46 
The traveller enjoys a security in Bulgaria, which may be 
looked for in vain in any other part of the Balkan States. 
The folklore of the people teems with tales of brigandage. 
In the mountainous districts the villages take the law into 
their own hands. Three men caught pillaging at one place 
while the villagers were at mass were killed. But the Bul- 
garians say that for every one robbed on the road, a hundred 
are robbed at the inn ; and they have a saying, “ The fairer 
the hostess, the fouler the reckoning,” which fitted in very 
well with the lecturer’s experience. 
Referring to the atrocities by the Bashi Bazouks a quarter 
of a century ago, he pointed out that the causes that led 
up to them were of a very complex character. They were, 
however, largely due to Russian intrigue, which goaded the 
Bulgars to rebel against the Turks and so caused the Turks 
to retaliate. 
From Aidos the lecturer took his audience through the 
Balkan passes to Dobral and Shumla, two towns that also 
suffered severely during the massacres. 
All Bulgar towns are divided into two parts, the Turkish 
quarter and the Bulgarian quarter. The two peoples fraternize 
but blood feuds are of frequent occurrence. In the large 
towns this barbaric form of retributive justice has been 
repressed, but in the mountain districts it is still the all-pre- 
vailing custom. Wherever the avenger and his victim may 
meet, whether in the bazaar or on the lonely mountain sides, 
the knife or the revolver settles their differences and the many 
stone cairns met with on the mountain tracks testify to the 
frequency with which they resort to this method of settling 
family quarrels. 
Bulgaria is now independent of the Turk and has a great 
future before her. The people have capacity, they are the 
best workers in the Balkans, and if their talents be properly 
fostered they will raise their country to a prominent position 
in that region. Machinery is being introduced, most of which 
is of British make. 
The habits of the present Bulgarians are not clean, con- 
trasting unfavourably in this respect with the Turks, whose 
religion gives most minute injunctions concerning personal 
cleanliness. All the public baths have been allowed to fall 
into ruin. They wash themselves only at long intervals, 
with a handful of water ; it will therefore be readily believed 
that the odour of the Bulgarians is often pungent and un- 
savoury. 
