A POLYGLOT JUMBLE—WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MONTENEGRINS—DEATH IN BATTLE—FORAYS FOR THE PLUNDER OF CATTLE—EQUIPAGE OF A MONTENEGRIN SOLDIER—PILLAGE—MANNER OF FIGHTING—TACTICS—SIGNAL CRIES—ON BOARD SHIP—DECAPITATION OF WOUNDED PRISONERS.
I NOW discovered what a terrible nuisance it is to know only three or four languages, especially when one finds oneself in a country the language of which is a complete mystery. The attendant I had, who had been so thoughtfully provided for me by Mr. Matanovich, professed to speak Italian, and he did in fact know a few Italian words, but in his general conversationwith me, as was subsequently discovered and explained to me by Pero Pejovich, the language in which he spoke consisted pretty much of the following happy mixture: six-tenths of Montenegrin, three-tenths of Albanian and Turkish, with one-tenth Italian! With this polyglot jumble we got on fairly well, as far as hot water, coffee, pipe, tobacco, pranzo; and he learned to appreciate eventually the American word "skedaddle," but when our necessities required further intercourse, it was perfectly hopeless—language was utterly useless, and gesticulation the only chance of making oneself understood. But he was a willing poor beggar, and not more dishonest than the majority of his fellows. He had a wholesome terror of the Prince's rigorous punishment of theft. "Niente ladri in Montenegro," he used to say, "Principe terrible," turning up his eyes and distorting his countenance to a fearful degree.
Now whilst my attendant is preparing and setting out my lunch, I may as well entertain my reader with an account of the customs in war, and mode of fighting of the Montenegrins, by the pen of M. Broniewsky, which is so graphic, and accordsso literally with what the Commandant Pero Pejovich related to me at different times, that I cannot think I could do better than transcribe it.
"A Montenegrin is always armed, and carries about during his most peaceful occupation a rifle (many of them now have breechloaders), pistol, or yataghan, and a cartouche-box. The Montenegrins spend their leisure time in firing at a target, and are accustomed to this exercise from their boyish years. Being inured to hardships and privations, they perform without fatigue, and in high spirits, very long and forced marches. They climb the steepest rocks with great facility, and bear with the greatest patience hunger, thirst, and every kind of privation. When the enemy is defeated and retiring, they pursue him with such rapidity that they supply the want of cavalry, which it is impossible to employ in their mountainous country.
"Inhabiting mountains which present, at every step, passes where a handful of brave men may arrest the progress of an army, they are not afraid of a surprise, particularly as they haveon their frontier a constant guard, and the whole of their force can be collected within twenty-four hours upon the threatened point. When the enemy is in great force, they burn their villages, devastate their fields, and after having enticed him into the mountains, they surround and attack him in the most desperate manner.
"When the country is in danger, the Montenegrins forget all personal feelings of private advantage and enmity. They obey the orders of their chief, and like gallant Republicans, they consider it a happiness and a grace of God to die in battle. It is in such a case that they appear as real warriors; but beyond the limits of their country, they are savage barbarians, who destroy everything with fire and sword.
"Their ideas about war are entirely different from those adopted by civilized nations. They cut off the heads of those enemies whom they take with arms in their hands, and spare only those who surrender before the battle. The property they take from the enemy is considered by them as their own, and as a reward of courage. They literally defendthemselves to the last extremity; a Montenegrin never craves for mercy; and whenever one of them is severely wounded, and it is impossible to save him from the enemy, his own comrades cut off his head. When at the attack of Clobuk, a little detachment of our troops was obliged to retreat, an officer of stout-make and no longer young fell on the ground from exhaustion. A Montenegrin perceiving it (the Montenegrins were fighting with the Russians against the French) ran immediately to him, and having drawn his yataghan, said 'You are very brave and must wish that I should cut off your head; say a prayer and make a sign of the cross.' The officer horrified at the proposition made an effort to rise, and rejoined his comrades with the assistance of the friendly Montenegrin.
