usiness. As we were walking between
Perzagino and Mula an old man addressed us, asking if we were English,
and, on our replying that we were, said he had been twenty times in
London, and called our attention to his house, which he said had been
inhabited by Prince Nikita during the troubles at Cattaro.

[Illustration: ALBANIAN HORSE-DEALERS, CATTARO

_To face page 388_]

We saw very few English on our second trip. From the time we passed
Cologne to the time we arrived at Cattaro we did not hear a word of our
own language, though the boat in which we travelled from Spalato to
Cattaro was entirely of English make, with Liberty chintzes in the
cabins, and panels of coloured plaster in the saloon. It had cost
L70,000, the captain said, and was certainly extremely rapid and
comfortable. In the early morning we saw the sardine boats coming in.
They carry on the bow an apparatus with a number of jets connected with
an acetylene plant, producing at night a most vivid light. The Bocchese
is a born seaman, beginning at the age of twelve, and often going on
till he is seventy. In the Bocche scarcely a third of the land is
fruitful, yet 40,000 people lived in the district, mainly, of course, by
the sea. From their childhood the boys have always longed for the day
when they might accompany their fathers into the world beyond the sea.
They were always ready to fight, and expected to have to do so, for,
until the second half of the eighteenth century, it was unusual good
fortune to make a sea or land trip to Albania without being attacked.
The ancient houses, with loopholes and little windows, still look more
like citadels than convenient dwellings. The women had to protect their
children and their own honour when the men were away, and this had its
effect upon their character. In many villages it was the custom for a
bride to go out some morning before she was married into a lonely place
and sing the death-wail, so that she might know it if she became a
widow!

The introduction of the steamboat has reduced the employment of sailing
craft, and the Bocchesi have become poor, but they provided the best
sailors for the Venetian fleet, and their seamanship has not decayed.

There were certain variations among the Bocchesi from the religious
customs of the Morlacchi, which are perhaps worth noting. The great fast
before Easter lasted for fifty days, and during that time even fish was
allowed but twice to the sick, on the Annunciation