Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — Servia and Bosnia. [ARTICLE]

Servia and Bosnia.

Sorvia, the Slavic Principality now engaged ia one of its periodical struggles with the Ottoman Empire, contains an area of 21,000 square miles, lying between Austria, Wallachia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia. The country is mountamous, and by far the greater part is covered with dense forests. The land which is under cultivation is extremely fertile, and yields bountiful harvests of the cereals, of hemp and tobacco, and of various fruits, particularly of plums and grapes. The climate is temperate and salubrious, but, in the elevated plateaus, is somewhat cool. Oak is the chief wood in the forests, yet chestnut and fruit-trees of various sorts abound. In some places large tracts are covered with wild pear trees. The plum crop is one of the most important resources of the country, many of the peasantry depending upon it for their subsistence. The fruit is dried in the form of prunes, by a process which is known only to this people and to the Bosnians. Almost one-half of the revenue derived from the exports of Servia is gained by the traffic in pigs. It is estimated that in one year 472,700 of these animals were sent out of the country. Their flesh is not used as an article of food, but they are melted into fat. Servia is rich in mineral products, and its mines of iron and copper are a prolific • source of wealth.

The religion of the Servians is that of the Greek Church, but they are independent of the Patriarch of Constantinople. They were converted to Christianity about the middle of the ninth century. The country was placed under tribute by the Turks toward the close of the fourteenth century, and in the middle of the fifteenth century was completely subjugated by Sultan Mahmoud. During the last 150 yearn insurrections have frequently occurred in Servia, which, though successful for a time, have provoked a barbarous retaliation from its foreign masters. In 1815, Milosch, the leader of a triumphant rebellion, was chosen Prince of Servia, and the election was sanctioned by a liat-ti-sherif of the Sultan. He was succeeded in 1860 by his son, and by Milan IV. in 1868. Bosnia, lying on the western boundary of Servia, includes the Turkish domains in Croatia and Dalmatia, and the district of Herzegovina. It comprises an area of 26,874 square miles, and in 1869 had a population of about 1,100,000. The surface of the country is much like that of Servia; being mountainous and covered with forests. Some of the highest peaks of the Dinaric Alps reach an altitude of above 7,000 feet. The oak is the principal wood in Bosnia, as in Servia. The Quercus Aezilops produces very large acorns, the cups of which are extensively used by tanners and dyers. They abound in tannin, and are exported from the Levant under the name of Valonia. The Q.infectoria furnishes the large brown galls known as Mecca galls, and used for dyeing, in the manufacture of ink, and in the preparation of tannin and gallic acids. The iron obtained in the mines of Bosnia is of superior quality, and it, together with coal, lead, and other minerals, is found in great quantities. The fertile soil and the temperate climate of the country are favorable to the growth of agricultural products, which are nearly identical with the crops of Servia. The Bosnian plums are esteemed above those of Servia, Croatia or Austria. The manufactures of the country are limited to the production of fire-arms, saber-blades and knives. About one-fourth of .the population of Bosnia are Turks; the remainder consists of Bosnians, Croats, Morlaks, Montenegrins, Germans, Illyrians, etc. The Morlaks, inhabiting Herzegovina, are Greek or Roman Catholics. Bosnia was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1522, and has since been the scene of perpetual insurrection. —Chicago Tribune.