We saw very few English on our second trip. From the time we passed Cologne to the time we arrived at Cattaro we did not hear a word of our own language, though the boat in which we travelled from Spalato to Cattaro was entirely of English make, with Liberty chintzes in the cabins, and panels of coloured plaster in the saloon. It had cost £70,000, the captain said, and was certainly extremely rapid and comfortable. In the early morning we saw the sardine boats coming in. They carry on the bow an apparatus with a number of jets connected with an acetylene plant, producing at night a most vivid light. The Bocchese is a born seaman, beginning at the age of twelve, and often going on till he is seventy. In the Bocche scarcely a third of the land is fruitful, yet 40,000 people lived in the district, mainly, of course, by the sea. From their childhood the boys have always longed for the day when they might accompany their fathers into the world beyond the sea. They were always ready to fight, and expected to have to do so, for, until the second half of the eighteenth century, it was unusual good fortune to make a sea or land trip to Albania without being attacked. The ancient houses, with loopholes and little windows, still look more like citadels than convenient dwellings. The women had to protect their children and their own honour when the men were away, and this had its effect upon their character. In many villages it was the custom for a bride to go out some morning before she was married into a lonely place and sing the death-wail, so that she might know it if she became a widow!
The introduction of the steamboat has reduced the employment of sailing craft, and the Bocchesi have become poor, but they provided the best sailors for the Venetian fleet, and their seamanship has not decayed.
There were certain variations among the Bocchesi from the religious customs of the Morlacchi, which are perhaps worth noting. The great fast before Easter lasted for fifty days, and during that time even fish was allowed but twice to the sick, on the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday. During fasts the people do not sing, a custom observed strictly on the islands. Three days before Ascension Day the crosses are taken out of the churches and fastened to poles ten or twelve feet high, with fluttering banners; these days are therefore called "Cross" days. The village girls make garlands to hang from the ends of the crosses. They are then carried in procession round the village and over the fields; when a spring is reached it is surrounded, the priest reads the gospel, and blesses the water and the people with the cross. On Ascension Day, or the day before, a procession with the cross goes through the village, and every house is blessed. In the coast-strip, on the eve of "Cross Day," there is a frugal supper; on the day itself, a dinner. Before both, the master of the house cuts a piece of bread from the "Kreuzlaib" (a large round loaf with a cross marked in the centre), and sticks in it a taper which he has lighted with a brand from the hearth. All pray before it for their dead, cross themselves, and sit down to table. Later in the meal the master rises with a glass of wine, soaks a bit of bread in it, and, with the traditional formula, "I to thee, bread and wine; thou to me, health and joy," extinguishes the taper with the morsel. Then he drinks to all, and they to him. The great piece of bread, into which the taper was stuck, is given to the first beggar who comes by. They provide much more than enough for the guests, as the custom is on those days to feed the poor in villages and towns. Unless the family is in mourning, drinking songs are sung suitable to the guests, of whatever position.
Fires are lighted on the eve of S. Stephen's Day, and also on New Year's Day and Epiphany, as well as on the morning of S. John the Baptist's Day, when the people jump over the midsummer fires and cry: "From one S. Giovanni to another, may aching feet be far from me!" On New Year's Day the children get an apple or an orange from the mother, and go to the father, asking him to silver it; he sticks a ten-kreuzer piece or two into it, and they go on to friends and relations with the same request.
Every village has its church (some have three or even more), every hilltop has its sanctuary, and each island its holy place. In Cattaro, till the beginning of the nineteenth century, churches and convents occupied a third of the area within the walls, and each nobleman had his private chapel in his villa. The Bocchesi were noted for their honourable fidelity to their word once given, and this probity is still recognised in their commercial dealings. The married sons usually live in the house till the father's death; then the property is divided, and each takes his own house. If the mother is alive she lives with the eldest son. The house master divides the food, giving sufficient to each one, so that he would sometimes go short himself if the girls and daughters-in-law were not always ready to offer him the best part of their portions. The country women of Montenegro always kiss the hand of a male acquaintance in greeting. On the road the man is met on mule-back smoking, the woman on foot with a load, and they neither of them would consent to change their position, and put the load on the mule and make the man walk. The men wear full breeches, a waistcoat and sash round the waist, and a thick whitish wool coat over it, which is sometimes girded with the sash, leggings, and the usual raw-hide shoes. On the head is a black silk cap with a magenta centre embroidered with gold thread. The women wear a coat of the same shape, but of lighter material, and sleeveless, over a kind of jacket, and on the head the same shaped cap with a handkerchief draped over it and hanging down at the back.
