CHAPTER XV

MONTENEGRO

The Gibraltar of the Balkan Peninsula—The Settling of Montenegro—Peter I—The Family of Petrovich—Prince Nikola—The Montenegrin Costume—Incidents of War—The Montenegro of To-day.

A mere niche in the mountain wall of south-eastern Europe, with the blue rollers of the Adriatic pounding relentlessly against its meagre coast line and hemmed in on the remaining three sides by nominal provinces of hostile Turkey, lies Montenegro, the Gibraltar of the Balkan Peninsula. Notwithstanding the fact that it is the smallest of the free Balkan states, its total area covering but three thousand five hundred square miles, half the size of Wales and but three times as large as the state of Rhode Island, with an estimated population less than that of the single city of Buffalo, Montenegro remains as yet unconquered. For five hundred years its handful of patriots have withstood successfully the onslaughts of the hordes of Turks, fighting for every inch of rocky territory that was finally ceded to them by the Powers of Europe in 1878.

The history of Montenegro begins at the time of the Turkish victory over the Servians at Kossovo, June 28, 1389. It is a history of nothing but war because, on account of their surroundings, the Montenegrins have had nothing to do with commerce and the arts of peace. Indeed, it was, and is yet, except in a few fertile valleys, almost a geographical impossibility for them to cultivate the soil, and the Turks, in their ferocious attempts to subjugate the eastern half of Europe, harassed the Montenegrins so continually on all sides that there was little else to think of but war.

To delve briefly into the beginning of things, this Land of the Black Mountain was settled by a dauntless band of Servian refugees who, after the battle of Kossovo, when Tzar Lazar, Emperor of Servia, was defeated by the Turks, preferred liberty in some wild country of their own at any price, rather than live under the domination of the Mohammedans. They fled, accordingly, into the Black Mountains and there commenced the story of the Montenegrins and their strenuous existence. This story has been written in the blood of the Ottoman, but never once during the five hundred years of almost continuous war that followed did Turkey gain a permanent foothold in Montenegro.

Strange to say, even at the present writing, Montenegro does not maintain what would be called in military vernacular a “standing army.” The “regulars” comprise two companies of thirty-two men each, each company taking its turn in guarding the palace and acting in the capacity of secret service sleuths for the Prince. But the spirit of patriotism within the breast of every Montenegrin demands that he stand ready to defend his country to-day, as he has done in the past. Except for those of the guards who peer out from the open doorways of the little peppermint sentry-boxes outside the Prince’s palace, a military uniform is a rare sight in Cettinje, the miniature capital.

In a country like Montenegro, guerilla warfare is the best possible method of defence, and to it the Montenegrins are particularly well adapted. To the mountainous nature of their land is partly due the many decisive victories which they have gained over the Turks, who have sent army after army of from forty thousand to two hundred thousand men against the stubborn little band of fighters. Another point in their favour is the rapidity with which their forces may be mobilized. On one occasion, in 1887, six thousand men were assembled on the Austrian frontier, between eight o’clock in the evening and four the following morning. Doubtless, even to-day, the whole available Montenegrin military force of more than forty-two thousand men might be strung along the frontier within four or five days at the most.

It seems stretching it a point or two to say that eight thousand men would be able under any circumstances to put to flight an army of sixty thousand, but such was the case in 1604 when a comparatively small band of Montenegrins defeated almost seven and one-half times their number of Turks. In 1796, under Peter I, at Kroussa, the Turks received their most crushing defeat. Thirty thousand of them were slain and the Montenegrin leader himself killed Kara Mahmoud, the Turkish general, and spitted his head on his sword. This mountain warrior was of a family which has ruled in the land for two hundred years and was an antecedent of the reigning Prince.

In those days the leader was called a “Vladika,” or Prince-Bishop, who combined both spiritual and temporal power. This Bishop being celibate the office passed from uncle to nephew until 1852 when an absolute principality was established, to be ruled over by hereditary Princes with unconditional autocratic power.

