essive scenes it has been our fortune to
witness, but we were glad when the widow rose and conducted us back to
the house. Some letters and poems of the Voivoda were shown to us, and
one of the letters to a friend then present in the room was read
aloud. The great rough Montenegrin was so touched at hearing the words
of his master and lord, that he turned away his head and sobbed. All
this time the women ceased not with their wild lamentations, and even
after we took our leave and started on our rough ride home in
pouring rain, that death dirge followed us, echoing in the ravines
and mountains.

[Illustration: THE GRAVE SCENE AT MEDUN]

Since then we have often heard the death dirge sung in Montenegro.
Sometimes in a house in passing; again, an old woman trudging to
market will sing the death dirge of a relation, perhaps dead many
years. But we never heard those piercing, wailing notes without having
the picture of Medun recalled vividly to our memory.

When a man dies he is laid out in the sitting-room, and all the
friends and relations are summoned. Then the men enter the room singly
and approach the corpse. Tearing open their shirts they beat
themselves with their fists on their naked breasts, often tearing the
flesh with their nails, and give vent to ear-piercing wails. Each
new-comer strives to outdo his predecessor in excesses, and horrible
scenes ensue. But the Prince discountenances this custom, and it is
slowly dying out, but only in the upper classes.

We often took our rifles and went out into the country for a little
target practice, and always succeeded in attracting a group of
spectators from adjacent villages or huts. Towards Albania we were
requested not to go for shooting, as the noise of rifle-shots is apt
to mislead the surrounding villagers. Even when shooting in other
directions, we were carefully warned not to fire rapidly, but to shoot
slowly and deliberately, as at target practice.

Rapid firing is "the alarm," and would mobilise a brigade of infantry
within an hour or two.

On one occasion we were shooting at a somewhat difficult object about
one hundred and fifty yards away. We were trying to hit it, standing,
and had not succeeded. A group of some twenty men had collected, and
they soon began to make facetious remarks. One offered to bring the
target nearer. Another said he would stand target for a few shots--we
shouldn't hit him. So we gave one or two of them our rifles and told
them