"They consider all those taken by the enemy as killed. They carry out of the battle their wounded comrades on their shoulders; and be it said to their honour they acted in the same manner by our officers and soldiers.
"Like the Circassians, they are constantly making forays in small parties, for the plunder of cattle,and consider such expeditions as feats of chivalry, (just as the Scotch Highlanders one hundred years ago). Being safe in their habitations, where nobody dares to molest them, they continue their depredations with impunity, disregarding the threats of the Divan, and the hatred of their neighbours. Arms, a small loaf of bread, a cheese, some garlic, a little brandy, an old garment, and two pair of sandals, made of raw hide, form all the equipage of a Montenegrin. On the march they do not seek any shelter from rain or cold. In rainy weather, the Montenegrin wraps up his head in his strooka, lies down on the ground, and sleeps very comfortably. Three or four hours' repose are quite sufficient for his rest, and the remainder of his time is occupied in constant exertion.
"It is impossible to retain them in the reserve; and it seems they cannot calmly bear the view of the enemy. When they have expended all their cartouches, they humbly request every officer they meet with to give them some, and as soon as they have received them, they run headlong into the further line. When there is no enemy in sight, they sing and dance, and go on pillaging, in whichwe must give them the credit of being perfect masters; although they are not acquainted with the high sounding names of contribution, requisition, forced loan, &c., &c. They call pillage, simply 'pillage,' and have no hesitation in confessing it.
"Their usual manner of fighting is as follows: If they are in great force, they conceal themselves in ravines, and send out only a small number of shooters, who by retreating lead the enemy into the ambush; here, after having surrounded him, they attack him, usually preferring on such occasions swords to fire-arms; because they rely on their personal strength and bravery, in which they generally have the advantage over their enemies. When their numbers are inferior, they choose some advantageous position on high rocks, where pronouncing every kind of abuse against their enemies, they challenge them to combat. Their attacks are mostly made during the night, because their principal system is surprise.
"However small their force may be, they always try to wear out the enemy by constantly harassing him. The best Frenchvoltigeursin the advancedposts were always destroyed by them; and the enemy's generals found it more advantageous to remain under cover of their cannon, of which the Montenegrins were not at all fond. However, they soon became accustomed to them, and supported by our rifles, they bravely mounted the batteries.
"The tactics of Montenegrins are confined to being skilful marksmen.... In a pitched battle their movements can be ascertained only by the direction of their standards. They have certain signal cries, which are uttered when they are to join in a compact body for attacking the weaker points of the enemy. As soon as such a signal is given, they rush furiously onwards, break into the squares, and at all events create a deal of disorder in the enemy's ranks. It was a terrible spectacle to see the Montenegrins rushing forward, with heads of slaughtered enemies suspended from their necks and shoulders, and uttering savage yells....
"The Russian commander-in-chief had much difficulty in persuading them not to cut off the heads of their prisoners. He finally succeeded inthis (chiefly by paying them a ducat for every prisoner) but what he had more difficulty, with the assistance of the Vladika, in persuading them to do, was to embark for an expedition on board of ship—a thing which they had never done before.
"Notwithstanding that they were treated with the greatest kindness, they proved very troublesome guests. Whenever the captains invited their chiefs to breakfast, they all entered the cabin, and having observed that more dishes were served to the officers than to common sailors, they wanted to have a similar fare. When the Fortress of Curzola was taken the feast of Easter was approaching; they gave the captain no repose, entreating him to return to Cattaro; but when it was explained to them that the vessel could not advance against the wind, they fell into great despondency.
"When at last the ship approached the entrance of Boccha di Cattaro and they caught a sight of their own black mountains, they uttered joyous exclamations, and began to sing and dance. On taking leave they affectionately embraced the captain and the officers, and invited those to whom they had taken a liking to pay them a visit. But whenthe sailors told them they could not leave the ship without the permission of their superiors, they were much astonished, and said, 'If you like to do a thing, what right has another to forbid you?'"
