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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1907)
E THE OMAHA STTXDAY BEE: .TTTLT IS, 1907. Gusinje and Plava Are Two European Cities No Stranger Aay Enter 3 ' 4 5J-ETTENJE, July IS -The forbidden I I cities of Gusinje and Plava, which I none but Albanians of the clan rf Ousinje or their "blood broth ers" may enter, may yet share the fate of Lhaasa, and their mysteries be Included In the tourists' Itinerary. This will mran law nnsi Kriliemvni 01 tne dis puted Montenegro-Albania boundary, a per plex Ina; south European question over which diplomats have dawdled for years. The Balkan representative at The Hague peace conference declared that this Is de manded In the Interest of the peace ot fcouth Europe, while the foreign ministers J f Italy and Austria, who have Just held a her, so she resolved to take It upon herself, and by alow degrees she persistently fol lowed her brother-in-law over Albania and Into Macedonia, always awaiting an op portunity to strike the blow. TMs came on one afternoon In Skodra when she saw her husband s aseasMn walk ing on the main street of the town. She took her husband's plstot from her belt and shot him dead. Having killed the murderer, she went straight to his parents' home, almost a week's Journey awsy, and shot them both dead also. Having thus avenged her husband's death, the woman returned to her tribe. Nothing was ever done with her, for it was considered that ahe had only done her duty. mountain. In the clear atmopshers of the country the two towns can be discerned distinctly from the Mon tenegrin upland far to the west. In the light of the evening sun they present most beautiful pictures, with their slender white minarets and domed mosques. No one has yet succeeded In getting a very ejtttafac tory description of the place. But the few men who have escaped say that a nearer-approach takes away much of the enchantment that a dis tant view gives. The people are fanatical in their attachment to their homei and theU i fidelity In enonuras ( fWf', ' ;iV'p, '.i;- ,fepf , :f -- asm. THzzn tf. eras. TKtiy-r- ' i'i"irV IV T k . pH ,.:lv: J1 i k VTT3 interest of the trade which the crvlllied world la endeavoring to establish with Al bania. When the Berlin treaty, which gave Bosnia and Herxegovlna to Austria and otherwise cut up the Turkish empire, was Igned, it was agreed to reward Montenegro with the two cities of Gusinje and Plava. The Montenegrins, about 10,000 strong, un der the leadership of Marko Drekalovlc. flushed with their victory over the mighty Turks, marched to Ouslaje to take the first fruits of their success. They got within Is-ht of the town when the Albanians Although Albania Is nominally a pari of the Turkish empire the Guslnjots ac knowledge no allegiance to the sultan or to any other power. "The Guslnjots ac cept no foreign rule or no masters save their own clansmen," was the way the head men of Gusinje put It. In religion they are chiefly Mohamme dans, although many of them are very devout members of the Roman Cathollo and Greek Orthodox churches. The reason for the majority being Mohammedans Is found In the fact that members of that faith have more liberal privileges In the '. swooped down on them from the mountain bearing of arms and serving as soldiers. tops, and their decimated troops beat a ,' hasty retreat for home.-, Since then various j efforts have been made to survey theter- rltory, but as the Guslnjots sat around ! on rocks and took pot shots at chainmen I and levellers, nobody cared to continue 1 long on the Job. I Representatives of the powers finally shc- eeeded In arranging a meeting with the i warlike clansmen. The former got as far as the gates of Gusinje, where they were imol by a delegation and 'told to run for rtWV lives, and that If any of them were janlu within the neighborhood in twenty 'fbur hours their heads would ornament I pikes en the city waUs. The only fruit of this expedition was a picture of the gates of the city, the only one that waa over , made of any part of the city. ! The powers then gave Montenengro the '.Albanian seaport of Dulclgno. The boun dary line remained undefined, and the war , rlors of these two mountatn towns, defying ! all the powers of Burope, retained the pos session of their own. Albania, which Is within twenty-four hours' Journey of Paris, Is one of the anomalies of government of Europe, It is a country of which as little Is known aa of oentral Africa; In fact, the maps of the j Sudan are more accurate than those of Al bania. The people are a race of reckless, vigilant warriors, divided into clans and Vibes, and waging an Incessant Internecine trife. IJfe la worth the price of a car tridge. Is the way that an Albanian once f expressed it. Warfare ranks higher than religion In the heart of the Albanian. Members of the sultan's own bodyguard have been chosen from these people because of their un questioned valor and faithfulness. But they have taken particular pains af. along to Impress upon Turkey that Its rule Is merely by sufferance. They have killed several Turkish kalmakans, or resident governors, who had displeased them, and of recent years no representative from the Porte has even made an appearance of