Eastern Roumelian Government in September 1885. The public debt of the province at the present time (November 1886) amounts to about T643,8921., calculating the tribute due to the Porte annually at T185,000l. (including the customs equivalent), being the estimate as modified by the vote of the Provincial Assembly. Should, however, the original sum fixed by the annexe of the Organic Statute (245,000 Turkish liras) be adopted, the provincial debt would amount at the present time to T722,2921.

Area and Population.

The area of Eastern Roumelia is estimated at 13,500 English square miles, and the population, in official returns of the year 1880, is stated to amount to 815,946. The census of January 13, 1885, gives the total population of the province at over 975,050. The population is distributed as follows, according to races, in 1885-Christian Bulgarians, 681,734; Turks and Moslem Bulgarians, 200,498; Greeks, 53,028; Gypsies, 27,190; Jews, 6,982; Armenians, 1,865; Foreigners, 3,733. Philippopolis, the capital, contains by latest returns, 33,442 inhabitants, of whom 16,752 are Bulgarians, 7,144 Turks, 5,497 Greeks, 2,168 Israelites, 806 Armenians, 112 Gypsies, and 963 of foreign nationality.

According to the Turco-Bulgarian arrangement sanctioned by the Constantinople Conference-April 6, 1886--the canton of Kirjali and twenty small villages of the Rhodope, containing about 40,000 inhabitants (Mussulmans), were detached from Eastern Roumelia and annexed to Turkey, so that the above number of Mussulman inhabitants is reduced to 160,000.

Agriculture is the chief occupation, but it is in a very backward condition. With a view to teach the people a new and improved system of agriculture, the Government established in 1882 an Agricultural School at Sadovo, near Philippopolis. According to the last statistical returns about 1,663,000 acres are under tillage. According to official returns for 1883, the production of wine in Eastern Roumelia during that year amounted to 29,036,765 litres; of rakis to 2,279,993 litres; of tobacco to 472,137 kilg.; of cocoons to 156,913 kilg., of the value of 1,451,952 piasters. According to the same returns, there were in the country 370,862 cattle, 43,601 horses and foals, 1,858,839 sheep, 425,569 goats, 107,442 swine, 4,502 mules, 28,913 asses, making the total numbers of live stock, 2,839,728. There is a considerable native woollen manufacture, the chief products being the aba (a coarse woollen cloth) and the gaitan (a woollen braid), which are exported to European Turkey, Asia Minor, and Bosnia. Two woollen factories have been established at Slivno. There are numerous saw-mills in the Rhodope

The

mountains, and a great deal of timber is exported to Asia Minor. In 1882 Eastern Roumelia imported goods to the value of 34,386,178 piastres, and in 1883 to the value 54,749,868 piastres. In 1882 the value of its exports was 40,547,707 piastres, and in 1883, 64,099,964 piastres. The principal exports are cereals (30,900,265 piastres in 1883), and imports live stock, 12,025,631 piastres; textiles, 1,076,479 piastres; wool, 5,109,065 piastres in 1883. foreign trade was mainly with Turkey (24,000,000 piastres imports, 30,600,000 piastres exports), and Bulgaria (23,677,000 piastres imports, 19,662,000 piastres exports); then Austria, Servia, Russia, Roumania, France (9,261,544 piastres exports in 1883), and Great Britain. The trade with England alone is estimated at about 500,000l., but is chiefly carried on through Turkey, and therefore does not figure in the published statistical returns. The principe! articles imported from England are cotton goods, copper, iron, and colonial produce.

The total number of letters which passed through the post office in 1883 was 874,566. The number of telegraphic messages of all kinds was 156,663 in 1883.

British Consul-General.-Captain Henry Michael Jones, V.C., appointed November 4, 1880.

Diplomatic Representatives.

1. OF TURKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Ambassador.-Rustem Pasha, accredited Dec. 7, 1885.
Secretaries.-Morel Bey; Hamid Bey; Moustapha Chékib Bey.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN TURKEY.

Ambassador. Sir William A. White, G.C.M.G., C.B.; appointed Agent and Consul-General for Roumania, May 2, 1878; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, March 3, 1879; Ambassador to Turkey, January 1 1887.

