THE WOMEN OF MONTENEGRO.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 186, 20 January 1877, Page 4

THE WOMEN OF MONTENEGRO.

Tit:-: Montenegrin waiiifiti is ill many r-'S]i-‘i-is an obj-ei- of pity to pm erav« liers who pass ihroiigh tie* s! range 'pr'n -ipaiily : but th-Te is n-< woman m the count rv who xv(.t;! 1 1 be mure gnev-on-iv oi’ieinh'd a! anv shew (.f paiipiidey. To wi>rh in-es-nntiy and to rather is the destiny of the women of i in-, rave. They are not even w doomed into liie world; a /dmiteu'grin father, when asked hv his imigiibour what tlm sox of his nmv-boni child is. amnv-TS. bus! pardon me 1 it is a nirih’ Som tnn la 1 says, it is a serpent/’ which is a |ioe(leal iminn-'r of expressing' Isis regrets at the hii'tli of a daughter. The girl grows up neglected, and often cursed: she carries faggots o! wood on her head, in order that she may earn a few coins with which to buy arms for her brothers. She lias no youth ; at twentylive she seems already old. »”■;jc is mairied yon my, and bears and ear -s for Jier ehildj'i n while 11 j>ie•;•{iney labor in the fields which would b- hard (-ven for strong men. She trembles before Imr father, her brother, her husband ; she only awakens to freedom and independenee of action when excited by the noise of combat, to which she (Venn mt!y fellows the warriors. She c re'es 1 -on, and loads their guns and dresses 11 11 ■ ir . wounds. The Mont i c yrin woman is rather beantihd of f-atore; a.ml the coarse work which site performs soon ruins her form. Her virtue is beyond reproach ; intrigues are unknown in Montenegro, and gallantry would iind a sharp- reproof at the point, of the yataghan. 'J’he women wander unattended wherever they please thromyhuut the country ; for while a vdotibsiegrin Warrior would irwr think ol relieving ;v woman Iron: a heavy burden | of fagots (,>r nrovisions winch slie may, he fainting nmler, and while lie nmv perhaps rile at imr for weakness, im would not by word or deed offer the slightest Insult. The woman is almost servile with regard to her husband, if she 'secs him coinin'.; - along the road, -dm turns oil'or pusses him rapidly, that he may not he compelled to recognise Imr. (Should the warrior he -o■ 11 wasting his time in loitering by ids wife's side, he ■would be subjected to reproach from (lie elders of the village. A few years since one could not lame found in the whole of Montenegro one woman knowing how to read or write. Latterly some few schools to which females have access have been established.