ripoli
in North Africa, and the tributary States Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina (under Austria), Cyprus (under Britain), Samos and
Egypt (practically controlled by Britain). EUROPEAN TURKEY (4,786), which
during the last 200 years has been gradually losing territory, now
comprises a narrow strip of land between the Adriatic (W.) and the Black
Sea (E.), about twice the size of England; is traversed by the Dinaric
Alps and Pindus Mountains, which strike southwards into Greece, while
offshoots from the BALKANS (q. v.) diversify the E.; climate is very
variable, and is marked by high winds and extremes of cold and heat; the
soil is remarkably fertile and well adapted for the cultivation of
cereals, but agricultural enterprise is hampered by excessive taxation;
there is abundance of the useful metals; is the only non-Christian State
in Europe. ASIATIC TURKEY (16,000) is bounded N. by the Black Sea, S. by
the Arabian Desert and the Mediterranean, E. by Persia and Transcaucasia,
and W. by the Archipelago; has an area more than ten times that of Turkey
in Europe, is still more mountainous, being traversed by the Taurus,
Anti-Taurus, and the Lebanon ranges; is ill watered, and even the valleys
of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Jordan are subject to great drought in the
summer; embraces ASIA MINOR (q. v.), SYRIA (q. v.), PALESTINE (q. v.),
and the coast strips of Arabia along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf;
chief exports are fruits, silk, cotton, wool, opium, &c. The population
of the Ottoman Empire is of a most heterogeneous character, embracing
Turks, Greeks, Slavs, Albanians, Armenians, Syrians, Arabs, Tartars, &c.
The government is a pure despotism, and the Sultan is regarded as the
Caliph or head of Islam; military service is compulsory, and the army on
a war footing numbers not less than 750,000, but the navy is small; since
1847 there has been considerable improvement in education; the finances
have long been mismanaged, and an annual deficit of two millions sterling
is now a usual feature of the national budget; the foreign debt is
upwards of 160 millions. From the 17th century onwards the once wide
empire of the Turks has been gradually dwindling away. The Turks are
essentially a warlike race, and commerce and art have not flourished with
them. Their literature is generally lacking in virility, and is mostly
imitative and devoid of national character.

TURNER, CHARLES TENNYSON, an elder brother of A