Chedomille Mijatovich

“ Small holdings were in themselves a hindrance to Servian agricultural progress, inasmuch as small farmers cannot afford the cost of scientific farming; hence the great success of co-operation. As a rule, also, the lots of ground belonging to one household or family do not lie together, but are dispersed in different, very often distant, parts of the village land. To meet this difficulty, a farmer with more crops than he can reap unaided will summon his neighbours to his assistance, supplying them with food, but no money, and binding himself to repay the service in kind. ”

“ The Serbs cleared their country altogether of the Turks, and began to organize it as a modern European state. In 1807 the sultan offered to grant the Serbs self-government, and to acknowledge Karageorge as the chief of the nation with the title of prince. On the advice of the Russians, who were just going to war with Turkey, the Serbs refused that offer, preferring to fight against the Turks as Russian allies. The principal scene of the Russo-Turkish war being transferred to the Lower Danube, only a few unimportant actions took place on Servian territory. ”

“ But when the Austrian wars of the 17th century began to roll back the Turkish power, and Hungary recovered its freedom, the Servians living in that country rapidly acquired some culture, and their literature began to revive. During the 18th century, however, they did not write in the living language of the Servian people. After the disappearance of the Servian printing-presses in the 16th century, all liturgical books were brought from Russia and printed in the Russian-Slavonic language; while the teachers in the Servian schools were Russians. ”

“ Many Servian emigrants returned, after 1878, to the territories which the Treaty of Berlin restored to their country. These territories had been occupied, under Turkish rule, by Albanians, west of the Morava, and by Bulgarians, along the Nishava; but, after 1878, the Albanians withdrew, and the Bulgarians were absorbed. The Rumans reside principally in the north-east, near the borders of their native land, and are peasant farmers, like the Serbs. The gipsies occasionally settle down, forming separate camps or villages, but in most cases they prefer a wandering life. ”

“ These differences are so insignificant that it was very natural that the Croats after having tried to convert the chakavski dialect into a separate literary language were compelled to abandon that attempt and to adopt the shtokavski. ”

“ In Gorski Viyenats, “The Mountain Wreath” (Vienna, 1847) , Nyegosh describes the liberation of Montenegro from the Turks towards the end of the 17th century in the form of a drama. There is, however, hardly anything dramatic in the poem, but the characters deliver magnificent descriptions of Montenegro and Montenegrins, and the play is full of noble sentiments and great thoughts. The Servians consider Gorski Viyenats the finest poetical work in their literature. It has been translated into all the principal European languages except English. ”

“ In boyhood he had entered the monastery of Hoppovo in south Hungary and had become a monk. But as very soon he found that the monastery could not satisfy his aspirations, he left it and started to travel, acquiring a knowledge of classical and modern languages and literatures. An ardent Servian patriot, he proclaimed the principle that books ought to be written for the people and therefore in the language which the people understood and spoke. ”

“ Russia, Austria-Hungary and Montenegro were the only Powers which congratulated King Peter on his accession, and in December 1903 all the Powers temporarily withdrew their representatives from Belgrade, as a protest against the attitude of the Servian government towards the regicides. But at the coronation of King Peter, in September 1904, all the European powers except Great Britain were officially represented, some concessions, more apparent than real, having been made in the matter of the regicides, who were very unpopular among the peasants and in the army. ”

“ At a funeral, the coffin is left open until the last moment—a custom found everywhere in the Balkans, and said to have been introduced by the Turks, who found that coffins were a convenient hiding-place for arms. The same practice is, however, common in Spain and Portugal. Few countries are richer than Servia in myth and folklore. The peasants believe in charms and omens, in vampires, were-wolves, ghosts, the evil eye and vile or white-robed spirits of the earth, air, stream and mountain, with hoofs like a goat and henna-dyed nails and hair. ”

“ The Servians have as yet no great novelist, but they have several very successful writers of short stories. Among these the first place belongs to Dr Laza Lazarevich. After him the most popular authors of short stories are: Stefan Sremats, whose mild satire and sparkling humour earned for him the name of the “Servian Dickens”; Yanko Veselinovich, author of some delightful sketches from the life of Servian peasants; Sima Matavuly, whose stories give a true picture of the Servians of Dalmatia and of Montenegro. ”

