This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

information in books and make it universally accessible.

http://books.google.com
 Ill
3 3433 08230189 0
 JOURNEY

THEOUGH

ALBANIA,

AND

OTHER PROVINCES

OF

TURKEY IN EUROPE AND ASIA

TO

CONSTANTINOPLE,

DURING THE TEARS 1809 and 1810.

BY J. C. HOBHOUSE. cvv

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY M. CAREY AND SON.
March 8, 1817.
7

I
 ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE LONDON EDITION.

These Letters were prepared for publication under

certain disadvantages, the mention of which will not be
obtruded upon the Public, except so far as it may seem
requisite to account, in some measure, for the large and
important contents of the Errata page, and for other ap
pearances of neglect. The sheets of the Albanian part
of the Tour were composed and printed when the Writer
was absent from England, and had it not in his power to
correct his notions and increase his knowledge, by com
municating with intelligent friends and consulting ex
tensive libraries : the remaining part of the Journey was
sent page by page to the press, and not previously col
lected in one entire manuscript volume, so as to enable
the Author to revise and polish the whole work by a col
lation and comparison of its separate parts. To avoid a
recurrence of the same phrases and turns of expression,
was in the present case hardly possible; and he is no less
aware of, than desirous in any future impression of the
ensuing pages to correct, so material an imperfection.
 vi

The same opportunity, if it should occur, will enable

him to lay aside the epistolary form, which, for a reason
not material to mention, is not continued beyond the first
five or six hundred pages, and by that amendment to
efface the change of style observable in the progress of
the present composition.
Those who have visited, or especially resided in the
countries, and closely observed the national manners,
described in the following detail, will doubtless discover
many omissions of material facts, which the more ma
ture inspection of the Author would perhaps supply;
for what my Lord Bolingbroke has said of books, may
be applied to the study of mankind ; and a traveller of
fifty, in his commerce with foreign nations, would pro-
bably behold many things which he did not see in the.
same people at twenty-three.
As to the manner in which the subject has been treat
ed, all judgment on that head must of necessity be left to
the reader. It will only be premised, that it has been
the endeavour of the Writer to give an account of what
he saw, heard, and was able to collect, rather than a state
ment of feelings and opinions; a narrative of facts, rather
than a collection of essays. Having no system to esta
blish, and no partialities to communicate, he has not
launched into any effusions or sentiments which were not
conceived and felt upon the spot, and amongst the peo
ple he has attempted to describe ; and it is but seldom
that he has deduced arguments and hazarded conclusions,
for which it appeared to him his proper object to furnish
only the materials and the means.
 vii

This preliminary notice shall be concluded by stating,

that to prevent any longer delay than has hitherto defer
red the appearance of this volume, a map of Attica, and
some plans designed for the illustration of the Work,
have not been completed ; and that the reader is referred
to the plates of Anacharsis, as the best companion, al
though by no means an infallible guide, of the traveller
|d Greece.
London, May 10, 1813.
 I
I
I
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST,

LETTER I.
Departure from Malta.—Approach to the Gulf of Lepanto, and to Fa-
trass.—Passage between the Islands Cefalonia, Ithaca, and Santa
Maura, to Prevesa, . -IT

LETTER n.
Prevesa.—a Description of that town.—The Mouth of the Gulf of
Arta.—Actium.—Short Description and Account of Prevesa—and
of the Battle which placed the Town in the hands of the Turks, 25

LETTER III.
The ruins of NicopoliSi—Preparations for Travelling in Turkey.—
The Dragoman.—Servants.—Baggage, &c. &c.—Sail down the Gulf
of Arta to Salora.—The Albanian Guard of Salora, 32

LETTER IV.
The Presents customary in the Levant.—Route from Salora to Arta.—
Description of that Town.—The S ite ofAmbracia.—Of Ambracus.—
Departure from Arta, - - 44

LETTER V.
Route from Arta to the Han of St. Dimetre.—From St. Dimetre
to loannina.—First View, and Entry into that City.—Reception of
Travellers, - - 51

LETTER VI.
Visit to the Grandsons of Ali.—Manners of the Young Mahometans.
—View of the Neighbourhood of loannina.—The Lake.—Mount
Tomarus.—The Mountains of Sagori.—The Route across them.—
Mount Pindus.—Route across it to Larissa.—Dodona.—The Plains-
of loannina—The Amphitheatre of Chercovista, 59
Vol. I. B
 X

LETTER VII.
loann'na—the Houses—the Palaces of the Vizier.—Summer Pavi
lion.—Population of the City.—The Trade.—Annual Fair.—Exports ,
and Imports, - -68

LETTER VIII.
The Turkish Ramazan.—Preparations for Travelling.—Greek Pea-"
santry.—Route from Ioannina to Zitza.—Thunder Storm.—The
Monastery of Zitza.—View from it.—Inhabitants Of Zitza—their
Misery, - 75

LETTER IX.
Route from Zitza.—River Calamus.—Village of Mosure.—Delvinaki.
—Route from Butrinto to Delvinaki.—Flocks of Goats.—Albanian
Wine.—Route by the Plain of Argyro-castro to Libokavo.—Upper
Albania.—Turkish Meats.—Libokavo.—Argyro-castro.—Short Ac
count of that City, • 83

LETTER X.
Route from Libokavo to Cesarades.—Women at the Fountains.—
Route to Ereeneed.—The Passes of Antigenia, called Stena.—The
Aous River.—Route to Tepellene, along tbe Banks of the River.
—Arrival at Tepellene, and at Ali Pasha's Palace.—Appearance of
the Attendants.—Prayers of the Turks.—The Chanter of the
Mosck, - - 92

LETTER XI.
Visit to Ali Pasha.—His Appearance.—Manners—Short Conversa
tion.—Second In'erview with Ali.—Present from Buonaparte to
that Pasha.—A Palxo-castro, or Ruin near Tepellene —Last Audi
ence of Ali.—His Affability to his Soldiers.—His Bise and Pro
gress.—The Difficulties he had to encounter.—His vigorous Mea
sures —Administration, and present Extent of his Dominions.—
Offered to be made a King by Napoleon.—His supposed Bevenues.
—His Disposition.—Story of Zofrenj.—His Amusements and Mo
rals—His want ofEducation, 101

LETTER XII.
Albania.—Perpetual Barbarity of its Inhabitants.—Early Settlement
of the Scythians in that Country.—In subjection to the Kings of
Bulgaria—to the Emperors of the East.—Uncertain Date of the
Name Albania.—Its Revolutions.—Governed by Despots.—Invaded

i
 xi

by the Catalans.—Disunited.—Scanderbeg.—Exaggeration of his

Merits.—Ottoman Conquest of the Country.—Establishment of the
Venetians on the Coast.—Variety of Nations.—The Albanians—
their Origin.—Asiatic Albanians.—Shape and Face of the Albani
ans—their Dress—their Arms—their Filth.—Dress of their Women
—their Villages—their Food—their Disposition and Manners, 114

LETTER XIII.
Continuation of the Manners of the Albanians.—Expression of their
Meaning by Signs—their Liveliness.—Passionate Temper—their
Education—their Language—their Morals—Religion—their Na
tionality—their love of Arms.—The Albanian Robbers—their Way
of Life—and Mode of Attack—their Surgeons.—The Albanian
Dances.—Albanians in Foreign Service—in Egypt—Italy—the
Morea—under Mustapha Bairactar.—Albanian Settlers—in differ,
ent Parts of the Levant—and in Calabria, 127

LETTER XIV
Different Governments in Albania.—The different Districts.—Arta.—
Ioannina —Sagori—the Pashalik of Ocrida.—Course of the River
Drin.—The Scene of Scanderbeg*s Battles.—The Pashalik of Scu
tari.—Antivan.—Dulcigno.—Lyssa.—Durazzo.— Bcrat, or Arnaut
Beligrat.—Ruins of Apollonia.—The Pashalik and Town of Vallo-
na.—The Acroceraunians.—Chimera —Manners of the Chimeriotes.
—Butrinto.—Ruins of Buthrotum.—Plnlathi.—The River Thyamis.
—Margiriti.—The Town of Parga.—The Glykyslimen, or Port of
Sweet Waters.—Acherusian Lake.— Ancient Geography of the
Coast.—Length of Epirus.—Sulli.— Route from Ioannina to that
Place.—Paramithi.—Position and Extent of the Mountains of
Sulli.—The Villages of Sulli.—Wars of the Sulliotes with Ali
Pasha—their present Condition.—Loru.—Population of Albania.—
Climate and Temperature.—Xepellene, 141

LETTER XV.
Departure from Tepelleni —Return to Ioannina.—A Marriage Pro
cession.—A Turkish Puppet-Show.—Ancient Coins to be met with
at Ioannina.—Final Departure from that City.—Return to Prevesa.
—Disaster at Sea —Land on the Coast of Sulli.—View of that Town
and District, at Volondorako.—Route from Volondorako to Cas-
tropsheca—to Prevesa.—Sail down the Gulf of Arta.—Vonitza.—
Ctraikee.—Ancient Measurement of the Gulf, 157

LETTER XVI.
Utraikee.—Night Scene at' that Place Route through Carnia.—to
Catoona,—to Makala.—Prospects from the Hill* of the River Aspre
 xii

er Achelous—and of the Lake Nizeros.—Ancient Remains at At to

and at Ligustovichi.—Route continued—to Prodromo.—Passage of
the Achelous.—Arrival at Gouria.—Route over the Paracheloi'tis—
to Natolico.—Another Route from Arta to Natolico.—Boundary
of Carnia.—Former Inhabitants.—Ancient -Geography Present
State Ruins at Teeserenes.—The Shallows of Messalonge and
Natolico.—The Fishery.—Conjecture as to the Formation of the
Shallows.—The Town and Inhabitants of Messalonge.—The Dis
trict of Xeromeros, or JEtolia.—Town of Ivoria.—River Fidari, or
Evenus.—Ruins of Calydon. —Rocks of Chalcis and Tappiasus.—
Passage to Patrass, - 169

LETTER XVII.
Patrass.—Its Situation.—Insalubrity.—Ancient State.—Destruction
in 1770 —Present State Trade.—Exports of the Morea.—Consul*
at Patrass.—Gr.eek Light Infantry.—English Regiment.—The River
Leucate.— Departure from Patrass.—The Castles of the Morea and
Roumelia.—Cape Rhium.—Lepanto Route to Vostizza.—Ancient
Positions Vostizza. —A Greek Codja-bashee, or Elder.—Coursing
in the Morea.—River Selinus.—JEgium.—The Plane-Tree.—Veil
Pasha.—Population of the Morea. —Digression concerning the
Mainotes, - - 182

LETTER XVm.
Distance from Patrass to Corinth—and to Athens—Passage across
the Gulf of Lepanto to the Scale of Salona.—Circumference of the
Corinthian Gulf.—Galaxcithi—Evanthe.—Route to Crisso.—Salona.
—View at the Foot of Mount Liakura, or Parnassus.—Crisso
Site of Crissa, or Cirrha Visit to the Ruins of Delphi.—Castalia.
—Treasures of Delphi.—The Brazen Serpent at Constantinople.—
Parnassus. —Ascent to the Summit of it impracticable.—Route
from Crisso towards Livadia—to Arakova on Parnassus.—The
Road Schiste.—The Three Roads.—Distomo —Asprospitia.—Mo
nastery ofSt. Luke of Stiris.—Arrival at Livadia, 202

LETTER XIX.
Livadia.—The Archon Logotheti.—Rate of Living in Roumelia.-
Imitation of European Manners.—The Cave of Trophonius—the
present Appearance of the Entrance to it.—Ruins of a Castle built
by the Catalans.—The Settlement of the Catalans in Greece Little
Impression left by the Franks on the Manners of the Greeks.—Visit
to Caperna.—Ruins of Charonea.—The Plain.—Departure from
Livadia.—Visit to 6cripoo—the Site of Orchomenos.—The Traa-
sury of Minyas. —The Lake Copai's. —The Village of Mazee.—Ar
rival at Thebes.—View of the Theban Territory.—Difficulties at-
• tending a just Description of Modern Greece.—The Measurement
o£ Stadia.—Diminutivenees of the Country, - 219
 sill

LETTER XX.
Thebes—its Modern Insignificance.—The Town.—The Fountain Dirce.
—The Ruins of Pindar's House.—The Ismenus.—The Fountain of
Mars Tomb of St. Luke of Stiris.—An Inscription.—Departure
from Thebes.—Route towards Athens.—The Village Scourta.—
Passage of Mount Parnes.—Ruins of Phyle.—Prospect of Athens.
—Town of Cash*.—Entrance into the Plain of Athens.—Arrival at
Athens, ... - . 232

XETTER XXI.
Athens—its Situation.—Appearance.—Present Inhabitants.—Short
Notice of its Modern History, - - 242

LETTER XXII.
Antiquities of Athens.—Temple of Theseus.—Areopagus.—Pnyx
Musium.—Monument of Philopappus.—Odium.—Theatre of Bac
chus.—River Ilissus.—Adrian's Temple.—Callirhoe.— Stadium of
Atticus Herodes.—Adrian's Arch and Aqueduct.—Monument of
Lysicrates.—Monument of Andronicus Chyrrestes.—The Doric
Portico.—Many smaller Remains, • - , 257

LETTER XXIII.
Ascent to the Acropolis.—The Pelasgicon.—The Cave of Apollo and
Pan.—The Entrance of the Citadel.—The Propyls* The Parthe
non.—The ErecthSum.—A Note on Lord Elgin's Pursuits in Greece.
—The Modern Citadel.—The Turkish Garrison, - 278

LETTER XXIV.
The Vicinity of Athens.—Climate in Winter.—The Gardens.—The
Olive Groves—Method of Watering them.—The Site of the Aca
demy.—Route to the Pirxus. —The Munychian Promontory.—
Country immediately to the South of Athens, - 292

LETTER XXV.
Route from Athens to Eleusis.—Daphne-vouni.—Casha-vouni.—The
Monastery of Daphne.—The Rhiti.—The Thriasian Plain—Eelusis.
—Ruins.—The Cambridge Ceres.—Route from Athens to Salamis.
—The Throne of Xerxes.—View from Corydallus.—Salamis or
Colouri.—Ampelaki.—Colouri Greek Islanders, - 305
 LETTER XXVI.
The Eastern Side of Athens.—Hymettus.—Ascent to the Monastery
of St. Cyriani, on that Mountain. —The Sacred Spring.—Route to
Mount Pentelicus.—Angele-Kipos.—Callandri.—The Monastery on
Pentelicus The Marble Quarries.—Return by another Route.—
Remains of the Aqueduct, - - -. - 319

LETTER XXVII.
Route from Athens to Cape Colonni.—Vary.—The Pan<um.—Nym-
pholepsy.—EnneaPyrgx.—Keratea.—The Caverns in Mount Parni.
—Route to Colonni.—Return by the Eastern Shore of Attica, to
Keratea, . - . .330

LETTER XXVIII.
Route from Keratea to Port Raphti—that Port described.T-Route
from Raphti, through Kata-VrSona and Apano-Vr&ona, and by Ca.
liva Spatha, to 'he Plain of Marathon.—View of the Plain.—Battle
of Marathon.— Route from the Plain to Athens.—The Cave of Pan.
—Stamati.—Cevrishia, ... 347

LETTER XXIX.
Route from Athens to the Negroponte Villages in the North of At
tica.—Koukouvaones.—Charootika.—Menithi.—Tatoe.—The Site of
Decelea.—Agios Macurius.—Route across the Plains of Tanagra.—
Over the Asopus to Scimitan.—From that Village to the Strait of
the Negroponte, by Vathi.—The Town of Negroponte.—Visit to the
Pasha.—Stories relative to the Euripus.—Return to Scimitari.—
Route from Scimitari to the Monastery of St. Meliteus on Ci-
thacron, .... 360

LETTER XXX.
Route from St. Meletius to the Ruins of Plataca, at Cockli.—Gifto-
Castro.—(Enoe.—Pass of Cithxron Parasopia.—The Positions of
the Armies at the Battle of Plataca.—Doubts respecting the Num
bers who fought against the Greeks.—Route from St. Meletius to
Megara—by Koundouri.J—Pass in the Mountains.—Arrival at Me-
gara.—The Derveni Choria.—The Town andlnhabitantsof Megara.
—Return by Eleusis to Athens.—General View of -the District of
Attica, and of the Peasants settled in the Villages, - 382

LETTER XXXI.
Shape and Make of the Modern Greeks.—The Women.—Their want
of Beauty—Painting.—Dress of the Men—and of the Women.—
Their Manners,—A Betrothing.—A Marriage—their Dance—
 XV

Songs, Sec—Genius —Morals.—Superstitions.—The Evil Eye.—

Conformity of Practice between Greeks and Turks.—Manners of
the Men.—Influence of Money.—Behaviour to Inferiors.—Ostenta
tion—Princes of the Fanal.—Waiwodes of Moldavia and Walla-
chia,—Codja-bashees, ... 403

LETTER XXXII.
Religion of the Greeks.—Ceremonies and Customs of their Supersti
tion Festivals.—Funerals.—A Mahometan Funeral.—Greek Ce
meteries Priests.—Monks of the Order of St. Basil.—Their Mo
nasteries.—The Seculars.—Instances of the Superstition of the
Greeks.—Notion entertained of the English by Greeks and Turks.
—The Patriarchate of Constantinople.—The Arts —Medicine.—
Physicians.—Exorcisms.—The Plague.—Use of the Hot Bath, 423
 7,
- 'i
 LETTERS FROM ALBANIA,

LETTER I.

Departure from Malta.—Approach to the Gulf of Lepanto,

and to Patrass.—Passage between the Islands Cefalonia,
Ithaca, and Santa Maura, to Prevesa.

Sir,
MY friend and myself, after a stay of three weeks
at Malta, and after many hesitations whether we should
bend our steps towards Smyrna or some port of European
Turkey, were at last determined in favour of the latter,
by one of those accidents which often, in spite of precon
certed schemes, decide the conduct of travellers.—A brig
of war was ordered to convoy about fifty sail of small
merchantmen to Patrass, the chief port on the western
side of the Morea, and to Jr. «esa, a town on the coast
of Albania. The Governor oi Malta was so obliging as
to provide us with a passage in this ship to the latter
place, whence we resolved to commence our tour.
On Tuesday Sept. the 19th, 1809, we left Malta, and
on the following Saturday, at nine o'clock in the morn
ing, we were in the channel between Cefalonia and
Zante, and at this time also had our first view of Greece.
Tou will forgive me for being thus particular in my
dates, as also for every other kind of necessary egotism.
The scene before us made a considerable impression. I
could not fail to note every particular of the time, place,
and circumstances of such a first view, and I may be
vol. i. C
 18

perhaps excusable in endeavouring to communicate them

to you.
Cefalonia appeared a chain of high rocks to the north,
with a lew villages scattered at their feet, and presented
a prospect of universal barrenness. Zanto was a low
land to the south. Before us, to the east, were the high
mountains of Albania and of the Morea, from which also
projected towards us a long narrow neck of very low
land, at the extremity of which were to be seen the
remains of a fort called, as we were informed, Castel-
Tornese.
We had not much wind, and were obliged also to wait
for the slow sailers of our convoy, so that it was not
until seven o'elock in the evening that we were near
enough tol see Ithaca, called now Theaki, which then
seemed a low land with two small hills to the north-east
of Cefalonia. At seven o'clock the next morning we
were in sight of the opening of the gulf of Lepanto, and
not far from the small islands called Curzolari, near
which, and not in the Gulf itself, the battle of Lepanto
Avas fought. The scenery which at this moment present
ed itself to us, was peculiarly agreeable to our eyes,
which had been so long fatigued with the white waste of
Malta. To the south, not far from us, were low lands
running out into the sea, covered with currant trees of
the most lively green ; before us were hills crowned to
their summits with wood, and on every other side, except
at the opening by which we had come into this great bay,
were rugged mountains of every shape. We were shown
the situation of Patrass, but did not advance sufficiently
before dark to see the town itself that evening. The fol
lowing night, the whole of the next day, and the night
after, I employed myself in cruising about the mouth of
the bay in a boat; but on the 26th, at seven in the morn
ing, was again on board of the brig at anchor off Patrass.
Nothing could be more inviting than the appearance of this
place. I had approached it just as the dawn was break
ing over the mountains to the back of the town, which is
itself on the foot of a hill clothed with gardens, groves
of orange and lemon trees, and currant grounds that,
when seen at a distance, remind me of the bright green
of an English meadow. The minarets of the Turkish
moscks, always a beautiful object, glittering in the first
 19

rays of the sun, and the cultivated appearance of the

whole neighbourhood of the town, formed an agreeable
contrast with the barren rocks on the other side of the
Gulf.
Though we were to proceed with a part of our convoy
immediately to Prevesa, we were anxious, as you may
suppose, to put foot in the Morea. Accordingly, my
friend and myself took a walk in some currant grounds
to the north of the town, until we were obliged to return
by a signal from the brig, which got under weigh at
twelve o'clock. The ship was not long in getting out of
the bay, and before sun-set we had a distant view of a
town called Messalonge, with a singular looking double
shore at the foot of mountains rising one above the other
as far as the eye could reach, which is, indeed, the ap
pearance of all the country to be seen to the north of the
gulf of Lepanto.
The next morning we were in the channel, with Ithaca
to the left or west of us. This island, which is but of
small circumference, and which is, as it were, enclosed
in a bay formed by two promontories of the great island
of Cefalonia, is not so rough and rocky as the main land
to the right. We were close to it ; and saw a few shrubs
on a brown heathy land, two little towns in the hills,
scattered amongst trees, and a windmill or two, with a
tower, on the heights. A small rocky island to the north
east, between this island and Santa Maura, is called
Iottaco. We made but little progress during this day :
indeed the boats of the brig were employed in cutting out
currant boats from Ithaca, then in the possession of the
French, but not very strongly garrisoned, as you will
easily believe, when I tell you, that a month afterwards,
when the Ionian Islands were invested by a British squad
ron, the kingdom of Ulysses was surrendered into the
hands of a sergeant and seven men. In the night we
saw lights in all the mountains, which they told us
Avere fires kindled by shepherds, whose flocks are not
driven down from the hills to the low grounds till the
beginning of October, when the autumnal rains usually
commence.
On the 28th we sailed through the channel between
Ithaca and the Island of Santa Maura, and again saw
Cefalonia stretching farther to the north. We doubled
the promontory of Santa Maura, and saw the precipice,
which the fate of Sappho, the poetry of Ovid, and the
rocks so formidable to the ancient mariners, have made
for ever memorable. On each side of the head-land is a
large cave ; the shore is very hold, and the height very
abrupt, but covered on the top with a green shrub or
moss. You will not expect to hear of any remains of
the Temple of Apollo.
At seven in the evening we anchored off Prevesa, and
the Greek acting as one of the English Vice-Consuls at
that town, came on board the brig. His name was Com-
miuti, or Comminiuti : he was of a tall and uncommonly
handsome person and face, and dressed in the Greek
fashion. We had letters of introduction to his brother,
which he opened, but could not, I believe, read : he was
not, however, the less civil ; but with a profusion of com
pliments, promised to serve us to the extent of his pow
er. We signified to him our wish to view the ruins of
Nicopolis, in the neighbourhood of Prevesa, the next
day. « You shall go there with me ; I will get break
fast for you at seven o'clock, or eight, or nine," said the
Vice-Consul. We told him we preferred being off very
early. « As early as your Excellencies please—dopo la
collazione," added he with a smile, and laying great
stress on the last words, as if to show that he knew what
we Englishmen liked. Indeed, in my short travels, I
have observed, that a notion obtains very generally, of
our countrymen being great eaters, especially of flesh,
and greater drinkers. Erasmus mentions, that « to cram
like an Englishman," was a phrase in his time.
The 29th of September we prepared for our landing at
Prevesa, a town opposite the mouth of the Ambracian
Gulf, and built on a neck of land in the country former
ly called Epirus.
Before, however, you commence our tour with us on
the main land, I must crave your indulgence in listening
to some previous remarks, by which I shall endeavour to
account for, and to excuse, one of the many deficiencies
that you will doubtless discover in the ensuing details of
our Albanian travels ; I mean an ignorance of the exact
extent and limits, of the course of the rivers, of the di
rection of the mountains, and of the relative position of
the ancient and modern cities of Epirus, the very country
 21

through part of which we passed. Even a school-boy is

ashamed of seeming ill-read in geography. It is, howe
ver, I believe, very true, that this country, which has
been the scene of so many celebrated exploits, and which
was on the borders of, and has not unfrequently been
confounded with Greece, has never been accurately de
scribed. The accounts of ancient geographers can hard
ly fail to confuse the reader. In some places they seem
to allude to Epirus according to its most ancient state ;
in others, they talk of the Macedonian division ; and
sometimes refer to that partition which was made of their
conquests by the Romans, and which gave to the dis
tricts to the north and north-east, before attached to II-
lyricum and Macedonia, the name of New Epirus. Pto
lemy includes Acarnania and Amphilochia within its li
mits, which he brings down as far to the south as the
mouths of the Acheloiis.*
It would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to
give what at any one time were considered to be the ac
tual boundaries of the country in question ; and you may
have observed, that Greek and Latin authors seem aware
how little they were defined, as they make use of the ex
pression, an Epirote people, rather than a people of Epi
rus. It was natural that a change of masters should
cause a change of names ; thus the districts of Lynces-
tis, Pelagonia, Orestis, and Elymia, were, after their re
duction by Philip, called Upper, and afterwards Free
Macedonia; and some gave that denomination to the
country adjoining, as far as the coast opposite Corcyra.f
The coast, as might be expected, has been accurately de
scribed ; though geographers are not agreed whether to
begin their detail from the shores of Dyrrachium and
Apollonia, or lower to the south, with Chaonia and the
northern extremity of the Acroceraunian mountains :
but Strabo, after alluding to the fourteen Epirote nations,
allows his inability to show the boundaries of their sepa
rate states, which in his time were not to be discerned.
He adds in another place, that this country, which, as
well as Illyricum, though rough and mountainous, had
been formerly well peopled, was at the period in which
he wrote, nearly deserted ; and that, where there were

* Lib. iii. cap. xiv. t Strab. lib. vii.

 S3
any inhabitants, they lived in small villages and caves
{tpuvruic).
Tims it is that the topography of the interior country
has been scarcely attempted ; for though the names of
many towns have been mentioned, and Ptolemy in parti
cular gives a long list of them, yet as to the real or rela
tive situations of these places, little or nothing seems to
be known. I confess myself also to have found very lit
tle assistance from the perusal of those passages of Poly-
bius and Livy, in which the historians treat of the opera
tions of the Roman and Macedonian armies in this part
of the world. The lives of Pyrrhus, Flaminius, and
iEmilius, in Plutarch, give some positions, but are equal
ly unsatisfactory. The labours of modern authors, which
have illustrated almost every other part of the world,
have done nothing towards clearing these difficulties.
Cellarius, and Emmius, a much more attentive compiler,
only repeat the accounts of ancient writers. Mons. D'An-
ville felt, and ingenuously confessed, his want of infor
mation ; and, on the face of his map, he invites future
students to give a more accurate description of Epirus.
Mr. Gibbon, to whose luminous pages a traveller in
Turkey must always refer with advantage and delight,
has declared, that we know less of the country in ques
tion than of the wilds of North America. We want a
good map of Epirus, says that historian in another
place ;* an observation which he has verified by his own
example, having by a loose expression in more than one
place identified that country with Albania.
The same shade which involved this part of Europe in
ancient times, seems never to have been dispelled during
the middle and latter ages. All that we have, till very lately,
known of modern Albania is, that it is a province of Eu
ropean Turkey, bounded to the north and north-east by a
chain of mountains called the Black Mountains, dividing
it partly from the country formerly called Macedonia,
and partly from Servia and Dalmatia; having to the
west the gulf of Venice, to the cast Macedonia, Thessa-
ly, and Greece Proper ; and being terminated to the south
by the gulf of Lepanto, or, according to some, the gulf of
Arta. This extent of country has been divided by the

* Note 40, page 457, cap. 67.

 S3

Venetians, I believe, into Upper and Lower Albania, the

first being supposed to correspond nearly with the ancient
lllyricum, and the last with Epirus. Some writers, in
deed, when speaking of Albania, have alluded only to the
former, which they would bound to the south by an ima
ginary line separating it from the latter country.
I shall have occasion to mention hereafter, that there
does obtain amongst the inhabitants a notion of a distinc
tion between the northern and southern parts ; but I have
never seen a map in which the line of separation is dis
tinctly marked ; and perhaps the whole region, even in
cluding Acarnania, may be correctly denominated Alba
nia.
As the Mahometans themselves know nothing of geo
graphy, and as they divide the territories they possess
into many petty governments, with whose limits an Euro
pean traveller, or even resident, is not likely to make
himself acquainted, it would be unreasonable to expect
what might fairly be called a modern map of any part of
Turkey, especially of such a province as Albania. The
uninterrupted barbarity of its inhabitants, and the partial
possession of some of its ports by* the Venetians, which
has introduced a confused mixture of Italian amongst the
Greek and Turkish names of towns and districts, have
caused such difficulties in the delineation of any charts,
that nothing can be more unsatisfactory than those which
pretend to assist us in our survey. The best and latest
modern map, that of De La Rochette, is full of inaccu
racies and deficiencies, and of little or no service to the
traveller. The designs or plans of the artist Coronelli,
represent only the forts and towns upon the coast, such
as they were to be seen during the more flourishing days
of the Venetian republic. But the present age, which
seems to have favoured discoveries in every art and
science, has added also to our knowledge of the modern
state of many countries before almost unknown.
The active spirit of two great nations, to whose gene
rous emulation mankind, when they shall have long re
covered from the destructive struggles of the mighty ri
vals, shall be for ever indebted, has in our days explored
the remote regions of every quarter of the world ; and
it is to one of the vast military enterprises of the French,
that we owe the first attempt at a detailed account of Al
bania.
 2-i

In the year 1798, some French officers, and members

of the Oriental Commission of Arts and Sciences, return
ing from Egypt in a tartan of Leghorn, were captured
off Calabria by a Tripoli corsair. Of these, Messrs.
Bessiers, belonging to the commission, Poitevin, a colo
nel of engineers, Charbonnel, a colonel of artillery, Gue-
rini, a Maltese inquisitor, and Bouvier, a naval officer,
were separated from their companions, and carried to
Ali, a Pasha of Albania, who was then encamped at
Butrinto, on the coast opposite Corfu, at that time be
sieged by the Russians and Turks. They were detained,
but treated with distinction, and employed by the Pasha
for nearly two years, and during that time collected the
notes which were afterwards arranged by their friend Dr.
Pouqueville, and published, together with two other vo
lumes on the Morea and Constantinople, written by the
Doctor, who had himself, after his separation from these
officers, been confined at Tripolita in the Morea, and in
the Seven Towers.
The learned and conjectural part of the book, besides
some rhetorical flourishes, from which the compiler most
unaccountably considers himself to be entirely free, is
certainly the worst portion of the performance, and must,
I presume, be laid at the door of the Doctor himself.
But notwithstanding all its defects, which are numerous,
there is not, that I know, any other book which the tra
veller in Albania can carry with him or consult. I have
accordingly not scrupled to make use of the French ac
count, where it is not contradicted by my own experience
and information, as you will observe if you happen to
have Dr. Pouqueville's volume at hand.
I am thus explicit with you, in order to anticipate an
excuse, should you ever trace me to the source of my in
formation ; for as it is my purpose to give you the best
account in my power of the country through which wo
passed, I shall not refuse help from any quarter, but de
pend upon your kindness for not treating me as a «fur
manifestos—& detected plagiarist."
My next letter will fairly land us in Turkey.
I am, your's, &c. &c.
 1

LETTER II.

Frevesa.—A Description of that Town.—The Mouth of the

Gulf of Arta.—Actium.—Short Description and Account
of Prevesa—and of the Battle which placed the Town in
the hands of the Turks.

WE landed at Prevesa during a shower of rain, and

with no very agreeable presentiments. The foolish mas
ter of an English transport lying in the harbour, had
come on board, and told us most dismal stories of the
Turks inhabiting the place. He had had a shot fired
through his main-mast from some Turkish man of war;
and one day, walking in the country, a Turk, to whom
he had said and done nothing, turned round and fired at
him. He added, that our Resident at the Court of Ali,
the Pasha of the country, w as preparing to leave loannina,
the capital, being unable to bear the insolence of the peo
ple. We picked our way through several dirty streets,
to the house of Signor Commiuti. Few places will bear
being visited in a rainy day, least of all a Turk town,
and such a town as Prevesa.
We found the streets without flags or stone paving of
any kind, resembling dirty lanes, with wooden huts on
each side, exceedingly narrow, and shaded over-head
with large rushes or reeds, reaching from the pents of
the houses quite across from one side to the other. This
contrivance, which must be very agreeable in hot wea
ther, did at this time only increase the gloominess of the
place, and added to the inconvenience of walking, as the
rain dripped from the dirty reeds, and made the paths
more miry. Add to this, the savage appearance of the
Turks, each of whom carried an immense brace of pis
tols and a long knife, sticking out from a belt before his
vol. i. D
 \

w
waist ; and the accommodation we met with at the Con
sul's house, which seemed wretched to us who were just
fresh from Christendom, and you will not feel inclined to
envy our situation.
You will fancy yourself deep in the distresses of some
Scottish tourist, if I entertain you much longer at this
rate; and yet, I assure you that, never afterwards dur
ing our whole journey, did we feel so disheartened, and
inclined to turn back, as at this instant; and indeed, had
the commander of the brig been very pressing, I believe
that we should have consented to go back to Patrass,
where we were sure of better fare and more comfort with
the English Consul-General for the Moi ea, who resides
in that town. The weather however soon cleared up, and
we began to feci more resigned to our misery, which is
very laughable now, but was then wretched enough.
A circumstance just at that time occurred, which seem
ed to coincide with the report made by the master of the
transport ; for, looking out of the Consul's window, I
saw a young Turk discharge two pistols over a garden-
wall, to frighten some Greek mariners who were dancing
and singing to the sound of a fiddle. The sailors, how
ever, continued their sport; and we soon found that there
was nothing malicious or unusual in the playfulness of
the young Mussulman.
We dined with the brother of the Vice-Consul ; the
Vice-Consul himself was absent at Ioannina ; when I was
not so much struck with the dinner, and the curious way
of serving it up, one dish after the other, of each of
which they expect you to eat, as with Signor Commiuti
being waited upon by his father, an old man, and by one
of his brothers. I afterwards found it to be a common
practice in Greek families, for those who have no money
to be retainers and attendants to such of their relations
as are more wealthy ; nor does filial affection or obedience
prevent a man from exacting the same duties from an in
digent parent as he himself would perform, were his fa
ther to become by any accident the richer man of the two.
An excessive reverence for wealth is the distinguishing
characteristic, as it appears to me, of all the inhabitants
of the Levant. What could Mr. De Guys, in his silly
parallel between the ancient and modern Greeks, have
said to such a change of those virtuous customs which

)
 27
would never permit a degradation of the dignity of old
age?
After dinner we paid a visit to the governor of the
town, who resided within the enclosure of a fort at the
lower end of the harbour, in a house belonging to Ali Pa
sha. We walked through a long gallery, open, as is the
custom, on one side, and through two or three large
rooms with naked walls, and no other furniture than a
low stage running round three sides of the chamber, on
which, when inhabited, the sofa-cushions are placed. In
one of these barrack-rooms, for that is the name by which
you will best comprehend the sort of palace we visited,
we found the Governor, who received us with the grave
politeness that seems born with every Turk, and who
gave us coffee and a pipe ; which, 1 believe, you know
is the ceremony customary with the people of this coun
try on the reception of visitors. The coffee is served up
very thick, with the grounds left at the bottom of the
cup, always without milk, and, except to travellers, who
are supposed to be accustomed to delicacies, without su
gar. The cups are very small, not made to stand, but
presented in other cups of open work, like our egg-cups
or salt-cellars. Tobacco, which was unknown to the
Orientals till the middle of the seventeenth century, is
now the universal luxury of all the inhabitants of the
Levant ; but the Turkey plant is not nearly so pungent
and strong as that of America and the West Indies, and
a habit of smoking it is immediately acquired. The pipes
are very long, the heads being made of earthen-ware,
and the sticks, when they are best, of cherry-wood. In
these the rich are very expensive: they adorn them with
amber heads and joints, a pair of which I once saw ex
posed for sale at two thousand piastres, or more than a
hundred pounds sterling.
The Governor could not easily be distinguished from
the shabby-looking Albanian guards that surrounded him ;
some of them sitting down close to him, and the others
standing opposite their master, staring and laughing at
our conversation. Besides the Governor of the fort, there
was here also an Intcndantof the Marine, to whom Eng
lishmen generally pay their respects, the port being occa
sionally the resort of some of our Adriatic squadron, but
whom we did not visit, till our return to this place:
 28

Prevesa is said to contain about three thousand inhabi

tants, of which one half are Turks. Of these Turks the
greater part are Albanians, and are to be distinguished
as such by their dress, manners, and language, with all
which I shall hereafter endeavour to make you acquaint
ed. The houses of the town are all of wood ; for the most
part with only a ground-floor ; and, where there is one
story, the communication to it is by a ladder or wooden
steps on the outside, sheltered, however, by the over
hanging eaves of the roof. In this case, the horses and
cattle occupy the lower chamber, or it is converted into a
warehouse, and the family live on the floor above, in
which there are seldom more than two rooms. This strag
gling town is placed on the longest of one of the extremi
ties of a flat biforked tongue of land, that widens towards
the point, and is more narrow about three miles from the
end. This narrow part is the site of Nicopolis.
A bay, which runs into the land about a mile, forms
the harbour ; and the other extremity of the tongue, to
gether with the opposite promontory, on which Anacto-
rium, according to D'Anville, formerly stood, composes
the mouth of the gulf of Ambracia, now called the gulf of
Arta. This mouth is about half a mile, or a little more,
in breadth: Polybius says five stadia, and Strabo a little
more than four ; alluding to this interior mouth, and not
to that of the harbour, which is formed by the point of
Prevesa, and the promontory, and which is nearly a mile
in breadth. It must be exceedingly difficult for a vessel
of any size to work into the Gulf; for there is no deep
water, except close to the town, that on the other side be
ing full of shoals and quicksands.
Were it not for the positive authority, that determines
the battle of Actium to have been fought within the pro
montory in the bay that first presents itself on the right
hand to a person sailing into the Gulf, I should be inclined
to think that the action took place in the sea between
Leucadia and the cape of Prevesa.- The enormous ves
sels, of nine or ten banks of oars, in the fleet of Antony,
under which, to use the expression of Florus, the waters
groaned, must have scarcely been able to manoeuvre in
the small basin in the Gulf; and unless the battle was
fought without the bay, I cannot understand how the com
batants could see the runaway Egyptians steering for
Peloponnesus, as Plutarch, in his life of Antony, says
they did. They might suppose them making for that
Quarter, but they could not see them an instant after they
had got out of the Gulf, the exit from which is not per
ceived until you are close to the mouth.
Either a good part of the low land of the promontory
opposite Prevesa, has been formed since the days of Au
gustus, which is extremely probable, or the floating cas
tles of Antony were not so large as is usually conceived.
The point is not very important : it is certain that the bat
tle was fought ; and that a naval action, for the first and
only time in the history of the world, as Madame de Se-
vigne has remarked before me, decided the fate of an em
pire. Mons. D'Anville says, that the name of Actium is
not entirely lost in Azio ; but I made every inquiry, and
could not learn that there was at present a village, or any
place so called. The Signor Commiuti did inform me,
that there was a ruin to be seen on the opposite side of
the water, on a spot which we afterwards visited, and;
saw some trifling remains of a wall built of bricks, placed
lozenge-wise, and about five feet in height, and so dispos
ed as to appear to have been circular. I do not know
who had put this notion into the head of our Greek, but
he called this the wall of the Hippodrome ; and the fine
flat which it might have enclosed, gives some colour of
probability to the suspicion that this was the spot chosen
by the youth of Ambracia and Nicopolis for the horse and
chariot race, and the celebration of the Quinquennial
games, over which the Lacedemonians presided.
The site of Actium itself was lower down in the Gidf,
and nearer to the head-land laid down in the maps under
the name of Cape Figalo ; but there the ground is rough
and uneven, and not so well calculated for the course.
It does not appear that there was anciently any town on
the site of Prevesa, of which the first notice I have ever
seen is, that it was besieged by the Venetians and Doria
in 1572, but relieved by the Turks from the interior.
Since the invention of gunpowder, such a position must
have completely commanded the mouth of the Gulf, espe
cially as there is no deep water except on the side of the
town. The Venetians, after repeated contests with the
Turks, at last possessed themselves of this place as well
as of Vonitza, a town in the Gulf, and of Parga and
 30

Butrinto, on the coast opposite Corfu. The domain of

Prevesa extended into the ruins of Nicopolis.
All these places were ceded to the French by the treaty
of Campo Formio ; but, during their last war with the
Turks, were all abandoned, except Prevesa, which the
Engineer Richemont, and the General La Salcette, were
ordered to protect. The Pasha Ali, who had for some
time kept up a correspondence with the French, appeared
at first inactive ; but in the end of August, A. D. 1798,
some French boats were seized in the Gulf, and the Ad
jutant-General Roze, then in a conference with the Pasha,
was imprisoned. Immediately the French prepared for
the event. The municipal guard of the town was orga
nised ; arms and ammunition were sent to the Sulliote
Greeks at war with the Pascha ; and a redoubt with two
pieces of cannon was thrown up on the side of Nicopolis.
On the night of the 12th November, Ali and his two sons,
Mouctar and Veli, with a force amounting to about ten
thousand horse and foot, appeared on the mountains im
mediately above the plain of Nicopolis. At the dawn of
day the Albanians were posted on the hills about two miles
above the French force, which, instead of remaining to
defend the town, had marched to the site of the ruins,
and were drawn up in a long line, with the redoubt cover
ing one of their wings.
I had the account from an Albanian who was in the
battle, and who confessed that the French force did not
amount to more than eight hundred men, and all of them
infantry. The Albanians continued some time on the
hills, viewing their enemies in front. Their priests, of
whom there was a great number, then began to pray
with a loud voice, and the soldiers joined them in the
holy exclamations. The whole body remained waving
their heads, as it was described to me, and as I have
myself seen in some religious ceremonies in Turkey, like
a vast field of corn, and calling on the name of God with
a fervour of tone and action that was soon wound up to
the highest pitch of fury ; as if with one voice, the word
was given, « Out with your swords !" and the Albanian
army, both horse and foot, rushed down into the plain.
The French artillery began to fire; but, in a short time,
both guns and men were overturned by the Turkish
cavalry. The rout in an instant became general ; and
 31

the Albanians entering Prevesa with the French, in

volved many of the inhabitants in a promiscuous slaugh
ter;—between Nicopolis and the town the plain was
strewed with about six hundred dead bodies. Twp ves
sels in the harbour, full of fugitives, cut their cables, and
made for Santa Maura; but one of them, from being
overladen, or from mismanagement, was swamped, and
went down.—Two hundred French, with the General La
Salcette, and Mons. Richemont, were taken prisoners,
and conveyed to Ioannina.
But the vengeance of the Pasha was reserved for the
Greek inhabitants of the town, two hundred of whom
were beheaded the day after the battle, in the presence
of Ali himself.
The French account accuses both their Sulliote allies,
and the townsmen of Prevesa, of having fired upon them
during their flight. I did not hear of this treachery, al
though the charge may be true ; but it is excusable in
M. Pouqueville to shed a tear over his brave countrymen,
and to record, in an amiable episode, the desperate va
lour of the heroic Richemont, and the fate of his friend
the young Gabauri, *« connu dans ParmSe par sa beaute
et renomme par sa bravure." The like was never heard
of since the days of Nisus and Euryalus.
Since this event, Prevesa has been in the hands of
Ali, who has built a fortress at the bottom of the har
bour, and also raised a battery at the end of the town,
commanding the entrance of the port. It is the chief
sea-port town in Lower Albania, and is the continual
resort of the Greek boats of the Ionian Isles, which ex
change their French and Italian manufactures for the
oils, wools, cattle and timber of Albania. But you must
be sufficiently acquainted with Prevesa : I will now con
duct you to the ruins of Nicopolis.
 3a

LETTER III.

The Ruins of Nicopolis.—Preparations for Travelling in

Turkey.— The Dragoman.—Servants.—Baggage, Sfo,
Sfc.—Sail down the Gulf of Arta, to Salora.—The Alba
nian Guard of Salora*

Sir,
THE ruins of Nicopolis (which we reached after
riding slowly for three quarters of an hour through olive
groves, and a large plain of low shruhs) are more ex
tensive than magnificent, as they cover at intervals the
breadth of the isthmus, if such it may be called, from the
Ionian sea to the gulf of Ambracia : not their shadows,
but themselves, stretch from shore to shore. After enter
ing at a breach of a wall, which may be traced round
several parts of the plains, and which may be conjectured
to have separated the city from the suburbs, we were
carried by our guide, the Consul's brother, to what he
called the King's house. This is nothing but the remains
of a room, on which the paint, of a dusky red and light
blue, is still visible, and also a small piece of cornice.
From this place we scrambled on through heaps of ruins
over-run with weeds and thistles. These ruins are large
masses of brick-work, the bricks of which (of that sort,
I believe, called Roman tile) are much thinner and longer
than those in use amongst us, and are joined by inter
stices of mortar as large as the bricks themselves, and
equally durable. There is a specimen of this sort at
Dover Castle. Some of these- masses are standing,
others lying on the ground, and there are several spots
in the plain so covered with the ruins as to be impas
sable. : •
 33

We went through an arched gateway, tolerably entire,

in the largest portion of the wall that is yet standing ;
and going towards the Ionian Sea, came to the remains
of a theatre, in which the semicircle of seats, raised about
a foot one above the other, is still visible, though de
stroyed in some places, and choked up with earth. Un
derneath the theatre are several arched caves, which
some one had told our Greek, were the dens of the wild
beasts used in the ancient games. But the arena of the
theatre could not have been more than twenty-five feet
in diameter, and therefore not suitable to such exhibi
tions. The people, who occasionally clamoured for the
introduction of gladiators and beasts as an interlude,
would, in so small a space, have been content to do
without such spectacles. Indeed the caves appeared
to me to be formed by the falling of some of the brick
work.
Proceeding till we came to no great distance from the
sea-shore, we came to the ruins of a square building,
within which, half buried in the ground, are several
marble troughs : these, and the capital of one Corinthian
column lying on the ground, and the .shaft of another
enclosed in a wall, were the only pieces of marble I saw
in the ruins ; but many have been carried away lately,
and employed in the building of the fortress of Prevesa>
and some also have been preserved as a present to the
English Resident at the court of Ali Pasha.
- Turning round from the sea-shore towards the Gulf,
we traversed the plain to the north of the wall, which
was also included in the suburbs, but . is now partly
ploughed, and we came to an eminence, at the foot of the
hills that terminate the isthmus to the north, not far from
the shore of the Gulf. On this we found the remains of
a theatre considerably larger than the one we had before
seen, and enclosed on every side : I regret to have not
taken its exact dimensions. It was of stone, and the
semi-circular seats were in many parts entire : a more
learned observer might perhaps have discovered tbe or
chestra, the pulpitum, the proscenium, and all the other
appurtenances of the ancient theatre; I must content
myself with telling you that it was the least dilapidated
remain we saw in the ruins of Nicopolis. From the
eminence on which it stands there is the best view of the
vol. r. E
 3*

plain, and of the bay of Actium ; and the tents of Tau

rus, the general of Augustus, may have heen placed on
this very spot.
I have before told you, that these ruins being nearly all
of brick, presented us with no very magnificent specta
cle ; and yet such was the extent of ground which they
covered—about three miles in length from the sea to the
Gulf, and perhaps a mile or more from the side of Preve-
aa to the theatre last mentioned—that there was some
thing of a melancholy grandeur in the prospect before us.
Part of the ruins had been converted into sheep-pens. A
solitary shepherd was the tenant of Nicopolis, and the
bleating of the sheep, the tinkling of their bells, and the
croaking of the frogs, were the only sounds to be heard
within the circuit of a city whose population had ex
hausted whole provinces of their inhabitants. Calydon,
Anactorium, Ambracia, the towns of all Acarnania, and
part of ./Etolia, were stripped of their people and orna
ments ; but the vanity, a favourite one with conquerors,
which raised Nicopolis by the desolation of the neigh
bouring states, could not secure for it a long continuation
of splendour and prosperity. The Emperor Julian found
the city in a rapid decay ; and in the reign of Honorius,
Nicopolis was the property of Paula, a Roman matron.
The irruption of the Goths immediately succeeded ; and
the city of victory, which was raised by Augustus, may
perhaps have been finally ruined by Alaric.
We returned from the ruins by the side near the sea
over a green plain, which was the burying-place of the
city, as some tombs lately discovered appear to manifest.
We passed through the court-yard of a barrack, struck
into the olive-grounds, and arrived at the Consul's house,
determining to set out for Ioannina the next day.
From Prevesa to Ioannina there are two routes. One
of these, taking a north-easterly direction, crosses the
plain of Nicopolis, and passes over the mountains belong
ing to a district now called Lorn, from a town of that
name, at six hours distance from Prevesa : thence it runs
through a valley, and afterwards over rugged hilly
ground to Vrontza, a village seven hours from Ioannina.
We were advised, being yet unprovided with a guard, not
to follow this road, as the country of Loru was at that
time not quite safe, and were accordingly directed to take
 35

the other route by Arta, which is considered th,e longest

of the two journies to the capital.
But this is the place to give you some information as to
our equipage, and the preparation made by us for tra
velling in Turkey. This detail, into which travellers sel-
dom condescend to enter, and which may be a little tire»
some, would, however, I believe, be useful to you, were
you to make a tour in the Levant.
We had been provided at Patrass with a Greek, to
serve as dragoman, or interpreter to us ; he could not,
however, speak the Turkish language, which it is not in
dispensable to know in Albania, as the Mahometans of
the country, for the most part, speak Greek. Doubtless,
however, it would have been better to have procured a
person acquainted both with the Turkish and the Alba,-
nian languages ; and as such servants are to be met with
at Prevesa, it would have been better if we had delayed
to engage any one until our arrival at that town. The
professional interpreters, by which I mean those who are
in the habit of being recommended to travellers, are most
ly exceedingly roguish, and there is no advantage which
they will not endeavour to take, especially of English
men, who are generally suspected to have more money
than wit. There is a Constantinopolitan proverb which
runs thus—« Dio mi guardi dai Dragomani io miguarde'
ro dai cani." It is as well to know this, for a great deal
depends upon your choice of a dragoman. He is your
managing man ; he must procure you lodging, food,
horses, and all conveniences ; must direct your pay
ments—a source of continual disturbance ; must support
your dignity with the Turks, and show you how to make
use of the Greeks : he must, consequently, be not only
active and ingenious, but prompt and resolute. Now you
would very seldom find a Greek deficient in the former,
or possessed of the latter qualifications : in this respect,
their very dress is against them. Those who have been
in Turkey, know that it is contrary to the nature of
things, for a man in the Greek habit to talk in any other
than the most submissive cringing tone to a Turk ; and
on this account it is always preferable to engage a person
accustomed to wear the dress of a Frank, a name that in
cludes all those of whatever nation, who are dressed in
the small-clothes, the coat, and the hat, of civilised Eu-
 36

rope. Such persons are often to be met with at Malta,

or any of the ports of the Levant ; they are natives of
the islands of the Archipelago, who have lived in the ser
vice of foreigners at Constantinople, and know how to
assume an air of importance, and even ferocity, in pre
sence of a Turk, with the utility of which a traveller
does not become immediately acquainted. The Greek ap
pears to feel himself free the moment he places the hat
upon his head, and throws away the cap, which, in our
own times, and in another country, was the badge of li
berty.
Our dragoman was recommended to us as the most
upright of men ; but we found him to be one of those
servants whose good conduct does not so much depend
upon their own probity, as upon the vigilance of their
masters. He never lost an opportunity of robbing us.
He was very zealous, bustling, and talkative ; and when
we had him, we thought it would be impossible to do
without him ; when he was gone, we wondered how we
had «ver done with him. However, he was a good-hu
moured fellow, and having his mind intent upon one sole
thing, that is, making money of us, was never lazy, or
drunken, or out of the way : he was up early and late;
for he always slept upon his saddle-bags without undress
ing. His name was George ; but he was usually called
Mister George—Kin yorge (Kugi Vei^yi).
We had only one English servant with us, who was
my friend's valet ; for I was fortunately disappointed the
day before I left London, of the man who was to have
accompanied me in our travels : I say fortunately, be
cause English servants are rather an incumbrance than a
use in the Levant, as they require better accommodation
than their masters, and are a perpetual source of blun
ders, quarrels, and delays. Their inaptitude at acquir
ing any foreign language is, besides, invincible, and
seems more stupid in a country where many of the com
mon people speak three, and some four or five languages.
Our baggage was weighty ; but, I believe, we could not
have done well with less, as aMarge quantity of linen is ne
cessary for those who arc-much at sea, or travel so fast as
not to be able to have their clothes washed. Besides four
large leathern trunks, weighing about eighty pounds
when full, and three smaller trunks, we had a canteen..,
 N/ f

37

which is quite indispensable ; three beds, with bedding,

and two light wooden bedsteads. The latter article some
travellers do not carry with them ; but it contributes so
much to comfort and health, as to be very recommenda-
ble. We heard, indeed, that in Asiatic Turkey you can
not make use of bedsteads, being always lodged in the
khans or inns ; but in Europe, where you put up in cot
tages and private houses, they are always serviceable,
preserving you from vermin, and the damp of mud
floors, and possessing advantages which overbalance the
evils caused by the delays of half an hour in packing
and taking them to pieces.
We were also furnished with four English saddles and
bridles, which was a most fortunate circumstance, for we
should not have been able to ride on the high wooden
pack-saddles of the Turkish post-horses ; and though we
might have bought good Turkish saddles, both my Friend
and myself found them a very uncomfortable seat for any
other pace than a walk.
Whilst on the article of equipage, I must tell you, that
as all the baggage is carried on horses, it is necessary to
provide sacks to carry all your articles. These sacks you
can get of a very useful kind in the country. They are
made of three coats ; the inner one of waxed canvas,
the second of horse-hair cloth, and the outward of lea
ther. Those which we bought at Ioannina were large
enough to hold, each of them, a bed, a large trunk, and
one or two small articles ; and they swing like panniers
at each side of the horse. -
Some travellers prefer a large pair of saddle-bags, and
to have a large chest or trunk, which they send round by
sea to meet them, or leave at one fixed spot ; but this is
a bad plan : the saddle-bags will not carry things enough
for you ; and then to have your wardrobe at any fixed
spot, binds you to one route, and prevents you from tak
ing advantage of opportunities. As to sending baggage
round by sea, it is a very hazardous experiment : we
were detained three weeks at Gibraltar, waiting for
clothes which, as we rode from Lisbon to Cadiz, we had
ordered to be sent by sea.
A traveller in this country should provide himself with
dollars at Malta, in a sufficient quantity to defray the
eharges of his whole tote in European Turkey. These
 38

he will be able to exchange without any loss at Patrass,

or elsewhere, for Venetian zequins, which are golden
coins, and much more portable. Having lodged your
dollars in the hands of the merchant in the Levant, you
may take bills, to save you the risk and trouble of carry
ing money, upon the most respectable Greeks in the towns
through which you mean to pass. This is a better
scheme than that of travelling with bills drawn upon
Constantinople, where the exchange is very fluctuating,
and oftener against than for the English merchant. The
accounts in Turkey are kept in piastres. When you ran
get seventeen and a half of these for the credit of a
pound sterling, you may consider the exchange at par.
There are several gold coins current in Turkey ; the
smallest of which is a pretty coin, worth two piastres and
a half, or in some places a little more. The Venetian
zcquin varies in value from ten to eleven piastres. Of
the money made of silver, much debased, there are pieces
of two piastres and a half, of two piastres, and of one pi
astre : besides these, there are small coins called paras,
forty of which go to a piastre, and which are very thin,
and not so big as a note wafer. The asper, which is the
third of a para, I never saw ; and copper there is none.
It is necessary to he cautious in procuring money in
Turkey, as from the great variety and changeable value
of the coin, and also from the number of bad pieces in
circulation, it is a very easy matter to be cheated, and
the Greeks are generally ready to do a traveller that ser
vice.
Equipped in the manner which I have thought it ne
cessary to premise, we procured a large boat to convey
us down the Gulf, as far as a place called Salora, the
scale of Arta ; and, on the 1st of October, in the fore
noon, proceeded on our journey. We sailed part of the
way, being assisted by a strong breeze, the forerunner of
a thunder-storm that was collecting over the mountains
to the north ; and were rowed by our six boatmen the re
mainder of the distance.
The Gulf runs in a south-easterly direction; and, in
what may be called the jaws of it, there is, on the northern
side, a large bay, forming the long beach of Nicopolis;
and on the south, the bay of Actium and the promontory
of that name, now called Cape Figalo. Beyond Figalo
 39

h the other bay, containing in a deep woody recess the

town of Vonitza ; and there are many circular inlets or
smaller bays on both sides of the Gulf. The country on
every side is mountainous, but less so to the south than to
the north, as, near Vonitza, there are low hills and vallies
clothed with an agreeable verdure. The prospect, how
ever, is terminated on every side with tremendous rocks;
and as the entrance to the Gulf is winding, and therefore
not perceptible in many points, the whole expanse of wa
ter has the appearance of a large fresh lake, and did in
deed put me somewhat in mind of Loch Lomond. A
woody island, where there is a monastery, and some
small rocks, with which the sea is studded to the cast of
Vonitza, served to strengthen the illusion.
In two hours and an half we had reached the place of
our destination, where we had been informed we should
find horses, and be enabled to proceed to Arta the same
evening. Salora, about twelve miles from Prevesa by
water, on the northern side of the Gulf, was the name of
this place ; but we were surprised, after having heard
that it was the scale or port of Arta, to find that there
was only one house there, and a new-built barrack at a
little distance.
We landed, just in time to avoid the storm, at a little
rugged pier, and put the baggage under cover, at the
same time delivering a letter, given us by the Vice-
Consul's brother at Prevesa, to the Greek inhabiting this
wretched-looking place, which we found was the custom
house. The Greek, who was collector of the duties, was
extremely civil to us $ but said, that there were only four
horses ready, -and that we should be obliged to sleep in the
adjoining barrack.
After accusing ourselves for not having sent before us
from Prevesa, in order to procure horses, we, of course,
consented to what we could not prevent, and were shown
into the barrack. This also belonged to Ali Pasha, or,
as he is called throughout his extensive dominions, the
Vizier, the denomination of every Pasha of three tails :
it had only been built two years. The under part of it
was a stable, and the uj)pcr, to which the ascent was by
a flight of stone stairs, consisted of a long open gallery of
wood, with two rooms at one end of it, and one at the
other. In the single room, which was locked up, the
 40

Vizier was accustomed to lodge when he visited the

place ; but the other two rooms were appropriated to ten
Albanian soldiers, placed there to protect the custom
house, which it is of some importance to guard, as Salora
is the chief, if not the only scale (to use a Levant phrase),
through which the imports and exports of all Lower Al
bania are obliged to pass, and which levies a duty of three
per cent, upon all imported merchandise belonging to a
Turk, and of four per cent, upon the goods of the Chris
tian trader.
We were introduced to the Captain of this guard ; and,
as we passed that evening and the next day and night in
the barrack, we had at once an initiation into the way of
life of the Albanian Turks. It was impossible for any
men to have a more unsavoury appearance ; and though
the Captain, whose name, by the way, was Elmas, was
a little cleaner than the others, yet he was not much to
be distinguished from his soldiers, except by a pair of
sandals, and a white thin round stick, which he used in
walking, and which, like the vine rod of the Roman cen
turions, is a badge belonging to, or affected by, the bet
ter sort of soldiers in Turkey. Notwithstanding, how
ever, their wild and savage appearance, we found them
exceedingly mild and good-humoured, and with manners
as good as are usually to be found in a garrison.
We put up our beds in one of their apartments, and were
soon well settled. Immediately on our entrance the Cap
tain gave us coffee and pipes ; and, after we had dined
in our own room on some fish, bread, and wine, he begged
us to come into his chamber and pass the evening with
him, to which we consented. The only furniture in the
soldier's apartment was a raised low stage, like that
used in a kennel, and upon this, covered with a mat, we
seated ourselves cross-legged next to the Captain. This
officer lived in a very easy familiarity with his men; but
had a most perfect controul over them, and they seemed
to do every thing he wished very cheerfully.
All the Albanians strut very much when they walk,
projecting their chests, throwing back their heads, and
moving very slowly from side to side ; but Elmas had
this strut more than any man perhaps we ever saw after
wards ; and as the sight was then quite new to us, we
could not help staring at the magisterial arid superlatively
 4,1

dignified air of a man with great holes in his elbows, and

looking altogether, as to his garments, like what we call a
bull-beggar.
After walking about in the walled enclosure of the bar
rack, and enjoying the last rays of the setting sun that
were gilding the woody hills and the towers of Vonitza
on the other side of the Gulf, we again seated ourselves
at the never-failing coffee and pipe, to which the liberali
ty of the Captain had added some grapes, and, by the
help of our dragoman, kept up a conversation of some
length with the Albanians.
You may suppose that an Englishman has many arti
cles about him to excite the curiosity of such people ; but
we found this curiosity, though incessant, to be by no
means impertinent or troublesome. They took up our
watch-chains and looked at them, then looked at each
other, and smiled. They did not ask a great many ques
tions, but seemed at once satisfied, that the thing was
above their comprehension ; nor did they praise, or ap
pear to admire much, but contented themselves with smil
ing, and saying nothing, except « English goods ! Eng
lish goods !" or, to give it to you in their Greek,
" tare.a.yiAa.la. 'lyyMa-ua t ar^a.yfx»la. lyy\irix& .'" A glaSS of Hia-
rascine was given to Captain Elmas, and another offered
to one of his men, who refused it, being, as he said, un
der an oath not to touch any thing of the kind. Is not
this self-denial, called kegging by the Irish ? Elmas
drank seven or eight glasses of aniseed aqua vitse, and
said it gave him an appetite.
About seven, the Albanians made preparations for their
supper, by washing hands. Dragoman George said, « If
these fellows did not do this, they would stink like the
Jews."—The Turks think that the Christians stink.
They placed a round table, raised on two strips of
wood three inches from the ground, before the Captain,
and the men sat round on mats on the floor. The supper
was fish fried with oil, which they ate with their fingers
out of one dish, and curded goat's milk with bread ; but in
this second course, they made use of horn spoons.
After supper the Captain washed hands with soap, in
viting us to do the same, for we had eaten a little with
them. He put the ewer into my lap ; but he would not
give the soap into my hands, though I was sitting close to
vol. J. F
 42

him, but put it on the floor within an inch of me. This

he did with so singular an air, that I enquired of George
the meaning of it ; and found, that in Turkey there is a
very prevalent superstition against giving soap into an
other's hands : they think it will wash away love.
We now smoked, ate grapes, and conversed ; and eve
ry thing was much to our satisfaction, except the habit,
to which we were not then familiarised, of frequent and
most violent eructation from our hosts. The Turks con
tinue at this sport so long, and are so loud, as to make it
appear that they do it on purpose ; and I once heard that
it is done by visitants as a compliment, to show their host
that they have digested his good fare. The Moors of
'Barbary continue croaking for five minutes. Persons of
all ranks allow themselves this liberty (1 have noticed it
in the divan at Constantinople) without shame or re
straint ; but they would look upon an indecency, howe
ver accidental, of another kind, as a pollution and an af
front.
We retired to bed before ten ; and the Albanians pull
ing out their pistols from their waist, loosening their
girdles, and wrapping themselves up in their shaggy
great coats (or capotes), lay down and slept upon their
mats.
It rained hard the next day, and we spent another
evening with our soldiers. The Captain Elmas tried a
fine Manton gun belonging to my friend, and hitting his
mark every time, was highly delighted, and offered to re
ceive it in exchange for his own ; but being informed that
it was intended for the Vizier his master, he did not
press the bargain.
This day we observed one of the soldiers rubbing, or
rather kneading, one of his comrades forcibly on the
neck and arms, and pulling his joints. This is the Alba
nian cure for a cold in the limbs.
We were now quite familiar, and on very easy terms
together. In the evening they laughed and sung, and
were in high spirits : one of them, as in other small so
cieties, was their butt, and they made us the instruments
of their jokes against him. We were enquiring names :
one of them was « Abdoul," another « Yatchee," and
a third we were told to call » Zourlos." This person
did not seem pleased with our dwelling on his name, and
 43

it was not long before we learnt that we had been calling

him « Blockhead," the interpretation of the modern
Greek word with which we had addressed him.
They finished our entertainment by singing some songs
both in Albanian and modern Greek. One man sung, or
rather repeated in loud recitative, and was joined in the
burthen of the song by the whole party. The music was
extremely monotonous and nasal ; and the shrill scream
of their voices was increased by each putting his hand
behind his ear and cheek, as a whipper-in does when rat
ing hounds, to give more force to the sound. They also
dwelt a considerable time on the last note (as long as their
breath would last), like the musicians of a country
church. One of the songs was on the taking of Preve-
sa, an exploit of which the Albanians are vastly proud ;
and there was scarcely one of them in which the name
of AH Pasha was not roared out, and dwelt upon, with
peculiar energy. Ali is, indeed, a very great man, as
you will be inclined to acknowledge, if you have the pa
tience to proceed with me on my journey.
 44

LETTER IV.

The Presents customary in the Levant*—Routefrom Safora

to Arta Description of that Town.— The Site of Am-
bracia.—Of Ambracus.—Departure from Arta.

Sir,
ON Tuesday, the 3d of October, we were up at half
past five in the morning ; but it was not till eight that wo
were fairly off from Salora, after having presented our
friend the Captain Eimas with what we were told, was
the proper sum—twenty piastres. You may be astonish
ed at a present of this kind to an Officer, especially as you
may have read of travellers taking about with them cloth,
snuff-boxes, guns, pistols, and oiher articles of English
manufacture, in order to repay the liberality of their
hosts. But let me observe, that to carry about goods for
this purpose is exceedingly troublesome, and quite unne
cessary, as the delicacy of no soul in the Turkish em
pire is to be hurt by a repayment of kindness in hard
money. You cannot, it is true, unless you are extremely
rich, do this with the Pashas and great men ; but to them
it is not really necessary to make any present, particu
larly as the officers of their courts will sufficiently empty
your purse. It is a difficult thing to know what to give
on different occasions, and this embarrassment is one of
the most unpleasant, and perpetually recurring, of any
attending a Turkish tour ; but as a traveller has to make
these presents every day of his journey, that he is lodged
in a private house, and that is generally the case in Turk
ey in Europe, he must by degrees govern his conduct by
something like a general rule. He will very soon learn
not to measure his benevolence, by the appearance of sa
tisfaction in those to whom he gives ; for a Turk never
says « Thank-ye ;" and a Greek never cries « Enough."
No favours are ever granted in Turkey without the hope.
and expectation of reward. This is true of both the Ma
hometans, and the Christians, and we found it so, before
we had been a week in the country.
But we must hasten to set out for Arta. We had ten
horses : four for ourselves and servants, four to carry the
baggage, and two for two of the soldiers of the barrack, who
were to go with us by way of guard, of which we after
wards learnt there was no necessity, the country between
Salora and Arta being quite secure.
Our horses were very small and lean, apparently just
caught from grass, and had no shoes, two of them being
in milk, and followed by their foals. These, however,
were not the regular post-horses, which, as we had no
direct order from the Pasha, we were not yet able to pro
cure, but were some that had been hired for us for thirty-
five piastres, at a village between Arta and Salora. The
pest-horses themselves, though shabby-looking things,
are generally tolerable hacks, and manage very well in
the steep rocky paths they are obliged to traverse.
For the first mile and a half from Salora, the road was
in a north-easterly direction, on a stone causeway, cross
ing a marsh, on which we saw flocks of wild swans, and
many other aquatic birds. This marsh, which extends
to a considerable distance to the west, and for several
miles, with some intervals of cultivation, to the north
west, Is partly formed by the waters of a stream flowing
from near a village in the hills, called Velistri, and cor
responding, according to the Frenchman's geography,
with the Acheron. This district, from the plain of Ni-
copolis, certainly was the country of the Cassopcean
Epirotes. At present it belongs, partly to the territory
of Arta, and partly to the canton of Loru.
Having crossed the marsh, we came into a green plain
of some extent, covered in part with brushwood, and in
many places so swampy, that the baggage-horses fell
down repeatedly ; and, as it rained violently, we had a
very slow and uncomfortable ride, until we came near
Arta, when the sky cleared, and the sun shone. We had
passed one small village about three hours from Salora,
and the road, from our leaving the marsh, had been over
the plain, which was bounded on every side, except that
of the Gulf, by mountains, and which, though cultivated
in some spots, appeared to serve principally as a pasture
 46

for horses, and bullocks. Our last how's ride was

through a lane pitched with large pebbles, and having
hedges on each side, that served as fences for vineyards
and olive groves, and gardens of orange, lemon, pome
granate, and fig-trees. Attached to some of these gar
dens were neat-looking cottages, and the approach to
Arta, was in every respect picturesque, and agreeable.
Coming near the town, we passed over a strong stone
bridge across the river of Arta, which is in this place of
considerable breadth, and very rapid, and which bending
round, forms a peninsula. On this peninsula the town
stands. Entering the town, we saw on our right hand,
a large Greek church in a dilapidated state. We after
wards learnt, that it had been partly built with the re
mains of marble columns, some only of which were still
to be seen inserted in the walls ; the remainder having
been carried away by the Turks, to adorn a mosck. A
little farther on, also on the right hand, and seated on an
eminence, was a handsome looking house belonging to
the Vizier, and having the appearance, like most of the
best dwellings in the country, of having been very lately
built. We arrived at the custom-house at Arta about
one o'clock ; but, notwithstanding we had been nearly
five hours coming from Salora, the distance could not
have been more than twelve, or thirteen miles.
The distances in Turkey are very difficult to be ascer
tained*, as they are measured by the time taken by a
horse with baggage in going from one place to another.
This, to be sure, is a very uncertain measurement; but
if you allow three miles to every hour, you will be per
haps as near the mark as possible. We, however, had
not gone at that rate from Salora, owing to various dif
ficulties and stoppages by the way.
We rode into the lower part, or warehouse of the cus
tom-house, which was half filled with bales of coarse
woollen cloth and leather, and delivered the letter we
had brought from Prevesa to the collector of the duties.
He was very polite, kind, and communicative, and showed
us up stairs, where we were surprised to see the house
* Mr. Gell has been very particular in his measurements, and seems
to have followed a plan which I had always adopted, before I was
aware that it had been pursued by that intelligent traveller, that of
carrying a watch in the hand.
 *7
furnished with chairs and tables, and ornamented with
old portraits; all which signs of civilisation were ac
counted for by the place having been the property of a
Venetian, and the residence of the French Consul, before
that minister was removed from Arta to Ioannina. Our
civil Greek provided us with a bouse to lodge in for the
night; and a very comfortable house it was; that is,
comfortable by comparison with aur quarters at Prevesa,
by which town it would be very unfair to estimate the
interior of the country. Properly speaking, the word
comfort cannot be applied to any thing I ever saw out of
England, which any one in my place, who was not afraid
of being taken for a downright prejudiced national block
head, would confess.
The remainder of the day of our arrival was very fine,
and we had an opportunity of surveying the town, which
seemed tolerably clean, with streets partly paved, and not
so narrow, as usual in the Levant, and free from un
pleasant smells. The bazar, or street where the princi
pal shops were, was well furnished with the commodities
in request in Turkey. As the shops in these bazars have
no windows to them, but are inclosed by wooden shutters,
which, being removed in the day-time, leave them quite
open, like a stall, the artisan and his goods are exposed,
as it were, in the street. This, which has a poor effect
when the tradesmen's articles are few and of the com
mon sort, produces a very gay appearance in rich ci
ties.
Arta is not very splendid in this particular, but con
tains some very decent houses, and not in the Oriental
style, which may be accounted for by the length of time
the Venetians possessed, a footing in the neighbourhood.
Until lately there was a considerable French establish
ment in the place, employed in the exportation of timber
for ship-building at Toulon ; but the town, once so con
siderable as to have given its name to the neighbouring
Gulf, has declined since Ioannina has begun to flourish
under Ali ; who governs Arta, before the seat of an in
dependent pasha, by an officer of his own, with the title
of Aga. There are, however, still about a thousand
houses (so our Greek told us), or between five and six
thousand inhabitants in the town, of which not a fourth
 -

48

part are Mahometans, and it is still a depot of many

valuable articles of merchandise.
In the warehouses of the Greeks there are threads,
cottons, undressed wools, thick cloths, leather, silk and
cotton stuffs. But the collector of the duties informed us,
that the inhabitants were become very lazy, preferring
the cultivation of a few acres, which furnished them with
a competence, to being engaged in trade. The pursuits
' of agriculture might, however, be exceedingly profita
ble, for the soil in the neighbourhood produces a valuable
grape ; tobacco, which is much esteemed, barley, oats,
and maize, and other grains of a good quality. The
traders of the Ionian islands also resort to the plain of
Arta for their cattle, sheep, and pigs.
The Turks must have formerly considered this place
of some importance, for on an eminence a little to the
east of the town, there is a fortress, once of considerable
strength, but now in a state of decay. This we visited,
having been informed that we should there perceive some
remains, many pieces of marble having been already dis
covered and carried away from that spot. The only ves
tiges, however, of antiquity to be seen, were the enor
mous stones composing the lower part of the wall of the
castle towards the east, one of which I found to be four
teen feet and a half long, and between five and six feet
broad, and the remainder seemed of the same size.
It is impossible to doubt that these stones are a part of
some very ancient building ; they have that massy charac
ter of Greek remains, which it is not easy to mistake ;
for though the edifices of the ancients were not, it should
seem, so extensive and large as those of the moderns, yet
their component parts, the stones with which they were
built, were carved of a size that we have been either not
able, or not willing to imitate. This distinction would
strike any one entirely ignorant of architecture, and is
found more in the works of the early Greeks than in those
of later times, and of the Romans. The line where the
old wall ends, and the modern superstructure begins, is
. distinctly marked, and these remains must point out the
former site of some strong town, but not that of Ambra-
cia, which was situated at a little distance from the lower
bay of the Gulf, and near which, descending from Mount
Stympe, and the country of the Parorcei, the river Arach*
 49.

thusflowed, and afforded a short passage of a fexc stadia

from the Gulf to the city.* But Arta is between seven
and eight miles from the mouth of the river, which, if it
be, as Mr. D'Anville gives it, the Arachthus, should
show near its banks somes vestiges of Ambracia. But I
did not hear of any remains in the neighbourhood, except
in the hills to the east, called Calliilromos, which had
been visited by an English gentleman, whose learning
and long residence in the country, will render any ac
count that he may choose to give of Albania, of the most
inestimable value to the traveller.
From the fortress there is the best view of the sur
rounding country. The territory of Arta may he from
twenty-seven to thirty miles in circumference, bounded by
mountains to the north and north-east, and also to the
west ; by the Gulf to the south, and by low hills to the
east. The town stands at a mile and a half, or two miles
distance, from the north-eastern mountains. On the
other side of the low hills terminating the plain, about
four or five miles to the east, there is another river, that,
about six miles from its mouth, divides and incloses within
its two branches, a fertile plain, called by the Italians
Terra Nova, and inhabited, says Pouqueville, by Jews,
exiled Venetians, and some Greeks from the Ionian Isles.
One might be perhaps inclined to place Ambracia some
where in Terra Nova, as corresponding more exactly with
the tricot, the lower part of the Gulf, than the plain of
Arta, which is not more than fifteen miles, or half way
down. In that case, the river of Arta could no longer
be the Arachthus, but the Charadrus ; and the massy
stones of the castle would be supposed to indicate the site
of Ambractis, a town near that river, and described as
defended by strong walls, lying in a marsh with only one
path to it, and that narrow, and constructed on a raised
mole, and as being opportunely situated for the annoyance
both of the territory and town of Jtmbracia.j
The whole of the plain is marshy ; the road of the lane
through which we passed, is a raised causeway ; and the
similarity of sound in the two names, will account for the
site of Ambracus being for a long time mistaken for that
of Ambracia. Yet all this is pure conjecture. The hill
* Strabon. lib,, vii. f Polyb. lib. iv. cap. 61.
VOt,. I. G
 50
of the fortress is like the Pyrrheum ; and Livy's descrip
tion, in the fourth chapter of the thirty-eighth book, seems
to allude to the very spot on which Artanow stands. But
how could the historian trace the Arachthus from Acar-
nania ? We must make an end of our inquiries.
After strolling about the town until sun-set, the Greek
collector joined us at our lodging, and took a dish of tea
with us, which, besides its other qualities that render it
the best travelling commodity in the world, is also a great
cement of society, being a rarity in the Levant. The
same person provided horses to be ready early the next
morning, for which we paid him beforehand, being warn
ed, that many travellers, Albanian soldiers, and Greek
merchants, h.ad often contrived to pursue their journey,
without settling for their conveyance.
We had little sleep, being disturbed by a party of
Greeks fiddling and dancing in the room next to us, and
were up the next morning at sun-rise ; but we did not
mount until eight o'clock. There was a long quarrel be
tween the different owners of the horses, respecting the
weight of the baggage, and each peasant was anxious that
his own beast might not be overloaded : then there was a
want of ropes ; and they did not know how to put on the
English saddles, which they would not place on the horse's
back, for fear of galling it, but on a high dirty pad. These
difficulties occurred every day of our travels, and we ne
ver were less than two hours getting under weigh, as a
sailor would term it—a delay sufficient to try the patience
of the most enduring temper.
We dropped our soldiers of the Salora barrack at Arta,
and took two more from that town, as we had to cross a
mountainous country, considered at that time rather sus
picious, and over which I will proceed with you in my
next letter.
 LETTER V.

Route from Arta to the Han of St. Dimetre From St. Di-
metre to loannina.—First View, and Entry into that
City.—Reception of Travellers.

Sir,
WE left Arta by the same road through' which we
had entered it, and passed over the bridge, but we then
turned to the right, and took a north-easterly direction
for a short time by the side of the river. We met long
» strings of horses loaded with goat-skins full of wine, for
it was about the middle of the vintage. We observed that
the hairy side of the skin was turned inwards, and this
circumstance accounted for the unpleasant strong savour
of the goat in the new wine. Passing a little farther, we
saw them treading out the liquor in tubs by the hedge-side,
over which, the persons employed in gathering were
emptying out the grapes from small wicker baskets.
Just before we left the banks of the river to the east
ward, we passed on our left hand a fine cedar, and the
largest plane tree I have ever seen, except that so cele
brated at Vostizza, in the Morea. We now took a north
ern direction, skirting a large plain or marsh, that
stretched down to the Gulf on the left, and was in spots
covered with maize and rice. On the right were the
stony hills, that advance within a short distance to the
north of Arta, and are the roots of the immense moun
tains that fill the country from the plains of Arta, as far
to the west as the Ionian Sea, and as far to the north and
north-east as the plain of loannina. These seem to be
rather masses than ranges of mountains, and it is, there
fore, almost impossible to ascertain the direction in which
they run.
After two hours ride from Arta, we came to a hut on
an eminence, to our right, at which place was a military
post, and where we had been recommended to take an
additional guard with us. We halted a few minutes, and
were joined by four Albanian soldiers, armed with their
long guns and sabres. A little way farther on, the path
left the plain, which we saw extending before us, with a
village at a distance; and turning to the north-east, we
struck into the mountains. We travelled in a ravine, as
it were, for some time ; for the hills rose abruptly and
close to us on each side, and our path occasionally was
along a water-course, whose banks were covered with
brushwood. Just in this spot our guard, very probably
for the sake of making their attendance appear to be ne
cessary, desired us to keep close together, as this was the
place, they said, where the robbers, the xm<?>7uc (a word
very frequently in the mouth of an Albanian), most com
monly made their attack.
Our four men continued with us for two hours, till we
came to a part of the road where there was a village in
the bosom of a hill to the right, prettily interspersed with
trees and gardens, and having a house belonging to the
Vizier. Here the guard left us to return to their station,
telling us that our own two soldiers and ourselves (for we
were well armed) would be sufficiently formidable to put
us out of all apprehension for the rest of the road.
The Vizier had almost cleared this part of the country
of robbers ; but there were still some suspicious spots,
through which a traveller, whose purpose it is to proceed,
and not to fight, would choose to provide a guard. That
which we had passed was one of them, and we were after
wards told of another.
We had as yet travelled in a narrow valley; and just
as we came to a spot where the hills seemed to stop all
farther progress, we ascended a mountain-path to the
north, and in a short time stopped to refresh at one of
those fountains which are so common all over Turkey.
Turning round, we had a fine prospect of the plain of
Arta, and of the Gulf at a distance, looking, as it were,
through an immense telescope, or vista, formed by the
hills on each side of the road we had passed.
At one o'clock we moved forwards, still ascending, and
came to a place where there was a path over the country
to the right (the north-east), to Zeitoun, a port near
Thermopylse; and also another to the left, down the
 53

mountains to the country of Sulli, and Parga, and the

coast of the Ionian Sea. The scenery on each side of us
was most beautiful, the hUIs being covered with lofty fo
rests ; but before us the road appeared to lead through a
country much more bleak and rocky, it began to rain a
little.
George, our dragoman, told us this spot had formerly
been very famous for robbers, and complained that our
guard ought not to have left us ; and just as we entered a
small wood, a gun was discharged at a short distance
from us. I had a little before seen a shepherd on an emi
nence above us, stalking «gigantic" through the mist,
and was told that it was he who had discharged the mus
ket ; and, indeed, we soon came to where two other shep
herds were standing near the path ; but a person who had
his notions of the pastoral life from a visit to Salisbury
Plain, and from the pleasing pictures of an Arcadian ro
mance, would never have guessed at the occupation of
these tremendous-looking fellows. They had each of
them pistols, and a large knife, stuck in their belts ; their
heads were covered, and their faces partly shaded by the
peaked hoods of their shaggy capotes ; and leaning on
their long guns, they stared eagerly at the Franks and
the umbrellas, with which they were, probably, as much
taken, as were we with their uncouth and ferocious ap
pearance. Their flocks of sheep and goats were feeding
at a distance on the sides of the hills ; but several of their
large rough dogs, with their pricked ears and bushy tails,
were roused by our presence, and howled at us as our
train of horses wound along the path close by them.
These dogs are not unlike the true shepherd breed of
England, except that they are larger (being as big nearly
as a mastiff,) and have their heads more sharp, and their
tails more curled and bushy ; and, whatever change may
have taken place in the men of the country, they have not
degenerated from their Molossian ancestors.
We soon saw another country-lodge of the Vizier's to
the right, with a few trees round it, and a small church
near it ; and we then came, in a short time, to a chasm
in the road, made by a winter torrent.
Winding along the sides of the hills, wTe passed a hamlet
of three or four houses and a church, that is, a small stone
house containing one room, with only one small window,
 54
and only to be distinguished by a stone cross rudely carved
over the door. They told us that service was performed
at this place about once in two months, and that then it
was resorted to by the inhabitants of the hamlets within
eight or ten miles.
At half past three we arrived at a ban by the road
side, where was a yard and stable, a barrack for passen
gers to sleep in, and a little wine-house. At this place
four paras are demanded for a toll from every Greek pas
senger. The road, which had been for three hours very
mountainous and romantic, and generally on an ascent,
now led us down into a plain, in which we again saw
some signs of partial cultivation, fields of maize, now
and then a single house with a garden, and a solitary
labourer beating the mast trees. In an hour we began to
ascend again, and the path was very stony, and across
several rivulets. We met two parties of armed Alba
nians, and these were the only travellers we had encoun
tered during our day's ride.
The evening came on, with a drizzling rain, very
dusky, and at last quite dark. We saw a blazing light
at a distance, which they told us was the nan, where we
were to stop for the night; but as we approached it,
stumbling along a rough descending path, we were assail
ed by several dogs, and found that the light was the fire
of some shepherds, whose black shadows we saw near
the blaze at a little distance. However, in half an hour
we turned into the gate of the ban, ourselves and the
baggage dripping with the rain. This was about half
after seven o'clock ; so that the distance between Arta
and the han may be nearly thirty-five miles, chiefly in a
northerly direction. There are few parts of the road,
except where it has been paved, in which a person with
out baggage might not go at a good pace ; and it was
made, where there is any making in it, by Ali Pasha
about nine years ago.
The han, called the han of St. Dimetre, had a very
good stable, as is the case with most of these places, at
one end of which a party of travellers had established
themselves, preferring it to the room in the han itself.
We ascended by the wooden steps to the chamber, of
which we thought we were to be the sole tenants ; but as
our beds were putting up, four Albanian Turks and a
 55

priest entered, and soon gave us to understand that they

were to be our fellow-lodgers. This room was not more
than twenty feet longjand ten feet broad, and our own par
ty were seven ; however, it appeared that the others were
the first occupiers, so we established ourselves on our beds
at one side of the hearth, and the Albanians seated them
selves on their mats at the other. We had some eggs
boiled in the small wine-house attached to the han, and
were preparing to get a fire lighted, when we were told
that there were some merchants' goods underneath, which
would be endangered by such a proceeding, as the burn
ing wood might drop through one of the many holes in
the floor.
Our chums turned out to be a mission from the Vizier,
with letters to General Bessieres at Corfu, who, it seems,
had been slow in paying his Highness for the provisions
with which the French troops had been furnished from
Albania. We had some conversation with them. A
young Corfiote, who had come with us from Arta, told
one of the Albanians, that he would certainly be taken
by an English cruiser in his way to Corfu. « No f re
turned the fellow, who seemed very surly and ill-natured
— I am going in a ship of the Vizier's."—« That does
not signify," said the other, « the English care for no*
body's ships ; they won't let you go to Corfu." « I am
not afraid," replied the Albanian angrily ; " Captain
, , i " (the English resident at Ioannina) « and these
two gentlemen are pledges for me."
A little after hearing this agreeable assurance we went
to bed ; and the rest of the party lay down on their mats.
There were twelve of us in the room ; and every one, ex
cept the priest and the Corfiote, slept with his pistols at
bis! head-side. This, however, on the part of the Alba
nians, was not so much out of caution as custom ; for
there was not the least real cause for alarm or suspicion;
but the fashion was new, and somewhat disagreeable to
us.
A little before day-light I was awakened by the rising
of the surly Albanian, who got up, and going out, re
turned with a jug of water, with which he began garg
ling and spitting most violently, at the same time whirl
ing around, as if to air himself. This was his only toi
 -

lot. He then lay down and took a nap till day-light,

"when he, and the remainder of the mission departed.
In the morning it rained very violently, and we did not
set off until nine o'clock ; when, however, the showers
were sufficiently lasting and heavy to wet us through.
We had begun our Albanian tour a month too soon, as
you will see by our present, and subsequent disasters
from bad weather.
The road was through a green plain, to the westward
of north, in many places cultivated, and every where
spotted with flocks of sheep and goats. This plain to
the right, and before us, seemed to extend to a great dis
tance, until terminated by a mountain, or rather a vast
chain of mountains, that were half hidden in the clouds.
To the left were, at about two miles distance, green hills;
on the side of which we saw two villages. We continued
for three hours on the plain, approaching the mountains ;
and after riding up a gentle rising for another half hour,
bad our first view of Ioannina, and of the lake on which
it stands. A gleam of sun-shine afforded us an opportu
nity of contemplating the fine prospect of the city and its
neighbourhood. The houses, domes, and minarets, glit
tering through gardens of orange and lemon trees, and
from groves of cypress—the lake spreading its smooth
expanse at the foot of the city—the mountains rising
abruptly from the banks of the lake—all these burst at
once upon us, and we wanted nothing to increase our
delight, but the persuasion that we were in sight of the
Acherusian lake, of Pindus, and theElysian Fields. But
we had not yet perused the topography of Pouqucville.
We soon entered the suburbs, after having passed a
new-built house of the Vizier's on our right, inclosed
within a wall of some extent. On our left hand were
Turkish tomb-stones, and shops to the right. As we
passed a large tree on our left, opposite a butcher's
shop, I saw something hanging from the boughs, which
at a little distance seemed to be meat exposed for sale ;
but on coming nearer, I suddenly discovered it to be a
man's arm, with part of the side torn from the body,
and hanging by a bit of string tied round one of the fin*
gers.
Before you set down the Turks as a cruel, savage peo
ple, on hearing this, you will recollect, that a stranger
 57

passing through Temple-Bar fifty years ago, might have

concluded the English to be of the same character. We
learnt that the arm was part of a robber who had been
beheaded five days before, and whose remaining quarters
were exposed in other parts of Ioannina.
After riding at least a mile through the streets, we
came to the house of the English resident, for whom we
had been provided with a letter by the Governor of Mal
ta, and found that a house had been prepared for our re
ception. To this place we repaired, and were received
with a most profound politeness by Signor Nicolo, the
owner of the mansion. Our quarters were very com
fortable, and our host, a Greek, who had passed several
years at Trieste, and who spoke Italian very fluently, was
kind and attentive.
I had scarcely dressed myself, when I was informed
that a secretary of his Highness the Vizier, and the
Greek Primate of the city, had called to congratulate
us on our arrival. I went in the first to receive them,
and was quite overwhelmed with the many fine things
said by the Secretary, who spoke French ; he told me,
that his Highness had been aware of our intention to
visit Ioannina; that he had ordered everything to be
prepared for our reception ; that he was sorry to be
obliged to leave his capital, to finish a little war (une
petite guerre) in which he was engaged, but that he beg
ged we would follow him ; and lastly, that an escort was
provided for that purpose, to be ready at our command.
The Primate, whom, I was told, I might know to be a
very great man, by the enormous size of his calpac, or
cap, spoke not a word, but bowed very frequently. When
my friend came in, the same compliments and information
were repeated to him ; and as we were not at that time
acquainted, that these were usual honours, nor with the
Greek manner of expression, we were not a little sur
prised, especially when we learnt that all our provi
sions were to be daily furnished to us from the Vizier's
palace.
The Secretary and the Primate left us, as they said,
to give the necessary orders, and wishing to observe the
Frank ceremony of pulling oflf the hat, were exceedingly
awkward in lifting up their immense caps with two hands,
and adjusting them again upon their heads. They were
voj,. i. H
 58

some time also at the door of the apartment shuffling on

their outward shoes, which, according to Oriental eti
quette, as you perhaps know, are always put off on en
tering an inner apartment ; so that the poorer class of
people have their feet naked, the middling wear a sock
or stocking, and the rich have a thin boot without a sole,
reaching a little above their ancles, which, when worn
by a Turk or privileged Greek, is yellow or scarlet, but
in all, other cases blue, or some dark colour. The delay
caused by this adjusting of the outward shoes, after a
man has taken his leave, has a very bad and embarrass
ing effect ; and one is sensible of this when a Greek is
making these preparations ; but the composure and dig
nity of a Turk are not hurt by his complying with this
or any other custom.
I take the liberty of introducing this sort of remarks,
trifling as they are, with a reference to the time and
place in which they occurred to me, and after mentioning
the occasion which gave rise to the observation. This
appears to me a better plan than that of classing every
thing under separate heads, and I have generally ad
hered to such an arrangement. You will tell me if am
wrong.
I am, &c. &c,
 59

LETTER VI.

