He begged me to take him as a body servant, declaring himself ready to go with me to the world's end, and I could hardly make him understand that a servant would be a burden to me which I could not afford.

He said to one of the Montenegrin officers, "When I say my prayers for myself I always ask God to be good to that English gentleman." As with most of the men of his race whom I have made the acquaintance of, his native faculties were of a high order.

The Albanians are quick, ingenious, and industrious, and are the best workmen in the finer industrial arts of the Balkans, gold and silver workers of remarkable skill, dividing the blacksmithing with the gypsy, but the best and indeed the only armorers of that world.

We had a number of them in the camp at Niksich, refugees from the tribes on our frontier, and I found them most interesting companions, generally speaking Italian and Serb as well as their own dialects.

Their conservatism is something almost inexplicable.