The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-19
LAND OF THE BALKANS.
PTCTvRESQUE REGION THAT WORRIES EUROPE.
A Region of Brigands and Walking Arsenals-Relics of the Century.
 Long War with Turks-People 1 Who Seem to Live as in.
 the Distant Past.

For many years the world has talked of the Balkan question, almost constantly. The annual recurrence of the rumor or trouble ip the Balkans is so regular that 1t has. Become a subject for. worldwide jest &
 And yet to almost the whole world the Balkan question is little more than muddle of obscure geography. tangled history and still more tangled intrigue Few have a clear idea of the. interesting region it concerns.
 That buffer of mountain and plain, set between rival European powers and peo- pied largely by semi-savage and half civilized tribes, is no small territory, valuable merely on account of it's strat- egic position. It is big enough to make a formidable empire, if ever another Boris or Czar Simeon could arise to subdue the tribes and hold them together.
 The Balkan States-Servia, Bulgaria. Montenegro. Albania, Macedonia, and other Turkish provinces on the peninsula form territory bigger than England. Scotland. Ireland and Wales put together; bigger than Italy or Norway; almost as large as Sweden. and three-quarters of the size of the German Empire.
 The States of New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont Massa- shusetts and Connecticut, If, put together in one jumbled mass. would make a coun- try of almost the exact size of the land of the Balkan question.
 If jumbled together hard enough the States would make a land something like the Balkan peninsula, too, in conditions Throw in the Maine winters and the rocks Of Vermont: tumble the mixture down toward the sea; throw the Pennsyi- vania oil wells into the middle. Stir them up, throw the Adirondacks and the Ale ghany Mountains indiscriminately into the pudding. and you would have a hint of the Balkans
 The Adirondacks and the Balkans have about the same average height The for bidding aspects of some of the Alleghany Mountains scenery is duplicated in the Balkans.
 Throw in. furthermore, vast tracts of land denuded Of lumber and blackened; throw in a smiling sea; throw in villages and towns ranging in appearance from the charm of thriving lew England vil- lages to the desolate ugliness of a Penn sylvania coal mining town; mix in the grotesquey architecture of the American seashore; stir in sulphur wells, magnifi- cent scenery, earthquakes and blood-red mud, and you have the Balkans.
 There are many ways of entering the Balkan peninsula, but there are not 90 many of getting out. Too often one goes in by railroad and comes out by ransom, q method too expensive for any except large purses.
 The most comfortable way of entering the land Is by way of Hungary into Servia. The Sergians have advanced be- yond the old and simple life of throat sitting and revolution, and are building up fine land. rich with agriculture and mines.
 Austria Hungary is pushing her feeders or railroad through 1t in all directions. Immense tunnels burrow under the moun- tains All the Hungarian railroads lead toward the Balkans
 The constant stream of freight and pas- senger turns either into the Adriatic Sea across Bosula or through Belgrade. both by land and by Danube ports, into seryia. Houmania and Bulgaria, and so finally reaches the Black Sea, the. Aegean Sea. end the ancient highways leading to the faif Fast.
 Ore, of the last, places to be touched by tne railroad before it leaves Hungary to cross into the Servian boundary is the Austrian Gibraltar-the mighty and an- cient fortress of Peterwardein. Then the uain steams into Belgrade, city with one ot tne most romantic records of his tory. It Is magnificent city to approach Tor It's site on the Danube is so beautiful that travellers give it fourth rank in point ot site among the capitals of Europe- Cor stantinople. Lisbon, Stockholm and Belgrade.
 Almost everywhere in Belgade are monuments and memorials. They are to martyrs of the Turkish wars. murdered statesmen and assassinated patriots. The last Turkish garrison did not move out or Belgrade until 1867. and until then tho entire eastern portion of the town was populated by Turks. The Turks hand is sun 10 pc seen everywhere-in minarets 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 stiu wears the Turkish trousers gathered at the ankles. Often he wraps a towel-like mass of linen around his high fez, Often he wears high sheepskin cap. Every peasant wears cr long, sharply pointed and keenly ground knife on his right side In wooden scabbard.
 From Belgrade the train roars through country, which only a few years ago was land of brigands. whole villages being held as openly by them as if their occupation were the most commonplace One particularly famous and strong home of the brigands was the village of De- muspotek (the Brook of Pigs)
 If man wishes to see all the tribes of the Balkans, he need merely continue on the train to the town of Nisch. Nisch will be the great object of maneuvers if ever there Is Balkan war.
 Its strong fortress commands the key to the road into Bulgaria and Macedonia Christian churches and Turkish mosques stand there almost side by side The cry of the imaam from the minaret min gles with the bells that call the Catholic worshiper.
 Armed like arsenals. with long pistols, long rifles. long knives. Macedonians, AL banians and Arnuts shuffie along with the walk of the mountalneer. Servian peasant women in gaudily striped frocks, Bulgarian women dressed in black and looking like priests. mountaineers from Montenegro in fustanellas with long beaked yellow and red shoes and brilliant scarlet cloaks, grave Hodschas in silken caftans and green turbans. mingle on the streets with Spanish Jewesses with bril- liant gold and silver headdresses and Montenegrin women in white skirts and sleeveless waists, and little red caps with a rising sun embroidered on their fronts in gold.
 Near Nisch is a square tower. Tell it's story and you tell the story of the Bal kans.
 The tower is known as the Tschelekula, meaning Skull Tower" In 1909 the Turks advanced toward Nisch. The Ser vian Wolwode. Stefan sindjeitsch, in- trenched himself with 5000 Servians in overcome. When the Janissaries rushed Gin6fAlftaCh