within the kingdom of Greece; in fact, the whole of Attica, with the exception of Athens and the Piræus, Megara, with the exception of the city, Boeotia, and the islands of Hydra and Spezzia, together with many other districts, are inhabited by them. However, during the course of the nineteenth century the Albanian nationality in these parts has apparently suffered a considerable decrease, owing to the fact that many Albanian families have adopted Greek manners and the Greek language, as the Greek is considered the more distinguished nationality. About eighty thousand Albanians are settled in Italy, divided among the former provinces of Nearer and Further Calabria, Basilicata, Capitanata, Terra d'Otranto, Abruzzo Ulteriore, and Sicily. The first mentioned were brought over about 1460 by Ferdinand I to Naples. Their number was originally considerably greater, but many of them have been entirely Italianised in language, dress, and manners. Finally, three small Albanian colonies exist upon Austrian soil, - one on the Save, between Shabatz and Mitrovitza, one at Zara, and one at Pola.

2. THE POPULATION OF ALBANIA

THE Albanians are divided into two main branches, which are also distinguished from one another by language, the Toskans and the Geg(h)es. The former inhabited the south, the latter the central and northern parts of the country. Their respective dialects are so different that they have the utmost difficulty in understanding one another, and members of one branch are obliged by degrees to learn the dialect of the other. In other respects, too, a strange divergence between the two branches has existed from early times. An attempt has been made to explain the difference of dialect on the supposition that the inhabitants of the north were the Illyrians of antiquity, and those of the south the Epirots. This hypothesis is scarcely defensible. Apart from the fact that our knowledge of the ethnography of the old Epirots is by no means complete, it will be demonstrated later that the ancestors of the Albanians, far from being Illyrians, were Thracians. It may be stated that Gegish is the Thracian language as spoken by Illyrians, and that Toskish is that language as spoken by Greeks; in other words, that the difference corresponds to that between Lombard and Tuscan Italian, namely, Latin in the mouth of Gauls and Latin in the mouth of Etruscans.

In respect of religion the land is again by no means uniform. The north is predominantly Roman Catholic, while in the south Greek Catholicism holds the upper hand. Mohammedanism, moreover, has spread throughout almost the whole country, and the number of its devotees is nearly equivalent to that of the Christians. The distinguished families, especially in the towns, are Mohammedans; there are, moreover, isolated country districts which are Mohammedan. It will be understood that all of these were at one time Christians, and that they have gone over to Mohammedanism in consequence of the very various forms of pressure which the Turks were able to exert at different times, even within the present century. The only tribe which has remained pure Catholic is that of the Miridites, in the north, from the fact that every apostate was immediately forced to leave the district. There are besides districts which are Mohammedan only in seeming, and acknowledge Christianity in secret, at the present day as previously.

Although, as we have said, the Albanians are thus divided by geographical, religious, and linguistic differences, yet they form one nationality with a strongly marked national character. The Italian Albanian, Vicenzo Dorsa, was entirely right when he dedicated his book upon Albania in 1848, " Alla mia nazione divisa e dispersa ma una." The chief reason for this uniformity of national character is the conception of the family, which has dominated the whole life of this people. It is by the solidarity of family life that we must explain their tenacious observation of ancient customs, which accompany every detail of household life, birth, engagement, marriage, and death; thus, too, is explicable that fearful scourge of this nation, the blood feud, and also the political impotence of the country in spite of the great bravery of its inhabitants.

4. THE REMNANTS OF A POPULAR RELIGION FROM HEATHEN TIMES

THE strongly marked conservatism apparent in all these facts has also contributed to the maintenance of numerous survivals of the old heathen popular religion side by side with the different religions which individuals have adopted as their official belief. As survivals of this nature Von Hahn quotes the belief in the Elves, a household spirit, three monsters known as Kutshedra, Sükjennesa, and Ljubia, the Ore, Mauthi, Fatiles, Dive, Fljamea, Kukudi, Vurvulak (known among the Geges as Ljuvgat and Karkancholi), the Shtrigea, Dramgua, and the men with tails. There is no reason to suppose that these demoniacal beings are the survivals of some old pure Albanian popular belief; they probably represent, to some degree, remnants of early Greek, Roman, Slavonic, Turkish, and perhaps gipsy superstition. The origin of the component parts of this popular belief cannot be pointed to with certainty. When we examine the appellations of these separate beings, it might be supposed that they originated from the nation from whose language they took their names; but no reliance can be placed on this theory. The Albanian vocabulary for every department of life is a motley mixture taken from all possible languages, so that it is highly probable that in mythology foreign names might often represent native conceptions.