Visit to the Grandsons of ML—Manners of the Young Ma

hometans.— View of the Neighbourhood of Ioannina.—
T/te Lake.—Mount Tomarus.—The Mountains of Sago-
ri.—The Route across them.—Mount Pindus.—Route
across it to Larissa.—Dodona.—The Plains of Ioannina.
—The Amphitheatre of Chercovista. ,

Sin,
WE passed the few days that we remained at loan--
nina, previous to our visiting the Vizier at his quarters,
very agreeably, and with a variety of occupations which
is seldom to be enjoyed by travellers, and which, even in
this place, would not, perhaps, have lasted long. The
second day of our arrival, we paid a visit to the young
son of Mouctar Pasha, who is the eldest son of Ali, and
who has distinguished himself so much in the present war
with Russia. We waited upon him at the palace assign
ed to his father ; and he received us, though he was a
boy of only ten years old, with a polite unembarrassed
air, desiring us, with a gentle motion of the hand, to sit
down near him. His preceptor, a grave old man, with,
a beard reaching to his knees, sat in the corner opposite
to him, but did not interfere in the conversation. The
Bey, for that was his title, though he was a little inqui
sitive as to some parts of our dress, and was highly de
lighted by a handsome sword worn by my friend, yet
preserved his dignity and gravity, nor could we observe
but very little difference between his manners and those
of his aged tutor.
When we had taken coffee and sweetmeats, we ex
pressed a wish of seeing the palace, for the Bey was
lodged in what appeared to be one of the outward and
inferior apartments ; and our young -host sent immediate
 60

ly to desire his father's women to retire into the inner

apartments of the harem, that we might have an oppor
tunity of seeing the rooms. As he was walking out of
his chamber very sedately before us (for it is, 1 believe,
a point in Turkish etiquette, that the guest should enter
the first, but retire the last), one of the shabby looking
Albanian guard in waiting upon him, embraced him very
tenderly ; and in the whole of the conduct of his people
towards him, there was a singular mixture of familiarity
and respect.
The palace had one long, well-floored, open gallery,
with wainscots painted in much the same style as our
tea-boards. In one compartment was a tawdry repre
sentation of Constantinople, a favourite subject, and one
which we recognised in almost every painted house in
Turkey. We saw several rooms, not only handsomely,
but very comfortably fitted up, especially those which
we were informed were the winter apartments. The
coverings of the sofas were of richly-wrought silk ; the
floors were spread with the best Turkey carpets : and if
the windows, which were large and deep, and of clear
Venetian glass, had been furnished with curtains, there
would have been nothing wanting to complete the ele
gance of the chambers. Except that one of the rooms
was furnished with a marble recess, containing a bath
and fountain, the whole palace seemed fitted up in the
same style, which is easily accounted for, by the circum
stance, that in Turkey there are uo rooms set apart for
sleeping, but all are indiscriminately used for that pur
pose, as each chamber contains a closet or cupboard, in
which are deposited the mats or quilts, that constitute the
whole of the bed of the Orientals.
The little Bey was highly delighted at shewing his fa
ther's palace, and now and then seemed inclined to throw
off his Turkish reserve. He shewed us his watch, and
two or three other little ornaments ; but when I was go
ing to put my hand on a small silver box in the shape of
a heart, hanging round his neck by a chain, he shook his
head, and said, « No ! No !" I found this was an amulet
or charm, and that his tutor bad lost no time in beginning
the religious part of his pupil's education. The Bey
spoke Albanian and Greek, and was now learning to
write and read Turkish and Arabic. We took our leave.
 61

and the youth was as graceful in this ceremony as he had

been on our entering the room.
Upon a similar occasion, when we visited another of
the grandsons of Ali, we had an opportunity of observ
ing that these manners were not peculiar to himself, but
belonged to all Mahometans of the better sort, who, ge
nerally speaking, have completed their education, as far
as relates to behaviour in society, before they have ceased
to be children. Mahomet, son of Veli, Pasha of the Mo-
rea, and second son of Ali, was of a lively air, and was
said to possess the genius of his grandfather : according
ly, though only twelve years old, he was in possession of
a pashalik. He was living in the palace of Ali. He did
the honours with the same ease as his cousin, and after
sitting a short time, proposed a visit to a younger bro
ther of his, who was at a house belonging to their father
Veli.
A messenger was sent before us, and we set out on
horses caparisoned with gold housings, whilst some offi
cers of the palace, with their wands and silver sticks,
preceded us. As the young Pasha passed through the
streets, ali the people rose from their shops, and those
who were walking stood still, every body paying him the
usual reverence, by bending their bodies very low, touch
ing the ground with their right hand, and then bringing
it up to their mouth and forehead (for the adoration of
the great is, in its primitive and literal sense, still pre
served among the Orientals). The Bey returned the sa
lute by laying his right hand on his breast, and by a gen
tle inclination of his head.
When arrived at the court of Veli's palace, he sud
denly touched his horse's sides, and gallopped round to
the steps, where his brother, a boy of seven years old,
was standing to receive him. On meeting, they embraced
in a very ceremonious manner, inclining their heads over
each other's shoulders. After pipes and coffee, we pro
ceeded to see the apartments ; and, as we were walking
along, the youngest boy forgot himself a little, and began
to skip about ; when he was immediately checked by the
Pasha, who said, « Brother, recollect you are in the pre
sence of a stranger ; walk more quietly." The other in
stantly obeyed ; and it was not a little astonishing, to
witness such counsel, and so ready a compliance, in chil
dren of so tender an age. I have introduced you into am
young company, that you may not be surprised at the
conduct and carriage of the men amongst the Turks.
On the 8th of October we were favoured with four of
the Vizier's horses, to ride into, the country, and we went
into the plain, over part of which we had passed on en
tering the city. We were taken to the spots most favour
able for viewing the beautiful picture before us. Ima
gine to yourself a large sheet of water, of ten or twelve
miles in length, and at least three miles in breadth, in
closed, on one side by green plains, an extensive city*
and a long succession of groves and gardens, and on
the other, by a chain of lofty mountains, that rise almost
abruptly from its banks. Such was the appearance of the
lake of Ioannina, and its surrounding scenery. A stay
of a fortnight, during two visits, gave us an opportunity
of satisfying our curiosity, in beholding the same object
from different points ; yet I am sure that I shall not be
so particular as I could wish, in conveying to your mind
an adequate notion of the town and its neighbourhood.
The lake extends, in length, from about north-west to
south-south-east. In it there are two woody islands, one
large towards the southern extremity, and the other
much smaller, nearly opposite to a triangular peninsula
which contains the Vizier's palace, and is defended by a
fortress. The northern end of the lake loses itself in a
reedy marsh, over which there is a stone causeway, and
it is closed by some gardens belonging to the Vizier,
where he has a summer palace for the ladies of his ha
rem. The southern extremity extends into a hilly coun
try, and forms at last a small river, that, after being lost
for some miles, rises at a village called Velistri, and
runs into the marsh on the banks of the gulf of Arta.
This is the Acheron of Pouqueville, who has also found
eut an Avernus to receive his infernal stream. But the
Acheron did not flow into the Ambracian, but into the
Thesprotian gulf.
In a little bay, opposite to the islet and to the fortress
point, there is a spring of very cold water dripping from
the rock ; and it is near this stream, or under the spread
ing branches of a neighbouring tree, that an artist
would probably place himself, to take a view of the
city.
 .63

The French writer, who is determined to finish his

picture, talks of a river, called by the people of the coun
try Cokytos, which, after flowing under ground, rises at
Perama, a « maison de plaisance" belonging to the Vi
zier. The existence of Cokytos and Perama is possible,
but I never heard of either the one or the other ; and
when Pouqueville gravely asserts, that the inhabitants of
loannina call their neighbouring plains the « Elysian
Fields," I must entreat you to put no faith in him.
It is singular, that there is no mention made by the an
cient geographers, of any lake in the interior of this
country, except in the neighbourhood of Lychindus, a
town one hundred and twenty miles to the north of loan
nina, and now called Ocrida. Mr. D'Anville, in placing
the Acherusian lake near the sea, and communicating
with the Glykyrs-Limen, or port of sweet waters, some
times also called the Thesprotian gulf, followed the deci
sive authority of Strabo,* who, if he did not see the spot
himself, might have copied from Livy,f and from Thucy-
dides, to the last of whom I would refer you, that you
may determine, whether the position of the lake of loan
nina be reconcileable with that of the ancient lake:):. I
should be loth to be as positive against, as Pouqueville is
in favour of, their identity ; yet loannina is, by his own
confession, twenty-five leagues from the sea.
The whole of the country to the north, north-east, and
east-of the lake, is a mass of mountains, consisting ap
parently of two ranges, the one of which runs from north
to south, and the other in a direction from north to south
east. The first of these vast chains is called Zoumerka,
corresponding, it would seem, with the ancient Toma-
rus ; and the latter mountains, now known by the name
of Metzovo, can be no other than Pindus itself, for they
are the boundaries between this part of Albania and the
plains of Thessaly. Between Zoumerka and Metzovo,
and running nearly parallel with the lake, but more to
the north, are the lofty hills of Sagori, whose flat sum
mits, spread into extensive plains, point exactly at mount

* Lib. vii. -f Lib. viii. cap. 24.

$ vriiit \iunr.xxi wexit wrrip xvlov xHTa.ia.iro &%\ara-»;, N T» Exai«7ftf/
T»c QKrir^ulttot F.$ug». <fe Taf a<jfar A%tttvrt& \iuvn tt Tut 6a>,at<r.
»-a».—Lib. i. cap. 46.
 6*

Lingou, as it is described by Livy, in following the re

treat of King Philip before Flaminius.*
To go into the country of Sagori, the traveller must
pass a bridge crossing a small river that runs into the
northern end of the lake : and in four hours, or twelve
miles, from Ioannina, he first enters that district. In
twelve miles more, he arrives at a monastery dedicated
to St. Elias ; and again, in twelve other miles, at the
town of Sagori, which is in a direction north-east from
Ioannina. This route is taken by the merchants travel
ling into Wallachia, as being more secure than that which
leads through the plains of Thessaly by Larissa. The
tops of Pindus are more than a day's journey from the
lake. It is but seldom that they are not hidden in the
clouds ; but a gentleman who had been so fortunate as to
perform that exploit in a clear day, informed me, that
the prospect from that eminence was more extensive than
any he had ever seen ; and he had ascended Olympus.
Polybius speaks of a hill in Epirus, from which both seas
might be distinctly seen.
Metzovo is so called, from a town of that name, con
sisting of fifteen hundred houses, and lying in the route
from Ioannina to Larissa. This route is given with great
apparent accuracy by Pouqueville : it leads during three
hours along the lake, then for an hour across a mountain
in an easterly direction ; passes over a bridge of the river
that flows to Arta ; continues for five hours, but more
southerly, along that river, then over another hill an hour
and a half, and reaches Metzovo ; afterwards it goes
easterly, for two hours, over the mountain Metzovo, to
Malacassi, a village, and still ascends for an hour, till
it crosses a stream that falls into the Salembria, or river
Peneus. This stream it follows for three hours, and
reaches a han called Kokouliotiko (the Gomphi of Pouque
ville) ; it then passes Stagous, a town of a thousand
houses, re-crosses the river of Malacassi, and runs over
a vast plain, in ten hours from the han, to Triccala, the
ancient Tricca of Thessaly, and now the chief town of a

* Inde in montem Lingon perrexit. Ipsi montes Epiri sunt

interjecti Macedonia Thessalixque. Latus quod vergit in Thessa-
liam oriens spectat; septenirio a Macedonia objicitur, vestiti fre-
quentibus sylvis sunt, juga summa campos patentes, aquagque pe-
rennes habent.—Lib. xsxiii. cap. 13.
 65

small province. From Triccala the road continues on

the plain in an easterly direction, till in nine hours and
a half it reaches Larissa, having, in five hours, passed
Zarko, a town of eight hundred houses, and, in an hour
and a half more, a village called Koutzochero, near
which it crosses the Salembria.
Between the roots of mount Metzovo, and the southern
extremity of the lake, are two lower hills, to the first of
which a few insignificant remains, supposed to be those
of Cassiope, the name of an inland town as well as of a
port of Epirus, have given the appellation of the Cassio-
pean hills. The other, our French author has chosen to
call the little Pindus. But although the license granted
to the fancy of his nation may suffer him to wander through
his Elysian Fields, and sport with the Grecian Muses on
their favourite hill, still he cannot be permitted to pro
fane with conjecture the venerable shades of Dodona.
« At a village," says he, « four leagues to the north-cast
of Ioannina, begin the hills of Sagori, and the forests of
Dodona."* But these groves are not to be distinguished
from amidst a thousand woody recesses that shade the
mountains of Albania; and the prose of the traveller is
less sober than the poetry of his harmonious country
man.
Ce sont passes ces temps des reves poetiques
Ou l'homme interrogeoit des fdrets prophetiques,
Ou la fable creantdes faits prodigieux
Peuploit d'£tres vivants des bois religieux.
Dodone inconsultee a perdu ses oracles,
Les vergers sont sans Dieux, les forets sans miracles.f
Nor can his auxiliary (M. Barbie du Boccage) be allow
ed to fix the oracle of Jupiter at the village of Protopa-
pas, three leagues to the north-north-west of Ioannina4
We must be content to know what Homer has told us, that
it was situated in a distant and inclement region, amongst
a barbarous people, who washed not their feet, and who

* Voyage en Albania, page 54.

-j- Delille, Trois Regnes de la Nature-, canto vi.
t Description et Histoire de l'Ancienne Epire, prefixed to the Tra
vels in Albania.
vot. I. I
 66

lay upon the bare ground ;* or at most, we can only learn

that it was placed somewhere at the foot of mount To-
marus, in the country first belonging to the Thespro-
tians, and afterwards to the Molossians.f
To the south-west, the west, and the north-west, of
Ioannina, the country is plain for the most part, though
occasionally interrupted by low hills and spots of rising
ground. We passed through the length of this flat, and
I should conceive it to be about twenty-five miles, be
ginning a little beyond the ban of St. Dimetrc, and con
cluding at a village called Zitza. Its breadth varies from
one to three or four miles, and it is terminated to the
south-westward by hills belonging to a district whose
chief town is called Philathe, and which is on the route
from Ioannina to the districts of Paramithia, and to those
of Margariti, Parga, and Sulli, on the coast of the Adria
tic, nearly opposite to Corfu.
But I will leave the notice of these places to another
opportunity, and proceed to inform you, that in the
whole extent of the country of which I have given you
so imperfect a sketch, there is only one important rem
nant of antiquity : this we visited. It is in the neigh
bourhood of a village called, as well as I could catch the
sound, Chercovista, and about four hours in a direction
nearly south-easterly from the city. The road is first
through the plain, and then ascends, over some low rocky
hills, into a wide valley, terminated by woody hills called
Olintza. Here, before arriving at the principal ruins,
there are evident traces of ancient buildings ; but the am
phitheatre, which soon presents itself, is indeed magnifi
cent, and, for a ruin, very entire. The stones that com
pose it, are of that massy size, which I have before re
marked to be the characteristic of Grecian architecture.
The breadth of the area is fifty-six long paces, and the
rows of seats are in number sixty-five, each seat being in
depth more than a foot. This is a very inadequate de
scription of an antiquity of such importance ; but you
will be pleased to hear, that it has been exactly measured,
and represented in a most accurate design, by the hand
of an artist. A marble vase has been dug out from the
area of the amphitheatre, and is now in possession of

* Iliad, lib. xvi. lin. 233, et sequ. f Strab. lib. vii.

 87

the gentleman to whom I have before had occasion to

allude.
The conjectures of a scholar would be busily employed
in assigning some classical name to the site of the magni
ficent ruin of Chercovista ; but he might, after every en
quiry, be obliged perhaps to content himself with thinking,
that he had viewed the sole remaining vestige of the ancient
splendour of Epirus, of the seventy cities, which a de
cree of the Roman senate despoiled in one day, and at the
* same hour, of their wealth, of their ornaments, and of
their people.* However, although we may believe, with
Plutarch, that every one was horror-struck, when a
whole nation was involved in ruin for the sake of a plun
der, which, being divided, gave to each soldier only ele
ven drachmas ;f yet the smallness of the booty, and of
the number of the captives (150,000) enslaved by the con
querors, allows but a scanty, and not a rich population*
to each of the cities destroyed ; and it is probable, that
some one of them would have been particularised, had it
been one-third as extensive as modern loannina ; but to
that place, after giving you a short respite, I will, in my
next Letter, at length return. I am, &c. &c.
* Polyb. lib. vii. T. Liv. lib. ilv. cap. 34.
-j- Plut. m vit. .ZEmylii.—However, all Epirus was not depopulated,
but only those parts which had favoured King Perseus, as we leara
by an expression of Livy i for that historian, after detailing the ac
count of this cruelty, soon talks of the rest of the Epirotes—« reli-
quorum Epirotarum" are his words. Mr. Hume, as well as Plutarch,
seems to have fallen into the inaccuracy of stating these 150,000 as
the entire population of all Epirus. See Essay on the Populousness
Ancient Nations.
 68

LETTER VII.

loannina The Houses—The Palaces of the Viziers-

Summer Pavilion.—Population of the City.—The Trade.
—Annual Fair.—-Exports and Imports.

THE existence of such a city as loannina seems,

till very lately, to have been almost unknown, and yet, I
should suppose it, after Salonika and Adrianople, to be
the most considerable place in European Turkey. It has
never been my good fortune to meet with a notice of it in
any book of an early date, except once in the ponderous
history of Knolles, who, with an accuracy usual in such a
writer, tells how the Sultan Bajazct the First, took the
city of loannina in *32tolia.* Pouquevillc has somewhere
discovered, that it was founded by Michael Lucas Sebas-
tocrator, and by the despot Thomas, and conquered by
Amurath Bey, general to Sultan Amurath the Second, in
1424. This account I am unable to confirm, or to con
tradict, and shall therefore speak only of its present
state.
The city stands on the western banks of the lake, at
about two miles fronv its northern extremity. In its ut
most length it may be perhaps two miles and a half; and
in breadth, though in some places it is much narrower,
nearly a mile. Immediately near the lake it stands on a
flat, but the north and north-western parts of it are
built on slopes of rising and uneven ground. A triangu
lar peninsula (of which mention has before been made)
juts into the lake, and contains the residence of the Pasha,
being defended by a fortification and a tower at each an
gle. The entrance to this fortress is over a drawbridge.
There is one street which runs nearly the whole length
of the town, and another that cuts it at right angles,

* History of the Turks, p. 205.

extending to the fortress. These are the principal
streets.
The houses are, many of them, large and well-built,
containing a court-yard, and having warehouses or sta
bles on the ground, with an open gallery and the apart
ments of the family above. A flight of wooden steps un
der cover of the pent of the gallery, connects the under
and upper part of the houses. Though they have but a
gloomy appearance from the street, having the windows
very small, and latticed with cross bars of wood, and pre
senting the inhospitable show of large folding doors, big
enough to admit the horses and cattle of the family, but
never left open, yet the yard, which is often furnished
with orange and lemon trees, and in the best houses com
municates with a garden, makes them very lively from
within, and the galleries are sufficiently extensive to allow
a scope for walking in rainy weather.
The Bazar, or principal street, inhabited by the trades
men, is well furnished, and has a showy appearance.
The Bizestein, or covered Bazar, is of considerable size,
and would put you in mind, as perhaps I have before ob
served of these places, of Exeter-Change.
Besides the palace in the fortress, and the two I have
mentioned in my last Letter, allotted to the two sons of
Ali, there is another summer residence of the Vizier's in
the suburbs, at the north-west end of the town. It is
built in the midst of a garden, in a wild and tangled state,
when we saw it, but abounding with every kind of fruit-
tree that flourishes in this favoured climate—the orange,
the lemon, the fig and the pomegranate. It is in the form
of a pavilion, and has one large saloon (I think an octa
gon), with small latticed apartments on every side. The
floor of the saloon is of marble, and in the middle of it
there is a fountain containing a pretty model, also in
marble, of a fortress, mounted with small brass cannon,
which, at a signal, spout forth jets of water into the foun
tain, accompanied by a small organ in a recess, playing
some Italian tunes. The small rooms are furnished with
sofas of figured silk, and the lattices of the windows, as
well as the cornices, are gilt, and highly polished. The
shade of an orange-grove protects the pavilion from the
sun, and it is to this retreat that the Vizier withdraws
during the heats of summer, with the most favoured la
 70

dies of his harem, and indulges in the enjoyment of

whatever accomplishments these fair-ones can display for
his gratification. Our attendant pointed out to us, in a
recess, the sofa on which Ali was accustomed to sit,
whilst, on the marble floor of the saloon, his females
danced be/ore him to the music of the Albanian lute.
In a field adjoining the gardens, and surrounded with
high walls, are a few large deer and antelopes. The
pavilion and its gardens bespeak a taste quite different
from that of the country, an^d most probably the Vizier
was indebted to his French prisoners for the beauties of
this elegant retirement. We were told it was the work
of a Frank.
Beyond the pavilion there are gardens belonging to
the principal citizens of ioannina, and as most of these
have a summer-house in them, they seem to make a part
of the city, which, from its great apparent extent, might
be thought to contain a very large population. But the
Mahometans never make any efforts to ascertain the ex
act number of inhabitants in any town or district, and
it was only during our stay in Turkey, that the Greek
priests of one city were persuaded, for the first time, by
a Scotch gentleman, to keep a regular registry of births
in their district. This makes every thing that can be
said on the population of Ioannina, mere conjecture.
Some informed me that it contained eight thousand
houses, others did not make the number of inhabitants
amount to more than thirty-five thousand. I should think
this is the lowest possible computation. Of this number,
whatever it be, one-tenth perhaps are Mahometans, and
the remainder Christians, with a few Jews.
The Christians of Ioannina, though inhabiting a part
of Albania, and governed by Albanian masters, call
themselves Greeks, as do the inhabitants of Arta, Pre-
vesa, and even of many villages higher up in the coun
try : They neither wear the Albanian dress, nor speak
the Albanian language, and they partake also in every
particular of the manners and customs of the Greeks of
the Morea, Roumelia, and the other Christian parts of
Turkey in Europe and Asia. As, however, the appella
tion Romwos, or Roman, (once so proud a title, but now
the badge of bondage) is a religious, not a national dis
tinction, and means a Christian of the Greek church>
 71

and as many of the Albanians are of that persuasion, and

denominated accordingly, it is difficult to avoid confu
sion, in giving to the various people of the country their
common names. To prevent, however, any mistake, I
shall always use the words Greek and Albanian, with a
reference, not to the religion, but to the language and
nation of the persons, whom I may have occasion to
mention. At the same time, I shall indulge myself in
the opposite license, of putting the word Turk as a reli
gious denomination, which, though an undoubted vul
garism, is prevalent amongst the Greeks of the Levant,
and does not, as far as I could see, give that offence to
the Mahometans, of which I have somewhere read.
The Greek citizens of loannina appear a distinct race
from the inhabitants of the mountains, and perhaps are
sprung from ancient settlers, who may have retired, from
time to time, before the successive conquerors of Pelo
ponnesus and Greece, into a country where, although
enslaved, they were less exposed to perpetual ravages
and to a frequent change of masters. Many of them
boast of their ancestry, and I was told that there was in
the city a school-master, whose family had taught for
300 years successively, the eldest son always taking upon
himself the profession. I would not wish you to believe
in this long line of pedagogues, but before you laugh at
the notion of a family of school-masters, you should re
collect, that we have, in our own country, an instance
of the same thing, and that, after all, an hereditary scho
lar is not a more strange being, than an hereditary legis
lator.
The Greeks of loannina are, with the exception of the
priests, and of some few who are in the employments of
the Pasha, all engaged in trade ; and many of the better
sort pass three or four years in the merchant-houses of
Trieste, Genoa, Leghorn, Venice, and Vienna, which, in
addition to the education they receive in the schools of
their own city, where they may learn French and Italian,
gives them a competent knowledge of the most diffused
modern languages, and adds also to the ease and urba
nity of their address. They have, indeed, introduced as
much as they dare of the manners of Christendom, and,
as our host, Signor Nicolo, informed us, once aspired for
a moment, to the establishment of a theatre for the per
 73
formance of Italian operas. Some of them, after esta
blishing an intercourse with their own city, settle in the
sea-ports of Roumelia, and in the towns of Moldavia,
Wallachia, and Hungary ; but they generally return
home, as the policy of Ali contrives to oblige them to
leave part of their family in his dominions, and, indeed,
the wealthy merchants cannot leave the country, or even
the city, without his express permission. They are not
indulged with a ride into the country without a notifica
tion of their purpose. The annual revenue which the
Vizier draws from his capital, amounts, say they, to
250,000 piastres.
There is a fair which lasts a fortnight, held once a
year on the plain, a mile and a half to the south-east of
the city ; and during this time, all the tradesmen are
obliged to leave their shops in the Bazar and Bizestein,
which are shut, and to set up booths in the plain. This
the Vizier finds a very good method of getting at some
knowledge of the actual property of his subjects. The
fair was held during our residence in the city, and open
ed on the 8th of October, when we passed through it on
horseback. The booths, occupying a great extent of
ground, are built, and fitted up exactly as in England,
and are divided into rows much more regular than the
streets, and each allotted to some particular merchandise.
There is also a piece of ground for the cattle, sheep, and
horses, and several plots of green sward for the parties
of dancers, who continue their amusements during the
whole night.
Here are the goods imported from the Ionian Islands,
and the ports of the Adriatic formerly, but now mostly
from Malta, in Sclavonian vessels under the Turkish
flag : they are landed at Prevesa, Salora, Vallona, and
Durazzo, and thence conveyed on horses to Ioannina.
Our blockade of the Adriatic must soon cut off these sup
plies, and, as an English merchant disdains such petty
traffic, Albania may soon be in want of the greater part
of them. Still, however, there are caps from Trieste,
Leghorn, and Genoa, and some coffee and sugar from
the first of these places. Knives, sword-blades, and gun-
barrels, glass, and paper, are brought from Venice, but
the three first of these articles are sold in all the little sea
ports of Albania, without passing through Ioannina.
 7*
The gold and silver thread used in their embroidery, is
obtained from Vienna.
Cloth of French and German manufacture is sent from
Leipsig. This is the chief article of importation, as it is
from this fair that all the richer Greeks and Turks, not
only in Albania, but in great part of Roumelia and in the
Morea, supply themselves with the loose robes and pe
lisses of their winter dress. English cloth is in the high
est estimation, but seldom to be met with here, or even
at Smyrna and Constantinople, on account of its great
price. The best of the cloth sold at Ioannina was not
equal to the worst of that manufactured in England, and
was of a coarse thin texture, and very badly dyed.
The articles of exportation are, oil, wool, corn, and to
bacco, for the ports of the Adriatic and Naples ; and, for
inland circulation through Albania and Roumelia, spun
cottons from the plains of Triccala, stocks of guns and
pistols mounted in chased silver, both plain and gilt, and
also embroidered velvets, stuffs, and cloths, which are
here better wrought than in any other part of Turkey in
Europe.
Large flocks of sheep and goats, and droves of catde
and horses, are collected from the hills both of Lower
and Upper Albania for the fair. Of these, all but the
horses, which are dispersed in the country, arc sold into
the Ionian Islands. The woods of Albania, before the
French revolution, furnished Toulon with timber for ship
building, and Marseilles imported into the country the
French colonial produce. But both these traffics have
long ceased, and if the trees of Mount Tomarus, or the
Acroceraunians, are in future to « descend to the main,"
they will swell the squadrons of the British fleets.
It is in vain that the watchful jealousy of Napoleon has
adopted the advice of Pouqueville, and removed the sta
tion of the French agent from Arta to Ioannina, in order
to counteract such a measure, appointing, at the same
time, that gentleman himself, to carry his own plans into
execution. This minister was at his post during our stay
in the city, but, as he gives no countenance to the nation
at war with his master, we had not the satisfaction of
seeing him. I am sorry to say that he does not bear his
diplomatic faculties meekly about him, nor possess the
urbanity so characteristic both of his nation and his for-
tox. i. K
 7*
mer profession. This I should not have mentioned, had
he not, with a rudeness that has already been noticed by
a late intelligent writer (I mean Mr. Thornton), indulged
himself in some personal and national reflections, which
do but little credit to his character, either as an author or
a gentleman. The noble enmities of two great nations
do not authorise such petty detractions.
I was not able to learn the extent of the commercial
dealings of the merchants of Ioannina ; but the balance of
trade is in favour of Albania, and is paid in Venetian
zequins.
The Greeks of this city are as industrious as any in
Turkey, and their embroidery, the art in which they
excel, is executed very neatly ; but there was no one who
could mend an umbrella in the whole place ; and only one
man, a poor Italian, was capable of making a bedstead.
The only encouragement an able mechanic would meet
with, would be employment at the Vizier's palace, with
out receiving any emolument. This is, of itself, suffi
cient to put a stop to every exercise of ingenuity.
I am, &c. &c.
 76

LETTER VIII.

The Turkish Ramazan.—Preparations for Travelling.—'

Greek Peasantry.—Route from loannina to Zifaa.—
Thunder Storm.—The Monastery of Zitza.—Viewfrom
it.—Inhabitants of Zit%a.—Their Misery.

AS it is my purpose to speak at this time rather of

the Albanians than of the Greeks, and as whatever is pe
culiar to this latter people, is to be found in the inhabit
ants of that part of Greece which we afterwards visited,
I shall hasten to commence our journey with you into the
upper part of the country, where his Highness the Vi
zier had fixed his quarters.
We were a little unfortunate in the time we chose for
travelling, for it was during the Ramazan, or Turkish
Lent, which, as it occurs in each of the thirteen months
in succession, fell this year on October, and was hailed at
the rising of the new moon on the evening of the eighth,
by every demonstration of joy : pistols and guns were
discharged in every quarter of the city. The Turks con
tinued firing long enough to exhaust their cartridge-
pouches, and as they used balls, according to custom, the
Greek inhabitants closed their window-shutters and re
mained at home ; a precaution very necessary, for two
bullets passed within a very audible distance of our host's
gallery. The minarets of all the moscks were illumi
nated, and every thing seemed to show that the approach
ing season was not considered as one of penance, but de
voted to merriment. In truth, although during this
month the strictest abstinence, even from tobacco and
coffee, is observed in the day-time, yet with the set
ting of the sun the feasting commences, and a small re
past is served ; then is the time for paying and receiving
visits, and for the amusements of Turkey puppet-shows*
 76

jugglers, dancers, and story-tellers. At one o'clock in

the morning, after prayers, the dinner commences, and
the carousal lasts till day-break, when the Turks retire
to rest, and do not rise till mid-day.
We were, therefore, as I said, unlucky in hitting on
this time for travelling, for we were frequently a long
time before we could rouse the people who were to assist
us in our progress, and were besides often disturbed by
the heavy drum beaten at midnight to call the Mahome
tans to the mosck.
We were a stronger party on this journey than wc had
been in travelling to Ioannina, for we were accompanied
by his Highness's Secretary, of whom you have before
heard, and by a Greek Priest, who not having his annual
compliment of piastres for the Vizier, was journeying to
him, to explain the cause of his default : it seems he was
a relation of the Secretary's, and on that score joined
company with us. We were also furnished with an Al
banian soldier, belonging to the city guard. His name
was Vasilly, and he afterwards continued in our service.
It was the province of this man to take care that the
Vizier's guests (so they called us) were properly treated
and accommodated on the road, and he became a very
important personage in our suite. The intendant of the
post provided us with five saddle-horses, and a post-man,
called in Turkey a sourgee, to look after them ; and for
these, which were to serve us till our return to Ioannina,
we were not to pay a settled price, but to make the in
tendant a present.
Had we at that time been provided with a positive or
der from the Vizier, we should have been also furnished
with horses of the post to carry our luggage ; but, as it
was, we had a command in writing from Mehmet Effen-
di, governor of Ioannina, addressed to the heads of all
the villages where we were to stop ; and these were to
get us as many horses as we might want. Except from
Frank travellers, the peasants seldom get a farthing for
their beasts, and their labour in attending them ; and as
these orders are frequently given, they constitute one of
the most heavy grievances of the poor, and are a great
check to agriculture. It is with great difficulty that the
villagers are forced into this service : neither the pros
pect of payment, nor blows, sometimes, are sufficient to
 77
make them produce their beasts, and we were witness to
many unpleasant scenes.
Vasilly, though he was a Christian, yet being a sol
dier in the Vizier's service, considered himself to have
a right over the backs of the peasants ; and, against po
sitive orders, would have occasional recourse to sticks,
and even stones. When reprimanded, he shrugged up
his shoulders and exclaimed, "x*f" tn
i«» »f4}./«»," which you will perhaps discover, dis
guised as it is in the vulgarity of a modern idiom, to
mean ** The Greeks will do nothing without the stick."
—The most compassionate traveller, if it should ever
come to the dilemma, whether these people should he
beaten, or he be stopped in his journey, would not, I be
lieve, hesitate a long time in his election but then we
are apt to think that the business could be done without
going to such extremities: the Turks, however, say not;
and such is the force of habit, those of the Greeks I have
seen, seem almost to confirm the opinion.
These preliminaries being noticed, you must be in
formed, that on the eleventh of the month (October) we
left Ioannina at one o'clock in the afternoon, and pro
ceeded towards the north-western end of the city. After
passing out of the suburbs, we crossed a wide ditch and
mound, that had been made about twenty years past by
Ali, as a defence for his city ; and that formerly surround
ed the whole of the land side of Ioannina, but was, at this
time, in many places, and especially towards the road to
Arta, scarcely apparent.
After riding an hour (or three miles) westerly, we
passed on our right hand a green hillock, with some few
remains of old walls on the top of it. The spot is called
« Kathevaki." In a long narrow plain to the left, were
tents pitched in a range of vineyards belonging to inha
bitants of Ioannina, who were themselves superintending
the gathering of the grapes. As we proceeded, there were
several villages on each side of us ; and, two hours from
our sotting out, on the left hand of the road was a house
belonging to the Vizier, called « Karkopoulo," to which
part of his harem occasionally retire.
In three hours we came to a large tract of marshy flat
land, in several parts of which there were workmen
building, by the Vizier's orders, low bridges, to make the
 78

country passable in winter. On the top of a low hill to

the left, Was the country residence of a Turk of great
consequence. It had but a very poor appearance, not
looking better than a han, and standing on the crag of a
rock, without even a garden yet it was to the daughter
of the owner of this mansion, that young Hussein Bey,
the grandson of Ali, was affianced. It is not, however,
in tine houses that the Turks take a pride ; they are ve
ry easily lodged ; and are satisfied with what would ap
pear to a Frank a want of every article of common fur
niture.
We were nearly an hour crossing the marsh, when we
came to a han of the meaner sort, and at this place, the
road, which had before been very good, turned into some
low stony hills. The sourgee had gallopped on forwards
to prepare us a lodging at the village, where we intended
to stop for the night ; and after passing the han, the Se
cretary, Vasilly, and myself, rode on before the rest of
the party. The pass through the hills lasted half an
hour ; and after travelling an hour more over a slippery
plain, we arrived at the village just as the evening set in
very dark, and the rain began to pour down in torrents.
My friend, with the baggage and servants, was behind,
and had not been in sight for some time.
After stumbling through several narrow lanes, we
came, at last, to the miserable hovel prepared for our re
ception. The room was half full of maize in the stalk ;
the floor was of mud, and there was no outlet for the
smoke but through the door. However, the Secretary,
having laid down his wallet, and spread his carpet, « af
ter the manner of eastern nations" seated himself on one
side of the blaze, and I took up my quarters in the other
corner. Vasilly was despatched into the village to pro
cure eggs and fowls, that would be ready, as we thought,
by the arrival of the second party. But an hbur passed
away and no one appeared. It was seven o'clock, and
the storm had increased to a fury I had never before,
and, indeed, have never since, seen equalled. The roof
of our hovel shook under the clattering torrents, and
gusts of wind. The thunder roared, as it seemed, with
out any intermission ; for the echoes of one peal had not
ceased to roll in the mountains, before another tremen
dous crash burst over our heads ; whilst the plains, and

:
 79
the distant hills (visible through the cracks of the cabin)*
appeared in a perpetual blaze. The tempest was altoge
ther terrific, and worthy of the Grecian Jove ; and the
peasants, no less religious than their ancestors, confessed
their alarm. The women wept, and the men, calling on
the name of God, crossed themselves at every repeated
peal.
We were very uneasy that the party did not arrive ;
but the Secretary assured me, that the guides knew every
part of the country, as did also his own servant, who
was with them, and that they had certainly taken shelter
in a village at an hour's distance. Not being satisfied
with this conjecture, I ordered fires to be lighted on the
hill above the village, and some musquets to be dis
charged : this was at eleven o'clock, and the storm had
not abated. I lay down in my great coat ; but all sleep
ing was out of the question, as any pauses in the tem
pest, were filled up by the barking of the dogs, and
the shouting of the shepherds in the neighbouring moun
tains.
A little after midnight a man, panting and pale, and
drenched w ith rain, rushed into the room, and, between
crying and roaring, with a profusion of action, commu
nicated something to the Secretary, of which I under
stood only—that they had all fallen down. I learnt,
however, that no accident had happened, except the fall
ing of the luggage horses, and losing their way, and that
they were now waiting for fresh horses and guides. Ten
were immediately sent to them, together with several men
with pine torches ; but it was not till two o'clock in the
morning that we heard they were approaching, and my
friend, with the Priest and the servants, did not enter
our hut before three.
I now learnt from him, that they had lost their way
from the commencement of the storm, when not above
three miles from the village ; and that after wandering
up and down in total ignorance of their position, had, at
last, stopped near some Turkish tomb-stones and a tor
ment, which they saw by the flashes of lightning. They
had been thus exposed for nine hours; and the guides,
so far from assisting them, only augmented the confu
sion, by running away, after being threatened with death
by George the dragoman, who, in an agony of rage and

/
 80

fear, and without giving any warning, fired off both his
pistols, and drew from the English servant an involun
tary scream of horror ; for he fancied they were beset by
robbers.
I had not, as you have seen, witnessed the distressing
part of this adventure myself; but from the lively picture
drawn of it by my friend, and from the exaggerated
descriptions of George, I fancied myself a good judge
of the whole situation, and should consider this to have
been one of the most considerable of the few adventures
that befel either of us during our tour in Turkey. It
was long before we ceased to talk of the thunder-storm
in the plain of Zitza (the name of our village); and I
have told you the anecdote, that you may see how little
dependence is to be placed, in cases of difficulty, upon
Greek guides, or servants in general, who, to say the
truth, confine all their energy and resolution to talking,
but in action are noisy, wavering, and timid ; so much
so, indeed, that in this country it is absolutely necessary
to be always accompanied by a soldier, to enforce obe
dience, and to make the rest of the attendants do their
duty against their will.
After the fatigues and disasters of the night, we resolved
to stay one day at Zitza, to dry and refit our luggage.
By mid-day the weather was very fine, and we strolled
out to take a view of the country.
A little above the village, which is itself on the steep
side of a hill, there is a green eminence crowned with a
grove of oak trees, that has been chosen, like almost
every other beautiful spot in these parts of the world, for
the site of a monastery. Immediately under the monas
tery, there is a large well-built house of the Vizier's,
but there is no one who would not pass by the palace,
. were it ten times more splendid, to reach the neighbour
ing grove. Perhaps there is not in the world a more
romantic prospect than that which is viewed from the
summit of the hill. The fore-ground is a gentle declivity,
terminating on every side in an extensive landscape of
green hills and dale, enriched with vineyards, and dotted
with frequent flocks. Many villages, and the groves
with which they are sheltered and adorned, appear on
the sloping sides of the surrounding hills. The view is
every where closed by mountains, but between those to
 81

the north-west, there is a glimpse of a long and verdant

plain in the distance, and of the windings of a river called
the Calamas. The mountains to the north, part of Zou-
merka or Tomarus, which are the nearest, are woody to
their top, but disclose some wide chasms of red rock.
Those to the north-east, the hills of Sagori, seem a long
ledge of rocks, running nearly from west to cast; to the
east is Pindus, verging to the south-east. To the south
are the Sulliotc mountains, and to the north-west, but
in the farthest distance, are those of Chimera, the Acro-
ceraunians. Neither Ioannina nor its lake are visible,
though Zitza cannot be more than fourteen miles from
the city.
We went into the monastery, after some parley with
one of the monks, through a small door plated with iron,
on which the marks of violence were very apparent, and
which, before the country had been tranquilised under
the powerful government of Ali, had been frequently bat
tered in vain by the troops of robbers, then by turns in
festing every district. The Prior of the monastery, a
humble, meek-mannered man, entertained us in a warm
chamber with grapes, and a pleasant white wine, not
trodden out, as he told us, by the feet, but pressed from
the grape by the hand ; and we were so well pleased with
every tiling about us, that we agreed to lodge with him
on our return from the Vizier.
Zitza is a village of about one hundred and fifty houses,
inhabited by Greek peasants, and not having one Turk
in the place, except the man employed to take care of the
Vizier's house. It is not, however, the less oppressed on
that account, as we had an opportunity of observing, for
the Secretary was inspector of some of the villages, and
accordingly the Primate, or first man of the place, who
was dressed in a woollen jacket, and looked like an
English wagoner, but was well mannered, came before
him to give in his accounts.
The Papas, or secular priest of the village, a misera
ble-looking creature, in whose house we were lodged, and
who performed every menial office of his family, com
plained to the Secretary, that the assessment of the Pri
mate was too high, especially as the best lands of the vil
lage belonged to the monastery, which paid no regular
tax. The poor Priest, with a disconsolate humble tone,
L

\
 88

declared that the annual sum, 13,000 piastres, being paid,

they had hardly sufficient remaining out of the produce
of their labour, to support themselves and children.
Employed in the cultivation of a rich soil, and in the
tending of numerous flocks, their wine, their corn, their
meat, their fleeces and skins, and even the milk of their
sheep and goats, all were to be sold to raise so exorbitant
a tax : they were starving in the midst of abundance ;
their labour was without reward, their rest without re
creation ; even the festivals of their church were passed
over uncelebrated, for they bad neither the spirits nor the
means for merriment.
It was impossible not to believe every word that was
uttered by the poor fellow, who, whilst our dragoman was
interpreting his tale, looked eagerly upon us, and stili
preserved the same pitiable air and action, with which
he had told his story. He wished us to believe him, and,
indeed, his own appearance and that of his fellow vil
lagers, bore forcible testimony to the truth of his asser
tions. However, there was nothing to be done but to try
if Ali would consent to take less than the thirteen thou
sand piastres, and we never heard how the matter ended,
or whether the burthens of Zitza were alleviated.
I am, &c. &c.
 83

LETTER IX.

Routefrom Zitza.—River Calamas.— Village of Mosure.—

Delvinaki.—Route from Butrinto to Delvinaki.—Flocks
of Goats.—Albanian Wine.—Route by the Plain of Ar-
gyro-castro to Libokavo. Upper Albania. Turkish
Meats. —Libokavo.— Argyro-castro.—Short Account of
that City.

WE left Zitza at nine o'clock in the morning of the

ninth, and proceeded in a direction at first north-west by
north, through vineyards running up the sides of the
hills, and yielding, as they told us, and as is usually, I
believe, the case in such situations, a finer grape than
that which is found on the plains. We then crossed a
barren hill, and, in two hours, entered a valley, studded
with clumps of trees, and divided by the river Calamas,
whose windings we had seen from the monastery. Our
friend the Secretary told me, this was the " Acheron."
I suspect his authority to have been « Meliteus," a mo
dern Greek geographer, who was archbishop at Athens
about the beginning of the last century. His book con
tains both the ancient and modern names of places, and
although strangely incorrect in many instances, even as
to the neighbourhood of the very city in which he lived,
yet as it is the only one of the kind, it is useful to travel
lers. Unfortunately, it is a thick folio, and not very
portable. The Calamas, as it runs towards the Port of
Sweet Waters, may have some pretensions to be the
celebrated river of the infernal regions.
Near the entrance of the valley we saw a fall of the
river, not very high, but rolling through a grove of trees,
with a small mill perched on the top of the left bank.
Continuing for half an hour through this valley, with the
river at our left, we passed a han on our right hand ; and.
 81

shortly afterwards, crossed a bridge over the CalamaS.

which is here very rapid, and in breadth about the size
of the Avon at Bath. The plaip, which till this time had
been flat and broad, now began to be more narrow, and
interspersed with woody hillocks ; and we passed at the
foot of high hills to the left, covered with trees. We
were here shown a house of the Vizier's, embosomed in
a nook half way up the steep, and surrounded by a slo
ping lawn. A few spots of ground that had been cleared,
were cultivated, and converted into vineyards and wheat-
grounds, and large flocks of goats were browsing on the
shrubs through which our path lay ; so that we seemed
approaching to the country of a more happy people than
those we hadjeft behind at Zitza. But whatever were
our reflections, they were interrupted by a thunder
storm, which, with the deluge that had been poured down
on the night of my friend's adventure, rendered the road
almost impassable ; for the torrents, streaming down the
hills, had more than once nearly carried away our lug
gage horses.
When we arrived, at half-past one oMock, at a little
village called Mosure, we were told that the rains would
prevent our proceeding that day ; and we accordingly
took up our lodging at the house of a poor Priest, who,
notwithstanding what has been said of the appearance of
the country, seemed to have as much reason to be misera
ble as the people whom we had just left. Here also we
saw a house belonging to the Vizier ; indeed the village
itself, they told us, was his private property, and the half
of all produce was paid to him, besides the absolute dis
posal of the labour of the peasants. The villagers were,
many of them, employed in felling timber in the moun
tains, which, after being cut into planks, is passed down
the Calamas to the coast.
The day cleared up, and gave us leave to see some very
fine mountain scenery. The valley, which runs from
north-east to south-west, appeared to terminate a little to
the north of our village ; and the view of the river was
lost at a short distance to the south-east. Immediately
opposite, to the south of Mosure, was a huge rocky hill
called Papinghi, and having a summit so singularly
shaped, as to appear like a fortification with battlements
and turrets. Papinghi must he part of Zoumerka, and
 85

the direct road from Ioannina would lead across it to

Mosure ; but the mountain being impassable, the travels
ler is obliged to go fourteen or fifteen miles in a westerly
direction to Zitza, and afterwards due north for ten or
eleven miles to this village ; the latter part of the jour
ney being in a very bad path, easy to be lost, and mista
ken for a goat track.
At this place we were worse lodged than at our last
village; and the mud floor of our hovel was overrun with
every description of vermin. You have seen an Irish
cabin, and I need not be more particular. We had only
a journey of three hours for our day's work, on Saturday,
October 14, and therefore did not set off till one o'clock
in the afternoon, when we went northwards, through fo
rests of oak, leaving the Calamas to the right hand, and
in little more than an hour skirted a small plain and lake,
also to the right. From the south-west end of this lake,
it is not improbable that the Calamas flows, although we
could not see it, as our view was intercepted by a low
hill, and a small fortress (or rather barrack) of the Vi
zier's, called Iarrovina. The people with us knew no
thing about the matter.
Leaving the plain and a small ban to the left of the
road, we again began to ascend gradually ; winding
through thick woods, still northwards, for an hour, when
we found ourselves suddenly at the top of a deep precipice,
with a prospect, to the left, of a succession of woody
lulls rising one above the other, and of Delvinaki, the
town where we were to stop, at the bottom and extremity
of the chasm to the right. There was a path to the left,
by which those who do not stop at this place save an hour's
distance, as it communicates directly with the road, which
is seen winding up the precipice on the opposite side.
We dismounted, as the descent was rugged, in many
Starts very steep, and overhung with large masses of
oose rock ; and we were half an hour before we entered
the town.
Here we were more comfortably lodged than on the
preceding nights; for Delvinaki, besides a house belong
ing to Ali, has several neat-looking cottages, and is, on
the whole, a clean town, containing, as we were told,
three hundred habitations, peopled by Greeks. Of these,
the greater part are employed in cultivating the ground,
 86

or in attending their flocks on the neighbouring hills; but

a few of them style themselves merchants, as they bring
small wares on horseback from Constantinople, Salonica,
and loannina, and sell them in the inland towns of Alba
nia and Roumelia. These merchants are necessarily ab
sent from their own houses the greater part of the year;
but Ali, pursuing the same plan as at loannina, detains
their wives and children at home, as a security for their
return, and thus profits by their enterprise, without risk
ing the loss of his subjects ; for there are few instances
where these traders have not returned to enjoy their petty
wealth, as far as a Greek can enjoy it, in the bosom of
their families.
I do not know whether you recollect, that the famous
Sha-Abbas founded the city of Iolfa purposely for the fa
milies of travelling Armenian merchants ; and by that,
which appeared, at first sight, an act of humanity, se
cured a great additional influx of wealth into his domi-
nfons.
Delvinaki, besides being on the road to northern Alba
nia, is also on one of the routes from Butrinto, the ancient
Buthrotum on the Adriatic, to loannina. From Butrinto
it is seven hours, in an eastern direction, to Delvino, a
town of eight thousand inhabitants, and the seat of a
Pasha of two tails, now subdued by Ali.
From Delvino it is three hours, north-east, to the vil
lage of Nivitza ; and thence, seven hours more, and in
the same line, to Delvinaki.
We were told that the Vizier had stayed three days at
this town, which he had left eight days before our arrival ;
and that most probably he was at the town of Libokavo,
where we should arrive the next day.
After the fowls, eggs, and grapes, that always com
posed our meal, I rambled up a green lane at the back of
the town, till the ascent became very steep, when, turn
ing round, I enjoyed a prospect on every side magnificent,
and whose beauties were heightened by the last rays of
the setting sun tinging the woody summits of the oppo
site mountains. A rivulet, that was collected from a hun
dred little streams into a pebbly channel, sparkled at in
tervals through the underwood in the valley.
The vintage was just finished, and horses, cows, and
asses, were browsing on the lower grounds ; whilst the

-
 87

goats, whose trespass amongst the early vines is equally

dreaded by the modern, as it was by the ancient Greek,
were now rioting at large in the vineyards on the steeper
sides of the hill. These pretty animals make a conspicu
ous figure, and are often the sole living objects, in an
Albanian landscape. They are to be met with in the most
unfrequented spots, in the depth of forests, and on the
tops of mountains, in places so remote from any human
habitation, that the traveller would suppose them wild,
did he not see their long herds descending to the villages
at the close of day, and were he not reminded of their
familiarity with man, by the tinkling of their bells at
night, close to the little window of his cottage.
The flesh of the kid is esteemed as much as that of the
lamb in Albania. The goat milk is made into the hard
cheese which constitutes a chief article of food through
out Turkey in Europe, and which is, in this country,
made in sufficient quantities to allow of a trifling exporta
tion. Each of the skins, by a very simple process, is so
sewed together as to hold and preserve the new wine,
which in the villages is never put into any other bottle,
and seldom lasts beyond the next vintage.
Wine of a year old is mentioned as a rarity. That
which is made in quantities, and kept in casks, in Ioan-
nina, or other large towns, is mixed with pine, resin, and
lime, and weakened with water. The Greeks consider
that the resin gives the strength which the water takes
away, and that the lime refines the liquor ; but it is to this
process that a very unpalatable harshness, generally to
be met with in Greek wine, is to be attributed.
We left Delvinaki at nine o'clock in the morning, and
in order to regain our road, were obliged to ascend and
descend a steep zig-zag stony path on the side of the
chasm opposite to that which we had come down the even
ing before to get to the town. This took us about half
an hour, and when we had got into the direction we had
left, we proceeded to the north-west, through a woody
country, not at all cultivated or cleared in any part that
was visible. We crossed a torrent where were the bro
ken remains of a bridge, and the path led us over a wild
er but less woody country, until in three hours from Del
vinaki, we came at once upon a very wide and long
plain, running from south to north, well cultivated, di
 00

vided by rails and Jow hedges, and having a river flow

ing through it to the south. On each side of this plain
was a ridge of barren hills, but covered at no great in
tervals, on the western or opposite range, with towns and
villages, that appeared, like the goats of Virgil, to hang
upon the rocks. These, we were told, were in the dis
trict of a large city called Argyrocastro, which we saw
indistinctly at a great distance, as we advanced to the
north along the side of the hills, that form, as it were,
the eastern bank of this extensive plain.
At one o'clock we came to a village where there was
a han. Here we stopped, and as we were seated on our
mats taking some refreshment, an Albanian handed
round several specimens of snuff, for in this village, they
informed us, there is the most extensive snuff manufac
tory of any in European Turkey. The snuff is also rec
koned to be of the best quality, and the Albanians, who
are exceedingly addicted to this luxury, affect to despise
that which is made any where else but at this village, of
which I forget the name. The tobacco plant grows in
great quantities in the neighbourhood, both in the plain
and on the sides, of the hills.
After resting an hour we remounted, and continued in
the same northern course. Every appearance announced
to us that we were now in a more populous country. We
met parties of travellers both on horseback and on foot :
t he plain was every where cultivated, and not only on the
side of Argyro-castro, whose minarets we could now dis
cern, but also on the hills which we were traversing, ma
ny villages were to be seen. The dress of the peasants
was now changed from the loose woollen brogues of the
Greeks, to the cotton kamisa, or kilt of the Albanian,
and in saluting Vasilly they no longer spoke Greek. In
deed you should be informed, that a notion prevails
amongst the people of the country, that Albania, proper
ly so called, or at least, the native country of the Alba
nians, begins from the town of Delvinaki ; but never be
ing able, as I have before hinted, to learn where the line
of boundary is to be traced, I shall content myself with
noticing the distinction in the above cursory manner.
We were joined by a small party of Turks on horse
back, one of whom pointed out at a little distance from
the snuff manufactory, a hill to the right, on which were.
 89

he said, the remains of ancient walls, as also some few

other remains a little farther to the left, in a grove of
trees. These I visited, and from the size of the stones,
I should judge them to be antique: they were lying in
heaps on the ground. After riding two hours along the
side of the same hills, we arrived at Libokavo, and en
tering the suburbs, enquired if the Vizier was in the
town ; when, to our surprise, wc were told by three or
four people, that they did not know : one thought he was,
another that he was not in the place. These were not
Greeks, but Turks, the most lazy and incurious race of
beings on earth, as you must think, when these fellows
did not know whether the absolute sovereign of the coun
try, who moves about with no small retinue, was or was
not in their town.
We proceeded to the house of a relation of one of Ali's
wives, and there learnt that the Vizier was farther up
the country, at his native town of Tepellene. At the
house of this Turk, in an outer room, separated from the
chambers which contained his family, we were lodged
during our stay at Libokavo, and the good-humoured
Mussulman endeavoured to render us as comfortable as
possible. As, during the Ramazan, he took his first
meal after sun-set, he ordered it to be served up for our
dinner, and gave us his company.
You must have already read enough about the Turks,
to know the sort of viands usual at their tables : but I
must say of them, that many are very palatable to an
English taste, much more so, indeed, than those to be
met with in Portuguese and Spanish cookery. There is
a dish of chopped mutton, rolled up with rice highly sea
soned, called ypraik, and a large thin pasty of fowl, or
spinach sprinkled with sugar ; both of which are very
commendable. Oil is not often used, but butter, ^jhich,
it must be confessed, is now and then very strong, and
would be called by us, grease. The sherbet is but a very
poor liquor, beingonly sweet water sometimes coloured with
marygold flowers, and a few blanched almonds swimming
on the top of it. It is handed round at the conclusion of
the dinner, and either drunk out of the bowl, or sipped
with large horn spoons. The boiled and roast are al
ways done to rags, to suit not only the taste, but the con
venience of a people, who do not eat with knives and
vol. I. M
 00
forks, but with their fingers, making use of a thin crum-
plet instead of a plate, and each man tearing off his por
tion from the joint before him, with his right hand only,
for his left is supposed to be employed on services that
render it very unfit to be thrust into a plate containing
common stock. The pilaf, or buttered rice, the standing
dish of Turkey, and which is often brought in twice at
the same dinner, is not very palatable to a person unac
customed to the taste of it.
Our fare at Libokavo was various and good ; but we
were not well lodged during the night, for the whole par
ty, thirteen in number, slept in the same room with us,
as, this being a Turkish town, we could not procure
quarters for our attendants in any other house. Nearly
the whole of the day after our arrival, it rained so vio
lently as to prevent our proceeding towards Tepellene,
but we were enabled between the showers to walk out
and survey the town and the adjoining country.
Libokavo is built on the steep side of a hill, and, with
several moscks, contains about a thousand houses inha
bited by Turks, many of whom are not natives of the
country, but only settlers, and wear the long Turkish
dress. They are for the greater part farmers of the
neighbouring plain, not traders, and the bazar is but ill
furnished. The houses are built, most of them, of stone,
and are of the better sort, being surrounded with gardens
of orange, lemon, and pomegranate trees. The town is
governed by Adam-Bey, the son of a sister of the Vi
zier's, and, together with the whole district on the same
side of the plain, is in perfect subjection to Ali.
Of Argyro-castro, which is very visible about nine
miles to the north on the opposite hills, 1 learnt that it is
a city supposed to contain twenty thousand inhabitants,
chiefly Turks, being the capital of a Pashalik of two
tails, and of a very populous district, bounding to the
east and north-east the country of the Chimeriotes. It
was not, when we were in the country, in subjection to
Ali, but nominally under the power of Ibrahim, Pasha of
Vallona, the Prince with whom Ali was then at war, and
who was besieged in his last fortress of Berat. It was
expected, however, that the city, which has been more
than once attacked by Ali, would, together, with its whole
district, fall immediately into his hands after the reduc
tion of Ibrahim.
 91

What we saw of the plain may be about twenty-five

miles in length, running nearly in a straight direction
from south to north ; but another branch of it, which
turns off to the north-westward, a little above the city,
and continues as far as the shore of the Adriatic above
Vallona (Aulon), may add to it an extent of fifteen or
twenty miles. The river, which has no other name than
the river of Argyro-castro, flows from Mount Zoumerka
through the whole length of the plain, and appears to
correspond with the ancient Celydnus.
With that supposition, the traveller might be inclined
to look for some vestiges of Hadrianopolis, Amantia, and
Antigonia; towns which flourished under the Romans,
and which were placed somewhere in the country water
ed by the Celydnus. Indeed, the Greek gentleman ac
companying us, called Argyro-castro itself occasionally
by the name of Threanopolis, which, after dropping the
first syllable, would be the modern Greek pronunciation
of Hadrianopolis ; and I see that M. de la Rochette, in
bis map, has given the modern city the two names. But
Meletius, the geographer before mentioned, places Anti
gonia on the site of this town,* and affirms Thryinopolis
to be a ruin marking the site of Drys, an ancient town
of the Molossi, and giving a title to a Bishop within the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Ioannina.f Pouqueville, on
the pretended authority of the same author, but without
being supported by him, declares Delvinaki to be no
other than the ancient Omphalon. The singular posi
tion of this latter place, in a deep hollow, may give some
grounds to suppose that it was one called the navel of
.Epirus. I was assured that there were no remains of
any kind at Argyro-castro ; but I regret that the state of
the country, and our situation as friends of Ali, did not
permit us to visit the city, and obtain personal knowledge
of the fact.
t
* 'Avriyotua, \tyeT&i T&vuv 'ApyvpOxao-TfOVi xTiSutnt virn tu 'AvTiyc-
1W, x.d.1 rafiTal —HnEIPOS. p. 316.
-J- HnEIPOS. pp. 314, 315 •
 LETTER X.

Route from Libokavo to Cesarades.—Women at the Foun

tains.—Route to Ereeneed.—The Passes of Antigonia,
called Stena.—The Aous River.—Route to Tepellene,
along the Banks of the River.—Arrival at Tepellene, and
at Mi Pasha's Palace.—Appearance of the Attendants.—
Prayers of the Turks.—The Chanter of the Mosck.

ON tearing Libokavo (October 17th), we descended

into the plain ; and, before we could again get into our
northern direction, were obliged to cross several wide and
deep trenches, cut to drain the low grounds. After hav
ing regained our path for an hour and an half, we came
suddenly upon a rapid river flowing out of a valley in the
mountains to the east, in a westerly course, but soon
turning to the north. As we were to pass the night in a
village in the mountains to the right of our road, we
were obliged to cross this river, which we accomplished
with considerable difficulty ; for it was then deep and
broad, though, in general, as we heard, very fordable.
After the passage of the stream, we went over some deep
ploughed lands ; and, in three hours from Libokavo, be
gan to ascend the hills in a north-westerly direction. We
saw, what might be called, a chain of villages along the
mountains, most of them half-way up their sides, and
apparently inaccessible. The hills on the Argyro-castro
side, seemed exceedingly bare ; but those to which we
were bending our steps were woody, covered with flocks
of goats, and in many spots cultivated, and sown with
maize.
It had been very late before we re-commenced our
journey, so that after we had been in the hills an hour, it
grew dark. We mistook our path ; the baggage-horses
began to tumble ; and, when we were half-way up the.
 93

mountain, we were obliged to stop in a wood, where we

were bewildered, and quite ignorant of our position.
Two or three of us, however, determined to make for
the first village, and procure a guide ; for we had been
some time going up and down craggy precipices, without
seeming to advance towards our point.
Not to alarm you with another adventure, we were all
housed at seven o'clock in the evening, having been five
hours coming from Libokavo—a distance of not more
than nine miles. At coming into the village, we were
agreeably surprised by getting to a neat comfortable cot
tage, where we were received with a hearty welcome by
the Albanian landlord, who, it turned out, was personally
acquainted with the Signor Secretary. The name of the
village was Cesarades, inhabited, except a few houses,
by Christians.
In this place every thing was on a very different footing
from what it had been in the Greek villages. We expe
rienced a great deal of kindness and attention from our
host ; but saw nothing in his face (though he was a Chris
tian) of the cringing, downcast, timid look, of the Greek
peasant. His cottage was neatly plastered, and white
washed, and contained a stable and small ware-room be
low, and two floored chambers above, quite in a different
style from what we had seen in Lower Albania. It might
certainly be called comfortable ; and in it we passed a
better night than any since our departure from loannina.
In the morning we found ourselves in a very exalted
situation ; and just opposite us, to the west, we had a
good view of the city of Argyro-castro. Wc had a guide
given us to show the best path (for the ways had been
broken up by the torrents), and left Cesarades at ten
o'clock in the morning. We continued descending and
ascending in the same direction as before, that is, to the
north, still keeping on the sides of the* mountains, and
at twelve o'clock we saw another village, situated as high
as that which we had left ; but it was not till some peo
ple had been sent down from this place to open a passage
tortus, that we could proceed towards it. We were a
little surprised that these pioneers were all women ; and,
as I recollect, two of them were young and handsome.
They bandied their pick-axes and spades with great ala
crity ; and having assisted us, by rolling down some
 9*
stones and earth, that impeded our progress, into a tor
rent, preceded us to their village.
Before reaching it, we passed a large fountain, where
there were many women washing with sticks and stones,
in the Scotch fashion, and drawing water. Indeed no
where in those parts of Greece or Albania that we visit
ed, are any but the very better sort of females exempt
from these employments ; and as the fountains are often
at some distance from the towns, the latter is, by no
means, an easy task ; for I have frequently seen them
looking very faint under the weight of their large pitch
ers, one of which they carry on the head, and the other
in the hand. The men are never at the fountains ; but
the aged matron, and the tender maid, are still employed
in the same labours which occupied the females of Ho
mer's time ; for when Hector reminds his faithful Andro
mache that she would be obliged, in her future bondage,

« to bring
" The weight of waters from th' Hyperian spring,"

it is but probable, that she had occasionally performed

the same duties in the days of her prosperity. It was not
the drawing of water which was to be, perhaps, the hard
ship, but doing it (woxx' aiMf</«a.*) very much against her
will, and (•f'c under the command of a mistress.
You may add to this, that the ancients knew nothing of
menial offices ; for the Princess of Pheeacia washed her
own clothes, and the familiar of the divine King of Ithaca
was a swine-herd, also divine. But the parallel shall be
carried no farther.
In a short time we passed through the village we had
seen : it was called Toxaradcs, and contained about one
hundred and fifty houses, inhabited, with the exception of
two or three Turkish families, by Christians. In an hour
and a half we went through another village, Lokavo, also
on the heights, and about the same size as the others,
and inhabited by Christians ; and by half-after three we
came to a third, called Ereeneed, where we were deter
mined to stay during the night, as we should not have
been able to reach another resting-place before dark.
We were not so well lodged as we had been the night
before ; but as Ereeneed was inhabited partly by Turks,
 95

partly by Christians, and the best house in the place ne-

longed to one of the former people, we could not so easily
have been admitted to better accommodations. We had
come the whole day at a very slow rate ; and from Cesa-
rades to this village, I should think the distance not more
than ten miles.
On leaving Ereeneed, on the morning of the 19th, at
ten o'clock, we descended from the hills, and got into the
plain, through which, in a north-westerly direction, ran
the river we had crossed in going from Libokavo to Ce-
sarades. We continued along its banks for some time ;
the path very bad and sloughy, and occasionally through
coppices of low brushwood. In two hours we were at
what might be called the northern extremity of that
branch of the valley of Argyro-castro through which we
had held our course ; and we found ourselves at the en
trance of a sort of defile, with the river on our left hand,
and mountains near us on our right. The hills on the
other side of the river were abrupt precipices, clothed
with thick woods.
Though not a vestige of the ancient cities that may
have once flourished in these regions are to be now seen,
yet the traveller would still endeavour to compare the de
scriptions of historians with the appearance of the coun
try around him ; and the straits into which we now en
tered, might perhaps remind him of the passes near An-
tigonia, by the Greeks called (Stena), which some
passages of Polybius* would point out as leading from
Epirus into Ulyricum,t and which were illustrated by a
battle fought between Pyrrhus and Antigonus4 and by
some military positions occupied by King Philip, before
he was routed by the Consul Flaminius.
In the river which « flows (I q«ote from my own jour
nal and from Livy§) in a narrow valley, having only a
little path along its banks," he would perhaps recognise

* Polyb. lib. ii. cap. 5. The expedition of Scerdilaidas into Epirus.

f Strabo, indeed, expressly reckons the Athamanians and Atintanes
(living near the Celydnus) amongst the Epirote nations, inhabiting a
wild country, and difficult of access, upon the borders of Illyricum :
and it appears that the latter were certainly of that people ; for when
the Epirote army retreated from the Illyrians at Phoenice, in Chaonia,
Polybius (lib. ii. cap. 5) says, they fell back upon the Atintanes.
i Plut. in vit. Pyrrhi. § Book xx'xii. cap. 5.
 the Aous, that ran from Lacmon, the summits of Pin-
dus, forming one of the boundaries of Macedonia, and
falling into the Adriatic sixty stadia below the city of
Apollonia. Every titing, indeed, seems to correspond
with the position of the « passes :" here are the hills on
each side, Asnaus and jEropus, where Philip was en
camped ; and in proceeding farther down the river, where
it struggles through its narrowest banks (ubi in arctissi-
mas ripas cogitur*), any one would suppose himself to
pass over the very spot fixed upon for the conference be
tween the King and the Consul.
Before the Romans attempted the passage over the
formerly pathless mountains of Chaonia, as Florusf calls
them, and the Aous winding through precipices, they had
penetrated into Macedonia by the way of Thessaly; and
certainly the passage of an army, in the face of an enemy,
over such a country, would seem to any one who had seen
the positions, almost impracticable, yet Pyrrhus had
done the same thing before, and, what would appear
more incredible, contrived to make use of his elephants.
Had we traced back the river up the valley from which
we had seen it issue, we might have been able to know
enough of the country to the eastward, to assist our con
jectures ; as it is, you must be content with those already
offered to your notice, and proceed with us on our route.
After travelling down the valley an hour, we came in
sight of a bridge, and saw crossing it a large party of
soldiers, and some Turks on horseback, attending a co
vered chair or litter. A little after, to our great sur
prise, we were met by a carriage, not ill-made, but in
the German fashion, with a man on the box driving four-
in-hand, and two dirty Albanian soldiers standing on the
foot-board behind. They were floundering on at a trot
through the mire ; but how it would be possible for them
to pass over part of the road by which we had come, we
did not at all understand. However, the population of
whole villages was ordered out to help it along, and we
heard afterwards of its safe arrival at Libokavo. This
carriage had, as they told us, conveyed a lady of the
Vizier's harem to the bridge, where she was met by the
chair (a large sedan), in which she was to be carried on
men's shoulders to Tepellene.
* Book xxxii. cap. 10. f Lib. ii. cap. 7.
 97
At three hours and a half from Ereeneed we crossed
the bridge, which was of stone, but narrow, and of a bad
construction, being so high in the middle, as to render it
adviseable to dismount in passing over it. Immediately
after getting across, we went along a path on the ledge of
a steep precipice, with the river, which was broad (per
haps seventy feet), deep, and very rapid, rolling under
neath. As we advanced on this bank of the river, we
saw the hills to the east spotted with Socks of sheep and
goats, and having a line of villages as far as the eye could
reach. One of these, of the name of Korvo, more ro
mantically situated than the others, was crowned with a
dome and minaret rising from amidst a grove of cypresses.
The hills, on the side of which we were passing, were
covered with wood, but without any villages, for they
were not sufficiently high.
In two hours from the bridge, the river began to widen
considerably, and a little way farther it was augmented
by a stream of some breadth, flowing out of a narrow val
ley from the north-east. Not long after the junction of
the rivers, the whole stream appeared as broad as the
Thames at Westminster Bridge, but looking shallow in
many places, with gravel banks above the water. Soon
afterwards we had a view of Tepellene, the termination
of our journey, which we saw situated immediately on
the bank of the river, and, in three quarters of an hour,
we entered the native place of Ali.
The streets of the town, through which we passed*
were dirty and ill-built ; but every thing that had before
attracted our attention was presently forgotten, when we
entered through a gate-way in a tower, and found our
selves in the court-yard of the Vizier's palace.
The court at Tepellene, which was enclosed on two v
sides by the palace, and on the other two . sides by a high
wall, presented us, at our first entrance, with a sight
something like what we might have, perhaps, beheld some
hundred years ago in the castle-yard of a great Feudal
Lord. Soldiers, with their arms piled against the wall
near them, were assembled in different parts of the square :
some of them pacing slowly backwards and forwards*
and others sitting On the ground" in groups. Several
horses, completely caparisoned, were leading about,
whilst others were neighing under the hands of the grooms. J
vol. i. N
 98

In the part farthest from the dwelling, preparations were

making for the feast of the night ; and several kids and
sheep were being dressed by cooks who were themselves
half armed. Every thing wore a most martial look, though
not exactly in the style of the head-quarters of a Chris
tian general ; for many of the soldiers were in the most
common dress, without shoes, and having more wildness
in their air and manner than the Albanians we had before
seen.
On our arrival, we were informed that we were to be
lodged in the palace ; and, accordingly, dismounting, we
ascended a flight of wooden steps into a long gallery with
two wings, opening into which, as in a large English inn,
were the doors of several apartments. Into one of these
we were shown, and found ourselves lodged in a chamber
fitted up with large silken sofas, and having another
room above it for sleeping ; a convenience scarcely ever
to be met witb in Turkey. His Highness (for so the Pa
shas of three tails are called by their attendant Greeks)
sent a congratulatory message to us on our arrival, or
dering every thing to be provided for us by his own
household ; and mentioning, at the same time, that he
was sorry the Ramazan prevented him from having our
company with him at one of his repasts. He ordered,
however, that sherbets, sweetmeats, and fruits, should
be sent to us from his own harem.
At sun-set the drum was beat in the yard, and the Al
banians, most of them being Turks, went to prayers.
In the gallery, which was open on one side, there were
eight or nine little boxes fitted up with raised seats and
cushions, between the wooden pillars supporting the roof;
and in each of these there was a party smoking, or play
ing at draughts.
I had now an .opportunity of remarking the peculiar
quietness and ease with which the Mahometans say their
prayers ; for, in the gallery, some of the graver sort be
gan their devotions in the places where they were sitting,
entirely undisturbed and unnoticed by those around them,
who were otherwise employed. The prayers, which last
about ten minutes, are not said aloud, but muttered some
times in a low voice, and sometimes with only a motion
of the lips; and, whether performed in the public street
or in a room, excite no attention from any one. Of more

.s.
 99

than a hundred in the gallery, there were only five or six

at prayers. The Albanians are not reckoned strict Ma
hometans; but no Turk, however irreligious himself,
is ever seen even to smile at the devotions of others; and
to disturb a man at prayers would, in most cases, be
productive of fatal consequences.
In the evening we were visited by two physicians of
the Vizier's household ; one of them, dressed in the
Frank habit, a native of Alsace, and a very agreeable
man, the other a Greek, who spoke the German, French,
Italian, Latin, Turkish, and Albanian languages. The
Frank gentleman, as we were informed, was very much
in the confidence of the Vizier, and was reputed to be a
man of ability. It was a question not to be asked him,
but one would like to have known, what possible induce
ment could have settled him in Turkey, especially as he
was the son of a physician of great eminence at Vienna.
These physicians are in constant attendance upon Ali ;
who, however, a short time before our arrival in the coun
try, had requested and obtained the assistance of two
English surgeons from our Adriatic Squadron, but with
out finding much benefit from their advice.
The day after our arrival was fixed upon for our first
audience of the Vizier, and we passed the evening chiefly
in the company of the two physicians.
We were disturbed during the night by the perpetual
carousal which seemed to be kept up in the gallery, and
by the drum, and the voice of the « muezzinn," or chanter,
calling the Turks to prayers from the minaret of the
mosck attached to the palace. Tins chanter was a boy,
and he sang out his hymn in a sort of loud melancholy
recitative. He was a long time repeating the purport of
these few words : " God most high ! I bear witness that
there is no God but God : I bear witness that Mahomet
is the Prophet of God. Come to prayer ; come to the
asylum of salvation. Great God ! There is no God but
God !"—The first exclamation was repeated four times,
the remaining words twice, and the long and piercing
note in which he concluded this confession of faith, by
twice crying out the word "hou,"* still rings in my ears.
* THe simple confession of faith is this : " La illah—illah—Llah,
Mehemmed resool ullah"—There is no God but God, and Mahomet
is his Prophe>
 100

Ya-hou, meaning he who is, is the Mahometan periphra

sis for the ineffable name of God, as was the word Jeho
vah amongst the Jews. Dean Swift hardly knew this
when, satirising the brutal qualities of the human spe
cies, he gave that name to his slave of the Houyhnhnms.
But you must be impatient to see AH himself, and my
next shall conduct you into his presence.
I am, &c. &c.
 101

LETTER XI.

Visit to Mi Pasha.—His Appearance.—Maimers.—Short

Conversation.—Second Interview with Mi.—Present
from Bonaparte to that Pasha.—A Palceo-castro, or Ruin
near Tepellene.—Last Audience of AH.—His Affability to
his Soldiers.—His Rise and Progress.—The Difficulties
he had to encounter.—His vigorous Measures.—Adminis
tration, and present Extent of his Dominions.—Offered
to be made a King by Napoleon.— His supposed Reve
nues.—His Disposition.—Story of Zofreni.—His Amuse
ments and Morals.—His want of Education.

ABOUT noon, on the 12th of October, an officer

of the palace, with a white wand, announced to us that
we were to attend the Vizier ; and accordingly we left
our apartment, accompanied by our dragoman and by
the Secretary, who put on his worst cloak, to attend his
master, that he might not appear too rich, and a fit ob
ject for extortion.
The officer preceded us along the gallery, now crowd
ed with soldiers, to the other wing of the building, and
leading us over some rubbish where a room had fallen in,
and through some shabby apartments, he ushered us into
the chamber in which was Ali himself. He was standing
when we came in ; which was meant as a compliment, for
a Turk of consequence never rises to receive any one
but his superior, and, if he wishes to be condescending,
contrives to be found standing. As we advanced towards
him, he seated himself, and desired us to sit down near
him. He was in a large room, very handsomely furnish
ed, and having a marble cistern and fountain in the mid
dle, ornamented with painted tiles, of the kind which we
call Dutch tile.
 103

The Vizier was a short man, about five feet five inches
in height, and very fat, though not particularly corpu
lent. He had a very pleasing face, fair and round, with
blue quick eyes, not at all settled into a Turkish gravity.
His beard was long and white, and such a one as any
other Turk would have been proud of; though he, who
was more taken up with his guests than himself, did not
continue looking at it, nor smelling and stroking it, as
is usually the custom of his countrymen, to fill up the
pauses of conversation. He was not very magnificently
dressed, except that his high turban, composed of many
small rolls, seemed of fine gold muslin, and his attaghan,
or long dagger, was studded with brilliants.
He was mightily civil ; and said he considered us as
his children. He showed us a mountain howitzer, which
was lying in his apartment, and took the opportunity of
telling us that he had several large cannon. He turned
round two or three times to look through an English te
lescope, and at last handed it to us, that we might look
at a party of Turks on horseback riding along the banks
of the river towards Tepellene. He then said, « that
man whom you see on the road is the chief minister of
my enemy, Ibrahim Pasha, and he is now coming over to
me, having deserted his master to take the stronger side."
He addressed this with a smile to the Secretary, desiring
him to interpret it to us.
We took pipes, coffee, and sweetmeats, with him ; but
he did not seem so particular about these things as other
Turks whom we have seen. He was in great good hu
mour, and several times laughed aloud, which is very
uncommon in a man of consequence : I never saw ano
ther instance of it in Turkey.—Instead of having his
room crowded with the officers of his court, which is very
much the custom of the Pashas and other great men, he
was quite unattended, except by four or five young per
sons very magnificently dressed in the Albanian habit,
and having their hair flowing half-way down their backs :
these brought in the refreshments, and continued supply
ing us with pipes, which, though perhaps not half emptied,
were changed three times, as is the custom when particu
lar honours are intended for a guest.
There are no common topics of discourse between a
Turkish Vizier and a traveller, which can discover the
 103

abilities of either party, especially as these conversations

are always in the form of question and answer. How
ever, a Frank may think his Turk above the common
run, if his host does not put any very foolish interroga
tories to him, and AH did not ask us any questions that
betrayed his ignorance. His liveliness and ease gave us
very favourable impressions of his natural capacity.
In the evening of the next day we paid the Vizier ano
ther visit, in an apartment more elegantly furnished than
the one with the fountain. Whilst we were with him, a
messenger came in from « Berat," the place which Ali's
army (of about five thousand men) was then besieging.
We wtre not acquainted with the contents of a letter,
which was read aloud, until a long gun, looking like a
duck-gun, was brought into the room ; and then, upon
one of us asking the Secretary if there were many wild
fowl in the neighbourhood, he answered, Yes ; but that
for the gun, it was going to the siege of Berat, there be
ing a want of ordnance in the Vizier's army. It was im
possible not to smile at this war in miniature.
During this interview, Ali congratulated us upon the
news, which had arrived a fortnight before, of the sur
render of Zante, Cefalonia, Ithaca, and Cerigo, to the
British Squadron : he said, he was happy to have the
English for his neighbours ; that he was sure they would
not serve him as the Russians and French had done, in
protecting his runaway robbers ; that he had always been
a friend to our Nation, even during our war with Turkey,
and had been instrumental in bringing about the Peace.
He asked us, what had made us travel in Albania ? We
told him, the desire of seeing so great a man as himself.
** Aye," returned he, « did you ever hear of me in Eng
land ?" We, of course, assured him, that he was a very
common subject of conversation in our country ; and he
seemed by no means inaccessible to the flattery.
He showed us some pistols and a sabre ; and then took
down a gun that was hanging over his head in a bag, and
told us it was a present from the King of the French. It
was a short rifle, with the stock inlaid with silver, and
studded with diamonds and brilliants, and looked like a
handsome present; but the Secretary informed us, that
when the gun came from Napoleon, it had only a com
mon stock, and that all the ornaments had been added
 10*

by his Highness, to make it look more like a royal

gift.
Before we took our leave, the Vizier informed us, that
there were in the neighbourhood of Tepellene some re
mains of antiquity—a palseo-castro, as all pieces of old
wall, or carved stones, are called in Albania and Greece,
and said that he would order some horses for us to ride to
it the next morning.
According to his advice, we went on Sunday to see
these ruins, which are very trifling, being only a few
bits of wall, as it appeared to me, not ancient, on a hill
about five miles to the north-west of Tepellene.
In the evening of the same day, we paid his Highness
our last visit. He then asked us which way we intended
to go ; and we told him, it was our wish to get from loan-
nina into the Morea. He appeared to be acquainted with
every road, and all the stages, and the state of the coun
try most minutely. He said, that we could not go by
the common road through Triccala, as that part of the
country was infested by large bands of robbers ; but that
we might go through Carnia, crossing the gulf of Arta
at Salora, or going to the head of the Gulf; and that, as
that country was also suspicious, he would give us orders
to his several military posts, to take as many guards as
might be necessary. In case, however, we should not
like to go through Carnia, he furnished us with an order
to his Governor at Prevesa, to send us in an armed gal
liot to Patrass. He also gave us a letter to his son, Veli,
Pasha of the Morea, and wished to know if he could do
any thing to serve us.
We only asked permission to take our Albanian Va-
silly to attend us whilst in Turkey, which he readily
granted, and asked where the man was. On being in
formed that he was at the chamber door, he sent for him,
and accordingly Vasilly entered ; and, though with every
proper respect, still was not embarrassed, but, with his
hand on his left breast, answered the Vizier's questions
in a firm and fluent manner. Ali called him by his name,
and asked him, why, being at the door, he had not come
in to sec him ? « for you know, Vasilly," added he, <« I
should have been glad to have seen you !" He then told
him that he was to attem! us, and see that we wanted no
thing, and talked a good deal to him about the different
 105

stages of our route, summing all up by telling him in a

jocose way, that if any accident happened to us, he would
cut off his head ; and that wo were to write, mentioning
how he had behaved. Shortly after this, and having
agreed to give his Highness some relation of our travels
by letter, we withdrew, and took our last leave of this
singular man, of whom this may he the place to give
you a short account.
All was born at Tepellene, about the year 1750 ; for
he is now past sixty years old, though he carefully con
ceals his age ; and, notwithstanding a disorder which is
considered incurable, still carries the appearance of a
healthy middle-aged man. His father was a Pasha of
two tails, but of no great importance. The most consi
derable Prince at that time was one Coul Pasha, a Vi
zier, and lord of great part of Albania. At the death of
his father, Ali found himself possessed of nothing but his
house at Tepellene ; and it is not only current in Alba
nia, but reported to be even the boast of the Vizier him-
eeJf, that he began his fortune with sixty paras and a
musket. Our attendant Vasilly (whose authority I should
not mention, had it not been confirmed by every thing I
heard in the country) assured me, that he recollects, when
a boy, to have seen Ali (then Ali-Bey) in his father's cot
tage, with his jacket out at elbows ; and that, at thai
time, this person used to come with parties from Tepel
lene in the night, and seize upon the flocks of the villages
at enmity with him.
By degrees, however, he made himself master first of
one village, then of another, and amassing some money,
increased his power, and found himself at the head of a
considerable body of Albanians, whom he paid by plun
der ; for he was then only a great robber, or one of those
independent freebooters, of whom there are so many in
the vast extent of the Turkish empire. It was not, how
ever, without great difficulties and reverses that he con
tinued his career, as you will think, when you hear
what was said to me also by the same Vasilly ; for on
telling this man that the Vizier seemed well acquainted
with him ; « Yes," he replied, ** he ought to be well ac
quainted with me ; for I have come down with the men of
our village, and broken his windows with shot, when he
did not dare to stir out of Tepellene."—" Well ;" he was
vol. I. O
 106
asked, "and what did AH do to the men of your villagcJV
"Nothing at all; he made friends with our chief man,
persuaded him to come to Tepellene, and there roasted
him on a spit ; after which we suhmitted fr(»im«f»),»
Ali at last collected money enough to buy a pashalik
(not that of Ioannina, but one of less importance), and
being invested with that dignity, he was only more eager
to enlarge his possessions ; for he continued in constant
war with the neighbouring Pashas, and finally got pos
session of Ioannina, of which he was confirmed Pasha by
an imperial firman. He then made war on the Pashas of
Arta, of Delvino, and of Ocrida, whom he subdued, to
gether with that of Triccala, and established a very pre
ponderating influence over the Agas of Thessaly. Giaffar,
Pasha of Vallona, he poisoned by a cup of coffee, in a
bath at Sophia ,• and he strengthened himself by marry
ing his two sons, Mouctar and Veli, to the daughters of
Ibrahim, the successor and brother of Giaffar : since that
time he has made war on Ibrahim himself, and added
considerably to the territories of Ioannina, by curtailing
those of his relation.
During this progress, he had been, more than once,
called upon to furnish his quota of troops to the imperial
armies, and had served in person against the Germans
and Russians; but he knew his countrymen too well, ever
to trust himself at court. He never would accept of any
great office, and always found some pretence to avoid
giving his personal attendance on the Grand Vizier of the
day, who, it is known, had many orders to arrest him.
Stories are told of the skill and courage with which be
counteracted several schemes to procure his head—a pre
sent that would have been most acceptable to the Porte
ever since the commencement of his career : however, he
fought against Paswan Oglou, under the banners of the
Sultan ; and on his return from Widin, in the year 1798,
was made a Pasha of three tails, or Vizier. He has had
several offers of being made Grand Vizier.
He next contrived to procure pashaliks for both his
sons ; the younger of whom, Veli, who resembles his
father in his capacity and ambition, saved money enough
in his first post to buy the pashalik of the Morea, with
the dignity of Vizier, for three thousand purses of five
hundred piastres each. His eldest son, Mouctar, of a
 107

more warlike, but less ambitious turn than bis brother,

has of late supplied his father's place at the head of the
Albanians that have joined the armies of the Porte} and
has greatly distinguished himself, as you must have heard,
in the present war with Russia.
The difficulties which Ali had to encounter in establish
ing his power, did not arise so much from the opposition
he met with from the neighbouring Pashas, as from the
nature of the people, and of the country of which he was
determined to make himself master. Many of the parts
which now compose his dominions, were peopled by inha
bitants who had been always in rebellion, or had never
been entirely conquered by the Turks ; such as the Chi-
meriotes, the Sulliotes, and the nations living amongst
the mountains in the neighbourhood of the coast of the
Ionian Sea. Besides this, the woods and hills of every
part of his government were, in a manner, in possession
of large bands of robbers, who were recruited and pro
tected by the villages; and who laid large tracts under
contribution ; burning and plundering the districts under
the Pasha's protection. Against these he proceeded with
the greatest severity : they were burnt, hanged, behead
ed, and impaled, and have disappeared from many parts,
especially of Upper Albania, which were before quite
subject to these outlaws.
A few months before our arrival in the country, a
large body infesting the mountains between Ioanuina and
Triccala, were defeated and dispersed by Mouctar Pasha,
who cut to pieces a hundred of them on the spot. These
robbers had been headed by a Greek Priest, who, after
the defeat of his men, went to Constantinople, procured
a firman of protection, and returned to Ioannina, where
the Vizier invited him to a conference, and seized him as
he was leaving the room. He was detained, and well
treated, in prison, until a messenger could go to and re
turn from Constantinople, with a permission from the
Porte for Ali to do what he pleased with his prisoner.—
It was the arm of this man which we had. seen suspended
from the bough, on entering Ioannina. .
It is by such vigorous measures that the Vizier has ren-.
dered many .parts 'of Albania, and the contiguous coun
try, perfectly accessible, that were before annually over
run by robbers : and consequently by opening the coun -

« «
 m
try to merchants, and securing their persons and goods,
has not only increased his own revenues, but bettered the
condition of his subjects. He has built bridges over the
rivers, raised causeways across the marshes, laid out fre
quent roads, adorned the country and the towns with
new buildings, and by many wholesome regulations has
acted the part of a good and great Prince, without per
haps a single other motive than that of his own aggram
disement.
The influence of Ali extends far beyond the limits of
his dominions, and is feared and felt throughout the whole
of European Turkey. It would, however, be very diffi
cult to give the actual boundaries of his present domi
nions ; for in the extent of his territory, there is occa
sionally to be found an isolated district, which still resists
his arms % and his attempts on the neighbouring Pashas
are not always attended with success^ Two months after
our visit to Tepellene, he made himself master of Berat;
but my friend has written to me from Athens, that the Pa
sha of Scutari has retaken the city, and reinstated Ibra
him. But Ali may be again victorious ; and, should he
live, will, I doubt not, be master of nearly the whole of
Albania.
At present, his dominions extend (taking Ioannina for
a centre) one hundred and twenty miles to the north, as
far as the pashalik of Ocriday to the north-east and east
over Thessaly, and touching the feet of Mount Olympus ;
to the south-east the small district of Thebes, and part .of
that attached to the Negroponte, bound his territories ;
which, however, on this side, include the populous city
of Livadia (JLebadea) and its district, and will soon, it
is expected, comprise Attica, and afterwards the above-
mentioned country. To the south he commands as far
as the gulf of Lepanto, and the Morea belongs to his son.
The Ionian Sea and the gulf of Venice, are his bounda
ries to the south-west and west, and to the north-west
the pashalik of Scutari, and the banks of the Drino ; but
en this side, the pashalik of Vallona intervenes. Parga,
on the coast opposite to Corfu,.1 belongs to the French,
and the Chimeriotes can scarcely be said to depend entire
ly on his authority. V
Throughout the whole of the country so bounded, the
imperial firaiati is but little respected ; whilst a letter

• . f
 109

ttith the signature of Ali (of which, as a curiosity, I send

you a fac-simile), commands unlimited obedience. The
Vizier is now absolute lord, as a Greek of Ioannina told
me, of fifty small provinces ; and should his projects of
aggrandisement succeed, the countries which anciently
composed the southern part of Illyricum, the kingdom of
Epirus, part of Macedonia, the whole Thessalian terri
tory, Eub«ea, and all the Grecian States, will be under
the dominion of a barbarian who caH neither write nor
read, flis tyranny is complete j although the form of
subjection to the Porte is still preserved, and he fur
nishes his contingent of men to the Ottoman armies, and
pays, besides, a certain part of his tribute to the Grand
Signor.
As he advances to the north-west, he will be in posses
sion of the frontier towards Dalmatia, which the views
of the French must render a most important post. It is
confidently asserted, that Napoleon has offered to make
him King of Albania, and to support his independence
against the Porte ; but, if this be true, he has had the
prudence to refuse a crown, which would be rather the
badge of bondage than of power, and of late the Empe
ror has talked of thundering down upon Albania from
his Illyrian provinces.
What actual resistance Ali would be able to oppose to
such an enemy, it is not easy to foresee ; with all bis
power, be has seldom kept in his pay more than eight
thousand soldiers at any one time ; but as every Albanian
understands the use of the gun and sabre, and as religious
or other prejudices, might cause the whole population to
rise in arms under so fortunate a chief, the passage of
the mountains might be impracticable to the French—to
the soldiers who crossed the Alps.
All the Albanians, even those who have not yet sub
mitted to his power, speak with exultation and pride of
their countryman, and, by a comparison with him, they
constantly depreciate the merits of others. We frequent
ly heard them say, when talking of some other Pasha,
« he is not such a one as Ali—h» has not such a head."
But his death might destroy all hope of union and re
sistance.
The early acquisitions of this extraordinary man were
made by force of arms ; but his latter aggrandisements
 fiO
have been generally accomplished by the proper disposal
,of his treasures, which are reported to be very great, but
the probable amount of which it is impossible to calcu
late. Of the tenth of all produce collected for the Porte,
the Vizier has, at least, a fourth part ; he has also near
four hundred villages his own property ; and, besides,
claims from all towns and districts, arbitrary sums for
protection. I have seen a computation, which sets down
his revenues at 6,000,000 of piastres, independent of
those casual, levies, and the presents which are made to
him by his Christian subjects. Add to this, thai all his
work is done gratis, and his kitchens and stables fur
nished by the towns where he has any establishment.
He not only gives free quarter to himself and retinue in
his numerous expeditions through his dominions, but his
soldiers, who only receive about twelve piastres a month
from him, are found in bread and meat wherever they
go, by the inhabitants of the towns and villages; so that
be is able to reserve much of his money for emergencies,
for bribing the ministers of the Porte, and buying his
neighbours' territories. He is not at much expense in
purchasing the male or female slaves of his household ;
for with these he furnishes himself from the families
of the robbers whom he executes, or compels to fly.
We overtook a man carrying to Tepellene a boy and
girl, who had been just found in the cottage of a robber.
Of the natural disposition of Ali we had no opportu
nity of forming a judgment, except by hearsay; and it
would be hardly fair to believe all the stories of the
Greeks, who would represent him as the most barbarous
monster that ever disgraced humanity. Certainly no
one but a man of a ferocious and sanguinary disposition,
would have been able or willing to tame the people whom
he has brought into subjection : not only beheading, but
impaling and roasting, might be necessary to inspire that
terror of his name, which has of itself, in many in
stances, given peace and security to his dominions ; for
large bands of robbers have submitted voluntarily, and
been enrolled amongst his soldiers. Executions are now
but seldom seen in Ioannina ; but during the Sulliote
wars, twenty and thirty prisoners were sometimess be
headed at one time in the streets of that city. Such
cruelty shocks your humane feelings ; but « voila comme
 \

ill

on juge de tout quand on n'est pas sorti de son pays."

