themselves in the intervals of steering 
 
 198 
 
in the Near East 
 
 by throwing pieces of wood at the wild ducks which were 
 constantly swimming or flying over the river, and as the 
 heat became more intense, lay down on their stomachs 
 and lapped up the water like dogs. For the greater part 
 of the way the Drina flows between high cliffs covered 
 with trees, and when we reached the mouth of the green 
 Lim, the two rivers composed together a considerable 
 stream. We stopped at one small Mussulman village 
 called Medjedje, where we landed a barrel of wine for the 
 gendarmes stationed there, and then went on to Visegrad, 
 
 OLD BRIDGE AT VISEGRAD. 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 having been seven hours on the water. We landed at the 
 foot of a conical hill which has considerable fame in the 
 local legends, on account of the tower of ^^ the King's son " 
 Marko, the favourite hero of the Servian ballads, who is 
 said to have been imprisoned there for nine years, and 
 then to have sprung at one bound across the river. The 
 ruins of the tower are still standing, and near the water's 
 edge one is shown the footprint of the hero and his 
 horse's hoof-marks. 
 
 199 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Visegrad is now only a small place^ for it has not yet 
 recovered from the inundations of two years ago, when 
 the Drina swept away 156 houses and rushed right over 
 the old bridge, one of the finest Turkish monuments 
 in Bosnia, built by a distinguished native of the place, 
 Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic, or ^' the falcon's son," a 
 member of one of the oldest Bosnian families, who 
 attained to high rank in the Turkish service. It was con- 
 structed in consequence of the frequent lamentations of 
 
 ' GIPSIES, VISKGKAU. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss CJiadwick.) 
 
 the people, who were unable to cross the river ; and still 
 bears two long Turkish inscriptions on the subject. In the 
 middle of the bridge there was formerly a small edifice, 
 which has been removed, and almost the entire coping 
 of the bridge was destroyed two years ago — as if to 
 belie the South Slavonic saying, ^^ firm as the bridge 
 at Visegrad" — and has since been repaired. The town 
 is being gradually rebuilt, and its position only six hours 
 distant from the Servian frontier, which is clearly visible, 
 assures it an important trade with that country. The 
 
 200 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Montenegrins who desire work in Servia, but who 
 generally fail to obtain it, pass and re-pass through 
 Visegrad every year. The population is half Mussulman, 
 half Orthodox, and there is only one Roman Catholic in 
 the whole town, a curious instance of the remarkable 
 disproportion of the three principal confessions which 
 one finds in various towns of Bosnia. 
 
 We finally quitted the raft at Visegrad, and set out to 
 drive back to Sarajevo. The climb up from the valley of 
 the Drina is tremendously steep, and as the sun was 
 
 A STREET SCENE, VISEGRAD. 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 blazing, and as there was hardly any shade, we were not 
 sorry to arrive at Han Semec, the inn at the top of the 
 pass which is kept by a loquacious Jewess from Galicia, 
 who talked incessantly about her six children and deplored 
 that there was no school for them there. Thence to 
 Rogatica the road was all downhill, and the situation of 
 the latter place amply repaid us for the trouble of reach- 
 ing it. It is, indeed, one of the prettiest places in the 
 country, for it lies, as one might expect of an almost en- 
 tirely Mussulman town, in a leafy valley watered by 
 abundant streams. Out of its population of 3,300, only 
 
 201 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 300 are Christians, and it is thus one of the most con- 
 servative towns in Bosnia. Thus the Mussulmans have 
 strenuously refused here to allow their daughters to go to 
 school with the Orthodox girls, and have opposed the 
 erection of a new girls' school on that ground. In 
 times of fasting, too, the Mussulman mayor goes round 
 to the cafes to see that none of the faithful are smoking, 
 or even inhaling the smoke of the infidels' cigarettes ; any 
 offender is severely punished. Yet in spite of this severity 
 
 
 CHILDREN AT VlSEGKAD. 
 {From a Photo, by Miss CJiadwick.) 
 
 on the part of the Mussulman majority, the small Chris- 
 tian minority, which is entirely composed of Serbs, lives 
 peaceably with the other section of the community. 
 Here, too, the Mussulmans are noted for their learning, 
 and many of them are ^^^5. In fact, Rogatica boasts of 
 having produced a former Sheik-til-Isldni, or head of the 
 Mohammedan hierarchy at Constantinople, who founded a 
 mosque here called after his name. A more interesting 
 mosque, however, is that '^ of the Mufti," in the courtyard 
 of which is a fine Roman tomb — for a Roman road used, 
 at one time, to pass through this place, and Roman 
 
 202 
 
in the Near East 
 
 remains have been found in large quantities here. The 
 Mussulmans, with their usual disregard for classical an- 
 tiquities, calmly added two steps of masonry to this 
 ancient piece of stonework, so that in bad weather, when 
 it is too wet to go up to the minaret, the muezzin can 
 mount on to it and call the faithful to prayer. Another 
 stone of a very different kind is a huge Bogomile monu- 
 ment, bearing a very long inscription in Cyrillic letters, 
 which is built into the wall of the new Orthodox church. 
 The builders of this edifice, by way of showing their 
 impartiality, have committed another horrible act of 
 vandalism by cutting in two a fine Roman plaque 
 representing a man and a woman, and putting one piece 
 on either side of the door. Other Roman stones have 
 also been employed by the masons, and the gardens of 
 the barracks and the charming little public garden contain 
 several more. The latter grounds have been beautifully 
 laid out on the bank of a small stream called the Rakitnica 
 or ^' Crabs'-brook," and are really a model of what a small 
 public garden should be. It is here that the Moslems 
 delight to come and take their ease over their coffee, sup- 
 plied from a Turkish kavana, while in the evening they 
 may also be seen performing their ablutions at the spring 
 called Toplikj which flows out of the rocks near the old 
 Roman road. 
 
 After leaving Rogatica we came to the vast prehistoric 
 burying-ground of Glasinac, which is one of the archaeo- 
 logical wonders of Bosnia, but of which the average man 
 would see nothing, if he were not aware beforehand of 
 its existence. Only a few heaps of stones here and there 
 mark the level surface of the plain where four years ago 
 the Anthropological Congress held a meeting. The 
 theory is that the bodies were laid upon the ground, 
 without burial of any kind, and that stones were piled 
 upon them as a tomb — a practice which was common 
 
 203 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 enough among other prehistoric peoples. We passed two 
 monuments of modern interest, both of which com- 
 memorate the battles of twenty short years ago. A little 
 farther on we arrived at Podromanja, a huge white 
 barrack standing alone in a treeless plain, and so called 
 because it lies ^^at the foot" of the Roman j a range of 
 mountains. The position is one of considerable import- 
 ance, for not only does the main telegraph wire from 
 Vienna to Constantinople pass along this road, but also 
 
 OUR CARRIAGE AT PODROMANJA. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 the building commands the country in all directions. The 
 captain, two lieutenants, and a Catholic priest, on his 
 rounds, entertained us at lunch and presented us with 
 picture postcards of this out of the way place, on the 
 understanding that we should send them some with views 
 of England. After a climb and a drive between meadows 
 purple with vast masses of campanula, we reached the 
 pass of Naromanja, an Alpine spot. On the other side 
 we had a superb view of the country ; here and there a 
 shepherd was piping to his flock in quite idyllic fashion, 
 
 204 
 
in the Near East 
 
 and an occasional village of wooden houses diversified 
 the plain till we rejoined the Sarajevo road at Han Der- 
 venta. Of all the journeys which I have made through 
 the occupied territory — and *^I have travelled through 
 seven hundred miles of it, and most of the distance more 
 than once — this was perhaps the most interesting. One 
 saw here, better than elsewhere the daily life of the 
 people, while the forest and river scenery is perhaps 
 finer than elsewhere in the country. 
 
 205 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 BARBARISM AND CIVILISATION : THE ALBANIAN COAST 
 AND CORFU 
 
 IT is a great change from the Dalmatian; or even from 
 the Montenegrin, ports to the Albanian harboui-s 
 which fringe the Adriatic. Albania is one of the riddles 
 of the Eastern question. It seems incredible that a fine 
 country, with at least two harbours possible of develop- 
 ment, and within a few hours' steam of Italy, should be 
 the most uncivilised land in the Balkan Peninsula, and 
 that for centuries no ^' European " power should have 
 made any serious attempt to acquire it as a colony. The 
 Turkish Government has merely nominal authority over 
 the country, and I remember well, when a few years ago 
 the Turkish Minister in Montenegro desired to visit the 
 Albanian town of Scutari, he could find no one who was 
 willing to drive him, for fear of those bullets of which 
 the Albanians always carry such a quantity. Here the 
 real power is not vested in the Governors sent from 
 Constantinople, but in the native chiefs whose word is 
 practically the only law current in the country, and 
 whose recommendations are more efficient than any 
 Turkish teskereh for any traveller visiting the country. 
 One British consul told me that when, some years ago, 
 he travelled in Albania, he found the company of his wife 
 the greatest safeguard, for the Albanians, though perhaps 
 somewhat idealised by Byron, do not shoot women, or 
 
 206 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 men in their company. It used to be said that Italy had 
 certain designs upon this country. In the first place, a 
 large number of the Albanians are Roman Catholics, and 
 the Roman Catholic clergy has considerable influence 
 among them. Then, Signor Crispi is of Albanian descent, 
 and this fact was not lost sight of when he guided the 
 policy of Italy, in the south of which there are several 
 Albanian colonies. But Albania, like most of the Balkan 
 lands, is split up between contending religions, and it 
 may be doubted whether the Mussulman Arnauts would 
 not strongly resist the attempt of a Christian power 
 to annex their country. Moreover, since her African 
 disasters Italy is hardly strong enough to cope with 
 one of the most warlike nations in the world. Austria is 
 also regarded as a possible candidate for the reversion of 
 Albania, and the Catholic Albanians are, in many places, 
 on the side of that power. Some of the Mussulmans too, 
 since they found that their co-religionists were well 
 treated in Bosnia, while the Padishah was slack in his 
 payments to them when they served in the ranks of his 
 army, are said to have turned their eyes in that direction ; 
 but Austrian officers have told me that in their opinion it 
 would be a very difficult matter to conquer Albania, and 
 at any rate such a project is not within the range of 
 practical politics. A curious fact about the Albanians is 
 their inability to form any close national union among 
 themselves. With the single exception of their legendary 
 hero, Skanderbeg, they have never produced a great man 
 who could rally the whole people round him. In 1880 
 it is true, at a time when the Albanians were alarmed at 
 the proposed extension of Montenegro at their expense, 
 an Albanian league was formed which was partly spon- 
 taneous, and partly perhaps the result of arguments more 
 or less substantial supplied from Constantinople. This 
 year, too, an Albanian propaganda was being carried on 
 
 207 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 in Rome by an Albanian leader, who was desirous of 
 forming some sort of independence for his country. In 
 the meanwhile, Albania, whose people are probably the 
 oldest inhabitants of the peninsula and have even been 
 identified by some with the ancient Pelasgi, remains in a 
 state which w^ould be scandalous for a negro republic. 
 There, in the words of the philosopher, '^one man is 
 a wolf to another." Human life is of absolutely no 
 value whatever, and roads are almost entirely lacking. 
 Yet the Albanian possesses excellent qualities. In Mon- 
 tenegro and the Hercegovina he works industriously 
 for his living. His physical courage is undeniable, and 
 in the case of the Albanian Mussulmans, this natural 
 courage is increased by the teachings of their religion, 
 which makes them seek eternal happiness in a warrior's 
 death. I shall never forget the devotions of an Albanian 
 chief on the deck of a steamer, performed with the 
 utmost unconsciousness before the other passengers. 
 Of all the Sultan's soldiers, the Albanians are the best, 
 and among the various races of the Balkan Peninsula 
 they have no equals in military prowess, save their 
 hereditary enemies, the Montenegrins. But, if the 
 Arnauts are a guard, they are also a terror, to the 
 Pddlshdh, and that timorous, if crafty, sovereign has not 
 the power, if he has the will, to reduce Albania to a state 
 of order. Thus what might be one of the finest countries 
 in Europe, is left in a condition such as nowadays dis- 
 graces few Central African tribes. An occasional philo- 
 logist, anxious to study the difficult Albanian language, 
 a chance sportsman, and a few explorers, may traverse 
 Albania, and an enterprising Englishman has built a 
 house at Scutari, where he spends a part of the year. 
 But with these exceptions, the land of the Skipetar, as the 
 Albanians call themselves, is almost a terra incognita, a 
 waste land in an age when all the great powers desire to 
 
 208 
 
in the Near East 
 
 find new countries for their superfluous sons and new 
 markets for their unnecessary wares. 
 
 The first Albanian port at which the steamers stop on 
 the way to Corfu, is called by the grandiloquent name of 
 San Giovanni di Medua. One day, perhaps, the place 
 may do something to deserve such a title ; for every now 
 and then a newspaper correspondent at Constantinople 
 reports that the long-projected line is to be made from 
 Medua to Scutari-in-Albania, of which it is the natural 
 port, and then continued to Servia and possibly 
 Roumania. Land-locked Servia would then find her 
 long-sought outlet on the sea at this unpretending spot, 
 instead of at Salonica — the dream of the Servian 
 enthusiasts — or among the Dalmatian fiords, as was the 
 idea before the Occupation of Bosnia placed a solid 
 wedge between Servia and the sea. It is quite natural 
 that Servia, the only country in our continent, except 
 Switzerland, which has no sea-board, should feel the 
 want of a haven of her own, whence she can export her 
 pigs, which are now almost exclusively sent through the 
 Hungarian frontier town of Semlin. But it is very 
 doubtful whether the Sultan will grant permission for 
 such a line to be made, or whether, even if he consents, 
 his orders will be carried out. At any rate, during all the 
 centuries that the Turk has been owner of Albania, he 
 has not succeeded in making such a simple thing as a 
 carriage-road between Scutari and Medua. I could find 
 no difference whatever in the condition of the latter 
 place, when I re-visited it after an interval of four years. 
 There had been grandiose talk in the Turkish papers 
 about the employment of several hundred soldiers on the 
 road ; but the British Consular cavasSy who had come 
 down with those of the French and Austrian Consulates 
 at Scutari to fetch the Consul's letters, told me that it still 
 took eight hours' hard riding to reach that important 
 
 209 P 
 
\i 
 
 Travels and Politics 
 
 town. In what other country in Europe except Turkey, 
 could such a state of things exist ? The result is, that 
 this naturally fine harbour, perhaps the best in Albania, 
 which suffers but little from a sandbank near the shore, 
 is left almost abandoned. The Austrian- Lloyd steamers 
 have the practical monopoly of the coasting trade, which 
 is largely composed of skins and logwood, and nothing 
 is done to open up the interior by making better com- 
 munication between it and the sea. All is now miserable 
 at Medua. One wretched han represents the sleeping 
 accommodation for a traveller, compelled to spend the 
 night there on the way to Scutari. A few rickety cottages, 
 a barrack on the hill, where the ragged Turkish soldiers 
 are drilling, and the cosy house of the Lloyd agent — 
 here, as at all the Albanian ports, the one vestige of 
 civilisation — such is the Medua of to-day. One splendid 
 sight, indeed, it possesses — the superb men of the Mirdite 
 tribe, all armed to the teeth. Of course, every one carries 
 weapons here ; but these Mirdites are the proud owners 
 of old swords, pistols, and flint-locks which would 
 delight the heart of a collector. Fierce as these warriors 
 are, they take it as a compliment when any one desires to 
 examine their armoury, which they transport about with 
 them, and allow a stranger to handle their weapons with 
 the same easy nonchalance with which, under other circum- 
 stances, they would shoot him at sight. When, however, 
 some Albanians from Medua came off to our steamer in 
 a boat, and demanded instant employment from the 
 captain, a regular fight with the oars ensued, and only 
 the presence of mind of that officer prevented swords 
 being drawn and pistols fired. A rougher looking set I 
 have rarely seen than these furious boatmen in their 
 sheep-skin coats, which gave them, indeed, the appear- 
 ance of beasts rather than human beings. 
 
 If Medua be one of the Turks' many lost opportunities, 
 
 2IO 
 
 I 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Durazzo, the next place on the coast, is a terrible example 
 of fallen greatness. As one walks through the poor and 
 ill-paved streets of this decayed town, followed by some 
 Turkish spy, suspected by every ragged soldier that one 
 passes, one can scarcely realise that this was once the 
 flourishing Dyracchium, the starting-point of the great 
 Egnatian road to Constantinople, which Cicero chose as 
 his place of exile because it was " so conveniently near to 
 Italy," which once saw Caesar and Pompey disputing the 
 mastership of the world on the plains outside its walls, 
 which was much later the coveted goal of great Bulgarian 
 conquerors, and which witnessed the strange adventure, 
 and owned the temporary sovereignty, of a French prince- 
 let in the confusion of the dark ages. A paltry town of 
 five thousand inhabitants is all that is now left of so much 
 greatness, and the most interesting thing at Durazzo is its 
 ruins. For there, rather than in the squalid shops, you 
 will find some connection with its past. Here and there 
 on some old house fine pieces of sculpture have been 
 stuck into the brickwork, and, in the ancient gate in the 
 walls, on the country side of the town, I noticed several 
 beautiful specimens of sculpture, one, very perfect, 
 representing a centaur, but all washed over with the 
 bluish lime of the Turkish official. The prevalence of 
 Italian, too, as the language of the traders, shows that the 
 old communication with Italy is kept up. But so long 
 as the Turkish flag waves over the crumbling fortifications 
 of Durazzo, where the fig tree alone is flourishing, the 
 great days of the town's past will not return. There is 
 talk, indeed, of a railway from Monastir, in Macedonia, 
 the terminus of the present Salonica-Monastir line, to 
 Durazzo, or to Valona, the next harbour along the coast. 
 Since the late war, the omnipotent Germans have urged 
 the obvious military advantages of this means of 
 connection between the ^gean and the Adriatic. In 
 
 211 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 fact^ some years ago the line was surveyed, at the instiga- 
 tion of the late Baron Hirsch, from a commercial point of 
 view. The surveyors then reported that it would not 
 pay, and the experience of Baron Hirsch's other Turkish 
 railways has not been encouraging — to the Turks. So 
 Albania is likely for some time to remain without a 
 railway of any kind ; indeed, even if the Turkish Govern- 
 ment were willing, the native chiefs would probably 
 object, just as they objected to the existing line from 
 Salonica to Mitrovica, which was only allowed to be 
 made on condition that it did not pass near their 
 particular preserves. 
 
 Durazzo has nothing else of interest, unless it be the 
 picture of the Madonna in the church of Santa Lucia, 
 which is said to be a portrait of the late Austrian 
 Empress — a likeness which did not strike me when I saw 
 it. Valona, or Avlona, which is the largest place between 
 Durazzo and Corfu, is a much more cheerful town. 
 The harbour, sheltered to the south by the end of that 
 rather insignificant range, the ^' Acroceraunian " moun- 
 tains, which Horace prayed that Virgil might escape on 
 his travels to Greece, and which Shelley found a sonorous 
 ending to a verse, is a large one, and is further protected 
 by the islet of Sasseno, which, although forgotten by 
 some geographers, is in reality the northernmost 
 possession of the Greek kingdom. The landing-place 
 is a mere collection of sheds, chiefly important as a 
 scala for the Albanian capital of Joannina; the town of 
 Valona is half an hour's walk inland, and seems to be a 
 fairly flourishing Turkish mart, prettily situated amid 
 trees and meadows, where the white-befezzed Albanians 
 were busy with the hay. A large house on the left, on 
 which the storks were perching, attracted my attention, 
 and I found on inquiry, that thereby hung a tale. Its 
 owner, a rich local magnate, suspected by the Govern- 
 
 212 
 
in the Near East 
 
 ment at Constantinople, was summoned to put in an 
 appearance at the capital. Fearing to go by land, lest 
 he should be murdered on the way, he escaped by 
 a sailing-boat to the nearest Italian port of Otranto, 
 whence he made his way by sea to the Turkish capital, 
 only to discover that he was expected to remain there as 
 the prisoner or the guest — the terms are almost synony- 
 mous — of the Pddishdh. When I returned to Valona, I 
 found his house falling into decay, so I conclude that he 
 is either dead or in the same dubious position as before. 
 Of course, such cases are extremely common, from Ghazi 
 Osman Pasha, the prisoner of Yildiz, downwards. Even 
 our inoffensive party attracted the greatest suspicion at 
 Valona, and a Turkish soldier, who saw our camera, 
 thought it his duty to follow us from the town to the 
 landing-place, and was not satisfied till he had accom- 
 panied us on board the steamer. 
 
 From Valona southward stretches an iron-bound 
 coast without a tree and almost without a habitation, 
 until one reaches the poor little town of Santi Quaranta, 
 so called from a ruined chapel of the " Forty Saints," 
 which, after an almost unknown existence of many a 
 long year, suddenly obtained historic reputation in the 
 Greco-Turkish war of 1897. ^^^' ^^e bombardment of this 
 unimportant hamlet, which consisted- before the war of 
 a few houses, an old semicircular fort near the shore and 
 a bigger new one on the hill above it, commanding the 
 road to Joannina — for this, like Valona, is a scala for the 
 Albanian capital — was the one achievement of the Greek 
 fleet. I saw Santi Quaranta a few days after the bombard- 
 ment, and found little changed there. As a matter of 
 fact, such destruction as was done was at the expense of 
 the Greek inhabitants ; for here, as in most Turkish sea- 
 ports, the population is chiefly Hellenic. The sole prize 
 of victory was a cargo of vegetables, which was towed 
 
 213 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 over to Corfu in triumph and received with acclamation. 
 Aristophanes, for whose genius the late war was exactly 
 suited, would have made an admirable scene out of this 
 incident with a sly allusion to Euripides, the ^' son of the 
 vegetable-seller/' included. The solitary cypress — that 
 favourite Turkish tree — which was always the most con- 
 spicuous object at Santi Quaranta, still stands there, and 
 seemed to wave farewell to us, as we crossed over from 
 Epirus to Corfu, from barbarism to civilisation. 
 
 Of all the islands that swim in the blue Ionian sea, 
 Corfu is by far the most delightful. Often as I have 
 visited it, alike in time of peace and in time of war, I 
 have never ceased to remember the first impression 
 which it made upon me when I reached it after a 
 long imprisonment in the fogs of London. No one, 
 landing in this climate amidst this vegetation, where 
 the roses and the orange-blossom scent the air, where the 
 olive grows like the oak with us, and the atmosphere is 
 so clear that you can see every line in the bare Albanian 
 mountains opposite, can wonder that Homer chose this 
 spot as the scene of his hero's reception by the Phaeakian 
 king, or that Horace described the life of a Phaeakian as 
 being the ideal of idleness. Away with the dull com- 
 mentators, who would rob Corfu of the honour of the 
 Odyssey ! Who would not prefer the time-honoured 
 legend, still strongly rooted in the place, which identifies 
 every incident and every scene in that marvellous 
 narrative ! Over on the farther shore of the old harbour, 
 where the fishermen have stretched their nets, they show 
 as the olive-grove where Nausikaa found the Ithakan 
 king asleep. Out at the mouth of this disused creek, 
 a cypress-covered islet with a tiny white chapel on it is 
 said to be the famous Phaeakian ship, which was struck 
 by the sea-god in his wrath and turned into a rock. 
 There are several claimants to this honour round the 
 
 214 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 coast of Corfu ; but none is so graceful as this, and no 
 other islet answers so completely to the Homeric descrip- 
 tion. And, as you drive out to the ^^ one-gun battery/' 
 which commands, or rather commanded, the spot — for 
 the gun has gone with the English who placed it there — 
 you are reminded by the very names of the villas and the 
 roads — '^ Road of the Phaeakians," ^' Villa of Alkinous " 
 — of the dim heroic past of Corfu. Even the very 
 drop-scene at the little theatre, where good Italian 
 plays are performed before one of the most critical 
 audiences in the Near East, represents the entertainment 
 of Odysseus by his Phaeakian hosts. And, as Mr. 
 Stillman, perhaps the highest authority on such a 
 matter, once remarked, the Homeric hero of many 
 wiles and many wanderings is a not uncommon type 
 among the islanders of to-day. No wonder that in 
 this marvellous island, for which nature has done so 
 much, and upon which the first of poets has cast the 
 charm of the earliest and freshest of romances, the late 
 Empress of Austria should have ^' built her soul a 
 lordly pleasure-house." But the gleaming white villa, 
 " Achilleion," which rises from among the olive-groves 
 of Gastouri, now knows her no more. The poetic dream 
 of the Empress is over, and the frescoes, and the stables, 
 and all the rest of her fancies are to be converted to the 
 use of some public institution of the most prosaic kind. 
 
 Corfu is, indeed, a place of memories. Its glories, one 
 fears, are rather of the past than of the present. Few^ 
 persons in England seem to realise the mistake which 
 the British Government made in handing over the Seven 
 Islands in 1864 to the Hellenic kingdom. 1 do not 
 mean merely from the point of view of British interests 
 in sacrificing to popular clamour a superb position, upon 
 which Napoleon I. in his time had set the utmost store ; 
 but I refer to the material interests of the Islanders them- 
 
 216 
 
in the Near East 
 
 selves. Nowadays in Corfu, one is told on every hand 
 that the prosperity of the island ceased when the British 
 left, and I remember hearing one excited Corfiote lady 
 upbraid the British Government of that day for what she 
 called " an act of desertion " ! Desertion, forsooth, when 
 Ionian patriots and newspapers of the fifties and early 
 sixties, let loose by Lord Seaton's unwise reforms, 
 implored Great Britain to withdraw the Protectorate, 
 which she had exercised since 1814, and when Great 
 Britain took them at their word and let them enjoy 
 the blessings of ^^ liberty," ^' nationality," and " the great 
 Greek idea " to their hearts' content ! It is pitiful to 
 think of what Corfu has lost by this triumph of eloquence, 
 expressed in faultless Greek — for some of the anti-British 
 orators, whose speeches I have read, had all a clever 
 schoolboy's facility of imitation, and had obviously 
 chosen Demosthenes as their model. Even the Corfiote 
 historians of that time admit the great material blessings 
 conferred by our rule on the island. After travelling 
 through continental Greece, when one comes back to 
 Corfu, one notices more than before what every one had 
 pointed out at one's first visit, that the Greek mainland 
 has no such roads as those which the British constructed 
 in Corfu, Cephalonia, and Zante. These fine highways 
 are now neglected ; but the aqueduct which was made 
 by a British Lord High Commissioner still supplies the 
 town of Corfu with its admirable drinking-water. A 
 gentleman who lived in the island, under British 
 rule, told me that he could well remember the time 
 when eight British regiments were quartered here, and 
 when thrice every year, on the festival of S. Spiridion, 
 the patron saint of Corfu, the whole of the garrison 
 formed a line around the Esplanade, while the Lord 
 High Commissioner, in his robes of office, his white 
 silk stockings and buckled shoes, followed the body 
 
 217 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of the saint as it was borne in solemn procession 
 through the town. This respect for their reUgion 
 greatly pleased the Orthodox Greeks, and when Mr. 
 Gladstone came out here in 1858 to inquire into 
 the grievances of the islanders, and made his cele- 
 brated tour of inspection, nothing that he did delighted 
 the lonians more than his tactful obeisances to the 
 Corfiote hierarchy, whose hands he kissed, like a faith- 
 ful son of the Church. The presence of so many British 
 soldiers and of several very highly paid British officials, 
 naturally caused a large amount of money to be spent 
 in the Islands, especially in Corfu. In those days *' St. 
 George's Cavalry," as the English sovereigns were called 
 colloquially, circulated in large numbers in the Islands, 
 while now the paper money, which does duty in Greece 
 for coin of the realm, is always depreciated. Since the 
 three Powers guaranteed the Greek Loan, the exchange 
 has been considerably more favourable to the Greeks 
 than it was, and it dropped from forty-four drachmai to 
 thirty-four for the sovereign (which is nominally worth 
 only twenty-live drachmai), the day that the telegram 
 announcing this fact reached Corfu. No country 
 indeed, except perhaps Turkey, has such an unsatis- 
 factory currency as Greece. Gold and silver have 
 disappeared from circulation, though silver curiously 
 enough is found in Crete ; their place has been taken 
 by paper notes, usually dirty and greasy and some- 
 times almost crumbling to pieces from age and use. 
 Occasionally the notes become so emaciated that 
 they have to be fastened together by slips of paper. 
 Besides, to the confusion of the foreigner the notes 
 for ten drachmai are frequently cut in halves, each 
 half being equivalent to five drachmai, quite inde- 
 pendent of the other. As notes exist for sums so 
 low as one drachma it may be imagined how serious 
 
 218 
 
in the Near East 
 
 this question is. Trade has naturally fallen off to 
 a great extent in Corfu since British days. Our 
 Consul told me that the whole commerce of the 
 island was not worth more than ^250,000 a year now. 
 Yet the population of the island has increased from 
 71,736 in 1864 to 90,660 at the last census in 1896, 
 that of the town from 25,581 to 29,070. Socially, of 
 course, the change is enormous. In the British days 
 there was quite a brilliant society in the capital. The 
 station was an extremely favourite one, and many of 
 the modern Nausikaas of Corfu found husbands among 
 the British officers of the garrison. It was, therefore, 
 perhaps not unnatural that the Corfiote aristocracy, 
 descendants of Venetian noble families, who alone 
 among the Greeks still use their Venetian titles, were 
 strongly opposed to the union. Now, socially, Corfu 
 is changed, though there is reason to hope that it may 
 become, in the future, a favourite resort for the winter 
 and spring. Although the town and island of Corfu, as 
 being the seat of the Lord High Commissioner, benefited 
 most from the British protectorate, I have heard the 
 same regrets expressed at Zante, which was not so highly 
 favoured. During the late war there was actually current 
 a story that some Zantiotes intended to hoist the British 
 flag, in their despair at the misfortunes of their country. 
 These facts have practical importance at the present 
 time, because it has been suggested by a high authority 
 that Crete, like Corfu, would be better prepared for 
 ultimate union with Greece, if she first had half a 
 century of Western administration. It is also possible 
 that after such an experience the Cretans might not 
 desire to be formally annexed to Greece. 
 
 The main grievance of the lonians against the Greek 
 Government is that whereas, in British days, the taxes 
 were lower, and were then spent in the improvement of 
 
 219 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 education, roads, and sanitation of the Seven Islands, 
 they are now higher and are shared between the Greeks 
 of the mainland and the Islanders. It is contended that, 
 in common with all the other Greek provinces, the 
 Ionian Islands are comparatively neglected, while every- 
 thing is spent upon Athens and the Piraeus. The Cor- 
 fiotes, in particular, complain that the King, who was 
 received with enthusiasm on the cession of the island to 
 Greece, now hardly ever visits the charmingly situated 
 villa of Mon Repos, which he possesses there. Every 
 year there is a rumour that he is coming, but still he 
 never comes. Yet this villa, the grounds of which are 
 thrown open to the public, commands a view almost 
 unequalled in Greece, and was intended as the winter 
 resort of the late Tsar, at the beginning of his fatal 
 illness. Beneath the terrace is the azure sea, with here 
 and there the bright red sail of a fishing vessel, and in 
 the distance the faint outline of a Greek gunboat, while 
 opposite is the long range of the Albanian mountains. 
 All around is a most luxuriant vegetation. Giant aloes 
 and hedges of prickly pears, a forest of orange trees 
 which recall the golden gardens of the Hesperides, huge 
 masses of roses, feathery palms, fig trees with the fruit 
 just beginning to colour, the eternal olive, and the 
 solemn cypress are all here in wild profusion. Here 
 the dust and din of modern Athens are absent, and all 
 is peace. 
 
 There are still remains of the British time, besides the 
 roads and other public works, to be found in Corfu. 
 Where once the Ionian Assembly harangued and intrigued 
 and petitioned for union with Greece, the English chap- 
 lain now holds his service, his vestry is the old guard- 
 room, the altar stands where once stood the chair, and 
 the pews are placed in the former room of the Govern- 
 ment and Opposition benches. I saw in a room of the 
 
 220 
 
in the Near East 
 
 deserted palace, the former residence of the Lord High 
 Commissioner, where once the Upper House of the 
 Ionian Legislature met, the historic parchment contain- 
 ing the final vote of that body in favour of ^^ union 
 with the Hellenic Kingdom, under his Majesty King 
 George L and his successors," with the signatures of the 
 Ionian legislators beneath the vote. It was the last Act 
 
 ROYAL PALACE, FORMpR RESIDENCE OF BRITISH LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Mr, C. A. Miller.) 
 
 — the swan-song — of the Ionian parliament. Where once 
 the senate of six met, there is nothing now save a few 
 portraits ; the stone figure of Britannia has been long 
 removed from the roof of the palace, and the trireme 
 of the Phaeakians, turned into stone like the vessel that 
 brought Ulysses to Ithaca in the old Homeric story, 
 alone crowns the edifice. The temple, erected to ^^ King 
 Tom," the first and most autocratic Lord High Com- 
 
 221 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 missioner, is still to be seen on the great open space 
 in front of the old Venetian fortress. The public library 
 is still crammed with English law reports. The older 
 men retain a considerable knowledge of English, while 
 the rising generation plays a species of cricket, which 
 is evidently a survival of the British Protectorate. Not 
 a few of the English-speaking Greeks in the Levant tell 
 one that they learnt our language in the old days of 
 the Septinsular Republic, and you may still see English 
 signboards in the narrow streets of Corfu, which inform 
 you that this place is the ^^ public-house of the British 
 Navy," or that the liquors cost so many ^^ pences " a 
 glass. 
 
 But the prevailing feature of the town of Corfu to-day 
 is its cosmopolitan appearance. Long before one has 
 set foot on dry land, a flotilla of little boats puts off to 
 meet one, and soon a crowd of Jews, Greeks, and Italians, 
 clad in all sorts of costumes, looking exactly like the 
 typical banditti of an Italian opera, swarms up on to the 
 deck. I shall never forget the enthusiastic greeting 
 which awaited us during the war last year when w^e 
 arrived here on a steamer bearing a number of Italian 
 volunteers. I had witnessed on the previous evening the 
 send-off of the Italians at Barletta, a little Apulian town 
 on the railway between Ancona and Brindisi, and very 
 striking it was. But that was nothing compared with the 
 scene which awaited them, and, indeed, I may say us — 
 for all the passengers were included in the welcome — at 
 Corfu. When our steamer turned the corner of the little 
 island of Vido, into the harbour, a shout of greeting rose 
 from the dense crowds which lined the esplanade and 
 thronged the quays. Frantic cries of Evviva ritalia rent 
 the air as the red shirts of the Garibaldians were spied 
 from the shore, cries which were transformed into Evviva 
 la solidaritd del popoll, when the Corfiotes noticed three 
 
 222 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Danish nurses among the passengers. There were no 
 speeches on landing, that being an honour reserved for 
 Ricciotti Garibaldi, to whom on his visit M. Nicholas G. 
 Cotsakis, the eloquent President of the Court of Appeal 
 at Corfu, had delivered a patriotic address in flowing 
 French. But when, later in the day, the steamer pro- 
 ceeded on its way to Patras, the garrison turned out to 
 do honour to the departing volunteers, while a long file 
 of carriages conveyed a bevy of nurses of all nationalities 
 down to the harbour amidst the waving of handkerchiefs, 
 the firing of revolvers, and other demonstrations of 
 patriotism and gratitude. In war time of course all 
 communication with the Turkish mainland was cut off, 
 for the treaty of 1864, by which the Seven Islands were 
 finally and formally ceded to the young Hellenic 
 Kingdom, stipulated for the perpetual neutrality of Corfu 
 and Paxo. At that time no one opposed this declaration 
 of neutrality more strongly than the Greeks themselves ; 
 but the fears of Austria, anxious for her Dalmatian 
 possessions, prevailed with Great Britain, France, and 
 Russia, the three '^ high contracting " Governments of the 
 one part, and last year the Greeks were reaping the reward 
 of that decision. So at Corfu we were like spectators, 
 privileged to look on at the conflict, without the least risk 
 of being involved in the fray. Indeed it was difficult to 
 believe that one was living in a country at war with its 
 neighbours. And the contrast was all the more remarkable 
 because that neighbour's territory is only separated from 
 us at Corfu by a narrow channel, in one place barely 
 three miles across. From the grass-grown heights of the 
 grand old fortress, which the ubiquitous Venetians erected 
 here in the days of their long supremacy, we could 
 see through this clear, blue atmosphere every line and 
 every fold of the rugged Albanian mountains, with here 
 and there a scattered hamlet far up above the coast. 
 
 223 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Thence in ordinary times come rough mountaineers in 
 their national costume, with their huge baggy trousers, 
 vast cloaks of frieze and big turned-up shoes with great 
 tassels fastened on the toes. Then there are the up-to- 
 date Corfiotes, with the conventional top-hat of Western 
 Europe, and numbers of Italians, Jews, and people of 
 other nationalities from all parts of the East. The 
 
 •' ROUGH MOUNTAiXKKKS . . . WITH THEIR VAST 
 
 CLOAKS OF FRIEZE." 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 women wearing the graceful Greek headdress, and the 
 barefooted urchins who run about the streets and beg for 
 halfpence or offer boxes of matches after the fashion of 
 the youthful Londoner, complete the picture. In the 
 evening the cafes on the esplanade are full of people 
 reading the Athenian or the local papers, of which there 
 are three every week, and discussing politics over their 
 
 224 
 
 1 
 
in the Near East 
 
 cups of coffee with the ardour which the modern Greek 
 always exhibits when he turns his attention to pubHc 
 affairs, for there is no country in which so much interest 
 is taken in poHtics. During the war the hotel here was a 
 microcosm of the whole Eastern question. From Satur- 
 day to Monday we had the commander of the Greek 
 fleet vainly bombarding Prevesa, the cannonade of which 
 was distinctly audible across the sea. We had the official 
 Turkish view represented by Georgi Pasha Berovic, the 
 ex-Governor of Crete, who fled to Corfu after abandoning 
 his post as untenable, and had been living with his wife, 
 a Greek lady, to whom he was absolutely devoted, in a 
 pretty villa at Santi Deca, a village not far from this town. 
 He had come into the hotel, preparatory to starting for 
 Scutari-in-Albania. Then, in marked contrast to the 
 gloomy and crestfallen ex-Governor and the glib Greeks, 
 who made faces as he passed, there was his Montenegrin 
 attendant, a giant of immense strength, who sat all day 
 outside the hotel longing for the steamer which should 
 take him home to his beloved Black Mountain. This 
 sturdy Highlander of Crnagora regarded the warlike 
 enthusiasm of his Greek neighbours with utter in- 
 difference. It was not his business, this Greco-Turkish 
 war, for his Prince had resolved to be neutral. But the 
 giant's sunburnt face brightened as I addressed him in 
 his native Serb ; and on learning that I had stayed in 
 Cetinje and had been honoured with an audience by his 
 Gospodar, he slapped me on the back and told how in the 
 Turco-Montenegrin war of 1877 ^^ ^^^^ seven Turks with 
 his revolver and cut off their heads afterwards with his 
 shining yataghan. Like a true son of the Black 
 Mountain, he showed me this self-same revolver, with 
 every barrel loaded, and then went off into praise of the 
 Prince of Montenegro and the fine air of his mountain 
 capital. Contrast number three : we had an intensely 
 
 225 g 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 patriotic Greek lady, the wife of an Englishman, who was 
 ever ready to defend her countrymen against criticism ; 
 the Corfiote Judge alluded to above, who was never tired 
 of denouncing the Powers for what he picturesquely 
 described as their '^ assistance of that crowned assassin, 
 the red Sultan " ; and the Mayor of Corfu, who took a 
 calmer, but not less patriotic, view of the situation. No 
 one here talked of anything, thought of anything, 
 dreamed of anything, but the war. The populace spent 
 its whole time in studying maps in the streets and its 
 spare leptd in buying little scraps of paper — telegrams 
 from Athens. Every evening a street orator could collect 
 a crowd in a moment, and the Greek passion for politics 
 was now gratified to the utmost. Indeed, so absorbed 
 were the postal authorities in Athens with the war that 
 they forgot to send to Corfu a supply of postcards, so 
 that this island presented the unique spectacle of not 
 possessing a single postcard. But beneath it all there 
 was a strong and resolute feeling of nationality which 
 none could help admiring. Such was Corfu in war time. 
 It was extraordinary how even in Corfu the old dread 
 of the Turks and their methods of warfare prevailed. 
 One poor young fellow, the son of the innkeeper at 
 Skripero, a charming little Corfiote village, all embosomed 
 in a forest of olives, blew out his brains rather than trust 
 himself to the mercies of the terrible Turks. He and a 
 number of wounded comrades were lying on the field of 
 battle ; and, as they lay there helplessly, the victors came 
 round and smashed in the heads of their prostrate 
 enemies one after the other. The young Corfiote knew 
 that his turn would come soon, so he begged his wounded 
 neighbour to shoot him first. The latter shrank from 
 taking the life of his companion-in-arms, and refused. 
 " Then," said the other, ^^ give me your rifle, and I will 
 do it myself," and to this pitiful appeal his comrade 
 
 226 
 
in the Near East 
 
 yielded. No wonder that the people here regard the 
 Turks with horror, although the Ionian Islands, more 
 happy than all Continental Greece, have never known 
 the direct rule of the Ottoman. Thrice did the Corfiotes 
 and their Venetian masters drive back the full tide of 
 Turkish invasion, and the famous repulse of the Musul- 
 mans in 1716, when even the women and priests fought 
 in the defence of their beloved island, is still kept in the 
 memory of the inhabitants by the fine statue of Marshal 
 Von der Schulenburg, a German soldier, who commanded 
 the garrison on that occasion, and who still stands in 
 marble on the Esplanade. But the lonians are no less 
 zealous against the Ottoman foe than their fellows of the 
 mainland, and made great sacrifices during the late 
 struggle. You met every day in the streets peasants who 
 had left their labour in the vineyards and the fields for 
 the war, and who had been awaiting orders from Athens 
 for the last fortnight. In the absence of the regular 
 authorities, the town was policed by special constables, 
 who paraded the narrow thoroughfares and winding 
 Venetian lanes with their rifles, presenting a very un- 
 military appearance. But there was absolutely no 
 disorder, and the only quarrel which I saw was between 
 a civilian and an officer who resented the former's 
 criticisms. 
 
 To see the town of Corfu at its best one should ascend 
 the old fortress built by the Venetians, and still bearing 
 traces of the lion of St. Mark upon its walls. From its 
 ramparts there is a magnificent view in every direction, 
 the town and harbour lie at one's feet, and in this clear 
 atmosphere one can see as far to the south as the island 
 of Santa Maura, whence Sappho leaped into the sea for 
 love of Phaon. A drive to Pantaleone gives one a grand 
 view of the interior of the island, with its strearns in 
 which the Corfiote maidens are washing their clothes, 
 
 227 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 and its high mountains, only broken by the swampy 
 plain in the centre, which a patriotic Corfiote has left 
 money to drain. But of all excursions in the island, the 
 finest is that to the monastery of Palaeokastrizza, on the 
 west coast. A more heavenly situation was never chosen 
 by monks for the site of their earthly abode. We drove 
 for fourteen miles through a forest of olives— for in Corfu 
 the olive is a forest tree — amid the aromatic odours of 
 
 " A HUMBLP: HAN, . . . SUPPORTED ON WHITEWASHED PILLARS." 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. C. A. Miller.) 
 
 countless flowers and shrubs. Here and there a humble 
 Jmn, or roadside inn, supported on whitewashed pillars, 
 like a miniature temple of some heathen divinity, gleamed 
 out from the green olive leaves, and the landlord would 
 hasten to stop our carriage, not to offer us coffee, or 
 mastkha, or ginger beer, that curious relic of the English 
 days in the Ionian Islands, but to ask us for the latest 
 news of the war. Was it true, as the false but flattering 
 
 228 
 
in the Near East 
 
 rumour had it, that Joannina had fallen before the Greeks, 
 that the hero Smolensk! had won a great victory, that 
 Edhem Pasha was meditating a retreat ? No ; it was not, 
 but the Greeks are a sanguine people, and their news- 
 papers pander to the national and not unnatural desire 
 to believe what is favourable. So we stopped at every 
 halting place on the road, to allow our driver the luxury 
 of talking politics and discussing the latest telegrams with 
 his friends, and it was nearly three hours before the azure 
 blue sea in front of us indicated the proximity of the 
 monastery. Along rocky bays, with here and there a spit 
 of white sand which invited a sea bath, and up a steep 
 ascent we drove until we pulled up at the door of the 
 convent on the top of a narrow peninsula. A pleasant- 
 looking monk, Gregorios by name and second in 
 command to the hegouinenos of the monastery, received 
 us at the entrance, and in a mixture of Italian and Greek 
 bade us enter. Luncheon we had brought with us to 
 our great regret, for Gregorios eloquently depicted the 
 resources of the monastic kitchen and cellar, which he 
 offered to place at our disposal. But we gladly availed 
 ourselves of the table in a corner of the courtyard to 
 which he escorted us. We sat down at his bidding 
 beneath a loggia, from which we could see the blue waves 
 of the Ionian sea sparkling in the sunlight far below us. 
 Out in the bay a huge rock rose, like some marine 
 monster, from the waters ; on the hills to the right and 
 left of us two ruined fortresses added charm to the land- 
 scape. But no fortress ever occupied a more picturesque 
 position than the monastery of Palaeokastrizza itself, 
 which, as its name implies, was in its time an ^^ ancient 
 castle." An old Venetian cannon is all that now remains 
 of its warlike panoply ; but in the days of mediaeval 
 warfare the rocky peninsula on which it stands must have 
 been well-nigh impregnable. 
 
 229 
 
■ 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 ^ ^^^^^ , 
 
 
 
 *■■■ 
 
 1 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 The monks, twelve in number, looked, indeed, with the 
 exception of Gregorios and the venerable abbot, like wild 
 men of the woods, with their long, shaggy, raven locks, 
 their unkempt beards, and their miserable raiment, green 
 with age and dirt. After luncheon Gregorios took us 
 into the reception room of the hegotimenos, a small but 
 comfortable apartment, the walls of which were covered 
 with roughly coloured pictures of Mount Athos and the 
 environs of Jerusalem, and the portraits of reigning 
 European sovereigns, not excluding the Sultan of Turkey. 
 From his cell, which opened out of this apartment, the 
 abbot came forth to greet us and bid us welcome to the 
 convent. In the summer, it seems, the Corfiotes come 
 here for the sea-bathing in considerable numbers, and an 
 English artist told me that he spent several nights in the 
 guest-chamber of the monastery, for, like most of the 
 Greek convents, this is an inn as well as a place of 
 devotion. But my artist friend did not find that the 
 worthy monks practised that virtue which is said to be 
 next to godliness, and he accordingly made a practice of 
 washing up his own plates and dishes after every meal, 
 so as to ensure their cleanliness. Down in an arched 
 passage below the guest-chambers the mules of the 
 convent were standing, as we descended, laden with skins 
 of wine, which is here permitted to retain its natural 
 flavour, without being embittered by the addition of 
 resin, as in Continental Greece. After many heroic 
 attempts I have never succeeded in swallowing a glass of 
 retsindto without pulling a wry face, for to the toreigner's 
 palate no medicine could be more horrible than this 
 national drink. No wonder that they have so little 
 drunkenness in Greece when their most popular beverage 
 is so inexpressibly nasty. The importation of retsindto 
 into England might, if its consumption were made 
 compulsory, obviate the need for any temperance legisla- 
 
 231 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 tion. Even the most brackish of water is more appetising 
 than the best of this resinous wine. 
 
 When we had seen the httle church of the convent, 
 Gregorios asked if we would give him a seat in our 
 carriage back to Corfu, as he had some purchases to 
 make in that town. Thanking us for our ready assent by 
 the customary sign of touching his breast with his right 
 hand, the good monk went off to put on his best robes, 
 and then seated himself in our vehicle with many polite 
 remarks. On the way back he told us the simple story of 
 his life. He said that he was forty-seven years old, and 
 had passed twenty-two of them at the monastery, which 
 he had entered when a young man of five and twenty 
 from one of the neighbouring villages. He had never 
 been out of the island in his life, and, like most of the 
 Greek monks, was the son of a peasant. Yet he was 
 shrewd enough in his ideas, and possessed some 
 education, for he knew ancient Greek fairly well. He 
 told us, too, how many olive trees the convent owned, 
 and showed us how to distinguish them by the red initial 
 letters and the cross marked on each tree, according to 
 the Corfiote custom. When they are given as a dowry, 
 they bear the lady's name. But w^e paid rather dearly for 
 the pleasure of his society and for our visit to the 
 monastery, for that night our sleep was broken and our 
 limbs lacerated by the tiny denizens of the convent, who 
 had transferred their affections to us. I agree, as a rule, 
 wdth the Frenchman who said under similar circum- 
 stances — ce n'est pas la piqiire, doiit je me plains, cest la 
 promenade. The fleas of Palaeokastrizza are equally 
 terrible, whether they bite, or whether they simply stroll 
 over the body of their victim. 
 
 I was fortunate enough to be in Corfu on Ascension 
 Day, and to witness the open-air festival which is held 
 on that occasion about a mile outside the town. The spot, 
 
 232 
 
in the Near East 
 
 which is not very far from the King's villa, is itself called 
 Andlipsis, the Greek for Ascension, and is a perfectly ideal 
 situation for a celebration of this kind. Through the 
 olives the "countless ripples" of the blue water glistened 
 in the sun, just as they did in the days of Aeschylus, 
 while on the greensward beneath the trees the Corfiote 
 peasants stood in laughing groups, or reclined at their 
 ease. From Santi Deca, from Benizze, from all the 
 straggling white villages of the island, and even from the 
 treeless mountains of the inhospitable mainland, they had 
 come to this annual gathering. Unluckily, the badness 
 of the crops had led many of them to pawn their finery, 
 but still there were not a few smart dresses to be seen, the 
 brides being especially gorgeous. Their hair was tied up 
 in bands, and on the right side of the head they wore a 
 huge bunch of artificial flowers ; every ring that they 
 could muster gleamed on their fingers, and their 
 garments were a marvel of bright colours. Conspicuous 
 among them were the Albanian women, with their quaint 
 metal head-dresses, like coronets. Of actual dancing 
 there was less than in more prosperous years ; but one 
 had seen quite enough to give one an idea of what an 
 ancient Greek pancgyris must have been. 
 
 Cephalonia is a great change after Corfu. Instead of 
 the giant olive-groves of the Phaeakian Island one has a 
 barren expanse of mountain swept by the wind, and 
 almost without a tree. An old resident told me that in 
 the British days Cephalonia, too, boasted its forests, for 
 the British authorities made stringent regulations to pre- 
 vent the ruthless sacrifice of timber, in which the average 
 Greek indulges. Whenever the Hellene sees a tree his 
 one desire is to destroy it, and every year the shepherds 
 of Greece set fire to such forests as remain. This habit 
 and the ravages of the War of Liberation have made 
 modern Greece, with one or two exceptions, a land with- 
 
 233 
 
\ 
 
 <\. ''- 
 
 ■V 
 
 
 
 CORFIOTE WOMAN. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 out trees. So strong, indeed, is this sentiment of destruc- 
 tion in Cephalonia, that the British guardian of the forests 
 was murdered by the natives. Nowadays the mountains 
 which surround the Bay of ArgostoH have broken out into 
 patches of red and yellow, and look as if they had con- 
 tracted some infectious complaint. But in spite of the 
 unpleasant impression which the island makes upon the 
 traveller, its soil produces excellent wine which fills the 
 enormous cellars of Mr. Toole. These cellars contain 
 huge vats of wine, much of which is sold in Western 
 Europe and used for sacramental purposes. The island 
 possesses a great natural curiosity in the sea-mills. The 
 sea-water after turning the wheels disappears in the rocky 
 ground, no one knows whither. The British endeavoured 
 to discover the secret of this phenomenon by pouring 
 large quantities of oil into the water, and searched all 
 round the coast to find if it reappeared. But all their 
 efforts were in vain, and since that time nothing further 
 has been done to elucidate the mystery. 
 
 Zante is, next to Corfu, the prettiest of the Ionian 
 Islands. The first time I visited it was in the year after 
 the great earthquake. At that time nothing had been 
 done, in spite of the large sums of money contributed for 
 the purpose, to rebuild the fallen houses. When I landed 
 I found that the poor people were still encamped in tents, 
 or in rickety shanties made of boxes, along the sea front, 
 while a most appalling stench arose from what might 
 have been a fine promenade. The theatre was just as it 
 had been shaken by the earthquake, the stage was still 
 standing, but the whole of the auditorium was in ruins. 
 Here and there, in the main street, tottering houses were 
 bolstered up by beams, or held together by iron cranks. 
 Talking with one of the natives, I expressed surprise that 
 the town of Zante, with such large funds at its disposal, 
 had not been promptly restored. My informant laughed 
 
 235 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 at my innocence, and told me that the committee ap- 
 pointed to administer the reHef fund had applied it for 
 the benefit of the rich inhabitants first. However, on a 
 subsequent visit, four years later, I found that the poor 
 Zantiotes had at last been provided with habitations, and 
 that the tow^n had resumed its normal appearance, the 
 theatre alone being still in ruins. The old Venetian fort, 
 on a hill above the town, which is of considerable 
 dimensions, has stood these shocks much better than the 
 modern buildings. From the hill one sees stretched out 
 before one, like a map, the green plain w^hich composes 
 the greater part of the island. Nearly all the flowers that 
 one buys in the Athens market come from Zante, and the 
 currants of the island have always been celebrated. But 
 nowadays the difficulty is that Greece produces too many 
 currants to make their sale profitable. Every year fresh 
 schemes are devised for preventing this over-production, 
 and during the King's recent tour in the Peleponnesus, 
 the question was continually brought before him. Zante, 
 however, is not devoted to currants alone ; it is remark- 
 able for its European culture. The tow^n possesses an 
 excellent club where English magazines may be found, 
 and one sees Italian newspapers and French reviews in 
 the shops. It has also produced a considerable number 
 of political celebrities. The present Speaker of the Greek 
 Parliament is a Zantiote; and M. Lombardos, who played 
 a very prominent part in the anti-British agitation in the 
 Islands, and lived to be the ^^ father " of the Bonlc, came 
 from this island. Here, in fact, as in Corfu, one finds 
 traces of the old Venetian life, which disappear as soon 
 as we have crossed the narrow strait w^hich separates the 
 ^^ flower of the Levant " from the coast of the Pelopon- 
 nesus. 
 
 236 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 GREECE : THE COUNTRY AND THE CAPITAL 
 
 MY first experience of the Greek mainland was at 
 the Httle port of Katakolo in the Peloponnesus, 
 just opposite Zante. It was also my first introduction 
 to that remarkable survival of the barbarous ages, the 
 Greek country inn. In respect of accommodation for 
 travellers Greece, with the exception of a few big towns, 
 is still in much the same condition as Turkey. The 
 traveller is provided with a certain amount of space 
 in which to get such repose as he can, but is expected to 
 bring with him such requisites as he needs. Even food 
 is sometimes not provided by the management, which 
 thinks that it has discharged its duties as a caterer, if it 
 has furnished the guest with a cup of Turkish coffee in 
 the morning. Accordingly after several days spent in 
 the comfortable hotels of Corfu and Zante, and the neat 
 cabins of the Greek coasting-steamers, it was a rude 
 awakening to find oneself landed and stranded at Kata- 
 kolo, at ten o'clock at night, with no other place of refuge 
 in prospect than the miserable shanty which called itself 
 the inn of the place. Under the guidance of a boatman, 
 redolent of garlic, my companion and I were led to a 
 barrack-like building of wood, two stories high, with a 
 balcony running round the whole of the first floor. The 
 door was opened by a woman, who told us that we could 
 have beds for the night, but that supper and breakfast 
 were out of the question. This was cheerful intelligence, 
 
 237 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 but it was Hobson's choice, and we were ushered upstairs 
 to a room with four beds in it, which proved to be the 
 common sleeping-place of any wayfarers who might 
 require a rest for the night. A casual inspection of the 
 sheets by the light of the miserable rushlight which was 
 our only illumination, proved beyond a doubt that the 
 beds were literally alive, while the rugs which covered 
 the beds evidently contained lodgings for various choice 
 specimens of the lower insects. Sleeping in bed was out 
 of the question, so we wrapped ourselves in our over- 
 coats and endeavoured to court repose as best we could. 
 But scarcely had we composed ourselves to rest than a 
 loud knocking at the bedroom door proclaimed the 
 advent of another guest, and in spite of protestations and 
 remonstrances, we found that a Greek priest of unkempt 
 locks and unwashed appearance was to share our bed- 
 room for the- night. The holy father had no scruples 
 about his bedding, and before long he was snoring on his 
 pallet, while we were longing for the approach of dawn, 
 and mourning the absence of a packet of Keating. But 
 the attacks of our winged and un winged enemies were 
 not the only unpleasant incidents of the night. A crowd 
 of boatmen collected on the verandah outside our 
 window and talked for an hour together ; and when a 
 Greek talks it is at the top of his voice. Then the packs 
 of dogs, with which every Greek village is infested, began 
 to bark in chorus, and the whole township appeared to be 
 running up and down the wooden staircase past our 
 room. Sleep came at last, but when we awoke in the 
 morning we found that we had been almost devoured by 
 mosquitoes and our uneasy little bed-fellows, and our cup 
 of sorrow was full when we discovered that there was only 
 one jug of water for washing between ourselves and the 
 priest, and that that jug was half empty ! 
 
 From Katakolo it is only a short railway journey to 
 
 238 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Olympia, and every one who goes to Greece goes, as a 
 matter of course, to see the historic scene of the old 
 Olympic games. Of the racecourse, where every four 
 years the athletes of Hellas were wont to compete, little 
 is left except the low wall which marked the starting 
 point and the broken pillar which served as the goal, and 
 which we found lying in the middle of a large field, 
 which a picturesquely clad peasant was ploughing with a 
 somewhat remarkable team, composed of an ox and a 
 mule yoked together. But the boxing-ground is in good 
 preservation, and you can still see the pavement of the 
 famous '^ ring " where the Corbetts and Mitchells of 
 antiquity strove together. A great number of pillars and 
 many statues from the temples, which once stood on the 
 spot, have been excavated, and the museum which an 
 Athenian banker has generously built for the purpose is 
 full of some of the choicest specimens of ancient art. I 
 could not help feeling surprised, however, that strangers 
 are allowed to walk about the ruins without a guide, and 
 indeed without inspection of any kind. At Pompeii no 
 one is permitted to enter the excavations without the 
 presence of an official, and at Delphi I was informed that 
 I could not even photograph the remains. Considering 
 how valuable the fragments at Olympia are, it certainly 
 seems rather careless to allow any one and every one to 
 walk about among the fallen pillars and ruined temples 
 without the slightest supervision. The authorities surely 
 are not of the opinion of the Roman general, who, old 
 PhiHstine that he was, told his men that if they injured 
 any of the ancient statuary, which they were transporting, 
 they must replace it by new. The place, as I saw it, 
 looked the perfection of an old ruined precinct. Trees 
 were growing between the stones, and the air was per- 
 fumed with the scent of hawthorn and wild thyme, while 
 among the currant-fields which fill the valley of the 
 
 239 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Alpheus, the chattering magpies were flying to and fro, 
 Hzards of metallic hues kept darting in and out of the 
 crevices in the stones, and in the stream below the frogs 
 were croaking in a way which reminded one of the 
 famous frog chorus in the play of Aristophanes. The 
 Greek frog has one national peculiarity, he always ex- 
 presses his views at the top of his voice, and in the 
 evening the plain of Olympia resounds with his raucous 
 music. 
 
 The railway from Olympia to the Piraeus is the longest 
 which Greece possesses, and except as regards speed is 
 an excellent line. Greece has now 591 miles of railway. 
 The railway carriages are well-appointed, with com- 
 fortable seats and plenty of light and air ; the fares are 
 reasonable and the officials most polite. The train only 
 travels about fifteen miles an hour, and stops at most of 
 the stations, but when one wants to see the country the 
 slow train has its advantages. At all the larger stations 
 the same curious scene presents itself. There are all the 
 typical figures of the modern Greek nation on. the plat- 
 form — the priest with his high coif and long black robe, 
 the swarm of merry little shoe-blacks with their blacking 
 brushes and boxes slung over their arms and ready to act 
 as porters for the travellers at the slightest sign of assent. 
 All sorts and conditions of hawkers parade the platform, 
 selling lottery tickets, sweetmeats, newspapers, and even 
 stockings. Then there are one or two soldiers armed to 
 the teeth, for the military are much in evidence in 
 modern Greece, and a band of peasants in their quaint 
 dress. At all the small roadside stations the costumes 
 of the people are still more picturesque, and as you 
 approach Patras the train is literally boarded by commis- 
 sionaires and touts long before it has stopped at the 
 platform. So a railway journey in Greece has distinctive 
 features of its own, but the politeness and attention of 
 
 240 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the officials, who never worry the foreign traveller with 
 unnecessary regulations, as in some parts of the Con- 
 tinent, make it very pleasant. It is astonishing how well 
 the Greek railway men can talk, and I shall never forget 
 the way in which the stationmaster at the little town of 
 Aigion described to me the political situation in the 
 Balkan Peninsula in the most fluent French and with an 
 amount of information and common sense which some 
 statesmen might have envied. 
 
