Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

140 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. find a meal there was always mastic. Everyone drinks from the same bottle-a quaint pewter one decorated with red glass beads. It flew from mouth to mouth, pausing every few minutes for refilling, and the company sucked the bottle and chewed leaves from a bowl of raw salt cabbage, hard and woody, pickled in strong brine, or ate ' paprika,' the local pepper pod, and raised a colossal, incredible thirst. Weak mastic has little alcohol in it, but the strong variety is poteht and fiery, and they tipped it down like water. Many people came to see me, for they said, in most places, I was the only European who had stayed there except the Russian Consul. He had worked the land pretty thoroughly, and had left a tradition of fabulous wealth. The talk ran mostly on 'bands' and 'committees.' Of their poor little victories they were very proud. When they had surprised a small body of soldiers they killed the lot, and poured petroleum on the bodies and burnt them. Then no one would ever know where they had fallen, and they could not be avenged. ' I hope they were all dead when you burnt them,' I said. 'Who knows? ' they replied oracularly. About the committees they were usually very bitter. 'They took all our money, and are safe in Sofia. We have lost all.' Sarafov was very unpopular. The local leader, Arsov, many of them still believed in. But as a
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About this Item

Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 140
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.
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