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The Spike: or, Victoria University College Review, June 1916

Refuge Work in Serbia

page 29

Refuge Work in Serbia.

(The "Spike" has very kindly been given access to a number of letters from Theodore Rigg, who was sent to Serbia some months ago to report to the Serbian Relief Committee upon conditions in Serbia. Dealing as they do with a country, and a people, concerning whom we in New Zealand know very little, the letters from intensely interesting reading. Rigg, who represented the College on many occasions in the Easter University Tournament, will be well-known to all the older students now attending lectures.)

"Scutari; 4th December. We arrived at San Giovnni di Medua early in the morning, and had a miserable breakfast on the beach. The place is quiet a charming spot, and it caused vivid remembrances of New Zealand's rugged coast. The village of San Giovanni consists of half a dozen houses and everything of an eatable nature was at a premium. . . . . . . . We started off for Scutari next morning, the whole party travelling in carriages. The Drive was exceedingly enjoyable, the scenery was everywhere interesting—new types of houses and new systems of agriculture and above all new races of people . . . . . . . The Albanians are exceedingly poor people in many parts of the country we have so far seen. I have never seen such great destitution, such pitiful clothing and abject misery. Shortly after arriving in Scutari we experienced very severe cold weather. The thermometer for several days must have been several degrees below freezing point . . . . . . Yet in spite of the extreme coldness the poor Albanians could be seen in cotton tatters, bare feet and white wan faces. There is no prosperity at all in the country—it is exhausted by continued warfare and lack of organisation.

We have seen during the last three days the remnant of the Serbian Army creeping in. all the glory of war here had obviously long ago vanished. They came on foot, some with rifles and equipment, some without anything but a tattered uniform. Their baggage horses were mere skeletons, and the men themselves walked dejectedly page 30 along the streets as if they had lost interest in life. Refugees are now beginning to come into Andrijevitza in small numbers, but I fear many thousands have died of hunger and exposure on the road. I was speaking to a Serbian officer only last night, who had come from Prizrend by a mountain road. Only the strongest men could ever hope to reach Scutari by this path. They all had to walk for six days, sleeping where they could in the snow, carrying food for the whole journey with them and trudging on and on, hoping against hope to arrive safely is Scutari. During the last three days several thousand Serbian soldiers and many Red Cross English Workers have arrived at Scutari . . . . . . . . Yet in spite of the hardships they have gone through they have borne themselves very well and here at Scutari the English nurses find what they call Heaven sleeping on straw and eating two meals a day, consisting entirely of stewed onions, haricots and potatoes."

"Scutari, 15th December. I have just arrived back from a ride to Andrijevitza to see the condition of the refugees. I found that the refugees coming down from Ipek were in a piteous condition. Women and children were trudging along in the mud, some without boots and able to get practically no shelter or food by the road-side. Many had been ten or twelve days on the road and had come over mountain paths covered with snow. They are extraordinarily hardy, but they must nevertheless have suffered great hardships on their journey. The Serbian soldiers were also a sorry sight. They looked . . . as if they cared not at all where they were going to. They wanted rest and food. I passed numbers lying down to sleep on the road-side in the rain. Scutari has closed up all its shops. Many of the merchants have sold right out." (New Zealanders, who are complaining of the increased cost of living might well weigh one fact mentioned by Mr. Rigg in this letter—bread costs 9/- a loaf!)

(On the same day as the above letter was written Mr. Rigg forwarded a report on existing conditions to the Chairman of the Serbian Relief Fund):—"I started out for Andrijevitza on the 5th. During the first day from Podgoritza towards Andrijevitza we commenced to meet refugees coming from Ipek. Diakova, Berance, and Bosnia. page 31 Their condition in many cases was piteous—poorly clad, many without shoes trudging along in the mud over the hills in country which is extremely barren and devoid of adequate shelter and food. Many carried on their backs what little goods they had been able to save, and a number of women could be seen carrying cradles covered with shawls from which the cries of little children were audible. I encountered several families of five or six children, and here even small children of six or seven years of age were walking, some carrying a piece of the family goods in the shape of a pot or small bundle. Some refugee families were fortunate in possessing a horse on which the family possessions were tied and on the top of them a place was made for the smallest children . . . . . . . . . . . . . Of these 10,000 refugees I would place the number of Serbians at 3,000, the rest being Montenegrins who were flying from New Montenegro which was opened up in recent times. Practically the entire peasant population of Serbia has remained behind, and now that Ipek has fallen there is no possibility of their coming down into Montenegrin territory."