 Patras is the largest town in the Peloponnesus and the 
 third in the whole country, and does a good business in 
 currants and wine. One passed in the train through 
 hundreds of currant-fields, for this is the favourite district 
 of that miniature grape. The wine of Patras, too, is of a 
 superior quality, and the German company which intro- 
 duced the Teutonic method of viticulture here has been 
 very successful, and in one year sent about 2,000,000 
 litres out of the place. As the port through which most 
 Western travellers pass on their way to or from Greece, 
 Patras has additional commercial importance, though 
 it is now behind the Piraeus in this respect. I saw it 
 at its best during the Exhibition of Greek Industries this 
 year, when the King was staying there, and the whole 
 town was one mass of bunting in his honour. But there 
 was none of the enthusiasm which in many countries 
 follows the steps of a sovereign in a provincial town. 
 Five splendid cvzonoi, or soldiers of the guard, clad in 
 spotless petticoats, were draw^n up outside the royal 
 mansion, forming a strange contrast with the small and 
 shabbily-dressed soldiers of the ordinary regiments, who 
 stood beside them. But there was no sound of any kind 
 from the small crowd, which had collected to see the 
 King go out for his afternoon drive. There was, indeed, 
 nothing majestic, except the stalwart cvzonos on the box 
 of the royal carriage, about the undersized man in naval 
 
 241 R 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 uniform who drove through the streets. Even less king- 
 hke did he look, when in the evening he strolled along 
 the quay to meet the Queen, who arrived by train from 
 Athens. Yet there w^as something pleasant in the evident 
 delight of the two to see one another, and the palace that 
 evening presented the spectacle of quite a family party, in 
 which the pet dog, which came down the stairs to meet 
 the King and waited to be patted by his majesty, played 
 a homely part. How different, w^e thought, from the 
 scenes of the previous year, when the King had had little 
 time for this quiet family life ! 
 
 The Greek Church has ahvays played such an im- 
 portant part in the national life, and the Greek convents 
 of the Levant have exercised such a remarkable fascina- 
 tion over the imagination of Western travellers, that I 
 was anxious to visit the most typical of them. In Greece 
 itself, it is true, these institutions are no longer so nume- 
 rous as they once were, and it is outside the boundaries 
 of the Hellenic Kingdom, on Mount Athos, that the 
 system is to be found in all its primitive perfection. 
 Under the presidency of Capodistrias in 1829, a measure 
 somewhat similar to that adopted in England under 
 Henry VIII. was passed, and a number of the smaller 
 monasteries w^ere disestablished and disendowed. Ac- 
 cording to the latest figures available, there are now 161 
 monasteries and nunneries, all belonging to the Order of 
 St. Basil, but differing entirely from one another, accord- 
 ing as they are administered on socialistic or indivi- 
 dualistic principles. There are monasteries the inmates 
 of which share all their worldly possessions in common, 
 and receive their food and clothing out of this common 
 fund, managed by the abbot, or hegoMiienos. In other 
 convents, again, the monks retain their own money, are 
 the proprietors of pieces of land, which they cultivate 
 as they please, and enjoy the right of bequeathing their 
 
 242 
 
in the Near East 
 
 property to their attendants. They elect their own 
 officers, who are called epitropoi, and generally exercise 
 the privileges of freemen. 
 
 The convent of Megaspelaion is the largest in all 
 Greece, and was founded six centuries ago. The ap- 
 proach to it was until quite recently attended with such 
 difficulties that few foreigners, except pilgrims, ever set 
 foot in it. It lies up a wild and savage gorge, through 
 which a mountain torrent forces its way down to the 
 southern shore of the Gulf of Corinth. But in 1889 
 a mountain railway on the Abt system was begun at 
 Diakopto, a station on the line between Patras and 
 Corinth, and was completed as far as the little town 
 of Kalavryta in 1894. The line, which may be called 
 the Rigi of Greece, seeing that it is the only railway 
 on the cogwheel principle in the whole country, was 
 estimated to cost ;^i 5,000, but as a matter of fact has 
 cost over ^69,500, and involved the original contractor 
 in bankruptcy. No one who uses it can wonder at the 
 enormous expense involved, although the distance from 
 Diakopto to the other terminus is little over ten miles ; 
 for the number of bridges and tunnels is very consider- 
 able, the gradients are steep in places, and the narrow 
 gorges through which the train passes are almost barri- 
 caded by huge boulders of rock, which had to be blasted 
 by dynamite. Scenery such as even Switzerland or the 
 Tyrol can hardly surpass unfolds itself as the traveller 
 advances, and when the train stops at the little station 
 of Zachlorou for the monastery, after a steep climb of 
 nearly two hours, the foreigner has seen some of the 
 wildest and grandest country of the Peloponnesus. 
 Zachlorou, usually the quietest spot on earth, was all 
 animation when we arrived. For a wounded soldier, 
 a native of the place, was in the train, and the whole 
 village had turned out at the station to welcome the 
 
 243 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 warrior back from the war. It was, indeed, a picture 
 to see the people crowd around him, some grasping 
 his unwounded hand, others kissing his cheeks, and all 
 hanging on his lips, so as not to lose a single word 
 that fell from him. Then and there, on the platform, 
 they all sat down and listened open-mouthed to his 
 descriptions of the battles in which he had fought. 
 Even the budget of Athenian newspapers which had 
 arrived with the train proved a less attraction than this 
 eye-witness of the great national conflict. When we 
 left with our mule and Vemo, our guide, for the 
 monastery, the soldier was still holding his audience 
 entranced with his story. 
 
 A steep and winding path leads up from the station to 
 the monastery, which is built, as its name, Megaspelaion, 
 or ^'the great cave," implies, into a huge cave in the sheer 
 face of the cliff. From below it looks like a row of 
 swallows' nests perched above an immense wall, which 
 forms the basis of the structure, and the birds which 
 fly in and out of the rocks in great numbers appear 
 to be its inhabitants. The lower portion consists of 
 storehouses and cellars stocked with wine-casks of 
 gigantic proportions, which, like the mammoth tuns in 
 the Rathskeller at Bremen, have names of their own, and 
 date in some cases from the last century. Above the 
 wall are the cells and oratories of the monks, of whom 
 there are between two and three hundred altogether. A 
 quaint belfry occupies the centre of the building, the top 
 of which mainly consists of the cavern roof. As soon as 
 we entered the precincts of the convent our guide took 
 off his cap and stopped his mule's bell, and inside the 
 gate the xenodochos, or brother, whose duty it is to 
 receive and entertain strangers, led us to our room in 
 a sort of inn. No charge is made for bed and board, 
 but the traveller is expected to give according to his 
 
 244 
 
in the Near East 
 
 means, placing his offering in a box or handing it to 
 the xenodSchos on his departure. The accommodation, 
 if not kixurioLis, is at any rate superior in cleanHness 
 to that of the average Greek or Turkish han. The 
 beds, it is true, were mere planks laid on trestles, and 
 covered with bright-coloured rugs. But, in spite of their 
 hardness, they were free from vermin, to our great sur- 
 prise, while the convent fare was better than we had been 
 led to expect. The inevitable lamb made its ungarnished 
 appearance, of course, and the wine was resinous to the 
 last degree. But the eggs were excellent, and our good 
 host, the xenodSchos, and his satellites unremitting in their 
 attentions to us. In the evening we all sat by the glowing 
 fire of logs in the kitchen and discussed the war, in which 
 the monks were deeply interested, over our coffee and 
 cigarettes. Bartholomaos (such was the name of the 
 xenodSchos) was overjoyed at the enamelled Greek flag 
 which my wife was wearing — for ladies are admitted 
 as guests to this monastery — and immensely gratified 
 at the cigarettes which I gave him. It was rather 
 comical to find him addressing me after such a brief 
 acquaintance by my Christian name, Gulielmos, as if I 
 too were one of the monks. He and another monk, 
 named Zacharias, kept digging me on the shoulders, 
 one on either side, to emphasise their views on the war, 
 while two small youths who were scholars at the convent 
 school, watched us open-mouthed, and seized every avail- 
 able excuse of examining all our belongings. What 
 pleased Bartholomaos most was a map of Greece which 
 I had with me, for this afforded him the puerile delight 
 of picking out the places of which he had heard or read. 
 In the morning he showed us the chapel, which con- 
 tains, in addition to some quaint Byzantine work, a wax 
 figure of the Virgin, piously believed to be the handi- 
 work of St. Luke. The most interesting feature of the 
 
 245 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 library was a splendid firman of the Sultan Selim III., 
 who gave the monks a number of privileges during the 
 Turkish occupation of the Morea, for which they natur- 
 ally paid very dearly. But perhaps the price was not too 
 high, seeing that one of their stipulations was the exclusion 
 of Turkish visitors. Even to this day they go through the 
 formula of disarming every armed traveller at the door — a 
 curious relic of the days when brigands roamed the Pelo- 
 ponnesus. Yet their favoured condition under the Turkish 
 rule did not prevent them from welcoming with enthusiasm 
 the outbreak of the war which gave Greece her indepen- 
 dence. It was within these walls that the authors of that 
 movement laid their plans ; and it was from these gates 
 that the Archbishop Germanos salHed forth in April, 1821, 
 to raise the standard of revolt at the neighbouring monas- 
 tery of Lavra, where it was once more unfurled at the 
 beginning of the late war. Furious at this action of the 
 monks, Ibrahim Pasha laid siege to Megaspelaion, but in 
 vain. Brother Bartholomaos showed us the spot whence 
 the Turks had hurled down rocks and trees upon the 
 convent. But the sheer cliffs sheltered it from the 
 missiles of the enemy, and the monks maintained a 
 vigorous cannonade from the front of the monastery, 
 with the result that their assailants were repulsed. A 
 cannon and a cross on the rocks above still serve as 
 memorials of that victory over the Crescent, and may 
 console the inmates for the recent defeats of the Hellenic 
 arms. And so, with a last look at the gateway of the 
 convent, on one side of which a Greek inscription tells 
 how the two Kings of Greece, Otho and George, both 
 visited the monastery, we quitted Megaspelaion and the 
 Middle Ages for the railway and the nineteenth century. 
 
 I have seldom seen a rougher or wilder set of men than 
 the steerage passengers on the little ship by which I sailed 
 down the Gulf of Corinth for Delphi. I looked down 
 
 246 
 
in the Near East 
 
 from the bridge of the Prince George, whither the captain 
 had invited me, upon a crowd of Albanian and ^tohan 
 mountaineers lying asleep in their rough frieze coats on 
 the deck below, huddled up together like so many sacks. 
 They were migrating with their belongings, most of which 
 they carried on their backs, from one end of the Gulf to 
 the other, and they presented an extraordinary contrast to 
 the more polished Greeks on board. Parnassus appeared, 
 all covered with snow, as we approached Itea, the landing- 
 place ior Delphi, and the snow-white peaks of the moun- 
 tains all round the Gulf stood out in high relief against the 
 deep-blue sky and sea. / ' 
 
 A very remarkable Eastern institution indeed is the 
 native saddle. When the horse upon which I was about 
 to ride to Delphi was brought round to the door of the 
 hotel at Itea, I gazed in amazement at the extraordinary 
 edifice of wood which I was expected to bestride. Instead 
 of the neat saddles to which we are accustomed in England, 
 my steed bore upon its back a wooden frame with two 
 big pieces of the same material projecting in front, while 
 this peculiar structure was covered with a number of rugs 
 and cloths, in the centre of which I ensconced myself, to 
 the satisfaction of an admiring crowd of bystanders. But, 
 once in the saddle, I discovered there were no reins, unless 
 one can dignify by that name the thick iron chain with 
 which the horse-boy presented me. The stirrups, too, 
 were marvels of native workmanship ; great pieces of 
 iron with savage-looking spurs attached to them, such as 
 one sees in the specimens of cavalry equipment of the 
 time of Cromwell. The Greek cavalleria riisticana, I 
 notice, usually ride side-saddle — men quite as much as 
 women — and that is the most comfortable method of 
 horsemanship under these novel conditions. As your 
 horse never by any chance gets beyond a gentle trot, 
 there is not the least prospect of falling off, even if you 
 
 247 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 sit sideways on the saddle and dangle your feet in front 
 of you. But when once we had begun to climb the steep 
 slopes of Parnassus, I recognised that the Greek horse is a 
 
 DKLPHI. 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. C A. Miller.) 
 
 first-rate mountain climber, and picks his way among the 
 rough stones and boulders with the most marvellous skill. 
 Unfortunately there was too much snow on the famous 
 
 248 
 
in the Near East 
 
 poetic mountain to admit of our ascending to the summit 
 — or rather summits, for there are five separate peaks in 
 all. The French Government, which has done so much 
 for archaeology in Greece, has purchased the houses and 
 site of the little village of Kastri, which has grown up on 
 the ruins of ancient Delphi. The whole of the village has 
 been pulled down, and a new place of residence has been 
 erected on the other side of the hill for the use of the 
 evicted inhabitants, who have gained in every way by the 
 exchange. The genial keeper of the antiquities took me 
 into his house on my arrival, and after giving me an 
 excellent glass of cognac, kindly dispatched his atten- 
 dants, east and west, and south and north, to obtain me 
 a lodging for the night, for Delphi had then no inn. The 
 result of his inquiries was most satisfactory, and I found 
 myself quartered upon a hospitable Delphian, Basilis 
 Paraskevas by name, whose cottage contained a wooden 
 partition behind which the guests slept. The hens 
 pecked about in the sitting-room, and the water for wash- 
 ing was emptied out of the window, but the place was 
 scrupulously clean, and from the visitors' book which lay 
 on the table I learned that this humble roof had sheltered 
 many distinguished Englishmen. Among other entries 
 I noticed an autograph signature of Mr. Chamberlain, 
 who, accompanied by Mr. Jesse CoUings, had come up, 
 it seems, to consult the Delphic oracle in November, 
 1886, after the defeat of the first Home Rule Bill. What 
 response he may have obtained is not recorded, but it is 
 well known that in ancient days the Pythian priestess 
 was an expert in the science of political meteorology. 
 Lord Curzon's name also figured in the volume, for the 
 new Viceroy of India made an exhaustive tour of Greece 
 some years ago. The size of his retinue, when he traversed 
 Thessaly, made such an impression on the unsophisticated 
 natives, that they believed the English traveller to be the 
 
 249 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Crown Prince of Greece on his honeymoon. Students of 
 the late war will remember that the Crown Prince travels 
 with large quantities of luggage. 
 
 One could not help feeling a little disillusioned with the 
 Castalian spring, in which the visitors to the shrine were 
 wont to dip their hands before consulting the oracle, and 
 which has been sung by bards innumerable. When 
 Cobden visited Athens he was amused to see the Athenian 
 washerwomen ^washing their clothes in the waters of the 
 classic Ilissus. When I was at Delphi, I observed the 
 Delphic laundresses putting the fountain of Castalia to a 
 similar base use. But, after all, they must wash their 
 things somewhere, and it is certainly better that the water 
 should be used for washing than for drinking, for an 
 English gentleman who indulged in it rather toD freely 
 told me that he had repented of his hardihood in the 
 midnight watches. 
 
 The Gulf of Corinth was very rough indeed as we sailed 
 away from the little harbour of Itea, alongside of which a 
 troop of camels was drawn up, this being the only place 
 in Greece where they are seen. It was only when we 
 reached the canal that we had smooth water. The 
 Corinth canal is a magnificent piece of engineering. It 
 is perfectly straight from end to end, and you can see 
 right through it from the entrance. Cut through high 
 cliffs of sandstone which rise like enormous walls on 
 either side, it is three miles and a half in length, and a 
 hundred feet broad. A Greek gentleman on board the 
 steamer told me that the people regretted now that the 
 canal had not been made a little wider, so that big vessels 
 and men-of-war could go through it. Our steamer, how- 
 ever, which was of a fair size, found plenty of space to 
 move, although there was a barge in the canal at the 
 same time. The footways on either side take up a good 
 deal of room, and one of them perhaps might be cut 
 
 250 
 
in the Near East 
 
 away. The canal, although it has been opened for five 
 years, is not used so much as was expected, in spite 
 of the immense saving of time which it effects. The 
 
 THE CORINTH CANAL. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. C. A. Miller.) 
 
 dangerous currents and the high tolls charged have 
 proved deterrents to the traffic, and in the earlier days 
 the electric lighting along the cutting was not always in 
 
 251 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 order. There is nothing new under the sun, so that one 
 is not surprised to notice at the entrance an ancient tablet 
 which is a reUc of the canal which the Emperor Nero 
 began, but never finished, nearly two thousand years 
 before the present work was completed. 
 
 Of all places in Greece with a great past, Corinth is 
 perhaps the most disappointing. The ancient town, 
 which nestled at the foot of the gigantic citadel of 
 Akro-Corinth, has almost entirely disappeared. A few 
 columns of an old temple are all that remains to mark 
 the site of what was, in St. Paul's day, the most luxurious 
 city of Greece. The modern town, which has sprung up 
 three miles away, is a growing place and a railway junc- 
 tion, but has nothing interesting about it. If, as some 
 suggested in the early days of modern Hellas, it had 
 been chosen as the capital of the Greek kingdom, it 
 might have revived some at least of the ancient glories 
 of the isthmus. Unless destroyed by an earthquake such 
 as that of which I once had a taste here, when a portion 
 of the ceiling fell into my basin, modern Corinth may 
 develop into a commonplace edition of Patras. But of 
 the splendours of the ancient city it is as destitute at 
 present as are the modern maidens of Corinth of that 
 marvellous beauty for which the frivolous Corinthian 
 ladies were famous in classical times. But nothing can 
 detract from the grandeur of the majestic mountain, 
 which stands sublime, the natural guardian of the 
 isthmus and Peloponnesus. The ascent of Akro-Corinth, 
 the Rigi of Greece, is well worth the time that it takes. 
 From the summit of that ancient fortress, now in ruins, I 
 had a magnifient view of the " twin seas " — the Gulf of 
 Corinth on the one side, and the blue ^gean, with the 
 islands of ^gina and Salamis, on the other. Far away 
 in the distance, I could descry the dazzling white front 
 of the Royal Palace at Athens; for in this clear atmo- 
 
 252 
 
in the Near East 
 
 sphere it is possible to see for many a mile. A few 
 roughly-clad shepherds were pasturing their flocks amid 
 the crumbling walls of the old fortifications, while here 
 and there a rusty cannon lay amid the asphodel which 
 covered the ground. With great difficulty I discovered 
 the famous spring of Pirene, which was supposed to have 
 flowed out of the living rock when struck by the hoof of 
 Pegasus. A wooden ladder leads down into the well, the 
 clear water of which is festooned with maidenhair fern. 
 In olden times the spring must have been invaluable to 
 the garrison during a siege ; but to-day this splendid 
 natural fortress — according to Colonel Mure, the finest 
 in Europe — has no military value, and is completely 
 neglected. Even during the late war, when all sorts of 
 wild schemes were put forward for the defence of the 
 country after the Greek army fell back, no one suggested 
 the rehabilitation of Akro-Corinth. 
 
 The rocky fortress of Nauplia, which is easily accessible 
 by rail from Corinth, is one of the gems of Greece. 
 Rising above the town, it commands a splendid view of 
 the bay, while close at hand is the classic town of Argos, 
 now a squalid and uninteresting place, and the remains of 
 Tiryns and Mycenae. In the classics Argos is described 
 as " thirsty " and as '^ the mother of goodly steeds." I 
 can vouch for the accuracy of the former epithet, but I 
 was unable to raise even the poorest hack without the 
 utmost difficulty. But by a curious freak the Greeks have 
 converted Palamidi, the Monaco of the ^gean, into a 
 gigantic prison. Nauplia, originally the capital of the 
 kingdom, the spot where Capodistrias was murdered, has 
 become the Portland of Greece. We climbed up the 867 
 steps which lead to the summit of the castle, and saw the 
 prisoners taking their morning exercise in a sort of cock- 
 pit below. The instant they caught sight of us, they held 
 up long poles with small boxes on the end containing 
 
 253 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 trinkets and pieces of carving which they had manufac- 
 tured in their prison hours, and which they are allowed 
 to sell to visitors at low prices. As we walked round the 
 ramparts above, the babel of tongues which arose from 
 below was simply deafening. Out in the bay the little 
 island of Bourzi contains a solitary prisoner whom we 
 could see looking from the bastions of his prison through 
 a spyglass. The prisoner of Bourzi is none other than 
 the Greek executioner, who, when not professionally en- 
 gaged, spends his enforced leisure in this spot. In Greece, 
 where criminals are beheaded, the headsman is always a 
 criminal who has been condemned to death himself, and 
 has been reprieved on condition that he devotes his time 
 to the task of cutting off his fellow- criminals' heads. 
 
 It was a pleasant change from this grim scene to the 
 little town of Megara, on the line between Corinth and 
 Athens, where we arrived betimes on Easter Tuesday, to 
 see the finest dancing that Greece can show. Megara 
 was en fete when we arrived, for the Easter dances of 
 the Megarean ladies attract visitors from all parts of 
 Greece. The little station was gaily festooned with flags, 
 the Union Jack conspicuous among them, and the half- 
 ruined town, which rises on two low hills about a mile 
 and a half from the azure blue sea, had done its best to 
 make itself attractive. In the small square the humble 
 restaurants of the place had bedecked themselves with 
 boughs of trees, and booths of green twigs had been 
 erected in front, beneath which we soon ensconced 
 ourselves, and made up for the loss of our breakfast by 
 devouring pieces of ''Turkish delight" — that favourite 
 sweetmeat of the modern Greek — and drinking glasses of 
 inasticha at one of the tables. 
 
 About ten o'clock a general movement was made to a 
 large open space on the side of a hill outside the town, 
 and by this time a large number of spectators had col- 
 
 254 
 
in the Near East 
 
 lected. The natives turned out in their full war-paint in 
 honour of the occasion. The women of Megara who 
 were to take part in the dance had donned the beautiful 
 national costume, which is now being gradually displaced 
 by the less picturesque garb of Western Europe. Some 
 of the outfits were worth as much as £^o, and all were 
 exceedingly handsome. In fact, nowhere can the full 
 Greek dress be seen to such advantage or in such perfec- 
 tion as on Easter Tuesday at Megara. The Megarean 
 ladies wore head-dresses composed entirely of gold and 
 silver coins, fastened together like a suit of mail, with a 
 fringe or row of coins across the forehead. I examined 
 several of these head-dresses, and noticed that most of 
 the coins were very old, some of them dating from the 
 Turkish occupation of the country, and they had evi- 
 dently been kept as heirlooms in the families of their 
 respective owners. Over this metal cap was thrown a 
 beautiful veil of yellow tint, which descended down the 
 back of the wearer. The jackets of the dancers were 
 richly embroidered with gold lace, and the aprons they 
 wore were marvels of artistic ingenuity. Many of the 
 peasants, I was told, had been obliged to pawn their 
 trinkets in these hard times, but at Megara they have 
 evidently been able to preserve their ancient heirlooms 
 with their ancient customs intact. As for the men, they 
 were all wearing their snow-white petticoats and hand- 
 some tunics, while each male dancer had a new red fez 
 with a long blue tassel on his head. Altogether, with the 
 brilliant azure sky and azure sea as a background, 
 and the grey-green olives of the Megarean plain in 
 front of us, the combination of colours was most re- 
 markable. 
 
 The dancing was in the open air, and little knots of 
 spectators, several armed with photographic instruments, 
 were soon collected round the principal performers. The 
 
 255 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 dances were of very different kinds, but all distinguished 
 by the slow rhythmic movement which the Greeks have 
 always preferred. Megara was famous of old as the 
 birthplace of the comic drama, and it has handed down 
 to our own day in this festival an almost perfect repre- 
 sentation of the ancient Pyrrhic dance. A man, dressed 
 in full Greek costume, takes a handkerchief in one hand 
 while he raises the other in the air. A line of ladies, 
 varying in number from five to nine, is then formed. 
 Each of the female performers takes the hand of the lady 
 next to her, and the damsel at the end of the line grasps 
 the handkerchief proffered her by the man. A circle is 
 then formed ; the musicians, three in number — a fiddler, 
 a gentleman with a guitar, and another with a flute — are 
 posted in the centre, and the dance begins. The most 
 extraordinary capers are cut by the man, who conducts 
 the ladies round and round, while their steps are of the 
 most stately kind. No minuet was ever more solemn 
 than the dances of the Megarean maidens. Another item 
 on the programme was a dance performed by two long 
 rows of ladies who faced each other and kept moving 
 backwards and forwards with slow, measured steps. 
 Then there were dances of men alone, and dances for the 
 children of the place, who naturally enjoyed the treat 
 amazingly. Meanwhile, the whole population of Megara, 
 about six thousand in number, had camped out on the 
 hillside overlooking Salamis and its lovely bay, with 
 ^gina in the distance, and every one was munching 
 koloiira, or Easter cakes with scarlet-dyed eggs in them, 
 and drinking the resined wine which the English palate 
 finds so trying. It was a striking spectacle, and one was 
 able to answer the famous query of Lord Byron : '^ Ye 
 have the Pyrrhic dances yet ; where is the Pyrrhic 
 phalanx now ? " For the Pyrrhic phalanx was there, 
 too, in the shape of the Athens Bicycle Club, whose 
 
 256 
 
in the Near East 
 
 members had ridden over for the day, and were drawn 
 up on the field in martial array. 
 
 I have seen the Greek capital under three very different 
 conditions — at the time of the great earthquakes, during 
 the war, and in the quiet season of rest and recuperation 
 which followed that struggle. But on all three occasions 
 the city had some permanent characteristics. One's first 
 and last impression of Athens is that the famous " city of 
 the violet crown " is the dustiest capital in Europe. 
 Clouds of dust envelop you as you drive up from the 
 station to your hotel, and the first person whom you meet 
 on the doorstep is a functionary armed with a huge feather 
 brush, who flicks the particles of white dust off your feet 
 before you are permitted to enter the hall. In fact, in 
 all the hotels in Athens it is the sole business of one of 
 the attendants to stand in the doorway, feather-brush in 
 hand, and give the visitors a dusting whenever they come 
 in from the town. There is very Httle rain in Attica, and 
 the watering carts, efficient though they are, cannot really 
 moisten the dry and glistening soil. Besides, water is a 
 luxury in Greece. The classic river Ilissus, with its 
 pleasant associations of Plato and Socrates, does not for a 
 considerable portion of the year contain a drop of water, 
 and sitting in " Paradise " — the name of a riparian restau- 
 rant — I could not detect a particle of moisture in the bed 
 of the classic stream, which, according to an English poet 
 who had never seen it, ^' rolls " its waters to the sea. No 
 grassy banks, such as Plato has described in a memorable 
 passage, invite philosophic dialogue now, just as at 
 Kolonos the ivy has disappeared since the days of 
 Sophocles. Of all cities that I know, Athens is the most 
 destitute of trees. In the King's garden alone, to which 
 the public are admitted, it is possible to find refreshing 
 shade and listen to the "Attic bird." But the cost of 
 watering the Royal pleasure-grounds must be very great, 
 
 257 S 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 and when the first Queen, Amalia, of Greece attempted to 
 plant the slopes of Lycabettus, a hole had to be blasted 
 for each tree and earth put into the place, where it was 
 hoped the sapling would grow. Standing on the Akropolis, 
 you survey a barren tract of land on every side of the city 
 which lies at your feet. Attica can never be fertile, and 
 will always preserve that " light soil " which Thucydides 
 ascribed to it. 
 
 But the Greek capital cannot fail to be one of the most 
 amusing places to visit, quite apart from its classical trea- 
 sures and associations. No one, of course, can defend the 
 taste of the German architects, who laid out modern 
 Athens on the model of Munich, and planted a brand-new 
 European city by the side of the majestic ruins of antiquity. 
 The wide streets, entirely destitute of shade, make the town 
 in summer a veritable inferno, while the glare from the 
 white marble houses is most trying to the eye. But Athens 
 is par excellence the Paris of the East. There are the 
 same cafes and kiosques, there is the same brightness 
 about the shops and streets — of course on a much smaller 
 scale. Just as at Corfu Italian, so here French is the 
 most serviceable language after Greek, and one newspaper 
 actually appears in the French tongue. But the Greeks 
 are much more amusing than the French, and to my 
 mind their daily papers — of which there are thirteen in 
 Athens and the Pira3us — are much better written than 
 any with which I am acquainted elsewhere. Some of the 
 articles on the late Mr. Gladstone, for example, were 
 models of style and good taste ; and in enterprise the 
 Athenian journalists are not far behind those of the West. 
 After the dulness of Sofia and Belgrade, Athens is bright- 
 ness itself, and, having seen it under all aspects, I have 
 always found it fascinating and interesting. 
 
 On my first visit I had the good fortune to witness the 
 Easter celebrations, the most remarkable festival of the 
 
 258 
 
in the Near East 
 
 whole year in Greece. For the entire Greek people — or 
 what is practically the same thing, all those who belong 
 to the Greek Church — take part in the ceremonial, from 
 the highest to the lowest, from the Prime Minister and 
 his colleagues down to the rough shepherds of Hymettos, 
 who come into Athens, each from his lonely sheep-walk, 
 for the occasion. The function began on Thursday night 
 with what is here called the reading of '^the twelve 
 gospels," that is to say, the three chapters of each of the 
 four Gospels which describe the sufferings of our Lord, 
 and which are read in as many languages as possible. 
 It takes about three hours to read these chapters through, 
 and all the time the churches both at Athens and the 
 Piraeus were full of people listening to the narratives of 
 the Evangelists. When I went out on Good Friday 
 (" Great " Friday, as the Greeks call it) morning I found 
 that the streets had been gaily decorated, and that booths 
 for the sale of wax candles and Bengal lights — phosphdra, 
 as the Greeks call them — were being erected in the 
 neighbourhood of the old bazar. Countrymen could 
 be seen in all directions, each carrying a lamb on his 
 back or in his arms, usually in a position which must 
 have been most uncomfortable for the poor beast. The 
 demand for lambs is enormous at that time, for at the 
 Paschal festival each Greek household — or if it be too 
 poor, two families combined — roasts a lamb in the open 
 air, just as the Jews were bidden to do in the Book 
 of Exodus ; and preparations were made in the back- 
 yard of our hotel for the event. The animal's carcase 
 is spitted on a long pole and turned by a wooden 
 handle over a slow fire, while a man stands over it and 
 bastes it. On this occasion the earthquakes had made 
 the people even more observant of religious ceremonies 
 than usual. As I was in the cathedral about half-past 
 eight on Good Friday evening watching the grand 
 
 259 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ceremony, there came a sudden trembling all over the 
 ground, and the whole building shook like an aspen leaf 
 in the wind. Immediately the congregation, which had 
 crowded into the cathedral from all parts of the town, 
 shouted aloud in terror, completely drowning the voices 
 of the priests, and a panic ensued such as might easily 
 have been fatal. I was standing about five yards from 
 the late M. Tricoupis, the then Greek Premier, and I could 
 not help admiring the coolness with which the Prime 
 Minister stood the shock. His face never moved a muscle, 
 and while his excited compatriots were rushing towards 
 the door he remained perfectly still, calm and collected, 
 and holding the lighted taper which, like the rest of the 
 worshippers, he had in his hand. It was said of M. Tri- 
 coupis by his countrymen that his fourteen years' residence 
 in England had made him almost an Englishman, and he 
 certainly possessed that reserved manner and absence of 
 emotion which are supposed to be characteristic of our 
 race. The example which he and those near him set the 
 rest of the people in the cathedral had its effect, and quiet 
 was restored so that the service could be concluded. 
 Had the roof collapsed, as it might have done, great 
 indeed would have been the disaster, worse even than 
 that which a few days earlier had destroyed the little 
 town of Atalante. 
 
 After the services were over in the various churches, 
 at nine o'clock there were processions following the cross 
 through the streets to the Place de la Constitution, which 
 is the principal square of the city, and in which the King's 
 Palace and all the most central hotels are situated. I ran 
 on in front of the chief procession and mounted the 
 balcony of my hotel so as to obtain a good view of it as it 
 passed by. The whole square seemed ablaze with lights, 
 for almost every one was carrying a taper, and the chil- 
 dren were letting off Roman candles, while the large 
 
 260 
 
in the Near East 
 
 houses and hotels were brilliantly illuminated with red 
 and green fires. There were the officers and soldiers of 
 the Greek army in their full-dress uniform, with their 
 orders and decorations ; the people from the country in 
 their picturesque national dress, and sightseers in the more 
 sombre garb of Western Europe. As the several pro- 
 cessions filed along it seemed quite a fairy scene, though 
 every now and then a slight motion of the earth beneath 
 reminded us that even Athens has its disadvantages as a 
 place of residence. 
 
 But the excitement in Athens during the earthquakes 
 was nothing to that during the war. If the pedantic 
 historian Fallmerayer had been alive and in Athens then 
 he would have had to reconsider his famous decision, that 
 the modern Greeks had no claim to be the descendants 
 of the ancient Hellenes. No one could have been there 
 at that eventful moment in the national history without 
 recognising at once in the crowds of people who thronged 
 the Place de la Constitution every evening all those 
 characteristics which Aristophanes noted long ago in 
 his comedies, and which the author of the Acts of the 
 Apostles summed up in that memorable description of St. 
 Paul's speech upon Mars' Hill. Last year, as in those 
 days, it was true that "all the Athenians and strangers 
 which were there spent their time in nothing else but 
 either to tell or to hear some new thing." The large 
 square in front of the Palace, which is to modern Athens 
 what the agord was to the Athens of the golden age, was 
 crammed with thousands of persons of all nationalities and 
 of every garb, all discussing one thing — the war. For 
 the war, disastrous as it was for the country, had at any 
 rate enabled the Greeks to realise to the full their beau- 
 ideal of existence — to drink coffee and talk politics. 
 Black-coated citizens of Athens jostled red-shirted Gari- 
 baldians, armed to the teeth, and carrying all their 
 
 261 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 cooking utensils upon their backs, as if they were 
 about to start for the front at a moment's notice. 
 ItaHan Socialists in fierce sombreros might be seen by 
 the side of the cvzonoi or riflemen, dressed in the national 
 costume. A corps of French volunteers was easily dis- 
 tinguished among the crowd by its white helmets and 
 the yellow facings of its uniform. Then there were wild- 
 looking shepherds from Acarnania and ^tolia, clad in 
 sheepskins or rough frieze coats, and affording a great 
 contrast to the dapper denizens of the Rue d' Hermes 
 or the Rue du Stade. Here and there you might see the 
 dark blue and scarlet dress of an English nurse and the 
 bandaged head of a Greek soldier, back from fighting in 
 the trenches of Thessaly. 
 
 Every quarter of an hour a fresh yell was heard, and 
 a fresh army of newspaper boys invaded the square, 
 shrieking out the latest editions of the newspapers. 
 From early morning to midnight the air was filled 
 w^ith the shouts of newsvendcrs urging the rival merits 
 of the AkropoUs, the Paliggenesia, the Asty, and the 
 Ephemeris. I witnessed every afternoon a most diverting 
 race by some score or more newsboys to which Fleet 
 Street, even at the hour of ^' extra specials," could show 
 no parallel. One day a poor little fellow, exhausted with 
 his labours, fell down at the end of his race, and was 
 soon sleeping from sheer physical fatigue over his bundle 
 of half-sold papers. Buyers were as keen as the sellers, 
 and the inhabitants devoured the journals. Sometimes 
 a demagogue would collect a little knot of people round 
 him and read aloud his favourite organ with comments 
 as he read. Those two months were, indeed, a splendid 
 time for the Athenian newspapers ; in fact, theirs was the 
 only trade that prospered during the crisis. If you saw 
 an excited crowd in the streets, you might be sure that 
 one of two things was happening — either a body of 
 
 262 
 
in the Near East 
 
 soldiers was passing or a new edition of some newspaper 
 was just coming out ! Newspapers and soldiers, politics 
 and the war — such was Athens then. The waiter who 
 served your coffee stopped to asked your views or air his 
 own on the latest action of the Ministry, and when the 
 news of Domoko arrived, as we were at dinner, the whole 
 staff of our hotel rushed out into the square to discuss 
 the situation. Every bootblack who cleaned your shoes 
 for a halfpenny was ready with his opinion on the 
 King's position, and the newspaper boys actually read as 
 they ran the leading articles in their own organs ! No 
 matter how sensational or how improbable might be the 
 news from the front, people read it, provided only that is 
 were new. As for criticism, every one in the square was 
 a critic, and only one person was above criticism. That 
 one person was General Constantine Smolenski, who was 
 the man of the moment. But, with the sole exception of 
 the redoubtable Smolenski, every military authority was 
 keenly and minutely criticised by civilians, who had 
 never seen a shot fired in anger. There was a 
 moment when the excited mob of the square, one 
 side of which is formed by the long block of the 
 Palace buildings, only wanted a signal to burn the 
 Royal residence down in their fury against their 
 sovereign. But astute managers of the crowd saved 
 the situation by drawing off the people into other 
 parts of the city, and a revolution was averted. 
 
 It is a profound political mistake for the ruler of a 
 small and intensely excitable capital to reside in the very 
 centre of all public agitation. The Palace at Athens is 
 always at hand to give point to the revolutionary ravings 
 in which any demagogue of the square may choose to 
 indulge, and there is not even a railing to keep the people 
 from surging, as they did one critical day, on to the Palace 
 steps. The rulers of modern Greece in their desire to be 
 
 263 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 seen by their people have forgotten the salutary advice of 
 the old Athenian philosopher, who warned the Sovereign 
 of a small Greek State not to make his appearance too 
 often, but to live somewhat aloof from the disputes of the 
 agora. Here, however, all the public discontent and all 
 the demagogic criticism of the city are focussed in the 
 square right under the windows of the Palace, and last 
 year the result might have been a repetition of the scenes 
 which took place in 1843 and 1862, during the reign 
 of King Otho and at the close of that misunderstood 
 Monarch's sovereignty. But this intense centralisation 
 of everything in one spot, just as in the glorious days of 
 ancient Athens, has a picturesque effect which no other 
 capital in Europe can show. The Place de la Constitution 
 is thus, at all times, the great stage on which the drama 
 of Athenian life is played. Every evening, after the pre- 
 liminary afternoon performance at coffee-time, the curtain 
 goes up, as it were, for a fresh performance, and the 
 same persons come forth to play the same parts. It is an 
 amusing spectacle for the stranger, but it has its pathetic 
 aspect too. 
 
 But during the war there was pathos everywhere. 
 The city was not only a hospital for the wounded, but a 
 refuge for the destitute. While every street reeked of 
 iodoform, almost every boat brought in fresh bands of 
 miserable Thessalians to swell the number of the 
 Cretans already scattered about Greece. Soup kitchens 
 were organised for the relief of the destitute Cretans both 
 in Athens and at the Piraeus. At one of these kitchens I 
 witnessed the daily dole of pildf, soup and rice, to 763 
 Cretan refugees, whose gratitude was quite touching 
 to behold. The Cretan exiles were, for the most part, 
 women and children, whose looks belied the popular 
 conception of Cretan ferocity. The children were 
 merry little things, many having bright blue eyes and 
 
 264 
 
in the Near East 
 
 fair hair, which made them far more Hke EngHsh 
 children than the juvenile Greeks of Athens. Several 
 of the Cretan women were strikingly beautiful, and the 
 whole colony seemed much more lively and jolly than 
 could have been expected under the circumstances. But 
 that is your Greek's way. His brief fit of dejection passes 
 quickly by like a shower of rain in Attica, and defeat 
 makes as temporary an impression upon him as the rain- 
 drops on the dusty streets of Athens. Soldiers returned 
 from the front as if they had not been defeated, and the 
 children of houseless and homeless refugees played hide- 
 and-seek as if they had lost nothing by the disasters of 
 the war. One of the Cretan exiles whom I interviewed 
 was an ex-editor, who was reduced, poor fellow, to 
 cooking his very scanty meal with his own hands. 
 The Greek Government had provided the Cretans 
 with shelter in schools, barracks, and any other public 
 building that was not a hospital, and there the exiles 
 could be found with their scanty household gods, one 
 family being sometimes separated from another by 
 nothing more substantial than a row of school benches, 
 which formed an impromptu wall of partition. The 
 Government gave the Cretans bread, but for all else 
 they depended upon either private benevolence or any 
 small means they might themselves possess. At the 
 Government soup kitchens they had to pay ten leptdy 
 or about Jd, for the bowl of pildf ; at the private establish- 
 ments of the same kind the soup was entirely free, and 
 was distributed by means of tickets and vouchers in the 
 most methodical manner. The ladies of Athens, in spite 
 of the libels upon them in some quarters, were indefatig- 
 able in their labours, both in the hospitals and at the 
 soup kitchens, and I witnessed the touching sight of one 
 Greek lady, herself an exile from Smyrna, presiding over 
 one of the latter with consummate business ability. Others, 
 
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Travels and Politics 
 
 who could not well give time or money, contributed the 
 equivalent of both. Thus, the Athenian cabdrivers 
 always made a reduction of one-quarter of their fare 
 for all those engaged in the soup kitchens, while the 
 Railway Company gave free passes to the members 
 of the Committee and their assistants. In fact, the 
 whole Athenian community did what it could, at the 
 cost of considerable personal sacrifices, for those who 
 had suffered from the events of the previous few 
 months. 
 
 The scenes in the hospitals were as strange and as sad 
 as the spectacle of all these thousands of refugees. The 
 wounded, among whom were men of all nationalities — 
 Greeks, Italians, English, Austrians, and Danes — were 
 united by a common suffering, and all equally delighted 
 to see a visitor. The English nurses won golden opinions 
 and broke not a few hearts with their ^^ angelic faces" 
 and ^^ pre-Raphaelite features," and soon learned enough 
 Greek to make their patients understand their orders. 
 So soon as the Greek patients recovered, their first desire 
 was for newspapers and cigarettes — those two things 
 which form the Hellenic ideal of paradise on earth. 
 Chloroform was very sparingly used, only for the gravest 
 operations ; for the Greeks have the greatest dislike of 
 anaesthetics, and can undergo extreme torture without 
 showing a sign of pain. In all my visits to the hospitals 
 I only heard of one case in which the patient cried out 
 under an operation. Yet in some of the Greek hospitals 
 they had no operating theatre, but the surgeons did their 
 work on tables in the wards. The Crown Princess was 
 indefatigable in her rounds, though sometimes she 
 received the harshest welcome from the patients, who 
 could not forgive the Crown Prince the defeats of the 
 Greek arms. Thus, so the story went, she was kindly 
 commiserating the hard lot of a poor soldier who had 
 
 266 
 
in the Near East 
 
 lost a leg in action. ^^ I hope," she said, " that you will 
 soon get well again." ^' Yes," replied the man savagely, 
 ^' well enough to shoot your husband." Such barbarities 
 did not, however, prevent the ladies of the Royal Family 
 from doing a thousand acts of kindness to the sick and 
 wounded, and even an arch-Republican, after denouncing 
 the dynasty, made an exception in favour of the Crown 
 Princess, the goodness of whose heart he recognised. 
 One of the most interesting patients whom I saw during 
 my rounds was the young Greek girl from the neighbour- 
 hood of Lamia, who, after shooting ten Turks, was 
 wounded in two places, and lay at the Mavromichaelis 
 Hospital. Her name was Catherine Bassaropoulo, and she 
 was nineteen years old. When I congratulated her on her 
 courage her pretty brown face was covered with blushes, 
 and she hid her face in her pillow. There was absolutely 
 no reclame about her : she went to the war because her 
 brother, a small shopkeeper, had gone too, and she had 
 no parents with whom to stay. Another Amazon, who 
 escaped, however, unscathed, w^as Helena Constantinidou, 
 whose portrait adorned all the shop windows, and who 
 was standard-bearer of the Botzaris Division in Epirus. 
 She wore her hair down her back, but dressed in other 
 respects like a man. She soon found, however, that 
 the work w^as very fatiguing, and seemed not to have 
 done much. But the heroine of the hospital went a la 
 guerre comme a la guerre. It was curious to notice how 
 proud all the wounded were of their bullets. One 
 of them, a burly Montenegrin, handed me, when I 
 approached his bedside, a bottle of spirits containing a 
 piece of his bone with a bullet fixed in it. The nurse 
 said that he was never happy unless he could gaze at this 
 grim memento of the war. Down at the Daily Chronicle 
 hospital on the Bay of Zea lay the wounded volunteers, 
 most prominent among them Captain Birch, of whose 
 
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Travels and Politics 
 
 feats in the field the Greeks were never tired of talking ; 
 in the next bed was Mr. Jones, the famous football-player, 
 his knee fractured with a bullet, who told me with en- 
 thusiasm of the captain's bravery when the Turks were 
 upon him and his men, and added that he *' would not 
 have missed this war for anything." Hard by were a 
 number of wounded Garibaldians, ever bright and lively, 
 and distinguished from the Greek patients by the esprit 
 de corps which always prevailed among them. The one 
 wounded Turkish prisoner in the military hospital under 
 the Akropolis was the object of general interest and 
 attention. 
 
 Perhaps no place in Greece, not even Athens itself, 
 has undergone a greater change during the last sixty 
 years than the famous port of the ancient Athenians, the 
 spot which is associated in literature with the names of 
 Themistocles and Pericles ; the place to which Socrates 
 took that memorable walk commemorated in the opening 
 lines of Plato's " Republic " ; the source and centre of 
 the naval supremacy of the Athenian State. Now for 
 the first time for centuries the Piraeus is itself again, and 
 an eminent Athenian savant estimates that the harbour, 
 whose shores were a mere barren waste when King Otho 
 entered Athens in 1833, and whose very name was almost 
 forgotten, is now as prosperous and as populous as in the 
 days of Athenian greatness of which Thucydides has 
 given us such a striking account. Always busy, the 
 Piraeus was last year the scene of perhaps the most 
 exciting events of that stirring drama, the Greco-Turkish 
 war. The port was crowded in every nook and corner 
 with the steamers of the Greek merchant fleet, which the 
 Government had requisitioned for the transport of troops 
 and the service of the sick. At one quay you might see 
 a vessel, flying the Hellenic flag, and taking on board a 
 number of red-shirted Garibaldians, all of them tres boiis 
 
 268 
 
in the Near East 
 
 cameradeSy and singing and laughing as they marched up 
 the gangway that led to Domoko and, it might be, death. 
 At another quay hard by, a steamer, the Thessalia, on 
 which in happier days I had made pleasant voyages 
 among hyacinthine isles and over summery seas, was 
 unloading her cargo of wounded Greeks, fearfully cut 
 about the head by fragments of Turkish shells — those 
 shells which M. Delyannis had vainly declared " would 
 not explode," — Italian volunteers, with their legs muti- 
 lated and their red shirts rent in pieces, and here and 
 there an Englishman, who had proved by his broken 
 arm and bandaged side that the spirit of Cochrane and 
 Church still lived among their compatriots. It was a 
 ghastly sight to see these poor fellows borne out on 
 stretchers in the fierce noontide sun of Attica, and 
 slowly drawn in landaus to the hospitals of the Piraeus. 
 But sadder still was the spectacle of those, for whom the 
 Piraeus hospitals had no room, and who were accordingly 
 conveyed to the railway station, and there laid on the 
 floor of the booking office or on the platform itself till 
 the train was ready to convey them up to the Theseion 
 Station at Athens. Arrived there, they had another hot 
 drive before them, for covered ambulances were not to 
 be found, and happy was the man who could find a 
 friend to cover his eyes with a handkerchief from the 
 fiery glare of the Athenian streets. 
 
 But the Piraeus had other sights to show hardly less 
 pathetic than the arrival of the wounded soldiers. The 
 place was swarming with the refugees from Thessaly, 
 whom the terror of the Turkish advance had driven in 
 hundreds from their once peaceful villages and home- 
 steads. One girl was seized with such alarm at the mere 
 approach of the Turks, that she contracted a nervous 
 complaint, which prevented her from lying still on her 
 bed for a moment. But the transport of these poor 
 
 269 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 creatures was no easy work. Colonel Le Mesurier, the 
 Duke of Westminster's agent, who was engaged with a 
 Committee of Greek gentlemen in this task, told me some 
 heartrending stories of the rush on board the vessels — 
 how mothers were separated from children and children 
 from mothers in the struggle for a passage, and how those 
 who were left behind piteously implored the aid of those 
 more fortunate refugees who had been taken on board. 
 In one case three babies were abandoned by accident on 
 the quay, and the steamer, with their three mothers on 
 board, departed without them. The next ship which 
 started took the three children in charge, and the kind- 
 hearted captain kept and fed them in his cabin until they 
 reached the Piraeus. A search for the mothers there 
 proved fruitless ; but the captain, nothing daunted, 
 handed the three babies over to a compassionate priest 
 during his stay in port, and then at his departure once 
 more took them into his cabin, and scoured the seas in 
 pursuit of their mothers. On a rocky island, where a 
 band of fugitives had been temporarily landed, he 
 discovered the three mothers by dint of the bellman's 
 efforts, and mothers and children were once more united, 
 to their mutual delight. Such incidents were of common 
 occurrence during that terrible time, and not a vessel 
 arrived at the Piraeus without its human tragedy. 
 
 But the harbour was not occupied by transports alone. 
 There were moored by their sterns to the quays number- 
 less caiques from the islands, whose owners, clad in the 
 baggy, dark-blue trousers of the ^gean mariners, were 
 driving a good trade in the wares of the Levant. They 
 had all converted the sterns of their boats into improvised 
 counters, on which were displayed white amphorae of 
 classic shape, such as the Caryatides might have carried, 
 piles of oranges and lemons and strings of onions, care- 
 fully plaited by the sailors. All around was a babel of 
 
 270 
 
in the Near East 
 
 tongues, and almost every nationality, except the Turkish, 
 was represented there. The cafe chantani, which greeted 
 one with flaming advertisements of its attractions, in 
 Greek and Russian, French and English, Italian and 
 German, was a veritable national concert, quite as in- 
 harmonious as that of the Powers. The native of the 
 Pir8eus speaks all languages badly ; the pure Attic of the 
 Athenian editors is very different from the jargon here. 
 Up in the town, which has now out-distanced Syra, and 
 become the successful rival of Patras, business of all sorts 
 is brisker than elsewhere at present. There are tanneries 
 and engine works, cloth mills and flour mills, and withal 
 the nucleus of a very big commercial town. One day, if 
 Greece becomes a well administered country, of which 
 there are signs at this moment, the Piraeus and Athens 
 will join hands and form one great city. Even now, 
 although there is a great gap of open country between 
 them, the communication between the two towns is 
 almost uninterrupted. Trains every half-hour unite the 
 capital and its busy port, and the extension of this local 
 line by means of a tunnel, which recalls our under- 
 ground railway, three years ago, has greatly increased the 
 traffic. It may seem somewhat of a sacrilege to descend 
 into a railway station just below the ruins of the Theseion, 
 which gives its name to the stopping-place. But it is the 
 peculiar characteristic of Athens to place the very old 
 and the very new in the closest proximity, without that 
 intermediate mediaeval transition which one has at Rome. 
 The steam tram to Phaleron, again, is not a beautiful 
 object viewed from the Akropolis, but it enables the jaded 
 Athenians, choked with the dust and dazzled with the 
 glare, which are the two plagues of the Greek capital, to 
 escape in a few minutes to the bracing air of the sea- 
 shore, where the beginnings of a fashionable watering- 
 place are growing up. For Phaleron, if at present it 
 
 271 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 somewhat resembles a French plage en creation^ will one 
 day be the Brighton of the ^gean, the Athens-on-Sea of 
 the future. Even now it shares with the suburban retreat 
 of Kephisia, on the slopes of Pentelikon, the affections 
 of well-to-do Athenians, who want a change from the 
 monotonous whiteness of the Boulevard de TUniversite. 
 But before Phaleron can become a fine watering-place 
 and the Piraeus a Liverpool of the Levant, Greece must 
 possess a sound and practical Administration, which will 
 bring order into the national finances, put an end to the 
 existing forced paper currency, and spend money on such 
 important things as docks and roads and better railway 
 communication with ^^ Europe." 
 
 Of all the excursions to be made from Athens, that to 
 the battlefield of Marathon is by far the most interesting. 
 Salamis has now been converted into a prosaic quaran- 
 tine station, where passengers from Constantinople may 
 gaze at the throne of Xerxes without being allowed to 
 land and visit it, while Levsina gives one but little idea of 
 what the ancient scene of the Eleusinian mysteries must 
 have been. But Marathon has not greatly changed, I 
 imagine, since that memorable day, nearly 2,400 years 
 ago, when the fate of the world was decided on that 
 unostentatious plain. A high archaeological authority in 
 Athens even maintained to me, that the mound, which 
 we see there now, is the identical heap of earth which 
 was raised over the bodies of the Athenian soldiers 
 who fell there in 490 B.C. Some recent excavations 
 have made a hollow in one side of the mound, which 
 has been worn bare and flat at the top, save for a 
 few shrubs. When I ate my lunch in the hollow, the 
 sides of the mound were covered with poppies, and the 
 fxapaOog, or " fennel," which gave its name to the place, 
 was most abundant. The plain all around was covered 
 with vineyards, which produce an excellent white wine, 
 
 272 
 
in the Near East 
 
 sold every year to the proprietors of the Grand Hotel in 
 Paris — a strange fate for the ancient battlefield. I saw 
 this vintage being poured into huge casks at a neigh- 
 bouring winepress. Patches of olive trees and fig trees 
 and pieces of corn-land were scattered here and there 
 among the plots of vines, while a solitary crab-apple tree 
 stands at the foot of the mound and keeps watch, like a 
 sentinel, over the dust of the Greeks, who died on the 
 plain all these centuries ago. I found the owner of the 
 winepress at Marathon a very pleasant person, who knew 
 a little English, and was delighted to have an oppor- 
 tunity of airing it. Having been at Constantinople at the 
 time when the British fleet was ordered to Besika bay, 
 he spoke wdth much admiration of our admiral, and took 
 great pains to explain to us the pressing of the grapes 
 in autumn. As his men poured the wine into the casks, 
 he chalked upon the wall of the house the number of 
 jugs which each cask contained, and insisted upon our 
 sampling his vintage — which was very fair, though mixed 
 with resin of course, as most of the Greek wine is, and 
 therefore very bitter for English palates. 
 
 The road from Athens to Marathon was the scene of 
 one of the last great acts of brigandage in Greece. Our 
 driver pointed out the exact spot on the estate of Pikermi 
 where Lord Muncaster and his party were captured in 
 1870. The tragic fate of three of the captives who 
 were shot by the robbers is still remembered in Athens, 
 where their graves are to be seen in the quiet cemetery . 
 A similar incident occurred near Lamia just three years 
 ago ; and even before the war the Thessalian frontier 
 was pronounced unsafe and travellers could not cross it 
 without an escort of soldiers. I remember the amusing 
 disclosures during the trial of a Thessalian deputy, 
 which called public attention to the state of things in 
 that province in 1894. It came out in evidence, that 
 
 273 T 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the spoil taken by the Thessalian brigands was to be 
 divided into three equal shares — one for the brigands, 
 one for the deputy and his two brothers who were 
 local functionaries, and one for the Church. As the 
 brigand deputy was a supporter of the then Prime 
 Minister, a large amount of capital was made out of this 
 trial by the Opposition newspapers. On the other side 
 frantic efforts were made to secure an acquittal, and after 
 a very long inquiry the accused were acquitted. Since 
 the war Thessaly, which from the days of Apuleius has 
 been the classic home of brigandage, is naturally less safe 
 than it was, for after every war in the Balkan Peninsula the 
 discharged soldiers on both sides invariably take to 
 brigandage. Owing to the low price of rifles in Athens 
 last year and to the raid upon the gunsmiths' shops, acts 
 of this kind were recorded quite close to Athens itself ; 
 but in ordinary times the whole of Greece, with the ex- 
 ception of the Thessalian frontier, is perfectly safe. For 
 the traveller in the country districts the savage dogs are a 
 far greater annoyance than any brigands. I have never 
 met such noisy and truculent brutes as the Greek sheep- 
 dogs, and the first act of a visitor on approaching a 
 village is to arm himself with a handful of stones with 
 which to repel the attacks of these ferocious animals. In 
 this respect, as in so many others, life in Greece is just 
 what it was in the Homeric times. 1 once heard a story 
 of a dragoman who drew his revolver in self-defence and 
 shot one of his canine assailants dead on the spot ; but as 
 he was fined ;^8 as compensation to the owner, he did 
 not repeat the experiment. 
 
 Even Thessaly, bad as its reputation for brigandage has 
 been in the past, may be expected to improve, now that 
 the Greeks have learned by bitter experience how valu- 
 able a province they would have lost had the Turks been 
 allowed to retain it. During the Greek occupation of 
 
 274 
 
in the Near East 
 
 that naturally fertile region between 1881 and 1897, 
 comparatively little had been done for it, beyond the 
 construction of two lines of railway. The managing 
 director of those lines, with whom I travelled up to Volo 
 on the same steamer that took the first batch of refugees 
 — mostly small tradesmen — back to their homes, was 
 very emphatic on the possibilities of the province. If 
 only he could induce the canny Scot to come out and 
 settle there instead of emigrating to the Blantyre High- 
 lands, he thought that the land could be developed to a 
 marvellous degree. At that moment, however, when the 
 armistice had been barely signed, and the future of 
 Thessaly was doubtful, it was too soon to issue pro- 
 spectuses in Scotland. As we slowly steamed up the 
 magnificent Gulf of Volo, in which the navies of the 
 whole world could ride at anchor, we were stopped for a 
 few minutes by a Greek man-of-war, the Achelous, and 
 closely watched by a smart little Greek gunboat, while 
 one of the officers came on board and ascertained that 
 we were not carrying munitions of war. But that was 
 the sole obstacle to our course. As soon as we reached 
 the harbour we were permitted to go ashore, and, to my 
 great surprise, the Turkish officials, who had installed 
 themselves in an office, which still bore its Greek name, 
 did not even ask for our passports. Volo still presented 
 the appearance of an almost deserted town. Nothing 
 had been destroyed there by the Turks, and excellent 
 order prevailed in the streets. Indeed, the Turks be- 
 haved, on the whole, very well in Thessaly. But nearly 
 all the Greek inhabitants had fled, and closed their shops, 
 as if a plague had broken out in the midst of this once 
 busy town, the depdt of all the Thessalian trade. 
 Whole streets did not contain a single open shop, but 
 here and there a few tradesmen, more courageous or 
 less sensitive than their fellows, had recommenced busi- 
 
 275 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ness. The Hotel de France, a comfortable building, 
 with a pleasant vine-covered court in front of it facing 
 the bay, was occupied by a few Turkish oiBcers wearing 
 the red crescent on their arms, while a magnificent 
 zaptieh was sitting in the hall. One Greek to whom I 
 spoke was hard at work making walking-sticks as if 
 nothing had happened, and the town was once more 
 lighted by gas, which had been cut off when the inhabi- 
 tants had fled. In the streets and on the quay a few 
 Turkish soldiers were loafing about, all armed to the 
 teeth with rows upon rows of cartridges. The one 
 minaret, which marked the solitary mosque of the 
 Mussulman inhabitants of Volo under the Greek rule, 
 was flanked by Turkish flags, and a certain number of 
 Turkish officials had arrived to organise the place. 
 
 A short walk under a blazing sun brought me to the 
 house which the Turkish Governor, Envir Pasha, had 
 selected as the temporary seat of Government. Since the 
 Turkish occupation of Volo the post of Governor had 
 been filled by two different persons, according to the 
 usual Ottoman system of the constant removal of 
 functionaries. First Envir was appointed, then he was 
 removed, and then, on the complaint of such inhabitants 
 as remained, his successor had been replaced by Envir 
 again. Before the door of his house a heavily-armed 
 sentry was keeping guard, but no one prevented me from 
 walking inside, and in a moment I was ushered into the 
 presence of the Governor. Envir Pasha, a pleasant- 
 looking officer of about forty-five years of age, with dark 
 hair slightly tmged with grey, had just finished his 
 luncheon as I entered. He at once rose from his seat, 
 sent for cigarettes, and began to discuss the state of 
 affairs in fluent French and with great vivacity. He did 
 not seem to be greatly pleased with his position at 
 Volo, which exposed him to constant claims from the 
 
 276 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Greeks. He pointed out that to the Turks, who have 
 practically no fleet, the splendid Gulf was of no use 
 whatever, although to any great naval Power it would be 
 a considerable prize. Even in time of peace it is no 
 uncommon thing to have a British cruiser here, for the 
 station is a very favourite one of our fleet. The casual 
 traveller would gather as much from the signs over the 
 inns upon the quay. I came across such quaintly British 
 inscriptions here as the following : " H.M.S. Volcan's 
 Arme's (sic). All kinds of drinks sold at English prices." 
 The latter is not generally regarded as a great recom- 
 mendation by those who know what the Continental 
 scale of ^^ English" prices means. In Italy, to pay 
 all' inglese is equivalent to paying double ; but at Volo 
 they consider that Jack Tar will prefer to pay for his, 
 probably indifferent, grog the same figure as it costs him 
 at home. ^^ Different kinds of English drinking " is 
 another Voloesque expression, while the Prince of 
 Wales had given his name to a seaside inn. Another 
 place of entertainment advertised ^' dancing by English 
 girls." But perhaps the most curious piece of English 
 nomenclature at Volo is to be found in a street which 
 rejoices in the title of odbs Ogl. For a long time I 
 puzzled over this mysterious proper name Ogl in vain. 
 It sounded so strange after the classical designations of 
 the neighbouring streets, all called after some hero of the 
 Argonautic legend — for it was at lolkos, just above Volo, 
 that the Argonauts met, and it was ^'in the valleys of 
 Pelion, with all its waving foliage," that the pine trees 
 were felled to build that mythical barque which went in 
 quest of the golden fleece. ^* Street of the Argonauts," 
 ^'Street of Peleus," ^' Jason Street," "lolkos Street "—these 
 I recognised as old familiar friends of my schooldays, 
 which recalled memories of that opening passage of the 
 Medea which one had to learn by heart whenever one 
 
 277 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 was late for chapel. But what did odbs Ogl mean ? At 
 last I asked a Greek, who explained to me that this 
 strange word Ogl was intended for the name of the ill- 
 fated Times correspondent, Mr. Ogle, who was killed at 
 the village of Makrinica, outside Volo, just twenty years 
 ago. 
 
