THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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Photograph from Gen. George P. Scriven 



ON THE ROAD TO ARJIROKASTRO 



"In these days the women seem to have no special dress. Sometimes they appear in 

 trousers of a kind, with a long, legging-like stocking drawn over ; sometimes they wear skirts 

 and shoes, if they can get them." This one, wrapped in her white robe, is a Mohammedan, 

 judging from the veil that obscures her face. 



however, is worn when possible as a 

 symbol of race. 



In these days the women seem to have 

 no special dress. Sometimes they appear 

 in trousers of a kind, with a long legging- 

 like stocking drawn over ; sometimes they 

 wear skirts and shoes, if they can get 

 them. 



The women of the poorer classes now 

 appear hardly more than beasts of bur- 

 den, carrying on their backs great bun- 

 dles of brushwood, or maybe of heavy 

 stones, that rest on a kind of wooden 

 pack in the form of a shelf placed be- 

 tween the shoulders. In the fields, too, 

 they are seen plowing or digging deep 

 into the soil, always with sad, work-worn, 

 patient faces that reflect the harshness of 

 their lives. 



THEIR CHIEF DESIRE 



The Albanians are probably neither so 

 good nor so bad as they have been 



painted, but certainly they are worth the 

 effort necessary to develop them and their 

 country. Their chief desire now is to be 

 allowed to manage their own affairs and 

 to work their little farms in the fertile 

 valleys, to herd their sheep and weave 

 their garments of wool, if only they are 

 let alone. They do not submit easily to 

 government ; have no love for chance 

 strangers, and are slow to accept change 

 in the manner of living or of cultivating 

 the fields. 



Nothing has been said of the minerals 

 that surely are to be found in the moun- 

 tains of Albania. Little is known regard- 

 ing the latter, for they are practically 

 unexplored. It is not improbable that 

 with the advent of the armies systematic 

 search for mineral wealth will be made. 



Mineral pitch, or asphaltum, has been 

 known since the time of the Romans, and 

 near Valona I have seen specimens, clean, 

 black, and hard, which promise well. 



