the
eastern highlands, together with the North Albanian Alps and the
serpentine zone, are the most rugged and inaccessible of any terrain on
the Balkan Peninsula.

Lake Region

The three lakes of easternmost Albania are part of the Macedonian lake
district. The Yugoslav border passes through Lake Ohrid; all but a small
tip of Little Lake Prespa is in Greece; and the point at which the
boundaries of all three states meet is in Lake Prespa. The two larger
lakes have areas of about 100 square miles each, and Little Lake Prespa
is about one-fifth as large. These are total surface areas, including
the portions on both sides of the national boundary lines. The surface
elevation is about 2,285 feet for Lake Ohrid and about 2,800 feet for
the other two. The lakes are remote and picturesque. Lake Ohrid is fed
primarily from underground springs and is blue and very clear. At times
its transparency can approach 70 feet. A good percentage of the terrain
in the vicinity of the lakes is not overly steep, and it supports a
larger population than any other inland portion of the country.

NATIONAL BOUNDARIES

The distinct ethnic character of the people and their isolation within a
fairly restricted and definable area brought support for their demands
for independence in the early twentieth century. There were places where
different ethnic populations intermingled, and there were other
pressures that affected the definition of the borders. The Kosovo area
across the northeastern border is a part of modern Yugoslavia, but it
contains a substantial Albanian population. There are Greeks and
Albanians in the mountains on both sides of the southeastern boundary.
Albania is not content with the Kosovo situation, and neither Greece nor
Albania is satisfied with the division effected by their mutual border.

The country is the smallest in Eastern Europe and has a perimeter of
only 750 miles. The border shared with Yugoslavia runs northward from
Lake Prespa, around northern Albania, to the Adriatic Sea for a total of
just under 300 miles. Forty miles of this border follows river courses,
and an almost equal distance is within lakes. The Greek border from the
common point in Lake Prespa southwest to the Ionian Sea is about 160
miles long. Twelve miles of this border are within lakes but, because it
crosses the trend lines of the southern mountain ranges, only four miles
are along rivers.

The Adriatic and Ionian coastline is just under