Henry Skene, Esq., on the Albanians, 329 



strangers ; and in the large towns, they are also to be found 

 in considerable numbers. They do not mix, however, with 

 the Greek and Albanian inhabitants, but they establish them- 

 selves in the suburbs. The town, in which they are most 

 numerous is Jannina, where there are at least two thousand 

 of them, and Fremiti is also one of their favourite resorts. 

 Besides that of public executioners, they exercise the trade 

 of blacksmiths and tinkers, and they also tell fortunes here, 

 as in the other countries of Europe. Constantly on the wing 

 they wander from town to town, and even their settlements 

 are often handed over to new comers of the same race. They 

 are easily recognized by their swarthy colour and filthy 

 habits ; and, despised and maltreated by all classes, more 

 than in other countries, it is only surprising, that they are 

 to be found in such numbers in Turkey. 



There are also a great many Jews in Macedonia, Thessaly, 

 and Epirus, but more especially in the capital of the former 

 province, where there is a large community of them of 

 Spanish descent. They are to be found however wherever 

 there is a possibility of gaining money, and the small courts 

 of the Pashas offer peculiar facilities to them, from the mo- 

 netary transactions which are imperative in a country with- 

 out a paper currency. One classic publication on the subject 

 of Turkey* gives them perhaps more than was their due by 

 saying, that " every Pasha has his Jew, who is his homme 

 d'affaires ; he is let into all his secrets, and does all his 

 business. They are the physicians, the stewards, and the in- 

 terpreters of all the great men."' They are to be found how- 

 ever in great numbers, and everywhere they seem to earn 

 their bread, while some enrich themselves. 



Such is the motley population of European Turkey, and 

 such the elements of the future destinies of these provinces. 

 That they may be happy, it will only require the care and con- 

 sideration of statesmen, enlightened by the laudable wish to 

 improve them, while certain misery, such as they now endure, 

 and possibly violent convulsions in their political state, await 

 them, if matters are allowed to remain as they are. 



* Lady M. W. Montague's Works, vol. ii., p. 178. 



