The Land of the Black Mountain | Page 7

of tight-fitting white serge trousers, bordered with black braid,
is largely worn.
The women wear a somewhat modified array of colour. The girls wear
the kapa, without the letters or rainbow; the married women a lace
mantilla over their shoulders. The hair is worn, in the case of the
married women, in a heavy crown-like plait.
A white, slightly embroidered bodice, silver girdle, and silk skirt, over
which is worn a similar open coat to the gunj. And again over this
comes the "jecerma," a jacket of red, blue, or violet velvet, according to
the age of the woman.
The effect in both men and women is tasteful and picturesque in the
extreme.
The struka, or shawl, is greatly worn by men, and the sweeping,
swinging effect is most pleasing. It is a shawl of sufficient length that
when folded to a narrow width and worn over the shoulders the tassels
just touch the ground.
Some of the poorest peasants wear huge sheepskin jackets, even in hot
weather.
At the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, which is the religion of the
land, is an Archbishop, or "Vladika." Hardly more than half a century
ago, the Vladika was Prince and Bishop in one. To-day the Vladika is
absolute spiritual head of the Church in Montenegro, and only in
matters pertaining to divorce are his rulings reversible by the Prince.
The hatred of the Roman Catholic religion is most marked. The term
"Catholic" is an epithet of opprobrium. Hence the hatred of Albania,
which on the borders is entirely Roman Catholic. The hated Catholics
also, in the shape of Austria, hem in Montenegro on three sides, and
this factor, added to the unfriendly part that Austria played at the Berlin
Congress, may account for the growing animosity which is now slowly
making itself manifest against her in Montenegro. Turkey is no longer
feared; in fact, friendly relations are cultivated and steadily increasing;

but against Austria very different feelings are held. Austria holds the
Bocche de Cattaro, which the Montenegrins took possession of in the
Napoleonic wars, commands Antivari, and has edged herself in
between the kingdom of Servia and Montenegro in the Sandjak of
Novipazar. The inhabitants of the Bocche and a large part of the
population of Bosnia and the Hercegovina look to the Prince of
Montenegro as their lawful ruler.
It is the oft and open stated dream of Prince Nicolas to see the great
Serb-speaking nations re-united, and much as Russia has helped and is
fostering this wish, Austria relentlessly checkmates every move in this
direction. Austria is even striving to gain influence in Albania through
the means of the Roman Catholic priests, who are said to be largely in
her pay.
Thus Austria, surrounding Montenegro as she does at present, and
enlisting the sympathies of the Albanians, can command every inlet to
that brave little country. A "Schwab," as every German-speaking
foreigner is termed, is consequently viewed with no friendly eyes;
while the Russian is welcomed openly as a friend.
Russia, however, can never hope to buy the allegiance of the
Montenegrins; for while appreciating friendly assistance, the faintest
attempt to obtain undue influence of power would be sharply resented.
Montenegro will yield her absolute independence to none.
CHAPTER II
History from first conquest by the Romans, 300 B.C., down to the
present Prince--Fruits of the last campaign--Education--The military
system--Legal administration--Crime--Government--The educated
classes.
The district which corresponds most nearly to Montenegro of the
present day comes first into notice when the Romans attacked Queen
Teuta and drove her back beyond the modern Podgorica in the third
century B.C. From this time onwards Roman influence made itself felt

strongly in the Prævalitana, an outlying province of Illyria, and the city
of Dioclea--whose ruins still exist in the neighbourhood of Podgorica,
and which was to play such an important part in the germ state of
Crnagora, or the "Land of the Black Mountain"--rose into being.
Diocletian, the famous divider of the Roman Empire, was born there,
and the city became the capital of the district to which it gave the name.
The triumvirs placed the border-line of the Eastern and Western
divisions at Skodra, or Scutari, as the Europeans call it. Under the early
empire, the land was perpetually changing from East to West, but when
the Western division fell under the weight of barbarian invasions Uin
476 A.D., it was finally incorporated in the East. This was a
momentous decision, for the manners and habits of the people still
remain tinged with Eastern life, and in the ninth century it secured their
adhesion to the Eastern Church, which influences their policy to the
present time. The principality of Dioclea, or Zeta, as it soon became
called, was one of the confederate Serb states formed by Heraclius in
622 A.D., to