Travels in Southeastern Europe

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

42 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. and falling back upon the mountains of Montenegro. The Turks seized the plains, but the natural fortifications of the mountains were too much for them. Balsha was followed by Stefan Crnoievich, and thermountains of Montenegro have never owned Turkish rule. Meanwhile the whole of the mountain tribes of Albania defended themselves. Lek Dukagin and his brother Paul remained independent in the highlands between the Drin and the sea, where their tribe and that of the Mirdites still dwell untamed, and ruled by the unwritten 'law of the mountains,' which bears Lek's name to this day, but is rumoured to have come down from a remote antiquity, and to be the oldest existing law in Europe. And so it may be, for it would be hard to find a cruder code. It contains no provision for the trial or punishment of murder. The relatives of the murdered man are left to avenge him when and how they please. The Topias defended the neighbourhood of Tirana. We hear, too, of the Shpatas, the Musakis, and the Dushmans in the districts where their names are still known, and Venice held most of the coast towns.
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Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 42
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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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 May 1, 2025.
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