Secretaries-Edmund D. V. Fane; R. J. Kennedy; G. A. Lowther; E Thornton; T. W. Stronge; H. G. O. Bax Ironsides; C. L. des Graz; R. T. Tower; Sir A. Sandison, Oriental Secretary.

Military Attaché.-Major H. Trotter, C.B.
Consul-General.-J. H. Fawcett

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of the Turkish Empire, and the British equivalents, are :—

Large accounts are frequently, as in the official budget estimates, set down in 'purses' of 500 Medjidié piastres, or 5 Turkish liras. The 'purse' is calculated as worth 41. 10s. sterling. There exists a large amount of debased silver currency-which, however, it is stated, is being (Dec. 1884) gradually withdrawn-to which were added, during the years 1876 to 1881. 600,000,000 piastres of paper money, known as caïmé; but being refused by the Government, owing to its depreciation, it became in the end of merely nominal value, and altogether refused in commercial intercourse. The copper currency was likewise repudiated, owing to its depreciation. The beshlik-altilik and metallic currency was reduced by decree to half its coined value. Foreign silver coins circulate freely in the empire, notwithstanding the efforts made to prevent it, while silver is in excess to the requirements of trade.

The present monetary system of Turkey was established in the reign of the late Sultan Abdul-Medjid, on which account the name of Medjidié is frequently given to the Lira, the unit of the system.

The kileh is the chief measure for grain, the lower measures being definite weights rather than measures. 100 killows are equal to 12.128 British imperial quarters, or 35-266 hectolitres.

In March 1882 Turkish weights and measures were assimilated to the metric system, but under the old names, leading to much confusion; they have not been generally adopted in practice. Oke = kilogram, batman = 10 kilograms, cantar = 100 kilograms, tchéki = 1,000 kilograms, shinik = decalitre, kileh hectolitre (2.75 bushels), evlek = are, djeril = hectare (2·47 acres), arshin = mètre, nul kilomètre, farsang = 10 kilomètres.

=

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Turkey.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Salnamé 1302. Official Almanac for the Turkish Empire for 1885-86. 8. Constantinople, 1886.

Risale-Nameh. Turkish Almanac for 1302 Hedjira. 12. Constantinople, 1885.

Renseignements statistiques de la direction des finances de la Roumélie Orientale. Philippopolis, 1883.

Statistique de la Principauté de Bulgarie. Résultats généraux du Recensement del a Population du 1/13 Janvier, 1881. Sofia, 1884.

Annuaire Statistique de la Roumélie Orientale (Année 1883). 1885.

Report by Mr. Godfrey Blunt on the finances of Turkey, in 'Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy.' Part I. 1884.

Report by Mr. Wyndham on the trade of Turkey, in 'Report of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy.' Part IV. 1884.

Report by Consul Alfred Biliotti on the schools in the Vilayet of Trebizond, in Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Agents Abroad.' Part III. Folio. London, 1885.

Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Turkey. 1876. Fol. pp. 757. London, 1877.

Treaty between Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, for the settlement of affairs in the East. Signed at Berlin, July 13, 1878. Fol. London, 1878.

Report by Mr. Vice-Consul Jago on the revenues and taxation of Syria, in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls. Part I. 1877. 8. London, 1877.

Reports on the trade and commerce of Samsoon and Trebizond, in Part I.: on Salonica, in Part II.; on Jeddah, in Part III.; Angora and Prevesa, in Part IV.; Aleppo, in Part VI.; Crete, in Part VII.; Beyrout, Dedeagatch, Erzeroum, Jaffa, Janma, Salonica, and Serres, in Part VIII.; Trebizond, in Part IX.; of Reports of H.M.'s Consuls,' 1884.

Report by Consul Jago on the trade and commerce of Jeddah in 1884 in Part III.; by Vice-Consul Barnham on Angora, Consul Sandwith on Crete. Consul Dickson on Damascus, Consular Agent Amzalak on Jaffa, Consular Agent Kypriotes on Janina, Vice-Consul Blakeney on Prevesa in Part VI.; by Vice-Consul Richardson on Mosul, in Part VIII.; by Consul Mockler on Busreh; Consul Everett on Erzeroum; Consul Biliotti on Trebizond, in Part IX. of 'Reports of H.M.'s Consuls,' London, 1885.

