92 MONTENEGRO 



would be emptied : women and children would be 

 hurried off into the fastnesses of the hills, and the 

 white-coated army would be disposed by the Prince 

 in the manner which has saved his country over and 

 over again. A column would be thrown forward to 

 meet the invader, but not to repel him. The secret 

 of past successes has been to fall back before the Turks, 

 luring them on through a region where bare, grey 

 precipices repeat each other in endless monotony. 

 There is scarcely a feature to distinguish one from the 

 other not even that whereon five thousand riflemen 

 lie couched like ptarmigan in the snow, so closely do 

 the weather-stained white coats match the dry lime- 

 stone which forms the whole land surface. Let the 

 enemy be drawn through this pass, and the ambush 

 springs to life in his rear, pouring a merciless fire 

 into the dark column an easy target, helpless against 

 invisible marksmen. 



Even in peaceable times like these one cannot but be 

 impressed by the absolute devotion of this people to 

 their warrior Prince. Heaven help them ! should the 

 rule ever pass into feeble, careless, or evil hands. 

 Hitherto ever since the accession of the dynasty of 

 Petrovich eighty years ago they have thriven under a 

 series of able, enlightened autocrats, and enjoyed all 

 the ideal benefits of a benevolent despotism, which has 

 taken the unusual line of making easy for its subjects 

 the path to knowledge. 1 Education is free, apparently 

 universal for boys, but not compulsory ; and among 



1 Since these lines were written Prince Nicola has bestowed a con- 

 stitution upon his people. Prosit ! 