Prince Nikola, the present ruler, the seventh of the family of Petrovich of Njegushi who has governed Montenegro, succeeded to the title in 1860, after the assassination of his unpopular uncle, Danilo II. Nikola is now almost seventy years of age, but tall, erect and deep-chested, and carries his years as becomes the fighter and leader he has been. He received his education in Paris and in Trieste, and is gifted with no ordinary literary talents, having written many poems commemorating the victories of the Montenegrins over the Turks, in addition to two plays, “The Empress of the Balkans” and “Prince Arbanit,” which still enjoy occasional runs behind the kerosene footlights on the exiguous stage of the little theatre in Cettinje. His civil list amounts to but $25,000, and it means a strain on his revenues to supply his two elder sons with $6,000 a year each.

Her Majesty, Queen Helena of Italy, who so endeared herself to the hearts of her subjects at the scenes of the recent earthquake in Sicily, is the most illustrious of Prince Nikola’s nine children. She was born in the palace at Cettinje in 1872 and was brought up in the strictest economy, according to the traditions of the family of Petrovich. She was a girl of “God’s out-of-doors,” and the episodes of her early life taught her the trails of the Black Mountain and whither they led. It is said she could handle a rifle as well as any of her three brothers. She was also a favourite of her relative, Alexander of Russia, and through his liberality was taken to St. Petersburg and educated. The heir to the throne of Italy met her later in Venice, fell ardently in love with her and they were married on October 4, 1896.

When at home the Prince wears his national dress consisting of a small, round cap (_kapitza_) embroidered in gold on the top with the letters “N. I.”; a long white, or light blue, cloak of broadcloth (_dolama_ or _gunj_), circled at the waist by a fancy girdle, in the front of which nestles a formidable array of cumbersome firearms; a red waist-coat (_jalek_); a short, richly embroidered Zouave jacket (_jamada_); loose, blue knickerbockers (_shalwar_); sandals (_opanka_); and carries across his shoulder a dark-coloured plaid shawl with heavy fringe (_struka_). That he makes himself popular goes without question, for it is said that he knows personally every citizen in Cettinje and will call each by name when the occasion arises.

In 1861-62 Nikola meted out to the invading Turks a noteworthy defeat. Again in 1877-78 he defeated ninety thousand Turks, with a much inferior number of Montenegrins, and drove them from the country, killing and wounding twelve thousand.

Many interesting anecdotes are told of the daring and bravery of the Montenegrins in their struggles to save their country from the covetous grasp of the Mohammedans. Only a band of men driven to desperation in almost inaccessible mountain regions could possibly withstand so many attacks of such overwhelming odds as were hurled against them. In one famous battle at Kristatz a small band of two thousand engaged thirty thousand Turks under Suleiman Pasha, inflicting a loss of three thousand five hundred upon the enemy, while the number of their own dead totalled but seven hundred. On another occasion at Jezero the Montenegrins killed four hundred and eighty Turks, sustaining a loss of but thirty-six killed and wounded.

During this latter engagement a powerful mountaineer of the clan of Paperi, having distinguished himself at the battle of Vucidol by capturing Osman Pasha, the Turkish general, and carrying him to Prince Nikola, being presented with five hundred ducats for his captive, was jokingly bade by the Prince to fetch him another Turk. The hero, however, took the matter seriously and, at an opportune moment, rushed into the Turkish lines, snatched a devout Mohammedan around the waist, disarmed him and started to carry him off toward the rear, where Prince Nikola was watching the fight. In order to arrive at the side of his sovereign he was compelled to make a détour, and before he had covered half the distance he was brought down with a bullet in his thigh. Naturally, he dropped his Ottoman captive, and the latter immediately sprang at his throat. With almost superhuman efforts, in spite of the excruciating pain of his wound, he held off the vengeful Turk with one hand and, aiming his pistol with the other, ordered his adversary to lift him on his back and _carry him_ to the Prince. To disobey meant instant death, for the cold, circular muzzle of a huge weapon was even then so close to his fez that he could plainly see the rifling in the barrel. Stumbling and groaning under the weight of his Montenegrin rider the Turk approached the Prince, while the hills resounded with the cheers of the men of the clan of Paperi. Upon delivering his steed to his leader the soldier fell to the ground senseless from exhaustion and loss of blood.

