Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

20 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. century Slavs were settled as far south even as modem Greece. They seem to have formed the rural population of the plains, while the Greeks inhabited the towns and the sea-coast. From these Slav tribes are descended all the Servian-speaking people of the peninsula-the Servians, the Montenegrins, the Bosnians and Herzegovinians, and, as we shall see later, in a large degree the modern Bulgars too. Thus at this very early date began the burning question of the present day-the enmity that rages between Slav and Albanian in the districts both claim. ' Servian!' said an Albanian to me but a month or two ago. 'Servian! Yes, I have heard so much that I understand it, but I will not soil my mouth by repeating their dirty words! ' 'Why do you hate them so? ' I asked. 'Because,' he replied calmly, 'we are born like that. It is in our blood.' 'Like cats and dogs,' said I. 'Exactly so, mademoiselle. It is like cats and dogs.' Things look so different through other windows. When the Albanian loots or burns a Slav village, his act, in the eyes of Europe, is ' an atrocity.' Seen through Albanian glasses it is quite another colour. The Albanian has fought for his land with all its invaders in turn, and is doing so still. He is at once the oldest and the youngest thing in the Balkan Peninsula. He and his rights and wrongs are at
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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 20
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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