The Archimandrite, or Abbot, soon came down and welcomed us most cordially, conducting us to his room, where we were regaled with the inevitable strong black coffee.  He was a big, handsome man, with the long beard and hair which all the priests of the Greek Church wear.  Quiet and benevolent as he looked, he is famed throughout the whole country as a mighty warrior; for in times of war the priests fight with the soldiers for their beloved freedom.  Strangely enough, in the last war with Turkey he played an important role in saving the very monastery of which he is now the spiritual head.  He was then a colonel, and commanded a battalion.  The following story of the rout of the Turks is taken down from his own lips.

[Illustration:  THE MORACA MONASTERY]

In those years (1876-7) all this district was in the hands of the Sultan, and the Turks had just made an unsuccessful attack upon the Monastery of Ostrog.  Their army, under the command of the famous Mehmet Ali Pasha, was retreating on Kolasin, pursued by the Montenegrins.  On reaching the Monastery of Moraca they halted with the intention of first destroying it, and Mehmet Ali placed a battery in a commanding position on the opposite heights for the bombardment.

Unknown to the Turks, half a battalion of Montenegrins were stationed there as garrison, and the Pasha, thinking that he had but a handful of priests to deal with, sent down a small detachment to effect an entrance.  The gate was opened, and they were enticed inside.  Hardly had the last man set his foot within the courtyard when the Montenegrins fell upon them and beheaded them every one.

The Turks, deeming all safe, sent a second detachment to assist in bringing out the booty, and they met with a similar fate.  Then Mehmet began to suspect that something was wrong, and made preparations for a bombardment; but it was too late.  A brigade of pursuing Montenegrins had come up.  They fell upon him from flank and rear, and a horrid slaughter ensued.

It must be confessed that the account seems incredible, and is, doubtless innocently enough, greatly exaggerated.  But the worthy Abbot distinctly stated that out of 25,000 Turks only 2,000 or 3,000 escaped.  It was indeed “a terrible tale of a Turk that is ghastly and grim and gory.”  The Montenegrins were but men 1,800 strong, just three battalions, one of which was commanded by Michael Dozic, the Abbot, and his battalion it was that took the Turks in the rear, throwing them into utter confusion.

To-day the peasants still find heaps of bones in the crevices and hollows of the rocks.

After this very pleasant story, we descended into the courtyard, which is formed in a semicircle.  In the centre stands the church.  It is built in the shape of a cross, and its porch and interior are gorgeously adorned with the most quaint frescoes; indeed, every particle of the walls and ceiling is covered with frescoes of the most crude design and vivid colouring, and the altar-screen is magnificently gilded.  The colours are well preserved, and seem as fresh as when the monks first laid them on, for the painting all dates back to the time of the foundation.