a province of European Turkey, extending from the mouth of the Danube, along that river till it meets the Timok above Widdin, on the borders of Servia. The Danube forms the whole of its northern, and the parallel chain of the Balkan its southern boundary. It is about 350 miles long, by from 60 to 100 broad. It has an area of about 33,000 square miles, and an estimated population of about 3,000,000.

This province was the Mæsia Inferior of the Romans, and derives its present name from the Bulgari or Bulgares, one of the northern hordes who abandoned their dreary plains to seek a more propitious climate in the south. They left the Volga in the sixth century, and crossing the Danube near its mouth, established themselves in the inviting country which lies between that river and the mountains, extending westward from the shore of the Euxine. Here they defied all the efforts of the Greeks of the lower empire to dispossess them; and their various and sanguinary conflicts form a considerable portion of the history of that period. They carried on many contests with the emperors of the East; but in the eleventh century they were at length confined within certain limits, and the country was reduced to the state of a province. On the decline of the Greek empire, however, it was finally brought under the Turkish yoke by Bajazet, when the Turks had established themselves in the neighbouring province of Rumelia, the ancient Thrace.

The country, except in the neighbourhood of the Danube and the Euxine, is mountainous; but the sides of the smaller hills afford excellent pasture, and the soil is exceedingly rich and fertile. It is irrigated by a number of rivers and streams, tributaries of the Danube. The climate is mild, and the productions are various and abundant, consisting of corn, hemp, flax, tobacco, &c. The vine is very extensively cultivated. The people have entirely laid aside the warlike character which distinguished their ancestors. The avocations of the greater number of them are pastoral, and their character corresponds with this mode of life.

The Bulgarians fabricate to a great extent several articles which are famous in Turkey; one is a coarse woollen cloth, and another rifle gun-barrels. But the employment most congenial to their rural habits is the preparation of the otto or attar of roses, much of which comes to England. Rose trees are very plentiful, and gardens are laid out for the purpose of cultivating them. Cattle, tallow, timber, hides, wine, and the other productions of the country, constitute their principal exports. The language of the people is a dialect of the Slavonian, and bears a resemblance to the Russian. Only a few elementary books have been printed in this language, and it has never been reduced to grammatical rules. The books introduced are in Greek, but that language has made no progress amongst the people, who are consequently very illiterate. Their religion is Christianity, which they embraced on their arrival in the district. They belong to the Greek Church, subject to the Greek patriarch of Constantinople, who appoints their bishops. There is generally attached to every two or three villages a priest, who performs the duties of his vocation in each alternately; but, unless in a very few places, they are destitute of churches, schools, and books. The principal towns, such as Sophia, Shumla, Ternevo, &c., will be described as they occur alphabetically.

The Bulgarians have extended themselves beyond the limits which they originally occupied. They have crossed the chain of mountains, and now occupy almost exclusively a considerable portion of Rumelia.

BULK OF A SHIP, the whole space in the hold for the stowage of goods.

Bulks-Heads are partitions made athwart the ship with boards, by which one part is divided from the other; as the great cabin, gun-room, bread-room, &c.