LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

252 John nandriŞ
there could be no better paradigm than the story of the Manaki
brothers for the enterprise and initiative of the Aromâni, for their inherently
european temperament, and for their cosmopolitan intellectual curiosity
born of far-reaching travel. Correspondence between another pair of Vlah
brothers, the Balamaci of Korcë, reveals not only that they were involved
in setting up a commercial school, but that the language they used was very
recognisably romanian:
Postcard to Nicuţa Balamaci from his brother.
Courtesy of Maria Balamaci, Korcë
Sir Charles eliot was a trained diplomat, a formidable linguist and
observer, whose descriptions of south-east europe including the Vlahs
retain their value today. his masterly survey Turkey in Europe [1900] which
he wrote under the pseudonym “odysseus” contains acute observations of
Aromâni, Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians, and Armenians, as well
as summaries of the doctrines and history of Islam. he was later posted to
the far east where he became a Buddhist and wrote on Japanese religion.
A testimony to his linguistic capabilities, of more than a little historical
interest, arose when he was high Commissioner in Siberia:
he visited ekaterinburg after the temporary expulsion of the Bolsheviks,
and was taken to the house where the ill-fated Imperial Family had a little
earlier been done to death. on the walls of the rooms were scribbled in
the hebrew character scandalous lampoons in yiddish. turning to his