 These little villages, lying in the folds of Pelion, are the 
 great charm of the landscape here. They gleam out from 
 among the olive groves in the brilliant sunshine, and give 
 an aspect of peace and prosperity to this country which 
 it lacks at present. Under happier auspices one can well 
 imagine that Volo might be one of the finest towns in 
 the Near East. It has the great natural resources of 
 Thessaly, the granary of Greece, behind it. It possesses 
 ample space for more streets and bigger wharves, and 
 outside there are the most charming sites on the 
 mountain side for country houses. But it will be long 
 before Thessaly recovers even the degree of prosperity 
 which it had attained before the war. When the Turks, 
 without firing a shot, first left the country in 1881, the 
 Greeks said that they had ^^ cursed it before leaving." 
 Now that the Ottoman occupiers have for a second time 
 abandoned Thessaly, they have, as is natural after a war, 
 left it in an impoverished condition. But the Greek 
 Government may well be thankful that the only perma- 
 nant record of this second Turkish occupation is the set 
 of Thessalian stamps which the Porte issued just before 
 the evacuation, as a means of providing bakshish for the 
 unpaid soldiers of the Sultan. 
 
 278 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 GREECE : DEMOCRACY UNLIMITED 
 
 EVERY Greek is a born politician, and his idea of 
 politics is an absolute democracy, such as exists 
 in no other country of the Old World, and certainly not 
 in the United States of America. It is true that the 
 Hellenic people tolerates a monarchy, but it can hardly 
 be said to revere the monarch, and the chief reason for the 
 existence of the monarchical form of government among 
 the ultra-democratical institutions of Greece is, that if 
 there were a Republic every one would want to be the 
 President. The Venetians, who knew the Greeks well, 
 had a proverb which said, " Every five Greeks, six 
 generals." In a community such as this, where every 
 one imagines himself to be as good as his neighbour, 
 the people would never tolerate the elevation of a fellow 
 Greek, chosen by the popular vote, above their heads. So 
 the most sensible of them have come to the conclusion 
 of the late M. Thiers in France, that ^'the Monarchy 
 is the best of Republics." Last year it seemed, indeed, 
 for a moment, as if King George would have to abdicate. 
 Such was the sovereign's unpopularity at that crisis, that 
 his photographs and those of his family had disappeared 
 from the shop windows, and were carefully hidden 
 away by time-serving tradesmen in the drawers of their 
 counters, so as to be ready for the next turn in the tide of 
 popular opinion. A stranger arriving in Athens at this 
 moment, knowing nothing of the Greek Constitution, 
 
 279 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 might judge from what he saw and read that Greece 
 was governed by two men — Demetrios RhaUis and Con- 
 stantine Smolensk!. As for King George himself, he lay 
 perdu in his palace, while I saw his subjects deliberately 
 turn their backs on his Queen, as she drove through 
 the streets on her way to the hospitals, where the 
 wounded were patiently undergoing without the aid of 
 anaesthetics operations such as made the trained nurses of 
 Europe almost faint to witness. History, indeed, seemed 
 for a moment to be on the point of repeating itself, and 
 the second King of Greece to be about to share the fate 
 of his exiled predecessor. 
 
 The unpopularity of King George was not, as has been 
 imagined in Western Europe, entirely the result of the 
 recent Greek defeats. No doubt the impulsive and 
 illogical Hellenes, in the moment of their bitter dis- 
 appointment, cast about for a national scapegoat, and hit 
 upon the King. But the result of the war was merely 
 the last straw. No man, unless he be more than human, 
 could possibly reign for thirty-three years over a nation so 
 democratic and so critical as the Greeks without making 
 a certain number of enemies. Louis XIV. said with some 
 bitterness that every appointment he conferred made 
 him one ungrateful and twenty discontented subjects. 
 George I. might possibly agree with the Grand MonarqtLe, 
 only his subjects are a hundred times more critical than 
 ever were those of the great French King. Every Greek, 
 it must never be forgotten, from the moment he can talk 
 at all, examines according to his lights every daily act of 
 the Government. At first, of course, it was the fashion 
 to extol King George at the expense of King Otho, who 
 was in his way a considerable benefactor. Unlike his 
 successor, Otho always wore the national dress, even after 
 he ceased to be King. But as time went on it became the 
 custom to glorify the memory of the first King of Greece, 
 
 280 
 
in the Near East 
 
 whom, as we all know, the Greeks of 1862 very uncere- 
 moniously sent about his business. There were seasons, 
 it is true, when King George was very popular, as, for 
 example, on the occasion of the Olympian games and at 
 the coming of age of his eldest son. Of all members 
 of the Royal Family the Diddochos, as they call him, is 
 most unpopular. The people forget in their indignation 
 that a young Prince without experience cannot be 
 expected to develop the qualities of a great commander 
 by the simple act of putting on a uniform. One 
 regrettable event, which changed the whole course of 
 Greek politics, also added to the unpopularity of the 
 King. During the election campaign of 1895 a dead set 
 was made against the late M. Tricoupis, at that time 
 Prime Minister. M. Tricoupis was defeated at Misso- 
 longhi, retired from public life in disgust at the ingrati- 
 tude of his countrymen, and died at Cannes, far from the 
 land he had so much loved and to which he had devoted 
 his life. At once his followers raised the cry — unjusti- 
 fiable, of course, but none the less powerful on that 
 account — that the King had caused his fall, and that 
 upon the King it must be avenged. It so happened that 
 about that time there was a secret agitation against the 
 sovereign in a place where it might have been least 
 expected — in the household of the Crown Prince, 
 naturally without the knowledge of the latter, who sus- 
 pected nothing. It was the object of the conspirators to 
 make the King's position sufficiently difficult to force him 
 to resign in favour of his eldest son, in which case they 
 would have obtained place and power, and endeavoured 
 to make him their puppet. Their schemes were frustrated 
 by the war, for the Greeks will never prefer the Crown 
 Prince to his father after what then occurred. King 
 George might say to his eldest son what Charles II. said 
 to his brother when asked whether he did not fear his 
 
 281 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 own deposition : ^^ They will never depose me to make 
 you King." 
 
 Side by side with this conspiracy there was another and 
 far more formidable movement on foot. Every one in 
 Western Europe has heard since the recent troubles of 
 the Ethnike Hetairm in connection with the outbreak of 
 the war. But it is not generally known that, while the 
 ^' National Society " existed mainly and avowedly for the 
 propagation of the ^' Great Greek Idea" of territorial 
 expansion, it also fostered secretly, and even without the 
 knowledge of many of its own members, an anti-dynastic 
 propaganda. This latter object was sedulously kept 
 secret from the eminently respectable personages, the 
 well-to-do lawyers, the patriotic men of business, and 
 eminent men of letters, whose names were, so to say, 
 ^' on the direction " of the Society. They subscribed to 
 its funds under the impression that they were supporting 
 the great gospel of Hellenism, according to which the 
 Greek standard should once more wave over Constanti- 
 nople when a Constantine was King and a Sophia was 
 Queen. But the wire-pullers of the movement aimed at 
 the dynasty's destruction as well, and endeavoured 
 stealthily to divert the energies of the Society into this 
 very different channel. Meanwhile the Ethnike Hetairza, 
 elaborately organised in sections of twenty or thirty 
 members, was spread like a net all over the country. It 
 had its agents in all the Government ofBces, as was proved 
 when one evening an important secret official document 
 was published in a newspaper known to be in the con- 
 fidence of the Society. It had its emissaries in the Palace 
 itself, as the King learnt to his dismay when one morning 
 on entering his study, he saw on his table a large packet 
 of papers addressed to him by this mysterious body. In 
 vain he sought to discover the hand which had placed 
 the packet there ; but from that moment he recognised 
 
 282 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the power of this organisation, and began to make 
 inquiries about its aims and methods. 
 
 Then came the Cretan insurrection and the Turkish 
 War. That the King went to war voluntarily can hardly 
 be believed, though we may dismiss with incredulity all 
 the absurd stories about his pecuniary speculations at that 
 time, which, I was told in Athens, owed their origin to 
 the anti-dynastic party in Greece. But, well-informed as 
 he must have been by virtue of his family connections 
 abroad, the King had far better means than his subjects 
 of knowing that Greece would fight alone. Having once 
 yielded to the popular clamour for war, he became a 
 voluble exponent of the national enthusiasm. Sympathetic 
 and sensational journalists, who at that time abounded in 
 Athens, received his confidences, and the world witnessed 
 the ridiculous spectacle of the newspapers dictating the 
 policy of the nation ! It would, perhaps, have been 
 more dignified in the King to have resigned, rather than 
 advocate a policy which in his heart he could not have 
 approved. He did, indeed, tell M. Esslen, a well-known 
 lawyer, that if Greece considered his presence as contrary 
 to the national welfare, he was ready to leave the country 
 with all his family, rather than that a single drop of blood 
 should be shed oh his account. It may be remembered 
 that Leopold I., King of the Belgians, who might have 
 been first King of the Greeks, said the same thing to the 
 Belgian Republicans in 1848, and retained his throne to 
 the end of his days. But the stolid Belgians are easier to 
 govern than the nimble-witted Hellenes, and Leopold 
 was wise when he preferred Brussels to Athens. So 
 strong was the popular feeling against King George at 
 one moment during the war, that the Royal liveries were 
 actually altered from blue and white to a less striking 
 colour, so as not to excite hostile demonstrations against 
 members of the Royal Family. Queen Olga, in spite of 
 
 283 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 her great charity, has never been very popular ; for she is 
 a Russian, and the Greeks have no particular reason to 
 love the nation which has systematically pursued the 
 policy of keeping the Hellenic kingdom small. All the 
 Tsar's advocacy of Prince George's candidature in Crete 
 will scarcely obliterate this anti-Russian feeling from the 
 Greek mind. One incident narrated to me by an eye- 
 witness may be cited as a proof of the Queen's want of 
 tact in this matter. Two years ago, when a Russian 
 vessel was at Phaleron, she lunched and had herself 
 photographed on board, a compliment she had never 
 paid to any Greek vessel. The King has certainly more 
 tact than that. He knows his Greeks, and has taken 
 their measure tolerably accurately. He weathered the 
 storm of last year satisfactorily, and now has a chance 
 such as he has never had before. For this year a great 
 change has come over the public mind of Greece. The 
 Greeks are, indeed, always the same in temperament and 
 in character. But the disasters of the Thessalian and 
 Epirote campaign have not been without their lessons for 
 the vanquished, and it is pleasant for those who wish well 
 to Hellas, to find that at last there is a general and 
 apparently practical desire among the Greeks to set their 
 house in order and leave '^ the grand idea " for the present 
 to take care of itself. The extremely favourable issue of 
 the Greek loan, the evacuation of Thessaly by the Turks, 
 and the ample proofs, afforded by the war, that the whole 
 system of administration urgently needed reform and was 
 the cause, rather than any one man, be he king, com- 
 mander, or statesman, of the Greek collapse last year — all 
 these things have contributed to bring about the present 
 more satisfactory state of things. But of all the remark- 
 able contrasts between my two last visits, none is so 
 extraordinary as that which has taken place in the posi- 
 tion of the King. He, and he alone, this year occupied 
 
 284 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the columns of the Greek papers; his tour round the 
 Peloponnesus was the theme of every leading article and 
 every conversation — for in Greece all conversation hinges 
 on politics — and it is to him that the people are looking 
 for political and administrative salvation. Now, for the 
 first time in his reign, King George has his chance, and 
 it will be interesting to see what use he will make of it. 
 
 The cause of this sudden reaction was not merely the 
 mad attempt of two crack-brained wretches to take the 
 life of their sovereign, although the personal courage, 
 displayed by the King on that occasion, undoubtedly 
 counted for something with those who remembered the 
 Crown Prince's generalship in the war. A far more 
 potent reason for the King's present popularity was the 
 discovery that Europe would have done very little for 
 Greece in the council-chamber, and still less on the 
 Stock Exchange, if it had not been for the influential 
 relatives of the Greek ruler. King George, who is well 
 acquainted with the Greek character, has been shrewd 
 enough to lay special stress on this point in the speeches 
 that he has been delivering up and down the Pelopon- 
 nesus. For your average Greek, little as he cares for the 
 pomp and circumstance of Royalty, is fully alive to the 
 value of a dynastic connection which carries weight in 
 the money-markets of Europe. Besides, there is an 
 almost universal conviction among those Greeks, whom 
 I have met, that there is no party leader of sufficient 
 ability and force of character to give the country the 
 reforms which it urgently needs, and that in the general 
 lack of statesmen, which Greece shares with Italy, there 
 is no one to fall back upon but the King. Having met 
 all the most prominent Greek politicians of the day, I 
 must say that I do not discern among them a Cavour, a 
 Gladstone, or a Bismarck. In this respect Greece re- 
 sembles most other states at the present time, and it is 
 
 285 
 
M. DELYANXIS. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 remarkable that there, as in Italy, the people have become 
 somewhat disgusted with the politicians, and are anxious 
 to see the King govern as well as reign. 
 
 Since the death of M. Charilaos Tricoupis in the spring 
 of 1896, and, indeed, since his retirement from public life 
 a few months before that sad event, the political system 
 of Greece has been changed from a perpetual duel 
 between two statesmen to a state of chaos, in which one 
 looks with anxiety for a coming man. The removal of 
 his great rival left M. Theodore Delyannis master of the 
 field, with a large majority and no considerable rival ; and, 
 if it had not been for the war, he might be Prime Minister 
 now — an office which he has already held three times. 
 His opponents tell you that he is '^finished," but Greek 
 politicians are quickly rehabilitated, so that M. Delyannis 
 will, doubtless, be at the head of another Ministry before 
 he has done with politics. In point of experience, he is, 
 now that M. Tricoupis is gone, easily the first of living 
 Hellenic politicians. He told me that he had been fifty- 
 five years in public life, which he entered when M. Rhallis, 
 his successor, was only two years old. And M. Delyannis' 
 experience includes two years spent at the Greek Legation 
 in Paris, where another M. Delyannis, his first cousin once 
 removed, now holds sway, as well as the famous interlude 
 in the Congress of Berlin, when he and M. Rhangabe 
 were admitted to plead the claims of Greece, so tardily 
 recognised by Europe three years later by the cession of 
 Thessaly and part of Epirus. M. Delyannis ought, there- 
 fore, to know more about foreign affairs than any of his 
 rivals, for he has spent most of his life in transacting 
 business with the Great Powers. Until the recent crisis, 
 he used his experience of la haute politique to make him- 
 self the representative of Greek Jingoism as against the 
 more moderate and sober views of M. Tricoupis. In 
 season and out of season M. Delyannis, who had gained 
 
 287 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 great fame by the cession of Thessaly, proclaimed the 
 '^ great Greek idea/' and talked big about Byzantine 
 Emperors and the future of the Panhellenic race. It was 
 he who brought his country to the verge of war with 
 Turkey in 1886, and it was he, too, who in October, 1890, 
 was carried into office by the wave of excitement which 
 the Cretan question had created, a position from which 
 he was summarily dismissed by the King in March, 1892. 
 But during the late crisis M. Delyannis, who had learned 
 wisdom since 1886, was not at all warlike in his language 
 or his policy ; and, though much blamed by his fellow- 
 countrymen for the very inadequate state of the army, 
 certainly did not desire hostilities, but was forced into 
 them by public opinion. No doubt a strong man would 
 have stemmed the tide ; possibly, as some Greeks say, M. 
 Tricoupis could have done so. But M. Delyannis is not 
 a particularly strong man. Indeed, all his life he has been 
 the mere negation of his most prominent opponent for the 
 time being, and has never stood out as a positive factor 
 in the political equation. He lives very simply at a small 
 house in the Zeno Street, where I visited him, consoled 
 for his temporary eclipse by the society of his two nieces, 
 who keep house for him. Born in Arcadia, he is not by 
 any means a person of Arcadian simplicity. His personal 
 appearance is strongly suggestive of a very ruse old family 
 solicitor, whose white whiskers inspire awe and respect, 
 and whose words are carefully weighed. As a Parlia- 
 mentary tactician M. Delyannis is hard to beat, and his 
 tactics since his fall from office have been to ^^ lie low and 
 say nuffinV save when he compassed the defeat of M. 
 Rhallis just a year ago. He will talk to you most affably 
 about his relatives, but not a word about his relations 
 with the King. He comes of a large family, for he had 
 five brothers and two sisters, most of them, as he patheti- 
 cally says, ^^ now belonging to the past generation." He 
 
 288 
 
in the Near East 
 
 represents, with a nephew as his colleague, also called 
 Theodore like himself, the pocket constituency of the 
 family — Gortynia, in the Peloponnesus, which is quite 
 unassailable. He deplored in fluent French, learned at 
 Paris, his inability to talk English. For four long years, 
 he told me, he struggled manfully at our language. He 
 read English books and papers, attended Sunday services 
 at the English Church in Athens to accustom his ear to 
 the sound of our strange consonants, and at last hoped 
 that he had mastered the tongue. But a visit to London 
 shattered his hopes ; ^^ for," as he said with a smile, 
 ^' when I found that the cabmen could not understand 
 me, I abandoned the attempt to make myself intelli- 
 gible." A polite remark that the London cabman is not 
 the best judge of English failed to reassure the troubled 
 statesman, who regretted that we had adhered in our 
 schools and colleges to the Erasmian pronunciation of 
 Greek. M. Delyannis was the founder of a society in 
 Paris for encouraging the modern pronunciation of 
 ancient Greek, and hopes that Oxford and Cambridge 
 too will reform the existing method. A knowledge of 
 Aristophanes would then enable one to understand a 
 debate in the Bottle. 
 
 M. Demetrios G. Rhallis, who succeeded M. Delyannis 
 as Prime Minister during the critical period of the war, is 
 in most respects the opposite of his predecessor. Born in 
 Athens fifty-three years ago, M. Rhallis does not look much 
 more than forty. His wiry frame and the energy expressed 
 in the muscles of his face indicate that he possesses the 
 necessary physique for the task of government, and as he 
 speaks his bright blue eyes seem to look his visitor through 
 and through. He has been for twenty-seven years a 
 member of the Greek Parliament, during the whole of 
 which time he has represented Attica, without having 
 experienced a single electoral defeat. This unbroken 
 
 289 U 
 
M. KHALLIS. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 series of successes in his native district testifies to the 
 great local popularity of the man, although " Rhallism " 
 is not yet a great factor in Greek politics outside Attica, 
 M. Rhallis, who, like many other Greek deputies, is a 
 lawyer by profession, had not been long in the Boule 
 before he made his mark. At first he attached himself to 
 M. Tricoupis, and that statesman rewarded his abilities by 
 twice including him in his cabinets. But M. Rhallis 
 eventually found that the one-man rule of the " Greek 
 Gladstone " was not compatible with his own plans. He 
 accordingly seceded from his chief and formed a third 
 party of his own, consisting mainly of the members for 
 Athens and the neighbourhood, and numbering at the 
 last general election of 1895 some thirty votes out of a 
 total of 207. So long as M. Tricoupis was in office, his 
 former lieutenant combined with M. Delyannis, the chief 
 of the regular Opposition, to depose him. But when the 
 classic constituency of Missolonghi at last rejected the 
 most distinguished of Greek statesmen, and M. Delyannis 
 became Premier, M. Rhallis did not support his old ally 
 of the former Opposition. With the death of M. 
 Tricoupis, he saw that the field was open to a new man, 
 and began to develop a natural ambition for the Premier- 
 ship. Already in 1893 he had collaborated with M. 
 Sotiropoulos in forming a stop-gap Ministry, and when 
 the crisis of last year became acute, he saw his chance 
 and took it. Hastily seizing a rifle and donning a cart- 
 ridge belt, he left Athens, accompanied by a trusty 
 companion, to see for himself the condition of the army 
 at the front. The report which he brought back caused 
 an immense sensation and led to the downfall of the 
 Delyannis administration. Then M. Rhallis, to use his 
 own phrase — a phrase which has become historical — 
 informed his political friends that he was '^ the Prime 
 Minister clearly designated by events," and stepped into 
 
 291 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the coveted position. From having been a severe critic 
 of the King, he became the strongest supporter of his 
 Sovereign. On the critical occasion when the mob, 
 excited by the news of the Greek rout and eager to vent 
 its fury on the dynasty, stormed the steps of the Palace, 
 and seemed likely to set fire to the building, M. Rhallis 
 mounted on the box of a carriage, and harangued the 
 people with all the eloquence of which he is master, 
 urging them to be guided by his advice. The mob 
 listened, as it might have done to Alcibiades of old ^' com- 
 manding silence by the majesty of his gestures," and the 
 throne was saved. From that moment he became, for all 
 practical purposes, the Greek Government, and as one of 
 his admirers said, ^^ he had only to put his head out of 
 his window and address the people, and they would do 
 whatever he directed." But M. Rhallis informed me that 
 he had no intention of being, as MM. Tricoupis and 
 Delyannis were, the autocrat of his cabinet. He thought 
 that Greece had had enough of that system, and his aim, 
 he said, was to be simply a Minister like the other 
 Ministers, taking the advice of his colleagues, and formu- 
 lating the opinion of the whole cabinet. A confirmed 
 Liberal, his domestic programme was, and still is, 
 decentralisation, for he maintains that Greece is governed 
 on a far too highly centralised system, which does not 
 give full play to local government. That his tenure of 
 the Premiership, at perhaps the most critical period in 
 the nation's history, was successful, can hardly be denied. 
 His admirers proclaimed him a second Gambetta ; and 
 there certainly is a striking resemblance between the two 
 men. M. Rhallis, like the great French orator, was 
 brought into prominence by a disastrous war ; like 
 Gambetta, he has endeavoured to reorganise a van- 
 quished army and save a defeated nation. Like Gambetta, 
 too, he has all the arts of the popular speaker, though as 
 
 292 
 
in the Near East 
 
 a parliamentarian he is not the equal of M. Delyannis 
 with his more than half a century of public life behind 
 him. On the other hand, M. Rhallis' enemies accuse 
 him of lack of conviction, and say that he is too impres- 
 sionable. Some of them, going back to Aristophanes and 
 Thucydides for an analogy, pretend to have found in the 
 demagogue Cleon the prototype of the late Prime Minister. 
 Others, seeking inspiration from French literature, declare 
 that Sardou's Rabagas, the democrat turned Royalist, fits 
 M. Rhallis to the life. Personally, I regard him as a 
 naturally shrewd man of great powers of work, who is 
 fully aware that Greek democracy has not greatly changed 
 since the author of The Knights laughed at the foibles 
 of fickle Demos, enamoured of the sausage-seller. He 
 accordingly accepted his defeat last October with philo- 
 sophic resignation, and though many of his political 
 friends have deserted him, I found him when I revisited 
 him this year in his private office in the Boulevard de 
 rUniversite, hopeful for the future. He spoke with- 
 out the slightest animus of the German Emperor, whom 
 the Crown Princess Sophia is reported to have described, 
 not without reason, as '^a greater enemy than the Sultan" 
 to her adopted country. M. Rhallis expressed the opinion 
 that, from a German point of view, the Emperor had acted 
 very skilfully, and that the Kaiser's main objection to the 
 Greeks was that they had not paid their debts. He 
 claimed the success of King George's journey round the 
 Peloponnesus as a complete triumph for the policy which 
 he had advocated in 1893, and urged immediate reforms. 
 Like some other statesmen, he said that he was surprised 
 at the foreign policy of Great Britain, the weakness of 
 which he attributed to Lord Salisbury's health. Being 
 himself one of the few self-made Greek politicians, who 
 has made his way by his own push, he has naturally a 
 fellow-feeling for Mr. Chamberlain. For it is a curious 
 
 293 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 fact that in democratic Greece, where every one thinks 
 himself as good as his neighbour and every title, save the 
 simple Kvpiog, or ^' Mister/' and the old Venetian titles of 
 the Ionian Islands, is prohibited by the Constitution, the 
 system of keeping politics in the hands of a few old 
 '^ Revolution " families prevails no less than in Whiggish 
 England. Just as even our most advanced Premiers 
 always concede a certain number of offices as a matter of 
 course to the great Whig houses, so the descendants of 
 the men of 182 1 have still the lion's share of electoral 
 influence in Greece. This ^^ feudal system " of regarding 
 constituencies as family pocket-boroughs is much de- 
 nounced by Hellenic reformers, because, as they say, it 
 gives new men no chance, and it is certamly a curious 
 testimony to the influence of the hereditary principle that 
 in a country, which possesses no second chamber and no 
 aristocracy, an hereditary race of political leaders should 
 have sprung up. But even without this hereditary con- 
 nection, and in spite of his present diminished following, 
 I believe that M. Rhallis will ere long return to power, 
 though he may not be successful at the next appeal to the 
 country. But ere that, he must gain more influence out- 
 side the locality, which has shown the same confidence 
 in him that Birmingham has in his British prototype. In 
 one respect, however, M. Rhallis totally differs from Mr. 
 Chamberlain. The Greek ex- Premier is very democratic 
 in his attire. Not for him the pomp of the top-hat ; M. 
 Rhallis prefers the brown felt covering of the plain citizen, 
 which accompanied him in his Ministerial walks and 
 hung above him at Cabinet Councils, no less than in his 
 hours of private legal work. This hat was a very familiar 
 feature in Athens during the disturbances of last year, and, 
 at first, somewhat scandalised the foreign journalists, 
 accustomed to the top-hat of ^' European " states- 
 manship. But the democratic Athenians liked their 
 
 294 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Premier all the better, because he adhered to the headgear 
 which he had worn as a simple deputy. For a Greek 
 TTpwOvirovpyog must be like his fellow-citizens, and not seek 
 to add to his civic stature by the assumption of a black 
 silk "cylinder." 
 
 In one very important respect does a Greek Prime 
 Minister differ from statesmen who hold that exalted 
 position in England. He must be accessible in season 
 and out of season to all persons, who may desire to see 
 him on business — the nation's or their own. When I 
 used to interview M. Rhallis during the war, I was 
 amazed at the miscellaneous crowd of Greeks who 
 wasted his precious time. In Greece, the ordinary labours 
 of a Prime Minister, heavy as they are, are immensely 
 increased by the existence of that " spoils' system " with 
 which American democracy has made us familiar. 
 Whenever a new Government comes into office, its 
 advent is followed by a complete clearance of the civil 
 service, in order to provide posts for the political friends 
 of the incoming Minister. Even the poor creatures who 
 sweep out the public schools are dependent for their 
 bread upon the fate of Ministries in the Chamber of 
 Deputies at Athens. I have heard instances of librarians 
 and professors of archaeology being appointed, not for 
 their learning but for their political services. No 
 wonder that every Greek is a politician, and that the 
 general interest in the game of ins and outs never flags. 
 The mob of place-hunters killed a former President of 
 the United States, who after having endured for years a 
 diet of ''hard cider" in a log-cabin without injury to his 
 health, succumbed in a month to the ''hand-shakings" 
 of the W^hite House. So even the most robust of Greek 
 statesmen might well quail before the constant invasion 
 of followers, whose " claims " he cannot afford to forget. 
 The late M. Tricoupis, whose sister. Miss Sophie, did the 
 
 295 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ^^ hand-shaking " for him, frequently worked, when 
 Premier, fourteen hours at a stretch, and contented 
 himself with only four hours of sleep. But M. Rhallis 
 had on his shoulders in addition to the normal business 
 of the Premiership and the Ministry of Marine, which 
 he combined with it, the arduous labours of negotiating 
 terms of peace, the herculean task of providing for the 
 thousands of homeless Cretan and Thessalian refugees, 
 and the pressing necessity of disarming and discharging 
 the Garibaldians, whose presence in the excitable Greek 
 capital he justly considered a source of public danger. 
 So his ante-room used to present the strangest contrasts, 
 such as that of no other European statesman could show. 
 One day while waiting there, I had opposite me three 
 stalwart sailors, clad in the picturesque costume of the 
 ^gean Islanders — the baggy dark-blue trousers, the high 
 boots, the scarlet cap and the blue tassel which mark the 
 mariners of Psara, or Spetsai, or ^^ Hydra's isle," those 
 three bright gems of Greek naval story. One old fellow, 
 whose hair was white as snow, might well have fought 
 as a lad with Kanaris, against the Capitan Pasha, and his 
 fine profile recalled the picture of that great admiral in 
 The Nautical Almanack which formed almost the sole 
 ornament of the walls. Side by side were a priest of the 
 Greek Church and an Athenian deputy, the former clad 
 from head to foot in black, his dark eyes flashing as he 
 talked politics with his eminently modern neighbour, 
 who was dressed in the Western style and thoroughly 
 equipped with all the arts of lobbying. Petticoated cvzonoi 
 and shepherds of Hymettos, in their rough frieze coats 
 and tasselled tsaroiichia, with here and there an official in 
 naval uniform, formed picturesque groups. There was 
 a little knot of journalists from the various Western 
 capitals, and here and there an Athenian confrere, quite 
 convinced that he could take the Premier's place at a 
 
 296 
 
in the Near East 
 
 moment's notice and settle the business of the nation 
 with the same ease that he dashed off his dithyrambic 
 ^Meaders." Some of the Premier's visitors did not even 
 condescend to the formaHty of sending in a card, but 
 entered his sanctum when they felt inclined, quite heed- 
 less of the fact that some one else was interviewing the 
 Minister at the moment. It cannot be easy to transact 
 the business of a nation under such circumstances. 
 
 M. Alexandros T. Zaimis, M. Rhallis' successor in the 
 Premiership, is fortunate in that his lot has fallen upon 
 quieter times. M. Zaimis is what the Americans would 
 call ^^a distinguished father candidate," for he comes 
 of an eminent political family, as his father was also in 
 his time more than once Prime Minister of Greece, and 
 his grandfather was one of the heroes of the War of 
 Independence. Educated in Paris, where he sat at the 
 feet of Gambetta, he is a man of Western culture and 
 ideas, and, unlike many Greek politicians, possesses con- 
 siderable private means, which make him independent of 
 the spoils of office. Previous to his present appointment 
 M. Zaimis occupied the post of Speaker of the BoiUe, and 
 he preserves as a party-leader the judicial manner which 
 befitted his former office. The Greeks say of him that he 
 does not possess sufficient parliamentary eloquence for a 
 country which clings to the traditions of Demosthenes 
 and ^schines. The nephew of M. Delyannis, he does 
 not share that statesman's opinions, and although he was 
 regarded in the light of a stop-gap at the time of his 
 appointment, he has managed to remain in office for a 
 year, without committing any great mistake. When I 
 saw him at the Foreign Office, he struck me as an 
 excellent man of business, whose very quiet manner 
 particularly impressed me in this country of the orators. 
 He enjoys the confidence of the King, and, if not a 
 genius, has plenty of common sense. In appearance the 
 
 297 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Greek Premier is a short man, with greyish hair, whose 
 glasses give him a studious air. 
 
 M. Za'imis has been much assisted in the work of 
 reorganising Greece by M. Streit, the excellent Minister 
 of Finance, who acquired great experience as director of 
 the National Bank, and is one of those financiers from 
 whom King George, himself no tyro in money matters, 
 delights to choose his counsellors. Probably the best, and 
 certainly the most philosophic of Greek politicians, is M. 
 Deligeorgis, who may be the next Prime Minister. M. 
 Deligeorgis, who is the head of a small party, belongs, 
 like M. Zaimis, to a political family and lives in a large 
 house, which contains an admirable political library. 
 Like the Premier, he is quiet in manner, and his con- 
 versation is much more suggestive of wide political study 
 than that of the average politician. He has a firm grasp 
 of the situation and is one of the strongest advocates of 
 reform by means of the throne. Another sensible states- 
 man, M. Sotiropoulos, who was Premier for a short 
 time in 1893, I saw carried to his grave the day that 
 Mr. Gladstone died. 
 
 Among other Greek public men the most remarkable is 
 perhaps M. Constantine Karapanos, the member for Arta, 
 and leader of a small following, who has made a large 
 fortune, and lives in a palatial mansion of¥ the Rue du 
 Stade. M. Karapanos is generally regarded as the first 
 living authority on that mysterious subject Greek finance 
 — which no human being, except M. Tricoupis and M. 
 Streit, has ever thoroughly understood, while even M. 
 Tricoupis could never explain it satisfactorily to any one 
 else. M. Karapanos has succeeded so well in the 
 conduct of his own business that his admirers hope that 
 he will one day be equally successful in conducting that 
 of the nation. He was the chief critic of M. Tricoupis' 
 Budgets, and holds views on the most recondite questions 
 
 298 
 
tiEN'KRAL SMOLKXSKI. 
 (Minister of War.) 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of la haute finance. He is also an ardent archaeologist, 
 and it was he who excavated the remains of Dodona in 
 1876 at his own expense, subsequently publishing the 
 results of his labours in a quarto volume, entitled Dodone 
 et ses Rnines. Some critics assert that M. Karapanos is 
 handicapped by his large means in the race for political 
 honours — a charge which cannot be brought against 
 many Greek statesmen. 
 
 Although not a politician, General Constantine 
 Smolenski, the present Minister of War, is better known 
 to the world than any other Greek public man. During 
 the war, Constantine Smolenski was undoubtedly the 
 hero of all Greece. The King promoted him by a royal 
 decree to the rank of Lieutenant-General in recogni- 
 tion of his services, and the news was received with 
 the utmost satisfaction by a whole nation of admirers. 
 Every shop-window in Athens contained a portrait of the 
 popular commander ; even the tailors and dressmakers 
 included his picture among their fashion plates ; and 
 while there was not one single photograph of any member 
 of the royal family to be seen in the capital, the burly 
 form of Smolenski met you at every turn. There were 
 Smolenskis on horseback, riding over wreaths of laurel ; 
 Smolenskis crowned by a figure of victory ; busts of 
 Smolenski covered with medals and decorations ; and 
 full-length portraits of the national idol in a helmet of 
 gigantic dimensions, the plumes of which were waving in 
 the air. In the country it was just the same. At every 
 railway station the newsvendors did a brisk trade in 
 rough engravings of the Greek Napoleon at thirty leptd a 
 piece, and no rustic kapheneton was complete without at 
 least one image of the ^^ hero of Reveni and Velestino," as 
 his countrymen loved to call him. Listen to any conver- 
 sation in the streets, and you would hear the name of 
 Smolenski recurring with frequent, and almost damnable, 
 
 300 
 
in the Near East 
 
 iteration. In fact, compared with Smolenski, the redoubt- 
 able Colonel Vassos was nowhere, and the only person 
 who came anywhere near him in the popular estimation 
 was that Hellenic Joan of Arc, Helena Constantinidou, 
 who assumed male attire, and went forth, with her long 
 hair hanging down her back, as standard-bearer of the 
 army in Epirus. But even she was a very poor second to 
 Smolenski. One Saturday twenty thousand copies of a 
 penny biography of the great man were sold in Athens — a 
 large sale, seeing that one of the best Athenian papers, the 
 AMpolis, does not claim to have a larger circulation than 
 eighteen thousand a day. Yet a couple of months earlier the 
 very name of Smolenski was utterly unknown outside the 
 limits of Greece, and even in Greece itself there was some 
 doubt as to whether the proper spelling was Smolenski or 
 Smolenitz. 
 
 At the outset there was considerable discussion as to 
 whether the national hero was a Greek at all. His name 
 certainly is not Greek, and it was stated that his family 
 was of Bavarian origin ; in other words, an offshoot of 
 that nation whose Emperor was more hated in Athens 
 than even the Sultan himself, for as a Greek said to me, 
 nous detestons les alleniands plus que les turcs. However, 
 the Smolenski family has publicly stated that the name is 
 derived from Smola, a village in Macedonia which is 
 so-called from the smola or ^' tar " which is found there. 
 According to another version, the Smolenskis originally 
 came from Moschopolis, a Greek town in Macedonia 
 which was destroyed in the last century by the Albanians. 
 Constantine's grandfather fled to Vienna, and subse- 
 quently settled at Munich, where the present hero's 
 father, Leonidas, entered the Military Academy. When 
 the War of Independence broke out in 1821 Leonidas 
 Smolenski took part in the struggle, and after its con- 
 clusion married the daughter of an officer from the island 
 
 301 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of Naxos. By her he had two sons, the elder of whom is 
 member for the island of ^gina in the Greek Parliament, 
 and was Minister of War at the outbreak of the Cretan 
 disturbances — a post which is now cccupied by his 
 younger brother Constantine, who was born at Athens 
 on September 10/22, 1842, and has therefore just com- 
 pleted his 56th year. 
 
 After finishing his ordinary studies, young Smolenski 
 developed a great passion for a military career, following 
 the example of his father, who was a good officer, and 
 twice held the portfolio of Minister of War in the 
 Cabinets of M. Bulgaris and the late M. Zaimis. At the 
 age of fifteen he accordingly entered the Military 
 Academy at Athens, which, however, he soon left, in 
 consequence, it is said, of some juvenile indiscretions, 
 and proceeded to Brussels. After six years' study at the 
 Military School there he returned to Athens, and received 
 his commission in the Greek Artillery at the close of 
 1863, a moment when Greece had just welcomed King 
 George as her sovereign. Smolenski obtained his pro- 
 motion in the usual course, and the year 1868, which 
 witnessed the rupture of relations between Greece and 
 Turkey in consequence of the Cretan insurrection, found 
 him a full lieutenant. Excited by the sufferings of the 
 Cretans, he went to that distressful island as a volunteer, 
 and is said to have greatly distinguished himself by his 
 coolness and courage — on one occasion rescuing (so the 
 story goes) a small field-piece single-handed from the 
 Mussulmans. At the close of the insurrection in 1869 he 
 returned to Athens, whence he was sent at the expense of 
 the Government to Germany and France to gain a 
 further and more scientific knowledge of the art of war. 
 In Berlin and Paris he became acquainted with the lead- 
 ing military men of the day, and his careful personal 
 observations in both capitals enabled him to prophesy 
 
 302 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the result of the Franco-German war. Four years after 
 his return home in 1871 he married the daughter of a 
 distinguished Greek author, by/ whom he has three 
 daughters. He employed his leisure in studying military 
 books, of which his library is full, and in perusing 
 military periodicals, so as not to lose touch with the 
 latest results of strategic science. He became a major in 
 1 88 1, and five years later received the gold cross of the 
 Knights of the Saviour in recognition of his services on 
 the frontier during the warlike demonstrations of the 
 critical period which followed the Serbo-Bulgarian war. 
 The Belgian and Servian Governments decorated him a 
 little later, and in 1895 he was promoted to the rank of 
 colonel of the third regiment of artillery, the position 
 which he occupied at the commencement of the late war. 
 When the Zaimis Ministry was formed in October of last 
 year, he became Minister of War — the post which he 
 still holds without having thereby forfeited his popularity, 
 except among the group of officers, who form the fol- 
 lowing of the Crown Prince and resent the Minister's 
 success. 
 
 In appearance Smolenski is a stout, burly man, of a 
 determined expression, with a heavy moustache and 
 greyish hair. He does not look strikingly Greek, and 
 might easily pass for a German officer. It will be seen 
 from the above sketch that the most, in fact the only, 
 successful commander on the Greek side in the late war 
 was one who had had the advantage of an elaborate 
 scientific training in Western Europe. The example of 
 Smolenski would seem to justify the opinion that if the 
 Greek Government would import German instructors for 
 the army, in ten years' time it would reverse the verdict of 
 that fatal struggle. It is a remarkable fact, that the editor 
 of the AkropoIiSf 3, gentleman of ^'European" education 
 and much common sense, prophesied in 1894 the disasters 
 
 303 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 which would befall the disorganised Greek army unless it 
 were reformed. For his strictures upon the army the 
 officers broke his windows. Three years later he might 
 have had the feminine pleasure, which, as a patriot, he 
 scorned, of saying, ^' I told you so." The reorganisation of 
 the Greek army. General Smolenski thinks, will take some 
 four or five years, and he intends to do it thoroughly and, 
 if necessary, with foreign aid. No one can doubt that he 
 is the most competent man for such a task, and it is 
 satisfactory to find that, even a year after the war, his 
 simple and straightforward character and his complete 
 lack of political ambition are fully appreciated by his 
 countrymen. Both are invaluable qualities in a Greek 
 Minister of War, and it has been one of the greatest 
 blessings for Greece that the one Greek commander who 
 came well out of the fiery ordeal of the war, has never 
 been inclined to play the part of a Boulanger. For 
 some persons, ignorant of his unassuming character and 
 remembering the influence of successful commanders in 
 all ages over even the most democratic nations, and the 
 dictatorships which military heroes have been able to 
 establish in times of crisis, used to ask — Will Constantine 
 Smolenski make himself dictator ? No one would be so 
 foolish as to ask that question now. 
 
 Turning from the Greek party-leaders and Ministers to 
 the Greek Parliament as a whole, one is not likely to find 
 there much prospect of salvation for the nation. Greece, 
 with the exception of Bulgaria and Servia, is the only 
 Parliamentary country in Europe which has no second 
 chamber, and even in Bulgaria a special second chamber 
 — the Grand Sohranje — is called into existence to con- 
 sider any organic change in the Constitution. But in 
 Greece the Roulc, or Chamber of Deputies, is supreme. 
 No House of Lords exists to revise its decisions, and the 
 result is that there is nothing to relieve the King from 
 
 304 
 
in the Near East 
 
 responsibility when once a measure has passed it. At 
 the present moment the Boule, which used to have only 
 150 members, consists of 207 deputies, returned by 71 
 constituencies, or lirapxiai, which elect a number of 
 representatives proportionate to their population. Thus 
 Attica returns eleven members, Corfu sends seven, Patras 
 the same number, and several of the less populous 
 districts one member apiece. No man can be a deputy 
 unless he is thirty years of age, and it is essential that he 
 should be a citizen of the district for which he proposes 
 to stand. The result of the latter regulation, as in the 
 United States, has been to give undue importance to 
 local interests, and to make it very difficult for eminent 
 statesmen to compete against local celebrities, unknown 
 beyond the narrow pale of their own district, who can 
 devote the whole of their time to parochial affairs. Thus 
 the late M. Tricoupis, easily the first statesman of modern 
 Greece, was defeated at Missolonghi, his native place, 
 simply because he did not satisfy the local requirements 
 of his constituents. There are cases, however, of very 
 long tenures of seats even in Greece. Thus the late M. 
 Lombardos, who was one of the most prominent Ionian 
 deputies when the Ionian Islands were agitating for 
 union with Greece, subsequently sat in the Boule as 
 member for Zante for thirty years, with only one slight 
 break. Considering that the electoral period is only four 
 years, and that general elections often come more 
 frequently, this may be considered as a remarkable feat. 
 In form the Greek Chamber resembles that of France, 
 being semicircular, like an amphitheatre. The Presi- 
 dent, or irpoe^pog, and the four Secretaries, or (Tvyypa(j)e7gf 
 occupy a raised dais, flanked by bookcases on either side, 
 and immediately below them is the tribune from which 
 the orators speak. The existence of a tribune, instead 
 of the English custom of speaking from one's place, 
 
 305 X 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 naturally increases the flow of rhetoric, and places the 
 quiet, business-like member at a disadvantage. The Presi- 
 dent, the four Secretaries, and the three Deputy- Presidents, 
 or Deputy-Speakers as we should call them, are elected 
 by ballot from among the deputies every session. The 
 present Speaker is Count A. Roma, one of the members 
 for Zante, who is probably the youngest President of 
 any representative assembly. 
 
 Facing the tribune and the President's dais are ranged 
 the seats of the deputies in a half-circle, with a gangway up 
 the middle, there being six rows of benches on each side of 
 it. The first row of seats on the right of this gangway is 
 appropriated by the Ministers and the principal members 
 of the Opposition parties. These august personages are 
 provided with six little tables, while the rest of the depu- 
 ties simply have desks. Perhaps the most curious rule of 
 the proceedings, from an English point of view, is that 
 which fixes the quorum at one more than half the total 
 number of deputies, instead of forty as in our House of 
 Commons. That is to say, no business can be transacted 
 by the Boide unless 105 members are present. The result 
 is a new form of obstruction, such as has once or twice 
 been practised in the London County Council. It is no 
 uncommon thing for the whole of the Greek Opposition 
 to stay away in a body, and thus it becomes necessary for 
 a Ministry to whip up all their supporters in order to 
 keep a House. But that is the opportunity of the dis- 
 satisfied or place-hunting Ministerialists, who make various 
 excuses for their absence until the Premier makes it 
 worth their while to come to Athens. The late M. 
 Tricoupis was an adept at this kind of thing, and was 
 quite able to provide recalcitrant Ministerialists with the 
 best of reasons for returning to their parliamentary 
 duties by giving snug little appointments to their relatives 
 or their constituents. Another method of obstruction is 
 
 306 
 
in the Near East 
 
 caused by the Greek system of voting. The rules of the 
 BoidCy which were revised in February, 1896, and have 
 been pubHshed in a neat Httle volume, provide that, in 
 the first place, voting should be by a show of hands, each 
 member voting in his place. But if fifteen deputies at 
 once demand a roll-call, it becomes necessary to call over 
 the list of all the members— an excellent method of 
 wasting time. This list contains two blank spaces oppo- 
 site the name of each member, one headed N., the 
 initial of the Greek word ^^ Nm," or ^^ yes," the other 
 headed O., the first letter of the Greek word " 'Oxh' or 
 *^no." A mark is placed in one of these two spaces 
 according to the vote of each deputy, and then the 
 figures are added up. There are no division lobbies ; but 
 the roll-call, which is conducted by one of the Secretaries, 
 is watched by tellers appointed by the Speaker from the 
 ranks of the Opposition. At the opening of the session, 
 and then only, does the King take part in the proceedings, 
 standing in the Speaker's place to read his speech, with 
 that official on his right hand and the Premier on his left. 
 Immediately above the Speaker's chair is a gallery for 
 the Royal Family, and on the left of it another gallery 
 for the corps diplomatique. Ranged round the Chamber 
 are various galleries for ladies, for officers, for the public, 
 and for the press, the last being well equipped with desks. 
 Needless to say, in this country the press takes the very 
 keenest interest in all that goes on in the Boule. There 
 are no ^' whips," but '^ question time " is a Greek as well 
 as a British institution, taking precedence of the order of 
 the day ; but Ministers need not answer any inconvenient 
 interpellation. The President, like our Lord Chancellor, 
 may speak by leaving his chair, but in practice rarely does 
 so. A remarkable feature of the Greek Chamber is that 
 it contains no committee rooms, as the library — which 
 abounds in English books and periodi-cals—takes up so 
 
 307 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 much space. Another deviation from the amicable 
 EngHsh practice is the existence of two separate smoking- 
 rooms, one for the Government, and one for the Opposi- 
 tion. This arrangement naturally prevents those con- 
 venient compromises which are much more easily made 
 over a cigar than in the Chamber itself. 
 
 Greece has now no parties, in the ordinary sense. 
 There is nothing like the traditional British division into 
 Liberals and Conservatives, which many Greek public men 
 and also the King regard as an ideal system. Like most 
 foreign legislatures, that of Hellas is split up into groups, or 
 KojjLfxaray whose raisoii d'etre is purely personal. There are 
 at the present moment some six of these groups in the 
 Chamber. There are the Ministerialists ; the Delyannists ; 
 the old followers of M. Tricoupis, whose chief is M. 
 Theotokis, a former Minister of the Interior and a member 
 of a very distinguished Corfiote family ; then come the 
 friends of M. Rhallis, those of M. Deligeorgis, and those 
 of M. Karapanos. The exact proportions of these various 
 groups it is extremely difficult to fix, because the figures 
 of the last election are now no guide in the present 
 changed condition of affairs. Like all other Parliaments 
 the Boule has its quaint figures, the curiosity in its case 
 being the Mussulman member for Larissa, Hassan Beg, 
 who has an insufficient knowledge of the Greek language 
 to make long orations, but who represents the consider- 
 able Mohammedan element which still remains in 
 Thessaly. During the events of last year the lot of '' the 
 honourable Member for Larissa" — the Greeks use this 
 English form of address — cannot have been altogether a 
 happy one. A Mussulman deputy is indeed a rarity in 
 any country, although the worthy Beg from Larissa could 
 boast of a co-religionist in the last French Chamber of 
 Deputies. 
 
 The great rhetorical gifts of the Greeks naturally find 
 
 308 
 
in the Near East 
 
 full vent in the BotiUy although no member, except a 
 Minister, may speak more than three times on the same 
 question. The late M. Tricoupis once spoke straight on 
 end for two days, the subject, of course, being the eternal 
 one of Greek finance. This performance, which must 
 surely hold the record of all countries, is remembered 
 by the Greeks with great pride, and they tell one that 
 though M. Delyannis can also make great and long 
 speeches, his dead rival was alone able to make them 
 without so much as a glass of water. The fact that many 
 members are lawyers adds to the loquacity of the 
 Chamber, though it happily also contains business men 
 and persons of independent means. Still, in Greece the 
 leisured class is not sufficiently numerous to enable the 
 Government to dispense with payment of members. 
 Accordingly each deputy receives the sum of i,8oo paper 
 drachmai, worth about £^% 12s. at the present rate of 
 exchange, for every session. Not a munificent allowance 
 it is true, but then official salaries in Greece rule low. The 
 Prime Minister receives only 1,200 paper drachmai a 
 month, and his six colleagues — for the Cabinet can say ^^ we 
 are seven" — only 800 drachmai each. The Speaker has no 
 official salary, but enjoys the privilege of a cosy private 
 room decorated with some pretty pictures and the use of 
 the State carriage when he goes out for a drive. Nor can 
 Ministers or '^ conscientious " members be rewarded or 
 pacified by the British method of making them peers or 
 baronets. For as we have seen, there are no titles at 
 the disposal of a Minister ; and even the Heir- Apparent, 
 usually described as Duke of Sparta in the Western press, 
 is always called in Athens simply the Am^oxoc; 01* ^^ suc- 
 cessor " of the King. British statesmen, in judging of 
 the Greeks, should therefore take into their consideration 
 the fact that snobbery is not an element in the Hellenic 
 character. 
 
 .309 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 It will thus be seen that, since the death of M. Tricoupis, 
 Greece has not had, and up to the present shows no signs 
 of producing, a great statesman ; while there is not much 
 hope to be found in the Parliament. In the country of 
 the blind, says the French proverb, the one-eyed man is 
 king. In plain English, the Greeks do not believe that 
 the King is more than mediocre, but they can find no one 
 else to save the State. 
 
 The reforms, which all sensible men in Greece are now 
 demanding, may all be summed up in a single sentence 
 — the separation of the various branches of the adminis- 
 tration from the vicissitudes of party politics. As we have 
 seen, in no country in the world, except in the United 
 States, has the ^' spoils system " been carried out to such 
 an extent as in Greece, though Bulgaria is unfortunately 
 tending that way. Worse still, although the judges are 
 theoretically irremovable, a plan has been found for 
 making them, too, subservient to the exigencies of party 
 warfare. Salaries in Greece are low ; and, although the 
 Zaimis Ministry has lately raised the payment of members 
 of the Areopagos, or Supreme Court, from 450 paper 
 drachmai a month to 525, this remuneration of £i6() a 
 year (at the present rate of exchange) docs not seem 
 munificent according to English ideas, while the tempta- 
 tions to which it exposes the judges are obvious, and 
 would perhaps be hardly resisted (at the same figure per 
 annum) even by the inflexible virtue of Western Europe. 
 But the Ministry of the day, if it wants to find a billet 
 for a friendly lawyer, or embarrass a hostile one, removes 
 a judge, say, from Corfu to Volo, to his own great incon- 
 venience. A similar method is sometimes adopted to gQi 
 rid of examiners, who ^^ plough" the sons of influential 
 supporters of the Minister of Education. In one such 
 case a conscientious examiner was threatened w^ith re- 
 moval from Athens to Pyrgos. Obviously, the higher 
 
 310 
 
in the Near East 
 
 payment of judges — one impartial authority of much 
 weight suggests to me 15,000 drachmai (or £^0^) as the 
 salary of each member of the Areopagos, to be raised 
 by an increase of the stamp-duty, now very low — 
 coupled with their maintenance in the same place for 
 three years, as promised by the King, must be considered 
 as essential to the regeneration of Greece. No one 
 denies the badness of the existing judicial system. One 
 ex-Minister says that ^' there is no justice in the coun- 
 try"; another declares that ^^ judges, unworthy of the 
 name, perform their functions with impunity"; while a 
 friend of mine, a high judicial authority of unim- 
 peachable integrity, has wisely reminded his country- 
 men of their own philosopher's remark that it is easier 
 to practise virtue, and therefore law, when one is well 
 off. Even the army has been contaminated by its 
 contact with politics, for hitherto military ofhcers have 
 been eligible as deputies, and the extraordinary spectacle 
 of the Minister of War being criticised by his subor- 
 dinates has been presented in the Chamber at Athens. 
 General Smolenski informed me, at an interview which I 
 had with him at the War Office, that the exclusion of 
 officers, except those of the higher grades, such as 
 generals and colonels, from seats in Parliament, would 
 form part of the Government programme. In this way 
 discipline, which was notoriously lax during the late war, 
 will be strengthened, though it may be doubted even so 
 whether an army can ever be well in hand, when its 
 officers play dominoes with their men in the cafes. 
 
 This separation of the public services from party in- 
 fluences is absolutely essential to the salvation of Greece. 
 Wherever the King went on his Peloponnesian tour, the 
 local magnates urged him to put an end to the odious 
 system of 'Mog-rolling " — awaXXayiif as the Greeks call 
 it — which has been the bane of the country for years. 
 
 311 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 In one place, the people greeted the King with shouts of 
 ^' Down with the factions and their log-rolling " — kutm to. 
 KOjUjuara koI 17 (jvvaXXayi]. Just as in the famous Presi- 
 dential contest, described in the '^ Bigelow Papers/' the 
 candidate promised that if the voter would help to get him 
 ^' into the White House/' he, when elected, would put his 
 humble supporter '^ into the lighthouse, just at the end of 
 Salem Point," so after a General Election in Greece, it 
 has been the custom for the victorious Minister to obtain 
 from the King a vast number of decrees — in one case, I 
 am told, as many as 20,000 — giving him power to confer 
 public appointments of a small kind upon his followers. 
 It is impossible to acquit the sovereign of all blame in 
 this matter. Whether from natural indifference and the 
 desire not to be bothered with politics, or from a mistaken 
 view^ of his own position under the Constitution, the King 
 has given his Ministers a blank cheque to make what 
 appointments they pleased. Naturally Premiers like M. 
 Tricoupis and M. Delyannis, with a taste for party manage- 
 ment, liked a system which enabled them to make and 
 keep a majority at the public expense. In fact, the former 
 of these two politicians actually established a special 
 bureau at the Ministry of Finance for considering the 
 requests and favours desired by deputies for their relatives 
 and friends. Still further advantages from a party point 
 of view were reaped by the Minister from this nefarious 
 method of bargaining, owing to the absurd rule above 
 mentioned, which fixes the quorum of the Greek Parlia- 
 ment at one more than half the total number of deputies. 
 Thus, the awaXXayii pervades all forms of Greek public 
 life ; and, until it is stopped, efficient administration will 
 be impossible, while, as the King has well said, the whole 
 time of deputies is at present wasted in asking favours for 
 their electors. 
 
 The extreme cheapness of University education in 
 
 312 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Greece is another cause of this evil. Indeed, out of the 
 five Balkan States, three, Greece, Bulgaria, and Servia, all 
 suffer, in greater or less degree, from the growing difficulty 
 of providing those, who have had a higher education, with 
 a means of livelihood. So much is this the case in 
 Greece and Servia that the present Servian Premier an- 
 nounced last winter his intention of closing several 
 superior schools, while the Greeks have placed a fee of 
 150 drachmai a year on candidates for admission to the 
 University of Athens. But this fee is ridiculously small, 
 and the result is that Greece is inundated with doctors 
 without patients and barristers without briefs. In the 
 town of Pyrgos, a place of about 12,000 inhabitants, there 
 are seventy lawyers attached to the Court, and in some 
 other cities the legal profession bears an even greater pro- 
 portion to the population and trade requirements. Avery 
 complicated legal procedure and a natural genius for liti- 
 gation give a considerable amount of work for lawyers, 
 and it is calculated that one-fifth of the total property of 
 the people is in the law-courts. But for the vast majority 
 of Greek lawyers and doctors there is little prospect of 
 earning a livelihood by their own professions, and I have 
 heard touching stories of the straits to which these poor 
 wretches, whose education has been their curse, are put 
 to for the merest necessities of existence. Some are will- 
 ing to give lessons in languages at starvation prices ; 
 others even take to the more lucrative trade of a drago- 
 man. One is sadly reminded by their sorry plight of the 
 Roman poet's sarcasm : Grceciilus esiiriens, in ccelum, jiis- 
 seriSj ibit. What Greece really wants, in common with 
 Servia, and, to a less extent, Bulgaria, which has already 
 taken steps in this direction, is technical education of a 
 really practical kind. Even some University professors 
 recognise this fact. As the Asty justly remarked the other 
 day, this would be " a drastic remedy " for the economic 
 
 313 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 evils of the country. Agriculture, except the cult of the 
 currant, languishes in Greece ; for, as a Greek once said 
 to a friend of mine, there is a general idea that " the 
 Hellenes are made for something better than manual 
 labour ; they are intended to work with their heads, and 
 not with their hands." But another obstacle to agricul- 
 ture is the high rate of interest, at least 7 or 8 per cent., 
 charged by the National Bank. A good economic autho- 
 rity tells me that, until the farmer can borrow money at 
 4 per cent., it is useless for a new Hesiod to preach the 
 charms of country life and the advantages of agriculture. 
 The railway question enters too into this problem ; for, 
 until Th'essaly is connected with the rest of the kingdom 
 on the one hand and with the European railway system, 
 %nd Salonica, on the other, that beautiful province can 
 never be properly developed. It is a good sign, however, 
 that the long-talked-of Piraeus-Larissa railway is at last 
 being discussed with some hope of a practical result. For 
 so long as Greece remains without through railway com- 
 munication with the rest of the world, her inhabitants may 
 well talk of ^' going to Europe," as if they belonged geo- 
 graphically to another continent. M. Tricoupis did well 
 in spending money on the Peloponnesian lines ; but if 
 the sums which were wasted on the Greek fleet, without 
 the very smallest return — except the cargo of vegetables 
 captured at Santi Quaranta — had been devoted to uniting 
 the country with the great European railway system, 
 Greece would have been considerably the gainer by the 
 transaction. 
 
 Another evil, closely connected with this, is the neglect 
 of which the provinces loudly complain. Greece un- 
 doubtedly suffers from over-centralisation, and it is one 
 of the merits of M. Rhallis, that he is in favour of de- 
 centralising the administration, although he is himself a 
 representative of Attica. As we have shown in a previous 
 
 314 
 
in the Near East 
 
 chapter, departments such as the Ionian Islands, which 
 during the British Protectorate enjoyed less political 
 liberty but far greater material prosperity than now, are 
 particularly bitter in their outcries against the glorification 
 of Athens and the Piraeus at their expense, especially as 
 an attempt has been made to remove the monopoly of 
 cigarette-papers and playing-cards, now enjoyed by a 
 Corfiote manufacturer, as well as another Corfiote mono- 
 poly, that of making wax-candles, to the Piraeus. In the 
 former case the attempt seems to have met with success, 
 for the manufactory is to be closed at Christmas. But 
 these complaints are by no means confined to the Ionian 
 Islands, only there the people are more vocal in giving 
 utterance to them, because they, alone of the Greeks, have 
 experienced the advantages of a Government which has 
 money to spend and spends it with a free hand all over 
 the country. Natural causes have, no doubt, contributed, 
 as in the transference of trade from Syra to the Piraeus, to 
 the concentration of prosperity in Athens and its rapidly 
 growing port. The war, for example, has greatly benefited 
 the trade of the capital and the Piraeus. The import dues 
 of the latter place went up 30 per cent, in the last twelve 
 months ; while at Athens the custom of all the well-to-do 
 Thessalian and Cretan refugees, who had to purchase 
 complete outfits — for in their hasty flight they came in 
 what they stood up in — at the Athenian shops has been a 
 source of great profit to the capital. But it has been the 
 policy of the Government to spare and favour the capital 
 as much as possible, and this was especially so during the 
 struggle of last year. Here, again, the King has not done 
 what he might for the welfare of his country. It may seem 
 incredible, but I am assured that it is the fact, that His 
 Majesty has never in all his thirty-five years' reign made 
 a thorough tour of the provinces until this summer. But 
 in this he was only imitating some of his ablest Ministers, 
 
 315 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 who hardly ever made a personal inspection of the out- 
 lying parts of the country. In a kingdom so small as 
 Greece this neglect is quite inexcusable, and it is another 
 hopeful sign of improvement that the King should at last 
 have resolved to go and see and hear for himself what his 
 subjects in the provinces want without the intervention 
 of interested parties. It was also quite the right thing for 
 the Queen to take the baths at Aidipsos, instead of going 
 to some watering-place outside Greece. No one grudges 
 King George his annual jaunt to Aix-les- Bains or his 
 quiet life as a country squire at his suburban retreat 
 of Tatoi ; but his people, or at any rate those who live 
 outside Attica, think that he ought not to forget that 
 modern Greece is not, like ancient Athens, one city and 
 nothing more. For the old conception of the community 
 as a TToXig will not suit the requirements of modern Hellas, 
 dear as town-life has been to the average Greek in 
 all ages. 
 
 Another reform urgently needed is that of the police. 
 Western writers are apt to be misled on this subject, 
 because they are ignorant of the fact that a large part of 
 the army is thus employed, and, in Athens, for example, 
 it is rare to see a policeman at all. At present, Greece 
 spends 2,800,000 drachmai on police pure and simple, 
 and it is estimated that 15,000,000 drachmai ought to be 
 devoted to this purpose ; in that case, the soldiers would 
 be relieved from the duty of acting as constables. 
 
