Henry Skene, Esq., on the Albatiians. 323 



army. They were first employed as regular soldiers in the 

 time of the Byzantine empire, when the bands of Armatoli 

 were formed ; and the Turks were wise enough to continue 

 this system of militia, for the defence of the many defiles and 

 mountain-passes of continental Greece. They had also the 

 responsible protection of all the roads, when brigandage was 

 rife ; and although the travellers in general suffered robbery 

 equally frequently, yet a strict superior officer could make 

 the system efficacious. A chief functionary under the Turks 

 commanded them, with the title of Dervendji Bashi, from the 

 Persian word derbend, or pass ; and it was this post which 

 commenced the extraordinary career of Ali Pasha of Jannina. 

 He made the Armatoli so efficient as road-guards, that high- 

 way robbery was effectually put a stop to. One of his expe- 

 dients to intimidate by example was to cut off the hands and 

 feet of all the brigands whom he captured, and to leave them 

 on the most frequented roads to die of hunger, and the 

 effects of their mutilation. So appalling an example did not, 

 as it is said, require a very frequent repetition, for in a short 

 time the roads became as secure to travellers as those of the 

 most civilised countries ; and a man might have walked in 

 perfect safety, with his purse in his hand, from one end of 

 the province to the other. The terror of Ali's name alone 

 was an invisible ^gis to protect him. 



Besides the three great families of Turks, Greeks, and 

 Albanians, there are to be found, in the Greek provinces of 

 European Turkey, two other tribes, equally distinct from 

 these and from each other, though infinitely less numerous. 

 These are the Bulgarians and the Vlachs. 



The Bulgarians are a race of Sclavonian origin, and are 

 supposed by some to have been a tribe of the Huns. Their 

 physical appearance is totally different from that of the Greeks 

 and Albanians. More powerful in form, they are of a heavy 

 build, while their features are coarser, and devoid of the 

 acute and intelligent expression which is so remarkable in 

 the Greek and even in the Albanian physiognomy. The Bul- 

 garians are brave but cruel, strong workmen, but brutal in 

 their habits and manners ; and the best and most advanta- 

 geous of their characteristics is their aptness for country 



