MONTENEGRO AND ITS PEOPLE

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10480, 16 October 1912, Page 6

MONTENEGRO AND ITS PEOPLE

In a description of the tiny mountain kingdom- of Montenegro, in October, 1910, Dr. E. J. ‘ Dillon said: — The venerable Prince of Montenegro—the Black|Monutaiu —has been promoted to the rank of King, if not by the grace of God, then by the courtesy of European monarchs. It is amusing to reflect that about the time when Kaiser Wilhelm was magniloquently holding forth on the divine right of kings this Homeric figure of South-eastern Europe was' climbing into a royal throne and acquiring those same divine rights, although his predecessor and uncle Danilo, was but a clergyman, while the prince’s mother carried wood from the hills to Gattaro for sale. Thus since August 28th Europe has a new Kingdom, while the Republic of letters has a crowned poet and journalist. Montenegro is by far the tiniest of kingdoms—although by no means the most insignificant. King Nicholas rules over a population equal to that of some Loudon parishes, about 300,000 men, ° women, and children all told, most of whom have a very hard struggle for existence. For with the exception of a few districts, like the Moratsha-Plain and the Zetta Valley, Montenegro is a realm offhard stone. When God set about creating the world, says the legend current among those mountaineers, he made rivers and fields and meadows and forests. But looking down upon the totality of things from his celestial, throne, he found the result monotonous. Nature needed a touch of rugged wildness by way of variety, so he resolved to pile hills upon hills, and see how that would look. For this purpose he gathered stones from all parts of the universe, and packed them in two mighty sacks which he threw over his shoulders. But as he strode over the globe the sacks burst just as he chanced to be where Montenegro now stands, and ell the stones fell to the ground. That is how the arid stony mountain first came into existence. Even now, thirty-two years after the annexation of fertil e stretches of land that belonged to Turkey, there are families living in places two and a half hours’ distant from the nearest source of water! And it is characteristic of their love of their old homes that most of these people refused to accept the offer made them to go and live in the new fertile districts. Atlhough the entire population of the Black Mountain amounts really to less than 300,000' souls, Montenegro could in case of war put 37,200 men in the field. The reason is that every man is a born soldier with an inherited taste for deeds of prowess. The young men are always, so to say, ‘ ‘spoiling for a fight,” Every male, as soon as .he attains the age of sixteen, is presented with a revolver by the State, and this among others —he continues to carry with him for the remainder of his life. The postman, the shoemaker, the civil servant, is always armed with a revolver, but he is much more sparing in the use, or rather abuse, of it than is the Armenian, the Georgian, or the Lezghian of the Caucasus. And yet he has less motive to be thus circumspect, because the present law allows him, if insulted, to kill the man who put the insult upon him, provided that he acts on the spur of the moment. Killing under these circumstances is no murder in the eyes of the legislator. But if he thinks it over, were it only for an hour, the deed that would have been correct had it been instantaneous, becomes vulgar murder, and is punishable with death. Girls and women can wander at will about the land, confident that no harm will befall them, so chivalrous are the male inhabitants and so vigorous their notions of honour. Tere is hardly any military service in Montenegro, because it is deemed almost superfluous; six mouths is the duration of the formal training which the horse-soldier undergoes, while the foot-soldier is exercised for four months only. The common people —if one may use such an expression of a population of which all orders are essentially equal and all are possessed of a touch of the heroic —‘export cavasses for [embassies and legations, bodyguards and watchmen, whose imposing figures, picturesque dress and martial mien render theme specially fitted for this service in countries of the East.