a mountainous country of Dalmatia. The inhabitants are called Morlachis or Morlacchi; they inhabit the pleasant valleys of Koter, along the rivers Kerha, Cettina, Narenta, and among the inland mountains of Dalmatia. The inhabitants are by some said to be of Walachian extraction, as (according to these authors) is indicated even by their name; Morlachia being a contraction of *Mauro-Walachia*, that is, Black Walachia; and the Walachians are said to be descendants of the ancient Roman colonies planted in these countries. This, however, is denied by the Abbé Fortis, who hath published a volume of travels into that country. He informs us, that the origin of the Morlacchi is involved in the darkness of barbarous ages, together with that of many other nations, resembling them so much in customs and language, that they may be taken for one people, dispersed in the vast tracks from the Adriatic sea to the frozen ocean. The emigrations of the various tribes of the Slavi, who, under the names of Scythians, Goti, Goti, Hunni, Slavoni, Croats, Avari, and Vandals, invaded the Roman empire, and particularly the Illyrian provinces during the decline of the empire, must have strangely perplexed the genealogies of the nations which inhabited it, and which perhaps removed thither in the same manner as at more remote periods of time. The remainder of the Ardzei, Autariati, and other Illyrian people anciently settled in Dalmatia, who probably could not reconcile themselves to a dependence on the Romans, might nevertheless naturally enough form an union with foreign invaders not unlike themselves in dialect and customs; and, according to our author, it seems no ill-founded conjecture, that many families, driven out of Hungary by the irruption of the Moguls under Jenghiz Khan and his successors, might people the deserted valleys between the mountains of Dalmatia. This conjecture is also somewhat confirmed by the traces of the Calmuck Tartars, which are still to be found in a part of that country called Zara.

With regard to the etymology of the name, the Abbé observes, that the Morlacchi generally call themselves, in their own language, *Vlaši*; a national term, of which no vestige is found in the records of Dalmatia till the 13th century. It signifies powerful men, or men of authority; and the denomination of *Morvo Vlaši*, corruptly *Morlacchi*, as they are now called, may perhaps point out the original of the nation. This word may possibly signify the conquerors that came from the sea; *Moor*, in all the dialects of the Slavonian language, signifying the sea.

The Morlacchi are so different from the inhabitants Morlachia, of the sea-coasts in dialect, dress, dispositions, and customs, that they seem clearly to be of a different original, or at least the colonies must have settled at such distant periods from each other, that they have had time to alter in a great measure their national character. There is also a remarkable diversity among the Morlacchi themselves in several districts, probably on account of the different countries from whence they came.

With regard to the character of these people, we are informed that they are much injured by their maritime neighbours. The inhabitants of the sea-coast of Dalmatia tell many frightful stories of their avarice and cruelty: but these, in our author's opinion, are all either of an ancient date, or if any have happened in latter times, they ought rather to be ascribed to the corruption of a few individuals, than to the bad disposition of the nation in general; and though thieves' tricks are frequent among them, he informs us, that a stranger may travel securely through their country, where he is faithfully escorted, and hospitably treated. The greatest danger is from the Haiduks or Banditti, of whom there are great numbers among the woods and caves of these dreadful mountains on the confines. There, says our author, a man ought to get himself escorted by a couple of these "honest fellows;" for they are not capable of betraying him although a banditti; and their situation is commonly more apt to raise compassion than diffidence. They lead their life among the wolves, wandering from one precipice to another, exposed to the severity of the seasons, and frequently languish in want of the necessaries of life, in the most hideous and solitary caverns. Yet they very seldom disturb the tranquillity of others, and prove always faithful guides to travellers; the chief objects of their rapine being sheep and oxen, to supply themselves with food and clothes. Sometimes it happens, that, in their extreme necessity, the Haiduks go in parties to the shepherds cottages, and rudely demand something to eat; which they do not fail to take immediately by force if the least hesitation is made. It is seldom indeed that they meet with a refusal, or with resistance, as their resolution and fury are well known to be equal to the savage life they lead. Four Haiduks are not afraid to assault a caravan of 15 or 20 Turks, and generally plunder and put them to flight. The greatest part of the Haiduks look upon it as a meritorious action to shed the blood of the Turks; to which cruelty they are easily led by their natural ferocity, inflamed by a mistaken zeal for religion, and the discourses of their fanatic priests.

