MONTENEGRO (an Italian translation of • the native name CZERNAGORA, "Black Mountain") is a small but independent and recently extended principality situated be Bosnia and Albania. Till 1878 it was separated from the Adriatic by a narrow :strip; now it touches the coast for a short distance at Antivari, its only port; which is •closed to the navies of all nations—Montenegro being prohibited from having war-ships. _Montenegro contains above 2,000 sq.m., and is everywhere mountainous, the mountains being in most cases clothed with dark forests of fir, ash, beech, oak, ilex, willow, and poplar.• Mt. Dormitor, in the is 8,200 ft., and Mt. Korn, in the e., 8,000 ft. above sea-level. Agriculture is prosecuted to the utmost extent the country will admit of, but in a rude and primitive manner. The products are those of other European countries in the same latitude. Few oxen are reared, but sheep, goats, and swine abound.
There are no towns in Montenegro save in the recently conceded portion: of them, Podgoritza (pop. 7,500) and Antivari (pop. 3000) are the only ones worthy of mention. Vettigne or Cettinji, the seat of government, contains above a hundred houses, many of them well-built, besides a convent and the palace of the prince of Montenegro. The villages are unwalled; the houses, or rather huts, which compose them, are rarely pro vided with chimneys, and in the elevated districts are more wretched in appearance than even the mud hovels of Ireland.
The Montenegrins or Tzernagorzes are Slays of the Servian race, and number about 130,000. They are knit together in clans and families, and have many feuds amongst themselves, which are perpetuated by the hereditary obligation of avenging blood. Their chief occupations at home are agriculture and fishing, but they are ever ready for war or pillage. Education among them is at a very low ebb; in fact, it is held in con tempt, and many, even among the priests, are unable to read or write. In 1841 several schools were established, and the art of printing introduced ; but the unsettled state of the country has hitherto prevented much improvement. Their language is a very pure dialect of the Slavic. They belong to the non-united Greek church. In 1871 the first newspaper in Montenegro was established.
Political Divisions and Government —Montenegro is divided into the districts of Mon tenegro proper, and Brda or Zjeta, each of these being subdivided into four "navies" or
.departments, and these are further subdivided, each subdivision having its own heredi tary chief. Besides, there are the newly added territories, not yet organized. Until 1851 the head of the government was the vladika (" metropolitan," or "spiritual chief "), who, besides his proper office of archbishop and ecclesiastical superior, was at the same time chief ruler, lawgiver, judge, and military leader. This theocratic administration became (1697) hereditary in the Petrovitch family, but as the vladika cannot marry, the dignity was inherited through brothers and nephews. Since 1851-the two offices have been disjoined, and the vladika is restricted to his ecclesiastical office, while the cares of .government devolve upon the "gospodar" (" bospodar") or lord, though the common people still apply to him the title "svcti gospodar," which properly belongs to the vladika alone. The vladika Pietro II. (1830-51) established a senate of twelve mem bers, elected from the chief families of the country, and in this body the executive power was vested. Next to the vladika in ecclesiastical affairs is archimandrite of the convent of Ostroc. The other public officers, as the secretary of state, the chancel lor, and the local judges, are appointed by popular election. From time to time an assembly of all the adult males of the country takes place in a grassy hollow near Cct tigne, the capital; but the powers of this assembly are very undefined. For defraying the expenses of government, taxes are levied on each household, the income thus raised .amounting to 40,000 Austrian florins, or £4,068. Besides this the prince receives from Russia a subsidy of 8,000 ducats (£3,733), and from Austria 20,000 florins (£2,000). As the Montenegrin, even when engaged in agricultural operations, is always armed with rifle, yataghan, and pistols, an army of 26,000 men can be summoned on the shortest notice, and in desperate cases 14,000 more troops can be raised. Their intense love of inde pendence, and heroism in the defense of their country, is worthy of the highest respect; but out of their own country they are savage barbarians, who destroy with fire and -sword everything they cannot carry off.