Montenegro.
A blind musician came to play while I was lunching, his instrument had one string only, which is usual in this country; but it was as sweet and melodious as though it had many strings.
The aspect of the scenery was much the same until we reached the Col, but when there the view was grand in the extreme.
Range after range of rocky, jagged mountains, the lake of Scutari in the dim distance and the Albanian mountains in snow behind, and a pinky glow from the setting sun enhanced the view. Here we paused a few moments, then began to descend to Cettinje, which we reached after driving for some hours.
Before going further, I will say a little about Montenegro, which in extent is about half the size of Wales. There are a few small towns dotted about, the capital is Cettinje, and the only town I visited. The seaport town is Dulcigno, on the Adriatic; the whole country is very mountainous and there are several small lakes, the principal one is Scutari, of which half belongs to Montenegro and the other half to Albania.
If I had had time, I should have much liked to have driven to Lake Scutari, but it would have taken a whole day to go there and back from Cettinje, so I had to give it up. The Montenegrins are such delightful people, that I believe you can go anywhere in their country and feel perfectly safe, they are particularly hospitable to strangers. In the time of war with Turkey, the Turkish women and children fled into Montenegro, knowing they would be perfectly safe from insult of any kind in the enemy’s territory.
There is but little farming land in Montenegro, the peasant is glad to enclose the tiniest patch of fertile soil retained by the hollows in the mountain sides.
The largest land proprietor is the owner of sixty acres, and other freehold estates vary from two to twenty acres, and it is usually not to the individual, but to the family that this ownership belongs.
The history of Montenegro from the earliest times to the Turkish War of 1877, is one of incessant wars and raids, throughout the whole of which the country has preserved its independence, even when Turkish power was spread over the whole of south-eastern Europe. The accession of the present dynasty dates from 1687. Prince Nichola (the reigning Prince and father of the Queen of Italy) conducted a successful war against Turkey; he is a dramatist, and also introduced a new code of laws.
Bears and wolves are still to be found in the highest forests.