Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-09-03
AMONG THE oALMArIANs.

A Mouns.in Land Where the Male Is .'ths
Lord of Creation"
Dalmatia is a strip of country on the
eastern coast of the Adriatic, compris-
| ing also several hundred islands off the
coast line The country does not ex-
coed four thousand square miles in ex-
| tent and has had perhaps five hundred
thousand population 1t is one of tho
byways of Europe, little known. but
| well worth the trouble of visiting to
him who is willing to dispense with the
luxury of good hotel and to brave the
dangers which must be incurred by
| visiting half-savage people
Even under the Austrian dominion,
as it has been since the first years Of
| the present century. the Dalmatians
have not learned the arts of peace and
| it is perilous in certain districts to
| venture outside the walls of the princi-
pal towns Notwithstanding the fact
| that an Austrian garrison is stationed
! in almost every village, brigands are
common, and their favorite bit of en-
| terprise is to capture the traveller and
hold him for ransom; nor are they
| scrupulous for his life, for unless the
ransom be paid, and that with reasona-
bic promptitude. he will suffer for the
remissness of his friends
Not until very recent years has much
attention been paid them by the Aus
trian government They were former
| 1y regarded as turbulent, trouble
some, riotous set who needed an
occasional severe example to keep them
in order. Less than thirty years have
| elapsed since an Austrian official grave
~ advised. in the case of a village riot
| that the entire population be deci-
mated They are considered lazy and
unreliable, and perhaps they are, yet
/ they have many good qualities When
living on their own land, and thus hav-
ing some incentive to labor, they work
hard, when their boats are their own
property, they are Industrious fisher
| men,
| OF recent years the Austrian govern
ment has ascertained their value, and
| they are now being employed in large
mum bers in the Austrian navy, as sail
ors they are more reliable than as sol
diers. but when drafted into the army
they are usually not kept at home, but
sent into one of the northern provinces.
1t should not be forgotten that over
fifty languages are spoken in Austria.
and it is the policy of the Austrian gov
eminent to send regiments into dis
tricts where they know nothing of the
people or their language The Czech
| regiment is sent into a German prov
| ince; the Dalmatian regiment into the
1 Tyrol; the recruits from the Tyrol are
| quartered in Dalmatia or Bosnia
Notwithstanding their past, there .
hope for the future Dalmatians So
| noble a race of men must in time be-
come useful 1t must be confessed that
the vices among them are at present
numerous The men sleep all day while
| the women do the work, a sight repul-
sive to the natives of a civilized coun-
| try. But with education, foreign inter
course, and, above all, that peace which
never can come while the Turkish from
tier is SO close at hand, Dalmatia will
enter upon a future of prosperity.
1t is in the long journeys over the
mountains that the mems laziness is
shown the most strongly. There the
women carry all the burdens, while the
men swell around as if each were a
king, instead of subject mountaineer-
| The boats they use in their infrequent
| water voyages are very rude and priIn-
tive They tip up at beth ends worse
than an Indian dug-out, and the oars
| are the most cumbersome things imag-
| Unable They develop but little speed.
and frequently on the mountain lakes
the wind rushes down a gorge, the tip
~ boat is upset and for some DAYS the
| women go around mourning their lost
4 OneS-N. Y. journal