 The question of establishing a second chamber in 
 Greece, to check the rash decisions of the deputies, who 
 have hitherto monopolised power, is not viewed with 
 much favour by Hellenic statesmen. M. Lambros 
 Korom^elas, a very able and independent critic, who 
 has kept out of politics but whose judgment commands 
 much respect at Athens, has indeed advocated the 
 creation of a Senate with a Council of State to advise 
 
 316 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the King. But most Greeks formulate two objections 
 to such a change, which are certainly very practical. 
 The one objection is that, there being no aristocracy 
 in Greece, the second chamber would be merely a 
 replica of the first. The other is, that, in order to 
 create such a second branch of the legislature, an 
 essential change in the Constitution would be needed. 
 But to make any essential change in the Greek Con- 
 stitution is no easy matter. For in Greece, as in the 
 United States, there is a distinction between fundamental 
 and non-fundamental reforms, and, in order to effect the 
 former, it is necessary that three-fourths of the Chamber 
 of Deputies for two consecutive legislative periods should 
 vote for the proposed change. As each legislative period 
 would, in all human probability, see the election of a 
 fresh set of deputies, the difficulty of securing a three- 
 fourths majority in two successive Parliaments, extending 
 possibly over eight years together, seems insuperable. 
 The constitution of a conseil d'etat to advise the King, 
 would be liable to the second of these objections, if not 
 to the first. Happily, however, the pressing evils, of 
 which mention has been made, do not depend for their 
 removal upon any coup d'etat on the part of the 
 Sovereign or any great constitutional change on the 
 part of the nation. For in Greece as in some other 
 Eastern countries there are good laws, which only 
 require good administration to put them into force. 
 For example, the so-called ^' Ecumenical " or ^^ Great " 
 Ministry, which combined within its ranks the chiefs of 
 all parties under the presidency of the veteran Admiral 
 Kanaris at a moment of grave national danger in 1878, 
 laid the foundations of the civil service reforms, which 
 the present Government favours. The legislation of 1878, 
 as M. Zaimis explained to me, is still on the statute-book, 
 though party leaders have agreed to treat it as a dead 
 
 317 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 letter, while the Boulgaris Ministry as far back as 1868 
 made a similar declaration in the Chamber to that, which 
 is now awaited when the deputies next assemble. Either 
 this Chamber, or, if the Government be defeated by the 
 Delyannist majority, its successor, ought to begin the 
 work of reform with as little delay as possible. Whether 
 M. Delyannis would sincerely co-operate with the King 
 in carrying out this programme may be doubted. The 
 Delyannist organ in the Athenian Press, the Proiay has 
 scarcely concealed its opposition to the schemes put 
 forward of late for the regeneration of the country, and 
 has made as light as possible of the (jwaXXayi], which 
 independent papers like the Akropolis declare to be *' the 
 origin of all the woes of Greece." Besides the events of 
 his last Ministry can hardly have increased the King's 
 confidence in that statesman, at no time very great. But 
 if his Majesty now shows confidence in himself and 
 carries out the task, which the people is anxious to place 
 upon him, he will certainly have the country as a whole 
 with him. In the words of a prominent political leader, 
 whom I consulted on this subject, the Greeks /^ do not 
 want a Monarchy which seeks repose." King George of 
 Greece is not a King Carol of Roumania ; he is too fond 
 of taking things easily ; he has a family man's keen desire 
 to make his children comfortable and see them settled in 
 life, while he does not love responsibility in public affairs. 
 But he can now do a great service to his people, if he 
 exerts himself, while, if he fails now, there is certain to be 
 a great reaction against him. Within the strict limits of 
 the Constitution, he can display considerable personal 
 activity, if he chooses. Of course, the business of king- 
 ship is extremely hard in a country, where an appetite 
 for criticism and the absolute disregard for rank are 
 common to every citizen. If the King of Greece were an 
 archangel and his seven Ministers so many sages, they 
 
 318 
 
in the Near East 
 
 would not always find it easy to govern the critical 
 Greeks. But the nation is willing, and anxious to see 
 its Sovereign exercise to the full the powers which the 
 Constitution grants him, having by this time bought only 
 too dearly the usual experience of Eastern Europe, that 
 parliamentary government in young communities is by 
 no means the unqualified success that we, with our six 
 centuries of political training and our slow Northern 
 temperament, have found it to be. As the King well 
 said at Patras, *' the Greeks are not Danes," and he 
 added that ^^ the Greek people and the Greek Monarchy 
 will rise together, for their interests are the same." 
 
 To Great Britain those interests cannot fail to be of 
 importance. By our Eastern policy in the last four years 
 we have alienated, and, I think, rightly alienated, the 
 sympathies of the Turkish Government, which must not 
 for a moment be confounded with the Turkish people. 
 The Germans are rapidly undermining such commercial 
 influence as we have left in Asia Minor, and British 
 merchants at Constantinople assure me that it is now 
 almost impossible for our fellow-countrymen to obtain 
 concessions for commercial undertakings from the Sultan, 
 especially as our Government never backs them up. 
 Under these circumstances we ought to seek the friend- 
 ship of those Christian States which, in spite of their 
 obvious faults, contain at least what Turkey does not 
 contain, the germs of progress. Of these States Greece, 
 being essentially maritime, is particularly adapted for 
 harmonious intercourse with Great Britain, which may 
 perhaps find, too, among the Greeks of Asia Minor some 
 means of checking the German advance in that part 
 of the Levant. Of late, indeed, Greece has suffered 
 almost as much from the ultra-enthusiasm of some 
 of her British supporters as from absurd depreciation 
 from the hps of those who judge the nation simply from 
 
 319 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 the military standpoint. For my part, I do not believe 
 that the Greek character is of the same grit, and hard if 
 somewhat uninteresting common sense, as the Bulgarian, 
 and, of course, Greek administration cannot compare 
 with that of Austria-Hungary in Bosnia. But go from 
 the countries under the immediate rule of the Sultan to 
 Athens, and, in spite of the many defects of Greek 
 politicians, it is, at any rate, a change for the better. 
 Besides, the Greeks have a real wish for a reform of their 
 administrative system, the defects of which were so clearly 
 exposed by the war, while the Turkish Government is 
 absolutely stationary, where it has not actually receded. 
 That the Greeks will ever realise their grande idee and 
 become the heirs of the Turk in Macedonia and on the 
 Bosporus, I do not believe — for there are now other and 
 more formidable competitors in the field. But that 
 Greece may become a prosperous and well-administered 
 country should be quite possible. The reforms above 
 indicated, the improvement of the judiciary and police, 
 the separation of the army from politics, the establish- 
 ment of a permanent civil service duLovifioTroirimg rwv 
 uTraXXZ/Xwv), the proper care of the provinces and the 
 decentralisation of the Government — these should work 
 a vast amelioration in the state of the nation, even with- 
 out any rash constitutional changes. But in the absence 
 of other leaders, the initiative must devolve on the King, 
 upon whom all Greek eyes are now fixed. 
 
 320 
 

 
 
 
 
 ;j^^RL^_____^ 
 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 
 
 ^fc_ ■\ ■ 
 
 
 _: 'ti* i. 
 
 
 
 
 i^^n 
 
 321 
 
 fc 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 CRETE UNDER THE CONCERT 
 
 WHEN I arrived at Canea last April, after a three 
 days' tossing off the inhospitable coast of the 
 Peloponnesus, my first impression of Crete was that the 
 new governor, whatever his other qualifications, should at 
 least be a good sailor. My second feeling, as I landed on 
 
 THE QUAY OF CANEA. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 the quay, was that of all towns in the East which I had 
 ever visited Canea was the most picturesque, and, at the 
 same time, the most cosmopolitan. During my stay in 
 the place I became more and more struck by the 
 extraordinary interest attaching to this quaint little port, 
 
 322 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 which has been for the last year and nine months the 
 pivot of the Eastern question. On the quay, and in the 
 streets, of Canea, all nationalities meet, all tongues are 
 spoken, all currencies pass muster. Even on the bridge 
 of Galata itself you will not find such a medley as in the 
 Cretan capital. No one ever takes the trouble to change 
 money here. Greek silver — which you never see in 
 Greece, but which is abundant in Crete — Turkish med- 
 jidieh and small coins in hundreds, which are almost 
 unprocurable in Constantinople, English shillings and 
 pence, French francs, Italian lire, Russian roubles, Austrian 
 gulden — are all gleefully accepted. Even at the two 
 ^^ European" post-offices, the Austrian and the French — 
 for the Turkish never delivers letters, and only exists for 
 the sake of form — all sorts and conditions of coins are 
 current, and the traveller can make himself misunderstood 
 in a dozen languages. In fact, here everything is cosmo- 
 politan. Even the pet dog of Renter's correspondent is 
 called le chien iiiternatioiialj by reason of its fondness for 
 every officer of the Great Powers who will pay it attention. 
 The porters who shoulder your luggage in the drowsy 
 Custom House, where ragged Turkish officials doze over 
 their nargileli in blissful indifference to all that is going on 
 around them, are coal-black negroes or dusky Arabs ; side 
 by side with these hewers of wood and drawers of water, 
 who do all the manual work of Canea, stand groups of 
 tall Cretans with their handkerchiefs tied over their heads, 
 and with that other marked characteristic of these strap- 
 ping islanders, a clear interval of bare leg between their 
 top-boots and their baggy blue breeches. Then there are 
 Jews in thick mantles, and shabby Turkish soldiers, looking, 
 for all their pluck, a sorry spectacle beside the well- 
 groomed, regularly paid, and smartly trained detachment 
 of the five Great Powders, whose sentries pace to and fro 
 along the quay — for on my arrival the Austrians were still 
 
 323 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 in Crete, five flags, besides the Turkish, still waved on the 
 historic mound upon the ramparts, and Germany alone 
 had ^Maid down the flute." On the day that I landed it 
 was the turn of the Italians, and a couple of bersaglieri 
 with fixed bayonets kept some sort of order among the 
 mob at the Custom House. Two days later it was the 
 duty of the British to guard the approach to Canea and 
 prevent the landing of arms, and our scarlet-coated soldiers, 
 who paid vast attention to their toilet, shone out resplen- 
 dent among the Orientals around them. Next the 
 Austrians, in their practical blue uniform, came on the 
 scene, and the French and the Russians followed suit. 
 And, to complete the picture, you had but to pass beneath 
 the old Venetian gateway into the ma^-ket-place to find the 
 forty crimson-clad Montenegrin gendarmes sauntering 
 along, head and shoulders over most of the passers-by, with 
 their revolvers protruding from the silaf at their waists, and 
 ever ready to talk of their native mountains. Up in the town 
 the work of clearing away the ruins and rebuilding the 
 houses, destroyed in the fire of February last year, had 
 begun apace, and the noise of the joiners' saws seemed an 
 omen of returning confidence. The Greek Archbishop, 
 the Despotes, as they call him, was still obliged to reside 
 in a temporary abode, for his palace is as yet unrestored. 
 But the rest of the town was undoubtedly more pros- 
 perous than it had been since the Cretan troubles began. 
 An hotel that could fairly be called European, with a 
 Corsican manager and a Spanish assistant, where we sat 
 down to dinner with thirty-two Italian officers, was a sur- 
 prise to a traveller accustomed, like myself, to the filthy 
 accommodation and scanty fare of a Greek or Bulgarian 
 han. If the European concert has not done much for 
 Crete, it has, at least, given its name to a restaurant at 
 Canea, and enabled a swarm of marine cafes to flourish, 
 while under its patronage a variety theatre where Italian 
 
 325 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 operetta is nightly performed by ample Levantine beauties, 
 imported from Smyrna, exhibits to the scornful Mussul- 
 mans the amusements of Western civilisation. Canea has 
 its Cafe Restaurant an Concert Europeen, its Concert Monte 
 Carlo, its Monlin Rouge and its Photographie an Souvenir 
 de Crete. Even the bootblacks of Canea have learned to 
 swear and beg for bakshish in six European languages, 
 and the barbers have discovered that it is the privilege 
 of Englishmen to pay double for a shave. 
 
 But the advantages of the present government of Crete 
 are by no means apparent when one comes to talk to the 
 people. During my stay in the island, I had opportunities 
 of interviewing persons of all sorts and conditions, 
 Europeans as well as Cretans, Mussulmans as w^ell as 
 Christians, wdth regard to the work of the Great Powers, 
 and their unanimous verdict was that the collective wisdom 
 of Europe had made mistakes which any four men of 
 ordinary common sense could easily have avoided. I 
 need not allude to the international jealousies of the 
 Powers, for they have long been patent to all who have 
 studied the history of the Eastern question. But in the 
 treatment of Crete a further complication has arisen out 
 of the conflicting jurisdictions of the various officials 
 employed by each Power. The naval authorities have 
 come into conflict with the military ; the advice of the 
 Consuls, who have spent years in the island, has in some 
 cases been neglected for that of persons who knew little 
 or nothing about it. On one occasion, one of these latter 
 showed his ignorance of the situation by issuing a procla- 
 mation in Turkish, whereas in Crete the Mussulmans, no, 
 less than the Christians, wdth few exceptions, speak Greek 
 as their mother tongue and know very little Turkish. Our 
 own naval men are excellent fellows, but most of them 
 know hardly anything of Crete and do not show the least 
 interest in the country or its people. But, as Admiral 
 
 326 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Noel has shewn, if they are allowed a free hand, they can 
 do a great deal. The amount of money that has been spent 
 by Europe in Cretan waters since the disturbances began 
 is calculated to have just exceeded twice the value of the 
 island. Great Britain alone has expended ;£i6,ooo on the 
 new huts for her soldiers. She pays the natives ;^i5o a 
 month for keeping the streets clean at Candia — an inno- 
 
 STREET IN CANDIA. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwkk.) 
 
 vation which simply astounded the inhabitants, and has 
 nearly starved the street-dogs of the place, but which had 
 made it, before the disturbances of last month, one of the 
 sweetest towns of the East — and provides a special 
 steamer, the now famous Turquoise, for distilling water for 
 her troops, which before were decimated with typhoid. 
 How Italy can stand the cost of the occupation no one can 
 
 327 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 understand, unless, as some whisper. Great Britain pays 
 for the coal which her big men-of-war require at Suda. 
 Germany did the whole affair on the cheap from the very 
 first, and Russia has no lack of roubles for the Cretans. 
 At the market outside Candia, which I attended, the 
 Russian representative carried a bag of napoleons, which 
 he distributed to the Cretan chiefs, to the disgust of some 
 of the spectators, and the amusement of others. There 
 can be no doubt whatever that the Russian Foreign Office 
 is maintaining a very active propaganda in Crete, and that 
 the Tsar's zeal on behalf of Prince George is no more 
 disinterested than were his grandfather's efforts on behalif 
 of a free Bulgaria. The historic offer of Crete to Great 
 Britain, which Nicholas I. made to Sir Hamilton Seymour 
 in 1853, will not be repeated by Nicholas II. But the 
 action of the Russians in disarming the Mussulmans of 
 Rethymno was generally praised by the British, and the 
 personal relations between our men and theirs, as, indeed 
 between the soldiers of all the Powers, have been good. 
 This has been, indeed, one good result of the joint occu- 
 pation of .the island by the Powers. It was amusing to 
 hear the good-natured efforts of Tommy Atkins to make 
 himself understood by the Italians at Canea, with whom 
 the British private was on the best of terms. Even the 
 French and the Italians, despite the Zola case, got on well 
 together, though the Mussulmans do not appreciate the 
 French method of managing them. The disturbance at 
 Canea about the middle of April was due to a quarrel 
 between the French and the Turkish soldiers, and I am 
 told that the Russians and the Italians are at present the 
 most popular with the Cretans. It should, however, be 
 mentioned to the credit of the British troops at Candia 
 that, since the sole occupation of that town by them, there 
 has not been a single case in which any outrage has been 
 committed on a Mussulman woman. When the Italians 
 
 328 
 
in the Near East 
 
 were there, they sometimes got into trouble for pranks of 
 this kind ; but the British, who were encamped on the 
 ramparts and not in the town itself, were kept in perfect 
 order, were not allowed in the streets except in small 
 parties, and were forbidden to drink except at their own 
 canteen. The confidence which Colonel Sir Herbert 
 Chermside enjoyed with the Mussulmans, who form 
 the vast majority of that town since the flight of the 
 Christians, was a most important factor in the situation 
 there. I doubt whether the horrible events of September, 
 which took place in his absence, would have occurred 
 at all, if the Candiote Mussulmans had not been hounded 
 on from Constantinople. But the military cordon round 
 Candia, which was kept by Turkish soldiers, always 
 compared unfavourably with that round Canea, which 
 was guarded by international troops. During my stay 
 at Candia, a man was shot and a boy of eleven 
 wounded by the Turkish guardians of the cordon near 
 Arkhanies, though the man, a Christian, was well within 
 Christian territory. Such cases were not uncommon ; 
 while I crossed the Canea cordon, at that time policed by 
 Italian bersaglien, with two ladies and a naval lieutenant, 
 on my way to visit the ^^ insurgents " at Aliakanou, without 
 the least risk. We rode through magnificent scenery ; 
 the meadow^s were brilliant with asphodel ; the orange 
 trees were a picture ; but here and there a ruined block- 
 house, and a row of charred olive stumps reminded us 
 of the incessant warfare which has gone on in the island 
 for centuries. The Christian outposts received our party 
 with the most courteous hospitality, offering us wine and 
 small slices of bakala, or cod-fish, for which they refused 
 all payment. A little fuither on we crossed a stream, the 
 classic lardanos. At the village beyond, not far from the 
 spot where Colonel Vassos pitched his camp last year, a 
 whole band of armed Christians turned out to receive us ; 
 
 329 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 chairs and a table were placed in the street, coffee and 
 oranges — the splendid Cretan oranges, which recall those 
 of Jaffa — were set before us ; one of our hosts who had 
 spent two years in Paris, harangued us in French — he was 
 a cousin of Professor Jannaris of Scotland — and another 
 in Italian upon the woes of their country. Meanwhile, 
 their martial compatriots, each with three cartridge-belts 
 slung around him and a rifle in his hand, stood listening 
 with the keenest interest. They were delighted to pose 
 
 CHRISTIAN INSURGENTS AT ALIAKANOU. 
 From a Photo, by Miss Chachvick.) 
 
 for their photograph, and the women and children bade 
 us God-speed, and showered bouquets of orange-blossom 
 upon us, amid shouts of Zr^rw 77 "k^yXia^ ^' Long live 
 England." Yet no Mussulman dared have visited this 
 spot, just as no Christian could cross the cordon in safety 
 and enter the bazar at Candia. Even an Italian soldier 
 who wore a fez was nearly shot by mistake for a Moslem 
 near this spot where we had quietly sipped our coffee. 
 
 This isolation of the two parties in hostile camps is a 
 pressing difficulty, which results from the concentration 
 
 330 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the Mussulmans in the coast towns and of the 
 Christians in the interior of the island. The former 
 have burned, or occupied, the houses of the latter 
 in the towns ; the latter have ravaged, or seized, the 
 fields of the former in the country. At Canea it was 
 exclusively the quarter inhabited by the Greek Orthodox 
 population that suffered from the flames, and it was noted 
 that the Turkish soldiers, evidently acting on orders, pro- 
 tected the Catholic church. At Candia, out of a popula- 
 tion estimated at from forty thousand to fifty thousand, 
 only from two hundred to five hundred Christians 
 remained. Others returned from Greece later, and at 
 the time of the September massacre the number of 
 Christians must have been about twelve hundred. 
 Not the least thorny problem, that awaits the future 
 governor of Crete, is the reinstatement of the respective 
 parties in their previous homes, or the compensation or 
 buying out of the present occupants. The suggestion 
 that the Mussulmans will solve the problem by emigrating, 
 as they have largely done in Bulgaria, is not regarded as 
 probable in the case of those who have land or money. 
 Much tact, much patience, and much money will be 
 needed for the settlement of this very practical diffi- 
 culty. When I was in Crete, the household goods of 
 the Christians who had fled from Candia to Greece were 
 piled up in the large cathedral of the town. There I saw 
 higgledy-piggledy, pianos, tables, chairs, mirrors, even 
 cases of wine, with the names of their owners scrawled 
 roughly upon them ; so crammed was the building with 
 these pieces of furniture, that it resembled a pantechnicon 
 rather than a church. All service there was impossible, 
 and the tiny chapel beside it had to be used instead ; but 
 even it was more than sufficient for the few Christians 
 who lingered in Candia. At Canea, where the prepon- 
 derance of the Mussulmans is less marked, I attended 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 worship in the cathedral, the upper part of which was 
 used as an office for the distribution of relief to the 
 starving. But, perhaps, the saddest instance of the 
 fratricidal warfare between the Christians and the 
 Mussulmans of the island, both, be it remembered, 
 of the same race and both speaking the same language, 
 is to be found in a village called Mourn les, about an hour 
 outside Canea, where the two creeds dwelt side by side in 
 about equal numbers. At this place, which I visited with 
 the Russian vice-consul, not a single house remained 
 intact. The two rival parties had, with fiendish ingenuity, 
 destroyed every vestige of each others' homes, save a few 
 charred rafters and a few rusty old pots and pans ! And 
 this in the midst of one of the most lovely scenes that the 
 human mind can imagine. As w^e walked through the 
 ruins of what was once a happy village, the air w^as laden 
 with the scent of the lemon-blossom and the song of the 
 nightingale fell upon our ears ; wild flow^ers covered the 
 ground, and through the foliage we could see in the 
 distance the snow-capped range of the White Mountains 
 rising into the azure blue sky and just reddened by the 
 sun. We had seen, too, in the charming garden of a rich 
 Bey at the adjoining village of Kukunara (^'the fir-tree "), 
 what the gardener's art could do in this splendid climate, 
 where, indeed, ^^ every prospect pleases." As we passed 
 through fields of what had once been olive trees, and 
 where all that remained were blackened stumps — Sir 
 Alfred Biliotti told me that two million olive trees, 
 valued ^t £i apiece, had been destroyed altogether — 
 I recalled that terrible epigram of the Roman poet : 
 tantiun religio pottiit suadere malornm. For of Crete, no 
 less than of Bosnia under the Turks, religious fanaticism 
 has been the curse. 
 
 Fortunately, there is some light in this dark picture. 
 I may instance a case told me by Herr Berinda, the able 
 
 332 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Austro-Hungarian vice-consul and agent of the Austrian- 
 Lloyd at Candia^ who has had twenty-eight years' experi- 
 ence of Crete. This gentleman had a Mussulman, whose 
 half-brother was a Christian, in his employ. When the 
 disturbances were beginning, the Mussulman went to his 
 brother, of whom he was very fond, told him that he 
 could not save him from an outburst of fanaticism if 
 he stayed in the place, and furnished him with money 
 and an opportunity for flight from Crete, and offered him 
 half of everything he possessed. The Cretans are, no 
 doubt, naturally fond of fighting ; an Austrian officer, 
 who knew them well, remarked to me '^ that they were 
 born into the world with a rifle in their hands," and even 
 in Aristotle's time their training was entirely military.^ 
 During the first century and a half of Venetian rule there 
 were fourteen Cretan insurrections. But those who live 
 among them speak with much sympathy of their gentler 
 characteristics, while it is reserved for those who know 
 them slightly to describe them as 'Miars and cowards, 
 whose idea of battle is to take pot-shots at an enemy at 
 long range from behind a rock." There are, too, some 
 germs of culture to be found among them. I know one 
 old Cretan Mussulman, a doctor of Candia, w^hose school- 
 room is hung with maps of the United Kingdom and 
 Australia, whose little girl read to me out of a shilling 
 English primer how, ^' a fat cat sat on a mat," and whose 
 son has carried off all the prizes at a French school. This 
 worthy gentleman's one regret is that there is no English 
 clergyman in Candia to teach him and his family our 
 language, and, as he took me over the library of French 
 books which the Alliance frangalse has founded in his 
 town, he complained that the British neglected to spread 
 their language in the Levant. At a luncheon-party, which 
 this advanced reformer gave in the garden of a Moham- 
 
 ^ 'Ev l^pfjry irpbg tovq TroXa/xovQ avvTETaKrai crx^^ov r) TraiSeia. 
 
 334 
 
in the Near East 
 
 medan tekkeh, or monastery, about an hour from the 
 ramparts of Candia and within a short distance of the 
 cordon, I was privileged to see how far he had gone in 
 the direction of Western manners. 
 
 As Crete is not exactly a promising place for a picnic, 
 I was somewhat staggered when he suggested the idea. 
 As the doctor would, however, take no refusal, I accepted 
 his cordial invitation, and next morning saw us start from 
 one of the three old Venetian gateways of Candia, some 
 on the appalling wooden saddles of the island and the 
 rest on our feet over the dry river beds, which in Crete 
 are by polite fiction described as roads. Our Turkish host 
 considered it his duty as a man of Western culture to 
 walk, and arrived as fresh as paint at his journey's end. 
 But a less progressive Moslem of portly build and zebra- 
 striped waistcoat was severely punished by the heat, and 
 looked extremely glad when we reached the hospitable 
 gate of the tekkeh. 
 
 The monastery in question, which is close to the site 
 of the famous Labyrinth of Gnossos, was then occupied 
 by a hundred families of Mussulman refugees, who had 
 fled in from the country, which was, and still is, entirely 
 in the hands of the Christians. Bright-eyed, intelligent 
 children — the Cretan children, Christians and Mussul- 
 mans alike, are extremely pretty — and tall, handsome men 
 crowded round us ; while the women, who peered out of 
 the upper windows, signified by gestures their immense 
 surprise at the golden tooth of one of our party, the like 
 of which they had never seen before, and which they 
 evidently regarded as a mark of great beauty. An 
 old dervish, clad in coarse white frieze, escorted us 
 upstairs to a sort of reception-room, hung with the 
 crudest pictures imaginable, where coffee and cigarettes 
 were served round. After we had had time to inspect 
 the designs on the walls — for this monastic order is the 
 
 335 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 only one that is allowed to have pictures of any living 
 thing — we were ushered into the presence of the old 
 dervish, Safvet Baba, who is head of the monastery. 
 The old gentleman bade the ladies of the party sit 
 down on the divan to which he was chained by his 
 rheumatism, and, while we smoked more cigarettes, 
 discoursed pleasantly in Greek on men and things. 
 We next visited the ruins of Gnossos, where Mr. 
 Arthur Evans, of the Ashmolean at Oxford, had been 
 
 A MUSSULMAN PICNIC NEAR CANDIA. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 lately negotiating for the purchase of a piece of land 
 with a view to excavations, and then took our places 
 beneath the lemon trees of the convent garden, where 
 a long table had been spread for our entertainment. But 
 first large glasses of hot coffee, boiled with milk, were 
 served out to each member of the party, which was soon 
 increased by the arrival of our host's son-in-law elect, 
 Behar Bey, who — wonderful to relate — had escorted his 
 fiancee and her youthful sisters to the monastery. The 
 lady's feelings, however, did not permit her to appear at 
 
 33^ 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the board, so the ladies of the party had to visit her in the 
 harem, where she welcomed them in excellent French, 
 and informed them that she had read Gil Bias, On 
 their return cognac was served to us all round, our 
 Moslem friends partaking of it wath zest, and then 
 young Behar, who had a good camera with him, 
 insisted on taking a photograph of the revellers, each 
 man, with one exception, firmly grasping his liqueur 
 glass in his hand. That one exception was my next- 
 door neighbour, he of the zebra waistcoat, who laid down 
 his glass and seized a loaf of bread in its place, only to 
 resume his glass when the fatal operation was over. The 
 worthy man was not quite so ^^ advanced" as his fellows, 
 and thought it prudent that his alcoholic tastes should 
 not be perpetuated by a photograph which might be used 
 as evidence against him hereafter. 
 
 At this point the real business of the luncheon began, 
 the first course consisted of lamb, roasted whole and 
 stuffed with pllaf, the particular form of rice which 
 does duty all over the Levant. On this occasion the 
 rice was seasoned with cocoa-nut and covered with 
 raisins, so that the combination was somewhat remark- 
 able. At the last picnic our host had given, tfie guests 
 were forced to eat the various viands in Turkish fashion 
 with their fingers ; but our progressive friend had made 
 a great advance since then, and brand-new knives and 
 forks were provided, to our great sorrow, and changed 
 between every course. Fish followed the lamb, then 
 came a potato stew, especially devised for our benefit, 
 '^ because," as our host said, " the English always eat 
 potatoes," and then a iowL More pilaf next appeared 
 upon the scene, and as at this period of the performance 
 I showed signs of intense thirst, the young progressive 
 desired I should slake it with beer, mixed with Vichy 
 water — the latter, I may mention, being regarded as the 
 
 337 ^ 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 greatest triumph of Western civilisation in Candia. 
 Sweets and oranges wound up the repast, and I thought 
 that one more Mussuhiian picnic on similar lines would 
 finish me off. The company then adjourned to another 
 part of the garden, where some fell asleep and others 
 sipped coffee. By this time the entertainment, which 
 had begun a little after nine in the morning, had been 
 protracted till three in the afternoon, and we thought it 
 high time to go. But our host would not hear of our 
 departure, and the ladies of the harem desired that their 
 European sisters should stop all night as their guests. 
 At last, on condition that we left two British ofBcers 
 behind to keep him company, our good friend the 
 doctor let us go, and we returned, '' heavy with food," 
 as Homer says, to Candia, the man of the zebra w-aistcoat 
 escorting us back. It took me several hours to sleep off 
 the effect of the varied and multitudinous kinds of fare of 
 which I had partaken. But the experience was cheaply 
 bought at the price of a severe attack of indigestion. To 
 see the " young Turk " at play is both amusing and 
 instructive, and our host's hospitality knew no bounds. 
 Politics, even in this hot-bed of them, were never once 
 mentioned, and we might have been living in profound 
 peace at Corfu, instead of in a state of civil war in 
 Crete. Such aspirations after Western culture are very 
 encouraging ; even the man of the zebra waistcoat carried 
 a notebook in one of his pockets, in which he jotted 
 down all the English words that he heard in Turkish 
 characters. 
 
 A still more interesting spectacle was the open market 
 held every Wednesday at Halmyros, a place on the sea- 
 coast about five miles from Candia, where the Christians 
 and Mussulmans met. It was generally considered an 
 excellent idea of the British Consul-General to bring the 
 rival creeds together at this meeting-place so that they 
 
 338 
 
in the Near East 
 
 might have a chance of making friends. Several of these 
 markets had already been held, but on this occasion for 
 the first time there was something like an amalgamation 
 of the two parties. 
 
 This Cretan marketing was one of the most picturesque 
 functions at which it has been my good fortune to assist. 
 Our party, consisting of myself and two ladies attended 
 by old Shereef Aga, Sir A. Biliotti's faithful cavass, and 
 the cavass of the Austrian Vice-Consul, started from Sir 
 H. Chermside's house, shortly before 9.30, in the presence 
 of a curious crowd of Candiotes who had assembled to 
 see us of¥. Horses being unprocurable, we mounted 
 sorry-looking donkeys in true Margate style. Old Shereef 
 led the way, bestriding a big mule, with his snow-white 
 petticoats — he is a Mussulman Albanian and always wears 
 ihc fnstanella — spreading out on either side of his wooden 
 saddle, and two immense bundles strapped on behind. 
 We rode through the vast gateway which penetrates the 
 old Venetian walls of Candia, and easily understood how 
 it was that the town, which derived its present name from 
 its fortifications, was able to resist for twenty-one years 
 the attacks of the Turks in the seventeenth century. In 
 one corner of the ramparts the white tents of the Welsh 
 Fusileers stood out against the blue sky, and in the plain 
 a speck of red every few yards marked the spot where 
 a Turkish soldier was posted. The most elaborate pre- 
 cautions had been taken to prevent an encounter at the 
 market. The British gunboat Hussar had been anchored 
 off Halmyros, with her guns all ready for action. A 
 detachment of the Welsh Fusileers under Captain Wynne 
 guarded the ground on which the market was held, and 
 a thousand Turkish troops were told off along the road 
 to Candia to protect the Mussulmans. Yet in spite of all 
 this, it was with some difficulty that the Turkish governor, 
 who had been shot at on the previous Saturday, was 
 
 339 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 induced to go out ; but al last he rode off to the 
 market, attended by the Mayor and a host of other 
 local magnates. No one was allowed to enter within the 
 line of flags which marked the limits of the market 
 with arms in his possession, and two British soldiers 
 disarmed our attendant, the Austrian cavass, with such 
 gusto, that his mule kicked up its heels in the air 
 and nearly projected him over its head. Even the 
 small donkey-boy was relieved of his switch, and it 
 was laughingly suggested that Sir A. Biliotti, who had 
 bought a gnarled Cretan stick of wild olive from one 
 of the Christian vendors, should be deprived of his staff. 
 On the ground our party was increased by Captain 
 Marrack, of the Royal Oak, who had had three years' ex- 
 perience of the Cretan question and whose ship was then 
 stationed off Candia, by one or two other naval officers 
 and by the Russian consul and a Russian correspondent. 
 There must have been several hundred people on the 
 ground. Christians with black handkerchiefs tied round 
 their heads, in true Cretan fashion, and befezzed Mussul- 
 mans, some of whom had not seen their Christian 
 compatriots for a couple of years. As for the actual 
 marketing, that was- of less importance than the oppor- 
 tunity w^hich it afforded for bringing these people 
 together in a friendly way. All went off most amic- 
 ably, and it was interesting to see Sir A. Biliotti and 
 Sir H. Chermside sitting dow^n on the grass surrounded 
 by a group of chiefs — among whom w^ere two members of 
 the Cretan Assembly — to discuss the political situation in 
 an informal manner. After the discussion was over, one 
 of the ladies of our party obtained leave to photograph 
 the group, to the immense delight of the Cretan chiefs, 
 who came up afterwards and offered their profuse thanks 
 for the honour done them. The Cretan, Mussulman no 
 less than Christian, appears to be quite aware of his good 
 
 340 
 
in the Near East 
 
 looks and martial bearing, in which he has no rivals 
 except the Montenegrins among the peoples of the East. 
 Meanwhile some business had been done in sheep, 
 oranges, sweetmeats, and roses, as well as in kitchen 
 utensils. More would have been sold had the Mussul- 
 mans only taken the trouble to bring out from the town 
 the two articles which the Christians most needed, namely, 
 farm implements and seed. However, several orders were 
 
 SIR A. BILIOTTI AND COLONEL SIR H. CHERMSIDE, WITH GROUP OF 
 
 CRETAN CHIEFS. 
 
 {Fivin a Photo, hy Miss Chadivick.) 
 
 given for next week, and Sir A. Biliotti expressed himself 
 quite satisfied with the progress that had been made. On 
 a former occasion some Mussulmans who had bought 
 sheep from Christians were so roughly handled by their 
 fanatical co-religionists on their return to Candia, that the 
 animals had to be escorted through the streets by soldiers, 
 while after another market a lamb was actually cut into 
 small pieces. This time, however, order was perfect, and 
 the British officers had the Turkish troops well in hand. 
 At one moment it was thought that the latter had 
 approached too near the market, whereupon the inter- 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 preter was at once sent to tell them to retire, which they 
 did without demur. When business was over we all sat 
 down to an al fresco lunch in the middle of the ground, 
 in which the Christians were immensely interested. And 
 then the party broke up and I went to visit the old 
 Venetian mill which the Mussulmans had destroyed in 
 1896, and which stands still inactive on the margin of a 
 deep-blue pool — a sad but typical instance of this fratri- 
 cidal strife. But this spectacle of ruin was relieved by 
 the appearance of a cavalcade of mules coming down the 
 mountain-side, laden with sulphur for the vines of the 
 Christians, purchased out of the Duke of Westminster's 
 Relief Fund. And then we returned in a long cavalcade to 
 Candia. Unfortunately the recent revival of fanaticism 
 has made these markets impossible. 
 
 Wretched as the government of this fine island has been 
 for centuries, poor as its social life must necessarily be 
 under Turkish rule, one not only finds the most intense 
 love of their country among the natives, but even 
 foreigners become attached to the place. The German 
 Vice-Consul at Candia, whose wife had been sent to her 
 home in the Fatherland for safety during the disturbances, 
 and whose house was burned by the mob last month, told 
 me that she, no less than he, was devoted to the island, 
 in which for eleven years he had resided. And in two 
 widely different spheres there was peace even during the 
 worst moments of religious fanaticism. The first was the 
 small Greek church of the Monks of Sinai, at Candia, 
 which enjoys a special firman of protection from one of 
 the Sultan's predecessors, and whose priest was therefore 
 able to cultivate his tiny garden with equanimity all the 
 time. The other consisted of two leper villages, one out- 
 side Canea, the other beyond the walls of Candia, where 
 the wretched victims of a common misfortune, though of 
 different creed, live at peace with each other. 
 
 342 
 
in the Near East 
 
 What is at this moment the greatest evil in Crete is the 
 uncertainty of the future. With few exceptions all parties 
 in the island wish for some settlement of the Cretan 
 question. Some of the Christians, who are in possession 
 of the Mussulmans' fields and vineyards, preferred the 
 present state of things to continue till the harvest and the 
 vintage were over. Some of the low class of Mussulmans, 
 
 CRETAN BOYS 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadivick.) 
 
 who have nothing to lose, and about forty Beys, who 
 have been at the bottom of every agitation, would prefer 
 the prolongation of the present confusion. But most of 
 the well-to-do Cretans of both creeds are sick of this civil 
 war, and would, I am told, welcome any real solution of 
 the difficulty that the Powers might propose. Only let 
 that solution come at once. At the present moment, the 
 
 343 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 candidature of Prince George '^ holds the field/' and it 
 may therefore be of interest to state the opinions of repre- 
 sentative persons in the island on this question, which 
 1 submitted to every one whom I considered as likely to 
 know the requirements of the Cretans. So far as the 
 Christians are concerned, there is no doubt whatever that 
 they would welcome the Prince with enthusiasm. But 
 like all the Cretans, being intensely insular, they will pro- 
 bably resent in the long run the bestowal of offices upon 
 the little band of continental Greeks who are certain to 
 accompany Prince George from Athens. Place-hunting 
 in Crete, as on the mainland, is a favourite pursuit with 
 the educated, and the cry will soon go up, that the natives 
 are being ousted by the new-comers. Moreover, if the 
 Prince attempts, as is likely, to be absolutely impartial to 
 Christians and Mussulmans, he will disappoint the hopes 
 of the former, who expect to have things all their own 
 way. Statistics are very hard to obtain in Crete, but 
 according to the census made under Photiades Pasha in 
 1 88 1 (the last figures procurable), there were 205,000 
 Orthodox Greeks and only 73,234 Mussulmans in the 
 island, in spite of the efforts of the Turkish Government 
 to increase the number of the latter by the immigration 
 of Arabs. Hitherto, thanks to the Turkish Government 
 and the Turkish soldiers, this minority has been able to 
 regard itself as the dominant class ; but, with a Greek 
 Prince as governor, there w^ill be a danger that the 
 majority will endeavour to over-ride the rights of the 
 minority and will resent the well-meant efforts of the new 
 ruler to preserve fair treatment for all. The Mussulmans, 
 however, with the few exceptions above mentioned, would 
 probably accept the Prince, provided that he came with 
 the consent of the Sultan and also providing that the 
 Sultan, having given his consent, did not then intrigue 
 against him. 
 
 344 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 It is well known that the rising of last year, as well as 
 the massacre at Candia in September, was instigated from 
 Constantinople, whence the usual arguments were applied 
 to the inborn fanaticism of the Cretan Mussulmans and 
 the usual orders issued to the Turkish soldiers. The 
 point-blank refusal of the Turkish Finance Minister to 
 sanction the loan of ;^T. 100,000 desired by the Cretan 
 Assembly, was the last straw which provoked this insur- 
 rection. If Prince George be installed in Crete, without 
 the consent of the Sultan, his life will not be safe, for all 
 the Concert's ships and all its men cannot save him from 
 the dagger of a resolute fanatic. That the Mussulmans 
 will actively resist his appointment, if they are left to 
 themselves, I do not believ-e. But all persons, whom I 
 have consulted, agree that two points are absolutely es- 
 sential to his appointment. First, the Turkish troops 
 must all be withdrawn before his arrival, an event now 
 at last accomplished ; and secondly, the International 
 forces must remain for at least tw^o, and probably five 
 years after it. So long as the Turkish soldiers remained, 
 the Mussulman minority would feel tempted to indulge 
 in its old feud with the Christian majority. On the 
 other hand, there must be some force, and that a con- 
 siderable one, to preserve, or rather to restore, order in 
 the island — for the whole of the interior is still in a state 
 of confusion, and Crete is not merely, as the Great Powers 
 seem to have imagined when they entrusted authority to 
 the admirals, three or four harbours and a coast-line. 
 Moreover, no Government can be really successful in 
 Crete unless it has ample funds at its disposal for the 
 development of the island. During the 229 years that 
 have elapsed since the island surrendered after a twenty- 
 four years' siege to their troops, the Turks have hardly 
 constructed one single public work, except barracks and 
 the water-supply of Candia, the two essentials of a Mus- 
 
 346 
 
in the Near East 
 
 sulman Power. There is but one carriageable road in . 
 the island, that which unites Canea and Suda. In Candia, 
 the largest town in the island, there are no carriages ; for 
 the two that used to exist were last employed for the con- 
 veyance of the admirals on the Queen's Jubilee last year, 
 on which occasion the bottoms of both vehicles fell out, 
 and the distinguished officers had to walk inside the 
 bottomless machines ! During the brief Egyptian oc- 
 cupation, between 1832 and 1840, attempts were made to 
 improve the means of communication, but the Turks 
 allowed them to deteriorate, and at present the only 
 method of reaching the interior is by horse or mule, 
 sometimes on a wooden saddle which makes the rider 
 feel every stone on the dry river-bed, which here, as in 
 other parts of Turkey, passes for a road. This was one 
 of the chief grievances which led to the insurrection of 
 1866-68. Not a bridge has been constructed since the 
 Venetians left, agriculture is still as primitive as in the 
 time of the Arab or Roman domination, and the scheme 
 of tramways, which has been advocated by M. Lyghounes 
 of Canea, has hitherto met with the opposition of the 
 reactionary Beys, who fear, as their fellows did in Mace- 
 donia, when the railway was made from Salonica to ^ 
 Mitrovica, that their property would suffer from the new 
 facilities thus afforded. A good harbour, too, is badly 
 wanted at Candia ; in fact, in Crete everything has to be 
 created, and nothing can be done without money, of 
 which Prince George is not generally supposed to have 
 much at his disposal. It may be remembered, that a 
 loan of at least six million francs, guaranteed by the 
 Powers, was one of the proposals submitted by France 
 last year for the settlement of the Cretan question. 
 
 For this reason, as well as on account of the Prince's 
 inexperience, his wretched fiasco in the late war, and 
 above all in consequence of the difference of creed among 
 
 347 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the Cretans whom he would have to rule^ not a few think, 
 and I confess I am one of them, that a governor who was 
 neither a Greek nor a Turk, but who had had experience 
 in managing Orientals of different religions, would have 
 been a far better choice. Practically, only two countries 
 could supply such a man. Great Britain from her Anglo- 
 Indian officials, and Austria-Hungary from her staff of 
 administrators in Bosnia and the Hercegovina. Great 
 Britain having been excluded by Lord Salisbury's self- 
 denying ordinance and by the idea, universally prevalent 
 in the Levant, that we want Suda bay, an idea not 
 shared, I may remark, by our naval officers on the spot, 
 who pointed out to me that Suda bay is by no means 
 safe, that Cyprus and Malta enable us to dispense with it, 
 and that it would be impossible to hold it without the 
 command of the hills around it, the choice is narrowed 
 to an Austro- Hungarian subject. F'or my part, having 
 seen what has been effected in Bosnia and the Herce- 
 govina in the last twenty years under conditions very 
 similar to those of Crete, I cannot conceive of any better 
 selection, and have met several Austro-Hungarian officials 
 who would fulfil all the requirements of the post. This 
 opinion is also that of so experienced a diplomatist as 
 Sir Horace Rumbold, British Ambassador at Vienna, who 
 told Count Goluchowski that : ^' An Austro-Hungarian 
 officer of distinction, especially one who had been 
 employed in Bosnia, would seem to me to have the best 
 qualifications required."^ For, in Crete, as in Bosnia, there 
 never were many actual Turks outside the few Pashas 
 sent there to govern the country, but the populations, 
 Christian and Mussulman alike, were of the same race, 
 being in Bosnia both Serbs, and in Crete both Greeks. 
 Although a large number of Cretans embraced the faith 
 of Islam soon after the Turkish conquest, some conver- 
 
 ' Turkey, No. 12 (1897), p. 12. 
 
 348 
 
in the Near East 
 
 sions are of quite recent date. Under such circumstances, 
 no one but an outsider could deal out open-handed 
 justice to both parties. I do not doubt that Prince 
 George will endeavour to do so, but he must rely for 
 advice, either upon the foreign consuls or upon extreme 
 partisans of either side, Greek advocates or Mussulman 
 Beys, while an experienced European administrator 
 would be able to judge for himself. Moreover, if the 
 Concert of Europe had any sense of humour, or con- 
 ducted its affairs on business-like principles, it would 
 hardly entrust the difficult task of governing Crete to a 
 young man, who had signally failed in the one thing that 
 he has undertaken. 
 
 Such an arrangement as I have suggested would not 
 prevent the ultimate union of Crete with Greece, should 
 the Cretans so desire it. As far back as November i6, 
 1866, during the Cretan insurrection of that year, Prince 
 Gortschakoff wrote to his Ambassador in Paris : '^ Nous 
 ne voyons qu'une issue possible, e'est I'annexion de la 
 Candie au royaume de Grece." But on this last point 1 
 venture to express my doubts. As was pointed out in the 
 chapter on the Ionian Islands, an immense decline in 
 material prosperity has resulted from their annexation to 
 the Greek kingdom, and their removal from the British 
 Protectorate. Cretans themselves have informed me that 
 if their island could enjoy for a spell of years the blessings 
 of Western government, of which, as yet, the mass of the 
 islanders can form no idea whatever, having never ex- 
 perienced it, the natives would hesitate to purchase union 
 with Greece at the price of high taxes, compulsory 
 military service and government from the mainland. It 
 may be remarked that at the beginning of the War of 
 Independence, the Cretans were not very keen for the 
 Greek cause; while in the early days of the Cretan in- 
 surrection of 1866-68 there was no desire for annexation 
 
 349 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 to Greece, though later on the Assembly declared for it. 
 At present, of course, there is a keen desire for union 
 among most of the Cretan Christians, whose views may 
 be summarised in the remark which the Archbishop made 
 to me : ^^ A daughter loves her mother however poor she 
 may be." But at this moment the Cretan Christians are 
 hardly in a position to judge on this point. They rightly 
 feel that anything would be better than Turkish rule ; 
 they cannot compare the advantages of Western with 
 
 A BAIRAM RAM : CANP:A. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 Greek administration. At any rate, a preliminary period 
 of European government would be the best possible pre- 
 paration from the material standpoint for them, as it was 
 for the Ionian Islanders. 
 
 But anything is preferable to the Turkish rule of this 
 magnificent island. Eight times this century has Crete 
 risen in insurrection, and, so far as material progress is 
 concerned, the island was better off in the seventeenth 
 century than it is now. The recent Turkish governors, 
 with the exception of Photiades and Karatheodori, the 
 
 350 
 
in the Near East 
 
 former of whom governed peacefully with the Pact of 
 Halepa, and the latter left a pleasant memory behind him, 
 have been either knaves or fools. One of them earned 
 the difhcalt distinction of being the greatest thief in the 
 Empire. Another was so weak, that at a crisis he burst 
 into a flood of tears and besought a newspaper correspon- 
 dent to save him ; while a third, having scraped together 
 a sufficient income, fled from his post, and is now living 
 abroad. None of them pretended to do anything for 
 public security in the island ; in fact, a Turkish governor, 
 on hearing that a certain European had passed many 
 years in Crete, naively remarked : ''■ Ah, you must be a 
 very courageous man." Of Turkish justice these two 
 examples will suffice. There used to be an advocate who 
 was brother-in-law of the judge, and whose practice it 
 was to put up his clients' cases to auction by agreement 
 w^ith the counsel for the other side and with the judge. 
 The highest bidder obtained judgment. In another case, 
 a landed proprietor, whose sheep had been stolen, found 
 the name of the thief inserted in place of his own on the 
 writ. As the result of this error he, and not the culprit, 
 was arrested, put in prison for ten days, and then tried 
 and convicted for the theft of his own sheep ! 
 
 That the Sultan would personally object to the virtual 
 loss of Crete is doubted by those who know how little he 
 gets out of it. The Cretan dues are paid into the douanes 
 at Smyrna, and much of them stick on the way, while the 
 cost of suppressing Cretan insurrections has from first to 
 last been enormous. ^^ No other part of the Ottoman 
 Empire," wrote Von Hammer, the great historian of 
 Turkey, ^^has been so hard to gain" ; and, one may add, 
 none has been so expensive to keep. But Abdul Hamid 
 has been bombarded with petitions from some of the 
 local Beys, who have represented it as a question of 
 national honour that the Turks should retain hold of an 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 island which it cost their forefathers so many years to 
 conquer, and the result of the late war has, of course, 
 encouraged their friends at Constantinople. In Crete, at 
 any rate, no one is very sanguine that Prince George, or 
 indeed any governor, will arrive in the island for some 
 time to come. Promptitude above all else is required in 
 Crete, but how can that be expected from the Concert of 
 Europe, whether composed of six Powers, or reduced, as 
 it now is, to four ? 
 
 CRRTAX LADIES SHOPPING. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Chadivick.) 
 
 352 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SAMOS : A STUDY IN AUTONOMY 
 
 THERE had been so much talk about Samian 
 autonomy in connection with the Cretan question, 
 and so Httle seemed to be known about the government 
 of the island, that I was exceedingly anxious to visit 
 
 VATHY : SAMOS. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Miss Cliadwick.) 
 
 Samos and see for myself how it compares with other 
 parts of the Turkish Empire. My visit proved to me 
 beyond all doubt the immense advantages which an 
 autonomous province enjoys over the immediate posses- 
 sions of the Sultan. The Eastern proverb says that ^' grass 
 
 353 2A 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 never grows where the Turk's horse has trod/' and too 
 many of the ^gean islands, robbed of their foliage and 
 reduced to mere arid rocks during the War of Independ- 
 ence, bear witness to the truth of the maxim. But Samos 
 is one of the loveliest spots in the Levant. As you enter 
 the beautiful harbour of Vathy between hills clothed with 
 verdure to the summit and rich with vineyards and olive- 
 yards, you seem to be transported to some fairy scene, 
 where Nature has done everything for the benefit of man. 
 Land on the quay, and the trim white houses and spotless 
 streets speak of prosperity and good administration such 
 as are rare in the Near East. A miniature Eiffel Tower 
 stands in a small square by the harbour, and around are 
 countless depots of the far-famed Samian cigarettes, 
 which, sold on the spot for a franc and a half a hundred, 
 make the island the paradise of the smoker. It was a 
 festival when we arrived, and the inhabitants had all 
 turned out in their best dress in honour of the day. 
 Tall islanders in irreproachably snow-white stockings and 
 baggy dark-blue breeches, with the long-tasselled fez upon 
 their heads, were strolling about the quay or sitting in the 
 cafes smoking and talking — the very ideal of Greek life. 
 Every few minutes from the hills above the harbour rang 
 out the crack of rifles and the roar of cannon, for the 
 Samians were showing their joy at the festival in true 
 Greek fashion by letting off all the firearms that they 
 possessed. Close by my ears one merry fellow discharged 
 an old blunderbuss that looked as if it might have done 
 service in the War of Independence against the Capitan 
 Pasha. Everywhere the Samian colours were flying, for 
 the Principality possesses a flag of its own, and the sole 
 representatives of the Turkish suzerain who were visible 
 in the streets were a few tall and well-dressed gendarmes 
 in dark-blue and red petticoats and gaiters, whose 
 accoutrements contrasted strangely with those of the 
 
 354 
 
in the Near East 
 
 slip-shod tatterdemalions who serve the Turk else- 
 where. 
 
 Accompanied by the British Consul, we hastened to 
 pay our respects to the Prince, for it chanced to be his 
 reception day. Four gendarmes guarded the door of the 
 palace, a square building which stands on the quay, but 
 their presence is merely for form's sake, for the Prince is 
 
 POLICEMAN AT VATHY. . 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 accessible to all his subjects and needs no protection 
 from those whom he governs. Without the slightest 
 ceremony we were ushered into the reception-room, 
 where his Highness and the Princess Marie were busy 
 shaking hands with a crowd of Samians of all sorts and 
 conditions from the smart merchant down to the collarless 
 boatman, who kissed the Princess's hand with that easy 
 
 355 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 grace common to all the Greeks. The Prince, or 
 'Hyefiujv, Stephanos Mousourus, speaks English perfectly, 
 and not only has no accent, but uses idioms with an 
 accuracy which many Englishmen might envy. But this 
 is not to be wondered at when it is remembered that his 
 father was for nearly thirty years Turkish Ambassador in 
 London before the late Rustem Pasha, and was in 
 his day one of the most familiar figures in society, of 
 which, as the doyen of the diplomatic body, he was an 
 important personage. The son — who is the eleventh 
 Prince of Samos since the island was formed into an 
 autonomous principality, under the guarantee of Great 
 Britain, France, and Russia in 1832— is a man of fifty- 
 seven, and has spent the last two years in his present 
 position. While French fondants were handed round to 
 his guests he discoursed to me on men and things, 
 showing, what is very rare in a Turkish official, a keen 
 sense of humour. He has, indeed, at Vathy a delightfully 
 easy post, which the future Governor of Crete might well 
 envy. For there is this great and, to my mind, fundamental 
 difference between the two islands, which Lord Stanley, 
 at that time Foreign Secretary, pointed out over thirty 
 years ago, that while in Crete one-third of the population is 
 Mussulman and two-thirds are Christian, in Samos out of 
 a population of 49,733, according to the latest available 
 figures, those for 1896, no fewer than 49,697 belonged to 
 the Orthodox Greek Church. Indeed it is said that, 
 outside the gendarmes and a small Turkish garrison 
 emblematic of the Sultan's suzerainty, there are only 
 eight Mussulmans in the island. Where there is such 
 a vast preponderance of one religion ever all others, 
 there is no fear of fanaticism, such as has been the 
 curse of Crete, and accordingly there is no real parallel 
 between the two cases. Whenever the Sultan has sought 
 a Christian Governor for the Cretans, he has, nevertheless, 
 
in I the Near East 
 
 moved the Prince of Samos for the time being to the 
 konak at Canea. Thus, Georgi Berovic, the last Christian 
 Governor of Crete before the intervention of the Powers, 
 had previously been Prince of Samos ; and, after his 
 hasty flight to Corfu, leaving Crete to chaos and the 
 Concert of Europe, the Porte,/a'ctually appointed in 
 his stead another ex- Prince of Samos, Photiades Bey. 
 Alexander Karatheodori, the model Turkish governor, 
 also filled both positions, and succeeded in remaining 
 at Vathy for the longest period yet known — nine years. 
 Although it rose against the Turk in the War of Inde- 
 pendence, during the two generations of its autonomy 
 Samos has been in the happy position of having no 
 history. Looking over its annals for this period, I can 
 find nothing more eventful to relate than the names and 
 accessions of its eleven Princes, the visit of the King of 
 the Belgians, the opening of the college, called after the 
 greatest of all Samians, Pythagoras, and the laying of one 
 or two foundation-stones. During the same period of 
 time, Crete, under immediate Turkish rule, save for the 
 brief Egyptian interlude, has undergone seven revolu- 
 tions. The Samian privileges were confirmed and 
 increased in 1850, and have caused general satisfaction 
 ahke to the people and to the Porte. Among other 
 blessings, the island possesses that unique one among all 
 the Principalities and Powers of this world — the absence 
 of a National Debt. Like Cyprus, it pays an annual 
 tribute — in this case of 300,000 piastres, or about ;£2,5oo 
 — to the Sultan ; but, even so, it easily makes both ends 
 meet ; for it is a rich island, and, when once the tribute 
 has been paid, the Turkish Government has nothing more 
 to say. There is a Senate of four persons, representing 
 the four districts of the island, who are selected by the 
 Prince out of a list of eight submitted to him every year 
 by the National Assembly, as prescribed by the Organic 
 
 357 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 statute. The Senators must be "able to read and write, 
 and be not less than thirty years of age." This arrange- 
 ment is found to work well. The laws of the island are 
 as good as its tobacco, and its famous, if somewhat sickly- 
 sweet, wine, of which Byron sang the praises ; public 
 safety is well maintained, and, in the words of our Consul, 
 " persons can travel about all over Samos, day or night, 
 without the slightest fear of molestation." 
 
 With such a record as this, and with a climate so benign 
 that the death-rate of Vathy is only 13 per thousand, the 
 Samians ought, indeed, to take warning by their old 
 tyrant, Polykrates, and throw what they prize best into the 
 sea, lest their too-good fortune offend the gods. They 
 have an elaborate system of public education, as befits an 
 island which in ancient days produced so many sages 
 and taught the Athenians the Ionian alphabet. There 
 are, according to the latest figures, 48 public schools, or 
 about one per thousand of the whole population, which 
 contain 6,033 pupils of both sexes. There are 94 teachers 
 employed in these establishments. The educational 
 system of the island culminates in the above-mentioned 
 Pythagoreum, an institution which attracts pupils from 
 Crete and other islands as well as from Samos itself. Not 
 without reason, therefore, does an enthusiastic Samian 
 writer compare it to a " lighthouse, spreading its light 
 far and wide in the Levant." The teachers in the various 
 public schools of the island, the officials, and most of the 
 doctors and lawyers are among its alumni. But the 
 Samians are not content to stand still in the matter of 
 education. They feel the lack of technical instruction in 
 agriculture, seeing that the majority of the inhabitants are 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits, of infant schools on the 
 Kindergarten system, and of higher female education. An 
 elaborate memorial on these subjects was drawn up by 
 the Principal of the Pythagoreum and laid before the 
 
 35« 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Prince and the National Assembly some time ago. A 
 small archaeological museum has been lately founded to 
 preserve the scattered memorials of the island's great past, 
 and has awakened much patriotic interest among the 
 inhabitants. Nothing struck me more forcibly in Samos 
 than the excellent postal arrangements, for these in its 
 
 SAMIAXS. 
 
 {From a Photo, by Miss Chadwick.) 
 
 immediate dominions the Turkish Government is never 
 able to make. But at Vathy I found a neat post-office 
 with a French-speaking postmaster, who actually took the 
 trouble to despatch his mails at the proper hours and 
 sort his letters in a business-like fashion. Yet of one thing 
 the Samians, whom I met, complained. They said that 
 they had no amusements, and that they found even their 
 
 359 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 paradise dull without the excitements of the modern man. 
 As that appears to be their only grievance, one is justified 
 in assuming that the experiment of autonomy in Samos 
 has been a complete success, and might with advantage 
 be applied to the other Turkish islands, where the popu- 
 lation is like that of Samos, largely Greek. But for the 
 government of a mixed community there is little to be 
 learned from this example. Certainly, for many years 
 past, the Samians have had good cause to congratulate 
 themselves on the unique position which they have so 
 long held, not only as compared with their fellow-Greeks 
 in other parts of Turkey, but with the highly taxed and 
 hitherto badly administered subjects of the Hellenic 
 Kingdom. The Sultan, too, were he wise, would see the 
 advantage of extending a system which secures him a 
 fixed and regularly paid income, without expenditure of 
 either blood or treasure. Though here, as elsewhere in the 
 Levant, Great Britain is gradually losing her trade to the 
 ubiquitous Germans, she has, however, the satisfaction of 
 having achieved by her share in the joint protection of 
 Samos, at least one really successful stroke of policy in 
 the Near East. 
 
 A still smaller island, but in a very different part of the 
 Orient, gives us a further example of the happiness which 
 may be secured by the practical separation of an Ottoman 
 possession from the immediate sway of the Sultan. 
 Travelling down the Danube soon after the blowing up 
 of the Iron Gates had freed that river to the commerce 
 of nations, I lighted, just above that once impenetrable 
 barrier of rock and close to the spot where the three 
 kingdoms of Hungary, Roumania and Servia meet, upon 
 an island in the stream, which belonged to none of these 
 three riverain states. For here is one of those curious geo- 
 graphical anomalies which are the delight of diplomacy. 
 Landing on this island of Ada-Kaleh, you are transported 
 
 360 
 
in the Near East 
 
 back to the bad old times, when the Crescent still waved 
 over the Danube and the Turk was at the gates of 
 Vienna. Few people in Western Europe know that 
 there still exists on this islet, half-way in mid-stream 
 between Hungary and Servia, a Turkish colony, pre- 
 serving its own laws, worshipping in its own fashion, 
 electing its own chief magistrate, and protected, just as 
 Bosnia is protected, by the sheltering wings of the 
 Austrian double-eagle. From the dismantled battlements 
 of its citadel the Turkish flag still flies, while a genuine 
 Turkish bazar, presenting rather a bank-holiday appear- 
 ance, and a large mosque with some fine old Turkish 
 tombs adjoining it, testify to the nationality of the 
 islanders. On the steamer I met the burgomaster, as the 
 Austrians call him — a big, burly Turk, with a flowing 
 white beard. Although the Treaty of Berlin has given 
 Austria-Hungary the right of garrisoning the island and 
 she keeps a company of soldiers there, the burgomaster 
 finds no difficulty in keeping order among his 480 subjects. 
 Enjoying practical freedom from Custom's dues the natives 
 of Ada-Kaleh drive a roaring trade, and have no wish to be 
 annexed by any of their neighbours, and the prosperity of 
 their little community under Austro-Hungarian protection 
 forms a striking contrast to the anarchy which prevails in 
 the Turkish Empire. Ada-Kaleh (its name is Turkish 
 for ''the island-castle") was once a fortress of enormous 
 strength, a barrier as effective as the Iron Gates them- 
 selves ; but its triple ring of forts and moats is now 
 abandoned to the lizards and the frogs, and a stone 
 bearing a fine Turkish inscription with a German trans- 
 lation is all that is left to tell of the great deeds of 
 Mahmud Khan, the terror of all his neighbours, who 
 used to swoop down from this island home upon the 
 fertile plains of Hungary in the days gone by, and died in 
 1739 — the same year that the Austrian troops retired from 
 
 361 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Servia, and that country fell once more beneath the 
 Turkish sway. Those who believe that the true solution 
 of the Eastern question is a Western protectorate, will 
 find their theory carried out in practice on a very small 
 scale in this miniature commonwealth. 
 
