REFLECTIONS ON ALBANIA. 139 



every description of cultivation, and covered with 

 most magnificent spreading oaks, and other forest 

 trees. The banks of the river abound with plane 

 trees of the largest kind I ever saw ; where there 

 is any cultivation (and very little indeed is there) 

 it appears in a thriving state, and from the very 

 great luxuriance of the natural vegetation, I can- 

 not help thinking this a country that, in other 

 hands, might rise to very great prosperity. What 

 a pity it is not under the protection of some power 

 that would be aware of its value ! 



Here is a magnificent country, capable of culti- 

 vation to any extent, a productive soil, and (ex- 

 cepting in a few marshy districts) an exceedingly 

 healthy climate, and yet it is almost entirely 

 destitute of population, and the few inhabitants 

 that do exist are the most miserable, impover- 

 ished, and oppressed in Europe. 



Each man is afraid of his neighbour. Every 

 one, even from five years old, is obliged, for per- 

 sonal security, to be armed up to the teeth ; and 

 it is well known, that those who are the most 

 wealthy, are obliged to live in an apparent state 

 of misery and destitution, lest their prosperity 

 should excite the cupidity of their neighbours, 



