Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

MIRDITA. 375 of the Mati, climbed a hill, descended into another valley, and reached and forded the Fan i vogele (Little Fani). We had been steadily going up all day. Near the river stood the zaptieh's house, and this he begged us to visit. He and his cousin had built it, and the interior was not yet quite finished. It was a solid stone house-nothing more nor less, in fact, than a block-house constructed for defence, the ground floor pitch-dark and windowless, intended merely as storehouse and stable, the upper floor reached by a ladder, and li hted by slits and loopholes. The floors and beams were all of oak, and very solid. Antonio was very proud of and pleased with the house that was his castle, and hurried to do the honours of it. Such was his hospitality that he would not let me off with less than six coffees and five rakijas. He was a dark man with stronglymarked features, tall, lean, and very long-necked. The long neck seemed to me a Mirdite peculiarity. As a whole, the Mirdites, as I saw them, did not strike me as so tall as the rest of the Albanians, but they are extraordinarily supple, wiry and active, have very good brainpans and bright, keen faces. I could not decide whether dark or fair predominated. The women wear a costume unlike any of the others that I have met-a long white shirt, tied round the waist with a long red woollen fringe that forms an apron in front, and long linen trousers to the
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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 375
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/ans3900.0001.001/382

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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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