The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1922-08-10

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington, d. c.
Little Montenegro. which was the
tiniest kingdom in Europe. has been
merged since the World war into the
big new kingdom of Jugo- Slavia. It's
only the seat of a province. But half
a millennium Of dearly bought indie
pendence and the most intense patriot
ism has made its inhabitants not alto
gether willing to lose their identity
SO from time to time commissions ap-
pear to present MOntenegro's case 10
the world and to keep alive its mar
velOus history and traditions
This little country. then smaller than
Delaware, and sometimes with no
more than 5000 fighting men within
its borders, has the distinction of be-
Ing the one patch Of land in the broad
expanse of the Balkan peninsula that
kept itself free from Turkish conquest
during the five and a half centuries
since the Turks crossed the HelleSpOnt.
One after another, the regions that are
now Bulgaria, Greece. Serbia and Al
bania fell before the excellent Turkish
fighting organizations. and settled
down for hundreds of years under a
condition little better than slavery to
MOslem masters. Montenegro remained
free and was practically a Christian
island in sea of Northumberland
Only on its western border was il in
contact during this long period with
other Christian territory. narrow
strip of Adriatic coast controlled by
Venice
Upon the final overthrow of the an
Gent glory of the Serbs on the field Of
KOssovO, few valiant souls retreated
to the rocky Businesses of CernagOra
10 seek asylum with the Voivode of the
Zeta. A few years later, abandoned
by their ruler-who preferred a life Of
ease at Nenice-they turned to their
bishop. made him also their prince
and with him retreated still deeper
into the hills and there set I'D that
long line of the Vladikas which did
not end until well into the last CEN
fury.
Tributes to Their Bravery.
There they maintained their free
dom, with suffering indescribable and
with courage illimitable: and won
from Gladstone, the great English
apostle of Balkan freedom. those
words OF undying praise. in which he
gave II as his deliberate opinion"
that "the traditions of Montenegro ex-
coed in glory those of Marathon and
Thermopylae and all the war tradi-
lions Of the world; and inspired in
Tennyson what he regarded as the
nnest of his sOnnets, inscribed TO the
.. smallest among peoples, rough
rock-throne
OF freedom! warriors beating hack the
swarm
OF Turkish Islam for five hundred years
Great Cernagora' never since thine own
Black ridges drew the cloud and broke
the storm
Has breathed q race Of mightier noun
taineers."
Within but a stones throw of the
Adriatic sea, Montenegro was long cut
of from II until in the middle of the
Nineteenth century her arms won An
nvari from the Turks. Cattaro has al
ways been the logical port of the coun-
.and its natural gateway from the
u, yet Ii remained until the World
dr In the hands Of Austria. Now
Cattaro Is Jugo-Slavic and is no longer
under control alien to that of Monte
negro.
In the days before the World war
the few diplomats and travellers who
visited Cetinje, he capital of Monte
negro. considered the ride over the au-
tomobile road from Cattaro one of the
grandest scenicall.- TO be found In
Europe.
Ascending the marvellous zigzag road
which leads up from the port. one ap-
proaches the stern and gloomy defile
which forms the portal to this historic
stronghold of freedom in the Balkans
Splendid engineering is this road.
Built for post and military uses, il
clings to the face of the sheer rock
and weaves back and forth in a multi
tude of "hairpin curves" which the
chauffeurs of the post automobile treat
with that contempt which familiarity
alone can breed.
Up and ever up. one goes. Below
stand forth the dusky cliffs which jut
into the southern ford; nesting be
meath them. and hemmed in with the
massive battlements of those giants of