As to the Morlacchi themselves, they are represented as open and sincere to such a degree, that they would be taken for simpletons in any other country; and by means of this quality they have been so often duped by the Italians, that the faith of an Italian and the faith of a dog, are synonymous among the Morlacchi. They are very hospitable to strangers; and their hospitality is equally conspicuous among the rich and poor. The rich prepares a roasted lamb or sheep, and the poor with equal cordiality offers whatever he has; nor is this generosity confined to strangers, but generally extends itself to all who are in want. When a Morlack is on a journey, and comes to lodge at a friend's house, the eldest daughter of the family, or the new-married bride if there happens to be one, receives and kisses him when he alights from his horse or at the door of the house; but a foreigner is rarely favored with these female civilities; on the contrary, the women, if they are young, hide themselves, and keep out of his way.

The Morlacchi in general have little notion of domestic economy, and readily consume in a week as much as would be sufficient for several months, whenever any occasion of merriment presents itself. A marriage, the holiday of the saint, protector of the family, the arrival of relations or friends, or any other joyful incident, consumes of course all that there is to eat and to drink in the house. Yet the Morlack is a great economist in the use of his wearing-apparel; for rather than spoil his new cap, he takes it off, let it rain ever so hard, and goes bareheaded in the storm. In the same manner he treats his shoes, if the road is dirty and they are not very old. Nothing but an absolute impossibility hinders a Morlack from being punctual; and if he cannot repay the money he borrowed at the appointed time, he carries a small present to his creditor, and requests a longer term. Thus it happens sometimes, that, from term to term, and present to present, he pays double what he owed, without reflecting on it.

Friendship, that among us is so subject to change on the slightest motives, is lasting among the Morlacchi. They have even made it a kind of religious point, and tie the sacred bond at the foot of the altar. The Slavonian ritual contains a particular benediction for the solemn union of two male or two female friends in the presence of the congregation. The male friends thus united are called Pobratimi, and the female Poglireme, which mean half-brothers and half-sisters. Friendships between those of different sexes are not at this day bound with so much solemnity, though perhaps in more ancient and innocent ages it was also the custom.

From these consecrated friendships among the Morlacchi and other nations of the same origin, it should seem that the sworn brothers arose; a denomination frequent enough among the common people of Italy and in many parts of Europe. The difference between these and the Pobratimi of Morlacchia consists not only in the want of the ritual ceremony, but in the design of the union itself. For, among the Morlacchi, the sole view is reciprocal service and advantage; but such a brotherhood among the Italians is generally commenced by bad men, to enable them the more to hurt and disturb society. The duties of the Pobratimi are, to assist each other in every case of need or danger, to revenge mutual wrongs, and such like. The enthusiasm is often carried so far as to risk and even to lose their life for the Pobratimi, although these savage friends are not celebrated like a Pyradyes. If discord happens to arise between two friends, it is talked of over all the country as a scandalous novelty; and there has been some examples of it of late years, to the great affliction of the old Morlacchi, who attribute the depravation of their countrymen to their intercourse with the Italians. Wine and strong liquors, of which the nation is beginning to make daily abuse, will of course produce the same bad effects as Morlacchi among others.

But as the friendships of the Morlacchi are strong and sacred, so their quarrels are commonly extinguishable. They pass from father to son; and the mothers fail not to put their children in mind of their duty to revenge their father if he has had the misfortune to be killed, and to show them often the bloody skirt and arms of the dead. And so deeply is revenge rooted in the minds of this nation, that all the millionaries in the world would not be able to eradicate it. A Morlack is naturally inclined to do good to his fellow-creatures, and is full of gratitude for the smallest benefit; but implacable if injured or insulted.

