Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-22
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
o MONTENEGRO

49, >ARot1 aht Ddt
the ghost of the tiny never-conquer-
ed country refuses to be laid. and
has been walking" at GenoA lately,
adding to the troubles of Europe's
diplomats. The country is the sub.
ject of the following bulletin from
the Washington. ID. c., headquarters
of the National Geographic Society:
They Did Not rass
Montenegro, then smaller than
Delaware, and sometimes With no
more than 5000 fehting men with.
In Its borders. is 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 sinte
the Turks crossed the H~eiiespont.
The regions that r nov Bulgaria.
Greece. Serbia. and Albania. one at
ter another fell before the excellent
Turkish lighting organizations. and
settled down for hundreds % years
under a condition little bettse than
slavery to Moslem masters. Monte
negro remained practically a Chris
tisn island in a sea of Mohamfhe-
danism. Only on its western border
was 1t in contact during this long
period with other Christian terri
tory. a narrow strip of the Adriatic
coast controlled by Venice.
And because, in spite of its SEEM
ing insignificance, 1t was the one re-
gion to defy the Turks, 1t early be-
came the cherished dream of ali
Turkish leaders to bring the up
sart Montenegrins' under their yoke
OF annihilate them. The resulting
series of well authenticated facts
that makes up Montenegrin history
woul not make good fiction; 1t seems
to improbable. Time and time again
the Turks fitted out tremendous
armies that might almost be COM
pared to the vast horde that Xerxes
threw against Greece, and marched
them against the little handful of
montenegrins in their mountains.
And each time-sometimes quickly
and sometimes after painful re-
treats-the mountaineers sent them
Keeling back with almost unbeliev-
able losses. In one period of twelve
years between 1924 and 1896 the
records show that So battles we're
fought resulting in So victories over
the Turks.
Fought From Rocks
Usually the larger Turkish arm
les penetrated some distance into
Montenegro. But without having
learned from former experiences
they usually found themselves soon
er or later in some rock-hemmed
valley of the endless Montenegrin
hills. Then every rock gave up its
notwithstanding m~ountaineer who
fired until his ammunition gave out
and then, with his comrades, fell on
the remaining Turks and slaughter
ed them with his saber. In a number
OF such battles the toll of life was
twenty Turks for every Montenegro.
Three times Cetinje, the capital, was
overrun by Turkish forces: but the
Montenegrins retired to the higher
mountains, awaited their oppertuni-
ty, and drove the invaders out. Such
an admirer of the .Ldomitable Mon
tenegrins was Gladstone when he
studied the history of their unequal
struggle that he declared: The ira
ditions of Montenegro exceed in
glory those of Marathon and Their
mopolae and all the war traditions
OF the world
Montenegro means black noun
tain If it were gray mountain
the name would be exactly descrip-
tive, for the country is a sea of gray
ridges of rock, and much of the area
is without growth of any kind or
even soil. Terraces of stone have
been constructed on many of the
hillsides to hold carefully collected
soil that it may be cultivated. There
a few valleys that are cultivated, but
these were for the most part accessl-
bile to the Turks and often had to
be abandoned. Montenegro was
without a seaport until 1877 when
the late King Nicholas, then prince,
captured Antivari and Dulcigno from
the Turks. The excellent harbor of
ECattaro, which the Montenegrins
have always felt to be their natural
gateway to the sea, was controlled
first by Venice and was later taken
by powerful Austria.
SUGGESTIONS From Uncle to Nephew
"Montenegro's rulers have eonsti-
tuted a unique phase of the eoun-
try's life. In 1916 the prince abdi-
Gated, gave his Office to the ranking
bishop of the Greek church in the
country and sailed away. The ruler,
whose title was Vladika. was at once
prince, bishop, Judge, legislator and
commander-in-chief. The office was
hereditary. put since the bishop
could not marry, the Inheritance was
from uncle to nephew. This odd ar
rangement continued until the mid
die of the nineteenth century with
a long line of what Americans might
be tempted to call 'hghting parsons
as rulers. The inevitable broke 1t
up. Young Danilo, who fell heir 10
the complex Office of Vladika, was
in love with a Serbian girl. BY a
coupe d'etat he separated the ecele-
siastical and secular functions. re-
tanning the latter for himself and
passing the former over to a church
| prelate. 1t was then provided that
succession should be from father to
son. BY an odd turn of fate, how
| ever. he died in his youth without
an heir and the throne as before
went to a nephew, the late Nicholas.
Montenegro was an important
| factor In the dream of Russia for a
| pan-Slavic state. Peter the Great
began a close friendship with the
Montenegrins which his successor
| carried on. Montenegro became in
| effect the Balkan g~od-child of the
! greatest of the Slav states. Russia
| granted the little nation an annual
| subsidy, donated war materials. and
admitted a group of the young Mon
tenegrins to the Russian military
| academy, Each of the later Vladi-
kas made a trip to the Russian
court"