devoted largely to the instruction of the people. 

 Primary schools are nearly universal, schools 

 for training teachers are springing up, and twenty- 

 two universities give a liberal and professional 

 culture. But in 1881, the average number of the 

 people above six years of age who could not read 

 or write was 61 per cent. 



The productive industry of Italy presents con- 

 siderable variety. Lombardy is the chief corn- 

 growing state ; in Tuscany, the culture of fruit is 

 much attended to ; the central parts are mainly 

 pastoral ; and in Naples and Sicily, ' the abund- 

 ance of vegetable productions is more owing to the 

 climate and soil than to the industry of the hus- 

 bandman.' The culture of silk, the vine, and olive, 

 are important. Fish form an important article of 

 consumption ; and the tunny, anchovy, mullet, 

 and other fisheries are conducted upon an extensive 

 scale. The chief manufactures are those of silk 

 fabrics, silk thread, &c. which have their principal 

 seat in Lombardy. The commerce of Italy has 

 rgely increased of late. In 1885, the total value 

 her export trade was given at .47,250,238 ; 

 hat of the imports was a little more. There are 

 iver 5500 miles of Italian railway in use. In 1885 

 " e revenue, shewing, contrary to custom, a surplus, 

 as .62,428,506 ; the debt was over 400,000,000. 

 The war effective of the Italian army amounts to 

 1,990,000 men, including militia. The navy has 

 nearly 120 ships of war, of which over 20 are iron- 

 clads, including several of the most powerful afloat. 

 The population in 1881 amounted to 28,459,628. 

 Politically, Italy was long divided into a num- 

 r of independent states, but since 1870, when 

 the troops of Victor Emanuel took possession of 

 " e papal territories, it has become a single nation. 

 ' ie government is a limited monarchy, with two 

 ouses, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies ; 

 :e latter elected by the people, the former, 

 ainly nominated by the king for life. Rome, the 

 pital, had in 1881 about 273,000 inhabitants. 



ROUMANIA, SERVIA, MONTENEGRO. 



The three principalities, Roumania, Servia, and 

 lontenegro, formerly subject to Turkey, secured 

 ie recognition of their independence at the 

 Jerlin Congress of 1878; and since 1882, Rou- 

 lania and Servia are kingdoms. 



ROUMANIA, lying between the Danube and the 

 Castern Carpathians, which separate it from 

 Austria, has an area of 45,000 square miles, and a 

 Dpulation in 1880 of above 5,000,000. Both of 

 main divisions, Moldavia and Walachia, are 

 lirly fertile. The inhabitants are a mixed race, 

 descended partly from Roman colonists, and speak 

 Roumansch, a language largely derived from 

 Latin. The principality is a constitutional mon- 

 archy ; the creed is that of the Greek Church. 



SERVIA, partly highland and partly plain, lies 

 south of the Danube ; it has an area of 18,800 

 square miles, and a population of 1,900,000. The 

 people are of the Slavonic race, and, speaking a 

 pure Slavonic tongue, belong mainly to the Greek 

 faith. The king and his council are responsible 

 to the Senate and Assembly. 



MONTENEGRO, chiefly a wild highland, just 

 touches the Adriatic on its western border. The 

 area is near 3550 square miles, and the popula- 

 tion is estimated at 250,000. The people are 

 Slavs of the Servian branch, and adhere to the 



EUROPE. 



Greek church. The prince is substantially an 

 absolute monarch. 



TURKEY IN EUROPE. 



Turkey in Europe lies between lat. 39 and 48 

 north, and long. 16 and 29 east. It is bounded 

 on the north by Austria, Servia, and Roumania ; 

 east, by the Black Sea, Sea of Marmora, and the 

 Archipelago ; south, by Greece ; and west, by 

 the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. Since the Berlin 

 treaty of 1878, when Montenegro, Servia, and 

 Roumania became independent, Turkey in 

 Europe, including Bosnia and Herzegovina (now 

 occupied by Austria), the principality of Bulgaria, 

 and the autonomous province of Eastern Rou- 

 melia, has an area of about 130,000 square miles. 



The chief mountain-range is the Balkan, the 

 ancient Hsemus. Branching off from the Dinaric 

 Alps, which separate the plains of Hungary from 

 the Adriatic Gulf, it passes eastward to the Black 

 Sea. The greatest known height is 9700 feet. 

 North of the Balkan, Bulgaria, lying in the great 

 valley of the Danube, consists mainly of rich allu- 

 vium. The country south of the Balkan is diver- 

 sified by offsets from that range ; and a branch 

 known in ancient times as the Pindus range is 

 sent off southward into Greece. Between these 

 southern offshoots of the Balkan are inclosed 

 valleys and plains, often of great beauty and 

 fertility. The minerals of economical importance 

 are marble ; iron, copper, lead, and silver ore ; 

 magnesia, meerschaum, and whetstones ; but 

 mining, unless in Bosnia, is little attended to. 



As to climate, the flat provinces in the north 

 have a hot and sultry summer ; the winter, on the 

 other hand, is severe, and snow lies for fully five 

 months on the mountains. South of the Balkan, 

 the seasons are less marked, and the climate of 

 the valleys is delightful. In Bosnia and the 

 adjoining provinces, the cereals and other culti- 

 vated crops can be raised in any quantities on the 

 plains, while the mountain-slopes are clad with 

 forests of oak, elm, and pine. South of the 

 Balkan, the country is covered with forests of the 

 sycamore, plane, carob, box, and cypress ; gardens 

 of roses, jasmine, and lilac ; vineyards andorchards 

 of nearly all kinds of fruit-trees. In Thessaly 

 the garden of European Turkey the olive, vine, 

 fig, pomegranate, walnut, almond, orange, lemon, 

 citron, cotton, tobacco, silk, &c. are reared in per- 

 fection. 



The ruling people of the country are the Otto- 

 man Turks or Osmanlis, an offshoot from the 

 Tatars of Central Asia, who, between 1390 and 1470, 

 conquered that part of the country lying within 

 the confines of Europe. They form, however, but 

 a small minority in the European portion of their 

 empire. Of the 9 million inhabitants, they num- 

 bered, in 1880, only about 2 millions, the rest 

 being Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, Armenians, and 

 Jews. They have, however, imposed their Mussul- 

 man religion on 3$ millions of the inhabitants, 

 although the adherents of the Greek Church are 

 nearly twice as numerous. There is some educa- 

 tion of a kind, but it is almost restricted to the 

 reading of the Koran and its commentaries. 



Every branch of industry is in a backward 

 state in Turkey. Agriculture is in a very rude 

 and even declining condition. Were the Turkish 

 farmers and herdsmen secure from plunder and 



215 



