76 



BULGAKIA. 



equal certainty that the present numhers do 

 not approach those of past estimates." 



The Yellowstone Park buffaloes differ from 

 those that formerly abounded on the Great 

 Plains, and even from those known as the 

 mountain buffalo, that ranged in the Colorado 

 parks. It is probable that they are a cross be- 

 tween the two. They are described as some- 

 what smaller, of lighter color, less curly, and 

 with horns smaller and less spreading. They 

 have smaller shoulder-humps, and larger, dark- 

 er brisket- wattles. It is said that they are more 

 hardy, fleet, and intelligent than the larger va- 

 riety of the plains, and their hides are more 

 valuable, being covered with a softer quality 

 of hair. 



Besides these wild preserves there are scat- 

 tered through the country several small pri- 

 vate herds which confirm the universal testi- 

 mony as to the possibility of domestication. 

 In the British possessions an attempt in the 

 same direction is making on a larger scale. In 

 1879, Mr. S. L. Bedson, warden of the Mani- 

 toba penitentiary, at Stony mountain, in that 

 province, foreseeing the approaching extermi- 

 nation of the wild bison, secured a bull and 

 four calves with a view to breeding pure stock 

 as well as crossing with domestic cattle. The 

 increase was so surprisingly rapid, that in a 

 few years he had a considerable herd, and was 

 a prime mover in the organization of " The 

 Northwest Buffalo Breeding Company," hav- 

 ing for its object the cultivation of buffalo 

 grade-cattle. Mr. Bedson writes that there is 

 seldom much difficulty in crossing the buffalo 

 with the domestic cow. It has no particular 

 breeding- season, calves being dropped at all 

 times of the year, and with apparent impu- 

 nity, even in the rigorous climate of Manitoba. 

 Owing to the hereditary traits of the animal 

 it needs but little care, requiring no housing, 

 even in winter ; and they forage a great deal 

 of their own food at all times. At the date of 

 writing the herd numbered eighty-two head, all 

 told, of which fifty-two, namely twenty bulls 

 and thirty-two cows are pure-bred Manito- 

 ban buffalo. It is estimated, judging from Mr. 

 Bedson's actual experience, that in five years, 

 with average good fortune, the company will 

 control a herd of near three hundred head. 



The flesh of the buffalo is nearly equal to 

 beef in its nutritious and savory qualities. The 

 fresh hide is now worth $35, and there is every 

 probability that a few years of training will 

 make the wild ox of North America a tract- 

 able servant of man. 



BULGARIA, a principality in Eastern Europe, 

 created into an autonomous province, tributary 

 to and under the suzerainty of the Sultan of 

 Turkey, by the Treaty of Berlin. The legis- 

 lative powers were committed to a single as- 

 sembly, called the Sobranje, the members of 

 which are elected directly by universal suf- 

 frage, in the proportion of one to every ten 

 thousand of the population. 



Eastern Roumelia by the same instrument 



was made an autonomous province of Turkey, 

 remaining under the direct political and mili- 

 tary authority of the Sultan. In the revolution 

 of Sept. 17, 1885, the Governor-General was 

 deposed, and the union of the province within 

 Bulgaria proclaimed. Prince Alexander of 

 Bulgaria immediately placed himself at the 

 head of the revolution, and soon afterward is- 

 sued a ukase for the assimilation of the civil, 

 military, and judicial systems of the two prov- 

 inces. A conference of the treaty powers 

 was held in Constantinople toward the close of 



1885, and in accordance with their sugges- 

 tions, the Sultan, on Jan. 31. 188G, appointed 

 Prince Alexander Governor-General of Eastern 

 Roumelia, and issued a firman on April 6, 



1886, recognizing a personal union of the prov- 

 inces under the Prince of Bulgaria. The Mus- 

 sulman districts of Kirjali and the Roupchous, 

 or Rhodope, were to be receded to the Porte. 

 The same firman provided for the revision of 

 the organic statute by a Turco-Bulgarian com- 

 mission, which met in Sofia, but did not con- 

 clude its labors, owing to the Bulgarian revo- 

 lution of Aug. 20, 1886. The administrative 

 union of the provinces had already been ac- 

 complished. The customs line of Bulgaria 

 was extended to the Turkish frontier. A leg- 

 islative union was also established by the ad- 

 mission of Roumelian delegates to the Sobranje. 



Alexander I, who was elected Prince of 

 Bulgaria by the Constituent Assembly on 

 April 29, 1879, was seized by revolutionists on 

 the night of Aug. 20, 1886, and conveyed across 

 the frontier. He subsequently returned, and 

 formally abdicated on Sept. 7, 1886, having 

 first selected a regency to administer the gov- 

 ernment pending the election of his success- 

 or. The regents, who, in accordance with an 

 amendment of the Constitution made in 1883, 

 were three in number, were Karaveloff, Stam- 

 buloff, and Mutkuroff. 



Area and Population. The area of Bulgaria is 

 24,360 square miles, and its population in 1881 

 was 2,007.919. Eastern Roumelia has an 

 area of 13,500 square miles, and had in 1885, 

 according to a census taken Jan. 13, over 

 975,050 inhabitants, of whom 681,734 were 

 Christian Bulgarians, 200,495 Moslem Bulga- 

 rians and Turks, 53,028 Greeks, 27,190 Gyp- 

 sies, 6,982 Jews, 1,865 Armenians, and 3,733 

 foreigners. Sofia, the capital of the united 

 provinces, had in 1881 a population of 20,501 

 souls. Philippopolis, the capital of Eastern 

 Roumelia, has 33,442. The Mussulman pop- 

 ulation of Eastern Roumelia was reduced by 

 the recession of the canton of Kirjali and 

 twenty villages of the Rhodope to 160,000. 



Commerce. The value of imports into Bul- 

 garia in 1884 was 46,351,280 leii, or francs; 

 of exports, 48,867,235 leii. The leading arti- 

 cles of export are wheat and wool. The chief 

 products of Eastern Roumelia are grain, wine, 

 tobacco, wool, hides, timber, a coarse woolen 

 cloth, and woolen braid, which are exported to 

 Turkish countries, and timber, which is ex- 