governing them. The representative of the Porte who was sent to try to persuada them to give up their sacred cities to Montenegro was murdered and his head was sent to the nearest Turkish governor with a warning that the next man sent on such a mission would meet a similar fata The two cities which they hold sacred and which have always been forbidden to outsiders are situated at the two ends of a long upland plain. Gusinje is the mora populous and exercises a sort of sway over Plava. The latter, though. It Is said to be the more beautiful on account of Its situation on the shores of a lake of the same name and at the foot of a fir-clad by the herdmen, who rule with a tyrannical despotism. There Is no law save that of the chiefs ot the clans, and these man exercise over the Inhabitants a power of life or death. As' there is an Increasing struggle for supremacy power remains but a short time In any one man's hands. The usual means of ending a reign Is by the death of the ruler and all of his male kin. Gusinje has a mosque that Is one of the most beautiful In Albania, and this as well as the home of the chief Is a imarvel of barbaric Byzantine ornamentation. At Plava the graves of holy men are held In great veneration by the Gusinjat. A casket containing the remains of a saint and one with the right arm of Bkenberg, the Al banian hero, are In a crypt at Gusinje. It Is these relics that have caused the pluces to be called "sacred cities." On the Montenengrin side the two hill tops that command the entrance to the valley are crowned with watch towers In which a guard is constantly maintained of the clan Is designated to kill the In truder before he can recross the border. Even Albanians of the neighborhood are often viewed with suspicion and are tried as spies or agents of some foreign power. A shepherd who was driving a flock ot aheep from Scutari to Novl Baxar waa arrested as he was passing near the town, jpon the ausplclon of being a epy, and had been confined for several years In a cave In the mountains. Ho had succeeded In escaping, and was in constant tear that he was still being pursued by his Im placable enemies. Yet-4n spite of their well known disre gard of law the Guslnjots go about fear lessly and without molestation. They are often seen In Boutarl, where they are dis tinguished for their truculent bearing and a- peculiar white headoloth that has been adopted by the clou. They go to Scutari for supplies, and on these occasions they have made bloody settlements ot feuds with other clans they Have met there. Only the plica As a last deadly tnimrc Thar spread over the carcaa the prayer rug of the Hooja himself. When the desecration was discovered the uproar was tremend ous, even for Scutari, and the whole Mo hammedan population turned out to pur sue the delighted vandals back to their own mountain fortresses. The ruler of Gusinje changes with the failures or successes of the leading fam ilies. The most bloodthirsty chief was known as Vlock Vatt Varushel, who was said to have reached the chief place by killing 100 men and puttlrg out of the way all the male members of his family who might contest his right. However, he gen- Extendlng up the valley to the cities them- his flock confiscated, and he himself thrown selves are little kulas or Albanian castles, windowlesa on the lower floors, where the. proprietor and his family gather at the first alarm, and with fortified windows and parapets above. Should a stranger succeed In passing these outposts and reach the cities, a meet ing of the head men 1b held and some one Into prison. As his guilt could not be es tablished, one of his eyes was gouged out, a hand cut off and he was sent on his way with a warning never again to appear in the locality. Another peasant a short time ago reached the Montenegrin border and said that he had been arrested In the streets of Cuslnje a few days ago such a meeting on a publto erously took care of all their families, and streot resulted In the death of twelve men. in doing so took over ten different harems. One of ye bitterest and bloodiest of their reoent fights occurred because certain Gus lnjots, who were not Mohammedans, fan cied themselves Insulted while vlHltlng Scu tari. To revenge themselves they killed a hog, and In the night broke Into the mosques of the city, and made crosses with the animals blood all over the Inside of But whatever Internal disputes they may have the Guslnjots are united upon on point; thnlr sacred city must remain In violate and they themselves free from any other master than those of their own clan. These rights they say they will maintain even If In doing so they defy all the pow ers of Europe. England's Fortification in Aiddle of Mediterranean Sea Tuds exist between the cians ajra evrn between families of the same elan. Dif ferent parts of towns are divided against each other and the appearance ot a man ,on the street Is often the signal tor a fusllade. It has been reported that In some communities all the men have been killed in this brotherly strife. It Is esti mated that 25 per cent of tho inhabitants die a violent death. The people are noted for their falthful- (Copyrlght. 