MONTENEGRINS IN THE MARKET, CATTARO
Cattaro has about 2,000 inhabitants, of whom scarcely ten families are old-established; all the old families are dead, or have emigrated. Part of the present population are Italian immigrants; part are Albanian and Montenegrin families (to which nationality many of the country people also belong), who, either for purposes of trade or craft, have settled in the town. From many towns in Austria come the sub-alterns, who have married and now live here. The usual language is Croat, but Italian is generally understood, and songs with the Venetian accent may be heard. But all are much interested in the "Marinerezza," the finest festival of the Bocche, held on February 3. On January 27 the preliminaries commence. The marine officers arrange themselves on the seat before the cathedral at midday. As soon as the clock has struck the second stroke of 12 the "little sea director," a boy of nine or ten, comes out on the gallery above the door, armed and in national costume, and, in Croat, delivers a short speech announcing the beginning of the festival, and calling the citizens to take part in it. At the end he takes off his cap, waves it, and greets the standard of S. Trifone with three "Slava!" At this moment the flag is unfurled, the music strikes up, the bells ring, and the people shout "Slava!" (which means "Glory!"). On the eve of the day the outside members are met and greeted with music by those of the town, parading before the cathedral. At 4 p.m. the sea director meets the bishop, who blesses the "Kolo" before Vespers. The whole piazza is thronged with people, and in the middle is the body of the "Marinerezza," with the "Kolo" leader and his company ready. The ancient costumes, golden knives, silver gypsires, gold pierced purses, &c., show the ancient riches of the Bocche. The music strikes up, and the "Marinerezza" begins the ancient "Kolo" dance, after which the bishop enters the church, where a solemn service begins, lasting late into the night. The next day the same dance is repeated before Mass, after which the relics of S. Trifone are carried in procession through the narrow streets. Then the Society feasts the poor of the town and neighbourhood in the court of the bishop's palace. In the evening there are fireworks, and other celebrations take place on the Sunday following.
The standard of S. Trifone bears his figure on a white ground, with the words "Fides et Honor" on a gold embroidered band.
Cattaro appears to have been a republic till the thirteenth century, when it came under the protection of Servia, and so continued till the extinction of the dynasty of the Nemagna. A document of 1351 of Stephen "per la Dio gratia Imperator de Servia et de Grezia" confirms all its privileges. It was one of the most important ports of the eastern coast of the Adriatic in the Middle Ages, and competed with Ragusa for the inland trade. In 1301 it was attacked by that city, and again in 1361. After the death of Uros the Strong, in 1368, it sought the protection of Lewis of Hungary, at that time the most powerful prince in Europe, and thereby lost the friendship of Venice. In 1378 Victor Pisani ravaged the Bocche, sacked the city, and took away a foot of S. Trifone in a silver reliquary, which he placed in S. Fantino, Venice. Twenty years later Cattaro offered itself to Venice, but was not accepted till twenty more years had passed. On July 25, 1420, Pietro Loredano, Captain of the Gulf, came to take formal possession. The ensigns of the commune and the keys of the city were brought in procession to the representative of the Republic, and the standard of S. Mark was hoisted on the cathedral. The oath of loyalty and devotion to the "Serenissima" was taken by Paolo Bucchia, count, Marius Bisanti and Luca Drago, judges, and the forty members of the greater council. The territory was then called Albania Veneta. The Bocchesi enrolled themselves voluntarily as sailors, and formed the finest portion of the personnel of the Venetian navy.