43 6 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



hair hanging down. The doors 

 of the house where the body 

 lies are left open, and the 

 neighbours come in and out 

 as they please. 



Our space will permit of 

 but a very few words on the 

 Albanians, who are remotely 

 akin to the Greeks, being a 

 remnant of the Thraco-Illyrian 

 group. To the Turks they are 

 known as Arnauts, a corruption 

 of Arvanites, which is the By- 

 zantine form of Albanij but 

 the national name is Ski pet ar, 

 i.e. " Highlanders." There 

 are two main divisions, the 

 northern GHEGS, and the 

 southern TOSKS, the former 

 the ruder and finer race, the 

 latter more cultured, and 

 more akin to the Greeks in 

 speech and religion. Most of 

 the Ghegs are Mohammedans, 

 the rest Catholics of the Latin 

 rite, and these come more in 

 contact with the Slavs than 

 with the Greeks. As a race 

 the Albanians are handsome, 

 with high forehead and well- 

 chiselled features. Their 

 women and children also have 

 a reputation for remarkable 

 beauty. They are active and 

 hardy, as might be expected 

 of a mountaineering people, 

 and they supply valuable 



recruits to the Turkish army. As enemies they are cruel, but as friends they are true and 

 hospitable. They are independent and intractable, but have never attempted to develop an 

 organised state, being still constituted in small tribes or clans without national cohesion. 



Their dress varies according to local divisions; but the chief features of the national 

 costume are a gold-embroidered vest, bright sash, leathern pouch, containing pistol and 

 yataghan, and the national kilt. The Albanian women wear a good deal of gold embroidery 

 on their dress. They are for the most part veiled. The Mirdites, a sub-division of the 

 Ghegs, are Roman Catholics, but despised by the rest of the clansmen as traders and hucksters. 

 Their position under the Turkish Government has been compared to that of the Jews in 

 mediaeval Europe. 



TURKEY. 



THE European Turks are chiefly confined to Constantinople and the neighbouring maritime 

 districts, where they number probably not more than 2,000,000. They belong to the Osmanli 



