the only wealth of the mountaineers of northern Albania; large cattle are found only on the plains. The slopes of Pindus afford excellent pasture for the flocks of the Vlach shepherds. The export of raw hides and wool is considerable; in 1898 these commodities were valued respectively at £90,400 and £24,000. The lakes and rivers of Albania abound in fish. The scoranze (Alb. seraga), a kind of sardine, is taken in great quantities in Lake Scutari; it is salted and smoked for home consumption and exportation. Sea-fishing is almost wholly neglected. There are salines at Avlona and other places on the coast.
Commerce and Industries.—The exports in 1898 were estimated at £480,000, the imports at £1,360,000, the former comprising agricultural produce, live stock, hides, wool, cheese, eggs, poultry, olive oil, valonia, sumach leaves, timber, skins of wild animals, silk, tobacco and salted fish, the latter manufactured articles, cloth, hardware, furniture, firearms, gunpowder, sugar, coffee, &c. The monopoly of Albanian commerce formerly possessed by Venice has descended to Austria-Hungary; the trade with other countries, except Italy, is inconsiderable. Owing to the poverty of the people, cheap Austrian goods find a readier sale than the more expensive and solid British manufactures. The maritime traffic is largely conducted by the steamers of the subsidized Austrian-Lloyd company, Trieste being the principal commercial centre; the coasting trade is carried on by small Greek and Turkish sailing vessels. The trade of the northern and western districts has to some extent been diverted to Salonica since the opening of the railways from that town to Mitrovitza and Monastir. The development of commerce is retarded by lack of communications; the country possesses no railways and few roads. Several railway lines have been projected, but there is no great probability of their construction under existing political conditions. The Via Egnatia, the great Roman highway to the east, is still used; it runs from Durazzo (Dyrrhachium) to Elbassan and Ochrida. Iannina is connected by carriage-roads with Monastir, Agii Saranta and Preveza. As a rule, however, bridle-paths supply the only means of communication. The native industries are inconsiderable, and many of them are in a languishing condition. The manufacture of highly ornate firearms, yataghans and other weapons at Scutari, Jakova and Prizren has declined, owing to the importation of modern rifles and revolvers. Gold and silk embroidery, filigree work, morocco and richly-braided jackets are produced for home use and for sale in Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
Population.—The population of Albania may be estimated at between 1,600,000 and 1,500,000, of whom 1,200,000 or 1,100,000 are Albanians. Of the other races the Slavs (Serbs and Bulgars) are the most numerous, possibly numbering 250,000. Servian settlements exist in various parts of northern Albania; there is a strong Bulgarian colony in the neighbourhood of Dibra and Ochrida; farther south, Mount Zygos and the Pindus range—the “Great Walachia” of the middle ages—are inhabited by Vlachs or Tzintzars, who possibly number 70,000. Some Turkish colonies are also found in the south-eastern districts. There is a considerable Greek-speaking population in Epiros (including many Mahommedan Albanians), which must, however, be distinguished from the genuine Greeks of Iannina, Preveza and the extreme south; these may be estimated at 100,000. The population of the vilayet of Scutari is given as 237,000, that of the vilayet of Iannina as 552,000. The principal towns are Scutari (Albanian Shkoder, with the definite article Shkodr-a), the capital of the vilayet of that name, pop. 32,000; Prizren, 30,000; Iannina (often incorrectly written Ioannina), capital of the southern vilayet, 22,000; Jakova, 12,000; Dibra, 15,000; Prishtina, 11,000; Ipek (Slav. Petch), 15,000; Berat, 15,000; Ochrida, 11,000; Tirana, 12,000; Argyrokastro, 11,000; Kortcha (Slav. Goritza), 10,000; Elbassan (perhaps ancient Albanopolis), 8000; Metzovo, 7500; Preveza, 6500; Avlona, 6000; Durazzo, 5000; Parga, 5000; Butrinto, 2000; and Kroïa, the ancient fortress of Scanderbeg, 5000. All these, except Elbassan, Metzovo and Kroïa, are described in separate articles.
