TO BUKOREST. 237 
the south, by Mount H^mus as by a wall; chap. 
and upon the north, by the Ister : and m ^ ' 
distinguishing- that division of territory, which, 
among modern geographers, bears the name of 
Bulgaria, (the most fertile plain perhaps of the 
whole earth, defended by its immense southern 
barrier,) too great attention cannot be paid to 
the definitive chain of H^mus, extending from 
east to luest''. In this rich territory, Shumla is so 
centrally situate, that it is peculiarly qualified, 
both in its locality and magnitude, to rank as 
the principal city, at least of this part of the 
country, and perhaps of all Bulgaria. The 
Bulgarian language is no where more generally 
spoken than it is in the whole Passage of the 
Balkan: at Shumla, the number of the Turks, 
of course, tends to the introduction of Turkish 
names ; but the two languages are not likely to be 
confounded, since nothing can be more opposite. 
The Bulgarian language most resembles the 
Malo-russian, both being dialects of the Sclavo- 
nian^. We expected to have found a resem- 
(7) It is well marked in Arrowsmith! s Four-sheet Map of the 
*' Environs of Constantinople." 
(s) Mr. Cripps has preserved, in his Manuscript Journal a Com- 
parative Vocabulary, exhibiting the analogy between those dialects of 
the 
