i t ieems no ill founded conjecture to fuppofe, that manyfamflies
o f that I aft inundation o f Tartars, who in the beginning o f the
thirteenth century, forced Bela 4th king o f Hungary to take
refuge in the ¡Hands o f Dalmatia, remained, and peopled the de-
sferted vallfesrin ¡the mountains, and left thofe trafts o f the Cal-
.mucks which are ftill diftinguiihable, efpecially in the territory
o f Zara, i
ion e.dfiJ'iabun I dguodll-aj yledilnn Jon Ji dnftl 1 .'am
x) Ther,?, feems'to be no great foundation for the opinion o f the
g e o g r a p h e r , , who thinks ¡the Modacchi and Ufcochi derive
their origin from,Epirus;; Their dialect has a much greater
refenablance to ths- R a fc ian ^ d Bulgarianpthan; to the Albanefe;
and t f j . i t allowicbcutlgit.ia! pakt joftthe Morlacch'i o flfen e -
tian;B>alffi%tki had, . in lattertimes, removed from fhofe parts,"
.the difficulty fUU remains dot account dfrom whence they came
thither, JMagiqi alfo makes a feparite nMion o f the Haiduks,
.who never fortnedoa people^as (ajipbFScby the very fignification
.of fhe jyortf ¿tfelffldhciofA fuo-.aehtl'ed hnc
fo> Jnfcj baaafi od) fiLdtladq siom.Jroqqift cT
’ 9 'JlL[yWofi^y | S B fiVame.
• ;TBa.MolacfhirgensTaUycall3theinielves, in their own idiom,
JuS .¿nidi armft aril bus aao sd fliim juo I n:, sa&J xfrfyfi,
4 xiiiBwI sfli gnilcfmslai 3Ifiit s ion sgBifgnx & Jr.tq} Sri'
Stfepiy Ufcan*,-m l i z & jM ig i r t , T r i f lM j OiiBfSs, Ochra, Carjatlaf,' P jiu .
¡m s , Agr^na?eo«d»if^i^»b^l&r1*Sei,.'!perirtte,
wgr.ds, whjph./re^^v^cpr^jin.tM'vatWgnafiianBieotlhiflpriana,: and aeog
o 5n | r f P ™ r b&MPJtcij s g ?^ .u iji,b ir .:o f words derived,/°onl
the Sciavoniah ‘riiigfit f e adlietg from tile iidcriptionfin many parts of D a lia tia
« n d e r t h e f i r f t e n i 'p i i o u r s .o v - ' 1 a r i l f o r u 7 . f f f l „ . ¡ o ' *
* Haiduk figjfifiei properlf'cliitfof^yartyfi'hiafiiiidimes (afih Trarifilvania)
head qf a family; in Dalmatia it is kntottkmat»-cb"<W«eriae a rdgite, a bsriditp
KighwSy-man,
Vlajfi, a national term, o f which, as far as I-have been hitherto
able to difcover, no veftige is found* ixlt the records o f Dalmatia
before the thirteenth century: itiiignifies men o f authority, or
powerful. The denomination o f ikfsraCF^^iandicomiptlygMir-
lacchi, as the inhabitants o f the townsrcaihthem, might perhaps
point out. their original to us that; by/great,.journeys, they
came from the coafts o f the black.fea to invade thefe diftant kingr
doms. I think.it not unlikely (although I,undertake not ftre-
nuouily to defend my, conj.edure)-£ |hat tila denomirvat io n o f
Moro-VlaJJi lignilied, at hrft,. the powerful, o r . conquerors, that
came from the fea,i which«is «called ’Mobr--iriiall the diaUCtg-of
the Sclavonian language. .Little regard can, lie" had to the etymology
o f the nafne Marines hi>. imagined. by the celebrated hif-
torian o f Dalmatia»■ Sfyhannes<'I/uciuiy and copied frOffih'im by
his compiler Erefchot; . becaufe at is «evidently too {far fetched.
He pretended that MeroVlaJfiyo': MoroVlaxiy'i\gn\d<is Neri-
Lotini; although, in .good lllytick,,.'the ; word I f i s r does not
eorrefpond to blacky, and befides,. ourMo I acchi are fail as white
as the Italians, T o fupport.more plauiibly the- fecond part o f
this etymology, finding that (the commonroot o f the national
names Vlajfi or Vlaki and Valacchi is the word Vlah, indicating
power, authority and nobility^ he, concluded,that the -inhabitants
o f Valacchia. and our Vlajfi muff be one and the fame thing. But
the Valaechi fpeak,a language not a little refembling the Latin;,
and being aiked the reafon,. they anfwer that they are originally
Romans ; confeqpently our Vlajfi, although their language differs
a little,,are alfo Romans;’ ’Befidbs thefe Vlajfi defcerided, froni
Latin colonies were afterwSMs; fubdued by the Slavi, and hence '
the Angular name Vlahznd the plural Vlajfi, among the Slayi,.
became ignominious and fervile,,. infomuch, that it was affioj extended
to men o f the loweft condition among the Slavi themfelves.
Now in anfwer to all. thefe. frivolous affertions, it is fufficient 'to ■
obferve,.