THE ROYAL PALACE, BUCHAREST 240 BOULEVARD ELISABETA, BUCHAREST 240 HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE CANTACUZEN, ROUMANIAN PRIME 244 MINISTER HIS EXCELLENCY TAKE JONESCO, ROUMANIAN MINISTER OF 244 FINANCE HIS EXCELLENCY GEO. G. MANU, ROUMANIAN MINISTER OF WAR 246 SIR CONYNGHAM GREENE, BRITISH MINISTER AT BUCHAREST 246 GEN. JACQUES LAHOVARY, ROUMANIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN 248 AFFAIRS HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF ROUMANIA 252 THE QUEEN OF ROUMANIA’S BLIND INSTITUTE AT BUCHAREST 256 BLIND INMATES AT WORK 260 HIS EXCELLENCY TEWFIK PASHA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN 264 AFFAIRS OF THE IMPERIAL OTTOMAN EMPIRE HIS EXCELLENCY NOURY PASHA 274 THE ENTRANCE TO THE BOSPHORUS 280 IN CONSTANTINOPLE 280 LAKE OF OCHRIDA, MACEDONIA 285 LAKE OF PRESBA, MACEDONIA 285 MACEDONIAN WOMAN ABDUCTED BY TURKS FROM KLENE, NEAR 288 DEBR, AND RESCUED BY A BULGARIAN BAND GENERAL TZONTCHEFF, THE BULGARIAN LEADER IN MACEDONIA 288 A BULGARIAN BAND IN MACEDONIA 292 GENERAL TZONTCHEFF IN MACEDONIA 304 THE TURKISH BURIAL-GROUND AT SCUTARI, ASIA MINOR 304 [Illustration: THE NEAR EAST _Stanford’s Geog^{l.} Estab^{t.}, London._ London: Eveleigh Nash. ] MONTENEGRO CHAPTER I THE CITY IN THE SKY Why I went to the Balkans—The road to Montenegro—Cettinje and its petroleum tins—About the blood-feud—England and Montenegro—Warned not to attempt to go to Albania—My guide a marked man—The story of Tef—A woman’s fickleness, and its sequel. I entered the Balkans by the back door. The luxuries of the Orient Express had no attraction for me. I wanted to see the Balkans as they really are, those great, wild, mountainous countries, so full of race hatreds, of political bickerings, of fierce blood-feuds, of feverish propagandas—those nations with their interesting monarchs and their many mysteries. The “Orient” runs direct from Paris to the Balkan capitals, it is true, but if one goes to study a people the capital is not the only place in which to discover the truth. One must go into the country, move among the peasantry, hear their grievances and investigate their wrongs. Therefore I decided to enter the East by Montenegro, and also visit the wild and little-known regions of Northern Albania.