Does not the foregoing read like a chapter in "Waverley," or in "Rob Roy?" but though it is now a good many years since M. Broniewski wrote the foregoing, the Montenegrin is still much the same, with the exception of cutting off the heads of those killed in battle, which he has given up, principally, I believe, because he has had no fighting of late. But at the period of the last attempted invasion of Montenegro on the Grahovo side, by the Turks in, I think, 1862, heads were cut off as freely as ever, and were liberally paid for by the chieftains; the only difference was that instead of taking them to Cettigne to hang in festoons upon the round tower at the back of the monastery, they were allowed to rot on the battle-field among the rocks of the Grahovo where scores of them are to be seen lying about to this day.
BATTLE BETWEEN TURKS AND MONTENEGRINS—ADDRESS OF PRINCE MIRKO—HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER—THE PROJECTS OF PRINCE DANIELO—PRINCE NICHOLAS I.—SPORT IN MONTENEGRO—INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS—NATIONAL COSTUME—SPLENDID ILLUMINATION.
I REGRET more than I can express having lost some interesting notes of several conversations I had with the Commandant Pedro Pejovich on the subject of the campaign of 1864(?); all the more as they were most graphically told me by him, who had been in the thick of the fight, and carried in his body, in the shape of severe wounds, proofsof the active part he had borne in that campaign. One only I partially remember still, sufficiently well to venture to retail.
The Turks, apparently, were attacking the Montenegrins from the Herzegovina in the north of Montenegro. They numbered about twelve thousand men, together with a good force of Artillery; while the Montenegrins collected to oppose them were not more than two thousand; but whilst the Turks were in the plain fully exposed in sight of the Montenegrins, these sturdy mountaineers, finding covert behind each rock and bramble bush, were able to pick off the Turks with considerable effect. Still the disparity of force was too great, and at the end of the second day's fighting, although the Turks had not been able to make any impression on the position held by the Montenegrins, still the number of those killed and wounded bore a very large proportion to their numbers. At sunset the fight being over for the time, and sentries having been posted by the mountaineers as far forward as practicable to watch the Ottoman camp, Prince Mirko, father of the present Princeof Montenegro, then in command of the Montenegrins, summoned all the chiefs to a brief council of war, and spoke thus:
"Two days we have been fighting the infidels, and the only result has been the losses we have sustained in killed and wounded. Another day of such fighting will leave us so crippled that the accursed Turks will walk over us into our homes and villages. There is but one plan which offers any hope, but if you adopt it and place faith in me, I promise you a complete victory before to-morrow's sun shall gild the tops of yonder mountains. To-morrow morning, one hour before daylight, be all ready to follow me, leave behind your rifles and ammunition, and follow me softly and stealthily, making no noise; so we shall pass the Turkish advanced sentries without their noticing us, and when sufficiently near I will call my cry, and then let you all rush forward with me, trusting solely to your yataghans, and give no quarter."
This was carried out to the letter, and succeeded perfectly. The Turks, never imagining they would be attacked, kept a bad look-out. The Montenegrins,led on by the intrepid Mirko, rushed on the Turkish batteries, cutting the gunners' heads off, and having spiked the cannons attacked the remainder of the army with such impetuosity that they fled from the field in the utmost disorder.
This was the last attack of the Turks against Montenegro, and I don't think they will ever try it again. Prince Mirko was dead before my visit to this country. I cannot therefore give any description of him personally, but from all I heard he must have been a very remarkable man in every way. Though small in stature and slight, contrary to the general build of the Montenegrins, who are mostly all very tall and powerful men, he had immense influence over the mountain-tribes; owing to his well known sagacity and his fierce courage, wherever Mirko would lead, the whole of Montenegro would follow. He had the eye of an eagle, and strength of will and determination are portrayed in every line of his face, as I have observed in his portrait which hangs in the Palace of Montenegro, as well as the photograph I have seen of him. But he was wise also; when PrinceDanielo (the predecessor of the present ruler) died by the hand of an assassin at Cattaro, his widow, the Princess Darinka, at once caused the present Prince, Nicholas I. (nephew of the murdered Danielo) to be proclaimed sovereign, passing over his father Mirko, who, owing to the great youth of his son, might have expected and claimed the succession; but as I said above, Mirko was wise as well as valorous. He knew that from his own warlike tendencies, how much soever he might be acceptable to his own mountaineers, his elevation to be ruler of Tchernagora would be displeasing to most of his neighbours in Austria, Servia, and Turkey. He therefore at once consented to his son's promotion, and generously was the first in Montenegro to do homage to the young Prince.
