Transcriber’s Notes.
Page 59 — immediatetly changed to immediately.
Page 137 — every changed to ever.
Page 207 — changed Mount Lovcen to Mount Lovčen.
The advertisements at the beginning of the book have been placed
at the end after the index.
Other changes made are noted at the end of the book.
Footnotes have been numbered in one continuous sequence.
THE LANDS OF THE
TAMED TURK
[Illustration: THE LATE QUEEN DRAGA OF SERVIA.]
[Illustration]
_Copyright, 1910_,
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
_All rights reserved_
First Impression, September, 1910
_Electrotyped and Printed by
THE COLONIAL PRESS
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A._
TO
E. McC. J.
FOREWORD
Because of their pivotal positions, politically and geographically;
because of their tempting adaptation to colonization; because of
their vast proven and hidden resources; because of their divers other
advantages, too numerous to mention, the Balkan States have been, are
and will continue to be, as once a certain writer so aptly put it, the
“Powder Box of Europe.”
Constant conflict, however, has stunted their progress, and it has only
been within the past few years that these lands—conspicuously lacking
in the arts of peace, but overcrowded with types and replete with
wonderful scenery, their histories sated with war and romance—have
begun to be disclosed to the travelling world. Only within the past few
years their outlying districts have been connected with their business
centres by telegraphic communication; only within the past few years
railroads have been constructed, steamship lines inaugurated and hotel
accommodations perfected. Yesterday their peoples were almost barbaric;
to-day they are more highly civilized and more finely cultured than
perhaps we are inclined to admit; to-morrow they may be famous. They
have been makers of history for our forebears and us; they will be
makers of history for posterity and its children.
It is to assist the reader to frame a more just opinion of that
southeastern corner of Europe, “The Lands of the Tamed Turk,” and
those who people it, that this volume of personal observations and
experiences of travel, interspersed with brief bits of history, is
offered.
The author begs to tender his appreciation to Mr. Nox McCain for the
use of several unusual photographs published herewith; also to the
editors of _The Metropolitan Magazine_, New York, _Travel Magazine_,
New York, and _The National Geographic Magazine_, Washington, with
whose kind permission are herein reprinted, _verbatim_, certain parts
of special articles on the Balkan States by the author, and some of
the illustrations accompanying them, which appeared in the periodicals
mentioned above.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
WHY THE BALKANS?
The Rundreise Ticket—Why the Balkans?—When and
Where English is Heard—Why Not the Balkans? 1
CHAPTER II
BUDA-PESTH AND BELGRADE
Buda-Pesth and Its Language—From Buda-Pesth to
Belgrade—The Servian Passport System—First
Impressions of Belgrade—Garden Spots in and
about the Servian Metropolis 12
CHAPTER III
TWENTIETH CENTURY SERVIA
The Servians—The Rise of the Nation—The Army—The
Race-meets—The Market in Belgrade—National
Customs—The National Dance 24
CHAPTER IV
THE SERVIAN DYNASTIES
Karageorge—Milosh Obrenovitch—Murder of Karageorge—Turkey
Grants the Title of Prince—Milosh
Abdicates—Abdication of Prince Michael—Alexander
Abdicates—Prince Milosh Re-installed, His
Death and the Re-election of Prince Michael—Murder
of Michael—Prince Milan’s Marriage, Abdication
and Death—Alexander Elected 43
CHAPTER V
ALEXANDER AND DRAGA
