the elevation of Prince Otto of Bavaria to the throne was for 2,343,7501., and was contracted through Messrs. Rothschild. Upon this the dividends have been regularly paid, but only from reserved funds of the loan itself in the first instance, and since then chiefly from the treasuries of the guaranteeing Powers, who are now, therefore, in each case heavy claimants upon the Greek Government. The guarantee is not by the Powers jointly, but is distinct in each case for a third of the loan. By the terms of a convention signed in 1866, it is arranged that the Government of Greece, instead of fulfilling its original engagement to provide half-yearly for the interest and sinking fund of the above loan, should pay to the three guaranteeing Powers not less than 36,000l. a year-British portion 12,000l.; and by the Act 27 and 28 Vict. c. 40, passed in 1864, a sum of 4,000l. sterling a year, out of the amount thus repayable in respect of the British portion, was relinquished in favour of the present King of the Hellenes, during his reign.

Besides its funded debt, Greece has a floating debt, which, according to official returns, amounted to 50,000,000 drachmas on the 1st of January 1875. But according to other statements, from Greek sources, the floating debt, at the same period, was above 166 millions of drachmas, or near six millions sterling.

Army and Navy.

The army of the kingdom is formed by conscription, with the general privilege to procure substitutes, which is made use of to a very large extent. A considerable number of the men actually under arms are veteran soldiers, including many Albanians, and a few Frenchmen, Germans, and other foreigners.

The nominal strength of the army was reported as follows, in a statement of the minister of war, accompanying the budget estimates for the year 1875:

The cost of the army in the year 1875 was given in the budget estimates at 7,830,500 drachmas, or 279,600l., showing an increase of 5,793 drachmas, or 2071. over the previous year.

The navy consisted, at the commencement of 1875, of fourteen vessels, namely one ironclad, the Basileus Georgios; six screw steamers, the Paralos, Salaminia, Plexaura, Suros, Nauplion, and Afroessa; four shooners, the Methonë, Saffo, Aura, and Kuthnos; two cutters, the Glaukos and Poludeukes; and the Royal yacht, Amphitrite. The navy was manned at the same date by 71 officers, 198 non-commissioned officers, and 384 sailors. The cost of the navy in the year 1875 was given in the budget estimates at 1,800,348 drachmas, or 64,2981., showing a decrease of 106,228 drachmas, or 3,7941. over the previous year. At the end of 1874, the navy was officered and manned by 71 commissioned officers, 198 non-commissioned officers, and 384 sailors. The navy is manned by conscription from the inhabitants of the sea-coast; but volunteering is greatly encouraged by the Government.

Population,

Greece, at the last census, taken May 2-16, 1870, had a total population of 1,457,894—of whom 754,176 were males and 703,718 females-living on an area of 19,941 English square miles. The kingdom is divided into 13 Nomos or Nomarchies, and subdivided into 59 Eparchies. By the return of the census of May 2, 1870, the population of each of the 13 Nomarchies was as follows:

The census of 1870 gives an average density of population of 73 per square mile, being less than that of European Turkey. Previous to the year 1864, there were only 58 inhabitants to the square mile, but the annexation of the Ionian Islands, with a dense population-226 per square mile-served to raise the figure, contributing far more to the population than to the area of the kingdom.

The census of 1870, as well as the previous one of 1861, exhibited the existence of a considerably larger male than female population, the former outnumbering the latter by 54,035 individuals in 1861, and by 50,468 in 1870.

About one-half of the total population of Greece is agricultural, living dispersed in villages. The principal towns are Athens, with a population of 46,000, or 52,000 including the Piræus; Syra, with 25,000; and Patras with 25,000.

At the liberation of the country, there were only nine towns which had partly escaped the total devastation of the rest; the principal of them being Lamia, Vonitza, Nauplia, and Chalcis. All the other towns and villages were in ruins, so that the first necessity of the inhabitants of the new State was to get housed. Since that time ten new cities have been founded, and twenty-three old towns, including Athens, Thebes, and Argos, have been rebuilt, besides many villages.

