ETYMOLOGIGAL NOTE.

Herzgovina was so called from Herzog, duke, the title given to its rulers prior to its reduction by Solyman the Magnificent.

Constantinople. Byzantium was founded by a colony from Megara in Greece, under Byzas, their prince and leader, B.C. 658. It was rebuilt and greatly extended, B.C. 328, by Constantine the Great, and means the city of Constantine.

Adrianople, anciently Hadrianopolis, was founded by the emperor Hadrian, B.C. 378.

Philippopoli, anciently Philippopolis, was named in honor of its founder, Philip of Macedon.

Saloniki derived its name from the wife of Cassander, and sister of Alexander the Great, B.C. 315.

Montenegro. The black mountain; a name particularly applicable to Monte

negro.

Bucharest signifies the city of enjoyment. It has the evil reputation of being one of the most dissolute places in Europe, all classes being inveterate gamblers.

Jassy has its name from Jassiensis, the nineteenth legion stationed at it.

There are neither canals nor railways in Turkey, although considerable traffic is carried on in the Danubian provinces by means of the rivers, the greatest highway of commerce in this part of the empire being the Danube. Very few roads are practicable for carriages, and beasts of burden (horses and asses, or, in the mountainous regions, mules) are usually employed for the conveyance of goods and passengers. Caravanserai or khans are placed on the most frequented roads. These are buildings with an open court-yard in the centre for the accommodation of travellers. The government communication is kept up by travelling couriers who are called Tahtars, for whose use horses are kept in readiness at successive stations on the great lines of road.

PRINCIPAL TURKISH WRITERS IN LITERATURE. POETRY.--Ashik Pasha, the oldest Turkish poet of celebrity, who lived during the reign of Osman, 1288 A.D. The reign of Bayazid II. was distinguished by Nejati, believed to have been the first lyric poet of his time; and Mesihi, author of the famous Ode to Spring. The greatest Turkish poet was Baki, who died A.D. 1600. In the last century there were Nabi Efendi, Seyed Refet, and Raghib Pasha, the "Sultan of the poets of Roum."

HISTORY.-The most distinguished names in this branch of literature are those of Ali (a contemporary of Baki), who wrote Mines of History, a valuable work on the earlier and middle periods of Turkish history; Solak Záde, Haji Khalfah, Edris, Naïma, Raschid, Asim Subhi, and Wassif (A.D. 1500-1774).

BIOGRAPHY.-The most distinguished writer in this department was Latifi, who compiled an account of the lives of two hundred Turkish poets.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, A.D., the literature of Turkey chiefly consisted of translations from the Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, and, more recently, from the English, French, and German, and embraced works on history, geography, medicine, chemistry, mathematics, and the military science.

MINOR NOTES.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.-Exports:-Wool, wine, tobacco, cotton, currants, almonds, figs, dates, and other fruits, olive-oil, wax, honey, opium, morocco leather, carpets, raw and spun silk, camlet, valonia, madder, gum, attar of roses, horses, swine, oxen, and raw and tanned materials. Imports:-Corn, and a great variety of colonial produce and manufactured articles. The principal trade of Turkey is carried on with Great Britain; this, which before the Russian war was large, has considerably increased. In the year 1855 the imports from Britain amounted to £5,639,000; while in 1852 it did not amount to more than £2,500,000. LANGUAGE.-1. Slavonic, spoken in the basin of the Lower Danube, and on the Drave and Save; 2. Græco-Latin (including the Romaic or Modern Greek, the Wallachian, and the Albanian or Arnaute); 3. Arabic, the language of the Koran, spoken only by some of the higher classes of Mohammedans; and 4. Turkish, or Turkish Osmanli, an important member of the Finno-Tahtarian family.

RELIGION.-The Turks are uniformly Mohammedans, but the great majority of the people of European Turkey, including all the Slavonic population, are members of the Greek Church. The Slavonians and the Græco-Latins (belonging to the Greek Church) number 10,000,000; the Osmanli, and a large proportion of the Albanians (Mohammedans), 4,550,000; the Armenians (members of the Armenian Church), 100,000; Roman Catholics, chiefly Franks, 640,000; Jews (adhering to the law of Moses), 70,000; and various minor sects and Gypsies, who amount to 140,000 ;— total, 15,500,000.

EDUCATION.-The great mass of the people of Turkey receive no instruction. Seminaries are attached to all the principal mosques, which are, however, ill-attended, and, perhaps, worse taught. In 1847 the educational institutions of the empire were remodelled, and comprised-1. Elementary schools, for reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious instruction; 2. Middle schools, for the teaching of Arabic, composition, and religious history (Islam); and 3. Colleges, for instruction in medicine, agriculture, naval and military science, and various other branches of the higher order. In accordance with this reformed system the instruction given is gratuitous, and the attendance at the age of six or nine years, compulsory.

The ARMY, before the late Russian war, amounted to 178,000, besides the armies of Wallachia and Moldavia, 61,000, and a reserve force of 125,000, -total, 365,000. In 1853 the NAVY consisted of 70 vessels, manned by 25,000 sailors, and carrying 4,000 guns; many of these ships were, however, destroyed at Sinope, and others have since foundered in the Black Sea.

In 1853 the PUBLIC DEBT amounted to £5,000,000 sterling; the REVENUE to £6,714,678; and the EXPENDITURE to £6,898,165.

* Greece is one of the youngest and least important kingdoms in Europe, but has the oldest historical renown. Its modern independence dates from 1829, when, in consequence of a bloody insurrection, followed by the armed intervention of the great powers of Europe, it was separated from the Turkish rule, and became a constitutional hereditary monarchy in 1832.

† In 1845 Greece was divided into ten nomes or governments, and these again into forty-nine eparchies or prefectures.