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

ELBASAN TO SKODRA. 351 seen even the wildest of them torturing an animal for fun, a sight too common in South Italy. There is a really good carriageable road to Tirana, the only one I had seen since crossing the Turkish frontier months ago. The fact that I had not to be perpetually balancing, steering, scrambling, and dismounting, struck me as one of the most extraordinary experiences of my journey-as though a dream of years ago had come true. I had great difficulty in realizing that I had lived most of my life with roads as good. We went along quickly, and I saw at once by his splendid seat on horseback that the suvarri was not an Albanian. When we halted halfway he poured out a strange tale of sorrow. He was a Russian subject and a Circassian. He hated Russia with a bitter hatred, had escaped over the borders and got to Trebizond. His one desire was to go to Europe, He managed to be taken as horse-boy by a Turkish officer, and came with him to Durazzo. He then turned suvarri and married. This was two years ago, Now it had been discovered he was a Russian subject, and he must leave the force. If he became a Turkish one he must do military service, in which case he would have no pay, and his wife and child would be left alone to starve; or he must pay exemption, which was impossible. The only thing left for him was to fly in a foreign ship with them, Perhaps if he sold his horse and gun he could manage it. His great terror was that he should be given back to Russia. All he wanted was to serve the Sultan faithfully as a suvarri. Such is the

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Title: The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author: Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas: Page 351
Publication: London :: Nelson,; [1905]
Subject terms: Eastern question (Balkan); Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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Collection: Travels in Southeastern Europe
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/358

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Full citation: "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.

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

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