A Morlack who has killed another of a powerful family, is commonly obliged to save himself by flight, and to keep out of the way for several years. If during that time he has been fortunate enough to escape the search of his pursuers, and has got a small sum of money, he endeavors to obtain pardon and peace; and, that he may treat about the conditions in person, he asks and obtains a safe conduct, which is faithfully maintained, though only verbally granted. Then he finds mediators; and, on the appointed day, the relations of the two hostile families are assembled, and the criminal is introduced, dragging himself along on his hands and feet, the mukht, pistol, or cutlass, with which he committed the murder, hung about his neck; and while he continues in that humble posture, one or more of the relations recites a panegyric on the dead, which sometimes rekindles the flames of revenge, and puts the poor prostrate in no small danger. It is the custom in some places for the offended party to threaten the criminal, holding all kind of arms to his throat, and, after much intreaty, to consent at last to accept of his ransom. These pacifications cost dear in Albania; but the Morlacchi make up matters sometimes at a small expense; and everywhere the business is concluded with a feast at the offender's charge.

The Morlacks, whether they happen to be of the Roman or of the Greek church, have very singular ideas about religion; and the ignorance of their teachers daily augments this monstrous evil. They are as firmly persuaded of the reality of witches, fairies, enchantments, nocturnal apparitions, and fortiches, as if they had seen a thousand examples of them. Nor do they make the least doubt about the existence of vampires; and attribute to them, as in Transylvania, the fucking the blood of infants. Therefore, when a man dies suspected of becoming a vampire, or vukodlak, as they call it, they cut his limbs, and prick his whole body with pins; pretending, that after this operation he cannot walk about. There are even instances of Morlacchi, who, imagining that they may possibly thirst for children's blood after death, treat their heirs, and sometimes oblige them to promise, to treat them as vampires when they die.

The boldest Haiduk would fly trembling from the apparition of a spectre, ghost, phantom, or such like goblins as the heated imaginations of credulous and prepossessed people never fail to see. Nor are they ashamed, when ridiculed for this terror; but answer, much in the words of Pindar; "Fear that proceeds from spirits, causes even the sons of the gods to fly." The women, as may be naturally supposed, are a hundred times more timorous and visionary than the men; and some of them, by frequently hearing themselves called witches, actually believe they are so.

A most perfect discord reigns in Morlachia, as it generally does in other parts, between the Latin and Greek communion, which their respective priests fail not to foment, and tell a thousand little scandalous stories of each other. The churches of the Latins are poor, but not very dirty; those of the Greeks are equally poor, and shamefully ill kept. Our author has seen the curate of a Morlack village sitting on the ground in the church-yard, to hear the confession of women on their knees by his side: a strange posture indeed! but a proof of the innocent manners of those good people, who have the most profound veneration for their spiritual pastors, and a total dependence upon them; who, on their part, frequently make use of a discipline rather military, and correct the bodies of their offending flock with the cudgel. Perhaps this particular is carried to an abuse as well as that of public penance, which they pretend to inflict after the manner of the ancient church. They moreover, thro' the silly credulity of those poor mountaineers, draw illicit profits by selling certain superstitious scrolls and other scandalous merchandise of that kind. They write in a capricious manner on the scrolls called zapiz, sacred names which ought not to be trifled with, and sometimes adding others very improperly joined. The virtues attributed to these zapiz are much of the same nature as those which the Basilians attributed to their monstrously cut stones. The Morlacchi use to carry them sewed to their caps, to cure or to prevent diseases; and they also tie them for the same purpose to the horns of their oxen. The composers of this trumpery take every method to maintain the credit of their profitable trade, in spite of its absurdity, and the frequent proofs of its inutility. And so great has their success been, that not only the Morlacchi, but even the Turks near the borders provide themselves plentifully with zapiz from the Christian priests, which not a little increases their income, as well as the reputation of the commodity. The Morlacchi have also much devotion, and many of the ignorant people in Italy have little less, to certain copper and silver coins of the low empire; or to Venetian contemporary pieces, which pass among them for medals of St Helen; and they think they cure the epilepsy and such like. They are equally fond of an Hungarian coin called petizza, which has the virgin and child on the reverse; and one of these is a most acceptable present to a Morlack.

