direction, and quite changed the face of the country. Hitherto these have been kept in excellent order, partly owing, probably, to Midhat being from time to time Prime Minister. After a certain number of years the peasantry will get accustomed to the roads, and when once considered a necessary of life they will be kept in order without the aid of any central authority.

I would here pause to remark that from Belgrade to this Turkish garrison the road is clear for a promenade militaire. In case of war the Turks would have no obstacles (excepting always the river at Keupri) beyond those of the stout hearts of the Servians and a superior military force. This idea strongly impressed me as I jogged along in my waggon, which might represent a heavy piece of artillery. I was not surprised then when lately I heard that the famous Russian General Tchernayeff had been put in command of the Servian force which was to operate in this direction, as probably the tug of war will here be mostly felt. Partisan warfare, which consists mainly in ambuscades, surprises, and the defence of passes, would here be out of place-nothing but regular tactics by disciplined troops could avail.

Early on the following morning we were trotting along the admirable high road through well-cultivated. fields bearing heavy crops of cereals, when we passed a newly built and European-like military hospital, just outside the city, and near this was a far more interesting remnant of a far more barbarous age, albeit not more than fifty years old. I caught sight of a small square tower about twelve feet high, built of stone and mud. Had I not been looking out for it, this tower might well have been missed, for there is nothing remarkable or attractive to the casual observer. But being close

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to the road my eye caught something peculiar, and so I jumped out of the waggon and found what I had sought for, the Tower of Skulls. After a bloody fight and massacre of the Servian insurgents in this part of the country, the Turkish conquerors, after the ancient and Asiatic custom, collected the heads of the slain and built them into a tower to commemorate their victory and to strike terror into the conquered population. ordinary square tower was first built of stone, with mud cement, and into this were fixed the heads of the slain. It must have been a ghastly sight some forty or fifty years ago, when hundreds of grinning skulls greeted the passing traveller. The Turks of the place were doubtless as proud of their tower as the French (excepting the Communalists) are of the Vendôme Column; but as time went on a new spirit arose: the government of Sultan Mahmoud, and still more that of Abdul Mejid, conducted by Reshid Pasha, began to be anxious to be less Asiatic and more civilised, and so, hearing from time to time of the disgust of consuls and travellers on seeing this tower, orders were sent to have the skulls removed. This has been done within the reach of a man's arm; beyond that a few remain like the ripe cherries on the topmost branch of a tree, so that there is little ghastliness remaining in the famous Tower of Skulls, which will probably disappear altogether by natural means, if not otherwise interfered with, during the next fifty years.

About four hours from Nisch we came to a more mountainous country, and then entered one of the Balkan passes. We slowly ascended a winding road to a guard-house named Plotcha, where a magnificent view awaited us. Descriptions of scenery are scarcely worth reading unless they include some monument of

historic interest. Doubtless the varied scenery on which we gazed of mountain, river, forest, and fertile plain, contained the sites of many struggles; but as this paper deals with the present rather than the past, I will not digress into the fields of Gibbon, but continue my journey. We presently arrived at the village of Topoliniza, situated in a broad valley, and peopled by Tatar and Circassian emigrants. Many of my readers will doubtless remember that on the invasion of the Crimea by the allied forces in 1854 the Moslem Tatars of that peninsula did not oppose a very determined resistance to the enemy, or show any romantic loyalty to the Christian Emperor. On the contrary, they simply made the best of their situation, and, finding they had been invaded by an overwhelming force of good customers, who, moreover, forced them to give up their carts, horses, camels, &c., the simple Tatar peasants contented themselves by pocketing the cash which the invaders gave in return for the services offered. After the war, however, the Tatars soon found themselves in a painful position. The Russian authorities, it is alleged, commenced such a persecution that these poor people were fain to abandon their homes and fly to the dominions of the Caliph. Homes were found for them in various parts of the Ottoman dominions, but the Turks made a political use of them. They planted colonies of these Moslems strategically amongst the discontented Bulgarians, and close to the frontier of dangerous Servia, so that in case of a campaign amongst these peoples, the Turks might find oases of loyalty here and there of immense use to the Intelligence and Commissariat Departments. The Crimean Tatars are, however, by no means bad neighbours, and far different from those not remote ancestors who used to