Alexander—Draga—The Meeting—Draga’s Return to
Belgrade—Russia’s Intrigues—Marriage of Alexander
and Draga—Origin of the Plot to Murder 53
CHAPTER VI
THE CAPITAL OF CRIME
Plans of Procedure—Meeting of the Regicides—The
First Move—The Murder of the King and Queen—The
Assassination of Others—The Royal Burial—The
Murder of the Brothers Novakovics in 1907 61
CHAPTER VII
PREDICTIONS OF SERVIAN TRAGEDIES
Prediction of the Assassination of Prince Michael—Natalie’s
Visit to the Parisian Fortune-teller—The
Prediction in London of the Murder of Draga and
Alexander 78
CHAPTER VIII
NISCH AND SOPHIA
From Belgrade to Nisch—Nisch—Provincial Hotel
Accommodations—The Monument of Skulls—Tzaribrod—Sophia—Value
Received for $1.25 per Diem—Dragoleftsky 94
CHAPTER IX
BULGARIA AND HER PAST
Progress of Bulgaria—Origin of her Peoples—The
Bulgari—First Russian Invasion of Bulgaria—The
Assenide Dynasty—Turkish Tyrannies—Emancipation
of Bulgaria—Russia’s Intrigues against Prince
Alexander—The Late Balkan Disturbances 111
CHAPTER X
A BULGARIAN MARKET
Bulgaria’s Busy Day—The Orient Express 130
CHAPTER XI
SARAJEVO—THE SPIRED CITY
From Belgrade to Sarajevo—The Turkish Bazaar—A
Bosnian Street Sprinkler—Horse-races at Ylidze—A
Dervish Dance 145
CHAPTER XII
FROM SARAJEVO TO THE COAST
Jablaniča—Mostar—Across the Mountains—The Balkan
Riviera—Ragusa: The Fairy City of the Adriatic 166
CHAPTER XIII
RAGUSA
As She Is—The First Colony—The Fire of 1292—The
Black Death—Hungary Acquires the Place—Ragusa
Establishes her Independence—Plague—Earthquake—Napoleon
Takes Ragusa—The City
Ceded to Austria 179
CHAPTER XIV
THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO
Steamer-day at Gravosa—Ragusa from the Sea—The
Bocche di Cattaro—Castelnuovo—Cattaro and
Her Mountain Background 199
CHAPTER XV
MONTENEGRO
The Gibraltar of the Balkan Peninsula—The Settling of
Montenegro—Peter I—The Family of Petrovich—Prince
Nikola—The Montenegrin Costume—Incidents
of War—The Montenegro of To-day 211
CHAPTER XVI
THE ROAD TO CETTINJE
The Ascent of the Mountains—Njegushi—The Montenegrin
Capital—Historical Monuments in Cettinje—The
Return to Cattaro 229
CHAPTER XVII
SPALATO AND SALONA
Westward Along the Coast—First Glimpse of Spalato—The
Campanile—Diocletian’s Palace—Salona and
Her Ruins 247
CHAPTER XVIII
ZARA
From Spalato to Zara—Chief Objects of Interest in the
Capital of Dalmatia—The Story of St. Simeon—The
Five Fountains—Fragments of Roman Occupation 269
CHAPTER XIX
THE GULF OF QUARNERO
The Home of the Bora—Fiume—Abbazia—The Home
of the Torpedo—Descendants of the Uscocs 282
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE LATE QUEEN DRAGA OF SERVIA _Frontispiece_
MAP viii
“A CROWD OF STARY-EYED, OPEN-MOUTHED, INQUISITIVE
NATIVES” 5
THE HOTEL PROPRIETOR, SOPHIA 9
THE FISCHER RAMPARTS, PESTH 13
THE ELIZABETH BRIDGE,—BUDA IN THE BACKGROUND 17
THE NATIVE SERVIAN HEAD-DRESS 25
DRINKING A FRIENDLY GLASS OF _SLIVIVITZ_ 31
A “BOZE” PEDDLER, BELGRADE 35
THE PRISHTINA COSTUME, WORN BY SERVIAN WOMEN ON
FEAST DAYS 39
THE LATE KING ALEXANDER OF SERVIA 51
A SIDEWALK CAFÉ, BELGRADE 63
KING PETER KARAGEORGEVITCH OF SERVIA 69
THE BALL-ROOM OF THE NEW PALACE, BELGRADE 73
FRUIT VENDERS, NISCH 95
A STREET SCENE, SOPHIA 103
A BULGARIAN VILLAGE CHURCH 109
THE SAINT CRAL CATHEDRAL, SOPHIA 115
THE RUINED CHURCH OF SAINT SOPHIA, SOPHIA 119
MONUMENT TO THE “TZAR LIBERATOR,” SOPHIA 123
“A HAWKING, BANTERING MULTITUDE ... IN GALA
DRESS” 131
BULGARIANS IN GALA ATTIRE 135
A GROUP POSED FOR THE CAMERA AT THE FRIDAY MARKET,
SOPHIA 139
THE AUSTRIAN ARMY BARRACKS AT SARAJEVO 147
SOME TURKISH HOMES IN SARAJEVO 153
DOUBLE-DECKED STORES IN THE TURKISH BAZAAR,
SARAJEVO 157