The bordering Turks not only keep with devotion the superstitious zapiz, but frequently bring presents and cause masses to be celebrated to the images of the Virgin; which is doubtless in contradiction to the alcoran; yet when saluted, in the usual manner in that country, by the name of Jesus, they do not answer. Hence, when the Morlacchi, or other travellers, meet them on the confines, they do not say, Huaglian Iffus, "Jesus be praised;" but, Huaglian Bog, "God be praised."

Innocence, and the natural liberty of pastoral ages, are still preserved among the Morlacchi, or at least many traces of them remain in the places farthest distant from our settlements. Pure cordiality of sentiment is not there restrained by other regards, and displays itself without any distinction of circumstances. A young handsome Morlack girl, who meets a man of her district on the road, kisses him affectionately, without the least malice or immodest thought; and our author has seen all the women and girls, all the young men and old, kissing one another as they came into the church-yard on a holiday; so that they looked as if they had been all belonging to one family. He hath often observed the same thing on the road, and at the fairs in the maritime towns, where the Morlacchi came to sell their commodities. In times of feasting and merriment, besides the kisses, some other little liberties are taken with the hands, which we would not reckon decent, but are not minded among them; and when they are told of it, they answer, It is only toying, and means nothing. From this toying, however, their amours often take their beginning, and frequently end feriously when the two lovers are once agreed. For it very rarely happens, in places far distant from the coast, that a Morlack carries off a girl against her will, or dishonours her: and were such attempts made, the young woman would, no doubt, be able to defend herself; the women in that country being generally very little less robust than the men. But the custom is for the woman herself to appoint the time and place of being carried off; and she does so in order to extricate herself from other suitors, from whom she may have received some love-token, such as a braided ring, a little knife, or such like trifles. The Morlack women keep themselves somewhat neat till they get a husband; but after marriage they abandon themselves totally to a loathsome dirtiness, as if they intended to justify the contempt with which they are treated. Indeed it cannot be said that even the young women have a grateful odour, as they are used to anoint their hair with butter, which soon becoming rancid exhales no agreeable effluvia.

The dress of the unmarried women is the most complex and whimsical, in respect to the ornaments of the head; for when married they are not allowed to wear any thing else but a handkerchief, either white or coloured, tied about it. The girls use a scarlet cap, to which they commonly hang a veil falling down on the shoulders, as a mark of their virginity. The better sort adorn their caps with strings of silver coins, among which are frequently seen very ancient and valuable ones; they have moreover ear-rings of very curious work, and small silver chains with the figures of half moons fastened to the ends of them. But the poor are forced to content themselves with plain caps; or if they have any ornaments, they consist only of small exotic shells, round glass beads, or bits of tin. The principal merit of these caps, which constitute the good taste as well as vanity of the Morlack young ladies, is to attract and fix the eyes of all who are near them by the multitude of ornaments, and the noise they make on the least motion of their heads. Hence half-moons of silver, or of tin, little chains and hearts, false stones and shells, together with all kind of splendid trumpery, are readily admitted into their head-dress. In some districts, they fix tufts of various coloured feathers resembling two horns on their caps; Morlachia, in others, tremulous plumes of glafs; and in others, artificial flowers, which they purchase in the sea port towns; and in the variety of those capricious and barbarous ornaments, sometimes a fancy not inelegant is displayed. Their holiday-shifts are embroidered with red silk, and sometimes with gold, which they work themselves while they attend their flocks; and it is surprising to see how nicely this work is executed.—Both old and young women wear about their necks large strings of round glaf-beads, of various size and colour; and many rings of brafs, tin, or silver, on their fingers. Their bracelets are of leather covered with wrought tin or silver; and they embroider their stomachers, or adorn them with beads or shells. But the use of stays is unknown, nor do they put whalebone or iron in the stomacher. A broad woollen girdle surrounds their petticoat, which is commonly decked with shells, and of blue colour, and therefore called modrina. Their gown, as well as petticoat, is of a kind of serge; and both reach near to the ankle; the gown is bordered with scarlet, and called fadak. They use no modrina in summer, and only wear the fadak without sleeves over a linen petticoat or shift.—The girls always wear red stockings; and their shoes are like those of the men, called opanke. The sole is of undressed ox-hide, and the upper part of sheep-skin thongs knotted, which they call opute; and these they fasten above the ankles, something like the ancient cothurnus.

