"But the sooner the better; we never were so well prepared to meet them. The Turks pretend that Montenegro is an integral portion of the Ottoman Empire; we insist that we have always been free, and though often hard pressed by Ottoman forces, have never yet been conquered. What chance then is there of our coming to an understanding? My great grief, however, is to hear that England is against us and in favour of our enemies, and if it were not for the friendship which Russia has ever shown us, we might be exterminated by the infidels before you would lift a finger to prevent our utter annihilation. We cannot understand it, for we read of how England exerts herself always in favour of oppressed nationalities, and how she has even spent hundreds of millions of piastres to put down the slave trade; and yet she favours the Turks, who are the greatest supporters of slavery, against us, though our religions are almost identical, I am told. I wish more English would come to Montenegro. I think they would end by appreciating us."
These words of the Commandant made a deep impression on me.
FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF MONTENEGRO—AGRICULTURE ON A MINOR SCALE—FIELD-LABOURERS—MONTENEGRIN FACCHINI AT CONSTANTINOPLE—FEMALE LABOUR—PRODUCTION OF SUMACH—COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IMPEDED—IMPOSING PAGEANT.
Truly very little is known about Montenegro and its mountaineers, and that little is very incorrect. They have been generally represented as wild, savage, bloodthirsty, thieving scoundrels, closely allied to Italian brigands and Greek palikari—if anything, worse than either. Fond of fighting for fighting's sake, and when not engaged in that amiable recreation, spending their time in strutting about in their fine clothes, peacocking in the sunshine, while those too poor to have fine trappings whiled away the weary hours and forgot their fleas and their sorrows in the tones of their national _guzla_, while the women were left to do all the labour in the fields.
Such was certainly not my impression. The part of Montenegro through which I travelled, though sterile and barren to a degree, was a wonderful specimen of what man could do when driven to it. Every little nook, where the least bit of soil could be found, among that wilderness of rocks where stones had rained from Heaven, was carefully taken advantage of; the rocks adjoining these little nooks were often removed by the most laborious exertions, and in some instances earth was scraped up here and there, and carried in small baskets to these spots, in order to increase their depth of soil. I saw clearings of so small a size as barely to admit of _one potatoe plant_ or three of maize, and little fields not _one yard_ in diameter!