“THE REAL DEVOTEES OF THE RACES” 161
A GORGE OF THE NARENTA, NEAR JABLANIČA 167
THE OLD ROMAN BRIDGE, MOSTAR 173
THE HARBOUR OF GRAVOSA 181
RAGUSA,—MOUNT SERGIUS IN THE BACKGROUND 185
THE WALLS OF RAGUSA 189
THE SEA FORTS OF RAGUSA 197
A GENERAL VIEW OF CASTELNUOVO 205
THE FAMOUS “LADDER” ACROSS THE FACE OF MOUNT
LOVČEN 209
A GROUP OF MONTENEGRINS 213
A TYPICAL MONTENEGRIN GIRL 219
A STONE MASON OF CETTINJE AND HIS CART 225
A SECTION OF THE ROAD ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 231
THE PASS AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS 235
THE MAIN STREET, CETTINJE 241
A TURN OF THE ROAD ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 245
SPALATO FROM THE CAMPANILE 253
A FOUNTAIN ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF SPALATO 259
THE RUINS OF THE BASILICA, SALONA 263
ROMAN SARCOPHAGI, SALONA 267
THE WATER FRONT, ZARA 273
THE FIVE FOUNTAINS, ZARA 279
VIA ANDRASSY, FIUME 285
The Lands of the Tamed Turk
CHAPTER I
WHY THE BALKANS?
The Rundreise Ticket—Why the Balkans?—When and Where English is
Heard—Why Not the Balkans?
For a week we had remained in London, trying furiously to make up
our minds which part of the Continent would interest us most. In the
evenings at dinner we laid bare our ideas collected during the day,
and endeavoured to formulate plans, but those countries which one
favoured to visit seemed in no wise to appeal to the other. By the end
of the week we had about completed our inventory of the tourable parts
of Europe without one of us being inoculated with a special desire to
revisit any of them. Then some one suggested, “Why not the Balkans?”
That seemingly insignificant little interrogation cut short our
evening convocations in London as abruptly as one would snuff the wick
of a candle, for inside of forty-eight hours we had purchased our
“Rundreise” and “Hapag” tickets and were speeding Vienna-ward.
To the seasoned traveller the following brief explanation may seem a
trifle superfluous but, at the same time, it may be the means of saving
a world of bother and inconvenience, no small item of expense and an
incalculable loss of temper to the uninitiated—especially in countries
where an English-speaking individual is regarded with no little
curiosity.
The “Rundreise,” or “Round-trip-ticket,” is an institution in itself.
On it you may travel, for example, from London to Constantinople and
return to London by way of any route or in any direction. You may go
to Paris, to Cologne, and up the Rhine to Frankfort; thence to Vienna,
Buda-Pesth, Constantinople, and return by way of the Levant and the
Riviera. There are a hundred different routes by which to go and come,
a hundred interesting parts of countries to pass through, a hundred
beautiful cities to visit. You may travel by rail or by boat, first,
second or third class—according to the price paid—but you must
return to the starting-point, or, at all events, you will have paid for
that privilege, and it concerns but you if you do not care to avail
yourself of it.
The one serious proviso of the “Rundreise ticket,” and one that will be
at once a drawback to some and a boon to others, is that no luggage may
be checked on it. But the less luggage and the smaller the assortment
of clothes taken for travel in the Balkans the better—providing, of
course, your mission does not necessitate your being dined and wined by
the nobility and diplomats.
The “Hapag ticket” is, in the language of the Magyar, of the same
general specie as the “Rundreise.”
And in contemplating such a trip through the Southeast of Europe, two
important questions naturally arise: Why? and why not the Balkans?
