EUROPE’S ‘WILD WEST.’

Hokitika Guardian, 27 October 1923, Page 4

EUROPE’S ‘WILD WEST.’

•G. Ward I’rice in the "Daily Mail.") Rv the murder of the president ol the Inlenuuiiiiinl Commission appointed to scti!e tiie frontiers of Albania, log'tli.’r with'his staff of four, one is reminded that down there on the east side of the Adriatic, le-s than three days’ journey IT’!.:in Loudon, tiie Middle Ag‘s still llouri-ii in Mid-Europe. High mountain,-, the rivalries of neighbour mg big Status, and a population of armed liausiueil will) shoot straight and i.fici’, have SO far kept tiie Albanian valleys in min h the same condition as were the Highland glens three hundred \(ais ago. One wonders why kinetna producer- in search of "rough stuff’’ still draw upon a Wild \\ est- that has ceas-ai to exist, ulien two Albanian tribes with an outstanding blood-feud would provide all the action required much nearer

home. Ijeforc the war adventurous young; Englishmen—like Colonel Aubrey Her-; hurt M.F.. who i- now president of the | Anglo-Albanian Society—used to gratify ! their taste for excitemeiH by long tours ] in those grim mountains. One ol them j I know brought hack with him an ol- ; banian servant, who soon insisted oil i returning home. "Ho was so disgusted to discover.” his master told me. “that under no i-in-uuistancos doe- a ic-.'.iiver form part of an Englishman's '•.-•■tun,: dies-.” il wa- Greek villagers wlm killed General Tellini and hi- companions the J other dav, and ordinarily travel 'n Al- j bauia 's not so dangerous as it kinks, j where even tiie gnat herds by the n ad- ! -ide have a magazine-riffe and ’ andiilior aero-- their hacks. Most oi the; Albanian's shooting L for home roil-j

sumption, carried out a a pious dutv | In connect ion with the itnmkor!— and : age-old vendettas that divide tli' lieu-. ! Occasionally ibis, family warfare leaches the proportions oi a raid iu lores’. Thai is wliv Albanian I'.ou-e-- have no j windows hi-iii-.v tiie second ileurs and their irout doors are flanked Ip coop- t hole.. To the visiting stranger bmpi-; lality is readily shown by the tm.-ui- j .lain,o,'-. whose skull caps ami I’giit-j tilling dress oi whit,' trie/..’ trimiu'.sl j u ith black braid make them extremely j pli i uresquii. . , . I (Ini'o a ioi-eign-ei- las eat.-n 1 i Imur | -all he i- mfegoru-.ii-d by the honour i f . tlie tribe against attack, and ami: her; genial feature of the rules of Albanian • warfare is that even an enemy s ay not lie attacked it in- is in the company oi a woman. .Mi - - Edith Durham, an Engii-h mt-j isl who used often to visit. Albania j Mime ilomiui years ago. Ira voile i the’ whole country alone, and by read' i ■■ - to u<e her medicine chest acquired h prosiige among the lri L,■ -nu■ u that they would sometimes bring lheir h unite t for l.er arbitration.

Railways, telephones, and n ■ "i j pei-s do not exist, yel Albanian riLdrs I are seldom dull for Intif. Ihe story of ! Hi,. Ini' ! reign ol the Prince m Wed. whom Albania, just In Tore the vnr, ; brought from Ins castle nil ihe lili ne. j to lie her ruler,-with (he quaint lit.’" < f i "Mpret .” i-. one of the most Ruriiau- } inn romances in modern history. I'.s- 1 sad Pat-ha—himself since assi"siu.tta 1 - I assured me once that tiie Mpt'el, tilt (bo object ol getting rid ol him, had, 11is house fired on at point-blank lingo by a I'ohl-gun during the night. In tiie end it was tic Prim-e ol V. r d who ileil. and Essad secured hi- own ( nomination as "King” by tin- ~l 'i'oMYn method of informal ing Ihe Albanian Foliate that he wo’.ihl have D ” "hoi' l cf them shot if be were not oLMeI.