19133 On Lake Scutari 



patriotism worthy the name, stops at border fortresses. 

 Sooner or later there must be a federated Europe if 

 our race is to sway minds or even bodies in Asia and 

 Africa. 



At Rjeka a country fair was going on, with many Hard to 

 women selHng Bulgarian sour milk and fried fish; the *■""' 

 latter, little-known bleaks ^ and bleaklings, almost 

 persuaded me to stop and make a collection. But 

 hardening my heart, I delayed not in boarding a 

 little steamer headed for the Albanian city of Scutari 

 at the opposite end of the lake. This body of water, 

 some forty by thirty miles and lying almost wholly 

 within the jurisdiction of Montenegro, occupies a 

 glacial basin walled in on three sides by high and 

 barren mountains. In size, form, and surroundings 

 it suggests our own beautiful Lake Tahoe, though 

 being fed by fewer streams it runs low in summer, 

 and because of that fact our steamer was obliged to 

 halt five miles short of its real destination. 



From Virpazar, the only intermediate stop, a short 

 railway runs down to the little Montenegrin seaport 

 of Antivari. In 191 2, during the brief existence of An idle 

 the "Concert of Europe," the fleets of great nations '^"«''«^^'-«- 

 " demonstrated" their own futility before this little 

 village, far below and out of all reach of the capital 

 city they meant to overawe. 



It was late and very dark when the passengers 

 were taken off noisily in ten or twelve Albanian row- 

 boats. After much delay and scrutiny of passports 

 at the Scutari wharf I was allowed to land, and soon 

 found myself in a carriage with an Italian lady who had 

 come on board at Virpazar accompanied by a young 

 English diplomat. The latter being forced to remain 



^Alburnus alburnus. 



C 529 3 