Up to the year 1850, when Prince Danielo succeeded to the throne of Montenegro, the country had always been ruled by a Prince-Bishop, styled the Vladika. This dignitary, generally, if not always, nominated his own successor in the person of a nephew or some other near relative, who, on the death of the Vladika at once tookholy orders and became in his turn Prince-Bishop.
Danielo, not wishing to give up the happiness of home and married life, and also perhaps with the hope of founding a dynasty of his own in Montenegro, which in the course of time might, by extension and the absorption of other principalities, become an important kingdom, repaired to St. Petersburgh on the death of the Vladika Peter II., his uncle, and there obtained the full consent of the Emperor Nicholas to his effecting a division between Church and State. On his return journey to Cettigne he married at Trieste the Princess Darinka, hoping to have founded a line of princes to succeed him. His hopes however were destined to be blighted. Darinka had no children, and after reigning eight years, he was murdered at Cattaro as I have related above.
The young Prince, (Nicholas I.) who had already been betrothed almost in infancy, as is the custom among the upper classes in that country to a relation of his own, daughter of one of the principal Voyvodes in Montenegro, followed his studies under special direction in the Palaceof his ancestors; till one day the late Emperor Napoleon III., for reasons of his own, proposed to have the young Prince sent to Paris, there to be educated under his own eye; and the offer having been accepted, a French man-of-war without loss of time steamed into the Gulf of Cattaro and carried away the young Prince, together with two companions of his own age, sons of two of the principal Voyvodes of the country. Whatever care was bestowed upon the Prince's education, he amply profited by it; he is an excellent French and Italian, as well as German and Russian scholar. He is exceptionally well informed, and on a great variety of subjects; and voracious to a degree for more information, especially concerning English laws, customs, and manners, in all of which he takes the greatest interest, and is most anxious that Englishmen should visit his country. He was good enough to have me repeatedly at his house and at his hospitable board, and he never omitted to repeat to me.
"I shall always be glad to see English gentlemen in my country; tell them, when you go back, that if they are fond of shooting, they shall havetheir choice of game, from an eagle to a blackbird, and from a bear to a squirrel; if they prefer fishing, I promise them trout such as they have never dreamt of,[8]and they shall have every assistance that I can afford them in the way of tents to camp out, and men to guide and help them."
In appearance, the Prince is tall and remarkably handsome; his hair is black, he wears both beard and moustachios, contrary to the fashion of his country, where only the latter are worn, often of immense size and length. With a commanding appearance, he still has a most benevolent expression of countenance, due to the softness of a very fine pair of eyes, and his manners are most captivating.He is very dignified, but at the same time most kind, without being in the least patronizing, and I was told by those who knew him best that he has a most equable temper, and that an angry word seldom was heard from him.
I had been careful before leaving the Palace to set my watch exactly to their time, so as to ensure my punctuality in the evening; and at eightp.m.to the minute, I found myself in the saloon of the Palace. The Russian Consul was there already; he was showing me the different portraits which hung round it, when the Prince walked in, in full Montenegrin costume, but without any ceremony; and a few minutes after a door was thrown open from the opposite side, when in walked the Princess, accompanied by the widow of Prince Mirko and attended by her lady-in-waiting, Mademoiselle Neukomm, all in full native costume.
Pero Pejovich had so often extolled the beauty of the Princess, that I was quite prepared to be disappointed, as is almost always the case, for anticipation seems invariably to exaggerate thereality; but on this occasion it was just the reverse. I don't think I ever saw a more beautiful creature than the lady to whom I was then introduced; tall, pale, neither thin nor stout, but beautifully formed, and with exquisite hands and arms. She wore a diamond ornament on her head, half hidden by the masses of black hair among which it was nestled, and though it shone at times like a star from among a mass of stormy clouds, it could not subdue the light which shone from her glorious dark eyes.
Dinner was instantly announced, and we proceeded to the dining-hall, a room of good size and well-furnished. The dinner, a German one, was good, the wines better. The attendance consisted of two men in black and four in native costume. The Princess, who speaks French fluently, did the honours with most winning grace; and the Prince, by his affability, at once put every one at his ease. At dinner I sat on his left, his mother being on his right, with the Russian Consulvis-à-vis, principally, I suppose, to facilitate her enjoyment of the conversation, as she speaks only Slave.
During the repast His Highness constantly asked me questions, sometimes about my impressions of Montenegro, which were easily enough answered, as I had nothing to recount of myself but enjoyment since I had entered his territory, having met with nothing but the most unbounded kindness and hospitality. But in his anxiety for knowledge, he often put questions which I found it difficult enough to reply to, and sometimes questions which I could not answer at all. Having spoken with admiration of the gorgeous costume of the Montenegrins, and how it set off their fine figures, he replied:
"Yes, it is very fine; but I should be delighted to abolish it, if it were possible; they spend a great deal too much money on it."
Being simply horrified at the idea of doing away with national dress, I could not avoid expressing myself unreservedly, and I said at once that depriving a country of its costume would be simply to destroy it.
"Ah!" replied the Prince sharply, "you look upon us only from a picturesque point of view; in fact, you would like to keep us here likea sort of menagerie of wild beasts, to come and look at us occasionally for your amusement."
The Prince was almost angry; but fortunately I had an analogous example to place before him, in our own Scottish Highlanders, who cling to their costume with such tenacity. I told him of our Highlanders, of our splendid Highland regiments, of how our Scottish nobility held by the national dress, and of how our precious Queen dressed all her boys in Highland costume; and yet we did not go to look at them as we would go to look at wild beasts in a zoological garden, but we regarded it with admiration, as an ancient national costume, associated in our minds with devoted loyalty, stirring times, and valiant deeds; as their own costume was also, which, I trusted, I should never live to see exchanged for a bad imitation of the present universally adopted French fashion, ending by saying that I was convinced that the supplanting of national costumes with imitations taken from our neighbours, was decidedly a backward step in civilization.
He questioned me very closely upon the law ofprimogeniture and entail in our country, and could not understand how such a law did not producedes jalousies terribles, et d'autres inconvenances. I endeavoured to explain to him the present law of English entail, and how it differed from the ancient Roman law offidéi-commis, which still obtains in Scotland, where entails are for ever. Still he did not like our system of primogeniture, where the eldest son, in many instances, has £100,000 per annum, and all the other children £10,000 each, representing about £400 a year. He thought it terribly unfair; indeed he could not understand how they quietly submitted to it at all; and so we got through our dinner most agreeably without the leastgêne, while the Prince's band played some excellent music outside, under the window. This band consisted entirely of Montenegrin lads, some quite young, and considering the short time they had been learning their new profession, was wonderfully good. The bandmaster was from Prague, an excellent musician, and as he was a Czech, he spoke a language very similar to Montenegrin, which contributed not a little to his success.
Having left the dining-room in company with the ladies, we all adjourned to the saloon, and from it to the terrace in front of the Palace, where the Prince having lit a cigarette, offered some to me and Mr. Yonin. As I hesitated to light mine, after having taken one, the Princess, who immediately guessed that my hesitation was owing to her being present, at once most kindly came forward and requested me to smoke "de suite" &c. I therefore lit my cigarette at once, saying with a deep bow that I dared not disobey her commands. She then bid me watch, as presently a change would suddenly take place in the aspect of the scene.
It was now quite dark, when suddenly a cannon was fired, and simultaneously, as if by magic, every window in the town, in the Palace opposite, in the monastery, in the terrace, and at every point where a candle could be stuck, was filled with lights, while the band played the grand Russian National Hymn, and the people shouted with all the power of their lungs, firing off their pistols in the air in every direction.
