Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-06-14
The Geography Of Tur-
key.

and Turkey will naturally at
tract attention to the seat of
war. For those who have. not
access to larger works of ref
erence we give the following abb
stract of the geography of
Turkey:
The province of Turkey as
represented on the map of Eu-
rope in our school geography
embraces a territory lying on
both sides of the Danube. All
that part, however, north of the
Danube, and bounded by AUS
tria, Russia and the Black Sea,
is called Roumania. The name
is derived from the language
spoken, which was originally the
Roman or Latin, as we shall see
hereafter.
The population is of a mixed
character consisting of Jews,
Roman Catholics, Armenians
and ProtestaRts. The mass of
the people, however, are mem
bers of the Greek church. There
are only about 1900 Mohamme-
dams in the principality. The
entire population is about five
millions.
ROumania includes the Decia
of Roman history. Here the
legions of Trajan fought, and
when he had destroyed the ma
tive population, he is said to
have peopled the country with
colonists from the whole of the
Roman empire. Hence the
character of the language. Af-
ter the Romans had held sway
for somewhat less than two hum
dred years they were expelled
by the Cloths. Subsequently,
other barbarous tribes invaded
the country, until, at last, the
Turks, having captured Con-
stantinople in 1854, acquired a
nominal title, though practical
ly the country continued under
its own Christian rulers. At
present Roumania enjoys all the
rights of sovereignty, can ne
gotiate treaties of commerce
and peace. She makes, how
ever, an annual contribution to
the Porte. The chief ruler is
styled prince regnant and in
herits his title. Liberty of
conscience, and freedom of the
press and of public meetings
are guaranteed the people. The
Legislative branch of the gov
ernment is elected, and consists
Of two houses.
Roumania possesses railroads,
lines of telegraph, a post Office
department, schools and univer-
sites. Education is obligatory
for both sexes.
The language is of q mixed
character. This is a necessary
consequence of its history. All
the. races, nearly, which have
found a home on the soil, have
left some words. The Roman
alphabet is used and the pronun-
citation resembles the Italian.
South of the Danube, extend
ing from where the Danube
leaves the Austrian frontier
westward with the Morava riv-
er dividing it nearly in the CEN
ire where it joins the Danube,
lies the principality of Servia.
It's civil administration is mod
eled after that of Austria. Ev-
cry Serb is a soldier. The
Turks hold the fortress of Bel
grade and several other points.
The Servians belong to the Sla-
vic race and thus in religion and
nationality are in sympathy
with Russia. The language is
more like that of Russia than
the Polish; these, with the Bo-
hemian and the Servian being
the four great divisions of the
Slavic language. The popula-
ton is a little over a million.
The third principality is that
of Montenegro, to the south
west of Servia and nearly mid
way on the west frontier of Tur-
key. The inhabitants are Of
the Servian race and members
of the Greek church. These
are under special obligations TO
Russia, receiving an annual PEN
sion for harassing the Turks.
The population is somewhat
over a hundred thousand: But
what they lack in numbers they
make up in their temper and
the nature of their mountain
home. Twenty-Five thousand
men can be sent into the field at
short notice.
But the rest of the territory
known in our biographies as
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