He was a comitaj once, in the old days when Turkey owned
Macedonia and the Sanjak. He said that nearly all comitaj were men of
education and intelligence. When Turkish rule became oppressive, when
too many Christian girls were stolen and vanished for ever into harems,
the comitaj appeared, farms were raided, minute but fierce battles were
fought; but in spite of this continual supervision, occasional and
mysterious murders were needed to keep down the excesses of the Turk.
Pavlovitch waved a hand towards the sullen mountains of Albania, which
were on our right.
"Dose Swabs don' tink o' nuttin' but killin'. Jess ornary slaughter,
Mister Jim. Now dat Jakovitza [a town to the south] dat don't mean
nuttin but 'blood' in their talk, 'lots o' blood' dat's what it means.
Sure. Dese peoples don' respect nuttin but killin'; an' when you've done
in 'bout fifty other fellers you'r reckoned a almighty tough. If you
wanted to voyage dere, f'r instance, you'd 'ave ter get a promise o'
peace, a 'Besa' they calls it, from one of dese tough fellers, and he
makes 'imself responsible to end any feller wat disturbs you; 'e can
post a babby along o' you and so long as the kiddie's wid yer nobody'll
touch you.
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