 362 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE PROMISED LAND I MACEDONIA 
 
 SALON ICA is undoubtedly the key of Macedonia, 
 that promised land for which six Balkan nationalities 
 and at least one great European Power are eagerly 
 scheming. As such the ancient city of Thessalonica is 
 only second in importance to Constantinople itself. In 
 every age it has played an imposing part. It has shared 
 with the Imperial residence on the Bosporus the glory 
 of being the capital of the whole Balkan Peninsula. 
 Against its walls, as against those of Constantinople, the 
 forces of many great captains have been directed, and 
 in the late Greco-Turkish war the bombardment of 
 Salonica by the Hellenic fleet would, if it had not been 
 prevented by the Powers, have materially crippled the 
 resources of the Turks. Since the completion of the 
 Constantinople Junction railway, which was the right 
 arm of the Ottoman Government in that struggle, and 
 enabled the Turks to strike hard and quickly at their foes, 
 the old town has become a railway terminus of the 
 utmost value to its Turkish owners. Three lines now 
 converge at this spot — that from Constantinople, that 
 from Belgrade and Nis, and that from Monastir, which 
 connects the sea with the heart of Macedonia. Besides, 
 Salonica, in spite of the depression caused by the political 
 events of the past three years, is one of the most 
 flourishing commercial towns of Eastern Europe. It 
 was intended by nature to be the outlet for the trade of 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 the whole Peninsula on the ^gean, just as in mediaeval 
 times Ragusa was the outlet on the Adriatic.- And when 
 the long-planned railway line between Sarajevo and 
 Mitrovica is at last made, Salonica may perhaps supersede 
 Brindisi as the port of embarkation for travellers and 
 mails en route for India and Egypt. 
 
 Seen from the sea, Salonica is one of the most beautiful 
 cities of the East. As you enter the gulf, with the broad 
 mass of Olympus, crowned with a diadem of snow, on 
 your left, you see at the end a walled city, lying in an 
 amphitheatre of low hills straight before you. As you 
 approach, the countless minarets and the dark cypresses, 
 which form a background to their snow-white com- 
 panions, have that unmistakably Eastern look which 
 modern Athens lacks and modern Belgrade has lost. 
 And the white walls which still surround Salonica on 
 three sides give it an appearance of compactness which 
 the average straggling nineteenth century town never 
 possesses. The round Norman tower on the quay 
 reminds you, in spite of its recent whitewashing in 
 honour of the King of Servia's visit, of the far-off days, 
 seven centuries ago, when Tancred captured Salonica 
 with his Sicilian host. In the street which runs through 
 the busy bazar to the sea you can discern a crowd of 
 red-fezzed Turkish soldiers, armed to the teeth, mixed 
 with the ubiquitous Jewish merchants of the town, whos^ 
 ancestors fled here, as others fled to Bosnia and Smyrna, 
 to escape the fires and tortures of the Spanish Inquisi- 
 tion. Conspicuous in the medley of head-dresses on the 
 quay is the green arrangement, in which the Jewesses 
 fasten their hair, like a pig-tail, while the mob of 
 boatmen, now swarming up the vessel's side, is as 
 picturesque as any you will find between Corfu and 
 Constantinople. Salonica, seen from the sea, looks 
 indeed a perfect city, and you feel inclined at this 
 
 365 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 distance to believe that here at least is an exception to 
 that general rule of dilapidation and decay which follows 
 the Turkish flag all over the East of Europe. 
 
 But land on the quay and take a walk through Salonica 
 the picturesque, and you reconsider your verdict. From 
 the seething Custom House, fit model of official stu- 
 pidity and ignorance, squalid, dingy streets lead up to 
 the main thoroughfare of the town. Dead rats and offal 
 of every kind are left to rot in the blazing sun, and one 
 learns to thank those good scavengers, the pariah dogs 
 and the audacious crows, for their labours in their own 
 and the public interest. Stench succeeds stench in the 
 narrow lanes which intersect the upper town. At every 
 turn the huge holes in the roadway threaten discomfiture 
 to the unwary traveller, while streams of what for polite- 
 ness may be called water ooze down the centre of these 
 rocky beds. Now and again a stray dustcart may be 
 seen, but the city is too large for such spasmodic efforts 
 to prevail over the daily accumulations of ^^ matter in the 
 wrong place," and the one exception to the general 
 squalor of the town is where the guiding hand of an 
 Englishman, Mr. Blunt, the British Consul-General, has 
 called order out of chaos, and paved and drained the 
 merchants' quarter. Of the quaint, nameless alleys 
 which serve as feeders to the main street there is no end. 
 The very cabmen do not know how to find them, and 
 perhaps it is just as well, for a drive up one of these 
 quarry-like lanes would be more excruciating than the 
 rack to the unfortunate victim. Picturesque these things 
 may be, but one wonders no longer that Salonica is the 
 chosen home of fever, and that the visitor who traverses 
 these streets in the night air does so at his peril. Under 
 an energetic European Government the town would 
 become what Sarajevo, in spite of much greater obstacles, 
 has been made under the enlightened rule of Austria- 
 
 366 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Hungary. But the Turk goes on as his forbears did, and 
 the one modern improvement which he has patronised is 
 the Belgian Company's tramway, which traverses the 
 main street, the Egnatian Way of the Romans, and 
 passes beneath the fine old arch of the Emperor Galerius 
 with a rapid disdain which seems to say to both Roman 
 and Turkish rulers of Salonica that the modern West is 
 their superior. Yet you have your reward for a scramble 
 among the slums of this truly Oriental town. The 
 Byzantine remains of Salonica are scarcely equalled by 
 those of any other city of the East. Even the great fire, 
 which laid a large part of Salonica in ashes in 1891, has 
 spared, as if in reverence, the Mosque of St. George, 
 that strange round building which Trajan built after the 
 model of the Pantheon, and which witnessed the baptism 
 of the Emperor Theodosius. It has spared, too, the 
 famous marble pulpit from which St. Paul is said to have 
 preached to the Thessalonians, and the great mosque of 
 St. Demetrius, with its '^ sweating " columns and its tomb 
 of the saint. Thither once a year the Greeks repair, 
 without let or hindrance from their Turkish masters, to 
 do honour to the holy father, and he who eats the mould 
 around his tomb is said to go away cured of whatever 
 disease he may have contracted. Scattered about all 
 over the city you may find memorials of Salonica's 
 Byzantine greatness, in the shape of sculptured and 
 lettered stones, once forming part of some ancient arch 
 or church, but now devoted to the meanest uses. Even 
 the noble arch of Galerius is spoiled by the wretched 
 booths which have clustered around it, and in one place 
 a sacrilegious Turk has driven two wooden poles to 
 support the canvas roof of his shop right into the marble 
 bas-reliefs of a Roman triumph. But it must be admitted 
 that the conversion of the churches into mosques has at 
 least saved them from that destruction which would 
 
 367 
 
THE FINE OLD ARCH OF THE EMPEROR GALERIUS. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 otherwise have been their lot. Here, if in Uttle else, the 
 Turks have shown themselves more enlightened than 
 some of the Western barbarians, whose acts of vandalism 
 have wrought such havoc at Rome and elsewhere. 
 
 Salonica is at the present time in a period of expectancy. 
 All persons who have any knowledge of the Eastern 
 question admit that, in spite of the recent success of the 
 Turkish arms over a weak and ill-prepared antagonist, 
 the rule of the Ottoman in Macedonia is drawing to a 
 close. If only the various competitors for the ^' Sick 
 Man's " Macedonian estate could make up their minds, 
 his rule would be numbered by months rather than years. 
 But they cannot agree between themselves, and mean- 
 while the Turk remains in possession by the time- 
 honoured expedient of playing one off against the other. 
 
 The Macedonian question is perhaps the most dangerous 
 problem which the statesmen of Europe will have to face 
 in the near future. One of the ablest and most experi- 
 enced of British diplomatists in the Balkan Peninsula 
 said to me a year and a half ago, ^' Old Servia, Macedonia, 
 and Albania will before long become a regular cock- 
 pit between Bulgarians, Servians, Montenegrins, and 
 Greeks." That he was right, no one at all acquainted 
 with the facts will for a moment doubt. Some persons 
 foretold the great Macedonian rising for the early summer 
 of last year, others believed that last spring would 
 witness the beginning of the struggle ; but all are agreed 
 that in Macedonia there exist the germs of a conflict, 
 which may not only herald the dismemberment of the 
 Turkish Empire in Europe, but may lead to a fratricidal 
 contest between the Christian States of the Balkans, or 
 even to that much-dreaded European war, which it has 
 been the object of diplomacy to postpone, if it cannot 
 prevent. 
 
 The Eastern question has always been difficult, but its 
 
 369 2B 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 difficulties were immensely increased when politicians 
 discovered what ethnologists had long ago learned, that 
 the subjects of the Sultan could not be divided into 
 the easy but inaccurate division of Greeks and Turks. 
 Religion, not race, was regarded, until a comparatively 
 short time ago, as the vital distinction between the 
 various inhabitants of Turkey. As all Mussulmans of 
 whatever race have the same faith, and that faith is the 
 religion of the governing Turk, they were comprehensively 
 described as Turks, just as the Bosnian Mussulmans are 
 popularly styled even now. As, until the creation of the 
 Bulgarian Exarchate by the firman of March lo, 1870, the 
 Greek Patriarch was the spiritual lord of the Balkan 
 Peninsula, the Christians were massed together under the 
 compendious title of Greeks. I have met Bulgarians at 
 the present day, whose parents were brought up to learn 
 Greek as their mother-tongue. One reason why there is 
 so little sympathy with the Greek cause among the other 
 Balkan peoples is the memory of the tyranny in matters 
 spiritual of the Phanariot clergy, a tyranny scarcely less 
 hateful than that of the Turks in matters temporal. 
 
 Since the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate, the 
 erection of the two independent kingdoms of Roumania 
 and Servia, and the formation of an autonomous Princi- 
 pality of Bulgaria, there is no longer any possibility of a 
 simple division of European Turkey among Christians 
 and Mussulmans. The doctrine of nationalities has played 
 a great part in the history of our time, and nowhere more 
 than in the Balkan Peninsula. We all know now the 
 leading characteristics of the Bulgarian, the Serb, the 
 Roumanian, and the Albanian races, whose very existence 
 was barely suspected, or at any rate forgotten, by the 
 politicians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
 But in no part of the Balkan Peninsula are these races 
 so mixed and jumbled together as in Macedonia. Rou- 
 
 370 
 
in the Near East 
 
 mania is mainly peopled by Roumanians, except in the 
 Dobrudza ; Bulgaria contains a vast preponderance 
 of Bulgarians over all other nationalities ; Servia may 
 comprise one or two Bulgarian-speaking districts, but 
 she is overwhelmingly Servian ; Montenegro has far more 
 Montenegrins than Albanians within her extended 
 borders ; while Greece, except in Thessaly, possesses 
 comparatively few but Greek subjects. But in Macedonia 
 all these races are hopelesssly intermixed. Unfortunately, 
 too, almost every race of the Peninsula has at some 
 distant period held more or less brief sway over some 
 part or other of Macedonia, and these historical remini- 
 scences, which may seem of purely antiquarian import- 
 ance to the "practical" statesmen of Western Europe, 
 for whom history begins with the Berlin Treaty, are 
 considered vital in the Balkans. To the imaginative Serb 
 the conquests of the great Servian Tsar Dusan seem very 
 real, and that monarch's personality just as vivid as if he 
 had been a nineteenth, instead of a fourteenth, century 
 hero. The Bulgarians are less impressionable than the 
 Serbs, but they, too, have their legend ; and it is not too 
 much to say that the remote exploits of the old Bulgarian 
 Tsars, Simeon, Samuel, and John Asen II., suggest to the 
 Bulgarians of to-day a great future for their country. 
 Were these various enthusiasms capable of being gratified 
 at the expense of the Turk alone, the Macedonian problem 
 would be infinitely simpler ; for it has long been a maxim 
 of European diplomacy that, whenever there is a struggle 
 in the Balkan Peninsula, the Sultan has to pay the piper : 
 sometimes, as in Bosnia and the Hercegovina, by the 
 '' consolidation " of his Empire ; sometimes, as in the 
 case of Bulgaria, under the convenient euphemism of 
 '' autonomy " ; sometimes, as in Roumania and Servia, 
 by the absolute and final cession of all his rights. But in 
 Macedonia this cheap and easy solution avails nothing. 
 
 371 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 For, as ill-luck will have it, the rival claims of the various 
 competitors overlap each other. To Bulgarian, Serb, and 
 Greek alike, Macedonia is '^ the promised land," and the 
 aspirations of the one can only be satisfied by ignoring 
 those of the others. No one who knows the past history 
 and present politics of the Balkan Peninsula can hope 
 for any mutual arrangement, any policy of concessions, 
 between these candidates. Geography, too, is against 
 such an arrangement, for the peculiar formation of 
 Macedonia, composed as it is of mountains, lakes, and 
 disconnected plains, and the extraordinary intermixture 
 of races in many parts of it, render lines of demarcation 
 between the future frontiers of Greater Greece, Greater 
 Servia, and Greater Bulgaria, hard to draw. Besides, 
 these three races do not exhaust the full list of Mace- 
 donian claimants. Of late years a new propaganda, 
 that of the Koutzo-Wallachs, or Macedonian Rou- 
 manians, has made its appearance ; while still more 
 recently the Albanians, deficient hitherto in the sense of 
 nationality and content to remain subjects of a Power 
 which did not interfere with their ^Megitimate occupa- 
 tion " of cutting each others' and their neighbours' 
 throats, have begun to form a separate organisation. 
 And above all these five parties there rises the Austrian 
 eagle, ready later on to pounce down upon Salonica, 
 whenever a suitable opportunity offers. We may briefly 
 state the claims and prospects of these various claimants 
 for the reversion of Macedonia. 
 
 Of the Christian races of the Balkans, the Bulgarians 
 at present hold the strongest position in this debatable 
 land. Historically, there is little doubt, despite the 
 endeavours of Greek and Servian writers to minimise 
 their claims, that at various times in the days of the old 
 Bulgarian Tsars Macedonia was almost entirely under 
 their sway. The Tsar Simeon, who reigned from 893 to 
 
 372 
 
in the Near East 
 
 927, captured from the Greeks all Macedonia except the 
 sea-coast, which still remains the stronghold of the sea- 
 faring Hellenes in that country. Simeon styled himself, 
 by virtue of his conquests, '* Tsar of the Bulgarians and 
 Autocrat of the Greeks," and his magificence filled his 
 contemporaries with wonder. When, after his time, the 
 Bulgarian realm was divided into a Western and an 
 Eastern State, Sisman I. of Trnovo founded the West 
 Bulgarian Empire about 963 in Macedonia and Albania ; 
 a little later the famous Bulgarian Tsar, Samuel, whose 
 reign extended from 976 to 10 14, made Macedonia the 
 centre of his empire, and fixed his residence first on a 
 rocky island in the upper lake of Prespa, and then at 
 Ochrida. To this day the name of Grad, or ^' the fort," 
 which the island still bears, testifies to his occupation of 
 the spot. It was to Prespa, too, that Samuel, returning 
 from the sack of Larissa, transferred the remains of the 
 holy Achilles, and the remains of a monastery dedicated 
 to this saint are still to be found on an island of the lower 
 lake. Now, for the first time, we read of a Bulgarian 
 Patriarch of Ochrida, a see which played a considerable 
 part at one time or another in Macedonian history. 
 Even when the Byzantine Emperor Basil, " the Bulgar- 
 slayer," conquered and overthrew the first Bulgarian 
 Empire in 1018, he allowed this Bulgarian church at 
 Ochrida to exist, though he substituted an archbishop for 
 a Patriarch. And we learn from the golden bulls, in 
 which this Emperor confirmed the privileges of the Bul- 
 garian church, that under Samuel, that is to say, in the 
 first two decades of the eleventh century, the Bulgarian 
 realm had included practically all Macedonia. Pristina, 
 Uskub, Veles, Prilep, Kastoria, and even Joannina, the 
 capital of Albania, had all owned the sway of the mighty 
 Bulgarian Tsar. With the formation of the second Bul- 
 garian Empire in 11 86, the rule of the Tsars once more 
 
 373 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 made itself felt in Macedonia. As early as 1197 a Bul- 
 garian noble declared himself independent in the passes 
 of the Vardar, and governed Upper Macedonia in his 
 own name. We find the Tsar Kalojan lord of Uskub in 
 1210 ; and under John Asen II. the golden age of Samuel 
 returned, and the Bulgarian Empire included all Mace- 
 donia, except Salonica. Thus, for a long period in the 
 first half of the thirteenth century, Bulgaria was a great 
 Balkan i Power, but after John Asen's death Macedonia 
 was soon lost. Constantine Asen, who ruled from 1258 
 to 1277, was the last Bulgarian Tsar who occupied Upper 
 Macedonia, and then only for a short time. With the 
 thirteenth century Bulgarian domination over ^^the pro- 
 mised land" ends, excepting that the Bulgarian Arch- 
 bishopric of Ochrida continued to exist under Greek 
 influence down to its suppression in 1767. But for 
 three centuries it had been nothing but a mere title, 
 and Bulgarian only in name. 
 
 The present Bulgarian propaganda in Macedonia dates 
 from the foundation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870, 
 which the Bulgarians had demanded ever since 1857. 
 Slaveikoff, by his journal, published at Constantinople in 
 the sixties, had endeavoured to prepare the way for the 
 national movement in Macedonia ; but so little was the 
 Bulgarian alphabet then known, even among the Bul- 
 garian Macedonians, that the editor was forced to print 
 his patriotic articles in Greek characters, just as, earlier 
 on, when the Roumanians protested against the tyranny 
 of the Greeks, they drew up their protest in the Greek 
 language. But with the creation of the Exarchate 
 the Bulgars of Macedonia gained a rallying-point, 
 while in Russia, and above all in General Ignatieff, 
 they found a powerful support. Had the Treaty of 
 San Stefano been maintained, all the principal places 
 in Macedonia, except Salonica, would have formed 
 
 374 
 
in the Near East 
 
 integral parts of a '^ big Bulgaria," such as had 
 not existed since the days of John Asen II.; and the 
 Principality, with a frontage on the ^gean, would not 
 only have cut the dominions of European Turkey in two 
 but would have barred the road which the Greeks hope 
 will one day lead them from Athens vid Salonica to Con- 
 stantinople. But the " big Bulgaria " of San Stefano was 
 cut down to very narrow limits at Berlin, and Macedonia 
 still remains ^^the promised land." Prince Alexander 
 told a friend of mine in 1882, that he ^^ often turned his 
 eyes " thither, and Prince Ferdinand at one time aspired 
 to go down to history as " the Macedonian." Russia, 
 however, no longer favours the Macedonian aspirations 
 of the Bulgarians, for she has learned by bitter experience 
 since San Stefano that her former proteges have no wish to 
 be under a Russian Protectorate. Indeed, during the 
 quarrel between Bulgaria and Servia over Macedonian 
 affairs at the close of last year, Russian influence was 
 rather on the side of Servia. But during the vigorous 
 administration of Stambuloff, the Bulgarian propaganda 
 made further progress. Berats were granted in 1890 for 
 two Bulgarian Bishops at Ochrida and Uskub respectively, 
 and four years later two more were issued, the Bulgarian 
 schools in Macedonia were permitted the same rights as 
 the Greeks, and forty Bulgarian communes were formally 
 recognised. It has now become the policy of Bulgaria 
 to present a pistol at the head of her suzerain whenever 
 he is in difficulties, and demand as the price of her 
 neutrality more bishops and schools in Macedonia. This 
 was the policy pursued by Prince Ferdinand at the 
 beginning of the late Greco-Turkish war, though in this 
 case it has resulted in little but the promise of the 
 appointment of eight Bulgarian commercial agents. 
 Bulgaria is, however, gaining ground in Macedonia in 
 other ways, and the extension of the Bulgarian line to 
 
 375 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Kumanova will bring the Principality in direct communi- 
 cation with Salonica. Even in that sea-port, perhaps 
 the least Bulgarian of Macedonian cities, there are five 
 thousand Bulgarians, while most of the villagers outside, 
 who till the tchifliks of the Turkish proprietors, belong 
 to the same plodding race. Up country it is the 
 same story of Bulgarian progress. A gentleman who 
 has had long experience in Macedonia tells me that 
 ^^ the Bulgarians were never so strong as at pre- 
 sent, nor so well organised for the struggle. Their 
 schools, once few and poor every way, have greatly 
 improved as well as increased." And he sums up their 
 prospects by saying that ^^ in the end they will win nearly 
 all the Bulgarian-speaking people of Macedonia ; that is 
 to say, a large majority of the non-Moslem population, 
 especially of the agriculturists." For in agriculture the 
 Bulgarian is without a rival among the races of the Balkan 
 Peninsula. Another high authority is of opinion, that, 
 while Bulgaria will not do anything in Macedonia, unless 
 Russia urges the Prince on, ^' that country will ultimately 
 fall to the Bulgarians there." A Bulgarian diplomatist 
 himself admitted to me that ^' it would be a Utopian idea 
 to demand the annexation of Macedonia." In fact, since 
 the Greco-Turkish conflict, the Turkish Minister of War 
 has told a friend of mine that a small army would suffice 
 to keep the Bulgarians quiet ; this view seems to be 
 shared by the Bulgarian Government, which is now 
 content to demand ^'reforms" for Macedonia and the 
 execution of article 23 of the Berlin Treaty by the Sultan, 
 apparently under the auspices of a commission of the 
 Great Powers. But the ^^ Concert of Europe " will 
 certainly prove quite as dilatory in Macedonia as in 
 Crete ; while the guns of the Admirals cannot penetrate to 
 Uskub. Such representative Bulgarians as M. Zankoff, 
 the ex-Premier ; M. Petkoff, the editor of the Svoboda, the 
 
 376 
 
in the Near East 
 
 chief Opposition paper at Sofia; M. Karaveloff, the Demo- 
 cratic leader; M. Vasoff, the Minister of Public Instruction, 
 and M. Radoslavoff, the Liberal chief, have all expressed 
 themselves in favour of a pacific policy in Macedonia, 
 where, in the words of M. Vasoff, '' the development of 
 national education is progressing favourably." 
 
 But the rise of the Servian propaganda has undoubtedly 
 somewhat hampered the advancing Bulgars. Servia has 
 only comparatively recently revived her ancient claims to 
 Macedonia, and, until the occupation of Bosnia and the 
 Hercegovina by Austria-Hungary, turned her eyes to 
 those provinces rather than to the land in which her Tsar 
 Dusan had once fixed his capital. Servia is the only 
 European country, except Switzerland, which is absolutely 
 landlocked, and it is her natural desire to obtain a port at 
 which she can ship her pigs. Prior to 1878, she dreamt 
 of an outlet on the Adriatic, at Ragusa or Cattaro, but the 
 success of the Austrian rule in Bosnia and the Herce- 
 govina has caused her to despair of Dalmatia, and aspire 
 to the reversion of Salonica, with which she is now 
 connected by a direct line of railway from Nis. Accord- 
 ingly, the Servian Government, which in former days 
 favoured the Bulgarian movement in Macedonia, and 
 actually allowed the first books of that propaganda to 
 be printed at Belgrade, has now become its rival. 
 Austria is by no means sorry to find Servian energies 
 turned in another direction, and is well content that 
 Serbs and Bulgars should neutralise each others' efforts. 
 Those who lament, as I do, the mutual jealousies of these 
 two Slav states of the Peninsula, must regret that they 
 cannot pull together in Macedonia. But no one at all 
 acquainted with Bulgarian and Servian history and 
 politics can hope for any such unanimity of purpose. 
 M. Grekoff, the ablest of living Bulgarian statesmen, 
 endeavoured in 1885 to arrange a modus vivendi between 
 
 377 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 these two competitors for Macedonia, and the answer 
 was the fratricidal war which culminated in the battle of 
 Slivnica. The Servian Consul at Salonica actually assured 
 me that he could see in his mind's eye the future line of 
 demarcation between the spheres of Servian and Bulgarian 
 influence in Macedonia, which he placed at the river 
 Vardar. But all these efforts to bring about an agree- 
 ment have so far failed. So we have the hard fact of a 
 vigorous Servian movement in Macedonia, which is 
 largely directed against the Bulgarians. We are re- 
 minded very truly by Servian writers that their nationality 
 has, no less than the Bulgars, its historical claims to this 
 Naboth's vineyard. They tell us how Milutin Uros II. 
 conquered Macedonia as far as Seres in 1279, how 
 Stephen Uros III. made further conquests in the same 
 region, and how the great Servian Tsar, Stephen Dusan, 
 besieged Salonica, made Uskub his capital, and included 
 all Macedonia in his vast dominions. It is a historical 
 fact, that Dusan called himself in 1346, '^ Tsar of Mace- 
 donia, and Monarch of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, 
 the coast, and the western parts." The centre of 
 gravity of this brief-lived empire lay outside the 
 boundaries of the modern Servian kingdom, and 
 it is only natural, therefore, that the chauvinist politi- 
 cians of Belgrade, whose ideal is the resurrection of 
 a "Great Servia," as it existed in the time of Dusan, 
 should cast longing eyes on the Macedonian inheritance. 
 It is true that the Servian sway in Macedonia was short- 
 lived. As soon as the strong personality of Dusan was 
 removed by the hand of death, the new provinces of his 
 empire fell away, and the victory of the Turks on the 
 Marica in 1371 finally ended the Servian supremacy, and 
 placed Macedonia under its present masters. But historic 
 memories and commercial necessities are equally potent 
 causes of the revived Servian interest in Macedonia. 
 
 378 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Having come late into the field, Servia is making up for 
 lost time by the energy of her agents. Considerable sums 
 of money are spent in the conversion of Bulgarians to 
 the Servian nationality, for it is part of the grim irony of 
 the Macedonian question that people are as ready to 
 become Serbs or Bulgars for hard cash as they are in 
 more civilised countries to vote Liberal or Conservative 
 for a valuable consideration. American missionaries, 
 working among the Bulgarians of Macedonia, have 
 noticed with surprise that all of a sudden their familiar 
 disciples have changed their nationality, and blossomed 
 out into full-blown Serbs. To the north of the Sar 
 mountams, which before 1878 formed the ne pins ultra 
 of Servian hopes, there is, undoubtedly, a genuine Servian 
 population, speaking Serb as its mother-tongue. The 
 vilayet of Kossovo, so-called from the '^accursed plain" 
 which was the scene of the great battle in 1389, is largely 
 Servian, and for the last six years there have been far 
 more Servian than Bulgarian schools there. According 
 to the last published statistics, those for the scholastic 
 year 1893-4, khidly furnished me by the courteous 
 Servian Consul when I was lately at Salonica, there 
 were in that year 117 Servian schools in the Kossovo 
 vilayet, part of which is, however, outside Macedonia 
 proper, with 5,147 pupils of both sexes, and 159 teachers. 
 According to the same table, there was one Servian school 
 at Salonica, with seventy-five pupils and three teachers. 
 The Consul told me that since then the number of 
 Servian schools in the vilayet of Kossovo had risen to 
 140. But even beyond the Sar mountains, where the 
 Serbs hold the field undisturbed by their Bulgarian 
 rivals, they are hampered at every step by the savage 
 Albanians. These marauders, whom the Sultan has 
 never succeeded in keeping in order, have made them- 
 selves a terror to the Serbs. When, in 1889, the Servian 
 
 379 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Government sent a consul for the first time to Pristina, 
 the place where the first Servian school in Turkey was 
 opened in 1853, he was murdered by the Albanians 
 within six months, because he had refused to obey 
 their orders and take his departure. Last year they 
 went a step further, and expelled the Turkish governors 
 of both that place and Prizren. So frequent are the 
 raids of the Albanians over the Servian frontier, so 
 constant are the outrages committed by them upon 
 Servians resident in Turkey, that during the three years 
 from 1894 to 1897 no less than 204 notes were presented 
 to the Porte on this subject by the Servian Minister at 
 Constantinople.! No wonder that the Serbs of North 
 Macedonia are leaving for other and more settled 
 regions, while the Albanians remain masters of the 
 situation. In the district of Uskub, where there are 
 some Servian-speaking refugees and people speaking a 
 Bulgarian dialect containing many Servian words, this 
 propaganda may make some conquests. Thus, the 
 Servian Government was successful after a fierce diplo- 
 matic struggle with the Bulgarian agent at Constantinople, 
 in securing the appointment of the Servian Archbishop 
 Fermilianos to the see of Uskub last autumn ; and an 
 ancient monastery at Poboje, near that place, was the 
 scene of a disgraceful conflict between the two nationali- 
 ties, whose representatives had to be prevented by the 
 Turkish troops from tearing one another to pieces. The 
 church at Kumanova has been another bone of con- 
 tention between the two rivals. But elsewhere in 
 Macedonia, where the language of the people is 
 Bulgarian and not Servian, the difference of tongue, 
 though not insurmountable, is sufficient to make the 
 task difficult. In the vilayet of Monastir, more 
 
 ^ Another strong note on this subject, backed by both Russia and Austria-Hungary, 
 was presented by the Servian Minister on October 31st of the present year. 
 
in the Near East 
 
 especially, the Serbs have httle chance against theii 
 Bulgarian rivals. They have, indeed, opened a school 
 at Monastir itself, and. fifty-two places in that vilayet 
 — so the Servian Consul at Salonica told me — have 
 fulfilled all the conditions necessary to obtain per- 
 mission to follow its example. He also contended 
 that certain so-called Greek schools at Monastir were 
 really Serb, for the instructors could not even speak 
 Greek. But here, as elsewhere, the Servians have 
 come too late, while many of their agents are not 
 Servians by race, but are Bulgarians, who have 
 quarrelled with their employers, and gone over to 
 the other side in order to secure better pay. Un- 
 happily, these educational rivalries lead occasionally 
 to violence, as when last autumn there w^as an attempt 
 by Bulgarians to kill the director of the Servian school 
 at Prilep and his daughter. Thus, in ^^the promised 
 land," religion and education are a mere cloak for political 
 agitation, and an additional bishop or a new school is 
 regarded as one more point in the game of rival races. 
 
 Such is the present state of the two Slav candidatures 
 for the reversion of Macedonia. United, Servians and 
 Bulgarians might, perhaps, settle the question without 
 great difficulty ; but they will never unite, any more than 
 they will join with their rivals the Greeks. History, 
 geography, and the tendency of near relatives to quarrel, 
 even more than the interests of the Great Powers, forbid 
 such a welcome consummation as that. I, for one, have 
 reluctantly given up as hopeless the idea of a settle- 
 ment of the Macedonian question by the Balkan States 
 without external interference. 
 
 The Greeks, who in former times seemed to be the 
 most likely, and indeed the only possible heirs of the 
 " Sick Man's " Macedonian estate, have been considerably 
 injured by recent events. My experience of Hellenic 
 
 381 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 statesmanship while I was at Athens during the late war, 
 and the wise resolve of the vanquished to devote them- 
 selves to the reform of their domestic administration, 
 convince me, quite apart from other considerations, that 
 Greece will not be a very important factor in the Mace- 
 donian question for many years to come.^ Historically, of 
 course, the Hellenes can afford to regard Bulgars and 
 Serbs alike as interlopers in the country where Philip and 
 Alexander of Macedon held sway, where later on the 
 Byzantine Emperors ruled, and sometimes governed, and 
 w^here even in Turkish days the Greek clergy shared 
 power with the Ottoman officials. It is difficult after 
 recent events to read without a smile the enthusiastic 
 lines which a Greek author, writing on Macedonia, 
 addressed to the Crown Prince of Greece when the 
 latter attained his majority twelve years ago. ^* The 
 national dream," wrote M. Kallostypis, ^^ remains 
 only three-quarters accomplished. Unredeemed Greece, 
 and, above all, Macedonia, looks with longing eyes 
 on your kingdom. May Hellenism witness the accom- 
 plishment of its dearest desires by you : may the 
 grand idea find in you, our future king, its priest 
 and its apostle." No Greek would address the Crown 
 Prince in language such as that to-day ; not even 
 the most sensational of Athenian papers would acclaim 
 the leader of the late rout in Thessaly as the future con- 
 queror of Macedonia. Of course, now that Greece has 
 been weakened, the Sultan, true to his traditional policy 
 of playing one Christian race off against the other, has 
 begun to favour the Greeks in Macedonia at the expense 
 of the Bulgarians, just as in 1890 and 1894 he favoured 
 
 ' The Italian Tn'buiia of May 5, 1897, expressed this fact very clearly during the 
 war. " Ora," it wrote, " chi trae profitto della vittoria ? Gli Slavi. La caduta 
 di Tirnovo e accompagnata dagli exequatur ai vescovi bulgari, e dalle concessioni 
 di nuove scuole serbe ; e bulgari e serbi, che senza nulla arrischiare traggono tut^i 
 i frutti della vittoria, appena celano sotto la maschera del vassallagio la gioia della 
 conquista, della Macedonia slava." 
 
in the Near East 
 
 the Bulgarians at the expense of the Greeks. But 
 even before their recent defeat, the Greeks had been 
 going back in Macedonia. The great fire of 1890 at 
 Salonica, in spite of the generosity of Hellenes in all parts 
 of the world, greatly injured the Greek community there, 
 and, as we have seen, the Bulgarians are beginning to 
 press them hard in a sea-port which they have never 
 
 A JEWESS OF SALONICA. 
 
 ceased to claim as their own. Now, as always, the 
 Greeks are strongest on the sea-coast ; but at Salonica 
 the Jews forms two-thirds of the population, whilst Kavala 
 is coveted by Bulgaria, to which the abortive Treaty of 
 San Stefano assigned it. About the middle of last year, 
 as I am informed by a person who is perhaps more 
 than any one else in the secrets of the Bulgarian Govern- 
 
 383 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ment, the Triple Alliance made confidential inquiries at 
 Sofia as to the willingness of Prince Ferdinand to accept 
 a large slice of Thrace, together with Kavala, and a 
 frontage on the yEgean, as a final settlement of the 
 Bulgarian claim. No reply to this proposal was, I 
 believe, received, but the fact that it should have been 
 made proves that Austria desired at that time to have a 
 free hand in Macedonia, and was willing to compensate 
 Bulgaria by allowing her a free hand in Thrace at the 
 expense of the Turks' present estate and the Greeks' 
 future prospects in that region. Servia, I was told, was 
 not considered or consulted in this arrangement. But, 
 quite apart from Bulgarian claims and Austrian plans, 
 the dissension prevalent among the Hellenic communi- 
 ties in Macedonia is in itself a great obstacle to the 
 realisation of the ^^ great Greek idea." Besides, '' the 
 Greeks," in the words of a Macedonian correspondent 
 who belongs to none of these rival races, '^ suffer under 
 the fatal disadvantage in many parts of Macedonia of 
 compelling people to forget their mother-tongue and 
 learn Greek. The Greek-speaking communities will 
 remain Greek, and possibly increase in size, but else- 
 where the Greek party has met with defeat, and, so far as 
 I can see, will continue to lose until only Greek-speaking 
 people remain." 
 
 The Hellenic propaganda suffers, too, from the 
 competition of a new rival in the shape of the 
 Koutzo-Wallachs, or Roumanians of Macedonia. This 
 remarkable movement, among people long lost to all 
 sense of nationality, owes its rise and growth to the 
 ambition of one man — Apostolo Margariti. According 
 to the first of living Roumanian historians, M. Xenopol 
 of Jassy, the Slav invasion of the Balkan Peninsula 
 separated the Wallachs, who had previously covered a 
 large portion of it and spoke a Latin dialect, into three 
 
 384 
 
in the Near East 
 
 separate divisions, which have subsisted down to the 
 present day, in Roumania and the Roumanian-speaking 
 part of Hungary, in I stria, and in Macedonia and part of 
 Thessaly. After the fall of the second Bulgarian Empire, 
 for which the Roumanians claim a Wallachian origin, the 
 Wallachs of Macedonia became merged in the Greek 
 communities. Their descendants were the pioneers of 
 the Greek war of Independence, and Athens owes not 
 a few of its public foundations to their benevolence. 
 But the creation of a Roumanian nation beyond the 
 Danube and its emancipation from the tyranny of the 
 Phanariots led to the formation of a '^ Macedonian 
 Committee " at Bucharest. Then Apostolo Margariti 
 arrived on the scene, and Roumanian schools were 
 founded in Macedonia, supported by contributions 
 from Jassy. Like the clever diplomatist- that he is, 
 Margariti enlisted the sympathies of the Turkish 
 Government on his side. He saw clearly enough that, 
 if Macedonia were divided up at once, the Roumanian 
 movement would not be strong enough to hold its own 
 against the other competitors, but would be swallowed 
 up by the Bulgarians or the Greeks. Besides, Roumania 
 is a long way from Macedonia, and Bulgaria and Servia 
 lie between. He saw that it was his best policy to play a 
 waiting game, believing that time would be on his side. 
 ''Our first interest," as he told M. Berard, the eminent 
 French traveller, '^ is the safety of the Ottoman Empire." 
 The Porte quickly grasped the situation, and whenever 
 the Greeks are in disgrace it supports the Wallachs. 
 The Thessalian boundary question in 1881, the Cretan 
 revolution of 1887, and the late war have all been god- 
 sends to the Macedonian Roumanians. Hence it is that 
 the Wallachs aided the Turks during the operations 
 in Thessaly with mules ; hence, too, the demand of 
 Wallachian villages to be included within the new 
 
 . 385 2C 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 ottoman frontier. During the last five years the 
 Roumanians of Macedonia have been agitating for a 
 separate Church under a Metropohtan of their own on 
 the Bulgarian model, and their claims have been sup- 
 ported by the Bucharest Government, which, as King 
 Carol has said, ^^ cannot remain indifferent to their fate." 
 At the end of August, 1897, the Sultan is said to have told 
 the Roumanian Government that he would ^^ consent to 
 the foundation of a Roumanian Exarchate in Macedonia, 
 in spite of the opposition of the (Ecumenical Patriarch," 
 and in the previous winter they had actually elected Mgr. 
 Anthimos their Metropolitan. Margariti's son having 
 been private secretary of the Grand Vizier, their influence 
 could not fail to be disproportionate to their numbers, 
 especially as Austria-Hungary, for purposes of her own, 
 encourages their propaganda. The statesmen of Vienna 
 and Buda-Pesth would naturally prefer the attention 
 of the Roumanian Government to be diverted to 
 the Macedonian Wallachs, who also form a useful 
 counterpoise to the other Macedonian parties, instead 
 of being directed to that ^' unredeemed Roumania," 
 which is to be found in Transylvania and the Banat of 
 Temesvar. The Roumanian schools of Macedonia are 
 said to give a more practical education than the Greek, 
 but the greatest difficulty with which this movement has 
 to contend is the scattered condition of the Roumanian 
 population, which is largely composed of shepherds. A 
 fierce internal dispute, which began about five years 
 ago, has also impeded its progress, and at present it is 
 not very formidable. 
 
 The Albanian propaganda is the most recent of all the 
 Macedonian agitations. Except for a moment under 
 their national hero, Skanderbeg, the Albanians can 
 scarcely be said to have ever had a national history. 
 Until quite lately they have hardly possessed a fixed 
 
 386 
 
in ^the Near East 
 
 language. At the time of the Dulcigno demonstration 
 of 1880 Europe was surprised by the sudden appearance 
 of an '^Albanian League/' which dechned to allow 
 Albania to be dismembered for the benefit of Monte- 
 negro. Since then sporadic efforts have been made to 
 awaken a national spirit by the publication of pamphlets 
 and small books; but the Turkish authorities have 
 opposed the movement so strongly that it has been con- 
 ducted perforce from outside Turkey by committees in 
 Italy^ in Egypt, and at Bucharest. These committees 
 raise funds and publish a weekly and a monthly Albanian 
 periodical. Both Christian and Moslem Albanians take 
 part in this agitation, some of the latter in spite of their 
 official posts under Government ; but at present there 
 are only three schools in which Albanian is taught. 
 Rather than fall into the hands of their Slav neighbours, 
 most Albanians would prefer the creation of an Albanian 
 principality. Thus the Albanian political committee, 
 presided over by the well-known Neapolitan, Castriota 
 Skanderbeg, who traces his descent from the famous hero, 
 memorialised the late Italian foreign secretary on this 
 subject. Others, too, since the Austrian occupation of 
 Bosnia and the Hercegovina, have come to the con- 
 clusion that they w^ould be much better off under 
 Austrian than under Turkish rule. Many of them work 
 at Mostar in the summer, and have had practical expe- 
 rience of the material blessings which Austria bestows. 
 They see that the Bosniak soldiers get regular pay and 
 good clothes, while the Sultan's regiments are often in 
 rags, and the Sultan's pay always in arrears. Those of 
 them who are Moslems know^ what toleration the Bosniak 
 Mussulmans enjoy, while the Catholic Albanians regard 
 Catholic Austria as their natural protector. The argu- 
 ments, verbal and pecuniary, of Austrian agents strengthen 
 this view. 
 
 387 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Another solution of the Macedonian problem has lately 
 been proposed. Europe has, it is said, conceded Bulgaria 
 to the Bulgarians, and Servia to the Servians ; why should 
 she not give Macedonia to the Macedonians, either as an 
 autonomous province of Turkey, or as an independent 
 Balkan State ? This solution, although it received the 
 high approval of Mr. Gladstone, whose services will 
 never be forgotten by the Balkan peoples, seems, in my 
 humble judgment, impossible. There is no parallel 
 between the case of Macedonia and the cases of Servia 
 and Bulgaria. There is no Macedonian nationality ; the 
 whole point of the difficulty in that country is that it is a 
 medley of conflicting nationalities, which have nothing 
 in common, except, perhaps, their discontent with the 
 existing regime. Nor, on the other hand, is any one of 
 the Macedonian races powerful enough to subdue all 
 the others, while a federation would be impracticable. 
 Possibly, under pressure from the Powers, Turkey may 
 go through the time-honoured farce of providing Mace- 
 donia with paper reforms, which will then be allowed to 
 remain a dead letter. To me, at any rate, the ultimate, 
 I do not say immediate, and from the material stand- 
 point the best, solution is that Austria-Hungary should 
 ^^run down to Salonica " and occupy Macedonia as she 
 has already occupied Bosnia and the Hercegovina, to 
 the general advantage of mankind. But that event is 
 not likely to happen just yet. Austrian military opinion 
 is against the selection of the river Vardar as a military 
 frontier, while the present policy of Count Goluchowski is 
 *' the maintenance of the status quo in the Balkans." But 
 only a neutral and a strong Power can control a composite 
 medley of rival races and creeds, such as inhabit Macedonia. 
 Besides, the development and security of Macedonia is a 
 European, as well as a Balkan, question. I am told, by a 
 person who has seen the plans, that Austrian engineers 
 
 388 
 
in the Near East 
 
 have surveyed the Une from Sarajevo to Mitrovica, which 
 is alone lacking to complete the chain from Western 
 Europe by way of Bosnia and the Sandzak of Novi-Bazar 
 to Salonica and the JEgean. If ever that line be com- 
 pleted, the Austrians will be masters of the situation, and 
 as the Servian Consul at Salonica said to me, ^^ it will be 
 all over with the Servian claims." Strongly entrenched 
 in Bosnia and the Hercegovina, and garrisoning the three 
 points of the Sandzak of Novi-Bazar, Austria is in a coign 
 of vantage, and can pounce at a suitable opportunity. 
 One obstacle stands in her path, the opposition of 
 Russia, but if that be ever withdrawn, Macedonia is 
 assured to the Power that has made Bosnia and 
 the Hercegovina a Balkan-Mnsterstaat ; Salonica will 
 become the greatest port in the Near East, and the 
 quickest route to India will be through the valley of 
 the Vardar. Macedonia will then become what Bosnia 
 now is, and the thorniest of thorny questions will be 
 solved by Bismarck's old prescription, that of converting 
 Austria into a real OesterreicJi, or Eastern Empire. 
 
 389 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CYNOSURE OF THE NEAR EAST : STAMBUL. 
 
 EVERY traveller who has ever set foot in the city of 
 ' Constantine has at once drawn a contrast between 
 the superb situation and magnificent appearance of the 
 *'New Rome" from the sea and the filth and squalor of 
 its narrow streets and tortuous alleys. But an even 
 stranger contrast than that between Constantinople as 
 seen from the Sea of Marmara or the Bosporus and 
 Constantinople as depicted in the slums of Galata or 
 Stambul is that between the external beauty of the 
 Turkish capital and the miserable Government which has 
 its seat there. During my visits there I consorted w^th 
 all sorts and conditions of men, and the universal verdict 
 was that of all existing administrations the Turkish is the 
 worst. Do not let it be supposed that people make any 
 charge against the Turks as a race. As Burke said long 
 ago, it is a rash thing to bring an indictment against a 
 whole nation. The plain Turk of the country districts is 
 an honest fellow enough ; upon that all are agreed. The 
 foreign merchants at Constantinople find them most 
 trustworthy and faithful, and there are big European 
 firms both there and at Smyrna in w^hich the same posts 
 have been held by Turks unto the third and fourth 
 generation. The Turkish soldier, too, is sometimes, as 
 I have found from personal experience, good-natured 
 and willing to oblige. But as for the officials, in the 
 
 390 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 words of a very distinguished English gentleman who 
 has lived in Constantinople many years, ^' Nine out of 
 every ten of them would in any other country be in 
 gaol." The plain fact is, that it is as hard for an 
 Ottoman official to be honest as it is for a camel to 
 enter through the eye of a needle. It is not so much 
 the fault of the men as the fault of the system, which 
 is thoroughly bad from top to bottom. The pay of 
 every Turkish functionary is always in arrears, some- 
 times as much as eight months at a time ; and the result 
 is that the unfortunate man has to live on credit if he 
 can, or else adopt the easier plan of cheating some one 
 else. Out of this state of things the usurers make a very 
 good business. They offer to pay officials half the 
 amount of their salaries at once, on condition of receiv- 
 ing the whole amount when it is really paid, and then put 
 the Embassies to work to screw this money out of the 
 Turkish Treasury. But if the position of the Turkish 
 official at home be unpleasant, that of an Ottoman 
 Ambassador abroad is even worse, for the latter can only 
 obtain a very limited amount of credit ; and I know of 
 two cases in which these representatives of the Sultan 
 had to flee in the night in order to escape their creditors. 
 In addition to this abuse, it must be borne in mind that 
 all the good appointments in the Turkish service have to 
 be paid for — indirectly, of course — in cash, administered 
 in the form of bakshish, and the official who secures his 
 coveted post by this means is naturally out of pocket, 
 and recoups himself at the expense of his subordinates. 
 What makes it worse is that he has to reimburse himself 
 in a short space of time, for the suspicious temperament 
 of the Sultan hardly ever permits a provincial Governor, 
 or vali, to remain very long in one place, lest he should 
 acquire too great an influence over the people of his 
 province. Thus a man may be placed in the uttermost 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 parts of Asia one year, and the next find himself in 
 Albania or Macedonia, saddled with the cost of trans- 
 porting his whole establishment across the Turkish 
 Empire. Of course, in nine cases out of ten it is the 
 underlings who have to pay the piper. Here and there 
 you may find a good Governor, like the vali of Brusa or 
 the vali of Smyrna, who are in disgrace at Court, and are 
 ^^ banished " to those parts of Asia Minor, which they have 
 made by honesty and diligence an example to the rest of 
 the Sultan's dominions, just as the old vilayet of the 
 Danube was in the too brief days of Midhat Pasha. But 
 these are rare exceptions to the general rule, that Turkish 
 administration is synonymous with corruption, ineffi- 
 ciency, and sloth. The good men, who would make 
 honest administrators, hold themselves aloof from public 
 affairs, and count themselves happy if they are left alone 
 to the enjoyment of their estates. 
 
 But perhaps the most odious feature of Abdul Hamid's 
 rule is the existence of a herd of spies, who infest the 
 streets and are far more obnoxious than the poor and 
 miserable, yet kindly, dogs which lie all day in the gutters 
 and paths of Pera, Galata, and Stambul. For the political 
 spies are the enemies of every man. I remember one 
 day two of these gentry spending a whole morning out- 
 side the British Post Office on the look-out for a '' Young" 
 Turk — that is to say, a member of the " Young Turkish 
 party," which the Sultan dreads far more than the 
 Armenians themselves. Spies infest the gates of Em- 
 bassies, and no hotel is complete without one. Fathers 
 sometimes spy upon their sons, brothers on each other, 
 and sons on their parents. The secret service fund 
 amounts to ;^2,ooo,ooo a year, and from six hundred to 
 seven hundred reports are sent in by spies to the Sultan 
 every day. Moreover, there are two sets of these creatures, 
 that of the Palace and that of the Porte, who spy upon 
 
 392 
 
in the Near East 
 
 one another as well as upon the public. But even this 
 infamous system has its advantages, for it is possible to 
 bring things before the Sultan's notice in this way, since 
 the spies are always anxious to earn their money. I 
 remember hearing an amusing instance of this. A certain 
 European merchant once accepted an invitation on 
 board a foreign man-of-war. A spy at once made out of 
 this simple incident a cock-and-bull story to the effect 
 that the merchant had been invited in order to concert a 
 plan for forcing the Dardanelles. This so terrified the 
 Sultan that he raised the spy's rank and salary, and 
 ordered that every facility should be given to the mer- 
 chant in his dealings with refractory customers and still 
 more refractory judges. Most odious of all, there are 
 wretches who ply the trade of agents provocateurs, luring 
 unsuspecting persons into talking treason against the 
 Padishah, and then '^ assneaking," English schoolboys 
 say in their healthy language, to Yildiz Kiosk. During 
 the last eighteen months there has, it is true, been a little 
 more liberty of political discussion, owing to the fact that 
 the Turkish Government wished to make as much capital 
 as possible out of its successes in the war. That the 
 people of Constantinople possess, in common with Western 
 nations, the taste for newspaper reading is now clear, for 
 you see them devouring the wretched little pink Turkish 
 and Armenian journals on the steamboats, in the trains, 
 and in the cafes. War intelligence especially appeals to 
 the Turkish reader, and the Sultan was glad to divert the 
 attention of his people to the Spanish-American struggle, 
 which filled three-fourths of every Turkish paper; but our 
 victories in Egypt were only allowed to be published in the 
 vernacular press on condition that the English were not 
 mentioned, and all successes were ascribed to his Majesty's 
 vassals, the Egyptians. Thus these papers contain nothing 
 that may, by the highest stretch of imagination, be des- 
 
 393 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 cribed as the free expression of public opinion. A gentle- 
 man who had experience as editor of a Bulgarian paper in 
 Constantinople has described to me the rigorous censor- 
 ship exercised over the press in Turkey. Before the 
 journal appeared two copies of it had to be sent to the 
 Censor, who read it through, and marked in each copy 
 what he considered as objectionable. He then retained 
 one copy for future reference, and sent the other back to 
 the editor, who was then forced to take out the offending 
 matter, and substitute something else filling the exact 
 amount of vacant space. The revised copy was then 
 compared by the Censor with his copy, and if the two did 
 not tally the paper was not allowed to be sold. Thus it 
 often happens that the publication of a journal is delayed 
 for hours, and so all regular delivery is prevented. 
 Sometimes the Censor actually sits in the newspaper 
 office and reads the '^ copy " before it goes to the press. 
 He is also now sufficiently astute to read between the lines 
 of the sarcastic eulogies of Turkish administration with 
 which one able editor used to delight his European 
 readers. Moreover, as there is a different Censor for 
 each vilayet or province, the rules of what is objectionable 
 and what is not vary according to the stupidity or 
 intelligence of these respective officials. Thus, to instance 
 a notorious case, which w^as taken up by the British 
 Ambassador some time ago, a religious work, which had 
 been passed by the Censor at Constantinople, w^as rejected 
 by the Censor at Salonica, and accepted by the similar 
 official at Monastir. Justice in such matters is, therefore, 
 to use an old expression of English law, simply the length 
 of each Censor's foot, and no uniform standard prevails. 
 Besides, the papers are compelled to insert paragraphs 
 containing the most fulsome praise of the Sultan ; even 
 in the week of the massacres one of these veracious 
 journals was forced to declare that ^'His Majesty is beloved 
 
 394 
 
in the Near East 
 
 by all the peoples over whom he rules" (!) If it were 
 not for the foreign post offices in Constantinople, 
 European residents would hardly ever receive Western 
 papers at all, for the least particle of anti-Turkish news 
 causes the confiscation of every journal that comes 
 within the clutches of the Ottoman authorities. These 
 post offices, of which there are five — the British, French, 
 Austrian, German, and Russian — are an immense boon to 
 the European residents there, as they constitute the only 
 trustworthy means of obtaining or sending letters. For 
 the Turkish postal service is utterly unreliable and 
 extremely slow, and no European uses it, except for 
 internal communications, which cannot be transmitted 
 by means of the foreign post offices. Each of the latter 
 has its own stamps, siu'charged with the value in Turkish 
 currency, but in other respects the same as those in daily 
 use at home. Indeed, the post-cards are exactly the 
 same, having no surcharge at all. The existence of the 
 British Post Office, ably presided over by Mr. F. S. Cobb, 
 dates from the Crimean war, and was originally due to 
 the requirements of our soldiers and sailors. Afterwards, 
 when the peace came, it was found so useful that it was 
 continued, in spite of the opposition of the Turkish 
 Government. On one occasion the latter threatened to 
 . surround it with a cordon of soldiers in order to prevent 
 any one using it, but this strong measure was never 
 actually adopted. A similar institution exists at Smyrna, 
 and at last the British Chamber of Commerce has 
 succeeded in inducing the Home Government to create 
 one at Salonica. Without these post offices all business 
 here would be well-nigh impossible, especially as the 
 Turkish post office has no money-order department. As 
 it is, there is no delivery of letters on the Bosporus and 
 in the other suburbs of Constantinople, because some 
 few persons used the local post to send threatening letters 
 
 395 
 
THE BRITISH POST OFFICE, GALATA. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 to the Sultan ! With characteristic logic the Ottoman 
 authorities abolished the local post ; so, if you live at 
 Therapia or Buyukdereh, you have to send into town, 
 an hour and a half by steamer, for your letters. Tele- 
 graphing is very precarious^ for no telegram can ever be 
 depended upon to arrive in Turkey. It thus almost 
 invariably happens that British ship captains leaving 
 Constantinople, and telegraphing for coals to be ready at 
 the Dardanelles, arrive at the latter place only to discover 
 that their messages have never been delivered. News- 
 paper telegrams of any importance are always posted to 
 Philippopolis or Odessa enclosed in a letter and then 
 telegraphed on. For the Censor is much more suspicious 
 of these messages than of anything else, and often rejects 
 them on the most trivial grounds. To crown all, 
 when the railways are under w^ater in Servia, as usually 
 happens once a year, the only way to communicate with 
 the outer world is to send a letter by sea to Constanta, 
 and so through Roumania to Western Europe — in many 
 respects a much safer route. Such are the resources 
 of civilisation under the '^ enlightened " rule of Abdul 
 Hamid II. at the close of the nineteenth century. After 
 Athens, in spite of the faults of the Greek administration, 
 Constantinople is darkness itself. Here, indeed, in the 
 words of the old hymn, '^ every prospect pleases, but 
 only man " — official man in a uniform — "is vile." 
 
 No country can be considered in a healthy condition 
 unless it possesses a decent currency, and in this respect 
 Turkey is in a deplorable state. At the first blush, indeed, 
 a traveller coming from Greece is apt to think that, in 
 this respect at least, Ottoman civilisation is ahead of 
 Athenian. For he reads in his guide-book that there is a 
 metal currency in Turkey, and is overjoyed at the prospect 
 of getting rid of the dirty paper which does duty for all 
 but the very smallest coins in Greece, and is sometimes 
 
 397 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 worth little more than half of its face value. But a little 
 practical experience of the Turkish coinage soon makes 
 him reconsider his too hasty decision. Nominally, the 
 Turkish system is fairly simple, for in theory the Turkish 
 lira or pound, equivalent to about i8s. of our money, 
 is worth 100 piastres, while each piastre, equivalent 
 to rather more than ad., is worth 40 paras. The 
 medjidiehy too, which may be taken as the basis of most 
 calculations, is a handsome and substantial silver coin, 
 not unlike our 4s. piece, and worth, roughly, 3s. 4d. But 
 here the utter want of system which is the curse of Turkey 
 at once makes itself felt. The iiiedjidieh has different 
 values not only in different cities of Turkey, but in 
 different transactions in the same city. Thus, at Constan- 
 tinople it is generally accepted at its full nominal value of 
 20 silver piastres. But in Smyrna it is worth 32 piastres, 
 and in Salonica only 19, so that the utmost confusion is 
 caused, and immense possibilities of swindling the unwary 
 traveller present themselves to the astute Oriental mind. 
 But that is not all. Even in Constantinople you do not 
 always get 20 piastres for your medjidieh. On the steam- 
 boats and at the railway stations it is always reckoned as 
 worth only 19 piastres, and if you are purchasing coffee, 
 the custom of the trade computes it as worth 25 piastres. 
 Bad as this is, it is much worse when you are dealing 
 with small change. It is almost impossible to obtain any 
 quantity of small money in Constantinople owing to the 
 pettifogging practices of the Government. Whenever any 
 small pieces are coined they are at once bought up by 
 the sarrdjSj or money-changers, w^ho infest the streets, and 
 who make terms with the Government for the express 
 purpose of '' cornering " all the small change. Thus it is 
 usual for the railway and steamboat companies, as well as 
 many private persons, to refuse to give change at all ; and 
 unless you have the exact amount of your fare or your 
 
 398 
 
In the Near East 
 
 purchase in your purse you must go to the sarrdfs and 
 buy change from them at a loss of 5 per cent, on every 
 coin changed. Thus if you change a gold piece into 
 uiedjidieh you lose 5 per cent., while if you change the 
 uiedjidieh again into smaller coins you lose 5 per cent, 
 more. It need hardly be added that the crafty sarrdf 
 invariably gives you change in the highest possible denomi- 
 nation, so that you may be compelled to have recourse to 
 him again at once. In places where no sarrdf exists one 
 is put at times in the most awkward dilemmas for lack of 
 a few pence. Thus one day I went into a country hotel 
 and ordered two glasses of lemonade, price 4d. When I 
 rose to go I found that I had nothing less than a silver 
 piece worth lod, or a quarter of a medjidieh, in my pocket, 
 which I tendered to the waiter and asked for change. 
 The whole hotel and the whole village were ransacked in 
 vain for 6d. change, and at last the hotel-keeper came back 
 and implored me to accept the lemonade as a gift, as he 
 could not get change anywhere ! To such straits are 
 people reduced by the desire of the Government to make 
 an unfair profit. No wonder that even well-to-do persons 
 treasure up their small silver and metal pieces, and among 
 the poor this is a regular system. For example, the ferry- 
 boat from Galata to Stambul costs one metallik, or about 
 ^d., each person. When using this boat one invariably 
 notices that one of the poorer passengers offers to pay a 
 lump sum in silver for all his fellows and then collects the 
 amount in inctalliks from them. So eager is the competi- 
 tion for small change, so great is the desire to avoid the 
 necessity of paying for the proud privilege of possessing 
 it. How the beggars in this topsy-turvy country manage 
 to get a living I cannot understand ; for small coins, 
 which would be lavished upon them elsewhere, are just 
 what no one wishes to dispose ot, but what every one desires 
 to keep, when once obtained, if only to save trouble. 
 
 399 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 The annoyance caused to business men by this state of 
 things is very great, and the nominal and real value of the 
 Turkish coins, according as they are reckoned in gold or 
 silver, makes it necessary in Turkey, as in Greece, to keep a 
 double set of accounts, and this increases the cost of book- 
 keeping. Finally, as a last straw, there are a number of 
 debased and false coins in circulation, which completes 
 the confusion. 
 
 Perhaps of all trades in Turkey that of a bookseller is 
 the most arduous and uncertain. For it is against books 
 that all the thunderbolts of the Turkish authorities are 
 most firmly and persistently directed. Whenever you 
 land at a Turkish port, your luggage is ransacked for guide- 
 books or any other literature about the country, which is 
 contraband of this customs' war. Even the usual device 
 of a bakshish may prove unavailing here, though it once 
 saved me from losing some Servian literature about 
 Macedonia, which the Turks would dearly have liked to 
 confiscate, if they had but discovered it. Even the harm- 
 less, necessary ^^ Murray," or the blameless ^^ Bradshaw," 
 is anathema maranatha to the Turkish official mind, 
 intensely ignorant, and therefore intensely suspicious of 
 all printed matter. A friend of mine — a bookseller in 
 Turkey — has given me some amusing instances of the 
 vagaries of these gentry. On one occasion he ordered 
 out from London some copies of that pleasant book of 
 our nursery days, ^^ Sandford and Merton." All the copies 
 were confiscated, although the maddest of censors could 
 not pretend that the improving discourses of Mr. Barlow 
 to his two young pupils were in the nature of a political 
 propaganda. But the mere fact that the pet dog in the 
 narrative was called ^' Turk " was sufficient to prevent the 
 sale of the book in Turkey ! For an equally absurd 
 reason the whole of Shakespeare's works are forbidden 
 there, because of the murder of the King in ^^ Hamlet." 
 
 400 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Such an incident is considered in Turkish official circles 
 as dangerous to pubHc morals, because it might lead some 
 Shakespearean student to throw a bomb at the Sultan on 
 his way to the Selamlik ! Similarly, the local news- 
 papers were forbidden to publish the news of the attempt 
 upon the King of Italy, and were made to attribute the 
 death of the Empress of Austria to natural causes.^ 
 By some equally recondite official theory "Chambers's 
 Encyclopaedia" is on the Index Expurgatoriiis, and can 
 only be smuggled in without its title-page. So harsh is 
 this system at the Custom Houses that the booksellers 
 usually have their books posted to them by book-post, 
 as the only safe w^ay of obtaining them. A large part 
 of the excellent library of Robert College, the admirable 
 American establishment at Rumili Hissar, was collected 
 in this rather expensive way. 
 