The nationality of the inhabitants of the kingdom is very mixed. The Albanian race occupies a considerable portion of the soil of ancient Greece, both within, as well as without, the frontiers of the new kingdom. With the exception of the two towns of Athens and Megara, it monopolises the whole of Attica and Messenia, and is in possession of the greater part of Bœotia, and a small part of Laconia. The south of Euboea, the north of Achaia, part of Elis, and the whole of Salamis, are also peopled by Albanians. In the Peloponnesus the Albanian element occupies the whole of Corinth and Argolis, the north of Arcadia, the east of Achaia; and stretching into Laconia, down the slopes of Taygetus towards the plain of Helos, it crosses the Eurotas, and holds possession of a large district round Monemvasia. However, in the kingdom its numerical strength, amounting to about 250,000 souls, is less notable than its social and industrial activity. The Albanian race furnishes to the Greek soil the greatest number of cultivators, and to the maritime population of Greece its most enterprising element.

Only one-seventh of the area of Greece is under cultivation; the rest, though in greater part good for agricultural purposes, lies waste. The whole superficies of Greece has been estimated at 45,699,248 stremmas, or about 15 millions of acres. Of these 45,699,248 stremmas, which comprise in extent the whole soil of the kingdom, with the exception of the Ionian Islands, 11,748,000

stremmas are said to be unfit for cultivation; 18,599,240 stremmas consist of rock and mountain; 5,419,660 stremmas consist of forest; 833,448 of marsh; and 1,653,000 of rivers, roads, cities, and villages. In all, therefore, there are 38,253,000 stremmas of uncultivated land, leaving 7,435,900 stremmas of land in cultivation. The ground is chiefly in the hands of a few proprietors; but many of the peasants hold small patches of land of their own. Others cultivate farms on the metayer system, the owner of the land providing the farm-house, agricultural implements, and seed; the produce, after deducting the seed, is divided in certain proportions between the cultivator and the owner of the land. A great part of the ground is national property, and the cultivator of it pays to the Government as rent 15 per cent. of the produce. By Article 101 of the Constitution of 1864, provision is made for the disposal and distribution of the national lands.

Trade and Industry.

The commerce of Greece averaged six and a half millions sterling per annum in the five years 1870-74, the imports amounting to upwards of three millions and a half, and the exports to nearly three millions. About one-half of the imports come from, and three-fifths, in value, of the exports go to the United Kingdom. The principal other countries with which commercial intercourse is carried on are, in order of importance, France, Turkey, Austria, Italy, and Russia. But the value of the imports and exports interchanged with these States is comparatively unimportant.

The commercial intercourse of Greece with the United Kingdom is exhibited in the subjoined tabular statement, showing the value of the total exports from Greece to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into Greece, in the five years 1870 to 1874:

The staple article of export from Greece to Great Britain is

currants, the value of which, in the year 1874, amounted to 1,278,9747. At the head of the other articles of export stand valonia, shipped to the value of 51,5237. in 1874, and olive oil, of the value of 23,3971., the latter exported solely from the Ionian Islands. Of the imports from the United Kingdom into Greece, about one-half are manufactured cotton goods. The declared value of the staple of British produce, cotton goods, imported in the year 1874 amounted to 619,3351., against 624,955l. in 1873. It will be seen from the preceding table that the commerce of Greece with Great Britain has been stationary since the year 1870.

Greece is mainly an agricultural country, and the existing manufactures are few and unimportant. Corn is not produced, however, in sufficient quantities to serve for the subsistence of the inhabitants, and a certain amount has to be imported every year, chiefly from Southern Russia. The most favoured and best-cultivated of crops is that of the currant, or the 'papolina.' Immense districts are planted with currants in various parts of the kingdom, particularly along the shores of the Gulf of Corinth, between the towns of Corinth and Patras, and on the islands of Zante and Cephalonia. Almost all trade is carried on by sea, and there is very little inland traffic, owing to want of roads. In 1868 the first, and as yet only, railway, a line of seven miles, connecting Athens with the port of Piræus, was opened in the kingdom.

The telegraphic lines were of a total length of 1,850 kilometres, or 1,156 English miles, at the end of 1872. They carried 138,500 telegrams in 1872.

Of post offices there existed 129 at the end of 1872. During the year the number of private letters carried was 2,300,000, of official letters 711,000, and of newspapers 1,400,000, the total revenue amounting to 596,384 drachmas, and the expenditure to 635,891 drachmas.

The merchant navy of Greece numbered 6,142 vessels, of an aggregate burthen of 420,210 tons, at the end of 1872, and was manned by 35,000 sailors. A large portion of the carrying trade of the Black Sea and the eastern parts of the Mediterranean is carried on under the Greek flag.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Greece, and their English. equivalents, are :—

MONEY.