i'hoto by Felix J. Koch 

 A MUSLliM VILLAGE 



In the villages the people are all of one faith and their costumes are in accord 



under that of Slavonic princes. In time 

 they might have amalg'amated, although, 

 owing to the peculiar conditions of the 

 Balkan Peninsula, the process was bound 

 to be slow. But the Turkish conquest 

 supervened, and crystallized the different 

 races, so that each preserved its national- 

 ity and its individuality. The Turks were 

 never numerous enough to absorb the 

 subject peoples, but they were strong 

 enough to prevent any one of them from 

 becoming predominant. 



Unlike other conquerors, they did not 

 attempt to impose their language or cus- 

 toms on the conquered, but they did try 

 to convert them to Islam by maintaining 

 those Avho refused to be converted in a 

 position of inferiority. A number of 

 Greeks, Slavs, Albanians, and Vlachs did 

 become Moslems, but those who did not, 

 and were prepared to face persecution 

 and occasional outbursts of savage fanati- 

 cism, were able to preserve their nation- 

 ality. Thus these conflicting elements 

 .survived until the present day. 



This rivalry between the dift'erent 



Christian races has made the task of rul- 

 ing Macedonia a fairly easy one. The 

 Turks availed themselves of these differ- 

 ences to the full; but the constant op- 

 pression and persecution has ended by 

 making all the Christians discontented, 

 and the anarchy of maladministration 

 and civil war has reached such a pitch 

 that some change of regime is felt by all 

 to be an absolute necessity. 



the; mohammldans of Macedonia 



Macedonia was the first country in 

 Europe to be subjected to Ottoman rule, 

 and long before the capture of Con- 

 stantinople the Turks subjugated it and 

 studded it with numerous Turkish colo- 

 nies. 



All travelers who know Turkey bear 

 witness to the many good qualities of the 

 individual Mohammedan, especially of 

 the genuine Osmanli Turk — he is sober, 

 patient, religious, cleanly in his habits, 

 dignified in bearing. 



But there is also no doubt as to his 

 utter inability to make a good ruler, es- 



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