Show IN THE BALKAN MOUNTAINS BELGRADE servia june 9 g during the pilgrimage everything does not suit the taste of the pilgrim says the turkish proverb a statement one feels espee especially anally applicable after a detour 0 of t two or three nun hundred dred miles to get out of a submerged submerge d country travel through a country in a state of investment with swarming soldiery and phe no rigid surveillance is not ap an altogether easy task for a woman but it it can te be when it comes however to the windows of heaven being I 1 9 orene opened I 1 and the fountains ot of the great dep deep broken up difficulties arise teat cannot be bridged in a hurry this especially among the balkans when I 1 reached sofia two weeks ago the sun had just broken through the clouds a acol omen they assured me as it had rained almost steadily for a month alas that the omen was ot of no ava avail il for five days it poured steadily relentlessly and the mountain sides as seen from byj window were torn with whirling cataracts plowing their way down to the plain below on monday I 1 went to toe station to resume my journey but found the ticket office closed and an official notice up to the effect that no trains were running through servia the railroad had bad deen destroyed in many places and five days at least roust must elapse before travel could be resumed I 1 wrote at once to cooks cook 4 a gency agency in constantinople to see if I 1 could return there and resume my journey i westward over some other route no answer explanation received later when I 1 discovered that the track between sofia and constantinople was also submerged tried to get to Rust chuk but found no chance there waited a week while all the good bulgarian gienis friends cuddled their brains as bow to get me out of their country but with no so avail reports came in irom from every side of villages destroyed houses carried away deop beope e drowned roads and bridges totally demolished and crops ruined no mail came from europe for five days and no mail went out of sofia I 1 for the same time and still it rained at last word came from the postoffice post office that they had bad commenced carrying the mail over the baliant balkan mountains by wagon and thence dispa dispatching ching it by the danube and that if I 1 dared make the trip a man had been found who would take me I 1 T agreed at once as exit by rail would be impossible for days to come and I 1 was already far behind sch edue time three the next morrin morning saw the start announced by the drivers driver s peculiar turkish trill of b r r r r r wibb much rolling roiling of cf the rs three wiry looking horses with jangling bells headed beaded our conveyance a cumbrous phaeton sort of an affair into whose narrow limits were stuffed a peasant woman and two children who lived a days journey over the mountain beside myself behind was securely lashed my yunk trunk crowned by the peasants capacious bundic bundle of hans bans and supplemented ted with bales of straw and swinging pails on either side of the e vehicle hung various baskets gs bags and buckets while the wiver iver shared his elevated perch with a motley crowd of packages blankets and repair supplies As we rattled down the city streets the sun was just struggling to show his almost forgotten face above the snow crowned mountain Vit ersha and the gray sky was flecked with roseate clouds at the street streel faucets and hydrants sleepy gen darmes ani and early rising in in babi habitants habian ants ts were performing their morning ablutions for exceptional indeed is the bulgarian house that presents pre senis any facilities for personal cleanliness inside its walls belated pussy cats who had been making a night night of it were steal ng homeward crouching ing along the walls and the peripatetic sausage vendors were already ascot a acot with their wares sizzling over their portable charcoal braziers two sportsmen with guns and game bags and leathers in their hats rattled out from an adjoining street and the sturdy milk women balancing their long curved poles over their shoulders were soon oon in evidence As we left the city turning our fic s group after group of picturesque peasants met us on their way to town women witti with fluttering contingents tin gents of fowls or pink young porkers corkers por kers hung from poles or carried in pokes looking albanians on horseback munching bread and onions buffaloes slowly pacing with great loads ot of straw under convoy of bronzed peasants with homespun cotton garments thrown wide open from their bared chests the roads usually superb were all hea heavy vy from the continued rains and the fields of barley stretching their broad acres on either side of the road bent their bearded heads almost to the ground instead of the blood red poppies that colored all the landscapes in greece and turkey a tall purple spiked flower I 1 something like the larkspur grew among the grain and mirrored its color in the glassy pools that fringed the roadsides broadening out frequently far into the fields on and on we sped our progress marked by gray stones measuring mea measuring surin 9 off the kilometers that were to number before we could reach the danube for miles our surroundings varied varie d little village after village of mud huts straw thatched or