MONTENEGRO. 



MOROCCO. 



545 



disembark six battalions of Nizams, but was 

 refused admission to the town, and his troops 

 encamped outside. The Sultan and his minis- 

 ters professed great anxiety to have the sur- 

 render accomplished, and authorized the com- 

 manders of the combined fleet to use force to 

 crush the resistance of the Albanians if neces- 

 sary. Dervish Pasha, however, hoped that he 

 would be able to effect the cession without 

 bloodshed, and entered into communication 

 with the chiefs of the League at Scutari, 

 while those at Dulcigno refused to have any 

 intercourse with him. He finally demanded 

 the surrender of the town by the chiefs un- 

 der a threat that he would employ force if 

 it were refused. The chiefs asked for a de- 

 lay of thirty days, which he denied, where- 

 upon he proceeded to more decisive measures. 

 On the 18th of November he occupied the 

 heights of Biela with a large force of men and 

 guns. On the 21st he moved upon Dulcigno, 

 where he was opposed by the Albanians at 

 Lake Sas, on the north bank of the Bojana Riv- 

 er, in a contest that continued through the day. 

 He renewed his advance on the next day, but 

 was beaten back, and was compelled to pass 

 the night in the open country, an hour's 

 march from Dulcigno. On the 22d he under- 

 took to carry the heights of Mazura without 

 success, and was again obliged to pass the 

 night outside of the town. On Wednesday, 

 the 23d, he entered Dulcigno after a short 

 engagement. Satisfactory arrangements hav- 

 ing been made between the envoy of Prince 

 Nicholas and Dervish Pasha, the town was 

 formally surrendered to Montenegro, Friday, 

 November 26th. On the next day, Bajo Pe- 

 trovics entered the place in state, and was met 

 at the gates by all the head men of the villages 

 and other leading Mussulmans, tendering their 

 allegiance. A thanksgiving service was cele- 

 brated, and the Montenegrin standard was 

 hoisted on the fortress with a salute at noon. 

 Prince Nicholas sent a dispatch of acknowl- 

 edgment to the Sultan for the manner in 

 which the cession had been accomplished, and 

 also addressed a note to the six powers ex- 

 pressing warm thanks for the support that had 

 been accorded to his government in the naval 

 demonstration. The Montenegrin force, occu- 

 pying the whole district of Dulcigno, was well 

 received, with entire tranquillity prevailing. 

 The Government promised the inhabitants of 

 the ceded territory liberty of worship, an am- 

 nesty for past resistance, and security in the 

 tenure of their property, and thus induced 

 many, who had intended to remove, to remain. 

 After a few days, diplomatic relations were 

 resumed with Turkey. The delimitation of the 

 frontier still remained to be adjusted, and pend- 

 ing the settlement of this question the Turks 

 continued to occupy the district of San Gior- 

 gio. The Turkish Government, with a view 

 to the fulfillment of its engagements, stationed 

 seventeen battalions of troops on the frontier, 

 with instructions to prevent the Albanians 

 VOL. xx. 35 A 



from interfering with the Montenegrin occu- 

 pation of Dulcigno. 



The port of Dulcigno, the town which made 

 so prominent a figure in these transactions, 

 was a famous resort of pirates during the six- 

 teenth century. Old Dulcigno was captured 

 by the Turks in 1571. The Porte undertook to 

 suppress piracy, but failed, on account of the 

 connivance of the local governors with the 

 pirates, until the Pasha Suleiman, more earnest 

 and determined than his predecessors, burned 

 the five hundred vessels of the Dulcignote fleet 

 in the harbor. The blow was fatal to the old 

 town, and a new town, New Dulcigno, was 

 built a little farther inland. This place was 

 occupied for a short time by the Venetians in 

 1722. It was taken by storm by the Montene- 

 grins in 1878, but Austria objected at the Con- 

 ference of Berlin to their retaining it, and 

 caused the adoption of the provision to give 

 them Gussinje and Plava in its stead. The 

 harbor of Old Dulcigno is one of the oldest 

 on the Adriatic, and is the best one between 

 the southern point of Dalmatia and the mouth 

 of the Drin. It enjoys a secure protection from 

 the sirocco, and is favorably situated for the 

 navigation of the Bojana River. New Dulcigno 

 has about 5,000 inhabitants, of whom 3,500 are 

 Mohammedans. The whole district contains 

 about 8,400 Mohammedan and 4,000 Catholic 

 Albanians, 1,500 Slavs, and 1,200 gypsies. 



MOROCCO, a Mohammedan country in 

 Northern Africa. Sultan, Muley-Hassan, born 

 1831, eldest son of Sultan Sidi-Muley-Moham- 

 med ; ascended the throne at the death of his 

 father, September 13, 1873. The Sultan bears 

 at home the title of " Emir-al-Numemin," or 

 Absolute Ruler of True Believers. 



The present Sultan is the fourteenth of the 

 dynasty of the Atides, founded by Muley- Ach- 

 met, and the thirty-fifth lineal descendant of 

 Ali, uncle and son of the Prophet. The crown 

 is hereditary in the family of the Sharifs of Fi- 

 leli, or Tafilet. Each Sultan has the right to 

 choose his own successor among the members 

 of his family, and, if this privilege is not exer- 

 cised, the crown devolves upon the eldest mem- 

 ber of the family. 



The Sultan of Morocco and his Mohamme- 

 dan subjects differ in some respects from the 

 Mohammedans of Turkey, Persia, and other 

 countries, by adopting as their text-book of 

 faith the commentary upon the Koran by Sidi 

 Beccari, the original of which is kept at the 

 imperial palace, and deposited in time of war 

 in a tent within the center of the army, around 

 which the soldiers rally as both a symbol of 

 religion and national standard. 



As the southern frontier toward the Sahara 

 is unsettled, the area of Morocco can not defi- 

 nitely be given. It is approximately estimated 

 at 672,300 square kilometres, of which about 

 197,100 belong to the Tell, or the fertile coast 

 and mountain region, 67,700 to the steppes, and 

 407,500 to the Sahara without Tuat. The pop- 

 ulation has sometimes been estimated as low as 