 But not only may not the traveller bring literature into 
 this country, he must not travel at all in Turkey without 
 the cognisance of the police. You have your English 
 passport all duly vise, and you imagine in the innocence 
 of your heart that you have fulfilled all the necessary 
 formalities, and that Lord Salisbury's signature will be an 
 open sesame all over the Turkish Empire. Not so. Before 
 starting from one Turkish province to another you must 
 purchase what is called a yol teskereh, or travelling pass- 
 port, an appalling looking document drawn up in Turkish, 
 with the Sultan's signature at the top, and a full description 
 of yourself, your age, profession, intentions, appearance, 
 &c., below. If you have a wife with you, her name is 
 relegated to a small space on the back of your teskereh^ 
 and half-contemptuous officialdom disposes of her in a 
 few flourishes. Even the transport of a few chairs and 
 tables from one place to another cannot be affected with- 
 
 ' During the German Emperor's late visit the French edition of the Seiret was 
 made to substitute uiopie and utopistes for anarchic and anarchistes. 
 
 401 2D 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 out one of these permits, and the annual exodus of Euro- 
 peans from the city to the Bosporus, Phanaraki, or the 
 Islands is thus impeded by official red-tape. Moreover, 
 the haiuals or porters form a close trades' union among 
 themselves, of which the Sultan is protector, and it is 
 necessary to employ those of your own quarter and pay 
 the trade union rate of wages. In this respect Constanti- 
 nople resembles more civilised cities. Even then you 
 are not allowed to travel without let or hindrance. For 
 each separate province of the Empire you have to obtain 
 a fresh visa from the Turkish police, and as this can only 
 be obtained on certain days and at certain hours it 
 involves a great loss of time. On Fridays, for instance, it 
 being the Turkish Sunday, the police offices are closed, 
 and you have to pay extra bakshish to get a 7usa on that 
 day. On Sunday, again, the police sometimes close out 
 of deference for Christian susceptibilities, just as they 
 occasionally close on Saturdays out of respect for the 
 Jews, and thus you have to pay extra on these days too ! 
 Besides, the loss of time is not only caused by the for- 
 malities of obtaining a Turkish passport ; scarcely less 
 time is wasted in weary waiting in the Custom House 
 while a muddle-headed officer painfully peruses every 
 word of the precious document, and notes down in a 
 book the chief items of it, supplementing them by further 
 questions as to the duration of your stay, your place of 
 abode, and so on. Instead of doing everything to 
 facilitate intercourse and trade within its dominions, the 
 Turkish Government thus puts all possible impediments 
 in the way of travellers, and causes them a host of small 
 and petty inconveniences, which do not in the least 
 benefit the Imperial Treasury. As for developing the 
 country, that is the last thing desired by this darkened 
 administration. Turkey is naturally a very rich land, 
 which only needs foreign capital and foreign control to 
 
 402 
 
in the Near East 
 
 make it very profitable. But concessions can only be 
 wrung from the Sultan by immense bakshish^ and are then 
 often neutralised afterwards. An old resident in Constanti- 
 nople told me a good story on this subject. During the 
 brief existence of Midhat's Parliament, one of the ministers 
 was impeached for having sold a forest near Philippopolis 
 for ;£T.ioo,ooo. The minister's friends feared for his 
 head. Not so the wily statesman ; for he knew that it 
 was not himself but the Sultan who had had the cash. 
 More railways are urgently needed, yet they are only built 
 for strategic reasons as a rule. As one result of their aid 
 to Turkey in the last two years, the Germans are said to 
 have obtained a concession for a railway from Monastir, 
 the present terminus of the branch line from Salonica, 
 to Joannina, the capital of Albania, as well as a Hne to 
 Elassona, the Turkish base of operations in the late war. 
 They are now trying to get leave to make one from Asiatic 
 Scutari to Erzeroum. But English enterprise is dis- 
 couraged, for we are not in favour at Yildiz Kiosk, where 
 the Germans are regarded in the light of benefactors at 
 present. All British enterprises are opposed by our rivals, 
 who are strongly backed by their Government, while ours 
 does nothing for its subjects in Turkey. Hence the 
 British rarely go to law, while the Germans do so with 
 confidence. Any decent Government would long ere 
 this have opened up Asia Minor, where fruit often rots 
 upon the trees simply because there are no facilities for 
 bringing it down to the coast. Again, even so near the 
 capital as San Stefano, the village to which the Russians 
 penetrated in 1878, vast quantities of land are allowed to 
 lie waste because of the bakshish which would have to be 
 paid in order to get a lease. The thorny question of the 
 Constantinople quay dues has arisen out of a similar 
 difficulty. The company had to pay so much in bakshish 
 to officials, from the doorkeeper of the minister up to the 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 minister himself, that it had to recoup itself by charging 
 prohibitive dues to the merchants. As it often happens 
 that a minister falls from power during protracted nego- 
 tiations, the process of bakshish has to begin all over 
 again from the bottom rung of the ladder, for a change 
 of minister implies the change of all his subordinates. 
 Thus bakshish is an immense tax on industry, which in 
 Turkey would scarcely exist, were it not for foreigners. 
 Let any one contrast the energy of Roumania, which 
 has an admirable railway system and the finest steamers 
 in the Orient, with the inaction of Turkey ; or 
 let him traverse Bulgaria, where new lines of rail- 
 way are always being projected, and, what is more, 
 carried out : and then ask himself whether the former 
 dependencies of the Ottoman Empire have not benefited' 
 by their emancipation. Or again, let him visit Bosnia, 
 and see what twenty years of Austrian government have 
 made of a wild Turkish province. Then let him come to 
 Constantinople, and he will see what Turkish rule means. 
 More than in any country, except perhaps in big Russia 
 and little Montenegro, is the Sovereign the absolute arbiter 
 of the national destinies in Turkey. The Padishah is an 
 irresponsible autocrat, whose Ministers come and go at 
 his bidding, who has no Parliament to check his policy, 
 and no press worthy of the name to criticise his acts. 
 The one official who has the legal authority to depose 
 him, the Sheikh-nl'Isldm, or Grand Mufti, and who exer- 
 cised that authority in the cases of Sultans Abdul Aziz 
 and Murad V. in 1876, is now completely powerless, 
 for the present holder of the ofBce is kept, like Osman 
 Pasha, the brave defender of Plevna, a close prisoner 
 within the precincts of Yildiz Kiosk, where neither the 
 one nor the other can do much harm to the Sultan. But, 
 in spite of his absolute power, Abdul Hamid II. lives in 
 constant terror of assassination. Death is his continual 
 
 404 
 
in the Near East 
 
 dread. A dervish once prophesied that he would die of 
 cholera ; hence, whenever he has a pain in his stomach 
 he is beside himself with fear, and whenever his ministers 
 require money for sanitary purposes they have only 
 to create a cholera scare and their request is granted 
 at once. But nowadays the ^' Shadow of God " fears the 
 hand of the assassin far more than ^' the pestilence that 
 walketh in darkness." Electric lighting is almost entirely 
 forbidden here because some one told the Sultan that a 
 dynamo would be necessary for the purpose, and the 
 timorous monarch mistook the word for "dynamite." 
 Fear of dynamite, too, has led him to close to visitors the 
 the famous cistern of looi columns, which is one of the 
 wonders of Stambul. Every particle of food which he 
 eats is first tasted by his tasters, and then enclosed in 
 sealed vessels, which are opened in his presence. A 
 w^hole army guards Yildiz Kiosk night and day, and when 
 once a week at Friday's Selamlik the lord of the Ottoman 
 Empire goes forth to his devotions, fifteen thousand 
 soldiers are needed to protect him from his subjects as 
 he traverses in his carriage the hundred yards which 
 separate the gates of his grounds from the beautiful 
 Hamidieh Mosque, which he now always selects as the 
 nearest, and therefore the safest, place of worship in his 
 capital. I saw him one day at this function, riding in his 
 carriage with old Osman Pasha facing him — the latter 
 cool and calm as in the shot-riven battlements of Plevna ; 
 the former white as ashes, his quivering lip and nervous 
 face betraying the constant fear in which he passes his 
 life. As he drove past the long line of soldiers, all of 
 whom carry unloaded rifles for fear of treachery, he 
 glanced uneasily from side to side, as if to detect the 
 presence of some possible assassin. In former days it 
 was his custom to go about more freely; but now he 
 never visits the city, save once a year, when he journeys 
 
 405 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 from Yildiz to Santa Sophia and the SeragUo. Last time 
 the precautions taken for his safety were extraordinary. 
 Two different routes were chosen, and his carriage was 
 sent closed, while he went by sea. On another occasion, 
 when he drove, he changed the order of his own and his 
 mother's carriage at the last moment, so that if any 
 attempt were made upon his life the victim would be his 
 mother and not himself. Who would be Sultan on such 
 conditions ? Better than any one else does Abdul Hamid 
 II. exemplify those terrible lines of Horace, in which the 
 old Roman poet has described the fate of the Sicilian 
 tyrant, over whose head the naked sword is ever sus- 
 pended by a single thread. Many people have wished to 
 take revenge upon the Sultan for his treatment of the 
 Armenians, but no punishment that has ever been devised 
 could exceed the daily and hourly sufferings of mind 
 which he endures. Without a single real friend, he sees 
 an enemy in every one, and trusts no man long. 
 
 His system of government is simple enough. In 
 foreign, and in domestic politics, he makes it his maxim to 
 play off one person against another. Every one knows 
 how successfully he has practised this device against the 
 six Great Powers, but it is not so generally recognised in 
 England that he manages his ministers in the same way. 
 Whenever any of his subjects become very popular, like 
 Osman Pasha and Edhem Pasha, the Sultan at once 
 strives to counteract their influence. When Osman left 
 last year for Thessaly there was a good example of this. 
 It had been announced that the great soldier would leave 
 in the afternoon, and accordingly a huge crowd filled the 
 approaches to the station to do him honour. But the 
 Sultan, fearful of a demonstration, detained Osman till 
 the evening. In this case, however, Abdul Hamid was 
 foiled, for the crowd waited and waited until the 
 favourite hero came. I once heard a very amusing 
 
 407 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 instance of the Sultan's capacity for this sort of thing. 
 When Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria visited Constantinople 
 he was naturally desirous to see Robert College, where so 
 many Bulgarians are educated. He accordingly set aside 
 a day in his list of engagements for the purpose, and 
 appointed three o'clock in the afternoon as the hour of 
 his arrival there. Early in the morning of that day the 
 Sultan sent a special message to the Prince, saying that 
 he particularly wished to see him alone at 3.30. The 
 Prince knew that the object of this manoeuvre was to 
 prevent his visit to the College, an institution of which 
 the Sultan is extremely suspicious. At the same time he 
 did not desire to offend his suzerain by refusing to obey 
 what v/as an Imperial command. But the Prince has 
 not been ruler of Bulgaria for all these years without 
 having learned how to fight the Sultan with his own 
 weapons. He accordingly returned a polite message to 
 say that he would be with the Sultan at the time ap- 
 pointed, and at once ordered his luncheon to be served 
 and his carriage to be made ready for a start to Robert 
 College in a few minutes. After devouring his repast 
 with his shoes upon his feet and his staff in his hand, 
 the astute Coburger drove in hot haste to the College, 
 inspected the building, and kept his appointment with 
 his suzerain. That time Abdul Hamid felt that he had 
 caught a Tartar. Yet the Prince's behaviour had been 
 w^hat diplomatists call perfectly ^' correct ! " 
 
 According to a well-known story, which I never 
 credited until I had seen the Sultan face to face, the 
 author of the Armenian massacres is himself an Armenian. 
 He possesses in a marked degree the distinguishing 
 feature of that nationality — the large hooked nose, by 
 which you can always tell an Armenian in the streets of 
 Constantinople, and he has been even called by pure Turks 
 ^' the bastard of an Armenian." He has, too, in consider- 
 
 408 
 
in the Near East 
 
 able measure the commercial instincts of the Armenian 
 race, which are not shared by the pure OsmanH. It is 
 generally supposed that he is extremely anxious to hoard 
 up money for a rainy day. What he does feel in 
 common with the Turk is that unbounded dislike of the 
 Armenians w^hich is prevalent among the Moslems. 
 Originally the Armenians w^ere the jackals of the Turks, 
 w^ho despised them but found them useful. But the 
 
 CARTS USED TO CONVEY MASSACRED ARMENIANS. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. F. S. Cobb.) 
 
 present Sultan, finding that the defeats of 1877 and his 
 owai doubtful parentage had discredited him as a civil 
 sovereign among his subjects, resolved to emphasise his 
 spiritual authority as Khalif. To this end he revived the 
 fanaticism of the lower classes, and as this fanaticism 
 wanted a vent, let it loose upon the Armenians, who were 
 at once the best educated, the most progressive and the 
 least warlike of his Christian subjects. Had they been 
 
 409 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Montenegrins they would not have allowed themselves to 
 be butchered as they were, for of all the many Monte- 
 negrin servants in Constantinople, only one deserted his 
 post during the massacres. True, even the Sultan cannot 
 dispense with Armenian brains in the conduct of public 
 affairs, and the Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, 
 Artin Pasha, is an Armenian, as are not a few other 
 officials here. Artin on one occasion threw up his office 
 in consequence of the insults which he received from his 
 Turkish colleagues, but the Sultan ordered him to resume 
 it for the very reason that he was despised and therefore 
 harmless. But the Armenians inspire in the Turks a 
 hatred such as no other Christian race causes them, and 
 the worst of it is that the Armenians have not, like the 
 Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Wallachs living in the 
 Turkish dominions. Consuls and diplomatic agents of 
 their own race to whom they can appeal. So bitter is 
 the feeling of the Sultan, that he has prohibited the 
 importation of English atlases, because part of Asia 
 Minor is described in them as ^^ Armenia." Turkish 
 officialdom recognises no such place ; for '^ Armenia " it 
 substitutes ^^the Asiatic provinces of Turkey, partially 
 inhabited by Armenians." Can pedantry go farther ? 
 
 Needless to say, the Sultan's policy has greatly 
 injured trade alike in the capital and in the pro- 
 vinces ; for many Armenian traders have fled and taken 
 their connection with them to Bulgaria and elsewhere, 
 while the actual loss of so many lives has entailed a great 
 diminution of the country's wealth. Nowadays the 
 Sovereign's ministers are not allowed to visit one 
 another's houses, and in many places on the Bosporus 
 boating is forbidden after sunset, simply from fear of 
 plots and conspiracies. For the Sultan, as he patheti- 
 cally told a British Ambassador, can trust no one. 
 No Sovereign is so overworked, for the smallest matters 
 
 410 
 
in the Near East 
 
 come before this man without friends. On one occasion 
 a foreign diplomatist found his Majesty revising the 
 rules for a Pera music-hall, simply because he could trust 
 no one else to do it. A similar dread has induced the 
 Sultan to set his face against photography. Abdul Aziz 
 was a great patron of the art, and once gave valuable 
 hints to the photographer who took his portrait for 
 presentation to the old German Kaiser. But Abdul 
 Hamid II. has never been photographed since he became 
 Sultan — so the leading photographer of Pera told me, 
 and all published photographs of him are therefore 
 embellishments of his early portraits taken before he 
 ascended the throne more than twenty years ago. At the 
 same time, it must be admitted that they give a very fair 
 idea of what he looks like now. From w^hat has been 
 said it must be clear to every one that so long as such a 
 Sovereign as this guides the destinies of Turkey there will 
 be no chance of reform. There have been Sultans in the 
 past who were reformers, like Mahmud II. ; while most 
 of the older Pddishdlis were, at any rate, brave men, if 
 they were often cruel. Fortunately for them, however, 
 there were in their days no newspaper correspondents 
 to narrate their cruelties. But Abdul Hamid II. only 
 deserves the usual title of all Sultans, that of Hnnktdr, or 
 ^^The Manslayer," in the sense that he has butchered 
 men in cold blood, rather than in the sense that he 
 has slain them in war. Intelligent observers doubt, 
 however, whether even a complete change of dynasty 
 could regenerate Turkey. Perhaps a military dictator 
 might be the best ruler in the present imperfect state 
 of things. One fact is clear : so long as Sultans are 
 educated as they are under the corrupting influences 
 of the harem, so long will they be narrow-minded bigots 
 at the best. 
 
 To the deplorably backward condition of Turkish 
 
 411 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 education there is one bright exception, Robert College, 
 an institution which has already had so much influence 
 upon the history of the Balkan Peninsula, and is likely 
 to be of such great service in the future that it deserves 
 special mention. Robert College owes both its name and 
 its origin to Mr. Christopher R. Robert, an American mer- 
 chant, who came to Turkey during the Crimean War, and 
 was deeply grieved to find that the country, in which he 
 was much interested, possessed nothing in the nature of a 
 University or High School. Mr. Robert communicated 
 his scheme for the creation of some such institution 
 to Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, whose daughter, Mrs. Washburn, 
 has passed her whole life at the College. The first 
 beginnings of the College took the shape of a hired 
 house at Bebek, a charming little village on the 
 Bosporus, which bears in Turkish the appropriate 
 name of '^ The Baby." From this ^^ Baby," born in 1863, 
 grew up the splendid collegiate buildings on the heights 
 above Bebek. Meanwhile Mr. Robert endeavoured to 
 obtain from Sultan Abdul Aziz permission to found a 
 college on a considerable scale on ground of its own. 
 For a long time the Turkish Government refused, until 
 at last one day a happy accident led to the grant of 
 the long-sought Irade. It chanced that an American 
 man-of-war was at Constantinople, and the commander 
 was entertained at a dinner on shore, at which several 
 Turkish officials were present. During dinner the 
 American officer innocently dropped the remark that 
 it was a pity that the Turks would not allow his fellow- 
 countryman, Mr. Robert, to found an institution which 
 would so greatly benefit the Turkish Empire. The 
 Turkish officials at the table, suspicious as usual, mistook 
 this casual remark for a threat, which would be backed by 
 the guns of the American man-of-war. They accordingly 
 reported the incident to the Sultan, who took the same 
 
 412 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 view and at once gave orders for the Irade to be made 
 out. This was in 1869, and on July 4th of the same year 
 the foundation-stone of the present College was laid 
 on the lovely hill of Rumili Hissar, where still stand the 
 great towers of " the Castle of Europe," which Moham- 
 med II. built the year before the capture of Con- 
 stantinople in the form of the Arabic letters of his name, 
 and where an earlier Emperor, Darius, watched his 
 legions cross from Asia. No more appropriate spot 
 could have been chosen for the site of an institution 
 intended to free Turkey from darkness and ignorance, 
 and from no part of the Bosporus — not even from the 
 ^^ Giant's Mountain " itself — is there a lovelier view^ of 
 that river-like strait which separates Asia from Europe. 
 From the garden you can see on a Friday afternoon 
 the catqiies, laden with veiled women, on their way to the 
 " Sweet Waters of Asia " opposite, and every day the 
 scene is enlivened by the large Black Sea steamers and 
 the smaller craft which ply on the Bosporus. Mr. 
 Robert provided all the funds for the College till his 
 death in 1878 — the memorable year which witnessed 
 the creation of that autonomous Bulgaria towards which 
 he had indirectly contributed so much by his generous 
 philanthropy. 
 
 For it was to Robert College that the newly liberated 
 country looked for the young men who were to be its 
 future officials, and it was largely, thanks to this in- 
 stitution, that Bulgaria, after nearly five centuries of 
 Turkish rule, was able to take a place at once among 
 the ranks of self-governing states. I have before me a 
 complete list of all those who have graduated at the 
 College, and it is surprising to observe how many of 
 them are holding high office in Bulgaria. To begin 
 with, the best known of all. Dr. Constantine Stoiloff, 
 the present Bulgarian Prime Minister, was a member 
 
 414 
 
in the Near East 
 
 of the class of 1871, in which he had for a colleague 
 M. Panaretoff, who was at one time special Envoy of 
 Bulgaria in England, and is now Professor of the 
 Bulgarian language and literature at the College. 
 Nearly all the judges, editors, and schoolmasters of the 
 Principality were trained within these walls, and it has 
 even been said with pardonable exaggeration that 
 ^^ Robert College made Bulgaria." But the College is 
 not for Bulgarians alone. Many Armenians have been 
 educated there, and among the recent pupils are even 
 four Turks from Constantinople, as well as Roumanian, 
 Greek, British, French, Austrian, and German subjects. 
 The Sultan, however, who does not love the College, 
 attributes to it all sorts of revolutionary propaganda, 
 of which it is absolutely innocent, and prevents Turks of 
 good position from sending their sons there for fear lest 
 they should become too liberal in their views. Instances 
 have been known in which Turkish pupils have been 
 entered at the College one day and withdrawn — in con- 
 sequence of His Majesty's displeasure — the next. 
 
 On the famous night of the massacres of August 26, 
 1896, a party of twenty Turkish soldiers demanded 
 admission on the plea that they came to guard the place 
 by the Sultan's orders. The Principal, who was in bed at 
 the time, anxious for the safety of the Armenians who 
 were employed in the laundry, told his Montenegrin gate- 
 keeper to keep the soldiers parleying outside to gain 
 time. The porter accordingly told the soldiers that as his 
 TcJielebi, or master, had given the place into his charge he 
 could not give it up to any one else till the morning, 
 and accordingly kept them out all night. Next day the 
 soldiers entered, and remained quartered in one of the 
 schoolrooms till the following January. 
 
 The curriculum includes such varied subjects as 
 philosophy, political ecoiiomy and logic, natural science, 
 
 415 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 mathematics ; history, both Oriental and general ; liter- 
 ature, rhetoric, Armenian, Bulgarian, Turkish, French, 
 German ; Greek, ancient and modern ; music, and 
 drawing. A special study is made of English, which is 
 the common language of instruction, and under the 
 guidance of Professor Alexander Van Millingen, the well- 
 known historical scholar, English history and literature 
 are taught. Naturally, a knowledge of our constitutional 
 development does not tend to make the students regard 
 the despotic rule of the Sultan as the highest form 
 of human government. The use of English in the class- 
 rooms has had the great practical advantage of filling 
 even remote places in the Balkans with men who have 
 learned how to speak the most widespread language of 
 the world. Indeed, Robert College has furnished more 
 than one English firm with managers, educated at 
 Rumili Hissar. Where, perhaps, something remains to 
 be done, is in the physical department. There is an 
 admirable gymnasium, and baseball has been acclimatised 
 on the shores of the Bosporus, but as yet the strenuous 
 athleticism of our great public schools has not been 
 transplanted there. But the students possess a good 
 physique, and the Bulgarians especially are strong and 
 wiry. Deportment is not forgotten, and religious instruc- 
 tion is imparted upon an unsectarian basis. Here Greeks 
 and Bulgarians, English and French, Germans and 
 Roumanians meet on a common ground. All students 
 attend morning prayer every day, and on Sunday there 
 are morning and evening services for the boarders and an 
 afternoon Bible class. Debating and other societies are 
 encouraged, and, in short, a liberal education is given to 
 all-comers irrespective of race or creed. The whole cost 
 of board and tuition is only 44 Turkish liras, or just under 
 £^0 a year, and tuition alone costs only 10 liras, or fy 
 per annum. The collegiate year begins in the middle of 
 
 416 
 
in the Near East 
 
 September and closes, as a rule, on the last Wednesday in 
 June, when the *^ Commencement " takes place, orations 
 are delivered by the graduating class, and prizes and 
 diplomas are distributed. A few scholarships have been 
 founded by Americans, and it is hoped that more will be 
 done in this direction. Certainly the College, which has 
 educated during its 35 -years of existence nearly 6000 
 students, has fully justified the expectations of its founder 
 and his colleagues. Every year now it contains over 200 
 pupils, whose ages vary from 15 in the preparatory 
 department to a little over 19 in the senior class. Those 
 who have taken the full course and passed all the 
 necessary examinations receive the degree of B.A., while 
 that of M.A. is reserved for graduates who have gained 
 special distinction in literature in after life. The buildings 
 of the College are mainly two — Hamlin Hall, which 
 contains most of the class-rooms, accommodation for 175 
 boarders, and the rooms of the tutors, and Science Hall, 
 inaugurated six years ago, which serves as a museum, 
 library, and reading-room, as well as a place for religious 
 services and public meetings. Under the guidance of 
 Mrs. Washburn, I inspected both these buildings, and 
 found that they could challenge comparison with any of 
 our great educational establishments at home. The 
 library, which contains over 6000 volumes, struck me as 
 selected with much judgment, and specially interesting to 
 the visitor is the complete collection of fishes found in the 
 Bosporus, from the huge tunny, the playful porpoise, and 
 the quaint sword-fish, down to the far-famed lobsters of 
 Rumili Hissar and the loiifer, a kind of herring dear to the 
 amateur anglers of these waters. One owl in the collec- 
 tion of birds is practically priceless, as it is one of the few 
 specimens of this particular kind extant. So that all the 
 requisites of a sound literary and scientific training may 
 be found within sight of Constantinople. 
 
 417 2E 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Robert College does not represent all that has been 
 done for the cause of education here. At Scutari, across 
 the Bosporus, there is an American College for girls, 
 whose training in Turkey is even more backward than 
 that of the men. But among the Turkish ladies, as dis- 
 tinct from the Armenians, Greeks, or Bulgarians, nothing 
 at all can be effected, owing to the harem system. True, 
 some of the more enlightened of the Turks' wives know 
 enough French to read Zola or Flaubert, and have be- 
 come so far modernised as to smoke cigarettes instead of 
 chlbuks. But the position of women here is not likely 
 to be altered much in our time, if at all. Yet the main- 
 tenance of these large harems has indirectly a very bad 
 effect on the administration of the country, because it 
 involves the men in great expense, and they are accord- 
 ingly forced to resort to dubious devices in order to raise 
 money. As far as veiling goes, the Turkish women are, 
 indeed, becoming much more emancipated, and even the 
 hequentlrades of the Sultan on this subject have not pro- 
 duced much effect upon refractory womankind. For 
 here, as in Western Europe, a pretty woman likes to be 
 seen ; while a plain one does not mind being veiled, 
 especially if she has nice hands. To the utter dulness of 
 harem life every lady who has seen it bears witness. The 
 inmates have no ideas, the atmosphere is bad, the sur- 
 roundings not always pleasant. Possibly the intense 
 curiosity with which the prisoners of the harems regard 
 their European sisters may lead some day to a desire to 
 imitate some of their customs. 
 
 Whoever wishes to see Turkish administration at its 
 best let him go to Brusa, the first capital of the Osmanli 
 Sultans, and, according to some sanguine persons, the 
 future seat of the Ottoman Government whenever it shall 
 have been driven, '^ bag and baggage," back into Asia. 
 The story is told of a Turkish Governor of Brusa who, 
 
 418 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 when asked why he was doing so much to improve the 
 streets of that town, rephed, with a sardonic smile, ^M am 
 making everything ready for the Sultan when he is turned 
 out of Constantinople." Certainly, in point of cleanliness 
 and order, Brusa compares most favourably with the city 
 of Constantine. There are fewer ruts in the main streets, 
 and a general air of brightness and liveliness about the 
 place which Constantinople lacks. The Turks, too, seem 
 much more friendly to the ^' dog of an unbeliever " at 
 Brusa than they are in the more famous resort of tourists 
 on the Bosporus. When I visited the mosques of 
 Stambul, the scow^ling priests, who dogged my footsteps 
 all the time, looked as if they would have dearly liked to 
 stick a dagger into my back. Indeed, in one case I only 
 obtained admission owing to the polite fiction of my 
 guide that I was a German, and therefore a subject of the 
 one European Government which is at present in favour 
 in Turkey. But in Brusa it has been quite otherwise. 
 There the guardians of the mosques and tombs invite the 
 Western traveller to enter, and seem proud to show off 
 the sacred buildings committed to their charge, with 
 all the objects of interest which they contain. In the 
 " Green Mosque," for instance, the priest asked me with 
 conscious pride whether any such exquisite work as that 
 existed in Great Britain. In fact, religious and social 
 fanaticism is much less apparent in Brusa than at Con- 
 stantinople. Although the population of the former place 
 is very mixed, and contains a large number of Greeks and 
 Armenians, as well as genuine Turks, there were no mas- 
 sacres there such as those which disgraced the capital two 
 years ago. When the disturbances occurred at Constanti- 
 nople, and a similar outbreak was feared at Brusa, the 
 Governor at once made it known that if a single Christian 
 in Brusa were murdered he would shoot ten Mussulmans. 
 This announcement had the desired effect, and not a 
 
 420 
 
in the Near East 
 
 single Christian in Brusa was injured. Naturally, the 
 Governor is very popular with the Christians of the town, 
 and as the trade of the place is largely in their hands it 
 flourishes exceedingly. But in this respect the vali is only 
 carrying out the traditions of his predecessors, who have 
 all contributed towards making this vilayet the model pro- 
 vince of the Turkish Empire. As you traverse in the rail- 
 way the country between the little seaport of Mudania 
 on the Marmara and the city of Brusa you notice at once 
 that here, at least, the Turkish official has not brought 
 misery and desolation in his train. Here you might be in 
 Southern Europe. On either side a rich and fertile land 
 stretches out before you, a land of wine and olives, culti- 
 vated by a bright and cheerful peasantry, who greet the 
 train as it slowly turns and turns on its way up the hillside. 
 If Turkey were only all like this there might yet be some 
 hope for it; but, just as one swallow does not make a 
 summer, so one Brusa does not make a prosperous 
 Empire. Yet there, at any rate, one can realise what the 
 race of Osman was in the far-away days of its strength, 
 before its faculties as a governing race were sapped and 
 undermined and dwindled away. 
 
 By a curious accident, this inland town of Asia Minor 
 possesses what is rare indeed in the Turkish provinces — a 
 European hotel. So here, and at the neighbouring village 
 of Chekirgeh, or '^ the locust," where there are iron and 
 sulphur baths, you have quite a fashionable society — 
 smartly dressed Armenian ladies and fluent Greeks — 
 chattering French with the same facility as their native 
 languages ; and I found there a real live literary lion, 
 in the person of Paul Lindau, the German novelist, 
 whose brother, an official at Constantinople, has published 
 a yellow-backed volume of '' Turkish Stories." The beau 
 monde of Brusa bowed down in homage before this 
 eminent man of letters, who held quite a Court every 
 
 421 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 evening. The German Consul was at his disposition from 
 morn till dewy eve — and the. evenings there are very dewy 
 — and the Consul's cavass, a fine stalwart Circassian, was 
 on continual duty in the hotel garden. Herr Lindau com- 
 plained to me that too much was done for his amusement ; 
 there was too much to see for a lazy man. And, indeed, 
 of ^^ sights " Brusa possesses sufficient to satisfy the appe- 
 tite of the most energetic Cook's tourist that ever went 
 on a personally-conducted excursion. According to the 
 local saying, Brusa '^ has a mosque and a walk for every 
 day of the year." Of the walks it is sufficient to say that 
 the slopes of Mount Olympus, which rises superbly above 
 the town to the altitude of nearly 8,000 feet, afford many a 
 pleasant ramble, while in the city itself there are fascinating 
 streets covered with trellised vines and bright with every 
 colour and costume of the gorgeous East. The bazar at 
 Brusa is a ladies' paradise, for there may be bought on 
 weekdays — for on Sunday it is practically closed — those 
 silken and gauze-like fabrics which are the speciality of 
 the place. Or, if the lady be of a practical, housewifely 
 mind, she may purchase there, after the usual bargaining, 
 those Brusa towels which are the delight of the British 
 bathroom. But the great glory of Brusa is the famous 
 Yeshil Janii, or '^ Green Mosque," which ranks above all 
 other Turkish mosques in beauty of workmanship and 
 design. The green Persian tiles, with which a large por- 
 tion of the interior is lined, are most elaborate, and the 
 marble carving of the doorway and the windows forms 
 an admirable ornament, which Santa Sophia in all its 
 splendour cannot surpass. Adjoining the '^ Green 
 Mosque" is the tomb of Mohammed I., its founder, also 
 covered with green tiles, within which rest the remains of 
 that Sultan, while several more of Brusa's early sovereigns 
 are buried in a lovely spot, shaded by huge plane trees, in 
 another quarter of the Imperial city. All these and the 
 
 422 
 
in the Near East 
 
 " Great Mosque " with its numerous cupolas bear silent 
 testimony to Brusa's golden age, when Orkhan, the son 
 of Osman, had captured it after a ten years' siege, and had 
 made it the chosen home of poets and men of learning no 
 less than the residence of the Emperor. But Brusa had 
 only a comparatively short enjoyment of that privilege. 
 Adrianople soon became the Turkish capital, and, when 
 in 1453 Mohammed II. conquered Constantinople, the 
 ancient Bithynian city, where once Hannibal had waited 
 the bidding and implored the good offices of its king in 
 his struggle against the might of Rome, became a mere 
 provincial town. 
 
 Brusa has been not inaptly compared, in beauty of 
 situation, with Malvern, and it might also be likened in 
 that respect to Sorrento. As in the Italian town, so here, 
 deep ravines intersect the buildings, and quaint bridges 
 span the ^^blue " water, as it rushes down the folds of the 
 mountains. On one of the bridges quaint Turkish houses 
 cluster close together, giving a peculiarly picturesque 
 aspect to the scene. As at Malvern, the houses are built 
 upon the flanks of the hill, and from the citadel the eye 
 commands a prospect over the valley of the Nilufer, as 
 rich as that which extends from the terraces of the English 
 health-resort down to the banks of the Severn. But Brusa 
 possesses in the snow-clad Olympus a neighbour more 
 majestic than the Beacon and not less dangerous than 
 Vesuvius. Dangerous alike from natural and from arti- 
 ficial causes, for the brigands of the '^ Monk's Mountain," 
 as the Turks call it, have a bad reputation, while its neigh- 
 bourhood is marked with terrible earthquakes, which have 
 more than once shaken down the houses and injured the 
 mosques of Brusa. In the main street you may still see 
 the ruins of wooden dwellings, crushed to splinters by the 
 rocks from above, for the Turk, even though he be more 
 enlightened here than elsewhere, never clears away any 
 
 423 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 rubbish or ruins that have once fallen. That would be 
 waste of energy. 
 
 The railways have quite wakened up this corner of 
 Asia Minor to intercourse with the great world outside. 
 The silk industry has thus received a new impetus, and 
 the cult of the silkworm is more general than ever there. 
 Yet, with all its superior cleanliness and modern facilities 
 of locomotion, the old capital of Orkhan has not lost its 
 Oriental character. It is, at this stage of its history, an 
 excellent example of what Turkey might be under a wise 
 government. I had an admirable opportunity of wit- 
 nessing the genuine popularity of one of the officials of 
 the place, the Commissioner of the Public Debt, who 
 was staying at the hotel, and travelled with me back to 
 Constantinople. His Excellency — a jovial, elderly gentle- 
 man — was a great favourite with the Europeans, who 
 treated him very much as one of themselves, and at the 
 same time was heartily greeted by the natives wherever he 
 appeared. Every one turned up at the station to wish him 
 a good journey and a safe return ; and on the steamer he 
 was the centre of an admiring group of Armenian ladies. 
 One is tempted to say of Ottoman officials — si sic omnes ! 
 Indeed, it is with regret that one returns to the corrupt 
 administration of the present Turkish capital after this 
 experience of the old. Brusa is, indeed, an administrative 
 oasis in this arid desert of political incapacity and intrigue. 
 
 Of all European capitals, Constantinople has least social 
 life. From the nature of the case, the absence of all 
 female society among the Mussulmans renders it impos- 
 sible for them to entertain. The Europeans live for the 
 most part at great distances from the centre, and the 
 means of communication are so bad that visiting, 
 especially at night, is a toil rather than a pleasure. No 
 human being would drive through the streets unless 
 compelled to do so, for the holes in even the principal 
 
 424 
 
in the Near East 
 
 thoroughfares inflict the keenest torture upon even robust 
 nerves. As the Turkish driver usually insists upon going 
 at full speed one is nearly jolted out of one's seat at every 
 moment. I shall never forget two experiences of this 
 kind. On one occasion we attempted to drive round the 
 walls, and expected at every moment to break our necks ; 
 on the other we descended from the heights of Bulgarlu 
 at a pace and at an angle which threatened instant extinc- 
 tion. Until I had seen Constantinople I always imagined 
 Belgrade to be the worst paved capital in the East, but I 
 now confess that the Servians have greatly improved upon 
 the road-building of their former Turkish masters. Besides 
 Constantinople possesses a further impediment to traffic 
 in the shape of the dogs which encumber every street and 
 lie in every hole in the pavement. For the pedestrian at 
 night it is a matter of considerable difficulty to avoid 
 treading upon whole colonies of puppies deposited by 
 their mothers in every available spot. No power, not 
 even that of a former Sultan, has been able to abolish 
 the Constantinople dog. When Abdul Mejid banished 
 them all to one of the islands in the Marmara he was 
 compelled by public opinion to bring them back to the 
 city. The severe winters lead to a survival of the fittest, 
 but even so their numbers are only slightly diminished. 
 While by day they are only encumbrances to the traffic, 
 by night they also render sleep most difficult. It has 
 been our fate to reside at the point where the territories 
 of two canine nations met — for, as every one knows, the 
 Constantinople dogs have districts of their own which 
 they unite in defending against the canine denizens of 
 other quarters. But as is natural in these days of colonial 
 expansion, the dogs of the less favoured districts are 
 desirous to extend their spheres of influence. The most 
 ferocious battles then take place upon the frontier until 
 the invaders have been driven ofif. And even if for a time 
 
 425 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 some canine leader ordains the peace, the night watch- 
 man effectually prevents one's slumber. This function- 
 ary's practice of tapping with his staff upon the pavement 
 has the double effect of keeping the householder awake 
 and giving the housebreaker time to get out of the way. 
 The actions of this individual are somewhat erratic. Some- 
 times he stops away altogether and then demands bakshish 
 for the neglect of his duties ; at others, when sleepless 
 residents offer him bakshish in order that he may stop 
 away, he pockets the piastres and knocks more loudly 
 than ever. It is said that he marks the hours by the 
 number of knocks he gives with his stick, but in our 
 experience we have found that he rather resembled a 
 clockmaker summoned to wind up the clocks who 
 makes them sound one hour after the other in rapid 
 succession. 
 
 No one can live in comfort in Constantinople without 
 a cavass, and it is the object of every one to secure the 
 services of a gigantic Montenegrin or Bocchese for this 
 purpose. It would be difficult to find anywhere a more 
 imposing figure than the Montenegrin cavass of the 
 British Embassy, and these servants are as honest and 
 faithful as they are handsome. But they have '^the 
 defects of their qualities." They carry their devotion to 
 their employers to such a length that they regard it as a 
 personal insult to be dismissed, and sometimes attack 
 their masters for having dismissed them. Besides, if they 
 have to resign on account of ill-health, they expect their 
 brothers or cousins to be taken on in their place as a 
 matter of course. Utterly impervious to new ideas, they 
 are the most conservative of men. Thus, I once heard a 
 Montenegrin expostulate with some one who wanted to 
 eat a tortoise, not because the animal was unwholesome, 
 but because ^' it came straight from hell." 
 
 Just as Baron Haussmann reconstructed Paris, so the 
 
 426 
 
in the Near East 
 
 German Emperor has been unconsciously doing some- 
 thing to improve the streets of Constantinople. When it 
 became known that the Sultan's ^^ only friend " proposed 
 to re-visit the Turkish capital, it was resolved to widen 
 the streets through which the Kaiser would be likely to 
 pass. No theories about compensation trouble the official 
 mind of Constantinople when once it has resolved upon 
 street improvement. In London we hesitate to widen the 
 Strand because of the expense involved in purchasing 
 the houses which it would be necessary to pull down. 
 The Turks, on the other hand, resort to one of those 
 fortunate accidents which in Eastern countries frequently 
 remove objectionable persons or buildings at the most 
 convenient moment. We witnessed an instance of this 
 in the Grande Rue de Pera. A house which projected 
 into the street and impeded the praiseworthy desire of the 
 authorities to widen the main thoroughfare of the city, 
 was one night found in a blaze. Next morning as 
 we were passing the ruined building a Turkish ofBcer 
 remarked, in our hearing, in French : " On a bien fait de 
 I'incendier." This system is further facilitated by the fact 
 that the firemen stationed on the Galata Tower or at 
 Kandilli have to obtain permission from Yildiz Kiosk 
 before firing the signal. A great deal of time is thus 
 lost, and the Turkish fire-brigade arrives too late. If the 
 European brigade — for that also exists— shows too much 
 zeal in the service, its attention is usually diverted to the 
 opposite house. Sometimes too, where a genuine fire 
 occurs, the Turkish firemen spend so much time in 
 bargaining with the people, whose property they have 
 come to save, that there is nothing left to save at all. In 
 one case, where a fire occurred at a village in the winter, 
 the village was burnt and many lives lost by cold and 
 privation owing to this chaffering. But whether the fire 
 be genuine or not, the cry of *^ Yanghen var" with which 
 
 427 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the firemen go through the streets naturally attracts the 
 worst elements of the population, who seize this oppor- 
 tunity for plunder and destruction. At Smyrna, where 
 I witnessed a large conflagration, they managed things 
 rather better, but even there I noticed at the fire-station, 
 where I was at the time, that the alarm-guns had to be 
 cleaned at the critical moment when they ought to have 
 been fired, so that a great delay was caused. 
 
 The lack of amusements, for there is no theatre or 
 opera, makes Constantinople an undesirable place of 
 residence. In fact the only persons who have a tolerably 
 good time there are those connected with Embassies. 
 Even they, with all the advantages of their position, find 
 the place compares badly with other capitals. As one of 
 them remarked to me, '' In Constantinople one is never 
 finished with a piece of business. What is simple else- 
 where, is complex here. Do what you may, any matter 
 which you consider settled is sure to return to you." 
 Moreover, Constantinople has been the grave of many 
 diplomatic reputations, and an old resident who has 
 known thirteen British Ambassadors once told me, that 
 the only one of them who was really successful was the 
 one who confined his diplomatic notes to the Porte within 
 the space of four lines, and always began them with the 
 formula, '' The British Ambassador requires." 
 
 A friend of mine, who has been for many years a 
 householder in Constantinople, told me his experience of 
 taking a house there which may interest the British 
 occupier. The latter is apt to imagine himself a much 
 suffering individual, but his wrongs are nothing to those 
 of his fellows in Turkey. For in Turkey there is no 
 regular system of levying inhabited house-duty, but 
 whenever the householder wishes to make any repairs he 
 has to obtain official permission to do so, and this 
 permission is only granted after payment of all arrears of 
 
 428 
 
in the Near East 
 
 taxation due upon the house. As there is in Turkish law 
 no statute of hmitation, the unfortunate householder 
 is held liable, not only for his own, but for his pre- 
 decessors' arrears of taxation, and in an instance which 
 has come under my notice no less than twenty-three years 
 of taxes had to be paid at once by a certain gentleman 
 who desired to repair his abode ! The natural result is 
 that houses, which are very expensive in Constantinople, 
 are allowed to fall into a most ruinous state, because 
 a direct incentive is thus given to the householders to 
 refrain from making any alterations. Needless to add, the 
 utmost uncertainty prevails as to the annual yield of the 
 tax upon houses, and anything like our Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer's accurate forecast of the house-duty is 
 impossible. Even to repair the road in front of a house 
 requires a special permit, though the householder has to 
 do the repairs at his own cost. If he expostulates with the 
 local authorities, he is told that ^'all the rates have been 
 sent to the Palace." 
 
 But all these inconveniences sink into insignificance 
 beside the horrors of keeping Turkish time. The Turks 
 set their watches every day, and sunset, whatever hour it 
 may be by our reckoning, is counted as twelve o'clock, 
 and the other hours calculated from it. Thus, if it is 
 half-past nine by a '^ European " watch, the Turkish 
 clocks point to two. As both systems prevail in Turkey, 
 it is necessary to have two watches, or else a movable 
 watchglass with a second set of figures on it. At home 
 convicts are made to '' do time" ; a much harder punish- 
 ment would be to make them keep Turkish time for a 
 month. 
 
 But there is a bright side to the picture. Business men, 
 overburdened with the rates and taxes of Western Europe, 
 tell me that they find it easier to make profits under the 
 uncertain Turkish system. In the summer, too, suburban 
 
 429 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 life, on the Bosporus, or at one of the other pleasure 
 resorts near Constantinople, possesses great attractions. 
 Diplomatic society selects Therapia or Buyukdereh for 
 its villeglattire, and the lack of hotels at all the other 
 delightful spots on the Bosporus secures those two 
 places a monopoly in that direction. Many well-to-do 
 people prefer Prinkipo, in spite of the abominable 
 service of steamers. On one occasion, a deputation 
 of European ladies, anxious for the safety of their hus- 
 bands, threatened to invade the Sultan's presence, in 
 order to bring before his Majesty the dangers of the 
 rickety old boats which ply between the city and the 
 intermediate stations on the way to Prinkipo. Terri- 
 fied at this prospect, the Sultan at once promised to buy 
 two new boats in England ; but this promise was not 
 altogether reassuring, for residents in Constantinople 
 remember that when two second-hand British steamers 
 were previously ordered for this service, both of them were 
 so unseaworthy that they were forbidden to leave port 
 flying the British flag, and one of them went down on 
 the way out. Chancing to go over to Prinkipo on St. 
 George's Day, the principal Greek festival of the island, 
 we nearly shared a similar fate. Instead of putting on 
 extra boats, as is usual in other countries at holiday times, 
 the steamboat company crowded hundreds of excur- 
 sionists on to a wretched old tub, until the deck was 
 almost level with the water. On arrival, however, we were 
 partially compensated for this experience by the scenes 
 round the Monastery of St. George. Here groups of 
 peasants from the islands in the Marmara, and from 
 the Bithynian coast, were dancing the Jiora in the most 
 solemn fashion. The dancers were all men, who stood in 
 a circle with a fiddler in the middle, while the women, in 
 curious baggy trousers of all the colours of the rainbow, 
 stood looking on. Prinkipo has a rival in Phanaraki, a 
 
 430 
 
in the Near East 
 
 place on the Asiatic coast, the home of a considerable 
 European colony in summer. Here on Fridays one may 
 sit under the trees and observe the mediaeval and the 
 
 RUSSIAN MONUMENT, SAN STEFANO. 
 
 (From a Photo, by Mr. F. S. Cobb.y 
 
 modern sides of Oriental life at the same moment— the 
 veiled Turkish ladies being drawn about in long, creaking 
 bullock waggons, and the smart Armenian bicyclists 
 
 431 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 equally proud of their European machines and their 
 Parisian French. San Stefano, famous in history as the 
 scene of the abortive Treaty and as the nearest point to 
 Constantinople which the Russians have yet reached, 
 possesses the advantage of direct railway communication 
 and is prettily situated on the Marmara. The "Treaty 
 house " is now, like the Treaty itself, a thing of the past. 
 Since the last earthquake the ruins alone remain to remind 
 the passer-by of what promised to be the most remark- 
 able event in the story of the Balkan Peninsula. Out in 
 the waste plain beyond San Stefano the Russians have 
 erected a monument, the scaffolding of which was still up 
 when we visited it, nominally to the memory of their 
 soldiers, but really to commemorate their achievement in 
 1878. At that time every one expected them in Con- 
 stantinople, and the arrangements for the evacuation had 
 actually been prepared. Skobeleff used himself to go 
 regularly to Missiri's Hotel to dine, and on one occasion 
 applied to a British doctor, still living, to get one of his 
 officers into the English hospital. The next time that the 
 Russians get as near to Constantinople they will probably 
 come to stay. A Turkish prophecy says that thirty 
 Sultans shall reign in Stambul. Abdul Hamid II. is the 
 twenty-eighth of the series, so that the time for the fulfil- 
 ment of the prediction is approaching. But threatened 
 empires, like threatened men, have a habit of living 
 longer than any one expects. 
 
 432 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN EMANCIPATION : BULGARIA 
 
 FINDING that the direct line from Constantinople to 
 Bulgaria was still interrupted owing to the floods, 
 I could only reach that interesting Balkan Principality 
 by way of the Black Sea. The Euxine has always had 
 a bad reputation for its sudden squalls. The ancients 
 christened it the "inhospitable" sea, and our own soldiers 
 had some terrible experiences of what it could do during 
 the Crimean War. But I had no choice in the matter, so 
 embarked on one of the Russian steamers for Bourgas, 
 the second of the two ports of Bulgaria, which I reached 
 after a fifteen hours' voyage, and a tossing such as the 
 English Channel itself could hardly have surpassed. 
 
 It is certainly an agreeable contrast, after a tour in the 
 immediate dominions of the Sultan, to find oneself in a 
 country where one's movements are not hindered by 
 absurd regulations. In Bulgaria, at any rate, whatever 
 may be the shortcomings of the Government, the traveller 
 is assisted by the officials and welcomed by the people. 
 There are no special passports required as in Turkey ; 
 bakshish ceases to be in constant demand ; and, above 
 all, there is an admirable currency, based on the French 
 system, the two denominations of which, the lev (or "lion") 
 and the stotliika, almost exactly correspond in value to 
 the French franc and centime. After the filthy Greek 
 paper, and the almost illegible Turkish metal coinage, 
 
 433 2F 
 
BULGARIAN BRIDE. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 it is a relief to handle finely engraved silver and nickel 
 pieces, bearing the Bulgarian lion rampant or the image 
 and superscription of Prince Ferdinand. With such 
 a currency one knows at once what one is doing ; 
 whereas in Greece and Turkey it is always a matter 
 of elaborate calculation to ascertain exactly how 
 much one is really paying for any article purchased. 
 The newcomer in Bulgaria notices, too, at once the 
 superior physique of the officers and soldiers as compared 
 with the appearance of Greek military men. The 
 Greeks are badly turned out, and the men always struck 
 me as underfed ; but the Bulgarians look very smart in 
 their white coats and caps, and are a much sturdier race 
 than the Hellenes. It cannot be doubted, as several 
 well-known Bulgarians assured me, that if the Principality 
 had joined Greece in the war against Turkey at the 
 moment Vv^hen Edhem Pasha had reached the Thessalian 
 frontier, the result would have been otherwise. For the 
 Bulgarians could have cut the Turkish line of com- 
 munication between the capital and the front at Dedea- 
 gatch on the ^gean, and Edhem's position would then 
 have been most critical. But the opportunity, owing to 
 Russian pressure on Prince Ferdinand, was lost, and now 
 Bulgaria finds too late that she has reaped as the reward 
 of her '' correct attitude " towards her suzerain little else 
 but promises— the paper currency of Turkish politics, 
 which no wise statesman will accept. 
 
 Bourgas, though an important outlet for the trade 
 of South Bulgaria, and the stopping-place of a good 
 many English steamers, is not a spot likely to detain the 
 traveller. Compared with the average Turkish town, it 
 is clean and '' European," and the prefecture, in which 
 I had an interview with the Mayor, is a new building 
 which reflects credit on the Bulgarian Government. 
 The inn, too, though by no means immaculate, boasts a 
 
 435 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 portrait of the Princess of Wales, and a tolerable restau- 
 rant, through which the swallows kept flying as I ate my 
 meals. But the surroundings are dreary, and the two 
 large lagoons near the town make a stay there at mid- 
 summer rather undesirable. So I was not long in 
 taking the slow train — a train the slowness of which 
 exceeds all human imagination — for Philippopolis, a 
 journey of two hundred miles, which involved 14 J hours 
 of railway travelling ! But even the slow train has its 
 advantages when you are desirous of studying the face 
 of a country. As you meander leisurely along you can 
 see for yourself what this district produces and what that 
 manufactures, though manufactures are scarce in Bul- 
 garia. At the roadside stations you can observe the 
 country folk in their various costumes, and after a certain 
 amount of dawdling you become the bosom friend of 
 your fellow-travellers, and talk to them about their 
 country as if you had known them all their lives. I had 
 no conception until I made this journey of the immense 
 damage that can be wrought by the floods. As we 
 traversed mile after mile of the vast Thracian plain — the 
 Eastern Roumelia of the Berlin Treaty, now completely 
 merged in the big Bulgaria of 1885 — we saw corn beaten 
 flat by the rain and rotting on the ground, vines soaking 
 in water, and maize washed clean out of the earth. To 
 the unfortunate peasant — and Bulgaria is par excellence 
 the ^^ Peasant State," the Transvaal of the Balkan Penin- 
 sula — those storms mean ruin. The only creatures that 
 benefit by the floods are the vast armies of water fowl 
 which are encamped all along the low-lying plains of 
 Thrace. As we passed by we could see the storks by 
 hundreds standing in the marshes or slowly flapping 
 their huge wings and craning their ugly necks in flight. 
 But it is at Philippopolis that these quaint creatures are to 
 be seen at their best. There, as at Strassburg, they build 
 
in the Near East 
 
 vast and roomy nests on the roofs of mosques or on 
 chimney-stacks, where they feed their young in motherly 
 fashion and pursue their other avocations absolutely 
 unharmed. For no Turk or Bulgarian v^ill ever harm a 
 stork, and the chimneys seem to have been specially 
 prepared for the reception of these birds. 
 
 Philippopolis, or Plovdiv, as the Bulgarians call it, is 
 certainly one of the most picturesque sites in Europe, 
 and well deserves the attention of the travellers who 
 hurry past it in the Orient Express. You are ambling 
 along an immense plain, when suddenly you see in front 
 of you, arising as if by magic out of the earth, seven hills 
 of granite, forming together an inverted 7, or the Greek 
 letter, F. On three of these hills, or tepe, as they are locally 
 called, are grouped the red-roofed houses of Philippopolis, 
 which thus obtained its old Roman name of Trimontium, 
 or ^' the three mountains." As you stand on the summit 
 of one of these hills you see the Balkans and the range of 
 Rhodope bounding the horizon to north and south, and 
 the city spread out before you like a map — the muddy 
 Marica surging on its turbid course, the shining cupolas 
 of the Greek and Bulgarian churches, and here and 
 there the slim and graceful minaret of a mosque, for 
 there are still a good number of Mussulmans here, 
 although many have emigrated since the union of the 
 two Bulgarias, in spite of the efforts of the Bulgarian 
 Government to induce them to stay. But here, the 
 Mussulmans prefer even the inferior administration of 
 Turkey to life under the rule of their old rayahs. Some 
 years ago in Philippopolis the accidental inroad of a 
 stray pig into a mosque caused the total disuse of the 
 building for an immense period, and in a country where 
 swine are so plentiful what may not happen to shock the 
 feelings of the devout follower of the Prophet ? But the 
 most curious feature of religious life here is the existence 
 
 437 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 of a large community of Bulgarian Catholics, who 
 inhabit a special quarter of the town, and are the descen- 
 dants of those Paulicians or Bogomiles who played such 
 a great part in the mediaeval history of the Balkan lands, 
 and have left their mark all over the Peninsula. 
 
 No one can visit Philippopolis, with its three large 
 public gardens — one the site of the Exhibition held here 
 some time ago — its clean streets, its fine museum and 
 library, and its general air of prosperity, without recog- 
 nising that it has benefited greatly since the Turkish rule 
 was ended here. It is said, indeed, by some well-informed 
 persons, that Eastern Roumelia and its capital were in 
 some material respects best off under the system of auto- 
 nomy inaugurated by the Berlin Treaty of 1878, and which 
 lasted down to the union in 1885. The South Bulgarians 
 complain that they have now to contribute more money 
 for military purposes, while in those days they had only 
 a militia to support. They say, too, that the southern 
 half of the Principality, which is the richer and more 
 fertile — for South Bulgaria is chiefly a land of plains, 
 North Bulgaria largely a land of mountains — is somewhat 
 neglected in the matter of railways. It is, for instance, a 
 grievance with the rose-growers at Kazanlik that the new 
 railway now in course of construction from Sofia to 
 Plevna and Trnovo does not pass that way. But, in 
 spite of these things, the South Bulgarians frankly confess 
 that their patriotic sentiments far outweigh mere material 
 considerations. They compare their case with that of the 
 Cretans. Crete would be pecuniarily better off as an auto- 
 nomous island than if united to Greece, but still the 
 Cretans at present prefer to be united with their own flesh 
 and blood, even though the union would add to their 
 taxes. So, also, the Bulgarians of the south are glad to 
 form one State with their brethren beyond the Balkans. 
 On both sides of the mountains there are the same 
 
 439 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 race, the same language, and the same traditions. The 
 old Bulgarian Tsars, Simeon and Peter, were Lords of 
 Philippopolis as well as Trnovo ; and when the ancient 
 Bulgarian capital fell before the Turks it was to Philippo- 
 polis that the last Tsar, Sisman ("the Fat"), came to die. It 
 may safely be asserted that Bulgaria will remain one and 
 undivided ; it is only a pity that she cannot form a closer 
 union with Servia, either by means of confederation 
 or otherwise. But that desirable consummation, in the 
 opinion of those on the spot, is still far off. In the 
 very hotel where I was stopping at Salonica, a quarrel 
 between Bulgarians and Servians led to a horrible murder ; 
 and in spite of the fact that the two languages are so much 
 alike, there is little sympathy between these two neigh- 
 bouring peoples. Not in vain did the Roman historian 
 talk of the nota inter f nitres iniinicitia. 
 
 Philippopolis can boast of quite a European society, and 
 Great Britain in particular possesses in her Vice-consul, 
 Mr. Wratislaw, a representative whose kindness and hospi- 
 tality are only equalled by his intimate knowledge of the 
 country and its people. Nor will the English visitor find 
 that his language is unknown in this distant town. A fair, 
 and often a very good, acquaintance with English is not 
 at all uncommon among educated Bulgarians, thanks 
 largely to Robert College. The one danger of the educa- 
 tional zeal which prevails here is that this country, which 
 is pre-eminently agricultural, and needs agriculturists, 
 should be flooded with young graduates, who despise 
 farming, and whose one aim is to obtain Government 
 employment. It is the custom here, as in Greece, to make 
 all, or nearly all, public offices dependent on the Ministry 
 of the day, and the result here has been that when Dr. 
 Stoiloff succeeded the late M. Stambuloff as Prime 
 Minister he made a clean sweep of his predecessor's 
 supporters. Accordingly, independent politicians suffer, 
 
 440 
 
in the Near East 
 
 while a premium is put upon time-serving. I know one 
 Bulgarian gentleman, a man of the highest English educa- 
 tion, who lost his post as a professor simply because he 
 had been a conspicuous follower of the Bulgarian Bis- 
 marck, and was too honest to trim his sails to every pass- 
 ing breeze. It will be a good thing for Bulgaria if this 
 ^^ spoils system" be discontinued, and until it ceases there 
 can be no freedom of election here, for the Government 
 of the day can always exercise immense pressure through 
 its officials, whose existence depends upon its favour, so 
 as to secure the return of its candidates. But, even so, 
 though by no means faultless, the Bulgarian Government 
 is better than the rule of Abdul Hamid. Besides, we must 
 not judge too harshly and by Western standards a young 
 nation which, after nearly five centuries of Turkish 
 tyranny, has enjoyed only twenty years of free institu- 
 tions. The wonder is, not that young Bulgaria has com- 
 mitted faults, but that she has done so much in so short 
 a time. 
 
 To travel through South Bulgaria without visiting the 
 Shipka Pass, the scene of the great struggle between 
 Russians and Turks in the war of twenty years ago, 
 would have been an unwarrantable omission, all the 
 more so as the route from Philippopolis lies by w^ay of 
 the famous Valley of Roses, whence Western Europe 
 derives so large a part of its most delicious perfume. 
 Accordingly, we made elaborate preparations for the four 
 days' driving and riding, which a visit to the Shipka 
 involves. We laid in ample supplies in the shape of 
 tinned meats, and secured the services of an excellent 
 driver, by name Georgi, who spoke Greek as well as 
 Bulgarian, and acted as a servant when not attending to 
 his horses. We started from Philippopolis at half-past five 
 in the morning in one of those light victorias drawn by 
 three horses, known in Bulgaria as a payton- — an obvious 
 
 441 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 corruption of the ordinary word phaeton. We crossed 
 the yellow Marica at a rattling pace, and were soon trav- 
 ersing the vast plain which stretches between the chain of 
 Rhodope and the advance guard of the Balkan range. 
 As we drove along we met groups of peasants clad in the 
 brown suits and black sheepskin caps of the country, and 
 driving their lumbering w^ains into town. Nothing can 
 
 BULGARIANS DANCING. 
 (From a Photo, bv Mr. Wratislaw.) 
 
 be more picturesque than the white Bulgarian oxen 
 which draw these waggons, unless it be their shaggy 
 black yoke-fellows, buffaloes all save the hump, which are 
 so common in this part of the Balkan Peninsula. The 
 Bulgarian peasant does not vouchsafe much attention to 
 the traveller; unlike the Greek he is not very inquisitive, 
 but exhibits all the stolidity of the Slav in his demeanour. 
 
 442 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Here and there we drove through the floods, which had 
 inundated the road, and in one place a broken bridge 
 compelled us to make a detour of half a mile. But the 
 road was, on the whole, infinitely better than anything 
 of the kind in Turkey, unless it be at Brusa, for the Bul- 
 garians, unlike the Turks, keep up their highways and 
 repair the holes in them at once. Occasionally a grass- 
 covered mound broke the monotony of the plain — one of 
 those strange tumuli which abound in Thrace, and still 
 perplex the antiquary. Many of them have been opened 
 in the hope of finding ancient remains ; but the search 
 has so far been in vain, and the Thracian tiunuli have 
 furnished nothing but material for the ingenious theories 
 of learned professors. At last, after passing some w^arm 
 springs, we began to climb the spurs of the mountains, 
 and arrived at one o'clock at the pretty little tow^n of 
 Kalofer, where we intended to spend the night. 
 
 Kalofer is a typical Balkan settlement, straggling along 
 the banks of a rushing mountain stream — the Tundza, 
 and embowered in trees and fields of roses. The low 
 wooden houses, covered with vines and creepers, look 
 delightfully picturesque, and their inhabitants seemed 
 happy and prosperous, in spite of the bad season and the 
 ruined crops. Yet Kalofer has known very evil days. 
 For it was in this pleasant little place that some of the 
 most cruel deeds of the Russo-Turkish war were done. 
 All Kalofer had welcomed as one man the army of 
 General Gourkho on its arrival from beyond the Balkans 
 in the July days of 1877. But the rejoicings of the 
 Bulgars, emancipated at last from their oppressors, were 
 of brief duration. Their deliverers were forced by the 
 superior numbers of the Turks to retreat, and Kalofer 
 was left to the mercy, or rather the vengeance, of its 
 former masters. The inhabitants in vain endeavoured to 
 defend their houses, but they could not hope to succeed 
 
 443 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 where the Russians had failed. The victorious Turks 
 laid the town in ashes, and put to the sword all who had 
 not escaped for refuge to the gorges of the sheltering 
 Balkans. Since then Kalofer has risen from its ashes, 
 but not a single house in the place bears upon it an 
 earlier date than 1879. 
 
