Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-02
CAPITAL OF MONTENEGRO.
Curious Customs in Most Extraordi.
nary Country.

Cettinje is the most extraordinary capt.
tai in Europe. 1t consists of one long
street with four smaller ones crossing it,
and ending vaguely in the fields. The
whole town covers perhaps thirty or forty
acres. The principal building is the hotel,
which worthily blocks the end of the
main street. 1t is a bare and ricketty-
looking structure, but represents the acme
of luxury at Cettinje The other public
places are the prison, the church ard the
school. The first of these lies on the right
hand side, and in front of the gates, on
lawn, the prisoners amuse themselves by
playing various; rude games-bowls, with
pieces of rock for balls, leap-frog, and so
on A few of them are engaged in odd
building jobs about Cettinje, and Others
hew wood in the mountain. They are not
chained, but appear seldom to dream of
running away. When case of evasion
happens, one or two tellow-convicts are
dispatched to catch the runaway and bring
him back. The theory of setting thief
to catch thief is here practiced most lit
orally and methodically. The only dis
tinction between condemned convict and
citizen is that the former is deprived of
his arms This is an equal degradation to
the usual dress or brand elsewhere.
Close to the hotel is the royal palace,
whitewashed house with green Venetian
blinds, which is popularity supposed to
have cost million of francs, owing to the
expenses of transporting the materials.
Over against it is long, low red building,
known as the "Bigliardo." 1t received
this nickname from an English billiard
table having been set up there. The car
rying of this piece of furniture by fifty men
over the mountain was considered-and
undoubtedly was-a great feat. While the
porters struggled manfully under the slate
pilot stood astride on high and shouted
his directions as to how to get round awk-
ward corners. The "Bigliardo" is now
used as offices for the different Ministries
and Parliament house. The church is
very small, capable of holding, perhaps,
$50 people. On either side of the entrance
are the tombs of Prince Danilo and his
brother, Mirko Petrovitch, and in the
chancel sort of sarcophagus, which is
opened on solemn occasions, containing the
embalmed remains of the Bishop-Prince
Peter l.
The old monastery faces the palace.
Fifty or sixty years ago this monastery
and twenty or thirty cottages round it rep
resented the town of Cettinje. Behind
the monastery is the famous Tower of
Skulls. In the old days no Montenegrin
was entitled to be considered an able
bodied soldier until he had decorated the
tower with Turkish head. The last &C.
casion on which it received its CHASTITY
decorations was after the battle of Ora
hove, which took place on the 18th of
July 1859. The Montenegrins lost 400
men and brought in 1000 skulls, at least
so says tradition The account is more or
less confirmed by independent witnesses,
one of whom, an Austrian officer, counted
1900 skeletons on the field several weeks
after the famous fight The custom has,
however, now died out, having been abol-
ished, together with most practices of
similar nature, by the Draconian code
and infexible rule of Danilo 1.-The
Saturday Review.