Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

ELBASAN TO SKODRA. 357 some bread. The cookshop is a very lean one. A han halfway, we were assured, would supply us. The first part of the track is as fine as any I knowhuge wooded rocks and a wild stream. The sun came out hot and brilliant, and the young greenery was all aglow. Much of the way was too rough to ride. Then came a grand oak forest, where clearings had but recently been made, and men were tilling the rich fat leaf-mould. Presently the air was diabolic with brimstone, and we rode out of the trees to a clear and brilliant spring that spread and formed a little lake, reeking of sulphur that thickly coated bank and reed and stone. As a cure, the peasants value the spring highly. Hard by stands a little open shed, railed in front; within is a cross, and above a belfry. It is a Roman Catholic chapel on a very old site, and the Christians of the neighbourhood flock to the service which is held once a year. Otherwise it is left open and alone, protected only by its sanctity. The Albanians respect one another's holy things. In districts largely Moslem you may see a rough wooden cross standing all alone by the trackside with a little money-box attached to it. About midday we reached the halfway han. But 'when we got there the cupboard was bare.' Not a bite of anything did it afford. We sat under a tree and munched our dry bread; it was yesterday's, and very, very dry. But the hanjee's black coffee put fresh energy into us. Just as we were ready to start one of the kirijeeq found he had dropped his best waistcoat on the
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Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 357
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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