Peaks of Shala

Rose Wilder Lane
THE ROLLER THAT IS SMOOTHING THE NEW BOULEVARD IN TIRANA
Peaks of Shala
By Rose Wilder Lane
Profusely Illustrated by Photographs taken on a Special Expedition to Albania
Harper & Brothers Publishers New York and London MCMXXIII
Peaks of Shala
Copyright, 1923 By Rose Wilder Lane Printed in the U.S.A.
D-X
To My Mother Laura Ingalls Wilder
I would not have this book considered too seriously. It is not an attempt to untangle one thread in the Balkan snarl; it is not a study of primitive peoples; it is not a contribution to the world’s knowledge, and I hope no one will read it to improve the mind. It should be read as the adventures in it were lived, with a gayly inquiring mind, a taste for strange peoples and unknown trails, and a delight in the unexpected.
Here I give you only what I saw, felt, and most casually learned while adventuring among the tribes in the interior northern Albanian mountains. It is not even all of Albania, that little country too small to be found on every map. It is simply a fragment of this large, various, and romantic world, sent back by a traveler to those who stay at home.