e "Turks" are as a rule too poor to provide for more
than one wife on the scale required by Islamic law. In general, the
people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are sober and thrifty, subsisting
chiefly on Indian corn, dried meat, milk and vegetables. Their houses
are built of timber and thatch, or clay tiles, except in the Karst
region, where stone is more plentiful than wood. Family ties are strong,
and the women are not ill-treated, although they share in all kinds of
manual labour.

11. _Government._--At the time of the Austrian annexation in 1908, the
only remaining token of Ottoman suzerainty was that the foreign consuls
received their _exequatur_ from Turkey, instead of Austria; otherwise
the government of the country was conducted in the name of the Austrian
emperor, through the imperial minister of finance at Vienna, who
controlled the civil service for the occupied territory. Its central
bureau, with departments of the interior, religion and education,
finance and justice, was established at Serajevo; and its members were
largely recruited among the Austrian Slavs, who were better able than
the Germans to comprehend the local customs and language. A consultative
assembly, composed of the highest ecclesiastical authorities, together
with 12 popular representatives, also met at Serajevo. For
administrative purposes the country was divided into 6 districts or
prefectures (_kreise_), which were subdivided into 49 subprefectures
(_bezirke_).

Every large town has a mayor and deputy mayor, appointed by the
government, and a town council, of whom one third are similarly
appointed, while the citizens choose the rest; a proportionate number of
councillors representing each religious community. To ensure economy,
the decisions of this body are supervised by a government commissioner.
The commune is preserved, somewhat as in Servia (q.v.), but with
modified powers. Each district has its court of law, where cases are
tried by three official judges and two assessors, selected from the
leading citizens. The assessors vote equally with the judges, and three
votes decide the verdict. Except where the litigants and witnesses are
German, the Serbo-Croatian language is used. An appeal, on points of law
alone, may be carried to the supreme court in Serajevo, and there tried
by five judges without assessors. In cases not involving a sum greater
than 300 florins (L25), no appeal will lie; and where only 50 florins
(L4:3:4) are in questi