CHAPTER XIX. 



GREECE AND ISLES, TURKEY, BULGARIA, RUMANIA, SERVIA, MONTENEGRO, 

 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE GYPSIES. 



GREECE AND ISLES. 



GREECE forms the end of one of the peninsulas projecting from the south of Europe into 

 the Mediterranean. It is naturally divided into three parts, the mainland portion, bounded 

 on the north by Turkey; the Peloponnesus, or Morea, connected with the mainland by the 

 narrow isthmus of Corinth; and the islands which mainly lie east and south-east of the 

 peninsula, with the Ionian Islands on the west. In 1896 the population was 2,433,806, 

 distributed over an area of 25,000 square 

 miles. 



The modern Greeks have been the 

 subject of much dispute among ethnolo- 

 gists. It is generally admitted, however, 

 that the coast and island Greeks of Asia 

 Minor have kept their blood comparatively 

 pure. By some writers it has been main- 

 tained that the Greeks of the present day 

 are Slavs speaking a corrupt form of 

 Greek. Slavonic settlers advanced into 

 the Peloponnesus from time to time, and 

 have left their influence in dress and cus- 

 toms. They were, however, swamped by 

 the inhabitants, and it is much more 

 probable that the Greeks hellenised the 

 Slavs than that the Slavs slavonised the 

 Greeks. Another race influence which has 

 been exaggerated is the Turkish. In the 

 days of their supremacy the Moslems 

 filled their harems with Grecian beauties, 

 but in this case also Greece may be said 

 to have influenced Turkey rather than 

 Turkey Greece. After the War of Inde- 

 pendence many of the Phanariot* Greeks 

 of Constantinople, who were remarkably 

 pure specimens of their race, returned 

 to Greece. The classic type may still be 

 seen in many parts of the country, such 

 as Patras, and especially in the islands. 



In appearance the average Greek is 



of medium height, spare, and well pro- PMo by A RkomaUes 

 portioned, with oval face, long straight A GREEK GIRL IN NATIONAL COSTUME. 



* The Phanariot Greeks were so called from Phanar, the suburb of Constantinople chiefly inhabited by them. 



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