While this same battle was at its height the Prince approached a mountaineer of more than eighty years of age, who was bravely endeavouring to keep his place among his fellows but with evident difficulty, and suggested to him sympathetically that he was too old to follow the flag and had better withdraw. The veteran, being thus considered by his military idol as unable longer to fight for his country, forthwith drew his pistol and committed suicide.

It was at the siege of Nikshitch that the valorous warrior-priest of the Montenegrins, Pope Milo, challenged any Turk to personal combat between the lines with broadswords. Both armies ceased the fight while the battle-royal was in progress. The Turk, however, proved the better swordsman and killed his antagonist, severing the head from the body. Upon the resumption of hostilities an infuriated Montenegrin revenged the death of Pope Milo by dealing with the same Turk in a similar manner.

Prince Nikola himself was in command at the siege of Nikshitch, in which the Montenegrin women were little less active than the men, for they carried ammunition and food across the mountains and otherwise assisted in the Montenegrin victory. The Prince, reclining upon a rock, over which he had first spread his _struka_, received the surrender of Scanderbeg and invited the Turkish commander to take coffee with him. Coffee over, he wrote a poem of the siege and forwarded it by messenger to his wife in Cettinje. She read it aloud to the citizens gathered together in the public square.

But fighting as one nation against another has not been the only form of warfare indulged in by the Montenegrins. During the brief intervals of Turkish lethargy blood-feuds between the families of the mountaineers afforded the male members plenty of diversion. They had no cause to complain of monotonous inactivity. A boy might grow to manhood in blissful ignorance that it would be his duty sooner or later to take the life of another, thus avenging the untimely death of one of the members of his own family. Upon the successful accomplishment of his mission, as was usually the case, he, in turn, would be thereafter considered as a target for the weapon of some member of the rival family. Thus the feuds were continuous, imperishable heirlooms handed down from father to son, even unto the third and fourth generation.

By the Treaty of Berlin, Montenegro acquired twenty-five miles of seacoast adjoining Albania; the bulk of her trade, however, continues to come and go through the Dalmatian port of Cattaro, a port upon which these people of the mountains have ever cast a covetous glance, but from which they are shut out by the great rocky barriers of the Dinaric Alps.

Railway building in Montenegro is very difficult, and as yet the principality is without means of transportation other than by wagon train and a few small steamers which ply on the Lake of Scutari. The project is now on foot to build a railway from Antivari, on the coast, to Virbazaar, a short distance inland.

Podgoritza, situated in a part of the territory acquired in 1878, is a town of eleven thousand inhabitants, the largest in Montenegro, and is the centre of trade. Hard by are the ruins of the Roman city of Docle, the birthplace of Diocletian. Excellent tobacco, for which the district is famous, is grown in the vicinity of the great Lake of Scutari, half of which stretches over into Albania. The annual imports of the country are valued at about $1,375,000, while the exports, consisting mainly of tobacco, dried meats, hides and fish, are valued at $1,040,000.

A few years ago the Montenegrins shouted from hill to hill the news of the country, and in these regions the human voice is said to carry exceptionally long distances. The news of the defeat of the Russians at the Alma was “holloed” by the shepherds from mountain to mountain across the Balkan Peninsula, and in a marvellously short time the tidings reached the Dalmatian coast. To-day, telegraph wires are stretched across the Black Mountains, connecting almost all of the towns; the seaport of Antivari boasting even of a Marconi wireless station, which places Montenegro in direct communication with the coast of Italy.