Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

TEPELEN TO ELBASAN. 327 guns the men sent to collect army tax on the grounds that they are Moslems, and not liable. At last, in the valley, some stumps and a broken arch showed where the bridge had been. We steered for the river, and the suvarri, yelling and bawling to some peasants on the bank to know where it was fordable, took to the water. I won his esteem by following without hesitation. We just did not have to swim, and the others made the plunge with obvious reluctance. This amused him vastly; and to prove that I was not afraid of anything, 'not even Martinas,' he swung round his horse, and threw his rifle to his shoulder playfully. After this we bustled along over a fair track, and saw Elbasan out on a big plain-white minarets a-twinkle among cypresses-and we never seemed to get any nearer. Finally, we crossed the Skumbi, the frontier of Ghegaria, on another of Kurd Pasha's bridges, trailed into the town at sunset, and drew rein at the han. I was horribly tired, for I had been too joggled to eat more than an egg and a bit of bread at midday, and I fondly hoped for rest and refreshment, but no such luck. The Police Commissary at Berat, who was reputed among the Christians to 'have Satan in his heart,' had telegraphed that two suspicious and revolutionary characters were coming, and the police at Elbasan were awaiting us. I had scarcely time to climb up to a tiny unfurnished room that gave on the balcony, 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 327
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

Technical Details

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/334

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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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