1090 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



seemed inferior, in appearance at least. 

 Although the city of Toula exhibits Rus- 

 sia in its new role of industrial establish- 

 ments, all were glad when, practically on 

 schedule time, the Transiberian train 

 rolled into the great Koursk depot of the 

 holy and busy city of Moscow. 



Of unique and absorbing interest was 

 "little mother" Moscow, with its praying 

 pilgrims, countless icon-decked chapels, 

 with its multi-colored houses and holy 

 sanctuaries, culminating in the church- 

 crowned walls of historic Kremlin, with 

 their glittering cupolas and towers 

 brightly beautiful in green and gold ; 



but, however, they were symbols of a 

 vanishing past. 



One's thoughts turned from these sen- 

 suous attractions to the things of the 

 present and near future, exemplified by 

 the vast empire just crossed; for Siberia,, 

 somewhat relieved from the deadening 

 bonds of autocratic officialdom, is teach- 

 ing individual resourcefulness and inde- 

 pendence through its vast plains, dense 

 forests, lofty mountains, and great rivers. 

 Slowly but surely the fuller, freer life 

 of Asiatic Russia is bringing into higher 

 and harmonious relations with its envi- 

 ronment the godlike soul of m^an. 



THE ALBANIANS 



By Theron J. Damon, of Constantinople 



Nr EITHER the bastinado, nor the 

 gun, nor the cannon, nor exile, 

 nor imprisonment, nor even 



death itself, will ever move them." 



The speaker was a young Albanian 

 who had received part of his education 

 in the United States. He is now back 

 in his own country, where he is working 

 with indefatigable zeal for his people. 

 He is one of the few educated men of 

 Albania, but he intends that the coming 

 generation shall not number educated 

 men and women by the "few." 



The words quoted above were pre- 

 ceded by these : "At present, from north 

 to south, and from east to west of Al- 

 bania, all classes of people — Moslem and 

 Christian alike — have a desire, which 

 amounts to a passion, for national educa- 

 tion. All of them understand that just 

 as in the past the sivord was the symbol 

 of power, so today education is the god- 

 dess of power, and they are going to 

 possess education in spite of persecution." 



The Albanians have come to a con- 

 sciousness of their need of civilization 

 and western progress. From the first day 

 of the new Ottoman constitution the 

 Young Turks, however, were deter- 

 mined that civilization should come to 

 the Albanians only after being passed 

 through a Turkish and Mohammedan 

 strainer. This program could not be 



accepted by the Albanians, even had the 

 Young Turks been capable of properly 

 carrying it out. 



The Albanian is a European ; two thou- 

 sand years and more he has lived where 

 he now lives — in the fastnesses of Epirus 

 and Illyria, across the Adriatic from 

 Italy's heel. Early in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury the Albanians mingled with their 

 southern neighbors, the Greeks, and were 

 the backbone of the struggle for Greek 

 independence. The kinsmen of Marco 

 Bozzaris, the Albanian hero of Greek 

 independence, all migrated to Cephal- 

 onia, ofif the coast of Greece, but about 

 two million less fortunate Albanians are 

 yet under Turkish rule. 



During the 125 years previous to the 

 discovery of America, the proud republic 

 of Venice held a benevolent supremacy 

 over the Albanian coast towns and their 

 spheres, and thus for a century retarded 

 the day of Turkish domination. With 

 the fall of Scutari-in-Albania and the 

 expulsion of the Venetians by the Turks 

 in 1478, the Turks began their over- 

 lordship — four centuries of chicanery, 

 broken faith, and cruelty. The sum of 

 the Turkish rule has been to put the Al- 

 banian only more deeply in debt to pov- 

 erty, superstition, and bloodthirstiness 

 than his mountain history and primitive 

 traits would warrant. Throusrhout two 



