AUSTRIA'S NEW PROVINCES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 249, 17 October 1908, Page 11

AUSTRIA'S NEW PROVINCES.

It is exceedingly fortunate that we are able to give so recent and so excellent a descriptive account of Bosnia-Herze-govina, the annexed provinces, as that published only last year by Archibald and Ethel Colcohoun in their deeply interesting book, "The Whirlpool of Europe." After pointing out the strategic importance of these two States to both Austria and Turkey, which led to the anomalous situation of the region being under the civil control of the Ottoman Empire, while Austria occupied it with a military force, the authors proceed: — THE MOUNTAINOUS AND PICTURESQUE COUNTRIES OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. lying to the south, and bordering Montenegro, is a very interesting region, from many points of view. Its history is intimately linked with that of the other Balkan States, but it has some peculiar fen turns. C'h.ef of these was the religious opinions of its people, high and low, in the period which preceded the -Mohammedan j conquest. They belonged to the Parta- ! rine sect, otherwise called Bogomile, > which appears to have been one of a ! scries of heretical religions. Both Greek j and Latin churches viewed this heresy! with horror. The Franciscans, in parti-i '.uiar, worked hard to suppress it, and I some of the Bosnian rulers became Catho-! lies. The result was to hasten the fall' of the country before the Turks, for the ! Bosnians made no secret that they pre- j , ferrpd Islam to Catholicism, and in 1415 j a number of them wqtp. actually Turciscd j and fought with the Turks against Hungr- ai ' I After the fall of Servia, in 1457, Bosnia j became pnrt of the Ottoman Empire. ! King Mathias, of Hungary, made a tern-1 porarily successful attempt to rescue it,! but eventually failed, and in 1483 Herze- j govinn. was added, by which time only i (two Slavonic powers in the Balkans re- \ tain fid their freedom. These were thej republic of Ragusa and the principality ] of Montenegro. The close kinship be-1 twecn Bosnia and Servia—both part of i one great Servian empire, until that illeonsolidated State collapsed, after the death of Stephen D;isan. in 1350—gives a ! special interest to the modern history of the former country. Servia has regained national consciousness, nnd has emerged I aji a modern Christian State. IS SUCH A RENACENCE POSSIBLE FOR BOSNIA? The peasantry aro still purely Slav in race, the Turkish element (even where the Slavs are Moslems) being clearly distinguishable. Their language is Serbo Croat, albeit corrupted with Turkish words. But he impression gained by I observation of thorn is that, unlike the Servians, they have taken the stamp of Orientalism deep into their minds and hearts. The peculiar conditions under] which they accepted Turkish yoke, and the extent to which the Bognomiles embraced Islam, have had the effect of destroying their national and racial pride to a greater extent than has been the case in Servia. The distention between the Christian Churches here, as in othex. parts of the Balkans, stands in the way of a national and religious unity of pur-. I pose, r.nd the lino of cleavage between the I different parties among the people not so j much racial us sectional. The portion of j the community which is not Mohammedan is divided between the Latin and Greek Churches, the former claiming ' about one-fifth, who are called Croats, and the latter, known as Servians, about one-half of the total population.. The rivalry of the churches in the matter of conversions is keen, and (as in other I Balkan states) the same family may contain people nominally of two or three races and religions. The rocky and difficult nature of the country has helped to make it a battle-ground of the Turks and their European opponents for centuries, and it was only by the peace of Sistova in 17J> 1 that a period of repose was securrd. When, in IS7S, the Turks agreed to military occupation by Austria, the latter had to meet an obstinate resistance from the people, who, in their mountain fastnesses, were ABLE TO MAKE A LONG DEFENCE EVEN AGAINST TRAINED ARMIES. Naturally, a country, so given over to warfare, lias remained backward in many elements of civilisation, and even agriculture, which occupies 00 per cent, of the people, is primitive in its methods. Hero, again, as in Croatia, was an early civilisation, and there are interesting remains of the Roman occupation. The scenery as one travels from Ragusa to Mostar. and thence still north to Sarajevo (the capital), is some of the finest to be seen on any railway line in the world. The line runs along THE BEAUTIFUL, ROMANTIC VALLEY OF THE NARENTA, then over the pass of the Ivan-Planina (a fine piece of engineering), and so on through the mountains that form the watershed of the Adriatic to the capital of Bosnia —Sarajera—with its glittering minarets and mosques and flat-roofed houses set in gardens, the whole backed by lofty ranges, behind which the sun sets, casting long rays of gold and purple down the wooded slopes. Here, as in Mostar, the Austrian occupation has put A THIN VENEER OF EUROPE OVER THE IMPERISHABLE UAST. The result is somewhat to accentuate the. picturesquenoss of the latter at the expense of the former, but one has to confess one's debt of comfort in the way of railways and hotels, however indifferent the latter may be. The Austrian successors of the Turks have built barracks—sanitary, perhaps, but unsightly and hot looking technical schools; introduced cafes and restaurants; made experimental farms; and constructed a large number of army I government buildings, besides studding I the country with forts. Nor have the Austrian* forgotten to attempt (at all "vents) education work amongst the better class people , . They have founded rollegcs for young MULLARS and a I law seminary for the Kadis. It is interI esting to notice that the Muftis of the ' ;:;os'|tips, who have from time immemorial been appointed by the Sultan, have ?inec ISS2 had to have their positions confirmed by the Emperor of Austria. THE COSTUMES OF THE PEASANTS, like those of all the Slav races, are as varied as they are picturesque. There are different styles for every valley, and Oriental influence has produced many beautiful designs in embroidery and metal work, which are applied to dresses, carpets, furnishings, and utensils. The poverty of the people makes it impossible for them to indulge their fine taste in this direction to the full, but the general effect of gatherings of peasants is gay and picturesque. Many, of course, wear the distinctive Turkish

