Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-03-21

IN THE LAND OF THE BALKANS.

IN THE LAND OF THE BALKANS.
The Picturesque Region That Wor-
ries Europe.
For many years the world has talked
Of the Balkan question, almost con-
!stantly. The annual recurrence Of the
rumor Of trouble in the Balkans is so
regular that it has become a subject
for worldwide Jest.
And yet to almost the whole world
the Balkan question is little more than
a muddle Of obscure geography, tan
gled history and still more tangled in
trigue. Few have a clear idea Of the
Interesting region 1t concerns.
That buffer Of mountain and plain,
set between rival European powers and
peopled largely by semi-savage and
half-civilized tribes, Is no small terri
tory valuable merely on account Of its
strategic position. It Is big enough to
make a formidable empire, II ever an
other Boris or Gear Simeon could arise
to subdue the tribes and hold them to-
gether.
The Balkan states-Servia, Bull
garia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia
and other Turkish provinces on the
peninsula-form a territory bigger than
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales
put together; bigger than Italy or Nor
way; almost as large as Sweden, and
three-quarters Of the size of the Ger
man empire.
The states Of New York, Pennsylva-
MIA, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, If put
together in one jumbled mass, would
make country Of almost the exact
size Of the land of the Balkan ques-
tion.
If jumped together hard enough the
states would make land something
like the Balkan peninsula, too, in con-
ditions. Throw in the Maine winters
and the rocks of Vermont; tumble the
mixture down toward the sea; throw
the Pennsylvania oil wells into the
middle. Stir them up. throw the Ad-
irondacks and the Allegheny noun
tains Unfortunately into the pud-
ding, and you would have a hint Of
the Balkans.
The Adirondacks and the Balkans
have about the same average height.
The forbidding aspects Of some Of the
Allegheny mountain scenery Is du-
plicated in the Balkans.
Throw in, Furthermore, vast tracts of
land denuded Of lumber and blacken-
ed; throw in smiling sea; throw in
villages and towns ranging in appear
ance from the charm Of thriving New
England villages to the desolate ugli-
ness Of a Pennsylvania coal mining
town; mix in the grotesque architecture
of the American seashore; stir In sui
phur wells, magnificent scenery, earth
lauakes and blood-red mud. and you
have the Balkans.
There are many ways Of entering the
Balkan peninsula, but there are not so
many Of getting out. Too often one
goes in by railroad and comes out by
ransom, a method too expensive for
any except large purses.
The most comfortable way Of enter
ing the land is by way Of Hungary into
Servia. The Servians have advanced
beyond the old and simple life Of
throat Sitting and revolution, and are
building up a fine land, rich with ag-
riculture and mines.
| Austria Hungary is pushing the feed
ers Of railroad through it in all direc-
ltions. Immense tunnels burrow under
the mountains. All the Hungarian rail-
roads lead toward the Balkans.
The constant stream Of freight and
passengers turns either into the Adria-
tic sea across Bosnia or through Bel
grade, both by land and by Danube
ports, into Servia, Roumania and Bull
garia, and so finally reaches the Black
Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the ancient
highways leading to the Far East.
| One Of the last places to be touched
by the railroad before it leaves Hun
gary to cross into the Servian bounda-
ry Is the Austrian Gibraltar-the
mighty and ancient fortress of Peter
warden. Then the train steams into
Belgrade, a city with one Of the most
romantic records Of history. 1t Is a
magnificent city to approach, for its
site on the Danube is so beautiful that
travellers give 1t fourth rank in point of
site among the capitals Of Europe
Constantinople, Lisbon, Stockholm and
Belgrade.
Almost everywhere in Belgrade are
monuments and memorials. They are
to martyrs Of the Turkish wars, mur-
dered statesmen and assassinated pa
triots The last Turkish garrison did
not move out Of Belgrade until 1867,
and until then the entire eastern por-
ton Of the town was populated by
Turks. The Turks hand Is still to be
seen everywhere minaretes and
other architecture, in costumes and In
manners.
On Friday, when the weekly market
Is held in the city, the streets are full
of red fezzes. The Servian peasant
still wears the Turkish trousers gath
cred at the ankles. Often he wraps a
towel-like mass Of linen around his
high fez. Often he wears high sheep
skin cap. Every peasant wears a long,
sharply pointed and keenly ground
knife on his right side in a wooden
scabbard.
| From Belgrade the train roars on
through a country, where only a few
years ago was a land of brigands,
whole villages being held as openly by
them as if their occupation were the
most commonplace. One particularly
/ co. rnn,1a ana atrnno hama of the hri-