The silver star., 1897-09-02
rHE suLrAM.s svsJscrs.
azsraesdin.rv variety u Races Over
which The ssitan Rulss.


0xtraesdinarv variety q Raess over
which The Satan Rslss.
The Sultan Of Turkey may be very
inemcient ruler, but when We blame
MIN for not carrying out the promised
reforms without hitch or delay We do
mot treat him with that fair play Of
which We are 10 proud as . nation.
Owing to the extraordinary variety Of
races and creeds over which he rulea.
his difficulties are almost insurmount-
able. and It IL doubtful whether he or
any one else will ever succeed In maxi
ing Turkey land Of peace ana har-
mony. There are NO fewer than seven
main divisions Of races In the Eu-
ropcan and Asian provinces. In Eu-
rope both the Greeks and Albanians
arc - numerous as the Ottoman
Turks. each contingent numbering
about 100000, according to the best
authorities. Constantinople ITSELF has
just a. diversified q mixture - the
kindom generally. and only 3S5.000 Of
Its 876.0O0 Inhabitants are Mussul-
mans. the Greeks numbering 163. 900.
But in Asia there are twice as many
Ottomans as all other races put to-
gether. The Turks proper consist Of
Ottomans, Yurouks and Turkomans.
The names have something terrible
in their very sound to us, but travel
ers unite in describing the Ottomans
a. honorable and humane men, al
though they can fight when It comes
to blows. The Turkomans live . pas
toral life. while the Yurouks are no.
madic and therefore not easily sub
jcted to law. Although the Greeks and
the Albanians are regarded a. belong-
ing to the same Graeco-L.atin race, the
latter are for the most part Mussul-
mans. Some Of the Albanians are
Roman Catholics and oilers are Of the
Greek church, and the two slightly d.
| whatever the form Of faith, they prefer
robbery as a means Of livelihood to
any other industry. At the Same time
they are of hne physical type and
make splendid soldiers; but they treat
their women like oxen, and. although
they dress In rich clothes Of the IA
shion of the Scottish Highlands, they
have q horror Of soap. In fact, II II
said that they put ON their clothes
once for all and never take them Oh.
The Greeks have not penetrated very
far inland, but have scattered them
selves along the coast Of both Bu-
ropean and Asiastic Turkey. where
they are always on the lookout to put
money in their purse. Together with
the Jews and the Armenians. they do
nearly all the trading and banking of
the country. and make very good
thing out Of 1t. Armenians and their
exterminators. the Kurds. are both
sprung from Persian stock. The
Kurds live In the mountains, and are
not precisely the kind of people one
would care to set about reforming.
Some say there are an even million nf
them: others say there are over two
millions. They keep the sultan In per-
petual hot water. being very bad
Moslems. But they are very enter
prising. chiefly In staying Armenians
and stealing their neighbors' goods.
When not thus engaged they rear cat
tie. sheep and goats; and they differ In
NO way from their ancestors ~ de-
scribed by xenophon. Armenia was
. portion Of western Asia, between the
Caspian sea and Asia Minor. but It
has suffered the fate Of Poland. and
the Armenians are now almost ~ seat-
tered ~ the Jews. They number about
two and half millions. and arc In
telliGent people with = particular tai
ent for trade and banking. The Se-
mitic race has many families In Tuf-
key. There are the Jews who. perse-
cuted everywhere, took refuge In Tur-
key; the Greek church Maronites. who
are the deadly foes Of their neishboFs.
the Druses; the Druses. Of the Moham-
mcdan faith, brave and temperate men.
who take neither wine nor tobacco and
who detest the Maronites: the Chal-
deans. who are Christians Of sort;
the Arabs. Of whom there are four or
nve millions. and who. though holding
the same religious view ~ the sultan.
are his inveterate enemies. and the Sy-
rians. Then there is the fne race Of
Circassians. who are differentiated
from most Of the other Inhabitants BY
the fact that they work for living:
the LAxes and the Gypsies.
A Eye to Bsslasss.
A Maine paper tells Of farmer in
<kat ~k~ka vvho htrnH kwn H.nv~ a. h~1,>