Henry Skene, Esq., on the Albanians. 300 



tioned by Chardin as inhabiting Mingrelia. The country 

 now occupied by this tribe lies to the south of that of the 

 Ghegs and Mirdites, and extends to the river Vojutza. It is 

 called by themselves Toskouria. Their chief places are 

 Elbassan and Berat, called by the Turks Arnaout Belgrad, 

 in order to distinguish it from Belgrade on the Danube. Te- 

 pellene, the birth-place of Ali Pasha, is now included in their 

 territory, although it was formerly considered as belonging 

 to the infamous Liapides. The great despot declared it, how- 

 ever, to be in Toskourid, and no one dared to gainsay him on 

 a point which affected the respectability of his origin. The 

 women of the Toske tribe are remarkable for their beauty, 

 like those of Georgia, whence they issue, according to the 

 conjecture of some antiquaries. 



The Liapides are the worst of the Albanian tribes. Liv- 

 ing only by rapine and murder, they offer the most frightful 

 picture of a degraded state of society ; and their evil name 

 has sullied the reputation of the whole nation. They infest 

 the roads, plundering the wayfarer, and often ransacking 

 villages. Tliey convert their booty into arms, curious col- 

 lections of which may be found in their mountain-homes, 

 whither they retire at the end of their roving campaign. 

 They are cruel, fierce, and treacherous, — of forbidding coun- 

 tenances and sinister expression, and short and ungainly in 

 person. Their dress displays the greatest possible want of 

 cleanliness, and they even pride themselves on allowing it to 

 rot on their bodies. They consider this to be a proof of 

 warlike habits, and they boast of a brave countryman being 

 washed only three times, namely, at his birth, his marriage, 

 and his death. Liapourid, which includes the whole country 

 inhabited by the Liapides, extends as far south as the plain 

 of Delvino, and is composed of bleak and barren hills, feather- 

 ed with trees only near their base. The proneness of these 

 rude highlanders to lead a life of plunder, and their filthy 

 habits, aided by the great similarity of the names, the </, or 

 delta of modern Greek, being pronounced like M, have given 

 rise to a conjecture, that they may be the remains of the an- 

 cient Lapithrae. 



The Tsamides are the most peaceable and industrious of 



VOL. XLVI. NO. XCII. — APRIL 1849. X 



