rvians.--Their Moral
Character.--Peculiarities of Manners.--Christmas
Festivities.--Easter.--The Dodola.

The Servians are a remarkably tall and robust race of men; in form and
feature they bespeak strength of body and energy of mind: but one
seldom sees that thorough-bred look, which, so frequently found in the
poorest peasants of Italy and Greece, shows that the descendants of
the most polite of the ancients, although disinherited of dominion,
have not lost the corporeal attributes of nobility. But the women of
Servia I think very pretty. In body they are not so well shaped as the
Greek women; but their complexions are fine, the hair generally black
and glossy, and their head-dress particularly graceful. Not being
addicted to the bath, like other eastern women, they prolong their
beauty beyond the average climacteric; and their houses, with rooms
opening on a court-yard and small garden, are favourable to health and
beauty. They are not exposed to the elements as the men; nor are they
cooped up within four walls, like many eastern women, without a
sufficient circulation of air.

Through all the interior of Servia, the female is reckoned an inferior
being, and fit only to be the plaything of youth and the nurse of old
age. This peculiarity of manners has not sprung from the four
centuries of Turkish occupation, but appears to have been inherent in
old Slaavic manners, and such as we read of in Russia, a very few
generations ago; but as the European standard is now rapidly adopted
at Belgrade, there can be little doubt that it will thence, in the
course of time, spread over all Servia.

The character of the Servian closely resembles that of the Scottish
Highlander. He is brave in battle, highly hospitable; delights in
simple and plaintive music and poetry, his favourite instruments
being the bagpipe and fiddle: but unlike the Greek be shows little
aptitude for trade; and unlike the Bulgarian, he is very lazy in
agricultural operations. All this corresponds with the Scottish Celtic
character; and without absolute dishonesty, a certain low cunning in
the prosecution of his material interests completes the parallel.

The old customs of Servia are rapidly disappearing under the pressure
of laws and European institutions. Many of these could not have
existed except in a society in which might made right. One of these
was the vow of eternal brotherhood and friendship between two
individuals; a treaty offensive and defe