THE EASTERN SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC.* THIS most readable book
is a favourable specimen of a class of work not uncommon of late, in which a lady's record of travel serves to point and illustrate the views, theories, or principles, of her husband. In the unusually sultry Levantine summer of 1863 Lady Strangford organized a party from Corfu for a fortnight's pic-nic in the Albanian mountains. " Pic-nic," at least, is the word used by her, but we fancy that the majority of ordinary pic-nic frequenters will be a trifle startled by its appli- cation to an expedition which included in its personnel cooks, guides, interpreters, and mounted police, while tents, cooking apparatus, thick sticks for the persuasion of refractory natives, and even a tourist's battery, formed its materiel. Southern Albania, however, contains so many features of interest about • The Eastern Shores of the "litriggie is 1869, with a Visit to Montenegro. By Viscountess Strangford. London: Bentley. 1664. ' which little is known, and Lady Strangford has so well described them, that it would be useless for the "gentlest reader" to affect regret for the unavoidable "roughing it" on the part of the authoress to which we are indebtedfor the entertaining account of its natural and national characteristics which forms the first of the six chapters of The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic. Embarking from Corfu in the Lord High Commissioner's unseaworthy, cockroach-haunted yacht, the "broken winged, dirty, rotten old Petrel," the party travelled through the sparsely populated, uncultivated, and scorched-up country to Ioannina, with no further adventure than several night encampments under decidedly uncomfortable cir- cumstances, and an abortive attempt at mutiny by the guides, repressed by a practical adoption of the hint conveyed in the Arabic proverb, "The stick descended from Heaven, a blessing from God." With the exception of one or two oases of lovely scenery and picturesque villages, the desolate appearance of the country seems to have impressed the travellers most unfavour- ably, and Lady Strangford strongly inclines to the opinion that the dogs are the principal inhabitants, as well as the most noisy. These dogs, at all events, form no inconsiderable element in the daily life of Albania. They are not, as supposed, of the Molos- sian breed, now utterly extinct, but possess all the characteristics of the true Oriental dog, and though easily dispersed in small parties by the mere action of picking up a stone, they are dan- gerous enough when met in numbers. After quitting Ioannina, Lady Straugford and her companions visited the raiege of the Suli Mountains, so replete with interesting though melan- choly associations. If anything were needed to heighten the romantic grandeur of the gorges of the Auheron and the Achelous, it is supplied in the traditions of the heroic Suliote priest Samuel, who, together with three hundred Suliote families, defended the rock and castle of Kughni until all hope being extinct, he provided for the escape of the small remnant of his compatriots, and himself perished in the ruins of the castle fired by his own hand, and all the Suliote women of Dhimula unanimously preferred a similar death to falling into the hands of the monster Ali Pasha. The scattered rem- nant of the Suliote race which taok refuge in Corfu is now entirely extinct. A portion joined the Greeks in the War of Independence, and the survivors settled in Greece. A few strag- glers returned to the home of their race, and Lady Strangford saw and spoke with an aged and feeble old man who was said to be the only Suliote remaining in Suli.
Lady Strangford's next object, after her return via Pass to Corfu, was to visit Dalmatia, and without losing any time she embarked in the Dalmato-Albanese steamer, and after several days' coasting arrived at the once illustrious city of Ragusa, the only city in Dalmatia where no Lion of St. Mark is to be seen. Although now well nigh reduced to a chaotic state of Sclave nationality, Austrian military occupation, Roman Catholic wor- ship, and Oriental customs, none of the Dalmatian nobles—who make Ragusa their capital, as Spalato is the commercial capital, and Zara the administrative and ecclesiastical capital of Dalmatia- ever-forgot its prolonged independent existence, or their successful defiance of the Venetian lion. The city abounds with most in- teresting specimens of the Dalmatian type of Byzantine architec- ture and works of art of most curious and little-known styles. Solavonic gold-work in particular forms a well-defined and characteristic branch of art, and though Italian influences are very manifest in Dalmatian specimens, the reliques audjewelry of Ragusa must be full of interest to the art student. The patri- ciat of Ragusa dates from a very early period, and more than one of the great families can trace back an authentic pedigree for close upon a thousand years.
While at Ragusa Lady Strangford made the acquaintance of Mohammed Pasha, the military Pasha of Skodra, and M. Moreau, the French Consul at the mine place, through whose kindness her intended journey to Montenegro was rendered far less arduous than it would otherwise have been. Her residence in a suite of apartments, specially prepared for her, in the palace of Tsetinje, gave her opportunities for an acquaintance with Montenegrin Court life and Royal family history never en- joyed by previous travellers. The pala?.e was built by the giant Peter II., shortly after the death of his uncle, the Vladika (an archbishop prince) Peter 1 . , so worshipped by his subjects that a few years after his death his body was removed from the Royal burying-place to the highest mountain peak in Montenegro, in order that the spot where his ashes rested might be within the view of every Montenegrin. Peter II. was succeeded by the famous Denbo, whose first step was to
1.....111,1ah the dual capacity of the Vladika and by casting off his
ecclesiastical position left himself free to marry, with the hope of founding a direct lineal dynasty of princes. His assassination in 1858 is within the recollection of all, but its effect on Monte- negrin politics is not generally so clearly understood, and Lady Strangford's intimacy with all the members of the present Montenegrin Royal family enables her to throw much light on certain questions which few would study in the form of blue- books on the Eastern question. The widow of Danilo" acted wisely and energetically in at once declaring his nephew Nicholas as prince, to the exclusion of his father, the firebrand Mirko, who, nevertheless, acquiesced in the arrangement, and is now a picturesquely armed and attired ornament of the Court of his son, as well as a powerful official, and a redoubtable warrior. No life—certainly not that of any princely court—can be much more primitive than the ordinary routine of life at the palace of Tsetinje. "Madame la Princesse Mere," as Lady Strangford at first respectfully addressed her, is simply a private lady, beloved by the people, extremely charitable, and often to be seen going about with a basket of provisions for the sick or poor under her arm. The style of life at Court is simple and patriarchal, the attendants, down to the servants who waited at dinner, being often recognized as relatives of the principal nobles who happened to be guests. "Serve me, oh my father, with salt l" or "bring me the wine, oh my brother !" sounded rather strange to modern ears. The whole account of Lady Strangford's stay in the Black Mountains is one of_the most interesting passages in the volume, and one cannot refrain from hoping cordially that her somewhat sanguine view of the Montenegrin future is not destined to be falsified by events. She believes fully in the earnest desire for improvement and civilization, both on the part of prince and people, and is evidently most favourably impressed with many points in the national character. She adopts fully the Monte- negrin demand for a port from the Turks, and believes that the consequent relief from poverty and enforced idleness would work wonders in ameliorating both their condition, and in lessening their tendency for depredation and raid-making in Turkish territory.
The remainder of the volume consists of Lady Strangford's wanderings in Dalmatia, all of which are described to the reader in an extremely graphic and entertaining style, and a long and somewhat ambitious essay on the Eastern question, in all its complex relations, entitled "Chaos," by Viscount Strangford. We must confess that, cleverly written as it is, it fails to convert us at once to the pessimist views which it inculcates. According to Lord Strangford, nobody either in Downing Street or Printing- House Square knows anything about anything connected with the Eastern question. This is " chaos " with a vengeance !
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