aristocratic, bearded face wearing an expression of even keener intelligence than usual, "I can assure you," quoth he, "that the peasants say 'Ave.' I heard them quite distinctly." It was perhaps inconsiderate of those worthy Croats not to shout with greater clearness the word "Zdravo!" ["Good luck!"] in order to prevent the Admiral from riding off with a confused hearing of the second syllable. A certain excellent dispatch of his--of which more anon--makes him a writer on the Balkans. I know not whether he addressed to his Government a dispatch on the above discovery, thus intensifying the Italian resolve to cling to Dalmatia. In that case his knowledge was unfortunate, but otherwise it is surely as delightful as, up here among the tree-clad mountains, are the glow-worms that go darting through the night. BLAGOVEŠTENJE MONASTERY, CENTRAL SERBIA. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Cf. _The Near East_, October 6, 1921.] [Footnote 2: _Observations of Count Romanzoff_,--Petrograd, March 16, 1808,--Concerning the negotiations for the division of Turkey, as to which he treated with the French Ambassador; being Document No. 263 of the Excerpts from the Paris Archives relating to the History of the first Serbian Insurrection. Collected (Belgrade, 1904) by the learned statesman and charming man, Dr. Michael Gavrilović, now the Minister of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes at the Court of St. James.] [Footnote 3: This, the most ancient diocese in Serbia, takes its name from the monastery of Žiča, near Kraljevo, which was built by St. Sava between 1222 and 1228. He made it his archiepiscopal residence, and here the Serbian sovereigns were crowned. It is now partly in a ruined condition, the encircling wall having almost entirely vanished. For each coronation a new entrance was made through this structure and was afterwards walled up. Bishop Nicholai has now been transferred to the more difficult diocese of Ochrida and is, at the same time, Bishop of the Serbs in America.] CONTENTS OF VOLUME I PAGE PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION: THE TRAGEDY OF A FRONTIER 23 I. GLORY AND DISASTER (EARLIEST DAYS TO THE BATTLE OF KOSSOVO) 26 II. FIGHTING THE DARKNESS (BATTLE OF KOSSOVO TO THE APPEARANCE OF KARA GEORGE) 50 III. BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS: NAPOLEON AND STROSSMAYER 90 IV. THE SHIFTING SANDS OF MACEDONIA (1876-1914) 165 V. THE EUROPEAN WAR (1914-1918) 225 INDEX 301 THE BIRTH OF YUGOSLAVIA INTRODUCTION THE TRAGEDY OF A FRONTIER