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 TURKEY 57 ted in the south, rice, cotton, rye, and barley in the central provinces, and wheat, barley, and millet in the north. Though producing forest trees of the same families with those of European Turkey, the predominant trees of Asiatic Turkey are of different genera. The cedar, cypress, and evergreen oak crown the lower summits and thrive on the slopes of the Lebanon and Taurus ; the sycamore and mul- berry occupy the lower hills, and the olive, fig, citron, orange, pomegranate, and vine flour- ish luxuriantly in the lowlands. Mesopotamia abounds in dates, and in wheat, barley, rice, maize, tobacco, hemp, flax, and cotton. Among wild animals of European Turkey are the wild boar, bear, badger, marten, wolf, wild dog, fox, civet, wild cat, bat, squirrel, beaver, hedgehog, mole, hare, fallow deer, roe, and chamois. Of birds there are over 250 species, including about 100 songsters. Game is plenti- ful, especially in the mountains. Fish are nu- merous, embracing all the known species of the Mediterranean ; tunny, coral, and sponge fish- eries are extensive ; trout and other fish abound in the rivers, and leeches in the marshes. In Asiatic Turkey, the lion is still found E. of the Euphrates ; the striped hyaena, lynx, panther, wild boar, and wild ass occur in Mesopotamia ; the bear, wolf, wild hog, and jackal in Asia Minor; the leopard, hedgehog, jerboa, wolf, hare, and mole throughout Syria ; and the Sy- rian bear on Mt. Lebanon. The camel, horses of the best breeds, the ass, ox, sheep, and goats, including the celebrated Angora species, are numerous. There are few countries for which nature has done as much as for Turkey ; few in which the resources are so little developed; and, considering that the territories of the em- pire embrace those of ancient Assyria, Baby- lonia, Palestine, Phoenicia, Lydia, Ionia, &c., hardly any in which successive wars and misrule have destroyed so much of the results of for- mer activity, wealth, and magnificence. For fuller descriptions see the articles on the sepa- rate parts of the empire (Albania, Armenia, Asia Minor, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Candia, Cyprus, &c.), and on its principal mountain ranges, riv- ers, and cities. The races of Turkey are di- vided approximately as follows : RACES. In Europe. In Asia. Turks proper or Osmanlis 2,200,000 8,620,000 100,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 Turkomans, chiefly in N. Mesopotamia Greeks 1,000,000 60,000 8,550,000 200,000 1,200,000 Armenians Slavs (half Bulgarians, half Serbs) Roumans or Wallachs Albanians or Arnauts Arabs i,'ooo^666 200,000 80,000 100,000 Syrians and Chaldeans Druses Kurds Gypsies 200,000 70,000 20,000 Jews 80,000 20,000 Tartars Total 8,500,000 18,200,000 The state religion is Mohammedan, and the alleged sayings and opinions of the prophet, and the decisions of his immediate successors comprised in the code of laws (MuUeka) f are binding upon the sultan. The laws and regu- lations (Kannon Nameh) established in the 16th century by Solyman the Magnificent con- stituted for a long period the basis of the ad- ministration of government and justice, and are still revered. But the Koran alone is the supreme authority in religion, law, and all spheres of government and life. It allows four wives, in addition to whom the sultan and other persons of rank and wealth may have unlimited numbers of concubines and female attendants or slaves. The masses of the poor can hardly support more than one wife, and even among the higher classes polygamy does not generally prevail. The rigid confinement of the females in the harem is in accordance with the Koran, which enjoins seclusion and modesty, and the veiling of the face. The la- dies of the higher classes are averse to these restrictions, and are lightly veiled; but the masses of the orthodox Turkish women, es- pecially in the interior, wear thick veils and reveal only the eyes. The Turks proper or Osinanlis, the Turkomans, Arabs, and Tartars are wholly, and the Kurds mostly Mohamme- dans ; and a small portion of the Slavic race are of the same religion. The Mohammedans con- stitute a vast majority in Asiatic Turkey, but are a minority in every European vilayet ex- cept Prisrend and Scutari and the metropoli- tan district. The sultan is regarded as the suc- cessor of the prophet, and on that account as the head of all believers. Even rulers of re- mote Mohammedan communities have at vari- ous times recognized the sultan as the chief of all Mussulmans and invoked his protection. As the Koran'constitutes both a code of law, of reli- gion, and of ethics, there is a close connection between the ministers of religion and the inter- preters of jurisprudence (muftis, mollahs, &c.). Together these form the body of the ulema (see UI.EMA), governed by the sheikh ul-Islam, the only dignitary who holds office for life. The Christians of Turkey belong mostly to the Greek church, including about 6,000,000 mem- bers, mostly subject to the patriarch of Con- stantinople. The Armenian church is confined to the Armenian race. The head of the Gre- gorian Armenians is the patriarch in the Turk- ish capital, who ranks below the catholicos in Russian Armenia, but is otherwise entire- ly independent of him. A portion of the Greeks and Armenians, Nestorians, and Jacob- ites have united with the Roman Catholic church, but keep up separate organizations as united Greeks, united Bulgarians, united Ar- menians, Chaldeans, united Syrians, and Ma- ronites. The number of Roman Catholics, in- clusive of the members of the oriental church- es who recognize the supremacy of the pope, is estimated at about 300,000 in European and from 300,000 to 400,000 in Asiatic Turkey. All these denominations, as well. as the Prot- estants (whose converts are chiefly won from