New-York tribune., 1903-06-12
MACEDONIAN CONTRASTS.
Scenes at Rail5oay Stations and an
Mountain Villages.
Uskub. May "A.

and happy. ar1o have seen the same thlng IN
print from correspondents. can easily under
stand that they are sincere in their belief, for
YOU have to win the heart and confidence of the
hashful Bulgar peasant and go into his mioer-
abe mountain hut and eat ''yowoult'' with him
before he dares to unburden himself; and on the
surface there is not a sign Of covering in him.
in his face not a trace Of care. ] went down to
watch the train arrive yesterday as usual, for
there is always something interesting to see or
learn at the station. Twenty Albanian chiefs
came through heavily guarded and the daily
hatch Of Bulgarian prisoners. The Abanlans
who were taken in arms. were treated like royal
prisoners: several soldiers were detached TO wait
on them: coffee was brought for them and water
SO that they could wash their hands and faces
F2urs were laid on the floor for them TO sit on
and hoys followed. as they changed trains, Win
r5llanrities of luggage. The Bulgarian suspects
several of them were school teachers and otners
business men-were in chains; their guards hdo
bristlng bayonets and the only luggage was
lot Of captured guns The Albanians were pound
for Constantinople, where they woulo PropaoiS
he decorated and provided with honorapie pos's
8 The government. for they are Mahometans-
The Bulgarians were going TO lne Ioi' "
old citadel across the Tardar
That * one contrast of this country OF many
anomalies. Another can be found on the noun
-.;-s;5. AZ the bottom of which the railway
,,,-s Overlooking this city of misery ana rear
IS 2 Fulgsr village that is celebrating ehuiDh
festival in the happy way that makes you "lsn
Won were as free from care as the peasants looA'
!. : no wonder the man who has viewed such
2 scene. in the midst of all that is heart SICK
enfrr declares rhat-the Christians are contehleo-
-r,ere = moi an unpleasant occurrence the whole
afternoon. though a patrol Of Turkish troops
which we suspect is spying on our trail arrives
.-5 takes seats under the brink Of steep de-
cline without furtive glance being cast from
+rA Rulsars Il is only two hours cilnn py
The road 10 Goadna-Todna; but as my COM
,ar,on 2 Vienna correspondent and nnyseh
tried TO shorten the trip by going straight up
the mountain. il took US four hours
Almost at the start there was Chrlstlah
z-svevard. II the size of it were an indication
~ truth despite the Turkish tendency 10 whole
sale slaughter. more Mussulmans have gone
5o--, n death by countless thousands than
,a-ed siaours This town Of Uskub is sur
-o,,nded l,v cemeteries Acres upon acres OF
curved TOP stones and capped ones-oVer the
homes of women and men respectlVeIy-s"eep
IF =, every direction. and great arms OF olo
,,,,--ri,,z grounds reach into the town. The el-
feet is impressive at first: and you can reaus
believe the tales Of past massacres- bu' an 'i
Graves are those of Turks There Is an easy
exclamation. Christians plant bones on top Of
,,oa;as ss At Salonica and Monastir recently
-taz- 5enosit- them in unmarked trenches' "A
,----1-.z homes are reverenced- A street VIII De
-7,rned out Of its course for one great man ueu
Graves in Constantinople sometimes occupy lhe
centre of The roadway like the churches III tlle
strand a Turks body is put away as speeulS
: z5,,le after its last breath and never dis
-,7rf,e5. and the sections of the vast cemeteries
sse that no creeping feeling makes his rest
nv ne
across his grave
= .ha Christian cemetery Servian and Bull
,srss1 rriasts were swinging incense and mur-
-,,,,-fT- r,rsvers probably unintelligible to
-re reasants about them as they were 10 US
for priests have a way Of impresslne the IL
-,orsur by weird incantatiOns. Burning tapers
were stuck in newly made graves, and on thelr
tops were cakes and pans OF boiled wheat ana
al the hest things the survivors could afford.
each dish decorated with tinsel paper, silver OF
gold. Around the edges of this giaour cemetery
e-ood f,-psv women in their blooner trousers
With many naked babies and countless other
children. with years difference in age Of those
rf The same mother The men Of these wild
creatures are the worst Of bashibazouks; put
this does not prevent the plying OF thelr alIeI-
native trade. begging, at times When they are
prohibited from plunderng. When the ceremo-
-ias for -he dead were over all the food was
beside them and the peasants passed down the
-,7r offering their pans 10 the black garbed men
n take what they would. and dishing out into
cloths what was left TO the Mahometans- Ihls
is = sacrifice for the dead to the poor Inc
F7r,1gar5a-s are not too proud TO accept any
thing that IS offered to them. but they are
thrifty and would rather turn an honest plaslre
than beg or steal Two; and you never see one
among the hordes OF purposely manned beggars
and irnpostors who beset you for bakshish all
over Turkey
But I am through the graveyards now ana
on nv way again up the steep mountain sloe 10
C-oadna-yodna We were suddenly challenged
81 Turkish We knew what il meant: we were
accustomed 10 being stopped Turkey is Ike
Germany. everything is ''verboten-" We were
forbidden 10 proceed along the route we were
taking though for half hour we could not
understand why We went around spur OF the
mountain and up another way, and when 1alfiy
above the men who had ieveled their guns a
us We saw the powder magazine down IN d
break OF the rocks with sentries near ana laI
about II on convenient eminences for covering
the approaches. AS We struck the nouhOaIii
stream which flows thinIy down over the only
street Of Goadna-Todna- where you get your
feet washed and probably slip and get wet all
over we heard the strains of Bulgarian Das-
pipe Soon however. the refrain was broken by
The barking Of many sheep dogs that beset US
Their masters called them of and welcomed US
We waded through the pig slough which always
marks 2 Christian village. Where the Turks
are there are no swine-not even Christians, ex-
ceu1 IN the large towns, Incidentally. not far
from I-sl<ub there are three villages known as
Bulgar. Turk and Greek.
Al first glance the Bulgarian dance, for such