The unmarried women, even of the richest females, are not permitted to wear any other sort of shoes; though after marriage they may, if they will, lay aside the opanke, and use the Turkish slippers. The girls keep their hair trefled under their caps; but when married they let it fall dishevelled on the breast; sometimes they tie it under the chin; and always have medals, beads, or bored coins, in the Tartar or American mode, twisted amongst it. An unmarried woman, who falls under the imputation of want of chastity, runs the risk of having her red cap torn off her head publicly in church by the curate, and her hair cut by some relation, in token of infamy. Hence, if any of them happen to have fallen into an illicit amour, they commonly of their own accord lay aside the badge of virginity, and remove into another part of the country.

Nothing is more common among the Morlacchi than marriages concluded between the old people of the respective families, especially when the parties live at a great distance, and neither see nor know each other; and the ordinary motive of these alliances is the ambition of being related to a numerous and powerful family, famous for having produced valiant men. The father of the future bridegroom, or some other near relation of mature age, goes to ask the young woman, or rather a young woman of such a family, not having commonly any determinate choice. Upon this all the girls of the house are shown to him, and he chooses which pleases him best, though generally respecting the right of seniority. A denial in such cases is very rare; nor does the father of the maid inquire much into the circumstances of the family that asks her. Sometimes a daughter of the master is given in marriage to the servant or tenant, as was usual in patriarchal times; so little are the women regarded in this country. On these occasions, however, the Morlacchi girls enjoy a privilege which ours would also wish to have, as in justice they certainly ought. For he who acts by proxy, having obtained his suit, is obliged to go and bring the bridegroom; and if, on seeing each other, the young people are reciprocally content, the marriage is concluded, but not otherwise. In some parts it is the custom for the bride to go to see the house and family of the proposed husband, before she gives a definitive answer; and if the place or persons are disagreeable to her, she is at liberty to annul the contract. But if she is contented, she returns to her father's house, escorted by the bridegroom and nearest relations. There the marriage day is appointed; on which the bridegroom comes to the bride's house, attended by all his friends of greatest note, who on this occasion are called svati, and are all armed, and on horseback, in their holiday-cloaths, with a peacock's feather in their cap, which is the distinctive ornament used by those who are invited to weddings. The company goes armed, to repulse any attack or ambush that might be intended to disturb the feast; for in old times these encounters were not unfrequent, according to the records of many national heroic songs.

The bride is conducted to a church veiled, and surrounded by the svati on horseback; and the sacred ceremony is performed amidst the noise of mufkets, pistols, barbaric shouts and acclamations, which continue till she returns to her father's house, or to that of her husband, if not far off. Each of the svati has his particular inspection, as well during the cavalcade as at the marriage-feast, which begins immediately on their return from church. The parvinaz precedes all the rest, singing such songs as he thinks suitable to the occasion. The bariaatar brandishes a lance with a filken banner fastened to it, and an apple stuck on the point; there are two bariaatars, and sometimes four, at the more noble marriages. The star-i-svat is the principal personage of the brigade; and the most respectable relation is commonly invested with this dignity. The itacheo's duty is to receive and obey the orders of the star-i-svat. The two diversi, who ought to be the bridegroom's brothers when he has any, are appointed to serve the bride. The knum corresponds to our sponsors; and the komorgia, or sekana, is deputed to receive and guard the dowery. A ciaous carries the mace, and attends to the order of the march, as matter of the ceremonies: he goes singing aloud, Brderti, Davori, Dobrafrihia, Jara, Pico; names of ancient propitious deities. Buklia is the cup-bearer of the company, as well on the march as at table; and all these offices are doubled, and sometimes tripled, in proportion to the number of the company.