The illumination was so instantaneous thatthe effect was charming, and coupled with the music, the enthusiastic cheering, and the booming of the cannon, which kept up a sort of "contrabasso" accompaniment to the whole, all contributed to produce acoup de scènenever to be forgotten.
We now all withdrew to the drawing-room for coffee and tea,à la Russe, without cream and with a slice of lemon. I was not sorry to leave the balcony, for that firing of pistols in the air is not so innocent a pastime as might be imagined, as no Montenegrin ever dreams of loading his weapons with anything else than ball-cartridge.
The Prince again resumed his conversation with me about English customs and manners. He said, "I am told that in London one policeman, unarmed, can control a mob, while in Paris it is very different, as nothing short of loaded muskets and bayonets will do for the French."
I answered him that English mobs could be troublesome too, but that, generally speaking, owing to our constitutional respect for the majesty of the law, we came to look upon that solitaryunarmed policeman as an impersonation of it, and as such he was always sure of the active assistance of all respectable citizens in the execution of his duty.
He then began to question me about the British constitution, and I never felt more posed. Irish mother-wit, however, came to the rescue, and I said, "To explain the British Constitution I should have to be a lawyer, but one of the great characteristics of it, so far as a layman like me can explain it, consists in what is called the Law of Habeas Corpus, by which no man can be imprisoned by any authority whatever without being immediately informed of the accusation against him, and brought up before the constituted authorities within twenty-four hours."
He said he had heard of that before, and thought it a grand law, but under certain circumstances he considered it might be advantageous for the king to have the power of arresting dangerous characters, upon which I told him that in certain emergencies the law of Habeas Corpus had been suspended, but that could only be done by Act of Parliament, and not by the sovereign's authority.
"In short," said he, "your Chambers are the real sovereign, the King being only the outward and visible sign of regal authority."
A WALK WITH THE PRINCE—SALUTATIONS OF THE CROWD—THE GUZLA—MONTENEGRIN DANCE—THE PRINCE'S ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN—THE CAMP AT NIGHT—ADVENTURE WITH A MONTENEGRIN—DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR PRINCE.
THE firing had now ceased, and the illumination was fading out by degrees, the band was still playing in front of the Palace, and the full moon was rising well up in the sky. The crowd had increased, as we could see from the window of the saloon, and the broad space in front of the Palace was literally paved with heads and up-turned faces. After looking a few minutes at that dense mass which was swaying to and fro and graduallygetting closer and closer, the Prince asked me what I thought of their behaviour. "Most wonderfully quiet, orderly, and well behaved; but I can't help looking upon them all as so many powder kegs. One cross word, an imaginary insult, a little too much drink, one of a thousand trifling incidents, might set a spark going, and it will be wonderful indeed if among these thousands of wild and lawless men some turmoil does not arise, and when their Oriental blood is once up, and arms are at hand and ready, blood will scarcely fail to flow."
"Well," said the Prince, "I venture to say there won't be the smallest misadventure to-night, though I haven't a policeman near here, and there are probably twenty thousand armed men in and about Cettigne at this moment. Do you think there are many Sovereigns in Europe who could with safety walk about in such a crowd in one of their own capitals during a time of excitement such as this?"
"Not one, I should think," I replied.
"Then," said he, "put on your hat and come along with me."
I followed him into the lobby, where throwing a scarf about his shoulders he bid me follow him, first having told his henchman that he would go out alone.
