Moldavia formed part of the Byzantine or Eastern Empire, and suffered greatly from the incursions of the rude hordes which infested Europe in the middle ages. When the Turks conquered Constantinople from the Greek Emperors, Moldavia by a timely submission, obtained favourable treatment from the Sultan; and had its own laws, liberties, and religion secured. Thus it remained for two centuries: at length the Czar of Russia directed his attention to this province; but was unable to lay hold of it at that time. What he will do now remains to be seen. Although Moldavia forms a part of the Turkish dominions, the Moldavians are not Mahommedans. They profess the religion of the Greek Church—a superstitious and corrupt form of Christianity professed also by the Russians. Persons who have not received baptism by the rites of this Church are not deemed Christians; the misguided people dwell upon rites and ceremonies, oblations, offerings, prayers to images, severity of discipline; and the heaviest crimes are settled by confession and absolution of the Priest. Reading and the perusal of the Holy Scriptures are almost wholly unknown; and though we might at first be glad that the Moldavians were not Mahommedans, yet, when we consider the iniquities of the creed they follow, it would perhaps be better if they were. The Moldavians believe in all sorts of witchcraft, in apparitions of the dead, in ghosts and in miracles performed by the images of saints. In illness they place an image near them, and when they recover, they attribute the recovery to the efficacy of the image alone. No prayers or thanksgiving are offered up either to the Deity or to the Saviour; but to the Virgin and a prodigious number of Saints. The principal food of the peasantry consists of a kind of dough, called _mamma linga_, made of the flour of Indian wheat, sometimes mixed with milk. The season of Lent is usually kept by them with vigorous severity, and for the first two or three days after its termination, they sparingly indulge themselves with a little meat; but many of them are too poor to obtain this indulgence, and content themselves with a few eggs only.