1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 211 



entirely disappeared, and the poor people have no other re- 

 source. The preparation of the winter's supply is especially 

 the duty of the women, and, to quote the w^ords of the 

 veteran missionary Van Lennep : ' ' We have watched them 

 collecting the manure from the track which the cattle follow 

 in going to pasture in the morning, shaping it into round 

 cakes, six or eight inclies in diameter, by handling it as they 

 would a lump of dough, and with a skilful twist of their 

 hand suddenly sticking it on the walls of their houses to dry 

 in the sun. They seem to enter upon this duty as a matter 

 of course, and conduct it with an artistic dexterity which 

 proves that it is one of the accomplishments of the good 

 housewife much to be desired." 



As to the distribution of the arable land, we may make 

 the general division into villages and " Chifliks," or farms of 

 considerable extent. The common farmers live in villages 

 for safety. They may own the land around them in common, 

 but generally each man has his own. The commune system 

 is mainly in European Turkey, and is the ancient system of 

 the Slavic race. 



The ' ' Chifliks " or large farms are usually owned by 

 Turks, and vary in size from several hundred to as many 

 thousand acres. They constitute a village in themselves. 

 The landed proprietor in the center, usually on an elevated 

 bit of ground, and the huts of his dependents clustered 

 around and below. It is only the old feudal system revived. 

 The lord in his castle, and the hovels of his humble retainers 

 grouped about the walls. These large estates are devoted 

 principally to grazing ; but if there is good wheat land you 

 may see immense fields of grain, from which a good yield is 

 considered nine to ten bushels for one of sowing. The crops 

 are never measured by the acre, and the above yield would 

 probably be not over twenty bushels to the acre. 



The threshing floor and its implements and operations 

 would interest an American farmer in the very highest de- 

 gree. Frequently a whole village will unite in constructing 

 one for common use. A description of such an one from 

 Hamlin's "Among the Turks "may not be uninteresting: 

 " I examined one that was about one thousand feet in length, 

 and, say, one-third of that in breadth. It was made by 



