a mountainous country of Dalmatia. The inhabitants are called Morlacks 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 is indicated 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 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 too much in customs and language, that they may be taken for one people, dispersed in the vast tracts from the Adriatic sea to the Frozen ocean.

With regard to the etymology of the name, the Abbé observes, that the Morlacchi generally call themselves, in their own language, Vlachi; 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 Moro Vlachi, 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.

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 thievish 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.

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. Morlachia. 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 happen 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 favoured 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 impotence 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.

Friendship 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 Pojefreme, which means half-brothers and half-sisters. From those 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 Morlachia 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.

But as the friendships of the Morlacchi are strong and sacred, so their quarrels are commonly unextinguishable. 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 shirt and arms of the dead. And so deeply is revenge rooted in the minds of this nation, that all the missionaries 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 Malacchi, 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 endeavours 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 mufket, piftol, 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.

The Morlack, 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 fortifies, 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 sucking the blood of infants. Therefore, when a man dies suspected of becoming a vampire, or vu-kodlik, as they call it, they cut his hams, 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, entreat their heirs, and sometimes oblige them to promise, to treat them as vampires when they die.

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 churchyard, 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.

Innocence, and the natural liberty of pastoral ages, are still preferred 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 imputation of impropriety; and M. Fortis has seen all the women and girls, all the young men and old, kissing one another as they came into the churchyard on a holiday; so that they looked as if they all belonged to one family. He often observed the same thing on the road, and at the fairs in the maritime towns, where the Morlacchi came to sell their Morlacchi commodities.

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 anything 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.

Both old and young women wear about their necks large strings of round glass beads, of various size and colour; and many rings of brass, 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's skin thongs knotted, which they call apute; and these they fasten above the ankles, something like the ancient cothurnus. The unmarried women, even of the richest families, 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 tressed 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.

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. A deal 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. But on these occasions, the Morlacchi girls enjoy the privilege of refusal. 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.

The bride is conducted to a church, veiled, and surrounded by the friends of the bridegroom, or svati, as they are called, on horseback; and the sacred ceremony is performed amidst the noise of muskets, pistols, barbaric shouts and acclamations, which continue till the return to her father's house or to that of her husband, if not far off. 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 a 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 it; and if there happen to be none in the house, the child is borrowed from one of the neighbours. When she alights, she kneels down, and kisses the threshold.—Then the mother-in-law, or in her place some other female relation, presents a corn sieve, 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 flaeboe. The bridegroom sits at table with the svati; but in all that day, consecrated to the matrimonial union, he must neither unloosen nor cut any thing whatever. The knum carves his meat, and cuts his bread. It is the domachin's business to give the toast; and the star-fvati is the first who pledges him. Generally the bukkara, a very large wooden cup, goes round, first to the saint 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.

These nuptial feasts, called sfdrave by the ancient Huns, are by the Morlacchi called sfdravize, from whence the Italian word sfdravizzzo 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 clothes 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 Morlacchi pass their youth in the woods, attending their flocks and herds; and in that life of quiet and leisure they often become dextrous 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.