The Land of the Black Mountain - The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro

Reginaldprance Wyon, Reginald Wyon, Gerald Prance

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• Publié par: jodec
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 39
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Land of the Black Mountain, by Reginald Wyon Gerald Prance This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Land of the Black Mountain The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Author: Reginald Wyon Gerald Prance Montenegro Release Date: January 27, 2006 [EBook #17613] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN *** Produced by the University of Michigan Digital Library, Nikola Smolenski, Sankar Viswanathan, and Online Distributed Proofreading Team at Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net H.R.H. PRINCE NICOLAS OF MONTENEGRO THE LAND OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN THE ADVENTURES OF TWO ENGLISHMEN IN MONTENEGRO BY REGINALD WYON and GERALD PRANCE WITH FIFTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS "SOME GLIMPSING AND NO PERFECT SIGHT" CHAUCER NEW AND CHEAPER ISSUE METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published March 1903 New and Cheaper Issue 1905 DEDICATED BY KIND PERMISSION TO H.R.H. PRINCE NICOLAS OF MONTENEGRO CONTENTS Pages INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I Montenegro's geographical position—Character of the people —Their honesty, patriotism, and love of arms—Likeness to the Homeric Greeks—The women—Montenegrin manners, vices, heroism, lack of privacy, police—Goodness of the Prince—The national costume—Religion—Hatred of Austria—Russia's friendship CHAPTER II xiii-xviii [vii] 1-14 History from first conquest by the Romans, 300 B.C., down to the present Prince—Fruits of the last campaign—Education—The military system—Legal administration—Crime—Government—The educated classes CHAPTER III The journey to Montenegro—Arrival in Cattaro—Beauty of the Bocche, and the drive to the frontier—First impressions of Montenegro—Njeguši—The national troubadours—Arrival in Cetinje CHAPTER IV Cetinje and its sights—Prince Nicolas—The Archbishop—The barracks—The princes—A visit to the prison and its system—Our departure for Podgorica CHAPTER V The view from Bella Vista—New scenery—Promiscuous shooting —The market in Rijeka—The shepherds—Their flocks—Wayside hospitality—The plain of the Zeta—The Morača—The Vizier bridge —Old war-marks—First and last impressions of Podgorica CHAPTER VI Podgorica—Its central position—Our headquarters—Easter in Montenegro—Our experience of it—We view the town—The prison and its inmates—Christian and Mahometan friction—The modern town—The market and the armed buyers—The Black Earth—Easter customs—Montenegrin methods of doing business CHAPTER VII Medun—Voivoda Marko—His life and business—His part in Montenegrin history—Our ride to Medun—His widow—We visit his grave—The Death Dirge—Montenegrin customs at death—Target practice—Our critics—The hermit of Daibabe—We visit Spuž—A typical country inn and a meal—The Turkish renegade gives his views on warfare—Dioclea CHAPTER VIII Achmet Uiko tells his story—Sokol Baćo, ex-Albanian chief —Shooting on the Lake of Scutari—Our journey thither—Our frustrated nap—Arrival at the chapel—The island of Vranjina—The priest—Fishing and fishermen—Our visitors—We return to Podgorica CHAPTER IX Stephan our servant—Virpazar—The drive over the Sutormann Pass—Antivari and Prstan—The beauty of the bay—We are delayed by contrary winds—We are rowed to Dulcigno—We make the acquaintance of Marko Ivanković—A story concerning him—We shoot together—An episode on a lake—Vaccination—The Turkish inhabitants 15-30 31-41 42-54 55-64 65-78 79-94 95-108 109130 CHAPTER X We ride to Scutari—The Albanian Customs officials—We suffer much from Turkish saddles—Arrival at Scutari, and again pass the Customs—"Buon arrivato"—Scutari and its religious troubles—The town and bazaar—A slight misunderstanding, Yes and No—We return to Rijeka by steamer—The beauties of the trip—Wrong change—The prodigal son's return, when the fatted calf is not killed CHAPTER XI Preparations for our tour in the Brda—We start—Where it is not good to be giddy—A trying ride—Our inn—Nocturnal episodes —The journey continued—Pleasant surroundings—The Montenegrin quart d'heure —Arrival in Kolašin—We meet the Governor—Visiting—The Band of Good Hope—The Crown Prince's birthday—We are ashamed CHAPTER XII Montenegro's oldest building—The ride to the Morača Monastery —A perilous bridge and ascent—The Abbot's tale—We inspect the Monastery—The health of the King is drunk—The relative merits of Boers and Montenegrins—The Abbot makes us presents—We visit a peasant's house and a Homeric feast—A feu-de-joie—Departure from Kolašin—We are mistaken for doctors again—Raskrsnica CHAPTER XIII A typical mountain hut—Costume of the north-eastern borderers —Supper and a song—We go out hunting, and cause excitement —The Feast of Honour—We ride to Andrijevica—Andrijevica and our inn—The Voivoda—We go to church—Turkish visitors —Alarums CHAPTER XIV The Voivoda's invitation—Concerning an episode on our ride to Velika—The fugitive from a blood-feud and his story—We arrive at Velika—The men of Velika—The ménu—Border jurisdiction—A shooting-match—The Kom—Pleasant evenings—A young philosopher—Sunset CHAPTER XV We leave Andrijevica—Our additional escort—The arrival at our camping-place—In an enemy's country—The story of one Gjolić —Our slumbers are disturbed—Sunrise on the Alps—We disappoint our escort—"Albanian or Montenegrin?"