The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-14
MEN LOAF, WOMEN WORK.
a Mountain Land Where the Male 1:
"the Lord of Creation"

a Mountain Land Where the Male Is
"the Lord of Creation"
Dalmatia is a strip of country on the east
ern coast Of the Adriatic, comprising also
several hundred islands off the coast line.
The country does not exceed 1000 square
miles in extent, and has had perhaps 500, 600
populat ion. 1t is one of the byGays Of
Europe, little known, but well worth the
trouble Of visiting TO him who is willing to
dispense with the luxury of a good hotel
and TO brave the dangers which must be
incurred by visiting a half-savage people.
Even under the Austrian dominion, as 1t
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 principal towns. Notwith
standing the fact that an Austrian gar
rison is stationed in almost every village,
brigands are common, and their favorite
bit Of enterprise is to capture the traveller
and hold him for ransom nor are they
scrupuous for his life, for unless The ram
som be paid, and that with reasonable
promptltude, he will suffer for the remiss-
ness of his friends.
Not until very recent years has much
attention been paid them by the Aus"
trian government. They were form
erly regarded as q turbulent, troublesome,
riotous set, who needed an occasional severe
example to keep them in order. Less than
thirty years have elapsed since All Austrian
official gravely advised, in the case of a viii
lage riot, that tho entire population be dec
mated. They are considered lazy and
unreliable, and perhaps they ara, yet, they
have many good qualities. When living on
their own land, and thus having some in
centive to labor, they work hard; when
their boats are their own property, they are
industrious fishermen.
or recent years the Austrian government
has ascertained their value, aud they are
now being employed in large numbers in
the Austrian navy; as sailors they are
more reliable than as soldiers, 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 for
gotten that over fifty languages are spoken
in Austria, and it is the policy Of the Aus
triau government to send regiments into
districts where they know nothing of the
people or their language, The Czech regi-
ment is sent into a German province, the
Dalmatian regiment into the Tyrol, the re-
| crafts from the Tyrol arc Quartered in Dal-
malta or Bosnia.
Notwithstanding their past, there is hope
for the future Dalmatians. So noble race
OF men must IN time become useful. 1t must
be confessed that the vices among them are
ub pI6sSuI nuulbIOus. 1ub men steep ull
| day, while the women 40 the work, a sight
repulsive 60 the natives Of civilized coun.
try. But with education. foreign inter
course, and, above all, that peace which
never can come while the Turkish frontier
is so close at hand, Dalmatia will enter upon
a future of prosperity.
1t is in the long journeys over the noun
tains that the mems lazness is shown thu
most strongly. There the women carry all
the burden. while the men swell around as
if each were king, instead Of a subject
| mouutaineer.
The boats they use in their infreQuent
water voyages are very rude and primitive.
They tip up at both ends worse than an In
dian dug-out, and the oars are the most
cumbersome things imaginable. They de
velop but little speed. and frequently on the
mountain lakes the wind rushes down a
gorge, the tipsy boat is upset and for some
days tho women so around mourning their
lost ones.