THROUGH WILD EUROPE 287 



we expected to put up, was away at his farm, and 

 as he had married a wife who knew us not we 

 could only leave our things until he returned, and 

 we had to wander about from one restaurant to 

 another until a very late hour. When at last he 

 did return we were given a good room with a 

 cushioned divan all round on which we slept 

 comfortably, as I had brought my rugs and 

 sleeping-bag. 



All this Dobrudscha was Turkish before the 

 Treaty of Berlin, and many Turkish customs and 

 Turkish names still survive. These people had 

 their meals squatting on the floor round a low table 

 three or four inches high, just as in Albania. The 

 names of nearly all the villages are Turkish. 

 Babadagh, the name of the forest we had come 

 to work, is distinctly Turkish. The population is 

 exceedingly mixed. Some villages are entirely 

 inhabited by Bulgars, others are nearly all Italian 

 or German. The fishermen are generally all 

 Russians. In one village I found many Tartars 

 from the Crimea; and in the towns are Jews and 

 Greeks in great numbers, so that in a few genera- 

 tions there will be a fine blend here. 



Though we slept here four nights, all our meals — 

 except when we were in the forest, which was all 

 day — had to be taken in restaurants ; and a most 

 uncomfortable way of living it is. This was a big 