The first day's entertainment is sometimes made at the bride's house, but generally at the bridegroom's, whither the svati hasten immediately after the nuptial benediction; and at the same time three or four men run on foot to tell the good news; the first who gets to the house has a kind of towel, embroidered at the ends, as a premium. The domachin, or head of the house, comes out to meet his daughter-in-law; and a child is handed to her, before she alights, to care for; and if there happens to be none in the house, the child is borrowed from one of the neighbours. When she alights, alights, she kneels down, and kisses the threshold. Then the mother-in-law, or in her place some other female relation, presents a corn-dish, full of different kinds of grain, nuts, almonds, and other small fruit, which the bride scatters upon the svati, by handfuls, behind her back. The bride does not sit at the great table the first day, but has one apart for herself, the two diversi, and the stafco. The bridegroom sits at table with the svati; but in all that day, consecrated to the matrimonial union, he must neither unloosen or cut anything whatever. The knum carves his meat, and cuts his bread. It is the domachin's business to give the toasts; and the star-i-svati is the first who pledges him. Generally the bukkara, a very large wooden cup, goes round, first to the faint protector of the family; next to the prosperity of the holy faith; and sometimes to a name the most sublime and venerable. The most extravagant abundance reigns at these feasts; and each of the svati contributes, by sending a share of provisions. The dinner begins with fruit and cheese; and the soup comes last, just contrary to our custom. All sorts of domestic fowls, kid, lamb, and sometimes venison, are heaped in prodigal quantities upon their tables; but very rarely a Morlacchi eats veal, and perhaps never, unless he has been persuaded to do it out of his own country. This abhorrence to calves' flesh is very ancient among the Morlacchi. St Jerom, against Jovinian, takes notice of it; and Tomo Marnavich, a Bosnian writer, who lived in the beginning of the last age, says, that the Dalmatians, uncorrupted by the vices of strangers, abstained from eating calves' flesh, as an unclean food, even to his days. The women relations, if they are invited, never dine at table with the men, it being an established custom for them to dine by themselves. After dinner, they pass the rest of the day in dancing, singing ancient songs, and in games of dexterity, or of wit and fancy; and in the evening, at a convenient hour after supper, the three ritual healths having first gone round, the knum accompanies the bridegroom to the matrimonial apartment, which commonly is the cellar or the stable, whither the bride is also conducted by the diversi and the stafco; but the three last are obliged to retire, and the knum remains alone with the newly-married couple. If there happens to be any bed prepared better than straw, he leads them to it; and having untied the bride's girdle, he caresses them both to undress each other reciprocally. It is not long since the knum was obliged to undress the bride entirely; but that custom is now out of use; and, instead of it, he has the privilege of kissing her as often as he pleases, wherever he meets her; which privilege may possibly be agreeable for the first months, but must soon become very disagreeable. When they are both undressed, the knum retires, and stands listening at the door, if there be a door. It is his business to announce the consummation of the marriage, which he does by discharging a pistol, and is answered by many of the company. The next day the bride, without her veil and virginal cap, dines at table with the svati, and is forced to hear the coarse equivocal jests of her indelicate and sometimes intoxicated company.

These nuptial-feasts, called jdrova by the ancient Huns, are by our Morlacchi called jdrovoiz, from whence our Italian word jdrovizzio is undoubtedly derived. They continue three, six, eight, or more days, according to the ability or prodigal disposition of the family where they are held. The new-married wife gets no inconsiderable profit in these days of joy; and it usually amounts to much more than all the portion she brings with her, which often consists of nothing but her own cloaths and perhaps a cow; nay, it happens sometimes that the parents, instead of giving money with their daughter, get something from the bridegroom by way of price. The bride carries water every morning, to wash the hands of her guests as long as the feasting lasts; and each of them throws a small piece of money into the basin after performing that function, which is a very rare one among them, excepting on such occasions. The brides are also permitted to raise other little contributions among the svati, by hiding their shoes, caps, knives, or some other necessary part of their equipage, which they are obliged to ransom by a piece of money, according as the company rates it. And, besides all these voluntary or extorted contributions already mentioned, each guest must give some present to the new married wife at taking leave the last day of the jdrovizio; and then she also distributes some trifles in return, which commonly consist in shirts, caps, handkerchiefs, and such like.

