ALBANIA 1444, 1464, and 1468; minor immigrations followed in the three succeeding centuries. In Southern Italy there are 72 Albanian communes, with 154,674 inhabitants; in Sicily 7 communes, with 52,141 inhabitants. The Italian and Sicilian Albanians are of Tosk descent, and many of them still speak a variation of the Tosk dialect. There are also several Albanian settlements in European Turkey and Asia Minor, some founded by military colonists who received grants of land from successive sultans, others owing their origin to enforced migrations after insurrections in Albania. The only genuine division of the Albanian race is that of Ghegs and Tosks; the Liaps, who inhabit the district between the Yiossa and the sea, and the Tshams or Chams, who occupy the coast-land south of the Kalamas, are subdivisions of the Tosk family. The name Gheg (Gege-a) is not adopted by the Ghegs themselves, being regarded as a nickname; the designation Tosk (TosJce-d) is restricted by the Tosks to the inhabitants of a small region north of the lower Yiossa (Toskeri'a). While the other primitive populations of the peninsula were either hellenized or latinized, or subsequently absorbed by the Slavonic immigration, the character Albanians to a great extent remained unaffected istics. by foreign influences. Retaining their original language and preserving the customs and institutions of remote antiquity, they present a distinct type, and differ in many essential particulars from the other nations of the peninsula. The Ghegs, especially, notwithstanding their fierce and lawless character, their superstition, ignorance, and predatory propensities, possess some noteworthy qualities rarely found in Eastern Europe : simple, brave, faithful, and sometimes capable of devoted attachment, these wild mountaineers make excellent soldiers and trustworthy retainers; they have long furnished a bodyguard to the sultan, and are much employed as kavasses and. attendants at foreign embassies and consulates in the East. The native disposition of the Tosks has been modified by intercourse with the Greeks and Vlakhs; while the Gheg devotes his attention exclusively to fighting, robbery, and pastoral pursuits, the Tosk occasionally occupies himself with commercial, industrial, or agricultural employments; the Gheg is stern, morose, and haughty, the Tosk lively, talkative, and affable. The natural antipathy between the two sections of the race, though less evident than in former times, is far from extinct. In all parts of Albania the vendetta (gydk) or blood-feud, the primitive lex talionis, is an established usage; the duty of revenge is a sacred tradition handed down to successive generations in the family, the village, and the tribe. A single case of homicide often leads to a series of similar crimes or to protracted warfare between neighbouring families and communities; the murderer, as a rule, takes refuge in the mountains from the avenger of blood, or remains for years shut up in his house. It is estimated that in consequence of these feuds scarcely 7 5 per cent, of the population die a natural death. A truce (bessa : literally “ faith, pledge ”), either temporary or permanent, is sometimes arranged by mediation or, among the Ghegs, by the intervention of the clergy; a general bessa has occasionally been proclaimed by special irade of the sultan, the restoration of peace being celebrated with elaborate ceremonies. So stringent are the obligations of hospitality that a household is bound to exact reparation for any injury done to a guest as though he were a member of the family. No traveller can venture into the mountain districts without the bessa of one of the inhabitants ; once this has been obtained he will be hospitably welcomed. In some districts there is a fixed price of blood; at Argyrokastro, for instance, the compensation
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paid by the homicide to the relatives of his victim is 1200 piastres (about £10), at Khimara 2000 piastres; once the debt has been acquitted amicable relations are restored. Notwithstanding their complete subjection, women are treated with a certain respect, and are often employed as intermediaries in the settlement of feuds; a woman may traverse a hostile district without fear of injury, and her bessa will protect the traveller or the stranger. Women accompany their male relatives to the battlefield for the purpose of tending the wounded and carrying away the dead. The bride brings no dowry to her husband; she is purchased at a stipulated price, and earnest-money is paid at the betrothal, which usually takes place while the contracting parties are still children. It is customary for young men who are attached to each other to swear eternal brotherhood (compare the Slavonic pobratimstvo); the contract is regarded as sacred, and no instance has been known of its violation. The costume of the Tosks differs from that of the Ghegs; the distinctive feature of the former is the white plaited linen fustanella or petticoat, which has also been adopted by the Greeks; the Ghegs wear trews of white or crimson native cloth adorned with black braid, and a short, close-fitting jacket, which in the case of wealthy persons is embellished with gold lace. The fez is worn by both races, and in the northern highlands yataghans and firearms are almost invariably carried. The costume of the Mirdite and Mat tribes is peculiar. It consists of a sheepskin cap, a long white tunic bound with a red girdle, white linen trousers, and opinki, or sandals. The tribal organization in Northern Albania is an interesting survival of the earliest form of social combination ; it may be compared in many respects TnbaI with that which existed in the Scottish highlands o system. in the time of the Stuart kings. The practical autonomy which the Gheg mountaineers enjoy has been won by a prolonged and successful resistance to Turkish domination; as a rule they pay no taxes, they are exempt from the conscription, they know nothing of the Ottoman law, and the few Turkish officials established amongst them possess no real authority. Their only obligation to the Turkish government is to furnish a contingent in time of war; the only law they recognize is either traditional custom (gdet) or the unwritten Kanun-i Leks Dukqjinit, a civil and criminal code, so called from its author, Leka Dukajini, who is supposed to have lived in the 13th or 14th century. The tribe or mal (“mountain”) is often composed of several clans (phis-i, phdrea) or baryaks (literally “ standards ”) each under a chief or baryaktar (standard-bearer), who is, strictly speaking, a military leader; there are in each clan a certain number of elders or voivodes (Albanian kru-ye, pi. krene-te) who form a council and, like the baryaktar, hold their office by hereditary right; they preside over the assemblies of the tribesmen, which exercise the supreme legislative power. The clan is generally subdivided into smaller communities (mahale), each administered by a local notable or gyobar. The gyobars superintend the execution of the laws, collect fines, and administer capital punishment; they are in contact with the buluk-pashi, or resident representative of the tribe at Scutari, who forms the only link between the mountaineers and the Turkish government. He communicates to the tribesmen the orders of the Mali, which must be framed in accordance with their customs and institutions. The tribes of Northern Albania, or Ghegerfa, may be classified in seven groups as follows:—(1) The Mirdites, who inhabit the alpine region around Orosh to the south-east of Scutari—the most important of all in respect of numbers (about 26,000) and political independence. A Catholic tribe, occupying an inaccessible