covered with lichen colored tiles an occasional white spire that marked never a church but a brewery great flocks ot of black sheep guarded by loney shepherds in garments of sheepskin groups of picturesque peasant girls their long black braids rose crowned on their way to wash their linen at some favorite pool but never a detached house never a atut tree or orchard and rarely a vegetable save a patch of onions here and there about 8 oclo k we came to our first ruined hamlet hamet where the swift mountain stream swelling in its course had covered the the little village and blotted it out of existence mournful looking men and women were wading aimlessly among the floating debris while the roadway was almost covered with the round stones brought down the mountain moun taia side by the rushi rushing ing torrent As we e began winding our way up the mountain side the views behind us grew extended and vegetation became rapidly less wild roses pink and white clung to some of the reddish rocks that for the most part stood bare and solitary and from one side of the road where sheep were feeding under the care of a thracian looking chap the smelt smell 06 pennyroyal came pungent and familiar A group of old peasant women who had been gathering herbs and simples simpler among the rocks passed us their bare lem legs scant skirts toothless mouths and grey hanging braids atoned for by wild flaw ers coquettishly adjusted above their ears at i n i we stopped to eat our luncheon and feed our horses at the most pretentious khan we had passed this was a square red plastered building one story high but containing two rooms and a real board floor flior three clumb clumsy homemade home made tables adorned with three dirty red spreads were placed at our disposal while our aesthetic tastes received stimulus more or less les from a series of german prints illustrative of the russo turkish campaign of 77 here we discussed our black bulgarian bread and cheese made from cheeps milk attended by a number of fowls and dogs who had the entree of the place three hours more of laborious climbing over the most desolate of regions ac by an occasional settlement of the forlorn est mud hovels conceivable and the threatening cloude cloud broke upon us in a perfect deluge although the alu cumbrous top to our vehicle was atone aton cei put up necessitating our sitting with heads bent upon our breasts the raia found free entrance our horses were put as near to a gallop as pos possible sibl and d mid flying mud pouring rain and a senses of on the part of the driver we at last drew up in front of another 0 of the wayside kabans khans miserable beyond description gaunt pigs wallowed in bib front cf iti it forbidding entrance for this as well as every other village in the balkans was en engulfed in mud our driver made his way to the shelter ahida aromi promised sed him at least a mug of beer while we sat outside ruminating on an the delights of european travel the children were wet and sleepy but stoically refrained from tears their store of bedding was soaked through and through th rougo but their equanimity was undisturbed an armful of bay was brought out by a youth in ia tight white trousers an apron and a ring on his forefinger who placed it in the mud ins im front of our sorry looking steeds who were beginning to show distinct sign 0 of weakening the population of the khan grew bare legged mountaineers im fate sheepskin coats and caps came striding over the hills from every direction white chih one peg legged egged veteran dout at residuary ot the war hopped nimbly and among his confreres contreres con freres after an hours waiting our driver reappeared somewhat cheered though still wet loth i 3 skin on and up we climbed a colah rain still falling through clouds whose gray opaqueness parting now and then gave glimpses of the same vapory blanket encompassing the sides ot the mountains beneath us here was no vegetation at all nothing but the cold gray of rock and doud cloud the road grew stee steeper peir and the mud deeper until at last a alli progress became impossible v meeting an ox team a halt was called our horses taken off from the carriage and the axem put in their place our driver took the horses and disappeared leaving us to the care ot of the owner of the oxen who resumed the line of march guiding his team by means of a goad which he api blied on one side or the other as occasion required three hours of laborious jolting over rocks and gullies and the summit of the balkans was reached the rain had mearly stopped our driver and horses had rejoined rejoiced us the oxen and the ir ir owner were dismissed and we began our descent for a time the roads were hardy and fine comparatively the horses bad rested the driver anxious to get into quarters for the night so we sped along at a good pace our jangling bells keeping time time time with a sort of runic rhyme that reminded us of a new england sleigh ride soon the forest began to clothe ahe mountain sides while e wc as cades ades foaming and tumbling among the trees and the white branches of Voss oming hawtho ins gleamed ghastly among the dark masses of foliage ater after a little we cane came to a sawmill whose fridge bad been carried away b by y the floods aloois and here we were forced to dismount and pick our uncertain way