are in good condition. The income, according to
a return made to me from the finance department, is in round numbers,
eight hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars, and the expenditure
eight hundred and thirty thousand. The greater part of the revenue
being produced by the _poresa_, which is paid by all heads of
families, from the time of their marriage to their sixtieth year, and
in fact, includes nearly all the adult population; for, as is the case
in most eastern countries, nearly every man marries early. The
bachelors pay a separate tax. Some of the other items in the budget
are curious: under the head of "Interest of a hundred thousand ducats
lent by the government to the people at six per cent." we find a sum
of fourteen thousand four hundred dollars. Not only has Servia no
public debt, but she lends money. Interest is high in Servia; not
because there is a want of capital, but because there are no means of
investment. The consequence is that the immense savings of the
peasantry are hoarded in the earth. A father of a family dies, or _in
extremis_ is speechless, and unable to reveal the spot; thus large
sums are annually lost to Servia. The favourite speculation in the
capital is the building of houses.

The largest gipsy colonies are to be found on this part of the Danube,
in Servia, in Wallachia, and in the Banat. The tax on the gipsies in
Servia amounts to more than six thousand dollars. They are under a
separate jurisdiction, but have the choice of remaining nomade, or
settling; in the latter case they are fiscally classed with the
Servians. Some settled gipsies are peasants, but for the most part
smiths. Both settled and nomade gipsies, are alike remarkable for
their musical talents. Having fought with great bravery during the war
of emancipation, they are not so despised in Servia as in some other
countries.

For produce of the state forests, appears the very insignificant sum
of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The interior of Servia being
so thickly wooded, every Servian is allowed to cut as much timber as
he likes. The last item in the budget sounds singularly enough: two
thousand three hundred and forty-one dollars are set down as the
produce of sales of stray cattle, which are first delivered up to the
captain of the district, who makes the seizure publicly, and then
hands them over to the judge for sale, if there be no claimant within
a given time.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Agriculture and Com