takes into consideration the flight of a
decapitated fowl in any of our poultry yards.

The road entering Podgorica is very similar in appearance to that
which leads into Cetinje, only the first impressions are considerably
wilder and more uncivilised than that of the capital. Hundreds of
Turks and Albanians are smoking their evening "tchibouque" in the
streets, and scowl in no friendly manner at the stranger. Some of
them, namely, the merchant class, are, however, excellent people,
travelled and educated, as we found out afterwards. The Albanian and
Turk are the enterprising merchants of Montenegro, and improve on
acquaintance, which is sometimes necessary.

We had a lonely, solitary feeling as we drove through the crowd of
loiterers, and were glad to descend at a presentable-looking hostelry.
How often first impressions are wrong we proved to the full in this
instance.

Podgorica saw more of us than any other town during our stay, for we
made it afterwards our headquarters. It would be difficult to forget
that mountain-bounded valley and the town with its bustling streets of
picturesque humanity. And then those sunsets! The peaks towering
behind bathed in crimson, and the intervening hills rising one above
the other to the furthermost summits like a giant staircase, rich in a
mysterious purple. As we walked back from our evening swim, over the
short, springing grass, that scene at sunset never abated its charms
one whit. And we were always glad on entering the town that no one
wore plain, ugly European clothes but ourselves. The national
costumes, so full of colour, blended harmoniously with our feelings,
and have left behind them an indelible picture.

CHAPTER VI

Podgorica--Its central position--Our headquarters--Easter in
Montenegro--Our experience of it--We view the town--The prison and its
inmates--Christian and Mahometan friction--The modern town--The market
and the armed buyers--The Black Earth--Easter customs--Montenegrin
methods of doing business.

[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF PODGORICA]

If it were not for the dangerous proximity of the Albanian border,
Podgorica would have been made the capital of Montenegro. It is
favourably situated for a trade centre, and, owing to this fact, has
naturally gathered a large population (the largest in Montenegro),
approaching ten thousand. Lying on a rich and fertile plain, within
easy reach of the Lake of Scutari, and connected by good roads with
Ceti