At the death of a noble, his arms belonged by right to the Czar; but his dresses, gold and silver plate, precious stones, and gilt girdles fell to his male children, whom failing, to the daughters.  If a noble insulted another noble, he paid a fine; if a gentleman insulted a noble, he was flogged.

The laity were called “dressers in white:”  hence one must conclude that light coloured dresses were used by the people, and black by the clergy.  Beards were worn and held sacred:  plucking the beard of a noble was punished by the loss of the right hand.

Rape was punished with cutting off the nose of the man; the girl received at the same time a third of the man’s fortune, as a compensation.  Seduction, if not followed by marriage, was expiated by a pound of gold, if the party were rich; half a pound of gold, if the party were in mediocre circumstances; and cutting off the nose if the party were poor.

If a woman’s husband were absent at the wars, she must wait ten years for his return, or for news of him.  If she got sure news of his death, she must wait a year before marrying again.  Otherwise a second marriage was considered adultery.

Great protection was afforded to friendly merchants, who were mostly Venetians.  All lords of manors were enjoined to give them hospitality, and were responsible for losses sustained by robbery within their jurisdiction.  The lessees of the gold and silver mines of Servia, as well as the workmen of the state mint, were also Venetians; and on looking through Professor Shafarik’s collection, I found all the coins closely resembling in die those of Venice.  Saint Stephan is seen giving to the king of the day the banner of Servia, in the same way as Saint Mark gives the banner of the republic of Venice to the Doge, as seen on the old coins of that state.

The process of embalming was carried to high perfection, for the mummy of the canonized Knes Lasar is to be seen to this day.  I made a pilgrimage some years ago to Vrdnik, a retired monastery in the Frusca Gora, where his mummy is preserved with the most religious care, in the church, exposed to the atmosphere.  It is, of course, shrunk, shrivelled, and of a dark brown colour, bedecked with an antique embroidered mantle, said to be the same worn at the battle of Kossovo.  The fingers were covered with the most costly rings, no doubt since added.

It appears that the Roman practice of burning the dead, (probably preserved by the Tsinsars, the descendants of the colonists in Macedonia,) was not uncommon, for any village in which such an act took place was subject to fine.

If there be Moslems in secret to this day in Andalusia, and if there were worshippers of Odin and Thor till lately on the shores of the Baltic, may not some secret votaries of Jupiter and Mars have lingered among the recesses of the Balkan, for centuries after Christianity had shed its light over Europe?