Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

MIRDITA. 379 object. The vendettas, as in Shpata, are so numerous that most families owe somebody blood. The fifty Mirdite zaptiehs instituted by the Turks when they 'conquered' Mirdita are, like other Turk-appointed officials, rarely paid by the Government, and as there is no prison to which to take a prisoner nor anyone to try him, there is little use in arresting him. The chief use of the zaptiehs is in providing armed escort to such as require it. Every stranger not properly introduced and vouched for is looked on with suspicion, and may be shot at sight., And the people cling jealously to the right of private vengeance given them by the law of the mountain, the prehistoric code which is all they know. Few of them go even to Skodra. They live in the same way as did their ancestors in Alexander the Great's day, and, having seen nothing else, are entirely content with it. The Abbot spoke with a sigh of the comfortable cottages of Newfoundland, with curtains in the windows and pots of flowers. 'My poor people,' he said, 'have not the least idea what comfort is.' Under his teaching, however, they are raising more flocks and tilling more ground. His own well-caredfor flocks and fields form a good object-lesson. He was extremely busy, for next Sunday was the feast of St. Alexander, the patron saint of Mirdita; he expected a gathering of the nation, and was to put up twenty-five priests in his own house. A gang of men was at work levelling the ground by 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 379
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/ans3900.0001.001/386

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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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