It was now about elevenp.m., and in a few minutes we were out shouldering our way in the thickest of the crowd, making for the spot where the band was playing. It was not long before he was recognised, right and left, and now began one of the most interesting scenes I ever witnessed. Where there had been a crowd so dense that progression seemed almost an impossibility, an ample space was formed, and then one by one men of all grades approached the Prince, and, according to their rank and station, one and all saluted him in the following way—they took off their caps, and those of the lowest grades took up the edge of his coat and "literally kissed the hem of his garment;" then those of somewhat better position kissed the same garment higher up; to others of higher rank still, the Prince extended his hand, which they kissed most reverently, and pressed to their foreheads three times; and lastly the Chiefs and Voyvodes,almost on an equality with him, doffed their caps, while His Highness did the same, and both holding each other's right hand pressed the side of their cheek against each other. And so I accompanied him, walking through that living mass, stopping every moment either to receive some act of homage, or to caress some bold little curly-headed fellow who had squeezed and wriggled himself in to get near to his Prince, and to whom His Highness would speak a few words, asking his name and age, and where he went to school, and what he could do, to the untold pride and joy of the parents who were watching. And so we shortly made the tour of the town, coming out on the plain right in front of the monastery where many groups were busily engaged in the performance of the national dance.
The lights had now gone out, and the illumination had faded away, but the moon nearly at the full was high up in the heavens, and shining as it does not, alas! shine in these islands. The band was gone, and the only music to be heard was the nativeguzla, accompanied by the monotonous chaunt of the vocalists, interrupted occasionally by the wildpiercing shriek of some dancer. The Prince made for one of the groups where apparently the dancing was most energetic, whilst I followed close on his heels. Being at once recognised, ample way was made for him, and I soon found myself alongside of him in the innermost circle of the ring.
Here I had full opportunity of observing the native Montenegrin dance, which, if not elegant, has certainly the merit of originality. How shall I describe it? In the area of that ring in which we found ourselves were five couple of dancers, who were being constantly renewed, men and women, as either became exhausted by their exertions. The dance itself did not seem to consist of any peculiar steps, but mainly in jumping with the arms extended horizontally, leaping as high as each one could opposite the other, and twirling round at the same time like dancing dervishes, whilst occasionally, as either man or woman had to give in from sheer exhaustion, they uttered a piercing shriek. Though somewhat savage and uncouth to behold, there still was a weird charm about that dance. The tall mountaineers lookedtaller still from their long white surtouts in the bright moonlight, and as they sprang high into the air they appeared absolutely gigantic, while the glitter of the moon's rays on the metallic ornaments of their dress and their jewelled arms produced a strange and pleasing effect. From one group the Prince passed on to another, and so through all till about one in the morning, when he turned his steps towards the Palace,
"Our dance is not an elegant one," said the Prince, "but it is characteristic; it is called the Dance of the Eagles, and its origin is thus accounted for. Many years ago the Montenegrins had no national dance, when some of the young men said, 'How is it all our neighbours have national dances of their own and we have none? Let us imagine and invent a dance; and, as our mountains are the country of the eagles, let us make it like eagles rising from the rocks, and let us scream like the young eagles.' And so they stretched out their arms and sprang into the air as high as they could, dancing their Eagle Dance, which from thenceforth became the national dance of the country."
At the gates of the Palace I made my bow, andthe Prince, putting out his hand, wished me good night, saying, "I must see you again before you leave."
In a few minutes I was in my room. I required no light, the moon was so brilliant. The night being warm, and not feeling at all sleepy from the excitement I had gone through, I lit a cigar, and leaning with my elbows on the window-sill, I looked out into the little plain where so shortly before I had been walking about. The turmoil had now greatly diminished, and in every direction I could see that preparations were being made to bivouacà la belle étoile. The horses that up to this time had been allowed to roam about here and there, cropping the scanty herbage, were now being collected and picketed one by one near the spot which had been selected by the owner for his own peculiar sleeping place; while the court-yard of the old Palace was also fully tenanted, and apparently by the same party I had watched in the early morning, and which, from the better style of their horses, the glitter of their equipments, and the appearance of their attendants, seemed to belong to some of the native chiefs.
By degrees the different noises ceased, and in less than an hour the whole camp was steeped in silence. Such a contrast to the noise and turmoil of an hour before, when twenty thousand people, men, women and children, were shouting, dancing, and yelling at the top of their voices!