 From Kalofer it was an easy drive of four hours next 
 morning through the Valley of Roses to Kazanlik, a very 
 flourishing town of ten thousand inhabitants, and the 
 seat of the rose industry, to which all the district owes its 
 prosperity. Three weeks earlier the whole valley was 
 ablaze with fields of these pink flowers, and even now, 
 after the rose harvest was over, a few stray blossoms re- 
 mained to give me some faint idea of what the scene must 
 have been. The Thracian or Damask rose, from which 
 the attar of roses is prepared, is a simple flower of a pink 
 hue, w^hich flourishes admirably in this sandy soil. Of 
 all the attar of roses produced for the European market 
 more than one-half comes from this one valley, and M. 
 Christo Christoff, the principal dealer here, who has 
 written a book on the subject, which has been translated 
 into English, assured me that, in spite of the excessive 
 wet of the season, which had made the rose bushes very 
 leafy, the crop was a fair one. Even at this time of day 
 the methods of the peasants who distil the oil of roses 
 are delightfully primitive. We saw at Kalofer and at the 
 village of Shipka some of the distillers at work with their 
 large metal retorts and their huge baskets of rose leaves. 
 I am told, however, that it is exceedingly difficult to 
 obtain attar of roses even on the spot absolutely genuine. 
 I am afraid that Bulgarian '^ rural simplicity " has learned 
 the art of doctoring the rose leaves ; but, even so, the attar 
 is sufficiently powerful for the nostrils of most persons. 
 When it is remembered that as many as 3,200 kilo- 
 grammes of rose leaves are required to yield a single 
 
 444 
 
in the Near East 
 
 kilogramme of oil, the cost of attar of roses is easily 
 explained. One of M. ChristofT's distillers showed me 
 a small jar containing about sixty ounces of essence, 
 which was worth £ioo. No wonder that he kept 
 the precious jar in a chest under lock and key and 
 wrapped in cloths ! As we drove along, the indefatigable 
 peasants, women as well as men — for the female Bul- 
 garian always works in the fields — were busy in the rose 
 gardens, attending to the stripped bushes with the utmost 
 care, and singing merrily as they worked. This seems, 
 indeed, to be the paradise of the peasant. A country 
 so naturally rich as this, with no social question to solve, 
 for there are no great fortunes here to excite the envy of 
 the poor, has indeed much to be thankful for. If only 
 Bulgaria had no politics, that curse of the small Balkan 
 States ! Of the Bulgarians else might it be said, as Virgil 
 said of the Roman husbandmen, forfunati minium, sua 
 si bona noriiit, Agricolae ! Indeed, the natives are so 
 independent that it is difficult to engage them to work 
 for wages, while it is almost impossible to obtain 
 domestic servants here. Every one wishes to be his 
 own master and work for himself. 
 
 But the outskirts of happy Kazanlik at once remind the 
 traveller of the evils of war, to which this country has 
 been so ruthlessly exposed. From the back windows of 
 M. Christoff's pretty house in the main street one can 
 see the Russian monument on the top of Shipka Pass. 
 An hour and a quarter's drive over the smiling plain 
 brought us to the village of Shipka, outside of which rise 
 ominously from the ground the three tumuli, from 
 which the deadly Turkish fire was directed against the 
 Russians, and which were carried with desperate bravery 
 by Skobeleff's troops. A monument and the remains of 
 the Turkish entrenchments still mark the spot, while 
 Kazanlik itself, although it was for six months the Turkish 
 
 445 
 
BULGARIAN PEASANTS. 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 headquarters, bears no trace now of that annec terrible. 
 But the older inhabitants will never forget that appalling 
 trial; when they were exiles in Roumania or the Balkans ; 
 and on the landing of the inn hangs the portrait of the 
 Tzar Alexander II., ^^ the protector and liberator of 
 Bulgaria." Foolish, indeed, were the Russians to allow 
 General Kaulbars' knout and their agents' intrigues to 
 estrange the affection which their ^^ little brothers " of 
 Bulgaria felt for them twenty years ago. Yet for Europe 
 the mistakes of Russia have been a gain, for the Bulga- 
 rians have exhibited a sturdy independence which the 
 temporary Russophil policy at present pursued by Prince 
 Ferdinand cannot sap. 
 
 We were received at Shipka with a native hospitality 
 which was almost overwhelming. M. Christoff had 
 telegraphed on to have horses ready for our ride up the 
 pass, and on our arrival at the village M. Doukovni- 
 koff, the principal inhabitant and a distiller of rose 
 essence, received us, and invited us to his comfortable 
 house. On the threshold, according to the pleasing 
 Bulgarian custom, he again shook our hands, and as 
 soon as we were seated in his cool parlour his wife 
 presented us with a glass of cold water, a spoonful of 
 preserve, and a cup of coffee each. M. Doukovnikoff 
 showed me with pride a large photograph of the 
 memorable Sobranje, or National Convention, which 
 met at Trnovo in July, 1887, for the election of Prince 
 Ferdinand as ruler of Bulgaria, and of which he was 
 a member. He produced, too, from a roomy cupboard, 
 which served him as a bookcase, an old file of the 
 Svoboda ("Liberty"), the late M. Stambuloff's organ, 
 and carefully sought out for me the numbers of July, 
 1895, containing the news of that statesman's death, 
 and the messages of condolence with Madame Stam- 
 buloff from abroad. These papers had evidently been 
 
 447 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 carefully studied, for each telegram was marked and 
 numbered in the margin, so that M. Doukovnikoff 
 had no difficulty in at once finding that from Windsor 
 Castle, which he read aloud with great delight, as well 
 as the latest news from the other daily papers about 
 the Jubilee and the visit of Prince Ferdinand to 
 London. Thanks to his orders, we were soon equipped 
 with horses and guides, and started up the steep path 
 to the top of the Shipka Pass. The road was very rough, 
 and how carriages manage to cross it, even with the aid of 
 bullocks, it is difficult to understand. The Pass itself is 
 above 4,400 feet above the sea-level, and commands a 
 superb view of both North and South Bulgaria. It would 
 be difficult to imagine a greater difference than that 
 between the two halves of the Principality. To the south 
 extends the vast plain, dotted here and there with the red 
 roofs of some happy village or town — Shipka and Kazanlik 
 prominent among them. On the north you have one 
 group of wooded mountains after another, till in the 
 far distance you can just discern the line of the Danube 
 as it bends north-eastwards by Rustchuk. In one 
 valley you can spy the flourishing town of Gabrovo 
 on the river Jantra, a manufacturing town famous in 
 history as the site of the first Bulgarian school in which 
 instruction was given in the vernacular instead of in 
 Greek. A range of hills conceals Trnovo, the capital 
 of the old Bulgarian Tsars, from view, but you can see 
 the spot where it stands, and the place where Plevna 
 lies concealed, and much more besides ; while over your 
 head soars a majestic eagle, fit denizen of this Balkan 
 Pass, where once the Russian eagle floated over the 
 entrenchments. A plain white monument and a little 
 burial-ground now mark the place for which Russian 
 and Turk fought six weary months, and the neigh- 
 bouring heights of Mount St. Nicholas are crowned 
 
 448 
 
in the Near East 
 
 with simple crosses in memory of the Russians and their 
 Bulgarian allies. Our guide had been one of the latter, 
 and his eyes gleamed and his voice grew eloquent as 
 he told over again the story of the Shipka Pass, 
 pointing out where the Russians and where the Turks 
 had stood. The ground is still covered with fragments 
 of Russian and Turkish shells, of which I picked up 
 two pieces, and the remains of the fortifications are 
 still visible. And then we rode slowly down to M. 
 Doukovnikoff's hospitable abode, whence, after toasting 
 " England and Bulgaria " together, we left, with many 
 a handshake, for Kazanlik. On the way back from that 
 place to Philippopolis, we had a curious example of 
 primitive surgery. M. Christoff's daughter, whose father 
 was taking her to school in Paris, fell out of her carriage 
 on a steep hill and sprained her ankle. We drove at full 
 speed with her to the nearest village, a place called Banja 
 from its hot springs, where her father ordered her injured 
 leg to be wrapped in sheepskins. Instead of consulting 
 a proper surgeon at Philippopolis, as we suggested, he 
 preferred to send for a ^^ specialist " from the small tow^n 
 of Sopot, whose '' reputation was such that people came 
 from Adrianople to consult him." Next morning the 
 '^specialist" arrived in the shape of an extraordinarily- 
 clad peasant, who wore sheepskins and looked more like 
 a shepherd than a surgeon. He carried the young lady 
 off to his cottage to be treated, and her father's faith in 
 his untutored skill was rewarded. 
 
 It is a striking change from the hot Thracian plain, in 
 which Philippopolis lies, to the snow-capped mountains 
 and cooler air of the '' Bulgarian Switzerland," as en- 
 thusiasts call the district close to the Macedonian frontier. 
 The moist rice-fields through which the train passes after 
 leaving the Eastern Roumelian capital here give place to 
 Alpine scenery, and instead of the muddy current of the 
 
 449 2G 
 
\y 
 
 Travels and Politics 
 
 Marica we have here the mountain torrents of the Isker, 
 sweeping away its bridge and carrying all before it. From 
 the little roadside station of Banja, famous some years ago 
 for its bands of brigands, but now as safe as Scotland, we 
 drove for four hours through lovely valleys and up wooded 
 hills, backed by the magnificent range of the Rilo 
 Mountains, to the flourishing little town of Samakov, the 
 headquarters of the American missionaries in Bulgaria, 
 and one day destined to be the health resort of the 
 Principality. My wife and I were the first English 
 people — so the missionaries told us — who had ever visited 
 this remote spot, and our arrival accordingly provoked a 
 considerable amount of curiosity among the inhabitants. 
 Nor is it to be wondered at that few British travellers 
 explore the interior of this interesting country under 
 existing conditions. No one who has not visited Bulgarian 
 villages can have any idea of the accommodation provided 
 for the visitor. The inns are, as a rule, mere hanSy where 
 the beds swarm with fleas — I slew forty in a single night, 
 while an American missionary killed fifty more — and other 
 animals even worse, and the sole means of washing is a 
 common basin placed on the landing. Other necessaries 
 of the toilet are altogether lacking ; carpets there are none, 
 and the traveller may think himself lucky if he can secure 
 a room to himself by paying for all the beds which it 
 contains, and so preventing the incursion of any other 
 visitor. Whenever I have slept in a Bulgarian inn, the 
 whole establishment has been brought up to gaze with 
 utter wonder and amazement at my indiarubber bath, 
 the like of which no Bulgarian had ever seen before. I 
 feel sure that if any future British tourist penetrates the 
 interior of Bulgaria without one of these baths, he will be 
 regarded by the natives as no genuine son of Albion ! As 
 for the food in Bulgarian inns, the most that can be said 
 in its favour is that it is eatable. Vegetables there are 
 
 450 
 
in the Near East 
 
 none, but the wine is everywhere excellent, and as cheap 
 as possible. In fact, charges rule very low in these primi- 
 tive regions, and the peasant innkeepers are honesty 
 itself, never trying to impose upon the ignorance of the 
 Western traveller. Thus for dinner, bed, and breakfast 
 for two people I have paid as little as seven francs, and 
 the normal price for a bed is a franc everywhere. But it 
 is always wise to carry everything you may want with you, 
 so that if the innkeeper's supplies fail, or his food be 
 impossibly nasty, you may have tinned meats or potted 
 tunny fish or sardines to fall back upon. From this it 
 will be seen that the ^^ Bulgarian Switzerland " is not 
 much like the ^^ playground of Europe" as far as hotels 
 are concerned. Here the commonest Western necessaries 
 are regarded as luxuries, and when the landlord has 
 provided you with a flea-covered bed, the sheets of which 
 are changed about once a month, and are stained with the 
 gore of the last traveller, he thinks he has done all that is 
 needful for your comfort. 
 
 Thanks, however, to the kindness of two American 
 missionaries. Dr. Clark and Dr. Kingsbury, we were 
 enabled to enjoy a few creature comforts even at Samakov. 
 It is impossible not to admire the intense zeal and self-abne- 
 gation with which the American missionaries pursue their 
 laborious task in Bulgaria and Macedonia. Here are 
 gentlemen of high education and cultivated minds passing 
 their lives in a half-civilised country, where they seldom 
 see any one with whom they can exchange ideas, and 
 w^here their efforts are sometimes quite unappreciated. 
 Badly paid, and neither seeking nor obtaining the least 
 advertisement in an age when every quack seeks to air his 
 views and pose as a genius, they live unknown and almost 
 dead to the outer world. Opinions differ as to the 
 wisdom of their propaganda in some parts of the East, but 
 there can be only one view as to their absolute and disin- 
 
 451 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 terested devotion to their work. Here, rather than among 
 the idle monks of Mount Athos, you will find the Christian 
 ideal of the negation of self actually carried out in this 
 selfish nineteenth century. At Samakov, for instance, 
 there are two schools entirely under the supervision of 
 these missionaries, one containing about fifty boys (all 
 Bulgarians, except one Serb and one Armenian, and 
 mostly hailing from Macedonia), the other numbering 
 sixty female pupils, presided over by Miss Maltby, a very 
 practical American lady. Nearly all are boarders, and 
 some who come from a distance even remain during the 
 holidays. The full curriculum lasts for seven years, 
 between the ages of thirteen and twenty, but few pupils 
 can afford to stay out the full course. I was especially 
 glad to notice that Dr. Kingsbury, who is a very practical 
 man, with a knowledge of many and divers handicrafts 
 and sciences, lays stress on technical education, which is 
 far more needful in a country like Bulgaria than a high 
 degree of literary culture ; for all thoughtful people whom 
 I met during my stay in that country agreed in pointing 
 out the danger of over-education for Bulgaria. A ^^ peasant 
 state" such as this, which has no manufactures worth 
 speaking of and must always be mainly agricultural, does 
 not want and cannot provide employment for a great 
 number of graduates. In the early days after the 
 liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish rule there was, it is 
 true, a great demand for young men of superior education 
 to fill the various places under the new government. But 
 twenty years have elapsed since then, and now the supply 
 is greater than the demand. The result will be the same 
 in Bulgaria as in Greece — the growth of a class of pro- 
 fessional politicians from among the briefless lawyers, 
 hungry doctors, and discontented teachers produced by 
 the Bulgarian schools. Dr. Kingsbury, at any rate, desires 
 that his pupils should be able to work with their hands as 
 
 452 
 
in the Near East 
 
 well as their heads. He has established, largely out of his 
 own pocket, a printing press which prints a school paper 
 in Bulgarian and various hymn books and other devotional 
 works, and is also the presiding genius of the carpenter's 
 shop. Many of the chairs used in the school were made 
 there, and he tells me the best pupils are always the best 
 printers. One lad who had recently left the school, at 
 once obtained a post as a printer on the staff of a paper at 
 Worcester, U.S.A., where he has since been most success- 
 ful. This is all the more creditable when it is remembered 
 that the boys are accustomed to compose articles not in 
 English type, but in the Cyrillic letters of the Bulgarian 
 alphabet. It seems to me, however, that the American 
 schools at Samakov would be more serviceable to their 
 pupils if English were made compulsory, as it is at Robert 
 College. I noticed that few of the pupils, even those 
 who had been there some time, spoke English at all 
 well, the reason being that instruction is given, as a 
 rule, in Bulgarian. Two other defects deserve attention. 
 First and foremost, the pupils are not sufficiently alive 
 to the fact that ^^ manners makyth man." Now your 
 Bulgarian in the raw state, although he possesses many 
 solid virtues, is not one of nature's noblemen, like the 
 Montenegrin, who is the gentleman par excellence of the 
 Near East. But one has only to observe the fine martial 
 bearing and admirable manners of the Bulgarian officers 
 to see that out of this very raw material excellent and 
 highly polished stuff can be made. Now the collarless, 
 perspiring, and unshorn students of Samakov are ex- 
 cellent young fellows, if they were only more careful of 
 externals. As it is, they contrast very unfavourably 
 with the officers who spring from the same peasant 
 stock as themselves. At times, too, these uncouth pro- 
 ducts of Western education are apt to be priggish. It 
 is rather appalling to be told by a Bulgarian lad that he 
 
 453 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 wishes to learn English '^ in order to read the many 
 moral and improving works which abound in your 
 language." One has an uneasy suspicion that this 
 sort of young man may later on develop into the style 
 of person who combines high moral sentiments with 
 very worldly practices. Of such personages — prize pupils 
 of ^^ European " schools in their time — there are several 
 examples in Bulgarian public life. A second defect in the 
 American schools at Samakov is the omission to keep an 
 eye on the later career of the pupils after they have com- 
 pleted their education. Only in this way can the real and 
 practical efficiency of the system be tested. At Robert 
 College such a register of old pupils is scrupulously 
 preserved. The same should be done at Samakov. 
 
 But the greatest difBculty against which civilisation has 
 to contend in this newly emancipated Principality is the 
 extreme conservatism of the Bulgarian people^ and its 
 fantastic notions of its own dignity. Take, for instance, 
 the question of domestic servants, which is far more acute 
 in Bulgaria than even in London. In fact, not only does 
 it render housekeeping most expensive, but it practically 
 cripples all social life. For no Bulgarian will ever enter 
 domestic service unless absolutely driven to it by extreme 
 poverty. Widows are as a rule the only servants avail- 
 able, and they will only become cooks or housemaids on 
 condition that all their family is taken with them. Thus, 
 an English lady of my acquaintance, who is married to a 
 Bulgarian at Philippopolis, has to keep six servants to do 
 the work of two. Moreover, the servants consider them- 
 selves on an absolute equality with their employers, and 
 insist on being introduced to, and shaking hands with, the 
 visitors. Should the latter be ^' Europeans," they will pro- 
 bably be introduced in the contemptuous phrase that '^ a 
 man has called." Servants leave on the least rebuke from 
 their mistresses, and the only way to keep them is to let 
 
 454 
 
in the Near East 
 
 their wages fall into arrears. Even nurses — and in Bulgaria 
 no self-respecting mother nourishes her own child — will 
 leave their young charges in a huff. So strong is the sen- 
 timent against doing anything in the nature of menial 
 work, that I know of a case where a girl refused to fetch 
 medicine from the chemist for her own mother. But the 
 same girl would work in a stranger's garden or do needle- 
 work, because these occupations are considered honour- 
 able for Bulgarian women, who will tear one another's 
 hair out for the sake of earning a piastre by their needles. 
 But no sum will tempt these people to do what they con- 
 sider beneath their dignity. Not even a heavy tip would 
 induce a loafer at the Banja station to carry my luggage. 
 He was in rags, but he would not earn sixpence as a 
 porter because that was not his business. The cleverest 
 Bulgarian novelist of the day, Mr. Ivan Vasoff — whose 
 best work, '^ Under the Yoke," has been translated into 
 English — has made this subject the theme of one of his 
 amusing sketches of life in the Bulgarian capital. In fact, 
 if it were not for the Macedonian girls whom they import 
 for the purpose, the Bulgarian ladies would often be abso- 
 lutely without servants. Yet these young Macedonians 
 go home and get married as soon as they have made a 
 little money ; for a girl who is not married at twenty is in 
 this part of the world accounted a disgrace indeed to her 
 family. 
 
 I had intended to avail myself of my stay at Samakov 
 to visit the famous Monastery of Rilo, one of the finest 
 historic buildings in the whole Balkan Peninsula, which 
 lies up in the mountains not far from the Macedonian 
 frontier. It was there that the holy hermit, John of Rilo, 
 sought and found quiet and repose a thousand years ago, 
 and beneath the cave which served him as a dwelling- 
 place, and afterwards as a tomb, his pious disciples reared 
 the fabric of a monastery, which was endowed by the old 
 
 455 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 Bulgarian Tsars, and respected even by the Sultans, and 
 which served during the long period of Turkish rule as 
 the centre of all national and religious life. Unhappily, a 
 great fire in the early part of the present century almost 
 entirely destroyed this great monument, which has sur- 
 vived so many political changes, and the building which 
 now occupies its place is comparatively modern. But 
 Rilo is still for the Bulgarians the most interesting 
 memorial of their stormy past. Thither Prince Ferdinand 
 sometimes retires from the summer heat of Sofia, and 
 thence he is wont to show to his guests that '' promised 
 land " of Macedonia over which it is the ambition of 
 Bulgarian patriots to rule. It was on one of these occa- 
 sions that an excited journalist toasted his princely host 
 as ^^ the heir of Constantine." But the terrific floods, un- 
 equalled for violence during the last hundred years, made 
 it impossible for me to reach the Monastery. The cour- 
 teous nacahiik, or sub-prefect, informed me that the 
 bridle-path over the mountains was impracticable, and 
 that a large part of the carriage road, together with a 
 bridge, had been destroyed. So I was forced to content 
 myself with a sight of the historic mound called after 
 Ivan the Fat, that hapless Bulgarian Tsar whose head was 
 cut off on this spot by the victorious Turks, and bounded 
 seven times on the slope as it fell, and wherever it bounded, 
 so runs the legend, a spring of water burst forth from the 
 ground. Then I took my way down to the railway, and 
 soon found myself in the excellent '^ European " hotel of 
 the Bulgarian capital. 
 
 Sofia, has, indeed, very few traces of its Turkish past 
 nowadays. Although only twenty years have elapsed since 
 the "collective wisdom" of Europe created free and auto- 
 nomous Bulgaria, and Sofia became the capital of the new 
 state, the town has completely shaken off the slough of its 
 previous existence. Few cities, even in the hurtling West 
 
 456 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of America, have grown with the rapidity of the Bulgarian 
 metropoHs. In 1878, the year in which Bulgaria was 
 finally emancipated, Sofia was a squalid Turkish town of 
 11,000 inhabitants; to-day it possesses fine streets, and 
 ^'European" buildings, a delightfully cool public garden, 
 a large palace, and a population of nearly 60,000 souls. 
 The Sofiotes believe that before long they will number 
 100,000, and thus pass Belgrade, as they have already 
 passed Philippopolis. True, in the matter of shops, 
 Philippopohs is still much superior to the capital. The 
 wares on show in the streets of Sofia are very poor, and 
 mostly of Austrian manufacture, it being cheaper to 
 import goods from beyond the Danube than to make them 
 at home. But in 'all other externals of civilisation Sofia 
 has gone ahead. Its geographical position and the con- 
 struction of the railroad from Belgrade to Constantinople 
 have both greatly assisted its progress. People have often 
 thought it strange that, when Bulgaria was emancipated, 
 Sofia, and not Trnovo or Rustchuk, should have been 
 selected as its capital. Trnovo had been the capital in the 
 time of the old Bulgarian Tsars, and is far more central, 
 while Rustchuk lay on the Danube, and had been the 
 capital of the Turkish vilayet which took its name from 
 that river. On the other hand, Sofia was in a corner of 
 the Principality, and near the Macedonian frontier. But 
 it has been pointed out to me that this very proximity to 
 Macedonia has been of great advantage to the capital. 
 For of the present population of Sofia, fully 20,000, or 
 about one-third, are Bulgarians who have fled since the 
 creation of the Principality from the Turkish misrule in 
 Macedonia, to live among their own kith and kin in peace. 
 And whenever the long-wanted line from Sofia into 
 Macedonia, already constructed as far as Radomir, is com- 
 pleted, the influence which the Bulgarian capital exercises 
 over the Bulgarians of Macedonia will be still greater. 
 
 458 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Both MM. Grekoff and Nacevic, the two most experienced 
 Hving Bulgarian statesmen, laid stress, in conversation with 
 me, on the need of this line, and the present Government 
 shares their view. But the decision rests not with Bulgaria 
 but with Turkey, which declined to do anything until the 
 line between Constantinople and Salonica, which was so 
 useful in the late war, had been made. Even after that 
 line was completed, the Sultan still delayed to make the 
 other, even though the Bulgarian Government went so far 
 as to offer the use of it to the Turks for military purposes 
 in certain contingencies. According to the Bulgarian 
 agent in Constantinople, the Turkish Government has 
 now conceded this point, and a line will be made to 
 Kumanova, a station on the railway from Servia to 
 Salonica. A new route will thus be opened to that 
 great port. Meanwhile, the Principality is putting forth 
 its energies in other directions. A line is being con- 
 structed which will unite Sofia with Plevna, Trnovo, and 
 Sumla, and is expected to be completed this autumn. 
 Another has been decided upon from Trnovo to Rustchuk, 
 so that thus North Bulgaria will at last have some out- 
 let for its trade by rail. Other schemes are projected, but 
 it is a pity that the Bulgarian system of accepting tenders 
 is so bad. After these have been sent in, there is always 
 a second allotment, which enables native financiers, who 
 '^ know the ropes " but know nothing about engineering, 
 to underbid all competitors. The result is bad work, as 
 the line cannot be properly made for the money. The 
 new line to Trnovo is a case in point. It had been so badly 
 constructed that the floods of last year washed nearly all 
 of it away. If Bulgaria wants good, and in the end cheap, 
 railways, she must be prepared to pay for them. It is 
 unfortunate, too, that the mutual jealousies of the various 
 towns impede the extension of railways. Thus the Danube 
 town of Svistov protested against the expenditure of money 
 
 459 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 on the line from Rustchuk (its rival) to Trnovo, and de- 
 manded the application of the funds to the erection of 
 quays on the river. 
 
 But perhaps the most striking Western innovation in 
 Sofia since the Turkish times is the fine Palace of the 
 Sobranjc, or Parliament, erected at a cost of ;^8o,ooo, 
 which is easily the most imposing edifice of the kind in 
 the Balkan Peninsula. Compared with the mean little 
 building in which the Servian Skupstina meets, or even 
 with the more imposing BoiiU at Athens, the Bulgarian 
 House of Parliament looks very well indeed, although its 
 acoustic properties are not very good. The accommoda- 
 tion for members is excellent, the seats being arranged 
 in a half-circle, and there being a place for every deputy. 
 The library is very strong in Parliamentary and legal 
 works, the galleries are capacious, and there are small, 
 well-appointed rooms for the Premier, the Ministers, and 
 the Speaker. I noticed in the latter's room a picture of 
 the little Prince Boris, whose hand Ministers are expected 
 to kiss whenever they meet him. This ridiculous practice 
 has caused much dissatisfaction, and the officers of the 
 army have intimated to Prince Ferdinand that they object 
 strongly to this act of courtly humiliation. Their re- 
 monstrance has had the desired effect, but the whole 
 system of the child's education is most unwise. Bul- 
 garians of all opinions are agreed in their criticisms of 
 the absurd state with which Prince Ferdinand, a great 
 stickler for etiquette, has surrounded his heir. When 
 the tiny Prince drives out he is escorted by a detachment 
 of officers and soldiers, and accompanied by a high 
 ecclesiastical dignity. This seems all the more ridiculous 
 when one sees a really important sovereign like the 
 Emperor of Austria driving through the streets of 
 Vienna with a single attendant. The result in Bulgaria 
 will be that Prince Boris will grow up to be a tyrant and 
 
 460 
 
in the Near East 
 
 a despot, and the fault will lie with those who have so 
 misdirected his early training, and primarily with his 
 father. 
 
 The British Foreign Office and few other persons at 
 home have any idea of the unpopularity of Prince Ferdi- 
 nand in Bulgaria. During the lifetime of Stambuloff 
 the Prince played a subordinate part, and thus escaped 
 
 " THE TINY PRINCE DRIVES OUT," 
 {Frotn a Photo, by Mr. Wraiislaw.) 
 
 hostile criticism, which centred in the person of his all- 
 powerful Premier. But since the murder of "the Bul- 
 garian Bismarck" the Prince has been practically his 
 own Premier ; for M. Stoiloff, who acts as such, openly 
 avows that he is merely the Prince's man, without any 
 initiative of his own. Accordingly, for every unpopular 
 act of the Government, the Prince, and not the Premier, 
 who is merely wax in his hands, is freely blamed. During 
 
 461 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 my stay in the country I heard the Prince praised by no 
 one except the editor of the Mir (^^ La Paix"), the Govern- 
 ment organ, who naturally does his best for his client. 
 Elsewhere the Prince is universally censured. The main 
 objections to him are two-fold — first, his Russophil 
 policy ; and, secondly, his love of show and etiquette. 
 As for the former, the Bulgarians, I am convinced, have 
 not forgotten — and will not soon forget — the knout of 
 Kaulbars and the other amenities of the Russian era. 
 On the other hand, they cannot be justly accused of 
 ingratitude, for they revere the memory of ^^the Tsar 
 Liberator," Alexander II., whose portrait still adorns 
 many a village inn, and whose tragic end is commemo- 
 rated by two mementoes in the Parliament House. But 
 they are a very independent people, and wish to be allowed 
 to live their lives in their own way. ^^The Russians 
 treated us like children," a young Bulgarian diplomatist 
 once said to me. The Prince, however, wanted to be 
 '^recognised" by Russia at any cost, and accordingly 
 sacrificed first his great Minister, and secondly the 
 religion of his son and heir, in order to pacify Russia. 
 Bulgaria has gained nothing by these sacrifices. Russia 
 has of late dictated her foreign policy, and she has 
 obtained practically naught except promises from Turkey 
 by her threatening attitude during the late war and at 
 the close of last year, when there was at one moment 
 danger of war. The present policy of the Prince is to 
 advocate the formation of two autonomous provinces of 
 Macedonia and Albania under the rule of the Sultan, 
 and an entente with Turkey. But Prince Ferdinand's 
 one aim in all that he does is to increase his own personal 
 and social position. It is generally believed that he desires 
 the title of King, so that he may be on social equality 
 with the rulers of Servia and Roumania and may be 
 allowed to dispense with the odious necessity of wearing 
 
 462 
 
in the Near East 
 
 a fez when he visits his sovereign at Yildiz Kiosk. It is 
 believed in diplomatic circles that the Prince would 
 mobilise his army immediately after declaring himself 
 King ; this, however, would be merely to keep up 
 appearances, for the Sultan would only attack him 
 in the event of a Bulgarian march into Macedonia. It is 
 quite conceivable that the Prince, of whom his relative 
 the Comtesse de Paris once said that he cared for nothing 
 except titles and orders, would be willing to sacrifice 
 material advantages to the empty dignity of a royal crown. 
 But he will do nothing, in this direction, without the 
 consent of Russia. 
 
 Meanwhile the domestic policy of the Prince has been 
 equally unpopular. The Bulgarians prize economy 
 above all other virtues, yet every municipality which 
 the Prince has visited has been obliged to run into debt, 
 owing to the cost of receiving him in what he considers 
 befitting pomp, and his marriage alone cost ;£i 20,000. 
 These peasant-farmers ask — not without reason — why he 
 should keep up such unnecessary state, and compare his 
 stiff manners with the free and easy style of the late 
 Prince Alexander. I have been assured by those likely 
 to know that nothing but the remembrance of the chaos 
 which followed the kidnapping of Alexander and the 
 dread of Russian interference prevents the deposition of 
 Alexander's successor. Certainly the methods of his 
 government are in no way superior to those of Stambuloff, 
 while the latter, with all his faults, was a great statesman. 
 Nothing can excuse such acts of violence as have recently 
 occurred in Bulgaria, with the cognisance, it is said, of 
 the authorities. When last year a harmless lawyer, who 
 lived in the same house as the British Vice-Consul 
 at Sofia, and had been defending a member of the 
 Opposition in the ordinary course of his profession, was 
 shot by mistake for his client as he was riding with the 
 
 4^3 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 latter to Tatar Bazardzik, a Ministerial journal remarked 
 that it felt sorry for the victim, but that really he should 
 not have been in such bad company. Even more 
 striking was the fact that the murdered man's relatives 
 took his murder quite as a matter of course. The 
 cudgelling of a Bourgas editor, who had commented 
 severely on the Prince, is another instance of these 
 distinctly Oriental methods. Those who live near the 
 prison at Philippopolis tell horrible tales of the groans 
 
 BRIDGE OVER THE MARICA, SCENE OF THE PHILIPPOPOLIS MURDER. 
 
 (From a Plioio. by Mr. Wratislaw.) 
 
 and shrieks which come* from within the walls at night. 
 And, worst of all, the disclosures made in the murder trial 
 at that city last year — disclosures which would never have 
 been made but for the fact that the Austrian Consul 
 insisted on an inquiry — have shown that Bulgaria, under 
 a Western ruler, has not become emancipated from 
 Eastern methods of politics. Yet, in private life, the 
 average Bulgarian is an excellent fellow — honest, hard- 
 working, and hospitable. It is in the political arena that 
 he still displays beneath the thin veneer of twenty years' 
 
 464 
 
in the Near East 
 
 civilisation the effect of five centuries of Turkish rule. 
 To "remove" a political opponent is accordingly still 
 regarded as an ordinary and recognised party weapon, 
 and the license of language in the party press exceeds all 
 decent bounds. The extent to which party feeling is 
 carried may be proved by the fact that the hall-porter 
 of my hotel solemnly rebuked me for desiring to see M. 
 Petkoff, the editor of the Svoboda, the leading Opposition 
 paper, which, as he said, " it is better not to read." And 
 when I suggested that that gentleman should visit me, I 
 was told by one of his staff that it was not advisable for 
 him to go to the hotel. It will be seen from this that the 
 Bulgarians takes their politics very seriously. 
 
 When Bulgaria suddenly sprang into existence as an 
 autonomous Principality, none of her sons could boast 
 of any experience in the government of a free country. 
 During five centuries of Turkish rule all public life was 
 stagnant, and the change was accordingly tremendous 
 when the newly enfranchised country was provided with 
 a Constitution by a stroke of the pen. Critics of 
 Bulgarian men and manners should remember this utter 
 lack of traditions and experience when they point out 
 the mistakes of Bulgarian statesmen and expose to view 
 with scathing comments the shortcomings of Bulgarian 
 administration. The fact is that, though Bulgaria is no 
 Utopia, and her public men are far from being saints, the 
 country has done as well as might have been expected 
 from its past. Compared with Greece and Servia, the 
 Principality has certainly accomplished wonders. For 
 the Bulgarians are a stolid, plodding, unimaginative race, 
 less excited by great ideas of territorial expansion than 
 the more volatile Greeks and Serbs. The Bulgarian 
 is a peasant at heart, and the peasant class is in all 
 countries, where it has land of its own, the most con- 
 servative and the least inflammable. 
 
 465 2H 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Since the downfall of Stambuloff in May, 1894, Dr. 
 Constantine Stoiloff has been Prime Minister. Dr. 
 Stoiloff is the prize boy of Robert College, where he 
 graduated in the class of 1871, so that he is still, as 
 Premiers are reckoned in other countries, a young man. 
 But Bulgarian statesmen are generally young, and Dr. 
 Stoiloff has seen a great deal of public life in his time. 
 A lawyer by profession, he has been a judge and a 
 Minister of Justice, and was personally concerned in the 
 election of both Princes of Bulgaria — for he was a 
 member of the deputation which presented the crown 
 to Prince Alexander, and was one of the three travelling 
 Commissioners who discovered Prince Ferdinand. 
 Alexander made him his Private Secretary, a post for 
 which he was qualified by his further studies at Heidel- 
 berg and Leipzig, after he had left Robert College, 
 and he served as an officer under that Prince in the 
 Servian War. Ten years ago he held the Premiership 
 for a brief interval, and when Stambuloff entered upon 
 his long career as practical ruler of Bulgaria he included 
 Stoiloff among his colleagues. But as time went on, 
 the disciple became dissatisfied with his master, and 
 when Stambuloff fell, stepped comfortably into his shoes. 
 Since then he has retained his place by subservience in 
 all things to the will of the Prince. No one regards him 
 as a great statesman, but he is a pliant clerk, who knows 
 the best way to carry out his master's orders. Foreign 
 diplomatists who have to deal with him complain that 
 he is shifty and untrustworthy. His behaviour in the 
 Philippopolis murder case of last year involved him in a 
 very undignified quarrel with the Austrian Government, 
 and his methods of " managing " the elections are 
 certainly not one whit more constitutional than those 
 of his predecessor. In Bulgaria the freedom of election 
 is a transparent farce : voting urns are stuffed by the 
 
 466 
 
in the Near East 
 
 presiding officials, and the Government can always 
 ensure by fraud or violence the election of its nominees. 
 The one person who can get rid of a Premier is the 
 Prince, and in spite of many rumours Prince Ferdinand 
 has shown no disposition to dismiss so useful a minister. 
 But latterly Dr. Stoiloff's health has been so bad that it 
 seems doubtful whether he will be able to continue 
 much longer his official duties. 
 
 M. Grekoff strikes me far more favourably than 
 any other public man whom I have met in Bulgaria. 
 Educated in Paris, whence he returned to his own 
 country in 1868, he has all the manners of a very 
 accomplished and polite Western statesman. M. Grekoff 
 approaches the discussion of public affairs in a Western 
 spirit, and enjoys a reputation for straightforwardness 
 not always associated with the Oriental mind. He has 
 had large experience, particularly of foreign affairs, which 
 should prove very useful during the present unsettled 
 condition of affairs in the Near East. He, too, w^as one 
 of the three Commissioners who set out in 1887 in search 
 of a Prince, and was selected, on account of his tact, 
 to bear the unfortunately futile letter to King Milan of 
 Servia by which Prince Alexander tried to stave off the 
 fratricidal war of 1885. As Foreign Minister during the 
 latter years of the Stambuloff Cabinet he w^on golden 
 opinions, and he honourably distinguished himself by 
 refusing to accept the Premiership on the fall of his 
 chief. And when the fallen dictator was being persecuted 
 by the Government, M. Grekoff had the courage to go to 
 the palace and tell the Prince that the action of the 
 Ministry was illegal. Of late times, M. Grekoff, who is 
 a well-to-do man and the nephew of a rich citizen 
 engaged in business, has found that politics, as conducted 
 in Bulgaria, interfere with his own comfort and his 
 uncle's trade. So he has quietly stood aside, and devoted 
 
 467 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 himself to his own affairs. But the general opinion is 
 that he will be forced, however unwillingly, to take up 
 the burden of ofBce again whenever the Stoiloff Ministry 
 falls. As he is thus the coming man, his views are of 
 special interest. As might be expected, he is no fanatic, 
 and has no race bias, even against the old oppressors of 
 his country, whose rule he is old enough to remember. 
 '^ The Turks," he told me, ^^ I mean the people, are very 
 honest ; in money matters you can always trust their 
 word without any further security, but the Turkish 
 Government is most vile and incompetent." This dis- 
 tinction between the governing Turks and the people 
 is common throughout the East, and may be accepted as 
 the mature verdict of all unbiassed persons. M. Grekoff 
 was not in favour of armed intervention by Bulgaria on 
 behalf of Greece, which he considers would have caused 
 a blaze all over the Balkan Peninsula. But he is very 
 keen about railway extension in the direction of Mace- 
 donia, and points with pride to the great material 
 progress effected at Sofia since he returned there from 
 Paris thirty years ago. 
 
 Next to these two men the most generally known 
 Bulgarian statesman is M. Nacevic, with whom I had a 
 lengthy interview. M. Nacevic is, in point of experience 
 and statecraft, ahead of all living Bulgarians, but he is 
 not trusted, and has been accused by the Svoboda, the 
 leading Opposition newspaper, of conniving at the 
 murder of Stambuloff. It is at any rate certain that one 
 of the Macedonians implicated in the murder used to 
 frequent his house. Since then M. Nacevic, whose last 
 tenure of office was signalised by a violent quarrel with 
 the Times correspondent on the subject of the alleged atroci- 
 ties on Mussulmans at Dospat, has fallen from power, 
 and has now, as he informed me, ^^ no relations with the 
 Palace." An oldish man, whose beard is well streaked 
 
 468 
 
in the Near East 
 
 with grey, M. Nacevic has played many parts in his time, 
 and may play more before he has done with politics. In 
 his youth he was a violent revolutionary, and, like many 
 such, has now developed into a ^' moderate" man or a Con- 
 servative, who laments to you that " it is a great misfortune 
 for a country to have a Radical policy dictated from the 
 streets." Thanks to his former position as Bulgarian 
 representative at Vienna, he has acquired considerable 
 knowledge of Western politics, and has a large command 
 of its phrases. ^^ Moderation " and similar sentiments 
 flow from his tongue in fluent German, but his actions 
 have not always been in consonance with this language. 
 Like M. Grekoff, he disapproved the idea of a Bulgarian 
 alliance with Greece against Turkey in the late war, 
 which, in his opinion, would only have benefited Austria 
 and Russia. Like many other Bulgarians, he has no love 
 for the Greeks, whom he regards as the foes of his 
 country. He thinks it would be a fatal mistake for 
 Austria to go down to Salonica, even in her own interest ; 
 but he does not counsel a forward policy on the part of 
 Bulgaria in the Macedonian question. He admits that 
 the position of the Bulgarian Government is difficult, 
 owing to the presence of so many Macedonians in the 
 Principality, and the large number of Macedonian officers 
 in the army. In that respect the situation is analogous 
 to that of the Greek Ministries, which cannot remain deaf 
 to the appeals of so many Cretans resident in Athens. 
 But he maintains that what is wanted for the present is 
 that Turkey should carry out the reforms in Macedonia 
 which were promised to that country equally with Crete 
 by the 23rd article of the Berlin Treaty. Like every one 
 else, he points out the utter rottenness of Ottoman rule 
 in that part of the world ; though it is rather comical to 
 see M. Nacevic, of all people, holding up his hands in 
 pious horror over the atrocities perpetrated in Macedonia. 
 
 469 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 Quis tulerit Gracchos, de seditione querentes f He thinks the 
 Sultan should govern with the aid of the ^^ Young Turks/' 
 who — and here the ex-revolutionary draws upon his own 
 experiences — would be ^^ less extreme in power than in 
 opposition." The Sultan, he says, does not trust Prince 
 Ferdinand, because the latter is so devoted to Russia, and 
 thus the relations between the Prince and his suzerain are 
 not so good as in the days of Stanibuloff. M. Nacevic 
 here hits upon the great and real service which he has 
 rendered to Bulgaria, for whatever his faults in all other 
 respects, he has consistently opposed Russian influence. 
 The Prince, on the other hand, is a Russophil, ^'because 
 he does not know Bulgarian history, or perhaps even 
 modern history." But though M. Nacevic is no friend to 
 an active crusade in Macedonia, he supports the policy of 
 sending Bulgarian bishops there, not for any love of 
 these ecclesiastics, who are sometimes persecuted by the 
 Bulgarians at home, but because in the present state of 
 affairs they are the sole protectors of the Bulgarians in 
 Macedonia. But M. Nacevic is hopeful of an improve- 
 ment in the condition of Turkey in the long run, for, he 
 says, with an allusion to the struggle between China and 
 Japan, '' Western civilisation must advance in the East." 
 
 In one respect Bulgaria has set an excellent example 
 to many more advanced nations — in her treatment of the 
 Mussulmans who remained in the country after the 
 emancipation. The Government has done all it can, by 
 educational endowments and other means, to make them 
 contented with the new order of things. There are in 
 Bulgaria not only pure Turks, but also Bulgarian Mussul- 
 mans who embraced the creed of the conquerors at the 
 Turkish conquest, and to this day speak the purest 
 Bulgarian, because they were least molested by the 
 Osmanli authorities. These Pomaks, as they are called, 
 resemble the Mussulman Serbs of Bosnia and the 
 
 470 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Mohammedan Greeks of Crete. They are, however, 
 diminishing in numbers, though still found at Vraca, 
 Lovca, and elsewhere, because the Turks induce them to 
 emigrate for fear of their re-conversion to Christianity. 
 Many have gone to Brusa, and are endeavouring to 
 transplant to Asia Minor the rose industry, which 
 flourishes at Kazanlik. The hard fact remains that the 
 Mussulman prefers to live under a bad Mohammedan 
 government than under a civilised Christian rule. So 
 Bulgaria is losing, as Montenegro has lost, many of her 
 most useful inhabitants, from no fault whatever of her 
 own. As a Thessalian Mussulman once said : ^' I have 
 left Thessaly, not because the Greek Government was 
 unfair to me, but because I could not marry my 
 daughters there." 
 
 To sum up, the great evil here, as in Greece, is 
 politics. Everything is apt to be made a subject of 
 political intrigue. Thus even the Museum at Sofia has 
 been crippled because one Ministry voted a large sum for 
 fitting up one building to receive the collection of 
 antiquities, and another, for party reasons, voted funds 
 for adopting another, and far less suitable, place for the 
 purpose. Thus, the Museum is split into two parts, 
 and money which might have been expended on it has 
 been wasted. That is only one example of what harm 
 politics do in these young Oriental countries. What 
 Bulgaria wants is firm government, equal-handed justice, 
 and a Prince who will be frankly democratic in his man- 
 ners and economical in his expenditure. 
 
 The Bulgarian capital is only thirty miles from the 
 Servian frontier, so that in ordinary times the journey is 
 soon over. But the terrific floods had still left their mark 
 upon the line in the shape of a dislocated bridge and a 
 damaged tunnel, so that all express trains were suspended 
 and the rate of progression did not exceed fifteen miles 
 
 471 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 an hour. So we had ample leisure to study in the tropical 
 sun the picturesque villages of Slivnica and Tsaribrod 
 and the Dragoman Pass, all famous points in the Serbo- 
 Bulgarian War of 1885, when the Servian army was 
 defeated and driven back when it was within 17 J miles 
 of the Bulgarian capital. As we passed, Slivnica looked 
 the very picture of peace, as its red roofs peered out of 
 the trees, while the women, in their picturesque blue 
 aprons, were making the hay, the perfume of which filled 
 the air. Bulgarian officials tell me that Servia has never 
 forgotten Slivnica, and is anxious to avenge it whenever a 
 favourable opportunity arises. It is indeed a great mis- 
 fortune that these two nations should fritter away their 
 energies in trying to undermine one another instead of 
 uniting against their common foe — the Turk ; their mutual 
 jealousies led to his conquests in the Balkan Peninsula, 
 and the same reason prevents their success in Macedonia. 
 It is for this reason, too, that one is reluctantly forced to 
 the conclusion that the Balkan Confederation, of which 
 the late M. Tricoupis and the ex-regent of Servia, M. Ristic, 
 were the most prominent advocates, is impossible. Even 
 the less ambitious project of a triple alliance between the 
 three Slav states of the Peninsula seems impracticable. 
 Yet the Serbs and the Bulgars ought to pull together. A 
 Servian soldier suddenly placed in Bulgaria w^ould be 
 able to understand the language tolerably well in spite of 
 the differences between the two tongues. The Servian 
 gymnastic society, called after the famous Tsar Dusan, 
 sends envoys, one of whom I met wearing the Servian 
 Bulgarian, and Russian colours, to enlist Bulgarian mem- 
 bers. Occasionally, too, large excursions are organised 
 from one capital to the other, and orators toast, after an 
 excellent meal, the blessings of fraternity. The editor of 
 the Miry who has spent a considerable time in Belgrade, 
 has done something to promote the friendship of these 
 
 472 
 
in the Near East 
 
 rivals^ and when M. Simic was Servian Prime Minister, he 
 was understood to desire better relations with Bulgaria. 
 " It is tinfortunate that Servia/' as a Servian editor once 
 remarked to me, "should cherish dreams of territorial 
 expansion instead of paying attention to her own affairs." 
 But she cannot forget her past greatness, the memory of 
 which is perhaps the greatest obstacle to her present 
 welfare. 
 
 The political condition of Servia is indeed by no means 
 satisfactory ; here, as in Greece, party has been the bane 
 of the common weal. Representative government, too, 
 has been reduced to a farce ; for at the elections of this 
 year hardly a single Opposition candidate was allowed 
 to be returned. Ex- King Milan is a man whom no 
 one can respect, and his return to his country and 
 appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the army have 
 caused grave apprehensions. Ex-Queen Natalie is 
 generally recognised as a political intriguer, though she 
 undoubtedly does good by her patronage of charitable 
 institutions whenever she is in Belgrade. As for the 
 young King, opinions differ considerably ; some regard 
 him, since his coups d'etat and his suspension of the 
 Constitution in favour of that which had previously 
 existed, as a man of blood and iron. His silly intrigue 
 with a second-rate Hungarian music-hall singer showed, 
 at least, that he was not only human, but incautious. 
 It is also said that his father has in his pocket a 
 certificate from a Vienna doctor to the effect that the 
 young King is incapable of ruling, so that the artful 
 Milan can depose his son and return to the throne 
 whenever he chooses. No one can help feeling sorry 
 for a young sovereign who, as he pathetically remarked 
 on a visit to Montenegro, has never known the pleasures 
 of home life. His various efforts at obtaining a consort 
 have so far been unsuccessful, although his father, in a 
 
 473 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 recently published letter, has declared his willingness 
 to accept the daughter of an American millionaire as 
 future Queen of Servia. More than once conspiracies 
 have threatened King Alexander's existence, and some 
 have prophesied of him, as of Prince Ferdinand, that 
 he will share the normal fate of Balkan rulers, who 
 rarely end their days in the peaceful possession of their 
 thrones. Thus the last Prince of Roumania and the 
 last Prince of Bulgaria were forced to abdicate ; the last 
 Prince of Montenegro was murdered, as was also Prince 
 Michael of Servia ; while the last King of Greece and the 
 last King of Servia were both obliged to retire. 
 
 One thing most Servians assert, that the relations 
 between them and Austria-Hungary can never be good. 
 Quite apart from the Bosnian question there is that of the 
 pig. Servians principal product is swine, as one soon sees 
 for oneself ; for every meadow and every valley are full of 
 herds of little porkers quietly feeding, and the great hero 
 of modern Servian history, Black George, was himself a 
 swine-herd. Austria- Hungary being the only outlet for 
 Servian pork, the pig-dealers are entirely at the mercy of 
 their great neighbour. There are Servians who believe, 
 as one of them said to me, that '^Austria-Hungary wishes 
 to annex us either politically, as was the case between 
 17 1 8 and 1739, or commercially." Hence the Servian 
 Foreign Office is apt to have either pro-Russian or 
 pro-Austrian leanings, and the domestic jars of the ex- 
 King and his consort were aggravated by the fact that 
 he was an Austrian puppet and she a Russian agent. At 
 present not a few people in Servia desire that Great 
 Britain should show more interest in their country, 
 especially in regard to commercial matters. They argue 
 that as we have no political aims in Servia it would be 
 better for them to rely on us than on Austria or Russia. 
 It is certainly a pity that not a single London newspaper 
 
 474 
 
in the Near East 
 
 has a correspondent of its own in residence at Belgrade, 
 for it is conceivable that British men of business might be 
 glad to have trustworthy information about the state of the 
 country and its prospects as a field for investment. 
 
 Servia is naturally a very fertile land, and with good 
 and steady government might become extremely prosper- 
 ous. As one traverses it from end to end one is struck by 
 the fruitful fields, the rich pastures and the smiling land- 
 scape. The valley of the Morava is particularly rich, 
 while the vines of Negotin, in years when there is no 
 phylloxera, have gained a well-deserved reputation. 
 Everywhere the peasants, whose blue cloth caps contrast 
 pleasantly with the black Bulgarian kalpak, are to be seen 
 hard at work in the fields. To the tourist Servia offers 
 much that is pretty, and at least one piece of magnificent 
 scenery — the majestic gorge of the Nisava river, where 
 the rocks almost meet, and the train skirts the foaming 
 bed of the stream right under the face of the projecting 
 cliff. Here and there, too, on the tops of hills, stand out 
 the ruins of some ancient castle, famous in the Servian 
 ballads, such as the Tower of Tudor, near Stolac, where, 
 after the great defeat of the Serbs at Kossovo, one brave 
 chieftain held out for long against the Turkish hosts, till, 
 finding all was lost, he flung his sword into the Morava, 
 and jumped, with his wife in his arms, into its yellow 
 waters. But of all the monuments of Servia none is more 
 interesting than the famous Tower of Skulls at Nis, which 
 the modern Serbs have wisely preserved as a relic of 
 Turkish tyranny. On May Day, 1809, during the struggle 
 for independence, a body of Serbs blew up a fort near Nis 
 rather than surrender to the Turks. The Turkish Pasha, 
 desirous of making an example which would remind his 
 Servian subjects of the fate of their compatriots, built a 
 tower just outside Nis, and fixed the skulls of the victims 
 into the masonry of the wall. There were originally 952 
 
 475 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 of these ghastly trophies, arranged outside the tower in 
 56 rows of 17 skulls each. But when I drove out to 
 inspect the tower I found only one skull still sticking to 
 the masonry, though long rows of empty holes weie 
 silent witnesses to what had once been there. A white 
 chapel now covers the remains of the tower, and the rest 
 of the skulls have been awarded Christian burial. 
 
 Nis is the second largest town in Servia, and, now that 
 the lines have been laid to Constantinople on the one side 
 and to Salonica on the other, a very important railway 
 junction. It is a clean, straggling place, containing little 
 of interest but an old Turkish konak or palace, with a 
 fine garden, where ex- King Milan vised sometimes to reside. 
 But the Western traveller does not often stay at Nis, and 
 the German-speaking waiter of the hotel complained to 
 me with bitterness that the guests were all orientalischcs 
 Gesindel (" Oriental rag, tag and bobtail "). The poor fellow 
 felt quite out of his element in this place, which is destined 
 one day to be a stepping-stone on the way to India, 
 whenever Salonica becomes the great port of embarkation 
 for the Far East. But ere that, the Servian railway, the 
 property of the State, must be improved. Every year the 
 floods wash part of it aw^ay, and in the full blaze of the 
 mid-day sun we had to dismount from the train and walk 
 with our. hand-baggage over the side of a hill because the 
 tunnel beneath it had fallen in. It is calculated that the 
 repairs of this tunnel must have occupied, from first to 
 last, five months, and this, too, on the main route between 
 Constantinople and the West. Truly in the East they 
 move slowly. A British engineer would have put all right 
 in a month, on one of our great Northern lines of railway. 
 
 Here at Belgrade one is at the extreme Western limit of 
 the Orient, the point at which West and East join. No 
 one, looking now at this historic city, which has braved 
 more sieges than almost any other in the world, would 
 
 476 
 
in the Near East 
 
 believe that it has been in Turkish hands within the 
 present century, and that the last Turkish soldier quitted 
 its renowned fortress only thirty years ago. To-day '' the 
 white city/' as Belgrade is justly named, contains not a 
 trace of Ottoman rule in the architecture of its streets. 
 It boasts an electric tram, a splendid park, a fine public 
 garden, and an excellent ^^ European " hotel. Not a mosque 
 or a minaret remains standing, and all the articles in the 
 shops are of Western manufacture. Yet in spite of its 
 long history, and its unique position in bygone days as 
 the battle ground of the Cross and the Crescent, modern 
 Belgrade is very commonplace. Its streets are clean and 
 its houses well-built, but an air of dulness pervades the 
 place. In the early afternoon you might fancy your- 
 self in a city of the dead. It is only in the evening that 
 Belgrade wakes up. Then the beau moiide goes to take 
 the air and admire such sunsets as you will see nowhere 
 else, from the Gardens of Kalimegdan, overlooking the 
 Save, where gorgeously decorated officers in big caps and 
 picturesque matrons in zouave jackets of satin or velvet, 
 with their hair plaited round their red caps in true 
 Servian style, promenade about and make obeisance to the 
 young King, wearing the straw hat of the European 
 tourist, and walking among his subjects quite at his ease. 
 Or, if you would see the best that Belgrade can show, go 
 out to the lovely woods of Topcider, where Milos, the 
 second founder of Servia, lived his simple life, and where 
 poor Prince Michael died by an assassin's hand. All else 
 here is modern and uninteresting, and you feel how much 
 less romantic is the slim Serb of Belgrade, in his " Euro- 
 pean" dress, than the majestic mountaineer of Montenegro, 
 or the stalwart fisherman of Dalmatia, in his national 
 garb — both Serbs like him, but, unlike him, never 
 subjected to the tyranny of the Turk, or to that other 
 tyranny of modern fashion. But in judging of Servia, as 
 
 477 
 
Travels and Politics in the Near East 
 
 of Bulgaria, one must always remember that they are of 
 yesterday — for twenty or thirty years are as yesterday in 
 the life of a nation. And so at Belgrade we bid farewell 
 to the Near East — to the excitable Greek, the plodding 
 Bulgarian, and the volatile Serb. Across the Save lie 
 Hungary and Western civilisation. But from the Near 
 Eastern question we Westerns shall never escape, until 
 the last Turkish official has left Europe for ever. 
 
 478 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE GREAT POWERS IN THE NEAR EAST 
 
 EVER since, at the end of the seventeenth century, 
 the wave of Ottoman power began to ebb, the 
 future of the Balkan Peninsula has been an important 
 question for the great Powers of Europe. Various at- 
 tempts to solve it have been made since then, the last 
 being that which was solemnly inaugurated by the 
 ^'collective wisdom" of Europe, at the Berlin Congress 
 twenty years ago. It is obvious that no final solution of 
 the difficulty has yet been found, and Prince Bismarck's 
 prophecy that an Oriental crisis might be expected at 
 more or less regular intervals seems likely to be fulfilled. 
 Without being so rash as to venture upon that most futile 
 of pursuits, a rearrangement of the map of South- 
 Eastern Europe, it may be well to sum up briefly the 
 various opinions which are held as to the future of the 
 Balkan Peninsula. 
 
 Broadly speaking, there are four main theories with 
 regard to the settlement of the Near East. I The first of 
 these is that a Confederation of all the Balkan States will 
 be formed and thus a seventh Great Power, organised 
 somewhat on the lines of the Swiss Confederation, will 
 take its place in the European system. Each of the 
 various States would, on this hypothesis, continue to 
 manage its own affairs, while matters which concerned 
 the whole Confederation would be discussed by the 
 
 479 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 whole Confederate body. M. Ristic, the most eminent of 
 Servian statesmen, actually went so far some years ago as 
 to suggest the inclusion of Turkey, transformed by a 
 miracle into a constitutional State, within this Confedera- 
 tion. To idealists who desire to see each small nation- 
 ality governing itself, a Balkan Confederation naturally 
 appears the best solution of the Eastern Question. Even 
 practical diplomatists, like the late Sir William White, 
 have been of opinion that the small Balkan States might 
 prove the most effectual barrier between Russia and 
 Constantinople. I must admit that I shared this view in 
 ^' The Balkans," but subsequent study of the question 
 has led me to regard this ideal solution as unpractical. 
 At no time in their history have the Balkan nationalities 
 been united together, and the saying of Herodotus is 
 unfortunately true to-day, that the peoples of the Thracian 
 peninsula are not likely to join for any common purpose. 
 It was the mutual jealousies of the Balkan peoples which 
 allowed the Turks to conquer the peninsula in the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries, and the same motives 
 unfortunately exist to-day. The fratricidal war between 
 Servia and Bulgaria in 1885, the continued animosity 
 between those two neighbours, their utter inability to 
 arrive at any satisfactory adjustment of their claims in 
 Macedonia, and their constant readiness to make bargains 
 with the Sultan in order to secure some temporary advan- 
 tage over one another, are all signs which cannot be 
 overlooked. The present poHcy of Bulgaria, as I am 
 informed on the highest authority, is a friendly under- 
 standing with the Sultan, who with consummate skill 
 plays off one small Balkan State against the other, just 
 as he makes capital out of the mutual jealousies of the 
 great European Powers. Divide et inipera has always 
 been the maxim of Turkish policy alike in regard to the 
 Concert of Europe and to the smaller neighbours of the 
 
 480 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Sultan. The principle is always the same ; the only 
 difference is that bishoprics in Macedonia form the apple 
 of discord which Abdul Hamid throws among the Balkan 
 States, while trade facilities are offered to the most 
 favoured European nation. Owing to these jealousies 
 between Servia and Bulgaria, and the distrust which 
 has long existed between the reigning family of Servia 
 and that of Montenegro, each of which desires the first 
 place, the scheme of a triple alliance between the three 
 Slav States of the peninsula is likely to collapse as soon 
 as it begins to be translated from the language of after- 
 dinner speeches into facts. But if this comparatively 
 modest plan be impossible, how much more impracticable 
 must be the larger scheme of a Confederation embracing 
 not merely the Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula, but all its 
 inhabitants ! The late Greco-Turkish war, for example, 
 showed very clearly that Bulgaria would not assist Greece 
 against Turkey. Before that war began the Bulgarian 
 agent at Athens was instructed by his Government to try 
 to conclude an arrangement between the two countries 
 and Servia in respect of Macedonia. Greece declined to 
 do anything at that time, Servia had nothing to offer, and 
 the natural result was that the favourable moment was 
 allowed to pass ; Greece fought alone, and the Turks 
 were allowed to send their army to the front without any 
 interference from Bulgaria. This incident is very charac- 
 teristic, and may be supplemented by the attitude of 
 Roumania during the late war. From the first the Rou- 
 manian Government and its proteges in Macedonia were 
 friendly to the Turks from selfish motives, just as after 
 the Armenian massacres Roumania was most unwilling 
 to receive Armenian refugees. Moreover, in spite of the 
 meetings between King Carol and Prince Ferdinand, the 
 Bulgarians do not seem likely to forget the fact that the 
 Bulgarian-speaking province of the Dobrudza was handed 
 
 481 2 1 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 over to Roumania in 1878. There are frequent com- 
 plaints in the Bulgarian press that these Bulgarian 
 subjects of King Carol are badly treated, while on the 
 other hand the Roumanians are careful to fortify this 
 part of their frontier. Finally, no scheme of Confede- 
 ration has been devised which would successfully solve 
 the Albanian difficulty. To create Albania into a sepa- 
 rate principality would be impossible, owing to the 
 different religions, the tribal jealousies, and the centri- 
 fugal tendencies which characterise the Albanian people. 
 On the other hand, the Albanians would resist the parti- 
 tion of their country by the Balkan States, and most 
 probably would resist it successfully. Thus on all 
 grounds, historical, political, and ethnological, a Confe- 
 deration of the Balkan races appears to be beyond the 
 scope of practical politics. 
 
