The Bolivar County Democrat., 1923-01-20
Harbor Of Durazzo.

In Albania IL lSnt 30 muCH lHdt HlS-
| tory repeats itself, as that 1t engages
in a process Of monotonous reitera-
ton. Albania is the enfant terrible
among European nations. 1t simply
refuses to grow up.
It does not lurk In the backwaters
of Europe because of inferior people /;
| for 1t has stock which is sturdy,
intelligent and resourceful. The vital
| ity of the Albanians Is exemplified In
| the mere fact that they continue to
exist as homogeneous people amid
geographical and historical handi-
| caps that have absorbed or displaced
many of their old-time neighbors.
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,
which figured in Serbian war news.
The Drin Is formed by the conflu-
ence Of the Black Drin, which rises in
the beautiful Lake Ochrida, and the
mountain-born White Drin. The Drin
proper flows due west before it emp
ties into the Adriatic near Lake
| Scutari, south of Dalmatia, hair
trigger littoral of postwar politics.
Land Of the Blood Feud.
| North of the Drin Is a mountain
land, the Karst, a Sahara Of rock,
akin to a f1reless cooker in its effect
after hot day Here live tribes, un-
conscious of national influences ex-
cept to fight invaders.
| Here is the land of the blood feud,
a code by which 25 per cent Of the
men in some tribes are killed Off In
their prime. Yet this practice is not
| to be confounded with mere lawlesS-
ness Rather it is poor substitute
for any recognized legal system or
any central power to enforce justice.
| 1t is. both more rigid and severe,
and more elaborate, than the common
law of advanced nations. One student
of it's workings found that a failure to
make good promise of trifling pres
ent cost a dozen lives in a day. Be
cause 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 relation
ships assume great Importance. A
mans third cousin becomes his broth
err; womans family ties, outside
| hnchanH or hrnt hnrc a
matters of small moment. In many
places there is no consciousness Of
kinship between niece and aunt.
But the ramifications of this same
code make woman's position higher
in Albania than in the Orient, or ever
in many more modernized region of
Europe For one thing the man who
has 'blood foe is immune from at
tack while in company of woman.
During times Of feuds which amount
to tribal warfare, women attend large
ly to outdoor duties. Marriage Is by
contract; generally arranged upon the
birth Of a child. A woman exercises
no choice but has veto power in re-
spect to her husband. Should she not
wish the man of her parents arrange
ment she may reject him, but. in that
event, must take VOWS to remain a
virgin, assume the status of man,
and in some regions she dons mems
clothing. Should she marry another
man her rejected suitor's family must
seek blood vengeance upon her male
relatives.
Our Ways Strange to Them.
These customs seem strange, but no
less so than some Of our ways to the
Albanian. When told that in England
a woman must hang for murder an Al
banian company was deeply shocked.
1t was beyond their comprehension
how a man could be found who would
hang woman and they concluded
that England must be barbarous is
land, indeed. No less surprise was
caused among another group when in.
formed of the flirtatious tendencies
Of the Anglo-SaxSn maid. They
couldn't see how the parents of a
young woman who Tilted man could
escape dire vengeance by his brothers
-"brothers" meaning all his male
relatives of near and far degree.
Even the minor habits in the daily
life of so isolate a people are novel.
To be without mustache is a dis.
grace in many parts Of north, or
high. Albania. The Albanian mother
tells her child stories in which, unlike
our stage melodrama, 1t always is the
hairless man who figures as the vii
lain.