Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

216 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. drew from the somewhat thunderous atmosphere of his study. And at a distance from the palace my interpreter and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. The bales remained where they were, and in order to make all 'square and above-board' so far as the British Relief Fund was concerned, I told the Kaimmakam on leaving that our distribution work had been quite completed. My last week was a crowded one. I had some money to give away; the question was, how? I thought of buying plough-oxen for one or two villages to aid the spring sowing. This was impossible, as the headmen I interviewed insisted that the beasts must be presents to individuals (= themselves), and not for ploughing land to feed the village. The owner could let them out to his neighbours, and so make money. I had already learnt how the leading men of the villages made money by capturing the flour-tickets and selling them back to the ownersone gang even charged so much a head for letting the people have the flour; and I should have handed them over to the Kaimmakam had I discovered the fraud in time to see the matter through. Then I offered a few sheep and goats to certain villages to start a flock. Everyone quarrelled, and was certain that no one who had them would let anyone else have even one lamb. It was but another example of the 'Burden of the Balkans.' They were too much occupied in ' doing' each other to be able to work together for a common end. I therefore chose three very poor villages, gave money to each widow and
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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 216
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
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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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