It is not fair to appreciate the merits of any man without
a reference to the character and customs of the people
amongst whom he is born and educated. In Turkey the
life of man is held exceedingly cheap, more so than any
one, who has not been in the country, would believe ;
and murders, which would fill all Christendom with
horror, excite no sentiments of surprise or apparent dis
gust, either at Constantinople or in the provinces ; so
that what might, at first sight, appear a singular depra
vity in an individual, would, in the end, be found nothing
but a conformity with general practice and habits. You
may, therefore, transfer your abhorrence of AH to the
Turkish nation, or rather to their manners ; yet I almost
accuse myself of a breach of the forbearance due from a
guest to his host, when I relate to you two melancholy
tales, which are very well known, and are secretly talked
of at Ioannina.
The wife of Mouctar Pasha, daughter of Ibrahim, was
a great favourite with the Vizier; who, upon paying her
a visit one morning, found her in tears. He questioned
her several times as to the cause of her grief, which she
at last reluctantly owned to be the diminution of his son's
affection for her. He enquired, if she thought her hus
band paid any attention to other women ? She answered,
Yes. The Vizier demanded who they were ; and upon
this, the lady (quite at random, it is said) wrote down
the names of fifteen of the most beautiful women, some
Greeks some Turkish, in the city of Ioannina. The
same night they were all seized in their houses, convey
ed to the palace in the fortress, thence carried in boats
on the lake, and after being tied up in sacks, were thrown
into the water.
I fear there is no doubt of the truth of this story ; for
on mentioning the matter to our attendant, Vasilly, he
*aid it was a fact ; and that he himself, belonging at that
time to the city-guard, was one of the thirty soldiers
employed to seize and destroy these unfortunate females.
It may seem strange, that thirty men should be found
capable of performing such an office ; but the Albanians
despise the sex ; and our soldier defended the action,
which, said he, was a very good one, for they were all
had women. It is not impossible, that this ruffian serious
ly considered himself as having been concerned in the
suppression of vice.
The fate of the beautiful Zofreni is still the subject of
a Iamenable ditty, which we heard first at Ioannina, and
afterwards at Athens. The story goes, that it was the
misfortune of Zofreni, a Greek lady of Ioannina, the
most lovely of her sex, to be admired at the same time
by Ali and by one of his sons ; and that she contrived to
conceal this double attachment from both her lovers, till
the Vizier recognised upon her finger, a ring which he
had given to his son's wife. Upon this discovery, the
angry father left her abruptly, and gave the fatal orders.
Zofreni was drowned the same night. She was only
seventeen years of age.
Here again is a trait of Turkish ferocity, rather than
of a savage disposition peculiar to Ali ; for there is no
thing unusual in this manner of punishing women : Bai-
ractar, the famous Grand Vizier, disposed of many of
Sultan Mustapha's harem by the same death, in order to
decrease the expenses of the seraglio, or, as some say,
to punish them for supposed court intrigues.
After what has been stated, you need scarcely be in
formed that Ali indulges to the full in all the pleasures
that are licensed by the custom of the country. His
harem is said to contain three hundred women. His
otuer gratifications cannot be very various or refined.
Amongst the attendants at Tepellene we saw the court
fool, who was distinguished by a very high round cap of
fur ; but, unlike the ancient fools of more civilised mo-
narchs, this fellow is obliged to confine his humour to
gambolling, cutting capers, and tumbling before the Vi
zier's horse, when his Highness takes a ride.
In his younger years Ali was not a very strict Maho
metan ; but he has lately become religious, and entertains
several Dervishes at his court ; yet he does not at all
relax in his ambitious efforts ; and having no use for
books, employs all the hours that he is absent from his
harem in designs of future conquest. He is still an active
horseman, and there is scarcely a village in his domi
nions which he does not visit once a year. I believe him,
from good authority, never to have received even the
education usually given to the Albanians. Besides his
native tongue, he talks Greek fluently, but of the Turk
 >

113

isb language he knows very little ; and, like Justin and

Theodoric, the contemporary lords of the Eastern and
Western Empires, has raised himself to his present pow
er, without perhaps knowing the letters of any alphabet.
He is doubtless a great man ; but without saying or
knowing that he is the worthy successor of Pyrrhus,
whom, according to one author*, he is accustomed to call
Piros, and, as another will have itf, Baurrhous. But he
that does not smile at Mr. Eton, may believe Doctor
Pouqucville.
Yours, &c. &c.

* Survey of the Turkish Empire, page 373.

| Voyage en Albanie, page 24,

VOL I. V
 414

LETTER XII.

Albania.—Perpetual Barbarity of its Inhabitants.—Early

Settlement of the Scythians in that Country.—In subjec.
Hon to the Kings of Bulgaria—To the Emperors of the
East.— Uncertain Date of the Name Albania.—Its Revo
lutions.—Governed by Despots.—Invaded by the Cata
lans -Disunited -Scanderbeg.—Exaggeration of his
Merits.—Ottoman Conquest of the Country.—Establish
ment of the Venetians on the Coast.— Variety of Nations.
—The Albanians.—Their Origin.—Asiatic Albanians.—
Shape and Face of the Albanians.—Their Dress.—Their
Arms.—Their Filth.—Dress of their Women.—.Their
Villages.—Their Food.—Their Disposition and Man
ners.

THE countries composing Albania, seem, in parts,

to have been peopled by an almost uninterrupted succes
sion of barbarians. Illyricum and Epirns are not often
mentioned by historians, without a notice of the peculiar
ferocity of their inhabitants. It was not until the reign
of Tharrytas, King of the Molossians and Thresprotians,
from whom Pyrrhus was fourth in descent, that the Greek
manners and language were introduced into the country;*
which, as it was divided into several petty principalities
and republics, could, after all, never have been more
than partially civilised. As to the Illyrians, Polybius
calls them the enemies of all nations, and no more civilis
ed than the Thracians or Getse $ and Livy accounts for
the superior ferocity of one of the four Roman divisions
of Macedonia, by the inclemency of their climate, the
infertility of their soil, and the vicinity of the barbarians.]
* Plu*. in vit. Pyrrhr. t Liv. lib. xlr. cap. 30.
 115

But the Romans took advantage of the many fine har

bours of Illyricum, and the road called the Ignatian, of
uncertain date and origin, which led from Apollonia and
Dyrrachium, through Lychnidus, Pylon, and Edessa,
over a tract of two hundred and sixty-two Roman miles,
to Thessalonica, may have served to civilise the interior
of the country.
The desolation of Epirus, which (as has been before
mentioned) afforded, in the days of Strabo, no better ha
bitations for her people than ruined villages,* may not
have continued long after the time of that writer. The
Emperors extended their care to this part of their domi
nions ; and Amantia and Hadrianopolis are said to have
been flourishing towns in New Epirus.
Yet we hear of the decay of the cities of this region as
early as the reign of Julian ; and it is probable, that there
was but little booty left to satisfy the avarice of Alaric,
when, in the year 596, he laid waste Illyricum and Epi
rus, and settled in the country with his Goths, after hav
ing been declared Master-general of the province by the
feeble Emperor of the East. The coast also had been
before, and continued for a century to be, subject to the
piratical invasions of the Vandals of Spain.
The Bulgarians and Sclavonians, who, after wander
ing in the plains of Russia, Poland, and Lithuania, had
advanced to the north bank of the Danube, in the reign of
Justinian made almost annual incursions into Illyricum,
destroyed her cities, and spread their devastations even
as far as Corinth. During the distresses of the lower
empire, beginning as early as the eighth century, the an
cient inhabitants of the country of which I am speaking,
may be supposed to have been nearly extirpated ; for the
epitomiser of Strabo, whom (if I may be allowed to do
what Swift calls, « quote quotation on quotation") I shall
adduce, from a note of Mr. Gibbon's on an observation
of Mr. Dodwell's, has this remark : « and now Scythian
Sclavi inhabit (or perhaps cultivate) the whole of Epirus,
and Greece nearly, and Macedonia, and Peloponessus."f
* See page 22, of this volume, where the words « and caves," togc
ther with the Greek quotation, were, by mistake, inserted in the
text.
\ " Kai vuv ti irao-xv 'Hrareifiov xm 'Exiia<fa <r%tfov xai MotxSiToe/av x£t
neiiosroviio-a-ov Zxu8ai S»aa/8o; viuovlai."—--Decline andFall, &c. note jk5
to cap. 53.
 116

Under this name were comprehended all the nations who

either preceded or followed the irruption of the Huns un
til the twelfth century ; and as the Caspian gates were
in possession of a King of the Scythian Tartars, the
Bulgarians may have pushed the Asiatic Albanians be
fore them into Europe.*
But the strength and importance of the country in
question, were increased by the settlement of the Scythian
strangers. In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Bulga
rians, who included the two\ Epiruses in their powerful
kingdom to the south of the Danube, of which Lychnidus,
now Ucrida, was the capital, were the first that, in the
year 924, put a stop to the inroads of the Magiar, or
Oriental Turks ; and it is singular, that their posterity,
or the posterity of a tribe in subjection to them, were the
last to yield to the Ottomans, part of the Mahometan de
scendants of the same Huns.
After the reduction of the Bulgarian kingdom by Ba-
jsil, the second Emperor of that name, the emigrated Scy
thians, formerly in subjection to that power, who had
been converted to the Christian faith, served in the ar
mies of the Eastern Empire. But they had been inde
pendent settlers long enough to change the names of the
provinces they inhabited ; and though it might be impos
sible to fix the exact date of the alteration, it must seem
that as early as the eleventh century, when Rascia, Ser-
via, Bosnia, and Croatia, began to supplant the ancient
denominations of the countries of this part of Europe, the
name of Albania also was attached to Epirus, to the
southern part of Illyricum, and to some districts former
ly belonging to Macedonia.
The date of this appellation may, however, have been
much earlier. Mr. D'Anville, talking of the southern
Illyricum, says, «we know that the name of Albania ex
tended to this country ; and an Albanopolis, which Pto
lemy gives, appears to exist in Albasano." It is certain,
at least, that from the period above noticed, we find men
tion of an European Albania, which, as we have before
seen, is, though not quite accurately, indiscriminately
used for Epirus.
* Chandler mentions the European as the descendant of the Asia
tic Albanians.
t An expression of Mr. Gibbon's, cap. 55, p. 543, quarto edit.

\
 117

We read that Robert Guiscard, in the year 1081, after

beating Alexius Comnenus, at the battle of Durazzo,
inarched into Albania.
At the partial conquest of the Greek Empire by the
Latins, this country, except Durazzo and Scutari, the
ancient Scodra, the chief place of Illyricum, and some
towns on the coast, which fell into the hands of the Vene
tians, was governed by a powerful usurper, Michael
Angelus, a bastard of the blood-royal of the Constanti-
nopolitan Emperors. Theodorus Angelus, his successor,
dispossessed the Venetians of Durazzo, and withstood
the forces of Peter, the third Latin Emperor ; and when
the empire was recovered by the Greeks, Albania was
one of those states, whose Despots, a title inferior only
to that of Emperor, were in reality independent, and
were courted into the alliance of the Imperial family.
In the year 1270, the coast was invaded by a small
body of Catalans, in the service of Charles of Anjuu,
which laid siege to Arnoot Beli-grat, or the city of the
White Albanians ; and during the two hundred and fifty
years that intervened between the Latin and Turkish
conquest of Constantinople, the whole country, as well
as Greece, was split into many small principalities, whose
temporary union under George Castriot, or Scanderbeg,
called Prince of Epirus, or of Albania, was capable of
resisting for twenty-four years the whole force of the
Turkish arms.
Mr. Gibbon, with the scepticism so natural in a philo
sopher, and so necessary for a historian, seems to doubt
the wonderful exploits of this Christian hero : he will
not rank him amongst the great men who have deserved
without wearing a crown ; and be prefers the Turkish
.story of Cantemir to the marvellous narration of the
contemporary biographer, Martinus Barletius, the monk
of Scutari.* But though we may smile, when we read
that the warrior fought with such violence that the blood
started from his lips ; that he slew three thousand Turks
with his own hand, and killed with vexation a Sultan
who, in truth, died peaceably at Adrianople ; yet, when
least credulous as to the account of the deeds of Scander
beg, we shall collect, that the Albanians were then able

* Decline and Fall, cap. 67-

i.
 11S

to support that claim to desperate courage, which has

been always, and is still, attached to their character.
After the death of Scanderbeg, in the year 1466, the
province fell into the hands of Mahomet the Great, who,
with an army of eighty thousand men, besieged and took
Scutari ; but in the reign of his successor Bajazet, it was
partly recovered by John Castriot, assisted by the Vene
tians, and also by one John Chernovich, an Albanian
Prince. The Turks, however, finally established them
selves in the reigns of Sultans Soliman, and Selim the
Second, notwithstanding the efforts of the Venetians, who
made good some landings, but were afterwards obliged to
retreat.
Since that time, those, whom the historian Knollcs
calls, « the savage people of the Acroceraunians," have,
at the least instigation of the Christian powers, been ready
to fly to arms ; and the final establishment of the Vene
tians in some towns on the coast, and in the Ionian Islands,
prevented both the entire conversion of the Albanians to
the faith, and their subjection to the power, of the Otto
mans.
From what has been premised, it may be suspected that
Albania must be inhabited by a mixture of different na
tions—composed of the descendants of Greeks, Romans,
Goths, Vandals, Spaniards, Italians, Bulgarians, and
Ottomans. This is very true ; and a difference of man
ner and disposition, religion and language, distinguishes
the inhabitants of the various districts : yet it is that which
may, I presume, be called the Scythian character, that
prevails throughout these mountainous regions, and it is
of him, whom the Turks called Arnoot, the Greeks Al-
vanetes, and we Albanian, or Albancse, that I purpose to
give some account,
Whether the Arnoot be a descendant of the people for
merly inhabiting the country between Iberia and the Cas
pian Sea, will hardly be decided by any acquaintance
with his present character. As little is it to be supposed,
that the Albanians are acquainted with, or even hazard
a guess at, their own origin. Yet Pouqueville avers,
that there prevails, he knows not how, a notion amongst
them, that they are of French descent; and indeed, what
he tells of them in one respect, might be said, even by a
liberal enemy, of his own countrymen—« On les voyait
 119

avides des perils .... mais, quelque fussent les evene-

ments, ils ne manquent jamais de s'en attributr le suc-
ces, et sur tout ils seraient bien gardes d'avouer une de-
faite."* It is certain, that some Gauls were formerly
found in Epirus: they formed a band of mercenaries in
the armies of the Kings of Macedon, and in those of the
Epirotes. A body of them in the pay of Pyrrhus, plun
dered the royal treasury of ^Ege ;f and some others, to
whom the strong city of Phsenice, on the coast of Chao-
nia, had been entrusted, betrayed the place to the pirates
of Illyricum4
But from such ancestors, neither a Frenchman nor an
Albanian would be very anxious to prove his descent. It
is true, that there are a few French words in their lan
guage. I find it however distinctly asserted by Meletius,
that the Albanians are neither of Illyric origin, nor from
the nation of that name in Asia, but sprung from the
Celts who came to Iapygia in Italy, and thence passed
over to Dyrrhachium, and dispersed themselves in the
neighbouring country. || The English editor of the Perie-
gesis of Dionysius, also presumes that Albania was so
denominated from the Albani, enumerated amongst the
nations of Macedonia by Ptolemy ;§ and it will be re
collected that the name was found amongst the people of
Italy.
A reference to the eleventh book of Strabo, will enable
us to judge whether there is any similarity between the
Asiatic Albanians, such as he describes them, and the
modern Arnoot.^
* Pouqueville, p. 19.
f Plut. v\t Pyrrhi,
* Polyb. Hb. ii. cap. 5.
||AABANIA. pp. 305, 306.
§ See r. IUyris in Indie. Perieg. p. 434, edit. Hill, tond. 1679.
The principal points observable in the geographer's account of
the Asiatic Albanians, are the following : " They were attached to
the wandering life of a shepherd, and to the amusement of hunting.
Simple and honest in their manners, they had but little money
amongst them, were unacquainted with weights and measures, and
unable to count beyond a hundred. They were unskilful in agricul
ture, and knew little of the art of war, although maintaining an army
of forty thousand foot and twenty-two thousand horse. They wor
shipped Jupiter and the Sun : but the Moon was their principal deity,
and to her they sacrificed human victims, who were sometimes the
 120

The Albanians are generally of a middle stature, about

five feet six inches in height. They are muscular and
straight in their make, but not large ; and they are par
ticularly email round the loins, without any corpulency,
which may be attributed to their active life, and also to
the tight girdle they wear round their waists. Their
chests are full and broad, and their necks long. Their
faces are of a long oval shape, with prominent cheek bones,
and a flat but raised forehead. The expression of their
eyes, which are blue and hazel, but seldom quite black,
is very lively. Their mouths are small, and their teeth
of a good colour, and well formed. Their noses are, for
the most part, high and straight, with thin but open nos
trils. Their eye-brows are arched. They wear no hair
on the fore part of their heads, but suffer it to flow down
in large quantities from the top of the crown : it is gene
rally in curls, but when straight and long, it is most ad
mired. They have small mustachios on the upper lips ;
but shave off the whole of the beard at the same time that
they perform that operation on the fore part of their
crowns, which is about once a week.
The colour of the Albanians, when they are young, is
a pure white, with a tinge of vermillion on their cheeks ;
but labour, and exposure to heat and cold, gives a dusky
hue to the skin of the bodies, though their faces mostly
preserve a clearness of complexion. They have the prac
tice, so commonly prevalent in many nations, and which
Strabo remarks as the custom of the Illyrians, of making
figures on the skin of their arms and legs, by punctures,
which they colour with gunpowder, exactly similar to
the marks seen on our sailors.
priests themselves. For of these many are seised with a sacred enthu
siasm, and foretel future events, and whosoever amongst them, being
more possessed than the others, becomes a solitary wanderer in the woods,
him the chiefpriest catching and binding with a holy ehain, feeds daintily
for that year, and then he being produced as a sacrifice to the goddess, is,
together with the other victims, anointed and slain."
They inspected the carcass of the man thus sacrificed, for the pur
pose of divination ; and after laying it in some public place, jumped
upon it for a lustration. They reverenced old age ; but neither mourn
ed nor mentioned the dead, with whom they buried whatever little
money they had possessed. Before they were conquered by Pompey,
they were divided into twenty-six states, each having a separate ruler,
and language peculiar to itself. They were handsome and tall, and
we find by another account, that they had generally blue eyes.
 121
The common picture of Scanderbeg, in Knolles's His
tory of the Turks, is not a bad representation of the ge
neral look of his nation ; but the drawing which I have
inserted is ill done, and is only introduced as a specimen
of the Albanian dress.
The Albanian women are tall and strong, and not ill-
looking ; but bearing in their countenances all the marks
of wretchedness, of bad treatment, and hard labour.
The dress of the men is well adapted to the life of a
mountaineer. The picture inclosed, represents that of
the better sort of people ; but the common kind is entire
ly white. The shirt is of cotton, as well as the drawers ;
but every other part of the habit of coarse woollen. It is
but seldom that they wear any thing en their feet, except
on particular occasions, when they put on the sandal
shown in the drawing. Almost every Albanian can make
his own clothes ; and, for the article last mentioned, he
carries about with him a small quantity of red leather,
cat-gut, and pack-thread, and a large needle, wrapt up
in part of the pouch containing his cartridges. The bot
tom of the sandal is of goat-skin, the open-work on the
top of cat-gut. The mantle is mostly longer than the one
in the print, as is the shirt, and is of white woollen, with
the shag left upon it. Besides the small red cap, re
sembling the cup of an acorn, en the crown of the head,
those who can afford it, add a* shawl, bound round in the
turban fashion, and in the winter drawn over the ears,
and tied round the neck. But that which constitutes their
chief defence against the weather, and forms their bed,
whether in the cottage or the field, is a large great coat,
or capote, with loose open sleeves, and a hood which
hangs in a square piece behind, but, when put over the
head, is fastened into form by means of a long needle,
or sometimes the ramrod of a pistol. The capote is of
shaggy white woollen, or of black horse-hair; and one
might think it to be peculiar to this people, for (as my
friend put me in mind) our poet Spenser has given to one
of his personages a

« huge capoto Albanese-wise."

Round their waists they wear a coarse shawl, drawn
very tight by a leathern strap or belt that contains their
vol. i. Q
 122

pistols ; and « ungirding of their loins," by the loosen

ing of this belt, is, with pulling the capote about them,
the only preparation they make for going to sleep at
night. In the summer they often walk about without
their mantles and upper jacket, having the large sleeves
of their shirts hanging loosely over their arms.
The poorer people carry only one pistol in their belts,
but it is their constant companion ; and when they can
afford to have the long peaked handle of it worked in
rough silver, they are not a little proud of their weapon.
They are not so particular about the barrel or the lock ;
for most of these pistols, when fired, if they do not burst,
lacerate the hand very badly.
The curved sabre, which is chiefly worn by those in
the actual employ of a Pasha, is kept as sharp as a razor;
but the handle of silver is so rough as to tear the hand of
a person unaccustomed to wield such a sword.
The long gun is to be found in every cottage in Albania :
the peasant carries it with him either when he tends his
flock, or tills his land. It is the weapon in the use of
which he considers himself to excel, and he regards it
both as his ornament and his defence. The gun-barrels,
however, are thin and ill made, and the locks are of the
rudest manufacture, the works being generally on the
outside. Owing to this circumstance, and as the powder
is large-grained and otherwise very bad, the Albanians
are not good marksmen, although they never fire with
out a rest, and take a very deliberate aim.
Besides the pistols, their belts contain a knife in a case,
the handle and sheath of which, are often attached to each
other by three or four rows of small silver chains—an
ornament of which they are very fond, as they have se
veral of them hanging round their necks, some with amu
lets, others with silver snuff-boxes, or watches in large
shagreen cases, at the end of them.
But there is an article of which they are very careful
and proud, and which they often wear, even if they are
incapable of making any use of it. This is a small hol
low instrument, generally of copper, but sometimes of
silver, a quarter of an inch thick, and ten or eleven in
ches long, having at one end, which is larger than the
other, an ink-stand, and containing a pen. They call
it in modern Greek «calamaro." They carry it in their
 123

girdles next to their pistols and knife, and adorn it, as

well as their other trinkets, with a silver chain.
The whole Albanian costume, when quite clean and
new, is incomparably more elegant than any worn in the
Turkish empire, and it may be made very costly. The
Agas, who can afford such an expense, to their other
two jackets add a third without sleeves ; and all three of
these suits being of velvet, richly worked with inlaid gold
or silver, the body of the dress has the appearance, and,
indeed, almost the stiffilfess of a coat of mail. And this
circumstance, I suppose, made Mr. Eton talk of the
« rich armour of the son of the Pasha of Yanina," which
was stripped from his body on the field of battle, and
presented by the Sulliote ambassadors to the Empress
Catharine.*
But the common clothes of the Albanians are of a most
unsavoury appearance. Few amongst them have more
than two shirts, and many only one ; so that this material
part of their dress, as well as the drawers, is often quite
black, and falls to shreds upon their backs, from accu
mulated filth and constant wear. From such a habit, and
the practice of sleeping dressed upon the ground, it is to
he expected that the thick woollen jackets, mantle, and
capote, must shelter every species of vermin ; and, in
deed, though from the Grand Signor to his lowest sub
ject, there, is not, perhaps, one person in Turkey quite
free from a kind of animal, which, when multiplied, be
comes the cause and symptom of an incurable disease ;
yet, as the physician of Ali assured me, « Le pou des
Albanais est le plus gras et le plus gros du monde." They
will often, without any shame or concealment, brush
these insects by dozens from their clothes, and it is quite
impossible to travel amongst them without being visited
by so unpleasant a companion.
The dress of their women is very fantastical, and dif
ferent in different villages. Those of Cesarades were
chiefly clothed in red cotton (I never observed the colour
elsewhere), and their heads were covered with a shawl,
so disposed as to look like a helmet with a crest, and
clasps under the ears. The women of Ereeneed were in
white woollens, and the younger ones wore a kind of

* Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 355.

skull-cap, composed entirely of pieces of silver coin,
paras and piastres, with their hair falling down in braids
to a great length, and also strung with money. This
is a very prevailing fashion ; and a girl before she is
married, as she collects her portion, carries it on her
head. The females do not appear more cleanly than the
men.
The habitations of the Albanians are mostly very neat;
and though their cottages have seldom more than one
floor, and that of mud, yet they are regularly swept, and
being well built, are perfectly dry. It is true, that the
fire is on the floor, and that the hole meant to be a chim
ney is not always so well contrived as to prevent the room
from being smoked.
Their household furniture is not composed of many ar
ticles, but is quite sufficient for their wants. A large
circular tray of thin iron and tin, on which they eat, and
which they scour very bright ; a pan to mix their meal
in ; a wooden bowl or two, and a few horn spoons ; some
jars for oil and wine, a small copper coffee jug, and a
brass lamp ; three or four mats of white rushes, and one
stool ; a round block of wood, about a foot high, on which
the tray is placed ; are all the articles usually to be seen
in their cottages, and these are kept either in a neat deal
cupboard, or wooden chest.
Their houses have generally two rooms ; and in one of
these they keep their maize in the stalk, or their grapes,
which they sprinkle with salt to preserve them. The tra
veller Sonnini, who had seen an Albanian town on Mount
Olympus, proposes it as the best model for village-build
ings. The houses are not heaped together, but each of
them has a garden. That in which we were lodged at
Ereeneed, hail attached to it a piece of ground, contain
ing some roods cultivated for the tobacco plant, a vine
yard, and a fruit and vegetable garden : round the
whole was a high stone wall, and the house itself was in
an inner yard, also inclosed by another wall, so as to
form a sort of fortification; indeed, we saw several holes
at regular distances, through the walls of the room in
which we lay, and were informed they were for the use of
the gun.
Each of the villages we saw had, also, a green near it,
shaded with a large tree, and set apart for the holiday
 125

amusements of the peasants. In part of this green is a

circular piece of paved ground, on which the corn is
trodden out by eight or nine horses a-breast, which are
driven round, tied by a cord to a stake fixed in the middle
of the circle. This is an universal practice in Turkey,
and the same plan is followed in Spain and Portugal.
The principal food of these people is wheaten or bar
ley bread, or cakes of boiled or roasted maize, cheese
made of goats'-milk, rice mixed with butter, eggs, dried
fish, olives, and vegetables. On holidays, kids and sheep
are killed, and fowls, of which there are great plenty
every where ; but the proportion of animal food is consi
derably less than that of the other part of their diet.
They drink wine, both Mahometans and Christians, as
also an ardent spirit extracted from grape-husks and bar
ley, called rackee, not unlike whiskey. It is but seldom
that they spare any milk from their cheeses. Indeed,
cold water is what they chiefly drink, and of this they
take large draughts, even in the heats of summer, and
during the most violent exercise, without experiencing
any inconvenience from the indulgence. Coffee is to be
met with in many houses, and now and then the rosso-
glios of Italy, and the liqueurs made at Cefalonia and
Corfu.
Although the Albanians are generally temperate, and
can live on a very spare diet, yet that is because they
prefer saving their money for the purchase of arms and
trinkets ; for they will eat of whatsoever is laid be
fore them by another person, not only freely but vora
ciously.
In common with all the inhabitants of the Levant, they
love money, of which they make little hoards, and then
spend the sum all at once, cither upon pipe-heads, silver
mounted pistols, shawls, snuff-boxes, watches, or hand
kerchiefs. Of this latter article they, now and then,
wear two or three at a time hanging from their belts.
They are avaricious, but not misers—being not so much
desirous of keeping, as greedy in collecting riches.
An Albanian Turk was asked in our hearing what he
liked best—Wine ? No—Pistols I No—Women ? No, no
—What then ? ** Why," replied the young man with great
frankness, « I like money best ; because with that 1 can
get all those things you mention, whenever, and as much
of them, as I want."
 '126

Thus, in the pursuit of riches, there is no toil or dan

ger which they will not encounter ; but they prefer the
life of the soldier to that of the husbandman, and with
much greater alacrity support the labours of war than
those of agriculture.
They are very inexpert in cutting down their corn,
every kind of which is reaped with a sickle, and never
mowed with a scythe. Their plough is as simple as that
of Virgil. It is composed of two curved pieces of wood,
one longer than the other : the long piece forms the pole ;
and one end of it being joined to the other piece about a
foot from the bottom, divides it into a share, which is
cased with iron, and a handle. The share is, besides,
attached to the pole by a short cross bar of wood. Two
oxen, with no other harness than yokes, are joined to
the pole, and driven by the ploughman, who holds the
handle in his left hand, and the goad in his right. But,
although the furrow is not more than an inch and a half
deep, and the exertion requisite is consequently very
slight, yet the Albanian at his plough is a complete pic
ture of reluctant labour.
Thus in many parts of the country the sowing and
reaping of the harvest is delegated to the women, the old
and the infirm, and only those labours which require the
strength and skill of man, such as the felling of timber,
and the cultivation of the vineyard, fall to the lot of the
young mountaineer.
Averse from every habit of active industry, it is with
less unwillingness that he wanders on the mountains or
in the forests, with his flocks and herds ; for the life of
the shepherd is a life both of laziness and peril. But his
supreme delight, when unoccupied by the wars of his
Pasha or of his village, is to bask in the sunshine, to
smoke, to eat, to drink, to dose, or to stroll slowly
round the garden of his cottage, tinkling his tuneless
lute. Yet though idle he is still restless, and ready to
seize his gun, and plunge into the woods, at the first
summons of his chief.—Strange inconsistency in human
nature ! says Tacitus,* when the same men are so fond
of indolence and so dissatisfied with repose.
I am, &c. &c.

* De Morib. Germ. cap. xv.

 /
127

LETTER XIII.

Continuation of the Manners of the Albanians.—Expression

of their Meaning by Signs.—Their Liveliness.—Passion
ate Temper.—Their Education.—Their Language.—
Their Morals.—Religion.— Their Nationality.—Their
Love of Arms.—The Albanian Robbers.— Their Way of
Life—and Mode of Attack.—Their Surgeons.—The Al
banian Dances.—Albanians in Foreign Service—in Egypt
—Italy—the Morea—under Mustapha Bairactar.—Alba
nian Settlers—in different Parts of the Levant called
Wallachians improperly—and in Calabria.

THE same distaste of trouble, of which mention has

been made in my last Letter, seems to be apparent in a
singular habit, prevalent with the Albanians, of express
ing their meaning by short signs instead of words. Take
one or two instances :—If one of them is asked, whether
there is any fear of robbers in such a road, and he means
to say that there is no cause for alarm, he pushes his little
red cap over his eyes, as much as to. say, a man might
walk there blindfolded. Sometimes, instead of saying,
" No, not at all; not the least in the world;" he puts the
nail of his thumb under his upper fore-teeth, and draws
it out smartly, making the same kind of sound as we em
ploy in place of the interjection, alas ! It is not very easy
to know when they mean to answer in the affirmative,
and when in the negative, as a shake of the head serves
both for no and yes.
But the sluggishness, or rather tltc hatred of work,
observable in this nation, by no means carries with it that
grave and torpid air which is seen in the generality of
the Turks. On the contrary, they are lively, and even
playful ; and though their home sports are not of the ac
tive kind, yet they show their delight at their Turkish
 128

draughts and other sedentary games, by loud bursts of

laughter, and other signs of childish joy. They are very
furious also in their expressions of like and dislike ; and
as they have but little command of their temper, and pre
fer at all times open force to fraud, they make no study
of the concealment of their passions. We once saw one
of them offer to run a dirk into his arm, upon the men
tion of the name of a Greek girl, with whom he was deep
ly smitten ; for he drew his weapon, and, turning up his
sleeve, exclaimed, «Shall I do it? shall I do it?"—
What satisfaction he could suppose this cutting himself
could give to his mistress, it is not easy to conjecture.
But this is a practice also of the Greeks, who perform
the sacrifice, not with the amorous transport of the Al
banian, but out of mere gallantry, in the presence of
their Dulcineas, serenading them and drinking to their
healths.
There is nothing more sanguinary in the character of
the Albanians, than in that of the other inhabitants of
the Levant ; though, as they live under no laws, and
each individual is the redresser of his own wrongs, blood
shed cannot but frequently occur. A blow is revenged,
by the meanest amongst them, with the instant death of t
the offender : their military discipline admits of no such
punishment, and their soldiers are hanged and beheaded,
but never beaten. The custom of wearing arms openly,
which has been considered as one of the certain signs of
barbarity, instead of increasing, diminishes the instances
of murder, for it is not probable that a man will often
hazard an offence, for which he may instantly lose his
life. They are not of a malignant disposition, and when
cruel, with the exception of some tribes, it is more from
sudden passion than from a principle of revenge. Trea
chery is a vice hardly to be found amongst them ; such as
have experienced your favour, or, as their saying is, have
eaten your bread, and even those who are hired into your
service, are entirely to be depended upon ; and are capa
ble often of the warmest and most devoted attachment.
Take, by the way, that this fond fidelity is more observa
ble in the Mahometan, than in the Christian Albanians.
There are very few of them who cannot speak Greek,
and, as their own is not a written language, a great many
write and read that tongue. These are very proud of
 129
their acquirements, and so far from thinking it neces
sary to conceal their education, display their learning as
ostentatiously as their valour. Were an Albanian to sit
for his picture, he would wish to be drawn, like the ad
mirable Creichton, with a sword in one hand and a book
in the other.
The Turkish language is known but to very few, even
of the Mahometans amongst them. Of the Albanian lan
guage, there is collected for your inspection, almost the
first specimen ever put to paper. The basis of it is said
to be Sclavonian, mixed with a variety of other tongues,
of which the Turkish is most predominant, though the ,
modern Greek, the Italian, the French, and even words
that sound like English, have a share in the composition
of this strange medley. The infinite seems to be formed
by the syllable ti.
I feel no great inclination to speak of the morals of the
Albanians. Their women, who are almost all of them
without education, and speak no other than their native
tongue, are considered as their cattle, and are used as
such, being, except the very superior sort, obliged to
labour, and often punished with blows. They have, in
truth, rather a contempt, and even aversion for their fe
males, and there is nothing in any of their occasional in
clinations, which can be said to partake of what we call
the tender passion. Yet all of them get married who can,
as it is a sign of wealth, and as they wish to have a do
mestic slave. Besides, as in most parts of the country
the females are not nearly so numerous as the other sex,
the bride often does not bring a portion to her husband,
but the man to his wife, and he is obliged to get together
about a thousand piastres, before he can expect to be
married.
A young fellow, being asked by us if he was going to
get a wife, shook his head, and said he was not rich
enough. Some time afterwards he came to us in great
glee, with a letter in his hand from his father, part of
which he read to us, couched in these very words : «T
wish you to come home—I have got a wife for you." Just
as if he had said, 1 have got a cow for you.
Though the Mahometans amongst them veil their wo
men, and conceal them in. their harems, they are said to
be less jealous than other Turks, and they seldom have
vol. i. R
 130

more than one wife. In short, their habit of life, which

forms almost all of them into bands of soldiers or outlaws,
appears to render them quite independent of the other
sex, whom they never mention, nor seem to miss in their
usual concerns or amusements.
The same habit is productive of a system, which is
carried by them to an extent of which no nation, per
haps, either modern or ancient, unless we reluctantly ex
cept the Thebans, can furnish a similar instance. Not
even the Gothic Taifali (I refer you to Gibbon for their
depraved institution*) could be quoted against this asser
tion, and you should have sufficient proof of its truth,
were I not aware of the propriety of the maxim approv
ed, or probably invented by the great Latin historian-
« Scelera ostendi oporteat (dum puniuntur) flagitia ab-
scondi."f After this information, you may consider it
very singular that the Albanians are exceedingly decent
in their outward manners and behaviour, never admitting
an immodest word or gesture in their conversation, nor
indulging in that kind of talk, which is the delight of
some, even above the lower orders, in more civilised parts
of the world. But this is a part of Mahometan discipline,
and though it may appear a necessary concomitant of their
strange system which destroys the natural equality of
the sexes, is surely to he admired and imitated.
You may be aware that the Christian religion, if the
degrading superstition of the Greek church can deserve
such a title, has been far from extirpated by the Mahome
tan conquerors of Albania. Even in the upper country,
where the Turks are most predominant, several villages
of Christians are to be found. On the coast nearly all
the people are "of that religion, some of them being of
the Latin church.
The Turks are not strict in the observance of the Ma
hometan law, though I never heard any of them swear
by Christ4 The Christians adhere pretty closely to the
tenets, but pay no sort of reverence to the ministers of
their church, whom they abuse openly and despise, be
cause they are not soldiers, and are considered to be
slaves, being usually Greeks by nation.

* Decline and Fall, cap. 26.

\ f Tacit. De Morib.'German. cap. xii.
* Voyage, en Albanie, 149.
 131

Lady M. W. Montague, whose book is so commonly

read that you will scarcely pardon me for quoting rather
than referring to it, talking of the Arnoots, says, in her
agreeable manner—« These people, living between Chris
tians and Mahometans, and not being skilled in contro
versy, declare that they are utterly unable to judge
which religion is best, but to be certain of not entirely
rejecting the truth, they very prudently follow both.
They go to the moscks on Fridays, and to the church on
Sundays, saying, for their excuse, that they are sure of
protection from the true Prophet ; but which that is, they
are not able to determine in this world."
This may have been true in the days of our accomplish
ed countrywoman, but I could not learn that there is now
to be found an instance of so philosophical an indiffer
ence, or rather of so wise a precaution. However, it is
certain that the Christians, who can fairly be called Alba
nians, are scarcely, if at all, to be distinguished from
the Mahometans. They carry arms, and many of them
are enrolled in the service of AH, and differ in no re
spect from his other soldiers. There is a spirit of inde
pendence and a love of their country, in the whole peo
ple, that, in a great measure, does away the vast dis
tinction, observable in other parts of Turkey, between
the followers of the two religions. For when the natives
of other provinces, upon being asked who they are, will
say, « we are Turks" or, " we are Christians," a man
of this country answers, « I am an Albanian." The sa
lute also, and the shaking of hands, is as much observed
between a Turk and Christian, as between two Turks or
two Christians.
Nationality, a passion at all times stronger in moun
taineers than in inhabitants of the plains, is most conspi
cuous in their character. If one of them is travelling
from home, and hears of a countryman resident near any
place which he may pass, though he has never seen or
heard of the man before, he will go out of his way to
visit him. I have several times witnessed the delight
they manifest at an accidental meeting of this kind ; it is
much more apparent than the emotion of two English
friends on such an occasion. But their whole manner is
very affectionate, and when, after a short absence, an
Albanian happens to light upon an acquaintance, he gives
 13&

him his right hand and kisses him on the cheek, which is
also repeated at parting, when, if they have passed upon
the road, each, after they have got to a little distance,
fires off his pistols and his gun.
No foreign country, nor new sights, can take away
from them the remembrance and the love of their moun
tains, their friends, and their own villages. They are
perpetually recurring to them, and making invidious
comparisons between their native place, and every thing
about them in other countries. They consider that alt
other men, whether Turks or Christians, are cowards
if opposed to their countrymen ; and, in fact, as they
have long been accounted the best soldiers in the Turkish
empire, they have some reason for the pride which can
be discerned in their poorest peasants. The strut of one
of them, and the air of defiance which he puts on, with
his hand on his sabre and his red cap a little on one side
over his forehead, are such, as no one who has once seen
them, would ever forget.
All of them are warriors, and equally capable of using
the sword and the long gun ; the latter weapon, when
slung across their right shoulders, they carry without
any apparent effort, running up their hills with great ease
and agility. As all of them carry arms, it is not easy to
distinguish a soldier in service from a peasant; though
perhaps the surest distinction is the sabre, which, as has
been said, is seldom worn publicly, except by those in
the employment of their Pasha. However, most of their
cottages are furnished both with this weapon and with
pistols. Nor are their arms for show, for, until very
lately, (and in some parts it is the case even now), every
district was either upon the defensive against the bands
of robbers, or was in alliance with them, and in rebellion
against the Pashas of the Porte. Some of almost every
village have belonged to these bands, and as no disgrace
is attached to plundering upon so large a scale, it is very
common to hear a man say, « when I was a robber."
It is early in the summer that these banditti, in bodies
of two, five, and seven hundred, and sometimes even of
a thousand, assemble under some formidable chief, and
leaving the towns and villages where they have separate
ly passed the winter, retire to the summits of the most
lofty mountains. The recesses of Metzovo, and of the
 *--/

133

hills nov called Agrapha, at the bottom of the gulf of

Arts, which command, as it were, the passes from
Greece and Thessaly into Albania, are amongst their
most favourite haunts. They live some in caves, but
many of them in the open air, under no other covering
than their capotes. The flocks of the shepherds, who
are in concert with them, supply them with meat, and in
the night-time they steal down singly into the villages in.
their alliance, and procure bread. No violence is used
on this occasion ; the messenger taps gently at the door
of the cottages, and whispering the words, "Bread,
bread," (psome, psome) is immediately understood by
the peasant, and provided with what he wants. A tra
veller has some chance of being awakened in his humble
lodging by one of these midnight visitants ; but would
hardly guess what sort of character, or whose purveyor,
he really was. Their drink is water only, and they are
very particular in the choice of their springs. They have
spies throughout the country, to give them notice of the
approach of an enemy, or of any whom they may plun
der; and, as they are always on the alert, they move in
stantly, on such intelligence, from the tops of the hills,
and occupy the passes in the woods.
In their mode of attack they are extremely cautious.
They lie patiently, and in dead silence, perhaps for
hours, covered with leaves, behind stones, in the water
courses, or in the thickets, on each side of the road.
They suffer their prey to get into the midst of them, when,
if the party be armed or numerous, they fire upon them
suddenly without rising, and continue to do so, unless
beaten, until they have made their adversaries throw
down their arms, and ask for quarter. In that case, the
prisoners are then gagged, and bound, and plundered ;
and if there be amongst them a man of consequence, the
robbers make him write to his friends for a ransom of so
many thousand piastres, and, if the money arrives, they
release him ; if it does not, they cut off his head, or keep
him amongst them until they disperse.
If there is no probability of their being resisted, they
start up at once, without firing,, and seize their plunder.
Resistance is often made with success, and with very little
bloodshed ; for, on the first shot being fired, the attacked
run different ways, get behind stones and trees, and re
 134

turn the fire upon the robhers, who, unless they are very
superior in number, do not attempt to dislodge tllem with
the sabre, but continue under cover, or retreat.
An English gentleman travelling in the country, had
the opportunity of seeing one of these skirmishes : he told
me the story at Ioannina. He was escorted by thirty
soldiers of Ali's. In passing a road, with a rocky hill
on one side and a wood on the other, thirty-five Alba
nians suddenly made their appearance : the guard instant
ly began to climb up the hill, and get under cover of the
rocks; firing from behind the stones, and striving with
their adversaries, which should get the most elevated sta
tion to defend. They continued jumping from crag to
crag, dropping down, and firing at each other for twen
ty minutes, leaving the Englishman in the road, till, at
last, the two parties discovered that each of them belong
ed to the Pasha, and that they had mutually mistaken
each other for robbers. During the whole contest, not
one of either side had been even wounded. However, it
is not owing to cowardice, but custom, that they always
fight in this manner, as well in open warfare as in these
petty battles in their own mountains, except where they
have any cavalry employed, or where, as in the affair-of
Prevesa, there is a great disproportion between the num
bers of the enemy and their own force. But their fights
are not always bloodless : whatever was done against the
Russians during the last campaign, was done by Mouc-
tar Pasha and his Albanian troops.
The life they lead in the course of their profession
as plunderers, enables them to support every hardship,
and to take the field, when in regular service, without
baggage or tents of any kind. If badly wounded, they
leave their corps, and retire to their homes until they
are cured, when they return to the field. Many amongst
them know how, in their rude manner, to heal a wound,
and set a bone, and they even attempt the more delicate
operations of surgery.—The French Consul at Athens
was persuaded to trust a very valuable life in the hands
of one of them, and was so fortunate as to be relieved
by the complete reduction and cure of a hernia, under
which he had long laboured.
After the tops of the mountains become untenable from
the snow and rain of autumn, these bands of outlaws
 135

leave their haunts, and usually separate ; many of them

going into the towns of Livadia, Thebes, Athens, the
Negroponte, and also over to Corfu, and to Santa Maura,
where they live upon their plunder, or go into some em
ployment, which they always quit on a stated day in the
spring.
Robbing and stealing are reckoned two entirely differ
ent things. Very few amongst them are ever guilty of
the latter vice; not so many, perhaps, as of the lower
orders in many other nations. Not only the youth of the-
Albanians is exercised in arms, but their manhood, and
even their advanced age ; and it is not till years and in
firmities have made them decrepid, that they become the
constant tenants of their cottages.
Although lazy in the intervals of peace, there is one
amusement of which (as it reminds them of their wars,
and is, in itself, a sort of friendly contest) they partake
with the most persevering energy and outrageous glee.
I allude to their dances, which, though principally resort
ed to after the fatigues of a march, and during their
nights on the mountains, are yet occasionally their diver
sion on the green of their own villages.
There is in them only one variety : either the hands of
the party (a dozen, or more, in number) are locked in
each other behind their backs ; or every man has a hand
kerchief in his hand, which is held by the next to him,
and so on through a long string of them. The first is a
slow dance. The party stand in a semicircle ; and their
musicians in the middle, a fiddler, and a man with a lute,
continue walking from side to side, accompanying with
their music the movements, which are nothing but the
bending and unbending of the two ends of the semicircle,
with some very slow footing, and now and then a hop.
But in the handkerchief dance, which is accompanied
by a song from themselves, or which is, more properly
speaking, only dancing to a song, they are very violent.
It is upon the leader of the string, that the principal
movements devolve, and all the party take this place by
turns. He begins at first opening the song, and footing
quietly from side to side ; then he hops quickly forward,
dragging the whole string after him in a circle ; and
then twirls round, dropping frequently on his knee, and
rebounding from the ground with a shout ; every one re
 136

peating the burden of the song, and following the exam

ple of the leader, who, after hopping, twirling, dropping
on the knee, and bounding up again several times round
and round, resigns his place to the man next to him. The
new Coryphseus leads them through the same evolutions,
but endeavours to exceed his predecessor in the quickness
end violence of his measures ; and thus they continue at
this sport for several hours, with very short intervals ;
seeming to derive fresh vigour from the words of the
song, which is perhaps changed once or twice during the
whole time.
In order to give additional force to their vocal music,
it js not unusual for two or three old men of the party to
sit in the middle of the ring, and set the words of the
song at the beginning of each verse, at the same time
with the leader of the string ; and one of them has often
a lute to accompany their voices.
You should have been told, that this lute is a very sim
ple instrument—a three-stringed guitar with a very long
neck and a small round base, whose music is very mono
tonous, and which is played with, what you will excuse
me for calling, a plectrum, made of a piece of quill, half
an inch in length. The majority of the Albanians can
play on this lute, which, however, is only used for, and
capable of those notes that are just sufficient for the ac
companiment and marking the time of their songs.
The same dance can be executed by one performer,
who, in that case, does not himself sing, but dances to
the voice and lute of a single musician. We saw a boy
of fifteen, who, by some variation of the figure, and by
the ease with which he performed the pirouette, and the
other difficult movements, made a very agreeable specta
cle of this singular performance.
There is something hazardous, though alluring, in at
tempting to discover points of resemblance between mo
dern and ancient customs ; , yet one may venture to hint,
that the Albanians, from whomsoever they may have
learnt the practice, preserve in this amusement something
very similar to the military dances of which we find no
tice in Classic authors. At the same time, one would
not, as several French travellers have done, talk of the
Pyrrhic dance of the Arnoots. Look into Xenophon for
a description of the Greek and barbarian dances with
 137
which he entertained some foreign ambassadors, and you
will fix upon the Persian, as bearing the nearest resem
blance to the modern dance 5 for in that, the performer
dropped on the knee and rose again, and all this he did in
regular measure to the sound of the Jlute.*
In the account given of the armed dances of the Laco-
nians, you might also recognise the curious contortions
and twirlings of the Albanians, whose sudden inflexions
of the body into every posture, seem indeed as if they
were made to ward and give blows.
But to return to the characteristic of this nation. Their
love of arms is so ardent, that those who may fear too
long an interval of peace in (heir own country, enter into
the service of the Pashas in every part of the Turkish
empire. The guard of the sacred banner from Mecca to
Constantinople, used to be entrusted to one hundred and
fifty of them, armed and dressed in their own fashion.
The traveller Browne saw them pass through Damascus
in procession. Egypt is at present in their hands, under
a Bey, a friend of Ali Pasha's ; and it was, in a great
measure, their troops who compelled our unfortunate
army to retreat from that country.
The Stradiotes, or Albanian cavalry, made a conspicu
ous figure in the old Italian wars; and the coast, to this
day, has furnished the Rings of Naples with a regiment.
Some of them we have seen in our service at Malta.
The famous GhaJil, commonly called Patrona, was an
Albanian. This man, though a common seaman and a
pedlar, headed the insurrection of 1730, in which Sultan
Achmet III. was dethroned, and with a success of which
neither ancient nor modern history can furnish another in
stance, remained for three weeks absolute master of Con
stantinople.
The Morea has been perpetually disturbed by those of
this restless people, who have been either long settled in
the country, or who (since they were called in to quell the

* Texoc <Cs To Tltpo-ixov uf^tiTo xpoTW Tar ire\Tar xa/ axAiife, xat
a.ho-TaTo . »ai TauTat iTanTa tr fvb/jiu arpcs Tov aijAov izrciu.—Lib 6 Xenop.
Cy AiMtb. p. 426; where, in a note, there is a reference to Menrsius'
L.aconian Miscellanies, book ii. chap 12, which describes the armed
dance performed—« cum omni corporum flexu ad inferendos et de-
cliwandoa ictus." To learn the Pyrrhic dance, was part of the duty
of the Human, legionary soldier.
VOL. I. S
 138
insurrection of the Greeks in the year 1770) have consti
tuted the guard of the Pasha of Tripolizza. These for
merly amounted to about six thousand ; they are now
under Veli Pasha, not quite so many. In the year 1799
they marched from Napoli di Romania, and were near
surprising the city of Tripolizza itself.
The troops with which Mustapha Bairactar opposed
and quelled the Janissaries, were pr incipally Albanians ;
and since the death of that daring Vizier, the appearance
of one of this nation in the streets of Constantinople, as
it was once formidable, is now displeasing, to their late
enemies. A man boasted, in my hearing, that a friend
of his had made forty Janissaries fly before him, and
that any Arnoot could do the same. Without believing
the enormous superiority, you may by this form some no
tion of the spirit of the people.
But all these mountaineers who enter into service
abroad, depend upon a return to their own country.
Those belonging to the Pasha of the Morea have more
than once attempted to force the guard of the Isthmus ;
and some, who were in a Sicilian regiment in our pay, en
finding that they were inlisted for life, occasioned a very
serious disturbance in the garrison at Malta.
You will be pleased to recollect, that what has been
said of the Albanians, relates only to those who are na
tives, or, at least, immediately sprung from natives of
Albania ; for there are settlements of this people to be
met with in other parts of Turkey in Europe, and in the
islands, who are nothing but miserable labourers, em
ployed to attend the flocks and till the grounds of the
rit h Turks and Greeks. There are many of them in
the district of Livadia, and in that of Attica, who can
speak no other language but their own, and are all
Christians ; their ancestors having, most probably, left
the mountains when the Turks first entered into Albania,
or having been settled there since the first irruption of
the Sclavonians into Greece.
These have been improperly called Wallachians, by
travellers, whose errors have been copied by more accu
rate writers.* Gibbon, in his Sketch of Modern Athens,

* Yet ihe positive Mr. De Pauw insists that these people are Walla-
chitins, and descended from the Roman colonies settled by Trajan in
 139

calls them by that name, although he might have rectified

the mistake by looking into Chandler, who is, however,
himself incorrect, in saying that they wear a different
dress from the Greek peasants, and are of a distinguish
ed spirit and bravery. The woollen jacket and loose
brogues are common to both, though perhaps the cotton
kilt may be occasionally found amongst the former peo
ple ; and as for their superiority to the other villagers, it
seemed to me that they had assimilated with the sur
rounding slaves.
You may read in Tournefort, that Marco Sanudo,
Duke of Nio, one of the small islands of the Archipelago,
sent for Albanian families to cultivate his little domi
nions ; and the same anecdote will serve to show you,
what sort of reputation all people of this name possess
in the Levant; tor Mr. Sonnini, determined to And no
fault with his favourite Greeks, and being obliged to own
that the Archipelago is infested with pirates, can only
account for the circumstance by referring all the robbe
ries to the Albanians settled by Duke Marco at Nio.
But the fact is, that these colonists, except in their pa
tience of fatigue and frugality, have but little of the spirit
of the mountaineers of Albania, and are looked upon by
them as a different race of people. Some of them are to
be found to this day in Calabria, whither they retired
when the Castriotes were invested with a Neapolitan
dukedom. They were seen by Mr. Swinburne, and were
found to have preserved the language and manners of
their nation. They amounted in his time, a little more
than thirty years ago, to one hundred thousand, their
ancestors having continued to emigrate as late as the
reign of Charles the Fifth. They lived in about a hun
dred villages or towns, the chief of which was Bova,
thirty miles from Reggio. The men were able to talk
Calabrese ; but the women, like those in Albania, were
acquainted with no other than their own language. All

Dacia. In proof of this, he refers to a note of Mr. D'Anville, in vol.

xxx, of the Academy of Inscriptions, and to a work called " Etats
-formes apres la chute de l'Empire Romain en Occident." A view of
these authorities might make me alter my opinion i but not being
able to consult ihem, I have followed the conviction produced by my
own experience, and the opinion, universally prevalent amongst these
settlers themselves, that they are Arnoots.
 140

but those in the province of Cosenza were of the Latin

church ; and a college founded by Pope Clement XII. at
St. Benedetto Ullano, in Upper Calabria, supplied the
priesthood with ministers. They wore the Albanian dress.
The men were poor and industrious, the women modest.
The priests were held in the highest reverence and esti
mation.
I am, &c. &c.
 141

LETTER XIV.

Different Governments in Albania.—The different Districts.

—Ma.—Ioannina.—Sagori.—The Pashalik of Ocrida.
—Course of the River Drin.—The Scene of Scanderbeg,$
Battles.—The Pashalik ofScutari.—Antivari.—Dulcigno.
—Lyssa.—Durazzo.—The Rivers Mattia, Semne, and
Crevasta.—The Amis, or Polina—its Course from Te-
pellene.—Berat, or Arnaut BeligraL—Ruins of Apollonia.
—The River Salnich.— The Pashalik and Town of Val-
lona.—The Acroceraunians.—Chimera.—Manners of the
Chimeriotes.—Butrinto.—Ruins of Buthrotum.—Phila-
thi.— The River Thyamis.-—Margiriii.—The Town of
Parga. —The Glykyslimen, or Port of Sweet Waters.—
Acherusian Lake.—Ancient Geography of the Coast.—
Length of Epirus.—Sulli.—Route from Ioannina to that
Place.—Paramithi.—Position and Extent of the Moun
tains of Sulli.—The Villages of Sulli.— Wars of the Sul-
liotes with Ali Pasha—Their present Condition.—Loru.
—Population of Albania.—Climate and Temperature.—
Tepellene. , •

SPECIMENS of almost every sort of government

are to be found in Albania. Some districts and towns
are commanded by one man, under the Turkish title of
Bolu-bashc, or the Greek name of Capitan, which they
have borrowed from Christendom. Others obey their
elders; others are under no subjection, but each man
commands his own family. The power, in some places,
is in abeyance ; and although there is no apparent anar
chy, there are no rulers : this was the case, in our time,
at the large city of Argyro-castro. There are parts of
the country, where every Aga or Bey, which perhaps
may answer to our ancient country squire, is a petty
chieftain, exercising every right over the men of his vil
 142

lage. The Porte, which, in the days of Ottoman great

ness, divided the country into several small pushaliks
and commanderies, is now but little respected, and the
limits of her different divisions are confused and forgot
ten ; but the powerful despotism of Ali may, for his life
time, destroy all distinctions, even as yet to be seen in
the governments, and consequently in the character of the
various inhabitants of Albania.
This leads me to speak of the different districts of this
important province.—Of Artaand Ioannina I have given
you an imperfect sketch. Both those cantons are chiefly
inhabited by Greeks, and arc in complete subjection to
Ali.
Immediately to the north of Ioannina, the mountains
of Sagori are peopled by Greeks, whose villages were
long considered independent, and even now rather enjoy
the protection than feel the power of the Pasha. The Sa-
goi ites, who live on the flat summits of the hills, ancient
ly called Lingon, are most of them petty traders, and
their commerce with foreigners has given them a gentle
ness of manner and disposition, to be found in no other
inhabitants of Albania. Their chief town, Sagori, is
about thirty-six miles, or twelve hours, from Ioannina.
The north-western declivities of the mountains of Sago
ri, which verge towards the valley of Tepellene, are peo
pled by Albanians of a savage temper, whose women,
says Pouqtieville, are warriors.
To the north and north-east, beyond Sagori, is the pa-
shalik of Ocrida, which extends along both sides of the
river Drin, the ancient Drilo. This river rises in the
northern extremity of the mountains of Sagori, and, af
ter running twenty-four miles to the north, falls into the
lake of Ocrida : thence it proceeds, still northwards, till
joined by another river, the White Drin, when it goes to
the south-west, and forms part of the boundary towards
Dalmatia and Bosnia : at last it flows south, and falls in
to the Adriatic a little below Lyssa.
The Albanians of the pashalik of Ocrida are reckoned
some of the most ferocious and the best soldiers of the
whole province. They are nearly all Turks, having but
a few Christian villages amongst them. It is in some
part of their district, I believe, that the Geghides inha
bit, notorious as the most savage tribe in the country.
 143

We saw some of them at Tepellene ; they were distin

guished by dusky red jackets, and red shawls, and had
come to pay their court to Ali, the real, though not the
reputed, master of great part of their pashalik.
The Bosnian Turks, their neighbours, are equally re
nowned for barbarity and valour.
This part of the country was the principal scene of the
exploits of Scanderbeg ; but a traveller would be disap
pointed, who should look into the life and deeds of that
hero, as described by Barletius, and expect to find all the
places alluded to as the theatre of his actions. Croia,
tiis capital, that so long resisted the arms of Amurath and
Mahomet, is now a miserable village : it is twenty-seven
miles from Durazzo. Dibra, one of the ancient Debo-
ruses, on the Drilo, called by the biographer the chief
town in Epirus, and seventy miles from Croia, is a very
inconsiderable place. But Dayna, a town, and Mocreas,
a valley, on the frontiers, Oronoche, in the country of
Dibra, the plains of the lesser Tyranna, near Croia, Pe-
trella, Petra Alba, Stellusa, and the impregnable Sfeti-
grade, perched like an eagle's nest on the top of a rock near
Dibra—all these places, which witnessed the triumphs of
the modern Alexander, would, I fear, be in vain sought
in the most correct topography of Albania. In the ac
count of Barletius, which I read as detailed by Knolles,
never having seen the original, I find that the hero rode
from the neighbourhood of Lyssa, on the Adriatic, in
one evening, to the top of a mountain called Tumenist,
whence he might see the plain of Pharsalia, and that he
returned to his camp at midnight. Is it possible to re
concile this story with the geography of the country ?
To the west of the pashalik of Ocrida is that of Scu
tari, or Iscoudar, which is bounded to the south by the
chain of mountains above Tepellene, and to the north by
the country of the Monte-negrins, or the black mountain
eers. It is extensive, and comprehends the fine plain
washed by the Drin, as far as the city of Durazzo to the
south. It is obliged, by the regulations of the Porte, to
furnish six hundred soldiers to the Ottoman armies, and
is reckoned the eighth under the Beglerbcy of Romania.
Scutari itself is twenty-one miles from the sea, to the
north of the Drin, on the banks of a river called Boiana
by the Venetians : it contains twelve thousand inhabit
 14*
ants, with a few exceptions, all Turks, and is at present
governed by a Pasha, who is a restless and turbulent
man, and the only counterpoise to the power of Ali. Not
far from the city is the lake of Scutari, the Labeatis pa-
lus> the most considerable in Albania.
Antivari, the most northern Albanian town on the
coast, is the port of Scutari, and the depot of the valley
of the Drin, the chief manufacture of which is shoe-lea-
Icather. It is inhabited entirely by Turks, all seamen, as
are the people of the neighbouring town of Dulcigno,
which is in possession of six thousand pirates, who issue,
as the Illyrians did of old, from the same port of Olci-
nium, to plunder the merchant ships of all nations.
The Dulcigniotes, and those of Antivari, enter into the
naval service of the Barbary powers, and are the only
Albanians who have the least acquaintance with the ma
nagement of a ship, or willingly trust themselves at sea.
A few armed galliots belonging to Ali, and usually moor
ed in the port of Prevesa, are manned by some of these
people. They are accounted cruel and treacherous. A
Dulcigniote ship fell in with the small vessels under con
voy of the brig of war that conveyed us to Prevesa, and
immediately began firing amongst them ; but was soon
silenced, and brought to, by a shot from the man of war.
The Captain and crew, between thirty and forty men,
when brought on board, said they were saluting the fleet ;
and on this plea, after being confined a day or two, were
released at Prevesa. The ship was furnished with six
small guns, and crammed with muskets, swords, and pis
tols. The looks of the sailors were sufficient to condemn
them ; but they had a pass from Ali Pasha, which the
English cruisers are directed to respect.
Following down the coast, we find the Venetian towns
of Lyssa, or Alessio, and Durazzo.* After Durazzo,
are the mouths of the rivers Mattia, Semne, and Crevas-
ta. To these succeeds the river of Tepellene, which is
laid down in the modern maps as the Vooussa, though I
never heard it so denominated by the people of the coun
try. This river, a short time after it passes Tepellene,

* Durazzo is in the latitude of 41 degrees 27 minutes. An an

cient author calls it the key of the Adriatic.
 145

begins to widen, and flows westward till it falls into the

Adriatic.
Twelve hours distance from the native place of Ali, on
the north bank of the river Crevasta, is the town of Be-
rat, the Albanian Belgrade, and the Elyma of Mr. D'An-
ville : it is considered the strong-hold of the pashalik of
Vallona, and is defended by a fortress mounting forty
cannon. On the south bank of the river above the Cre
vasta, close to the sea, is a town called Cavailla, whence
is exported the finest timber of Albania ; and at a little
more than a mile from the north bank of the Crevasta it
self, at about seven miles from the shore, is the small
town of Polina, where a few ruins denote the site of the
celebrated city of Apollonia. The whole interior of these
districts belongs to Ali, who, whilst we were at Tepelle-
ne, had reduced Ibrahim, Pasha of Yallona, to confine
himself in Berat. Whilst at Athens, we understood that
Berat itself had submitted ; and that Ibrahim had fled to
Vallona, whose walls had become the boundaries of his ter
ritory.
The detail in Meletius* makes the river near Durazzo
the ancient Panyassus and modern Spirnazza ; the suc
ceeding stream, the Apsus, now the Cavrioni ; the next
the Loos, or Aous, at present the Vooussa ; and the last,
the Celydnus, now called the Salnich : but this topogra
phy cannot be correct, for he puts Apollonia on the
Vooussa, although that river is the nearest on the coast
to the north of VallonaJy
Vallona,f once Aulon, is a town and port at the bottom
of a gulf, anciently called the Gulf of Oricum, and sup
plies Upper Albania with the articles of Italian manufac
ture in use amongst the natives—gun and pistol barrels,
glass, paper, and Calabrian capotes. It exports the oils,
wools, gall, nut, and timber, of the surrounding country.
It is inhabited chiefly by Turks ; yet in this place, as
well as along the whole coast, even from Ragusa, are
found some Christians of the Latin church, whose eccle
siastical superior is the Bishop of Monte-negro.

* AABANIA, pp. 306, 307.

f Vallona is called by the Italians La Vallona. A chart of the
gulf, and of the neighbouring country, was laid down in 1690, by a
Venetian engineer, named Alberghetti.
voi. i. T
 146

Immediately to the south of Vallona, begins the moun

tainous district of Chimera, the Chaonia of the ancients.
A narrow strip of high rocks runs into the sea towards
the north, whose point is called Glossa by the Greeks,
and La Linguetta by the Italians. At the bottom of the
gulf, inclosed by this projection, are the ruins of the for
tress of Canina, on a rock, once garrisoned by the Turks,
and a small port answering to Oricum, into which flows
a river that has its source in the tops of Pindus.*
The Chimeriote mountains extend along the coast as far
as the district of Butrinto, and are bounded on the east
and north-east by the hills of Argyro-castro.—There are
several petty ports where Chimera, Panormus, and On-
chesmus, were formerly situated. Of these Panormus,
now the Porto Palermo of the Italians, is the most consi
derable. Chimera once had a fortress defended by three
hundred Turks, who, in the year 1570, during the reign
of Sultan Selim the Second, were expelled by the moun
taineers. Reading the transactions of the same reign,
you will find mention of the town of Cestria, or Suppo--
to, on the coast.f
The Chimeriotes near the sea, are many of them Chris
tians, but in the interior they are nearly all Turks.
They are very barbarous and warlike ; and though all
of them are at peace with, or perhaps almost under the
subjection of Ali, their different villages are in a state of
perpetual warfare with each other. Inhabitants of those
savage rocks, which the fancy of ancient poets has de
lighted to paint in the most terrific colours, they appear
the ferocious offspring of a rugged soil. They are dis
tinguished, even in a land of barbarians, for the singu
lar cruelty and implacability of their disposition. They
never lose sight of their revenge. Amongst them a mur
derer ip pursued by the family of the deceased : neither
time nor future benefits can obliterate the injury, which
can only be expiated by the blood of the offender, or of
one of his kin. Thus the protection of an individual of
ten becomes the concern of his village ; and the friends
of the provoked party also flying to arms, the enmity
spreads from families to towns, and from towns to dis
tricts. The men of one mountain watch those of a neigh-

* ITerod. Calliope, iii. 93. f Knolles, p. 849.

 147

bouring hill, and neither sow nor reap, nor tend their
flocks, singly or unarmed. Should one of them wander
beyond the precincts of protection, he would be stalked,
like a deer, and shot without seeing his enemy.
The Chimeriotc Christians would voluntarily enter in
to the service of any foreign power ; and as the Captains
of their villages have some of them great influence, it
would be no difficult matter to raise a strong body of
forces in the country. We saw a Chimeriote at Malta, a
person of great address, who had come to that island
with an offer of raising three thousand men instantly for
the service of the British government.
The soil in the valleys of Chimera yields olives and
maize in great quantities, but not many vines. The in
habitants contrive to lay as much of the produce of their
lands, as, with the fleeces of their flocks, and (he gall-
nuts and timber of their forests, enables them to supply
themselves with arms, and carry on a small traffic at Val-
lona, and Porto Palermo, and in the small ports of their
coast.
To the south of the Chimeriote mountains is the dis
trict of Butrinto, bounded to the east by the pashalik of
Delvino, a town twenty-one miles distant. Butrinto
(near which, if we may credit Pouqucville, are to be seen
some remains of the « lofty " city of Buthrotum) was so
long in the possession of the Venetians, that the inhabit
ants of the town and neighbourhood are, for the most
part, Christians of the Latin church ; and there is a Ro
man Catholic bishop established in the place, who is
equally protected by his present master, AH, as he was
by the French. Near the town is a village galled Mau-
roli, to the south of which runs a river, Pavla, and to the
east another small stream, both of them emptying' them
selves into a lake once named Anchises, now Pelbtti, I
suppose from the old port Pelodes. This I copy fromthe
account of the French officers, who, it seems, were mftre
fortunate than JEneas in finding both the Simois and the
Xanthus of Helenus ; for the Trojan hero saw only tile
former river ; the channel of the Scamander was un
washed by any wave. i
From Butrinto, going along the coast of the very narJ
row sea that separates Corfu from the main land, the tra
veller arrives in three hours at Keraka, the principal
 148

port of the inhabitants of a district, whose chief town is-

Philathi, and which, as the word imports in modern
Greek, abounds in olives. The Philathiotes inhabit, for
the distance of sixteen or seventeen miles to the east
ward, both banks of a river, that appears to correspond
with theThyamis of Thucydides* and Strabo.f The Thy-
amis separated Thesprotia from the district of Cestrine,
and flowed near the Acherusian lake. The Philathiotes
are stated to amount to between six and eight thousand,
mostly Christians, who are kept in awe of Ali by a guard,
of soldiers quartered in the villages of Gomenizza and
Sayades, a little farther to the south on the coast. They
transport their oils, and the flocks and herds with which
their country abounds, to Corfu ; nor can all the vigi
lance of our cruisers cut off their supplies of provisions
from the French.
The east and south-east of Philathi, a country, which
an accident gave us the opportunity of seeing at a dis
tance, is a mountainous district, belonging to a town call
ed Margiriti, inhabited principally by Turks, and scarce
ly in subjection to the Pasha of Ioannina. Margiriti is
governed by a Bolu-bashe, or Captain.
On a peninsula jutting out from the district of Margi
riti, is the town of Parga, which is fortified, and has two
ports. It stands on the south corner of the Glykyslimen,
or Port of Sweet Waters, in groves of orange, lemon,
and olive trees, and contains eight thousand inhabitants,
who are chiefly Christians, and of both churches. Parga
was put into the hands of the French by the treaty of
Campo Formio; but they, in a. great measure, left the
inhabitants to defend themselves against Ali, after the
battle of Prevesa, though they have since been establish
ed in the town, and call it under their protection. Parga
is the only place in this quarter, that has been able to re
sist the arms and arts of Ali. Their Sulliote allies were-
not so fortunate ; but the Pasha has his attention still
fixed upon this town, and will probably succeed in his de
signs.
The character of the Pargotes is amongst the worst of
the Albanians : their connexion with the Christian states
has taught them only the vices of civilisation, and they

* Thucyd. lib. i. cap. 47. f Strab. Lib. vii.

 149

are not less ferocious, but are become more refined in

their cruelty and violence. Their town is the refuge of
many of the robbers whom Ali has driven from the moun
tains.
Towards the head of the Glykyslimen, now called
Port Veliki, is a reedy marsh, which runs some distance
into the land. Time may have produced a communica
tion between the fresh waters and the sea ; and I cannot
help thinking, although no lake is now to be seen, and
notwithstanding the positive assertion of Pouqueville,
and of the learned person who laid down the maps of An-
acharsis, that ancient and modern charts have been cor
rect in placing the Acherusian lake at the head of this
bay. It is, however, but fair to mention, that Pliny*
says, that the Acheron, after leaving the Acherusian lake,
flows thirty -six miles to the Ambracian Gulf, and that
Mr. Barbie du Boccage is supported by Meletins, who
says there are two Acherusian lakes in Epirus.f
From the extremity of the Acroceraunians to the mouth
of the Ambracian Gulf, a distance of thirteen hundred
stadia (one hundred and sixty-two Roman miles and a
half), and the greatest length of ancient Epirus, the
whole line of coast has been minutely noted, and we
might expect to find ourselves familiar with every port
and headland.
When not far from Parga, we saw the promontory of
Chinuerium above the town, and the small islands called
Sybota, the scene of the first action fought in the PeJopo-
nesian war. The features of nature may have undergone
but little change since the time the Corinthians encamp
ed on the promontory ; but it would he a vain endeavour
to look for even a vestige of the. town of Ruchsetium,
near the headland, of Cichyris, formerly Ephyre, at the
head of the Glykyslimen, or of Pandosia, near the Ache
rusian lake, or Elatria and Batice, inland cities of the
Cassopsean Epirotes. Strabo calls this a favoured re
gion. Buthrotum was a Roman colony ; and Atticus had
an estate and villa which he called Amalthea4 somewhere
in the neighbourhood of the modern town of Parga.
The first mention I find of that place, is in the transac-

• Lib. iv. cap. 1. t HnEIPOX pp. 317. 319.

i Epist. Cicer. lib. i. Ep. 13, ad Att.
 150

tions of the reign of Sultan Solyman the Magnificent. A

village near it produced the famous Pasha Abraham, who
conquered Arabia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, and by
the help of Barbarossa, reduced Tunis and Algiers. The
posts of Ali advance close upon Parga, and make part of
the guard chosen to preserve the conquered territory of
Sulli, of which district, though it will be forestalling the
account of what we saw when thrown upon that coast, I
will now tell all I have been able to collect, previously
noticing the contiguous district of Paramithi.
This place, called also Agio-Donato and Aidoni by the
Turks, is the chief town of a mountainous district about
thirty-six miles in circumference, containing fifteen thou- ,
sand inhabitants, formerly living in independent villages,
but now governed by Captains, all under an Aga, ap
pointed by Ali. The account given, in the Survey of the
Turkish empire, of the Paramithiotes, represents them to
be cruel and revengeful, living under no government, but
every family administering justice amongst themselves ;
it declares that some of them are Turks, some Christians,
but not strict in either religion ; intermarrying with
each other, and boiling a piece of mutton and a piece of
pork in the same pot for the wife and husband of different
peVsuasions ; and it adds, that they are peculiarly addict
ed to catching Franks and other strangers, and selling
them in the public market. At present, however, they
are not to be distinguished from any other of the subjects
' of Ali, and a traveller might appear in the market of Pa
ramithi without being an article of merchandise.
From Paramithi there are three roads, one to Margi-
riti ; another to Parga ; and a third, of twelve miles, to
Sulli.
The mountains of Sulli extend thirty miles from north
to south, and about the same length transversely. To
wards the east they have the district of Arta, and to the
south-east, and south, that of Lorn : between them and
the shore, is a strip of land called Fanari. Philathi and
Paramithi are to the north and north-east. At the east
ern foot of the mountains there is a plain of some extent,
where there are four villages. The whole country con
tains eighteen villages. There are on the side of Nico-
polis two distinct summits of hills. The highest post,
where there is a building that appeared to me like a fort,
 151

is called Laka, on the top of a conical mountain inac

cessible on every side but one, where the approach to it
is a small winding path cut out of the rock. A little be
low Laka, is Sulli itself, called Mega, or Kako-Sulli.
Below Sulli is Samonissa, a fort ; then Tripa (the cavity)
a principal post, surrounded by a rampart or wall ; be
low Tripa is Klysoura ; and next to that Skoutias, on
the brink of the ravine formed by the two hills. There
are other villages, all of them on the top of formidable
mountains : Kiafa, near Sulli, Agia Pareskevi, Zagari,
Ferikati, Vounon, Zavoukon, Panaia tou Glykos, and
Milos.
The contest between Ali and the inhabitants of these
mountainous villages continued thirteen years ; and the
wars of Sulli and Parga are recorded in a work, written
in modern Greek by a Sulliote, and printed at Paris,
which I have seen. It talks of the summers and winters
of the war, but in other respects is not much in the style
of Thucydides. *tJ>m"7"
The Sulliotes are all Greek Christians, and speak
Greek, but wear the mountain habit, and have a much
greater resemblance to the Albanian warrior than the
Greek merchant. However, they have always been
esteemed by the Greeks as the prime soldiers, and hopes
of their faith ; and in the scheme presented to the Em
press Catharine in the year 1790, for a general insurrec
tion of that nation against the Turks, Sulli was fixed upon
as the seat of congress, and the place from which the
confederate army was to commence its march.
When the peace between Russia and Turkey abandon
ed the Greeks to their fate, and the squadron of the fa
mous Lambro Canziani, who himself fled into Albania,
was dispersed, the Sulliotes prepared for an attack from
Ali ; and that Pasha, in the year 1792, after pretending
a design on Argyro-castro, and getting into his power
one of their chiefs called Giavella, suddenly fell upon the
open plains, and forced the people to evacuate the villages
and fly into the mountains. Ali made several attacks on
Kiafa and Tripa, but was obliged to retreat with loss,
and was followed by two thousand Sulliotes, even into
the plains of Ioannina, when some sort of terms were
agreed upon by the two parties, which were soon bro
ken, and a desultory warfare recommenced between
them.
 152

In the year 1796, AH again marched a large force into

the plains, and destroyed the villages, but was again re
pulsed. But having at last got possession of some heigbts,
and built towers commanding the defile, and continuing
to advance higher up towards Sulli, the inhabitants be
gan to yield to his perseverance. A dissension arose
amongst the chiefs, and some of the fighting men, bribed,
it is said, by Ali, withdrew, and though it would have
been impossible to carry the posts by storm, they all sur
rendered successively. Sulli itself, in the year 1803, ad
mitted the troops of the Pasha. Agia Paraskevi was the
last to capitulate. It was garrisoned by three hundred
men, commanded by Samuel a priest, who during the
evacuation, blew up the place he had so gallantly defend
ed. During this continued contest, Ali is said to have
lost thirty thousand men, and the Sulliotes five thousand.
The number of the latter, who, by agreement retired to
Parga and Corfu, were about four tlwusand. The war
was carried on with muskets, in the Albanian fashion
already described. Ali latterly also brought some can
non to the siege, which were to have been directed by
the French officers his prisoners ; but these gentlemen at
that time contrived to escape to Corfu ; and it is proba
ble the artillery had not so powerful an effect as the mo
sey of the Pasha.
Mr. Eton, or Mr. Eton's dragoman, was a little cre
dulous, in recording that four thousand men, all but one
hundred and forty, who were made prisoners, were killed
in one action ; and indeed he invests these wars with an
importance most extravagant, and disproportionate to
their real magnitude. Yet whilst these rocks were in
vested by the Albanians of Ali, many gallant actions
were performed, which the author of the wars of Sulli
and Parga, must hope will go down to posterity with the
deeds of the heroes of Marathon and Platsea.
The women were not less active than the men, and
children of a tender age partook of the spirit of their
parents. The son of the captive Giavella, a boy of twelve
years of age, had been delivered by his father as a host
age and pledge of his return from the mountain, and was,
on that promise being broken, sent prisoner to Ioannina.
He was brought before Veli Pasha, who addressed him
fiercely : *< Robber, do you not know that my father will
 158
bum you alive V—« Yes," replied the boy, « and I also
know, that if my father takes you prisoner, he will do
the same to you." Giavella was killed in the war, and
this magnanimous child was not destroyed, but sent back
to his friends.
It would be tedious to be more particular in detailing
the unsuccessful struggles of this people. Acts, though
of the most determined active or passive courage, in or
der to be worthy of record, must be performed in a cer
tain cause, age and nation, and must be, besides, ac
companied with other virtues. Were it not so, the lives
of the Pirates might be put upon the same shelf with
Cornelius Nepos, for Miltiades himself was not a more
determined warrior than Black-beard, who received fifty-
six wounds in the battle which cost him his life.
It must be allowed that a great deal may be done by a
skilful annalist, to rescue from oblivion any events, how
ever unimportant in their effects ; and if these wars had
been recorded by the same pen which has related the no
ble struggles of the Patriots of Saragossa, the valour of
the Sulliotes might have been as common a topic of ad
miration as the perseverance of the Spaniards. As it ig,
Captain Giavella, and Captain Bogia, the heroes of the
modern historian, must be ranked, notwithstanding the
efforts of Mr. Eton and this frail memorial, with the ma
ny brave men who have perished unknown.
There are now about two thousand of Ali's soldiers
quartered in the different villages of Sulli, and that
tovn itself maintains three hundred of them. Yet such
of the people as still cultivate the country are treated w ith
much lenity. They are not obliged to give free quarter
to travelling soldiers ; their horses and cattle are not ta
ken without previous payment, and they are never beaten.
The conquest of Sulli has put Ali in possession of the
coast as far as Prevesa, and we proceeded in perfect safety
with a small guard through that country, which Pouque-
ville describes as independent, and consequently impass
able. It makes part of the district of Loru, which lies
between Sulli and the gulf and territory of Ar ta, and
stretches towards the plains of Ioannina.
This district, which is called by the Italians Pae'se di
Cassopeo, is very mountainous. Its inhabitants are
Greeks, who, though overawed by the presence of some
vol. i. U
 154

Albanians in the Vizier's service, are favourers of the

troops of robbers that sometimes appear in their moun
tains.
I shall leave what I have to say of Carnia, though it
may be railed a part of Lower Albania, until we pass
through that country ; and as something has before been
said of the district of Arta, and of that immediately in
the neighbourhood of Ioannina, I have communicatcd'all
1 have been able to learn of the different parts of Albania.
Would that my information were more full and particu
lar, and free from those deficiencies, of which I am my
self more sensible, than most people who have not tra
velled in the country can pretend to be.

I would not venture to make an estimate of the popula

tion of the whole country, but perhaps some guess may
be formed of the amount, by what has been said of the
places we visited. Upper Albania, begin where we will,
either above Delvinaki or at Tepellene, is more generally
populous than the country to the south. The Greeks
will assert that three hundred thousand Albanians, might
on an emergency appear in arms. But Perseus, who
possessed the whole force of the Macedonian monarchy,
and who, after twenty-six years of peace, collected the
largest army seen since the times of Alexander the Great,
could get together only thirty-nine thousand foot, and
four thousand horse soldiers. The standing army of
Scanderbeg consisted of eight thousand horse and seven
thousand foot. There may be some excess in the com
putation above slated, jet a population of a million two
hundred thousand of all ages and sexes, that is, four
times the number of men able to carry arms, is not dis
proportionate to the size of the country.-
Upper Alhania is laid down by a modern geographer
as one hundred and ninety miles in length from north to
south, and ninety-six in breadth from east to west. The
length of Epirus, or Lower Albania, has been already
stated, and Mr. Hume says, it may be in circumference
altogether about twice as big as Yorkshire.*
* Essay on the Populousness of Ancient Nations.
 155
The temperature of the whole province is generally
mild, except that in the height of summer the heat at Io-
annina is very oppressive. In the spring there is seldom
much rain, or a continued drought. The autumnal rains
last -for about four weeks, with intervals of clear wea
ther, and the close of the season is very fine. The sky is
then without a cloud, and the middle of the day is as
warm as that of an English June, so much so, that on
the fifth of November we bathed in the gulf of Arta. The
mornings and evenings are a little chill, but without any
cold fogs or mists. The winter lasts about two months,
and during that time there is much snow on the higher
grounds, but the frosts are seldom of any long dura
tion.
loannina, as Pouqueville reports, is subject in the
spring and autumn to tertians, for which the vicinity of a
large stagnated lake may account, but, generally speak
ing, Albania may be called a healthy country, especially
the upper part of it, where, we heard, that instances of
longevity were by no means uncommon. At Ereeneed
we were shown an old man and woman who had both
passed their hundredth year.
The island in the lake of loannina is said to be subject
to earthquakes ; and our French authority affirms, that
every October, the inhabitants upon it are alarmed by
more than thirty agitations, accompanied by the sound of
loud subterranean explosions. We were in the city just
at the stated period, but these terrific convulsions did not
return during our stay in the country.
The physicians of loannina, and in the large towns,
are Greeks ; but surgical cases-*fe referred to the Alba
nians, as was before alluded to, and these rough opera
tors sometimes attempt the cure even of general diseases
by violent topical applications. You have seen the treat
ment for a cold in my limbs, in my third letter. They
have as singular a remedy for a fever. The patient
stretches out his arm, and the doctor runs his thumb for
cibly along the principal artery from the wrist up to the
shoulder. This he repeats several times, till he has
thrown the man into a profuse perspiration, whom he
then covers up warmly, and considers in a fair way of
recovery ; nor is he often deceived, as the opening of the
 156

pores in such cases must, I suppose, but seldom fail of

producing a favourable effect.

But during this very long digression, you may have

forgot that you last left us at Tepellene, with a short ac
count of which town, forgotten in its proper place, I
shall conclude this Letter.
It is inhabited partly by Christians, partly by Turks,
and is said to contain between four and live hundred
houses, of which there did not appear to be one of the
better sort, except the Vizier's palace, which covers a
good deal of ground, and contains a spacious harem. It
is the most favourite residence of Ali, and there are al
ways some of the ladies of his household living on the
spot, as well as a large establishment at all times ready
to receive his Highness. In this palace, it is reported
that Ali preserves the greatest part of his treasure, and,
if you believe the Albanians, some of the inner rooms are
piled up to the top with jewels and coin.
The town stands on a rocky knoll immediately over
the river, which, in this place, is broad and deep, with
high banks on both sides. Ttw-re are remaining an arch
and a half of a bridge opposite the town, which Ali has
in vain endeavoured to repair. An English renegado,
considered skilful in these matters, came from Constanti
nople to inspect the work, and assured the Vizier, that
the bottom of the river, and the banks, being of loose
sand, the buttresses would always be undermined, and
carried off by the autumnal floods. Thus, those who
come from Berat, if they do not cross in a boat, must go
round by the bridge which we passed in our journey to
Tepellene. I am, &c. &c.
 157

LETTER XV.
»-
Departure from Tepellene. —Return to Ioannina.—A Mar*
riage Procession.—A Turkish Puppet- Show.—Ancient
Coins to be met with at Ioannina.—Final departure from
that City.—Return to Prcvesa.—Disaster at Sea.—Land
on the Coast of Sulli.— View of that Town and District,
at Volondorako.—Route from Volondorako to Castropshe-
ca.— To Prevesa.—Sail down the Gulf of Arta.— Vbnit-
tza.—Utrdikee.—Ancient Measurement, of the Gulf.

