826 



TURKEY. 



115,000 piasters to Greece, 38,119,0.10 piasters to 

 Bulgaria, 32,414.00!) piasters to Russia, 25,031,- 

 000 piasters to Holland, 24,619,000 piasters to 

 Rouniania, 15,735,')00 piasters to the United 

 States, and 14,682.000 piasters to all other coun- 

 tries. The following were the principal articles 

 of importation and their values in 1888-'89 : 

 Grain and flour, 188,639,000 piasters ; sugar, 125,- 

 951,000 piasters; cotton thread, 107,122,000 pias- 

 ters ; cotton prints, 97,069,000 piasters ; coffee, 

 95,345,000 piasters : cotton and wool stuffs, 68,- 

 471,000 piasters; rice, 65,432.000 piasters: ani- 

 mals, 62,496.000 piasters; hides and skins, 52,- 

 356,000 piasters : petroleum, 51,356,000 piasters ; 

 dru^s and colors, 47,754,000 piasters ; butter and 

 cheese, 33,092,000 piasters; cloths, 32,400,000 

 piasters: iron, 29,135.000 piasters; casimir and 

 castor stuffs, 25,752,000 piasters : paper, 25,038,- 

 000 piasters; apparel, 20,527,000 piasters; tim- 

 ber, 20,079,000 piasters ; leather, 22,930,000 pias- 

 ters. The values of the principal exports were as 

 follow: Raisins. 201,747,000 piasters; cereals, 

 134,100,000 piasters; opium, 80.431,000 piasters; 

 raw silk, 80,200,000 piasters ; mohair, 60,536,000 

 piasters; wool, 56,272,000 piasters; oak galls, 

 54,409,000 piasters; coffee, 53,894,000 piasters; 

 figs, 42,357,000 piasters; olive oil, 40,572,000 

 piasters; cotton, 36,954,00!) piasters; cocoons, 

 33,338,000 piasters ; drugs and colors, 32,534,00!) 

 piasters; minerals, 29,113,000 piasters; live ani- 

 mals, 26,796,000 piasters ; carpets, 19.628,000 pias- 

 ters; dates, 17,930,000 piasters; seeds, 15.530,009 

 piasters; wine, 15,292,000 piasters; beans and 

 lentils, 15,262,000 piasters; butter and cheese, 

 14,764,000 piasters; nuts and fruit, 13,862,000 

 piasters ; sesame. 13,776,000 piasters ; confection- 

 ery, 13,574.000 piasters. 



Navigation. There were 174,338 vessels, of 

 27,581,927 tons, including 35,548 steamers, en- 

 tered and cleared at the Mediterranean ports in 

 1887-'88; 3,650, of 538,945 tons, of which 461 

 were steamers, at the ports of the Red Sea ; and 

 1,173. of 162.159 tons, including 96 steamers, in 

 the Persian Gulf. The merchant navy in 1890 

 comprised 94 steamers over 100 tons, of 71,607 

 tons, and 813 sailing vessels, of 158,170 tons. 



Communications. The railroad lines in op- 

 eration in 1890 in European Turkey had a total 

 length of 904 miles, viz., 210 miles from Con- 

 stantinople to Adrianople, 152 miles from 

 Adrianople to Saremby, 150 miles from Salonica 

 to Uskub, 75 miles from Uskub to Mitrovitza, 

 70 miles between Kulleli and Dageaghatch, 65 

 miles between Tirnova and Jamboli, 64 miles be- 

 tween Banjaluke and Novi, and 118 miles from 

 Zenica to Brod In Asia a line was running 

 from Scutari to Adabazar, 92 miles in length, 

 lines connecting Smyrna with Serai keni. Alasher, 

 and Sevdikeni, and one from Mersina to Adana, 

 the aggregate length completed being 392 miles. 

 The Anatolian Railroad, which is being built 

 with German capital, was completed by May, 

 1891, and opened to traffic beyond Adabazar as 

 far as Biledshik, 65 miles more. An English 

 company has begun a railroad from Caiffa to 

 Damascus, and another connecting Damascus 

 with Beirut is being built by a French company. 

 In Europe a railroad is being laid to connect 

 Salonica with Monastir. 



Creeds and Nationalities. The population 

 of the immediate possessions of the Ottoman 



Government is divided in respect to religion into 

 about 16,000,000 Mohammedans and 6,000,000 

 Christians. In European Turkey one half of 

 the people are Christians, in the Asiatic terri- 

 tories less than one sixth. The Mohammedan 

 clergy number 11.600. There are 2,120 mosques, 

 and connected with them 1.780 free elementary 

 schools. The revenue of the Evkaf or religious 

 establishment consists of about 20,000,000 pias- 

 ters received from endowments and 7,000,000 

 piasters contributed by the state, which nays, 

 moreover, 7,000,000 piasters to the Sheikn-ul- 

 Islam and nearly 8,000,000 piasters for the sup- 

 port of the naibs and muftis, and gives a large 

 sum annually (13,000,000 piasters in 1880) for 

 the reading of the Koran, and as much more in 

 aid of the pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrims 

 in 1889 numbered 139,987, of whom 81,450 ar- 

 rived by sea. About three quarters of the real 

 property in the cities has been bequeathed to the 

 Vacouf or mosque endowment. The Christians 

 are divided into Greeks, Armenians, Latins or 

 Franks, Syrians and United Chaldeans, Maro- 

 nites, and Protestants. The last are converts 

 made by missionaries, chiefly among the Arme- 

 nians. The Franks are adherents of the Roman 

 Catholic Church who have preserved the religion 

 of the old Genoese and Venetian settlers. 



The Greek and Armenian patriarchs and the 

 chief rabbi of the Jews exercise a large degree 

 of civil authority. The Greek patriarch was the 

 ecclesiastical head of all the Orthodox Christians 

 of the Turkish P^mpire until the Servians, Rou- 

 manians, and Bulgarians, after obtaining po- 

 litical autonomy, established autocephalotis 

 churches, which have gradually encroached on 

 the ecclesiastical domain of the patriarchate 

 within the present limits of Turkey. In resist- 

 ing the transfer of the investiture of bishops in 

 Macedonia to the Bulgarian exarch, the oecu- 

 menical patriarch demanded as compensation 

 that certain rights and privileges held under the 

 ancient ecclesiastical law should be restored to 

 the Church. The Porte granted these conces- 

 sions, extending considerably the autonomy of 

 the Greek community. The solemnization and 

 dissolution of marriages and the questions of 

 dowries and allowances are to be dealt with by 

 the patriarch and metropolitans, leaving the civil 

 courts and executive authorities nothing to do 

 but to record and enforce their decisions. Wills 

 of Christians are judicially valid when attested 

 by the bishops, and suits concerning wills and 

 guardianship will be tried in the ecclesiastical, 

 courts, provided the heirs are members of the 

 Orthodox Greek community and of Turkish na- 

 tionality. In regard to education the patriarch 

 or metropolitan has the right to decide on the 

 course of study and to appoint teachers, but the 

 Greek schools are subject to the -inspection of 

 the state educational authorities Priests and 

 Jewish rabbis are permitted to testify before 

 their own ecclesiastical authorities, who will re- 

 port the evidence to the civil courls. Priests 

 arrested for debt will be tried by their ecclesi- 

 astical superiors ; and when a priest is accused of 

 a criminal offense the magistrate has to notify 

 the bishop, arid the latter to produce the accused, 

 who will not be confined with ordinary prisoners 

 pending his trial. These privileges were con- 

 firmed by an irade issued Feb. 5, 1891. 



