Servia and the Servians 1862 William Denton

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SBRrIA AND THB BERY/A.NB.
Milanowatz, through the same kind of scenery which I
have already attempted to describe at the beginning of
this chapter. The town, which is thrown back a little
from the banks of the river, is approached by a pretty
pathway fringed with pollarded willows. It is a very
pretty and thriving place, and is built with greater
regularity than most of the other small towns of the
country. The remains of the earthworks with which it
was defended during the war of independence may
still be traced round a great part of the town.
After dinner we were visited by a party of gipsies,
who sang several of the nation~ airs and popular songs
• of Servia, especially the piece of music which is a
favourite with all classes in this country, the "March of
Prince Milosh." The gipsies are a very numerous body
in Servia ; they are met with in all parts of the country;
and the energetic part which they took during the war
with Turkey, and the services which they rendered to
the national cause, have tended to give them a higher
position here than in most other countries of Europe.
They are mostly members of the Greek Church, frequenting
the, churches like the other inhabitants of the
country, and are altogether of more settled habits than
gipsies in • general, though they are still reckoned a
class apart from either the W allachians or Servians, and
are especially excluded from the suffrage. On the
borders of Turkey many of the gipsy bands profess the
Mahomedan faith. These people are the charcoal
burners, the tinkers and smiths, the basket-makers, and
trinket vendors, M well as the m118icians of Servia. In
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