The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1846-05-21
THE AVENGERS OF sULI.


fslawless law; for with bloody hand
He sways a nation, turbulent and boid II
Yet here and there some daring mountain band
Disdains his power, and from their rocky hold
Hurl their defiance far, nor yield, unlessto gold.ipiD
WHEN, in the year 1853, Mahomet the
Second planted the standard of lslamsm on
the walls Of Byzanlium, an indlscrlminate
massacre of the Crock Christians commen-
ced throughout the provinces OF the Eastern
empire. 'Fhey were hunted down and
slaughtered like beasts of chase at the ca
price Of the Mosem soldery, and would
donbtles have been exterminated as nation,
had not the selfish policy Of their ferocious
conquerors suggested, that slapes were neces-
sary to cultivate the soil they had overrun.
Previously to the fall of the Greek metrop-
oils, the Turks had desoleted the Mcrea,
and subiugated the greater part of Albania.
In some instances, however, the natural bar
riers offreedom proved an insurmountable
obstacle to the invaders. the hardy noun
taineer laughed defiance from the precipitous
bulwarks God had given him as refuge
from thraldom; and waging perpetual pre-
datorywar against the enslavers OF his coun-
try, preserved bis limbs untrammeled, lived
in the faith of his fathers, and paid no trlb-
ute, save homage to his maker. .N.
Among the few tribes who maintained
therindependence amidst the general de-
gradation of Greece, were. the natives Of
Su, wild and secluded district, about
thirty miles in length, on the southern from
tier of Albania, bordering on the lonian Sea.
Here, in a territory accessible only by ono
or two narrow passes, where handful Of de-
termined men might have withstood the
army of another Xerxes, they remained un-
subdued for three hundred and fifty years
after the Ottoman conquest of Constantine
pie. Cooped within narrow limits, and nee
essarily debarred from commerce by their
insulated situation, plunder was their only
resource for subsistence, and the rich plains
Of Epirus yielding luxuriant profnsion at
their feet, were too temptinga a field for for
age to be neglected. Impetuous as the tor
rents which swept their native ravines, they
burst from the mountain Businesses on the
cultivated lands below, and ere the panic
struck peasants could organize. efectual re-
sstance, the spoil was gathered, and they
boheld the tors,-bendng beneath
its ght,-slowly receding through the
gorge whence they had issued, Or skirtngI
the edge of some overhanging precipice, Sc
cure. II must be confe ssed that this mar
auding and erratic life generated a greedy
rapacity of disposition, which laAterly, sunk
the Sullotes to little better than horde Of
banditt, who preyed iudscrminately Oh
Turk and Greek. Yet, with all their faults,
this people long preserved two virtues,--love
of freedom. and tho indomtable courage by
which they won, and had maintained it,
Some of their leaders, too, were bright ex-
ceptions to the general lawlessness of the
community. In the war with Ali Pasha, which
commenced in $780, and ended in their an
initiation as an independent race, there were
instances Of unshrinking endurance, and de-
voted heroism, unsurpassed in the annals
of ofRupublican Greece.
Itis to the concluding scenes Of that des-
perate but unfortunate struggle, that the fol-
lowing narrative relates.
The sun was just sinking behind the Peak
of Laka, the loftiest of the Suliote noun
tains, and flooding the vapers which rested
there with golden light, when the army of
Ali Pasha, numbering nearly eight thousand
men, reached the Northern bank of the Sui
river, about mile from the spot where it en-
ters the country whence its name is derived,
and prepared to eEcamp on an angle oflevel
land which is there formed by a sud-
den turn of the stream. An Albanian en-
campment is soon completed. Tents are
luxury appropriated only to the commander
and principal officers,--and the simple ar
rangements of the men, who sleep in the
open air, enveloped in their heavy woolen
capotes, are speedily made. In an hour the
bivouac was formed, 1.-The sports and pas
times, which usually follow the fatigues Of
an Arnaut march, commenced. Here might
be dimly described, throught an atmosphere
of smoke, convocation Of war-worn veter-
ans, seated cross legged on the turf, plying
their long amber-tippid chi6oukas, with sin
gular perseverance, and ever and anon con
veying to their lips a silver-rimmed drinking
horn, which, sooth to say, contained liq-
uor somewhat stronger than the legitimate
beverage Of the faithfll* There might be
observed a party performing the celebrated
military dance ofther country, with an elias
ITCHY Of step seemingly unmpaired by pre-
yious exertion, and keeping time with grace
ful infectious Of the body to the twangng
Of the rude three-stringsd lutte, which reg
ulated their diversion. Groups engaged in
singing, draught playing, taking refresh
ments, and a variety of other occupations
and amusements. were scattered, at short
intervals, within the circumference of the
camp The strange and not inelegant ap-
pearance of the troops, in their white kills,
shawIs girdles, red skull caps, long mantles,
and various colored vests,--the green lux
,riance Of the spots selected as their rest