The nuptial-rites are almost precisely the same throughout all the vast country inhabited by the Morlacchi; and those in use among the peasants and common people of the sea-coast of Dalmatia, Istria, and the islands, differ but little from them. Yet among these particular varieties, there is one of the island Zlarine, near Sebenico, remarkable enough; for there the star-i-svati (who may naturally be supposed drunk at that hour) must, at one blow with his naked broadsword, strike the bride's crown of flowers off her head, when she is ready to go to bed. And in the island of Pag, in the village of Novoglia (probably the Giffa of ancient geographers), there is a custom more comical, and less dangerous, but equally savage and brutal. After the marriage contract is settled, and the bridegroom comes to conduct his bride to church, her father or mother, in delivering her over to him, makes an exaggerated enumeration of her ill qualities: "Know, since thou wilt have her, that she is good for nothing, ill-natured, obstinate, &c." On which the bridegroom, affecting an angry look, turns to the young woman, with an "Ah! since it is so, I will teach you to behave better;" and at the same time regales her with a blow or a kick, or some piece of familiar gallantry, which is by no means figurative. And it seems in general, that the Morlacchi women, and perhaps the greatest part of the Dalmatians, the inhabitants of the cities excepted, do not dislike a beating either from their husbands or lovers.

In the neighbourhood of Dernish, the women are obliged, during the first year after marriage, to kiss all their national acquaintances who come to the house; but after the first year they are dispensed from that compliment; and indeed they become so intolerably nasty, that they are no longer fit to practise it. Perhaps the mortifying manner in which they are treated by their husbands and relations is, at the same time,

both the cause and effect of their shameful neglect of Morley, their persons. When a Morlack husband mentions his wife, he always promises, by your leave, or begging your pardon. And when the husband has a bedflead, the wife must sleep on the floor near it. Our author often lodged in Morlack houses, and observed that the female sex is universally treated with contempt; it is true, that the women are by no means amiable in that country; they even deform and spoil the gifts of nature.

The pregnancy and births of those women would be thought very extraordinary among us, where the ladies suffer so much, notwithstanding all the care and circumspection used before and after labour. On the contrary, a Morlack woman neither changes her food nor interrupts her daily fatigue on account of her pregnancy; and is frequently delivered in the fields, or on the road, by herself; and takes the infant, washes it in the first water she finds, carries it home, and returns the day after to her usual labour, or to feed her flock.

The little creatures, thus carelessly treated in their tenderest moments, are afterwards wrapped in miserable rags, where they remain three or four months, under the same ungentle management; and when that term is elapsed, they are set at liberty, and left to crawl about the cottage and before the door, till they learn to walk upright by themselves; and at the same time acquire that singular degree of strength and health with which the Morlacchi are endowed, and are able, without the least inconvenience, to expose their naked breasts to the severest frosts and snow. The infants are allowed to suck their mother's milk while she has any, or till she is with child again; and if that should not happen for three, four, or six years, they continue all that time to receive nourishment from the breast. The prodigious length of the breasts of the Morlacchian women is somewhat extraordinary; for it is very certain, that they can give the teat to their children over their shoulders, or under their arms. They let the boys run about, without breeches, in a shirt that reaches only to the knee, till the age of 13 or 14, following the custom of Bosnia, subject to the Porte, where no haraz or capitation-tax is paid for the boys till they wear breeches, they being considered before that time as children, not capable of labouring, or of earning their bread. On the occasion of births, and especially of the first, all the relations and friends send presents of eatables to the woman in childbirth, or rather to the woman delivered; and the family makes a supper of all those presents together. The women do not enter the church till 40 days after child-birth.

The Morlacchi pass their youth in the woods, attending their flocks and herds; and in that life of quiet and leisure they often become dexterous in carving with a simple knife; they make wooden cups, and whistles adorned with fanciful bas-reliefs, which are not void of merit, and at least show the genius of the people.