The Great Turk and His Lost Provinces 51 



tary. Every young man must serve five 

 3'ears in the arm}'. At eighteen he en- 

 ters the active service for two years, and 

 then serves for three years in the reserve 

 corps, which is mobilized for two or 

 three weeks annually for drill and in- 

 struction ; but no Bosnian soldier serves 

 in his own country. He is sent to 

 Austria or Hungary and stationed in 

 some large town, where he can have an 

 opportunity to rub up against the people 

 and learn by imitation what he cannot 

 be taught at home. If he marries an 

 Austrian girl, he is allowed double pay, 

 is exempt from certain guard duty, his 

 wife is permitted to live in the barracks 

 with him, and is employed as a cook or 

 laundress or in some other capacity. 

 Thus a great majority of the young 

 men who leave Bosnia for military serv- 

 ice return with Austrian wives and settle 

 down as valuable citizens in the old 

 towns. On the other hand, all military 

 duty in Bosnia is performed by Austrian 

 soldiers, who are offered similar induce- 

 ments to marry Bosnian girls, and if 

 they settle down in the province per- 

 manent^', the government gives them 

 farms or homes. Thus the country is 

 not only being settled by an excellent 

 class of young people, but the ties of 

 relationship are linking it more closely 

 to Austria every year. 



One of the most interesting towns is 

 Jajce, where St Luke is believed to 

 have lived and died and to have been 

 buried. Helena, the daughter of the 

 last of the ancient kings of Bosnia, was 

 given the remains of the apostle as a 

 part of her dowry, and when Jajce was 

 captured by the Turks, she escaped by 

 a miracle and carried them with her to 

 a convent at Padua, Italy. 



BULGARIA 



Bulgaria is about the size and shape 

 of Pennsylvania, with nearly the same 

 population, and its forests and rivers, 

 the mountain ranges and rich valleys 

 that lie between them remind one of 



the Quaker state. The Danube River 

 forms the northern boundary and car- 

 ries most of the commerce of the coun- 

 try, and along its banks are some fine 

 old Roman ruins. Three-fourths of the 

 population are engaged in agriculture 

 and pastoral pursuits, cultivating little 

 farms and following flocks and herds 

 which graze at large. Theoretically 

 all of the land belongs to the state, and 

 those who occupy it pay one-fourth of 

 all their produce for rent and taxes. 

 The principal products are wheat, wool, 

 and the oil of roses, which comes from 

 the provinces bordering on the Black 

 Sea. Philippopolis, a famous old town 

 founded by Philip of Macedon35oB.C, 

 the second city in population and im- 

 portance, is the center of the industry, 

 and from that point eastward the entire 

 kingdom is a rose garden. Roses are 

 cultivated like grapes in France and 

 Italy, so that all of the strength of the 

 sap may go into the flowers, and in the 

 summer women pluck the flowers as 

 they reach maturity. Thousands of 

 tons of rose leaves are gathered annu- 

 ally. The petals are carefully removed 

 and the oil extracted from them by 

 distillation. The oil sells from $50 to 

 $100 a pound, according to its purity 

 and specific gravity. A single drop 

 will perfume a two-ounce bottle of 

 alcohol. 



The peasants of Bulgaria are indus- 

 trious, ingenious, and intelligent. Both 

 men and women are of fine physique, 

 capable of great endurance, and few are 

 idle, intemperate, or vicious. I saw 

 but three or four beggars all the time I 

 was in Bulgaria, and they were crip- 

 ples. The women do their share of 

 work on the farms, and never seem to 

 be idle a moment. They spin as they 

 walk along the highways and as they 

 sit behind piles of fruit and vegetables 

 in the markets. Most of the shepherds 

 you see from the highways are women 

 and children. The large herds in the 

 mountains are kept by well-grown boys, 



