The preservation of Roman speech was not confined to the Transylvanian mountain area. In spite of Rome’s waning power in the Balkans, her language had taken such solid root in the peninsula that it has maintained itself to this day in the Pindus mountain region intervening between Epirus and Macedonia. Here the Kutzo-Vlachs of the region speak a language identical with that spoken in the last stretches of the valley of the Danube. In Albania also the same cultural heritage has been treasured to this day in the mountainous tangle of the land. Albanian however is further removed from Latin than Rumanian, probably on account of less intercourse with the Roman world.[170] The name of Kutzo-Wallachians or Aromunes is given to the mountaineers of Rumanian speech peopling parts of Macedonia, Albania and Thessaly. This detached band of Rumanians occupies mainly the region between the mountains of the Pindus range and the Serbian boundary. In Albania they are found scattered along the upper reaches of the Semeni and Devoli rivers. In Greece, the channels of the Voyussa, the Arta, the Aspropotamos, the Bistritza and the lower Vardar likewise constitute their favorite tramping grounds. A shepherd people, roaming with their flocks, their life is spent either in the valleys of their summer mountain resorts or in the plains which they favor in winter. Tribes or clans among which dialectical differences can be found occur according to locality, but they nevertheless compose when taken together a compact mass of Rumanians settled far from the main body of their kinsmen by speech. A group 5,000 to 6,000 strong live near the sources of the Aspropotamos around Siracu, and between Kalarites and Malakasi. Northwards this clan extends to Metsovo.[171] In the Olympus mountains Rumanians are known at Vlakho-Livadi and adjoining districts. Eastwards, the Veria Rumanians are found in the villages of Selia, Doliani and Kirolivadi. West of the latter locality, the settlements of Vlakho-Klissura, Blatza and Sisani are likewise composed entirely of Rumanian inhabitants. The same is true of the villages of Nevesca, Belcamen and Pisuderi as well as of Gramosta, in the recesses of the Grammos mountains and of Koritza and Sipiska. Other colonies exist at Okrida, Gopes, Krushevo, Molovista, Tirnova, Magarevo and Monastir. The Struga and Geala settlements are also part of the preceding groups.