. Travels and politics in the Near East. being involved in the fray. Indeed it was difficult tobelieve that one was living in a country at war with itsneighbours. And the contrast was all the more remarkablebecause that neighbours territory is only separated fromus at Corfu by a narrow channel, in one place barelythree miles across. From the grass-grown heights of thegrand old fortress, which the ubiquitous Venetians erectedhere in the days of their long supremacy, we couldsee through this clear, blue atmosphere every line andevery fold of the rugged Albanian mountains, with hereand there a sc
. Travels and politics in the Near East. being involved in the fray. Indeed it was difficult tobelieve that one was living in a country at war with itsneighbours. And the contrast was all the more remarkablebecause that neighbours territory is only separated fromus at Corfu by a narrow channel, in one place barelythree miles across. From the grass-grown heights of thegrand old fortress, which the ubiquitous Venetians erectedhere in the days of their long supremacy, we couldsee through this clear, blue atmosphere every line andevery fold of the rugged Albanian mountains, with hereand there a scattered hamlet far up above the coast. 223 Travels and Politics Thence in ordinary times come rough mountaineers intheir national costume, with their huge baggy trousers,vast cloaks of frieze and big turned-up shoes with greattassels fastened on the toes. Then there are the up-to-date Corfiotes, with the conventional top-hat of WesternEurope, and numbers of Italians, Jews, and people ofother nationalities from all parts of the East. The. ROUGH MOUNTAINEERS . . WITH THEIR VASTCLOAKS OF FRIEZE. {From a Pholo. by Miss CUadwich.) women wearing the graceful Greek headdress, and thebarefooted urchins who run about the streets and beg forhalfpence or offer boxes of matches after the fashion ofthe youthful Londoner, complete the picture. In theevening the cafes on the esplanade are full of peoplereading the Athenian or the local papers, of which thereare three every week, and discussing politics over their 224 in the Near East cups of coffee with the ardour which the modern Greekalways exhibits when he turns his attention to pubHcaffairs, for there is no country in which so much interestis taken in poHtics. During the war the hotel here was amicrocosm of the whole Eastern question. From Satur-day to Monday we had the commander of the Greekfleet vainly bombarding Prevesa, the cannonade of whichwas distinctly audible across the sea. We had the officialTurkish view represented by Georgi P
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecteasternquestionbalka
