By a strange contrast, these direct descendants of the ancient Pelasgians, to whom we are indebted for the beginning of civilisation in Europe, still number amongst the most savage populations of our continent. But they, too, must yield in time to the influence of their surroundings. Until recently the Epirotes and southern Shkipetars left their country only in order to lead the easy but degrading life of mercenaries. In the last century the young men of Acroceraunia sold themselves to the King of Naples, to be embodied in his regiment of “Royal Macedonians;” and even in our own days not only Mohammedans, but also Christian Tosks, enter the service of pashas and beys. These men, known as Arnauts, may be met with in the most remote parts of the empire—in Armenia, at Bagdad, and in Arabia. On the expiration of their term of service, the majority of these veterans retire to estates granted them by Government, and this accounts for the large number of Arnaut villages met with in all parts of the empire. But wars are less frequent now, the life of a mercenary offers fewer advantages, and increasing numbers of Albanians leave their country annually in order to gain a living abroad by honest labour. Like the Swiss of the canton of Grisons, many Shkipetars descend from their mountains at the commencement of winter in order to work for wages in the plains. Most of these return to their mountain homes in spring, enriched by their earnings; but there are others who remain abroad for years, or who never return. The advantages of a division of labour appear to be well understood by these mountaineers of Epirus and Southern Albania, and each mountain valley is noted for the exercise of some special craft. One valley sends forth butchers, another bakers, a third gardeners. A village near Argyrokastro supplies Constantinople with most of its well-sinkers. The district of Zagori, perhaps the home of the ancient Asclepiads, sends its doctors, or rather “bone-setters,” into every town of Turkey. Many of these emigrants, when they become wealthy, return to their native land, where they build themselves fine houses in the midst of sterile mountains, and these take the places of the old seigneurial towers, which were erected only for purposes of defence. [Illustration: WEALTHY ARNAUTS.]