Note 24 — Chapter I · OSMAN A NEW RACE APPEARS IN HISTORY

I should except from this statement Rambaud, who, in Hist. générale, iii. 822-4, states that the conversion of the Osmanlis to Islam took place during the chieftainship of Osman. The general character of the work to which he was contributing, and the limits of space, did not allow him to give any reasons in support of this position. Vanell, Histoire de l’Empire ottoman, p. 357, says that Ertogrul was a pagan until he became converted through reading the Koran.