THE NOMADS OF THE BALKANS
202
Padza, and Armata. These all stand on a track that leads from Konitsa along the south side of Zmolku and over Ghiimara by way of Briaza and Smiksi to Ghrevena. Though now of little importance this track in places shews signs of having once been cobbled and so was probably in earlier times a much
used through route. Of the first two villages Palioseli and Padza which both contain over two hundred houses we can say little, for we arrived at an ill-omened hour when the annual examination at the Greek school was taking place. Both villages were eager to prove their pure Hellenic origin, and so all our enquiries about their history and dialect were out of place. They are both Vlach by race and language and resemble Laka and Dobrinovo in many ways. Neither of them seems particularly flourishing, as trade is bad in consequence of brigandage they are agricultural and so mainly supported by the men who all go abroad to make money. From the track between Palioseli and Padza a wonderful view can be obtained. Behind us to the north is the triple mass of Zmolku, the highest peak of Pindus in front and immediately below us is the Aous hurrying down to the Adriatic beyond to the south is the Zaghori which from here seems to consist of parallel ranges of hills running north and south. On the east rise the lower peaks of Pindus, Ghumara, Vasilitsa and Ou with their lower slopes covered with thick ;
;
;
pine woods.
In strong contrast to the gravelly hills of the is the western boundary
Zaghori and the woods of Pindus
with the bare and craggy sierra of Papingu which rises in height towards the north where it ends in a vast wall of limestone cliffs. Between this and the southwestern end of Zmolku is a narrow, deep and precipitous cafion through which the Aous forces its
way
into the plain of Konitsa.
The position
of
Papingu and Zmolku frowning
at
one an-
other across the Aous has caused the Vlachs to locahse here a folktale of which many versions are found in the Balkans
and particularly amongst the Vlachs.
It
probably belongs to
the class of tales that are native to a district rather than to any one race. In Vlach folklore the mountain personified as a demon plays a leading part, and this is especially true of