doubtless true that two years and a half ago, at the time those returns were framed, it was just possible, by classing as Hellenised all the Bulgarophones who adhered to the Orthodox Church, to outnumber the Bulgarians who looked to a national Church as the emblem of national existence. Since then thirty months have passed, Bulgaria from a mere name has become a living reality, and the mutilation which it underwent at the Congress of Berlin has served not to damp but to stimulate the national feeling among those left without the pale of freedom. In spite of the redoubled efforts of the Greek clergy, in spite of the support afforded to it by the Turkish authorities, in spite of its own precarious position, the Bulgarian national Church, deprived of many of its pastors, suspected by the Government, placed under the ban of excommunication by the Holy Orthodox Synod, has never ceased to rise on the tide of the national revival; and to-day the Greek Archbishop of Monastir is fain to confess that in the whole district of Perlepe there are only six villages, and in the town eighty houses, left-in

all, barely a thousand souls-who still acknowledge his spiritual jurisdiction.

Yet the heavy curses with bell, book, and candle which his Eminence has fulminated against Perlepe do not appear to have impaired its prosperity. Placed in a sunny corner of one of the most fertile table-lands of European Turkey; surrounded by vineyards and tobacco-fields, to which it owes much of its wealth and reputation; sharing with Monastir the broad acres of the plain and its golden crops of barley, wheat, and Indian corn,-it derives also no little profit from its transit trade, as it lies at the mouth of the two mountain-passes through which the Salonica-Mitrovitza Railway taps the rich plateaux of western Macedonia. If the ruins of the royal castle, still called King Marco's Seat, on a rugged crag behind the town, testify that Perlepe has had a past, its bright well - built houses, its clean streets, its thriving population, are unequivocal witnesses not only to a certain. measure of present wellbeing, but to a future of infallible prosperity. Where every household, even to the humblest, considers itself dis

graced if it has not always its stock of provisions for at least six months in advance, there can be but little cause for grumbling. And in truth, the inhabitants of Perlepe are singularly free from that whining querulousness peculiar to the Christian populations of Turkey. Yet they suffered considerably during the war from the suspiciousness of the authorities; and the irritation of the Mussulmans often found vent, even to within the last few months, in outrages on their Christian neighbours, for which the latter could never obtain redress. But the appointment of a new Mutessarif, Abdul Rahman Effendi, has checked these outrages; and the stationing of military posts throughout a great part of the district, to protect the postal road between Monastir and the Salonica Railway, has of late preserved this region from the depredations of marauders. Abdul Rahman Effendi, who seems to be a pearl among Turkish officials, has even succeeded to some extent in reforming the bekjis, a class of petty tyrants, who rank among the chief curses of the country. The bekjis are properly guardians, gardes-champêtres, appointed by each village for purposes of rural police,

for protecting the harvest from spoliation, superintending the gathering of the crops, keeping watch in the vineyards, and defending the peasants and their chattels from marauders. Of these a village is allowed to have as many as it likes and chooses to support. Unfortunately, in practice this excellent institution serves very different ends, and villagers are often compelled to have many more bekjis than they require, and of a very different stamp. By threats or violence every petty local magnate, even bands of brigands, force upon the villagers their own nominees, of course for the mere purpose of spying out the land, and compelling assistance in their deeds of oppression, corruption, and lawlessness. Thus a village finds itself sometimes saddled with eight or ten of these strange "guardians," each of whom levies upon it in kind a salary of twenty, thirty, and even fifty liras per annum -not for any services which he renders, but for the very tyranny which he exercises over the wretched peasantry under the commission of his real employers. The local influence of the latter in the mejlisses, and among at least the subordinate officials, makes it worse than use

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But

less for a village to seek redress, as complaints are sure to involve only aggravated persecution. Abdul Rahman Effendi has gone energetically into the question, and has succeeded by his firmness in ridding many villages of the Perlepe district from their ruffianly guardians. vested interests are not to be overthrown in a day; and he has not yet been able to obtain the sanction of the Government to the radical change by which he proposes to extirpate the evils of the present system. I understood, however, at Monastir, that Ahmed Eyoub Pasha had given it his support, and proposed to apply it throughout the province. In lieu of the present bekjis, who are chiefly recruited from brokendown brigands or officials under a cloud, the authorities would supply to every village as many men from the regular army as they might require and be willing to lodge and support. When first told of the plan, I was inclined to fear lest the soldiers might misuse the power thus placed in their hands; but both Christians and Mussulmans are anxious for the change. Indeed, the mutual confidence and good relations of the Turkish regulars with the peasantry