The pachas had great difficulty in collecting tribute, because the people were given to fighting for their bread.

Whether Mahomedans or Christians, the Albanians were above all soldiers.

Descended on the one side from the unconquerable Scythians, on the other from the ancient Macedonians, not long since masters of the world, crossed with Norman adventurers brought eastwards by the great movement of the Crusades; they felt the blood of warriors flow in their veins, and that war was their element.

Sometimes at feud with one another, canton against canton, village against village, often even house against house; sometimes rebelling against the government their sanjaks; sometimes in league with these against the sultan; they never rested from combat except in an armed peace.

Each tribe had its military organisation, each family its fortified stronghold, each man his gun on his shoulder.