Through the Land of the SerbDurham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
History
Through the Land of the Serb
Durham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
Montenegro -- Description and travel; Serbia -- Description and travel
Antivari is marked on the map, but one's first impression of it is that
there is now no such place, so scattered are the houses and so scanty
the population. Yet it speaks three languages--Turkish, Servian, and
Albanian; is divided by three religions--Mohammedan, Orthodox, and Roman
Catholic; and has a Roman Catholic Archbishop all to itself. The
bishopric is a very old one, established originally at Dioclea, but
transferred to Antivari, some say as early as the tenth century.
Antivari was Venetian till 1479, and the flock must then have been a
large one; now it is reduced to some six hundred souls, all Albanian. At
least, so they call themselves. But just as every Mohammedan tells you
he is a "Turk," and every one of the Orthodox that he is a Montenegrin,
so does every Roman Catholic say that he is an Albanian; and three men
who in feature, complexion, and build are as alike as three individuals
can well be, will all swear, and really believe, that they all belong to
different races. It is not improbable that they are a blend of all
three. Most of the inhabitants are Mohammedan. The district is but
thinly populated, and is said to be fever-stricken.
Down below on the plain, among the scattered houses, are the ruins of
the konak of the former Turkish Pasha, Selim Beg, whose tyranny is still
fresh in the minds of the people. The Christians especially were his
victims, and many are the tales of the tortures he inflicted. To one
unfortunate man he gave a thousand blows upon the soles of the feet
When Antivari fell, Selim Beg, who was as cowardly as he was cruel, fled
in terror to hide himself from the victorious Montenegrins. Fate so
ordained that he rushed for shelter to the house of this same tortured
Christian. Terror--stricken, Selim recognised his former victim, and
abjectly begged for mercy, and the man to whom he had shown none threw
himself on his knees before the crucifix and in an ecstasy poured forth
his thanks to the Lord, who had thus permitted him to witness the
humiliation of his enemy. "He hath thrown down the mighty from their
seats, and exalted them of low degree." He spared the life of his
torturer, and Selim Beg, after making a servile attempt to gain the
friendship of Prince Nikola, retired to Corfu, where, according to my
informant, he died "like the beast that he was." This curiously dramatic
tale, the truth of which is, I believe, undisputed, throws a strong
light upon the Albanian and the sanctity of the "guest"--the man who
begs shelter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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