Material taken from Historia Krajes. Translation Petrit Latifi.

This article in the Hungarian newspaper “Vasárnapi újság” dated January 12, 1862 describes the scene when “thieving Montenegrins” begin to occupy an island in Lake Shkodër after the burning of Muriqi and Shestan. Part of the descriptive text from the newspaper:

“…Since the fighting between Montenegro and Turkey broke out, one can often read in the columns of political newspapers about the incursions of some Montenegrin troops into “Turkish land” for plunder and destruction. However, these robberies are not uncommon in peacetime; for the inhabitants of the Black Mountains, not finding enough food among their rugged mountains to sustain their lives, seek the opportunity to strike at the most fertile plain and plunder the herds and other cottages of the Turks living there.

Religious and racial hatred are, of course, only a justification for the attacks, the real reason is to be found in the Montenegrin desire to plunder. The northern shore of Lake Shkodra is the most exposed to violence. Here the cliffs of Montenegro are right up to the water’s edge, through which almost impassable paths and terribly open mountain openings of lead into the interior of Montenegro.

The inhabitants of these romantic mountains gather for 50 to 100 nights. The Turks, who were suddenly surprised, courageously resist in this case, but because they suddenly cannot gather in sufficient numbers, mostly without result; Thus they are forced to flee to the nearest villages with their wealth saved from the overwhelming enemy, where they then return in a stronger team, usually returning immediately to pursue the robbers, but of course without any success, because then the enemy retreated into impassable mountains, leaving only the deep village, and even scorching it with savagery sometimes.

This time, the Montenegrins, apparently, set out with a much larger force than usual, not only because they stormed two villages at the same time, namely the villages of Shestani and Muriqi on the shores of Lake Shkodra, but they also occupied a small island in the Lake. Our photograph shows the scene when the robber Montenegrins begin to occupy this island after the burning of Muriqi.”
Source: “Vasárnapi újság” (Sunday Newspaper) 1862. Volume 9. No. 2)

AI generated photo of the original engraving from the newspaper.

According to Andrija Jovićević, in his “Description of Lake Skadar and Fishing in It”, the Montenegrin detachments consisted of 1 to 30 ships. Each ship numbered 16 to 25 warriors. They began to fight in the evenings by surprise and returned at dawn. If they had to stay for several days, they hid under willows during the day and at night attacked the “Turkish” settlements and took the loot. According to Pavle Rovinski, in recognition of their heroic attacks, Prince Nikola bought eleven ships for the inhabitants of Ceklin, one for each brotherhood.

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We published this article and this authentic engraving from that year, 1862, for the first time for researchers on this portal on July 25, 2020.

Original engraving.