Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-18
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Ochrida.-When the important Mac edonian city of Monastir came once more into possession of the Serbs a to the neighboring town of Ochrida, situated to the northwest a distance of 30 miles. The National Geographic society's latest war geography bulletin gives the following information con- corning this picturesque place which after centuries of comparative obscur- ity has had turned upon it the search light of history in the making:
 Clustering on the northeastern shore of one of the most beautiful of the All banian lakes are the cottages, church es ana ruined castles which go to make up the historic town of Il, 900 inhabit- ants known as Ochrida, the same name by which the lake is known.
 "Ochrida, or Ochari, as it is called by the Turks, stands near the site of the ancient city of Lychnidos, once the capital of the Dassaretae and later one of tn termini of the famous Via Egnatia, a great military and commer- cial highway which the Romans built to bind the Adriatic to the Hellespont
 "An English woman traveller. ap- preaching Ochrida from the direction of Monastir. gives the following sim pie picture of the beauty of the nat ural setting which this tenth century capital of the short lived Bulgarian empire enjoys: At the foot of the Pindus range) we entered a rich, fer tile country, passing through shady lanes, bordered by hedges, heavy with the perfumed blossoms, in fact, we re- marked in this country, growing wild, almost every plant which one is ac- cuStomed to see in the cottage gardens of England.'
 "Ochrida reached the pinnacle of its glory in the tenth century during the resign of Czar Samuel, the most pow erful of the Bulgaro-S -Slanvonic mon archs, a man who mounted the throne following the violent deaths or his three older brothers, and one unau- thentic story tells of his having put out the eyes and then strangled his father who stood in the path of his march to power. If that legend be true, most griveously did Samuel pay the penalty of his crime, for his own death was brought about, after reign of nearly forty years, by the pitible sight of 15,000 of his captured troops sent back to him by Basil II (the slayer of BulgarsD with their eyes plucked out
 "A less gruesome story of the mon- arch of OchridaNis that of the romance of the young Serbian king Vladimir, and of SamueFs daughter Kosara. Samuel, so the legend goes, coveted Vladimir's city of Dulcigno, on the Adriatic coast. In the war which en- sued Vladimir was defeated and driven to the mountains, where. upon wit messing the hardships suffered by his soldiers, he decided to purchase their safety with his own persons. The Good Shepherd givest his life for the sheep, said the king as he surrendered him. self and was led captive to Prespa, a village near Ochrida, where Samuel hoa O aaf1o Tn which he kent not only his material treasures, but his hearts delight, the fair Kosara, his daughter.
 Both Vladimir and Kosara were ex- tremely pious, and while the captive was praying in his rungeon the vision hour Kosara was hidden by an angel to go and wash the feet of the captives in her fathers castle. Thus the two met and the familiar but never old miracle of love at first sight followed. Kosara went to her father and declared that she would marry none other than Vladimir, and the Czar, knowing that the captive was of royal blood, con- sented, had the. fortunate Vladimir ar rayed in purple and fine linen, and after the marriage ceremony restored to him his city with the addition ot And so far as hitory knows, there is no reason to deny the assertion of the i legend that they lived happily eve, after
 For nearly 300 years Cup to 17s7) Ochrida was the ecclesiastical head quarters of the Bulgarians in the west | of the Balkan peninsula, and at the time of the outbreak of the present war it was the seat of Bulgarian and i a Greek bishop.
 "The lake of Ochrida, which the
 town overlooks, is picturesque ex- panse of water having an elevation o. about half a mile above Sea-level., witE a maxaimum length of eighteen miles and a width of eight miles. The chieI outlet of the lake is the River Drin
 which flows north and whose rather l flat banks, lined with willows, througf
 whose branches many children are t1 1 be seen, suggest a Dutch scene. l Tn the shallow places along th'
 river the traveller sees many groups O
 work, their skirts tucked up above
 their knees. This fact occasions nt
 embarrassment to the supposedly fail
 washerwomen, but upon the approacl of a stranger all clutch wildly fol
 wisps of veil with which they hastil, cover their mouths and chins.
 Two important occupasionS of tn Ochrida are the manufacture of silve 1 filigree work, in which they are highl. skilled, and the dressing and making up of furs into pelisses, extensively
 worn thrpughout the regions forTnerl,
 under the. suzerainty Of the European Turks"
 Veils Of plain mesh with one hug embroidered motif that is placed t,