Here, not more than a day's walk from the city of Monastir, or
Bitolia, as its Slavic inhabitants call it, is Lake Prespa, a small
sheet of crystal-clear water in which are reflected the peaks and
the rugged crags of the surrounding mountains. Through a subterranean
passage the waters of this mountain lake pass under the range that
separates it from the much larger lake, Ochrida, the source of
the bloody Drina.
The people of these mountains are Serbs, almost to Saloniki. Uskub,
whose ancient Serb name is Skoplya, was the old Serb capital, and
there the Serb ruler Doushan was crowned emperor in 1346.
For the past five hundred years these Macedonians have been used to
all the ways of guerrilla fighting. Roaming through their mountains
in small bands they have harassed the Turkish soldiers continuously.
The Bulgarian ruler Ferdinand had through many years by means of
committees and church jugglery striven to Bulgarize this population,
preparatory to the contemplated seizure of the territory which he has
now been able with the help of the Germanic powers to accomplish.
But in reality the Bulgar population in what was European Turkey was
found only eastward of the Struma in Thracia including Adrianople.
Those regions formed the ample and legitimate field of ambition
for the unification of the Bulgars.
When hostilities broke out in 1914, when Serbia was defending herself
against the Austrians, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, the secret ally
by treaty of Austria, did everything possible to forward his designs
against the Serbs and sent armed Bulgar bands into Serb Macedonia.
Pages:
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394