THE “SAFE BLOKES ” OF ALBANIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1927, Page 4

THE “SAFE BLOKES ” OF ALBANIA.

(By MARY GORDON WEST, an Englishwoman who has been travelling in Albania).

SCUTARI, Aug. 16. The truth becomes manifest within an hour ol one’s arrival in Albania ; a- woman is infinitely safer here, in a country reputed to- be the wildest in Europe, than she can ever hope to be in London or Paris or New York. When I said farewell to complacent, genteel Kensington (where burglars had broken into and ransacked mv

flat) friends looked at- mo sadly, as if seeing me for the last time. Yet my progress across Montenegro to Scutari was marked by so many courtesies, s-i much friendliness, that the prnspo.t of reaching Scutari after sunset held no terrors. The first, thing that happened to luo when I landed t'roni Scutari l ake was that my band was kissed repeatedly by n. middle-aged giant who spoke broken English with a Cockney accent and wore a goatskin jacket, white woollen trousers beautifully braided with black, a white skull cap, a mighty revolver in his belt, and r, most magnificent moustache that drooped- like the houghs of a weeping willow. He informed me, between the second a,ml third kiss:

“iLidy, you no ain’t got need ter worry. I’se safe bloke—all safe blokes ’ere.” And indeed lie was right. Not the stranger, but the Albanian who should harm the stranger, is in danger of death in Albania. When I passed into the mountains later this man gave me his besa, or blessing, written on a piece of paper. This I was instructed to show to strangers. Any harm that had befallen me would have been tlie beginning of an Albanian blood-feud between family and family. Tbe theft of my wrist watch might have cost Albania the lives of a ‘dozen strong men during the next six genarations. Bht it is not fear of a blood-feud that preserves the The Albanian, particularly in the south in tbe land of tho Tosk tribe, is obsessed with an inexorable code of hospitality that conquers cupidity. He will take you into his home and share his meal with you. and the only thing that prevents him taking offence when in error you offer him nionpy is his knowledge that you are an ignorant stranger!

His entertainment is primitive, but it comes from the heart. I had the first example of it in a mountain village 20 miles from Scutari. The chief and richest man of the village came to meet me and took me to his magnificent home of six rooms—for he is a rich man with an income of nearly £4 a week; and when I had washed my hands in V wooden bowl which

his wife brought- to me in the living room, we sat in a. circle on the floor, upon Ivelim and sheepskin rugs, and drank raw violent rakijn (grape-skin spirit) out of a flask that circled' round the gathering. Ho rolled cigarettes for me, delicately Ticking down the edges to within a. quarter of an inch ol one end, so that 1 might have the final lick myself. He talked incessantly, for Albanian hospitality forbids a hiatus in conversation. When darkness fell a pinewood torch was lighted and stuck in a hole in the wall, and a table lOin high was brought- in round which we .sat cross-legged on the floor to .eat. A vast communal howl of food was placed in the centre, we had no plates but dipped into the howl with wooden spoons, the guest first, the host second, his sons next his wife last. She is the beast ol burden of Albania, poor woman—she and the donkey. But the donkey has the easier time, because he has four legs.

The Albanian woman is a versatile mother. She carries her baby in a brightly painted cradle on her head, so that she may knit or weave crude .sheep's wool into yarn as she walks. If the baby should he fretful she has no need to take it from its high perch to soothe it; she merely sways her head gently, and the cradle rocks, and the baby is calmed! With her human burden she can kneel down, or climb rocky paths, or trot like a. pony. And the. baby, like all babies, shows not the slightest appreciation of its unique position. There are no bedrooms in Albanian homes. When the time for sleep arrives the host brings in a pile of sheepskin rugs, and the family distributes itself ah;iat the house as it pleases. But in the best households the guest lias a whole floor in nimsolf.

At one house where 1 stayed T was not so fortunate; a daughter-in-law and her husband shared my floor, and two youths climbed into the ratters and snored in a key that resembled the higher note of an K flat saxophone.

To keep furniture shining without attention, use “Tan-01,” the wonderful liquid polisli. Gives a brilliant lasting surfae. Won’t smear. All grocers.—Advt.