Report by Mr. Jago on the history, revenue, and taxation of the Hejaz, in Part II. of Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Agents Abroad."' London, 1886.

Report on the trade of Varna for 1885, in No. 1; on Beyrout, in No. 8; Salonica (1883-4), in No. 24; Erzeroum, in No. 30; Kharput, in No. 54; Crete, in No. 56; Smyrna, in No. 67 of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports" London, 1886.

Hertslet (Sir E.), Foreign Office List. Published Annually. London, 1886. Trade of Turkey with Great Britain; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions, for the year 1885.' Imp. 4. London, 1886.

NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Bath (Marquis of), Observations on Bulgarian Affairs. 8. London, 1880. Boué (Ami), La Turquie d'Europe. 4 vols. 8. Paris, 1840.

Bourke (R.), Turkish Debt. Report by Rt. Hon. Robert Bourke, M.P., to the English and Dutch Bondholders. London, January 1882.

Campbell (Hon. Dudley), Turks and Greeks. 8. London, 1877.

Clark (Edson L.), The Races of European Turkey: their History, Condition, and Prospects. 8. New York, 1879.

Creasy (Sir Edward Shepherd), History of the Ottoman Turks, from the beginning of their Empire to the present time. New ed. 8. London, 1882. Journal de la Chambre de Commerce de Constantinople. Constantinople. Published weekly.

Davis (E.), Asiatic Turkey. London, 1879.

Dunn (Archibald J.), The Rise and Decay of Islam. 8. London, 1877. Farley (J. Lewis), The Decline of Turkey. 8. London, 1876.

Freeman (Edward A.), The Ottoman Power in Europe: its Nature, its Growth, and its Decline. 8. London, 1877.

Geary (Grattan), Asiatic Turkey. 2 vols. 8. London, 1878.

Goehlert (J. V.), Die Bevölkerung der europäischen Türkey. 8. Wien, 1866. Hafiz Husseyn (Effendi), Hadikat-ul-dschevami. Description of the Mosques, High Schools, and Convents. 2 vols. 8. Constantinople, 1864-66.

Hertslet (Sir E.), Treaties and tariffs between Great Britain and Turkey. Heuschling (P. F. X. T.), L'Empire de Turquie d'après ses derniers traités. S. Bruxelles, 1859.

Huhn (Major A. von), The Struggle of the Balkans for National Independence under Prince Alexander. London, 1886.

Keane (A. H.) and Temple (Sir R.), Asia. London, 1882.

Kinglake (Alexander William), The Invasion of the Crimea. 8. Edinburgh an i London, 1863–75.

Layard (Right Hon. Austen Henry), The Condition of Turkey and her Dependencies. 8. London, 1854.

Michelsen (Edward H.), The Ottoman Empire and its Resources. Tables. 8. London, 1854.

Millingen (Fred.), La Turquie sous le règne d'Abdul Aziz. 8. Paris, 1868. Paoli (Sim.), La Turquie devant l'Europe. 8. Paris, 1868.

Perrin (Dr. T.), L'Islamisme, son institution, son influence et son avenir. 8. Paris, 1878.

Poole (Stanley Lane-), The People of Turkey: Twenty Years' Residence among Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, Turks, and Armenians. By a Consul s Daughter. 2 vols. 8. London, 1878.

Reclus (Elisée), Géographie Universelle. Vol. I. Paris, 1876.

Rosen (G.), Geschichte der Türkei neuester Zeit. 2 vols. 8. Leipzig,

1866-67.

Schweiger-Lerchenfeld (Baron Armand von), Unter dem Halbmonde. Ein Bild des Ottomanischen Reichs und seiner Völker. 8. Jena, 1876. Tchihatchef (M.), Lettres sur la Turquie. 8. Bruxelles, 1859. Ubicini (A.), Lettres sur la Turquie. 2 vols. 8. Paris, 1853.

Vincent (Edgar), The Turkish Debt. Report on the Administration of the Ceded Revenues of Turkey. London, October 1882.

Zinkeisen (J. W.), Geschichte des Osmanischen Reichs in Europa. 7 vols. 8. Gotha, 1840-63.

Zwiedenek-Südenhirst (Freiherr von). Die administration der Türkischen Esterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient.' Oct. 15, 1883.

Staatsschuld.

Vienna.

NN