AFTER settling accounts with the great officers of

the palace, all of whom, from the Chamberlain to the
Fool, came for a present, we took leave of our friend the
Secretary, and having an express order upon the post
throughout the Vizier's dominions, took, besides the five
horses we had brought from Ioannina, five others from
Tepellene, to assist us back to the Capital. The Secre
tary said we might expect great things from these horses.
« Vanno assolutamente correndo." Their extraordinary
velocity was a trot, when forced to their speed, of five
miles an hour.
The priest who had come with us to the Vizier, also
made one of our party back.
The first day we went about twenty miles, and slept in
the village of Lokavo, in the hills, which we had passed
in our way to Tepellene.
The second day we descended again into the plain, con
tinuing along the banks of the river, which we crossed ;
then, having the town of Libokavo on our left, and keep
ing out of the hills, as the waters had subsided, and
striking into the same road by which we had come from
Delvinaki to Libokavo, we arrived at the former place by
sunset. Our journey this day might be about thirty
miles. We slept in the same house that had before lodg
ed us.
 158

The next day we returned as far as Zitza, perhaps

twenty-five miles, and took up our abode in the monaste
ry on the hill. On the day after, the 26th of October,
we got back to the house of Sign ir Nicolo at Ioannina.
Thus, although we had been nine days in getting toTe-
pellene, we were only four coming back; and the jour
ney, which cannot be quite a hundred English miles,
might, notwithstanding the badness of the paths, be per
formed very easily in three. The Tartars, or couriers,
are not half that time upon the road. However, as there
is no point gained by hurrying over a country one has ne
ver seen before, and may never see again, we did not at
all regret having made so slow a progress.
The weather, during our return, was very different
from what it had been on our former journey. The
storms had ceased, and the sun shone in the middle of the
day as hot as with us at raid-summer. The vintage was
now entirely over, and the maize was collected into the
villages. The flocks of goats, and sheep, and the herds
of small cattle, had all been driven from the tops and
sides of the hills, into the warmer plains. The plough
ing for the early crops of the ensuing year, had also com
menced.
We passed our time at Ioannina, both before and after
our visit to Tepellene, most agreeably ;—a sail upon the
lake, a ride into the country, or a stroll through the Ba
zars and Bizestein, occupied our mornings, and our even
ings were passed at home in the conversation of our host,
or abroad in visits to the principal people of the town.
We were one evening gratified by the sight of a mar
riage procession, which, as the ceremonies of the Greek
Christians of Albania seem to he carried to a more ridi
culous height than those of the other parts of Turkey, I
will attempt to describe. A slave of the Harem, and an
Albanian Officer, a Christian in the Vizier's service,
were, the pat ties.
First, the bridegroom passed through the streets, at
tended by a large party of men with fiddles, and with
many others carrying lanterns of coloured paper, and he
proceeded to fetch his bride from the Seraglio of his
Highness. Half an hour afterwards we saw the whole
party moving along to the house of the bridegroom. The
streets were full of people. At the head of the proces
 159

sion was the bridegroom with his band of musicians and

lantern-bearers, followed also by a long crowd of men.
Next came six young girls, splendidly dressed in gold
and silver stuffs, with their lung hair flowing over the
shoulders ; two of them carried infants in their arms.
Then appeared a woman more richly habited, carrying
on her head a small red trunk, containing the portion
with which the bride, according to custom, as belonging
to the Harem, had been presented by Ali himself. Be
hind her came the bride herself, to w hose appearance it is
impossible for me to do justice. It was some time be
fore we were thoroughly convinced that what we saw
was not some doll dressed up for the occasion. She
had scarcely any perceptible motion, except a slow march
from side to side, and she resembled more than any thing
else I can recollect, the wax figure of Queen Elizabeth
in Westminster Abbey, for not only her dress, but herself
was to the full as stiff. Her face, not a muscle of which
moved, was daubed with a mask of white and red paint,
and she seemed cautious not to alter, in the least, the po
sition of her head, for fear of throwing off a high cap
studded with pieces of gold money. Her left hand was
held by an armed Albanian magnificently drest, and her
right by a Greek priest. Behind her was a vast crowd
of women, with music and lanterns.
The procession moved so slowly, and the number of
people was so great, that the street w as not clear of them
for nearly an hour. The marriage had taken place in
the morning, but the bride had returned to her apart
ments, that she might be carried off in triumph during
the night.
This procession, the most grand and ridiculous of the
many I saw in Turkey, is something more in the Alba
nian than the Greek taste, and has therefore not been
deferred till I came to speak of the latter nation.
An evening or two before our departure from Ioannina,
we went to see the only advance which the Turks have
made towards scenic representations. This was a pup
pet show, conducted by a Jew who visits this place dur
ing the Ramazan, with his card performers. The show,
a sort of ombre Chinoise, was fitted up in -a corner of a
very dirty coffee-house which was full of spectators,
mostly young boys. The admittance, was two paras for
 160

a cup of coffee, and two or three more of those small

pieces of money put into a plate handed round after the
performance. The hero of the piece was a kind of punch,
called Cara-ketis, who had, as a traveller has well ex
pressed it, the equipage of the God of Gardens, supr
ported hy a string from his neck. The next in dignity
was a droll, called Codja-Haivat, the Sancho of Cara-
keus ; a man and a woman were the remaining figures,
except that the catastrophe of the drama was brought
about hy the appearance of the Devil himself in his pro
per person. The dialogue, which was all in Turkish,
and supported in different tones by the Jew, I did not
understand; it caused loud and frequent bursts of laugh
ter Trom the audience ; but the action, which was perfect
ly intelligible, was too horribly gross to be described. If
you have ever seen the morrice-dancing in some counties
of England, you may have a faint idea of it.
If the character of a nation, as has been said, can be
well appreciated by a view of the amusements in which
they delight, this puppet-show would place the Turks
very low in the estimation of any observer. They have
none, we were informed, of a more decent kind.

There are now not a few inducements which may pro

bably cause many intelligent travellers of our own country
to visit loannina, and Albania; and from their investiga
tion the world will doubtless be informed of many inter
esting particulars before unknown.
The vicinity of the islands now in our possession, the
peaceable state of the country under the government of
Ali, the good correspondence that prince maintains with
the English, and the wish of exploring regions so long
involved in complete obscurity, and, as it were, lost out
of the map of Europe, will aid and prompt their enqui
ries, and we shall soon be as well informed with respect
to the people and country of Albania, as we have been
for some time on the head of Greece and other provinces
of Turkey.
loannina itself affords a safe and agreeable residence
to travellers. The Greeks are of the better sort, and well
instructed in the manners and languages of Christen
 161

dom ; one of them, a school-master of the name of Psal-

lida, may be called a learned man. He teaches the mo
dern and ancient Greek, the Latin, Italian, and French
languages, to about a hundred scholars, and has, besides,
established a reputation by publishing a philosophical
treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, dedicated to the
Empress Catharine.
The curiosity of the antiquary would be gratified by
many valuable coins, which are to be met with in the
hands of Greek collectors. The series of Macedonian
Kings might easily be made up, and though not very rare,
these medals are very beautiful and perfect. The golden
Philip, the «regale numisma," is very common ; and
there is a report that three hundred of them were lately
discovered in one earthen jar. The coins at Ioannina,
however, are not to be purchased so cheaply as those in
Greece. A collector in that city has twenty-seven, I
think that is the number, of very rare pieces, which he
will not sell separately, and he asks a large price for the
whole. No one likes to pass through such a country
without collecting a little, and yet, as there is generally
some person residing in the towns to whom every thing
is first shown, a mere passing traveller has but a poor
chance of getting what is very excellent. In the villages
indeed he may occasionally meet with something rare,
before the peasant has carried it to the town ; for imme
diately on the arrival of a Frank, every thing in the
shape of a medal or cut stone, which the country people
may have found, is brought to him ; a ridiculous procla
mation to that effect being often made by order of his
dragoman, and he has perhaps, an antiquity of George
the Third's time, presented for his acceptance, or an an
cient cameo cut by a Parisian jeweller. My own seals,
which were dropped near Ioannina, may serve to enrich
the store of some future collector.
On the third of November we left the city and the lake,
not to return : and were the one the ancient Cassiope,
and the other Acherusia, as certainly as Cellarius and
Pouqueville have asserted them to be, we could not have
parted from them with greater regret. The Priest was
still of our party, and we had also the company of an
Albanian Captain, a Turk, who joined us, as he said,
for the love of the English.
voi. i. X
 163
We returned to Salora, on the gulf of Arta, sleeping
the first night at the han of St. Demetre, and the next
at Aria. At Salora, we had intelligence that the country
of Carnia was up in arms ; that bodies of robbers had
descended from the mountains of Triccala and Agrapha,
and had made their appearance on the other side of the
gulf, at a custom-house belonging to the Vizier, called
Utraikee, where they had killed two men.
We had it in our power either to procure a guard at
Prevesa, and venture through Carnia, or to get into a
galliot of Ali's, and go by sea to Patrass. We waited,
however, a day, for advice from Prevesa, with our old
acquaintances at the barrack, and th< n received intelli
gence, that an Albanian Bey was about to set out, and
collect all the armed men of the district, and hunt the
robbers from Carnia, and that we might, if we pleased,
attend him upon this gathering. However, we made up
our minds to go by sea, and proceeding in a boat to Pre
vesa, we presented the Vizier's order to the governor,
who immediately prepared a galliot for our passage.
We slept one night at Prevesa, and got on board the
next day in the forenoon.
The galliot was a stout vessel, about fifty tons burden,
long and narrow, with three short masts, on each of
which she carried a large lateen sail of the sort univer
sally used in the Levant. She had forty men and four
guns. All the sailors were Turks, except four Greeks,
who turned out to be the only persons on board who knew
how to manage even a boat. There were several Cap
tains ; but he that was called the first captain, was a Dul-
cigniote, a mild-mannered man, who sat very composedly
smoking, and playing with a string of beads, called a
comboloio, which is a favourite solitary pastime both of
Mahometans and Christians, no man above the common
sort being w ithout his bead roll.
At twelve o'clock we weighed anchor, but ran aground
in getting out of the harbour. Upon this the Captain
proposed staying till next day. However, w e begged him
to try again, and accordingly by one o'clock we were out
of the port with a fair wind, hoping that we should soon
double the head-land of Santa-Maura. But we found
that the Leucadian promontory was equally the terror of
our Turkish seamen, as it had been of the Grecian navi
 163

gators; for though we had a fine breeze, to all appear

ance quite fair, yet something, which we knew not of, oc
curred, and by four o'clock we were pronounced in dis
tress. The Captain said we should be obliged to put into
Santa Maura, then in the hands of the French, if we did
not tack directly. This caused a great deal of bustle,
and in putting about, the mizen-sail split from top to bot
tom. The wind blew a little stronger, and there was a
heavy swell. The Captain put his comboloio in his poc
ket. The sailors were nearly all, except the Greeks,
sick, and retired below.
We were now steering directly for Corfu, as all hope
of getting round the Cape had been given up. At sun-set
it blew fresh, and the rolling of the sea shook us so vio
lently, as we were very badly steered, that the greatest
alarm prevailed. The Captain wrung his hands and
wept. George our dragoman, at every heel the ship took,
called loudly on the name of God, and when the main-
yard snapped in two, every thing was given up for lost.
The guns also broke loose, and the foresail was split.
The ship lay like a log on the water, and the Turk at the
helm contrived to keep her broadside to the sea, so that ft
was not improbable she might have been swamped. The
Captain being asked what he could do, said, he could do
nothing.—« Could he get back to thp main land J"—« If
God chooses," was his answer.—« Could he make Cor
fu ?"—« If God chooses."—In short, there was nothing
left, but to request he would give up the management of
the vessel to the Greeks. He said he would give it to any
body. The Greeks then soon got us into a better plight,
and rigging a small stay-sail between the mizen and the
main, and another between the main and foremast, and
taking down the yards, helped the ship along more easily.
They steered us back upon the main land of Albania,
keeping as close to the wind as possible, to prevent being
driven to Corfu ; and the sea and the wind abating, they
brought us, about one o'clock in the morning, to an an
chor at the entrance of a bay.
At the dawn of morning we found ourselves nearly
within musket-shot of the land, which was craggy and
woody, with high mountains in the distance. Our Turks
began all of them to smoke, without taking the least no
tice of what had happened, or thinking of repairs ; and
 164

this being the termination of the Ilamazan, and the first

morning of the Bairam, a feast which lasts three days,
they all, according to a custom singular enough to us,
kissed and embraced each other with great, ceremony and
affection, the Captain receiving the salute from all his
men.
In a short time, three or four men with guns appeared
on the rocks, and shouted to us, to know who we were.
The Captain answered, and hoisted a large red ensign ;
and after some more hallooing, two boats came out of the
bay and made for Paxos, which island, as well as Anti-
paxos, was not far from us. Part of Corfu, and an oppo
site promontory, were also very visible. Some apprehen
sions were entrrtained of these boats being French priva
teers, for we were withhi a few miles of Parga ; it turn
ed out afterwards that the Paxiote sailors had thought we
were an English cruiser, and would not therefore venture
out until assured of the contrary.
In the afternoon, by the advice of the Captain, we de
termined to make the best of our way bark to Prevesa by
land, and we therefore disembarked ourselves and chat
tels in the bay, near a little custom-house, taking the se
cond Captain with us, as he seemed to prefer the perils of
the land to those of his own element.
The bay in which we landed was one called Fanari,
immediately contiguous to the district and mountains of
Sulli. We sent for horses to the nearest village, and
when they arrived, after waiting a long time on the beach,
we proceeded through a thick wood, and caught a sight
of a plain, and the town of Parga, to our left. We were
not more than half an hour in reaching a village called
Volondorako, where we were well received by the Alba
nian primate of the place, ant! by the Vizier's soldiers
quartered there. But our cottage was a miserable tene
ment indeed.
We found that a wreck, which we had seen in the bay,
was that of a prize made shortly before by our Corfu
squadron, and that the midshipman who had been cast
away in her, had slept five nights before in the same
house ; and having been enabled to proceed to Prevesa by
the assistance of the Albanians, had presented them with
the wreck of his vessel. But the proper intention of the
young Englishman (afterwards approved by his Captain)
 165

had been frustrated by the Greek Vice-Consul at Preve-

sa, who got an order from the governor of that town for the
ship, pretending that all English wrecks were his proper
ty. The Albanians at Volondorako complained to us bit
terly of this, and certainly they had some reason to be
dissatisfied.
In the morning we had a view of the country, and saw
the mountains of Sulli to the east, on the opposite side of
a long plain running north and south. The town of Sul
li itself was also visible on the crag of a rock three parts
up the mountain ; and a little to the south, below the
town, was a fortress built by the Vizier during his wars
with this place. Near this was a village called Castriz-
za, where are some few remains of ancient walls. The
whole plain seemed well cultivated, abounding with ara
ble lands, but having no vineyards.
Whatever I could learn on the spot of this territory,
so celebrated in the annals of modern Greece, has been
already communicated ; I shall only add, that the force
of arms appeared still necessary to preserve the conquests
of Ali ; for there were thirty soldiers quartered in our
small village of about thirty houses.
"We were a long time in procuring horses, but at last
left Volondorako at one o'clock in the afternoon, provid
ed with guides, and with three of the Albanian guard.
On leaving our cottage, the remainder of the guard sa
luted us by firing off their muskets, holding them in one
hand, and giving them just elevation sufficient to let the
balls whistle over our heads. Our Albanians returned
the compliment, aud there was a great mutual shouting,
till we had struck into the woods out of sight.
Our road took us to the south over woody hillocks for
two hours, when we came near the sea-side, still over hil
ly ground. Then descending nearer the shore, we pass
ed under a castle belonging to Ali, on the summit of a
steep rock close to the sea, in a part of the country call
ed Ereenosa. Similar towers, and ruins of towers, of
Turkish and Venetian construction, are to be found, it is
said, all along the coast from Butrinto. We saw one
more, further on towards Prevesa.
We terminated one of the most beautiful rides we had
ever taken, by passing through groves of adrachnus, or
strawberry-tree, whose apples, called by the Greeks, « Co
 \

166

mara," were hanging from the boughs in large red clus

ters, interspersed with the berries of many other fragrant
shrubs with which this region abounds. It was sun-set
before we reached the village in which we were to halt.
It was called Castropsheca, upon a height, at a little
distance from the sea, and was rather of the better sort,
for our cottage had a wooden floor raised one story from
the ground. It was inhabited by Greeks.
At twelve the next day we set out again ; and after a
short ride through a wood, and crossing a small river, we
came to the sea-shore, with a barren flat country to our
left, and continued for some time going round a large
bay, till we came to the beach on the sea-side of Nicopo- .
lis. Here my friend and myself rode off" to pay a last
visit to the ruins, whilst our baggage proceeded directly
to Prevesa, at which place we all arrived at sun-set.
From Volondorako to Prevesa, the path is very bad
and intricate, till the approach to the latter town, and is
abouf nine hour's journey—not more, perhaps, than twen
ty-four miles.
A reference to ancient geography seems to point out
the bay of Fanari as the lesser port between the Gly-
kyslimen and the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, called
Cornarus,* from which a straight line drawn to the gulf
on the side of Nicopolis, made a distance of sixty sta
dia, or seven and a half Roman miles. The large bay,
round which we rode on the second day, answers to the
description of the wider port alluded to by Strabo, as a
mile and a half from Nicopolis. Yet the distance of Co
rnarus from the Gulf, does not appear reconcileable with
that of Fanari to the same point. However, the ex
treme badness of the roads may have made our journey
appear much longer than it really was, and as we passed
along by far the longest side of the triangle, may almost
account fur the difference. The whole coast, from Bu-
trinto to Prevesa, is called by the Venetians, Vaielitia, or
Valetitzia.
We had now no choice left, but that of going across
Carnia, we therefore provided ourselves, by the Gover
nor's assistance, with thirty-seven soldiers, of whom
there were three Bolu-bashees, or Captains ; and we al-

* Strabon. lib. vii.

 167

so procured another galliot to take us down the gulf of

Arta, to the place whence we were to commence our land
journey.
Our whole party got on board the vessel, which was a
sort of row-galley, at one o'clock, Monday, the 13th of
November, and passing round the promontory of Cape
Figalo, continued sailing with very little wind, and row
ing, until we got off the fortress of Vonitza, which was
at sun-set. Here the Captain, who, rather to our asto
nishment, was the same Dulcigniote that had commanded
on our late disastrous expedition, said we might as well
wait for the morning breeze, so that wc were some time
near Vonitza, and advanced but little during the night.
Vonitza is a small town, inhabited by Greeks, whose
chief trade consists in boutaraga, or the roes of fish,
salted and pressed into rolls like sausages. The fortress,
w hirh was by the French given up to the Porte, or rather
to Ali Pasha, is not very strong, and is garrisoned by a
small body of Albanians.
The sun rose over the hills of Agrapha, at the bottom
of the gulf, and we advanced gently with the sails and
oars, keeping not far from the southern shore, under a
range of woody hills, with some few cultivated spots, but
no villages to be seen. It was not until four o'clock in
the afternoon that we arrived at Utraikec, situated in a
deep bay surrounded with rocks and woods, at the south
east corner of the gulf, which stretches eight or nine
miles farther to the east, and must in its whole length bo
at least as long as described to be by Polybius and Strabo.
It is true, that the historian mentions the length directly,
as being three hundred stadia, or thirty-seven Roman
miles and a half,* and the Geographer uses the expres
sion circle,] yet by this word he must be supposed to mean
the longest diameter, not the circumference, though the
word (xuxmc) in other places of the same author, is used
as synonimous with the latter expression.^: Polybius has

* Polyb. lib. iv. cap. 69.

f Strab. lib. vii.
\ After writing the above, I find that Casaubon, in his Commentary
on Strabo, has compared the two passages without a remark ; so
that xtjxxoc must be considered to bear the same meaning as xoMrot
would have done, though it is, wherever else 1 have seen it in this
author, to be understood in the sense of vipittot, iruifttTftt, or
rTftyyu\tt, h is usual words.
 168

added, that the breadth is, in parts, equal to one-third of

the length of thp gulf. Doubtless the site of Utraikee,
was one of the many good ports, with which it is said, by
Strabo, to abound ; even now, it is the occasional resort
of some of the boats from the islands, which exchange
their commodities for the wools and skins of Carnia. We
saw several sail of these small merchantmen proceeding
towards Terra Nova, and the lower end of the gulf.
The gulf of Arta, in the time of Barbarossa, was the
rendezvous of the Turkish navy, maintained to overawe
the armaments of the Christian Powers in the Italian
seas ; but I am not aware that it was ever navigated by
any large ship of war of the modern construction.
I am, &c. &c.
 169

LETTER XVI.

ITtraikee.—Night Scene at that Place Route through Car-

nia—to Catoona—to Makala.—Prospects from the Hills
of the River Aspro or Achelous—and of the Lake JVize-
ros.—Ancient Remains at Mto and at Ligustovichi.—
Route continued—to Prodromo.—Passage of the Achelous.
—Arrival at Gouria.—Route over the Paracheloitis—to
Natolico.—Another Routefrom Aria to Natolico.—Boun
dary of Camia.—Former Inhabitants.—Ancient Geogra
phy.—Present State.—Ruins at Teeserenes.—The Shal
lows of MessaUmge and JVatolico.—T/ie Fishery.—Con
jecture as to the Formation of the Shallows.— The Town
and Inhabitants of Messakmge.—The District of Xero-
meros, or JEtolia.—Town of Ivoria.—River Fidari, or
Evenus.—Ruins of Calydon.—Rocks of Chalcis and Tap-
piasus.—Passage to Patrass.

AT Utraikee there was only a custom-house and a

barrack for soldiers, both oi stone, close to each other,
and surrounded on every side, except to the water, by a
high wall. We bathed in a little cove near the house;
but were prevented from strolling any farther, as the
woods were suspected to be yet infested by the robbers,
who had, five days before, appeared in a body of thirty-
five men, and carried off a Greek and a Turk, before the
guard had time to shut the gates of the yard. They point
ed out to us a small green spot, at the bottom of the bay,
where, in the sight of, and as a bravado to, the ten sol
diers shut up in the barrack, they shot the Turk, and
stoned the Greek whom they had taken.
In the evening the gates were secured, and prepara
tions were made for feeding our Albanians. A goat was
killed, and roasted whole, and four fires were kindled in
vol. i. Y
 170
the yard, round which the soldiers seated themselves in
parties. After eating and drinking, the greater part of
them assembled round the largest of the fires, and, whilst
ourselves and the elders of the party were seated on the
ground, danced round the blaze to their own songs, in
the manner before described, but with astonishing energy.
AH their songs were relations of some robbing exploits.
One of them, which detained them more than an hour,
began thus—« When we set out from Parga, there were
sixty of us then came the burden of the verse,

" Robbers all at Parga !

*' Robbers all at Parga !"
" Kx(^>7tit iro7« Tloifya !
" Kx«^>7e« irolt T1ttfya !"
and as they roared out this stave, they whirled round the
fire, dropped, and rebounded from their knees, and again
whirled round, as the chorus was again repeated. The
rippling of the waves upon the pebbly margin where we
were seated, filled up the pauses of the song with a milder,
and not more monotonous music. The night was very
dark, but by the flashes of the fires we caught a glimpse
of the woods, the rocks, and the lake, which, together
with the wild appearance of the dancers, presented us
with a scene that would have made a fine picture in the
hands of such an artist as the author of the Mysteries of
Udolpho.
As we were acquainted with the character of the Alba
nians, it did not at all diminish our pleasure to know,
that every one of our guard had been robbers, and some
of them a very short time before. The most respectable
and best mannered Bolu-bashee with us, had been, four
years past, a very formidable one, having had the com
mand of two hundred upon the mountains behind Lepanlo,
but he had submitted with his men, and was now in the
service of Ali. It was eleven o'clock before we had re
tired to our room, at which time the Albanians, wrapping
themselves up in their capotes, went to sleep round the
fires.
We were off at half-past eight the next morning, when
we took ten other soldiers from the barrack, besides our
own party, as for the first two hours there were some
 171
notorious passes in the woods through which our route
lay. Approaching* these spots, fifteen or twenty of the
party walked briskly on before, and when they had gone
through the pass, halted until we came up to them. We
travelled to the south amongst thick forests, with now and
then a small opening, through which, on both sides,
were to be discerned a plain and low hills. In one or
two green spots near the road, were Turkish tombstones,
generally under a clump of trees and by the side of a
stone fountain, the resting place of the traveller.
Having passed the woods, the ten men returned to
Utraikee, and we got into an open country. We passed
over a low hill, on which was a small village, and a bar
rack for Albanian soldiers, and leaving this to the left a
little, ascended some more rising ground to a village call
ed Catoona, where we arrived by twelve o'clock.
It was our intention to have proceeded farther this day,
but our progress was interrupted by an affair between our
Albanians and the Primate of the village, for, as we were
looking about us, and horses were collecting to carry our
baggage, as we had dropped those from Utraikee, after a
torrent of words from one of the soldiers, swords were
suddenly drawn, and guns cocked, and upon this, in an
instant, and before we could stop the affray, the Primate
threw off his shoes and cloak, and fled so precipitately,
that he rolled down the hill and dislocated his shoulder.
It was a long time before we could persuade him to come
back to his house, where we were lodged ; when he did
return, he said he did not care so much about his shoul
der, as for the loss of a purse with fifteen sequins, which
dropped out of his pocket during his tumble. The hint
was understood.
Catoona, inhabited by Greeks only, contains twenty
bouses, but most of them of the better sort, well built
with stone. The Primate's house is a very good one,
neatly fitted up with sofas. Upon a knoll in the middle
of the village is a school-house and yard, and from this
spot there is a very extensive view. To the west are
high mountains called Vounstos (that is, the hills), rang
ing from north to south hear the coast. To the east there
is also a grand mountain prospect in the distance, but
nearer there is seen & green valley, and a considerable
river winding through a long line of country. This ri
 172
vcr is the Acheloiis, now called the Aspro, or White ri
ver. The modern name of the lake is Nizeros, and it is
about six miles, they told us, in length.
We had much difficulty in procuring horses at Catoona,
so that we were not off until half-past eleven the next
morning, and did not travel more than four hours that
day, to a village called Makala. The path was south
wards, tolerably good, through a woody country at first,
but on mounting the hill on which the village stood, the
prospect widened on every side, and we again saw the
lake, the river, and the plain, stretching far down to the
south.
Makala is a well-built stone village, containing about
forty houses, separated from each other, inhabited by
Greeks, a little above the condition of peasants, whose
wealth consists in large flocks of sheep of a thick coarse
fleece, that is sold into Albania and the Morea. He with
whom we lodged was a grave important gentleman, call
ing himself a merchant, and keeping a secretary. The
houses we saw in Carnia were much better than any we
had seen in the villages of Albania. The one we slept in
at Makala, had very much the appearance of one of those
old mansions that are to be met with in the bottoms of
the Wiltshire Downs. There were two green courts to
it, one before, and the other, round which there was a
raised terrace, behind the house. The whole was sur
rounded by a very high and very thick wall, that shut
out the prospect entirely, but was perfectly necessary in
a country frequently overrun by large bands of robbers
in their way from the island of Santa Maura to the moun
tains of Triccala and Agrapha. The operations of some
of these outlaws were visible in the ruins of a large house,
which was pulled down by them about twenty years past,
after a determined opposition from the inhabitants. The
possession of Santa Maura by the English, will much
tend to free Carnia from these depredators.
From the highest point in the village we were shown
two pieces of wall, which our host assured us were re
mains of antiquity. One of them was on a hill to the
west, called Ae'to ; and another on a hill to the east,
overlooking the Aspro, and by name Ligustovichi. I
should not forget, that on this eminence there was, sus
pended from a stake, a piece of thick curved iron hoop.
 173

which, when struck by a hammer, also hanging from the

stake, serves to call the Greeks to church, and also to
alarm the country when the robbers appear ; for the me
lancholy noise may, in the silence of the night, be heard
in the surrounding woods and vallies for many miles.
This is the church bell universally used in the Levant.
There is an exact picture of one in Tournefort.
We were detained at Makala a day, because horses
could not be found to carry us on, which delay our Alba
nian, Vasilly, assured us was owing to the disuse of the
stick; but on the 18th of November we set out at ten
o'clock in the morning.
We went through woods along a craggy tangled path
to the south, and at half-past twelve, passed a village of
a few huts called Prodromo; after which, going a point
to the eastward of south, we struck into deeper woods, of
oak, which lasted, with hardly one opening, for five
hours, until we found ourselves at a village of huts only
a quarter of a mile from the banks of the Aspro. In the
course of our journey through the forest we lighted upon
three new-made graves, which, as our Albanians passed,
they pointed at, crying out, « Sir, the robbers !" and
not long after this, as the whole party of them were pass
ing along in a string, on something being seen in the
gloom of the woods, they rushed amongst the trees to
practise their manoeuvres, but found nothing to. attack.
They seemed to apprehend some danger during the whole
day ; they were unusually silent, and did not always
keep in the path, but beat about amongst the bushes on
either side.
We had once a view through the woods, of the large
town named Vraichore, on the left bank of the Aspro,
probably about ten miles higher up the river than the
place at which we crossed.
The stream of this river was very broad and rapid,
and deep, not so broad as the river at Tepellene, but of
a much larger body of water. However, although the
suti was set, we passed over in a well-contrived ferry
boat, to a decent village, partly of Turkish, partly of
Greek families, called Gouria, where we passed the
night.
From Utraikee to Gouria, over a country which it had
taken us altogether fourteen hours and a half to traverse,
 we did not meet or pass a single traveller of any descrrp-'
tion, and we only saw one more village than those through
which we passed. The whole of Carnia appeared to us
a wilderness of forests and unpeopled plains. All our
route, except a few miles, was, as described, through
thick woods of oak ; but what we saw of the jEtolian
side of the Acheloiis, seemed very different, less woody
and hilly, and abounding with tracts of luxuriant culti
vation.
Leaving Gouria the next morning, we changed oup
southerly for an easterly direction, and continued at
first through a plain of corn-fields near the banks of the
river, which, we soon left on our right, and continued in
a rich open country, sometimes over stone causeways,
and between the hedges of gardens and olive-groves,
when we were stopped by the sea. What we had passed
over from Gouria, was that fruitful region formerly call
ed Parachcloi'tis, which was drained, or, according to one
of the prettiest allegories of ancient mythology, torn from
the Acheloiis by the perseverance of Hercules, and pre
sented by the demi-god for a nuptial present to the daugh
ter of Oeneus. This was the horn, whose plenty was
the prize so often disputed by the rivals of Acamania
and JEtolia. The water at which we now arrived might
more properly be called a salt-marsh than the sea, or a
shallow bay stretching from the mouth of the gulf of
Lepanto into the land for several miles. At the spot
where we stood, it was about a mile and a half broad,
and not more than two feet deep. Half-way over was
the town of Natolico, rising out of the water ; and to this
place, after dismissing our horses, we passed over in
several punts, of which there were a great number ply
ing to and fro.
We were treated at first rather cavalierly by the Alba
nian governor of the town, who, however, on being spo
ken to a little decisively, and presented with the signa
ture of his master Ali, provided proper lodgings, and
billets for our soldiers. We found out, that during our
altercation with the governor, a Greek, who had been
nominated English Vice-Consul of the place, had sat by
without saying a word, or letting us know that there was
in the town any such character, to whom we might apply.
But the inattention of this man was made up for by the
 175

civility of a Jew physician, who told us—I recollect his

expression—that he was honoured by our partaking of
his little misery.
At Natolico we staid one night. It is a well-built
town ; the houses of wood, and chiefly of two stories,
about six hundred in number; inhabited by some few
Turks, but principally by Greeks, who are small mer
chants, dealing in the coarse woollens made from the
fleeces of Carnia, and in boutaraga, with which their
marsh supplies them. The water flows through many
of the streets, which have wooden causeways on piles.
There is a route from Arta to Natolico, which we had
been advised to avoid, on account of the turbulent state of
the country. It passes through the district called Ma-
crinoro, under the mountains of Agrapha, and in a coun
try where, near a river, once the Inachus, and something
more than six hours and a half* from Arta, one might
expect to And some ruins of the Amphilochian Argos.
The first stage is to a place called Pandi, seven hours
from Arta : thence to Natolico is twelve hours. The
route passes through Mila, a village ; then in two hours
to Vraikore, a considerable town on the left bank of the
Acheloiis, before noticed, commanded by an Aga, or
Bey, in subjection to AH, who gave us a letter to him;
and the residence of a Greek Bishop. After Vraikore;
and five hours from Natolico, is Ratoki, a village. The
road is, for the greater part, on the left bank of the Ache
loiis, and in a flat well-cultivated country.
Carnia is bounded on the land side by the Aspro, and
by a branch of that river, called in some maps the Ina
chus, which, flowing in a curved direction into the bot
tom of the gulf of Arta, separates it from the district of
Macrinoro. Its length from north to south is about forty-
two English miles, and its breadth thirty-two. As Na
tolico is not to be reckoned within its limits, it cannot be
said to contain one considerable town, and perhaps it is
the least populous of any district of European Turkey.
This country formerly included Leucadia, and its ca
pital, indeed, was Leucas,f situated (not where the town
of Santa Maura now stands) on the narrow flat, five hun-
• Livy (lib. xxxviii. cap. 10) says, twenty-two Roman miles,
f Strab. lib. x.
 176

dred paces long and one hundred and twenty paces broad,
anciently joining the main land to the peninsula, after
wards connected by a bridge ; but it appears never to
have played a considerable part in the flourishing days
of Greece. Thucydides* speaks of the Acarnanians as
one of those nations, which, as well as the Locri Ozolae,
and the JEtolians, continued in his time the barbarous
practice of wearing arms—a sign of their old habits of
plunder. As auxiliaries (all but the Leucadians and
Anactorii) of the Athenians, they performed some ac
tions recorded in the history of the Peloponnesian war;
but their contests were chiefly with the -35tolian8,f until,
in the decline of Athens, they dared, with the assistance
of King Philip, son of Demetrius, to insult that vene
rable city. They were the last to desert the alliance of
the Macedonian monarch ; but three years after their in
vasion of Attica, and a few days after the battle of Cy-
noscephalse, they yielded to the arms of the Romans.}
Under the protection of their conquerors, their country
flourished, until nearly depopulated by the decree of Au
gustus, on account of their supposed partiality to the
cause of Antony, and in order to form the new colony of
Nicopolis. However, their towns were never very nu
merous or large, and the greater part of the people lived
in villages.
Not to reckon Leucas, or any places beyond the Ache
loiis, though from that river to the Evenus was peopled
by Acarnanians, || their principal town was Stratus, on
the Acheloiis, two hundred stadia from the mouth of the
river ;§ Nova jEnea was at seventy stadia ; JSniadse, at
the mouth of the Acheloiis, and on the entrance of the
Corinthian gulf, not more than a hundred stadia from the
opposite point of Araxus in the Peloponnesus. Anacto-
riuin was within the gulf, forty stadia from Actium,
which was at the mouth of the gulf of Ambracia, though
Mr. D'Anville^j has placed Actium within Anactorium.
* Thucyd. Hist. lib. i. cap. 5. \ Liv. lib. xxvi. cap. 25.
1 Liv. lib. xxxiii.'cap. 16. |j Strab. lib. viii.
§ Stratus is said by Strabo to be half-way between Myzia and An-
uctorium, which is' irreconcileable with the two positions. Mr. Bar
bie du Boccage solves the difficulty, by reading AiTiffior. i
IF See Letter II. of this volume, where Mr. D'Anville is followed.
torium, that it was mi t» vrcftaTi tk 'Ajmrpax/xs xoaidt.—Lib. i. cap.
55.
On the west was Palarus, then Alyzia, fifteen stadia
from the sea to the east of Leucas ; and near that, the
promontory and port of Hercules, with a temple, whence
a sculpture of the Labours of Hercules, by Lysippus,
was transported to Rome, on account, says Strabo, of the
fiolitude of the spot where it was placed. The port and
promontory of Crithote were lower down on the coast.
The islands of Echinades were also accounted belonging
to Acarnania. They were all of them, except Dolicha,
which has therefore been supposed to be the site of Nato-
lico, rough barren rocks, the most distant of them only
fifteen stadia from the main. We went near them in our
first passage to Prevesa, as well as to the small sharp
rocks once called Thoas, and now Curzolari. Inch-
Keith, in the Firth of Forth, would be a fertile domain,
to any one of them, and would certainly be a more popu
lous kingdom than all of them put together, for they have
no inhabitants. Yet Thoas, and the Echinades, sent their
King Meges, equal to Mars, with forty ships, to the siege
of Troy. Astacus was a town not far from JEniadse.
I know of no particular mention of the country from
the times of the Roman to the Turkish conquest, when
there is a mere notice taken of the Princes of Acarnania,
as of the Princes of Albania. It was conquered, or ra
ther overrun, by Bajazet the First, at the same time with
Peloponnesus and Greece. Since it came to the hands of
the Turks, it has had one or two important places. Dra-
gomestre, placed by D'Anville on the site of Astacus,
was once a considerable town with a strong fortress, but
is now only a miserable village, and a post for fishing-
boats. Port Candeli is in a deep bay, sixteen miles and
a half to the south of the gulf of Arta. Port Petala is
at the mouth of the Aspro. The position of Vonitza you
are already acquainted with : there is a small river run
ning into the bay, at the bottom of which it stands.
Carnia is peopled entirely by Greeks. The Albanians
amongst them are soldiers of Ali Pasha, quartered in,
their country to preserve them from the robbers, and to
keep them in allegiance. They trade chiefly through Na-
tolico.
This last mentioned place we left the day after our ar
rival, and sending on our baggage in punts, proceeded
by land to the next stage, a town called Messalonge. The
vol. I. . Z
 178 ' [
distance is only three hours, to the south, on a rugged
road under low stony hills until the last part of the rideA
—At two hours from Natolico, on a hill to the left of thy
road, are some remains of an ancient wall. The spot re
called at present Teeserenes, or some such name. A lit!
tie way from Messalonge we were met by the Greeks,
holding the office, which must be almost a sinecure, of
Vice-Consul for the English Nation, and were conducted
by him through the town to his house, where we had a
comfortable lodging, and staid two nights.
Messalonge is situated on the south-east side of the salt
marsh, or shallow, that extends between two and three
miles into the land below Natolico, and six miles about
beyond Messalonge itself, into the gulf of Lepanto. The
breadth of the bay formed by these shallows, may be, in
an oblique direction from Messalonge towards the north,
to the other side, not far from the mouth of the Aspro,
about ten miles. At the extremity of the shallows, to
wards the deep water, for several miles in circuit, there
are rows of stakes, and also, at intervals, some wicker
huts raised on poles, forming, as it were, a line between
the sea and the bay, and appearing to those sailing down
the gulf like a double shore.* Within this fence, there
is a very valuable fishery, and many boats are stationed
for that purpose in the marsh.
The port of Messalonge will not admit any vessel
drawing more than three feet water, nor is there sufficient
water for those of more than five feet any where within the
marsh. AH vessels or boats, whether going in or out of
the bay , are obliged, for want of depth, to pass close to
a small fort, built on piles, where there is a cannon or
two mounted, and where a Turkish guard resides, to see
the passes of those who enter or leave the fishery. The
fort is called Basilida, and is five miles beyond the town.
Whether the name Echinades applied to any of the
sandy flats now covered by water, and whether the mo
dern town of Natolico can be said to stand on that one of
them called first Dulichium, and then Dolicha, will, it ap
pears, admit of some doubt: their very name would
seem to decide to the contrary. Yet the last-mentioned
island is excepted from the character of rugged sterility at-

* Letter!.
 479

ggei tached to the ojffler rocks. Some of them were by degrees

ride, joined to the continent, and all of thein would have been
- the/ so annexed, had not the discontinuance of cultivation,
it if when Lie people were transplanted to Nicopolis, diminish-
liti ed the quantity of slime deposited by the Acheloiis near
efct the shore : so at least says Pausanias.* It seems to me,
o< that these shallows must have been formed by the gra-
;e» dual junction of the lake Cynia, and perhaps of those of
I r Melite and Uria, with the sea, as well as by the sand
washed forwards by the continued torrents from the
mouths of the river. The lake of Cynia, which, together
with those of Melite and Uria, was not far from the city
ef JEniad«, was sixty stadia long and forty broad, and
had a communication with the sea.f No such inland lake
is at present to be seen, nor did I hear of any answering
to the position of Melite (which was half the size of Cy
nia), or of Uria, one fourth as large ; so that it is not im
probable, that the whole may have been combined to
form the present appearance of the marshes of Messa-
longe.
Messalonge was formerly the seat of a Pasha of two
tails, but is now under a Governor in dependence upon
Ali Pasha. The inhabitants are partly Greeks, partly
Turks, in number about five thousand. They subsist
chiefly on the fishery, where the red mullet is taken in
quantities sufficient to supply many parts of Roumelia
and the Morea with the boutaraga, and caviar, made
from their roes. None of them are very rich, but seve
ral possess about five thousand piastres per annum—a
good income in that country. The houses are chiefly of
wood, and two stories high. The bazar is furnished with
some neat shops, and the streets are paved. Both Mes
salonge and Natolico are to be reckoned amongst the best
towns in Roumelia; and, except Patrass, they carry on
the most extensive trade with the islands, of any ports in
that quarter of the country. That part of Roumelia to
which they belong, is called Xeromeros (the ancient iEte-
lia), of which, as we saw only a small portion of it, I
shall say but little.
It is all, I believe (except the town of Lepanto, called
by the Greeks Epacto, which is governed by a Pasha of

* Pausanias Arcad. p. 493. f Strab. lib. x,

 \
189 \
two tails), in the hands of Ali ; and botuNas to its popu
lation and productions, is a very important uHstrict. Five
hours from Natolico, and about the same disiSnce from
the Aspro, is the town of Ivoria, of some size,! on the
site, according to D'Anville, of Paiiiphia, a village not
more than thirty stadia from Thermus, the former capi
tal of ^Etolia.* The exploits of the ^Etolians jrowards
the close of Grecian history, which occupy so considera
ble a portion of Polybitis and Livy, have illustrated the
geography of their country, so as to afford no little de
gree of certainty to the conjectures of a modern travel
ler.
That part of the country which we saw to the south
east, and which forms the north side of the entrance to
the gulf of Lepanto, is very mountainous. In a fine val
ley on the other side of the hills to the east, at the back of
Messalonge, we had a view of the river Fidari, the an
cient Evenus. Between the Evenus and the inner mouth
of the gulf at Antirrhium, were the extremities of the
mountains called Chalets. Near these was the village
Lycirna, from which, to the city of Calydon, on the
Evenus, was a length of thirty stadia, three quarters
more than three Roman miles.f Pouqueville, I know not
on what authority, states the ruins of Calydon to be
found a league from Messalonge : perhaps he alludes to
the walls at Teeserenes. Next to the hills of Chalcis
were those called Tappiasus. One of these presents a
very singular appearance : it is a large red rock, and is
rent from top to bottom, with a huge chasm, into the'
bowels of the mountain. It could not fail to attract the
notice of any one sailing towards Patrass.
On the 23d of November, we left Messalonge in a
small-decked vessel, called a trebaculo, after having dis
missed all our Albanians, except one, who was taken in
to service as a companion to Vasilly. His name was
Uervish-Tacheere : he was a Turk. At parting with
him, all his companions embraced him, and accompany
ing him to our boat, fired off their guns as a last salute
to the whole party.
* Polyb. Hist. lib. v. cap. 7, which passage traces the march of
JSing Philip into JEtolia, and gives many positions,
t Strab.lib.x,
 181

We were two hours in passing out of the shallows. As

we showed our pass at the fort of Basilida, we stopped
a few minutes, and had an opportunity of looking at the
huts built on stakes in the water, which serve as habita
tions for those who watch the fishery. Three or four
rows of stakes are planted before each of them, to break
the force of the waves rolling in from the deep water in
stormy weather ; but, notwithstanding this precaution,
neither the huts, nor Basilida itself, appear secure tene
ments for any animals not amphibious, and they seemed
the more wretched to us, as we passed them on a rainy
day, and saw the waves washing over them at every gust
of wind.
The distance from Basilida to Fatrass must be about
fifteen miles ; for we were two hours and a half making
the passage, with several squalls and a strong breeze in
our favour during the whole time.
Patrass must be reserved for my next Letter.
I am, &c. &c.
 182

LETTER XVII.

Patrass.—Its Situation.—Insalubrity.—Ancient State.—

Destruction in 1770.—Present State.—Trade.—Exports -
of the Morea.— Consuls at Patrass.—Greek Light Infan
try.—English Regiment.—The River Leucate.—Depar
ture from Patrass.—The Castles of the Morea and Rou-
melia.—Cape Rhium.—Lepanto.—Route to Vostizza.—
Ancient Positions.— Vostizza.—A Greek Codja-bashee, or
Elder.—Coursing in the Morea.—River Selinus.—JEgi-
um.—The Plane Tree.— Veli Pasha.—Population of the
Morea.—Digression concerning the Mainotes.

WE had, for some time, been very eager to reach

Patrass, in hopes of finding letters from England, and
for the purpose of making certain necessary repairs in
our baggage, which we had deferred until our arrival at
this place. Like other travellers, we had fixed upon a
point where we were to commence a general reform^ and
lay in new stores to aid our progress ; and, as usually
happens, we were disappointed, for there were not at Pa
trass half so many nor so excellent artisans, as our dra
goman George, himself a native of the town, had given
us reason to expect. To complete our disappointment,
the only tailor who knew how to make a Frank dress,
was gone to Zante, at the pressing instance of some offi
cers of the garrison.
However, we were most hospitably entertained by the
English Consul-General for the Morea, and his relation
the Imperial Consul, son of the gentleman who for many
years transacted the English affairs at this port, and who
has an honourable place in several books of travels. After
a long disuse of chairs and tables, we were much pleased
 183

by those novelties at the agreeable entertainments given

us by these gentlemen.
I have, in another place, given you a sketch of the
situation of Patrass. Nothing, certainly, can be more
pleasant than the immediate vicinity of the town, which
is one blooming garden of orange and lemon plantations,
of olive-groves, vineyards, and currant-grounds. The
fruit-trees, and the vines, clothe the sides of the hill be
hind the town, to a considerable height : the currants are
on the flats below, and run along the line of coast to the
south, as far as the eye can reach. Both on the plain
and on the sides of the hills, there is a great quantity of
the small shrub called glykorizza by the Greeks, and
which is our licorice.
The town itself stands on a steep declivity of the moun
tain, now called Vodi. The higher part of it is a .mile
and a half from the port, and in that quarter are all the
best houses, surrounded, as usual, with gardens. At
the top of the whole is a large old Turkish fortress,
which is perfectly useless, and is, so said the Greeks, put
in a state of defence, by being white-washed at the be
ginning of every war. To supply the deficiencies of the
citadel, the Turks have lately placed a few cannon on
the beach, at a little distance from the custom-house.
During the last war with Russia, a line of battle ship
and a frigate threw some shot into the town. The Turks
depend upon the new battery, for future protection from
such an insult.
Notwithstanding the beauty of the situation, Patrass
is not a very desirable residence, on account of the con
tagious fevers and agues with which it is occasionally
visited. In the mornings and the evenings of the autum
nal season, the lower part of the town, and all the sur
rounding flats are enveloped in a thick fog, which we
experienced in our visit, and found it to throw a chilly
dampness even to the upper quarter. Yet you may re
collect from a passage in one of Cicero's letters to his
freedman Tyro, that Patrse was, in his time, recommend
ed as a resort for invalids, and that Tyro himself paid a
visit to it on account of its known salubrity. They told
us, that in summer the heat is insupportable ; indeed,
whilst we were there, the weather was so warm as to ren
der bathing very agreeable on the first of December,
 m
though the summits of Mount Vodi were covered with
enow.
On arriving from Albania in the Morea, you quit a
region little known at any time, for one which the la
bours of ancients and moderns have equally contributed
to illustrate, and after wandering in uncertainty, you
acknowledge the aid of faithful guides, who direct every
footstep of your journey.
Pausanias alone will enable you to feel at home in
Greece, and though the country he describes has not had
quite so long a time to undergo a change, as Pouqueville
imagines (for the author of the Periegesis did not write
two thousand years ago*), yet it is true, that the exact
conformity of present appearances with the minute de<
scriptions of the itinerary, is no less surprising than sa
tisfactory. The temple and the statue, the theatre, the
column and the marble porch, have sunk and disappeared.
But the vallies and the mountains, and some, not fre
quent, fragments « of more value than all the rude and
costly monuments of barbaric labour," these still remain,
and remind the traveller that he treads the ground once
trod by the heroes and sages of antiquity.
To traverse the native country of those, whose deeds
and whose wisdom have been proposed to all the polish
ed nations of every succeeding age, as the models which
they should endeavour to imitate, but must never hope to
equal, with no other emotions than would arise in passing
through regions never civilised, is unnatural, is impossi
ble! No one would roam with the same indifference
through the sad solitudes of Greece and the savage wilds
of America; nor is the expression of feelings,* which it
is the object and end of all liberal education to instil and
encourage, to be derided as the unprofitable effusion of
folly and affectation.
Patrse was distinguished by the notice of Augustus,
who collected its citizens, scattered by the ^Etolian war
against the Gauls; and settling amongst them some of
those who had fought with him at Actium, dignified the
city with the title of a Roman colony. Some of the cities
of Achaia were made tributary to the Patrenses, and

* En lisant Pausanias on ne peut s'imaginer qu'il ecrivit il-y-a deux

mille ans.— Voyage cnMore"e, page 226.
 185
t
they continued to flourish long after the decay of the
neighbouring states. They were rich in the monuments
of ancient art. Pausanias enumerates nineteen or twenty
temples, besides statues, altars, and marble sepulchres,
to be seen in his time in the city, the port, and the sacred
groves. He mentions also an odeum, or music theatre,
the most magnificent of any in Greece, next to that of
Herodes at Athens. But there is not a vestige of anti
quity to be met with either in or near Patrass, in which
the worship of St. Andrew, who was crucified in the
place, has succeeded to that of Diana Laphria, the Olym
pian Jupiter, and the Bacchus of Calydon.
The modern town, which, from the Italian corruption,
is called Patrass, but by the Greeks is still written Pa-
trse, has been the scene of many sanguinary contests. It
made the best defence in the year 1447, against the
Turks, of any place in the Peloponessus. In the year
1532, it was taken and ransacked by Doria; and in
*687, Morosini gained a victory over the Ottoman ar
mies near its walls. But of all the distresses suffered by
this devoted city, perhaps the last was the most terrible.
It was freed by the temporary success of the Greek in
surgents in 1770, from the yoke of the Turks; but the
appearance of the Albanians, who rushed through the
passes of the isthmus to the assistance of the Mahomee
tans, soon decided the fate of the place. An army of ten
thousand, both horse and foot, entered the town through
every avenue. It was not a contest, but a carnage. The
houses were all burnt to the ground ; not a Greek capa
ble of bearing arms was spared.
The son of the English Consul, with about seventy of
the wives and daughters of the principal inhabitants, ob
tained with difficulty permission from a body of Albanians,
who were breaking open the doors with hatchets, to re
tire to the fortress. In passing through the yard of the
citadel, they saw it strewed with bodies without heads.
A Turkish commander, who knew the young man, assist
ed him to escape in a barque with his fugitives to Zante,
whither the other Consuls and Franks had before fled.
Not only Patrass, but the surrounding villages were
levelled to the ground ; and that part of the Morea called
by the Venetians the Duchy of Clarenza, of which this
place was the capital, was for some time an unpeopled
voii. i. Aa
 186

wilderness. Yet it has recovered in the course of forty

years from the fire and sword of the Albanians, and Pa-
trass may now be considered the most flourishing town in
the peninsula. Napoli and Coron, onre preferred on ac
count of their superior salubrity, are now upon a gradual
decline.
Patrass is one of those towns which is governed by a
Bey, as well as Coron, Modon, Navarino, Misitra, Ar-
gos, and Corinth, places of which any map of the Morea
will give you the position. It contains about eight thou
sand inhabitants; of which one thousand are Turks, and
the remainder Greeks, with a few Jews, and also some
Franks, who are under the protection of the Consuls of
foreign powers, and are not only free from all extortion
and oppression, but do not pay even any tax to the
Turkish government, unless a duty of three per cent,
upon imported goods may be so called. It is also frequent
ed by many of the Greek islanders, who, with their large
loose breeches, wear hats, to give themselves the air of
freemen. These come for the butter, cheeses, wax,
wines, and fruits, which are sent from the ports of the
Morea to Smyrna, Constantinople, and the islands of
both seas.
The exports of Patrass are very considerable, con
sisting principally of oranges, olives, cotton from Le-
panto, but, above all, currants, which are here laden
for the supply of every part of Christendom. The quan
tity of currants exported annually from the Morea,
amounts to eight millions of pounds weight. This is
what Pouqueville has asserted ; and his volume on the
Morea, being collected by himself during a long resi
dence in the country, and being the last account written
-on the subject, is deserving of every attention. The
more that gentleman is acquainted with facts, the less, as
might be expected, does he indulge in fiction ; and as he
possesses all the inquisitiveness of his countrymen, and
seems to write without prejudice, or the vain desire, so
manifest in some French authors who have preceded him,
of displaying himself more than his subject, his informa
tion will be found generally correct.
The trade formerly carried on between the Morea and
the Italian ports, in Dutch or Danish vessels, must now
necessarily, in great measure, be diverted to Malta and
 187

Sicily, to England and America. Besides currants,

eight cargoes of corn have been annually exported, two
of wool, five or six of oil, one or two of silk, cotton, lea
ther, vermilion, and gall-nuts. Convoys of thirty and
forty vessels arrive from Malta with all the articles want
ed in the Levant; coffee, sugar, indigo, cochineal, sul
phur, and with silk and gold lace, cloth, hardware, and
other manufactured goods of England and France. Pa-
tent London shot may be bought, of all numbers, in most
towns nf the Morea. Besides the convoys from Malta,
there are English ships which come directly from Hull
and Bristol, and are employed solely in the currant
trade. The balance upon the imports and exports is
alleged to be one-fifth in favour of the Morea, which is
received in silver coin. Of this, two millions of piastres
go as tribute to Constantinople, one million is taken by
the Pasha of Tripolizza, and the remainder, about one
million ninety-three thousand seven hundred and fifty
piastres, is the profit of the rich Greeks. The Frank
residents are, as the authority before mentioned well
observes, only a sort of brokers, who get a per centage
upon the intercourse. The most considerable of this
latter description in the Morea is Mr. Strane, the English
Consul, and Mr. Paul, the Imperial Consul.
Besides these gentlemen, there are the French and
American Consuls for the Morea settled at Patrass ; and,
owing to a system of hostility which, I am sorry to say,
has been introduced since the new order of things in
France, there is a little war carried on under the several
flags of the different nations. Whilst we were at Patrass,
the French agent sent an official notice of the peace be
tween Austria and his master ; and this was replied to by
a bulletin containing an account of the capture of two
French line of battle ships, and a convoy, off Toulon.
A Consul in the Levant is a person of great import
ance, having a chancellor, as he is called, and secretaries,
janissaries, and other dependants attached to him, being
inviolable in his person and property, and supposed by
the Turks to possess an unlimited authority over the peo
ple of his own nation, extending even to imprisonment
and death. The French gentleman, before alluded to,
seemed, indeed, to be one of those Consuls who, as Vol*
taire said, fancy themselves to be Roman Consuls, being
 188

consequential and decisive to the last degree. He hap

pened, whilst we were in the country, to lose his sword
at some place on his way from Tripolizza ; and on com
plaint being made to the governor of Patrass, the town
and district where the accident happened were put in re
quisition to find it, or furnish his Excellency with ano
ther. An anecdote that not only shows the temper of Mr.
Vial, but the influence of the French in the Morea. His
large tri-coloured flag was hoisted on every occasion for
triumph, and, not unfrequently, on reports of his own in
vention ; and this zeal and activity, though exerted in a
manner which one cannot help thinking a little unjustifi
able, have still certainly some effect upon the Turks,
and, in some measure, further the views of the Great
Nation.
It was this gentleman who gave instant notice to the
governor of Patrass, of the attempt making in the Morea
by three men in English pay, to raise recruits for the
new Zantiote regiment, now called in our army list, the
Greek light infantry,* and brought about the tragical
exit of one of the persons employed on that service. It is
certain, that no English government would knowingly
encourage the recruiting of our armies in the territories
of foreign states. Yet this is not the first time that inter
ested agents have made a similar effort, and brought dis
grace upon the British character. A Frenchman in our

* The first service this Macedonian Legion, about which such a

ridiculous parade was once made in our papers, was ordered upon,
tvas the storming of the French lines at Santa Maura. They were
marched up in our way of warfare, and continued in good order until
the batteries opened upon them, when they fell upon their faces, and
attempted to dig holes for themselves in the sand The English who
were their officers, in vain endeavoured to raise them, and being left
Standing alone, were nearly all killed or wounded. The gallant young
man at whose wish the experiment had been tried, and who now com
mands them, was shot in the arm. This was no time to trifle. A com
pany or two of the thirty fifth were marched up, and carried the
place in an instant. I had this account from an officer of rank who
was on the spot. It was unreasonable to suppose, that English pay
or English discipline had given these troops English intrepidity.
They should have been allowed to fight in their own fashion. The
habits of men are not so suddenly changed ; and, allowing these war
riors a due share of personal courage, it should have been recollect
ed, that it had never been their custom to expose themselves to open
 189

employ, was arrested in the execution of the same

Scheme in the dominions of the Emperor of Austria. Yet
this happened whilst a gentleman, who would scorn every
unworthy practice, was at the head of foreign affairs. He
knew nothing of the matter.
Thus it is, that the resources of our country are often
trusted to unworthy hands, and though no secretary of
state would himself connive at sending an emigrant
frenchman kidnapping into the dominions of an ally, yet
such a person was sent upon such a mission.
During our stay at Patrass, which lasted eleven days,
we took two or three rides into the neighbouring country.
A little more than two miles from the port along the
shore to the south, is a small river, whose course can be
discerned for some distance in a valley between abrupt
hills to the south-east. The present name of this tier
is Leucate ; but the river, on that side nearest to the
town, was called the Glaucus, according to Pausanias,
and the next, the Leucas, which comes so near to the
modern name.
At this place we dismissed our dragoman, and took in
to our service another Greek, a native of the island of
Syra, and inhabitant of Constantinople, who wore the
Frank habit. He spoke Turkish, Greek, French, Ita
lian, and bad Latin, the last of which languages he had
learnt at Rome, having belonged to one of the choirs.
His name was Andreas. The pay of a servant of this
description is from two to three piastres a day, with pro
visions and lodging.

On the fourth of December, in the afternoon, we left

Patrass. The road, which was much cut up by the tor
rents, at first led us to the north, towards the castle on
the cape, formerly called Rhium, distant from the town
about five miles and a half.* We could discern from the
road the other castle, called the castle of Roumelia, as
the other is named that of the Morea, at the other side of

* Fifty stadia, according to Pausanias ; forty, according to Strabo,

lib. xx. ; but perhaps he means the town.
 190

the strait, which in breadth was reckoned five stadia,

three hundred and eighty feet more than half a mile.*
These castles, sometimes called the Dardanelles of Le
panto, were built by Sultan Bajazet in the year 1482 ;
they were taken by the Venetians in 1576 ; blown up by
the Turks in 1687, but again restored by them. They
seemed strong, but we were informed that the fortifica
tions were entirely neglected, and that the walls were
used as an enclosure for sheep. Near the castle of the
Morea is a village of thirty or forty houses, surrounded
with gardens ; and on the other side, towards Patrass, is
the cemetery of the Christians who were slain in the bat
tle of Lepanto.
Directing our course to the east, after leaving the cas
tle on our left at a mile distance, we soon had a view of
the town of Lepanto, on the north of the gulf. It pre
sents a singular appearance, being seated on the steep
declivity of a hill, and having two walls terminating in a
vortex, which is crowned by a castle, commanding the
town and harbour. The fortifications are strengthened
by four walls, which run crossways from one side to the
other in parallel lines, and have caused the appearance
of the place to be compared to a papal crown. I cannot
say the simile struck me ; but I read of it in Dr. Chand
ler's travels.
Lepanto was first fortified by the Venetians. The en
trance to the harbour, which is small and circular, and
not capable of containing ships of any burden, is scarce
ly perceptible at a distance. The present number of in
habitants is about two thousand, mostly Greeks, workers
in morocco. The governor of the place is a Pasha of
two tails ; but his dominions extend only a small distance
from the town.
You scarcely need be informed, that Lepanto is on the
site of the ancient Naupactus, of which name the mo
dern Greek appellation, Epacto, seems to be a corrup
tion.
Our road took us over rough uneven paths, and
through thick woods, sometimes close to the shore, and
at others over the feet of high hills to our right, that pro
jected into the gulf, and thus afforded no road along the

QTov ft irivri 9-Txfiohi ctmMiirmrtu vrofBpev.—Strab. lib. vift.

 191

beach. We travelled due east. It was half-past seven,

and had been long dark, before we arrived at a solitary
han on the shore, where we put up for the night. From
Patrass to the han, we had passed only one house on the
road, and saw no other village than that near the castle
of the Morea. The road was very bad the whole dis
tance.
The next day, after walking about most part of the
morning on the beach, and viewing the grand mountain
scenery on the other side of the gulf, we left the han, and
travelling through a more level and open country, and
crossing a wide torrent in a situation answering to that
of the ancient river Dolinseus, arrived, in a little more
than three hours, at the town of Vostizza, which we had
seen for some time on a tongue of land jutting into the
gulf, shaded at the back with groves of tall trees, and in
terspersed with orange and lemon gardens, glittering
with their ripe fruits.
Between Patrse and JEgium, on whose site Vostizza
is supposed to stand, there were the river Meilichus, the
river Charadrus, the city Argyra, the river Selemnus
(once a shepherd, but afterwards a stream, whence the
neglected swain and the forsaken nymph drank oblivion
of their former passion), the river Bolinseus, and the ci
ty Bolina ; and also the city Rhypes, a little above the
road, which was a military one, something more than
three of our miles from iEgium. Of the three cities, as
Rhypes was not inhabited when Strabo wrote, and all
were ruins in the time of Pausanias, it is no wonder that
there is not a vestige remaining. The rivers also, with
one exception before noted, are sunk into streams, which
we should call by no other name than that of winter
brooks. A promontory, which should be Drepanum,
shuts out the view of Vostizza till one is arrived within
six miles of the town ; for Drepanum, though put by
some maps nearer to the cape of Rhium, is said by Pau
sanias to stretch into the gulf from the place where the
Bolinfeus flows, and both the promontory, and the tor
rent we crossed on our second day's journey, correspond
to that description.*

* But Strabo, in Book viii. says, that the back part of the promon
tory Rhium was called Drepanum.
 193
The whole distance, by the shortest road, from Patrte
to jEgium, was one hundred and ninety stadia, some
thing more than seventy-one miles and a half. The sail
round the shore was forty stadia longer. It was first to
Rhitim fifty stadia, to Port Panormus fifteen, to the walls,
called, of Minerva, fifteen, to Port Erineus ninety, to
jEgium sixty.*
The gulf, which, as far as Vostizza, is rather narrow,
swells beyond that point into a considerable sea.
An hour before we arrived at the town, we had our
first view of Parnassus, now called Liakura, on the other
side of the gulf, rising far above the other peaks of that
hilly region, and capped with snow. The two tops, how
ever, were not discernible ; nor did I ever observe that
peculiarity during the three weeks we were within sight
of the poetic mountain. The spot whence the summit
may be most distinctly viewed, is in the neighbourhood of
the isthmus of Corinth.
Vostizza contains between three and four thousand in
habitants, chiefly Greeks, who trade in raw silk, cheeses,
currants, hides, gums, rackee, the small fishes called
sardinias, and boutaraga. The hard cheeses of Vos
tizza are accounted the best in the Morea. The town
anil its district are governed by a Greek Codja-bashee,
or elder, as are three others of the twenty-four cantons
into which the Morea is divided, Caritene, Sinano, and
Vasilico. We were lodged in the house of the Codja-
bashee at Vostizza, who, notwithstanding his title, was
a very young man, not twenty years old, by name An
dreas Londo, the son of a Greek in the highest esteem
with Veli Pasha, and acting the part of his chief minis
ter at Ti-ipolizza. We could in an instant discover the
Signor Londo to be a person in power : his chamber was
crowded with visitants, claimants, and complainants ; his
secretaries and clerks were often presenting papers for
his signature ; and the whole appearance of our host and
his household presented us with the singular spectacle of
a Greek in authority—a sight which we had never before
seen in Turkey. The Codja-bashee was not quite five
feet in height, and, without any exaggeration, his cap,
or calpac, was very near one-third of that measure. He

* Pausanias-Achaic. p. 441 and 442.

 193

studied, as much as possible, to give himself the reserv

ed air of a Turk ; but his natural good-humour and live
liness frequently burst through the disguise, and display
ed him in his real character, of a merry playful boy; so
much so, indeed, that before we left his house, we had
more than once prevailed on him to throw off his robe.*
and cap, tuck up his sleeves, and attempt several feats of
agility, such as jumping over chairs, tumbling, and
sparring, with which latter exercise he was so highly de
lighted, that he now and then started up, called in one
of his secretaries, and knocked him down on the sofa,
as a trial of his skill. Being under no restraint from a
superior, he showed the true bent of his disposition,
which, perhaps, would be, in better days, that of the
Greeks in general; for he was passionate, enthusiastic,
childish, important, and a little ostentatious; but polite,
kind, and hospitable, and showing many evident traits
of an amiable mind.
We were comfortably lodged, and handsomely enter
tained, by him. His house was large, and built on stone
arches, the ascent to it being by a wooden staircase. It
contained two wings, the right hand one of which was oc
cupied by the females of the family, whom, by the way,
we never once saw in ten days; the left hand apartments
consisted of the room of audience, and of a back chamber,
where we slept. The gallery connecting the two wings
had a dining room in the middle; the culinary concerns
were carried on in a place to which the entrance was on
the right of the dining room ; and a door, on the left of
that apartment, opened into a small closet, which might
as well have been elsewhere. The room of audience was
well fitted up with fine sofas, a rich carpet, and sash win
dows, a great rarity. In the (lining-chamber were tables
and chairs. We were told the house altogether was the
best of any belonging to a Greek in the Morea.
The table kept by the young Londo was good, as far
as a Greek cook can prepare a dinner. The meat was
stewed to rags. They cut up a hane into pieces to roast.
I do not recollect that any of the flesh dishes were boiled.*
* Servius, in a note on line 710, of the first book of the JEneid, pre
tends, that Homer s heroes never ate boiled meat; but Lambert Bos
cites AtheiiKus, lib. 197, to prove the contrary, and settles so im
portant a point.
voi. i. B b
The pastry was? not good, being sweetened with honey,
and not well baked but the thick ewes' milk, mixed
with rice and preserves, and garnished with almonds,
was very palatable. The boutaraga, caviar, and maca
roni powdered with scraped cheese, were good dishes.
But the vegetables and fruits, some of which the luxu
riant soil furnishes without culture, were indeed delicious,
and in great variety. There were cabbages, cauliflowers,
spinach, artichokes, lettuces, and cellery, in abundance;
but the want of potatoes was supplied by a root tasting
like sea-cale. The fruits, which were served up at the
conclusion of the dinner, and before the cloth was remov
ed, were oranges, olives, pears, quinces, pomegranates,
citrons, medlars, and nuts, and lastly, the finest melons
we ever tasted. These last fruits were, however, not
grown in the Morea, but brought from Cefalonia, where
alone, and in one spot only of the island, so our host told
us, they come to so great a perfection. To transplant
them has been attempted, but they lose their flavour in
another soil. We were too late for the summer fruit in
the Morea; but, in my opinion, the peaches, cherries,
apricots, nectarines, and even the grapes, in the Levant,
are inferior to those grown in the open air, or in hot
houses, in England ; for the Greeks, either not knowing,
or too lazy to engraft, have never attempted to improve
the quality of their trees. The green fig is reckoned a
great delicacy, but to me it seemed tasteless.
The dinner hour at Vostizza was four o'clock ; and
the supper, formerly the most important meal, but now
gradually, in compliance with the fashions of Christen
dom, supplied by coffee, was entirely dispensed with.
In the morning, a cup of chocolate, with fried buttered
bread in strips, was handed to each, and no breakfast-
table was set.
The Codja-bashec rose about eight o'clock, and gene
rally passed his morning, until twelve, in the concerns of
his office, or with the females of his family, or at church :
then he mounted his horse, and went into the country to
hunt, or called on the Turks or Greeks of the town :
after dinner he passed some time in business, or in his
« gynseceum," with the ladies : the latter part of the even
ing was spent in our company, until eleven, when he re
tired to rest. During the whole day the pipe was seldom
 195

out of his mouth, not even when he was on horseback.

Being one day informed of the approach of the English
Consul from Patrass, he went out to meet him in form,
with two of his longest pipes, and they both rode into the
town smoking. This is considered the most ceremonious
way of receiving a stranger of distinction.
We accompanied our host on one or two coursing par
ties, and were mounted on some good horses out of his
stables. An English sportsman would not fail to laugh at
the manner in which this diversion is taken in the Morea.
We had with us four wire-haired greyhounds called La-
couni (canes Laconici), three mongrel pointers, and se
veral curs: we beat about the bushes, making as much
noise as possible, with a large party of men on foot and
horseback, and the moment the hare was started, all the
dogs set off thridding the bushes, of which there were
large clumps on the plain, barking and running both by
sight and smell. The hare was lost for a moment, then
found again, and after a short run killed. It was of a
light grey colour. During our search for hares we put
up many woodcocks, with which both the Morea and
Ilonmelia abound in the winter season.
The country behind Vostizza, and to the south-east of
it as far as the mountains, about six miles distant, is cul
tivated, and divided into corn grounds, but very stony,
and interspersed with brush-wood. Through the plain
from a narrow opening in the hills, flows a river, broad
but not deep, over which there is a bridge. If Vostizza
be jEgium, this stream is the Selinus. Immediately to
the east on the shore, there are large groves of olive-
trees : on the west, below the cliff on which the town
stands, is an extensive flat covered with brushwood,
through which runs a small fordable stream, that may be
either the Phoenix or Meganetes, mentioned by Pausa-
nias. On the beach under the town, is the enormous
plane tree that was notorious in the time of Chandler.
One of its largest branches, as thick as the trunk of most
trees, has lately fallen off, and many of the other boughs
are supported by long beams of wood. Under the shade
of it we saw a large vessel building, by which you may
judge of the size of the tree itself.
The only remains of antiquity at the modern jEgium,
are two fragments of brick wall sunk in the earth, partly
 196
of the kind called opus reticulatum, or net-work, and
partly of the same sort as those specimens composing
the ruins of Nicopolis. What has been considered as de
noting the site of Vostizza to be exactly that of the city
once celebrated as the place of assemblage for the states
composing the Achsean League, is a fountain of clear wa
ter, bursting from many stone mouths near the plane
tree ; for ^Egium is described as having be.-n at a short
distance from the shore, and supplied with good water
from plentiful springs.
The Turks burned iEgium, says Dr. Chandler, by
which I suppose he means, Vostizza, in 1536, and put
tire inhabitants to the sword, or carried them away into
slavery.
Either from inclination or policy, the Greeks in the
Morea are favoured to an unusual degree by their pre
sent Pasha, the son of AH. Veli employs many of them
about his chief concerns, and, what is strange if it be
true, is said to profess much greater esteem and confi
dence for those of his Albanian guards who are Chris
tians, than for the Turks amongst them. The Vizier,
for he is a Pasha of three tails, is a lively young man ;
and besides the Albanian, Greek, and Turkish languages,
speaks Italian, an accomplishment not possessed, I should
think, by any other man of his high rank in Turkey. It
is reported that he, as well as his father, are preparing,
in case of the overthrow of the Ottoman power, to esta
blish an independent sovereignty. But all such rumours
appear to me highly absurd and unfounded ; for to judge
from the little I have seen, no Turk, if he contemplates
the possibility of the retreat of the Sultans from Constan
tinople, would make up his mind to live, much less can
hope to reign, surrounded by the Infidels. It is more
probable that Veli, knowing how often the dominion of
the Morea has been disputed, and how constantly the at
tention of the Christian powers has been, and is fixed up
on his pashalik, is willing to court the favour of the great
majority of his subjects.
The present population of the Morea has been laid
down at four hundred thousand Greeks, fifteen thousand
Turks, and four thousand Jews; in this computation the
Mainotes are not included.*
* Pouqueville, Voyage en Moree, p. 234.
 197

Having mentioned the Mainotes, I cannot refrain from

digressing a little, to speak of them more at length.
So early as the reign of Constantine Porphyro-genitus,
the Eleuthero-Laconians (who had been enfranchised
from the dominion of Sparta by a decree of the Roman
Senate, a liberation which was afterwards particularly
confirmed by Augustus*) had acquired the name of
Mainotes. They continued the worship of the Pagan dei
ties five hundred years after the rest of the Roman em
pire had embraced Christianity. The arrogant author
of the philosophical dissertations on the Greeks, to give
a baser origin to this people, has reckoned amongst their
ancestors some of the foreign satellites of the monster
Nabis, who were driven, says he, from the city of Sparta
by the army of the Achsean League. But in the account
of that transaction by Livy, I find no positive mention
of any settlement made by the auxiliaries of that tyrant
in the twenty-three maritime cities of Laconia, which
were separated from the dominions of Sparta. Mr. Gib
bon, with more reason, as it appears, inclines to rank
some of the much-injured Helots amongst their progeni
tors ; and, if it were a point worthy the trouble of esta
blishing, the Spartans themselves might, I think, be
proved to have transfused some of their blood into the
veins of the people of the neighbouring towns. When
Sparta (for it was then called by that name) was given
np by Thomas Palseologus to Mahomet the Great, those
Greeks who were unwilling to live under the Turks, may
be supposed to have fled into the recesses of Taygetus,
and to have settled amongst the Mainotes.
Bat although the true descendants of the ancient Greeks,
if any where to be found, should perhaps be sought for
amongst the mountains of Maina ; yet the character of
this people has at all times been such as would reflect no
honour upon a noble origin, but would make one suppose
them sprung from the Sclavonian robbers who overran
H --- . '
• Mr. De Pauw Accuses Pausanias of " excessive ignorance" of
history, in referring the establishment of the Eleuthero-Laconians to
Augustus; yet it remains a doubt, whether the Laconian states were
known by that name until the decree of that emperor. Mr. De
Pauw's date is 559, U. C. ; but the peace between the Romans and
Nabis was in 557, and the death of that tyrant in 560, U. C. Liv. lib.
xxxiv. cap. 39, et lib. xxxv. cap. 35.
 ;

198

the Peloponnesus in the eighth century. Cape Tsenarus,

now called Matapan, the most southern extremity of the
Morea, has at all times been inhabited by savages, who
have not only infested the neighbouring seas with their
piracies, but have massacred those that have been ship
wrecked on their rocks.
A place on the coast, called now Vitulo, a corruption
of the name of JEtylos, an ancient town on the shore of
the Messenian gulf, has sometimes been considered the
capital of Maina ; but Marathonisi, a town on the coast
to the east of Taygetus, containing five hundred inhabi
tants, is now the residence of the chief of the Mainotes;
and Vathi, a strong post, with a castle, the property of
one of those petty princes who dispute the possession of
the country, is considered as next in importance to the
principal town. The inhabitants of no other district,
however, have ever been reckoned so cruel and ferocious,
as those of the hilly strip of land denominated by the
Venetians Bassa Maina. The well known character of
these ruffians has gained for them in the Morea the name
of Cacovougnis, or the villains of the mountains. They
live in huts, most part of them near a Turkish fortress
called Turcogli Olimionas,' and a perpetual exposure to
the sun, and the sea air, has given them a tawny com
plexion, which adds to ihe ferocity of their whole ap
pearance.
It appears, that about the year 1474, a person styling
himself Nicephorus Comnenes, son of David, the last
Greek Emperor of Trebizond, retreated to Vitulo, and
had the address to persuade the Bishop, who was in a
manner the head of the Mainotes, to acknowledge him
as an Imperial Prince, and confirm him under the title of
Proto-geronte, or First Senior, as the chief of the nation.
The Proto-gerontes, and their subject robbers, continued
independent of the Sultans, who paid no attention to an
obscure and barren corner of their vast empire, until the
complaints of the inhabitants of Modon and Coron, and
of those of Misitra, the town not far from Palseo-chori,
the site of Sparta, and the seat of a Sangiac, awakened
the indignation of the Turks. In 1676, the Mainotes of
the. north were attacked, but they would not stand the
contest ; for they fled, to the number of four thousand,
into six large ships, four of which were lost near Corfu.
The remaining two arrived at Corsica, where the fugi
 199

tives settled; and some of their descendants have been

recognised by late travellers in that island.
Am ongst the fugitives to Corsica, was a family distin*
guished by the appellation of Kaiomeros ; and to the ex
act identity of this name with that of the French Em
peror, may be attributed, in great part, an opinion cur
rent in the Morea, that Buonaparte is by descent a ge
nuine Mainote. And, indeed, when the views of the
French unceasingly directed towards the shores of the
Mediterranean induced them in 1797 to inquire into the
actual state of Maina, this conqueror, who was then
preparing to sail for Egypt, addressed an epistle to the
Citizen, chief of the Mainotes, in which he declares the
bearers of his letter (most probably some Corsican fellow-
countrymen) to be of Spartan origin.*
After the flight of the northern Mainote^, amongst
whom were the Proto-geronte, one Stephanopoulo, and
the Bishop of Vitulo, with many of his chief monks, the
Cacovougnis, fled to the summit of their steepest rocks;
and on being deserted by their chiefs, abolished the office
of Proto-geronte, and created four Captains of the whole
nation, whose heirs, whether male or female, were to suc
ceed to their power. No farther back than the year 1765,
a widow of one of these Captains, by name Demetria,
spread consternation amongst the Turks of Misitra, and
stopped the communication between that town and Mo-
don. The Mainotes were still independent of the Porte;
they lived entirely on plunder; and their calojers, or
monks, issued from their cells to partake of their booty,
* Le General en Chef de l'Armee d'ltalie au Chef du Peuple libre
de Maina.
C1TOTEN,
Jai recu, de Trieste, unelettre, dans laquelle voiis me te'moignez le
desir d'etre utile a la Itepublique, en accueillant ses baiimens sur vos
ports. Je me plais a croire que vous tiendrez parole avec cette
fide'lite' qui convient a un descendant des Spartiates. La Republique
Franchise ne sera point ingrate a 1'egard de vctre nation ; quant a moi,
je recevrai volontiers quiconque viendra me trouver de votre part, et
ne souhaite rien tant que de voir regner une bonne liarmonie entre
deux nations egalement amies de la liberte".
Je vous re'eommande les porteurs de ce1te lettre qui sont aussi des
descendans des Spartiates. S'ils non pas fait jusq'ici de giandes
choses, e'est qu'ils ne sont point trouves. sur un grand theatre.
SaUit et fraternity
 200

and encourage their rapacity ; so that no ship, under

whatever flag, approached the rocks of Matapan without
caution, and providing against an attack. At the same
time, they addressed the Christian Powers to support
them in their opposition to the Porte, until the Russians
invaded the Morea in 1770, and carried the town of
Misitra, in which the Mainotes committed the most
frightful excesses, but afterwards deserted their allies,
and caused, (such is the accusation of the Russians), the
failure of the whole expedition. However, a body of
them, amounting to two thousand men, advanced to the
relief of Patrass, but were repulsed with great slaugh
ter.
Since that period, the Mainotes have sometimes been
considered in subjection to the Pasha of Tripolizza, and
at others as independent.
Their mutual dissentions have favoured the views of
the Turks ; and the ambition of a youth named Constan-
tine, a little before our arrival at Athens, introduced
some soldiers of Veli Pasha's into the fortresses of a
part of Maina, to the prejudice not only of the former
governor of the country, but that of the liberties of the
whole people. The other chief, however, still maintain
ed himself in the fastnesses near Bathi, and carried on
a predatory war with his rival. Torn by these intestine
feuds, and yet willing to retain the shadow of indepen
dence, the Mainotes would willingly make every sacri
fice in behalf of any foreign power, and, notwithstanding
former failures, have made an application to their new
neighbours the English.
A deputation from them had arrived at Zante, and of
fered their service to our garrison. But, at the same
time, they seem desirous of submitting, and of being con
sidered subjects of the Porte. A Scotch gentleman, whom
we encountered several times on our Tour, and in whose
entertaining work the letter of Napoleon has been al
ready given to the public, assured me that he had seen a
formal proposal, drawn up by the Bishop of Vitulo, in
which, upon certain conditions, the Mainotes offered to
become tributary to the Sultans. The principal article
was, that they should be the collectors of their own tri
bute, without the interference of any Turk. My inform
ant added, that the memorial was written in a style truly
 laconic ; but of this, I hope we shall have an opportunity
ofjudging for ourselves, as I am promised a copy of this
document. I own myself incredulous, though desirous
enough to see, in what terms the descendants of the Spar
tans hav e made a voluntary surrender of their liberties.
Whilst, however, their fate is undecided, they suffer all
the distresses of anarchy, and their barbarism is increased
by their misfortunes. No Turk, without a large armed
force, can travel in their country ; but a Frank, by put
ting himself under the protection of their Bishop, or one
of their Captains, may be secure against all danger.
They still render the navigation of the Archipelago in
small boats, very perilous, atid they make occasional de
scents on the main land. My fellow-traveller, on a visit
to Cape Colonna, ran a chance of being surprised by a
-party of twenty -five of these pirates, who were lying hid
in the caves below the cliff on which are the, ruins of the
temple of Minerva, but would not venture upon the at
tack of twelve men well armed with guns, pistols, and sa
bres. Two Greeks, who were their prisoners at the time,
and were afterwards liberated, gave an account of their
deliberations on the subject.
Such are the people who must in some future time co
operate in, what has been called, the deliverance of Greece.
Without believing that they are man-eaters, a story pro
pagated by the terror of the Turks, you will not think
them very honourable allies ; and an inspection of the
rocky spot which they occupj in the map of the Morea,
will give you no exalted notion of the importance of
their aid.

v»l. I.
 202

LETTER XVIIL

Distancefrom Patrass to Corinth—and to Miens.—Passage

across the Gulf ofLepanto to the Scale of Salona.—Circum
ference ofthe Corinthian Gulf.—Galaxeithi.—Evanthe.—
Route to Crisso.—Salona.— View at the FootofMount Lia-
kura, or Parnassus.—Crisso.—Site of Crissa, or Cirrha.
— Visit to the Ruins of Delphi.—Castalia.—Treasures
of Delphi.— The Brazen Serpent at Constantinople.—
Parnassus.—Ascent to the Summit of it impracticable.—
Route from Crisso towards IAvadia—to Arakova on Par
nassus.—The Road Schiste.—The Three Roads Dis-
tomo.—Asprospitia.—Monastery of St. Luke of Stiris.—
Arrival at Livadia.

THE point to which we wished to direct our steps

was Athens, and had it not been our desire to visit Del
phi, we should probably have travelled to that place by
the shortest road, keeping on the south side of the gulf,
and passing across the isthmus directly into Attica. From
Patrass to Corinth is reckoned a journey of twenty-four
hours. The road from Vostizza passes through Vasilico,
which travellers have decided to be on the site of Sicyon,
about three hours from Corinth. From the isthmus to
Megara is nine hours journey, and from Megara to
Athens eight.
When Pococke travelled, there were two ruins, appa
rently antique, between Vostizza and Vasilico ; the first,
a piece of thick wall on the shore, belonging, it is sup
posed, to the ancient Helice, forty stadia from JEgium,
and twelve from the beach ; the second, about six miles
from Vasilico, and more than a mile from the water on a
hill, corresponding with iEgira.—The whole coast had
 203

been anciently shaken by violent earthquakes, a cala

mity to which other parts of the Morea are now also much
subject : Coron has, on that account, been of late years
not a safe residence, and has therefore been partially
deserted.
A strong easterly wind, by no means unusual at the
end of autumn, setting out of the gulf of Lepanto, detain
ed us until the 14th of December at Vostizza, when we
got into a strong Cefalonian boat, with fourteen men and
ten oars, and made the best of our way towards the
scale of Salona, at the head of the deep bay called the
Crissaan gulf, though that name has been indiscrimi
nately applied to the whole sea from the isthmus to the
mouths of the Evenus.
It was half past ten in the morning before we left the
shore. We crossed the gulf in an oblique direction to
the north-east, and came, by half-past one, to the beach
of a small bay in Roumelia, where we anchored, and the
boatmen cooked their dinner. We saw a small village
on a hill to our left, called Petrinizza ; and between us
and the village, a mile distant, was a ban on a road lead
ing from Lepanto to the town of Salona. In an hour
we were off again, and the wind failing us, our sailors
rowed close under the land, keeping towards the east,
and tracing all the creeks and windings of an uneven
shore. In many places we skirted the feet of high rocky
cliffs, the resort of innumerable flocks of wild pigeons,
that were frightened from their crevices by the dashing of
the oars, and whistled round us in every direction. In
three hours we saw another village in the hills, which
had a wild and barren appearance. We continued along
a bold rocky shore until seven o'clock, when we pulled
into a small creek, where there was a fishing-boat, and
near which some men were sitting round a blazing furze
fire, under a hanging rock. Here also our boatmen re
freshed themselves for an hour, They then began row
ing stoutly, and in a short time doubled a head-land*
which was the last before we entered into the gulf of
Salona. We afterwards went northwards ; and skirting
the land, at first came to a small bay with a good har
bour, which we crossed, and soon passed by the town and
port of a place called Galaxcithi, where some little trade
is carried on, and where we saw the masts of some large
 204

trebarulos swaying about in the moonlight. After this

we Went near a little island, also in the month of a deep
tray, on which there was a church, and we arrived at
twelve o'clock at night at the scale of Salona, where
there w;is only a custom-house anil a very miserable ban,
already so occupied that there was only one room for our
lodging, and that nearly full of onions.
• From our entrance into the gulf of Salona to our ar
rival at the scale, which is nearly at its extremity, we
bad been four hours constantly rowing fast, and this
must give a length of sixteen miles to the bay, which is
also very broad at its mouth, and swells into the land in
several other small harbours on both sides.*
The unskilfulness of ancient mariners regarded a lake
of little more than two htfndred and fifty-six miles in cir
cuit, as a formidable expanse of waters, and the Corin
thian gulf was sometimes called the Crisssean, sometimes
the Alcyonian sea.
Galaxcithi, three hours and a half from Salona, has
Been said to be ori the site of Evanthe, a town inhabited
by the Locri Ozolai.
Evanthe sent out a colony to the promontory called
Zephyriofl, in Italy, a little after the foundation of Sy
racuse and Crotona ;f it must, therefore, have been a city
of some size. There are no remains at Galaxcithi, and
perhaps the conjecture has no probable grounds of
support.
The morning after our arrival we sent for horses from
Crisso, a town not more than an hour's ride from the
ban.
On leaving the scale we Went northwards, and proceed
ed a short way over a rising ground^ called by Chandler
root of Cirphis, the mountains whose ranges formed the
eastern side of the gulf of Crissa. We then came sud
denly in view of a very romantic prospect. Before us
was a well-cultivated corn plain, bounded by Parnassus,
and interspersed with extensive groves of olives; to the
right was an opening in the mountains, appearing at first

* « The Corinthian gulf has a perimeter, from the Evenus to Araxus

(Cape Papa) of 2240 stadia."—Strab. lib. oct. p 336, edit. Casaub.
t Strab. lib. vi ; called by Pausanias ->Eanthea; «near to Naupac-
tus."—Phoc. p. 606.
like a chasm, but enlarging by degrees into a valley,
through which there ran a small river. Advancing to
wards Crisso, we had a prospect to the left between the
bills of the large town of Salona, the capital of the dis
trict, containing two thousand Turkish families. It
stands on the brow of a hill, as did Amphissa, the ancient
town on whose site it is said to be placed.* The last
part of our ride was up an ascent, for Crisso is placed on
the roots of Parnassus.
Crisso is a poor Greek town of three hundred houses ;
but it is the seat of a Bishop, to whom we had a letter
from the Consul-General at Patrass. 'We did not, how
ever, lodge at his house, but at that of two very decent
women who gave us a comfortable apartment.
The modern town does not stand on the site of Crissa,
afterwards called Cirrha, which was the maritime town
of Delphi, and sixty stadia from that place; a distance
sufficient to allow of a memorable war between the two
cities.f Crissa, after a stout resistance to the Amphic-
tyons, was taken possession of for Apollo, by poisoning
the waters of the Plistus, the river we had seen in the
valley which suppled the town4 There are, however,
no remains to be seen lower down than where the town
now stands, except a few pieces of wall. Neither the
temple of Apollo, nor the Pythian hippodrome, have left
a vestige on the plain where they stood.
The writings of well known travellers, and the accu
rate though popular work of the Abbe Barthelemy, have
rendered even the unlearned reader so familiar with the
ancient wonders of Delphi, that I shall do little more in
this place than minutely note what I myself saw, when
conducted to the spot by a Greek guide from Crisso, on
the 16th of December, 1809.