over stones atones and loose planks while the horses zand jand carriage were taken beaw where a lord ford made it possible to get them across with great difficulty from here on our route was varied ft landslides landslide s fords and most precarious bridges until at 1030 10 30 more dead than alive we dragged into the little town of lovitz our destination for the night accommodations here were not at all sumptuous ane khan with its fl or of earth was sui surrounded rounded by a courtyard where already tour four or five arab ass and 0 ox o teams were quartered for or the night the drivers meanwhile congre congregating congregation gatin in in the barroom which constituted the arst first floor door of the khan an outside stairway led athe to the sleeping room above to which I 1 was unceremoniously ushered by a sheepskin clothed young man the loor way was very low ow and the room small and diry dir y its furnishings were simple in the extreme two beds with dirty dirt y gorghan covers ani and a wooden stand id holding a beer bottle a candle and a coarse com comb 1 set artistically in a clothes brush there was no lock on the door and no means of washing my mud be grimed features when my soaked belong were Jr brought ought in I 1 tried by signs to make the young man understand stand that I 1 wished to wash my face and was evidently understood in a measure for he vanished and returning brought a bottle of water tut but neither basin nor cor towel he seemed pained that his overtures at conversations failed of response 0 on n my part and nd again departed to bring back with him the village oracle a young apothecary in european dress and a red red fose cose in his bis hand this kindly creature knew no english but achieved a few of french whereby he gleaned the fact that I 1 was an american and en route for the danube two facts c f which ch thie history of the town afforded no precedent when at last our interview was concluded I 1 threw myself on the ditty dirty bed in my traveling trav eing wraps ready for any emergency I 1 had hardly closed imy cay eyes when the door opened and I 1 J saw the figure of a man in the native dress standing there upon inquiring what he wanted he made answer though to ato what effect I 1 never knew and with anh drew tp to seat himself outside my window and there smoke his bis lonely pipe again I 1 dropped into a sleep of sheer echaus lion until aroused against again at 3 by the familiar jangling of our bells I 1 sprang to the door to find our driver already preparing tor for the start while from the interior ot of the other oiher voi tures and arabas other drivers were struggling forth adjust adjusting inz their sashes which aich seemed the only part of their to lettes worth mentioning between the horses and wagons ran divers ducks pigs and geese while several village women in dirty embroidered white petticoats and head garnish ings to correspond stood waiting to see the start I 1 stood flood on the platform outside of my room using my bottle of water to the best advantage possible for my ablution swallowed a few mouthfuls mouth fuls of my luncheon and descending clambered agan into my coach still unpleasantly moist from the day before and again we were upon the road where already groups of peasant women with broad bladed hoes over their shoulders were on their way to the fields outside the town the sun was wa s doing its best to shine though in the face of evident discouragement coura gement in the shape of frequent showers soon we meta met a long line of buffalo teams drawing wicker wagons cf freight covered with canvas each wagon with its swinging ox horn of lack grease fastened to the side along the roadside alders bloomed and in the trets brets were great nests where storks had set up their habit habitations habitation atio ns and from here on the costumes ot of the people bc began gan to change the white petticoats of the women grew shorter and in place of the dark blue upper gown was w as a double shifted gay plaid back with a long narrow plaid apron in front while the mens white coats grew longer and their sashes broader bare legs were the order of the day for the whole country was one sea of mud at ferdinand where we stopped fo for luncheon and to rest the horses cne after another of the inhabitants was brought in to see the american woman who talk bulgar and I 1 grew to realize the feelings that must possess the breast of or oi bearded women ot side shows who are placarded pla carded to the gaping public as the greatest living curiosity one woman came and touched my gloves with a ditty deity forefinger evidently under the impression that my epidermis was variegated and then announced her impressions to the gaping crowd As we passed through the town in nearly every open doorway stood women with spindle and distaff while even the women riding along in the buffalo carts spun the black wool as they rode for the bulgar woman is industry personified along the roadsides wherever a well sweep announced the village well were women with curious chopping choppin tray like tubes wherein they souse doused soused Tand and beat their garments with no economy oi of strength ori frabor or abor labor while along the rivers the they spread their wash on the flat stones and beat resoundingly with flat paddles just juet why the |