Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/292

 of remark, that the dogs used to guard the flocks in the modern Albania, appear to be the genuine descendants of the ancient "canes Molossici," being distinguished by their size as well as by their strength and ferocity. Further notices respecting them may be found in Virgil's Georgics, l. iii. 404-413, and in the Notes of his editors and translators, Heyne, Martyn, and J. H. Voss. See also Ælian de Nat. An. iii. 2. and Plautus, Capt. l. i. 18.

There is another important circumstance, in which probably the habits of the modern shepherds of Albania are similar to those of the ancient occupants of the same region, viz. the annual practice of resorting to the high grounds in summer and returning to the plains in winter, which prevails both here and in most mountainous countries devoted to sheep-breeding. The following extract from Dr. Holland's Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, &c. (p. 91-93.), gives a lively representation of this proceeding:

"When advanced eight or nine miles on our journey (from Cinque Pozzi to Joannina; October 31st, 1813,) and crossing another ridge of high and broken land, we were highly interested in a spectacle, which by a fortunate incident occurred to our notice. We met on the road a community of migrating shepherds, a wandering people of the mountains of Albania, who in the summer feed their flocks in these hilly regions, and in the winter spread them over the plains in the vicinity of the Gulph of Arta and along other parts of the coast. The many large flocks of sheep we had met the day before belonged to these people, and were preceding them to the plains. The cavalcade we now passed through was nearly two miles in length with few interruptions. The number of horses with the emigrants might exceed a thousand; they were chiefly employed in carrying the moveable habitations and the various goods of the community, which were packed with remarkable neatness and uniformity. The infants and smaller children were variously attached to the luggage, while the men, women, and elder children travelled for the most part on foot; a healthy and masculine race of people, but strongly marked by the wild and uncouth exterior connected with their manner of life. The greater part of the men were clad in coarse white woollen garments; the females in the same material, but more curiously colored, and generally with some ornamented lacing about the breast." He then adds, "These migratory tribes of shepherds generally come down from the mountains about the latter end of October, and return thither from the plains in April,