The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-04-24
TOWARD TEE ORIENT
Pass and Baggage Revision With.
out End.
THE GREAT ROSE OIL CULTURE.
Slivritza, the Capital of Prince Ferdinand
Modest Beginnings Of What May Become
Great Government.

enter the Balkan peninsula plague sezes
upon him in the shape of innumerable Off
GERS in uniform or in civilian dress, some
armed with sabres and revolvers, and
others without weapons. Pass revision or
baggage revision is their mission in differ
ent languages. L was advised not to travel
on the Balkan without a passport SO the
necessary credentials were furnished me
| by Colonel Fred Grant, the American em-
bassador in Vienna, then they were revised
by the Turkish ambassador there. Upon
entering Belgrade the passport was first
examined by the 5ervian officers while the
train was held until that was done and the
baggage revised. 1t does not take long to
pass through the kingdom of Servia and on
entering Bulgaria another revision of pass
ports and baggage takes place. We passed
through Servia at night and on the follow
ing morning we found ourselves in Bull
garia. Weexpected on going so far south,
TO find warm weather bat the country was
covered with snow; yet the scenery was
very picturesque showing that it must be
very beautiful IN the summer. The train ran
| through long valley toward the Balkan
mountains and we expected to reach Sofia,
the capital of Bulgaria, by noon, but near
Slivnitza we came very
NEAR MEETING WITH AN ACCIDENT
as bad as the one that befell the Servians
when on the same spot Alexander Won
Battenburg gave them battle and sent them
home in rOut. About IL o'clock we
reached Slivnitza, where our train stopped
over half an hour before we thought it nee
essary to make Investigations. You may
think we were in pleasant company not to
notice such delay in an express train, and
so we were, for there were Hungarians,
Turks, English, French, Germans and
Americans talking in their respective Ian
guages, yet all understanding German
enough to comprehend each other Upon
investigating the cause of our delay we
found that ahead of Us the road had been
washed away. The washout was about
thirty feet deep and one hundred feet long.
A number of Bulgarian laborers were busy
IN erecting temporary support from heavy
logs, so that the train might cross over
BULGARIAN
is peculiar looking specimen of mankind.
He is tall and lean with long nose and
dark complexion. He is dressed in dirty
white pantaloons that begin to part from
the knee down, the uppers forming kind
, OF loose skirt, but from the knee down they
} fit the leg very closely, and colored sock S
, cover the feet and are drawn over the
he wears sandals, which are tied TO the
feet with straps. His coat is made OF
sheep skin, as also often are the panta-
looms. The coat only reaches to the
waist and is very full and
| open in front. The shirt is cut so low as
to leave the neck and chest bare. Around
: the waist he wears a wide colored saeh
r lance it is very difficult to distinguish s
woman from man.
t At last we were informed that it wa:
. not possible for our train to cross over the
washout, and that train had been tele
graphed to meet US, which was then stand
ing on the opposite side. We began Il
prepare to walk over and were carefully
4 ing down the steep embankmen
when we were told to remain in the train
as 1T was thought safe to push the carr
over. Now began an interesting time
Many insisted On walking over, which
they did, among them an Englishman VIII,
i was never afraid, but always thought i
4 best to be careful One lady went into ,
;, coupe, pulled down the curtains, shut tn,
door and her eyes and began TO cry, Will,
others watched the train safely movin,
over the deep gulch. We reached Sofia a
4 in the afternoon. We got out of the train
but before we could leave the depot, w
had to go through another revision Of pass
ports and still another before we were al
= lowed to register in the hotel. Suppose w
had lost our passport,
WHAT WOULD HAVE BECOME OF Us?
We could not have gone back, as the Serv
!. ians would not have admitted Us to thei
country, and we could not have proceeded
as the Turks would not have shown us an,
J more consideration. We could not hay
remained in Bulgaria either, because n
hotel would have given US shelter withou
a passport. In a case like this, of course
t one has to rely on the American consul TO
v protection, but that is tedious process
t ard may detain one many days until pass
: port can be sent to him.
u OLD TURKISH SOPHIA
Q Is gradually disappearing, and in its plac
a new city is being erected as the capital O
independent Bulgaria. The residence o
Prince Ferdinand is modest modern build
/. ing, surrounded by high wall, and cover
o ing with its grounds whole square Tn
o entrances are well guarded by sentinels
Around the vicinity of the castle are
number of very pretty residences, some @
them occupied by the consuls of the differ
= emit governments. The public building
= are new and nicely put up. IS also are til
q new business blocks which are rapid,
= being erected. The streets are not paved
and sidewalks are laid only on streets SUI
rounding the castle. Sofia is what Ameri
cans would call booming town, and price
are accordingly. The appearance of
shows what the Bulgarians have gained
Il their independence. Yet while in tn
7, vicinity of the castle there is
g modern air, the greater part of tn
city still preserves its oriental az