The Elves, known as the "Happy Ones," or as the "Brides of the Mountain," display a considerable resemblance to the fairies of German mythology, who bear the same name. They are generally feminine, about the size of twelve-year-old children, of great beauty, clothed in white, and of vaporous form. They come down in the night from the mountains to the homes of men, and invite beautiful children to dance; often, too, they take little children out of the cradles to play with them upon the roofs of the houses, but bring them back unharmed. Similar is the character of the Mauthi, as she is known in Elbassan, who is probably to be identified with the southern Albanian "Beauty of the Earth." She, too, is a fairy clothed in gold, with a fez adorned with precious stones; "the man who steals this is fortunate for the whole of his life." Goddesses of fate are the Ore and the Fatiles; the former goes about the country and immediately fulfils all the blessings and curses which she hears. The Fatiles are the same as the ancient Greek Moirai. The Attic Albanians have only one of these deities, who still bears the ancient name of Moira; however, all the gifts which are offered to her upon a birth in the house are tripled. Horrible demons are the cannibal female monsters Kutshedra, Sükjennesa, and Ljubia. Connected with them is the Fljamea

of Elbassan, also a female demon, who can afflict with epilepsy. The Dif, or the Dive in the plural, are giants of supernatural size, while the household spirit, the Vittore, is conceived as a brightly coloured snake, which lives in the wall of the house, and is greeted with respect and wishes of good fortune by any one of the inhabitants who catches sight of it. The Vurvulak, known in some places as vampires, are sufficiently explained by this second title. Of a similar nature are the Ljuvgats, "Turkish corpses with long nails, which go about in their grave clothes, devouring what they find, and strangling men," as also are the Karkantsholjes or Kukudes, the corpses of gipsies whose breath is poisonous.

B. ALBANIAN LITERATURE

THE literary monuments of the people are very few; all that can be called literature is confined to translations of the Bible and similar ecclesiastical compositions, to national songs, and a few attempts at poetry among the Italian Albanians, and in Albania itself. Among the former we may mention Girolamo de Rada (1870), who has treated of the heroic period of his nation, that is to say, the wars of Skanderbeg (p. 225). The poet of Albania most famous amongst his compatriots is Nezim Bey of Bremet. He was a scholar acquainted with Arabic and Persian literature, and it was under the influence of these Oriental literatures that his poems were composed, as they indeed declare by their strong infusion of Arabic and Persian words. The spirit also is unmistakably Oriental, and their similarity with the poems of Hafiz, for instance, is unmistakable. The national songs are not without a beauty which is strikingly foreign to our ideas.

The creation of a true literature implied the fulfilment of one previous condition, the creation, namely, of a uniform alphabet. Publications have hitherto appeared partly in Greek and partly in Latin script. As, however, the Albanian language contains a large number of sounds, these two alphabets were found insufficient, and it was necessary to supplement the deficiency by diacritic sounds, dots and marks, and so forth. The best of the alphabets employed hitherto is that of Konst. Kristoforidis of Elbassan; he employed the Latin alphabet increased by a number of diacritic signs employed upon a sound system. There is, moreover, in Elbassan and Berat a so-called national alphabet, consisting of fifty-two signs, which was invented, according to Gustav Meyer, by the Greek schoolmaster Theodore in Elbassan towards the end of the eighteenth century

3. THE HISTORY OF THE ALBANIANS

A. THEIR ORIGIN

THE problem of Albanian origins and of the ethnographical affinities of this nation has not yet been entirely solved. The general hypothesis is that they are descendants of the old Epirots, whose Greek origin is denied by many scholars. It has been further supposed that these Epirots were Illyrians, and individuals have again assumed the identity of these Illyrians with the Pelasgians (concerning these last see Vol. IV, p. 259); others again have supposed an immigration of the Albanians from the Caucasus, where a people of like name exist (Vol. III, p. 297). This theory is supported neither by history nor philology, though it must be said that all other hypotheses are raised upon foundations no less insecure.

Modern Albanian is a mixed language to an extent without parallel elsewhere; Latin, Illyrian, Roumanian, Greek, Turkish, and Slavonic words from different dialects have been infused among the pure Albanian words. This much, however, is absolutely certain, that Albanian is an Indo-Germanic language; hence the connection with Illyrian is not intrinsically improbable, for this latter also belonged to the Indo-Germanic family. However, the phonetic changes which are characteristic of Albanian by no means entirely correspond with those characteristic of Illyrian. Adequate remnants of early Illyrian have come down to us in the proper names of the Roman inscriptions from the different Illyrian-speaking provinces, and also in the Messatic and Venetian inscriptions. From these sources it appears that the Indo-Germanic palatal sounds become in Illyrian c and g (x), while in Albanian they become s and z; the Indo-Germanic aspirated media become spirants in Illyrian and pure media in Albanian. Finally, Indo-Germanic intervocalics appears to become h in Illyrian and s in Albanian. These phonetic differences definitely remove Albanian from Illyrian, and point to an entirely different group of the Indo-Germanic languages.