dress, and their women (in towns, at all events) are veiled; but amongst the Catholic and Orthodox, the old Slav styles of dress and headdress survive. On holidays and market days one may see the "Kolo," a national dance, danced by the Servians. The better class dance by themselves, in a circle of their own, !)ui. the true dance is best seen amongst the peasants. Hand in hand, the men , and women move round in a circle, swaying to and fro to a monotonous chant, and keeping up this singular form of amusement literally for hours. It is curiously unlike the usual European conception of dancing. A very interesting field of speculation is opened by the future conditions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where, for the last quarter of a century, European influence has been at work in a country originally European, which has been for over four centuries under Moslem rule. [This is doubly true when the annexation is considered.—Ed. "Graphic."] Twenty-five years of Austrian occupation has not in the capital done more than place a surface, crust over the lives of the people. Even now one may turn out of one's modern hotel and in a few steps enter | the bawaar —that labyrinth of lanes lanked with wooden booths in front of stone buildings. HERE IS NO TRACE OF THE WEST. The barber plies his trade, the shoemaker displays his peaked slippers of red or yellow and patches his customers' worn goods, spectacles on nose; the silver and coppersmith as his little furnace and apparatus of primitve simplicity; the tailor sits cross legged on his bench; and the sweetmeat seller greets one's nostrils with the odours of ghee, to be smelt a long way off. Most characteristic of all is the beturbaned old greybeard, seated crosslegged before his door, smoking sedately ! and imperturbably his cigarette or long hookah, and surveying the world 1 with the ' indifference of age-long philosophy. \ Through the murmur of sounds that fills the heavy air, laden with the many smells of an Oriental bazaar comes a familiar clang—the importunate jangling of the bell of an electric train which glides along near by in vivid contrast to this i bit of the old world. The policy of the Austrians is to attempt to J BREAK DOWN THE RACE TRADITIONS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, and they take a certain number of Bosni- ! ans, both Christians and Turks, into their i Government offices, while the soldiers J recruited in Bosnia are grafted to regi- ; ments quartered at Graz, Vienna or Buda- | pest. j WHAT DO THE PEOPLE THINK OF AUSTRIAN RULE? I What did they think of former rulers, the Turks, or of any rule save their own? j Under, four centuries of Ottoman do- ' minalion Uiey undoubtedly absorbed I enough of the patient resignation of the i ; Oriental to be philosophical under the i ' features of misrule peculiar to Oriental I Governments, but a more active end sysi tematie method of government is likely jto arouse definite opposition. Taxation ■ they complain bears heavily, and the I price paid for Austrian order is too great j —Turkish disorder is preferable. Then jTHE USUAL COMPLAINT OF THE ORIENTAL UNDER EUROPEAN DOMINATION. There is no longer any flavour in life; no* risks, no chances, and no "g*nrt>Hn* I with fate, no possibilities of a career j founded on nothing more than skill and tact—nothing but the bare facts of a bureaucracy bound hand and foot with red tape and a peasantry compelled to pay taxes. With the usual adaptability of the Slav race, the Bosnians employed by the Government in tobacco factories have already varied the monotony with strikes, adopting the weapons of a different phase of development for lack of better. THE APPEARANCE OF THE BOSNIANS IMPRESSES ONE FAVOURABLY. They have the fine bearing of a mountain people and the open countenances and square look in the eyes which one hardly expects from a race with their history of subjection. The women are often very handsome, and both sexes have a bright, intelligent look, and are said to have excellent mental capacity. The Bosians naturally make good soldiers, and there are native regiments totalling some seven thousand men. Conscription for the Austro-Hugarian army is on the same footing as in Austria, and, as we have already said, the attempt is made by associating the conscript with regimental companies from other part s of the Dual Monarchy to cure him of a too narrow and local patriotism.