The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-07-12

razzo, the cOuntry's principal port. UR.
til the outbreak of the World war the
only well-paved highway in the coun.
try linked these two cities.
The visitor to Tirana can acquire
as souvenirs specimens of locally-made
brass work, distinctive and beautiful
embroideries, done by the Tirana wom-
en- and sold by them in the market
places, and whether a smoker or not.
he will wish TO take along one of the
oddly and intricately carved pipes. The
city covers larger area than its 15.-
900 or so inhabitants would seem to
need, judged by our standards. Yet
one would have difficult time con-
vincing Tiranian, with his cottage
and garden, that a more vertical mode
of living, in crowded apartments,
would be more civilized. Once one
strOlls beyond the bounds Of Tirana,
however, he will encounter mud houses.
and the simple life" to an extreme
degree.
An Albanian family is sufficient unto
itself. Except for the trading in few
cities-in Scutari, KorytZa and Argyro-
castro, besides those already men,
tioned-there is no semblance of an
economic system.
A woman in country district works
nard. but she is not mere drudge. She
makes bread of maize and cooks it
over an open hearth fire. The remain
ing wood ashes she uses in place of
soap. She weaves wooden cloth and
plaits black braid for the garments
she makes of it.
Before the Christian era, the ances-
tors of the present Albanians occupied
practically the whole of the peninsula
north of Greece, TO the Danube. They
are, in fact, the remnants of the oldest
race in eastern Europe. The conquest
and policing of the region by Rome
did not displace these early inhabi-
tants; but when the Slavs burst south
ward into the peninsula in the Sew
enth century A. D., only those who
lived in or fed to Albania kept their
blood and customs unaltered by tn.
newcomers.
Their History One of Struggles.
1t has been the fate of the Albanians
to struggle constantly against some
powerful neighbor. First ii was i'm
perial Rome, next the Slavs, then Tur-
key. When Turkish power waned, AL
bania found Austria coveting her lands.
Just before the World war. Austria
had succeeded in placing Germanic
prince on the throne of the newly Gre
ated Albanian state; but this arrange
ment did not last long. Since the
World war Albania has found herself
between two forces. On the east and
north Yugo-Slavia has advanced her
frontiers to Albania, and eyes her ter
ritory with interest on the west, Italy.
separated only by the narrowest part
of the Adriatic, has shown a desire to
control Albania.
The eastern frontier of Albania.
where, Italy has charged, the Yugo-
Slavs have been making preparations
of supposedly military character. is
much less isolated today than before
the World war. Then the region had
just been liberated from Turkey and
had been little developed. Monastir.
second among the cities of Turkish
Macedonia. had rail connections only
sOutheastward to Saloniki, the metrop-
oils. Now line also extends north
ward connecting with the trunk rail-
way into old Serbia.
The region about the two large
lakes. Ohrida and Presba, midway Of
the present Albanian-Yugo-S lav line,
was also isolated. Now new rail.
way from Uskub and the heart of
Yugo-Slavia beyond reaches down to the
city of Ohrida on the lake. This lake
country of the Yugo-Slavian borderland
has both geographic and historic inter.
est. The claim has been put forth for.
Ohrida that il is 1.-The clearest lake in
the world" Fish may be plainly seen
swimming about at d depth of 60 feet
or more. Dense chestnut forests GOV.
er the slopes of the hills surrounding
the lake.