* KstTui xau iroxwfAa iirt v^»\».—Paus. Phoc. p. 686. It was one

hundred and twenty stadia from Delphi, a little more than thirteen
miles and a half.
f Strabo speaks of Cirrha and Crissa as two'cities, and says, Cirrha
was eighty stadia from Delphi, p. 418; but this was a more ancient
town, destroyed by the Crisseans, and not the Cirrha, which Pausa-
nius says was sixty stadia from Delphi, so that Casaubon need not
have tried to reconcile the two me surements, by saying, that the
eighty stadia altudes to >he channel or course of the Plisusfrom
Delphi ; besides, the Ptistus is only a torrent, and does not flaw from
Delphi.
t Pausan. Phocic. p. 684.
 206
m
On that day we ascended the mountain on horseback,
up a very steep craggy path to the north-east, which)
obliged us often to dismount. We could see for some
time nothing but the bare rocks which we were climbing*
for the summits of Parnassus were totally invisible, and
cannot at any time be seen by those who are in that po
sition.
After scaling the side of the hill about an hour, we
saw the first remarkable object, which is a large piece of
rock on the left, a little above the path. This apparently
has been loosened from its base, and contains an excava
tion, the shape of 'which being a segment less than a se
micircle, like the mouth of an oven, wide but not deep,
with a sort of trough below, denotes it to have been a
sarcophagus.
Ascending a little higher, we saw another immense
stone, or rather mass of stones, also on the left, and
of a regular shape, that seems to threaten the passengers
below.
Behind one of these fragments, the murderers employ
ed by Perseus to kill Eumenes may have lain concealed
before they endeavoured to overwhelm him with pieces
pf rock from above. The description given by Livy*
answers most exactly to the spot, and might have been
written yesterday by an actual observer of the positions.
Just beyond the fragments, we climbed up, to the left
of the path, to a small cave facing the west on the side
of the hill. In this there are three sepulchral cavities,
one on each side, and over the oblong troughs where the
body was placed, is a niche which may have contained
the lamp, or the small ornaments occasionally deposited
in the ancient' tombs, and discovered in some of them at
this day. Some of these troughs are of a length and
depth sufficient to make one suppose that the bodies they
contained were not burnt, but buried entire, or at least
that their bones were disposed into their proper places,
and not thrown together into the urn, according to the
common practice.
Proceeding up the steep, we soon had a view of Castri,
a small mud town situated a little to the east of a circu-
• Adscendentibus ad templum a Cirrb.4 prmsquam pervcniretur ad
frequentia sdificiis loca, maceria erat. ab Isva semitz paulum extans
a fundamento, qua singuli transircnt, &c. &c—Liv. lib. xlii. cap. IS.
 207

far hollow in the mountain, round which are the rows of

seats belonging to the Pythian stadium. But the casing
of Pentelic marble, with which this building was adorned
by Atticus Herodes, has disappeared, and the original
structure of Parnassian stone, alone remaining, has the
look of fragments of old walls rising a little above the
earth, in a regular order one over the other. Each stone
is about two feet and a half in length, and of a propor
tionate breadth and thickness.* Above Castri is a per
pendicular rugged rock ; below it is a steep descent into
the vale of the Plistus, on the other side of which are the
stony, flat, hills of mount Cirphis.
After the first sight of the town we turned to the left
hand, towards the stadium, and were led to a cave im
mediately on the left of the path. In this cave there are,
as in the one described, three sepulchral cavities, but the
arches and niches are larger, and more carefully worked,
and the troughs are longer than in the other tombs. To
the entrance of it, which is an arch high enough for a
man to stand upright, the Castriotes have adjusted a
wooden door, so that it serves as a dark stable for two
or three of their cattle. Over the tomb, opposite the en
trance, is the carved head of some animal, so much bat
tered as to be scarcely distinguishable, but looking like
that of a horse, a well-known sepulchral ornament.—
Above the tombs, on the side, are oval niches. Our con
ductor informed us whilst in this cave, that we were
standing over a pit which he had seen open, and knew to
be fifty OwO cubits in depth. That this was the ca
vern whence the Pythia received the divine subterranean
vapour, does not seem at all probable ; yet the people of
the country have fixed upon it for the sacred spot; « for,"
said our guide, « here the Greeks worshipped, in the
days of Apollo, the king of thpse places."
A few paces below the cave, to the right, is a small
church dedicated to St. Elias, built on a spot of flat
* Any attempt to ascertain the true length of the Pythian stadium,
fixed by Mr. D'Anville at four-fifths of the Olympic stadium, or five
hundred Greek feet, from the remains at Castn, would, such is the
state of the ruin, most probably be unsuccesful. M. Spon has ob
served, that it is shorter than that whose circuit is now seen at Athens.
It appeared to me considerably so i but the form is also very different,
being semicircular, whereas, that of Herodes at Athens is in the share
of an oblong horse-shoe.
 ground, where is a large piece of ancient wall, with frag
ments of carved marble, and the capitals of two columns
inserted in the work.
On the left of the cave, beside the path, there is a seat
cut out of the rock, for the refreshment of those who have
climbed the mountain.
Going into the town of Castri, which is about two
hundred paces beyond the cave, but a little lower down
in the hill, we were taken to a hovel, in a dark room of
which half under ground, there was a piece of rough
wall several feet in length and height, entirely covered
with ancient inscriptions, quite undecypherable in the
situation where they are placed. They register, says
Chandler, the purchase of slaves, who had entrusted the
price of their freedom to the God, containing the con
tract between Apollo and their owners, witnessed by his
priests, and by some of the Archons.
We next scrambled up the dirty lanes of the town to
two stone fountains, one above the other, of modern work
manship, and of the same sort as are to be met with all
over Greece. They are both supplied, as a woman of
Castri told us, by the same stream—the once prophetic
spring Cassotis.
From this spot we descended gradually towards the
east, and leaving the town, in half a quarter of a mile
found ourselves in a position, where, turning suddenly to
our left, we saw an immense cleft rending the mountain
from the clouds down to our feet. Down the crags of
this chasm, a stream trickled into a stone basin sunk in
the earth just above the path, overflowing whose mar
gin, and enlarged in its progress by other rills, it was
seen falling over the rocks into the valley beneath. We
clambered up into the chasm by means of some grooves
cut in the rock, but almost worn away by the dripping
water, as far as it was possible to go ; and here, if any
where, being literally « dipped in dew of Castaly ;" for
this was the immortal rill, and we were sprinkled with
the spray of the falling stream ; here we should have felt
the poetic inspiration.
But the evening began to close in upon us, and we de
scended into the path we had left.
Just above the basin, in a niche of the rock, is a small
hut, which is called the church of St. John, and which
 209
contains part of the shaft of a large fluted column of mar
ble, with a marble slab.
In a little grove of olive trees, on a green plot a few
yards below the basin, is a monastery of the Panagia, or
Holy Virgin, which we entered. Here are two marble
columns, about eleven feet in height, supporting the shed
of a pent that stretches out from the chapel. On one of
them was scratched Aberdeen, 1803 : and in another
place, more carefully cut, H. P. Hope, 1799. There is
something agreeable in meeting even with the name of a
countryman ; and I know not if we did not contemplate
these inscriptions with greater pleasure, than that which
is seen on a piece of marble wedged into a low wall close
to the columns, and which is still very visible, though the
letters are wearing fast away. This is a fac-simile of it:
the letters are rudely cut.

The simple sepulchral inscription so common amongst

the Greeks, « JEacides—Farewel."
Under the window of the sacristy, behind the altar,
there is also the following inscription in good preserva
tion, and nicely carved :

XPH2TO2
fiPflToY 0P22A
A02 \APEI2A IOS
tIEAA2QinTH2
HI2N
IH
HPS1S

You will pardon me for troubling you with this latter

unimportant incription, which may have been often no
ticed before, though Chandler, who has got the former,
says nothing of it in his Travels.
yol. r. Dd
 810
Beyond the monastery, and from the path approaching
Castri from the east, are to be seen some sarcophagi, and
niches in the mountain similar to those on the other side
of the town.
Perhaps it may increase the interest in perusing this
account of the present appearance of Delphi to believe,
that the basin below the church of St. John is that in which
the Pythia bathed, before she ascended the sacred tripod ;
that the cleft in Parnassus is the one which divided the
. two summits of the poetic hill ; and that the monastery
stands on the site of the Delphic gymnasium.
Dr. Chandler's conjectures as to the first point, were
somewhat confirmed by washing his hands in the cool
water of Castalia, when he was seized with a shivering
fit We drank deep of the spring, but (I can answer for
myself) withoutfeeling sensible of any extraordinary effect.
Leaving the monastery to return to Crisso, we did not
pass a second time through Castri, but took a path a lit
tle below the town, when we came, in not more than a
hundred yards, to a long piece of ancient wall, built of
the same rough stones as the other before-mentioned, and
entirely covered with inscriptions, some of which have
been copied by the well-known Mr. Wood. The letters
are still very visible ; but there are so many breaks in
the stones, which are honeycombed with age, that the
whole inscription, had we had time to copy it, would be
as difficult to be understood as the meaning of the EI
that is the subject of Plutarch's treatise.
Near this wall was the shaft of a marble fluted column
about three feet in length, lying neglected on the ground,
the last we saw of the few remains of those masterpieces
of art, which rendered Delphi the delight, not only of all
the Greeks, but of the other most polished nations of an
tiquity, and a residence worthy of the god to whom it
was consecrated.
On the whole, you would I think be disappointed with
the situation of this place, which is so hidden in a nook,
or a sort of natural amphitheatre about a mile up the
mountain, as to afford a prospect neither of the depth of
the precipice below, nor of the height of the rocks above.
You would be very much at a loss to guess where a town
of nearly two miles in circumference could have been
placed, for there are not more than two small spots of
 211

level ground, any where within the circuit of the present

remains. You would look in vain for the « woods that
wave," as, except in the little olive-grove surrounding
the monastery, there is not a single tree on the rocks
either above or below. The laurel has been again trans
planted to her native Tempe. If, however, forgetting
the poetic raptures you expected to feel in the bosom of
Parnassus, you should consider only the object which the
Greeks must have had in view in offering their wealth,
and the richest productions of art, at this favourite
shrine, you would at once allow, that no place could have
been selected better adapted for the security of their
united treasures, than the steeps of Castri, which to an
open enemy must be perfectly inaccessible. Indeed, though
Delphi was often plundered, yet when a serious resistance
was made, the Gauls under Brennus, as well as the Per
sians of Xerxes' army, were repulsed, and did not dare
to advance into the fastnesses of the mountains. The
same object of security induced the Greeks to fix their
other magnificent temple of Apollo on the island of Delos,
which modern travellers have described as one mass of
rugged rocks.
Before it was pillaged by the Phocians, Delphi was re
ported to contain more wealth than all the rest of Greece
put together, and these sacrilegious invaders carried off
gold and silver, amounting to ten thousand talents, equal
to 1,937,500 pounds sterling, yet there were so many
materials left for the plunder of more powerful robbers,
that neither Sylla, nor Nero, who at once transported
five hundred brazen images to Rome, could exhaust the
sacred treasury. A very large collection of some of the
finest specimens of ancient painting and sculpture, to
gether with the sacred temples themselves, remained to
excite the admiration of Pausanias, who must have vi
sited Delphi nearly two hundred years after the oracle
had fallen into contempt, for the power of Apollo did not
long survive the Grecian confederacy to which it had
owed its importance ; and though the Pythia was consult
ed by Nero, and was once heard to speak in the days of
Julian, yet, her responses were disregarded long before
the age of Cicero,* and had begun to yield to the Sibyl-
* Cur isto modo jam oracula Delphis non eduntur, non modo nos
tra xtate, sed jam diu, ut nihil possit esse contemptius ?—Cic. De
Div. lib. ii. cap. 57.
 913
line books, the aruspices, and the observers of omens
and astrological signs, brought into repute by the preva
lence of the Roman superstition. It was not, we may
suppose, the sanctity of the place which preserved so
many monuments of ancient art from the rapacity of the
first Latin conquerors of Greece, but rather an ignorance
of their true value in those warriors. I need only allude
to the common anecdote of Mummius, as related by Vel-
leius Paterculus.* The golden, the silver, and even the
brazen ornaments of the temple, were stripped by suc
cessive plunderers, but the marbles were spared, and the
greater part of them may be believed to have been crush
ed under the falling fragments of the mountain, or sunk
into the ground ; for I believe there is not in the collect
tion of any antiquary, a statue or a bust, that can be
proved to have once stood in the Temple of Delphi.
One only of the masterpieces which adorned this sa
cred place can be said now to remain. But that is by
far the most ancient and the best authenticated Grecian
relic at present in existence. The triple-twisted serpen
tine column of brass, whose three heads supported the
tripod dedicated by the Greeks, after the battle of Pla-
tsea, to Apollo, is still to be seen, though mutilated, in the
spot to which it was conveyed from Delphi by Constan-
tine, to adorn the hippodrome of his new capital. The
column, as much of it as rs seen above ground, is now
about seven feet in height, and of a proportionate thick
ness. It is hollow, and the cavity has by the Turks been
filled up with stones.

Parnassus is not so much a single mountain, as a vast

range of hills, which was once the western boundary of
Phocis, and the line of separation of the Locri Ozolse and
the Locri Opuntii and Epicnemidii, and is now the limit
between the district of Salona and that of Livadia. The
two tops have a sort of poetical existence which one would
not be inclined to dispute ; but the summits of the crags
separated by the chasm of Castalia, must have been those

* Hist. lib. i. cap. 1".

 213

dedicated to Apollo and the Muses, and to Bacchus, as the

mountain itself is not notorious for this singularity.
To go from Castri to the tops of Liakura, there is a
rocky path, beginning a little to the east of the ruined
stadium. For the first hour the ascent leads up a water
course ; there is then a plain to the right, in the direction
of the summits of the Castalian precipices. These and
some other flat spots were cultivated in the twelfth cen
tury* by some Jews, who, to the number of two hundred,
lived in Crisso, and gave the name of Jerusalem to a vil
lage on the mountain. The path continues to ascend a
hill covered with pines; then passes through a plain, four
or five miles in compass, to the foot of a craggy peak,
where there is a strong bubbling spring called Drosonigo,
flowing into a lake a quarter of a mile to the south-east.
Higher than this no traveller has ventured to go ; the
peak is covered with perpetual snows ; and Wheler, who
went to the spots mentioned, thought the extreme sum
mits, called Lycorea formerly, as high as Mount Cenis.
They were anciently reckoned sixty stadia above Delphi,
by the nearest path, and that could be ascended on horse
back most part of the way, as far, at least, as the great
Corycian cave,f which evaded the search of the famous
English traveller, and has not, that I know of, been ever
discovered. The summits of Parnassus, says Pausanias,
are above the clouds, and upon them the Thyades per
form their mad orgies to Bacchus and Apollo.}: At pre
sent, they are the summer retreats of the Albanian rob
bers, who issue thence upon the plains of Thessaly and
jEtolia, but are seldom known to lay waste the country
to the east, now called the district of Livadia. Their
fires are seen by the peasants in the villages below, and
are not extinguished until the snow has whitened the
rocks above the ruins of Castri.
The day after our visit to Delphi, we set out from
Crisso, in order to proceed towards Livadia.

• Voyage of Benjamin of Tudela, translated into French.

To this cave the Delphians retreated when the barbarians invad
ed Phocis, and were so completely concealed, that, as mfe at the Co
rycian Cave, became afterwards proverbial in Greece; and we see it
so used in the fragment of Cebes.
t Phoc. p. 672, edit. Xylander.
 21*

The road led at first down into the valley, and then
through some gardens belonging to the Greeks of Crisso,
in a south-east direction, and by the side of the small
stream of the Plistus. We continued for an hour in this
very narrow valley, with the precipices of rocks, under
Castri, hanging over our Iteads, and now appearing very
stupendous.
Certainly it is from the valley of the Plistus that the
appearance of Parnassus is the most striking ; and the
ancient Greek traveller, who believed it the favoured
mansion of his gods, and the centre of the universe, and
from this position saw the rocky summit rising in a blaze
of light into the clouds, must have been agitated by a
mingled commotion of piety and fear.*
Several caverns are to be seen in the sides of the rock,
some of which may be supposed artificial.
Leaving the valley, we began to ascend the side of the
mountain, in order to get to the village where we were
to sleep. In a little time, we had a view of Castri, to our
left, and rather behind us. We crossed the stream of the
Plistus, which, in its passage down the hill, turns two
large overshot mills. From the first mill, close to
which we passed, the torrent was conveyed down several
small precipices in wicker troughs, and then over an
aqueduct of two arches, connecting two hillocks. The
side of the mountain is here covered with vineyards, and
the valley with groves of olive trees.
We continued in a slanting direction, ascending a very
rugged steep, till we came to where a path from the north
wards, that leads from the summits of the mountain,
crosses the road, or rather forms an acute angle with it.
By this path Wheler descended, after his ineffective
search for the Corycian cave. We were now much
higher than the position of Castri ; the rocks of Mount

Oivn * iexftt.fAtfioY Tdi^ii;

0;v*v8*c tuna /Input
Ztt&t*. T fltVT/>* ifgtlXOVTflc,
Ou^tteLt Ti TxOTTtULt &iUV9
xaU T. A. xXI T. A.
 215

Cirphis appeared like a plain on a level with us ; yet we

still ascended, until we arrived, in four hours from Cris-
so, at Arakova, which is the most considerable town on
Liakura. It is built of stone, and contains, perhaps, three
hundred and fifty houses, of the poorer sort, inhabited
by Greeks.
We were here lodged with females, who were very at
tentive and obliging, and did not seem so terrified at our
Albanians as had been the people of the other villages.
They danced at our request, and their performance was
succeeded by that of our men in the usual style. The music
was a large drum, which, in our cottage, was louder than
thunder, and was beaten without any regard to time, or
the motions of the dancers. A squeaking pipe was also
added to the entertainment ; it sounded like the most un-
harmonious bagpipe, and the person who played on it, ei
ther from the quantity of wind required for the instru
ment, or for effect, made the most frightful contortions.
After the dancing, the good folks of the cottage sent
for a boy out of the village, who had been to Malta, which
place, it was evident from their manner, that they all
looked upon as the Ultima Thule. They showed him to
us as a sort of wonder, and appeared to question him, if
we were like the kind of men he had seen on that
island.
On the morning of the 18th of December, we left Ara
kova, and kept, for half an hour, in an easterly direc
tion, along the side of the hill, a little on a descent.
Looking before us to the south-east, as far as we could
see, we beheld what appeared the sea, but which after
wards turned out to be the Theban plains, and the lake
Copais, covered with a white mist. We began to de
scend, and observing the place we had left, Arakova
seemed just under the clouds, amidst the snowy crags
of the mountain, which was here and there spotted with
dark forests of pine.
We were now in a green valley, where were large
flocks of sheep, and goats, but no appearance even of a
single hut. The road still answered to the description
of that called Schiste, or the Rent, for we were, as it
might be, inclosed by Parnassus on our left, and the stone
hills of Cirphis on our right hand.
 816
The geographer Meletius talks of some large sepul
chral stones, denoting the spot where Laius and his at
tendant were buried by Damisistratus, King of the
Platseans. These, if they are still to be seen, escaped
my observation.
We travelled in this vale, eastward for two hours, and
southward for another hour, until we came to where three
roads meet ; one, from the north-east, from Caperna,
three hours distance, on the site of Chseron£a, and pass
ing by a village still called Thavlea, nearly the modern
pronunciation of Daulis ; another, from the south, from
Livadia ; and the third, on which we were travelling,
from Castri. Would you not have felt inclined to ex
claim, « Here Laius was killed by (Edipus ; here are
the three roads, and the narrow pass between the triple
path l»
.... Tfii: x«md8o/
x.a1 o-Tsvaia-or tv Tpiirxus ottis.*
After this spot, which, wherever the fatal accident
happened, the poets certainly had in their eye, the valley
widens to the south-westward, and the hills which in
close it to the right become low and flat. We continued,
for a short time, by the side of a brook, which flows from
the same direction as the path from Caperna and Daulis.
We crossed the brook, and struck into a path to the east,
leaving our former road, which we saw stretching over
the plain to the south. In an hour from where we turned
off, our guides informed us, that this road arrives at a
town called Distomo, which Meletius has placed on the
site of Ambryssus, a conjecture confirmed by the obser
vation of travellers.!

* Oif. Tt/g. 1410.

f Chandler discovered the name of the city, more properly called
Ambrossus, upon some inscriptions, which are thus given in Mele
tius. On one stone :
AuToxpaTG/i* TLatnafa Mavpuxiov Kc^cjcv Attunnov AvtoxfaTofot
Kanrapos x'. 2as'T/|«(i> 2scu»ps Uifrivaxoe Itf&ts-tiu A'pafitnou A'Sia/S»tiM-
7rap&tx.ovt fjtryirov aJihyotv, it Xloxis A\ufipct><r<rtatv 'tvt tjjc apx*c
xv-ripcuToc tou rtuTe/iaiTcj not tuTU^eirTafc* Tefn&ov tirtftihn&tv . . . . pot
Toy 'tto^ocro; jS.
 sir

From Distomo to Asprospitia, so named from some

white buildings once standing on the spot, is two hours
to the south. Asprospitia is on a bay of the gulf of Le-
panto, and has been laid down on the position of the an*
cient Anticyra, though that city may be put rather far
ther, on a spot now called Sidero Kauchid. The port is
frequented by small corn vessels.
An hour and a half to the eastward of Distomo, two
hours from the sea, and four from Livadia, is the mo
nastery of St. Luke the Less, a summary of whose pious,
unprofitable life, is given in Dr. Chandler's Travels.
He flourished in the tenth century ; he is called, ** the
glory of Hellas," and is worshipped on the 7th of Februa
ry.* I regret that we did not visit the monastery, which
was built with the ruins of the ancient town of Stiris,f
and contains a church, once the pride of Greece, and
even now splendid in decay. It was built by the Em
peror Roman us, son of Constantine Porphyro-genitus.
After quitting the road to Distomo, we again got into
a rocky path, between hills, with some intervals of wild,
uneven moorlands. In this country we continued three
hours, when we saw some hedge inclosures, and gardens,
on our left ; and passing through a lane, over a path,
raised, in many places, on stone causeways, we arrived,
On another stone :
AuToxpaTcpa Htpava Tpaiatot Ka.ira.fa. Se^ae-Tov Ttpftatiaoi. '»
BoijMe xa/ o £uif*os A'ft/}porrton . . .
And on other stones also :
A'xxouoc Ap/ipaa-a-tar A'pt<ptifaf*ot Xapxrri, lav, Arw/li, apiratat . . . ,
-ripiaot „ Ka.\\iTpn.To. ,, Awtwmi nx/at . . „ EVaaf
x<uf.
* Chandler, cap. Ixiii,
f Part of an inscription, alluding to a fountain under the town of
Stiris, is on one of the stones of which the monastery is built :
6cotc, SsiSaroet, xou T* Tlo\tt, xe» To 'E»o/mo» Snou.pa.Tbtxai Hvptapifaj
'. avi&iiKar <x Tav 'ttim, x«u Tm Too vta.To; ura-yuym.
The ruins of.Stiris are still called Stiri, or Pateo-Stiri.
vot. i. Ee
 218

in another hour) at the end of our day's journey, at Li

vadia.*

* From Chxronea to Panopxa, a town situated in a pass in the

mountains (near a village now called Agios Blasios), and protecting
Phocis, on this side, from the incursions of the Boeotians, was twenty
stadia, or two Roman miles and a half: from Panopxa to Daulis,
seven stadia.* Amongst the remarkable objects to be seen on this
road, was the sand-like clay, out of which man was made by Prome
theus ; it was in large masses, near a rivulet, perhaps that which we
crossed in this day's route. Also, the grave of nine acres, of the
giant Tityus, whose magnitude Pausanius thinks worthy of belief,
because Cteon, the Magnesian, avers, that incredulity is the child of
ignorance, he himself having seen, at Gades, a man of the sea, five
acres in length, From Daulis to the tops of Parnassus, the way was
a little longer, but not so difficult as that from Delphi. On the road
from Sulona to Zeitoun, on the straits of Thermopylx, is the town of
Turco-chorio, or, as it is called by the Turks, « Esed," to the north,
half north-north-east, of the summits of Liakura. To the north of
Turco-chorio, at a small village called Leuta, are marks of the an
cient Elatia, not far from the confines of Thessaly, whose capture by
Philip awakened the Athenians to a sense of their danger. The ex.
pedition of the consul Flaminius into Greece, gives the position of
this, as well as of many other of the towns of Phocis, and is ac
cordingly referred to by Pausanias.
At Leuta were seen the following inscriptions :
A'uT0xfaTOfat Knirapx Mapxor Avpu\lsV A'tTavmn Eu<Ti@n Itj&d&TVt Tit
MryurTar, » BouX» x£t o &nfxot EXfltTeaiv.
On another stone :
vri Px/xoua <t./A» KaMittep*.
On another :
NeiUi/a E'<peo-o», AVaMwa /8.
The sites of several of the cities of Phocis are determined by Me-
letius. Lilxa, one hundred and eighty stadia from Delphi, is now
called Souvala; Amphiclxa, sixty from Lilxa, Dthadthi; Tithroneum,
fifteen stadia from Amphiclxa, Palxa Thevoc, or Velizza i Drymxa,
twenty stadia from Tithroneum, Agia Marina ; Abx, twenty stadia
from Elatia, Modi ; and Hyampolis, is still Hyampali.
Pausan. Phoc. p. 614, et esq.
 219

LETTER XIX.

Livadia.—The Archon Logoiheti.—Rate of Living in Rou-

melia.—Imitation of European Manners.—The Cave of
Trophonius—the present Appearance of the Entrance to
it.—Ruins of a Castle built by the Catalans.— The Settle
ment of the Catalans in Greece.—Little Impression left by
the Franks on the Manners of the Greeks.— Visit to Ca-
perna—Ruins of Chasronca—the Plain.—Departurefrom
Livadia.— Visit to Scripoo—the Site of Orchomenos—the
Treasury of Minyas.—The Lake Copais.—The Village of
Mazee.—Arrival at Thebes.— View of the Theban Ter
ritory.—Difficulties attending a just Description of Mo
dern Greece.—The Measurement of Stadia.—Diminutive-
mess of the Country.

LIVADIA is on the site of the ancient Lebadea,

the Midea of Homer, a town of considerable note in
Baeotia", built on the side of a hill, which was between
Mount Helicon and the territory of Chseronea.
The modern town, which is written by the modern
Greeks, Lebadea (am/Ww*), ig on a declivity, and it
requires some climbing to reach the upper part of it. It
contains fifteen hundred houses of stone, many of them
very good ones : one hundred only of tho families are
Mahometans. Yet there are six moscks in the place, as
well as six Greek churches.
Livadia has given its name to great part of the country,
which is sometimes called Greece Proper, and was the
Achaia of the Romans. It is a place of considerable trade,
and the residence of several wealthy Greeks. The house
at which we were lodged belonged to one of the richest
 320

subjects in Roumelia, and was spacious, and handsomely

furnished.
The name of this gentleman was Logotheti, though,
more properly speaking, that is only a title, which, from
having designated the receivers of the finances of the
Greek empire, is now applied to those who are appointed
managers of the revenues of the church. He was also
one of the rulers of his own nation, or a magistrate, who
is dignified with the appellation of Archon, one of the vain,
names which still adhere to the modern Greeks, and serve
to remind us of those to whom they were once attached.
The peculiar distinction of an Archon is a high fur cap,
something in the shape of a mitre, and yellow boots or
shoes, which, as well as some other of the favoured ra-
yahs, he is by the Turks permitted to wear, instead of
the dark purple and brown.*
The Archon Logotheti had a numerous retinue of ser
vants, two or three secretaries, several priests who offi
ciated as domestic chaplains, and a family phycisian,
making in all an establishment of fifty persons. Yet he
himself assured me, that the whole annual expense of
his household did not amount to more than twenty thou
sand piastres, about eleven hundred and forty-two pounds
sterling. This will afford some means of making a com
parison between the rate of living in the Levant, and
our own. -'
Our host told me, that he had sent cargoes of cotton
and oil to London, and was surprised to sec the accounts
returned to him ; « which," said he, « being made up in
English pounds, made my bargains look very insignifi
cant indeed." The Archon was oppressively polite, and
fell into an error for which he may well be forgiven ;
he would show us that he was acquainted with the man
ners of civilised Europe, and accordingly he brought
his wife and family from their seclusion to introduce
them to us ; nay, he would have her and the little family
dine with us, a ceremony which we could well have ex
cused, as the Archontissa had made but little progress
under the tuition of her husband, and, being evidently
doing what she was not accustomed to, filled us with ter
ror and confusion. De Tott has not exaggerated, when
be says, that, in the Levant, a lady, to imitate European

* See page 58.

 221

customs, takes up an olive in her fingers, and afterwards

sticks it on a fork.
At Livadia we remained the greater part of three days,
and took the opportunity of seeing the only curiosity in
the town which travellers are directed to notice ; this is
the entrance of the cave of Trophonius.
Behind the town, in a chasm of the mountain shaded
with groves of trees, there is a small stream, which fall
ing over the rocks, forms a pretty cascade, and flows, a
little to the east, into the plain helow. A short way from
the inner recess of the chasm, and a few yards above the
river, on the right (west) there is an artificial hollow in
the rock. The cave at the entrance is a semicircular
arch, much resembling the mouth of an oven, and pre
serves the same form throughout its whole depth, be
ing regularly excavated out of the rock, and having a
surface not on the descent but horizontal. It is high
enough to admit a person walking upright, and the depth
of it may be a little more than twelve feet, that ascribed
to it by Pausanias, whose minute description answers
most exactly to the present appearance of the place.*
But this cave was only the entrance by which those who
went to consult the oracle of Trophonius approached to
the interior cavity. The hole, through which the de
scent was by a ladder, was just big enough to admit a
man's body, but after sliding a short distance, the con
sultant was hurried downwards, with his knees to his
chin, and as if drawn into a whirlpool of waters ; so that
it is evident, that in order to practise their mysterious
juggling, the priests must have excavated much of the
inner part of the hill. But these interior caverns, ifthey
still remain, have now no entrance to them, except a
very small hole, which there is to the left of the arch,

• In the chasm on the banks of the Hercyna at the back of Leba-

<lea, was a sacred grove, in which were the temple of Trophonius, or
the Trophonian Jove ; and a chapel of Ceres. An unfinished temple
of Proserpine the Huntress, and Jupiter, was on the hill, and a tem
ple of Apollo. The oracle was above the grove. At the entrance of
the cave was a circular step of white stone, less than two cubits
high : on this step, whose surface was a vestibule to the cave, were
two brazen obelisks, between which was the mouth of the cave, tike
an oven, four cubits wide, eight cubits deep. It was the work of Dx.
dalus. The statue of Trophonius, personifying iEsculapius, was by
* Praxiteles.—Pausa. Bocotic. 602, 693.
 may be supposed, as the Greeks affirm it does, to lead
into them. The inside of tlte cave has been blackened by
the smoke of the fires, kindled there by the women who
wash in the river below.
This river was anciently called the Hercyna, and of
its two springs, which were, as they are now, in the
chasm of the mountain at no great distance from the
cave, one was named the fountain of Oblivion, and the
other that of Memory. For Lethe, though a river in the
infernal regions, was, above ground, only a spring : ne
vertheless modern poets have talked of it as a stream.
It was one of the obligations of those who visited the
cavern of Trophonius, to write down every thing they
had seen or heard ; but as this duty is not still in force,
one would not feel much inclined to give a detail of its
present appearance, which, though in form and symme
try, much the same as it must have been in the second
century, would not call from a modern such encomiums
as have been bestowed upon it by Pausanias.* The skill
and harmony, with which, to the last degree of ingenuity,
it was constructed, would not save it from total neglect,
were it not for the former repute of the unerring oracle,
the last which was heard to utter the decrees of fate.
On the top of the rock, above the cave, is a ruin that
more forcibly reminds one of the latter miseries and de
gradation of Greece. This is an old castle, part of which
still serves the Turks for a fortress, and which was built
by the Catalans.
These barbarians, called by the Greeks Amogavares,
first entered into the service of the emperors of Constan
tinople, and Roger de Flor, who commanded a great body
of them in 1303, was made Duke of Romania by Andro-
nicus the elder, and afterwards created Csesar. But
they were not willing to be dismissed from the armies and
pay of the Greeks, and seized Gallipoli, by which they
made themselves masters of the Hellespont. They then
marched through Thrace and Macedonia, encamped for
a year on the plains of Thessaly, then passed the straits
of Thermopylae and established themselves in Greece;
of which they continued in possession for the remainder
of the fourteenth century ; when they were first partially

* Boeot. page 603.

 333

dispersed by the Florentine Acciajuoli, and afterwards

totally expelled by the armies of Mahomet the Great.
The Sultan Bajazet the First, had before been more le
nient ; he suffered the widow of a Spanish chief, who was
mistress of the recesses of Delphi, to retain her posses
sions, but he accepted of her daughter as a reward for his
generosity.
The independent chieftains, French and Italians, as
well as the Spaniards, who ruled in Greece during the
interval between the Latin and the Turkish conquests of
Constantinople, filled the.country with their strong holds,
of which several vestiges yet remain, though not entire,
as atLivadia. Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens and
Thebes, is said to have himself had thirty castles, all of
which, together with his dukedom, he lost in a great bat
tle fought on the banks of the Boeotian Cephissus against
the main body of the Catalans.*
These ruins are the only traces left in Greece of her
Latin conquerors, who, though in possession of the
country during two hundred and fifty years, failed to
make the least impression upon the manners and cus
toms, much less upon the disposition and prejudices, of
their subjects.
There is nothing of the Frank discernible in the .
Greeks of Roumelia : notwithstanding their long con
nexion with the barbarians of the west, they retain invio
lated those habits of living, and the manners which we
are accustomed to call Oriental, and which they did not
learn from the Turks, but had derived, as might easily
be proved, from the immemorial usages of their remotest
ancestors. But of this elsewhere.
From Livadia we rode to a village called Caperna,
near the site of Chseronea.
Chseronea has been said by Strabo to be near Orcho-
menos, and Pausanias calls it in the neighbourhood of
Lebadea, which has made some persons suppose it to
have been in the way from the last-mentioned place to
Thebes ; but it is directly out of the road to the north,
and at no inconsiderable distance, according to Grecian
measurements, from each of the two cities.

* Knolles says, the Asopus

 224

From Livadia it may be about eight of our miles. The

country through which the road passes, is neither hill/
nor yet a plain, but wild and rugged, and for the most
part covered with brown heath and low brushwood.
Soon after the first view of the large open country, the
road turns to the left, and brings the traveller first to the
mud village of Caperna, of about thirty houses, in
the hollow of a hill, and then to the site of Chseronea
itself.
This town appears to have been situated under and
upon a rocky hill once called Petrarchus, near the north
east foot of Parnassus. The sole remains at present visi
ble are some large stones, six feet in length, in the ruins
of a wall on the hill, and part of the shaft of a column,
with its capital ; the seats of a small amphitheatre, cut
out of the rock, on the side of the same hill ; in the flat
below, a fountain, partly constructed of marble frag
ments, containing a few letters not decypherable ; some
bits of marble pillars just appearing above ground, and
the ruins of a building of Roman brick. Meletius has
copied some inscriptions, to be seen in his time in two
churches, which are not at present to lie found.* Pau-
sanius speaks of two trophies erected by Sylla, and of a
large lion of marble, placed over the tomb of the Thebans
who were slain in the battle against Philip. I observed
nothing like what might be taken for an artificial tumulus
near the place.
Immediately before the hill Petrarchus, to the north,
is the fatal plain, which, commencing three or four miles
beoynd Caperna, from the roots of Parnassus, runs from
west to east, to the village of Scripoo, near the site of
Orchomenos, about seven miles distant, whence it spreads
into a wider plain, more to the south. Opposite to Ca
perna, it is about two miles in breadth, a dead flat, with
not a tree to be seen upon it, and being of so great an
extent, forms a striking contrast for the traveller, who
has just emerged from the mountains of Phoris. N,> spot
in the world can be better calculated for deciding the
quarrels of nations. There does not appear to be even
a mole-bill to impede the manoeuvres of hostile armies,
and there is space sufficient for a slaughter ten times

* For these, see Appendix.

 225
more considerable than that of the myriads who fell be
fore the Macedonian and the Roman conquerors.
The northern side of the plain is bounded by a rhain
of low hills, interrupted by two or three vallies. They
seem to belong to the mountains called Acontius, which
stretched from Orchomenos sixty stadia to Paropotamii,
a village five miles from Chseronea, in the vi< inity of
Phanote, and five stadia from the river Cephissus,* on a
little hill, commanding the pass from Boeotia into Phocis.
On the other side of these hills, is the valley watered by
the Cephissus ; a branch of which, a small stream, di
vides the plain of Chseronea.f
The day after our visit to the poor remains of the
birth-place of Plutarch, we left Livadia, and set off for
Thebes, or, as it is pronounced by the modern Greeks,
who have mostly rejected the old plural terminations in
the names of places, Theva (©*/3a). We sent our baggage
by the straight road, but proceeded ourselves to Scripoo,
which took us considerably out of our way.
From Livadia to Scripoo, between seven and eight
miles, the road is north-east-by-north, over a flat, for the
first hour close to low hills on the left, and for the last
hour over part of the Chseronean plain. Before the town
itself, which is a very poor one, inhabited by Greeks,
there is a mer of no great size, over which there is a
stone bridge. It has no name at present; indeed there
are very few streams that have any known to the country
• The Cephissus flowed from the town of Lilicn, under Mount JEta,
in Phocis, one winter day's journey, or one hundred and eighty sta
dia, from Delphi; from Lilxa to Amphiclxa, fifty stadia; thence to
Tithronum, on a plain, fifteen stadia; to Drymxa, twenty stadia;
Elatia, or Elate*, one hundred and eighty stadia, opposite Amphiclza.
As far as Elatia, the course is from north to s uth-east, them e more
easterly. Strabo adds, that from this place it flows near Paropotamii
and Phanote, by Chxronea, through the country of Orchomenos and
Coronga, into the lake CopaYs; but this cannot be reconciled with
present appearances, if the conjectures of all travellers be at all well
founded. Corone'a must have been much more to the south than the
course of the Cephissus. All the maps of Boiotia appear to be in
correct ; Thebes is placed too much to the south, and Orchomenos too
near ;he lake Copals
-\ A small stream, formerly called Boagrius, but now Gavrias, riseg
also near Lilxa (Souvala), and receiving the Cephissus, now the
Mavroneri, flows on to the lake Topolias, formerly Copai's. The Gav.
risks, the name of the united streams, is often quite dry, and at othef
times overflows the plains.—Extracted from Meletius.
VOL I. F f
 226

people, and one is frequently provoked by having the

same answer to all questions of, What do you call that
water ? •« The river," (T« stoTa^), and by repeating the
query, one has the same reply, « It is called the river."
A Greek of Livadia said he had heard it was named
Mavro-Potam, the Black River, which looks as if it were
the stream of the Mclas, " seven stadia from Orchomenos,
between that town and Aspledon, in the lands called Eu-
decilos." I did not see enough of the country to decide
whether it was the Cephissus itself
Behind Scripoo are craggy hills, on one of which,
about a mile off, is an old tower, one of the Latin ruins.
There is a certain persuasion in the country, that the
town stands upon the site of Orchomenos, which, though
its inhabitants lived originally more to the south-east in
the plain, was finally obliged to retire before the conti
nual encroachments of the lake Copais, and settle at the
foot of the hill Acontius. Our host at Livadia, who is
the owner of the lands in the vicinity, gave us a letter to
Scripoo, addressed, « To the People of the Sipwr Logo-
theti, in Orcomenos." There are, however, no remains at
Scripoo decisive of the site of the ancient city. AH we
were taken to see, by a monk of the place, was a church,
at a little distance to the east of the town. In the walls
of this church are some pieces of carved marble, on one
of which is a sepulchral inscription :
AeENOiflPOi

Q ©
A P I JI E A
X A IPE
An inscription in very large letters, is seen on some
stones which run round the whole of the back part of the
building, or the semicircle of the sanctuary, at about a
foot and a half from the ground. It was so hidden by
rubbish, which we could not remove, that only parts of
it could be read. It seemed to record a grant of one of
the Cresars, I think Adrian, if I recollect right; no doubt,
however, it has frequently been copied.
Lying on the ground, near the church door, is a marble
nearly eight feet long, nine inches wide, and three in
thickness, inscribed in very legible characters, with a list
of the victors in the games given at Orchomcnos in honour
of the Graces, and called Charitesia.* This inscription
is given in Meletius's Geography, as well as that of a
similar stone, formerly lying near the other, but tran
sported into England, I believe, though into whose col
lection I know not. The stone is in two pieces, but it
would be very difficult to remove it, as no horse would
well bear the weight of either part, and as there is no other
conveyance in the country. f
Between the church and the village, there are two very
large flat stones, forming the entrance of a hole in the
side of a hillock, that has been filled up with earth. We
were directed to consider these as the remains of the
very ancient building called by Fausanias the Treasury
of Minyas, King of the country, and grandson of Nep
tune one of the wonders of Greece. It was arched, and
the top was formed by a single stone, artfully adapted to
the lateral walls, and shaped so as to be a kind ofdomc
in miniature.
There is nothing else remarkable at the modern Or-
chomenos, except a living curiosity, which is seen by
most visitants. This is a shepherd, named Demetrius,
the fattest man I ever saw, who, in the summer passes
the hottest hours of the day up to the neck in the neigh
bouring river. This practice, not only does not injure
hiiti, but has become by habit so necessary to him, that
he declares he should not, without it, be able to support
the rage of the summer sun.
To the north and north-west of Scripoo, are low hills;
to the west, the plain which stretches to Caperna ; to the
south-west, south, and south-east, an uninterrupted flat,
partly a green plain, and partly divided into corn and cot
ton grounds, and vineyards. To the east and north-east,
three or four miles distant, is the lake once called Co-
pais, from the town of Copx, on its northern extremity,
and now, the lake of Livadia, or, according to some maps,
lake Topolias.
In passing from Scripoo, to join our baggage, over the
plains to the south for six or seven miles, we were very
* This inscription wi.il be noticed in the Appendix,
f Yet, since writing the above, I learn that it has been carried
away by an English traveller.
 228

near being swamped in the bogs formed by the inunda

tions of the lake branching out into wide ditches and
fens over the flat grounds. These inundations are ascrib
ed by Pausanias to the violence of the south winds pre
valent during the winter season. In summer, the Greeks
told us, the lake it self is nearly dry. We could just dis
cern it, at a distance to the east, though with some dif
ficulty , as the whole of the country was teeming, and was
half hidden in a thic k mist, the ancient characteristic of
Boeotia.
After crossing the Orchomenian plain, we got into the
direct road from Livadia to Thebes, and turned to the
left, (east by south) : low hills were on our right ; on one
of them was a ruined tower. We parsed over a rivulet,
flowing round the foot of a little rocky knoll.
We did not overtake our servants and baggage until
after night-fall, when we found them rambling in the low
bills to the right of the road. They had lost their way,
and were firing guns by way of signal, which were an
swered by the Albanian in our company, and soon brought
us together.
We arrived after dark at a very poor village in the
hills, called Mazee, belonging to the Archon Logotheti,
and inhabited, as are most of the smaller places in this
district, by Albanian peasants, of the class already no
ticed.
Mazee is reckoned four hours distance from Livadia,
in a direction a little to the southward of east. It con
tains fifty huts, which hold much more than the usual
proportion of inhabitants, absut five hundred. Most of
those whom we saw were females ; they told us that the
males were scarce in that part of the country, and that,
therefore, contrary to common custom, no woman could
get married without bringing about a thousand piastres to
her husband—Accordingly, several of those whom we
saw, in compliance with a fashion before noticed, were
collecting their portion on their hair ; and the tresses of a
pretty young girl amongst them hung down nearly to her
feet, entirely strung with paras from top to bottom. Yet,
though in a starving condition, and passing, as they as
sured us with tears in their eyes, whole days without
food, neither the mothers nor the daughters will strip off
any of the ornamental coin which has been once assigned
for the portion-money, so much does their hope of a fu
ture good overcome their feelings of a present suffering.
On Friday, December 22d, after travelling four hours
to the east from Mazee, we arrived at Thebes, whose
cypresses and moscks, rising from between the hillocks
on which the town is built, are Visible from a low hill
over which the road passes three hours before it enters
the plane. With the exception of this hill, the whole road
from Livadia to Thebes is over flat plains, for we need
not have digressed into the hills to the right, had we not
been obliged to find out some village in which to pass the
night.
A person standing on a small hill, which is a few pares
to the south of the modern city of Thebes, has the fol
lowing view of the surrounding country :—From imme
diately beyond the town, to the east, the ground rises
into bare, rugged inequalities, not high enough to be call
ed hills, beyond which there is a plain, well cultivated,
called the plain of Scimitari, (anciently that of Tanagra),
bounded by the strait of the Negroponte to the east, and
to the south by the Attic mountains, now named (Jzea,
and a ridge of mount Elatias, or Cithseron. To the
south, the ground rises by a gentle ascent, and then falls
into another large plain, bounded by Cithseron, and
stretching to the south-west. Through this plain, as
well as through that of Scimitari, runs a river, now with
out a name, but formerly the Asopns ; the ruins of Pla-
tfea are to be seen about six miles to the south-west of
Thebes, near a village called Cocli. To the west, is the
flat plain of Thebes; and far off, beyond Livadia, to the
south-west, is seen the mountain Zagari, the modern
name of Helicon. To the north-west the Theban plain
is separated from the flats overflowed by the lake, by a
stony hill, not very high, at seven or eight miles from
the town. In this direction the view is terminated by the
snowy summits of Parnassus. To the north, and to the
north-east, in which direction there is a road to the town
of the Negroponte, there is an uneven plain,* washed by
* These should be the amfractus viarum vallesque interjects,
which concealed the approach of the two thousand Roman Hastati
until they came close to Thebes, and surprised the city. Yet Fla-
minius had come from Vhocis, and in that direction the plain of
Thebes in as uninterrupted level ; nor is there to the north any such
uneven ground within two miles of the modern town.—See Liv. lib.
xzxiii. cap. 1.
 230

a river that flows not far from Thebes. This is termi

nated by mountains, once called Ptoiis and Messapius.
The eastern extremity of the latter is bounded by the
strait to the north of Euripus.
In the description of ancient Greece, every name of
every brook, grove, and hillock, served to preserve the
memory of her demigods and heroes, to whom her sons,
as they believed, were indebted for their origin and their
fame ; thus Strabo and Pausanias, more especially, have
presented us with works, no less historical, than geogra
phical. It may, besides, be observed, that the diminu-
tiveness of the country, which might seem to lessen its
importance, is well concealed by their measurements ;
for the distances which would appear nothing when re
duced to our miles, sound very considerable when rec
koned by stadia.* On the other hand, a person delineat
ing the topography of modern -Greece, is obliged to put
down the ill-spelt names of miserable villages, badly
measured, and insignificant distances, and mountains,
plains, and rivers, without any name by which to distin
guish them from each other ; so without a map the great
est accuracy and minuteness in the account of the travel
ler is likely to cause a confusion in the head of the read
er, who may after smile, at hearing so much about such
trifling journies.f
A man might very easily, at a moderate pace, ride
from Livadia to Thebes and back again between break
fast and dinner, particularly as he would not have a sin
gle object to detain him by the way ; and the tour of all
Boeotia might certainly be made in two days without
baggage. The diminutiveness of these classical coun-

* The stadium of 125 Roman paces, commonly in use, contains 604

of our feet, besides some inches and a fraction, say 604 feet. There
are 5280 feet in a mile, which is five less than 604x8J, so that to re
duce the measurement by stadia to about our miles, we should di
vide by eight and three quarters. When in the course of these Let
ters, the word mile is made use of, an English mile is meant. I recol
lect being much struck with the perseverance of that student who
was said to walk forty stadia and back every day, for the purpose of
hearing a philosophical lecture—it did not enter into my head, that
this was only nine miles and a little more than a furlong.
f And even in the case of a traveller adding a map to his book,
some mistakes may arise. Mr. Barbie du Boccage says, that he can
not reconcile Wheler's charts of Phocis and Boeotia with the journal
of that author.
 231

tries will appear more striking, when we come into the

vicinity of Athens.
Boeotia is singularly destitute of any marked remains
of antiquity, consequently the modern traveller has but
little to assist his conjectures. A short extract, how
ever, from ancient geographers, may be of some little
service, and shall be subjoined to my next Letter.
 LETTER XX.

Thebes—its Modern Insignificance.— The Town.—The

Fountain Dirce.—The Ruins of Pindar's House.—The
Ismenus.— The Fountain of Mars.— Tomb of St. Luke
of Stiris.—Jin Inscription.—Departure from Thebes.—
Route towards Athens.—The Village Scourta.—Passage
of Mount Parnes.—Ruins of Phyle.—Prospect of Athens.
—Town of Casha.—Entrance into the Plain of Athens.
—Arrival at Athens.

THEBES has been, in a manner, blotted out of the

page of history since the last battle of Chseronea be
tween Sylla and Taxilus. In the time of Strabo it had
the appearance of a village, which was the case with all
the other Boeotian cities, except Tanagra and Thespise.
Onchestus, Haliartus, Coronea, and other towns, once of
considerable magnitude, were almost in ruins, and hast-
tcning fast to decay. In the second century, the whole
of the lower town, except the temples of Thebes, had
fallen to the ground, and the citadel alone, no longer
called Cadmea but Thebes, now continued to be inha
bited. It never appears to have recovered its impor
tance under the Emperors, though it must have been of
some size; for, in the year 1173, it contained two thou
sand of the Jewish nation only, who were the best work
ers in silk and purple of any in Greece, and had amongst
them some of the most learned rabbins of the age.* At

* Voyage du Benjamin, fils de Jonas, p. 9.

 238

the Latin conquest, being, as well as Athens and Argos>

totally incapable of making the least resistance, it was
attached to the territory of Attica, and ruled by a fol
lower of Boniface, Marquis of Montserrat, one Otho de
la Roche, a Burgundian, who had the title of Duke of
Athens, and Grand Signor, or Sieur of Thebes. But it
was for a short time separated from the other state by
the will of the Florentine Acciajuoli, who gave his Athe
nian dukedom to the Venetians, hut left Thebes to his il
legitimate son Francus. This prince, by the expulsion
of the Venetians, soon reunited the principalities, and
they continued in the same hands until the final esta
blishment of the Turks in Greece, when the liberties of
Thebes, if she might then be called free, had the fortune
to survive, for a short time, those of her ancient rival ;
for 'he last of the Acciajuoli was suffered to remain
Lord of Boeotia, after he had lost Athens, but was car
ried off in the same year, 1455, by the command of Ma
homet the Great. Since that period, though occasionally
harassed by the incursions of the Franks for some time
in possession of Euboe.a, the Theban territory has re-

Tbe following Note contains a short summary of the topography of

part of Boeotia, collected from ancient geographers and modern tra
vellers, independent of the remarks of Meletius, which are given by
themselves, as they do not coincide with the observation made by
the actuals surveys of Wheler, Chandler, and other writers.
Tanagra was fifty stadia from the strait of Eubcca, under a hill
called Cerycius ; mention will be made of it elsewhere. Thespia:
was situated under Helicon ; forty stadia higher up was Ascra, the
birth-place of Hesiod; on Helicon was the grove of the Muses, whose
statues, as well as those of the early Greek poets, were removed
thence by Constantine the Great ; on the left hand of this was the
fountain Aganippe; Hippocrene was twenty stadia farther up the
mountain. In the confines of the Thespian territory, was the village
Hedonacum, and the fountain in which Narcissus gazed. The sea
port of Thespix w s Creusa, now called the port of St. Basilio ; the
town of St. Basilio itself is near the site of Thespia:, about an hour
from the sea. Travelling from this place to Thebes, Sir George
Wheler saw ruins called, as usual, Palxo-castro, and supposed by
Chandler to be Haliartus. Beyond the harbour of St. Basilio is that
of Livadostro, to the east, which gives the name to the deep recess
formed by the promontory once called Olmix. Near Livadostro, at
a spot called Castri, are the ruins of Thisbe, a town eighty stadia
from Bulis, on the confines of Phocig and Bceotia. To the westward
of Livadostro, a high rock juts into the sea, beyond which is the har
bour and town of Cacos, once Typha ; near this are the rosts of He-
voii. i. Gg
 234

mained in subjection to the Sultan, who governs it by

an Aga, called by the Greeks a Waiwode : it is, however,
considered as attached to the pashalik of the Negroponte.
Thebes is a very poor town, containing about five
hundred houses, mostly of wood, and inhabited chiefly
by Turks. It has two moscks and four churches. ' We
slept two nights in the town, and were lodged in the
house of a Greek bishop. There is nothing worthy of
notice in this place ; though a public clock, certainly
without a rival in this part of Turkey, is considered by
the people of the place, and pointed out to travellers, as
a great curiosity. The bishop directed us to visit the
fountain of Dirce, and the ruins of Pindar's house, and
an old Greek church. I accordingly walked about a
quarter of a mile to the south-east of the town, keeping
by the side of a ravin, through which runs a very small
stream, which Wheler calls the Ismenus. Coming to a
chasm in an eminence from which the stream flowed, I
there found a fountain, which has been dammed up so as
to make it twenty feet in length, ten in breadth, and five
deep in the middle, where there is the shaft, about a foot

licon, or Zagari. Four miles to the west of Castri, and five or six
from Cacos, Wheler found ruins, which Chandler supposes to be on
the site of Coronea.
The cities in the neighbourhood of the lake Copal's, or Cephissus,
were Acrxphia, Phccnicis or Medeon, Onchestus, Haliartus, Ocalea,
Alalcomenx, Tilphosium, and Coronea.—Acrxphia, or Acrocphium,
was behind the mountain Ptoiis, which was at the back (north-east)
of the field called Tenericus, and the lake Copais : Onchestus
was on a hill towards the territory of Haliartus, the Campus Teneri
cus, and the lake, fifteen stadia from the mountain called Sphinx : it
was the seat of the Amphictyonic assembly. Near it was a town
called Medeon, on the hill Phcenicius, and one hundred and forty sta
dia from a place of the same name on the Crissxan gulf. Haliartus
was on a narrow spot, between the mountain and the lake Copais,
near the rivers Permessus and Olmieus, flowing from Helicon, and a
reedy lake: At Haliartus was the tomb of Lysander : fifty stadia
(north-east) of Haliartus was Mount Tilphosium ; Ocalea was thirty
stadia from Haliartus—the small river Lophis flowed through its ter
ritory ; Alalcomenx was thirty stadia from Ocalea, near or upon
Mount Tilphosium ; Coronea was situated on a high spot near Heli
con, not far from Lebadea, forty stadia from Mount Libethrius, and
twenty stadia from Mount Laphystium, from which ran the river
Phalarus into the Copais. It seems that the hills, in which is the
village of Mazee, must be part of Mount Libethrius ; and that some-
whete on the right hand of the road from Livadia to that place, one
 235
high, of a small marble pillar. The water was tepid, as
I found by bathing in it. To the left of the fountain, in
a sort of quarry, were fragments of some building buried
in the earth, and these, say the Greeks of Thebes, are
the remains of Pindar's house. Some traveller, I pre
sume, has told them this, on the authority of Pausanias,
who says, that « after passing the river called Dirce,
are the ruins of Pindar's house;" but the water of Dirce
was more to the west, near the gates Neitis and Electris,
and if the stream in the ravin be the Ismenus, which it
must indeed appear to be, the fountain would be that
which the above author mentions to have been sacred to
Mars. A considerable hillock to the right, just beyond
the suburbs of the town, seems to strengthen the conjec
ture, and to correspond to that which was to the right of
the gate Homolis, opposite the Ismenus, and dedicated to
the Ismenian Apollo.
The stream of the river has been much diminished, by
the means taken to make part of its waters flow in an

might look for the site of Coronea : Haliartus may have been on the
left in the plain farther on than Mazee. The low hill, three hours
from Thebes, appears in the position of the mountain of the Sphinx;
and on a rocky eminence, at no great distance from the west, one
might expect to see some vestiges of Onchestus. The plain at the
foot of this hill, to the south, now part of the great plain of Thebes,
may have been the Campus Tenericus, or portion of Tenerus, where
was a large temple of Hercules Hippodotus : to the left (south) of
this must have been the site of the grove of the Cabirian Ceres and
the Cabiri, twenty-five stadia from the gate of Thebes, called Neitis,
by the way which led perhaps a little to the southward of west : fifty
stadia to the left (south west) of the Cabirian grove was Thespis ;
at the gate Neitis was the tomb of Menscceus, where the battle be
tween Polynices and Eteocles was fought, in the part of the city
called Syrma Antigones. The gate that led towards Plalsa was
calledJtElectris ; it must have been, therefore, next on that side to the
gate Neitis, and looking about to south-west by south j between the
position of these two gates there is a high hillock. One may also
pretty well ascertain the position of the gate Prstis ; for the road to
it led to Chalcis, that is about to the north-east. This would be the
quarter for the antiquarian to commence his researches ; for here was
the theatre, the temple of Bacchus, the tombs of Zethus and Amphi-
on, the stadium, and (to the right of the stadium) the hippodrome,
in which was the tomb of Pindar. On the whole of the road to Chal
cis there were monuments, temples, and the remains of ancient cities.
In this line were the sepulchre of Menalippus ; the three large stones
denoting the grave of Tydeus : the sepulchres of the sons of CEdipus ;
 836
artificial channel, for the sake of turning an overshot-
mill about a hundred pares below the fountain. We
stepped across it with ease, and, had we walked through
it, should not have been wet above the ancles.
Returning from the fountain, I was conducted to the
remains of a Greek Church, on an eminence not far from
the left bank of the rivulet, and a little distance from the
suburbs of the town. This church was in a very dilapi
dated state ; it had no door, and the roof was in parts
uncovered, yet it contained a treasure, to which I should .
be almost afraid that the Greeks of Thebes cannot well
substantiate their claim. This was a stone sarcophagus
of considerable dimensions, not under ground, but in the
nave of the church, covered with a massy slab of marble
and supposed to contain the precious remains of St. Luke,
the Saint of Stiris. Yet though the principal bones of
the glory of Hellas were carefully preserved on the spot
which had been the scene of his sanctity and mortifica
tion, all his relics were not confined to one tomb. The
monastery of St. Laura, on Mount Athos, possessed a
portion of St. Luke : and the same blessing may, per
haps, have been granted to the more neighbouring sanc
tuary at Thebes.

thence, fifteen stadia, the tomb of Tiresias ; seven stadia to the left of
a village called Teumessus, the ruins of Glissas, under a mount
(Hypaton), and near the river Thermodon ; the ruins of Harmatos
and Mycalessus were also visible from tbe road ; the plain under
Mount Hypaton was called the Ionian, and belonged to the Thcbans.
All the aid which Meletius affords towards understanding the com
parative topography of Boeotia is, that Mount Cylhxron is now call
ed Elatias \ Mount Helicon, Lik6na or Palsovoon* ; Thespis, which
onre had a bishop, Kakosi, forty miles to the south of Thebes, where
there are some massy ruins of ancient walls, and the following in
scriptions :
. . . , o» Aaxixov naf3-(xov TiraTev To E : M

OvwitL BpO^lW&, ix Tuv ifiav

On another stone :
Aaf<tfjat.
Creusa, the port of Thespis, Saranti—Thisbe, Gianiki—Siphcc,
Livadostro—Coronas, the seat of a Bishop under the Archbishop 0/
 237

Whatever may be the justice of its pretensions, the

holy coffin is regarded with great reverence. In a hole
which has been scooped out under the projecting cornice
of the slab, there is a lamp, which it is the duty of a monk
to keep perpetually burning, but which was not lighted
when I saw it. The powder from the marble is consider
ed to possess potent medicinal qualities, especially in
affections of the eyes; and our Albanian Vasilly, after
crossing himself most devoutly, scraped off a quantity of
it into his tobacco-box.
There is a large marble pillar, without either base or
capital, wedged into the wall of the church ; and another
ruined edifice of the same kind, a little distance from the
church of St. Luke, contains some pieces of carved mar-

Athens ; Kamari, on a hill, with a very few remains, except some

inscribed stones to be seen in a couple of Greek churches near the
spat. On one :

On another : ©sov Aifprnov n Bovm xxi o Ahfuci; t?rixa.\wfttviiftx—and

very many with the X"-'F'-
Alalcomenx, between Coroneaand Haliartus, is now Emenx—Hali-
artus, Palxopanagiaor Tridoueni—Platxa, Cocli—Eleuthers, Peiroy-
eraki—Scolus, between Cocli and Thebes—Oropus, Oropo—Delium,
<Delis—Aulis, Carababa—Anthedon ; under Mount Messapius, Lukisi
—Larymnx, Larnes (here are some purgative springs, which the people
'of the country drink twice a year, in May and August, and are some
times cured, sometimes killed, says Meletius)—Als, dividing Bocotia
and Locris ; Hagibs Joannes ho Theologos, under the village of Malle-
sinz. This is in a district called Talandios ; and in a church dedicated
to St. George, is an inscription (given in the Appendix), pointing out
that the spot was anciently the sacred portion of Asclepius. Pomix;
some ruins a little more than a mile from Thebes, on the road towards
the Negroponte—Teumessus ; ruins farther on in the same line—Gli-
sas ; ruins on a hill about a mile beyond Teumessus—Tanagra, Tena-
gra—The river Lophis is that which flows to Kanavari, near Thebes—
The Melas, the Mavropotamo, near Scripoo. The modern geogra
pher here, as well as in other places, appears to have given some
scope to conjecture in this survey, and in the course of his detail now
and then contradicts himself, for example, Petroyeraki is here said
to be on the site of Eleuthers; in tracing the Megaris, it is made (and
properly) to beffinoe. He says, in the chapter from which these ex
tracts are made, that Athens is fifty miles from Thebes ; and in his
description of Attica, that Thebes is forty miles from Athens. I sus
pect him to have taken but little pains to assist his topography by
personal experience, but rather to have followed ancient authorities ;
for he calls Oropus forty-four miles from Athens, a blunder copied
fron/the Anton'me Itinerary, it not being above twenty-four.
 838

We, parts of pillars, broken capitals, and plain stones, in

scribed in characters not intelligible, except, perhaps,
they could be taken down from their present position.
Part of an inscription I read was Latin, and of a modern
date.
The Greeks have done a service to antiquarians, by
heaping up into the composition of their churches all
portable remains, not however so much, it must be own
ed, from a knowledge of their value, as from a preference
of the materials, and the size of the marbles of which
they are generally composed.
Our Greek bishop showed me a flat piece of marble in
his court-yard, a foot and a half long and half a foot wide,
containing an inscription, which I copied as far as the
letters were legible, but the greater part of them had
been worn away by the service to which the marble had
been put : when I saw it, it was lying under the pump,
hatf covered with mortar, the mixing of which was the
use to which it had latterly been applied, and would have
been so had it contained an ode of Pindar's.
We had some difficulty in procuring horses at Thebee,
as we were not provided with a travelling firman from
the Porte, and as we had now left the dominions of our pa
tron Ali, and were in the territory of Bekir, Pasha of the
Negroponte. However, we at last accomplished this
point, and set out late in the day for Athens.
The road took us across the rivulet in the ravin, and
near the tepid fountain, which we left to the right, and
proceeded for two hours over a plain to the south-east,
well cultivated, but without a single tree. We then cross
ed the Asopus, a small stream, at a bridge called Metro-
polita, in a situation near about the site of Erythrse,
whence the troops of Mardonius were encamped, along
the banks of the river, as far as Hysise, on the confines
of the Plattean territory, and near which the Greek forces
were also stationed when Masistius was killed by the
Athenian horse.* We here found ourselves at once in
another kind of country; for the soil, which had been be
fore rich and deep, was now rocky and light, and we be
gan to scale low stony hills, going to the south-south-east,
for three hours. We passed a small marshy plain, and

* Herod. Calliope, cap. xxii. et seq.

then ascended a zig-zag path on a rock, which is a low
ridge of Mount Elatias, or Cithxxon. When we got to the
top we had the ruins of a small tower on a crag to our left.
Descending a little, we came at once upon a green plain,
about four miles in length and two in breadth, running
from west to east. On entering this plain, we left on
our right hand a small village, with a church of seme
size, and proceeded eastward for an hour, when we ar
rived at a most miserable and half-deserted village, called
Scourta.
Here we passed our Christmas Eve, in the worst hovel
of which we had ever been inmates. The cows and pigs
occupied the lower part of the chamber, where there were
racks and mangers, and other appurtenances of a stable,
and we were put in possession of the upper quarter. We
were almost suffocated with the smoke, a common cala
mity in Greek cottages, in which the fire is generally
made in the middle of the room, and the roof, having
no aperture, was covered with large flakes of soot,
that sometimes showered down upon us during the
night.
The next day we crossed the plain, which has here
and there a vineyard, and continued in a southern direc
tion for an hour, until we came into some pine woods, on
the side of hills that terminate the- plain to the cast as
well as to the south, and which are a part of the Attic
mountain once called Parnes, but now having different
names in different ranges—here it is called Cash a. The
path was very bad indeed, up rugged ascents, through
woods of pine, not thick, but covering the whole moun
tain as far as we could see before us. Depending from
the boughs of the pines, and stretching across from tree
to tree so as to obstruct our passage, were the pods,
thrice as big as a turkey's egg, and the thick webs of a
chrysalis, whose moth must be far larger than any of
those in our country. We now went more to the south-
south-east, still amongst hills, and generally upon the
ascent. We once caught a view, from the summit of a
precipice, of the strait of the Negroponte. We passed
over a part of the path called « Kake Scala," or the Bad
Steps, where it leads over some large slippery stones on
the ledge of a rock to the left, and has a little wall to the
right, which is not high enough to prevent a horse from
 240

falling over into a torrent that rolls beneath the preci

pice. Kake Si ala is not wide enough for more than one?
horse to pass at a lime, and the rider generally chuses to
dismount—it lasts about fifty paces.
At half after two, having been travelling very slowly
for four hours, just as we had got to the summit of the
mountain overlooking a deep glen, one of our guides
called out, « Affendi, Affendi, to chorio," Sir, Sir, the
town ! This word chorio we had so often heard applied
to the villages on our route, that we were not a little sur
prised, upon looking up, to see in a plain at a great dis
tance before us, a large town rising round an eminence,
on which we could also discern some buildings, and be
yond this town, the sea.
This was our first view of Athens; and you, my friend,
who by this time will not think me apt to fly into frequent
raptures, you will yet give me credit for feeling some lit
tle enthusiasm at the sight of such an object. 'On a rug
ged rock, rising abrubtly on our right, were the remains
of ancient walls, composed of massy stones, encompass
ing the summit of the hill. These cannot but be the ruins
of Phyle,* a fortress commanding one of the passes from
Boeotia into Attica, and famous for having been the re
sort of those Athenians who destroyed the thirty tyrants.
But not Thrasybulus himself could from these hills have
surveyed his own Athens, the object of all his patriotic
efforts, with more ardour and affection, mixed with a not
unpleasing melancholy, than were felt by him who is now
employed upon this imperfect relation.
The ruins are now called Bigla Castro, or the Watch-
tower. ^
From this spot we began to descend, and soon lost
sight of Athens in the windings of the hills, which now
became more steep, and clothed with thic ker woods. Our
road was a zig-zag rocky path, along the side of a pre
cipice, overhanging a deep ravin, on the other side of
which was a stream flowing through an artificial channel
cut out of the rock, or a kind of half-natural aqueduct.

* Phyle was a strong fortress, one hundred stadia from Athens,

belonging to the tribe of iEnis.—Xenop. lib. ii. de Eeb. Gr c. 8. Note
to Cornel. Nep. Life of Thrasyb. It is noticed by Strabfi, p 396,
edit. Xyland, as one of the places in Attica worthy of mention, from
the memory of the transaction alluded to above.
 211
Descending an hour and a half, we came by four o'clock
to the Greek town of Casha, where the houses were of
stone, and well built, and where we had been recommend
ed to pass the night, if we could get so far from Thebes
the first day.
After leaving Casha, we went eastward through some
olive-groves, where is a monastery, and passed by a gen
tle slope into the plain of Athens, which, however, we did
not again see until we had turned round a low hill, when
it rose before us to the south, and distinctly showed us its
citadel, and another hill near it, with what appeared a
tower on its summit. The new object was the Museum
and the tomb of Philopappus.
The plain, after the wiM unpeopled regions through
which we had passed, appeared highly cultivated, and it
was of considerable extent, with a belt of olive-groves
running from the extremity of it behind us as far as the
eye could reach towards the city and the sea. It was, be
sides, intersected with several broad, well-beaten roads,
and every thing seemed to announce that we had passed
into some more favoured country, saved, by a happy ex
ception, from the desolation of surrounding tyranny.
Vineyards and corn-grounds, green even in this season,
were on both sides of us, and from these the peasants
were returning in long trains after their winter labours,
and wished us good evening as we passed.
In something more than two hours from Casha, we en
tered the olive-groves, and crossing a bridge over a river,
the Attic Cephissus, traversed them obliquely for an
hour, when we came again into the open plain. In one
hour more, travelling on the same fine road, we arrived
at the city walls, and passed under one of the arched
gateways into the open space before the town. A few mi
nutes brought us into Athens, at half after eight in the even
ing of Christmas day, 1809, and we proceeded imme
diately to the house where our countrymen are usually
lodged, and where we found an English traveller to con
gratulate us on our arrival.

vol.. i. Hh
 LETTER XXL

Athens—its Situation—Appearance—present Inhabitants.

~-Short Notice of its Modern History.

MUCH greater hardships and perils than it can be the

lot of any traveller in European Turkey to undergo,
would be at once recompensed and forgotten on arriving
at Athens—you there perceive an agreeable change in the
aspect of all around you ; the Turk, subdued either by
the superior spirit of his subjects, or by the happy in
fluence of a more genial climate, appears to have lost his
ferocity, to have conformed to the soil, and to have put
on a new character, ornamented by the virtues of humani
ty, kindness, and an easy affability, to which he attains
in no other quarter of the Mahometan world. After
having, in the course of your journey, been constantly
on your guard against the outlaws of the land or sea, you
feel that you may throw aside all unpleasant apprehen
sions, and, free from the cumbrous attendance of soldiers
and servants, indulge in the contemplation of Athens,
Hot, indeed, such as she was, but venerahle from the re
collection of her former renown, and still possessed of
many objects worthy of admiration.*
Were there no other vestiges of the ancient world than
those to be seen at this day at Athens, there would still
be sufficient cause left to justify the common admiration
entertained for the genius of the Greeks, If the contem-

* Athenas plenas qnidem et ipsas vetustate famx, multa tamen vi-

senda habentes These expressions, the encomiums of Livy, may be
applied, even now, to modem Athens.
 243

plation of the productions of antiquity, such as they are

seen in the galleries of princes, or the cabinets of the cir«
rious, affords so pure a delight, how much more gratify
ing must it be to behold the stupendous monuments of the
magnificence of Pericles and the skill of Phidias, still
standing on the very spots on which they were originally
fixed, by the united taste of the statesman and the artist.
These noble master-pieces still retain their grandeur and
their grace, and towering from amidst their own ruins,
and the miserable mansions of barbarians, present a
grand, but melancholy spectacle, where you behold, not
only the final effects, but the successive progress of de
vastation, and, at one rapid glance, peruse the history of
a thousand ages.
You must be already so well acquainted with the anti
quities of this city, from examining the designs of modern
artists, and the exact descriptions of celebrated travel
lers, who, from the days of Nointel and Wheler up to
this period, have laboured to acquaint the world with the
ancient remains to be seen on the spot, that you will,
hardly require from me a particular detail of the wonders
of modern Athens ; but as the desolations of time, and,
of late years, the spoliatory taste of some amateurs, have
caused many decays and dilapidations, I shall, in a cur
sory manner, and perhaps with less precision than the
subject demands, attempt to notice the present appearance
of the Athenian remains. v
But before I proceed to these particular^, let me de
scribe some circumstances attendant on our residence in
the place, and take a view of the present state of the town
itself.
During our stay at Athens, we occupied two houses,
separated from each other only by a single wall, and
through this we opened a door-way. One of them he-
longs to a Greek lady, whose name is Theodora Macri,
the daughter of the late English Vice-Consul, (for we are
represented at Athens), and who has to show many let
ters of recommendation, left in her hands by several
English travellers. Her lodgings consisted of a sitting-
room and two bed-rooms, opening into a court-yard
where there were five or six lemon-trees, from which,
during our residence in the place, was plucked the fruit
that seasoned the pilaf, and other national dishes served
 244

up at our frugal table. The site of this house is easily-

distinguished at a distance, as there is a tall flag-staff
rising from the yard ; and on this the English ensign,
in the time of the late Vice-consul, used to be displayed.
The person at present holding that sinecure is a Greek,
whose name, like that of our host at Livadia, is Logo-
theti. He, of course, called upon us on our arrival, and, to
gether with Mr. Lusieri, Lord Elgin's agent, attended us
on a visit, always customary, to the Waiwode, the Turk
ish Governor of the town, whom we found a well-man
nered man, with more information than is usually pos
sessed by those of his nation, and who, having served
-with our forces in the Egyptian wars, was somewhat
partial to our countrymen—his name and title were Su-
leyman Aga.
Mr. Lusieri, the only one remaining of the six artists
settled during three years by my Lord Elgin at Athens,
contributed to render our residence more agreeable ; and
the same attentions wfire paid to us by Mr. Fauvel, the
French Consul, well known to the public as the coadju
tor of Mr. Foucherot, and gratefully remembered, I be
lieve, by every traveller, who, for these twenty years
past, has visited this part of the Levant.
It w as, however, during our stay in the place, to be
lamented, that a war more than civil, was raging on the
subject of my Lord Elgin's pursuits in Greece, and had-
inlisted all the Frank settlers and the principal Greeks
on one or th% other side of the controversy. The fac
tions of Athens were renewed.
A few days after our visit to Hie Governor of the town,
we prepared for an inspection of the Acropolis, by sending
the usual present of tea and sugar to the Turk who has
the command of the fortress erected on that hill, and who
is now called the Disdar. The gates of this citadel have
of late been shut upon all those who do not settle this im
portant preliminary ; and the Disdar has, not unfrequent-
ly, exacted a present previous to every visit ; an extor
tion justly complained of to me by a French gentleman,
who averred, that it had put a stop to the researches of
many ingenious travellers, that could not afford such
repeated demands upon their purses.
Before these particulars were adjusted, we took every
opportunity of surveying the modern town.
 Athens is placed at the foot of the rock of the citadel, as
represented in the annexed picture, which is exceedingly
correct in every particular, and must serve better to
give an idea of its situation and appearance than the
most minute and animated description. The view is
taken from the foot of a craggy hill, once called Amhes-
mus, on which was formerly a small temple of Jupiter,
and where there is now a chapel dedicated to St. George.
It is about three quarters of a mile from the walls of the
city, in a north-easterly direction from the Acropolis.
There are no houses to the back or south of the citadel,
which included the Ceramicus within the walls (a popu
lous quarter of ancient Athens), but on every other side
the city stretches into the plain, and more particularly
to the north and north-west. It was in modern times
so subject to the incursions of pirates and robbers, that
it has been surrounded with a wall, about ten fret high,
with apertures for the use of musquetry. These walls,
about forty years ago, were enlarged and repaired, and
now comprehend a much wider space than when Chandler
wrote, taking in two antiquities, the temple of Theseus
and the arch of Adrian, not included in their circuit, ac
cording to the plan which he has given of the city. The
gateways to the wall, six in number, were formerly al
ways closed at niglit, but the gates are now removed.
The open space between the walls and the city, one hun
dred and fifty or two hundred yards in breadth, is laid out
in corn-grounds, and there are gardens attached to most
of the principal houses. I walked round these walls at a
brisk pace in forty-seven minutes—a circumstance which
conveys an idea of the size of their circumference, and
of the city itself.
The number of houses in Athens is supposed to be be
tween twelve and thirteen hundred ; of these, about four
hundred are inhabited by Turks, the remainder by Greeks
and Albanians, the latter of whom occupy about three
hundred houses. There are also seven or eight Frank
.families, under the protection of the French Consul.
None of the houses are well built, nor so commodious as
those of the better sort of Greeks at Ioannina or Liva
dia ; and the streets are all of them narrow and irregular,
a peculiarity remarked in ancient Athens, even during
 246

the clays of her splendour.* In many of the lanes there

is a raised causeway on both sides, so broad as to con
tract the middle of the street into a kind of dirty gutter.
The bazar is at a little distance from the foot of the hill,
and is far from well furnished, but has several coffee
houses, which at all times ate crowded by the more lazy
of the Turks, amusing themselves with drafts and chess.
It is formed by one street, rather wider than usual, in
tersecting another at right angles ; and a little above
where the two meet, is an ornamented fountain, the prin
cipal one in the town, supplied by a stream, which is
brought in artificial channels or stone gutters, from a re
servoir under Mount Hymettus, at about a mile and a
half distance. The water found in the wells belonging
to the town is generally brackish ; lukewarm in winter,
but cold in summer.
The house of the Waiwode is of the poorer sort, though
the entrance to it would become a palace, as it is between
the columns of that antiquity distinguished by the name
of the Doric Portico. That of the archbishop is the best
in the town, containing within its precincts a spacious
yard and garden.—There are only four principal inoscks
with minarets in the city, although there are eleven
places of wor ship for the Turks. The number of Chr is
tian churches is out of all proportion to the Greek popu
lation ; thirty-six are constantly open, and have service
constantly performed in them ; but, reckoning the chapels
which are strut except on the days of their peculiar saints,
there are nearly two hundred consecrated buildings in
Athens. The metropolitan church, called the Catholi-
con, is the only one of these that can be accounted hand
some, and the temples, neither of the Mahometans nor
the Christians, add any thing to the appearance of the
town.
The Greeks of Athens are, as has been remarked, less
oppressed by the tyranny of the Turks than those of any
other part of the empire: and, notwithstanding the la
mentation of some classical philanthropists, who have
deplored that a people unconquered by Xerxes, should
become the portion of an ^Ethiopian eunuch, the Athenians

* By Dicearchus, who wrote a short time after the death of

Alexander^
have been benefited by the resolution, which thej adopt
ed about the middle of the seventeenth century, of putting
themselves under the protection of the Kislar Aga, by pay
ing a voluntary tribute of thirty thousand crowns to that
officer ; for the Waiwodes appointed since that period,
have felt themselves so much dependent upon the good
will of their subjects, who, by a sacrifice of part of their
wealth, have it in their power to remove him, that they
have generally treated them with justice and lenity. The
Greeks have, indeed, more than once revolted, and ex
pelled their governor ; and, in one instance, they drove
an unpopular master into the Acropolis, besieged him in
that fortress, and, lastly, cut him to pieces on endeavour
ing to make his escape.
About fifteen years before our time, a Waiwode, by
name Hadji Ali Chaseki, presumed to treat them with
great rigour, and to extort from them large sums, part of
which he employed in buying a great extent of (dive-groves,
and in the erection of a magnificent kiosk, surround
ed with spacious gardens, which are still seen near the
site of the Academy. After repeated and unavailing
complaints (for Ali was befriended by the chief Archon
of the city), nearly half of the inhabitants of Athens re
tired into the villages, where (like the seceders on the
Aventine mount) they continued for three years, until
the tyrant was removed, at first to Rhodes, and then to
Constantinople, where he lost his head. Many of the
Athenians at this day are as familiar with the Albanian
language as with their own ; an acquirement to be re
ferred to the period of their voluntary exile amongst the
peasants of Attica, nearly the whole of whom are Alba
nian colonists.
The government of the Waiwode continues nominally
only for one year, but frequently lasts nine or ten, ac
cording to the satisfaction expressed by his subjects.
He interferes but little with the management of the
Christians, and generally contents himself with the re
ceipt of the tribute which is collected by the Codja-bashees
or Archons—the immediate rulers, and, it should seem,
the oppressors of the Greeks. The Archons have been,
until lately, eight in number ; they are at present only
five, whose names, not quite so agreeable to the ear as
the Cleons or, Phormios of antiquity, arc Stavros-to
 248

maras, Nirolettos, Capitanachis, Zingaras, and Zaka-

richas ; another person, by name Logotheti, the friend
of Hadji Ali, was formerly an Archon, but being now
considered English Vice-Consul, no longer holds that
station. There are six secretaries attached to the
Archons ; but I did not learn that the whole of these
rulers ever assemble at any stated time, or have any re
gular system, for the transaction of business.
The regular tax transmitted from Attica to the Porte,
is between seven hundred and seven hundred and fifty
purses (three hundred and seventy-five thousand and
three hundred and fifty thousand piastres); but the Codja-
bashees, under various pretences, exact as many as fif
teen hundred purses ; and as they never give any ac
count to the people of the manner in which their money
has been dispuscd, do not fail to enrich themselves by the
surplus amount. Threats, and sometimes punishments,
are employed to wring from the peasants their hard-
earned pittance ; ami such is the oppressive weight of
the tyranny, that the murmurs of the commonalty have
frequently broken out into open complaints, and even a
complete revolution, involving the destruction of the
Archons : and an establishment of a better order of
things, has been mediated by the more daring and ambi
tious amongst the oppressed. An unfortunate malecon-
tent, who, in fond recollection of better days, has given
to his three sons the names of Miltiades, Themistocles,
and Alcibiades, talked to me of this glorious project 0™
xaxo irp*yft*), « The Turks," said he, « will be on our
side, if we get the better ; but, alas ! the influence of money
is all powerful ; and Demosthenes himself, were he alive,
and (like me) without a para, would not have a single
listener." He added besides, that their priests, a pow
erful body, would espouse the cause of their Codja-
bashees.
The Archbishop of Athens, whose ecclesiastical domi
nion extends over Boeotia, and even into some parts of
the Peloponesus, exercises an absolute authority over the
whole of the clergy of his see, and has a prison near his
house for the confinement of offenders, whom he may
punish with the bastinade, or in any degree short of
death. His place is purchased of the Patriarch, and is
consequently the object of many iutrigues, which not un
frequently terminate in the expulsion of the incumbent,
and the election of another archbishop. Popular cla
mour has also sometimes displaced such of these priests
as have exceeded the usual bounds of extortion.*
Some of the Athenians are fond of tracing back their
pedigree, which however, according to their own ac
count, they are unable to do beyond the Turkish con
quest. The name Chalcorondyles was, till lately, the
one held in the greatest repute ; but the person who at
present professes himself to be, on his mother's side, a
descendant of the family, has not assumed the appella
tion. The character of the modern inhabitants of this
town does not rank high amongst their countrymen, and
the proverb which is to be seen in Gibbon, I heard quot
ed against them in their own city—<< As ac! as the Turks
of Negroponte, the Jews of Salonica, and the Greeks of
Athens." A French resident, who had lived amongst
them many years, talking to me of their propensity to
calumniate and supplant each other, concluded with this
lively expression, " Believe me, my dear Sir, they are
the same canaille as they were in the days of Miltiades."
We were not amongst them long enough to discover
any very unamiable traits by which they may be distin
guished from other Greeks, though I think we saw in
them a propensity to detraction and intrigue. What
ever may be their talents this way, they are now chiefly
employed in debating whether the French or English,
nations inhabiting countries unknown to their ancestors,
shall deprive them of the last memorials of their ancient
glory. To retain them themselves never, I believe, is an
object of their wishes.
The Greeks of Athens are all of them employed in
carrying on a small commerce, by exporting part of the
produce of their lands, and receiving in return some
Italian, and, of late, English manufactured goods, toge
ther with corn. One Athenian trader has accompanied

* I read, in the Life of Meletius, prefixed to his Geography, a3-»«

HLIM. . . . /ievM/ttvoi in ifiit 'Afxnpta ttirottu>%it at a%f»Te* t£»TH<rxr
xm n<ctyMf£»c. The custom, it appears, lias not been confined to
Athens ; the same biographer, a lit'le farther, talks of a certain Cle
ment, Metropolitan of Ioannina «K<fietu»<r*vToc, an expression savouring
of ancient Greece.
TOL. I. t 1
 250
his merchandise as far as London. The olive-trees still
continue the principal wealth of Attica, and between three
and four thousand barrels of oil are usually exported in
a year ; though, in a very abundant season, perhaps once
in twenty-five years, there is a much greater quantity
shipped from the Pirseus. In 1808, it surpassed more
than twenty times that amount; and a Greek, who had
given two thousand piastres for eighty trees, the preced
ing year, gained two thousand five hundred by a single
gathering. There is a small quantity of butter, cheese,
silk, honey, resin, and pitch, besides some cattle, also
sent annually out of Attica.
The families of Franks settled at Athens, some of which
have intermarried with the Greeks, are those of Mr.
Rocque, Mr. Andrea, Mr. Gaspari, his relation Mr.
Gaspari, and Mr. Louis ; to these may be added, two
establishments, one belonging to Mr. Lusieri, and the
other to Mr. Fauvel, the French Consul. These gentle
men, with the exception of the two last, chiefly support
themselves by lending money, at an interest from twenty
to thirty per cent., to the trading Greeks, and in a trifling
exportation of oil. They add, it must be supposed, con
siderably to the pleasures of a residence in this city, by
their superior attainments and the ease of their manners.
. The gentlemen amongst them, all but Mr. Andrea, wear
the Frank dress; the ladies, that of the country. They
have balls and parties in the winter and spring of the
year, in their own small circle, to which the principal
Greeks are invited, and particularly during the carnival,
when they and many of the inhabitants are in masque
rade. We were present at that season, and were visited
by a young Athenian in an English uniform, who was
highly delighted with his metamorphosis. The most fa
vourite fancy of the Greeks seemed to be that of dressing
themselves up like the Waiwode, the Cadi, or other prin
cipal Turks, and parading the streets with attendants
also properly habited. One more daring humourist of
my acquaintance, on one occasion mimicked the Arch
bishop himself as if in the ceremony of blessing the
houses, but found the priests less tolerant than the Maho
metans, for he was excommunicated.
The French Consul, the head of the Nation, as the
Franks are called, has long enjoyed a high degree of con
 251
sideration at Athens, whose inhabitants have, for some
time, felt a lively interest in every thing relative to the
affairs of France. At a short distance from the Doric
Portico, over the door of a house formerly belonging to
the Consulate, there is a bas-relief, representing Liberty
with her spear and cap, encircled with a laurel wreath, and
the inscription, «La Republique Francaise." Amongst
so many memorials of the ages, when the inhabitants of
this city were a great and independent people, I was not
a little struck with being thus reminded of the former
freedom of another republic, also overthrown, and no less
to be numbered with the things that have passed away,
than the long-lost liberties of the Athenians.
The French have had a Consul established at Athens
since the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the
Jesuits of Paris settled a Missionary in the country about
the year 1645. The Capuchins also began their pious
labours on the same spot in 1658; and, eleven years
afterwards, one of them, Father Simon, purchased the
building which includes the famous choragic monument
of Lysicrates, commonly known by the name of the Lan
tern of Demosthenes, and which still continues attached
to that mission. The Jesuits, whose convent was in the
quarter of the town near the Catholicon, have many years
ago retired to the Negroponte.
The Roman Catholic service is performed for the
Franks in the Capuchin convent, The present Padre is
an Intelligent man, who, besides the duties of his holy
office, is occupied in instructing from twenty to twenty-
five or thirty of the sons belonging to the Frank families;
he has fitted up the circular chamber formed by the mo
nument of Lysicrates, with shelves that contain a few
volumes of choice books.
The world was indebted to one of the early Missiona
ries for the most circumstantial account of the antiqui
ties of modern Athens, in the work of the Jesuit Babin,
published by Spon in the year 1672 ; and if the Propa
ganda Society have not had to boast of many Turkish or
Greek converts, they may at least reflect with pleasure,
that their Ministers in this quarter of the Levant have
been gratefully remembered by many travellers, to whom,
from, and probably long before, the days of Chandler, to
the present period, the Capuchin convent at Athens has
afforded a secure and agreeable residence.
 258

Until within a few years, a journey to Athens was,

reckoned a considerable undertaking, fraught with diffi-.
culties and dangers ; and at the period when every young-
man of fortune, in France and England, considered it an,
indispensable part of his education to survey the monu
ments of ancient art remaining in Italy, only a few des
perate scholars and artists ventured to trust themselves,
amongst the barbarians, to contemplate the ruins of
Greece.
But these terrors, which a person who has bpen onthe^
Spot cannot conceive could ever have been well-founded^
em at last to be dispelled : Attica at present swarms,
with travellers, and several of our fair countrywomen
have ascended the rocks of the Acropolis. So great, in
deed, has been the increase of visitants, that the city, ac
cording to a scheme formed by a Greek once in our ser
vice, will soon be provided with a tavern, a novelty surely,
never before witnessed at Athens. A few more years,
may furnish the Pirseus with all the accommodations of a.
fashionable watering-place.
It is scarcely necessary to account for the eagerness-
tp visit the city of Minerva. In addition to other attrac
tions, there is a consideration which cannot fail to in
crease the interest of surveying such an object: dating,
the settlement on the Acropolis from Theseus, which iSi
later than generally allowed, three thousand and forty-
six years have elapsed since Athens began to fix the at
tention of the civilised portion of mankind, and, for -more*
than half that period, it continued, through all the grada
tions of increasing prosperity, unrivalled glory, and
splendid decay, to furnish materials for the historian, the.
poet, and the orator, of every succeeding age. From the.
reign of Justinian until the thirteenth century, very few;
notices of its existence have been discovered by the re
searches of the learned. Spon and Chandler could only,
discover, that it supplied Roger, King of Sicily, w ith
silk-worms and sjlk-workers, about the year 1130 ; and
a late writer, who has given himself some credit for the.
success of his enquiry, has only been able to add to this
information, that, about the year 590, a Byzantine his
torian talks of the splendour of the Athenian Muses of
his age, and that, in the reign of Constantine the Seventh,
Chases, Prefect of Achaia, was stoned, to death in a
ohurqh at Athene.* Yet during these unnoticed ages,
the city may be conjectured to have maintained at least
Its present size ; (or, when the accounts remaining, of
the irruption of the Latins, again fix our regards on
Greece, we find it of sufficient importance to be made the
head of a state, comprising Thebes, Argos, Corinth, and
part of Thessaly ; and its western Princes of the four
teenth century, if they did nothing worthy the panegy
ric of the sober historian, have still been the heroes of
romance, as from them, Boccace and Chaucer, and after
their example Shakspeare, have borrowed their "The
seus, Duke of Athens."
It cannot be thought that the town has increased since
the Turkish conquest ; so that be who at this day sur
veys the hill of the Acropolis, has the view of a site which
has been covered with the habitations of men, and main
tained, probably without intermission, a population of
eight or ten thousand souls, for more than thirty centu
ries ; a fortune to which no other spot, that I know of,
in the world can justly pretend, and which a view of
its revolutions and disasters must render still more sur
prising.
From the invasion of Xerxes to the irruption of Alaric
into Greece, in 396, Athens changed masters at least
twenty-three different times, and, during this period, the
town was twice burnt by the Persians ; the suburbs, and
every thing valuable in the vicinity, destroyed by the
second Philip of Macedon ; the port, suburbs, and the
whole city, nearly levelled with the ground, and all its
ornaments defaced by Sylla ; the Acropolis plundered by
Tiberius, surprised and ravaged by the Goths in the
reign of Claudius ; and lastly, the city and territory ut
terly ruined, and stript of every portable curiosity of
value by Alaric,
In the ages, during- which we are ignorant of its fate,
it may have suffered by the many competitions for the
eastern empire : on the opening of its renewed history,
* The first anecdote is extracted from the work of Theophylactus
Si.mocattiis ; the second^ from Leo the grammarian. The travels of
the author who has made use of them, Mr. Chateaubriand, unifortu-
nately did not come to my hand until the principal part of these Let
ters was already composed.
 §54.
we find it besieged by Sgure,* a petty Prince of the
Morea, in 120*, but successfully defended by its Arch
bishop, Michael Choniates, the brother of Nicetas the
historian. It was then taken by Boniface, Marquis of
Montserrat, who appointed one of his followers, Otho de
la Roche, a Burgundian, Duke of Athens, a title
borne by its Governor since the time of Constantine the
Great.f After being in the hands of the son and two
grandsons of Otho, it was seized by a Prince of the house
of Brienne, who married a female of the line of the last
possessors of the sovereignty, and whose son, Walter,
was the Duke of Athens and Grand Signior of Thebes,
wh6 lost his crown and his life on the banks of the Ce-
phissus, fighting against the Catalans. In this fatal bat
tle, the army of the Athenian Prince amounted to nearly
fifteen thousand men, a number which might make us sup
pose that the vigour of this Grecian state was renewed,
did we not know that the troops serving under Brienne,
were all either Frenchmen, or other mercenaries, most
of them of the same nation as the enemy. Amongst the
other noble victims of English valour who bled in the
field of Poictiers, is mentioned a titular Duke of Athens,
the son of the unfortunate Walter.
The claims of the Catalans, who remained tyrants of
the place for a few years, seem to have been merged in
Delves of the house of Arragon. I have been unable to
understand Chandler, when he talks of the taking of
Athens by Bajazet, subsequently to the incursion of the
Catalans. The Sultan, if he did make himself master of
the city, which does not appear, must, I should believe,
have preceded those invaders.
During the latter part of the fourteenth century, by a
sad reverse, of which there are examples in the fortune
of states, as well as of individuals, Athens was a fief of
the kingdom of Sicily, and then fell into the posses-

* This person, whom Mr. Chateaubriand mentions on the authority

of Nicetas, may be he whom Chandler calls a General of Theodorus
Lascares.
-j- O' H'ytftuv Tuv A'&»vuv txafie irttpoc. tou jjLtynxov KuvcotvtivOu TiTXa*
(wi .. . word for the ear of an Hellenist) Mty&xov Aouxoc xaS-tes xai o
*f»c T1ixoirovvHrx to tk TlpiyMiroc, o St thc %oiuTiast xai vav QHfieoY To M(-
ytxn .\ficjLixKfiit, n unfti xama <fofa» thc xif«s>c, Miynv Hvftn ix&xovr.—
Melet. Attic.
 255

sion, Whether by gift or conquest is not distinctly known,

of a Florentine, Reinier Acciajuoli, who bequeathed it by
his will to the Venetians. During the reign of Reinier,
Amurath the Second besieged and took the city, but soon
retired, leaving it in the possession of the same prince.
The Venetians were driven from Athens by Anthony,
Signior of Thebes, natural son of Reinier, and the duke
dom continued in his family, but frequently disputed by
competitors of the same kindred,* until Omar, a general
of Mahomet the Great, seized upon the city in 1455.
But this was not its last distress; it was plundered and
sacked by the Venetians in 1464 ; taken, alter a bombard
ment by the army of the same nation, under Morosini,
in 1687; and, lastly, besieged and again recovered by the
Turks, in 1688.
That Athens should still remain a well-peopled city,
after such repeated miseries, is surely somewhat asto
nishing ; and, indeed, from the Turkish conquest by
Mahomet, until about the year 1584, is was believed in
Christendom to have been almost deserted.f At that
period, the learned Martin Crusius| published his Turco-
Grsecia, which contained two letters, one from Zygoma-
las, a native of Nauplia, in the Morea, the other from

* Anthony was succeded by Nerius ; Nerius was dethroned by his"

brother Anthony the Second, but recovered his dominion after the
death of that prince. The widow of Nerius reigned after her husband,
but was, with the assistance of the Turks, expelled, and afterwards
poisoned at Megara, by Francus, son of Anthony the Second, the last
Duke, who, after a year's reign, was deprived of his dominions, first
of Attica, and afterwards ofBceotia, and finally strangled by order of
Mahomet. It is said that Athens, in her last extremity, when besieg
ed by Omar, refused the assistance of the Latin Princes, who demand
ed the conversion of the heretic Greeks as the price of their aid. All
the latter revolutions of Athens are detailed in a work called Atene
Attica, by Fanelli, written at the beginning of the last century, which
is referred to by Chandler ( it was lent to me, at Athens, by the kind
ness of Mr. Fauvel.
Atene Attica contains apian and a picture of Athens, as it was be
sieged by Morosini, and also some rude cuts from wood, representing
all the Dukes who successively governed this state.
f There are four authors quoted in the introduction to the travels
before mentioned, who talk of Athens as in that deplorable state : Ni
cholas Gerbel, in 1550; Dupinet, in 1554; Laurenberg, in 1557; and
the geographer Ortellius, in 1578, who says of it « nunc casulx tan-
tum supersunt qusdam."
$ Kraus, professor of Greek and Latin in the university of Tu
bingen.
 Cabasilas, an Acarnanian, both of whom attempted tfe
describe the state of the city, anil its remaining antiqui
ties. But long after that time, and so late as the begin
ning of the last century, a very learned author wrote
thus, in summing up its history :—« Lastly, in the year
Of our Lord 1455, it was so despoiled by the Turks, that
it is now no longer a town, but a village, under the do
minion of that people, who have given it the name of
Setines."*
But if the mere existence of the town, after the revolu
tion of so great a portion of the ages of the world, ex
cites our wonder, we must be more surprised that in con
tains at this day, more objects of admiration than would
be displayed by an assemblage of all the monuments of
ancient art to be found in every other part of Greece.
* Lamb. Bos. Antiq. Grac. p. 29.
 257

LETTER XXII.

