Page:The nomads of the Balkans, an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus (1914).djvu/40

 take brides from villages like Zalovo which are more or less completely hellenized. The children of these mixed marriages talk only Greek, the language they learn from their mothers, and so the younger generation for the most part knows only Greek. The name Kupatshari is derived by the Vlachs from the word kupatshu, oak tree, because the district inhabited by them is covered with oak woods. Lower down in the Haliakmon valley there are no woods, and higher up in the country from Turia to Samarina is the region of pines and beeches. This plausible explanation is rejected by Weigand, who says the word is of Slavonic origin and means digger or agriculturist. This would well apply to these people, for they are a settled folk and till the soil, and do not migrate like the mountain villages. Weigand further says that the Kupatshari district extends as far as Shátishta and into North Thessaly, but we have never heard the name applied to any other district except the lower hill country reaching from Ghrevena to Philippei and Kipurio.

The main business of the fair was concerned with the buying and selling of mules. These are brought from all parts, but the best according to experts are those from Kassándra and Xánthi. A young Kassandra mule half broken and not in condition to carry a heavy load for several months was selling at anything between eighteen and twenty-two Turkish pounds, a price slightly dearer than the year before. Mules that had already been worked were also being sold, and had branches stuck in the pack saddles to indicate that they were for sale. Horses were less in evidence. A few animals, small according to English ideas, but useful enough, were being cantered recklessly through the crowd, and shewn off to some Turkish beys and a group of gendarmes looking for fresh mounts. Each sale had to be confirmed by a document giving the description and price of the animal sold, which was written out and stamped by a local official. The rows of booths filled a large space: food stalls where bread, wine, and lamb in all forms were on sale did the greatest trade, and after them came saddlemakers, and the sweet shops. At one end of the fair was an open court with small stone built shops around it, where jewellery, knives.