The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-23 00:00:00

WITH THE TURKS IN ALBANIA.

The Special Correspondent of the Daily News, writing from
Podgoritz 3, the headquarters of the turisish army in Al,3anla,
gives the following descriptive account a 3 to the manner in
which the accession of the new Sultan wt.:B announced :

The accession of the new Sultan was announced to
the town and camp by a salute of 101 guns from the
old citadel, and this gun-firing has continued up to
this at ternoon with intermission. At first we were
under the impression that the Montenegrins had
descended from their hills and were assaulting the
camp, so entirely motiveless for any other end did this
rapid cannonade seem. Half an hour later a ragged
town-crier went about the streets informing the popu-
lation of the event, and ordering them, in the name of
Dervish Pacha, to illuminate the town that evening, to
keep their shops open later than usual, and "to be
glad." The announcement of the change of govern-
ment was received by the population with the utmost
apathy. Even in coup d'aat ridden Spain the an-
nouncement of the deposition of a sovereign would
create a greater amount of interest. I followed the
crier with a view of oliserving the effect of his an-
nouncement. The artisans and merchants, seated
cross legged in their booths, just raised their heads,
listened to what the crier had to say, nodded to one
another, exchanged a few words, and went on with
their business. It seemed a perfect matter of iadif-
ference to them who swayed the destinies of the Otto-
man Empire.

Half an hour after the round of the town-crier the
" gladness ' ordered by the Pacha commenced to
manifest itself, and that, too, in a most objectionable
manner. Every man, 'whether able-bodied or not, in
the town, has had served out to him a Snider or
Martini-Henry rifle, and an adequate supply of ball
cartridge Besides this there were throngs of
semi-savage Arabs from Smyrna, Xebeques as they
are termed, who paraded the streets discharging their
rifles incessantly. It was perfectly terrifying to hear
the storm of bullets that whistled on every side, now
striking the tiles on the low shop roofs, now flatten-
ing themselves on the pavement, according as they
had been directed, vertically or otherwise. I hap-
pened to be in the principal thoroughfare of
the town when this objectionable species of
rejoicing commenced, and I marvel how I escaped
being shot twenty times, as I hurried homewards at a
rather precipitate pace, much to the delight of the
shooters, who shouted to me to remain. However, as
it was 'dusk, and I had a lively regpllection of the
savage murder of the Greek priest some days back
by these same Xebeques, and was not without appre-
hensions that some devout Mussulman among the
irregulars might take advantage of the occasion to win
favour with the Prophet by ridding the earth of an
unbelieving G:aour like my myself, I didn't slacken
my pace till within the friendly shelter of my Khan.
This kind of rejoicing continued for a couple of
hours, when, some bullets having found their way into
the crowded camp across the river' the crier was again
sent round to inform the public that they had been
" glad " for a sufficient length of time, and that should
any one continue to fire, the gendarmes, or Zaptieh,
would confiscate his gun and put himself in prison.
On the cessation of the firing I sallied out to view the
" illnminations." In provincial European towns I
have frequently witnessed poor attempts of the kind,
but anything so hopelessly miserable a; that at Podgo
ritzs never came under my notice. There are three
small mosques, one within the precincts of the tumble.
down fortress—and the minarets of each were slightly
decorated by some twelve small square lanterns
arranged in vertical rows around the muezzim's
gallery. In the town one occasionally met with a kind
of stable lantern hanging from the low eaves of some
booth, and only occasionally, while at some street cor-
ners was to be seen a sad-looking tallow candle stuck
on cod on a flag-stone, and just managing to keep
alight. I don't know whether these latter were contri-
buted by the municipal authorities, or whether they,
were the mites of some rejoicers, who, hke the un-
known scatterer of flowers on Nero's tomb, wished to
remain incognito. The effect was miserable in the
extreme, and despite the Pacha's order that the shops
should be kept open later than usual, the inhabitants,
debarred of the innocent amusement of discharging
their rifles along the streets, speedily retired to
rest, and the town was buried in gloom. The fortress,
however, kept banging away all night long, two miser-
able accidents being the result of the artillerymen's
awkwardness. One gunner, neglecting to stand clear
of the muzzle of a Krupp field-gun, had his lower jaw
and one leg torn off and was blown bodily from the
ramparts into the river. Another lost both arms and
a leg, and died an hour later. Occasionally the boom-
ing of the guns was interrupted by the rattle of
musketry as the outposts exchanged fire with the
Monteneg,ria patrols. These latter come quite
close every night, and on one occasion since my
snivel actually entered the town and took some
horses away with them. In the main camp, lying
at the other side of the deep gorge through
which the Mocacha runs, the rejoicings were of
a more lively nature. Large fires of dried furze
and brushwood were kept blazing, and by their light
the Xeheques and other Arabs executed, to the music
of a military band, a series of national dances. A
word about these Oriental calisthenics. A negro very
scantily clothed in calico breeches of minimum dimee-
sions, and a sleeveless jacket which did not quite reach
half way down his back, opened the proceedings. The
band played a wild, monotonous air, nearly drowned
by the angry clash of large cymbals, and the dancer
executed a kind of staggering march around the fire,
dragging his limbs as if they had been paralyzed his
head and arms drooping forward. Then he would
suddenly change to a mad gallop, throwing his body
backwards and brandishing his arms wildly, rolling
his eyes and grinning horribly. On one or two
occa-ims he threw himself flat on the ground,
kicking his heels about, and ultimately rushed
off the scene loudly applauded and smiling
with a modest appreciation-of, the merit of his per-
formance. Then followed en equally stupid dance
executed by a dozen Arab soldiers. They had stuck
their sword-bayonets obliquely in their sashes in front
of their stomachs, as they are accustomel to wear
their own knife-like swords. The chief of the party
led the way, the others following him in single file.
The first hopped like frogs a couple of times round the
fire: crouching on their haunches, and then repeated
the negroia staggering march, varying the performance
by turning rapidly round and jumping Into the air,
winding up by a singular march around the fire, each
man kneeling at every step. The audience seemed
hugely amused at the exhibition, though for my part I
must say I could see neither fun nor skill in the gro-
tesque contortions of the performers.