Antiquities of Athens.~Temple of Theseus.—Areopagus. —

Fnyx Museum.—Monument of Phiiopappus.—Odeum.—
Theatre of Bacchus.—River Ilissus.—Adrian's Temple.
—CaUirlwe.—Stadium of Atticus Herodes.—Adrian's
Arch and Aqueduct.—Monument of Lysicrates.—Monu
ment of Andronicus Chyrrestes.—The Doric Portico.--
Many smaller Remains.

DURING our residence of ten weeks at Athens,

there was not, I believe, a day of which we did not de
vote a part to the contemplation of the noble monuments
of Grecian genius, that have outlasted the ravages of
time, and the outrage of barbarous and antiquarian de-
spoilers.
The Temple of Theseus was within five minutes walk
of our lodgings ; for the site of it I must refer you to the
annexed picture, where it appears entire, which is almost
its actual state: for, excepting the sculptures on the back
and front porches, and the roof, which is modern and
vaulted, the outside of the building has been but little
affected by the injuries of four-and-twenty centuries,*
and is, to this day, the most perfect ancient edifice in the
world. In this fabric, the most enduring stability, and a
simplicity of design peculiarly striking, are united with
the highest elegance and accuracy of workmanship ; the
characteristic of the Doric style, whose chaste beauty is
not, in the opinion of the first artists, to be equalled by
the graces of any of the other orders. A gentleman at
• It was built a little after the battle of Marathon, fought fotfr
hundred and ninety years B. C.
vol. i. K k
 258

Athens, of great taste and skill, assured me, that after

a continued contemplation of this Temple, and the re
mains of the Parthenon, he could never again look with
his accustomed satisfaction upon the Ionic and Corinthian
ruins of Athens, much less upon the specimens of the
more moder n species of architecture to be seen in Italy.
A person accustomed to the cumbrous churches of
Christendom, those laboured quarries above-ground,
spreading over a large irregular space, would not be
struck with the sight of the Grecian temples; on the con
trary, he would think them rather small. The Theseum
is only one hundred and ten feet long, and forty-five feet
broad, and appears less than it is in reality, from the
proportion of the columns, which, though only eighteen
feet high, and without bases and plinths, are nine in cir
cumference at their lower extremities. But the mate
rials of the building being of a sort which we are accus
tomed to think most costly, and the inimitable skill of
the artist becoming more apparent at every investigation,
the first slight disappointment is succeeded by the purest
admiration.
The four-and-thirty columns of this Temple, and their
entablatures, as well as the steps of ascent, aad the walls
of the cell itself, are of the finest Parian marble, the na
tural colour of which may be perceived where the stone
has been recently broken, although its general surface
has been tinged by the hand of Time with a pale yellow
hue. The shafts of some of the columns, (whose tam
bours, as has been discovered by the fragments of the
Parthenon, were not united by any cement, but by a sort
of leaden or iron cramp), and especially the corner ones
on the right of the Pronaos, have been disjointed by earth
quakes, but are nut yet sufficiently injured to threaten a
speedy fall. The Outings of many of them have been
broken by stones, and other species of injury, as is
the case with the figures in mezzo-relievo on the me
topes, and those of the friezes of the western porch of the
Temple.
The sculpture on the western front, the posticum,
though it has been struck with lightning, is in the best
preservation. The prominent figure, of Theseus killing
a Centaur, who is struggling on his back, wants the head
arid a right arm, but the body of his enemy is very en
tire. Two of the Centaurs laying a large stone over one
 259
of the Lapithse in a pit, are, as they were noticed by
Chandler, less injured than the other figures. Is not this
the fable of Ceneus, who, when he could not be otherwise
slain, was buried alive? Two figures with shields, sup
posed to be Hercules and Iolaus descending into Hell,
have lost their heads, arms, and legs.
The whole of the sculpture of the Theseum has been
modelled by Lord Elgin's artists, as well as by the French
agents, but the noble Ambassador did not suffer any part
of it to be separated from the building, and for this for
bearance he gives himself all due credit. The opposite
faction assert, that the endeavour was made, but inter- ,
rupted in the outset. I could not decide on the motive,
but was contented with the fact.
« Blest be the great for what they took away,
« And what they left me."
The cell of the Temple,, the outside walls of which
were anciently adorned with paintings by Micon, and
where the modern Greeks formerly drew pictures of their
Saints, now quite effaced, is converted into a church, de
dicated to St. George, but, with" the exception of the fes
tival of that Saint, is never opened, unless to gratify the
curiosity of travellers. The door to it, on the south side
of the church, is but small ; it is plated with iron, which
is perforated or indented, in every part, with pistol and
gun bullets. The pavement on the inside having been re
moved, the floor is of mud ; and, in the middle nearly
of the building, there is a small sepulchral mound of
earth, like those in our church-yards. This is the grave
of Tweddle. A slab of marble, with an inscription, is
in preparation, at my Lord Elgin's expense, and under
his direction. An epitaph for such a person, and to be
placed in such a spot, must be a work of some nicety.
The interior of the church has a melancholy appearance;
the walls are quite bare, and the pictures of Saints in the
sacristy, or oval recess, erected in the eastern porch, are
of the most pitiful kind. The round marble with the
four faces of inscriptions, three of which were copied by
Lord Sandwich, and made it appear to have belonged to
the Prytaneum, still remains in the south corner of the
western front. *
 260
The Theseum stands on a knoll of open ground, culti
vated for corn, between two anil three hundred yards
from the town, and not more than twenty yards from the
-wall of modern Athens. Under the slope of the hill is
one of the gateways, through which those who live
to the north of the Acropolis take their road to the
Pirseus.
A person walking from the Temple towards the Acro
polis, and passing out of this gate, if he still keeps in the
direction of the walls, will immediately ascend the craggy
lull of the Areopagus. This hill is very uneven, consist
ing of two rocky eminences, on the lowest of which is a
small chapel, dedicated to St. Dionysius the Areopagite.
A cave below this chapel, always shown by the Athenians,
and which contains a cold spring, perhaps the fountain
mentioned by Pausanias as being near the Temple of
Apollo and Pan, on the descent from the Acropolis, is no
otherw ise curious, than as being reported by the devout
Christians to have given shelter to St. Paul. The Areo
pagus is within a stone's throw of the craggy sides of the
Acropolis, which is mentioned, that you may not attach
too important a signification to the words mountain, hill,
valley, and rock ; for, in fact, the scene presented by
the city, and the immediate vicinity of Athens, is a land
scape in miniature, the most lovely in the world, indeed*
but by no means corresponding with the notions of those
who are acquainted with the vast exploits, without hav
ing beheld the country of the Greeks. There are no re
mains of any ancient building which may have been the
place of assembly on the Areopagus, although that cele
brated court continued to exist to a late period, as Ru-
fius Festus, Proconsul of Greece during the reigns of
Gratian and Theodosius, is called an Areopagite.
The ground at the west of this hill is a hollow valley,
which is inclosed on the other side by the sloping concave
ascent of another eminence, less rocky that of the Areo
pagus, but covered only with a very thin soil. This hill,
though considerably inferior in height to the Acropolis,
is, in the ancient descriptions, ranked amongst the Attic
mountains, under the name of Lycabettus. The region
between the Areopagus and Lycabettus, was part of the
old city, and included within the walls, which may be yet
traced over the brow of the last-mentioned bill. The
 261

part in the valley was the Coele of Athens, the Hollow ;

and above this, there are very evident vestiges of Pnyx,
the place of public assembly. These are immediately
fronting (westward) the Acropolis, in the concave slope
of Lycabettus, which, in this place, presents the appear
ance of being hewn perpendicularly, so as to form the
cord of the semicircular arc.
In the middle, or rather in a niche of this part of the
hill, there are two pieces of wall, composed of stones of
an immense size, meeting in an obtuse angle, in which
there is a flat area, raised upon a flight of four or five
steps. This appears to have been the Bema of the ora
tors, or at least the platform on which the pulpit was
raised, after the conquest of the city by Lysander, when
it fronted the Acropolis, and had no view of the sea. The
ground has been cleared away in several parts, so as to
show other portions of the same wall, by the activity of
Lord Elgin's agents, who would have obtained much
praise, and escaped a good deal of obloquy, if they had
confined themselves to such labours and researches.
Just above the stone platform is the brow of the hill,
whence there is a view of the Pineus, the peninsula of
Munychia, and the whole line of coast. The west side of
Lycabettus falls, by an easy descent, into the large plain
of Athens. Coele, the area of Pnyx, the sides and sum
mits of Lycabettus, are ploughed up and cultivated, where
there is any soil on the rock. They were covered with
the green blades of wheat and barley, as early as the
month of January ; and, on the dear warm days which
often occur in the depth of an Athenian winter, swarmed
with trains of Greek and Turkish females, clothed in
their bright-coloured hoods and mantles, some strolling
about, others sitting in circles, with their children play
ing on the Turkish guitar, and dancing before them. As
the season advances, many of the poorer sort of women
are seen in these corn-grounds, picking the wild salads
and herbs, which constitute so material a part of their
diet during the long fasts of the Greek church.
In the middle of February, the corn was a foot high,
and then, to crop its luxuriance, the horses of the Turks
were tethered in the fields, amongst the standing barley,
and were continued in the pasture for a fortnight or three
weeks.
 263

Nothing can be more full of life than the picture to be

viewed, particularly on this side, close to the walls of
Athens. A pleasing object, and one which I have often
encountered in my rambles near the town, was a well-
drest boy, generally a Turk, leading, in a coloured string,
. a favourite ram,* whose horns were crowned with flow
ers, and sometimes playing or struggling with him, in an
attitude often represented by ancient sculptors. It is
usually towards the Bairam, the Mahometan festival, and
the Christian carnival, that these pretty animals are thus
adorned, previous to their sacrifice. The children at
tending their mothers in their walks, are also often follow
ed by tame lambs.
To return to our survey : on your way from the city-
gates towards Pnyx, before you come to the side of the
bill, there is on the right hand, an assemblage of low
crags, separated from Lycabettus by a small gap in the
rocks. On these crags is a little Greek chapel, and at
the lower end of them, towards the Areopagus, is a
smooth descent, which has been worn even and slippery,
by the effects of a singular persuasion prevalent amongst
the females of Athens of both religions—the married wo
men conceive, that by sliding uncovered down this stone,
they increase their chance of bringing forth male chil
dren ; and I saw one of them myself at this exercise,
which appeared to me not only disagreeable, but indeed
rather perilous.
Above the steps of Pnyx, keeping rather on an ascent
to the, right for a hundred paces, you reach the highest
part of Lycabettus, where there is a windmill ; on which
spot, as Chandler was informed by an eye-witness, the
Venetians, in 1687, placed four mortars and six pieces of
cannon, when they battered the Acropolis.f
To the south of the steps of Pnyx, lower down, but at
no great distance in the side of the hill, are the three ar-

* Pouqueville says, that in the Morea the shepherds will call a ram
Tityrus ! If he were to travel in Ireland, he would as gravely swear
that the peasants of that country call a pig "Horace," and without be
ing far from the truth.
f The same traveller places the Persian camp on this spot ; but He
rodotus, lib. viii. Urania, cap. 52, expressly says, that it was on the
mount called by the Athenians " the Hill of Mars." The fact is, that
what Dr. Chandler calls a part of Lycabettus, was thought by early
travellers to be the Areopagus.
 S63

tificial excavations, looking like square caves, conjec

tured by Chandler to be the sepulchres of Cimon the
father of Miltiades, and of his mares, thrice victorious at
the Olympic games. When Lycabettus was supposed to
be the Areopagus, these were thought to be the prisons
of that court, and are so laid down in the plan of Athens
attached to the Atene Attica of Fanelli.
Descending from the Cimonian sepulchres into the
hollow valley, Coele, you arrive at the rocky ascent just
under the Acropolis, covered with tomb-stones, one of
which is erected to the memory of a pious Mussulman,
who has also a tomb at Constantinople and at Smyrna,
and is believed occasionally to revisit the earth, and ap
pear amongst the true believers.
Turning again to the right (south-west), and having
the Acropolis at your back, you proceed, for a short time,
over a flat, now a corn-ground, and then begin to ascend
a steep hill, separated from Lycabettus by a rocky hol
low, through which there is a path from the Pirseus to
the city. This hill, much higher than Lycabettus, is
that once called the Museum, a half cannon shot froni
the Acropolis ; and, on the top of it, is the monument,
visible at a great distance, going by the name of the
tomb of Philopappus.*
What is now seen of this structure is of very white
marble, the substructure of which being partly above
ground, gives it a height of twelve or thirteen feet. Its
form is that of a very eliptical curve ; and the concave
part of the ruin, looking towards the Acropolis, contains
two oval niches, in each of which there is a statue, one
of them (that on the right) being seated in a chair. A
square column is between the two niches, and the base
of this pilaster represents, in very prominent figures, as
large as life, a person drawn in a chariot by four horses*
with a procession in front, and a Victory following. The
figures have all lost their heads, and the horses' legs are
broken ; but the sculpture, though of a late date, is very
bold and animated. To the right the monument is entire,
* Philopappus lived in the time of Trajan, and it is thought proba-
bable, from part of an inscription containing the words, " King Anti-
pchus, son of King- Anliochus," and from Pausanias (Attic, p. 46),
who calls this the tomb of a Syrian, that he was a descendant of the
Kings of Syria, settled by Pompey at Home.
 264

but, to the left* in ruins ; the marbles composing it jut

ting out, so as to form a set of steps for any one who may
wish to climb to the higher part of it, and view the orna
ments more closely. The part destroyed, it is thought,
contained a third niche, and completed the structure ; the
remaining portion seems in such a condition as to be likely
to fall with the first earthquake. Many parts of the mar
ble are covered, not to say defaced, with names of tra
vellers. The name of an artist, Romaldi* I think, who
travelled with Mr. Dodwell, is, with an unpardonable
vanity, written up in a half a dozen places. A picture
taken from this spot, would comprehend all the south
west of the city, and, with the annexed sketch, complete
the view of Athens.
Here the Venetians, under Morosini, had also a mor
tar, and one of the bombs fired from it was fatal to some
of the sculpture on the west front of the Parthenon. The
same spot had been before selected, as a position calcu
lated to overawe the city, by Antigonus and Demetrius
Poliorcetes, who fortified its summits.
The Museum contains nothing else worthy of notice,
except two sepulchral cavities, much of the same kind
as those of Delphi, scooped out on the south side of the
hill.
Passing down from the Museum towards the Acropo
lis, and keeping a little to the right, you come into a flat
piece of ground, which stretches along the southern rocks
of the citadel, and was that portion of ancient Athens
called «the Ceramicus within the City," but is now .
ploughed, though but with little advantage to the hus
bandman, as the soil is very thin, and covered in many
places with small fragments of marble, and other ruins of
ancient buildings ; a circumstance no one will wonder at,
who has looked into the mention made of this portion of
ancient Athens by Pausanias.f In this place we were
shown several marks of late excavations, undertaken
chiefly by Lord Elgin, who had the good fortune to find
there a stone with an inscription, in elegiac verse, on the
Athenians who were slain at Poti<1%a.
At about a furlong and a half from the foot of the
Acropolis, the plain of the Ceramicus is terminated by

* Pomardi was the name of Mr. Dodwell's artist. A. E.

f Attic, p. 7, beginning to it ^ap«v o Kipa^ewcoc.
the small gravelly channel of the Ilissus, a river, as Boc-
cace calls the Sebeto, " quanto ricco d'onor tanto povero
d'acque and which, during our winter at Athens, not
withstanding some rain and snow, was never swelled even
into a temporary torrent. The channel, however, may
not in former times have been always so entirely dry ;
for water is discovered, at a little depth, by digging into
the stony bottom, which may be more shallow now than
formerly, and choked up by the accumulation of the sur
rounding ruins. But the Ilissus, if full to the mar
gin, could never have been more than an insignificant
brook.*
Going directly from the Museum towards the Acropo
lis, iu order to pass close under the rock, you arrive at
the western angle of the hill, and at once see the remains
of the theatre built by Herodes upon the site of the Odeum
of Pericles. These are not of marble, but of stones of
large dimension, and preserve exactly the same appear
ance as when described by Dr. Chandler forty years ago.
The entrance to the area of the ruin is still from the cita
del, to which one of the walls, formerly the inner one of
the Proscenium, serves as an outwork. What is to be
seen of the seats of the Amphitheatre, which, in order to
make use of an advantage frequently resorted to by Gre
cian artists, are scooped out of the side of the hill, is
chiefly on the right or west side of the area, the falling
rubbish and mould having blocked up those on the other
parts of the semicircle. The cord of the arc is about
eighty-two long paces.
This, though the original building was of great magni
ficence, is not a striking ruin, but of a very stable con
struction, and has served as a model for the study of ar
chitects. The very little depth of the scene shows the
use to which the theatre was put ; not for the representa
tion of plays, but for the contests in musk at the Pana-
thensen festivals. The three rows of arched windows,
one above the other, seem more in the Roman than in the
Grecian taste.
* I see, that on the strength of these pools of water, to which the
Albanian women of Athens resort to wash their clothes, Mr. Chateau
briand attacks Dr. Chandler, who laughed at the traveller Le Roi,
for representing the Ilissus as a fine flowing river, with a respectable
bridge across iu
vox. i. LI
 SOD

As you proceeed from the Odeum by the rugged track

close to the foot of the Acropolis, in the same direction
(to the east), the naked rocks, crowned with the project
ing battlements of the citadel, are seen high above you to
the left. There is some soil and sloping crags about
half way up the hill, to which point you can climb, but
above this the rocks rise perpendicularly, and are in
accessible.
A hundred pares from the Odeum, there is to be seen,
half hidden in the cliff, what looks like the foundation
arches of a projecting part of the fortress above. They
have been thought part of an ancient portico leading to
the Music Theatre.
Unless directed to observe them, you would hardly no
tice these ruins, nor would you pay much attention to the
site of the Theatre of Bacchus, which occurs at a little
distance from the south-east angle of the Acropolis, were
it not for the ancient vestiges placed on the rocks above.
The circular sweep of the seats, indented into the side of
the hill, is scarcely perceptible, nor did 1 observe the
stone-work at the extremities, extant in Chandlei 's time.
But some of the monuments above the Amphitheatre still
remain. Three pilasters of the Corinthian order, sup
porting an entablature, are standing against the flat
mouth of a large cave in the side of the hill, which is now
closed up, and converted into a church, dedicated to
Panagia Spiliotissa, or Our Lady of the Cavern. Over
the middle pilaster is an inscription, above which the
archil rave has some relievos of laurel- wreaths ; on the
top of the whole, in the middle, was the statue, sedent,
thought by Stuart to be the personification of the people,
from the word ahmos in the inscription to the right, and
considered by Chandler to be the statue of Niohe ;* but
at last determined by my Lord Elgin, who has placed it
in his museum, to be the image of the bearded, or In
dian Bacchus. The statue had no head so early as 1676,
and is dressed like a female.f His lordship has also
taken away the very ancient sun-dial which was to the
left of the statue,

• Pausan. Attic, page ST-

t Whether there are any signs of ajbeard detached from the head, I
know not.
 267

Above the cave, and in a position which requires some

climbing to reach* just under the walls of the citadel, are
two Corinthian pillars, one, three or four feet lower than
the other, standing without any other structure attached
to them, and having triangular capitals, formerly the
bases of tripods.
Leaving the Theatre of Bacchus, you descend to thfe
modern walls of the town on your left, close to which the
ground is ploughed and sowed, and then arrive at one of
the gateways, whence there is a road that leads south of
the plain towards Cope Colonni, the Sunium promontory.
At a few paces to the left of this road, near the gate
way, is a circular pavement, an aloni, or corn-floor, of
the kind so commonly seen in Greece.
Beyond this gate the walls project, and you have to
pass round an angle of them, in order to arrive at a ruin
of inconceivable magnificence directly before you to the
east.
After leaving the walls, and passing over corn-grounds,
rugged and interrupted by ravins, at about a furlong
distance, you come to a flat paved area, evidently artifi
cially raised, as may be seen from some foundation walls
on the eastern side, and towards the channel of the Uis-
sus, which passes at a hundred paces to the south. On
this stand the sixteen fluted Corinthian columns, of the
building finished by Hadrian, called by some the Pan
theon, and by others the Temple of Jupiter Olympius.
Their site is exactly indicated by the pillars at the left
extremity of the adjoined picture.
The stupendous size of the shafts of these columns,
(for they are six feet in diameter, and sixty feet in
height), does not more arrest the attention of the specta
tor than the circumstance of there being no fallen ruins
on or near the spot, which was covered with a hundred
and twenty columns, and the marble walls of a temple
abounding in statues of gods and heroes, and a thousand
offerings of splendid piety. About fifty years ago there
was another column standing, which was thrown down
to build a mosck near the market-place, and so entirely
removed, as not to have left a single fragment of its marble
on the area below. Two of the columns fronting the east
still support their architraves ; and the remains of a small
modern cell of common stone, which, as Chandler ob
 §68
served, must haves been erected when the tops of the pil
lars were accessible from the surrounding ruins, are still
seen above the capitals of the two next to the Ilissus.
To this the Greeks and Turks direct your attention, and
declare it to have been the habitation of a Saint ; allud
ing to a hermit of the sort called Stylites, whose conspi
cuous penances were once not uncommon in many parts
of Christendom. In the tenth century, there was ano
ther instance of these voluntary mortifications atPatrass,
where a being, who preserved only the figure of man,
was seen on the summit of a column, fixed, without mo
tion, for ten years, supported by the bread and the water
daily administered to him by the charity of another holy
monk, afterwards the famous St. Luke of Stiris.
The solitary grandeur of these marble ruins is, per
haps, more striking than the appearance presented by
any other object at Athens, and the Turks themselves
seem to regard them with an eye of respect and admira
tion. I have frequently seen large parties of them seated
on their carpets in the long shade of the columns.
At about fifty paces from the western side of the area
on which the ruins of Hadrian's Temple are stand
ing, there is a path that leads to the channel of the Ilis
sus, and conducts you into a wide rocky ravin, close to
the bed of the river. Here, after rain, are some pools
of water in the hollows, which are frequented by the poor
women of Athens for the purpose of washing clothes.
Just above the ravin are the ruins of a Turkish foun
tain ; and, near this, is a pulpit of white stone, whence
the Imannis, on particular occasions, harangue the as
sembled multitude.
In the month of March, on the year of our visit, an
extraordinary drought had alarmed the Athenians for
their future harvest : prayers and holy rites were perform
ed in this place for nine successive days, three of which
were devoted particularly to the Mahometans, three to
the Christians, three to the strangers and slaves. The
people were collected in the ravin, on the corn-fields,
and under the columns. The Mahometan priest suppli
cated for all, and the whole assembly, of all conditions
and persuasions, were supposed to join in the prayers ;
but it was contrived by a little address, that the animal
creation should appear to second the entreaty of the
 £69

Turks, for, just as the turbaned worshippers bowed

themselves with one accord to the ground, and called
upon the name of their god, the lambs of a large flock
collected near the spot, who had just at the instant been
separated from the ewes, began to bleat, and were an
swered by their dams. I know not that any one was de
ceived by the scheme, but the devouter Mussulman may
perhaps have believed that the distresses of the sheep
were just as worthy to be made known, and as likely to
move the compassion of the deity, as the complaints of
the Christians.
The ruined fountain seems to have been once supplied
by the stream that now flows through artificial channels
in the ground into the town, and is collected into two
large reservoirs, at a quarter of a mile to the north of
the ravin. A small stream, either the overflowings of
the reservoirs, or a scanty spring rising in the bed of the
river, is generally seen to trickle down the crags, until
lost in the gravelly bottom of the Ilussus. This spring
has still preserved its ancient name of Cailirhoe, and the
inhabitants of that part of Athens which stretches to
wards the columns of Hadrian's Temple, and is the quar
ter of the Albanians, are called in the songs of the pea
sants, Callirhiotes, from their custom of frequenting these
pools in the bed of the Ilissus. Cailirhoe once supplied
the large marble reservoir in this dell, constructed by
Fisistratus, the apertures of whose nine pipes, which
gave it the name of £nneacrunus, were visible not many
years ago, but are not at present to be discerned.
The small Ionic Temple, standing forty years past on
the other side of the Ilissus, at a short distance further
up to the east, and determined by travellers to be the
Eleusiniom, where the lesser mysteries were performed,
has now disappeared, but a shaft or two of a column is
seen, wedged into the wall of a little Greek church near
the spot, which may belong either to that Temple or
to that of Diana Agrsea, once also on nearly the same
position.
Following the channel of the Ilissus, about a furlong
higher up you reach the site of the marble Stadium of
Atticus Herodes. Nothing now remains of this costly
structure, except some rubbish, and many pieces of mar
ble raked up by the plough, yet the cavity artificially
 270

formed in the side of a low hill still preserves the ancient

shape, that of an oblong horse-shoe, of this ancient place
of exercise ; and the area, which is now a corn-ground,
having been measured, has been found to be contained
in an arc of six hundred and thirty English feet. But
this does not allow for the marble-work, nor for the seats,
one row of which may have advanced into the body of the
Stadium. Not far from the top of the Stadium, in the slope
of the circular range of seats, is a cavern, which, after
one or two windings, leads out into the open country at
the back of the hill. In this there are no marks of arch-
work, or any species of masonry, yet its position has led
former investigators to consider it the private way by
which the principal spectators entered, and the unsuc
cessful candidates in the games retreated from, the area.
On visiting this cavern, your recollections of past
times would, for a time, give way to reflections caused
by the sight of some present objects. The first day I visited
the place, I observed a flat stone in the side of the rock,
strewed with several bits of coloured rag, broken glass,
flour, and honey, and a handful or two of dry pease. As
I was going to examine them, a Greek in company ex
claimed, « Dont't touch them, Affendi, they are the
Devil's goods—they are magical." On enquiry, he as
sured me that some old woman of Athens, well known to
be witches, came often to this cavern in the dead of the
night, and there performed their incantations, leaving
these remnants for offerings to the evil spirit. Another
person most seriously informed me, that this was not all,
for that these same enchantresses had been often seen
during a midnight storm, skimming off* the foam of the
sea where it rolls against the long pebbly beach, near the
ancient port of Phalerus. These witches, (a decrepid
creature was pointed out to me as one of them), are
hated and feared by Greeks and Turks, and make use
of their supposed art to extort charity from the credulous
and terrified females of both nations.
Crossing the bed of the Ilissus, at the spot where the
marble bridge, (of which there is not now a vestige left),
leading from the Stadium to the other side of the river,
once stood, and leaving the Corinthian columns to the left,
in order to return to the city, you pass over some rough
uneven ground, ploughed where there is any soil, and in
 271
many places strewed with small pieces of marble, the
remnants of New Athens, or that addition to the old city
which was built by the Emperor Hadrian. Keeping a
little to the .right, you strike into one of the roads to the
town, in which continuing a short time, you come to
where it divides, one branch going to a gateway not far
from the columns, and the other passing nearer to the
foot of the hill Anchesmus, whence the view is taken, to
another gateway. The first of these is formed by a mar
ble archway, called Hadrian's Arch, from the famous
Greek inscriptions on the frieze above, showing it to have
been one of the boundaries between Old and New Athens.
The part of the structure above the frieze, presenting a
facade, with two small columns, and other ornaments of
the Corinthian order, is supported by the arch, and, be
ing out of reach, is not much injured.
The other gateway, to the north, in the walls of the
modern city, which in this part stand nearly on the site
of the old walls before the Peloponnesian war, is covered
by a flat piece of carved marble, that, in the year 1765,
constituded the frieze and architrave of the remains of a
marble facade, consisting of two Ionic columns, and a
small portion of the arch that stood at the foot of the hill
Anchesmus, and denoted the position of a reservoir col
lecting the waters of an aqueduct, begun by Hadrian and
finished by Antoninus Pius. The letters imp. caesar.
t. a&livs, and the word consvmmavit, underneath, may
be easily read from below, but the intervening line in
smaller characters,

AVO. PIV9. COB. in. TRIB. POT. II P. P. A4ASDVCTVM IN IcOVIS,

requires a nearer inspection. The stone containing the

remainder of the inscription, supplied by early travel
lers, is now no where to be found.
No other antiquity occurs without the modern city,
except the shaft and capital of one column of the Corin
thian order, just at the outside of the suburbs to the north
west, between the gate looking towards Thebes, and that
near the Temple of Theseus. Whether this column may
not be the only remaining vestige of the ruin considered
part of the Prytaneum, and having, in 1738, ten columns
yet standing, and a marble wall (represented in the
 272

Ruins of Athens) I cannot at all decide ; but I was told

that there had been, not many years past, an antiquity
of some importance on the spot, and that a Greek church
had been pulled down lately, which stood upon the same
area. This may have been the church of Great St. Mary,
mentioned by Chandler.
The antiquities to be seen within the town, are the
choragic monument of Lysicrates, the Temple of the
Winds, and the Doric Portico, or the portal of the new
market-place. It is singular enough, that the two last
of these should not be mentioned by Pausanias, arid, al
though too considerable to be overlooked as insignificant,
be still a portion of the comparatively few remains to be
seen at this day.
The peripteral Temple, with a dome supported by six
fluted Corinthian columns, or the monument of Lysicrates,
called by the modern Greeks and (after them) by travel
lers, the Lantern of Demosthenes tod An/itr^tvut),
which is situated under the eastern extremity of the
Acropolis, and supposed to be in the line of the ancient
street of the Tripods, is the less subject to injury, on ac
count of being attached, as before mentioned, to the Ca
puchin convent, The good Padre has divided it into two
stories ; and the upper one, just capable of holding one
student at his desk, serves as a small circular recess to
a chamber at the left wing of the convent, from which it
is srparated by a curtain of green cloth. Only half of
this structure, which, like other monuments of the same
kind, was only designed as a pedestal for a consecrated
tripod, is to be seen from the street, the remaining half
of it being inclosed within the walls of the garden, and of
the convent itself. The intercolumniations of stone, a
modern addition, take away from the effect originally
produced by the elegant proportions of this monument ;
but you would be pleased with its excellent state of pre
servation, notwithstanding its very great antiquity,
which may be dated so far back as the second year of
the lllth Olympiad, 330 years before the Christian era.
An exact model of it was, some years ago, constructed
and placed at the Louvre, and casts of the whole monu
ment, with those of the minute sculpture on the circular
architrave, have latterly been taken by my Lord Elgin's
artists. The shape of the choragic monument of Lysi-
 273
crates, can alone account for the strange appellation at
tached to it by the moderns ; and it appears, that an an
tiquity of the same description, also in the direction of
the street of the Tripods, standing in the middle of the se
venteenth century, was knowu by the name of the Lan
tern of Diogenes.
The monument of Andronicus Chyrrestes, or the octa
gonal tower called the Temple of the Winds, placed in an
obscure part of the town, and very likely to be overlook
ed, is much in the same state as described by the writers
of the last century. It is far from being a striking piece
of architecture, and the pyramidical form of the roof, to
gether with the figures representing the eight winds, are
of a very heavy kind of sculpture; besides which, the
marble of the building has become so dark by age, as to
look like coarse black stone. The wind Zephyr, a
winged youth scattering flowers from his bosom, is the
figure now most entire. This portion of the octagon
fronts the lane (for it does not deserve the name of a
street), and is the only conspicuous part of the monument
visible to those who are not within the court-yard of the
house in which it is inclosed. The religion of the Maho
metans, like that of the Christians in other instances, has
helped to preserve this fabric ; for the interior of it has
for many years served as a place of worship for the turn
ing Dervishes, who perform their ceremonies every
Friday, and a specimen of whose holy exercises we had
an opportunity of witnessing at Constantinople.
The Doric Portico, which, from an inscription on the
architrave, has been called the facade of a temple dedi
cated to Augustus, is on the left hand.of a yard attached
to the Waiwode's house ; and part of the building being
hidden within the court of a neighbouring dwelling, only
one of the four fluted Doric columns composing this ruin,
is to be seen from the street, and without getting into a
private house belonging to a Turk. The proportions of
these columns are much larger than those of the The-
seum, but their marble is not of so fine a colour, being
almost black.
The conjecture of Chandler, that this portal served as
an entrance into the new Agora, built, after the destruc
tion of the old one, on the other side of the Acropolis, by
Sylla, received, in the opinion of that traveller, much
vol. t. M. m
 274
support from the inscribed marble still to be seen in the
Walls of a house, to the left hand, dose to the ruin, which
contains, in very legible characters, some regulations of
the Emperor Hadrian's, with respect to the exportation
of oil ; but although this marble is of considerable size,
it may still have been brought from any other part of the
town, andean hardly be said to determine any thing with
respect to the remains, to which it is now, perhaps acci
dentally, adjoining.
This concludes my notice of the stable antiquities of
the town of Athens ; but before I proceed to conduct you
to the Acropolis, it would be as well to remark, that there
are many detached pieces of carved stone, and marble,
inserted in the walls and over the doorways of the mo
dern houses, which arrest the attention of any one who
walks the streets, besides such a variety of portable cu
riosities, as would require more skill and learning than
I am possessed of, usefully to illustrate.
These are generally about a foot square, and adorned
with small, and not highly finished sculpture, some repre
senting a procession, others a man sedent, with another
Standing, w ho has hold of his right hand, taking the last
adieu, and having the xA'ft underneath. There are many
with single figures in the same bas-relief, well executed,
containing the name of the dead ; one of them, indeed,
which I saw, had not only the name of the deceased, and
of his father, but, what is very uncommon, of his trade.
A most perfect specimen of the usual subject, the t\Kf°tuxw,
or funeral supper, is in my possession. It contains two
figures of men recumbent on a couch, under which is a
coiled serpent in the act of raising himself, perhaps de
noting the cause of the death of the deceased, or an Escu-
lapian emblem ; a female sedent at the foot of the bed, is
presenting arup; and a boy, in the farther end of the
piece, in a spirited and elegant attitude, seems to have
been pouring out wine in a flagon. The head of a horse,
the animal sacrificed to Pluto, is very prominent in a
small compartment by itself in one corner of the sculp
ture.
Besides these sepulchral monuments, there are lying
in the courts of many of the houses, the small marble pil
lars, a foot or two in length and four or five inches in
diameter, which were the 2t«a*< erected over the ancient
 275
tombs, and contained inscriptions sometimes, but oftener
the simple name, or at most the name of the tribe to
which the dead belonged : there was one lying in the
yard of our lodgings. A great many of them, with their
tops rudely carved into the shape of a turban, are stuck
up on the graves in the Turkish burying-grounds,
especially in that between the rock of the Acropolis and
the Museum.
Fragments of statues, pedestals, capitals of columns,
are still to be seen in the walls of the buildings ; but the
most valuable specimens have been removed by collec
tors. The sun-dial, and the Gymnasiarch's chair, were
taken by Lord Elgin from the court of the Catholicon,
where they stood in the time of Chandler.
The marble cistern, or Attic measure for liquids,
is yet remaining in the yard of the archiepiscopal
house.
Notwithstanding the eager researches, and the ex
tensive collections of all travellers, learned and unlearn
ed, there are still daily discovered in Athens and in its
neighbourhood, particularly at the Pirseus, many smaller
antiquities, which are very interesting to any person
even moderately versed in ancient literature. \Ve had
the opportunity of seeing many lately-found vases (of
that kind for the honour of whose invention the Tuscans
have been made the competitors with the Greeks), which,
though not so large as those collected from the excava
tions of Lord Elgin at Athens, in the supposed tombs of
Antiope and Euripides, and at JEgina, Argos, and Co
rinth, were yet very beautiful specimens of the arts, and,
besides, suggested one or two curious facts. In one of
them, a foot perhaps in diameter, and half full of burnt
hones, was a small thin strip of iron, on which was carv
ed the name and the family of Solon. I am not aware
that this record of the dead has before been noticed in the
sepulchral vases.
The figures on the outside of another vase, much less,
but more perfect, which were (as Mr. Lusicri remarked
to me) designed, though with the greatest freedom, and
perhaps by the hands of a common artist, yet with a:
spirit and truth not to be imitated by any modern artist,
represented Charon ferrying two shades over the Styx ;
and it was observable, that bis boat was, to the nicest
 276

point of resemblance, exactly the same in shape as that

now in use at Constantinople.
Small busts and fragments of statues are not unfre-
quently dug up in the grounds in the neighbourhood,
or found in the wells. Some of the latter, lately disco
vered, show faint traces of colours, and prove beyond
doubt, what late writers have endeavoured to establish,
that the earlier ancients had the practice of painting their
statues;* which, though it may seem extraordinary, is
not so much so, as that some of them should be composed
of various materials, marble, wood, ivory, and gold :f
however, we know this to have been the case, as well as
that their figures were dressed in different suits of mate
rials, which were sometimes changed or embellished on
particular days. The eyes of most of the marble, and
of nearly all the bronze heads, were of some sparkling
stone, or else were tinged with a sort of encaustic colour
ing. Pausanias speaks of a statue of Minerva, that
had sea-green eyes, like Neptune ; indeed, it does not
seem at all improbable, that the epithets of Homer and
Hesiod were strictly attended to, in the confirmation
and colouring of the representations, afterwards con
structed by the Grecian sculptors, of their numerous
divinities.
Amongst other small antiquities discovered (as almost
all of them are) by excavating tumuli, I recollect being
shown a Flora of so singular a sort, as to establish, per
haps, the opinion, that the ancients were acquainted with,
the sexual system of plants ; for the upper part repre
sented a female, with her mantle in front full of lowers,
and the lower a male figure.:):
• A. L. Millan, in his memoir on a bas-relief of the Parthenon,
notices this fact, observing, that the ground of the statues was gene
rally blue, the hair and some parts of the body gilt; and the most
accomplished antiquarian of the age, in a late magnificent work
printed by the Dilletanti, has treated of the same subject, and
would be consulted with great advantage by every scholar and man
of taste.
\ The Minerva of the Platxans, made from the Marathonian spoils,
had a face, bands, and feet (the work of Phidias) of marble ; the other
parts of the statue were of gold and wood Paus. Bocot.
\ To afitTpov aitfu»i <tuTx supported the folds of the mantle. This
sort of representation is a favourite sepulchral emblem : 1 have seen at
Athens, a little Bacehus holding up a large bowl in the same manner.
The satyrs on monuments seem a type of this principle—the opposite
to that of corruption.
 277

Mirrors and other utensils of the toilet, alabaster la-

crymatories, or rather those sepulchral phials which
either contained essences, or, perhaps, the cleansing of
the bones when washed in wine and milk,* are frequently
brought to the city by the peasants, who are aware of the
anxiety of the Franks to obtain such relics. One of them
sold me a very beautiful specimen of the first-mentioned
curiosity for one piastre. One singular remnant of an
cient times, in my small collection, I cannot forbear to
mention : it is a sling-lead, exactly the shape of an al
mond-shell, weighing nearly a quarter of a pound,f hav
ing on one side the figure of a thunderbolt, and on the
other the word aeeai (Take this), in very plain letters.
Another of these, in the possession of an English gentle
man, has the word *iAinnn, «to Philip;" so that the piece
of unlucky humour recorded of Aster, who inscribed on
an arrow—« to Philip's right eye," was either not very
original, or was afterwards commonly imitated by the
witty Athenians.
The silver tetradrachm, and a great variety of Athenian
and other coins, may be collected with very little trouble ;
but for detailed observations on these and similar objects
of curiosity, I must refer you to the works of professed
antiquarians, having by the foregoing hints endeavoured
to awaken, rather than to satisfy, your curiosity ; and
feeling that I have been able to do little more than the
pedant, who produced a single brick as a specimen of a
whole building.
* See Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an excur
sion in Italy in the years 1802 and 1803, by John Forsyth, Esq. Lon
don, 1813, p. 328; a work written during a long captivity, which it
ought to terminate.
t Within seven pennyweights.
 LETTER XXIII.

Ascent to the Acropolis.—The Pelasgicon.—The Cave of

Apollo and Pan.—The Entrance of the Citadel.—The
Propylcea.— The Parthenon.— The Erecthcum.—A Note
on Lord Elgin's Pursuits in Greece.—The Modern Cita
del.— The Turkish Garrison.

THERE are two roads of ascent to the gate of the

citadel ; one over the burying-ground to the left of the
Odeum, the other up a steep ill-paved path, commencing,
from about the middle of the back of the town. There is
a wall, making an out-work to the citadel, on your right
hand, all the way as you advance towards the entrance
of the fortress. Just after you enter the gate of this out
work, there is a niche on the right, where, in 1765, was
a statue of Isis. A modern stone fountain is a little above
this, and hither the inhabitants of the citadel come for
water, as there is no well on the hill.
As you proceed upwards, the rock of the Acropolis is;.,
immediately over your left hand, and there is a little soil
at the lower part of the steep acclivity, which has been
ploughed, but now produces no grain, as the masses of
rubbish and large stones falling from the rocks above,
must have rendered all labour abortive. Yet this, as we
must give credit to the comments on the earlier history
of Athens, was the portion allotted to the people called-
Pelasgi, who fortified the Acropolis, and were afterwards
expelled from Attica for their conduct to the Athenian
virgins. The Pelasgicon cannot be more than an acre
in extent, and that spread on the rocky sides of a steep
hill ; a confined territory for a people who dared to
rouse the vengeance of the Athenians, and who were
 m
thought worthy of a particular execration by the Del
phian oracle.
On the left hand also, about half way up the hill, is
the cave of Apollo and Pan, which would not be observ
ed, were it not for the stories of ancient mythology which
it calls to mind. It is small, and by no means deep, and
retains nothing remarkable but two or three square ledges,
contrived, most probably, for the reception of votive ta
blets. The altar of Pan was raised byEvanderthe Arcadian,
in a similar recess in the side of the Palatine hill.
Above this spot, near which the Persians scaled the
Walls of the Acropolis, the path climbs the hill, taking a
direction rather to the left, and you arrive at where a
gate in the wall, to the right, leads out over the Turkish
burying-ground : ascending thence, straight to the east,
you come to the first gate of the citadel, which is furnished
with'large wooden doors, seldom shut : passing through
this, there is, on your right, a small wooden building, and
immediately, on the same side, you look into the area of
the Odeum.
. ? You pass on upwards to the second gate, the wooden
doors of which are shut at night, and entering, have on
your right hand an open shed, where a guard of Turks
is stationed. Advancing beyond the second gate, you
still continue to ascend, but inclining to your left, until
you see at your right the ruins of the Propylsea, and
turning round, pass close under them, to get further up
into the Acropolis. You turn again to your left, under
a square tower, built partly by the Venetians, partly by
the Turks, out of the mass of marble remains. The
lower part of it is now used as a prison, and has a small
iron door of entrance to the dungeons, but was in 1676 a
powder-magazine.
You then pass to the left, at the back of the ruins of
the Propylsea, and see three of the five door-ways origi
nally behind the columns of that building, and constitut
ing the ancient entrances to the Acropolis. The inter-
columniations of the colonnade, an hexastyle, have been
walled up, and a terrace, mounted with a battery of can
non, has been raised on a level with the top of the pillars,
formed of rubbish and the ruins of the roof, cell, and
columns, of the portico of the Propylsea, destroyed by the
Venetians in 1687.—The Temple of Victory, once on the
right of the Propylaea, was blown up in 1656 ; the last
 280

memorial of its existence was carried away by Lord

Elgin, who, from a wall belonging to a rampart attached
to the tower, obtained the fragment of sculpture, suppos
ed by Chandler to represent the battle of the Amazons*
but decided at last to be the combat of the Athenians and
Persians. But a room, to which the entrance is through
a hole in the wall, and whose roof is part of the cell of
this Temple, is still notorious for the wonder mention
ed by Chandler, the miraculous light.* There was a
tower, corresponding to that on the opposite wing,
standing over the Temple of Victory, when Wheler tra
velled, but this quarter is now buried under accumulated
ruins, and choked up amongst the mean white-washed
cottages belonging to the few inhabitants of the citadel.
The painted building * W »wOi on the left wing
of the Propylsea, is also destroyed, but part of it serves as
a foundation for the tower before-mentioned.
On the right, as you advance beyond the tower to
wards the site of the Parthenon, in a poor house, lives
the Disdar, or governor of the castle.
The Parthenon stood on the highest Sat area of the
hill of the Acropolis ; and, when the temples on every
side of it were standing, whose ruins now serve as foun
dations for the modern buildings, this magnificent struc
ture appeared to crown a glittering assemblage of marble
edifices ; and the eye of the Athenian, surveying from
below the fair gradation of successive wonders, rested
at last upon the colossal image of his Goddess, rising
majestic from the summit of her own Temple, the ge
nius of the Acropolis, the tutelary deity of Athens and of
Greece.
The ascent to the citadel itself was by a long flight of
steps, beginning nearly from the Areopagus. The very
walls of the fortifications were crowned with an orna
mental entablature, parts of which still remain ; and
these, and every other structure, were of the purest Pen.
telic marble. No wonder then that the Acropolis, in its
whole circuit, was regarded as one vast offering conse
crated to the Divinity. The portion of the Parthenon
yet standing, cannot fail to fill the mind of the most in-

* This light is transmitted through a piece of the transparent stone

called Phengites.
 £81
different spectator with sentiments of astonishment and
awe, and the same reflections arise upon the sight even
of the enormous masses of marble ruins which are spread
upon the area of the Temple. Such scattered fragments
will soon constitute the sole remains of the Temple of
Minerva.
If the progress of decay should continue to be as rapid
as it has been for something more than a century past,
there will, in a few years, be not one marble standing
upon another on the site of the Parthenon. In 1667, every
antiquity of which there is now any trace in the Acropo
lis, was in a tolerable state of preservation.* This great
Temple might, at that period, be called entire : —having
been previously a Christian church, it was then a mosck,
the most beautiful in the world. At present, only twenty-
nine of the Doric columns, some of which no longer sup
port their entablatures, and part of the left wall of the cell,
remain standing. Those of the north side, the angular
ones excepted, have all fallen : the dipteral porches,
especially the Pronaos, contain the greatest number, and
these retain their entablatures and pediments, though
much injured.
In the interval between two of my visits to the Acro
polis, a large piece of the architrave belonging to the ex
terior colonnade of the Pronaos fell down ; all the sculp
tures from the tympanum of this porch have been de
stroyed; and the trunks and broken arms of two figures,
incorrectly supposed Hadrian and Sabina, or two deities

* The Sieur Deshayes (the first who travelled to Athens, and who
saw the Temple of Victory almost perfect) in 1625 ; Nointel and Gal-
land, in 1674; Sponand Wheler, in 1675 and 1676; Lord Winchelsea
in 1676, and Vernon ; all of whom visited Athens previous to the siege
of the city by Morosini, saw the Acropolis, less changed, perhaps,
from its ancient state, than it has been from the condition in which it
then stood, in the short period subsequent to the days of those travel
lers. Pococfc, Lord Sandwich, Leroi, Stuatst, and Chandler, beheld
only the ruins of ruins, many of which have since perished—etiam
periere ruins. Even M. de Choiseul's second work, when published,
will represent many remains not at present to be seen, for he travel
led in 1784 ; and though Mr. Fauvel, who has been occupied at inter
vals since the year 1780, in assisting the compilation of Mr. de C.'s
Voyage Pittoresque, will be able to add the description of some small
er antiquities to the account of those before known, yet very many of
the grand monuments of art, for which Athens has been before visited,
have within these ten years disappeared.
VOIi. K
 28a
with the heads of those persons, are all now remaining
of the grand piece of sculpture which represented the
birth of Minerva, and Jupiter in the midst of the assem
bled gods. The figure of the Victory, which was on the
right of Jupiter, has been recovered by Lord Elgin's
agents, who demolished a Turkish house close to the
north-west angle of the Temple, for the purposes of exca
vation, and found it, as well as small parts of the Jupi
ter, the Vulcan, and the Minerva, underneath the mo
dern building, where they had lain since the Venetians
had unsuccessfully attempted to remove them in 1687.*
Many of the sculptures on the ninety-two metopes of
the peristyle, representing the battle of the Lapifhse and
the Centaurs, particularly those on the entablature of
the south side, were almost entire in 1767. I believe
there is not one now remaining : the last were taken
down by Lord Elgin.
AH that was left of the sculpture on the eastern porch,
the contest between Minerva and Neptune, has been car
ried off by the same person. The marks of the separa
tion are still very apparent. Ignorant of the cause, I
pointed them out to Mr. Lusieri himself, who informed
me of the fact, and showed the places in the pediment
whence the two female colossal statues, the Neptune, the
Theseus, and the inimitable horse's head, still remem
bered and regretted by all at Athens, had been removed.
Such of the statues as had before fallen, had been ground
to powder by the Turks. It is but fair to mention this
fact, at the same time that the other circumstance is re
corded.
One hundred and seventy of the six hundred feet of
bas-relief sculpture on the frieze of the cell, represent
ing the Panathemean procession, remained entire in the
time of Chandler. A portion of it, containing seven
figures, was taken down from its situation by M. de
Choiseul Gonffier, and is now in the Napoleon museum.
I know not whether the collection of our Ambassador
contains any of this precious sculpture, too exquisite not
to have been executed according to the design, and under
* The ropes by which, under the direction of General Kccnigsmark,
the workmen were lowering them, broke, and many fine figures were
dashed to pieces. Lord Elgin has reaped the advantage of the «acri-
fege of the Venetians.
 283
the supcri 11tendance, of Phidias himself.* Most part of
that portion of it on the wall of the Pronaos, yet re
mains ; and by means of a ruined staircase, once belong
ing to a minaret built against one of the columns of that
portico, I managed to get on the top of the colonnade, and
by leaning at full length over the architrave, had a suffi
ciently close inspection of the work to be convinced, that
this sculpture, though meant to be viewed at a distance
of forty feet at least from below, is as accurately and mi
nutely executed, as if it had been originally designed to
be placed near the eye of the spectator,f Some eques
trian figures are remarkably entire, and retain to this
day the animation and freshness with which they issued
from the hands of the artist.
Within the cell of the Temple all is desolation and
ruin ; the shafts of columns, fragments of the entabla
tures, and of the beams of the roof, are scattered about
on every side, but especially on the north of the area,
where there are vast piles of marble. I measured one
piece, seventeen feet in length, and of proportionate
breadth and thickness. The floor, also of marble, has
been broken up towards the eastern front, and in the
south-east angle of the area, is the wretched mosck, as
well as some stone-work of the Greek church, into which
the Parthenon was formerly converted. A dent in the
floor is pointed out as being occasioned by the shell
which blew up a powder-magazine, and destroyed the
roof of the Temple, when bombarded by Morosini.
Besides the vast magnitude of the marbles composing
the Parthenon, which, perhaps, is more easily remarked
in the fallen ruins than in the parts of the building yet
standing, there is another just cause for admiration, in
the exquisite care and skill with which every portion of
the architecture appears to have been wrought. The
work on the Ovolos and Cavettos is as highly finished in
the fragments of the enormous cornices, formerly placed
at so considerable a height from the ground, as the mi-

* Ictiutis and Callicrates were the scholars of Phidias, who were

more particularly the architects of the Parthenon.
-(- The learned author, however, of the dissertation prefixed to the
great work lately published by the Dilletanti, seems to think, and
perhaps correctly, that the distant effect was alone intended and
studied. l-
 £81
nute parts in the lower portion of the building. The same
uninterrupted perfection is observable in the Sittings of
the shafts, in all the mouldings of the capitals, and par
ticularly in the tambours of the fallen columns, whose
surfaces are smoothed to such a degree of exactness and
nirety, as to render the junctures of the blocks almost
undiscoverable.
The part of the area the most clear from ruins, is to
wards the north-west angle, and the western entrance,
where the grooves in the floor, formed by opening and
shutting the folding-doors of the Temple, are still very
discernable. Faint marks of the painted saints, with
which the Christians disfigured the interior of their Pa
gan edifice, are just visible on the walls of the south side
of the cell.
Of the Opisthodomos, the Athenian treasury, at the
back, or eastern portico of the Parthenon, there are now
no traces to be seen ; but Lord Elgin's agents discovered
some columnar inscriptions, before alluded to by Chan
dler, of great antiquity.*
Descending from the ruins of the Parthenon to the
north, you pass through a lane or two of white-washed
cottages in ruins, before you come to the remains of the
Erectheurn, and the adjoining chapel of Pandrosos. In
that portion of the Erectheum which was dedicated to
Minerva Polias, the columns of the front porch are stand
ing, but without any part of their entablature, and un
supported by the walls of the cell, the whole of the south
side of which was destroyed during the short war be
tween England and Turkey, and now lies in heaps at
the back of the columns, and in the area of the Temple.
The corner one of these columns, the best specimen of
the Ionic in the world, with its base and capital, has
been removed by Lord Elgin to England. The remain
der will soon fall.
The marble of this ruin is of a virgin whiteness, and
the workmanship, as the structure is very diminutive in
comparison with the specimens of the Parthenon, is a
• The whole length of the Parthenon was two hundred and eigh
teen feet, and its breadth ninety-eight feet and a half, reckoning the
flight of three steps upon which the structure was raised The co
lumns were forty-two feet high. The Opisthodomos was separated,
from the anterior nave of the Temple by a wall.
 285
still more exquisite example than that Temple, of the
polish and edge which were given to all the parts of Gre
cian architecture. The line of no pencil can excel the
delicate accuracy of contour in the swell of the torus
and the ornaments of the base ; and the hand, in pass
ing repeatedly over the marble, seeks in vain for
the slightest inequality, or even roughness, on the
surface.
The proportions of this joint Temple are but small ;
when nearly entire, in 1736, the whole building was but
sixty-three feet in length, thirty-six in breadth, and not
twenty feet high, but the Erectheum is, in its kind, as
complete a proof of the genius and skill of the Greeks
as the Temple of Minerva.
From the columns of the Temple of Minerva Polias
you come to that portion of the building which was dedi
cated to Neptune and Erectheus, and where the wall of
the cell is still standing, and, by the help of modern ma
sonry, now serves as a powder-magazine for the supply
of the citadel. Here the pillars support, in part, their
frieze and cornice, as highly finished as the bases of the
columns, but much of the shafts of the columns is hidden
by the modern wall that fills up the intercolumniations.
Within the building, in a part composing the vestibule of
the Temple of Neptune, is some fine architecture, con
sisting of an Ionic door, which was designed by Lord
Elgin's artists, but is now not to be seen.
On passing round the portico, you have on your left
the marble wall of the cell entire ; and at the end of this,
there is a piece of plastered wall, now filling up the open
work of the small Chapel of Pandrosos, between the im
ages that yet remain of the famous Caryatides which
supported the entablature of the building. There is one
of these images before you come to the corner of the cha
pel, and the angular ol}e remains, but the place of the
next, which Lord Elgin, has transported to England, is
now filled up with mortar, so that there are now only
three of the four statues originally supporting this front
looking towards the Parthenon. One of the Caryatides
had been carried away, or destroyed on the spot, before
the year 1736. On the piaster wall, on the west side of
the chapel, these words have been very deeply cut :
 QUOD -SOS FECERUNT GOTl
HOC FECEBUNT SCOTI.*
The mortar wall, yet fresh when we saw it, supplying
the place of the statue now in the noble Ambassador's
museum, serves as a comment on this text.
. i
• This eulogy of the Goths alludes to the unfounded story of i
Greek historian, who relates that Alaric, either terrified by two phan
toms, one of Minerva herself, the other of Achilles, terrible as when
he strode towards the walls of Troy to his friends, or struck with a
reverential respect, had spared the treasures, ornaments, and people,
of the venerable city.
This may be as good a place as any other, to say a word on the
proceedings of the person whose conduct is contrasted with that of
the barbarian.
We heard, I fancy, every thing that could be alleged by either party
on both sides of the question, and being on the spot when the most
furious struggles were made by both the French and English to gain
their point, may be better judges of the facts than those who have
since examined the matter at a distance from the scene of action.
My Lord Elgin's agents are not accused on account of any of their
excavations, or carrying off the numerous articles they discovered by
those proceedings i their rifling of ancient tombs, and pulling down
modern houses to get at buried remains, was on all hands allowed to
be a fair and laudable proceeding, as was also the modelling of the
reliefs and other sculptures. The part of conduct objected to, was
the not being content with the casts, which was all the French wanted
or obtained when in power, without the possession of the originals,
and by that means hastening the decay, and defacing the ancient mo
numents, so as for ever to diminish considerably the gratification, of
future travellers and artists.
The injuries seem to be these :—The taking off the metopes, the
statue over the Theatre of Bacchus, and the statues of the western
pediment of the Parthenon ; and the carrying away one of the Carya
tides, and the finest of the columns of the Erecthe'um. No other
come, I believe, within the limits of censure—no other marbles were
detached.
It may be enquired, what excuse can be offered for such a spolia
tion ! It is answered, the French De Choiseul Gouffier detached part
of the frieze of the Parthenon many years past. Some of the persons
employed in collecting for his museum, and assisting his projects,
still remain at Athens, and have the same views, which nothing but
inability have prevented them from accomplishing ; they had even a
plan of carrying off the -whole of the Temple of Theseus They only
complain because they envy our success, and would themselves have
been masters of the same treasures. To this the others reply, "With
the exception of De GoufHer, no one of us ever injured the temples
—we have often had it in our power—we went to great expense in mo
delling and designing, which would have been unnecessary, bad we
resolved to take the originals—you, yourselves, when you first settled
here, professed no more; we looked on without opposing you;
 287

The Erectheum was sacred in the eyes of the ancient

Athenians, and may still be regarded with veneration by
the modern traveller, as being the spot where Minerva
contended with Neptune ; and the triple building must

we were you friends—you have not only robbed, but treacherously

robbed!"
The answer is, " We are no robbers, we bought, and dearly bought,
every article. Admitting your facts, we only took that which would
have been destroyed by the Turks, and which was in a state of dila
pidation—it was better the sculptures of the Parthenon should be*
preserved in a museum in England, than ground to powder on their
own bases—we took nothing from the Theseum, because it was ex
posed to no such imminent peril."
The last retort of the French is, «The case was the same with re
spect to both ; but having been prevented from ruining the latter, you
take merit to yourselves for a moderation which was not voluntary.
When you talk of buying the right to deface the finest remains- of all
antiquity, you seem to put out of the question all the proprieties
which might in such a case be expected to regulate the conduct of
the artist, the scholar, and the gentleman."
This is, as well as I recollect, the sum of every thing adduced on
either side, and reduces at once the question to the two points—
Would the French have removed, or endeavoured to remove, the or
namental sculptures alluded to ? or, if they would not, were those
precious remains likely to have been speedily destroyed by their bar
barian masters ?—It is certain, that if the Turks remain for many
more years in possession of Athens, every valuable antiquity will be en
tirely destroyed. But the French contemplate the chance of Greece
being soon attached to the dominions of Napoleon :—in that case, not
even our nationality would prefer a possession of some of their broken
parts to their integrity in the hands of an enlightened enemy. It is
not the vanity of being the owners of such a treasure, but the wish
to advance the fine arts in civilised Europe, that should influence the
conduct of any collectors ; but without enquiring into motives, it is
pretty evident, that an infinitely greater number of rising architects
and sculptors must derive benefit from these studies, if they can be
pursued in a museum at London or Paris, than if they were to be
sought in the Turkish territories; and surely, we can hardly complain,
if they are to be found in our capital. Present travellers may feel a
a little mortification, and those who are utterly incapable of appreciat
ing the merit of the remains in question, wherever they may be fixed,
will join in the fashionable clamour of the day. I have said nothing
of the possibility of the ruins of Athens being, in the event of a revo
lution in favour of the Greeks, restored and put into a condition ca
pable of resisting the ravages of decay ; for an event of that nature
cannot, it strikes me, have ever entered into the head of any one
who has seen Athens, and the modern Athenians. Yet I cannot for
bear mentioning a singular speech ofa learned Greek of Ioannina, who
said to me, '* You English are carrying off the works of the GTeeks,
our forefathers—preserve them well—we Greeks will come and re-
demand them."
 288

appear, even to us, in some degree sanctified by the su

perstition, whirh believed that each portion of the Tem
ple retained some undoubted evidence of that memorable
event. The heaven-descended statue of the protectress
of the city was religiously preserved in her own fane ;
the mark of the trident, and the salt fountain bursting
from the cleft whence the horse issued from the earth,
and where the murmur of the sea was often to be heard,
were long pointed out near the altar of Neptune ; and
the chapel of Pandrosos preserved within its sacred in-
closure, as late as the time of Pausanias, the trunk of the
olive which had given victory to the goddess, and a name
to the city of Athens.
Below the Erectheum there is a battery, where there
are two cannons, which are used by the Turks to an
nounce the Bairam, or any extraordinary intelligence
from the Porte. This battery immediately overlooks
the town, presenting a better view of it than any other
quarter of the Acropolis, and I have seen several Turkish
ladies, on a fine day, walking on this side of the ram
parts, and leaning over the battlements, to enjoy the
amusing murmur that rises from the city below.
The part of the citadel where the modern fortifications
are most entire, is to the east, a few paces below the pos
terior front of the Parthenon, where they were refitted
about fifty years ago. Looking out through one of the
embrasures, you there find yourself at the verge of a
very considerable precipice, with the Albanian quarter

A curious notion prevailing amongst the common Athenians, with

respect to the ancient statues, is, that ihey are real bodies, mutilated
and enchanted into their present state or petrifaction by magicians,
who will have; power over them as long as the Turks are masters of
Greece, when they will be transformed into their former bodies. The
spirit within them is called an Arabim, and is not unfrequently heard
to moan and bewail its condition. Some Greeks, in our time, convey
ing a chest from Athens to Pirsus, containing part of the Elgin mar
bles, threw it down, and could not for some time be prevailed upon
to touch it, again affirming, they heard the Arabim crying out, and
groaning for his fellow-spirits detained in bondage in the Acropolis.
It is to be added, that the Athenians consider the condition of these
enchanted marbles will be bettered by a removal from the country of
the tyrant Turks.
of the town in the depth below, at a distance which much
diminishes every object.
The craggy cliffs on this side of the citadel afford the
most imposing view of the Acropolis, and are in appear
ance so inaccessible as to strike any spectator at once
with the improbability of the notion entertained by Stu
art, and now adopted by Mr. Fauvel, of the eastern front
having been the principal entrance of the Parthenon : for,
as that facade is almost immediately over the rocks, the
Temple, if its door was to the east, must have had the
look of being unapproachable. The first conjecture of
Spon, who saw the contest of the rival deities in the re
mains of the figures on the eastern pediment, has not, I
think, been shaken by any late discoveries.* If it should
be stated, that the well-known description in Ovid evi
dently points at this pediment of the Parthenon, and that
therefore the principal front was on the same side, it may
be answered, that, in describing the contest of Minerva
with Arachne, it was more to the poet's purpose to allude
to the former victory of the goddess than her birth,
Jfrhich was the subject of the sculpture on the anterior
front.f
The crevices of the rocks on this side of the citadel
contain the nests of innumerable flocks of daws and
crows, which hover round the hill, but are thought never
to soar above the Parthenon.:):
You can continue to go round the ramparts to the south
of the Parthenon, overlooking the Theatre of Bacchus,§
• See the argument stated in Critical Observations on Anacharsis,
by M. Barbi£ du Boccage, in note to plate xix. representing the two
pediments of the Parthenon, such as they were in 1674.
t The Scholar who has drawn up an account of Lord Elgin's Pur
suits in Greece, has decided the « scopulum Mavortis" of Ovid
(Metam. lib. vi. fab. 2), not to mean the Areopagus, but the eastern,
cliffs of the Acropolis.
t This was an ancient superstition. Dr. Chandler, by no means a
credulous personage, says, that he never saw a crow mount above the
summit of the Temple; but the margin opposite to this remark of
our traveller, in a copy lent to me at Athens, contained these words,
" J'ai vue des milles sttr le Parthenon." I affirmed the same to a re
sident at Athens, a gentleman fond of authorities, who said, « The
daws you may have seen i not the crows."
§ It should have been remarked, that in Stuart's Ruins of Athens,
the Odium is called the Theatre of Bacchus, as it had before been
by Wheler, who supposed the semicircular area under the cave of
Vol. I. 0 o
 390

Without being interrupted, except by the ruins of four or

five Turkish cottages, and blocks of fallen masses, until
you come nearly parallel to the western front of the Tem
ple, where the way is completely choked up by large
masses of ruins, and a few mean houses, the beginning of
a quarter of the citadel in which the Disdar is lodged,
and some of the soldiers with their families belonging to
the garrison. These soldiers, called Castriani by the
Athenians, are only one hundred and twenty-five in num
ber, and of these the greater part, when not on duty, live
in the town below. The only service of the Castriani is,
to holloa out several times during the night, to inform the
citizens below of their vigilance, and to fire the cannon
and display the fire-works usual on their festivals, from
the battery under the Erectheum.
The citadel, which even in modern times was consider
ed a formidable fortification, and is called by one writer
(Nich Gerbhei*), " arx munitissima," would now be un
able to make any resistance. There are only twenty-
seven cannons mounted throughout the whole fortress^
and of these only seven are fit for service. Three ofif
them are of a great length ; they were presented by the
late Sultan Selim, and are placed on the battery over the
Propylsea. The Disdar is an officer of no consideration,

Panagia Spiliotissa to have been part of a Gymnasium constructed by

Thrasylltis, and looked upon the remains of Pnyx as the Odeum ; but
Dr. Chandler's opinion has been here followed, notwithstanding the
later authority of the plans of Anacharsis, which adhere to Stuart's
disposition of the antiquities in question. The only difficulty which
Chandler appears not to have surmounted, is the vicinity of the Odi
um to Enneacrounos, placed by himself in the dell near the llissus,
and, therefore, necessarily near the south-east an^le of the Acropolis,
not the south-west angle. The words of Pansanias are express :
if\viem <fs (i« 'n'fnx') tri xfJim na.\ov<ri n&i auvm E'»»eax/>cuvov. Howe
ver, the grotto containing the tripod engraved with the story of Apol
lo and Di;ma slaying Nobe's children, mentioned by the same author
as being above the seats of the spectators, corresponds exactly with,
the chapel of Panagia Spiliotissa, and as I could not observe any cave
(although Wheler did) above the other theatre, seems to me almost
to settle the controversy. The 28th cap. lib. iv. of Meursius* Attic.
Lectiones, collects all the ancient mentions of the Ode'um-t-built by-
Pericles, burnt by Sylla, and restored by King Ariobarzanes. Atti-
cus Herodes has by some been thought to have constructed a third
theatre.
* In a book called « Pro Dcclaratione Picturx sive Descriptionis
Sophiuni libri septem," which I have never seen.
 291

his pay being only one hundred and thirty piastres per
annum, (his soldiers have only ten), and he is subject to
the orders of the Waiwode of the city.
It is not difficult, in viewing the walls of the citadel, to
trace the Greek foundation, and the Turkish and Vene
tian superstructure of the ramparts. On one or two of
the parts, where there was no necessity for modern forti
fication, the old Athenian walls are all that are to be seen,
and continue the sole defence of the rock. This is the
case on the angle to the north-west, near the site of the
Temple of Victory. In this part Antiquarians have seen,
or fancied themselves to have seen, the successive archi
tecture of three different periods, the Cecropian, the Pe-
lasgic, and that of the age of Pericles.
From every quarter oi the Acropolis there are the most
agreeable prospects -. that from the top of the Propylsea,
which looks towards the Pirseus, is the most extensive,
but so soft and blended, in the nearest fore-ground and
the farthest distance, as to seem an unbroken perspective,
from the corn-fields, vineyards, and olive-grounds of
Athens, over the long line of coast, and the smooth ex
panse of the Saronic Gulf, to the high lands of Salamis
and _33gina, and the faint outlines of the Peloponncsian
bills.
The flat space on the rock of the Acropolis is not more
than eight hundred feet in length, and about half as many
in breadth ;* a small extent for the site of the primitive
-city of the Athenians,! but an area of great size, when
considered as the base only of temples and marble pa
laces, containing not a single structure which might not
be justly denominated a master-piece of Art.
* It should be understood, tbat in the few occasional hints at th*
proportions and sizes of some of the Athenian antiquities, I have not
quoted from any notes of my own, but from former details, which may
he found to differ with the measurements of those travellers, whose
works I was, at the time of writing these Letters, unable to consult.
f On account of its having been the primitive city, the Acropolis
continued, even in the time of Thucydides, to be called Tloxis, the
city. KaAUTai .... xeu » \'xpv7r>\n f/uyfi T*tt tTi utto td&ntum irf\i\,
•—Lib. ii. cap. 5. - <,
 293

LETTER XXIV.

The Vicinity of Athens.—Climate in Winter.—The Gardens.

—The Olive-Groves.—Method of Watering them.— The
Site of the Academy.—Route to the Pirceus—The Muny-
chian Promontory.—Country immediately to the South of
Athens.

THE neighbourhood of Athens abounds in pleasant

rides ; and the roads, which are numerous, are generally
broad and well beaten. Notwithstanding we were in the
country during the depth of winter, the weather was ne
ver so inclement as to prevent an excursion on horseback,
and scarcely a day elapsed without our riding to some
distance from the city. For this purpose we were furnish
ed with horses belonging to the Post, one of the few in
stitutions which are well regulated in Turkey ; and be
fore our final departure, there were, I fancy, very few
c-pots in Attica with which we were not perfectly ac
quainted, from repeated visits during more than two
months residence in the city.
Having alluded to the climate, let me observe, that to
the northern constitution of an Englishman the Athenian
winters are not, commonly, so rigorous, as, from ancient
accounts, you might be led to expect. After having
found it agreeable to bathe, a little before Christmas, at
Thebes, where a poet of the country describes the cold
to be so excessive as to freeze up the spirits of all nature,
both animate and inanimate, and to inflict upon man him
self the miseries of a premature decay,* it will not be
supposed that the inclemency of Attica was to us such as
to be severely felt.
The winter in this country generally sets in about the
beginning of January, and in the middle of that month
the snows begin to fall. They were a little earlier in

* Hesiod. Efy. nai Hy.

 293

1810, and, being accompanied with a strong north-east

wind, made the cold rather unpleasant for two or three
days, and drove large flights of wild turkies and wood
cocks into the plain close to the city. Alter the snows
are down, which seldom are seen for more than a few
days, except on the summits of the mountains, where they
remain about a month, there are three w'eeks of fine wea
ther, frosty and cold in the mornings and evenings, but
with a clear blue sky, and the sun shining hotly in the
middle of the day. The natives then wear their warmest
pellices, and burn large fires of wood, brought into the
city by the peasants who dwell on the sides of Mount
Parnes. Rain falls, but scarcely ever with any violence,
in the middle of February ; and, at the end of that month,
and the beginning of March, if there is no frost, the
north-west wind blows furiously ; I found it to be so high
on the 23d, and the two following days of February, as
to be unable to walk without great difficulty ; but I can
not say that 1 experienced that debility, and those effects
on the nervous system, which are said to attend this
much-dreaded tempest, the Sciron of the ancient Athe
nians.*
The spring commences about the end of the same
imonth, and at that period, and sometimes earlier in the
year, the sky is overcast with hot heavy clouds, which
settle on Parnes and Brilessus, the mountains to the north
of Athens, and are the certain signs of an approaching
thunder-storm, and occasionally of earthquakes. This
was the case on the 13th of February. These signs were
known and consulted by the ancient inhabitants of this
region, who, by repeated observation of the summits of
their hills, one of which, Hymettus, is close to Athens,
became such adepts in meteorology, as to regulate their
conduct by their prognostications. A transparent vapour
on the tops of Hymettus is accompanied by a strong si
rocco, or south-east wind, as I have myself observed, and
* Pliny (Nat. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 46), talks of the Sciron, as a wind
peculiar to Attica—« Ut Atheniensibus Sciron, paulum ab Argeste
deflexus, reliqux Grxcix ignotus."
Baron de Kiedesel, in his Voyage au Levant, p. 291, gives Attica
the climate of Petersburgh, and avers, that the snows remain on the
mountains eight months out of the twelve. The Baron was at Athens
a week in August ; and no one would think, from perusing his book,
that he had been there at all.
 £9*
at that time the sky becomes less clear than usual, not
withstanding there are no black clouds, and the weather,
although the sun is not to be seen, is oppressively warm.
Such part of the marble ruins as are exposed to this wind,
are found to have suffered a more rapid decay than the
remainder of the edifices; but nothing can be a better
proof of the general dryness of the Attic air, than the
wonderful state of preservation in which the roost deli
cate, as well as the most ancient, portions of the remains
are at this day found, after having been exposed to all
varieties of weather for more than two thousand years.
The corn in the plain of Athens, which is cut in May,
is very high at the beginning of March ; and then also
the vines begin to sprout, the olive-groves to bud, and
the almond-trees, of which there is a great number in
the neighbouring gardens, are so covered with their white
and purple blossom, as to impart their varied hues to the
face of the whole country. The spring vegetables may
also be procured at that early season, particularly let
tuces, of which a large bundle can be bought for a para.
The region immediately to the north and north-west of
the city, a plain of an irregularly oval shape, is inter
spersed with small villages, hidden in shadv groves ; and
the modern Athenians, who are equally fond with their
ancestors of the luxury of a summer retreat, and who
are induced, both by custom and temperament, to prefer
vegetables and fruits to less cooling diet, reckon nearly a
thousand gardens in the circuit of their small territory.
To many of these there are attached kiosks, or country-
houses, ill-constructed indeed, being the lower part of
them of mud, and the upper of badly jointed planks, but
still capable of affording an agreeable shelter during the
intolerable heats of summer. Some of these gardens are
near villages, under the hills at some distance from the
city, such as Kevrishia, the ancient Cephissia, at the foot
of Mount Pentelicus, and Callandri, in the same quar
ter; but the large tract of them is in the long line of
olive-groves which form the western boundary of the
plain of Athens. The district watered by the Cephissus,
in the neighbourhood of the site of the Academy, and the
Colonus Hippius. about twenty minutes walk from the
gate leading to Thebes, is to the south called Sepolia, and
to the north Patisia, and is divided into those extensive
 295

grounds which are particularly allotted For supplying the

city with fruit and vegetables, and are for the most part
flot cultivated by their owners, but let out to the pea
sants of the villages. A large garden of an acre and a
half, was pointed out to me as being let annually for two
hundred and fifty piastres.
The olive-groves of Athens are also on this side of the
city, but they extend far beyond Sepolia and Patisia, both
to the north and south, and run in a curved line of seven
or eight miles in length, and of an unequal breadth, from
one to three miles, commencing not far from the north
ern extremity of the range of low bills called Anchesmus,
and ending a mile and a half, perhaps, from the Muny-
chian promontory. They must have increased, even in
extent, since the time of Chandler, if the description of
that traveller is, as usual, correct ; and they told us at
Athens, that the number of trees planted of late years
had been very considerable, and having been set too
thickly, had much injured the old wood.
Besides this large olive wood in the plain of Athens,
there are other groves in the neighbourhood of several of
the villages ; and in addition to thirty-six olive-presses
in the capital, there are eight others in various parts of
Attica, of which you will hear in another place.*
The Cephissus, a sort of ditch-stream, almost dry in
summer, and in winter only a torrent, flowing from Ce-
phissia, under Mount Pentelicus, passes through the ex
tent of olive-groves and gardens, each of which it serves,
by turns, to water. The watering of the olive-groves
commences the 24th of September, and ends the 6th of
April, and is effected by raising a low mound round eight
or nine trees, and then introducing the stream through
dykes, so as to keep the roots and part of the trunks un
der water for the necessary length of time. Each owner
waters his grove for thirty or forty hours, and pays a
para a tree to the Waiwode, or to him who has farmed
the revenue from that officer. During this period, the
peasants construct huts with boughs, and are mutually
watchful, both day and night, neither to lose their own

* There are two at Koukouvaones ; one at Menithi ; one at Casha;

two at Yerika ; two at Keratea; villages whose sites will be mention
ed hereafter.
 £96

portion, nor allow to others an unfair abundance of the

valuable streams. I have several times seen their fires
amongst the trees ; and, as they watch in parties, and
mix, as usual, much mirth with their employment, have
heard the sound of their voices, and the tinkling music
of their guitars, on returning to Athens from an even
ing's ride.
The precious water of the Cephissus is the property of
the Waiwode only during the season of watering the
olive wood ; for the remaining months the owners of the
gardens, in a proportion settled by long usage, divert the
stream into their grounds for one, two, or three hours, in
a week or fortnight, according to the bargain at which
they have hired or purchased their land. The same jea
lousy is manifested on this as on the other occasion. The
instant that the stream is turned into the required chan
nel, a public inspector, who is called « Dragatis too ne-
ro," and is always in attendance, turns his hour-glass,
and the gardener also measures the time in the same man
ner, other Greeks frequently being present to prevent
collusion, and cut off the rivulet immediately on the ex
piration of the stipulated hour. Besides this periodical
irrigation of the gardens, those who can afford to pro
cure such an advantage, buy water from the owners of
several reservoirs, which have been constructed amongst
the gardens, and on the banks of the Cephissus.
Throughout the whole range of the olive-groves and
gardens, are to be seen small remains, sepulchral stela,
shafts of columns, and particularly the marble mouths of
ancient wells, which retain the deeply-indented marks of
the ropes used in letting down and raising the buckets.
A very beautiful specimen of one of them is now in a
large garden at the side of the river, twenty minutes
walk beyond the Colonus Hippius. It is a foot and a
half high, and, near the rim, ornamented with festoons
in elegant sculpture, and serves for the mouth of a well,
perhaps the same for which it was originally construct
ed. The bucket lying by it is a dried gourd, scooped
out, and attached to a rope of twisted hay.
One might fairly expect to meet with something to sa
tisfy the curiosity of trie antiquarian in every part of this
celebrated region ; lor not only Athens, but Attica, was
 397

the handywork of the gods and ancient heroes,* and no

less abounding in the monuments of former splendour
than the city itself. Polemo Periegctes composed four
books, consisting solely of a catalogue of the gifts dedi
cated in the Acropolis ; and, says Strabo, it would have
required as many more to mention those contained in the
other parts of the city, and in the towns. Yet, by a per-
verseness of fortune, the very supereminence and cele
brity of Attica, have prevented her towns and positions
from being so minutely described as those of other parts
of Greece, and the geographer has said but little of this
territory, because afraid of entering into too extensive a
detail, and of telling what was universally known. The
work of Fausanias informs us, however, of the chapels
and statues, and points out the tombs of the illustrious
dead, immediately in the vicinity of the capital, and adds
to the gratification to be enjoyed whilst roaming over the
pleasant walks on every side contiguous to modern
Athens.
In passing from the town towards the site of the Aca
demy and the Colonus Hippiusf (which is now a small
rocky eminence, just out of the olive-groves, about north-
north-east from the Acropolis, with a Greek chapel on
it), you would be pleased with the thought, that you are
treading on the graves once filled with the ashes of Thry-
sabulus, Pericles, Chabrias, and Phormio4 whose in
scribed monuments, as well as those of all the great men
(except the heroes of Marathon) who fell in battle,
were carefully preserved, and pointed out to the enquir
ing traveller, many ages subsequent to the period that
witnessed their glorious exploits. They were seen by
Pausanias, in the second century, in the way from the
gate Oipylon to the Academy, and in the gardens, and
about the Colonus Hippius : not far from the Academy
was also shown at that time the tomb of Plato.§ Several
temples were erected in and about the celebrated Gymna
sium just mentioned ; but no material remains have been

* Hegesias in Strab. p. 396.

f To Colonus Hippius CEdipus fled. On it was a temple of Nep
tune ; it was (en stadia from the city. Meurs. de Populis Attics.
Kohav»c
* Paus. Attic, p. 50. § Paus. Attic, p. 58.
Tot. I. Pp
 298

discovered in that quarter, although small fragments of

marble have been ploughed up in the corn-fields now oc
cupying its site.
The gardens of Epicurus, which were on the way to
the Academy, not far from the gate Dipylon, have not
left behind them a single trace of their marble schools, or
even of their groves. The space they covered is now an
open plain of corn, rather on the descent towards the
olive woods.
The road leading from Athens to the Pirseus, is from
the gate to the north of the Temple of Theseus. A few
paces from this gate, a path going to Eleusis, branches
off to the right from the main road : and shortly after,
another path, also to the right, strikes through the
olive-groves to Salamis. The road, whose direction is
about west-south-west, then continues for half an hour
over a corn-plain, skirting the olive-groves to the right,
which it then enters, and continues to traverse a little
more than half an hour, having on the left hand vineyards
and gardens, with here and there a mud cottage. Is
suing from the olive-groves, it passes, on a stone cause
way, over a bare plain, in many places marshy.
In this part, the long walls may be traced on the right
very distinctly, many large fragments of them being ap
parent above the ground. The exact breadth of these
walls, which was sufficient to allow two carts to pass each
other on the top of them, cannot, I should think, be found
from the remains ; but the enormous size of the single
stones would justify a belief in the supposed dimensions
of the whole work. They are joined together, like the
marbles of the columns, not with any cement, but with
clamps of iron and lead, which, with their own weight,
might have been sufficient to unite walls even of so great
a height as forty cubits.*
Advancing farther towards the sea, the ground is more
stony, and the plain in parts uncultivated, and the road
ascending a low rocky hill, brings you at once upon the
Pirseus, which is called by the Greeks, Draco, but by the
* It was originally intended to make the walls eighty cubits in
height. The length of the wall to Phalerum was thirty-five stadia ;
of the exterior wall of the city, forty-three stadia; of the long wall
to the Pirxus, forty ; and of the wall including Pirxus and the Mu-
nychian promontory, sixty;
 299

Franks, Porto Leone, an hour and a quarter's walk, as 1

found it, from Athens.
Nothing in the present appearance of the Pirseus,
would enable you to suspect that it was once a flourish
ing port, the emporium of a great state, itself a city, and
abounding with temples, porticoes, and other magnificent
structures.
The triple port is not very apparent, the recess on the
right hand, the ancient Zea, being like a marsh, and that
on the left, Cantharus, towards Munychia, of but little
depth. The deepest water is at the mouth of the third
interior port, the Aphrodisus of the old Pirseus. . One
does not know what to think of the size of the ships com
posing the fleets which were anchored in this basin ; and
yet so late as the time of Constantine, two hundred ships
of war were collected in the Pirseus. The Athenian fleet
consisted at one time of three hundred* ships of three
banks of oars. We saw an Hydriote merchant vessel, of
about two hundred tons, anchored in the port, for the
purpose of carrying off the Elgin marbles, and she seem
ed too big for the station. Yet Wheler judged it capable
of containing forty or fifty of the great ships of his time,
which is sufficient only to convince me, that the size of
vessels has been very much enlarged during the last cen
tury and a half. An English sloop of war was warned
that she would run aground if she endeavoured to get in,
and was therefore obliged to anchor in the straits between
Salamis and the port once called Phoron.f The direction
of the harbour is from north-west to south-east, and the
whole length of it, from the outer mouth to the innermost
recess, is not a mile and a quarter.
There is an inner and an outer harbour : the entrance
to the inner is made more narrow by stone-work project
ing from both sides of the mouth. At the bottom of the
harbour is a wooden quay ; on which there is a poor cus
tom-house, and a magazine for stores ; on the left, under

* Meursius Attic. Lect. cap. 1, corrects those places in ancient au

thors which mention four hundred.
t Port Phoron is about fifty minutes walk from Draco, at the other
side of the projecting land which forms the western quarter of the
port of Pirxus. The country between is rugged and bare. In a grove
of olive trees, on an eminence not far from Draco, on the left of the
path going to Phoron, are some remains of an ancient wall.
 300
the rocky grounds of Munychia, is a monastery dedicated
to St. Speridion, together with a wooden building, for
merly used as a warehouse for the goods of the Frank
merchants. Some excavations made at Pirseus, espe
cially to the west of the harbour, on some high rocky
ground, have been attended with success, and produced
some antiquities in good preservation.
On the 18th of January, my fellow-traveller and my
self made the complete circuit of the peninsula of Muny
chia. We passed round by the monastery. A little be
yond this place, winding by the shore on a stony path,
we were shown, on the left hand above, the seats of a
small amphitheatre cut in the rork : continuing till we
came to the eastern mouth of the Pirseus, we saw several
very large stones, like part of a pier, built to contract
the inner mouth of the harbour ; for there was a similar
pier on the other side, near the water's edge.
The site of the tomb of Themistocles is supposed some
where in this quarter, and the modern Athenian guides
point it out to you, but it is not very observable. It is a
sepulchral excavation in the rock, without any covering,
at the point of a craggy tongue of land, on the right
hand as you sail into the Pirseus, probably the Cape Al-
cimus, whither the bones of that great statesman and ge
neral were conveyed from Asia. The tomb was formerly
like an altar.*
We went round the peninsula as near the shore as pos
sible. Munychia is high and rocky, capable of cultiva
tion only in a few spots. Besides the port, the peninsula
is indented with four small bays : above the second,
which is opposite to the island jEgina, are several bar
rows ; the fourth is in a precipitous part of the rock.
Stones and rubbish, all that is left of the habitations with
which the whole promontory was once covered, lie about
in heaps on many parts of the surface. The remains of
the fortification may be traced nearly all r ound, as far as
the port of Munychia ; but the eastern side of the third
hay shows the most entire portion of the old wall. The
old harbour of Munychia is of a circular form : there are
several remains of wall running into the water, and a

rgxMst.—Plut, in Themist. vit. fine.