harry Russian and Polish villages under the banner of the Crescent, and whose hardy habits and courage are so graphically described by the Baron de Tott, who campaigned with them. Some generations of them have passed under stern Russian organisation, and they have become peaceful agriculturists. But four or five years passed, and another people, colonists also, appeared in these countries, who had not tasted Russian discipline, but had despairingly fled from it. During the Crimean war the Circassians, instigated by jealous Turks, refused the oft-repeated offers of English envoys of aid against the Russians. The latter keenly felt the danger they had incurred, for had these offers been accepted, it is obvious that with the Black Sea absolutely in our possession, the Caucasian passes could have been stopped, and the Transcaucasian provinces would inevitably have been lost to Russia. No sooner was Russia disembarrassed by the Treaty of Paris from her formidable Western foes than she turned the whole strength of her resources on the Circassian mountaineers. In vain did these now appeal to Turkey, to France, and to England; it was too late. They defended village by village, mountain by mountain; but the despairing courage of these gallant and picturesque mountaineers was no match for the sternly-disciplined columns of the civilised Power. Prodigies of valour were displayed, but their strongholds were beaten down by mountain rifled guns, their ambuscades were betrayed to those who could offer handfuls of gold to hungry savages, and the strongest positions were turned and raked by grape shot; and so mountain after mountain was occupied, and the Prophet King Schamyl taken to St. Petersburg. Thousands of these gallant people committed a sort of national suicide. They crowded,

with their women and children, to the pestilential coasts of the Black Sea, and there, while waiting for vessels, perished like flies; vessels came, and, being overcrowded and badly found, proved coffins to thousands more. The rest were relieved by the Turkish Government, who sent officials with money to succour the starving and take them to Bulgaria. We all know what Turkish officials are: the survivors of this fearful exodus got only a small percentage of the relief fund; but once in Bulgaria, they were better off, for the Bulgarians were forced to build them cottages, and to support them until they could support themselves. These Circassians, like the Tatars, were strategically placed amongst the Christians, but in free Circassia they had not learned to be peaceful agriculturists; on the contrary, fighting from generation to generation against their Christian invaders, it is not to be wondered at if they did not prove to be very pleasant neighbours to the Christians. Everywhere I heard that the Circassian immigrants were robbers, but some are disposed to think their sins have been exaggerated, and that they have played the part of the cat in the household, for if ever a crime is committed in Bulgaria it is ascribed to the Circassians, until it is brought home to some one else.

About midday we arrived at the village of Ak Palanka, quite a curious place. The village contained, I suppose, about a hundred huts, of the poorest sort, built of wattle and dab, and thatched with straw; and this village, covering little more than three acres, was surrounded by a wall of mud and stone and flanked by towers. It was a regularly fortified place, though absosolutely untenable before even field artillery, but quite the sort of place which would stand a historic siege in Homeric days. At the principal gateway were two 4-pound brass

howitzers. Outside the village was a small suburb, and here was a manufactory of pottery. The pots. turned out were for village use, and could not boast of much ornament, but they were of the purest classical form, and would have passed muster in any museum as Cyprian antiquities. The whole factory was contained in two cottages, and included the ancient potter's wheel, which was worked precisely as it was two or three thousand years ago.

In

We continued our route through a beautiful country, well cultivated in the plains, the hills being covered with forest and brushwood, and at six arrived at the town of Pirot, or Charkeui, the former name being Bulgarian, the latter Turkish. This place has a remarkable industry, that of carpets. driving through the streets we saw carpets of the most brilliant colours hanging in every shop, and wherever the door of a courtyard was open we caught glimpses of old women and young maidens busily employed in weaving them on large and small frames. These carpets are peculiar, and by no means well known in the English market, though coming into notice under the name of Kelim carpets (kelim being the Turkish for carpet). They are of remarkably bright colours, quaint antique patterns, and instead of being woven on cord, as are ours, they are exactly alike on both sides. The colours too are lasting. I saw one which had been in wear (in the best room, and therefore but seldom trodden on) for thirty years, and it really looked but little the worse. They are marvellously cheap at Pirot, and are to be bought in Belgrade at a greatly increased price. They are much used all over Turkey in Europe, at least in the Slavonian provinces, in Servia, Bosnia, &c., though, as far as I could learn, but little exported into Western Europe. The gentility of

Belgrade despise them, and prefer the gaudy rubbish from the looms of Austria, which does not last a tithe of the time, but then it is more 'civilised' looking. I bought a lot of these barbaric carpets, and all my friends who are artistic admire them much, as they are now displayed in rooms where there are no paintings. The colours are too bright to be brought into contact with either oil or water colours. They suit admirably rooms which are rather gloomy and contain dark furniture. There are numerous Jews here of the poorest kind, and, as usual, displaying their talents as small financiers. I could not purchase my carpets without the intervention of a Jew broker, who probably earned a very few francs for his services. These people are never producers, but make themselves useful as brokers, bankers, and the like. The Servians will not allow them to settle beyond Belgrade, because they say wherever a Jew settles he begins to sell spirits and rain the peasantry by that and by usury. The small baccals, or general dealers in the villages, rivals of the Jews, are especially careful of the morals of their countrymen, and are as powerful a class in the Skeuptchina, or National Assembly, as the publicans in the British Parliament, so that this intolerant anti-Jewish law cannot be repealed, in spite of the representations of foreign consuls. Servia undoubtedly loses by the absence of Jews, who all over Europe, not excepting our own country, have ever been the pioneers and organisers of commerce.

