Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

MONASTIR TO TEPELEN. 275 mills, farms and stock-levied blackmail freely, and tyrannized over the population, who complained so bitterly of him to the Government that he is now under trial at Constantinople. The konak was passing rich, rumour said. All the nails that went to the making of one room were of pure silver, and in Ali Pasha's time the Beg possessed enough silver-mounted weapons to arm 300 men. It showed, dim and mysterious through the rain, a fit stronghold for a wild chieftain in a wild land. High above, veiled in the clouds on the very mountain-top, lay the ruins, I was told, of King Pyrrhus's castle-Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, and lord of all this land in the brave days of old, and still celebrated here. We rode into the han at the mountain's foot, a desolate place with a few bare, dirty rooms, in one of which I had a fire lit; my guide, the kirijee and I steamed while we ate the eggs and bread we had brought with us. The military escort meanwhile drank ralija freely, and blew out itself and its horses down below, and ran me up a fine bill, which had to be paid. 'Honour' is a very expensive thing. My guide, who was used to getting about the country at a franc or two a day, was much distressed. I was to have been met by more military at this point, but they had not turned up. The lot that had come with me were soaking wet, and said it was impossible to go on. I mounted, rode through them, and waved good-bye, which surprised them,
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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 275
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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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/282

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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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