ZOG'S STRANGE KINGDOM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23073, 25 June 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

ZOG'S STRANGE KINGDOM

NO country in Europe coukl show such a sight as Tirana, the capital of Albania, at the recent wedding of King Zog to his bride, Countess Geraldine Apponyi. It might be compared to a page of history spread out, with all the characters gaily painted in the fashions of a thousand yesterdays, and in the dresses of half a dozen different races. The royal marriage sets the seal on Albania as a kingdom. For centuries it was a gathering-place of the tribes. Albania now has become a country of the all-embracing West, with a seat at the League of Nations. But almost till twenty years ago it was the farthest outpost " in the Mediterranean of the Middle East, where people who were there before Rome was built had fought to keep their footing against invaders from the North. Forts Still Stand They kept it long and well, and their stone forts and palaces in the hills, like those the Greeks built at Mycenae, are there still to tell the tale. It was ended by Greek colonist and Illyrian invader absorbing one another. The Albanians to-day are the descendants of the union. But that brief statement gives-a'very imperfect picture of the races and religious mingling in the rugged highlands and the less inclement lowlands of this independent land. Its highlands are like those of Scotland on a larger scale, and not so long ago we might have said that its chieftains and clansmen were as irrepressible as the Scottish Highlanders in the 18th century, before General Wade drove his military rocds through their glens. Ancient Customs These descendants of Celts and Illyrians have survived the successive invasion and rule of Romans, Bulgars, Serbs and Turks, and are Albanians still. No conqueror has succeeded in absorbing them. Early in their history they formed, two groups under separate princes, and these can still bo traced in the Ghegs of the north and the Tosks of the south. The Ghegs, living in a far more rugged region, still rule themselves by ancient laws and customs handed down by elders of the tribe. The Great War swept over the mountains and left a starving peasantry, instead of a well-to-do primitive people; but now the burnt villages have been rebuilt, flocks are again in the rich mountain pastures, and the tribesmen are once more coming into the market-

place at Scutari to sell their livestock, cheese and poultry. The townsman throughout Albania leads a very different life from the mountain farmer. He is a skilled craftsman; a weaver, and a worker in gold and silver wire; and his craft is reflected in the splendid dress every Albanian delights to wear 011 ceremonial occasions. What first strikes a visitor to Albania is the mingling of Christians and Moslems. Church and mosque stand side by side. The Turks conquered Albania five centuries ago, and though the Albanians for years besought the help of Christian Europe, none came, so that Islam had

spread over the country by the end of the 18th century. King Zog, who before he was proclaimed king ten years ago was Ahmed Bey Zogu, hereditary chieftain of the Mati clan, is a Moslem, and more than 20,000 Moslems attended his wedding at Tirana. Race Before Religion The Moslems outnumber the Christians by more than two to one, but the Albanians put race before religion, and both religions united to struggle against the Turks for the independence

that at last they won. It has always been so among them. They were long refused schools, sometimes imprisoned for printing books in their own language, or for teaching it; but the indomitable Albanian has survived it all, and to-day bis country, in some ways the oldest, has now become the youngest kingdom in Europe. Here indeed East and West have met.