SOME FACTS FOR THE TOURIST AND THE ECONOMIST
Bulgaria is in the main tableau or plain land sheltered by lofty
mountains. On the north it is bounded by the Danube until the town of
Silistra is reached, when an artificial frontier cuts down from the
river to the Black Sea coast. By the cession of territory to Roumania in
1914 this artificial frontier took a more southerly course, and reaches
now to a point just north of Varna. The coast of the Black Sea bounds
Bulgaria on the east, and she has there two ports, Varna and Burgas. On
the south the frontier is now European Turkey as far west almost as the
24th parallel of latitude, and then the bordering territory is Greece.
On the west the boundary is Servia. The Balkan Mountains and the Rhodope
Mountains run roughly east and west: the former almost in the centre of
Bulgaria; the latter near to the Turkish border.
The valleys and plains of Bulgaria are watered by tributaries of the
Danube, by tributaries of the Maritza and the Struma flowing into the
Aegean Sea, and by some small streams flowing directly into the Black
Sea. The soil of the plains and the tableland is generally good, and 70
per cent of it is suitable for cultivation. In the mountains there are a
few small lakes and many deep gorges and noble peaks, offering to the
traveller the attraction of scenery wilder than that of the Alps.
For the tourist with an autumn or a spring month to spare, I could
imagine no more interesting journey than to cross on horseback or with
an ox-wagon the Rhodopes or the Balkans. (In the summer such a tour
would be less pleasant because of the heat of the plains and the
prevalence of flies.) But in the autumn, of all seasons, the Balkan
Peninsula has supreme charms. The climate then is perfect, usually fine,
with warm clear days and cold nights. The atmosphere is full of light
and colour. Sunset as seen from the lower foothills of the Balkans is a
rare pageant of glowing colour. These foothills are covered with oak
scrub, which with the first frosts of autumn puts on burning robes of
red and gold. As the sun goes down to rest in the western sky, hung with
banners of the same red and gold, the twilight steals up first as a pink
radiance then as a deep purple glow. Light melts into light--softly,
insensibly--the display in the sky and on the hill-sides gradually
passing from one colour to another, until at last night and darkness
come to end the long-drawn-out procession of colour.
These wild mountains abound in game which has been driven from the tamer
parts of Europe. There are bears, wolves, jackals, wild boars, deer,
chamois; and all kinds of birds, such as eagles, falcons, bustards, wild
geese, pheasants, partridges, woodcock, snipe, and moorhen. For the
sportsman the Balkan Peninsula is almost the only tract left in Europe
offering really wild game. King Ferdinand, who recognises the tourist
possibilities of his country, has lately encouraged the stocking of the
Rhodope streams with trout, to offer another attraction to the visitor.
[Illustration: GUARDING THE FLOCKS AND HERDS]
To King Ferdinand's initiative also is due in a great measure the
movement to develop the spas of Bulgaria. The mountains abound in
medicinal springs of various kinds. Some of the most important have been
used in a primitive fashion since the Roman times, and under the Turkish
rule. Recently, the mining section of the Ministry of Commerce and
Agriculture has succeeded in developing the mineral springs at Sliven,
Banki, Varshetz, and Meritchleri. Modern health-resorts have been built
at Banki, Varshetz, Hissar, and Meritchleri. There are, all in all, more
than 200 hot and mineral springs in Bulgaria in some eighty different
places. In the department of Sofia there are twenty-three, the hottest
of which is Dolnia Bania. The town of Sofia itself possesses very good
hot springs. The municipality has almost completed the building of
public baths which will cost L60,000.
Though it is far from the mind of the Bulgarian people to aim at making
their country another playground for the west of Europe, there is no
doubt at all but that in the future Bulgaria will attract, yearly,
thousands of tourists--in the winter for snow-sports; in the spring and
autumn for the scenery, the sport, the medicinal baths. At the present
time there is practically no tourist traffic. Travellers wishing to
explore early a new country may be confident of getting in the capital,
Sofia, excellent hotel accommodation, and in the chief towns, such as
Stara Zagora and Philippopolis, decent and clean accommodation. But to
see Bulgaria properly it is necessary to take to horseback or wagon. At
the capital it is possible to engage guides who speak English, and to
hire horses or oxen for transport at an astonishingly cheap rate. The
horse-carts of the country are springless and not too comfortable. The
ox-wagons, also springless, are quite comfortable, as the oxen move
along smoothly and without jerking. I have slept quite soundly in a
Bulgarian ox-wagon as it crawled over roadless country at night.
