GOVERNMENT AND TRADE
73
which the community has declared closed for the time being. Any inhabitant of the village can cut timber and fuel where he pleases in the forests except in the forbidden
woods
of K'urista.
Those possessing sheep or saw mills had to pay the dues on sheep and cut timber enforced by the Turkish government, and every plank cut to be sold outside the village had to bear an official mark to show that the dues had been paid. The only privately owned lands in Samarina are the lots on the site of the village itself and consist of houses, gardens and meadows. These are all fenced in and can be bought and sold and are held with
title
deeds.
All the rest of the land
is
common
property
and can neither be bought nor sold, but any piece of ground he likes for a meadow, and so long as he keeps up the fence it is reserved for him and he can call in the village watchmen to drive off intruders. Wlien any stranger, shepherd or muleteer, camps for a night on Samarina territory on his way elsewhere, the watchmen demand a small payment for the right of pasturage for his mules or sheep, and are entitled to enforce their claim by impounding some of his stock. The other trades we may divide into two classes, those practised locally in the village and those which they only work at in the towns in the plains. But some natives of Samarina, who engage in trades of this latter class, practise them in the summer in Samarina to supply their fellow-countrymen. The only trade, and that not a common one, for which there is no every villager has the
right to enclose
demand
Trades which can be at Samarina, is the gunsmith's. practised in the village, but of course to a far greater extent in
the towns in the plains are, boot and shoe making, tailoring, milling, the making of pack saddles for mules, the making of
knives and blacksmith's work in general, the making of sweets and pastry, carpentering and chair making. Another fairly
common
more in the towns than in the village itself, is that of silversmith and watchmaker. They make the silver filigree work for the big buckles and buttons worn by the women and set the coins given for betrothal gifts as necklaces or earrings. The metal which they use is obtained by melting down gold or silver coin. A girl trade, although
from
its
nature
it is
practised