Evening star., 1921-10-06
land Of OLD FEUDS
IS NORTH ALBANIA
Baby Nation Of Europe In
1914 Refuses to
Grow Up.

| SoIuetiIleS Ne"S ucpcuuS uPOu
nomenclature.
Attacks by Jusoslsvs upon towns
of northern Albania claim cable
space as news.
Put differently, the southern Slhvs
have resumed fighting with the
Ghegs. but that item would deserve
no more than place in text books
where subheadings mark the Slavonic
invasions on the east Adriatic coast.
With this Introduction a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters of
the National Geographic Society con.
tinues:
In Albania it isn't 80 much that
history repeats itself as that 1t en-
cages i'll process of monotonous re-
iteration. Albania is the enfant ter
rible among European nations. 1t
simply refuses to grow up.
Baby Nation, Oldest Race.
"It was the baby nation of Europe
in 1914. peopled by the oldest race in
not lurk in the backwaters Of Europe
| because of inferior people; for it has
4 stock which is sturdy. Intelligent
/ and resourceful The vitality of the
Albanians is eXemplified in the mere
fact that they continue to exist as q
homogeneous people amid geographical
| and historical handicaps that have
absorbed or displaced many Of their
Old-tlme nelghborS.
IN recent years contacts with
Vlachs and Greeks have modified the
| Tosks, or South Albanians. The
wilder part of wild Albania. and the
more primitive among its people. the
Ghegs. are in the north. along the
| River Drin. where the Serbians now
are reinforcing their claims by cap.
/ ture.
! ''The Drin is formed by the confiu-
ence of the Black Drin. which rises
in the beautiful Lake Ochrida, and
the mountain born White Drin: The
empties into the Adriatio near Lake
Scutari, south of Dalmatia, hair
| trigger littoral Of postwar politics.
Likened to Fireless Cooker.
North of the Drin is a mountain
land, the karst. a. Sahara OF rock,
| akin to 4 fireless cooker in its effect
after hot day. Here live tribes un-
cept to fight invaders. Only once.
under Scanderbeg. kosciusHko Of AL
bania. did they achieve a brief ma.
tional unity. but it flew apart again
upon that hero's death.
Here is the land of the blood feud.
code by which 25 per cent Of the
men in some tribes are killed of in
| their prime. Yet this practice is not
to be confounded with mere lawless-
ness. Rather it is q poor substitute
! for any recognized legal system OF
any central power to enforce Justice.
and more elaborate. than the COM
mon law of advanced nations. One
student of its working found that
failure to make good a promise OF a
trifling present cost a dozen lives in
| day. Because one man killed a pig
that was eating his crops the male
relatives of the pigs owner killed
many of the pig slayers clan over a
| long period of years.
Under such a system male rela-
| tfonships assume great importance.
| A mans third cousin becomes his
! brother; woman's family ties, out
side her parents. husband or BROTH
| ers, are matters of small moment. In
! many places there is no conscious.
ness Of kinship between niece and
| aunt.
woman's Position Higher.
! But the ramiflcations Of this same
| code make woman's position higher
! in Albania than in the orient, or even
! in many a more modernized region
| Of Europe For one thing the man
who has a blood foe is immune from
| attack while in company OF q woman.
Some men are known not to have
| gone abroad for years without female
! escort.
During times Of feuds which
! amount to tribal warfare women at
tend largely to outdoor duties. Mar
| riage is by contract, generally ar
ranged upon the birth of a child. A
woman exercises no choice, but has
! a veto power in respect to her hus-
! band. Should she not wish the man
, Of her parents arrangement she may
reject him, but, in that event, must
+ take vows to remain a virgin, assume
: the status of a man, and in some re-
gions she dons mems clothing
/ Should she marry another man her
/ rejected suitor's family must seek
blood vengeance upon her male rela-
/ tives.
These customs seem strange, but
! no less SO than some of our ways to