The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-13 00:00:00

THE ALBANIANS.

Vaasa Effendi, who has for some time filled the
office of Director of the Press in Constantinople, has
recently published in Berlin a pamphlet in the German
language on Albania and the Albanians, in which he
endeavours to correct some errors commonly enter-
tained with regard to that peculiar people.
The author, who is himself a Christian of Albanian
descent, seeks to show that the Albanians are totally
distinct in race, language, mythology, institutions,
and customs from the Greeks or Hellenes. "Every
day," he says, "we hear the Mussulmans of Epirus,
Macedonia, &c., spokan of as Albanians, and the
Christians of the same provinces described as Greeks
or Hellenes. Pamphlets and newspapers have con-
stantly repeated this depeription without any one
taking notice of its incorrectness. The fact, however,
is that the Mussnlmans of Epirus are brothers of the
Christians of Epirus ; they belong to the same
race, the same blood flows in their veins, and they
have the same actors. Before the Ottoman
supremacy there were here only orthodox Christians,
who accepted Islam from inclination or from interested
motives, just as in Upper Albania there were only
Catholics who became Muhomedans, and just as in
Greece the Mnssulruans were originally Greeks who
became converts to Islam,"

As regards the laws and customs of his fellow-
countrymen, the author says that the life which
people live in Albania is quite primitive and patriar-
chal. Every clan has its chief and elders, who conduct
the government in common, and who administer the
law according to the ancient usages and customs,
which are founded on the principle of retaliation—
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The chief
and elders of the clans acquire their position by
inheritance. But their position, so far as law
is concerned, secures them no immunities. The chief
and elders are, in questions of public and private
right, subject to the same laws, and as liable to pun-
ishment, as every ordinary man. A chief who kills is
killed, and in that statement all is told. He who
murders is himself murdered by the descendants of the
murdered man. If the murderer cannot be found, his
father, his son, his brother, his cousin have to suffer
for him. Nay, even if the murderer himself and his
family manage to escape the vendetta, then a victim is
made of some other member of the clan concerned.
Whoever steals or robs must restore double the value
of the stolen goods and must pay in addition a fine,
which falls to this share of the chief and elders.
The man who is killed while committing a robbery
dies without honour. The forcible abduction of a
married woman is treated as a crime equal to murder;
the offender or one of his relatives must suffer death at
the hands of the injured husband or a relative of his.
A betrothed maiden who deserts her swain and marries
another gives the forsaken lover the right to take the
life of her father, brother, uncle, or cousin. Death
is the punishment for adultery; the husband has
the right to kill the adulterer when he meets him
about his house, or when, on other grounds, his guilt
is beyond doubt. These laws are the same for ill,
without distinction of religion. If a Mussulman kills
a Christian, then a Christian retaliates by killing a
Muesulman. The stranger or visitor who accepts the
hospitality of an Albanian is treated by him as sacred,
and the duties of hospitality or guest-friendship must
not under any pretext be violated. He who injures
or kills a guest-friend is dishonoured, his clan expels
him, and nobody is allowed to have anything further
to do with his family. The infamy is everlasting,
even blood cannot wipe out the stain. He who kills
another man's guest has incurred to him a debt of
blood "for 40 times," which the clan of the injured en-
tertainer has to demand from the clan of the assassin.
The man who kills a woman is dishonoured, and his
dishonour falls upon the head of every member of his
family in common with him—they are all called woman-
killers.
Just as every clan has its chief, so every family
has its head, and in all cases this is the oldest man
of the family. The oldest woman of the house
stands at the head of its domestic affairs. Families
are often very numerous. There are some which
count as many as 100 to 120 members. The
orders of the head are carried out by the men
of the family. Over every one and everything the
head has undisputed sway. His dispositions are
executed with blind obedience, for the respect in which
the elder is held is unbounded. The female head of
the house exercises similar powers over the women and
girls. If one member of a family has any complaint
to make against another of its members, it is the head
of the house that judges, punishes, or brings about a
reconciliation, according to circumstances. To resist
or mutiny against the decision of the head brings dis-
honour. _ _

In regard to eating and drinking, the Albanian is
moderate and is satisfied with a very frugal meal.
His ordinary food consists of a maize bread, cheese,
and milk. His drink is water; wine and spirits he
takes only in very limited quantitiea. His clothing is
but scanty. Extremes of cold and heat do not much
trouble him, and he endures hardships and privations
with stoical indifference, In his love as in his hatred
he knows no moderation. He seeks to conceal neither
his joys nor his sorrows.
The musket and the yataghan are the favourite
weapons of the Albanian. His gun more especially is
his companion, his inseparable friend. He cherishes
it and loves it with the greatest tenderness; and he
swears by his arms as he swears by his God or by
his honour. It is his pride and his glory to possess
beautiful weapons.
The author, at the conclusion of the pamphlet,
states that the Albanians desire to live united under
the Sultan, In no case will they ever listen to pro-
posals for the annexation of any districts of their
native Province to the kingdom of Greece, which is to
them so foreign and so unsympathetic.—The Times.