iots. All hoped a
Prince would soon come and suppress Essad, who was feared as a
possible danger. The Americans were buying land and planning a big
college, to which the people looked forward as a means for national
regeneration. Parents were already refusing to send children to the
Greek school, in spite of the fulminations of the Greek priest.

A young man arrived from Starovo and told how he and two others had
been taken prisoners by the Serbs and offered their lives for a
heavy ransom. Only he had enough to pay. Both the others were
killed. A rumour came that the Serbs and Bulgars had begun to fight
for the possession of Monastir. It had been allotted by agreement to
Bulgaria, but the Serbs were in possession and refused to yield it.
We decided to push on to Ochrida to learn what was happening.

Arrived at Stiuga we found Serb officers in possession. We had left
free Albania and were in a conquered land under military rule. They
at once started "propaganda," and had the impudence to say that
the dialect of Struga was as pure Serb as that of Belgrade. But an
officer bent on annexation will say anything. Poor old Jovan
Golubovitch, the innkeeper at Podgoritza, was a native of Struga,
and was known always as Jovan Bulgar.

We visited the uniquely interesting fishtraps on the Drin, built
like a prehistoric lake-village. These, said our Serb escort, would
be a source of great wealth when modernized. "But," we objected,
"perhaps this will not be yours. The question has to be arbitrated."
They retorted they would accept no arbitration, and cared nothing
for agreements. What Serbia had taken, Serbia would keep. The
Bulgars should never recover one kilometre.

Friday, 27th.--At Ochrida--after ten years. Town most melancholy. A
tablet on the big plane tree commemorates the "liberation" of the
town. But there are no signs of joy. Even in 1904, after the Bulgar
revolution and under Turkish military rule, the town was not so dead
and hopeless as now under the Serb. All seems crushed beneath an
iron heel. Then the Bulgar population hoped for union with Bulgaria.
Now the Serb was dominant. The Bulgar school was closed, and
soldiers were at the door. The Bulgar churches were shut, and their
priests had disappeared. So had the bishop. Some people recognized
me. An old woman rushed up and told me things were worse than under
the Turk, but we dared make few enquiries lest our informants should
suffer. Only the great lake was the