“ The stature and features of the Serbs vary in different regions; but the northern peasantry are generally fairer and shorter than the mountaineers of the south. Those of the Shumadia are blue-eyed or grey-eyed. In many parts the prevailing types have been modified by intermarriage with Bulgars, Albanians and Vlachs; so that, along the Timok, for instance, it is impossible to make physiognomy a test of nationality. Even language does not afford a sure criterion, so nearly akin are many spoken dialects of Servian and Bulgarian. ”

“ From 1804 till the autumn of 1813 the Serbs governed themselves as an independent nation. But when in 1812 Russia, attacked by Napoleon, had in great haste to conclude at Bucharest a treaty of peace with Turkey, and omitted to make sufficient provision for the security of her allies the Serbs, the Turkish army invaded and reconquered Servia, occupying all its fortresses. ”

“ The danger increased when the Bulgarians came, towards the end of the 7th century, and formed a powerful kingdom on the eastern and south-eastern frontiers of the Serbs. Practically from the 8th to the 12th century the bulk of the Serbs was under either Bulgarian or Greek suzerainty, while the Serbo-Croat provinces of Dalmatia acknowledged either Venetian or Hungarian supremacy. ”

“ Manufactures and Commerce.—The scarcity of labour prevents the growth of any great manufacturing industries. There is no native artisan class; for except in very rare cases, the people value their independence too highly to work in factories, or even to enter domestic service. ”

“ The Rumanian women retain their native costume, and are further distinguished by the wooden cradles, slung over the shoulders, in which they carry their infants; the Servian mothers prefer a canvas bag. Women weave most of the garments and linen for their families, besides sharing in every kind of manual labour. Turkish ideas prevail about their social position; but so highly valued are their services, that parents are often unwilling to see their daughters marry; and wives are in many cases older than their husbands. ”

“ Communal courts exist in every commune or municipality, and certain judicial powers are delegated to the police, under laws dated 1850–1904. Trial by jury, which existed among the Serbs at least as early as the 13th century and fell into desuetude under Turkish rule, was revived in 1871.
Defence.—The medieval citadels of Belgrade, Nish, Pirot and Semendria have no military value, but some strategic points on the Bulgarian frontier were entrenched between 1889 and 1899, while the modern forts of Nish, Pirot and Zayechar were strengthened and re-armed at the beginning of the 20th century. ”

“ The heaps of débris which cover so many acres near Belgrade, on the Kopaonik foothills and in the Toplitsa valley bear witness to the importance of this industry in the past. During the later middle ages the Servian mines brought in a large revenue to the merchant princes of Ragusa. They prospered greatly during the 14th century, but Turkish rule put a stop to this industry after 1459; and the revival only began in 1835, under the patronage of Prince Milosh. The richest coal and lignite seams occur among the north-eastern mountains, generally near the Danube or Timok, and along the Morava. ”

“ A Servian crowd at a festival presents a medley of brilliant and picturesque costumes, scarlet being the favourite colour. Men wear a long smock of homespun linen, beneath red or blue waistcoats with trousers of white frieze. ”

“ Servian is spoken in the following countries, forming geographically (although not politically) a connected whole: southern Hungary, the kingdom of Servia, Old Servia (the Turkish vilayet of Kossovo) , western Macedonia., the sanjak of Novi-Bazar, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia and Montenegro. It ranks with Bulgarian as one of the two principal Slav languages of the Balkan Peninsula; the Macedonian dialects are intermediate between these two. Between eight and nine millions of people speak Serbo-Croatian in the countries just enumerated. ”

“ During the reign of his heirs almost all the Servian provinces were conquered by the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon (924) . In 931 Chaslav, one of the princes of the Visheslav dynasty, liberated the largest part of the Servian territory from Bulgarian domination, but to maintain that liberty he had to acknowledge the Byzantine emperors as his suzerains.
The Princes of Zetta and the First Serb Kingdom.—Towards the end of the 9th century the political centre of the Serbs was transferred to Zetta (Zeta or Zenta: see Montenegro) and the Primorye (Sea-Coast) . ”

“ Much political influence is wielded by the priests, who played a prominent part in the struggles for national independence. They marry and work, and sometimes even bear arms like their parishioners, from whom a large part of their income is derived, in the shape of offerings and fees. ”

“ Here all the members assemble in the evening for conversation and amusement, the women spinning, while the children play. The houses are mostly very small wooden structures, serving for little else but sleeping places. ”