To the first there are many convincing replies. The Balkan States have
been, for two thousand years, the “Powder Box” of Europe. The Greeks,
and, after them, the Romans, came and saw and conquered; the Venetians,
for a time, swept all before them along the coast of the Adriatic;
for five hundred years the Turks, thirsting for the blood of the
Christians, have attacked, have been repulsed and have attacked again,
shocking the entire world with their atrocious massacres. One need not
hunger for history in travelling through the Balkans. In addition, its
peoples are primitive, their customs are curious and their methods
mediæval. They are backward and unsophisticated in everything but
war—and that word “war” has been the slogan in the “Near East” for
centuries.
Furthermore, the territory has been left uninvaded by the frantic
tourist,—in fact, an American is regarded as a wonder to look upon,
and his harmless little camera, aimed promiscuously, is as apt to
conjure up a crowd of stary-eyed, open-mouthed, inquisitive natives as
the perpetration of a political tragedy.
And woe is he who cannot speak German, or at least enough of that
language to ask the questions necessary to travel, for the days of
“personally conducted” tours through the Balkans have yet to come. He
may speak French fluently but, exclusive of the diplomatic circles,
it would be as much to his advantage to adhere to American slang. The
exceptions, however, invariably prove the rule, and it is when English
is least expected to be heard that its utterance is the most heartily
appreciated.
[Illustration: “A CROWD OF STARY-EYED, OPEN-MOUTHED, INQUISITIVE
NATIVES.”]
The head-waiter of the hotel in Belgrade had been a deck steward on
a trans-Atlantic liner and of course surprised us upon our arrival with
a generous speech in English.
The hotel proprietor in Sophia spoke nine languages with great fluency
and, in addition, had been studying English from newspapers. He had
so far advanced in the mastery of the grammar as to have been able to
read Dickens (whether he understood it or not is another matter), but
I had the honour of being the first English-speaking person upon whom
he had had the opportunity of airing his pronunciation. Considering the
fact that he had never before indulged his English in conversation he
butchered it to a remarkably small degree, and was understood without
an excessive amount of difficulty.
As another example of this clandestine knowledge of the English
language throughout the Balkan Peninsula, I was standing one evening
on the _molo_ at Ragusa, watching two fishermen load their small boats
with nets and other implements of the catch. At the stern of their
craft was displayed a large and cumbersome lantern having a powerful
reflector. I questioned the rower in German, such as it was, as to
the use of this paraphernalia, and, as I had not heard a word of my
mother-tongue in the town—in fact, all along the Dalmatian coast—my
auricular nerves suffered a profound but agreeable shock when the man
replied, “The sardines follow the light while we lead ’em into the
nets.” He had been a sailor and had visited almost every port in the
United States as well as in England.
And, why _not_ the Balkans?
In place of the mountain-trails and muddy cart-roads of a few years
ago there are now railway lines that form a network through the most
interesting sections, and travel is facilitated proportionately. The
scenery is as picturesque as any in Europe, while the touch of colour,
in the garb of the peasants mingling with the variegated uniforms of
the always conspicuous army, adds an unalloyed charm seldom enjoyed
along the time-honoured travel routes of the Continent. Good hotels,
at which the food is excellent and well prepared, may be found in
the cities, and the accommodations, if not luxurious, cleanly and
comfortable.
[Illustration: THE HOTEL PROPRIETOR, SOPHIA.]
As late as 1853-54 not a single telegraphic line existed beyond the
Austrian frontier. Along the highway from Belgrade to Constantinople,
through Nisch and Sophia, messages from the Western courts to the
Sublime Porte were carried by dare-devil riders at a speed which
sacrificed horse-flesh regardlessly. A notable achievement was the
ride along this route of one Colonel Townley, who covered eight hundred
miles in the incredibly short time of five days and ten hours. To-day
the “Orient Express” eats its tortuous way tri-weekly from Calais to
Constantinople, crossing Europe from edge to edge, in a fraction over
four days.
Hardships of travel through the near East have vanished, although, in
countries so backward and so seldom visited by the sightseer, it would
be highly improbable that inconveniences would not be encountered.
But these inconveniences are doubly cancelled by the pleasures and
sensations of vibrating between the beauty-spots of pugnacious little
principalities, whose histories have been written so indelibly with
blood upon the pages of the world’s progress.