Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-05
Spare the Pills
ndspoil thechild!
Ayers, mild. ! !.;:''' Is:
THE LAND OF THE BALKANS.
The Picturesque Region That Worries
Europe.

| For many years the world has talked
OF the Balkan question, almost con
stantly. The annual recurrence of tn,
rumor Of trouble in the Balkans is 81
regular that it has become a subject fol
worldwide jest.
And yet to almost the whole worlt
the Balkan question is little more thar
middle of obscure geography, tangled
history ana still more tangled intrigue
Few have clear idea of the interesting
region it concerns.
mat buffer of mountain and plain
set between rival European powers anG
peopled largely by semi-savage and
half-civilized tribes, is no small terri
tory valuable merely on account of its
st"ategical position. 1t is big enough
to make formidable empire, if ever an
other Boris or Car Simeon could arise
to subdue the tribes and hold them to-
gether.
The Balkan States-Servia, Bulgaria
Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and
other Turkish provinces on the PENN
sula-form territory bigger than Eng
land. 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 EN-
pire.
The States of New York. Pennsyl-
Vania. Maine, New Hampshire Ver-
mont, Massachusetts and Connecticut
if put together in one jumbled mass,
would make country of almost the ex-
act size of the land of the Balkan ques-
ton.
!,
If jumbled together hard enough the
states would make Il land something
like the Balkan peninsula. too, i'm 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 mid
die. Stir them up, throw the Adiron-
dacks and the Allegheny mountains in
dlScriminately into the pudding, and
you would have a hint of the Balkans.
The AdirOndacks and the Balkans
nave about the same average height
The forbidding aspects of some of the
Allegheny mountain scenery is dupli-
Gated in the Balkans.
Throw in, furthermore, vast tracts of
land aenuded of lumber and blackened;
throw in a smiling sea; throw in viii
from the charm of thriving New Eng
land villages to the desolate ugliness of
a Pennsylvania coal mining town: mix
in the grotesque architecture, of the
American seashore; stir in sulphur
wells. magnificent scenery, earthquakes
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 i'll by railroad and comes out by
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
and revolution, and are build
ing up a fine land, rich with agriculture
and mines.
Austria Hungary is pushing her rail-
road fcclers in all directions. Immense
tunnels burrow under the mountains.
All the Hungarian railroads lead
the Balkans.
The constant stream of freight and
passengers turns either into the Adriat-
ic sea across Bosnia or through Bel
grade, both by land and by Danube
ports, to 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 boundary
is the Austrian Gibraltar-the mighty
and ancient fortress of Peterwardein.
Then the train steams into Belgrade, q
city with one of the most romantic
records in history. 1t is a magnificent
city to approach, for its site on the
Danube is so beautiful that travellers
give it fourth rank in point of site
among the capitals of Europe-Con
stantinople, Lisbon, Stockholm and
Belgrade.
Almost everywhere in Belgrade are
monuments and memorials. They are
to martyrs of the Turkish wars, MUIR
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-in minarets and 9TH
er 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
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 wooden
scabbard.
From Belgrade the train rOarS
through q country, which only few
years ago was land of brigands, whole
villages being held as openly by them
as If their occupation We're the most
commonplace. One particularly fa-
nous and strong home of the brigands
was the village of Domuspotek (the
Brook of Pigs.
Tf man wishes to see all the tribes
of the Balkans, he need merely con-
tinue on the train to the town of Nisch.
Nisch will be the great object of ma
neuvres if ever there is a Balkan war.
It's strong fortress commands the key
to the road into Bulgaria and Macedo-