From the nature of the question, only one hypothesis remains open to us, that the Albanians were Thracians, and the phonetic changes above mentioned entirely correspond with those characteristic of Thracian. Moreover, Gustav Meyer has adduced the further fact that the transformation of the Latin element in Albanian is in complete correspondence with the similar transformation in Roumanian. He is therefore entirely justified in concluding one ethnological origin for the two languages, but he is mistaken in his supposition that either the pre-Roman Roumanians spoke a language related to the Illyrian, or that both nations before coming under Roman influence absorbed a foreign and non-Indo-Germanic element. It is hardly disputable that the pre-Roman element of the Roumanian was the Dacian nationality; this, however, is shown to be of Thracian race, both by the records of antiquity and by the remains of its language, though these are certainly exiguous. Hence it follows that the basis of Albanian was Thracian. We have, moreover, no record whatever of the existence of any non-Indo-Germanic people in these districts; the Bulgarians belonged to a much later period.

From the geographical point of view, no difficulty stands in the way of the hypothesis of a Thracian origin for Albanian. The Thracian nationality extended formerly to the borders of Macedonia, whence the road to Illyria and Epirus lay open through the valley of the Haliakmon (the modern Grammo), and from the sources of these there would be no difficulty in descending the valley of the Eordaieus (the modern Devol). Thus the immigrants would arrive in the district of Elbassan. Though this town is not the Albanopolis, the capital of the Albanoi mentioned by Ptolemæus (Elbassan was known in antiquity as Skampa), yet, on the other hand, the district of those Albanians was situated precisely in this neighbourhood. They are mentioned side by side with the Taulantians, the Eordaians, and the Dassaretes, and the modern district of Arberi, from which, as we have mentioned above, the name of Albanian is derived, lies but a little further south.

B. THE HISTORY OF ALBANIAN INDEPENDENCE TO THE TIME OF SKANDERBEG

OUR information upon the actual history of the Albanians is for the most part very fragmentary. Native historical sources there are none; we are reduced to the references derived from the history of those nations with whom the Albanians were brought into connection. Hence our chief sources are the Byzantine chroniclers, "who trouble themselves very rarely about these remote provinces." Our earliest direct information belongs to the year 1042; at that date, after subjugating the Bulgarian revolt, Michel Paphlago, the governor of Dyrrhachium, gathered an army of sixty thousand men from his province and advanced with it against the Serbs. When the Normans made their expeditions of conquest (1081-1101; p. 92), the rule of the despots of Epirus from the house of the Komnenes begins (until 1318; p. 109). The land then fell again into the hands of the Byzantine empe rors; but the restless population repeatedly rose in revolt, and the most cruel coercion failed to secure a definite pacification. In the year 1343 fresh disturbances broke out, of which the Servian king, Stephan Dusan, took advantage to conquer the whole of Albania, Thessalia, and Macedonia, and assumed the corresponding title of emperor of these countries (p. 109 f.). Upon his death the Servian kingdom fell into confusion, and Nicephorus, son of the last despot, attempted to seize the government of Albania, but was defeated by the Albanians and killed in battle (1357-1358). The Albanians now fell again partly into the hands of the Servian despot Simon. As, however, he troubled himself but little about the country, the Albanians founded two practically independent provinces, — a southern province under Gjinos Vayas, and a northern province under Peter Ljoshas. Then began a period of Albanian migration, during which large portions of Macedonia, Thessalia, Ætolia, and Acarnania were occupied by parties starting from Durazzo. Thence the Albanians spread further to Livadia, Boeotia, Attica, South Euboea, and the Peloponnese (see p. 219). After the death of Peter Ljoshas (1374), John Spata seized the town of Arta. His rule was a period of long struggles with different opponents, which continued almost until his death in 1400. About this time most of the country was conquered by Carlo I Tocco (died July 4, 1429); he bequeathed what he had won to his nephew Carlo II Tocco of Cephallenia (p. 133), but was obliged, however, to cede the town of Janina in 1430 to Murad II, and to acknowledge his supremacy.

The process of converting the country to Mohammedanism then began, which has continued till within the last century. It was chiefly the upper classes that embraced Mohammedanism, and for this reason they were able to found native dynasties, which in some cases actually acquired hereditary rule. Of these native pashas of Janina the best known is Ali, who was born in 1741 at Tepeleni, and murdered on February 5, 1822, in a summer house on the lake of Janina, by Khurshid Pasha (see Fig. 2 of the plate facing page 188).

North Albania, which had become a Servian province, has a history of its own. About the year 1250 it went over to the Catholic Church, as appears from the letters of Pope Innocent IV. The family legend of the Miredite chieftain preserves the memory of this event. The disruption from Servia, in which the noble family of the Balzen took a prominent part, occurred after the death of Stephan Dusan (1355) about 1368.