The Rumanians have generally fine sunburnt features, fair hair, expressive eyes, a mouth finely shaped, and beautiful teeth. They allow their hair to grow long, and sometimes even prefer to expatriate themselves to sacrificing it to the exigencies of military service. They exhibit grace in all their movements, are indefatigable on the march, and support the heaviest labour without complaining. Even the Wallachian herdsman, with his sheepskin cap, or _cashula_, his wide leather belt used as a pocket, a sheepskin thrown over his shoulders, and drawers which recall those of the Dacians sculptured on Trajan’s Column, is noble in his bearing. In the large towns, where much intermixture has taken place with Greeks, Southern Russians, and Magyars, the brown complexion predominates. The Rumanian women are grace itself. They always charm us by taste and neatness, whether they have adopted a modern dress or still patronise the national costume, consisting of an embroidered chemisette, a floating vest, a party-coloured apron, a golden net, and golden sequins placed in the hair. These external advantages are combined in the Rumanian with quickness of apprehension, a gay spirit, and the gift of repartee, which entitle them to be called the Parisians of the Orient. In the midst of this homogeneous Rumanian population we meet with Bulgarian colonists, whose number has increased recently in consequence of the persecutions of Turks and Greeks. The character of the Bulgarians born in the country has undergone considerable modifications. They are at present the most industrious tillers of the soil, and in the vicinity of large towns they occupy themselves principally with horticulture. Many of these Bulgarians live in that {164} portion of Bessarabia which was ceded by Russia in 1855. They settled there in 1829, more particularly in the _Budzak_, or southern “corner” of Bessarabia, and their fields are better tilled, their roads in better condition, than those of their Moldavian neighbours. Their villages still bear Tartar names, from the time when their country was occupied by Nogai Tartars, and they contrast favourably with the villages of the surrounding peoples. Bolgrad, the capital of this colony, is a small bustling town, the schools of which enjoy a high reputation. These Bulgarians, so distinguished for industry, sobriety, and thrift, have more or less amalgamated with Russians, Greeks, and gipsies, and they talk almost every language of the East. [Illustration: Fig. 46.—ETHNOLOGICAL MAP OF MOLDAVIAN BESSARABIA.]