In our account of the races ruled over by the Turks we must not forget the Greeks, those enterprising colonists who, long before the Christian era, settled along the coast of the Black Sea, and all along the sea-line which now fringes the Ottoman Empire, as well as in its islands, and who also founded commercial stations in the interior. In earliest times we find them connected with such expeditions as the Argonautic, in quest of the Golden Fleece, and returning, not only with rich trophies, but with wonderful legends regarding the lands they visited. I could entertain you at great length on their adventures in the countries I am describing, but this is not the object of this book, and my reference to the past must only be to show you that the present Greeks in Turkey are much the same people as their ancestors, with the same love for commerce, the same love for the beautiful and the same glowing imagination. Yet they differ in this respect, that they are now a subject instead of an independent people. They also differ in not calling themselves Hellenes, but Romei--_i.e._, Romans--an appellation which, strange to say, applies only to members of the Greek Church. Roman Catholics contemptuously refuse to be called Romei, and style themselves Latins. Intermarriages have somewhat tainted the purity of their blood, and in many cases they have lost the use of their mother-tongue, and can only speak Turkish, but still they are Greeks to all intents and purposes, and mostly members of the Greek or Orthodox Church. The Greek type of face is much the same as what we see in the statuary in our museums. The forehead is broad but rather low, the nose and profile straight, the eyes large, the lips full, the chin firm, and the neck rounded. They are tall and stately, and graceful in their movements, and have small hands and feet. In character they are highly imaginative, superficial, and shrewd, but make excellent husbands and wives, and inspire their children with a love for home and respect for their parents. In education the wealthier classes are advanced, but the peasantry are still backward. The Greek spoken by the latter is very corrupt, and has a large admixture of Turkish and Italian, but the efforts of School Boards and of the local newspapers are tending to purify and elevate it. At present even the New Testament Greek is above the average man's comprehension. The Greeks, as of yore, have much of the heroic in their character, and their ballads are full of the noble deeds, both of men and of women, in their defence against their oppressors. Their usual method of vindicating their rights and protecting themselves consisted in forming bands of _Armatolae_, or _Kleptae_, and occupying strongholds in the mountains, from which they would sweep down unexpectedly and avenge themselves, or carry away some wealthy Pacha as captive until he was ransomed.