82 MONTENEGRO 



disputed the right of the Petroviches to the throne. 

 Certainly the Radoviches fled from Montenegro after 

 the murder, and took up their abode at Zara, in 

 Dalmatia, whither certain of their countrymen had 

 migrated rather than abandon a hereditary blood-feud. 



Before his death Prince Danilo had repelled three 

 separate invasions by the Turk; and his nephew, the 

 present Prince Nicola, has proved a worthy inheritor 

 of the diadem. Twice he has led his people to victory, 

 driving the Turkish troops across the frontier in 1862 

 and 1877 ; but of more substantial value are his 

 achievements in diplomacy, whereby he won recogni- 

 tion of his country's independence, establishment of 

 the sovereign rank of its ruler, and concession of access 

 to the sea, together with the relatively fertile district 

 around Podgoritza and the Lake of Skodra all of 

 which had been refused by the Powers through long 

 centuries of conflict. 



Without some slight acquaintance with the history 

 of this remarkable little nation, the traveller would miss 

 the whole significance of the land and its people as 

 completely as he could be insensible to the spirit of 

 the Scottish Border had he never heard of Otterburne 

 and Flodden Field. Everybody has heard of Monte- 

 negro, indeed ; but many people picture it a realm as 

 misty and unreal as Mr. Anthony Hope's 'Zenda'; 

 nay, I have met an educated person who positively 

 believed that it was a South American republic ! It 

 is not a land of ease, though the exceeding amiability 

 and scrupulous honesty of its people make a sojourn 

 there a delightful experience. It is poor and bare for 