1907, by Frank G. Carpenter.) I - ALTA, July 26. (Special Corre I nJ I "Pondence of The Bee.) I have liiiiyiiiiiyl me from Barbary northward to the Island of Malta to get a ship W'-iririlsr for Alexandria. There are no di rect steamers from Tripoli to Egypt, and one must go to Malta, Slolly, Italy or Tunis to reach the Nile valley. The trip to Malta Is one of thirty-six hours. It Is made on a little Italian steamer and it ends at me port of Valletta, under the shadow Bess, hospitality ana vinue, .a or tno grrmt Enf,Illlh fort,flcatlonB wnlch warfares they resort to the most unohiv- guard th,a John Bu.8 outpOBt ln m,d. alrio means to accomplish the death of a Mediterranean. Wood fued enemy. It la perfectly proper Malta Is Just about half way between to Ue In wait for him behind rocks or In Gibraltar and Port Said. It Is scarcely a the forest or to shoot hlra in the back. So fly speck on the map of the world hut it t. that men ln a blood feud, and most of Ui one of tho most valuable of all strategical ber of them, but the only ones of note are architecture of Valletta was equal to that Inhabitants are in several, seldom travel points. It Is ln the center of the most Malta, Gozo and Comino and they alto- of any city of Europe, but it seems to me alone, but always go ln parties of four or traveled sea. a great station on the busiest gether have an area of but 117 square miles, he overdrew It. The buildings are much nve. mey are incesaanuy on ins iookvui. or our commercial highways and Just where They are mere rocks cropping out of the like those of Naples. The streets ana are always auspicious u umiitr wo si earn era stop to lake on coal. Malta sea, but they are covered with a thin, rich They know the value of their own country Is now handling about 600,000 tons of coal mold, which makes them the most thickly eels and other naval ships are now coaling ln the harbor and a great English transport which will leave for Suez tomorrow lies at the wharves. Malta is a strong naval station. It has now a half dozen English gunboats anchored In front of It, and the government. Is building a breakwater at a cost of (5,000,000 to enlarge the harbor to accommodato the navy. The Island Is the chief base for the repairs and outfitting of the Mediterranean fleet, but the fleet has already outgrown Its capacity, and for this reason the British are building their new docks here and at Gibraltar. Maltese Islands. But first let me tell you something about the Maltese Islands. There Is quite a num. anything. It seems more like a stone quarry or a stone pile than a fertile region; nevertheless everything that Is planted grows, and Malta alone supports more than 200,000 people. This la over 2,000 for every square mile, and more. It la said, than any other part of the globe. Cities of Malta. The two chief towns of the archipelago are Vallutta and Clta Vecchia, which are both on this Island. Valletta has 80,0.0 people, and Its harbor Is where all the great ships stop. The town Is built on a hill, high above the water. The streets ascend at all sorts of angles, and one has to climb up or down In going to any part of It. Lord Beaconsfield said that the beautiful.. Great, walls, which look like here at Malta another evidence of the grew- forts, rise up from the water, and back of these the houses mount the hills ln ter races. Many of the buildings are painted In bright colors, and under the glorious sun of the Mediterranean they shine out re splcndont. The city has some fine struc tures. It has an opera house. In which Pattl sang the first time she came to Malta; It was when she was still a glri, and the price she received was J25. which ts drawn over the head, forming an arch. The left arm Is usually covered by one part of this dress, and the right ts used for holding down the other side and bring ing the two together. In most respects the Maltese of the better some taste of the pious fathers of the past, I refer to a church here known as the Church of the Monks, ln which the bodies of the deceased are put away unburlcd. Tholr skeletons are wrapped In the cloaks which they wore ln life, and they will, classes dress much like the neonle of Eu. I suppose, be thus clay until the day of rope, and It Is only the peasants who havs Judgment. The place Is a hideous one, and costumes at all. out of the way. The peas a visit to It sometimes affects people serl- ant woman wears hoods. Their dresses are ously. Not long ago a smart young fel- 0f a striped native cotton, and they seldom low went throueh with his sweetheart. He )! . m,. Another building of note Is the church of thought he would have a Joke upon her. and whch leave the legs bare to ths when her back was turned he slyly pinned knee, being ties about the waist with a her skirt to one of the cloaks. As Kbe started to go the skeleton was pulled for ward, and It fell upon her as though about to embrace her. The girl was terribly frightened; and It Is said that the shock destroyed her reason. i to the powers of Europe and are constantly endeavoring to protect it against foreign era It Is for this reason that strangers are always looked on as potential enemies. To carry a camera, to attempt to write or tnake a sketch In tho Interior of the coun try would be a foreigner's death sentenoe. Borne of the customs are very carteua and haw