Evening star., 1940-12-17

Jay ia"Ni"' is 1alrly 1amllldr
to the Italian troops rolling inland
on trucks for their great attempt to
take kastoria. tThey didn't take
It and subsequent events have shown
that even if the Fascist armies had
taken it they couldn't have held it,
When I saw Kavaija it was al
ready dark, at the end of a cloudy
autumnal day. l had been riding
since before dawn along a splendid
modern version of the Via Egnatia-
without any bridges-to link peace
full Elbasan with the old Dyracchium
from which Caesars legions marched
eastward to Salonika and the
Parthian Wars.
One look at the Khan CHM" to
yoU convinced me that the COM
pany of camels. mules, lice and AL
panlan travellers would be incon-
ducive to restful night. At that
moment I had one of my rare in.
spirations.
Test of Hospitality.
This" 1 said, lis the East and
Oriental hospitality is proverbial.
Let's pick out the best house in town
and see whether it works"
After consultation with Abdullah
and some unintelligible inquiries
from the keeper of the Khan, we
set out for house belonging to some
Pasha. AS We approached we were
startled to hear the call to prayer
the Observation-Disclosures from the
mlnaret of the small private mosque
attached to the Pasha's private es-
tate. 1t was well past the hour for
prayer and in any case the Albanian
MoslemS were slack in their religious
observances.
The door was opened at last. and
we explained our predicament. Hos
pltallty was the watchword and hos
pltallty was as good as a check on
the United States Treasury. We
were taken in for the night and en-
veloped in true Oriental luxury. as
though it were the most natural
thing in the world.
Our host explained. in peculiar
French, that they hoped their lack
of facilities might be overlooked.
They were, they said. getting ready
Tor wedding on the following dav
ana the house was crowded with
klnsmen. AS matter of fact, thev
SAID, they were all drinking quite
hard. Seeking knowledge of the
East, I asked whether the muezzins S
prayer was part of the ceremonies.
Oh, mol" they said. 1t was only
that the brothers of the bride were
somewhat exhilarated by the for
oidden juice Of the fermented grape
and from time to time felt the urge
to mount the minaret.
Would Rouse Village.
And so it was. All night long, as
the nuptial drinking-bout proceeded.
they would go up and rouse the
sleeping village of Kavaiia to the
prayer of the Prophet Then, thev
would return to their cups with
much the same abandon as a
Methodist elder making the best
of an unexpected opportunity to
gather evidence of vice in the wicked
city.
4SAV 0oA4S III CIle lUOTIlng. on
my way to meet the famous Rediat
Bey Jella, Prefect of Durazzo, with
out even learning whether the we'd
ding took place on schedule or
whether the Pashas family had
sobered up in time for the ceremony.
But have special and irrational
fondness for that little minaret and
for the anything goes attitude of
the young Moslems whose idea of
good time was to make fun of
their ancestral habits of religion.
When Metaxas passes that way in
his march to the Adriatic, I hope
that his artillery and his Evzones
will not find it necessary to demolish
that mosque or to use that minaret
as an observation post. I don't like
to think of that garden Uttered with
the filth and rubbish of war or of
that bride-her children must be
OLD enough to fight by now-hiding
IN the ruins of that great house and
wondering whether her husband
will ever return.
On we'll! that night I was in
Durazzo, dining with the Italian
Minister, Baron Castoldi, who ey-
planned to me very carefully that
Italy was really Albanias best friend.
and that only by Italian forces
could the country be perfected
against the imperialistic Greeks.
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