On continuing our journey in the morning, I purchased an oke (two pounds and a half) of delicious cherries for twopence: this too is the price of grapes in the season. The wine about here, when made with any degree of care, is delicious, with a decidedly peculiar and pleasant flavour. I think I should re

cognise it anywhere, but as far as I could learn it is not exported. I met a Frenchman in Bulgaria, and asked him his opinion of the wine. He told me that he thought it delicious, and that if he had a small capital he would settle in the country, and grow, make, and bottle wine after the manner of Bordeaux, and his gains would be enormous. Wine seemed to me to be of the price of very small beer in England.

We travelled through a very fertile and lovely country, sometimes over plains rich with cereals, at other times through beautiful passes in the mountains. At about one we reached a guard-house called Eutch koulak karakoli, and shortly afterwards the top of a hill, from which we enjoyed a magnificent prospect of table land. At about four we reached a point from which we saw the distant mosques and minarets of the city of Sophia, and two hours' more travelling brought us to the gates.

We entered the city, and found it as filthy and ruinous as Turkish cities invariably are. We wandered through the streets in search of a house of entertainment, and were at last taken to the principal khan. This was so vile a place that we determined to seek farther. Seeing an Italian signboard over an apothecary's shop, I entered and asked the owner to direct me to the best khan in the city. He told me that a Frenchman had that very day opened a hotel, and he sent a man to guide us to the house. Such luck seldom occurs to dirty, wayworn travellers. We soon found the house, a large native one, converted to suit European requirements. We revelled in soap and water, clean linen, and every luxury we could require. The Frenchman and his wife did their utmost to make us comfortable, and dressed us an admirable dinner. Cheap as every native product is in this coun

try, anything European is usually outrageously dear and bad. We naturally expected a heavy bill for our entertainment, and were surprised to find it most moderate. We were the first guests in the new hotel, but others followed; for sundry Italian engineers employed on the new railroad arrived. They were intelligent, gentlemanly men, and were a proof that England and Germany have no longer the monopoly of the great public works of Europe. The railways of the East are now mainly planned and built by Italians. Baron Hirsch, the Belgian, has done the financing of these Roumelian lines, but Italians do almost all the rest. No workmen, I was told, can excel, and few equal them, especially in the masons' work; they are careful, exact, and honest.

It is strange how backward these countries have been in their development in the matter of roads and bridges. Good high roads throughout Roumelia have only existed for about eight years, i.e. since the time of Midhat Pasha, so that the production of this marvellously fertile country has not been a tithe of what it might have been. The cost of transport of grain from Alexinatz to the Danubian ports is never less than 3s. 6d. for 250 lbs. The consequence is that large tracts of land lie untilled. The valley of the Morava, through which we passed, is one of the most fertile tracts of country in the world, but not half cultivated.

The city of Sophia has about 18,000 inhabitants, of whom 4,000 are Moslems, 5,000 Jews, 1,000 Gipsies, and the rest Christians. The export of cereals is small in consequence of the expense of transport. About 400,000 okes of tobacco are sent to Europe viâ Salonica. The districts of Doubnitz, Jumah, and Koustin produced from 7,000 to 8,000 okes of cocoons

a few years ago, but the silkworm disease has diminished the export to 1,000 okes.

Sophia is full of sulphurous and alkaline hot springs. In walking through the streets I came to a public bath of immense antiquity; a large dome had been built over a natural hot spring much used by the citizens. I was shown, too, the ruined Mosque of Dubinitza, which so clearly proves that God is on the side of the Orthodox, for this mosque was formerly a church built by the great Czar; when the Turks conquered the country they converted the church into a mosque, but a few years afterwards it was destroyed by an earthquake. Antiquaries, however, say that this edifice was originally a Roman temple. In the interior I measured 51 paces in length by 30 in breadth. There is a very large Orthodox church recently built under the protection and patronage of Russia, and close by is a most interesting public school, conducted by M. Christo Stajanoff, a highly educated and most enlightened Russian, whose heart is evidently in his work. The school contains three hundred and eighty pupils of va rious ages, who receive gratuitous instruction. They are divided into two divisions of two hundred and fifty primary and one hundred and thirty secondary scholars, and these again are subdivided, the first division into three classes, and the second into four. The city subsidises the school to the amount. of about 750l. per annum. education given here is of the most liberal kind: a scholar from one of the higher forms would be well prepared for a Turkish career, for he would be admirably instructed in the modern languages, including Turkish, and have a good scientific education. It appears to me that every mode of education practised abroad is more practical than any

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