been handed down from genera tions as sacred unwritten laws. If a man commits a murder and. fleeing for his life, enters the house of another, friend or toe, even the house of the brother of the man he has slain, he Is safe for three days at less. An enemy Is under amnesty while In the company of a woman, and a eomplU riient to an unmarried woman Is sufficient provocation for death. The "blood brotherhood" Is an Institution peculiar to these clansmen. Two men who are about to take this oath stand ln the renter of a ring formed by men of the tribe. Each of the two makes an Incision ln his arm. and as the blood drips from the wound catches it In a cup. The two then solemnly druik this, while vowing eternally to sup port and sustain each other ln all their idertaklngs, even at the risk of life. This ;ow Is held more sacred Irian even tna marriage tie. Of all the Albanian clans the QvielnJotai are considered the fiercest and most war like. They too are considered, the hand somest of the people, and the most faithful to any promise that they may make. Thelsi h"m Is the great upland plain at the east ern corner of Montenegro, closed cn al sides by lofty mountains. Practically the. only approach Is by a narrow valley through which flows the stream that has tts soorosj in the lakes and springs of the highland. The women also are Imbued, with to theory .Tf personal vengeance, and thelf somites are as fierce and unrelenting as those of their husbands. Princess Xenla of Montenegro tells the story of a girl wh married one ef the chiefs body guard. A month afterward the husband was treacher ously killed by his brother, who was alas t in tore with tho young wife. When she Ireoehrod ths news she beoamo oraaed with TrrieC She had no male relatives to swage a year. The coal la brought here from Great Britain and retailed to the steamers. As we came ln we saw several of the ocean Miters taking on fuel preparatory to their start for the far east. Most of the ships which go to Australia. India and China by the Sues canal call here for fuel and tho port has a fleet of 600 lighters which a nae4 at tliat parpeoe, Xisluinsj populated part of the globe. Malta la the biggest and Its area Is Just about that ot the District of Columbia. It rises right up out of the water and as one looks at It. from the steamer It seems bleak and bare. The slopes are precipitous, but the are nar row, and the tall stone houses extend out over them. There are many balconies, and as there are few back yards the family washing is generally hung out from them over the atreets. It flaps to and fro ln the breese as one walks through the city, and now and then the pearly drops from a newly washed shirt or pair of unmentton- land la so terraced and held back by stone ables drops on one's hat or down the back walls that all of It Is cultivated. To look oX his audi as lie goes tltroiighj at you would not think It oeuld raise JTrom the harbor tna view of tho city Is St. John, containing the tombs of the grand masters of the Knights of Malta. This church Is ene of the most remarkable in Europe, and It is revered by the knights throughout the world. It Is now over 300 years old, but is still ln excellent condi tion. The church Is gloriously decorated. It has an altar magnlflctently carved, and fairly loaded with gold and silver. Tho railing In front of It 1s made of virgin silver, and beneath It are kept the keys of Jerusalem, Acre and Rhodes. Some of tho paintings In the church were brought from Rhodes, and It has tapestries made ln Brus sels at a cost of 130.000. Tou have heard of the Cappucln cemetery ln Rome, the chapels of which are walled with the bones of dead monks. I visited a similar ens a few wuaks auo during a trip to r alar mo, the) capital of Sicily, and, I Had Pretty Maltese Maidens. I like the Maltese girls. They have large, soulful eyes, beautiful features and com plexions the color of the dark moss rose. They wear great black hoods over their heads with long black cloaks hanging to tbem, so that the most of the person is hidden snd little more than the face and eyes shows out. This part of their costume Is called the omnella. It Is usually made of bUck silk; and the hood Is bound at thsj front over a thlu piaca at whaJsbonaj girdle of cotton or Bilk. Above this they have a cotton shirt, and sometimes a vest, ornamented with rows of liver buttons made of American quarter dollars or Eng lish shillings. Thny seldom wear coats. Thnlr heads are usually covered with caps ot bright colors made In the shape of a bag so long that the crown of the cap often hangs down to the shoulders. They some times carry their money and their tobaoco In their raps. The people here affect tho simple Ufa, Outside the cities the houses are of on story. They are usually stone huts, bull of materials gathered on the ground. Ths doors and windows are made by the car penters and the village blacksmiths supply; i . Continued, on fage TlTaJj JT'd 'niai mmmy aim L-'at--1' ....--.. -, ,. F" SJ , PI 1 ' - i'. -, , 7 ., . , t r--.' 1 1 ? 1 - ., 1 ' i rr'U.. . : -ai - Ji i ( - r -; r t . ' . .-vi .. " . 1 us is,i Ir 1 f 1 ...-p -s phi ssmpsssai ; "K I -., ': , X - , a, ' : TREET TS VALLETTA. 3f ALLETTA -TBJOSX THJD- HARBOR. fRETTT MALTESE? MAXDEIf