Contantinople, the capital, has a population (probably) of a million and a quarter of in-habitants, or about that of Philadelphia. Among the other important towns in European Turkey are Saloniki, an important shipping centre, with 105,000 inhabitants; Adrianople, which has had a large domestic traffic since the completion of the railway to Northern Europe.

IT is important for purposes of reference, if not directly interesting, to relate so much of Ottoman history as may be necessary for the comprehension of the rise and decline of the empire. This recital will be limited to historic facts touching the acquisition and loss of territory. Readers who wish a brief survey of the historical development of Turkey will find the same in Stanley Lane-Poole's attractive summary, " The Story of Turkey, " and those seeking an exhaustive treatment of the subject are referred to Von Hammer's comprehensive work in seventeen volumes, " History of the Ottoman Turks” .