"Scutari, December 17th, 1915. Scutari is a most interesting place—half the town is Westernised and one could easily imagine oneself being in a provincial town in France. French is quite commonly spoken among shopkeepers and of course European dress is invariably worn by all the principal shopkeepers. There is, however, a very considerable native Albanian class which dresses and lives in true Eastern style. Their shops are very similar to those I saw in Ceylon and the tradesmen can very frequently be been sitting on the floor of his booth by the side of a brazier of coals. There is a considerable Moslem Albanian element and the dress of these people is of course Turkish in style. The women invariably wear the harem skirt and cover their faces. Even some of the men have the loose baggy trousers modeled on the harem skirt. The Moslem priests at the hour of sunset can be seen in the spire of the mosque calling the people to prayer. Quite a proportion of the people can be seen entering the mosque, taking off their shoes before whole desperately poor and many very ill-clad children can be page 32 seen on the streets. In fact how they withstand the freezing coldsnaps, which we sometimes get is marvellous. Many have no shoes and are clad in cotton garments woefully thread-bare . . . . . . . . I left Scutari on a Sunday with a Montenegrin who speaks excellent English. This man had been in Canada three or four years and on the outbreak of war had come back to Montenegro to fight in the Montenegrin Army. All these volunteers including those attached to the Serbian Army are heartily sick of the whole business and are desirous of leaving the country and fleeing to America. We at once struck the rottenest road which I have had the pleasure of riding on. We rode for four and a half hours over boulders and mud up to the horses' knees and then we came to the ferry which was to take us over an arm of Lake Scutari. The ferry was manned by Albanians of a very independent nature who did just what pleased them in taking people across. They went when they thought fir and charged according to their estimate of labours involved. As soon as we reached Montenegrin territory I was struck by the friendliness and friendliness and pleasantness of the people. At Tuzi where we stayed for the night a Montenegrin gentleman, in his rich national dress—blue baggy trousers, a red jersey and a pistol stuck prominently in his belt—was exceedingly kind to the English gentleman. He gave me lodging in his own house and apologised and arrived early in the forenoon. Podgoritza is the largest town in Montenegro (population 10,000). It would correspond to a small provincial center in England for the peasant people bring in their produce for sale in the market square. Every day the market square is thronged with women selling apples, potatoes, pigs, wine and hay, etc. they wear the national dress which has for its most noticeable feature the round hat had an embroidered bodice. Podgoritza was very busy when I was there as civilians and soldiers were arriving in great numbers from Andrijevitza. Leaving Podgoritza next morning we started off for Andrijevitza. For the first four hours we were ascending a long mountain road, which gradually brought us into rocky, barren country but gave us now and again many beautiful page 33 glimpses of the valley below with its beautiful blue river . . . . . . . As we went further on our journey we met more mountains and sudden descents. Sometimes as far as the eye could see would stretch stones and hills with now and again a small greasy dell relieving the greyness. These little dells were jealously preserved by the peasants. Sometimes they were only fifty square yards in size, but one found that they had been fenced off with brushwood and were in use for the cultivation of maize . . . . . . . . All along the way we passed Serbian soldier, bullock-waggons, herds of castes and baggage horses. During the daytime the procession went dejectedly on its way. The soldiers stepped along with little interest in life. At night in every direction camp fires blazed, and more than one morning when we were obliged to make an early start, it was extremely fascinating to see the innumerable start, it was extremely fascination to see the innumerable points were encamped . . . . . . Andrijevitza in a small township, which in normal circumstances must have been rather charming . . . . . . We were fortunate in securing a room with a nice Montenegrin family. They looked after us very well and again I had further glimpses into Montenegrin home life and hospitality. They and several curious customs, and one or two which the insularity of English people would object to. It is quite good form for the host to see you safely into bed and the women of the house usually assist you in your washing arrangements next morning. They have a curious custom to pouring out the water into your hands as you require it when one is washing."

"Marseilles; February 29th. At last back again in civilisation . . . . . . In Scutari, San Giovanni di Medua and Durazzo we were able to do good work and at Scutari I am quite convinced that we were able to save lives. It has been a pathetic and saddening time and scenes which we have seen in these places will forever remain with us. Little boys and women with pinched hunger-drawn faces breaking down before one is hard to bear. The retreat of the Serbian Army—the pitiless march day by day over the snow-clad mountains of Eastern Montenegro seems hardly real to me now. It seemed like a phantom army seeing them struggling down through Montenegro. Men page 34 walked or ambled as if they had really lost all hope, and even life itself appeared to be of no importance."