The special commerce with the leading countries is shown below, in thousands of drachmai:

The imports and exports of some of the leading articles are shown as follows, in thousands of gold drachmai for 1897:

For the trade in merchandise with the United States, see Index, under "Commerce of the United States."

Shipping, Railroads, Telegraphs, Post-Office. (See Index.)

Greece has a bimetallic monetary system, and its coins conform to the standard of the Latin Union. The ratio between the two metals is 15% to 1. The coinage of gold is unlimited and that of silver suspended. The coinage charge is 7 4-9 francs per kilogramme fine for gold and 1% francs per kilogramme fine for silver. Gold coins and the 5-franc silver pieces are unlimited legal tender.

For gold and silver coins, see Index.

The situation of the National Bank of Greece on August 31, 1897, was as follows: Gold and silver on hand, 1,700,000 drachmai; notes to bearer in circulation, 137,500,000 drachmai; private accounts current and deposits, 41,800,000 drachmai; portfolio, 13,000,000 drachmai; advances on real property, 37,400,000 drachmai; advances on personal property, 3,200,000 drachmai; funds abroad, 6,400,000 drachmai.

SERVIA.

The Kingdom of Servia has an area of 19,050 square miles. It is divided into fifteen provinces, with a total population in 1895 of 2,288,259 persons. The population consists of 86.48 per cent. rural, and 13.52 per cent. in cities. The occupations of the people are 16.81 per cent. in trade; 10.32 per cent. in occupations connected with food; 16.22 per cent. connected with clothing; 14.20 per cent. connected with molding of iron and metal work; 4.31 per cent. teachers and clergy; 8.16 per cent. officials. As to race, in 1891 there were 1,955,944 Servians (who, according to language, are Slavonic by race), 143,684 Roumanians, 37,581 Gypsies, 6,878 Germans, 2,929 Albanians and Turks, 4,510 Jews, 1,359 Bulgarians, 9,676 other foreigners.

The revenues and expenditures of Servia have been estimated as follows:

In January, 1898, the public debt amounted to 409,537,500 dinars.

Servia is almost exclusively an agricultural country, the land being distributed almost entirely among peasant owners, whose holdings are mostly from 10 to 30 acres.

The country has considerable mineral resources, including various kinds of coal, the total production of coal in 1891 having been 87,650 tons. Besides coal, there are iron, lead, silver, zinc, quicksilver, antimony, gold, asbestos, copper, and oil shales. Many concessions have been made to companies and private persons for working mines, and mining operations are also carried on by the State.

The values of the leading imports and exports are shown as follows, in thousands of dinars:

Banking is conducted by various establishments, of which, in 1890, there were 43. The principal is the privileged National Bank of the Kingdom of Servia, in Belgrade, with a paid-up capital of 20,000,000 dinars. It is entitled to issue bank-notes, of which there were, in 1889, 28,597,840 dinars in circulation, with a metallic reserve of 4,596,000 dinars. Besides the National Bank, there were, in 1894, 5 bank establishments, 27 bank associations, and 28 savings-banks.

Servia accepted, by the law of June 20, 1875, the French decimal system for its moneys, weights, and measures. The Servian dinar is equal to one franc. In circulation are gold coins of 10 and 20 dinars (milan d'or); silver coins of 5, 2, 1, and 0.5 dinar; copper of 10 and 5, and nickel of 20, 10, and 5 paras.

For RAILROADS, TELEGRAPHS, and POST-OFFICE, see Index.

MONTENEGRO.

The area of Montenegro is estimated to embrace 3,630 English square miles. The total population was stated in official returns to number 220,000 in 1879; a recent estimate puts it at 200,000. The population is mainly pastoral and agricultural. The Montenegrins belong almost entirely to the Servian branch of the Slav race.

No official returns are published regarding the public revenue and expenditure. Estimates state the former at 600,000 Austrian florins, derived chiefly from land and cattle taxes, the salt monopoly, and customs duties. Montenegro owes to the Länder Bank of Vienna a sum of one million florins, borrowed at 6 per cent.

The cultivated land is mostly the property of the cultivators, the Croatian system of domestic communism being generally prevalent. In some districts, however, the land is split up into diminutive peasant holdings, while in a few the métayer system is met with, but large estates nowhere exist. The principal crops grown are maize, tobacco (450,000 lbs. in 1894), oats, potatoes, barley, and buckwheat.

The customs tariff is 6 per cent. ad valorem on all merchandise, with the exception of certain prohibited articles. The exports are valued at about £120,000, imports at £20,000. The principal exports are sumach, flea powder, smoked sardines, smoked mutton, cattle, sheep, goats, cheese, wool, hides, skins and furs, honey, beeswax, wood for walking-sticks, etc., olive oil, wine, tobacco.

Montenegro has no railroads, and has only 280 miles of telegraph.

Montenegro has no coinage of its own, Austrian paper being the principal medium of exchange. Turkish silver is also current, and French and English gold circulates freely at a rate of exchange fixed from time to time by the Government. There is no bank of any kind in the country.

ROUMANIA.

The estimated area and population of Roumania are: Area, 48,307 square miles, and population (1893), including Dobruja, is 5,800,000. Included in the population of Houmania proper are 4% million Roumaniaus, about 30,000 Jews, 200,000 Gypsies, 50,000 Bulgarians, 20,000 Germans, 37,400 Austrians, 20,000 Greeks, 15,000 Armenians, 2,000 French, 1,500 Magyars, 1,000 English, besides about 3,000 Italians, Turks, Poles, Tartars, etc.

