Charlevoix county herald., 1912-01-27


frontier of Montenegro il one were
not on the lookout for it. 1t is
marked by row of paving stones
set obliquely across the road and
a post painted with the Austrian black
and yellow. Then we turned inland
and covered the level mile TO Njegush.
This important village is the cradle
OF the present dynasty and the birth
place of King Nicholas !. II is GER
tile spot and like all the cultivable
land of Montenegro appears 10 be
the basin of long dry lake. We We're
too high now for the vine. the olive
and the orange.
Not even the wild pomegranate, so
plentiful in Dalmatia, could follow us
here. There were fields of rye and
potatoes, or earth pears. We lunched
lightly at the inn OH excellent rye
bread and coffee-one can generally
rely upon these and the wine being
good-and when the horses were
rested drove on through the valley,
over pass and then down zigZags to
Cettinje, which with it's 1000 inhab-
tants is the smallest capital in Eu-
rope.
The streets are wide and well met
allied. The houses are small, but tn "
looked well built and comfortable, and
there are wells at various corners
where the people draw water in the
evening. None of the Montenegrins is
greatly rich or greatly poor The in
dependence of the individual is as re-
markable as that of the nation. We
only saw two beggars in Cettinje, a
crippled woman in a wheeled chair
and blind man who sang to the gusla.
This is the national instrument. n one
stringed fiddle carved with n horses
head
There are villalike palaces for the
royal family and various rather impos-
ing legations, but in the main both
houses and churches are very modest
in appearance and do not lay claim 10
any great antiquity. 1t was the people
who interested us chiefly.
The Dalmatian slouches. He is al
ways ready for a rest. and though he
falls into the most graceful positions
upon a doorstep, against a tree or
down upon his mother earth one gets
tired of his picturesque idlcness. The
Montenegrin has squarer shoulders
and sitter back. He walks as If he
wishes TO arrive somewhere and looks
upward and outward like an eagle.
sPeasant Life in Montenegro.
The peasants wear long coats OF
white feltlike cloth with bright sashes
and all have the ''torba" or pouch COM
mon throughout Dalmatia. 1t is a big
leather contrivance. handy receptacle
for pistol, knives, pipe and tobacco.
The women are very comely, quiet
eyed. dark haired They wear hand
kerchiefs or lace wells over their heads
and long, sleeveless coats OF pale
color, just touched with embroidery.
becoming dress for old and young
The Montenegrin wife does not have
a very easy time. She does nearly all
the work and soon grows old.
On the night Of our arrival in Get
TIME khaki coats were being expert
mented with for the first time. with a
view TO their being worn by the army.
We wondered why they should be con-
sidered necessary, for the rough peas
ant coat falls in with the landscape
even better One streak of CRIME upon
him and the wearer is stone among
the stones, a tree stump In the woods,
one sheep OF his flock, bit OF broken
masonry under a wall. No khaki can
hide him better than his own home
spun and in his native mountains he
can defy the eye and the spyglass.
The man of means does not wear
this undyed material. He has green.
wide skirted coat, with sleeves slit
near the shoulder. so that he may wear
the coat without them when II is
warm. And this gives him a strange
though very dignified appearance as
he walks down the Katunska Utica, a
spare pair OF sleeves hanging behind
him and his "struka," a brown car.
petty plaid. with snicks of color. folded
over his shoulder. its long frlngs
swinging at every step.
All alike wear the poetic headdress
OF their country. little round cap.
which is at once dirge, lyric and
Il song of victory. It has a red top
and brim of padded black silk. which
IS used as a purse. The black is
mourning for the lost country; the red
is i'm memory of the blood which has
been shed. On the crown are five
lines of gold arranged like rising
sIn--they are for five centuries of
glorious indcpendence-and below
them. In the Russian character. are
The initials OF the beloved ruler who