Page:The nomads of the Balkans, an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus (1914).djvu/44

Rh there were frequently two on the ground at the same time. Grandmothers crossed themselves with fervour, and muttered in Vlach: muleteers loudly made reflections on the parentage of their much tried animals, and Andíhriste, “Antichrist,” became the common form of address. Andíhristu is the Vlach substitute for the Greek κερατάς, and like it has an endless variety of meanings depending on the facial expression at the time. Finally we emerged from the muddy track in the oak woods, on to the bare top of the ridge near the little chapel of Ayia Paraskevi. Below us about twenty minutes to our left was the Kupatshar village of Vodhendzko, and beyond rose the craggy ridge of Spileo with the villages of Sharganei, Lavdha and Tishta nestling at its foot. To our right to the north in a rift in the ridge on which we were, lay the little hamlet of Tuzhi. Here for a short space the track was drier, but soon after night and rain began to fall, and the path became rapidly worse. The climax came when we slid for about half an hour down a muddy slope in the dark. The long procession was thrown into confusion, and on reaching the bottom where we were to camp, several families had become mixed up, and some units were separated from their main body. Our own party, more by luck than skill, arrived at the bottom together, and we had little to do but collect the mules and unload them, and then struggle to put up the tent in the wind and rain, first choosing a patch of ground that seemed less wet than the average. Leaving the women to make things straight we strolled over to another family that had arrived before nightfall and succeeded in lighting a fire. Comforted by the warmth we crept into our own tent, and after a hasty meal of bread, cheese and wine got to sleep as best we could. Other families fared far worse than ourselves, many were unable to erect their tents, others were separated into two or three little parties and had to spend the night in the open with next to nothing to eat, and only a rug to cover them. When we awoke the next morning in this spot which is known as La Valkó we seemed to be in another country. The night before we had been amongst low hills covered with oak woods, but now we were in mountain country sprinkled with pines, and