 Similar difficulties beset the fulfilment of the ^^ great 
 ideas " in which the Serbs, the Bulgarians, and the Greeks 
 are wont to indulge. It is obvious that any attempt to 
 revive the big Servian Empire of Dusan, the great Bul- 
 garian Empires of Simeon, Samuel, and John Asen, or the 
 Byzantine Empire would involve the absorption of the 
 other Balkan states within the dominions of the successful 
 nationality. This could only be accomplished by a san- 
 guinary war, which would not only rage throughout the 
 whole peninsula, but would certainly extend to Western 
 Europe. Moreover, recent events have clearly proved 
 that no Balkan State is strong enough to solve the Eastern 
 Question by itself, but that the Great Powers must neces- 
 sarily have a say in any solution. That either Austria or 
 Russia, the two Powers most directly interested in the 
 penmsula, would assist in the formation of any such 
 Balkan Empire is naturally absurd. Up to a certain 
 point Russia has always been willing to favour Slav 
 aspirations in the Balkans. But nothing enraged her so 
 
 482 
 
3 
 
 in the Near East 
 
 much as the striking success of Stambuloff, who suc- 
 ceeded in making Bulgaria entirely independent of 
 Russian aid. On all grounds, then^ the rehabilitation of / - 
 the Servian, Bulgarian and Greek Empires of the Middle 
 Ages is impracticable. No one Balkan State is strong 
 enough to coerce all the others, and, if it were, the Great 
 Powers would not sanction such an achievement. 
 
 There are persons sanguine enough to believe that a 
 reformed and regenerated Turkey will provide the neces- 
 sary solution of the Eastern difhculty. The Turkish 
 victories of last year, over a weak and unprepared 
 adversary, have revived this time-honoured theory. The 
 Turks are undoubtedly a very military people, and the 
 Turkish soldier is, in the opinion of military experts, the 
 best food for powder in the world. But in these days 
 great nations are not kept together by soldiers alone ; 
 and in every other department, except that of diplomacy, 
 in which the jealousies of their opponents usually secure 
 them easy victories, the Turks are singularly deficient. 
 No man has had a larger experience of Turkish adminis- 
 tration than Von der Goltz Pasha, who, both as a German 
 and a former Turkish employe, might be expected to 
 regard the Turkish Government with favour. Yet no man 
 has been more severe on the corruption, incapacity, and 
 indolence which prevail in official circles throughout 
 Turkey. At rare intervals during the present century 
 Turkey has produced a really great statesman with en- 
 lightened ideas, such as Reschid Pasha, Fuad Pasha and 
 Midhat Pasha, but the examples of these eminent men are 
 not encouraging, and the second of them once jokingly 
 remarked that Turkey must be the strongest of nations, 
 because she still managed to survive, in spite of the fact 
 that every Turkish official did his best to ruin his country. 
 There is no instance in history of a nation which has at 
 one time attained great magnificence, and w^hich has then 
 
 483 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 declined and dwindled away, recovering for a second time 
 its former splendour. For two centuries Turkey has been 
 steadily going back. During the present century alone 
 she has completely lost Greece, Thessaly (with the ex- 
 ception of the strategic points retroceded by the Treaty 
 of last December), Roumania, and Servia ; she has had 
 to cede territory to Montenegro ; while Poti, Kars, and 
 Batoum have passed from her to Russia ; she has 
 practically forfeited Bulgaria, Bosnia and the Herce- 
 govina, Cyprus, and Egypt ; Samos only belongs to her 
 by a fiction ; and Crete is likely to receive practical 
 independence. Thus the nation which in 1683 was 
 knocking at the walls of Vienna has now shrunk far to 
 the south of the Balkans, and has also receded in Asia. 
 While the Turkish Empire has thus been *' consolidated," 
 a candid friend, like Von de Goltz Pasha, advocates 
 the further elimination of Turkey from Europe by the 
 removal of the Turkish capital to Konieh, Kaisarieh, 
 or Damascus, so as to remove it from all European 
 complications. The decadence of Turkey is also notice- 
 able in the fact that the great and warlike Sultans of 
 the past have left no successors. Abdul Hamid II. 
 is undoubtedly a very clever diplomatist, but he either 
 does not possess, or does not deem it prudent to 
 exercise, the slightest administrative qualities. His sole 
 method of managing his dominions is that of playing 
 off Christians against Mussulmans, and one nationality 
 against another. Thus in Asia the Armenians are 
 sacrificed to the Kurds, in Europe the Servians are 
 sacrificed to the Albanians, and all over the Empire the 
 welfare of the State is sacrificed to the personal aims of 
 its sovereign. Nothing but an impartial European 
 administration could effectually govern an Empire 
 composed of so many hostile sects and races. The task 
 is all the more difficult since the creation of independent 
 
 484 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Balkan States, each of which has numbers of compatriots 
 still under Turkish rule. Thus the Servians, Bulgarians, 
 Greeks, and Roumanians of Turkey look for redress, 
 not to Constantinople, but to Belgrade, Sofia, Athens, and 
 Bucharest. Alone among the oppressed Christian races of 
 Turkey the Armenians have no independent state of the 
 same race as themselves to which to appeal. And this fact, 
 coupled with their unwarlike character and their com- 
 mercial prosperity, naturally made them the most con- 
 venient victims of his Majesty's bludgeon-men. From time 
 to time Europe is deluded by the promise of reforms, 
 and prominent statesmen who visit Constantinople with 
 projects for the reformation of Turkey in their pockets 
 find an attentive hearing from the Sultan, who on their 
 departure from his presence lights his cigarette with the 
 draft which they have ingenuously laid before him. Of 
 all the futile nostrums prescribed for the salvation of 
 Turkey that of ^^ reforms " is the worst. A resident in 
 Turkey, who possesses an almost unique knowledge of 
 the country, once remarked to me, ^^ There is no hope of 
 reform for Turkey whatever ; it is idle to talk about 
 reforms here." Paper propositions are always welcome 
 to Turkish officials, because they supply material for those 
 endless negociations which are the strength and delight 
 of the Ottoman Government. Moreover, if reforms are 
 applied, the inevitable result is to bring the Christian 
 element, which is the more progressive, to the top, and 
 thus Mussulman jealousy is excited, and as in the case of 
 the Pact of Halepa, in Crete, the promised reforms are 
 cancelled by a sovereign whose policy it is to emphasise 
 his spiritual position as Khalifa of the Mussulmans. 
 That there have been Sultans in the past, like Mahmud II., 
 who were genuinely in favour of real, not paper, reforms, 
 is well known to those who are acquainted with Turkish 
 history ; but in such cases the well-meaning efforts of 
 
 485 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the PMishdh have only earned him the title of the 
 ^'Giaour Sultan," and have met with the most un- 
 compromising opposition of Mussulman conservatism. 
 
 This religious sentiment among Mussulmans, stronger 
 as it is than anything which we in the West can imagine 
 in these days of Laodicean lukewarmness, is perhaps the 
 greatest obstacle to the entrance of Turkey into the circle 
 of civilised States. No one can help admiring the devo- 
 tion of the true Mussulman to his religion, a devotion 
 which puts to shame many Christians. But the fact that 
 it is closely interwoven, and indeed almost identical, 
 with his political opinions makes it almost impossible 
 for him to grasp Western ideas. He believes like a 
 character in one of Auerbach's novels, that ^^ivir haben 
 tins niit nnserer ganzen Civilisation richtig in eine Sack- 
 gasse gerdnnt." He points out sometimes with no little 
 justice that the simple life of the East is better than the 
 degraded existence of many of our great cities. He 
 does not see the advantages of rapid travelling, punctuality, 
 and other Western eccentricities, and the European 
 invention to which he attaches the highest importance 
 is that of destructive engines of war which enable him 
 to mow down his enemies with greater facility. The 
 one thing upon which money is spent unstintingly in 
 Turkey is the military department, while the navy is 
 utterly neglected, and the ironclads in the Dardanelles 
 are so rotten that a British admiral in the Turkish 
 service is not allowed to inspect them, and the two 
 Turkish men-of-war in Suda Bay are so covered with 
 barnacles that they cannot move. Money seems always 
 forthcoming for barracks and the latest arms that Ger- 
 many can supply. Further, what chance is there that 
 upright and capable administrators will be produced 
 so long as the harem system continues ? The early 
 training of boys who grow up in such an enervating 
 
 486 
 
in the Near East 
 
 atmosphere, cannot fail to be bad, and those who have 
 watched the behaviour of a young Turkish lad of good 
 family cannot fail to wish that he had been subjected to 
 the wholesome discipline of an English public school. 
 Education, too, is rendered extremely difficult owing to 
 the enormous waste of time involved in learning to 
 write and read Turkish. It has been said that the 
 Romans would have had no time to conquer the 
 world if they had had to master the intricacies of the 
 Latin grammar. Similarly the Turks have no time 
 for acquiring a sound education because years are 
 spent in grappling with the Turkish script. Just as 
 many young Englishmen, after w^asting ten years over 
 Greek, are unable to construe Xenophon without a 
 dictionary, so comparatively few Turks ever learn their 
 language well, and I have heard of instances where 
 educated Turks have taken documents in their own 
 language to skilled European students of Turkish for 
 translation. It was for this reason that Fuad Pasha 
 tried to introduce Latin characters in place of Turkish, 
 but even the efforts of that powerful minister were unable 
 to prevail against the inborn conservatism of the nation. 
 But it may be said that the " Young Turks " who have 
 been educated in Europe are likely one day to reform 
 the Turkish Empire on European lines. The Sultan 
 has shown his fear of them by cajoling some influential 
 members of the party to Constantinople, and by en- 
 deavouring to placate them with minor posts in which 
 they can do no harm. One of their leaders, who had 
 been induced to return, was lodged in a villa on the 
 Bosporus, and, as he seemed restive, provided by the 
 Sultan with twelve Albanian ^^ gardeners" to look after 
 him. His " garden " was about the size of a pocket- 
 handkerchief ! Their organ in Paris, the Mechveret, 
 conducted by Ahmed Riza, still continues its pub- 
 
 487 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 lication in spite of the absurd prosecution of it in 
 the French law courts — a prosecution which only resulted 
 in a fine of a few francs. The ^' Young Turks " are 
 not afraid to criticise the existing state of things, and 
 point out that the present Sultan has injured the 
 Empire. But there seems no prospect of their obtain- 
 ing control of the government at Constantinople, and 
 even if they could it is doubtful whether the sudden 
 transition from the present state of things to parlia- 
 mentary government would be safe. It must be 
 remembered that in Turkey there is practically no 
 aristocracy except that of officialdom, and there would 
 accordingly be a lack of suitable persons to work the 
 administration on entirely new lines. Midhat's short- 
 lived parliament did indeed give some evidences of 
 capacity. The member for Jerusalem found that he 
 had much the same grievances as the member for 
 Monastir, and thus the two extremes of the Empire 
 were discovered to be equally badly administered. But 
 education will require to be much better and much 
 more generally diffused in Turkey before any form of 
 self-government by the people can be expected to succeed. 
 The examples of Servia and Bulgaria, where parliamentary 
 elections have been reduced to a farce, are not encourag- 
 ing, yet the populations of those two countries are 
 considerably more progressive than that of Turkey* 
 Besides, the Europeanised Turk, who speaks French 
 and wears a black coat, is apt to have acquired nothing 
 but the veneer^ of civilisation, and is sometimes inferior 
 in character to the common Turk of the lower classes, 
 who is usually honest and firmly believes in the faith of 
 his forefathers. Until, therefore, the whole system of 
 Islam is changed it seems hardly likely that a reformed 
 Turkey will be possible. 
 
 It remains then to consider whether the Great Powers 
 
 488 
 
in the Near East 
 
 can solve the Eastern Question. The Balkan Peninsula 
 is regarded as the wrestling ground of European diplo- 
 matists when it is not the cock-pit of Eastern armies. 
 Although only two of the six Great Powers — Austria- 
 Hungary and Russia — are directly and traditionally 
 interested, owing to their near neighbourhood, in the 
 future of the Peninsula, all six have certain political 
 or commercial interests in that debateable region. To 
 begin with Great Britain. Although the idea that the 
 British flag is still deeply respected in the Near East may 
 still linger among stay-at-home politicians, those who have 
 visited the Levant are speedily disillusioned. One of the 
 most experienced representatives of our Government in 
 that part of the world remarked to me that we had no 
 longer any influence whatever in Turkey. The vacil- 
 lating and changeable policy of our Foreign Office is 
 largely responsible for this lamentable decline of British 
 prestige. Foreigners find it extremely difficult to under- 
 stand the foreign, and especially the Eastern policy of 
 Great Britain, and we cannot wonder at their difficulty, 
 for it seems a mass of contradictions to Englishmen 
 themselves. There has been absolutely no continuity 
 of our Eastern policy during the present century. At 
 one moment we are bringing about the independence of 
 Greece by sending the Turkish fleet to the bottom of the 
 bay of Navarino. Twenty-seven years later we are 
 spending immense sums and wasting thousands of 
 lives in order to protect the Turks against Russia. A 
 quarter of a century later we are once more on the brink 
 of war on behalf of Turkey, and then to crown all we are 
 calmly told by the Foreign Secretary, that alike in the 
 Crimea and in 1878, '^ we put our money on the wrong 
 horse." It might have been imagined, too, that British 
 statesmanship would have seen that the big Bulgaria 
 of the treaty of San Stefano instead of being a Russian 
 
 489 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 province would have been the strongest bulwark against 
 a Russian advance. The union of Moldavia and Wal- 
 lachia, in spite of elaborate diplomatic arrangements to 
 keep them apart, might also have suggested that the 
 artificial separation of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia 
 could only be a temporary expedient. But the humiliating 
 act of folly had yet to come. It is generally, and rightly, 
 maintained, that Englishmen are not given to the practise 
 of saying what they do not intend to perform, of talking 
 big and then doing nothing. Yet this was precisely the 
 system pursued by the British Foreign Office during the 
 Armenian difficulty. Orientals despise people who talk 
 and do not act, and the threats offered to the Sultan, 
 followed by absolute inaction, have enormously damaged 
 our prestige in the Near East. '^ You English," said a 
 Turkish minister to a friend of mine a few months ago, 
 ^' are more chefoot (cowardly) than the Jews," and no one 
 at Constantinople believes that we are anything but a 
 nation of talkers. It must be remembered that British 
 victories in Egypt and elsewhere, which would tend to 
 make up for the blunders of our politicians, are kept as 
 far as possible from the Turkish reader, while Great 
 Britain is misrepresented in every way. Small slights 
 are put upon our Ambassador at Constantinople ; at the 
 Diamond Jubilee service at Therapia, which I attended, 
 the Sultan sent a second-rate set of functionaries, who 
 were thought quite good enough to pay honour to the 
 Queen, while at Sir Philip Currie's departure from Con- 
 stantinople this year a similar lack of courtesy was shown. 
 These small affronts are noticed by Orientals, all of them 
 great sticklers for the mint and cummin of etiquette, and 
 they draw their conclusions accordingly. Imagine such 
 a thing being possible in the time of the '^ Great Eltchi," 
 when the Sultan and his ministers trembled at the com- 
 mands of the British Ambassador ! 
 
 490 
 
in the Near East 
 
 But we must admit that the times have changed since 
 the days of Lord Stratford de RedcHffe, and perhaps the 
 directors of our foreign policy have changed with them. 
 In that golden age of British diplomacy there was no 
 Germany to thwart our every action, and Russia alone 
 counted besides Great Britain at Constantinople. As the 
 Tsar Nicholas I. contemptuously said to Sir Hamilton 
 Seymour, '' If England and I arrive at an understanding 
 in this matter, as regards the rest it matters little to me." 
 Imagine Nicholas II. thus ignoring Berlin, which in those 
 days was only the capital of a second-rate Power, which, 
 as Bismarck said, ^' had to wait in the ante-chamber" of 
 an European Congress ! But, while we can no longer 
 expect to hold the exclusive position at Constantinople 
 which belonged to us before Germany became a Great 
 Power, we might at least maintain the same reputation 
 for promptitude and vigour which belongs to other 
 nations. When the French mail-bag was opened in 
 the streets of Constantinople, the French Ambassador at 
 once demanded compensation from the Turkish Govern- 
 ment, which was speedily paid. But when the clerk in 
 charge of the then existing British branch post-office at 
 Stambul and the Stambul letter-carrier — one of whom 
 was a naturalised British subject, and both British em- 
 ployes — were murdered in the massacre of the 26th of 
 August, 1896, no vigorous steps were taken to secure 
 compensation for their widows and children, and up to 
 the date of writing, two years after the event, nothing has 
 been paid by the Turkish Government. We may contrast 
 with this, too, the prompt action of the Austrian Govern- 
 ment in demanding reparation for the insult to M. 
 Brazzafoli, the Austrian-Lloyd agent at Mersina and 
 the vigour with which the American Minister presses 
 his claims upon the Turkish Government. The con- 
 duct of British policy has indeed altered since the 
 
 491 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 days when Lord Palmerston made his memorable 
 speech comparing the position of a British subject 
 abroad with that of a Roman citizen. That the British 
 fleet could have forced the Dardanelles at the time 
 of the massacre was admitted, I am told, by the British 
 Ambassador himself, who said that at that moment Great 
 Britain had missed a great opportunity. And when he 
 
 JOSEPH HAXEMIAX, THE MURDERED^ CLERK 
 OF THE BRITISH POST OFFICE. 
 
 left Constantinople Sir Philip Currie confessed that his 
 five years there had been years of disappointment, and 
 that he quitted the post a sadder, and he hoped, a wiser 
 man. But the fault does not wholly, or chiefly, lie with 
 our representatives abroad. We have in the Balkan 
 Peninsula^— and I can speak from personal experience 
 of many of them — excellent diplomatic and consular 
 
 492 
 
in the Near East 
 
 representatives who thoroughly know their business and 
 disHke the dedine of British influence, which is not due 
 to them. For it must be remembered that in these days 
 of the telegraph almost everything is referred home, and 
 one too often hears complaints that the Foreign Office 
 neglects the advice sent to it by those on the spot, and 
 either does nothing, or frames a policy of its own. When 
 Lord E. Fitzmaurice and Mr. Bryce were Under Secre- 
 taries for F^oreign Affairs they took the deepest interest in 
 South-Eastern Europe, and during the Bulgarian crisis of 
 ten or twelve years ago Lord Salisbury, probably inspired 
 by the Queen, displayed a judicious support of Stambuloff 
 which reminded one of his early efforts on behalf of 
 Roumania. But nowadays the British Government, in 
 the words of a resident in the Near East, ^' doesn't care 
 a damn about the Balkan countries." Considering the 
 specimens of Foreign Oflice geography with which we 
 are occasionally favoured, it would seem that department 
 knows very litde about them. As a man, who had spent 
 his whole life in diplomatic business, lately said to me, 
 *^ it is in a state of ignorance and apathy, which is 
 almost disastrous." Nothing could better prove the 
 advantage of having as Foreign Secretary a man who 
 has studied the Eastern Question on the spot than the 
 more intelligent handling of Cretan affairs which has 
 followed the transference of Admiral Canevaro from his 
 flagship in Cretan waters to the head of the Italian 
 Foreign Oflice. But too often, in the phrase of an 
 Austrian officer, ^diplomatists traverse the Balkan 
 Peninsula in a train de luxe, and then think that they 
 have mastered the Eastern Question." 
 
 But it is not in politics alone that British influence 
 in the Near East is on the wane. It is galling enough to 
 find, as I have done, that to speak German is an open 
 sesame in Stambiil, while one's native tongue causes one 
 
 493 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 to be regarded with contempt. It is humiliating, too, 
 to have to obtain admission to the Imperial Treasury 
 through the German Embassy or the American Legation 
 because the British Ambassador does not consider it 
 as part of his duties to procure such facilities for 
 his countrymen. But these are small things compared 
 with the profound indifference which most British 
 Ambassadors at Constantinople have displayed towards 
 the trade of their country. On one occasion a deputation 
 of British merchants waited on their diplomatic repre- 
 sentative and requested his good offices on behalf of 
 their trade. The Ambassador bluntly told the deputation 
 that British trade was no business of his, and when they 
 murmured at his reply, added, with a sublime ignorance 
 of the conditions of commerce, *' Gentlemen, if you are 
 discontented, why don't you leave the country ? " It is 
 perhaps natural that Ambassadors of the old school, 
 recruited from the aristocracy in the days before its 
 members were delighted to earn guineas as company 
 directors, should take this view, but it may be observed 
 that German Ambassadors, who are usually men of the 
 same social standing as their British colleagues, are not 
 permitted by the Emperor to take this attitude of sublime 
 indifference towards what, after all, is of more importance 
 to their countrymen than tittle-tattle about courts, or 
 pedantic deliberations on moot points of etiquette. In 
 these days, when the foreign policy of P2ngland ought, 
 and is supposed to be, directed to the furtherance of 
 British trade, an Ambassador should surely do all in 
 his power to advance the commercial interests of his 
 countrymen. This should especially be the case in 
 Turkey, where private enterprise, in order to be success- 
 ful, needs constant backing from the Embassies. Sir 
 J. W. Whittall, the President of the British Chamber 
 of Commerce of Turkey, has pointed out that the un- 
 
 494 
 
in the Near East 
 
 doubted decline of British trade in that country is 
 chiefly due to *' the past obstinacy shown by Her 
 Majesty's Government in refusing to promote and 
 protect the interests of its men of enterprise in the 
 same way as other Governments, and notably the French 
 and German." As an instance of British weakness may be 
 quoted the Anatolian railway, originally a British enter- 
 prise in British hands, of which the staff is now German. 
 The result is that the articles required by the railway 
 company are now ordered from Germany instead of from 
 Great Britain, and thus British capital is being utilised for 
 the promotion of Germany's political and commercial 
 interests. Two years ago, when the question of the 
 hghthouse dues at Constantinople was under discussion, 
 a Foreign Office official decided the matter without 
 previous consultation with our merchants and concluded 
 an arrangement which has resulted in a loss of many 
 thousands to British shipping. '^ It would be foolish to 
 conceal the fact," says Sir J. W. Whittall, ''that of late 
 years it has been a disadvantage, rather than otherwise, 
 to be a British subject." No doubt the absolute indif- 
 ference of many merchants at home to the excellent 
 " Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and 
 Finance " which have been issued by the Foreign Office 
 during the last twelve years is partly responsible for the 
 fact that our rivals have cut us out in the Near East. 
 The wretched education in modern languages with which 
 most Englishmen are afflicted is another disadvan- 
 tage from which German and Austrian commercial 
 travellers are exempt, while our strange medley of 
 weights and measures still further handicaps us in 
 countries where the metric system prevails. 1 once met 
 an English commercial traveller in Bulgaria who spoke 
 German and did an excellent business in agricultural 
 implements both there and in Roumania. But such men 
 are not often found in the Balkans, so the trade of 
 
 495 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 the Peninsula goes to other countries rather than to 
 Great Britain. Sir Phihp Currie, it is true, secured the 
 appointment of a British commercial attache at Con- 
 stantinople, and his fellow-countrymen are duly grateful 
 for this tardy fulfilment of a long-expressed wish, as also 
 for the nomination of a British Consular Agency at 
 the important shipping port of Ismid. But the old idea 
 that the British trader would prosper without the aid of 
 his Government no longer applies to Turkey. There, if 
 anywhere, trade follows the flag, and the flag which 
 it now follows is that of Germany. 
 
 The policy of Germany in the Near East has, indeed, 
 undergone a marked change during the present century. 
 At all the three great crises prior to the Berlin Congress, 
 during the Greek War of Independence, and the Russo- 
 Turkish War of 1828-9, at the time of the Crimean 
 War, and in the struggle of 1877-8, Prussia, and in the 
 last instance Germany, played a subordinate part, and 
 Great Britain, Russia, and in the two former cases France, 
 were the leading performers. Count von Bernstorff, the 
 Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs in the twenties, was, 
 like his sovereign, vaguely sympathetic with the Hellenic 
 cause, to which the Prussian people — it was before the 
 era of the investment of German savings in Greek securi- 
 ties — was distinctly favourable. But the Prussian Govern- 
 ment showed, when it declined to accept the French and 
 Russian invitations for joint action in 1827, that neither 
 its material interests in the East were sufficient to neces- 
 sitate, nor its material resources sufficient to render effec- 
 tive, any armed intervention. At one moment alone — the 
 eve of the Peace of Adrianople — did Prussia, at that time 
 the least biassed of advisers, contribute to the settlement 
 of the dispute. I Frederick W^illiam IV. took an academic 
 
 ' See Ringhoffer : Ein Dezennimn preussischer Orient-politik zur 
 Zeit des Zaren Nikolaus {1^21-1820), and my notice of it in The English 
 Historical Review, xiii. 387. 
 
 496 
 
in the Near East 
 
 interest in the Eastern Question, on which the historian, 
 Von Ranke, wrote him a memorandum ; but in the Crimean 
 War he took no part, and in 1878 the German Chancellor 
 described himself as an "honest broker," and in that spirit 
 conducted the Berlin Congress. Later on Prince Bis- 
 marck followed the same neutral policy in Eastern affairs. 
 He told the world that " the Eastern Question " was " not 
 worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier," and 
 that " Bulgaria was as Hecuba " to him ; he threatened to 
 resign rather than involve Germany in Balkan politics by 
 the marriage of a daughter of the Emperor Frederick with 
 Prince Alexander of Bulgaria ; and he disapproved of the 
 sensational telegrams which the present Kaiser despatched 
 during his first visit to Constantinople. But with the Iron 
 Chancellor's fall there followed a complete change in 
 Germany's Eastern policy, which culminated in the 
 " moral " support tendered by the Emperor to the Sultan 
 during the war of last year. There was nothing particu- 
 larly new about the service of German military men in 
 Turkey, either as students or instructors, for Moltke had 
 gained his first practical experience of war there 60 years 
 earlier. But what was novel w^as the deliberate attempt 
 to exploit Turkey in the interest of Germany. The Kaiser 
 unhesitatingly "made unto himself friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness," and at the same moment satisfied his 
 own dislike of Greece and his subjects' desire to sell their 
 wares in Turkey. No mawkish considerations of humanity 
 were allowed to stand in the way of this purely selfish 
 policy. When a certain German Countess approached 
 the late German Ambassador at Constantinople, and asked 
 him to assist her in distributing relief to the Armenians, 
 he bluntly replied, " I will do nothing for you ; I do not 
 intend to let philanthropy interfere with our trade." 
 Those Germans who managed to get into the interior 
 of Asia Minor and to find out the truth for themselves, 
 
 497 2K 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 went without the consent of their own authorities, 
 anxious not to embarrass the Emperor's protege at Yildiz. 
 But the Turks soon learned that if Germany helped 
 them it was not out of pure love of Turkey. True to the 
 Bismarckian maxim of do lit des, the Germans have had 
 their reward, not always, it is said, to the delight of the 
 Turkish authorities. While I was in Constantinople just 
 after the war, German concession-hunters arrived by 
 every train ; a German steamboat service, now bank- 
 rupt, was started in competition with the Turkish steamers 
 to Mudania, and every day brought fresh rumours of 
 German enterprise, especially in Asia Minor and Syria, 
 which the Kaiser seems to have marked out as the special 
 preserve of his own subjects, and which the ^' Panger- 
 manic League" claims as Germany's share of the ^'sick 
 man's" inheritance. Well acquainted with those argu- 
 ments which prevail in most Oriental lands, the Germans, 
 who in these days have plenty of cash, bribe the Turkish 
 officials heavily, and then, having thus prepared the way, 
 invoke the powerful aid of their Government — and not in 
 vain. Russia having, like the King of Cappadocia in 
 Horace, many servants but little ready money, does not 
 oppose this action of Germany, which injures us far more 
 than any other nation. German beer has now supplanted 
 British ale, and the " tunnel" railway, which connects Pera 
 with Galata, is about to pass out of British hands. One 
 Turkish line alone now remains under our control. On at 
 least two others the guards cry out in German, fertlg, when 
 the train is ready to start. The transference of Baron von 
 Marschall, the late Foreign Minister of Germany, to the 
 Constantinople Embassy shows what importance the 
 Emperor attaches to this post. Besides, in his zeal to 
 assist his commercial friends at home, he insists that his 
 diplomatic representative on the Bosporus should keep 
 a vigilant watch on trade matters. A prominent British 
 
 498 
 
in the Near East 
 
 merchant in Stambul told me that one morning an attache 
 from the German Embassy walked into his counting-house 
 and asked him in the name of the Ambassador for infor- 
 mation as to the solvency of a certain firm. Our country- 
 man gave him the desired information, expressing at the 
 same time his surprise that so great a personage as th( 
 German Ambassador should occupy himself about such 
 matters, which in his long experience had never troubled 
 an Ambassador of Great Britain. The German attache 
 replied that the Emperor personally took the greatest 
 interest in all that could benefit German trade, and that 
 the Berlin Foreign Office had specially ordered this par- 
 ticular investigation. Another German connected with 
 the Berlin Government told me that, if complaints are 
 made against German consuls abroad, the Kaiser himself 
 writes to reprimand them. So numerous has the German 
 colony in Constantinople become that it supports a club 
 of its own and has taught the most illiterate Turks that 
 there is another European nationality besides the English 
 and the Russians. The visit of William II. this year will 
 doubtless increase German commercial influence in 
 Turkey. For if Bismarck was only an '^ honest broker " 
 who charged no commission, the Kaiser is a commercial 
 traveller whose journeys are utilised foi- the propagation 
 of German trade. It has been rumoured that he intends to 
 ask the Sultan to give him the port of Haifa, where a good 
 many Germans are already settled. The anxiety of the 
 Turkish Government to keep its patron in good humour 
 has been shown by the enormous expenditure of money 
 made by the Sultan for the reception of his guest and 
 the huge retinue provided for the Imperial traveller. In 
 this case the Ottoman officials have literally thrown sand 
 in the eyes of their too inquisitive visitor, for the yawning 
 chasms in the Stambul streets have been filled with that 
 useful material so that the Emperor might not see the 
 
 499 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 defects of Turkish road-making. In Palestine new 
 carriage-roads have actually been made for his con- 
 venience, and the boatmen of Jaffa are represented as 
 joyfully paying the extra tax for their construction. 
 
 France, who in former days held a very prominent 
 place in Eastern affairs, has latterly sunk into the posi- 
 tion of playing second fiddle to Russia. The French 
 always used to regard Syria as their special portion of the 
 Turkish heritage, and no man was more sympathetic to 
 oppressed nationalities than Napoleon III. who warmly 
 supported the Roumanian agitation of 1848. Earlier in 
 the century the French had joined with Russia and 
 England in creating the kingdom of Greece, and the 
 part which they played in the Crimean War showed that 
 they were deeply interested in the Eastern Question. The 
 Alliance frangaise has done much to spread the French 
 language in the Levant, and most Orientals who desire 
 a Western education seek it in France rather than else- 
 where. That country, too, has always considered herself 
 as the special protectress of the Latin Christians, and a 
 French Bishop, alarmed at the encroachments of the 
 German Emperor upon this ecclesiastical preserve has 
 lately obtained from the Pope an explicit statement of 
 the traditional claims of France. But during the 
 Armenian troubles M. Hanotaux, who won his first 
 diplomatic laurels at Constantinople, was always indis- 
 posed to coerce the Turkish Government and contented 
 himself with saying ditto to everything that Prince 
 Lobanoff proposed ; accordingly French public opinion 
 was kept quiet by withholding Yellow Books which would 
 have enlightened it on the situation. In M. Cambon, 
 the then French Ambassador at Constantinople, France 
 had a man of great vigour who always meant what he 
 said, and usually got what he asked, but of course he 
 could not override the policy of his chief. Since the 
 
 500 
 
in the Near East 
 
 change of Russian policy after Prince Lobanoff's death 
 France has become less Turkophil, and the French press 
 has changed its tone. Commercially, the facilities 
 accorded to French steamers to unload before reaching 
 Constantinople have enabled them to cut out British lines, 
 which have no such facilities for sending their goods 
 rapidly and cheaply into the interior. But compared 
 with the Germans, the French are not very serious 
 rivals to ourselves in the Levant. 
 
 Italy, like France, has traditions which connect her 
 with the Near East. The Levantine possessions of 
 Venice are, of course, gone for ever, but as we have 
 seen, the Italians have some aspirations in Albania, 
 which is visible on a clear day from the ramparts of 
 Otranto. Italian culture and the Italian language have 
 also left their marks on the Dalmatian coast towns and 
 on the Ionian Islands, while there are considerable Italian 
 colonies at Constantinople and Smyrna. The steamers 
 of the Florio-Rubattino Company naturally propagate 
 Italian commerce in the Levant, and during the late war 
 public sympathy in Italy was strongly on the side of the 
 Greeks. One Italian deputy fell on the Greek side, just 
 as Santarosa had fallen in the Greek war of Independence. 
 Latterly, too, since Admiral Canevaro became her Foreign 
 Minister, Italy has taken the initiative in the Cretan 
 question, but her misfortunes in Africa, her domestic 
 troubles, and her poverty make it unlikely that she will 
 be of great account in the Near East for, at any rate, 
 many years to come. 
 
 There remain the two most important factors in the 
 situation, Austria- Hungary and Russia, between whom, 
 in all probability the ultimate solution of the Eastern 
 question will lie. Long before her exclusion from Ger- 
 many and Italy in 1866, Austria had turned her eyes 
 towards the East. During the first half of the last 
 
 501 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 century a large portion of Servia was for twenty-one 
 years in her possession, and the Turks themselves were 
 amazed at the progress which their rayahs had made 
 during that brief period. On two occasions the perse- 
 cuted Serbs followed their ecclesiastical head and found 
 a refuge from the Turks in the neighbouring empire. 
 In the eighteenth century, too, a portion of what is now 
 Roumania was temporarily, and the Bukovina perma- 
 nently, annexed to the Austrian dominions, and in 1797 
 the acquisition of Dalmatia placed Austria in close con- 
 nection with the provinces of Bosnia and the Herce- 
 govina, which it was the aim of Joseph II. to incorporate 
 with his empire, and the occupation of which in our 
 own time, together with the military colonisation of the 
 three points in the Sandzak of Novi-Bazar, has driven a 
 strong Austrian wedge into the Balkan Peninsula. It 
 will thus be seen that the progress of Austria eastward is 
 no new affair but an historical process which has been 
 gradually going on and is in all probability likely to con- 
 tinue. One need not, however, assume that a farther 
 Austrian advance into the Peninsula is imminent at 
 present. The policy of the Dual Monarchy is now, and 
 has been for some years past, to prevent disturbances of 
 any kind in the Balkans, which would be likely to em- 
 barrass Austro-Hungarian interests and prospects. For 
 that reason the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at 
 Constantinople, who knows Turkey better than any of 
 his colleagues, has adopted a strictly conservative attitude 
 for the last twelve years. This, too, was the cause of 
 the admonitions, addressed by Count Goluchowski in 
 common with Russia, to the other four Balkan states at 
 the time of the war between Greece and Turkey ; while, 
 in the Cretan question, the chief motive of Austro- 
 Hungarian policy seems to have been the localisation 
 of the disturbance, so that it should not spread to the 
 
 502 
 
in the Near East 
 
 mainland. The Austro-Russian agreement, respecting 
 the spheres of influence of the two Powers in the 
 Balkan Peninsula, has not, indeed, worked as well as 
 it might have done, because Russia has not ceased to 
 encourage Montenegrin aspirations by depicting in the 
 blackest colours the state of Bosnia and the Hercegovina, 
 to visit Servia, although that kingdom was supposed to 
 be in the Austrian sphere of influence, with her heavy 
 displeasure, and even through the mouth of one of her 
 generals to stir up discord at Prague. But the great 
 political and commercial interests of the Dual Monarchy 
 in the Near East will doubtless, when the psychological 
 moment arrives, force her to fulfil her mission of civili- 
 sation. Large sums of Austrian money are invested in 
 Turkish railways, and the Embassy looks well after the 
 interests of the investors. The Austrian-Lloyd steamers 
 touch at nearly every port in the Levant, and the agents 
 of that line are naturally centres of local influence and 
 information. Moreover, as we have shown in the 
 chapters on Bosnia and the Hercegovina, Austro- 
 Hungarian administration has been singularly success- 
 ful. There seems to be no reason why those inde- 
 pendent Balkan states, whose subjects are mainly of 
 one race and religion, should not continue to preserve 
 their independence. But it is obvious that a Great 
 Power, which is impartial in its treatment of conflicting 
 races and creeds, is alone qualified to govern those 
 debateable lands, like Macedonia, where national unity 
 is impossible. Mr. Gladstone, to whom Bulgaria, Monte- 
 negro, and Greece owe a debt of gratitude, was, I 
 venture to think, in error, when he declared that *^you 
 cannot put your finger on the map of Europe, and find 
 a place where Austria has done good." This idea of 
 the old school of English Liberals, derived from the 
 days of Metternich's regiine, is quite obsolete now. 
 
 503 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 But it may be argued that the internal difficulties of the 
 Austro-Hungarian Monarchy will be aggravated on the 
 death of the Emperor Francis Joseph to such an extent 
 that, instead of receiving a further share of the Turk's 
 patrimony, the Monarchy will be divided up herself. 
 Prophecies of this kind have frequently been made 
 before, without being accomplished. Metternich expected 
 the deluge in 1848, others anticipated it in 1866 ; on 
 neither occasion did it arrive. It must also be remem- 
 bered, that the army is solidly devoted to the interests of 
 the dynasty, and that the heir-apparent, the Archduke 
 Francis Ferdinand, whose health has greatly improved, is 
 popular, and no longer a young man without experience. 
 No greater catastrophe could befall Europe than the 
 dismemberment of a Great Power, which is a geographical 
 necessity, placed, as it is, between the West and the East, 
 and serving as interpreter between the one and the other. 
 Diplomacy, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and were 
 Austria-Hungary to disappear the vacuum thus created 
 would be most difficult, if not impossible, to supply. The 
 mind is staggered at the combinations which might be 
 devised to supply the vacant place, and at the endless 
 struggles which it would cost to realise any of them. 
 
 Russia, like Austria, has been slowly but surely 
 advancing into the Turkish Empire. The first great step 
 on her course was the Treaty of Kutchuk-Kainardzi in 
 1774, which conceded to the Tsars the fatal privilege of 
 ^' speaking on behalf of " the Danubian Principalities 
 and of intervening as protectors of the Christian subjects 
 of Turkey. ^^ From that moment," says Von Hammer, 
 *' Russia has been the oracle of Turkish diplomacy, the 
 arbiter of peace or war, the soul of the most important 
 affairs of the Turkish Empire." There followed the 
 annexation of the Crimea, the extension of the Russian 
 frontier in Europe to the Pruth, and the first dash of the 
 
 504 
 
in the Near East 
 
 Russians across the Balkans in 1829. The Crimean War 
 was only a temporary check, and the march of the 
 Russian troops to San Stefano twenty years ago marked 
 a further advance on the path marked out by Catherine 
 II. It has yet to be seen whether the Berlin Treaty has 
 permanently frustrated Russian designs. Since the death 
 of M. Stambuloff she has regained her influence over the 
 Prince, but not over the people, of Bulgaria ; the King 
 of Roumania has this year, for the first time since 
 his betrayal by Russia in respect of Bessarabia, visited 
 St. Petersburg ; and Montenegro is, as ever, a loyal 
 supporter of the Tsar. Servia, too, has shown signs of 
 throwing herself into the arms of the Bear. But these 
 diplomatic successes in the Balkans are perhaps of less 
 real importance than they might have been formerly. 
 The Roumanians and the Bulgarians have had bitter 
 experiences of a Russian occupation, and have no wish 
 to be ^' treated like children," as we saw in the last chap- 
 ter ; and, in spite of King Carol's late visit to the Tsar and 
 the claims of the Roumanian Irredentists to the Rouma- 
 nian-speaking districts of Hungary, his country seems 
 likely to adhere to the Triple Alliance. The Roumanian 
 army, whose valour was displayed at Plevna, might thus be a 
 formidable obstacle to a Russian advance to Constanti- 
 nople by way of the Balkan Peninsula, and for that and other 
 reasons it is thought by some people at Constantinople, 
 who know the ground well, that the next Russian attack 
 will be by way of Asia, backed by a fleet at Riva, a place 
 on the Black Sea near the mouth of the Bosporus. Even 
 under Abdul Mejid, Abram Pasha, the Khedive Ismail's 
 agent, constructed a pier at this spot, and made a road 
 from Riva to Beikos on the Bosporus, to facilitate a 
 Russian attack. Moreover, in Asia the invaders would 
 be able to march from one plain into another — a great 
 advantage over the European route. It is also a remark- 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 able fact that Russians have bought up several of the 
 most commanding sites along the Bosporus, and there is 
 no doubt of the fear with which this hereditary foe 
 inspires the Sultan. 
 
 Of the success of Russian diplomacy no one can have 
 any doubt. As a British ofBcial, who had had ample 
 opportunities of observing it, said to me : ^' I admire the 
 results, just as much as I despise the methods, of Muscovite 
 diplomacy; one day Russia will outwit us in the Near, as 
 she has already outwitted us in the Far, East, for we 
 neglect our chances, political as well as commercial." 
 Tortuous as the foreign policy of Russia appears to be to 
 superficial observers, the Russian attitude towards Turkey 
 has always had the same end in view. Sometimes the 
 policy of the Tsars is to threaten and oppose the Turk 
 while championing the cause of the oppressed Christians 
 of the Turkish Empire. This is the attitude with which 
 the frequent Russo-Turkish wars have familiarised Europe, 
 and w^hich in the case of Crete is being at present followed 
 by Count Muravieff. But this policy of more or less open 
 hostility to Turkey is occasionally varied by the more in- 
 sidious one of protecting the Sultan against his enemies. It 
 was thus in 1833 that the Treaty of Hunkiar Iskelessi practi- 
 cally annihilated the independence of Turkey by placing 
 her under the august protection of Nicholas I. It was 
 thus too during the Armenian troubles that the late 
 Prince Lobanoff refused to move a finger on behalf of 
 the persecuted Christians, and frankly declared that he 
 did not wish to create a second Bulgaria in Asia Minor. 
 The object of this latter attitude is of course perfectly 
 obvious. There are times when it suits the convenience 
 of Russia to treat Turkey as a protected State, and to 
 allow her Ambassador at Constantinople to play at the 
 Court of the Sultan the part which is assigned to a 
 British Resident at the capital of a native state in India. 
 
 506 
 
in the Near East 
 
 In some ways a weak Turkey who looks to Russia for 
 protection and advice may suit the requirements of 
 Russian statesmen even better than a Turkey who is 
 actually dismembered, for in the latter case Russia must 
 go shares with Austria and possibly with other Powers as 
 well, while in the former she can reign in fact, if not in 
 name, at Constantinople, and direct the Turkish Empire 
 for her sole advantage through the mouth of the puppet 
 whom she maintains on his throne. Modern diplomacy 
 has indeed largely substituted for the old frank method 
 of conquest and direct annexation the politer, and in 
 some respects more convenient, arrangements which dis- 
 member the Turkish Empire by the use of such pleasant 
 phraseology as ^' autonomy," '' consolidation," or ^^ mili- 
 tary occupation." Thus by means of fictions, similar 
 to those of English law, the ^' integrity of the Ottoman 
 Empire " is maintained, and the Sultan is compensated 
 for the practical loss of his territories by the vague and 
 undefinable title of Suzerain. But a day will doubtless 
 come when these verbal excuses will break down and 
 Turkey will disappear, in fact no less than in name, from 
 the map of Europe. That Russia will eventually reach 
 Constantinople seems probable, but now that we are 
 firmly entrenched in Egypt such an event has hardly the 
 importance for us that it would have had formerly. 
 Whether the substitution of Russian for Turkish rule 
 on the Bosporus would be an advantage to the people 
 governed, is perhaps more doubtful. When the Russian 
 army was at San Stefano there was no less corruption 
 there than in Constantinople itself, and Russia has as 
 yet failed to deal with some of the most important 
 problems of administration. But that eventually Russia 
 will find her outlet at Constantinople, and Austria hers 
 at Salonica, seems to be the most natural course of 
 events. 
 
 507 
 
Travels and Politics 
 
 But of those events no man can fix the date. Again and 
 again the ^^ sick man " has seemed to be on his death- 
 bed, and again and again the mutual differences of his 
 physicians have prevented them from giving him the 
 medicine which would secure his happy dispatch. The 
 condition of Turkey is no doubt rotten to-day, but so it 
 was in the last century. A friend of mind once asked the 
 late Sir William White how long he thought Turkey 
 would continue to exist. The Ambassador, who happened 
 to be reading an old French work on that country, replied 
 that a hundred and forty years earlier the Ottoman Empire 
 was described as crumbling to pieces, ''yet," said he, 
 ''the same state of things still continues, so Turkey 
 perhaps may go on for a hundred and forty years more." 
 As long ago as 1769 a Russian minister wrote that "it 
 would not be difficult to put an end to the Turkish 
 Empire, which has preserved itself for so long solely 
 owing to the jealousies of the Christian Powers." The 
 sentence might have been taken from one of this year's 
 Blue Books. The weakness of Europe thus constituting 
 the strength of Turkey, nothing but a genuine agreement 
 among the Powers chiefly concerned, and at least a strict 
 neutrality on the part of the others, can solve the Eastern 
 Question. But this eventuality seems still to be very far 
 off, and in these troublous times when the Great Powers 
 are continually at variance, Turkey seems likely to have 
 a further lease of life. The " discovery " of Africa by 
 European statesmen has been a perfect God-send to 
 the Sultan, for not only does it provide the Powers 
 with a fresh bone of contention, but it also monopolises 
 the attention of the European public, always unable to 
 think of more than one thing at a time. Such events as 
 England's difficulties in the Transvaal, and the Spanish- 
 American War diverted men's eyes from what was going 
 on in Turkey, while the Far East seems likely, for a long 
 
 508 
 
in the Near East 
 
 time to come, to provide the Chancelleries with limitless 
 occupation. All one can say is that the Turkish Empire 
 in Europe is doomed, but that the death-agony may be 
 indefinitely prolonged. 
 
 509 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbazia, i, 7, 8 
 
 Abdul Hamid II., sec Turkey, Sultan 
 of 
 „ Mejid, 105. 505 
 Ada-Kaleh, Island of, 360-62 
 Agreement, Austro-Russian, 187 
 Akro-Corinth, 252-53 
 Albania, 38, 49, 51, 78-9, 206-14, 482 
 Albanian outrages. 379-80 
 
 „ Propaganda, 386-87 
 Almissa, 26 
 Andrassy, Count, 129 
 Anglo-Montenegrin Trading Co., 70, 
 
 73 
 Antivari, 51, 55, 65, 71-2, 76, 78 
 Argos, 253 
 
 Armenian massacres, 408-10 
 Athens, 257 ct sqq. 
 
 Austria-Hungary, Advance of, in Near 
 East, 501-4 
 „ ,, and Macedonia, 372, 
 
 388-89, 503 
 „ ,, and Servia, 474 
 
 ,, ,, Civilising influence 
 
 of, 38, ch. iii. passim 
 Austrian-Lloyd Steamship Co., 12, 72, 
 
 491, 503 
 Avlona, sec Valona 
 
 B 
 
 Balkan Confederation, Prospects of, 
 
 479-82 
 Banjaluka, 98, 102, 131, 163-67 
 Bela II., 129 
 Belgrade, 476-78 
 Berane, Skirmishes at, 49, 52 
 Berlin, Treaty of, 45, 87, 183 
 Berovic, Georgi, 225 
 
 51 
 
 Blagaj, 138, 140 
 
 Bogomiles, 143, 157, 179, 203, 439 
 
 Boi-a, The, i, 8 
 
 Boris, Prince. 460-61 
 
 Bosnia, 87-182, 197-205 
 
 Administration of, 1 14-18 
 Agriculture in, 103 
 Austro-Hungarian forces in, 
 
 119 
 Derivation of name of, 112 
 Education in, 97-103 
 Exhibition of products of, loi 
 Franciscans in, 98, 159, 164 
 Health of, 122-23 
 History of, 34, 87-90 
 Hotels in, iio-ii 
 Justice in, 106 
 Land question in, 103-7 
 Plums of, no 
 Press of, 1 13-14 
 Railways in, 108-10, 133-34 
 Religious sects in, 90-97 
 Taxation in, 120-22 
 Trade of, 1 12-13 
 Bourgas, 433-36 
 Bred, 108, 127, 131 
 Brusa, loi, 418-24 
 Bugojno, 131, 157 
 Bulgaria, 433-73 
 
 Claims of, in Macedonia, 
 
 372-77, 469, 481 
 Inns of, 450-51 
 Prince Ferdinand of, 49, 375, 
 
 407-8, 456, 461-64, 481 
 Public life in, 463-65 
 Railways of, 458-60 
 Servants in, 454-55 
 Sobranjd of, 460 
 Buna, 138-40 
 I 
 
Ind 
 
 ex 
 
 Cajnica, 180-2 
 Candia, see Crete 
 Canea, see Crete 
 Castelnuovo, 34, 37, 109 
 Cattaro, Bocchedi, 8, 11, 35-40, 51, 76, 
 86 
 „ Town of, 38-40 
 Cephalonia, 233-35 
 Cetinje, 33, 42-3, 45, 66, 73 
 Coeur de Lion, 35 
 Constantinople, 390-432 
 
 „ Dogs in, 425 
 
 „ Fires in, 427 
 
 „ Taxes in, 428-29 
 
 Corfu, 214-33 
 
 „ British rule in, 216-19, 220-22 
 „ Homeric legend in, 214, 216 
 „ in wartime, 222-23, 225-27, 
 229 
 Corinth Canal, 250-52 
 Crete, 219, 322-52 
 
 „ Refugees from, 264-66 
 Crnagora, see Montenegro 
 Croatia, 129 
 Cyrillic alphabet, 32, 97, 99, 453 
 
 Dalmatia, 10-40 
 
 „ Costume of, 19 
 
 „ Diet of, 22, 23 
 
 ,, Neglect of, 10 
 
 ,, Newspapers of, 11, 21, 32 
 
 „ Politics of, II, 15, 33 
 
 ,, Roads of, II 
 
 ,, Scenery of, 10, 18 
 
 „ Seamen of, 11 
 
 Danilovgrad, 80 
 Deligeorgis, M., 298, 308 
 Delphi, 246-50 
 
 Delyannis, M., 287-89, 309, 312 
 Dioclea, 79 
 
 Diocletian, Palace of, 24 
 Doboj, 170-71 
 Dolnja Tuzla, 113, 171 
 Drina, The, 179, 197-201 
 Dulcigno, 44, 49, 59, 65, 71 
 Durazzo, 211-12 
 Dusan, Tsar, 47, 49, 62, 371, 378, 472 
 
 Emperor, The Austrian, 7, 34, 127 
 170, 172, 179 
 „ The German, 7, 8, 426-27, 
 
 497, 499 
 Envir Pasha, 276-77 
 
 Falcons, 173-74. 
 Foiba, The, 4-7 
 
 France in the Near East, 491, 500- 
 501 
 
 G 
 
 Germany in the Near East, 100, 293, 
 
 319, 494, 496-501 
 Gladstone, Mr., and Austria, 503 
 „ „ and Macedonia, 388 
 
 „ „ and Montenegro, 44, 
 
 45. 52 
 Glasinac, Cemetery of, 203 
 Gorazda, 179, 197-98 
 Grahovo, 85 
 
 Great Britain in the Near East, 44, 45, 
 52, 70, 73, 293, 319, 325, 327-29, 4^9- 
 96 
 Greco-Turkish War, 213, 222-23, 225- 
 27, 229, 243-44, 261 ct sqq., 363, 481 
 Greece, 214-320 
 ,, Army of, 311 
 
 Brigandage in, 273-74 
 ,, Crown Prince of, 281, 285, 
 
 309, 3^2 
 ,, Dogs in, 274 
 ,, Earthquakes in, 235-36, 252, 
 
 259-60 
 ,, Easter in, 254-61 
 „ Executioner of, 254 
 „ Inns of, 228, 237-38 
 ,, Justice in, 310-11, 313 
 „ King George of, 127, 220-21, 
 241-42, 263-64, 280 et sqq. 
 „ Macedonian claims of, 381- 
 
 84 
 „ Monasteries of, 228-32, 242- 
 
 46. 
 „ Paper currency of, 218 
 ,, Parliament of, 304 et sqq. 
 ,, Politics in, 279-320 
 „ Press of, 258, 262, 301, 303, 
 318 
 
 5i 
 
Index 
 
 Greece, Prince George of, 284, 309, 
 328, 344-47 
 „ Queen Olga of, 283-84, 316 
 ,, Railways of, 240-41, 243, 271, 
 
 314 
 
 „ Titles in, 294 
 
 Grekoff, M., 377, 467-68 
 
 H 
 
 Hercegovina, The, 34> 35. 5o-i. 102, 
 109, 1 12- 14, 119. See also Bosnia 
 
 Hrvoje, Bosnian "king-maker," 34, 
 161-62, 164 
 
 Hungarian claim on Bosnia, 129 
 
 I 
 
 Ilid2e, loi, 125, 144, 153-54 
 Irby, Miss, 107 
 Irredentists, Italian, 3-4 
 
 ,, Roumanian, 386, 505 
 
 Istria, 1-9 
 
 Italy in the Near East, 207, 325, 327- 
 30, 501 
 
 J 
 
 Jablanica, 142-43. ^57 
 Jajce, 88^, 129, 157-63 
 Jews in Bosnia, 125, 147 
 
 „ Salonica, 125 
 
 „ Smyrna, 125 
 Jezero, 163 
 
 K 
 Kallay, Baron von, 24, 50, 90, no, 112 
 
 120, 123, 125, 128 
 Kallay, Baroness von, 125-27, 164 
 Kalofer, 443-44 
 Karapanos, M., 298, 300, 308 
 Karst, The, 2, 10 
 Kazanlik, 444-45 
 Kerka, Falls of the, 18-19 
 Konjica, 144 
 
 Koutzo-Wallachs, 372, 384-^6 
 Krivosije, The, 86 
 
 Lacroma, Island of, 35 
 Livno, 24, 131 
 Lussin-piccolo, 13 
 
 M 
 
 Macedonian question, The, 369-89 
 „ races (i.) Albanians, 386- 
 
 87 
 „ „ (ii.) Bulgarians,372 
 
 377 
 „ „ (iii.)Greeks, 381-84 
 
 „ (iv.) Roumanians, 
 384-86 
 „ „ (v.) Servians, 377- 
 
 81 
 „ railways, 49, 187 
 
 Maglaj, 171-74 
 Mahmud II., 90, 411, 485 
 Marathon, 272-73 
 Matanovic, M., 54 
 Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, at 
 
 Lacroma, 35 
 Medua, S. Giovanni di, 69, 209-210. 
 Megara, dances at, 254-57 
 Megaspelaion, Monastery of, 243-46 
 Metalka-Sattel, 182 
 Metkovic, 133, 140 
 Mirdites, 210 
 Mohammed II., 160, 423 
 Montenegro, 41-86 
 
 Army of, 65-7 
 Christmas in, 64-5 
 Costume of, 56-8 
 Crown Prince of, 59-62 
 Education in, 75 
 Journalism in, 41 
 Post Office of, 69 
 Prince Mirko of, 63 
 Prince Nicholas I. of, 32, 
 33 ; (his relations with 
 Austria -Hungary) 32, 
 38,44,49-53,68, 119; 
 (with Bulgaria) 49 ; 
 (with Great Britain) 
 42, 44-6, 52, 54 ; (with 
 Servia) 47, 481 ; (with 
 Turkey) 44, 73, 78 ; 
 (his writings) 33, 46-7 
 61, 76 
 Princess of, 57, 59 
 Princess Anna of, 42 
 Princess Helena of, 41, 
 46,74 
 
 2L 
 
 ■513 
 
Index 
 
 Montenegro, Roads in, 67-8 
 
 „ Subjects of, in Constanti- 
 
 nople, 409-10, 415, 426 
 Mostar, 91-3, 9^. 102, 134-41 
 
 N 
 
 Nacevic, M., 468-70 
 
 Narenta Canal, 109, 132-33 
 
 Nauplia, 254 
 
 Niksic, 33, 55, 67, 84-5 
 
 Nis, 475-76 
 
 Njegu§, 55 
 
 Novi-Bazar, Sandzak of, 15, 50, 121-22, 
 ch. V. passim, 389 ; (Austro-Turkish 
 relations in) 183-88, 189; (Govern- 
 ment of) 183-86 ; (Political import- 
 ance of) 186-88 
 
 Olympia, 239-40 
 Ostrog, 81-4 
 
 Palaeokastrizza, Monastery of, 228-32 
 
 Parenzo, 4 
 
 Patras, 241 
 
 Pcrianiks, 56, 65, 85 
 
 Petrovic, Bozo, 63-4 
 
 Phaleron, 271-72 
 
 Philippopolis, 436-41 
 
 Pinguente, 2 
 
 Piraeus, The, 268-71 
 
 Pirano, 3 
 
 Pisino, 2-7 
 
 Plamenac, E., 64 
 
 Plevlje, 178, 184-85, 189-97 
 „ Pasha of, 188, 192-94 
 
 Pocitelj, 134 
 
 Podgorica, 55, 66-7, 73, 78-9 
 
 Pola, 4, 8-13 
 
 Poljica, Republic of, 26 
 
 Pomaks, 89, 470-71 
 
 Pribinic, 168-70 
 
 Prinkipo, 430 
 
 Quarnero, The, 8, 13 
 
 R 
 
 Ragusa, 10, 26-36 
 
 Rama, 129 
 
 Rhallis, M., 280, 289-97, 308 
 
 Risano, 37, 85-6 
 
 Ristic, M., 472, 480 
 
 Rjeka, 55, 77 
 
 Robert College, 411-17, 44° 
 
 Rogatica, 201-203 
 
 Roumanians, 481-82, 505 
 
 Roumelia, Eastern, see Bulgaria 
 
 Roses, Valley of, 444-45 
 
 Rudolph, Archduke, 35, 67, 127, 155, 
 
 162 
 Russia in the Near East, 38, 55, 66, 72, 
 
 74-5, 328, 504-507 
 
 Sabioncello, Peninsula of, 11, 35, 132 
 Salonica, 186, 196, 363-69, 372, 376, 
 
 378; 383, 440, 469 
 Samakov, Missionaries at, 450-54 
 Samos, 353-60 
 
 „ Prince of, 355-56 
 Samuel, Bulgarian Tsar, 62, 371, 373, 
 
 482 
 San Stefano, Treaty of, 188, 374, 383, 
 
 432 
 Santi Quaranta, 69, 213-14 
 Sarajevo, 90, 94, 96, 98, 101-102, 144- 
 
 52 
 Scutari in Albania, 51-2, 73, 208-209 
 Sebenico, 16-21 
 
 Servia, Ex-King Milan of, 47, 473-74 
 ,,' King Alexander of, 47, 473-74 
 „ Politics of, 472-75 
 ,, Propaganda of in Macedonia, 
 377-81 
 Scenery of, 475-77 
 " Seven Castles," The, 22 
 Shipka Pass, The, 445-49 
 Simeon, Bulgarian Tsar, 62, 371-73 
 
 440, 482 
 Skanderbeg, 62, 207 
 Slivnica, 472 
 Smolensk!, General C, 263, 280, 300- 
 
 304 
 Sofia, 456 et sqq. 
 Spalato, 10, 24-6, 109 
 Spizza,5i, 71 
 
 5H 
 
Index 
 
 Stagno Grande, 131 
 „ Piccolo, 132 
 Stambuloff, M., 440, 461, 463 
 Stoiloff, Dr. C, 414, 440, 466-67 
 Streit, M., 298 
 Suda Bay, 328, 348 
 
 Tattooing, 156 
 
 Thessalian Mussulmans, 471 
 
 Thessaly, Turkish occupation of, 274- 
 
 78 
 Tomasevic, Stephen, King of Bosnia, 
 
 88, 160-61 
 Tommaseo, N., 21 
 Trail, 10, 22, 23 
 Travnik, 102, 154-57 
 Trebinje, 34, 102 
 Tricoupis, Ch., 260, 281, 287, 291-92, 
 
 295, 305-306, 309, 312, 472 
 Turkey, Sultan of, 404-11, 484 
 Turkish administration, 350-51, 390- 
 92 
 ,, bakshish, 402-404 
 „ censorship, 394, 397, 400- 
 
 401 
 „ currency, 397-400 
 „ navy, 486 
 ,, passports, 401-402 
 
 postoftice, 359, 395-97 
 press, 393-94 
 ,, railways, 108, 196-97, 209, 
 211-12, 363, 365,421,424 
 
 Turkish reforms, 483-88 
 ,, roads, 107 
 
 331,346,390 
 „ soldiers, 194, 226, 323, 329, 
 331, 346, 390 
 spies, 392-93 
 time, 429 
 ,, women, 418 
 " Turks, Young," 487-88 
 Tvrtko I., King of Bosnia, 34, 62 
 
 U 
 
 Usora, 113, 170 
 Usref, 89, 147 
 
 Val di Noce, 71 
 Valona, 212-13 
 Vathy, sec Samos 
 
 Venice, Influence of, in Near East, 
 3, 10, 13-15, 20, 26, 35, 38, 334, 339 
 Verne, M. Jules, 6. 
 Visegrad, 136, 200-201 
 Volo, 275-78 
 Vranduk, 174-76 
 
 Z 
 
 Zabliak, yj 
 
 Zaimis, M., 297-98, 303, 310, 317 
 
 Zante, 219, 235-36 
 
 Zara, 13-15 
 
 ,, Vecchia, 15 
 Zenica, 103, no 
 Zlarin, Island of, 16 
 
 515 
 
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