The chief sources of revenue consist in direct and indirect taxes, and the profits derived from the extensive state domains and valuable salt mines, and from the salt and tobacco monopolies. The following table shows the revenue and expenditure for the last six years ending March 31 (old style)

The public debt amounted to 1,224,849,525 lef in 1898.

Of the total population of Roumania, 70 per cent, are employed in agriculture. There are about 700,000 heads of families who are freehold proprietors. Of the total area, 68 per cent. is productive, and 29 per cent. under culture, 21 per cent, under grass, and 16.9 per cent. under forest. In 1897, the various cereal crops were: Wheat, 1,595,087 hectares, 12,844.300 hectolitres; ma ze, 1,845,879 hectares, 28,112,300 hectolitres; barley, 677.225 hectares, 7,479,700 hectolitres; oats, 288,137 hectares, 3,471,900 hectolitres: rye, 225,770 hectares, 2,394,300 hectolitres. Colza, flax, and hemp are also cultivated. The area under tobacco was 4,514 hectares, yielding 37,900 quintals: vines, 153,808 hectares, yielding 249,630 hectolitres wine; plums, 57,647 hectares, yielding 465,840 hectolitres.

The following table shows the value of the commerce, in thousands of lef:

According to Roumanian returns, the value of the commerce of the leading countries with which Roumania deals was as follows, in thousands of leï:

The values of the leading imports and exports in 1897 were as follows, in thousands of lef:

tons.

In 1897, the merchant navy consisted of 317 vessels of 73,276 tons, including 54 steamers of 7.099

The navigation of the Danube is carried on under international regulations. From its mouths to the Iron Gates it is regarded as an international highway, the interests of the several States being specially provided for. The arrangement lasts for 21 years from April, 1883. In 1897, 1,324 vessels of 1,397,917 tons cleared from the Danube at Sulina.

For RAILROADS, Telegraphs, POST-OFFICE, see Index.

The decimal monetary system was introduced into Roumania in 1876, the unit of the monetary system being the leu, equivalent to the franc. The monetary standard is gold.

For gold and silver coins, see Index.

The Bank of Roumania is the chief financial institution. It is a State bank, with a capital of 30,000,000 let, of which the Government furnishes 10,000,000 lei. The Bank has the sole privilege of issuing notes. The circulation must be covered by securities or other valuables which can be easily converted into cash, and the Bank must hold a metallic reserve amounting to at least one-third of the outstanding notes.

In 1897, the outstanding circulation was 183.977,000 ler, and cash in hand amounting to 85,222,000 lei.

BULGARIA.

The estimated area of the Principality of Bulgaria proper is 24,360 English square miles, and of South Bulgaria (or Eastern Roumelia) 13,500 square miles. By a census taken on January 1, 1893, the population of the whole Principality was ascertained to be 3,309,816; the population of Eastern Roumelia being 992,386. The great majority of the inhabitants live by the cultivation of the soil and the produce of their flocks and herds.

The budget estimates for 1898 were: Revenue, 84,445,713 levs (francs); expenditure, 84,487,975 levs. For 1899, revenue, 84,097,195 francs; expenditure, 84.035,514 francs. In 1899 the chief items of revenue were: Direct taxes, 33,836,000 levs; customs and excise, 32,451,000 levs. The chief items of expenditure were: Public debt, 20,934,146 levs; public works, 6,731,693 levs; interior, 7,860,501 levs; public instruction, 7,548,555 levs; war, 22,623,224 levs.

The public debt consists of a loan of 46,777,500 levs in 1886 for purchase of Varna-Rustchuk Railway (41,290,000 leys outstanding in January, 1898); a loan of 30,000,000 levs in 1888-9 (26,975,000 outstanding); one of 142,780,000 levs in 1892, of which 93,980,000 have been issued; there has also been received an advance of 10,000,000 levs on account of a further issue of this loan; the Russian occupation debt, 9,699,256 levs-outstanding; the East Roumelian tribute debt to the Ottoman Government, 5,826,875 levs.

The principal agricultural product is wheat, which is largely exported. There are (1892) 5,359,900 acres arable, 770,600 meadow, 237,120 vineyard, 111,120 market garden, etc.; woods and forests, 3,291,100. The total cultivated area is 9,770,700 acres; uncultivated but fit for cultivation, 13,651,300; unfit for cultivation, 1,099,150. There are about 400,000 proprietors of land, and the rural population not possessing land numbers about 2,329,900.

The total value of the imports into Bulgaria in 1896 amounted to 76,530,278 levs or francs, as compared with 69,020,295 frs. for 1895. The exports for 1896 were valued at 108,739,977 frs., against 77,685,546 frs. in 1895. The following table shows the trade by countries, in thousands of levs or francs

The chief imports in 1897 were: Textiles, 32,078,812 levs; colonial goods, 5,382,087 levs; metals 9,499,726 levs; machinery, 4,319,623 levs; timber and furniture, 3,791,974 levs. Chief exports: Grain 46,418,601 levs; live stock, 2,375.793 levs.

The number of vessels entered at the ports of Bulgaria in 1897 was 8,306, of 2,432,282 tons; and 8,298, of 2,434,875 tons, cleared.

For RAILROADS, POST-OFFICES, TELEGRAPHS, see Index.

There is a National Bank of Bulgaria, with headquarters at Sofia and branches at Philippopolis, Rustchuk, and Varna; its capital is $2,000,000, provided by the State, a reserve fund of $150,000, and $80,000 notes in circulation. The Ottoman Bank has a branch at Philippopolis, and in each district there is an agricultural bank under control of the Government. There are nickel and bronze stotinki centimes), silver coins of 1⁄2, 1, 2, and 5 levs (francs); the notes of the National Bank circulate at par.