The Albanians are apparently the most ancient race in south-eastern Europe. History and legend afford no record of their arrival in the Balkan Peninsula. They are probably the descendants of the earliest Aryan immigrants, who were represented in historical times by the kindred Illyrians, Macedonians and Epirots; the Macedonians and Epirots are believed by Hahn to have formed the core of the pre-Hellenic Tyrrheno-Pelasgian population which inhabited the southern portion of the peninsula and extended its limits to Thrace and Italy. The Illyrians were also “Pelasgian,” but in a wider sense. Of these cognate races, which are described by the Greek writers as barbarous or non-Hellenic, the Illyrians and Epirots, he thinks, were respectively the progenitors of the Ghegs, or northern, and the Tosks, or southern, Albanians. The Via Egnatia, which Strabo (vii. fragment 3) describes as forming the boundary between the Illyrians and Epirots, practically corresponds with the course of the Shkumb, which now separates the Ghegs and the Tosks. The same geographer (v. 2.221) states that the Epirots were also called Pelasgians; the Pelasgian Zeus was worshipped at Dodona (Homer, Il. xvi. 234), and the neighbourhood of the sanctuary was called Pelasgia (Herodotus ii. 56). The meaning of the term “Pelasgian” is, however, too obscure to furnish a basis for ethnographical speculation; in the time of Herodotus it may have already come to denote a period rather than a race. The name Tosk is possibly identical with Tuscus, Etruscus, while the form Tyrrhenus perhaps survives in Tirana. The large number of Slavonic local names in Albania, even in districts where no trace of a Slavonic population exists, bears witness to the extensive Servian and Bulgarian immigrations in the early middle ages, but the original inhabitants gradually ousted or assimilated the invaders. The determination with which this remarkable race has maintained its mountain stronghold through a long series of ages has hitherto met with scant appreciation in the outside world. While the heroism of the Montenegrins has been lauded by writers of all countries, the Albanians—if we except Byron's eulogy of the Suloits—still remain unsung. Not less noticeable is the tenacity with which isolated fragments of the nation have preserved theirpeculiar characteristics, language, customs and traditions. The Albanians in Greece and Italy, though separated for six centuries from the parent stock, have not yet been absorbed by the surrounding populations.
The Albanians, both Ghegs and Tosks, call themselves Shküpetar, and their land Shküpenia or Shküperia, the former being the Gheg, the latter the Tosk form of the word. Shküpetar has been variously interpreted. According to Hahn it is a participial from shkyipoij, “I understand,” signifying “he who knows” the native language; others interpret it with less probability as “the rock-dweller,” from shkep, shkip, N. Alb. shkamp, “rock.” The designations Arber (Gr. Άρβανίης, Turk. Arnaout), denoting the people, and Arbenia or Arberia, the land, are also, though less frequently, used by the Albanians. A district near Kroïa is locally known as Arbenia; the Tosk form Arberia strictly applies only to the mountain region near Avlona. The region inhabited by a more or less homogeneous Albanian population may be roughly marked out by a line drawn from the Montenegrin frontier at Berane to Mitrovitza and the Servian frontier near Vranya; thence to Usküb, Prilep, Monastir, Florina, Kastoria, Iannina and Parga. These limits, however, are far from including all the members of a widely scattered race. The Albanians in Greece, whose settlements extend over Attica, Boeotia, the district of Corinth and the Argolid peninsula, as well as southern Euboea and the islands of Hydra, Spetzae, Poros and Salamis, descend from Tosk immigrants in the 14th century. They played a brilliant part in the War of Independence (1821–1829), and to-day supply the Greek army with its best soldiers. They were estimated by Leake at 200,000. A large number still speak the Albanian language; many of the older men, and a considerable proportion of the women, even in the neighbourhood of Athens, are ignorant of Greek. The Albanian settlements in southern Italy and Sicily were founded in 1444, 1464 and 1468; minor immigrations
