e of Janina, the possession
of which, by making him master of Epirus, would enable him to crush all
his enemies and to reign supreme over the three divisions of Albania.

But before he could succeed in this, it was necessary to dispose of the
pacha already in possession. Fortunately for Ali, the latter was a weak
and indolent man, quite incapable of struggling against so formidable a
rival; and his enemy speedily conceived and put into execution a plan
intended to bring about the fulfilment of his desires. He came to terms
with the same Armatolians whom he had formerly treated so harshly, and
let them loose, provided with arms and ammunition, on the country which
he wished to obtain. Soon the whole region echoed with stories of
devastation and pillage. The pacha, unable to repel the incursions of
these mountaineers, employed the few troops he had in oppressing the
inhabitants of the plains, who, groaning under both extortion and rapine,
vainly filled the air with their despairing cries. Ali hoped that the
Divan, which usually judged only after the event, seeing that Epirus lay
desolate, while Thessaly flourished under his own administration, would,
before long, entrust himself with the government of both provinces, when
a family incident occurred, which for a time diverted the course of his
political manoeuvres.

For a long time his mother Kamco had suffered from an internal cancer,
the result of a life of depravity. Feeling that her end drew near, she
despatched messenger after messenger, summoning her son to her bedside.
He started, but arrived too late, and found only his sister Chainitza
mourning over the body of their mother, who had expired in her arms an
hour previously. Breathing unutterable rage and pronouncing horrible
imprecations against Heaven, Kamco had commanded her children, under pain
of her dying curse, to carry out her last wishes faithfully. After
having long given way to their grief, Ali and Chainitza read together the
document which contained these commands. It ordained some special
assassinations, mentioned sundry villages which, some day; were to be
given to the flames, but ordered them most especially, as soon as
possible, to exterminate the inhabitants of Kormovo and Kardiki, from
whom she had endured the last horrors of slavery.

Then, after advising her children to remain united, to enrich their
soldiers, and to count as nothing people who were useless to them, Kamco
ended by comma