 301

piece of pier is to be seen at each side of the mouth of

it ; so that the entrance, as well as the whole port, is
smaller than that of Piraeus. If the habour once con
tained four hundred ships, each vessel must have been a
wherry.* The direction of the port is from south to
north. The Munychian walls cannot be traced farther
than the eastern side of the harbour ; to make the circuit
of them at a quick foot's paee, took us just an hour ; and
in going round the arc of the whole promontory, includ
ing Phalerum, we were twenty minutes more. The land
between Phalerum and Munychia is high and rocky. On
a cliff between the two ports, we saw a singular excava
tion in a fragment of a rock standing upright, looking
like a porch, and having a pilaster on each side, and
cornice above, very rudely cut, or perhaps defaced. It
was seen by Chandler, who compares it to a sentry-
box.
Phalerum is of an elliptical form, smaller than Muny
chia ; and the remains of the piers on each side the nar
row mouth are to be seen. The line of its length is from
east to west, that of its breadth from north to south. One
solitary skiff was moored in it under the hill, instead of
the fifty ships of Menestheus, appointed for their voyage
to the shores of Troy. On the north-east side of the port
the land is high and rocky, until you come to the fine
sweep of the bay of Phalerum, perhaps two miles in
length, and terminated on the north-east by a low pro
montory, once the promontory Colias,f where was a tem
ple of Venus, on the site of which there is now a small
church of St. Nicholas, and a spot called Tres-Pyrgse,
from some towers not now to be seen ; supposed by Whe-
ler to be part of the remains of Anaphlystus.
At a part of this bay the sea is nearest to Athens, be
ing exactly south-south-west from the city, but apparent
ly farther than twenty stadia, the formerly supposed dis
tance. The shore of the bay of Phalerum is shelving,
and, in the calmest day, the tumbling of the waves upon
the pebbles produces a loud murmur ; a circumstance, as

• Sylla burnt down the famous arsenal of Philo, in Munychia, 3-a<j-

fitngoftHM tpyor, says Plutarch, in his Life of that Roman.
f The clay from this neighbourhood was preferred to any other for
the use of the potteries.
 303

my fellow-traveller observed to me, that might have

made this beach the resort of Demosthenes, when he
wished to accustom himself to the clamour of a public
assembly."
In the bay, not far from the port of Phalerum, a small
rivulet oozes through the sand, which is the only outlet
from a fresh-water lake and marsh, two miles and a half
in length, which is near the shore, and' into which, in for
mer times, both the Cephissus and Ilissus used to empty
their scanty streams. What part of the first river is not
absorbed in the olive-groves, now crosses the road to the
Pirseus into this lake. The lake is now a favourite re
sort of water-fowl, and, in hard seasons, supplies the city
with wild geese, ducks, and other aquatic birds. Just
beyond, in the way to the city, begins a long line of vine
yards and cotton grounds, together with a garden or two,
which join the olive-groves to the west, and to the east
have an open plain, divided, where the soil will bear cul
ture, into wheat-fields. The separation of the gardens
and other grounds is made by mud banks ; the wheat-
fields have deep ditches between them. At the point
- where the gardens, vineyards, and olive-groves join, to
the right of the shortest road from Pirseus, and in what
would have been the road from Munychia, there are
large cisterns, a mile and a half, perhaps, from the city.
A country-house or two is near the spot, belonging, I
believe, to those who watch the cisterns, and furnish the
, water to the gardens and vineyards.
The weeping-willow seen in 1765, or another similar
tree, still continues to hang over the principal cistern and
the marble fount. The ground to the east of the cisterns,
in the why to Athens, is quite open, and ploughed up
every where, till you come to the back of the hill Lyca-
bettus and the Museum, when it is, in parts, too rocky to
be tilled. There are two roads from the cisterns, one
leading to the right, by the course of the Ilissus, to the
south of the Acropolis, the other to the great road from
the Pirseus.
In this quarter of the country you may vary your rides
in every direction. From the Pirseus, but especially from
Munychia, and from the vineyards near the lake, the ap
proach to the city is very beautiful ; and as the remain
ing columns of the Parthenon appear in a line, and so
 303

disposed as not to show the ruined portion of the temple,

and as you catch a view of the entire These um, you may
fancy yourself approaching to ancient Athens.
* To the south-west and south-south-west, between
Athens and the sea, the country is open and bare, of a
very uninviting appearance, only partially cultivated,
and having a rocky soil, quite covered in many spots
with a low sweet-smelling shrub, like wild-thyme, that
seems peculiar to Attica, and perfumes the air, producing
a flower of which the bees are very fond, and which gives
the flavour, perhaps, so peculiar to Attic honey. At a
ruined farm-house, a mile and a half from Athens, in the
middle of the down, are many bee-stands, which are pro
fitable to the owner, who resides in the city, and seldom
visits the hives, except in the swarming and gathering
season. A marble lion, somewhat mutilated, but of good
workmanship, is lying near the bee-stands neglected.
To the south and east of this farm, in the open plain,
and nearer the shore, are several lonely houses, very
high, of stone, for security's sake, and here are remains
of two square towers, now not inhabited, but once built
to guard against the incursions of the pirates, Mainotes,
and others, who have often landed, and carried off plun
der to their boats, and are even now a little dreaded. Two
villages are near these towers, surrounded with high
walls, inhabited by Albanians.
The gardens and vineyards belonging to these villages,
one of which is called Dragonisi, are at a little distance
nearer the shore, and all enclosed with high mud walls.
There are some low barrows to the east, near these gar
dens, where Anchimolius and the Lacedemonians, who
were slain on their invasion of Attica in the time of Hip-
pias and Hipparchus, are supposed to have been buried.
These barrows point out the site of Alopecse, a town ele
ven or twelve stadia from the walls of Athens, and the
native town of Socrates.* In this part of the plain there
are several mouths of ancient wells, all filled up with
earth within a foot or two of the top. There is no direct
road to these villages, but a path leads to them, to the
• , l
\m Ts sv Kovoa-apyti,—Herod. Terp, cap. 63.
 304

right of the road that goes to the south towards the Ba

nian promontory.
From beyond the promontory of Tres-Pyrgse, or Co-
lias, the shore is rocky and abrupt, but not high. The •
stone is a sort of sand-stone, very soft, and worn into
singular shapes by the washing of the waves: in one
place there is a large hole broken away through a little
projecting cliff. The plain immediately near the shore is
quite bare, and intersected with frequent ravins, and a
broad water-course, as wide as that of the llissus.
To inform you respecting that part of the territory of
Attica beyond the olive-groves and gardens of Athens, I
shall, in my next, take from my journal an extract of
some expeditions we made in that quarter to Eleusis and
Salamis.
 305

LETTER XXV.

itoute from Mhens to Eleusis.—Daphne-vouni.—Casha

vouni.—The Monastery of Daphne.—The Rhiti.—The
Thriasian Plain.—Eleusis.—Ruins—The Cambridge
Ceres.—Route from Mhens to Salamis.— The Throne of
Xerxes.— View from CorydaUus.—Salamis or Colouri.—
Ampelaki.—Colouri Greek Islanders.

ON the 13th of January we mounted our horses ra

ther earlier than usual, and set out on that one of the
roads from Athens, which has the site of the Academy
and the Colonus Hippius a little to the right, and is, on
the whole, in a west- north-westerly direction. We rode
for nearly twenty minutes before we entered the olive-
groves, passing through which for half an hour, we came
to the Cephissus : over this river, or ditch-stream, we
crossed on a small ill-constructed bridge ; and, after rid
ing through some more olive-groves, and near the ruins
of a Greek church, in which a carved marble, or two, is
to be seen, and also an ancient well, we got into a wide
open plain, partly a sheep pasture and partly green with
corn : at a distance on our right was the road by which
,we had come from Thebes, by Casha, to Athens. On our
left, the plain stretched towards the sea-coast to the west
of Pirjeus, which, however, was not visible, owing to the
inequality of the ground ; before us were low hills, run
ning from north-north-east to south-south-west, the sides
of which were only partially cultivated, and of a very
sterile appearance. A lonely house, with a few ruined
churches, might be seen here and there, but no village.
We soon crossed the plain, which seemed a continuation
of the sloping hills in front of us, and, ascending by a
gentle acclivity, entered through a gap, which is visible
from Athens, and which divides the hills on the left,
(south), once named Corydallus, from the range on the
right which juts out from the great mountain Farnes, and
Vol. I. Qq
 306
was called jEgaleon. Corydallus has now the name of
Daphne-vouni, or the Laurel Mountain, from the shrubs
of oleander (called by the modern Greeks or
bitter laurel) with which it abounds, and JEgaleon is
Casha-vouni, from the large village of that name, which
gives its denomination also to the south-west range of the
great mountain Pames, whose northern summits are
Called Ozea.
The travellers who have supposed Daphne-vouni to be
jEgaleon, appear to have been induced to that belief by
the conjecture, that it was through this gap, that the La
cedemonian army, under Archidamus, marched into that
part nf Attica called Cecropia, leaving, says the histo
rian, Mount jEgaleon on their right hand.* But there
is another gap in the hills, two or three miles farther up
to the north, near the village of Casha, which leads di
rectly from the Eleusinian territory into Attica, and
which answers, it seems to me, more clearly to the defile-
alluded to by Thucydides. Issuing from the mountains,
Archidamus passed through Cecropia, a slope at the foot
of the hills, two miles, I should think, in transverse
breadth, and encamped at Acharnse.f the largest town
next to the capital, only sixty stadia from Athens, and,
indeed, in view of the city ; a circumstance which must
be a sufficient answer to such as suppose Casha only a
corruption of Acharnse, for that village is four hours, and
not visible from the Acropolis.^ Daphne-vouni stretches
to the shore opposite Salamis, and there is no separation
in the mountain, which will allow of the northern range
having been called JEgaleon and the southern part of it
Corydallus.
Soon after we had advanced into the hills, (where, how
ever, the path is level enough, and was probably render
ed so by art, in order to facilitate the procession of Iac-
chus on this part of the Sacred Way), we turned more
southwards ; and continued in the defile, with bare moun
tains on our right, and woody hills on our left, until, in
* E'k tt£i* i^ovTtt to KtytMm nsoc.—Thueyd. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 19.
f Xojfio, /uryirTcV Tut ATfixnt.—Ibid.
i Wheler 8ays, ten or a dozen miles, and we were From four o'clock
to half-past eight on the road from the Tillage to the city —Be Pauw,
vol. i. cap. 5, to support his opinion with respect to Ca«ha being %
corruption of Acharnx, contract* the distance to near tcoen.
about two hours and a half from Athens, we arrived at a
large monastery, romantically situated in a long recess,
at the foot of a high rugged hill, whose pines almost hang
over the building. This monastery is called Daphne,
and though much venerated, and supposed the most an
cient in the country, has nothing to detain you. The ex
terior of the building has more the appearance of a place
of defence than nf a religious retreat, as the court-yard
is surrounded with a wall at least twenty feet high, the
angles of which are furnished with towers. Yet this pre
caution has not been sufficient to preserve the monastery
from the visitations of the Turks, who frequently make
it their baiting-place, as may be seen from the disfigura
tion of a Mosaic picture of our Saviour on the cupola of
the church : the eyes of the figure are perforated with
bullets. Only one monk ever resides in the place, who,
as the peasant that had the care of the church told us,
was gone to pass the winter in town, («« *»« *of»), mean
ing Athens.
The monastery being placed directly on the sacred
way from Athens to Elcusis, has been conjectured to
stand nearly on the site of a temple of Apollo ; and two
Ionic columns, which were wedged into one of the walls,
have been said to belong to a temple of Venus, whose site
is pointed out by a piece of wall of rude masonry a little
further on the road.
From Daphne, Lord Elgin conveyed a shaft, two capi
tals, and a base, and nothing antique is now to be seen at
the monastery, except a stone tomb.
Leaving Daphne, we began to travel on an easy de
scent, and had at once a vista opened upon us, present*
ing a view of the sea, closed by two forked hills, those
called Rerata, or the Horns, immediately behind Eleu
sis, and the high mountains of the Isthmus in the back
ground.
We continued in a westerly direction, through a nar
row valley : on the right-hand, nearly opposite the piece
of ancient wall above-mentioned, we saw marks of tools
upon the rock, which had some grooves and ledges cut
on a fiat surface, evidently smoothed by art. The grooves
appear the same as those in the cave of Pan, and were
therefore must probably constructed for the votive tablets
of such as journeyed to the Temple of Ceres. The po
eition of the hill answers to that of the painted rock of
Pausanias.
In half an hour, beyond Poecile, as it was once deno
minated, we found ourselves at the extremity of the val
ley, and at the water-side. Here we saw the shaft of one
of the Ionic columns, of very white marble, and the flut-
ings highly finished, lying entire, in a wooden trough,
ready for exportation, on the beach.
Our postman said it belonged to the English, but whe
ther to Lord Elgin or not, I did not learn. We turned
directly to the right, the north, and came full upon a
large circular basin, looking like a lake, the entrance
from the sea not being easily discerned, as the island of
Salamis, lying west and east, closed up the mouth of the
bay. At the other extremity of the bay, to the west, we
saw the village of Eleusis. We crossed a short passage
of stony road, cut out of the foot of the rocks, close to
the water's edge, and called, like similar paths, Kake
Scala, and then came upon a sandy beach, having on our
right a small salt-water lake, dammed up by a low wall,
and communicating with the sea by two channels, whose
streams turn two over-shot mills ait a little distance from
each other.
Leaving the mills, we crpssed two or three rivulets of
brackish water, oozing through the sand, which Wheler
and Chandler have called the Rhiti, or Salt Streams, the
ancient limits between the Athenians and Eleusinians,
consecrated to Ceres and Proserpine, and supposed by
Pausanias to find a subterranean passage through Boeotia
and Attica, as far as from the Euripns of Chalcis.* Be
yond these streams we did not encounter any river simi
lar to that which Wheler,f coinciding with Pausanias,
calls the Eleusinian Cephissus, but turning to the left,
again westward, rode over an extensive plain, quite flat,
and so marshy in many places, that a stone causeway has
been raised upon it for the security of travellers. This

* Pausan. Corinth, p. 129. Attic. 70.

f A Journey, ice. quart, p. 426. Seneca talks of the rapid waters
of this river in his Hippolytus, Act I. Scene 1.
Qux saxoso sola Parnethi
Subjecta jacent, et qux Thriasis
Vallibus amnis rapida currens
Verberat unda. '
 309

plain, near the shore a green pasture, but cultivated to

wards the foot of the woody hills to the north side of it,
is six or seven miles in length from east to west, and
three or four in breadth. It is evidently the Thriasian
plain, and the part of it which we traversed, answers to
that tract in it called in very early times, the kingdom of
Crocon.* We continued upon it for an hour, and saw
on the left of our path some pieces of wall belonging to a
church, which in 1765 was standing, and preserved the
marbles of an ancient monument, together with an in
scription. Thria, or Thrio, a town of the tribe of Oenis,
which gave the name to the plain, was probably higher
up on the side of Parnes, and nearer the Rhiti.
On turning to the left (just an hour and a half from
Daphne), to direct our steps round the sweep of the shore
to Eleusis, we observed a path leading off to the western
extremity of the plain, and ascending the mountains by
which it is on that end inclosed. This is one of the roads
travelled by those who come to Athens from the towns
and villages on the sides of Mount Elatias (Citharon),
and is sometimes preferred by those who wish to reach
that city from Thebes, to that which passes by Casha
over Parnes. I had afterwards an opportunity of tracing
the higher part of this route, and found it to correspond
exactly with that by which the Lacedemonians entered
into Attica in the incursion before mentioned. A path
branches off from the main road, by the Sacred Way, to
Athens, a little nearer to Eleusis than the Salt Streams,
and leads to Galiva, a village, and to Casha, through the
opening in the hills which, according to my hypothesis,
divides iEgaleon from Parnes.
In several places across the plain to the north-west, as
far as the bottom of the hills, before we turned south
wards towards Eleusis, we saw fragments of an ancient
aqueduct ; and in half an hour we came to the village it
self, which is put down in the maps, Lefsina, but which
I never heard called any thing else at Athens than Elef-
sis, the modern pronunciation of the ancient name.

* Bao-/\«<t Kpoitavof. See the description of the Sacred Way, lead-*

ing from the Thriasian gate, afterwards called Dipylon, by Mount
Pcecile, across the Rhiti, and the Thriasian plain to Eleusis, in Pau-
sanias, « «« rnu nf EA«a<r/»a tf A3-«va»'," p: 67, et seq. usq. ad. 71,
fol.edit.
 810

Eleusis is a miserable village of thirty mud cottages

with flat roofs, inhabited by Albanians ; besides which,
there is one high square house, or tower, the occasional
residence of a Turk, who superintends the peasants, and
owns some part of the neighbouring plain. It is compre-
bended in the territory of the Waiwode of Athens, which,
on this side, extends one hour, or three miles, beyond the
village to the west.
Eleusis is finely situated, at about half a mile from the
sea, on the declivity of a long hill, which stretches from
the extremity of the mountains still called Rerata, run
ning from north-east to south-west, and making the sepa
ration between Attica and the Megaris. There are suf
ficient remains to make it probable that great part of this
bill was originally built upon, though at present there is
nothing to be seen on it but the fragments of an old tow
er, and a piece of wall.
Looking to the east from the modern village, you have
before you the bay, closed in front by Corydallus, and to
the right by Salamis, with two islands before it, the Phar-
macusse, one much larger than the other, and now called
Megala, and Micra Rira. To the south-west there is a
tongue of land, the western end of the bay, and beyond
this, the mountains of the Morea are seen rising in the
distance.
To the north-west, in an angle between Rerata and the
hill of Eleusis, is a small valley, according to Wbeler
and following travellers, the Hharian plain, where Trip-
tolemus first taught the art of ploughing and sowing.
Every part of the Thriasian plain, over which we pass
ed, inclosed by Parnes and JEgaleon to the north, north
east, and east, is distinctly seen from the hill, and forms
the most extensive portion of the land prospect. ,
The remains of the ancient Eleusis are now very in
significant: some small stones, and pieces of rubbish
standing upright, appear scattered about under the vil
lage, on the slope of the hill, and near the sea, and on
one side of an inlet on the beach are fragments of a pier.
The site of the great Temple of Ceres includes most
of the modern village, but many decays must have inter
vened since the time of Chandler, who seems, from his
account, to have been able to measure the area and pro
portions of that magnificent building on the spot. The
 311

breadth of the cell, says he, is about one hundred and fif
ty feet, the length, including the Pronaos and portico,
two hundred and sixteen feet, the diameter of the co
lumns, which are fluted, six inches from the bottom of the
shafts, six feet and more than six inches.* The peribo-
lus, or inclosure, which surrounded it on the north-east
and on the south side, measured three hundred and
eighty-seven feet in length from north to south, and three
hundred and twenty-eight in breadth from east to west.
I did not see that the walls of the temple or of the inclo
sure can be now traced. The body of the remains, be
longing, it has been thought, to the Temples of Diana
Propylsea, and Neptune, and to the gateway of the great
inclosure, is now all on one small space in the midille of
the village, aud there are three or four entire portions of
marble columns, just appearing above ground, fluted, and
apparently of the dimensions alluded to, besides the
mouth and part of the rim of a large marble vase, buried
in the ground, and a fragment, also of marble, with the
bas-relief of a Triton. Close by, we were shown the
spot on which the Cambridge Ceres had so long lain
half-buried in the earth. In the wall of a church, at an
other part of the village, is an Ionic capital. There are
besides two inscribed marbles, one of which seems to
have been a pedestal,! and stands by itself, and the other
is wedged into the walls of a house. The inscriptions
copied by Wheler, I was not shown. Some pieces of an
cient wall are to be seen under the square house belong
ing to the Turk. The largest portion of wall yet stand
ing is on the rock above, where is the old tower, and on
which was the citadel of Eleusis, forming a protection on
the north-west side to the temple : but the remains of the
temple ** in antis," seen by Chandler on this spot, either
have disappeared, or entirely escaped my observation. It
is well known that the Cambridge Ceres, mutilated as it
is, was supposed both by Greeks and Turks, from a tra
dition, to be a sort of talisman, on which depended the
fertility of the lands of Eleusis ; but the Thriasian plain
has lost nothing of its former abundance since the remo
val of this precious relic by our accomplished and amia-

« Chandler's Travels, p. 190.

t See Appendix, for the inscription on the pedestal.
 312

ble countryman, and the inhabitants of Eleusis, vth&

pointed out to me the trench whence it had been dug*
evinced no signs of regret for their loss. At Eleusis,
coins are very frequently found by the peasants, and one
of them showed me the foot of a stocking quite full of
them, out of which I selected about five and twenty.
A very few years will accomplish the complete de
struction of the scanty remains that are to be seen at this
once celebrated spot, and the former existence of the tem
ples may, in some future age, be as problematical as the
object of the mysteries of Eleusis.
The other route which I purposed to make you ac
quainted with in this Letter, is that from Athens to Sala-
mis, now called Colouri.
The road takes you nearly in a westerly direction,
leaving that leading to the Pirceus, and another to the
gardens, on the left. You enter the olive-groves in twenty
minutes, and traverse them transversely for more than an
hour, going through a part of them where they are very
thickly set, and have the waters of the Cephissus flowing
through them in many trenches. After the olive-groves*
the road is a little on the ascent over a plain, open and
barren, except in some few cultivated spots. The mouths
of ancient wells, and fragments of stone-work, are visi
ble near the path, just as it reaches the top of the slope,
and leaves a small eminence to the right hand, about half
an hour from the olive-groves. From this point the road
continues on the descent, in an open country of corn
fields and vineyards : a lone cottage, surrounded with
trees, is on the left ; in half an hour you arrive at the
foot of a bleak rocky hill, and the shore of a bay, formed
by the back of the promontory which is the western side
of the Pirseus, and a tongue of land jutting out from the
rocks on the right, on whose front there is part of an
old tower. This is the port Phoron.
You cross the base of this neck of land, and then pass,
not far from the shore, at the foot of a ridge of bare
rocks that runs parallel with the coast.
These rocks have now no name : they are part of the
promontory stretching from Mount Corydallus ; and in a
niche about half way up, late antiquarians have supposed
themselves to have discovered the spot where Xerxes sat
in his silver-footed chair to behold the battle of Salamis.
 313

The nirhe is about opposite to the long rocky islet in the

mouth of the strait, once called Psyttalia, and now Lip-
socattalia, where the four hundred Persians were cut to
pieces by the Greeks during the action. •
During one of our several rides to this part of Attica,
& distance of seven or eight miles, I took an opportunity
of ascending these stony hills, and traversing the heights
above the strait in every direction. From the first sum
mit, the side nearest Athens, where the throne of Xerxes
has by some conjectures been placed, the battle could on
ly be partially seen ; but from the middle of the second
eminence, in which is the niche alluded to, every part of
both fleets, as well as the minute circumstances of the
action, might have been distinctly beheld. Those who
have placed the throne a mile farther down to the north
west, on an eminence of Mount Corydallus, cannot have
a correct notion of the positions, as from that point, the
whole of that part of the line « here the Athenians and
Phoenicians were engaged, must have been hidden behind
the projecting rocks of the promontory ; and the ship
of Artemisia endeavouring to escape from the mouth of
the strait, and sinking the opposing galley, the action
which called forth the famous exclamation of Xerxes,
could not, from that point, have been beheld at all by the
Persian King.*
From the summit of the highest rock of Corydallus I
had a view of Athens to the east ; the Pirseus was to the
south-east, on my left ; before me, to the south, was
iEgina; Salamis, with its bays and diminutive towns,
lay, as in a map, at my feet; the town of Megara was
visible to the west-south-west, farther up on the right, in
the Saronic gulf ; whilst Eleusis, with its spacious basin
and spreading plain, appeared under the mountains to the

* Some accounts place the throne on Kerata, above Eleusis (which,

it seems, made Wheler suppose it to have been on either Megala or
M cra Kera,) and others on the mountain which they name JEgialus,
meaning that hill (also called JE^ilus) where was the Demos iEgilia,
and which, under the name of jEgaleon, I fancy to have been incor
rectly confounded with Corydallus. Vet it is true, that the whole range
from the modern village of Casha to the straits of Salamis, seems to
have been indiscriminately called by both names; and, that one au
thor, Pliny, enumerating the Attic mountains, has mentioned jtSgia-
Jus, and omitted Corydallus. Plin. lib. iv. cap. 7, Mantes (Atticte)
Brilessus, JEgialus, Icanus, Hymettus, Lycabettus.
Yoi. L Br
 814
north-west : an extensive prospect, yet a space how cir
cumscribed, to contain the ruins of so many cities, once
the capitals of flourishing states. The friend of Cicero,
sailing up the gulf to Megara,* with justice contemplated
this melancholy scene, as one that must diminish the mag
nitude of private distresses, and check the indulgence of
individual sorrows, by presenting, in one view, the abject
and calamitous condition of whole cities, and many na
tions. But if such reflections were suggested to Stilpi-
cius, more than eighteen centuries ago, with what feelings
must the modern traveller behold the same prospect,
when all these famous towns are, indeed, nothing but the
lifeless carcasses of once animated bodies, prostrate,
crumbled in the dust, without a sign of their ancient vi
gour and beauty.
The road to the passage over the strait of Salamis,
continues at the foot of the rocks at a short distance from
the shore, for about a mile, when it comes to a projecting
piece of land, where are remains of an ancient cistern ;
and, above that, two or three large stones, that have been
supposed part of an Heracleum, or Temple of Hercules.
A path continues to wind round the rocks beyond this
point, until it joins the road to Eleusis by Daphne, after
having doubled a second headland. This was anciently
Amphiale, attached to a town of that name, famous for
the stone quarries in its neighbourhood. The passage
from the main-land to Salamis was here only twoistadia,
and Xerxes intended to have thrown a mole across it. A
modern pier, of a rude construction, serves for landing
and embarking the horses passing to and fro over the
fer ry. The ferry-boat here used is very large, with sails,
and well made; we put our horses into it very easily.
The direct passage is not much more than a quarter of a
mile, yet when the wind sets down the strait to the west,
it is not easy to cross ; and I was nearly an hour on re
turning from the island, as the ferry-boat was only ma
naged by two men.

* <! Ex Asia rediens, cum ab JEgina Megaram versus navigarem,

csepi regiones circum circa prospicere, post me erat JEgina, ante Me-
gara, dextra Piraeus, sinistra Corinthus; qua: oppida quodam tem
pore florentissima fuerunt, nunc prostrata et diruta ante oculos ja-
cent, &.c." Cic. Epist. ad Famil. lib. iv.
 Passing over, you have a view of the Western side of
the long tongue of land projecting from the island to the
north-east, and formerly called the Dog's Tail (Cynosu-
ra), and by the Italians, Punto Barbaro, on which, at
this day, are some stones* thought to he part of the sub
structure of a trophy raised by the Greeks after the vic
tory ; but as you approach nearer to the island, the view
of the point is shut out by another projecting piece of
land, forming one side of a bay, at the bottom of which
is a pier, where the ferry-boat unloads. On the right,
entering this bay, is a green islet, on which a few cows
and small horses are fed, but where there is not a single
habitation, though there are two churches.
On my excursion to Colouri, after landing at the pier,
and, with some difficulty, getting the horses out of the
boat, I ascended a rising ground, and passing over a gen
tle ascent, came, in half an hour, to a village of about
eighty houses, inhabited by Albanians, and called Ampe-
laki. The houses here were more neat and regularly
built than those of the villages on the main-land, white,
and with flat roofs. The neighbourhood of Ampelaki ha9
not a single tree;^e soil is dry and rocky, and chiefly
laid out in the cultivation of the vine. A stony hill over
looks the village to the south ; and the rays of the sum
mer's sun, reflected on the flat unsheltered cottages, ren
ders the residence very unhealthy in summer ; and, in
deed, on the Slst of January, the heat appeared to me
quite oppressive.
Strabo mentions, that the harvest in Salamis had end-
ed before that on the main-land begun.
The site of the more ancient city of Salamis is near
the shore of the bay enclosed to the east by Cynosura,
an hour to the south-east from Ampelaki. The walls,
four miles in circumference, might be traced fifty years
ago ; but, my guide assured me, were at present not to be
seen. Some inscribed marbles have been removed thence
to the village, where they are still to be seen, particularly
one, still in exceedingly good preservation, over the porch
of the church-door, which is mentioned and was copied
by Chandler. In a wall near this church, was a frag
ment of marble, having on it, in alto-relievo, a naked leg
of the most perfect sculpture, apparently part of a whole
figure. Several efforts were made to obtain this marble,
 316

but the owner of the wall would not be persuaded to part

with the piece.
It is necessary for travellers to be somewhat circum
spect in their endeavours to procure any sculpture or in
scribed marbles, and to conceal, in a measure, their ea
gerness to be possessed of them, as both Greeks and
Turks suppose that the Franks would have too much
sense to offer large sums for blocks of stones, were they
not very precious in some way or the other, either as amu
lets, or concealing gold or jewels. It is not long since a
Turk, digging in his garden near Athens, discovered a
statue of Venus Accroupie, nearly as large as life, of
white marble, and scarcely mutilated. A Frank, to whom
it was shown, incautiously offered fifty zequins for the
master-piece. The Turk refused the sum, and broke the
statue in pieces, to search for the treasure which he sup
posed it to contain : the parts were put together after
wards as well as possible, and a cast taken from it, which
was shown to me, was sufficient to prove what a loss the
fine arts had sustained, by the injury done to a piece of
sculpture which would have had but few rivals amongst
the relics of antiquity. A peasant o/»Salamis wore on
his finger a ring, mounted with a most beautiful cameo,
and, though himself ready to sell it, was prevented by
his wife, who regarded it as a talisman, effectual against
evil spirits.
From this village we rode, about half an hour, over an
open country of corn-fields and vineyards, to the town of
Colouri, from which the island now takes its name. This
is a larger and much more wealthy place than Ampelaki,
having about seven hundred houses, and there are a few
shops in the bazar, together with three or four coffee
houses. It is situated a little to the westward of the bot
tom of a gulf that runs seven or eight miles into the
island, and being at least three miles broad, gives it some
thing the shape of a broad horse-shoe. The inhabitants
of Colouri are partly Greeks, partly Albanians, but have
no Turks amongst them, 'except such as may come to
traffic ; being governed by their own Codja-bashees, and
paying only a certain tax annually to the Porte, under the
jurisdiction of the Captain Pasha, or High Admiral, the
immediate lord of all the islands, and also of some dis
tricts on the main-land.
 817
The tribute of the Colouriotes is four thousand oches
of pitch, for the use of the arsenal of Tophana at Con
stantinople ; and this they collect, not only in Satamis,
but any where on the main-land, often near Smyrna?
passing over to Asia in bodies of three and four hundred
at a time, and encamping in the forests until they have
furnished themselves with the necessary supply.
It was easy to see, that the condition of the Greeks of
Colouri was preferable to that of those on the main-land;
they had more the air of freemen, and of those who were
permitted to enjoy the fruits of their industry ; yet their
freedom from immediate restraint is not always so agree
able to a traveller as the obedience of their continental
countrymen.
Several wherries, employed in fishing for red mullet,
which abound in the straits, and about the island of Sa
lamis, and which find subsistence for some natives of
Athens, and much of the population of Colouri, JEgina,
and Megara, were lying on the beach under the town. It
was my wish to proceed in one of them which came from
jEgina, on a visit to that island ; and I accordingly
agreed with the master of the kieque, for a passage to
that island in his boat, manned with ten men, and ready
to depart the same evening. Some money was advanced
to the Greek, to victual, as he said, his boat. After wait
ing some time, we walked to the beach, where nothing
was prepared, and only six of the sailors would consent
to go. The bargain was broken ; and the boat being too
large to be managed by so few men, I was disappointed
of my voyage. ' My attendant demanded the piastres he
had given in advance ; but here he was mistaken, for the
Greek declared, that he and his men had been dining and
drinking on the money, and that, though he was extreme
ly sorry that the men he had engaged had changed their
minds, yet he could not return what he no longer possess
ed. The man, on being threatened with an appeal to his
superiors, said he belonged to jEgina ; the Codja-bashce
of Colouri declared he had no controul over him ; and ac
cordingly we parted, not a little, on our parts, enraged
by the provoking coolness of the Greek, who, on our go
ing away, most politely thanked me, and wished mc good
evening A'uS-eWi '<rirtfa o-str);
 318

It was not so much the cheating, to which most of the

lower orders of any people who live by the sea appear to
be inclined, but the unblushing manner of doing it, that
gave me no very favourable impression of the Greek
islanders.
The whole length of Salamis, from east to west, has
been reckoned between nine and ten miles, and the
breadth of it, including the bay of Colouri, cannot be
much less. It has only one river, formerly the Bocaras,
but now called Tokolias.
The island seems uncultivated, except in the narrow
vallies between the hills, near Colouri and Ampelaki,
where wheat and barley are grown. There are some
thin pine forests on the summits of the mountains, as
well as a variety of low shrubs. A monastery, to the
south-west of Colouri, is the most agreeable spot in the
island, being shaded with a few trees, and watered by a
plentiful spring of pure water. The monks are the rich
est persons in Salamis. Athens is still considered the
mistress of the island ; most of the inhabitants have some
dealings in the city ; and the ferry-boat is generally em
ployed during the whole day in transporting backwards
and forwards the peasants of Ampelaki and Colouri,
with the riches of their vineyards and their fields, and
the soap-ashes, procured from the lentisc, which is
plentiful in the island.—The women of Salamis are of a
fine shape and handsome face, superior to the Athenians
of the same condition. They have the free ingenuous air,
without any of the vulgarity of the peasant, and their
whole manner is a happy mixture of the sprightliness of
the Albanian, and the politeness of the Greek female.
 819

LETTER XXVI.

The Eastern Side of Mhens.—Hymettus.—Ascent to the

Monastery of St. Cyriani, on that Mountain.—The
Sacred Spring.—Route to Mount Pentelicus.—Angele-
Kipos.—Callandri.—The Monastery on Pentelicus.—The
Marble Quarries.—Return by another Route.—Remains
of the Aqueduct.

HAVING endeavoured to give you an idea of the

country westward of Athens, 1 shall now proceed to the
other side of the city, and extract whatever may appear
necessary from the notes made on our many excursions
to that quarter.
To the south-east of Athens, the country is intersected
by Mount Hymettus, which approaches within three
miles of the city, and is divided into two ranges: the first
running from east-north-east to west-south-west ; and the
second, forming an obtuse angle with the first, and hav
ing a direction from west-north-west to east-south-east.
The first range, Hymettus, properly so called, ends about
four miles from the promontory Zoster, now Halikes ;
but the hills on the other side of a gap, through which
runs the road leading to the Sunian promontory, seeming
like a continuation of the same mountain, have been
named the lesser Hymettus. The great range is now
called Trelo-Vouni ; that on the other side of the gap
Lambra-Vouni, from the ruins of a town, one of the an
cient Lampras* (the xa5wifS-iv, or upper), once called
Lambra, but now known only by the name of Elimbos,
and containing thirty cottages.
Hymettus is neither a high nor a picturesque mountain,
being a flat ridge of bare rocks. The sides of it, about
* There were two Lampras, both of the tribes Ereclhei's, one near
the sea, the other inland ; in one of them was the tomb of Cranaus,
the ancient Athenian King;.
 820
half way up, arc covered with br\own shrubs and heath,
whose flowers scent the air with a delicious perfume ; the
wild thyme is in great abundance, but there are only two
stands of bee-hives on the mountains, and very little of
the real honey of Hymettus is to be now procured at
Athens, where it is still justly prized for its superior fla
vour, and a certain aromatic odour peculiar to the plants
of this place, a list of which is given by Sir George Whe-
ler : a small pot of it was shown to me as a rarity. From
the city to the highest part of the mountain is a walk of
three hours. Half way to this point, there is a monastery
dedicated to St. Cyriani, which we visited on the 16th of
January.
We took the road leading from the gate of Hadrian's
arch, over the corn-grounds, to the eastward ; left the
Corinthian columns on our right, and continued for a
mile, perhaps, approaching towards the bed of the Mis
sus. We had on our left hand, a little before us, the vil
lage of Angele-Kipos and its olive-groves. We soon
came to where two ravins join, and form a rocky dell,
where in winter there are generally small pools of wa
ter. r
This is what travellers (after the conjectures, well
founded as they appear to me, of Wheler*) have agreed
to call the junction of the two rivers the Eridanus and
the Ilissus. We left it on our right ; and in a few mi
nutes crossed the channel of the Ilissus,f which winds
from the north-eastern extremity of Hymettus, and rid
ing over some dry rocky ground, came to the Eridanus,
or rather to a deep ravin without any water, along whose
banks we continued, on an ascent bare and rugged, until
* Before the time of Wheler, the Cephissus was called the Erida
nus.
f The Ilissus, says Strabo (p. 400), flows from the region above
Agrs and the Lycdum, and the fountain, which Plato has commemo
rated in Tiis Phsdrus. The site of Agrx is determined by that of the
fountain Callirhoe, before noticed. It was a suburb without the walls,
lower down to toe south than the Stadium of Herodes, beyond the ri
ver. With respect to the Lyceum, also in the same quarter, nothing
now remaining seemed to me to point out its ancient place; the large
stones now existing on the road to the south, more than a mile be
yond the Ilissus, supposed by Chandler to have belonged to the walls
inclosing that Gymnasium, answer, it strikes me, much better to the
Cynosarges, which was without the gate Diocharis, and not far front
the barrows near the Demos of Alopecx.
 821
we came to a lonely metochi, or farm-house ; we then
crossed the ravin, and got upon the sides of Mount Hy-
mettus, riding on a perpetual slope through thin olive-
groves, up to the site of the monastery of St. Cyriani,
called Cosbashee by the Turks, inclosed in a nook of the
mountain, with the ravin of the river running through
olive-groves, at the bottom of a dell beneath. The mo
nastery of St. Cyriani has nothing worthy of notice, ex
cept four shafts of marble columns, supporting the dome
of the church. The ruin from which these were saved,
was probably that of the Temple of Venus ; for the foun
tain, probably the sacred spring in the neighbourhood of
the Temple, which the Athenian matrons used to frequent
for its medicinal virtues, is still to be seen a little above
the monastery. To this we were conducted by one of the
monks. There are three artificial basins, or stone
troughs, receiving a water very clear and cold ; they are
one above the other ; that in the middle is inclosed in an
arched grotto, possibly part of the foundation of the Tem
ple of Venus—five feet wide, eight long, and twelve high.
There is at the end of the cave a niche, and under this, to
the right, almost covered with a large slab of stone, is the
spring.
The miraculous virtues of the water have survived the
temple, and the worship of Venus. Our conductor told
us, that once a year, on the feast of Panagia, many of the
Greek females of Athens repair to this grotto, light up
the niche with small wax-tapers, as offerings to the Vir
gin, and then drink and wash in the spring, which eases
the pains of child-birth, and is annually blessed from
above by the descent of two doves, who play round the
fountain, and re-ascend to heaven. The man assured us,
to remove all incredulity, that a Despotes, a monk of Cy
riani, had seen them himself; but that he was, indeed,
the most holy man in the whole country. The vicinity of
the sacred spring was anciently called Pera, signifying,
perhaps, beyond the river.
When Frocris suspected her Cephalus of inconstancy,
she traced his footsteps to the side of a sacred fountain,
near the purple hills of Hvmettus, and saw the green
bank, whose soft herbage still remained impressed with
the vestige of his lovely form. " The arbutus, the rose-
" marj, the laurel, the dark myrtle, the leafy box, the
Voi. [. S s
 322

" frail tamarisk, the slender cytisus, and the graceful

« pine, united their varied foliage, which, together with
'« the blades of long grass, trembled under the gentle
« pressure of the rising breeze." . . . . « When next he
« left her embraces, to follow the chase on Hymettus, she
« hastened to the woods, and leaving her maidens in the
« valley below, advanced into the recesses of the grove to-
« wards his favourite retreat . . . ."*
The holy spring, the hill, the valley beneath, seem to
fix upon the scene of the fatal adventure ; but, on our
winter visit to the spot, the wild shrubbery was no lon
ger to be seen, and the purple tinge of the mountain's side
was changed into a more sombre hue.
At a quarter of a mile from the fountain, on the side
of the hill to the westward, is a ruined chapel of St.
Marc, in which the monks of Cyriani are buried. It is
on a most elevated spot, commanding a view of the whole
plain of Athens, and having in the fore-ground of the pic
ture, the waving line of low hills which lie at the foot,
and are the roots of the larger mountain.
There is a way to ascend Hymettus on horseback, but
the direct path above Cyriani, is accessible only to foot
passengers.
The position of the mines in this mountain, in whose
cavities the best honey was formerly found, and of the
marble quarries, has rather been guessed at than actually
discovered : the cave shown to Chandler, seems to have
belonged to neither.
Hymettus was reckoned amongst the cantons of Attica,
but of what tribe is unknown : it had on its summit an
image of Jupiter, instead of which single statue there are
now fifty chapels or consecrated caves.
Mount Pentelicus, at this day called Pendele, and some
times Mendele, must be, I should think, one-third higher
than Hymettus, and its height is the more apparent, as it
rises with a peaked summit into the clouds. The range
of Pentelicus runs from about north-west to south-east, at
no great distance from the eastern shore of Attica, over
hanging the plain of Marathon, and mixing impercepti-

* Ovid, de Arte Aman. lib. iii.

" Est prope purpureos colles florentis Hymetti
« Fons sacer
 3R3
V
iily, at its northern extremity, with the hills of Brilessus,
now called, as well as part of Mount Parnes, Ozea. The
highest peak of Pendele is in a direction east-north-east
from Athens ; and from the foot of the mountain to the
city, is about two hours and a half, between seven or
eight miles. An object of curiosity to all travellers are
the marble quarries of Pentelicus, which supplied not
only Athens, but many other parts of Greece, with the
precious materials of their temples, stadiums, and sta
tues.
There is a monastery, the most wealthy in Attica,
which stands on the side of the mountain, and is gene
rally used as a baiting-place by those who visit the quar
ries.
The road leads through the gateway, covered with the
marble of Antoninus's aqueduct. It continues over the
corn-grounds, having the hill of St. George immediately
on the left ; two white pillars, with an inscription, at half
a mile distance, are on the left of the path, erected by a
Turk, who shot his arrow from one point to the other. In
half an hour it comes to some olive-groves, having to
the right the junction of the Eridanus and Ilissus, and
two stone reservoirs, by which Athens is supplied with
water.
In these olive-groves is a monastery dedicated to St.
Michael, called Agios Asomatos.* Two Corinthian ca
pitals arc in the walls of the church, supplied, perhaps,
from the Temple of Venus in the gardens formerly in
this quarter. Not far beyond the olive-groves is a vil
lage, called Perivole, or Angele-Kipos, hidden in pleasant
groves of olive and cypress, and in gardens of orange
and lemon, and other fruit trees, on the south side of the
low range of Anchesmus. It is the nearest of the villages
to which the inhabitants of Athens withdraw during the
summer heats. There is a stone causeway runs the
length of the gardens ; and two fountains, with marble
facings, are in the middle of the village, on the right of
the path.
Angele-Kipos, small as it is, has still a history attach
ed to it ; for the inhabitants of Pallene, a town to the

* The modern Greeks do not attend to the aspirate, and Agios is

here spelt as they pronounce it, without the H.
 324

north near Pentelicus, would not intermarry with the na

tives of Angele of the tribe Pandionis, on account of their
treachery as far back as the time of Theseus.*
After this village the country is quite open and bare,
and the soil light and stony, but it is ploughed and sowed
in many parts, and there is in some spots a vineyard.
Low, fragrant, shrubs are in abundance.
The low and stony range of Anchesmus is on the left
of the road : to the right, a wide plain, between the
north-cast end of Hymettus and Pentelicus, opens upon
you as you advance, and is seen stretching down far to
the south. A road runs across this plain, which is called
the plain of Spatha, to the eastern shore of Attica : it is
the same district which modern travellers have mentioned
with the name of Mescigia. An hour i eyond Angele-
Kipos, the path goes through a larger village, of a hun
dred houses, surrounded with olive-groves, called Callan-
dii, and from this spot emerges again into the open plain,
continuing for half an hour along the side of a water
course, until it comes to the foot of the hills. Here large
flocks of goats, tended by a ralnyer, or monk, are seen
cropping the scanty herbage on the sides of the mountain.
Ascending the mountain, you soon come into pine-woods,
and other ever greens, and arrive at the monastery itself
in three hours from Athens, having travelled in a direc
tion about east-bj -north.
This building is in a niche of the hill, surrounded by
an olive-grove, through which a copious stream falls
down a pebbly channel into the plain below. A green
plot before the door of the monastery is shaded by a
spreading plane-tree.
The entrance into the square court of the building is,
as usual, through a small door, plated with iron. Three
sides of the court are fitted up with small cells, white
washed, and swept very clean ; that of the Egoumenos,
or abbot, has sofas and a carpet, for the reception of
strangers. A well and a tree, from which the iron hoop
that calls them to prayers is suspended, are on one side
of the yard. In the middle of the square stands the

* See Wheler, 470; and Chandler, 171; but Plutarch, in his

Lite of Theseus, says this of the Demos Agnous, of the tribe Aca,-
maotis,
church, the interior of which is plastered in every part
with gilt, and bespeaks the wealth of the fraternity.
The monastery owns several metochis, or farms, in dif
ferent parts of Attica, in the superintendence of which
the numerous body of monks are dispersed over the coun
try ; so that there are seldom more than five or six at a
time at Pendele. The original tribute of this monastery,
paid to the support of the mosck of Valide, at Constanti
nople, was six thousand pounds weight of honey, at five
dollars a quintal, and has not, that I heard, been since
increased.
When we visited the place, the monks seemed to live
well, and set before us a repast of eggs, dried olives, and
tkoney, with a wine of an excellent flavour, and a palata
ble rossoglio ; yet they called themselves poor, and seem
ed afraid lest we should carry away with us an opinion of
their being in a flourishing condition. Such a report
might increase the tax which they pay to the torte for
protection.
From the monastery to the marble- quarries is a dis
tance of forty minutes, the path climbing the mountain
to the north, through thick woods of evergreens, over
very steep and unequal ground, but having here and
there the appearance of a track formerly much used. It
is not possible to go the whole way on horseback.
You come suddenly on the caverns, the entrance to
which is at the bottom of an angle formed by two preci-
pires of marble, evidently smoothed by art, and cut into
their present form for the sake of the materials. These
precipices are hung with ivy, which overshadows the
mouth of the caverns. On a ledge, half way up, of the
one on the left hand, with neither a descent or ascent to
it, is the small stone house which Chandler supposed a
station for the centinel at the quarries, but which the mo
dern Greeks believe to have been the abode of an asce
tic, and, as it seems to me, with more probability ; for
the masonry appears of a much later date than would
correspond with the conjecture of the traveller.
Before you enter the caves, the caloyer that attends
you from the monastery, strikes a fire, and lights up se
veral small wax tapers and strips of pine, for torches ;
which, however, are not necessary until you get to the
lower part of the recess. On entering, which can be done
 V.

326

without stooping, you see at once two small stone sheds,

overgrown with ivy, with mouths like that of an oven. It"
Uiese were habitations for the workmen, nothing could be
contrived more inconvenient. I should rather think them
remains of the stone-work of forges employed in making
and refitting the necessary tools.
On the right of these sheds you ascend, by a flight of
three steps, to two ruined chapels, cut out of the rock, on
whose sides are the faint traces of painted Saints.
Through an aperture which served for a window to one
of them, and which is latticed by the overhanging ivy,
there is a view of the extent of country beneath. The
choice of cemeteries, tombs, and solitary caves, amidst
the depth of forests, for the purposes of religious worship*
which was a subject of reproach against the early Chris
tians, and was adopted at first by necessity, was after
wards continued by inclination, and a veneration for the
spots made holy by ancient piety. In Turkey, the cause
which originally drove the Lucifugaces to these recesses,
still exists, and the sacred mysteries are, on the day of
the Saint to which they arc dedicated, at this time per
formed in the hollows of rocks, and in many other spots as
wild and remote as the quarries of Pentelicus.
The Greeks in our company, crossed themselves most
devoutly at entering and quitting the ruined chapels.
Proceeding lower down, the cavern widens, but is not
very high ; water distils from the roof, which is marble
of the most beautiful tinge, a faint rose-colour, and fret
ted with a thousand petrifactions. Turning down to the
right, the excavation becomes more picturesque, worked
into many fantastic shapes, and adorned with arches and
slender pillars, some of them complete, others nearly
formed, with the drop trembling from the white icicle
above towards the rising crystal below. On the left of
the inner recess is a small hole, which you are directed to
enter. This you do on your knees, with a light, and
sliding down for some time, through an aperture only
large enough to admit your body lengthways, you come
to ten steps, and descending these, to a cavity where you
can stand upright, and where many names of travellers
are scored and traced in smoke upon the stone. Below
this spot, two or three steps farther, is a spring of cold
water, the well formerly in use for working the marble
quarries.
 — •I'm
32y \

It is probable, that the last time these quarries were

resorted to by the Athenians, was when Herodes built his
stadium. After that period, the ruins of ancient buildings
might have been sufficient to supply whatever marble ma
terials were wanted for new works.
Either the petrifactions have obliterated the marks of
the tools, in the interior caverns, or those excavations
were only used as a shelter to the workmen, the perpen
dicular precipices without; being the surface whence the
marble was cut away.
The means used to transport the enormous blocks of
marble which were used in the edifices of Athens, from
such a spot as the Pentelican quarries, must remain a se
cret to the moderns. It does not seem to me possible,
that carriages of any description could ever have ascend
ed so far up the hills ; and as the mechanical knowledge
of the ancients was perhaps not so considerable as we
generally believe them to have possessed, the labour must
have been infinite, to convey entire such masses, nearly
two miles down the steep sides of a mountain.
Two monstrous fragments are still to be seen in the
path, a little below the quarries : these are cut into a
shape somewhat circular, the angles being smoothed off,
and might lead one to suppose that the blocks were thus
prepared to facilitate the rolling of them down the hill,
or gently pushing them with levers, a process somewhat
difficult, but not impossible, when the descent was more
regular, and the path more carefully cleared.
But the difficulty of transporting the marbles down the
mountain, could not have been greater than that of rais
ing them up the hill of the Acropolis ; and, lastly, ele
vating them to a great height, after being carved, without
any injury to the finest sculpture, into their positions in
the building. One piece of marble alone, part of the roof
of the Propylsea, is twenty-seven feet long and seven
wide, with a proportionate depth. The stupendous archi
traves of Hadrian's Temple must have been raised sixty
feet from the ground ; and yet these are trifling, in com
parison with the Egyptian granites, which one cannot
believe to have been raised by engines, any more than
the vast buildings of massy stones seen by the Spaniards
on their first arrival among the Peruvians, a people who
knew not the use of iron, but, after smoothing their ma
 328

terials against each other, had recourse to the lever alone

for the whole work.
I fancy that those who are well qualified to speak on
the subject, are now a little sceptical as to the exploits of
Archimedes, and think, that the ancient Greeks were not
acquainted with any engines to raise stones to a great
height, particularly as those described by Vitruvius, have
been judged of very inadequate powers. ** If the work
« was low," says Mr. Perrault, in his famous parallel,
« they lifted the blocks on their shoulders ; if high, they
raised sloping mounds of earth level with their work, on
which they rolled them up to the necessary height."*
They were, perhaps, more laborious) but certainly less
skilful than the moderns.
But to leave this speculation, and return towards
Athens. In order to vary the ride from the monastery of
Pentele, you may return by a road almost as short as
that through Angele-Kipos, and, after leaving the village
of Callandri, turn to the right, and cross at the extremity
of the low range of Anchesmus, going, for about two
miles over heath and scantily-sowed land, to a water
course. Anchesmus is then on your left ; before you, and
on your right hand, you have an open country, skirted
with large woods of olive-trees, a continuation of the
groves on the plain of Athens.
Behind is a village in olive-trees, Muruffe; and higher
up, under Pentelicus, Cevrishia, one of the most consi
derable country towns in Attica, and which is seen afar
off, being distinguished by the dome and minaret of a
mosck. Cevrishia will be noticed hereafter ; it is three
hours from Athens.
After travelling about half a mile on the side of the
water-course, you see a massy portion of the remains of
the aqueduct founded by Hadrian, to convey water from
the northern extremity of Pentelicus, across a gap in the
western end of Anchesmus, to New Athens. Some
arches of a considerable height cross the bed of the wa
ter-course ; they are in ruins, but afford a very good spe
cimen of the magnificence of the entire structure. Half
a mile below these arches, you meet with a similar re
main, but with piers more perfect, also crossing the bed

* Parall. page 118.

 -

of the water-course, and in a direction nearly parallel

with the former, so as to induce an opinion that there
were two branches to the northern end of the aqueduct.
Not long after these second remains, the path turns to
the left, and strikes into olive-groves, where are a few
mud houses, when it crosses the Cephissus over a bridge,
which is itself a small aqueduct, and is used, together
with some wicker troughs, to turn two over-shot mills.
On emerging from the groves, you have Athens ftrfHn
view before you, and pass, for theremainder of the dis
tance, over a plain of corn-grounds into the city ; except
that at half a mile from the walls, you pass through 4
Lollow, having Anchesmus on your left, and on your
right a high rocky mound, looking like a fragment loosen
ed from the neighbouring hill.

Vo*. I, Tt
 330

LETTER XXVII.

Route from Miens to Cape Colonni.— Vary.—The Paneum,

—Nympholcpsy.—Ennea Pyrgce.—KeratSa.-—The Ca
verns in Mount Tame.—Route to Colonni.—Return by
the Eastern Shore of Mica, to KeratSa.

THE two following letters shall contain an account

of a visit wepaid to Cape Colonni, and the plain of Ma
rathon.
On the 19th of January my fellow-traveller and my
self left Athens, accompanied hy our Albanian Vasilly,
and a native of Athens, called Demetrius Zograffos, a
young person, who, having lived some years at Trieste,
spoke Italian, and wore the Frank habit. We had two
baggage horses and two led-horses, which, together with
our own four, were conducted by two sourgees, or post
men.
It was half-past eleven when we left the city. We took
the road directly south, crossing the bed of the llissus,
and, in half an hour, arrived at some large cut stones,
regularly placed. These have been before noticed, as
well as the supposition of Chandler, that they are ves
tiges of Alopece : the barrows arc at a little distance in
the plain to the right. In another hour, after turning a
little more to the east, and keeping nearer to Mount Hy-
mettus, we came to some more large stones, like the foun
dation of a wall, and the mouth of an ancient well : other
barrows are at the right hand.
The enumeration given by Straho of the towns of this
part of Attica near the shore, refers these few remains to
^Exone, the town of the tribe Cecropis, the evil disposi
tion of whose inhabitants became proverbial, and added
another verb to the language, synonymous with " to
 331

slander and to abuse."* Hymettus diminishes in height

at this point, and runs south-south -east.
We now turned east-south-east, over uneven stony
ground, through a gap in the mountain, which stretches
about three miles farther into the sea, to form the pro
montory Zoster,f now Halikes ; and, for the last hour,
riding through thickets of low pines and furs, we arrived
at Vary, a metochi, or farm, belonging to the monastery
of Agios Asomatos. Here are five cottages, at the best
of which lives the caloyer, who has the superintendence
of the farm. With this monk we made preparations for
staying during the night; but leaving our luggage, set
out immediately to visit the Pane urn discovered by Chan
dler, and alluded to, it is probable, by Strabo, as being
in the neighbourhood of Anaphlystus, of the tribe Anti-
ochis, where was the Temple of Venus Colias. We ar
rived at this celebrated cave, riding northwards over
woody knolls, and climbing a hill, near the top of which
is the entrance, not very easy to find. A servant of the
caloyer's attended us to the spot with fir torches, and pre
parations for striking a light.
You descend perpendicularly into the first landing-
place in the cavern, by means of three branches of a tree
fallen near the spot. At the landing-place you see two
apertures ; one to the left, a little precipitous, and the
other before you, down an easy descent, where you may
walk upright. Here the fire is prepared, and the torches
kindled.
Here are some large letters, the first specimens ob
servable of the several very ancient inscriptions to be
seen in the cave ; they are carved on the rock, which is
cut down perpendicularly. Immediately on the left hand,
going downwards, is what looks like a lion's head, but
carved very rudely, and disfigured ; on the right is a de
faced inscription. Descending lower, you have petrifac
tions hanging from above, and rising from below ; one
representing a small entire pillar, as high as the top of

\ After iExone was the long promontory Zoster. At Zoster was

the altar of Minerva, Apollo, Diana, and of Latona, who was believed
to have brought forth her children on that spot, or, as others relate,
to have loosened her zone, whence the name of the place.—Paus.
Attic.
 338

the grotto, is particularly striking. Beyond this the cave

turns to the left, and you come to the lowest part of it,
where is a spring of water collected in a small artificial
basin. Turning from the well to ascend to the other aper
ture, and on the left on the side of the rock, you see a
figure in relief, as large as life, very rudely cut, and seem
ing to represent a man with some instruments in his band,
apparently looking one way, and walking the other. The
earth has been heaped up nearly as high as the knees of
the figure, but when it has been cleared away, both the
feet have been found to be turned inwards.
I took a sketch of this singular piece of sculpture,
which, from the letters employed in the inscriptions, has
been considered of extreme antiquity, prior certainly to
the adoption of the Ionic alphabet by the Athenians. At
the same time, it would not, I conceive, be just to sup
pose, that this strange figure is a specimen of the first
rude essays made by the Greeks towards the art in which
they afterwards produced such noble master-pieces.
Archidamus the Phersean, whom the inscriptions dis
cover to have been the maker of the grotto, and who
seems to be represented with the implements of his la
bour, may, most probably, have not been a sculptor by
profession. What sort of tool he carries in his left hand
is not very discernible, but that in his right appears more
suitable for digging than carving.
Above the figure, on the left side of it, are two inscrip
tions giving, in two places, one under the other, the
name of the owner of the cave, and the original of the
image.
Above this spot, towards the entrance, is an oval niche,
with small steps before it. On the right of this, is a
headless statue in a chair, much mutilated, and supposed
to represent Isis, the Egyptian Ceres; and at the right
of the statue is a misshapen block of stone, which Chan
dler considered an Ithyphallus, but which would not,
without a previous hint, strike any one to be the resem
blance of that impure symbol. Between the niche and
the Isis is a stone rudely inscribed on both sides, from
which the traveller before mentioned copied the purport
of these words—« Archidamus the Pheraan and Cholli-
densian, made this dwelling for the Nymphs and
** Archidamus the Pherean planted the garden for the
On the Rock above the
Landing-place.
APXEAHM020*
HPAI020NT*
0AH|-|T024PAA
AI2INTM*ON
ANTPONESHPr
H2ATO

Move the left Aperture,

on the descent to the
Cave.
AP-f-EAAMO g
OtEPAIO

Opposite to the first

Inscription.
KP

On one side of the Stone, beneath the Isit.

AAM02H06EP
^KA£|ONN1T1
AI2E6VTV2EN

[To face page 333, of Vol. /.]

 On the other side of the same Stone.
AP-j-EAEMO
AlOSKAI-f OL
AESTAINTW
SOI.KOAO
Under a JVtche.

nice inscribed under tvio Niches,

Ari°AAilN02 EP20
Soe the Appendix.
 333

Nymphs." The oval niche may be supposed to have

contained a statue of Pans from the inscription iianos,
still extant underneath.
By comparing my own draught with the state of the
inscriptions in the time of the above traveller, I find that
some of the characters have been defaced since that pe
riod, when they were such as they are represented with
the annexed figure, but very rudely cut.

Above the Isis, are two names of travellers, cut deeply

into the stone, and carefully, Fauvei, Foucherot ; our
Greek pointed at them as antique inscriptions.
To the left of the sedent statue, and at no great dis
tance above the figure of Archidamus, is the aperture out
of the cave, which is ascended by steps cut out in the
rock, slippery, and much worn, and requiring a little
climbing to mount.
Many of the petrifactions of this cavern are in more
human shapes than the rude pieces of sculpture describ
ed ; and the growing spars and crystals were the admira
tion of the shepherds, who looked upon the stone as en
dowed with a principle of animation, forming itself into
arched grottoes and couches by the side of pure foun
tains, at the command, and for the gratification of the
Nymphs. The pious rustic conceived himself to have wit
nessed the handy-work, or perhaps the persons, of the
deities of the woods, in their most favourite recesses ; and
a wish to conciliate their favour, or avert their wrath,
prompted him to improve their habitation. A small
trench, cut out of the rock, and filled with earth, was
planted with a few flowers or herbs, and became their
garden, and the rude figures or emblems of sucb gods as
were thought to preside over the country, were selected
as fit objects to ornament or consecrate the holy grotto.
The votary was believed, and doubtless believed himself
to be possessed, and an epithet was found out, and at
tached to his name, which at once expressed the excess of
his piety, or perhaps his passion ; for the nymphs were
known not only to permit, but solicit the love of mortals.
He became a nympholept ; and furnished another tale, to
be magnified by the credulity of the religionist, and
adorned by the fancy of the poet. After his death he was

<
 364

revered, and perhaps, like Trophonius, worshipped ; and,

having been deluded himself, in his turn contributed to
the folly of others. Thus, when some credit was attach
ed to such a disease, many were found willing to confess
themselves so deranged, and we learn, that nympholepsy
was epidemic amongst the people in the neighbourhood of
a certain cave in Cithseron.
The subterranean worship of the ancients, embraced
not only that of the Nymphs, of Bacchus, Priapus, Ceres,
and Pan, but that of Apollo, Mercury, and other deities.
Jupiter himself had a cave on Mount Ida, in Crete; and
one was shown by the Phrygians of Themisonium, before
which were the figures of Hercules, Apollo, and Mercu
ry, who had conducted the inhabitants to this secure re
treat during the irruption of the Gauls.* But the syl
van deities were the usual tenants of these grottoes : for
them, as for the fairies of modern superstition, « the
bowl was duly set ;" and one of the inscriptions in the
Paneum near Vary, directed those who visited the place
to Offer.
The ancient Athenians followed the precept of Tripto-
leinus, directing them to worship the gods only with the
productions of the earth : and the niches in the holy
caves, the earliest of temples, were cut to receive the
cakes of meal and fruits, the oil and wine, of which the
humble offerings consisted, and which were believed to
administer to the wants of the divinities. So convinced
were the people of the actual presence of those whom
they adored, that their grottoes had two entrances, one
of which was reserved for men, but the other for immor-
tals.f This particularity was observed of the caves in
Ithaca, and near Heraclea, and that of Arrhidamus has
been described as having a similar contrivance. The
left-hand entrance is certainly artificial.
The Paneum near Vary contains nothing, like Homer's
cavern, « wonderful to behold," but is, perhaps, the
most ancient vestige of the religion of Greece in exist
ence, and will, most probably, be pointed out to the en
quiring traveller, long after the last columns of the Par-

* Pausa. Phocic. p. 671.

f A\\' AS-«h*tat ofos trTn.—OAT22. N.
 335

thenon shall have fallen to the ground. The Grotto of

Archidamus will outlast the Temple of Pericles.
The cave is now the resort of the shepherds, who,
however, have done it no further injury, than blacking
the roof and sides of it, at the first landing-place, with
the smoke of their fires. . ; ... ...
Returning from this spot, we had a view of Cape Zos
ter, or Halikes, and of the assemblage of small islands
called Cambo Nisia, before us ; to the left, at the far
thest distance, was the projecting land of Attica, and a
promontory which shuts out the view of Sunium, called
Katapheke. Before this promontory lay a rocky island,
whose name is now Gaidaronisi, but was anciently the
Fosse of Patroclus.
We passed the night at Vary ; and as it was very fine,
the moon shining bright in a clear sky, rambled about for
some time on a terrace near the house, which has been
paved, and is made use of for an aldni, or corn-floor,
and which is mentioned by Chandler. There is some
thing exceedingly agreeable in the minute descriptions of
that traveller, to those who journey over the same spots
which he visited.
Before our departure from Vary, the next morning, I
walked out towards a bay a little below the village, over
some cultivated land, where, amongst several bushes,
there are the evident traces of an ancient town. In one
place were the shafts of three small marble columns,
standing in an inclosure, apparently the ruin of a church.
In another was a large circular basin, or trough, and
the mouth of a fountain, also in marble. At Vary, lying
by the side of a small church, is a marble lion, nearly as
large as life, with the legs of a man bestride him. The
head and legs of the lion, as well as the body and feet of
the rider* are wanting ; but what remains, particularly
the swell of the loins of the animal, is of fine workman
ship. On each side of the church-door is a sepulchral
inscription, on a circular piece of ornamented marble.
HNINITOS PI2TOMAXH
Ainno BOTAAPXOT
These have been taken from the ruins of the place below.
I did not see the inscription which recorded a native of
 336

Anagyrus,* and caused the supposition, that the site of

the Attic town of that name was on the flat below Vary.
Below these remains, nearer the shore, are some salt-
pits.
At a little past twelve, we set forwards on our journey,
and rode for an hour, south-south-east, through woods of
pine ; we then entered some hilly grounds, and turned
east-south-east, also through pine woods. Here we met
large droves of oxen belonging to the metochi of Vary ;
they were of a kind smaller than the Scotch cattle, and
generally black.
We had lost sight of the sea soon after leaving our vil
lage. In half an hour we crossed near the extremity of
a plain, extending far up to the northwards. This plain
is that of which mention has been before made, under the
name of the plain of Spat ha, and which is separated from
the district immediately near Athens by the range of Hy-
mettus.
A mile out of our road to the left of the north, we saw
several square towers in ruins, called EnneaPyrgse; but
the number of these unsightly structures is less than that
which gave them their denomination. We rode to them,
and found nothing worth notice. On a slope of a hill, at
some distance, we saw the large village of Marcopoli,
containing three hundred houses, more to the northward,
in the same plain of Spatha. The plain is open and well
cultivated, having besides, tracts of pasture land, cover
ed with flocks and herds : it is bounded by Pentelicus to
the north, and by some high lands, which form the shore
of Attica, to the east.
In Ennea Pyrgse, I do not recognise the « ruins of a
town built on a rock," to which Sir G. Wheler has given
the same name, and has conjectured to be the site of the
lower Lampra. This spot is several miles inland, and
the coast is not to be seen from it, on account of a ridge
of low hills, which terminate it to the south. It appears

* Anagyrus was a town of the tribe Erecthei's ; it contained a tem

ple of the Mother of the Gods : it was the name also of a plant of a
most pungent odour ; and of a hero, whose signal vengeance in pu
nishing some neighbours, who had insuUed his gods, or else the na
ture of the plant, gave rise to the Greek proverb, A rnyvpor mtur. .
 337

to me to be rather that which he calls a desolate church,

near the site of Anaphlystus.*
We rejoined the baggage horses at a small village,
" Kalivia Kouvara our direction was then south-east,
in an open cultivated plain. In half an hour we came to
the head of another large tract of flat open country ; a
village, Kouvara, was on our left, at the side of some
low hills ; mountains, called Parne, were on our right,
running parallel with our route.
Travelling onwards in the plain for another half hour,
we arrived, at three ofclock, at the village of Keratea.
Here we put up for the night in a large mud cottage be
longing to the Codja-bashee.
Keratea is inhabited by Albanians, and contains about
two hundred and fifty houses. Three or four of the pea
sants are of the better sort, and reputed rich, they being
themselves the owners of the neighbouring lands, and not
renters, as is the case at almost all the villages of Attica,
where the common tenure is, that the peasants shall pay
one-half of the produce of their lands and their stock,
whatever it may be, to their landlords, and, out of the re
mainder, raise their taxes for the Porte, their contribu
tions for their own priests, and support themselves.
Every expense devolves upon the tenant, who, by the un
defined terms of his tenure, becomes almost the slave of
his landlord ; and, on pretence of having made large pro
fits, is liable to repeated extortions, as moieties due to
his master.
Keratea is at the foot of the range of mountains now
called Parne, which are not a continuation of Hymcttus,
as represented in most maps, and yet have not been, that
I am aware, distinguished by any ancient name, unless
they are a part of Laurium.
A little before the sun was set, I climbed some distance
up the hill, from which I had a very commanding pros
pect, including the southern extremity of the Negroponte,
Macronisi or Long Island, near the eastern coast, as far
as Sunium, and several islands to the south of that pro
montory. Attica at this point appeared very narrow, the

* In another place, Anaphlystus was, by mistake, put for Limne,

which Wheler supposed on the site of Tres Pyrgac, near the promon
tory Colias ; yet D'Anville has placed Anaphlystus near Colias.
Vol I. Uu
 338

eastern shore running from north-north-west to east-

south-east. The two ranges of Hymettus were very dis
tinctly seen, lying in the direction before described.
The soil in the neighbourhood of Keratea is very light
and stony, and gives but a scanty return to the husband
man ; indeed, the general multiplication of grain in At
tica is five and six for one, and never more than ten.
Chandler thought Marrnpoli to be Potamus ; and, from
some remains seen by Wheler, supposed Keratea to be
Thoricus ; but a port, still called Therko, is about an
hour and a half distance to the south-east. It is proba
ble, that most of the modern towns of this country may
have been built on or near the site of the ancient places,
for the conveniency of making use of the ruins ; but
there is something a little too arbitrary in fixing upon the
few vestiges occasionally seen, as certain remains of the
towns distinguished by particular mention in ancient au
thors : they may very easily be the marks of one of the
many Attic towns of which we only know the names.
The two days after our arrival at Keratea were so
rainy, as to induce us to defer our expedition to Cape
Colonni until fairer weather; hut I took the opportunity
of a few hours sunshine, to climb up the mountain Parae,
in search of a cave, of which we had heard many won
derful stories from our host. Demetrius, the Athenian,
and an old man as a guide, accompanied. We ascended
for some time, and turning round the eastern extremity,
came to the south side of the range. The clouds hang
ing on the side of the hills retarded our progress ; but af
ter scrambling up some way in the mist, we a^ain found
ourselves in the light. The sun shone above head in a
clear blue sky ; and whilst the country below seemed like
an expanse of white water, the ground where we stood,
and the summits of other mountains, had the appearance
of innumerable islands rising abruptly from the sea.
Arriving with much difficulty near the top of the range
of hills, we came, after a long search, to the mouth of
the cavern. A fragment of impending rock almost con
cealed the entrance. We leapt down on the first landing-
place, and there struck a light, and having each of us ta
ken a pine-torch in our hands, together with a supply of
strips of the same wood, let ourselves down through a
very narrow aperture, where there was a choice of two
 339

entrances, to the right or left. Creeping down still far

ther, we came at once into what appeared a large sub
terranean hall, arched over head with high domes of crys
tal, and divided into long aisles by columns of glittering
spars—in some parts spread into wide horizontal cham
bers, in others terminated by the dark mouths of steep
recesses, descending, as it seemed, into the bowels of the
mountain.
The vast magnificence of nature was joined with the
pleasing regularity of art. We wandered from one grotto
to another, until we came to a fountain of pure water,
supplied partly by a stream that trickled down the petri
factions, depending from the roof, and partly by a spring
bubbling up from the rock below. By the side of this ba
sin we loitered some time, when, as our torches began to
waste, we resolved to return ; but after exploring the la-
byrinth for a few minutes, we found ourselves again at
the fountain side, and began, not without reason, to be
somewhat alarmed ; for the guide here confessed, that he
had forgotten the intricacies of the caverns, and knew
not how we should ever recover our path.
We were in this situation, roaming through ranges of
the cavern, and now and then climbing up narrow aper
tures, totally ignorant of our position, for many minutes,
and. the last strip of fir was consuming, when we saw the
light gleaming towards us, and directing our steps that
way, arrived at the mouth of the cave. Had our light
been extinguished, there would have been but little, if
any chance, of our escape. The splendour and beauty of
the scene would have vanished with the last blaze of our
torch, and the fairy palace been at once converted into a
dark inextricable cavern, a dungeon, and a tomb. The
mind cannot easily picture to itself any « slow sudden"
death more terrible, than that of him who should be bu
ried in these subterranean solitudes, and after a succes
sion of faint hopes and eager efforts, sink at last, subdued
by weakness and despair.
The peasants of Keratea informed us, that this cave,
which is well known, and talked of in Attica, but has not,
I fancy, been mentioned by any traveller, has within it a
thousand suites of grottoes, extending, as they believed,
through the centre of the mountain below their town.
The spar, with which it abounds, is of the purest white ;
 340

and they told us, that some travellers had carried away
several horse-loads of it. The wolves frequently resort
to it, and we were advised to carry our pistols in readi
ness for a rencounter with one of these animals.
1 did not observe any marks of carving in the rock, or
any thing which might lead one to suppose that this cave
had anciently been dedicated to Pan or the Nymphs ; yet
its size and magnificence render it a dwelling much more
suitable to the rural deities than the grotto of Archida-
mus.
Returning from the cave, we went into a farm, where
two or three caloyers reside. It is on a steep declivity,
about half way up the hill, and is sheltered by a grove of
olive trees. A small chapel of St. John is within thein-
closure ; and near this is an arched grotto, with a cold
spring in a large stone basin sunk in the earth, supplied
by a stream that distils, in perpetual drops, from the roof
of the cell. The basin is large enough to serve the pur
poses of a bath, and is so used by the caloyers (who have
adjusted to the mouth of the grotto a rude wooden door)
during the violent heats of summer. The water trickles
from above, like the streams of a continued shower-bath,
and must have the same agreeable effect, w ithout the vio
lent shock produced hj auddcii aspersion.
I should not forget to tell you, that the monk who show
ed us the grotto, pointed to this distillation as a stand
ing miracle, performed by the saint in the neighbouring
chapel.
The day after the ascent of Mount Parne was so con-
tinuedly rainy, as to prevent our proceeding from Kera-
tea; but the morning after (January 23, 1810) we set out,
at half past nine, for Cape Colonni, leaving our baggage,
as we intended to return to the village the same night.
We took first a direction south-south-east, over rough
barren ground, until, in half an hour, we turned the ex
tremity of the mountain Parne. At this spot there were
two roads ; one, towards the south, to the port Therico,
the other, west-south-west, to a village called Katapheke.
This latter route we took ; and proceeding over woody
knolls, kept more to the south-west and south-south-west,
coming at last to a flat plain, terminated by a bay with a
cape, and a small island before it to the west.
 341

Here, in a marshy flat near the sea, were some large

salt-pits. I take a promontory, to the west of the bay,
to have been Astypalsea, which was that next to Zoster,
immediately to the south of the town of Thorese or Tho-
rse, and an island, facing it, may be that once called
Eleusa.
Proceeding a short time by a water-course, we turned
to the south-south-east, and keeping the sea for a quarter
of an hour in sight, went over a rorky hilly path, until
we came to Katapheke, a village of a few huts, which
gives its name to a long promontory that stretches beyond
it far into the sea, and is the next projection to the west
of Cape Colonni. Katapheke is reckoned four hours
from Keratea, the route very circuitous and rough, but
we were only an hour and forty minutes performing the
distance.
After leaving this village, the path took us over woody
hills, until we came to a solitary metochi, standing in the
midst of the wildest mountain scenery, when we struck
more southward, along the course of a dry river, having
in front of us huge perpendicular precipices, covered with
pines and other evergreens, running east and west. In
order to get round this range, we continued a little more
to the right, until we came nearly to the sea-shore, ami
turning again to the east, and climbing over the foot of
the hills, had our first view of Cape Colonni, and the
ruins of the Temple of Minerva.
We rode for some time over a rough uneven path, just
above the sea-shore, until we came to a long bay, at the
west side of which was a small rocky island. On this
rock the waves burst, though it was nearly calm, with a
loud murmur, and covered the shelving sides with white
foam.
After riding along the bay, we passed upwards to the
site of the ruins, by a steep, but not very long ascent,
and climbing over the remains of an ancient wall, which
has fourteen rows of massy stones still standing, came to
the remains of the Temple of Minerva Sunias.
The proportions of this Temple may be judged of by
that part of it which is still standing, and it appeat's to
have occupied nearly the whole of the level ground on the
promontory. It was of the Doric order, an hexastyle,
the columns twenty-seven feet in height ; the whole edi
 342

fice being of very white marble, and of the most perfect

architecture. Mine columns, without their entablatures,
front the sea, in a line from west-north-west to east-south
east ; three are standing on the side towards the land, the
north ; and two, with a pilaster next to the corner-one
of the northern columns, towards the sea on the east, and
on a line with the last column but one of the nine on the
south-eastern side. Some large fragments of the cell are
scattered about in the western front, and the ruins of a
pilaster, which was thrown down about sixty years ago,
lie in heaps at the front towards the east. These are co
vered with the names of travellers.
The whiteness of the marble has been preserved pro
bably by the sea vapour, in the same manner as Trajan's
triumphal arch at Ancona, near the mole, immediately
on the beach, retains a freshness and polish superior to
any remains in more inland situations.
The rock on which the columns stand is precipitous,
but not inaccessible, nor very high ; it bears a strong re
semblance to the picture in Falconer's Shipwreck ; but
the view given in Anacharsis, places the Temple just in
the wrong position. Here is another steep craggy neck
of land, stretching from the east side of the cape to the
south-south-east.
To the north- west, under the brow of the rock, is a
circular creek, which was formerly the port of the town
Sunium. The fragments of wall before noticed, are part
of the fortifications with which that town was surround
ed during the Peloponnesian war. Sunium, belonging to
the tribe Leontis, was considered an important post, and
as much a town as Pirseus, but cannot have been very
large; yet Euripides, in his Cyclops, talks of the « rich
rock of Sunium," by which he might allude to the w ealth
of the Temple, but hardly to the fertility of the soil.
The view from Cape Colonni presents, on the west,
the promontory Katapheke, and very near to that head
land, the abrupt rocky island* now called Gaidardncsi,
but whose ancient name was the Fosse of Patroclus, as
it was once surrounded with a wall by an Egyptian adr
miral of that name, to defend the coast against Anligo-
nus, the son of Demetrius.* It is now uninhabited, and

* Paus. Attic, p. 1.
 343

entirely a desert ; without a herb or slirub upon its rug

ged surface : it was formerly in repute for the great
quantity of ebony wood which it produced. Beyond
Gaidardnesi is a smaller island, Archinda, formerly Bel-
faina.
The view to the north, or the land side, is terminated
very soon by high and abrupt hills, covered with pines,
and abounding in marble. These hills were formerly the
mountain Laurium ; and it should seem, that about the
promontory Katapheke was the town Laurium, which is
mentioned as being near to the island Patroclus.* One
or two of the shafts of the ancient silver mines, for which
this mountainous r egion was so celebrated, have been
discovered in a small shrubby plain not far from the sea,
on the eastern coast ; and a specimen of ore, lately
found, was shown to me at Athens.
The whole of the country, from the plain of Athens to
Sunium, on the side both of the Saronic gulf and the
jEgean sea, composing the strip of land that forms the
southern extremity of Attica, was called Paralos, or the
Maritime. It was laid waste on both sides towards Pe
loponnesus, and towards Euboea and Andros, in the se
cond year of the long war.f On the east, quite close to
the land, is the island Helene, called Macronesi, or Long
Island, running from south-south-west to north-north
east, narrow and rocky, and forming a sort of roadstead
between its own shore and the coast of Attica, for seve
ral miles.
Beyond Macronesi is Zea, then Thermia, and next
Serpho ; all long low land, lying in a line successively,
so as to have the appearance of one large island, stretch
ing to the south. In the utmost distance in the same di
rection, is the island St. George. The high lands of
Argolis, about the Cape Scylleum, that form the other
extremity of the Saronic gulf, are also visible, at a dis
tance computed to be about two or three and twenty
milcs4 The spear and the crest of the statue of Miner
va Polias, in the Acropolis, might be seen from Sunium,
a straight line of nearly thirty miles ; such, at least, is
-the assertion of Pausanias, which no one, who has seen
* Paus. Attic, p. 1. f Thucyd. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 54.
* Wheler, p. 423.
 314

the positions, can at all credit. Those who have sup

posed the old Athenians endowed with a sight so subtle
and extensive, as to enable them to distinguish objects at
a far greater distance than any amongst us of the present
day, will not, however, believe them to have had the fa
culty of seeing through opposing hills. The transparency
of the air in the climate of Attica, might, indeed, account
for very extensive powers of vision : a late traveller,
Mr. Humboldt, relates, that on the mountains of Quito it
is not difficult to distinguish, at a distance of seventeen
miles, the w hite cloak of a person on horseback. Bat
the range of Hymettus prevents even the promontory
Sunium itself from being seen from the Acropolis, and
let the height of the gigantic statue have been ever so
enormous, it could hardly be so considerable as to over
top the neighbouring mountains.
After remaining about an hour and a half on the cape,
under the columns of the Temple, we set out to return to
Keratea by the eastern coast of Attica, not keeping quite
close to the shore, but going over a hilly road, through
woods of pine, low cedars, and bushes of lentisc, until
we came to a bay or port, passing by some wells, called,
as is the port, Passia Pegathia, the Pasha's Fountain ;
and, in an hour from Colonni, to Gaidaromandra, a large
double port, the horns projecting far on each side, the
largest and more southerly port having a direction from
north-east to south-west ; the smaller one, whose mouth
is only a few yards across, and choked by a bar of sand,
lying from east to west.
From Gaidaromandra, after riding about three miles
over a barren country, near the sea, we passed a port
called Panorma, large and open, the southern cape
stretching farther than the northern, and lying from east
to west : between this place and the last port are the
shafts of the silver mines, a little out of the way on the
left of the road. At the back of port Panorma there is
''a salt-marsh.
In little more than half an hour, we came to the port
Therico, not passing close to the sea ; so that we did not
observe another port, called Agastirachia, between Pa
norma and this last place. Therico is a large open.port,
in a direction from east-north-east to west-south-west,
fronted by the northern extremity of Macronesi, and a
 315

point to the north of north-west from Sunitim. On the

south-west, west, and north, there is a marshy plain
of some extent, terminated on every side by hills, the
highest of which are to the south, where one may sup
pose was the point called Besa,* on Mount Laurium.
The most considerable branch of the silver mines reach
ed from the monument of Thrasyllus, on Laurium, to
Besa, and was defended by the fortress of Thoricus to
the north, and Anaphlystus to the south, at equal dis
tances from Besa, which height it was proposed also to
fortify, as an additional security.
In some bushes in the plain, not far from the port, we
saw a few large fragments of marble columns, the re
mains, as the traveller Le Roi thought, of a very ancient
temple, and upon a small stony eminence to the north, a
piece of wall, a vestige, it may be presumed, of the forti
fications of Thoricus.
Thoricus was a considerable town, of the tribe Aca-
mantis, receiving its name from Thoricus, a Cyprian,
and supposed by the ancient Athenians to have been the
country of Cephalus. It is mentioned by Strabo, as be
tween Sunium and Potamus.
We struck into the plain to the north-west, and came
to a village of a few huts on a woody knoll, and then
went north-north-west through a pass in the hills ; after
which, we passed over some extent of ground, up a brow
covered with cinders, the remnants of the mines, a
branch of which may have been in this quarter. Pieces
of ore, chiefly of copu^r, with a small portion of silver,
are occasionally picked up by the peasants on this spot.
No inconsiderable quantity of valuable metal was, as we
learn from Sir G. Wheler, collected hence, and actually
worked by the Greeks at Athens, about a hundred and
fifty years ago.f
We continued on our journey, over bare stony ground,
interspersed with heath and low shrubs, until we arrived
at the point where the road joined the path we had taken
in the morning, at the extremity of the range of Parne,
and came, at half past four, to Keratea, having made a
circuit, as computed, of twelve hours.

* Xenoph. wofm, p. 928, edit. Leunclav.

t Wheler, p. 448.
Vol. I. Xx
 346

Throughout the whole of this large tract of country,

we had seen only three small villages and one solitary
farm ; in all not thirty houses. It does not appear that
this district was ever much peopled : the slaves who
worked the mines of Laurium, formed by far the great
est part of its population, and the few towns on the coast
were inhabited by fishermen ; for the barrenness of the
soil, except in a few spots, would not admit of pasturage
or agriculture. The people of Paralos were thus entirely
attached to the sea, and were the best sailors in Attica;
even their religious festivals partook of their nautical
habits, and, instead of the dances and the processions of
the Panalhensa, they had gallcy-raccs round the Sunian
promontory, in honour of the Minerva who presided over
their temple. Except those of Anaphlystus, who were
esteemed for their manufactures of vases, the Paralians
were not excellent in any art unconnected with their way
of life, and as the naval dominion of the republic de
clined, diminished both in numbers and importance : an
insurrection of the slaves of the mines, about the year
650, U. C. completed the destruction of this district, and
all its towns were soon after in a manner deserted.
The creeks and caves with which this angle of Attica
abounds, afford a retreat to the Mainotes, and other pi
rates of the Grecian seas ; and, as you may recollect,
from an anecdote in my seventeenth Letter, a visit to the
ruins of the Temple of Minerva Sunias is not, at all
times, unattended with peril. The peasants, however,
generally keep watch on the tops of the hills overhang
ing the coast, and the approach of any suspicious boats
ia notified to the villages, which are immediately secured
against surprise. Keratea itself was, about the begin
ning of the seventeenth century, plundered by a large
body, and left in ruins. « This has been," says Whe-
Jer, « an ancient and great city, and did preserve itself
considerable, until destroyed by the corsairs, about fifty
or threescore years ago. They had their Epitropi, or
Archontes, until then, who did wear high-crowned hats,
like those of Athens."*

* A Journey, p. 448.
 3i7

LETTER XXVIII.

Route from Keratea to Port Raphti.—That Fort described.

—Route from Raphti, through Kata- Vrdona and ApanO-
Vr&ona, and by Caliva Spatha, to the Plain of Mara
thon.— View of the Plain.—Battle of Marathon.—Route
from the Plain to Athens.—The Cave of Pan.—Stamati.
—Cevrishia.