—A reconnaissance—The Forest of Vučipotok—The forbidden land—narrow escape—We arrive at Rikavac—Rain damps our ardour—Nocturnal visitors CHAPTER XVI More memorial stones—We get wet again—Unwilling hosts—A fall —The Franciscan of Zatrijebać—The ravine of the Zem—Methods of settling tribal differences—A change of diet and more pleasant evenings—A fatalist—Sunday morning 131144 145158 159174 175188 189203 204220 221232 CHAPTER XVII A modern hero, and our sojourn under his roof—Kećo's story—The laws of vendetta and their incongruity—We return to Podgorica —The Montenegrin telephone—An elopement causes excitement —The Sultan's birthday—The reverse of the picture—A legal anomaly CHAPTER XVIII S. Vasili and Ostrog—Our drive thither—Joyful pilgrims—Varied costumes—We meet the Vladika of Montenegro—The ordeal of hot coffee—A real pilgrimage—The shrine of S. Vasili—The ancient hermit—A miracle—Nikšić—The gaudy cathedral and the Prince's palace—We are disappointed at Nikšić CHAPTER XIX The Club and its members—Gugga—Irregularities of time—The absence of the gentle muse and our surprise—The musician's story and his subsequent fate—The Black Earth—A typical border house —The ordeal of infancy—A realistic performance which is misunderstood—Concerning a memorable drive—A fervent prayer CHAPTER XX We reconsider our opinion of Cetinje—A Montenegrin wake and its consequences—A hero's death—Montenegrin conversation —Needless appeals to the Deity—We visit the hospital CHAPTER XXI The Law Court in Cetinje—The Prince as patriarch—A typical lawsuit—Pleasant hours with murderers—Our hostel—A Babel of tongues—Our sojourn draws to a close—The farewell cup of coffee and apostrophe INDEX 233247 248262 263279 280289 290297 298 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACE PAGE H.R.H. PRINCE NICOLAS OF MONTENEGRO THE GRAF WURMBRAND, IN THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO NJEGUSI THE GUSLAR MONTENEGRIN INFANTRY THE VLADIKA AT THE MONASTERY OF IVAN BEG THE PRINCE'S PALACE Frontispiece 33 37 38 39 43 43 45 [xi] GENERAL VIEW OF CETINJE THE FEMALE PRISONERS THE PRISONERS DANCING THE VIZIER BRIDGE GENERAL VIEW OF PODGORICA THE RIBNICA THE GRAVE SCENE AT MEDUN VOIVODA MARKO SIMEON POPOVIC AND HIS CHAPEL SPUZ ACHMET UIKO SOKOL BACO THE POP OF VRANJINA AN ALBANIAN GIRL VIRPAZAR ANTIVARI OR BAR MARKO IVANKOVIC THE BRIDGE AT RIJEKA VACCINATION BAZAAR LIFE, DULCIGNO THE CONSULAR QUARTER, SCUTARI KOLASIN—THE MARKET-PLACE THE KOLO A TYPICAL ROAD THE MORACA MONASTERY OUR HUT AT RASKRSNICA ANDRIJEVICA CHURCH PARADE VELIKA MORINA THE FUGITIVE OF VELIKA THE VASOJEYICKI KOM ALBANIANS AND MONTENEGRINS AT ANDRIJEVICA THE RAVINE OF TERPETLIS THE PATH THROUGH THE VUCIPOTOK AFTER MASS AT ZATRIJEBAC MONTENEGRIN WOMEN THE LOWER MONASTERY, OSTROG THE UPPER MONASTERY THE CHURCH, NIKSIC THE CHURCH AND THE PALACE A REALISTIC PERFORMANCE AN ALBANIAN HOME ON THE CRNA ZEMLJA 46 50 52 62 65 67 86 89 89 90 100 100 104 104 111 113 122 122 129 129 137 157 157 160 162 175 183 185 195 198 198 199 199 205 215 231 252 255 256 260 260 274 274 INTRODUCTION "What a terrible country!" said a lady tourist to me once in Cetinje, "nothing but barren grey rocks; and what poverty! I declare I shan't breathe freely till I am out of it again." This is a common opinion of travellers to Montenegro, and one that is spread by them all over Europe. And yet how unjust! A fairly large number of tourists take the drive from beautiful little Cattaro up that wild mountain-side and through the barren Katunska to Cetinje. A few hours later they return the way they came, convinced that they have seen Montenegro. A few, very few, prolong the tour to Podgorica and Nikšić, returning with a still firmer conviction that they have penetrated into the very fastnesses of that wonderful little land. These chosen few have at least seen that all is not bare and rocky, that there are rich green valleys, rushing mountain torrents, and pleasant streams. If they are very observant they will likewise notice that the men of these parts are more wildly clad and fiercer-looking than their more polished brethren of the "residence." Rifles are carried more universally the nearer lies Albania, and in Podgorica itself they will have seen—particularly if chance has brought them there on a market-day—crowds of savage-looking hill-men, clad in the white serge costume of Albania, standing over their handful of field produc