Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 1, 2025
On the following day we left Raskrsnica at an early hour en route for Andrijevica, which lies at a considerably lower altitude than Kolašin. Consequently we had a lot of downhill work. We had another magnificent view of the Kom on our way, but otherwise our ride of about six hours was uneventful. Andrijevica is first seen from a great height, and really looks quite close.
We left Andrijevica finally one morning about eight a.m. for our many days' ride along the Albanian frontier to Podgorica. Everyone turned out to bid us farewell, from the Voivoda, who expressed his regret that we had seen no one shot, downwards.
In a few seconds we were all shooting at it in turn, the Voivoda acting as umpire with the aid of my field-glasses. It seemed a risky thing to do in a country so easily alarmed, but no rapid firing was allowed. The shooting was moderately good. As the last shot had been fired, and some of us already mounted, a corporal from Andrijevica came up at a trot, bringing a telegram for the adjutant.
No schools are held during the summer months, and the teachers often turn shepherds, as in this case, and migrate with their flocks to the mountains. A typical mountain hut Costume of the north-eastern borderers Supper and a song We go out hunting, and cause excitement The Feast of Honour We ride to Andrijevica Andrijevica and our inn The Voivoda We go to church Turkish visitors Alarums.
It had been carried thirty years by a priest, he told me, before it came into his possession, and had killed at least twenty men. Afterwards I gave him a present of six florins. There are no police in Andrijevica, but the population take their turn to patrol the town at night with rifles. This is not to keep order amongst themselves, but as a guard against an eventual raid of Albanians.
So it is that visiting Albanians carry theirs too, and it is no uncommon sight to see eight or ten Gusinje men, conspicuous by their white head-cloths, rifles slung over their shoulders, and a girdle of cartridges, come into Andrijevica to market, or perhaps even to consult the Voivoda on a question of blood-guilt.
But a few weeks after our departure, war very nearly did break out at Mokra, over a dispute as to the rights of a small grazing-ground, and was only averted at the last moment. Then Andrijevica was full of troops, for 25,000 Albanians stood fully armed on the border, and a pistol-shot would have started an invasion of Montenegro.
We had altogether a very merry stay in Andrijevica, and the men of Vasović are sturdy, honest, fearless, and excellent companions. Once, as I was admiring an old pistol worn by a man who was visiting us for men were continually dropping in on us at any hour, in a most unceremonious fashion he promptly took it off and gave it to me.
If it were not for the dangerous proximity of the Albanian border, Podgorica would have been made the capital of Montenegro. Lying on a rich and fertile plain, within easy reach of the Lake of Scutari, and connected by good roads with Cetinje and Nikšić, it is within market distance, so to speak, of Kolašin and Andrijevica.
It was a very similar dispute which has happened so very recently at Mokra near Andrijevica. Supper gave us a much needed change of diet. Boiled fowl and vegetables came as a luxury after days of tough and stringy lamb. We sat at a table again too, on chairs, and felt quite ashamed of our recently acquired habits.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking