The New York herald., 1876-09-04


down perceived he had stepped a human skull
hard and might, to all Appearances have been there
for three years, well had the dogs done
their work. few steps further there wa another,
and beside IL part Of skeleton. likewise white and
dry. As assembled bones, skeletons and
skulls became more frequent but here they had not
been picked c an, Tor their fragments OF half
dry, half putrd flesh still clinglng them. Al last
to n kind OF little plateau shelf the hill
SIDE where The ground nearly level with the
cepton Of little ndentation Where the head OF Lol
low broke through. We rode toward this with the
ention OF crossing IT, but ali suddenly drew rein with
exclamation OF horror, for right before u.s. almost
beneath our horses feet WAS sight hat made us
shudder 1t was heap OF skulls n,crmingled with
nearly entire rotting. clothing, human har and
puirid flesh lying there in one toul heap, around
sickening odor, like that OF dead horse and II was
here the dogs had been seeking hasly repast when
untmey approach interrupted them. e
In the midst of this heap | could distinguish
slight skeleton iorn still ncosed in chemse, the
skull wrapped about with colored handkerchief, and
the bony ankles eDcased In the embroidered ootless
stockings worn by the Bulgarian girls We looked
about The ground strewed with bones IN every
directon where the dogs had them OIL gnaw
thelr a their leisure. AT the distance OF hundred
yards beneath lay the tow As seen IRON our stand-
point IL reminded one somewhat of tho ruins OF
Hercuaneum or Pompeii
HEAPS or SLAUGHTERED woxES
There was not root lett, not a whole wnll
listened low paintlvc wall like the
.'keening" of the Irish their dead, that
explanation of this curious sound when aftcrward
descended into the village. We looked again The
heap of skulls and skeletons before us. and We ob-
that tney all small and that the articles Of
clothing lntermngled with hem and lying about were
all parts of women's apparel These then, were ali
women and girls. From my saddle coun ed about
a hundred skulls, not Including those that were
hidden beneath The Others IN the ghastly heap,
those scattered far and VIDE through The
fields The skulls nearly all separated from the
OF the bones, the skeletons nearly all head
less These women had all been beheaded. We do
ndol into q d
the first house came to Was woman sitting on
heap OF rubbish rocking herself to aud. FRO waiing
of monotonous chant halt half sobbcd, tnat
not without Will dscordant melody. IN her lap
she held babe and another child sat beside her pa
tenty aud silently and looked at US as we passed With
wondering eyes. she Paiu NO allentioh 70 US
but bent ear to hear what she was
lows:-"My home. my home, my. poor home,
my sweet home; my husband, my husband, my poor
husband, my dear husband; my home, my sweet
home and on, repeating the same words over and
again thousand times. In the next housc were
Two. engaged in the same way: ono old, the other
young, repeating words nearly identical. IL had
home and now have none; had husband and now
/ am widow; had son and now have none; had
five ch hdren and now have one, while rocking them
selves to and fro, beating their heads and wrnging
their hands. These women who had escaped from
the massacre, and had only Just returned Tor tho
that of Mr.. Barring 10 do So They might have re-
long ago. but their terror great that they
dared without the presence and protection OF
foreigner and they would on for hours In this
way ''kecnng this Kind of funeral drge over their
sound we had heard when up The hull. AS We advanced
there we're and more some sitting on the heaps
Of stones ina. covered he loors o, 'nsr , houses;
wrngihg their hands and repeating the same despair
Ing wall.
GRIEF TOO DEEP FOR TEARS.
There were tears in this universal mourn
ing. 1t dry, hard and dcspairing. The foun-
tain OF tears had been dried up weeks before,
ever and had 10 lind vent without their
aid AS We proceeded most of them fell into line be-
hind u.s. and they finally formed procession OF 400
500 people, mostly women and children. who followed
us about wherever went with their mournfu cries,
Such sound their united volces sent to heaven
l hope never to hear again.
II may be well, before gong further, to say some
thing about Batak 80 that tho reader may form
idea oil what took place here II was place of
900 houses and about 5000 5000 inhabitants AS
there are census statistics, nor, indeed, trust
worthy statistics of any other kind in Turkey,
1t is impossible tel. exactly what the population OF
any place IS But the ordinary rule OF calcu-
ating i've persons TO the house Will not hold good in
Bulgaria The Bulgarans, like the Russian peasantry.
adhere TO the old patrarchai method, and fathers and
married cons, with their children aud children's chill
dren under the roof until the grandfather
dies As each son in MS turn gels married, a new
room is added to the old building un,il with the new
living under the same rooi all paying ooedience and
respect 20 the head oi the family In estimating the
Therefore y the EIGHT nu%oSr nns ,s
souls must be counted AS the average Edp
Efendi in his report, states that there
told A more impudent aIsehood was never uttered,
even by Turk Mr. Schuyler has obtained their tax
list for this year. aud finds that there l, 42i able
bodied men assessed to pay the military exemption
tax. THIS number in any European country would in
dicate population OF about To- 600, but here Is would
not give more than 900 10 U00 souls. all told
and this Is the figure at which the population OF the
place estimated by the inhabitants as well as by the
people OF Pestera
BULGARIAN CIVILIZATION.
think people IN England and Europe generally
Bulvarians are. l have always heard them
spoken OF sayages who we're In reality
not much civilized than the American lnuians;
aud confess myself not far from entertain
ing the same opinion not very long was aston
shed, as believe most oil my readers VIII De- TO learn
that there is scarcely Bulgarian village without It's
school, that these schools are where they have not
been burned by the Turks, in very ourishing cond
that they are supported by voluntary tax levied
by the Bulgarans on themselves, not only without
being forced to 40 IL by the government but IN spite
OF all sorts OF obstacles thrown in Their way by the
perversity the Turkish authortcs that the nstruc
ton gwen these schools is gratutous and that all
profit alike bv it, poor well rich that
cannot read and write, and, finally, that
the percentage OF people who read and write is
great Bulgaria ia England and France. Do the
people speak OF the Bugarians savages happen
to be OF these factsy Again, had thought that
the ng OF a Bulgarian village meant the burning
OF lew mud huts that were IN realty of little vane
and that could be easily rebuilt. | very much
s,ooished lind that The majority of these villages
are in reality well butt towns win sold stone houses,
and that there in all OF them comparatively large
number OF people who have attained TO something like
comfort, and that some OF the villages might stand
very unfavorablc comparison with an
English or French village The truth is
that these Bullarans, instead OF the
savages VIC have taken them for, are, in reality,
hardworking. INDUSTRIOUS honest, civilized and peace
iul people Now, as regards The insurrccton, there
weak attempt at an insurrecton three or iour
villages blt whatever In Ba,ak and IT does not
appear that a single Turk was Killed here
FURNISH TKEAcHERy.
The Turkish authorities do not even pretend that
there any Turk Killed here, that the inhabitants
offered resistance whatever. When AchmetA CHA,
who COMMANDED che massacre with the Bashi.
Bazouks and demanded the surrender arms they
nrst refused, but offered deliver them to the
lar troops to the Kamakap Tatar Bazardk. This,
however. Achmct-Agha refused to allow and insisted
upon their beng delivered TO him and his Basni-
Bazouks After considerable hesitation and parleyng
this done. II must not be supposed that these
that the Inhabitants bad especially prepared
Tor an nsurrcction. They simply the arms that
everybody, Christians and Turks alike, carried and
openly, as is the custom here. what followed
the delivery OF the arms will best be understood by the
La.