Page:The nomads of the Balkans, an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus (1914).djvu/55

 Only a few families remain at Samarina throughout the winter. Some of these stay by arrangement to act as guards in the empty village, others especially those who own saw mills stop to look after their business. Recently owing to the general rise in the cost of living other families have taken to remaining in the village. This is done to save the cost of two long mule journeys in the autumn and spring, and to escape the necessity of paying rent for the house in the town where they winter. But in these cases the husband and the elder sons if they have trades which they practise, will go alone to the towns in the plains for the winter leaving their wives and families behind. The principal towns of Epirus, Thessaly and Macedonia and even of Southern Albania receive each winter detachments of Samarina folk. They may be found in Yannina, Dhelvino, Berat, Ghrevena, Hrupishta, Shatishta, Kozhani, Elassona, Kalabaka, Trikkala, Kardhitsa, Larissa and Tirnavos. Of the latter towns Kardhitsa has two hundred, Trikkala three hundred, Tirnavos one hundred, and Larissa a hundred and fifty families. But in addition to these many winter at Tsaritsani or in the villages of the Potamia district near Elassona such as Vlakhoyianni; and in villages near Larissa such as Tatar or Makrikhori several are to be found. But this does not of course exhaust the towns whither the men of Samarina go to winter, for they may be seen at Philippiadha, Katerini, Salonica or even in Athens itself. It often happens that in the town, where they winter, many gradually settle down and in course of time intermarry with the lowland Greeks and so after one or two generations become completely hellenized. Such are to be found all over Thessaly in the towns mentioned, and also in Almiros and Volos. Elsewhere they are to be found in Yannina and Athens, and in Shatishta and Kozhani in which two latter towns the hellenized Vlachs form the strongest part of the Greek population. In times past emigration from Samarina on a large scale has taken place to Verria, Katerini and Niausta, but this is dealt with below.

As to the population of the village it is naturally exceedingly difficult to form an estimate, since it varies greatly from year to year. Pouqueville our earliest authority says it contained