al codes, which included the regulation of
feuds, any blow, as well as many offenses committed against women,
called for blood. Permitting a girl who had been betrothed in infancy to
marry another, for example, could cause a blood feud. The _besa_ (pledge
to keep one's word as a solemn obligation) was used under various
conditions and included pledges to postpone quarrels. A person who
killed a fellow tribesman was commonly punished by his neighbors, who
customarily burned his house and destroyed his property. As fugitives
from their own communities, such persons were given assistance wherever
they applied.

A man who failed to carry out prescribed vengeance against a member of
another tribe or that individual's relatives was subjected to
intolerable ridicule. Insult was considered one of the highest forms of
dishonor, and the upholding of one's honor was a first requirement for a
Geg. On the other hand, if the individual carried out the required act
of vengeance, he was in turn subject to extinction by the victim's
relatives. Women were excluded from the feud and, when escorted by a
male, he too was considered inviolable. In other respects, women's
position in society generally was one of deprivation and subjugation
(see ch. 5, Social System).

The isolation from influences beyond his community and the constant
struggle with nature tended to make the Geg an ascetic. Traditionally,
his closest bonds were those of kinship, as a member of a clan.
Obstinate and proud, the Geg proved himself, under the leadership of his
compatriots, a ruthless and cruel fighter. Visitors from outside the
clan were generally suspect, but every traveler was by custom accorded
hospitality.

Less isolated by rugged terrain and with greater, although limited,
contact with foreign cultures, the Tosk generally was more outspoken and
imaginative than the Geg. Contacts with invaders and foreign occupiers
had influence and, before 1939, some Tosks had traveled to foreign
countries to earn sufficient funds to buy land or to obtain an
education. The clan or tribal system, which by the nineteenth century
was far less deeply rooted and extensive in the south than in the north,
began to disappear after independence was achieved in 1912.

Of the minority ethnic groups, persons of Greek descent are the most
numerous. Estimates based on World War II and earlier data indicate that
they compose approximately 2 percent of the population. They are most
nume