Macedonia, a plea for the primitive . of the ladder of civilization, shouldbe aghast at the prospect of having to build withour own hands, and live in, a house made outof Natures raw material without the refiningskill of the workshop or the well-wrought pro-ductions of the foundry. Yet such is the quandaryin which the Macedonian finds himself. He hasnot the wherewithal to purchase bricks andmortar, or if he had he would probably be lackingin the means of power to transport them fromSalonika to his native village. (Even for Salonikaitself, most of the building material has to comeoversea.) No,
Macedonia, a plea for the primitive . of the ladder of civilization, shouldbe aghast at the prospect of having to build withour own hands, and live in, a house made outof Natures raw material without the refiningskill of the workshop or the well-wrought pro-ductions of the foundry. Yet such is the quandaryin which the Macedonian finds himself. He hasnot the wherewithal to purchase bricks andmortar, or if he had he would probably be lackingin the means of power to transport them fromSalonika to his native village. (Even for Salonikaitself, most of the building material has to comeoversea.) No, the peasant receives very littleartificial aid in his battle for life and as elsewhere we have appraised his efforts MACEDONIAN HOUSES 69 in extracting the means of livelihood from themeagre fare which Nature provides in the wilds ofMacedonia, just as we have applauded his success,sometimes in spite of her, so must we accord hima word of encouragement and appreciation forthe style and quahty of the house he FRONT OF AN HOUSE:KUKOS, LOWER STRUMA. usually with his own hands, and nearly alwaysout of nothing more than the bare essentials ofmud, stone and timber. HOUSES—INTERIORS Owing to the bareness and general lack offurniture, the task of describing the interior ofMacedonian houses is by no means formidable. 70 MACEDONIA Poverty is the predominant cause of the primi-tive interior but no doubt that is also partly dueto the Eastern custom of sitting cross-legged onthe floor, or, on the other hand, it may be thatthe paucity of furniture is responsible for thehabit. However, to whatever extent the twoconditions are interdependent, the nudit^^ andsimplicity of the interior has much to commendit, for it is not only economical from the point ofview of material but also conducive to coolnessand spaciousness. Moreover, even if householdfurniture were abundant, the unevenness inci-dental to a mud floor would scarcely ensure thefirmness of tables
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1921
