266 BUKOREST. 
CHAP, this country and its capital, would be satis- 
t - -' . factory ; yet we found it very difficult to gain 
any decisive intelligence respecting the sta- 
tistics of JValachia; so various and contra- 
dictory were the statements. There were two 
points alone in which all agreed ; namely, that 
of two classes of inhabitants, the one rich and 
the other poor (without any middle class), the 
former were entirely occupied in defrauding 
each other ; and the latter, without any occu- 
pation whatsoever, excepting that of living 
" from hand to mouth," were almost in a state 
of starvation. Whence then, it will be asked, 
originates the wealth of JValachia? If you 
inquire in what its wealth consists, the inha- 
bitants will answer, " IVine, barley, hay, honey, 
butter, hides,'' &c. as glibly as if all these pos- 
sessions were everywhere to be found ; y^t 
some of the articles thus enumerated are in- 
sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants. 
The quantity of ivine made in the year preceding 
our arrival was estimated at eleven millions of 
piastres ; but they had been obliged to import, 
over and above this quantity, from other 
countries, for the consumption of their own, as 
much as amounted in price to six or eight 
millions more : and a similar observation ap- 
- plies to some of their other productions. The 