Mainly an agricultural country, Bulgaria grows wheat, maize, barley,
rye, oats, millet, spelt, rice (around Philippopolis), potatoes, grapes,
tobacco, mulberries (there is a silk industry), and roses. This
cultivation of roses for the production of attar of roses is an almost
exclusively Bulgarian industry. Most of the genuine attar of roses
produced in the world comes from Bulgaria. The production is a
Government monopoly, and I believe that if care is taken to secure
flasks of attar with the Government seal the purchaser may be sure of
getting the genuine article. Otherwise, as likely as not, oil of
geraniums is substituted for the attar of roses, or is used as an
adulterant. The rose valleys are grouped around Stara Zagora, and a
visit to the farms in the flowering season--late spring--should be an
incident of a Balkan tour.
The exports of Bulgaria are chiefly cereals, and the imports
manufactured goods of all kinds. But by a system of high Protection and
bonuses efforts are being made to establish manufacturing industries in
the country. The oldest Bulgarian industry is weaving, which has existed
from ancient times as a home industry. The wool of the country was
worked up into cloths, carpets, braids, serges, etc., which were in
request throughout the Ottoman Empire. The most important weaving
centres are Pirdop, Panaguiourichte, Karlovo, Sopot, Koprivchtitza,
Klissoura, Kalofer, Gabrovo, Trevna, Sliven, Kotel, and Samokov. Under
Turkish rule, these towns supplied cloth to the Imperial army. Bulgarian
cloths were then held in esteem, and there was a demand for them in
Greece and in Asia Minor. In 1880 some capitalists decided to start
modern workshops. The example was given by the towns of Gabrovo and
Sliven, where there are now large factories, organised on modern
principles. There are as many as twenty-six factories in other towns,
among others, at Samokov and Kazanlik. Bulgaria holds the first place
for weaving in the Balkan Peninsula. Lately, in addition to the making
of woollens, cotton-spinning has been introduced, and there are several
mills now working.
So pronounced has been the growth of industrialism in Bulgaria that
labour legislation has been already found necessary. There are laws
making regulations for the employment of apprentices, for the maximum
number of hours in the working day, and the age of apprentices. The law
of 1905 regulating the work of women and children lays down conditions
for the employment of children under fifteen, and for women of all ages,
occupied in factories, mines, quarries, workshops, and other industrial
undertakings. Children of either sex who have not attained the age of
twelve years must not be employed in factories, workshops, at
pit-mouths, in quarries, or sewers. However, children under twelve, but
in no case under ten, may be employed in certain undertakings. Children
under fifteen and women under twenty-one cannot be employed in the
subterranean parts of mines or quarries. The working day for children is
limited to eight hours; night-work is forbidden to women, and to
children under fifteen. On Sundays all industrial establishments must
close.
In addition to these laws protecting workers there are laws protecting
employers against foreign competition and granting them various bonuses.
The general privileges, allowed to all industrial enterprises, are:
The use of water-power, without payment, where this is not on a private
property;
Exemption from customs duties for such machines and parts of machines,
tools, and accessories, needful for the installation of enterprise, as
are not made in the Principality;
Exemption from customs duties for such building materials as are not
found or made in the country;
Exemption from customs duties for raw material, when it is imported in
order to be exported again, after having been worked up or finished off;
A free grant of land belonging to the State, the province, or parish,
for the installation of the factory;
Machinery, tools, coal, benzine, etc., for the factories are carried by
the State railways at a rate 35 per cent below the lowest usual charge
for those commodities. The law compels all public institutions to buy
from native sources, even if native commodities should be as much as 15
per cent dearer than similar articles manufactured abroad.
Some industries have in addition special privileges allowed to them,
such as exemptions from land taxation, monopoly privileges in certain
districts, cheap coal from the State mines, etc. The Bulgarian national
system aims at supplementing the agricultural resources of the country
with industrial enterprises in every possible way. But agriculture is
not neglected by the Government, and a special department exists to
encourage improvement in cultivation and cattle-raising. This department
has set up departmental councils, which distribute seeds every year.
