CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



extortion, the produce of the country might be ten 

 times what it is ; still, so great is the fertility, that 

 there is a surplus of corn for exportation. The 

 grains chiefly cultivated are maize, wheat, rye, 

 barley, oats, and buckwheat ; the vine is grown 

 in most of the provinces ; and flax, hemp, saffron, 

 cotton, tobacco, madder, &c. chiefly in the south. 

 Manufactures, of late years, have been de- 

 pressed by foreign competition ; and the domestic 

 weaving of cotton stuff for family use, and some 

 silks at Constantinople and Salonica, are now 

 almost the only branches of consequence. Com- 

 merce is carried on chiefly with Italy, Britain, 



Austria, Greece, and Russia, and centres in Con- 

 stantinople. 



radiating in every direction, the hills occupy fully 

 three-fifths of the surface, leaving the remainder 

 in narrow defiles, glens, and basin-shaped valleys, 

 which severally formed the sites of the numerous 

 petty states into which ancient Greece was divided. 

 The mineral products are marble of various 

 colours, porphyry, slate, coal, gypsum, sulphur, 

 alum, asphalt, zinc, lead, iron, gold, silver, copper, 

 manganese, and cobalt ; none of which, however, 

 are obtained in important quantities. 



Considerable diversity of climate is experienced, 

 in consequence of the varied altitude of the 

 country, and the manner in which it is intersected 





by bays, gulfs, hills, and valleys. No portion 

 reaches the snow-line, but snow annually falls on 



During the war with Russia in 1877-78, Turkey' the higher hills, where it often lies for weeks 

 called into the ranks of its army no less than together. The vegetable and animal products of 

 752,000 men, including reserves and irregular j continental Greece are quite analogous to those 

 troops. In 1880, a partial re-organisation of of Southern Italy and Turkish Thessaly, already 



the shattered military system had been carried 

 through ; and the Turkish army was estimated to 

 comprise 150,000 available men. The navy has 

 been seriously crippled ; it counted in 1880 only 



described. 



The dominant people are the Hellenes or Greeks, 

 who chiefly inhabit the eastern and central parts, 

 and who boast of descent from the Greeks of 



some 1 8 vessels (formerly 80). The financial con- j classic times. Their language is the Romaic, a 

 dition of Turkey has for years been on the verge ; modernised form of the ancient Greek, to which 

 of utter bankruptcy. 



The government is an absolute monarchy or 

 despotism, hereditary in the family of Osman, but 

 restricted to males. The sultan, as calif, or suc- 



cessor of the prophet Mohammed, unites the 

 highest spiritual dignity with the supreme secu- 

 lar power. The only limit to his will is the 

 Koran, or Book of Mohammed (see MOHAM- 

 MEDANISM), which he is bound by his oath 

 of office to observe ; and this is in reality the 

 source of all civil, political, or criminal law. The 



it bears a much closer resemblance than the 

 Italian does to the Latin. The other inhabitants 

 are Albanians, occupying the greater part of 



Livadia and part of the Morea ; and Walachs, 

 descended from a colony from Walachia. The 

 established or national religion is that of the 

 ' Orthodox Oriental Apostolic,' or Greek Church, 

 having the sovereign for its head, and governed 

 (since 1833) by a holy synod, consisting of five 

 members annually elected by the dignitaries from 

 their own number. The only other ritual observed 



legislative and executive authority is exercised to any extent is that of the Roman Catholic, and 



under the supreme direction of the Sultan by two 

 high dignitaries, the Sadr-azam, or Grand Vizier, 

 the head of the temporal government, and the 

 Sheik-ul-Islam, or Head of the Church. Both 

 are appointed by the sovereign, the latter with 



this more especially in the Ionian Islands and the 

 Cyclades. Educationally, Greece is still in a 

 backward state, but the government is doing a 

 good deal to improve it. The public schools are 

 of four grades the communal, the ancient Greek, 



the law. The Divan, or Ministerial Council, has 

 eight portfolios. All offices of state are open to 

 the humblest subjects. Since 1856, religious 

 toleration has been the law of the land. Capital, 



a population of perhaps 



the nominal concurrence of the Ulema, a body : the gymnasium, and the university. In 1880, 

 comprising the clergy and chief functionaries of the educational returns gave 1200 teachers, with 



91,000 pupils. Besides the schools already men- 

 tioned, there are schools of medicine, and theo- 

 logical, military, and naval academies. The two 

 universities are those of Athens and Corfu. Athens 

 possesses a university, with a numerous staff of 

 professors and a library, and also a Polytechnic 

 School. 



The productive industry of the country differs 

 little from that of the southern parts of Turkey, 

 already described. The vine and currant-grape 

 are extensively cultivated ; the latter, indeed, 

 forms the staple article of export. In 1881, the 

 value of the currant trade with Great Britain 

 amounted to .1,656,000. The other fruits are 



Constantinople, with 

 450,000. 



GREECE. 



This country, whose ancient history is so inti- 

 mately associated with much that is refined and 

 noble in human progress, occupies the south-east 

 extremity of Europe, commonly distinguished as 

 the Hellenic Peninsula. It is surrounded by the 



Mediterranean, except on the north, where it is ' more the gift of nature than the results of culture, 

 bounded by Turkey, of which, till 1821, it formed The manufactures are mostly domestic and quite 

 one of the component sections. Its area, with inconsiderable ; fishing is largely carried on. The 

 the recent additions, is about 25,000 square miles, Greeks are remarkable for commercial enterprise ; 

 of which about three-fifths are cultivable. and a great part of the Mediterranean trade is in 



The physical aspect of the country is decidedly their hands. Their commercial fleet numbered 

 mountainous and rugged ; its hills, though seldom : in 1882, 6790 vessels, of a burden of near 300,000 

 rising above 5500 feet (Guiona, the culminating tons. The railway system embraces short lines 

 point of Greece, is 8783 feet; Parnassus, 8068 feet; from Athens to the Piraeus and in Thessaly ; and 

 and St Elias anc. Taygetus in the Morea, 7900 others are in progress. 



feet), being so abrupt and craggy as to assume 

 an appearance more majestic and imposing than 



many others of double the altitude. 



216 



Greece formed a part of the Turkish empire till 

 1821, when the people revolted, and after a long 



Rising and t and severe struggle, succeeded, with the aid of 



