Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

326 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. lying districts is very hard, and only the fittest of all have any chance of surviving. About a quarter of the land was cultivated, and clearances were being made in a forest, where the soil was rich. We rode out into a fair open grass plot, with two big walnut-trees in the middle, Here the suvarri halted us to admire the deep bullet trenches with which trunks and boughs were freely scored. A year ago two wretched men, a father and son, the owners of that house on the hill, had here dodged bullets until hit. A big tumulus of stones covered all that was left of them. Why were they killed? The suvarri did not know. Probably they had blood on them. If so, it was very foolish of them to go out not properly armed. (To go out without a gun under these circumstances is as foolish as to go out without an umbrella in England, and then complain if you get wet.) The judges had sent the assailants to Hades. This is a wild Pagan land, called Moslem, but neither church nor mosque, priest nor 'hodja,' is to be found in many of the scattered villages. Stones jammed in the fork of many a wayside branch told of the beliefs that really sway the people. They are put as resting-places for the feet of the dead as they pass through the air, and the neighbourhood had very considerately furnished the route with plenty. I fancy my kirijee added one. When called on for military service, the men of these vague villages will often declare themselves Christians and exempt, and afterwards repel with -
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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 326
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/ans3900.0001.001/333

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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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