They make considerable grants to improve the breed of cattle. They also
encourage progress in the farmers by organising competitions for
poultry-rearing, fruit-growing, etc. Scholarships have been granted to
a number of young men who wish to take up farming, so as to allow them
to study methods in foreign agricultural schools.
Further, there is an agricultural bank which, curiously enough, dates
back from the Turkish days. In 1863, Midhat Pasha, Governor of the
Danubian Vilayet (_i.e._ Bulgaria), prepared a scheme for the creation
of "urban" banks, which were intended to assist the rural population.
The scheme having been approved by the Turkish Government, several of
these banks were established. The peasants were allowed to repay in kind
the loans which were advanced to them, the banks themselves selling the
agricultural products. With the object of increasing the capital of the
banks, a special tax was introduced obliging the farmers to hand every
year to these institutions part of their produce in kind. These banks
advanced money at 12 per cent interest--instead of up to 100 per cent,
as the usurers generally did. The Turkish Government afterwards extended
the reform to the whole Empire, and obliged the peasants to create
similar banks in all the district centres. During the Russo-Turkish War
several of these banks lost their funds, the functionaries of the
Turkish Government having carried them away, as well as the securities
and other property belonging to the banks' clients. After the war, the
debtors refused to pay, and only part of the property of the banks was
restored by means of the issue of new bonds. In 1894 the Bulgarian
Government passed a law setting on a firm foundation these agricultural
banks, and they have continued since to do good work for the peasant
proprietors.
The Bulgarian is a great road-maker. He is always at work on new
rail-roads and carriage roads. I travelled twice in 1913 between
Mustapha Pasha and Kirk Kilisse (the country was then in Bulgarian
occupation) with an interval of about a month between the journeys.
During that month the Bulgarians had made a wonderful improvement in the
road. Before, it had stopped short about a mile out of Mustapha Pasha
and dwindled into a mere cart-track. After a month of Bulgarian work it
had been so much improved as to make twenty-four hours' difference in
the time of the journey. This improvement was carried through in time of
war when there was much occupation for the national energy in more
important directions. In other places I noted the Bulgarian's passion
for a good road; and the roads in his own country were excellent. The
road-making instinct is a great proof of a stable sense of civilisation.
[Illustration: AN OLD STREET IN PHILIPPOPOLIS]
The Bulgarian railways are, with the quays at the ports, the property of
the State, and are managed by a General Board of State Railways and
Ports. There are over 3000 railway servants fourteen lines traversing
the country east to west and north to south, and some seventy-two
railway stations. Both Varna and Bourgas are connected by railway with
the main lines. The lines have been constructed very cheaply (about
L7500 a mile) considering the nature of the country which they traverse.
They may be said to be profitable to the State since they return about
2-1/2 per cent interest on their cost of construction, despite the fact
that they give many concessions to encourage local industries.
The postal, telegraphic, and telephonic facilities in Bulgaria are quite
equal to the average of Europe. There are about 200 post offices, about
7000 miles of telegraph wires, and 600 miles of long-distance telephone.
The postal and telegraph administration yields a small surplus to the
treasury.
As to the trade of Bulgaria the present is a difficult time to
calculate its value, but before the war the imports were of an annual
value of about L4,000,000, and the exports of an annual value of about
L4,500,000. The chief import trade is from Austria. England, Turkey, and
Germany then follow in that order. The chief markets for Bulgarian
exports are Turkey, England, Germany, and Austria. The chief financial
institution of the country is the Bulgarian National Bank, which is a
State institution, 87 per cent of its profits going to the Bulgarian
Government. There are also State savings banks which are much favoured
by the thrifty peasantry, there being about 30,000 depositors.
The monetary units which have been adopted by Bulgaria are the _lev_
(having the value of one franc) and the _stotinka_ (centime), being the
hundredth part of a _lev_. For some years after the creation of the
Principality, the Government found it impossible to introduce any
national coins. It had to permit the circulation of all kinds of foreign
money--Servian, Roumanian, Russian, etc. In 1881 the Government put into
circulation two million francs of Bulgarian copper money, but these, as
well as the twelve millions of silver money which were issued in
1883-1884, proved quite insufficient to drive away the foreign money, so
that the latter continued to be used in all commercial transactions. It
was not until 1887 that the Government prohibited the circulation of
Servian and Roumanian coins. Later Russian money was also prohibited,
and there is now a purely national currency. On the outbreak of the war
in 1913 a _moratorium_ was declared, and the internal finance of the
country was managed on a paper currency. The confidence of the people
kept this paper money at its full value. I was never able to get any
concession in exchanging English gold for paper.
