e Turkish government in 1861. They may be
reckoned at 12,000. The gipsies, who are scattered in considerable numbers
throughout the country, came into Bulgaria in the 14th century. They are
for the most part Moslems, and retain their ancient Indian speech. They
live in the utmost poverty, occupy separate cantonments in the villages,
and are treated as outcasts by the rest of the population. The Bulgarians,
being of mixed origin, possess few salient physical characteristics. The
Slavonic type is far less pronounced than among the kindred races; the
Ugrian or Finnish cast of features occasionally asserts itself in the
central Balkans. The face is generally oval, the nose straight, the jaw
somewhat heavy. The men, as a rule, are rather below middle height,
compactly built, and, among the peasantry, very muscular; the women are
generally deficient in beauty and rapidly grow old. The upper class, the
so-called _intelligenzia_, is physically very inferior to the rural
population.

_National Character._--The character of the Bulgarians presents a singular
contrast to that of the neighbouring nations. Less quick-witted than the
Greeks, less prone to idealism than the Servians, less apt to assimilate
the externals of civilization than the Rumanians, they possess in a
remarkable degree the qualities of patience, perseverance and endurance,
with the capacity for laborious effort peculiar to an agricultural race.
The tenacity and determination with which they pursue their national aims
may eventually enable them to vanquish their more brilliant competitors in
the struggle for hegemony in the Peninsula. Unlike most southern races, the
Bulgarians are reserved, taciturn, phlegmatic, unresponsive, and extremely
suspicious of foreigners. The peasants are industrious, peaceable and
orderly; the vendetta, as it exists in Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia,
and the use of the knife in quarrels, so common in southern Europe, are
alike unknown. The tranquillity of rural life has, unfortunately, been
invaded by the intrigues of political agitators, and bloodshed is not
uncommon at elections. All classes practise thrift bordering on parsimony,
and any display of wealth is generally resented. The standard of sexual
morality is high, especially in the rural districts; the unfaithful wife is
an object of public contempt, and in former times was punished with death.
Marriage ceremonies are elaborate and protracted, as is the case in most
primitive c