Though the sultan is the head of both church and state, yet the Sheikh-ul-Islam being appointed for life, and exempted from capital punishment, his authority, through the superstition of the people, has been most arbitrary, and even sometimes controlled the actions of the executive; and it has only happened in our day, that in order to assert the entire supremacy of the sultan, the Sheikh-ul-Islam has, for the first time in the annals of the nation, been deposed from his sacred office, and another substituted in his place. The Ulema are not supported by the government, but by the income of the mosques, which are largely endowed by religious devotees. Those who are in the civil employment, receive, however, fixed salaries from the state, in addition to their own ecclesiastical income. The real estates owned by the mosques are immense and beyond calculation. They are called Vakuf, in contradistinction to other lands of the government, termed mülk. These vakuf lands, which comprise more than two-thirds of the empire, are sold as under a perpetual lease, with a yearly tax or rent, and all improvements made on them are considered to belong by right to the land, and not allowed to be removed. In case of the death of a proprietor leaving no male heirs, the property, with all the improvements thereon, reverts to the mosque. The documents by which these lands are held, are so carelessly registered and transferred, that disputes are almost unavoidable. For instance, a deed is thus drawn up, A B has purchased of C D a piece of land, belonging to such a vakuf, said to contain about 156 acres more or less; that is, it might range from 100 to 1,500 or 2,000 acres, since its limits are not fixed by any actual survey, or specified by a map; but the boundaries are described in the most primitive style by sensible objects, viz., an apple tree on one side, a ditch on the other, the property of so and so on the third, and the main road on the fourth. This system has hitherto proved most advantageous to the vakufs; the peculiar elasticity of such indefinite boundaries, admitting of great territorial trespass upon adjoining lands, until they have succeeded in absorbing two-thirds of the empire. Strangers are not allowed to own these lands, nor hold them in trust, with the view to avoid litigation with the different foreign embassies. There has not, therefore, been hitherto any inducement to European emigration, to the introduction of foreign capital, nor encouragement to internal improvements. The mosques derive an immense revenue, both from the rents of these estates, and the commission on sales, which is enormous; being no less than 8 per cent. on each transfer.