Bulgaria, notwithstanding all the preoccupations of a young nation,
finds time to encourage the arts. As the illustrations to this volume
will show, there is a flourishing school of native art in Bulgaria. To
Nicolas Pavlovitch (born 1835, died 1889) belongs the honour of having
been the father of modern Bulgarian art. He graduated at the academies
in Vienna and Munich, and, after visiting the various museums in Dresden
and Prague, exhibited during 1860 in Belgrade two pictures whose
subjects had been suggested by ancient Bulgarian history. He then went
to Petrograd and Moscow. In 1861 he returned to his native country,
where he endeavoured, by means of his lithographs and pictures of
subjects both ancient and modern, to stimulate his compatriots to
political and intellectual life. He also tried to reform and modernise
church painting in accordance with the requirements of modern artistic
technique, and made two unsuccessful attempts at opening a school of
painting. He painted portraits, and, in the palace of the Pasha of
Roustchouk, he illustrated a Turkish history of the Janissaries.
In 1896 a State school of painting was founded at Sofia, and there is
now a fine art gallery in the capital. But most of the artistic impulse
has come from abroad, and the most notable names in Bulgarian art after
that of Pavlovitch are Piotrovsky (Polish), Boloungaro (Italian), de
Fourcade (French), Sliapin (Russian). The first art exhibition was
organised in 1887 by Ivan Angeloff, teacher in the Gymnasium of Sofia
and a graduate of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. This exhibition,
which contained three pictures painted in Bulgaria and a number of
sketches and studies dating from the artist's student days in Munich, as
well as drawings by students of the Gymnasium, was held in one of the
drawing-rooms of the Gymnasium in honour of the Prince, who had
recently been elected to the Bulgarian throne. Some five years later, on
the occasion of the first Bulgarian Industrial and Agricultural
Exhibition, held at Plovdiv in 1892, the first collective art exhibition
was organised, the productions of the various Bulgarian artists being
exhibited. King Ferdinand is a consistent patron of Bulgarian art, and
has the richest collection of pictures in Bulgaria, distributed among
his palaces at Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna.
M. Audrey Protitch, in a recent monograph on Bulgarian art (to which I
am indebted for most of the facts above) gives this critical summary of
Bulgarian achievement:
If we exclude historical painting, which, since the early and
specialised attempts of Nicolas Pavlovitch, has been almost
entirely neglected in Bulgaria, Bulgarian artists have tried
their hand at almost every form of art. Ethnographical pictures,
national scenes, pictures of military subjects, landscapes,
interiors, flower pieces, animals, portraits, icons, allegories,
mythical subjects, ruins, architecture--all these are fully
represented in the art gallery of the National Museum, and have
figured in nearly all the art exhibitions. The first place among
these varieties is held by landscapes, _genre_, and portraits,
whether in oil, water-colour, or pastel. The weak point of
Bulgarian artists is undoubtedly undraped figures, especially
undraped feminine figures, the only exception being Stephan
Ivanoff, who however abandoned this class of work to become the
best icon-painter in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian art may be called national only as regards its
contents, but neither in form nor technique. As we have already
said, the subjects are taken from Bulgarian scenery or from
peasant and town life. The sense of human form is gradually
developing, with the exception of the feminine body, which
remains proscribed by public taste. This last circumstance
accounts, to a great extent, for the low level of sculpture in
Bulgaria. Decorative art is making rapid strides, owing to the
great amount of building going on during recent years. Artistic
form and technique are in a transitional phase, all the younger
artists waging war against the traditional and conventional
styles and the foreign influences that have hitherto hindered
the free development of art in Bulgaria, and striving to evolve
forms more in conformity with the contents of Bulgarian art.
About Bulgarian literature I can say nothing--lacking a guidance of a
competent critic or a knowledge of the language--except that it is
ambitious and aspiring. But it can hardly be expected that a language
which is, after all, but a dialect of Russian should ever produce a
great literature. The Bulgarian national pride is so strong that
probably there will never be a movement to make Russian the literary
language of the people; but in that would seem to be the best hope of a
Bulgarian literature.