I put on my helmet, and with a short stick in my hand, simply to keep away any snarling dog that might be inclined to give trouble, I quickly crossed the court-yard and let myself out by the gate into the plain. The moon had barely passed the zenith, and shone almost perpendicularly on the prostrate groups, who, in different attitudes of sleep, were dotted all about; some wrapped up in their strookas, more from habit than necessity, as the air was warm; some turned on their faces, some on their back with their arms outstretched; but all profoundly asleep; and such was the silence that, but for the absence of blood and mutilated limbs and broken weapons, one could easily have imagined it the field of some hard-fought fight.
I was surveying the placid scene and standing close to a magnificent mountaineer who was sleepingon his back, with his face fully upturned to the moon and his arms extended, when suddenly he awoke. In the twinkling of an eye he was on his feet and his hand on his yataghan. I don't imagine my life was the least in danger, even for a moment—but if it was, my helmet and my cigar saved me. However, I instantly saluted him in Slave, and with a "Sbogo Gospodin" he returned the compliment, at the same time putting out his hand he shook mine warmly, and pointing with the other to the ancient Palace, led me away towards it, talking softly the while and smiling; but unfortunately I could not understand, and the only response I could make was by offering him a cigar, which he at once lit at mine and pronouncing it "dobre" (good) puffed away at it with a will. At the great gate of the Palace he wished me good-night, when I begged of him by signs to take another weed, and so we parted.
The next morning being the day of the feast, I was awoke pretty early by the repeated firing of cannon just outside the gate of the Palace and in front of my window. I should have been glad to have slept a few hours longer, but thenoise was too great, and my so-called Italian-speaking servant coming in at the same moment, I jumped out of bed and called out, "Colazione!"
I had not more than half finished, and was in the act of peeling some grand specimens of Albanian figs, when in walked Pero Pejovich, who came to tell me that the Prince and Princess, with all the notables and Voyvodes of Montenegro, would attend High Mass at ten, and that thecortègewould pass under my windows and would be worth seeing. He added that if I liked he would take me into church and get me standing-room inside before they arrived; but he feared the crowd and the heat would be something fearful. Consequently, finding it quite hot enough already, I determined to remain where I was and enjoy the procession from my window.
I then told the Commandant of my adventure the night before. He scolded me awfully, but patted me on the back, as one would a child, and said I might have run some risk had I not been fortunately recognised as a guest of the Prince.
"Only imagine," said he, "if anything had gone wrong, the honour of Montenegro might have been compromised."
We then lit our cigars, and while waiting for mass-time, fell, as usual, into conversation about his country and its usages.
"What do you think of our Prince, and the way he goes among the people? I saw you last night with him. Did you ever see such love, such devotion, as we all have for him? But he deserves it fully. There never was such a ruler as our Prince; we would all lay down our lives for him, and be proud of the honour. If he were to call us to arms, we could muster in twelve hours, here in this plain of Cettigne, twenty thousand able men, fully armed and equipped, ready to march on any point, and that without endangering Montenegro; for we should leave twenty thousand more behind us, not so well adapted for advancing in an enemy's country, but fully competent to guard our mountain passes and protect our strongholds."
I said I hoped such a contingency might never arise; but he shook his head. The Turks, he said,hated them too much not to seek, sooner or later, for a pretext to attack them, and then he added,
"But the sooner the better; we never were so well prepared to meet them. The Turks pretend that Montenegro is an integral portion of the Ottoman Empire; we insist that we have always been free, and though often hard pressed by Ottoman forces, have never yet been conquered. What chance then is there of our coming to an understanding? My great grief, however, is to hear that England is against us and in favour of our enemies, and if it were not for the friendship which Russia has ever shown us, we might be exterminated by the infidels before you would lift a finger to prevent our utter annihilation. We cannot understand it, for we read of how England exerts herself always in favour of oppressed nationalities, and how she has even spent hundreds of millions of piastres to put down the slave trade; and yet she favours the Turks, who are the greatest supporters of slavery, against us, though our religions are almost identical, I am told. I wish more English would come to Montenegro.I think they would end by appreciating us."
These words of the Commandant made a deep impression on me.