AT twelve o'clock, on the 24th of January, we left

Keratea, in order to proceed to Marathon ; but as it was
our wish to take a view of port Raphti, we sent on our
baggage the direct road by Marcopoli, going ourselves
towards the coast, in an easterly and east-north-easterly
direction.* For half an hour we rode over a cultivated
plain, and then turned north-east amongst hills, conti
nuing amongst which for another hour, we had a view of
port Raphti, through a vista formed by high woody
mountains. We wound down these hills by a steep and
craggy path, until we came to a torrent-bed, and a few
huts constructed with boughs of trees ; and then keeping
by the side of the water-course, through pine woods, we
reached the sea-shore in a little less than two hours from
Keratea, travelling down an easy slope to the port.
Raphti, the ancient port of Prasise, about fifteen miles
from Athens, is a much more commodious as well as a
larger harbour than Pirseus ; and being, as it were, scoop
ed out of the feet of high hills, crowned with forests of a

* Between port Therico and port Raphti, there are four small fish
ing harbours : 1. Vrisaki, 2. Turco-liminia, 3. Thascalio, 4. K&ke-
Thalassa. One of them was large enough 10 receive the. Lacedemo.
nian fleet (Thucyd. lib. viii. cap. 95), perhaps the port of Potamus, a
Demos of the tribe Leontis, frequently mentioned by ancient authors.
The tomb of Ion, if a barrow, may still remain, and point out the
site.
 318

perpetual verdure, affords not only a secare but a most

romantic retreat.
Prasise was of the tribe Pandionis, and well known by
being the place whence the mysteries of the Hyperborean
Apollo were annually carried by the Athenians to Delos :
it contained the sepulchre of Erysicthon. Some ruins
of the town were seen by Wheler, which have now disap
peared.
It has a double port, and one basin is called the little,
the other the great Raphti.
The little Raphti is to the south, and lies in a direction
from east-north-east to its opposite point in the compass:
its shape is circular. On its southern extremity is a pe
ninsular neck of land, with a high hill just above, that
may be seen at a great distance, and on the same side, in
the mouth of the whole harbour, is a steep rocky island,
on which we saw very plainly a colossal statue.
This island has been visited by travellers, and the sta
tue been described to be of white marble, sedent, on a pe
destal eight feet high. The head and arms of the statue
are broken off, but when entire, it is conjectured to have
been twelve feet in height,* and to have once served the
purpose of a Pharos. The modern Greeks supposed it to
represent a tailor cutting cloth ;f a subject, it must be
confessed, not likely to be chosen by the taste of an an
cient sculptor. Farther in to the north, is a small low
green island, and on this there was once another statue
of a female, serviceable, perhaps, in pointing out the
mouth of the larger harbour. A narrow range of rocks
divides the two ports.
The larger Raphti is a very considerable basin, of an
oval shape, extending to the north-north-west, and shel
tered from every quarter of the compass.
As we were passing round the shore of the lesser port,
we heard the barking of some dogs, and a shout from a
shepherd, and looking about us, saw a large dun-colour
ed wolf galloping slowly through the bushes, a little to
the left of us. The mountains of Attica, particularly
Parnes, formerly abounded with these animals, as well as
with bears and wild boars. We were told that wolves

* Chandler, p. 157.
t Wheler, p. 447. P'a&nts, in Romaic, signifies a tailor.
 349

Were very common, and that boars were occasionally kill

ed, but of the bears we heard nothing. The flocks are
guarded by the large shaggy dog, before described as be
ing found in Albania ; but a wolf is too strong for one of
them, and you see the shepherd accompanied sometimes
by four or five. The hard weather drives the wolves into
the plains, but they are seldom bold enough to show
themselves in the open day, though in the moonlight
nights they will sometimes penetrate not only into the
folds, but even into the village gardens. They are how
and then, though but seldom, tracked in the snow to their
dens in the mountains, and shot by the shepherd, who lies
in ambush near the mouth of their caves.
Advancing towards the greater Raphti, we hailed a
little fishing boat, that was under the range of rocks di
viding the two ports ; but the Greeks, as soon as they
saw us, mistook us for Turks, and rowed off, until they
were persuaded to come back by the friendly tones and
intreaties of our Athenian, Demetrius. We dismounted,
and lighting up a fire, by means of the flint and steel
which the passion for smoking induces almost every Le
vantine to carry about him, partook of some dried fish, of
the sort most commonly met with on these coasts. This
fish is the sea-polypus, about the size of a small lobster,
and has eight legs in rings, on which account it is called
octo-podes by the Greeks, though the Lingua Franca
name is volpe. It is beaten to make it tender, and a lit
tle salt being thrown over it, dried, and sometimes eaten
raw, but more commonly fried with oil. The flesh is
white, but tough and insipid. This and the cuttle fish con
stitute a chief part of the food of the Greeks during such
of their fasts as exclude them from eating any thing but
vegetables and bloodless animals.
After our refreshment, we passed along part of the
beach of the larger Raphti ; then left the sea, and took a
path to the north-west, through grounds beautifully
wooded, with intervals of cultivated land, and having
much the appearance of an English park, or ornamented
farm ; after this, we soon came into the upper part of the
plain of Spatha, where are Ennea Pyrgse and Marcopoli,
before mentioned, and in an hour passed by a small vil
lage, Kata-Vraona, belonging to the monastery Pendele,
which is in the direct road from Kcratea to Marathon.
 3b0

Shortly after Kata-Vraona we passed Apano-Vi aoria,

also in the same fine plain, and pursuing our route, saw
the village of Spatha on our left, not far from Hymettus:
Pentelicus was before us, and the high tops of Parnes
were visible afar off, concluding the prospect.
From lower and upper Vraona the path took us to a
village, also in the plain, called Caliva Spatha (meaning,
I fancy, a village subordinate or belonging to Spatha) ;
here we turned amongst woods, to the north -north-east,
having Pentelicus verging towards us on our left, and a
range of low rocks to our right. We inclined more to
the north-east ; and then again northwards, ascending
some hilly ground, a root of Pentelicus, which, running
into the sea, forms the promontory once called Cynosura.
It was then five o'clock, and we had been two hours and
a half coming, at a brisk pace, from Raphti. From the
brow we had a view of the plain and long beach of Ma
rathon, extending before us to the north, and travelled
under a range of Pentelicus on our left, at some distance
from the shore, over barren ground. Entering the plain
on this side, the flat appears to be the most extensive un
der the hills before you to the north ; and the promontory
of Rhamnus, called Chersonesus formerly, but now
Stome, stretching out into the sea on that side, forms a
fine bay, which immediately strikes you, at a distance, as
having been the place where the Persians landed, and the
scene of the glorious battle : indeed, not knowing the si
tuations, I travelled on to the village before us with that
idea, and was entirely unaware that we were, whilst rid
ing over a green narrow plain, passing the very spot we
had come to visit. It was rather dusky, and a high
mound on the right hand of us almost escaped our atten
tion, nor could we see it sufficiently distinct to recognise
it for the barrow of the Athenians.
We saw two collections of wretched huts ; one at the
extremity of the plain, with a ruined tower, and the other
on the brow of a low eminence, beyond a small river.
To this latter place we directed our steps, and, crossing
the stream, arrived there, together with our baggage-
horses, which we had overtaken, at half after six in the
evening.
The morning of the next day was employed in exa
mining the positions of the plain of Marathon ; a hillock
 351

before the cottage where we slept, afforded a view of the

whole country. Every topographer that I have had it in
my power to examine, seems to have mistaken the spot
where the battle took place ; and though I despair of be
ing as minute or as intelligible as I could wish, it is my
intention to speak a little in detail of the scene which
the most glorious action of all antiquity has rendered
so renowned.
The village at present called Marathonas, is in a kind
of recess between the hills, about a mile to the back, the
north, of the Albanian cottages : it is inhabited by a few
Turks, and surrounded by gardens. A river, once call
ed the Charadrus, flows from the village, and passing to
wards the cottages, winds on before the hillock ; taking
a turn to the west-north-west, and flowing in that direc
tion, until it is lost in a large marsh or lake, which ex
tends under the woody hills that form the isthmus of the
promontory Stome. The Charadrus runs close to the
ruined tower and the cottages. On the western side of
the river, where there is the ruined tower, is a low rug.
ged hill, about a mile and a half in extent, lying north
and south, and forming the left bank of the narrow val
ley that reaches as far as Marathon. It is a little more
than a quarter of a mile from the Albanian cottages and
the hillock.
The plan of the battle in Anacharsis, places the Greeks
too much to the north, and in a situation where it is im
possible they should have been drawn up in the closest
order. But the position of the armies is to be looked for
lower down, and in the narrow strip of plain which has
the sea on one side and the range of Pentelicus on the
other quarter to the west, extending, with some interrup
tion, perhaps eight miles, from the Albanian cottages to
the southern entrance, on the road by which we came to
the spot.
A mile from our hillock is the shore, which, in this
spot, turns off in a north-easterly direction, to form the
promontory of Rhamnus. Proceeding for two miles di
rectly down the plain, to the south, with the coast ranging
to the left, at half a mile's distance from the shore, is the
large barrow, about fifteen feet in height and thirty paces
.. in circumference, which, upon most probable grounds, is
supposed to have been the tomb of the Athenian heroes.
 858

It stands alone in a dead flat, so as to be very conspicu

ous, not only to those who are travelling in the plain, bat
even to vessels sailing in the channel between the Negro-
ponte and the main. A perpendicular cut has been made
into the earth on the top by some antiquarian researcher:
such a relic might surely be spared ! Standing with your
back to the sea upon this barrow, you see a flat valley
running north-west from the long plain, and having Pen-
telicus on the south, and the low rugged hill on the north.
At the west end of this valley is a small village, « Vri-
ona," on the site nearly of the ancient Brauron, cele
brated for the worship of that Diana, whose image was
transported thither from Tauris by Iphigenia, and after
wards carried away by Xerxes. .
It appears to me, that the Athenians were drawn up a
little within the mouth of this valley, with the low rug
ged hills, from which the trees might be felled to impede
the Persian cavalry, on their left, and a torrent, that still
flows from Vraona into the plain to the south, on their
right. The Greek camp was in the field of Hercules, not
far, it may be conjectured, from the modern village, for
some ancient trenches are still visible in that quarter.
The western extremity of the flat valley approaches near
the modern Marathon, from which it is only separated
by the end of the low hill, the site, it is probable, of the
Heracleum.
The Greeks and the Persians were, before the battle,
nearly a mile from each other, and the lines of the two
armies were in extent equal.
This description corresponds only with the entrance
of the valley of Vraona ; in any other part of the plain the
Persians would have out-flanked the Greek forces. The
Athenians, who were broken in the centre, were pursued
up into the country (« Tut ,« and the same valley is
the only open space which will allow of such an expression.
The troops who were victorious in the wings, closed up
on the barbarians, and cut off their retreat: here then
the battle was most sanguinary ; and one of four barrows,
three small and one larger than the rest, a little to the
south of Vraona, may be the tombs of the Platseans and
slaves who fell in the action.

t * Herod. Erat. cap. 113.

\
 353

Less than a mile to the south-east of the large barrow,

and close to the sea, is a spot of ground, not very large,
formed into an island by the stagnation of the torrent
which flows from the valley of Vraona, and which seems
to be that once named Erasinus. The marsh surround
ing the island may be easily passed.
In this place there are several stelse, or sepulchral pil
lars, five of which are standing, and the others lying on
the ground : the length of one of them is eight feet and
a half, and the circumference five feet two inches : they
have no inscriptions. Here also is a square marble, look
ing like a pedestal ; and, in a pool of water in the same
island, is the headless statue of a female sedent, of fine
white marble, and exquisitely wrought.
The barrow of the Athenians had upon it sepulchral
pillars, recording the names and the tribes of the Athe
nians who were slain in the battle.* The remains in the
small island are by some supposed to refer to these mo
numents ; and the large barrow , still to be seen, is conse
quently thought to be that of the Platseans, the other
having been undermined, and fallen into the marsh.
Some little vases, and other ornaments usually found in
tombs, have been discovered by a gentleman of Athens,
who has excavated on the spot. No ancient topographer
appears to have been sufficiently minute in his descrip
tion, to enable us to decide on this point ; and the pillars,
and other relics, as well as the marsh, seem to have
escaped the observation of modern travellers : I find no
thing of them in Chandler. It is possible they may have
been brought from the ruins of Probalinthus, the town to
the south of Marathon, next to Myrrhinus. The lake
into which the Persians were driven by the victorious
Greeks, was that formed by the Charadrus, under the
hills of the isthmus of Rhamnus ; and it seems probable,
that the barbarian fleet was drawn upon the shore from
the point of coast below the large barrow, round the
sweep of the bay, under the lake itself.
When the Medes left their ships, they had this marsh
on their right, and when drawn up farther in the coun
try, had also the town of Marathon on that side. In the
hurry and confusion of retreat, those who had to gain

* Paus. Attic, p. 60.

Vox. I. Yy
 354
the ^allies farthest up this bay, ran into the swamp, and
Were cut off.
Beyond the Albanian cottages where we were lodged,
towards the marsh and the promontory to the north-east,
the plain seems highly cultivated, and well wooded to the
point of the promontory. Buffaloes are fed in the pas
tures, near the marsh, and there is a fishery, abounding
in large eels, belonging to the caloyers of Pendele, on
the shore.—At a fountain, near a church, on the side of
the marsh, Sir G. Wheler saw some ruins, which he be
lieved to denote the site of Tricorythus, the town next
to Marathon on that coast.* Beyond the ruined church
a mile, is Chouli, an Albanian village ; and three or four
miles farther to the north is Tauro-r astro, or Hebrseo-
castro, on the site of Rhamnus, a town of the tribe ^Ean-
tis, sixty stadia, by the sea-coast, from Marathon, where
are still to be seen the remains of the famous Temple of
Nemesis, and the trophy of Parian marble, erected by
the Athenians after their defeat of the Medes.
Modern authors have been sceptical with respect to
the numbers said to have fought on the plains of Mara
thon, but there appears to be no exaggeration in the ac
count given of this great battle by Herodotus. The val
ley of Vriona, and the width of the plain, from the
mouth of that valley to the shore, is certainly sufficient
for an action between one hundred and twenty thousand
men ; but when Lysias reminded his Athenian audience
of those, their immortal ancestors, who fought at Mara
thon against fifty myriads of barbarians,! he must almost
have supposed that not one of those whom he addressed
could have ever visited the scene of action, a distance
calculated to be only ten miles, or he must have drawn
upon their vanity and patriotism for belief. Yet the fu
neral oration of this orator was delivered not much more
than a century after the battle ; and subsequent authors
have upon this, or some other authority, magnified the
forces of the Medes to a number which the whole plain of
Marathon could scarcely have contained. Justin sets
them down at six hundred thousand.

• Strab. lib. ix. 399.

 355

After having spent some time in viewing the plain from

several spots, and in riding to the lofty harrow, and the
ruins in the marsh, we set off from that quarter to re
turn to Athens. The baggage had been sent forwards
early in the morning.
Going north-west from the barrow, towards the valley
of Vraona, in a short time we passed by the remains of a
church. From this place we took a northerly direction
towards Marathon, and arriving at the banks of the Cha-
radrus, had the ruined tower and a few houses on our
left, and the Albanian cottages to the right. We crossed
the river, which, for a Grecian stream, is considerable,
and kept along its banks for ten minutes, when we came
to the village, called Marathonas, as, indeed, are the two
collections of cottages lower down in the plain.
On the east side of Marathonas there is some flat
ground, where the ancient town may have stood, and two
fragments of an old arch are still seen in one of the gar
dens. The village has a prospect down a narrow valley,
inclosed by low hills on the western side, and high preci
pices on the eastern bank ; and through this valley the
river flows, inclining to the west. The barrow, the whole
extent of the long plain, the ridge of rocks composing
the promontory Cynosura, at the southern extremity of
it, and the high cape above Raphti, are also visible from
Marathon. At the back, the north of the village, are
lofty hills, part of the chain of mountains which form
the northern boundary of the plain of Athens, and rest,
on one side, on the extremity of Pentelicus, and on the
other on the verge of Pames. In the same quarter was
the mountain Brilessus, and the whole region was deno
minated Diarri. The eminences of different hills had
their separate names ; and in this district was Mount
Icarus, whose sides abounded with the most productive
vineyards of Attica. On one slope of Icarus was the
Demos of Dedalidse, of the tribe Cecropis ; on the other,
that of the verdant Meloense,* of the tribe Antiochis, on
the borders of Boeotia. The hill immediately behind
Marathon was called the mountain of Pan.

* Icarii, Celeique domus, viridesque Melxnsc.—Stat. Theb. lib. x-u.

tin. 619.
 From Marathon we passed on westward, crossing the
river a second time, and inclining a little out of the road
to the north, to look at the cave of Pan, which, though
mentioned as a curiosity by Pausanias, has nothing in it
to detain you for an instant. Below this cave, which is
about a mile from Marathon, are some large stones, simi
lar to those seen on the Wiltshire Downs commonly
known by the name of the « Grey Wethers ;" and under
them a strong spring bubbles up, which, conducted
through an artificial channel, turns a mill, and afterwards
falls into the Charadrus.
I take these stones to be the petrified sheep belonging
to the woman of Nonoi, and the headless statue in the
marsh may be the female herself, whose metamorphosis
is recorded by Chandler. But the fate and misfortune of
this personage is now forgotten, and our guides pointed
both at the statue and the stones, without relating so edi
fying a tale.*
From the cave of Pan we left the banks of the river,
which flows to the north-west between two lofty moun
tains, whose sides are a mass of precipices of craggy
red rocks, and whose summits are clothed with thick fo
rests of pine. Our course now took us to the west-south
west, up a most steep and rough ascent, through woods
of evergreens, and amongst shrubs of myrtles, oleander,
and laurel-roses.
In an hour and a quarter we came to Stamathi, an Al
banian village, surrounded by a few acres of open culti
vated ground, cleared in the midst of a wilderness of

* « In the vale, which we entered, near, the vestiges of a small

building, probably a sepulchre, was a headless statue of a woman
sedent, lying on the ground. This, my companions informed me,
was once endued with life, being an aged lady, possessed of a nume
rous flock, which was folded near that spot. Her riches were great,
and tier prosperity was uninterrupted: she was elated by her good
fortune. The winter was gone by, and even the rude month of March
had spared her sheep and goats. She now defied Heaven, as unap
prehensive for the future, and as secure from all mishap ; but Provi
dence, to correct her impiety and ingratitude, commanded a fierce and
penetrating frost to be its avenging minister—and she, her fold, and
flocks, were hardened into stone. This story, which is current, was
also related to me at Athens. The grave Turk cites the woman of
Tfonoi, for so the tract is called, to check arrogance, and enforce the
wisdom of a devout and humble disposition."—Chandler's Travels in
Greece, p. 167.
 357

woods. The path was, from that place, not so hilly, but
still very rugged, directing us to the south-west. A range
of Pendele was directly facing us, and lying from north
west to south-east; Parnes was at a distance on our
right, and between us and that mountain were woody
knolls, rising one above the other. In a little time we
turned the point of Pendele, and went to the south-south
west, travelling down a gradual slope, and on a better
road, but still through pine forests, Before us we saw
the coast about the Pir»us, and part of the olive-groves :
Athens was hidden from us by the hill Anchesmus.
In an hour from Stamati, but going faster than ordina
ry, we arrived at the village of Cevrishia, whose name is
but a little altered from that of the ancient town Cephi-
sia, of the tribe Erectheis, on the site of which it now
stands. This place is the most favourite retreat of the
Turks of Athens during the summer and autumnal
months, and is alone, of all the villages of Attica, adorn
ed with a mosck : it contains about two hundred houses.
In the middle of it is an open space, where there are two
fountains, and a large plane-tree, beneath whose over
hanging branches is a flat stone, so carved into squares
as to serve for a draught-table, and round which the
Turks are seen sedately smoking, or engaged at their fa
vourite pastime.
Cevrishia is at the foot of Mount Pendele, on a gentle
declivity, surrounded on every side with olive-groves,
and watered by several -rills from the mountain, the
sources of the smaller branch of the Cephissus, which,
after supplying the many fountains of the village, and
being dispersed through the neighbouring gardens and
groves, unite at last in one pebbly channel, and flow into
the plain and olive-woods of Athens. This delightful
spot still continues to answer the agreeable description
given of it by one who had here often wandered through
the long and shady avenues, or rested by the side of the
pure glassy stream, overflowing the margin of the mar
ble baths in a thousand rills, which mingled their mur
murs with the music of the birds.* Even the modern
Cephisia might be thought worthy the partialities of such
an encomiast as Aulus Gellius.
• Aul. Gell. Kb. i. cap. 2, et lib. xviii. cap. 10.
 358

The marbles presented to the University of Oxford by-

Mr. Daw kins, were brought from this village ; and I had
the good fortune to procure from the same spot a marble
head, as large as life, which, as it appears from the hole
in the neck, has belonged to an entire image. A Turk
had placed it over the arch of the gateway in his court
yard, and seemed to say that he knew where the body was
to be found ; but on enquiry, he had, we learnt, been mis
understood. The bust is that of a young man, with the
hair short, and curled in an elegant and highly-finished
style. From the manner in which the eyes are formed,
the antiquity of the sculpture may be judged to be no ear
lier than the times when the Romans were settled in
Greece ; and it is not at all improbable, that the head
may be one belonging to the many statues which Atticus
Herodes erected to the memory of his three young friends
in the shady solitudes of his villa at Cephisia.*
From Cevrishia we proceeded entirely through olive-
groves, to a village about an hour's distance, called
« Muraffe small, and built of mud chiefly, but in an
agreeable situation, and watered by a branch of the Ce-
phissus, whose banks are, a little below, shaded by tall
trees of white poplar.
From Muraffe we went through Angele-Ripos to
Athens, by a route already described.
The baggage-horses had arrived half an hour before,
and had been six hours on the road from Marathon to
the city. This time can with great difficulty be recon
ciled with the measurement anciently allowed for the dis
tance between the two places, which, at the utmost, was
laid down at only one hundred stadia, but, generally, was
called eighty stadia, or ten Roman miles. Mcletius, who
is, very unaccountably, more incorrect when treating of
Attica than of other parts of Greece, calls Marathon
thirty-five miles from Athens.f The usual allowance, be
fore stated as coming pretty near the truth, of three miles
to a Turkish hour, would make this journey eighteen
miles ; but when it is considered, that half of the dis-

* See the account of this, Tib. Claudius Atticus Herodes by Spon

in Wheler, p. 375.
f A'Thxh, p 352. The distance, however, is put in figures ; and
35 may be an error of the press for lSi .
 359

tance ia over steep and very difficult ground, the two

statements may come rather nearer to each other ; and if
we suppose, what is likely enough, that there was former
ly a nearer road to Marathon by Vraona, the difference
will be considerably diminished. However, from com
paring the ancient distances with the Turkish hours, par
ticularly in Attica, where I paid most attention to the
watch, I must confess myself to have overstated the
length of ground, by reckoning three miles to each sixty
minutes, and that, perhaps, generally speaking, two and
a half would be the more correct calculation. The bag
gage-horses, or as the Greeks distinguish them,
pi T» fofrafotTo., get on but very slowly, except in the
plainest roads, and proceed with difficulty through the
woods, on account of the manner in which they are load
ed, their burdens projecting from each side, like pan
niers. At the same time it may be remarked, that the
ancients themselves may have sometimes mis-stated their
measurements, especially as they occasionally differ
amongst one another even in small distances ; so that a
traveller need not always attribute each slight discrepan
cy to his own inattention and neglect.
 360

LETTER XXIX.

lloule from Mkens to the Negroponte.— Villages in the

North of dttica.—Koukouvaones.—Charootika.—Meni-
thi.—Tatoe.—The Site of Decelea.—Agios Macurius.—
Route across the Plains of Tanagra.—Over the Asopus
to Scimitari.—From that Village to the Strait of the Ne
groponte, by Vathi.—The Town of Negroponte.— Visit to
the Pasha.—Stories relative to the Euripus.—Return to
Scimitari.—Route from Scimitari to the Monastery of St.
Meliteus on Citlmron.

IT being my wish to pay a short visit to the town

of Negroponte, as well as to some part of the district
of Thebes, which we had before not seen, I set off (Feb.
8) at nine o'clock in the morning from Athens, accom
panied by our Albanian Vasilly, the Athenian Demetrius,
and the necessary number of baggage and led-horses.
Lord Byron was unexpectedly detained at Athens ; so
that you will attribute any additional defects in the narra
tion of this short tour, to the absence of a companion,
who, to quickness of observation and ingenuity of re
mark, united that gay good humour which keeps alive
the attention under the pressure of fatigue, and softens
the aspect of every difficulty and danger. •
We rode for about two hours, mostly through the
olive woods of Athens, northwards, until we came to
Koukouvaones, a village of thirty houses : passing this,
we soon crossed a large chasm, in which the greater
branch of the Cephissus flows, and which, a little above
where we passed it, takes an abrupt turn towards the
1 1 ills a little to the north-west of Cevrishia. A few ever
greens grow on the sides of the chasm ; and an overshot
mill is pleasantly situated amidst a small grove, on the
ledge of one* of the rocks. Between the skirt of the
 361
olive-groves and the village Koukouvaones, are two or
three barrows ; and one of them was pointed out to me
as containing lumps of yellow earth, used by the painters
at Athens. There is a village, by name Charootika, of
two hundred houses, under the hills between Cevrishia
and Koukouvaones.
We inclined to the eastward of north, and saw on our
left the road leading to Menithi, the largest country town
in Attica, having three hundred and fifty houses ; and,
still farther to the left, that which goes to Casha, and
the villages under Mount Parnes. For two hours, after
passing Koukouvaones and the Cephissus, the road lay
through an open plain, covered with heath and low
shrubs : Parnes, clothed with green woods, verged more
towards us on the left, and united itself to the hills
stretching to the northern declivities of Mount Penteli-
cus, which form the boundary, on this side, of the plain
of Athens. We ascended these hills for an hour, and
came to a stone fountain on a woody knoll, where, under
the shade of a thick ilex, travellers spread their mats,
for the purposes of refreshment or repose. The place is
called Tatoe, five long hours, at a good pace, from
Athens, from which it bears exactly north-north-east,
having a view of the city and the whole plain, as far as
the Pirseus. On a hillock, above the fountain, are some
remains of an ancient wall. A path strikes off through
the hills to the east, to Oropo, the ancient Oropus, com
puted about four miles from Tatoe'.
From Athens to the foot of these hills is about twelve
miles, the whole way over a plain ; but the flat, anciently
included in the district belonging to the city, and called,
for distinction, Pedion, the Plain, has been considered by
some travellers as ending with the olive-groves, about
six miles to the north of Athens ; which extent, with the
addition of the distance from the capital to the shore,
gives a length of nine miles to the whole plain. Pococke
thought nine miles the length, and six miles the breadth,
of the district in question. He appears to me to have
under-rated the dimensions in both instances ; the flat
more properly terminates where the channel of the Ce
phissus takes a turn towards Cevrishia, perhaps eight
miles from the city. Beyond that place, towards Casha..
Menithi, and Tatoe, the aspect of the country is more
Vol. I. • Z z
 362
bare and wild, and, under Parnes to the north-west, an
swers to the description of the district attached to Achar-
nse ; and some vestiges of old wall, and one or two wells,
which are to be seen three miles nearer than Casha to
Athens, may point out the site of that town.
The region on the slope of Mount Parnes, formerly
called Pseonia, has now the name of Panagia, from a
rich monastery at the foot of the bills.
Decelea, memorable for having given its name to one
of the many wars of the Athenians and Lacedemonians,
was somewhere in the direction of Tatoe, as it command
ed the great road leading from Athens to Oropus and to
Chalcis, by which the corn of Euboea was conveyed to
the city. Some pieces of wall, above the fountain, may
probably have belonged to a watch-tower placed in this
important pass; but Tatoe is more than one hundred
and twenty stadia, fifteen Roman miles, from the city,
and is besides too far from the plain, on which (though
some of the works were visible at Athens*) part of the
Lacedemonian fortifications were built. I neither heard
of nor saw any other remains, except the wall above Ta
toe.
For an hour and a half after leaving the fountain, we
continued travelling slowly through the hills belonging to
the mountain anciently called Brilessus, in the region
of Diacria, over a precipitous path, amidst thick woods
of evergreens, until we had got to the north of the high
range of Mount Parnes, which we now saw towering into
the clouds in the distance. We passed a solitary church,
Agios Macurius, by the side of a torrent. The modern
territory attached to Athens, is on this side bounded by a
line which runs from a point two hours to the north of
Casha to this church, and then stretches to a village, Ca-
lamas, an hour to the south of Oropo, turning thence to
wards Marathon. The earliest of our travellers gives
the name of Agios Macurius to these hills, which were
then guarded by Albanians, and, by a strange mistake,
calls them a part of Mount Parnassus.f
From Agios Macurius we began to descend, going more
* Thucyd. lib. vii. cap. 19.
t Francis Vernon, in his Letter to the Royal Society, written
Jan. 10, 1676. See Philosophical Transactions abridged, vol. iii. p.
456.
 363

to the north, until we found ourselves on an open and ex

tensive plain, with a high tower in our view, to the north
west, at a distance reckoned about four hours from the
foot of the mountain. We went northerly for an hour and
a half, through a well-cultivated country : flocks nf goats
were browsing amongst the low shrubs, and many pea
sants were labouring in the corn-fields. Two or three
villages were visible on the sides of the hills to the south,
formerly belonging to a range of Cithseron, and mixing
with Brilessus and Parnes. To the east was some rising
ground, which prevented us from seeing the sea near the
port Oropo ; but the high land of the Negroponte, about
the site of the ancient Eretria, seemed a part of the main;
and indeed, the strait at this point, is not seven miles in
breadth. The passage from Eretria to Delphinium, the
port of Oropus, was only sixty stadia.
We crossed the Asopus at a ford, where it was a mud
dy torrent winding through brushwood. Just below
where we passed the river, it flows between two rocky
hills. In a short time the road divided, one path going to
Negroponte, northwards, the other to the north-west, to
wards Thebes, not far from the banks of the river. We
continued on the latter for an hour in the plain, with low
hills on our right, when we took a direction more to the
north, and came to the ruined tower. This stands on an
eminence, and though of no very early date, is composed
of stones apparently taken from the ruins of some ancient
building. It is square, of considerable dimensions and
height, the substructure of large stones, the upper part
of brick. It may have been one of the castles of the La
tin Princes, or perhaps a Turkish watch-tower, built to
prevent a surprise from the fleets of the Venetians. It
commands a view of the whole of that part of Breotia to
the east of Thebes ; and the hillocks, at the back of that
town, are visible from it in the north-north- western point.
The Asopus is seen to wind from the west-north-west.
The appearance of all the adjacent plain is from this
point very pleasing, and varied with slopes of rising
ground, crowned with tufts of shrubs. It is probably
that portion of Boeotia which once belonged to the pow
erful city of Tanagra,* whose territory stretched from
* Tanagra was thirty stadia from Oropus, and fifty from the sea—
Paus. Boeot. p. 571; Strab. lib. ix. p. 403. Wheler believed himself
 364*
the neighbourhood of Oropus, along the shore of the
strait, as far as Aulis, and included the lands of several
ruined cities more inland, towards Thebes.
Beyond the tower, a short distance only, there is a
small village called (Enoe. This we passed, and going
northwards for an hour and a half, arrived at the village
of Scimitari. This place consists of eighty houses, inha
bited by Greeks, and is the property, though not in the
territory, of AH Pasha : it is reckoned five hours from
ThebeB, and three from the Negroponte. To the east of
it, at a little distance, is a large tract of corn-fields, ly
ing on gentle swellings of the plain, and through these, a
broad beaten road, with some parts of it paved, leads to
the village.
In a small church there are two or three of the old se
pulchral stones, with the usual inscription, x<"f. but with
out any names.
We passed the night at Scimitari, and the next morn
ing, leaving the baggage behind us, set out for the Ne
groponte, intending to return the same evening. The
morning was very misty, but the sky cleared up towards
the middle of the day. The road was at first to the
north, over uneven downs ; cultivated near the village,
but soon terminating in heaths intersected by several ra
vins. On one of them was a small rivulet, whose direc
tion answers to that of the torrent Thermodon, which
flowed by Tanagra. Before us we had a view of the
strait, and of a plain, under the high hills in the island
Eubcea, covered with olive-groves.
We turned rather to the left as we approached the
9hore, and passed by a village, Vathi, crossing over the
channel of a small river which runs near it into the strait.
Vathi is close to the shore, and to a bay, formerly called
the Deep bay, from which the modern village, has, I sup
pose, received its name. When we came to the shore, we
continued winding along a very rocky path, close to the
sea. We took our course round a small bay, surround
ed by low stony hills almost to the water's edge, and hav
ing the mouth of ancient wells visible near the beach.
This was the site of Aulis, whose port would contain but

to have discovered the remains of Tanagra at Scamino, a villsg-e on

the Asopus, three hours from Egripo
 365

fifty ships ; so that it is likely that the Grecian fleet an

chored in the bay called the Deep. The site is similar to
the description in Strabo, a rocky spot QrtTfutu xa>P'°>'),
which is not now, as it was in the second century, water
ed by the fountain of Diana, nor shaded by the fruitful
palm-tree. When Pausanias visited Aulis, they conti
nued to show a piece of the plane-tree mentioned in Ho
mer, and the knoll on which the tent of Agamemnon was
fixed ; but the place was almost deserted, and the few who
still continued to live there, worked at a pottery :* at
present it is entirely barren, and there is hot a peasant's
house nearer than the village of Vathi.
It was some time before we caught a sight of the town
of Negroponte,f or (as the Greeks call it, from a corrup
tion of the word Euripus) Egripo, as it is placed on the
north-east side of a broad flat peninsula, which, pro
jecting into the bays on the main-land, makes the wind
ings of the strait, in some places, look like inland lakes,
in others like rivers, as the breadth enlarges or di
minishes. The outlet into the broader arm of the sea
does not at all appear, and both the pprt of Vathi, and.
that of Aulis, are completely land-locked. This circum
stance, in some measure, diminishes the surprise which
might otherwise be felt at seeing the extreme narrowness
of the Euripus itself, at the point where the island and
the main are joined by a bridge.
In half an hour after the bay of Vathi, keeping by the
edge of the water, we doubled the north-eastern extremi
ty of those hills which we had seen from our village, and
which, now called Typo-Vouni, were once the mountain
Messapius : we then crossed over a projecting tongue of
stony ground, and going for some time on a road partly
paved, arrived in another half hour at the Euripus. On
an eminence on the mainland we saw a white fort, called
Carababa, commanding the bridge, and, indeed, all the
fortifications of Negroponte. The sea had, in this place,
every appearance of a river ; and the banks, on the Boeo
tian side, were rather high and rocky. We dismounted,

* Paus. Bocot. p. 571.

j- The Frank name of Negroponte is doubtless, 39 Wheler has con
jectured, derived from the confounding' of the three Greek words,
tit Tov Wyfiiret, pronounced Vtcv Vjfiiroi, into one sound.
 and led our horses over a narrow wooden bridge, about
fifteen paces in length, to a stone tower in the middle of
the strait, of an odd circular shape, like a dice-box, large
at bottom and top, and small in the middle ; the mouths
of immense cannon appearing through round embra
sures, about the upper rim. Going through an arch in
this tower, we passed on to a bridge, also of wood, and a
third longer than the other, standing over the principal
stream, for such may the Euripus strictly be called. We
then entered a large castle, where sev eral Turks, bristled
with arms, were lounging about : and continuing for some
time through that part of the town which is within the
works of the fortification, came to another wooden bridge,
as long as both of those over the Euripus, and crossed
over the moat, a broad reedy marsh, into the suburbs of
Negroponte, which are much more considerable than the
city within the walls.
The Turks of this place are the most brutal, if com
mon fame and a proverb before mentioned, do not belie
them, of any in the Levant ; and as their character pre
vents travellers from visiting the town, they are so un
used to the sight of a Frank, that, on the appearance of
one in the street, the boys scream after, and follow him,
and the men abuse him, and call him Dog and Infidel.
This was all the inconvenience I experienced ; though I
must confess, that there was something so very different
in the air of these Mahometans, and of those I had lately
lived amongst, that I should not have considered a long
stay in the town at all desirable.
The Waiwode of Athens had given me two letters, one
to the Vizier, Bakir Pasha, another to a rich Aga, at
whose house, though he himself was not at home, I put
up for the short time I remained in the place, and was
treated with every attention by the people of his house-
bold.
I had not been more than a few minutes in the house,
before I was visited by the Greek Secretary to the Pa
sha, to whom I delivered my letter, sai ing, at the same
time, that I could not stay to pay his Highness a visit.
A Greek of the island of Tino, who wore the Frank ha
bit, covered with a long cloak, being physician to the
Pasha, also called to pay his rpspects. He had been a
merchant, under the Imperial protection, but failed, and
 367

then turned physician, when the Pasha retained him for

his own use ; much against the will of the man, it seem
ed, as he told me, « I am hot a slave—but, though I have
been here eighteen months, his Highness will not let me
go ; yet he pays me well ; I have a pound and a half of
meat allowed me daily, and some piastres at the end of
the year." With this person, accompanied by my attend
ants, I took a walk about the town.
The houses are mean and low, the streets narrow, and
the bazar of the poorest sort. There are but very few
Greeks in the town, and no one representative of any
Christian power : there was once an Imperial Consul^
and also a French resident ; but on some suspicion being
entertained of one of them with respect to some Turkish
females, a body of Turks surrounded his house, and, af
ter some resistance, cut him to pieces; the other Frank
of course fled. They told me, as well as I recollect, that,
the number of houses in Egripo was about eight hun
dred.
To the east of the town there is a sort of inclosure or
defence, of low pales : on the north is an eminence, from
which you have the best view of the country, and of the
high mountains at the back of the town, whose summits
are covered with perpetual snows. From the highest ridge,
which is called Daphne, Athens, Megara, and the whole
of the south of Greece, so a Turk assured me, appear as
if laid out immediately below. The land to the north and
east of the town is open, but well cultivated ; that to the
south covered with fine groves of olive-trees, and inter
spersed with orange and lemon gardens ; the interior of
the town is not so well furnished in this respect as most
Turkish cities. The place is considered extremely un
healthy, and during the summer the heats are almost in
supportable : at that period the Turks remove their fa- *
milies to small houses in the groves farther down, to the
south.
As I was walking through the town on the side to
wards the castle, several grave Turks, apparently in of
fice, with the Greek Secretary at their head, approached
me, and said that the Vice-Governor of the place desired
me to visit him. I excused myself for some time, but
was at last obliged to comply, and accordingly went
through the usual ceremony of pipes, coffee, sweetmeats
 366

and sherbet, in a small room with this Turk, who was

pleasant and obliging.
Whilst in his chamber, the Grammaticos, the Secreta
ry, entered, and said that the Vizier himself expected to
see me. I could not, I would not go ; I was in a travel
ling dress, and covered with dirt by riding. No excuses
would do—the Vizier was holding a Dvtan on purpose ! !
The Greek became pressing and impertinent ; and accom
panied by Demetrius, the Physician and Secretary, and
several men with white sticks preceding, I pushed on
through a crowd to the door of the audience-chamber.
Here was a fresh difficulty—the Secretary told me I must
enter without my boots, and kiss his Highness's slipper.
Had this ceremony been usual, no one would have been
more ready to comply than myself; nay, I woidd not on
any account have dispensed with the latter point of re-,
spect, but should have insisted upon it as earnestly as
did Dr. Moore's young patron, the Duke of Hamilton,
upon saluting the Pope's toe ; but being sure that it was
merely a malicious piece of information invented by the
Greek, to vex me for my backwardness in visiting his
master, and that no Frank traveller had ever done as
much to any Pasha, I demurred, and was trying to re
tire, when the Secretary went into the audience-chamber,
and returning immediately, said that the Pasha would
dispense with the form. 1 knew the whole was a pre
tence, but prepared to enter; and really not wishing to
dirty his carpets with my hoots, which were plastered
with mud, pulled them off, putting on, however, not to
bate any thing on the important point of dignity, a pair
of ye llow slippers.
The room where the Pasha received me was very small,
and crowded with his Turks in office, magnificently
dressed, quite as well as himself—the certain character
istic, according to Cervantes, of a great man. The sofa
on the left was occupied by three or four visitors appa
rently ; that to the right, except a corner on which the
Vizier sat, was Vacant. His Highness made a motion for
me to sit down near him. The Tiniot Physician served
as interpreter. The Pasha, taking his pipe from his
mouth, said I was welcome—then stopped again—and a
little after said the same thing; which he repeated, after
an interval, a third time. This I understood to be highly
 369
ceremonious ; and, indeed, his attention was very mark
ed. The pipes and coffee were thrice repeated ; sher
bets, sweetmeats, and, to crown the entertainment, per
fumes and rose-water were also subjoined to the former
part of the treat. ,
The Pasha was very inquisitive, as usual, and when I
rose to go away, begged me to sit down again : it was
with difficulty I excused myself from staying that night
at Egripo, and partaking of a feast to which he invited
me. He asked, what he could do for me, and whether I
had seen every thing in the place ; he added, " You have
looked at the castle from without—there is nothing worth
seeing in the inside of it."
You must take, by the way, that the Turks are ex
ceedingly jealous of any one visiting the works of these
fortifications ; and will suffer no Frank, without a firman
from the Porte, to inspect them : this I knew, and re
plied, that I was much pleased with the outside, but did
not wish to look at the interior of the building. He then
asked, what I had come to see ? (the curiosity of travel
lers is a constant source of surprise, and of a little con
tempt, amongst the Turks) and was answered, « the
town and its situation, which were reported to be very
beautiful ; and also the strait, a great natural curiosity."
This last object was not clearly understood ; and when,
as an explanation, I added, that it was the stream of wa
ter under the bridge to which I alluded, the visages of
all in the room put on an air of astonishment, mixed with
a certain smile, chastised by the gravity of their looks,
altogether indescribable ; and the Vizier asked me, with
a great deal of naivete, whether I had no water of that
sort in my own country ? adding, that England being, as
he heard, an island, he should have thought we had great
plenty. I endeavoured to inform him, that it was not
the saltness of the water to which I alluded, but the flux
and reflux. That this did nut serve me in any stead was
evident from the continued surprise marked in the faces
of all present; but his Highness assured me, that I should,
have the proper attendance to convey me to the bridge,
where I might view the object of my journey.
Shortly after this I withdrew; and returning down
stairs, saw my attendant Demetrius besieged by all the
fine drest men who had officiated in the room, and who,
Voi,. I. 3A
 370

the moment he opened his purse, to make the customary

presents for me, thronged about him, and so frightened
him, that he parted with every zequin in his pocket,
amounting to between eight and nine guineas. Their cla
mour and importunity was such, that he had forgot the
prudent and usual plan of calling for the pipe-bearer, the
pages carrying in the coffee, sweetmeats, sherbet, and
perfume, and giving to each five piastres: indeed, he
was altogether terrified, and had some excuse for his
alarms.
But the most ridiculous part of the proceeding was to
come, and one which I am rather loth to detail, as the
principal character in the farce was unwillingly acted by,
or rather forced upon, myself.
Several of the Pasha's soldiers were waiting without
in the yard, and these, preceded by two of the most re
verend-looking personages of the whole court, Chiauses,
or Chamberlains, with white wands, and their beards
hanging down to their waists, accompanied me in a sort
of procession towards the bridge. We had some dis
tance to walk ; the crowd gathered as we proceeded, and
in a short time our train filled the street. We walked
very slowly, the two majestic conductors being saluted
respectfully by fifty people whom we met, and very lei
surely returning the salam and usual obeisance.
The passengers and surrounding crowd perpetually
questioned my attendants as to the object of the proces
sion, and were told that a Frank was going to look at
the water. I could hear the Turkish words signifying
*< Water, Water," a hundred times repeated.
I advanced to the bridge with all my suite, went half
way across it, and looking over the railings half a mi
nute, turned round to one of the grave chamberlains, and
said I was satisfied ; when he and his companion bowed
rofoundly, and, without saying a word, turned on their
eels, and marshalled and preceded the attendants back
to the house where I had left my horses, a great crowd
following as before.
To each of these great courtiers, whose furred cloaks
were worth more than all my travelling wardrobe, and to
whom, had 1 not known the Turks pretty well by that
time, I should have been afraid to have offered any present
of money, I gave a zequin, a littio more than half-a-guinea;
 371
and for the receipt of this they bowed as gravely as ever,
and returned slowly to the palare, walking, as is the
fashion of the higher orders in Turkey, with their toes
turned inwards.
You may be sure, that, after this ridiculous adventure,
I did not stir out of the Aga's house until my horses were
ready to leave the town, nor attempt to have any other
sight of the water than that which I got going to and re
turning from the island.
What I witnessed of the Euripus was, that the stream
flows with violence, like a mill-race, under the bridges,
and that a strong eddy is observable on that side from
which it is about to run, about a hundred yards above
the bridges ; the current, however, not being at all appa
rent at a greater distance, either to the south or north.
Yet the ebbing and flowing are said to be visible at ten
or a dozen leagues distance, at each side of the strait,
by marks shown of the rising and falling of the water
in several small bays in both coasts. The depth of the
stream is very inconsiderable, not much more than four
feet.
It was with difficulty that I could get any account of
this phenomenon. The Tiniot Doctor told me, that, « per
Dio, he had never been to look at it ; but that, if any one
had told me that the change took place more than twice
in twenty-four hours, he fancied the person had lied."
The Secretary said it changed seven times in that space
of time ; and one of the Turks guarding the tower be
tween the two bridges, and living on the spot, averred it
altered its course five times, favouring me at the same
time with the cause of this miracle.
« Not a great many years ago," said he, « this water
was like any other part of the sea, and did not flow at
all ; but a Hadji, (that is, a holy Turk, who had been to
Mecca) being a prisoner in that tower, when the Infidels
had the place, and confined in a dark cell, where he could
see nothing but the water below, through a hole in his
dungeon, begged of God to send him some sign by which
he might know when to pray. His request was granted,
by the change which immediately took place in the flow
ing and reflowing of the stream ; and since that time, the
current has altered its course at each of the five seasons
of prayer."
 372
The man told this story with the air of a person w ho
believed it himself ; yet it was clear enough, that, though
having daily opportunities of so doing, he had never
thought about ascertaining whether the tide did change
at day-break, at mid-day, two hours and a half before
sun-set, at sun-set, and an hour and a half after—the five
times prescribed by the Mahometan law. If the fellow
was not laughing, of which, as he spoke to me through
an interpreter, 1 could not be a very adequate judge, he
gave surely as strong an example as could be well ima
gined, of the disinclination so apparent in the followers
of all ridiculous superstitions, to convince themselves of
the folly of their credulity. He might any day have
found out that the tale was not true, and that the Hadji
had not obtained permission of God that the course of
the sea should be altered at the five periods settled for of
fering up the prayers of the believers. Yet, with the
feelings of a true devotee, he preferred to propagate, ra
ther than to examine, the holy fable ; and, in spite of
evidence forced upon his constant notice, would not trust
himself with a suspicion of its falsity.
Had Aristotle hit upon so easy a solution of this won
der, he would have addressed himself to a people as reli
gious, and consequently as credulous, as the Turks.
The account which Wheler copied from the Jesuit Ba-
bin, and collected on the spot, although not from his per
sonal experience, he not being long enough in the place,
was, that it was subject to the same laws as the tides of
the ocean, for eighteen days of every moon, and was ir
regular, having twelve, thirteen, or fourteen Sowings and
ebbings for the other eleven days, that is, that it was re
gular for the three last days of the old moon, and the
eight first of the new, then irregular for five days, regu
lar again for the next seven, and irregular for the other
six. The water seldom rose to two feet, and usually not
above one ; and, contrary to the ocean, it flowed towards
the sea, and ebbed towards the main-land of Thessaly,
northwards. On the irregular days it rose for half an
hour, and fell for three quarters; but when regular, was
six hours in each direction, losing an hour a day. It did
not appear to be influenced by the wind. This detail,
however, which I conclude to be correct, docs not attempt
 373'

to account for the irregular changes, nor for the differ

ence of number in those irregular changes.
I feel myself quite unqualified to speak on such a de
bated point ; and shall, therefore, only add what was told
me by a Greek of Athens, who had resided three years
at Egripo. He said, that he considered the changes to
depend chiefly upon the wind, which, owing to the high
lands in the vicinity of the strait, is particularly variable
in this place. The two great gulfs, for so they may be
called, at the north and south of the strait, which present
a large surface to every storm that blows, and receive the
whole force of the Archipelago, communicate with each
other at this narrow shallow channel ; so that the Euri-
pus may be a sort of barometer, indicative of every
change, and of whatever rising and falling of the tide,
not visible in the open expanse of waters, there may be
in these seas. I did not, however, see any marks of the
water being ever higher at one time than at another.
He added, that he observed, that when the wind was
north or south, that is, either up or down the strait, the
alteration took place only four times in the twenty-four
hours ; but that when it was from the east, and blew
strongly over the high mountains behind Egripo, the re
fluxes took place more frequently, ten or twelve times ;
and that particularly immediately before the full of the
moon, the turbulence and eddies, as well as the rapidity
of the stream, were very much increased. There was ne
ver, at any season, any certain rule with respect either
to the period or the number of the changes. -
Those of the ancients who inquired into this phenome
non, were aware, that the story of theEuripus changing
its course always seven times during the day, was un
founded ; and the account given of it by Livy,* corres
ponds, in some measure, with that of my Athenian in
formant. The bridge which anciently connected the main
and the island was considerably longer than that which
at present serves the same purpose. f
* Nam et venti utriusqus terrx prsealtis montibus subiti ac procel-
losi se dejiciunt, et fretum ipsum Euripi non septies die, sicut fama
fert, temporibus statis reciprocat; sed temere in modum venti, nunc
hue nunc illuc verso mari, veiut monte prxcipiti devolutus torrens ra-
pitur.—Tit. Li*, lib. xxviii. cap. 6.
f E'Vt/ *<u it' mti ytyuf* fivM$-pos.—Strab. lib. is. p. 403.
 374

We are informed, that the strait was made more nar

row by a dyke, which the inhabitants of Chalcis con
structed to lessen the passage ; and it is by no means im
probable, that the whole of the flat on which the fortified
part of Egripo now stands, and which is surrounded on
the land side by a wide marsh, was formerly covered by
the waters of the Euripus.
I did not hear of any remains of the ancient Chalcis,
in or near the modern town ; the castle, and some of the
oldest houses, retain signs of the old Venetian buildings;
and some very large stones in the works look as if they
once belonged to more superb edifices.
This island was considered one of the most important
of the possessions of Venice, in the prosperity of that
powerful republic; and one of the memorials of former
greatness, displayed at this day at St. Marc's, is the
standard of the Kingdom of Negroponte. The capital
town, for many years after its reduction by Mahomet the
Second, was the usual residence, and under the immedi
ate command, of the Capudan Pasha, the High Admiral
of the Turkish fleets.
The Turks have a constant apprehension that some ef
fort is intended against this island by the Christian Pow
ers, and are consequently, as hinted before, ridiculously
cautious about the fortifications of Egripo.
My sourgee, or postman, told me, that he had been
witness to an unpleasant scene in this place. A Frank
traveller, having a firman from the Porte, visited the cas
tle, and was about to retire, when the Captain of the
Turkish guard stept up to him, and asked him for bis
Imperial license for seeing the place. The Frank gave
him what he desired ; upon which the Turk, perusing it
very seriously, asked him if he had no other order ; and
being answered in the negative, exclaimed, « I see here
a permission for you to come into the castle—but none
for you to go out !" and, so saying, he shut the gate, and
confined the traveller for some days, as a warning to
him for the future to rppress his curiosity.
I have since beard of a similar transaction having ta
ken place in Canclia, with the addition, that the Frank,
an Englishman, resisted, and was killed. The Turks of
both islands bear much the same character for ferocity
and hatred of strangers ; but the Candiote is the more
 375
lively and spirited of the two, and his nation supplies all
the best sailors in the Turkish fleet.
In addition to their other vile propensities, the Negro-
pontines aMidistinguished, amongst a nation of sensual
ists, by thaWorrid perversity of taste, which an ancient
historian has superadded as a disgusting trait to his fi
nished picture of a villain,* and which appears an un
warrantable excess in the eyes even of the Orientals
themselves.
The island is now, as it was formerly, valuable on ac
count of the extraordinary fertility of its soil, and the
quantity of corn with which it supplies the adjacent coun
tries. Twenty for one is mentioned as the common re
turn of grain.f
From Egripo we returned, by a shorter way than that
which we had traversed in the morning, to Scimitari,
crossing a cleft in the hills before we came to Vathi, a
little beyond the port of Aulis, most probably in the ex
act direction of the road which formerly led from Chalcis
to Thebes. The very ancient city of Mycalessus, not far
from the sea, and surrounded with extensive fields, (tup.
X'ft Mvxa\»<r<ret, is the expression of Homer), was in this
quarter of Boeotia, which afterwards came under the
power of Tanagra, a city independent long after the au
thority of Thebes had declined.^ Vast numbers of coins
have been found by the peasants of this village in plough
ing up the neighbouring plain. A large collection was
presented to me ; one of them was a copper coin of Ta
nagra ; it had been found near a spot called Grematha,
one hour and a half to the south of Scimitari.
Returning to my village, and waiting for some refresh
ment, I attended a burial. The dead was a poor woman
who had been alive when I left the place in the morning.
She was carried in a rug into the little church, and laid

* Xenophon (Cyr. Anab. fin. lib. ii.), in his character of Menon the
Thessalian. Yet with what coolness does this Greek talk of the more
usual enormity of his age and country. (See his story of Episthenee,
p. 532). He neither expresses, nor wishes to excite, any abhorrence,
but opens his narrative simply, E'aw&mc ft »v ,r/c O'«vir9-<oc treuttfua--
T«c and afterwards, o tt 2«tj8)ic yt\w. »
f The Tauric Chersonese, however, produced thirty.—Strab. lib.
vii. p. 311.
t Win. cap. 7, " Tanagra, liber populus."
 376

down on the floor, with nothing but a thin Strip of cotton

tied about her. Two caloyers performed the service over
her in a hasty manner, when she was carried out, and
put into a trench not deeper than two or thcee feet. Be
fore putting her in the grave, they tied smdals to her
feet, which, when she was laid in the earth, were adjust
ed by a man who jumped into the pit and placed them up
right, like those of a recumbent statue on a tomb : the
same person, taking a small flat stone, on which one of
the priests had made the sign of the cross, laid it upon
her breast, and immediately after, with the assistance of
others, covered the body with earth. There were six old
women attending as mourners, but they, as well as the
rest of the congregation, seemed rather merry than sad,
behaving with a levity which I was proceeding to remark
upon, when one of them said, « Why should we weep
for her, she was an orphan ; she was sixty years old ;
how can any one care for such a person ?" It is impos
sible to answer a question, dictated by sentiments so fre
quently felt, though so seldom confessed, by the generali
ty of mankind.
The day afterwards, my party proceeded on the road
towards Megara, determining so to contrive the journies,
that I might sleep the first night at a monastery situated
in the southern declivities of Cithseron, and from that
place visit the ruins of Platsea.
The path lay to the south, for an hour and a half over
a plain whose corn-lands are attached to the village of
Scimitari ; it then passed under a low hill, the spot call
ed Grcmatha, round which, particularly to the south and
east, are several pieces of ancient walls, besides some re
mains of a large building on the summit. If this place
he not too far from the sea, it answers tolerably to the
site of Tanagra, and the hill above may be that once
called Cerycius. It is west from the tower near ^Enoe,
and south-south-west from Thebes.
The road from Tanagra to Platsea, two hundred stadia,
was rough and mountainous. At a little distance beyond
Grematha, we crossed the Asopus, and came directly into
tlie mountains, a range of Elatias, or Cithseron, and soon
passed a ruined chapel on a knoll. In this chapel are
parts of the shafts of four small marble columns, which
have given the spot the name of Castri. The road then
 377

lay to the west-north-west. On a height above to the

left, south-east, we saw a village, Mavromati. Still
ascending, and turning more westward for about an hour,
we got into a narrow valley, with rocky hills on each
side, and continued through this, in a path which was
only a goat-track, for another hour, when we came upon
the road wc had before travelled from Thebes to Athens,
having on our left the ruined tower.*
Instead of remaining in the same direction, westward
towards Platsa, and so travelling through that part of
Boeotia which was called Parasopia, we turned into this
road, and crossing the low rocky ridge of Cithseron to
the south, went over the western extremity of the plain
of Scourta, passing by the village of Spalise. Wc then
went ugain to the westward, and got in half an hour into
the mountains. Cithseron here is very high, and cover
ed with thick woods, chiefly of pine, which have given it
the modern name of Elatias.
There was no direct path to the monastery of which
we were in search, so that we soon lost our way, and
parted, some of us keeping high up on the brows, and
the others striking lower down, directly across several
narrow valleys and chasms, towards the point whither
we directed our steps. I gave my horse to one of the
postmen* and, seeing a building rising above the trees on
the ledge of a rock at some distance, made towards it,
penetrating into a woody dell, where two torrents from
the opposite hills united their streams, and rolled down a
steep precipice into the plains below. I had gone too
quick for Demetrius, who was left behind me amongst
the woods. It was a still evening, and no other sound
was to be heard but the gentle dashing of the torrent, at
whose brink I was stooping down, when the echoes of
Cithseron were at once awakened by the shouting of my
attendant, and starting up, I heard my name repeated as
if in thunder, from every corner of the vast amphithea
tre of woody hills around me. Immediately afterwards
the man himself appeared ; and being questioned as to
the cause of his alarm, said, « I was afraid, Sir, that you
might have been encountered by some wild beast : the
mountains are full of them."
• See Letter XX.
Vox,. I. 3 B
 378

I was not perhaps quite so apprehensive of the wild

beasts, that is, the wolves, as Demetrius, but wishing to
reach the monastery, proceeded to climb the ascent be
fore us. We soon overtook a monk and a little boy, driv
ing an ass laden with faggots up a steep zig-zag path
through the woods, and taking them for guides, arrived,
after a good deal of fatigue, at the end of our day's jour
ney.
It was some time before we could gain admittance ; and
had not Demetrius made hi-.nself known to a Monk who
held par ley with us from one of the casements, we should
not have been suffered to enter. My Athenian, who knew
this fraternitv pretty well, told them at first that we only
wanted to see their church, one of the curiosities of mo
dern Greece, and extolled as such in Meletius' Geogra
phy. Whilst, however, we were surveying the interior
of that building, they were told we intended to pass the
night with them ; when they asked who were com
ing behind of the party, and were answered an Albanian,
a Christian. Vasilly at this moment entered the church,
and confirmed the report, by crossing himself very de
voutly. They then frankly confessed, that had they be
held this person before we had been let in, they would
certainly not have opened their gates, especially as, see
ing that we were not in the high-way, (/2ao-im*» ri^ai-a),
they had some suspicions of us, and were afraid of being
entrapped, as they had been a week before, to be the un
willing hosts of a very large party for many days : as it
was, however, they accommodated us with a room in one
of the corners of their quadrangular building, and were
attentive and hospitable.
Agios Meletius, for so it is called, is placed on a green
area half way up the sides of Cithseron, the only flat
spot to be found in the mountain, which, both above and
below the monastery, is a mass of vast precipices, shad
ed with dark forests of pine. A green vale of some ex
tent, at the foot of the mountain, covered with flocks and
herds belonging to the Monks, and the road to Megara,
winding over the opposite hills to the south, are seen
from this spot, but the surrounding woods shut out the
view on every other side.
The building is larger than that on Mount Pendele, or
any other monastery which we visited) but is of the same
 379

rnde and massy construction, with only one iron door of

entrance, and several casements, or rather loop-holes, in
the upper parts of the wall, which serve the purpose of
windows for the cells, and also of loop-holes, whence
musketry may be successfully used on an emergency.
The Monks are supplied with guns and other arms, and
unless taken by surprise, could never be forced to admit
any body of men, however large. The experiment has
frequently been tried by parties of Albanians, travelling
from Thebes through the Megaris into the Morea, who
have always been repulsed.
These stout saints should be in number fifty, but at
present there are only ten resident caloyers, and five
more superintending distant metochis. For the recruit
ing of their order, they have established a small school
in the monastery, and ten or twelve boys are instructed
in all the accomplishments which are necessary for their
intended profession, that is, to read the ritual of the Greek
church in a quick sing-song tone. These lads are well
fed, clothed, and lodged by the Monks ; and their pa
rents have all the care and expense of their children ta
ken at once off their .hands, besides being sure that they
will be comfortably established in this life, and secure of
a bright reversion in the next world.
The church of St. Meletius has a dome, supported by
pillars of red marble, generally supposed porphyry. Be
fore the sanctuary are two octagonal pilasters, of the
same material, and four smaller pillars of marble sup
port the dome of the holy recess. The Monks, who be*
fore had had some dealings with Demetrius as a painter,
consulted him, in my presence, about a scheme they had
in view, of taking down these marble pillars, and sup
plying their place with four of wood. These, they ob
served, would better bear and display the gilding, with,
with which they intended to adorn the whole interior of
the building!!! The pillars are of a size that shows
they must have been taken from some remains near the
spot ; and in a grove a little below the monastery there
is a grotto and a bath, apparently ancient and perhaps
belonging to some chapel sacred to one of the deities of
Cithseron, from which the marbles may have been re
moved to the church of Meletius. There is a sepulchral
 380

inscription on a stone inserted in the wall on one side

the church door.
It seems that the ancient, as well as the modern
Greeks, were fond of fixing their habitations in the high
est accessible spots on the sides of their mountains, con
sulting at the same time their health and their security.
The latter object has been particularly attended to by the
Monks, who, at the same time that they have selected al
most every beautiful spot, either in the vallies, or on the
slopes of woody hills, for the site of their unnumbered
monasteries, have also fixed some of these holy retreats
on the very peaks of the highest rocks, whither it does
not appear how it was possible to convey materials for
erecting their cells.
There is amongst the ranges of Mezzovo, or Pindus,
at no great distance from a han, called Kokouliotiko, the
supposed site of Gomphi,* a high rock with nine sum
mits, called Meteora, and on each of these peaks, which
are in a cluster together, is a small monastery. Meteora
being in the road leading from Ioannina to Trircala and
Larissa, the Monks of these aerial habitations have con
trived to secure themselves from all surprises", or unwel
come visitants, by cutting down those ridges of their
rocks by which they first ascended them, and all the
monasteries are now perfectly inaccessible. The Monks
who leave the society for the sake of purchasing provi
sions, or on other necessary occasions, are let down from
the summits of the mountain in baskets, to the highest
landing-place, perhaps a hundred feet below, and, on
their return, are drawn up into the monasteries by the
same contrivance.
One may surely be at a loss to guess what charms life
Can have for a caloycr of Meteora, a prisoner on the
ridge of a bare rock. Security is not acceptable on such
conditions. Yet, from amongst the varieties of human
conduct, we may collect other instances of voluntary pri
vations equally unaccountable, and produced, indepen
dent of habit or constraint, by original eccentricity of
mind. A Monk of St. Meletius, sitting with one or two
others of his order in my cell, and taking a glass or two
of rossoglio, which we usually carried with us in our can-

* Letter VI. p. 64.

 381

teen, confessed to me, that he never had in his life felt an

inclination to change his place, and having from his
childhood belonged to the monastery, had seldom wander
ed beyond its precincts : « For four years," said he,- « I
have not gone farther from the gate than the grotto in
the grove, and perhaps another four years may pass be
fore I go down into the plain. I am not fond of travel
ling, vet some of us prefer being abroad, and Hadji there
has been to Jerusalem ; for myself, I do not wish to re
move from this spot, and would not go even to one of the
farms of our monastery."
The Monk who spoke was one-and-twenty years of
age, in the bloom of health. Hadji, or the saint who had
made the pilgrimage, assured me, that the young man had
spoken the truth, and added besides, that he was as igno
rant as an infant, whispering something in my ear, which
was a decisive proof of his innocence. The same pil
grim, a shrewd young fellow, seeing my surprise, conti
nued to declare, that the propensity of this young Monk
to remain for ever on the mountain, was singular, but not
so singular as the bent and disposition of some others
whom he had known. « There is," he added, « a ca-
ioyer of our monastery, who seldom speaks to any of us,
and is never in his cell, except during a few hours in the
night. The whole of his time is passed with our oxen,
which he tends, and to which he has taken such a fancy,
that he will suffer neither beast nor man, not even one of
us, to approach their pasture, but drives away the in
truder with stones. He will not let any other herdsman
assist him in attending the cattle, and our abbot humours
his inclination, which every day grows more violent."
We have read of the Boskoi, or grazing saints, who
once swarmed over the plains of Mesopotamia : but it
does not appear that those fanatics lived with the herds
like my monk of St. Meletius, or afforded quite so strange
an example of the follies and madnesses liable to arise
amongst members of a community, associated on princi
ples contrary to common sense, and regulated according
to a system in direct opposition to the general habits and
nature of man.
 LETTER XXX.

Route from St. Meietius to the Ruins of Platoza, at 'CocklL

—Gifto-Castro.—(Enoe.—Pass of Citlueron.—Paraso-
pia.—The Positions of the Armies at the Battle of Pla
toza.—'Doubts respecting the Numbers whofought against
the Greeks.—Route from St. Meletius to Megara—by
Koundouri.—Pass in the Mountains.—Arrival at Mega
ra.—The Derveni Choria.—The Town and Inhabitants
of Megara.—Return by Eleusis to Athens.—General
View of the District of Attica, and of the Peasants set
tled in the Villages.

EARLY in the morning of the 11th of February,

the Monks, as they were requested, roused my party,
presenting mc at the same time with a small piece of con
secrated bread, the remainder of what had been used for
the mass which they had celebrated at the dawn of day.
The baggage was left at the monastery, and the surgee
and Vasilly accompanied me on a visit to the ruins of
Platsea, close to a village whose name is Cockli, on the
other side, the north, of Cithseron.
Having with some difficulty descended the hills, we got
into a long valley, called the plain of the Calivia of
Koundouri, the name of a large village in the vicinity.
This plain, which is partly a green pasture, and partly
cultivated and divided into corn-fields and vineyards, ex
tends westwards for perhaps eight or nine miles ; and
near the extremity of it, under an amphitheatre of woody
bills, is a village called Villa. It corresponds in every
respect with the small territory which belonged anciently
to Eleutherse, and was attached first to Bceotia, but after
wards to Attica.
Travelling on in this valley to the west for two hours,
we turned off into a pass between the hills, on the right,
 383

in order to cross the mountain Cithseron, and thus got in

to the line of road which was anciently the only route
from Thebes to Megara. A path across the hills near
Villa, to the south-west, was that leading directly from
the isthmus, and the one by which the Lacedemonian ar
my marched from the Peloponnesus, and penetrated
through the Eleusinian territory into Attica.
Immediately on entering the pass, we saw, on a rocky
brow to the right, the remains of an ancient fortress,
consisting of five low towers, and a strong wall running
a quarter of a mile, perhaps, round nearly the whole sum
mit of the rock.
I cannot but suppose these to be the remains of (Enoe,
the strong frontier town between Attica and Bceotia,
which was besieged by the Spartan General in the first
year of the Peloponnesian war.* There were two towns
of this name in Attica ; one belonging to the district Te-
trapolis, near Marathon, of the tribe vEantis ; the other,
that which we saw, near Eleuthere, and of the tribe Hip-
pothoontis.
The ruins, I know not why, are now called Gifto-Cas-
tro, or the Gipsies' Tower. There are no traces of any
houses within the circuit of the fortifications ; but the
towers and walls are remarkably entire, and convey a
very correct notion of what, according to the system of
Greek warfare, was the most effectual method of fortify
ing a town. A wall built round the summit of a rock,
would, it must seem, be the first kind of strong place in
vented, and the addition of towers would be the next im
provement, and one with which the engineers of antiqui
ty would be likely to be satisfied, as entirely sufficient for
all the purposes of defence. The Spartans were consi
dered as the most inexpert of all the Greeks, in the be
sieging of towns ; and the army of Archidamus, though
furnished with engines and other means of attack, failed
to reduce this place; which, however, was no great
proof of their want of skill ; for (Enoe was by no means,
as a late writer,! before referred to, asserts, a trifling

* Onoh wra it [tiSrifimt T»t ATTims x<h Bt'iTia; eTST«/£/r.

f, fcc—Thucyd. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 18.
f De Pauw, sec. 8. torn. i. A circumstance which occurred after
the battle of Flatza, is a much stronger proof of the incapacity of the
 381
fort, but one as well qualified • to resist attack as could
well be constructed. From the towers which remain,
and which are square, it appears that these parts of the
work were not raised at equal distances from each other,
but at every point where the nature of the ground re
quired an angle in the walls. They are not much higher
than a manj and will not contain more than two persons
standing upright.
A little farther up the pass, beyond the ruins of CEnoe,
is a fountain erected by some benevolent Turk, who, ac
cording to usual practice, has recorded his generosity in
golden letters on the stone above the spring : it is called
Petroyracke. In twenty minutes after this, we left the
road leading to Thebes towards the north-north-east,
whose highest point was once called ifs ksp*\*i, the Three
Heads, and struck into a rough mountain track, conti
nually ascending, to the north-west. We were half an.
hour in this direction before we got to the top of this
ridge of Cithseron, when we had at once a view of the
plains of Breotia. The minaret of one of the moscks of
Thebes was visible, peeping above the low mounds to the
south of that city : Zagari, or Helicon, was to the west-
north-west, and Liakura, or Parnassus, was just appa
rent, rising into the sky at the northern extremities of He
licon ; Cithseron, ranged onwards as far as the eye could
reach to the west ; the green plains of Platsea, the scene
of the great battle that established the liberties of Greece,
were lying directly below, rather to the left, and a fine
open country, the ancient Parasopia, and the district be
longing to the city Erythrse, extended under the foot of
the hills to the right. The river Asopus divided into two
branches, which, uniting, form a long island, once called
Oeroe, opposite to Platsea, not half a mile in breadth, was
seen winding through the w hole of this large flat.
I shall endeavour to give you an account of the posi
tions, with a reference to the battle.* Descending the hilL.
for ten minutes, you have on your right a small village,
Spartan in this respect, which, indeed, was a part of their discipline.
They were unable to force the wooden intrenchment of the Persian
camp, until the Athenians came up to their assistance.
* Mr. Barbi£ du Boccage's plan, in Anacharsis, of these positions,
seems entirely wrong. He has put the pass of tfuc Keptuai to the
West, instead of to the east, of Flatsa.
 Calivi, at the foot of the hills. This was the second po
sition of the Greeks, who, marching from Erythrse along
the roots of Cithseron, and passing Hysise, into the Pla-
tsean territory,* placed themselves on that spot to pre
vent the Persians from penetrating into Attica or the Pe
loponnesus, by the great road from Thebes through the
pass of Tfus Kttn\a.1, which, just beyond Calivi, is seen,
looking like the bed of a torrent, running through a
chasm in the hills.
Calivi is one hour and a half from Platsea. Not far
from the village, half a mile below in the plain, near a
solitary house, is a spring, with great probability the
same which supplied the fountain Gargaphia, the very spot
where the Greeks were encamped. About a mile to the
north-west of the fountain, the two branches of the Aso-
pus reunite. Sloping to the westward down the sides of
the mountain, a little more than a mile beyond Calivi, you
come to a rivulet flowing down a ravin ; and on a hillock
above, you see some large stones disposed into a square.
It is impossible to doubt, but that the rivulet is the Mo-
lois, to which the Lacedemonians retired, at the same
time that the Athenians passed into the plain towards the
island Oeroe, and the confederates to the walls of Pla
tsea, near the Temple of Juno : the stones on the hillock
may be the remains of the chapel of the Eleusinian
Ceres. This position is half a mile up the sides of Ci-
thasron, on very uneven marshy ground. The whole
force of the Persians crossing the Asopus and the plain
near Gargaphia, ascended the roots of the mountain, and
brought the Lacedemonians to action on the banks of the
Moloi's. The Greek allies of the Persianswent into the
plain, and were there routed by the Athenians.
Continuing for another mile, still along the sides of the
mountain, you arrive at a small remain, similar to that
above the rivulet, and which may be the vestiges, either
of the Temple of Juno Cithseronia, or the heroic monu
ment of the Platseans who were slain in the battle.
In less than half a mile beyond, but downwards to
wards the plain, you meet with the first remains, on this
side, of the walls of Platsea. The path leads under these,
and, passing a fountain, takes you round a kind of ter-
* Herod. Calliope, cap. 25.
Vol. I. 3.C
 386

race, surrounded in many parts with the walls of the an

cient city. The size of Platsea may be computed exact
ly by what is left of these walls, whose circuit seems to
have been about a mil'e. Very large stones, apparently
part of the foundations of houses, are scattered upon the
area of the terrace, but there are no marble remains.
This terrace is directly under the highest summits of Ci-
thseron, which in this spot impend in woody precipices
over the site of the city. The ground above the ruins is
very rugged and steep, and the pine-forests advance
within a short distance of the plain. When we visited
the place, the summits of the mountain were capped with
clouds of snow, which formed a fine contrast with the
dark woods beneath.
In a niche of the hills, to the west of the site of Pla
tsea, is the village of Corkli, containing a few wretched
huts. Beyond is a small plain, running west-south-west,
bounded to the south by the range of Cithseron, and to
the north by some low hills, separating it from the plain
of Thespise.* This I should suppose to be the pass an
ciently called the Straits of Platsea, through which lay
the road to Leuctra. Nearly opposite Cockli, there is a
small bridge over one of the branches of the Asopus, a
very insignificant stream. The land in the island t)eroe,
near this bridge, is high and rugged, and the point where
the river divides itself into two branches is not visible
from Cockli.
Notwithstanding the circumstantial account, and the
particular enumeration of the forces of the two nations
engaged in the battle, given by Herodotus, no traveller
who has seen the scene of action, which is to this day re
cognisable by most undoubted signs, can fail to suspect
the Grecian historian of some exaggeration. The whole
conflict must have taken place on a triangular space,
bounded by the road from Thebes into the pass of Cithse-
ron, five miles, the base of Cithseron, three miles, and the
road from Platsea to Thebes, six miles. The Greeks
were one hundred and ten thousand ; the Persians, with
their confederates, three hundred and fifty thousand. But
the most severe part of the action, and in which, reckon
ing both Lacedemonians and Persians, nearly three hun-

* Wheler, bookvi. p. 475.

 387
dred and fifty thousand troops were engaged, was fought
on the ravin, in marshy steep ground amongst the hills,
where, notwithstanding the account informs us that the
cavalry of Mardonius were the most active, it seems dif
ficult to believe that a single squadron of horse could
have manoeuvred.
From Gargaphia to the Molois is but little more than
a mile, and, according to the historian, the whole of this
immense body fought in less than that space, for Mardo
nius advanced into the hills to encounter Pausanias. I
should fancy that such an extent of ground would not
contain such numbers, although ranged in the deepest
order of which the ancient tactics allowed ; and the Per
sians did not advance in any order at all, but confusedly.*
The fifty thousand allies of Mardonius and the Athe
nians might have fought in the plain between the Asopus
and the foot of the hill, which, however, according to mo
dern tactics, would not admit of even that number of
troops to engage.
It does not appear that any part of the action, except
the forcing the Persian camp, took place beyond the
Asopus, so that not half of the space above mentioned,
was occupied by the troops of either party during the ac
tion. In short, it is impossible to reconcile the positions
with the detailed account transmitted to us by the Greeks
of this immortal victory : yet an ingenious antiquarian
would do much towards such an object, and volumes of
controversy might be produced on both sides of the ques
tion.
Lest it may appear sacrilege to entertain doubts which
must diminish the lustre of Grecian heroism, I beg you
to recollect, that even the more sober page of Latin his
tory has been occasionally viewed with the eye of scepti
cism, particularly in Italy, on the scene of some of the
exploits of the earlier Romans. Tome after tome has
been ushered into the world on such disputed points,
and one large quarto, the work of a learned antiquary,
is occupied solely in treating of the Caudine Forks. The
daring mendacity of the Grecian annals, became prover
bial amongst the Romans, who supposed that this inge
nious people owed much of their martial fame to their

* "OijTe xorfxa svfai x09-|a»fltvTe;, own ,r«t£/.—Herod. Gall. cap. 59.

 388
poets, rhetoricians, and historians, whose eulogies, and
whose records, first of all, perhaps, only flattered their va
nity, but by degrees appeared well-founded, and obtained
every credit amongst a people who were interested in be
lieving them to be just and impartial. The warriors of
' Italy, after some acquaintance with the merits of the
Greeks, were willing to pay all respect to their artists,
and to their writers ; they were content to become their
pupils; but having found their soldiers unable to check
them for a moment in the career of victory ; and, indeed,
having beheld their most famous states previously en
slaved by foreign tyrants, and the suppliants, rather than
the antagonists of Rome, they could with difficulty enter
tain any exalted notion of their military prowess. The
examples which the Roman youth were directed to study,
by day and by night, were the writings, not the actions
of the Greeks : yet, to the latest ages, the natives of this
illustrious country considered their ancestors as affording
models of the highest excellence, not only in the arts of
peace, but of war, and as worthy of being ranked with
those conquerors who had subdued the world. With what
triumph does the great author of the Parallels attribute
the glory of Athens to the exploits of her heroes, rather
than to the genius of her writers. « This it was," ex
claims the exulting Chseronean, « that raised the state to
" glory, this raised her to greatness ; for this, Pindar
« calls Athens the prop of Greece ; not that she roused
" the Greeks by the tragedies of her Phrynicus and her
« Thespis, but that the sons of the Athenians first at Ar-
«« temisium, (such is his expression), laid the splendid
« foundation of liberty ; and at Salamis, at Mycale, at
« Platasa, having established in adamantine security the
« freedom of Greece, transmitted it to the rest of man-
« kind."*
• T*ut* THvirtMv Hyufiv tis ifofap, TAvtn ut fjay&ot, iv tcutoij 11/,.
iTttpac tftto-fAtt me 'ExhaJoe irpoo-wTt Ttfc A&»vAcs ov^ ott Tate fyuwxev
•rpttyaSitttt xAi Qto-mSos apSovv Tous 'Bhx»ttts, xxx oTt irpaiTOe (a; f»o-it
«tuToc) or Kprtfuette irtttStt A&»va/a» £/2*avvt« pxsnxv xpHirtS' exii/S»fiae,
%tti vi X*Aa/w/7J xtt/ Mvxaxh n<ti T1xttTeLicue ucrirtp ASttfXAv»rivoi crTHpigAv-
Tts sMuS-ef/a, t»c 'Ex\<tScs irapeSac-ttV toit *\*.cn; avS-pmirots.*—Plut. sro-
Tsfo» A&eKuo/ jtetTa iroMftw. x. t. Reiske edit. vol. vii. p. 379.
* The words quoted are not ia that part of Pindar's works which re
main.
 The author of this panegyric is, however, obliged to
confess, in another place,* that in his time, the whole of
Greece could hardly furnish three thousand fighting men;
a number that, according to ancient history, was once sup
plied by Megara alone.
There seems no way of accounting for the large armies
brought into the field by the Greeks during their civil
wars, except by supposing that every man capable of
bearing arms was occasionally a soldier. By what other
means could the Thebans arm seventy thousand troops to
fight the Lacedemonians? When Justinf lays down ihe
number of soldiers which could be arrayed in thettime of
Philip of Macedon, by the whole Grecian confederacy,
without reckoning Laconia, at two hundred thousand in
fantry and fifteen thousand cavalry, he must, as Mr.
Hume, in the essay before quoted, has observed, be un
derstood to allude to all those who could bear arms. In
truth, the heavy armed were, properly speaking, the only
regular soldiers, and the light troops, as it appears from
the most ancient details of battles, were considered as at
tendants upon the great effective force.
In the battle of Platsea there were seven helots, with
the requisite accoutrements, attached to every Spartan,}:
and about one light-armed soldier to each individual of
the other troops, making in the whole sixty-nine thou
sand five hundred of this kind of force ; many more than
half of the whole confederate army. Thus we may feel in
clined to credit the statement of the numbers of the Greek
forces said to be engaged in their famous battles, but must
be allowed to doubt a little with respect to the myriads of
the Barbarians, which, on the evidence of their own wri
ters, they are generally believed to have overthrown.
The different amounts of the Persian army who fought
at Marathon, as transmitted to us by various authorities,
are of themselves sufficient to justify such an incredulity.
But I will conclude these hints, which were suggested by
a view of the Platsean plains, and return to the monaste
ry of St. Meletius.
The day after my visit to the ruins of Platsea, we set
out for Megara, going first down the mountain, through

* Essay on the Failure of the Oracles. • \ Lib. ix. cap. 5.

t Herod. Call. cap. 28 et 29.
 i*90

ihick woods of evergreens into the plain. Crossing this,

we got into the public road leading from Thebes to
Athens, Megara, and the Morea, and in an hour came to
where a path branched off to the left, towards the first of
those places, through Eleusis. In half an hour from this
point, going over low, bare hills, we passed Koundouri,
a considerable village on the top and sides of a hillock
under a mountain to the south-west, and not shaded by a
single tree. Thence we began to ascend, and travelled
through pine-forests for an hour and a half, until we had
gained the brow of the mountain.
Looking back from this spot, we had a view of the mo
nastery of St. Meletius, and found we had gone in a
south-south-westerly direction. Here the road divides,
one branch of it to the right, towards the Isthmus, across
the high mountains called the Derveni, the other more to
the south-west, to Megara. We descended a winding
path, and now and then, through openings in the woods,
caught a view of the Athenian plain and Mount Penteli-
cus to the left in the distance, and the country about
Eleusis nearer to us in the same quarter.
In a little time we passed one of the stations of the
guard which is kept throughout the mountains bordering
on the Isthmus. Eight or ten stout young men were
smoking in a hut made of green branches ; one of them
brought us a jug of water, the usual present, and ano
ther, slinging his gun across his shoulder, was preparing
to attend us, but was dismissed with a small piece of mo
ney by Vasilly, who declared we had no orcasion for his
services, there being no robbers in all the district.
This guard was just at the mouth of a very narrow
pass between two perpendicular rocks, one of which, on
the right hand, displayed a huge rent, like a long cavern,
in its side. When we entered the pass, we had travelled
four hours from the monastery, and we then went direct
ly south-west, still amongst woods of evergreens and fra
grant shrubs, with occasional glimpses of the sea and the
castle of Megara. Issuing in about an hour more from
the hills and forests, we came at last upon an open culti
vated plain, and turning westward, arrived in another
hour at the town of Megara, where we took up our lodg
ing for the night.
 391

Megara contains a thousand houses, only six hundred

of which are inhabited, rather of a mean construction,
many of them being built of mud, and all of them having
low flat roofs. It is situated on two narrow ridges of a
low eminence ; on the top of that to the west, on which
the principal number of houses stand, is a large square
tower, and on the other, a windmill. The surrounding
plain is extensive, twenty miles perhaps in circumfer
ence, being bounded to the south by the line of coast run
ning west from the port once named Nissea, now Dodeca
Ecrlesiais, (which is small, and of the shape of a horse
shoe, two miles from the city), to the north by a long
chain of circling mountains, now the Long Mountains,
Macriplayi, branching off north-westward from the hills
of Kerata towards the western extremities of Cithieron
and the bay of Livadostro, and on the south-west by a
very high range of hills, resting on the extremities of the
northern mountains, formerly Gerania, and now called
Derveni Vouni, or the Mountain of the Guard. The de
clivities of the hills named Kerata, or the Horns, are
the north-eastern and eastern boundary of the plain
Near the port is a hillock, with a tower on the top of it,
the site of the citadel of Nissea; and there is a small
green island at the mouth of the harbour, the Minoa of
the ancients.
The whole of the Megaris is now frequently called
Derveni, from a singular policy of the Turks, who have
constituted all the population of this mountainous dis
trict, inhabiting seven towns, called Derveni Choria, of
which Megara is the largest, and Koundouri the next in
size, into an armed guard, to prevent the egress of any
unpermitted persons from the Morea through the Isth
mus. There is in the road through the mountains a per
petual guard, but every cottage and all the solitary mo
nasteries are supplied with guns, and on the least alarm,
which is easily communicated by smokes and fires on the
summits of the hills, the whole of the Megaris, from the
Isthmus to the passes of Citheeron, is in a state of de
fence.
About forty years ago, a large body of six or seven
thousand Albanians, who had been called in to drive the
Russians from the Morea, endeavoured to retire with
their plunder, against the orders of the Pasha of Tripo
lizza. The alarm was given to the Derveniotes, so they
are railed, and every path and outlet heing instantly oc
cupied by the Greek peasants, who were happy enough
to be employed against Albanians and Turks, very few of
the fugitives escaped ; many were killed by the Monks of
St. Melctius, endeavouring to fly through the unfrequent
ed tracks of Githseron between the two roads from Thebes
to Athens.
Ten years ago a similar attempt was made by a hun
dred and fifty Albanian Turks, who were dissatisfied
with the pay of the Pasha of the Morea, and not one of
them escaped, ten being killed, and the remainder sent in
chains to Tripolizza.
This institution has succeeded completely ; and such
is the vigilance, courage, and honesty of these Greeks*
that a snuff-box lost in their mountains would be proba
bly very soon recovered. The Derveniotes seem to be a
superior race to any other of the Greek peasantry ; the
putting arms into their hands, and taking away almost
all the controul of their masters from before their eyes,
(for they are under the command of the Capudan Pasha,
or High Admiral, and have only one Turk amongst them,
called the Derven-Aga), have given them the erect gait
and air of freemen. The greater part of them are
sprung from Albanian settlers, but all are acquainted
with the Romaic language, and by a long establishment
in the country, have adopted all the feelings and preju
dices of the Greeks. The decided superiority which their
knowledge of the country must always, and has given
them over any opponents, has naturally raised their no
tions of their own prowess to a great height, and they
speak of the ferocious Turk and the martial Albanian
with contempt. Although at present in the service of the
Porte, and exempted from part of the burdens to which
the Greeks are subject, paying only one hundred paras a
man for haratch, or capitation tax, yet they complain of
being obliged to give quarters to the people in the ser
vice of the Pashas of the Morea, when passing through
their country ; and it is easy to see that the Derveniotes
would be a most formidable instrument in the hands of
any power who might attempt to revolutionise European
Turkey. Their whole number, that is, all those amongst
them capable of carrying arms, was stated to me, though
 393
I believe somewhat loosely, at three thousand ; a.body
certainly sufficient to prevent the Morea from affording,
or receiving, any supplies, in case of a general insurrec
tion of the Greeks. Besides, the Derveni Choria, two or
three of the villages of Attica are considered as forming
part of the 'guard 5 this is the case with Casha, and the
Albanian peasantry of that district are reckoned more
courageous and spirited than those of other parts of the
country.
Megara retains no vestiges of its ancient importance,
except some pieces of wall, just visible above the surface
of the earth at the back of the hills ; yet many sepulchral
and other inscriptions, and some fragments of carved
marbles, are to be seen in the walls of the church and of
some of the houses. All the inscriptions have been co
pied, and four of them taken down by Wheler are also
given in Mcletius, and a collation of the two authorities
shows the incorrectness of the Romaic geographer.*
Three headless statues of females are in possession of a
priest, who removed them from a ruin on the road be
tween the town and the port, where they were seen by an
English traveller in 1738. Pieces of marble are found
in such quantity amongst the rubbish, particularly on the
hill of the tower, that the women of Megara, many of
them, grind their corn on a flat slab of it, making use of
a large roller of the same material to crush the grains
and reduce them to flour.
In the flat below the eminence on the north side of it,
is a fountain, with some fragments of marble near it,
half buried in the earth. This spring is conjectured to
have been within the circuit of the ancient city, and sa
cred to the nymphs called Sithnides. The modern well
has lately been filled up by the male inhabitants, who ac
cuse the water of having some properties productive of
an inclination to incontinence in their wives and daugh
ters. The females of Megara seem therefore to be ra
ther of a mixed reputation, which was, if I recollect
right, the character of the ancient Greek ladies of this
town. t
* Sabina, the wife of Hadrian, is, in Meletius, '2a/?«xiw, and the
word tIcluqvxqi, in one of the dedicatory inscriptions, which gave rise
to the doubts of Wheler, is changed for Tlnfi^i\es in the Geography.
Vol. I. 3D
 39*

This place, formerly almost deserted on account of the

frequent incursions of pirates, and burnt by -the Vene
tians in 16S7, appears for several years to have been in
creasing in size. In 1738 there were only a hundred
houses, and Chandler talks of it as a miserable village.
The richness of the soil in the surrounding plain abound
ing in vineyards and cotton grounds, but chiefly with
large tracts of corn land, has, however, drawn together
an increase of population ; and the vacant houses at Me-
gara will, it is probable, be gradually occupied by fresh
inhabitants.
We staid but one night at Megara, and then left it to
return by Eleusis to Athens ; a short ride of a few hours
if performed without baggage-horses, and, according to
the longest computation, only twenty-seven miles in
length : I was only five hours on the journey, leaving the
attendants behind as soon as we passed Eleusis.—The
Athenian generals, who were sworn to invade the territo
ries of Megara twice a year, bound themselves to no very
arduous or protracted enterprise, but one which, it seems,
might be performed any day betwixt the hour of break
fast and dinner.
The extreme diminutiveness of Greece, a fact so often
alluded to, may make some readers suspect that they,
and the rest of the world, have fixed their admiration
upon a series of petty and insignificant actions, scarcely
worthy of a detail, or of finding a place amongst the histo
ries of empires ; but others will only feel an increase of
esteem and respect for a people, whose transcendent ge
nius and virtue could give an interest and importance to
events transacted upon so inconsiderable a spot of earth.
Greece Proper scarcely contained more space than the
kingdom of Naples occupied formerly on the continent of
Italy, and Sicily is considered as large as Peloponnesus.*
Alcibiades might well be at a loss to find, not only Atti
ca, but even Greece itself, in a map of the world ; yet
the history of mankind refers for many ages to little
else than the affairs of this indiscernible portion of the
globe, and what is said of the Barbarians, is generally
introduced only to complete and illustrate the Grecian an
nals. Thus, in the early Greek writers, we find not a

D'Anville's Geog;. article Greece.

 395
single mention of the Romans ; a silence that has had
the effect with many young students, of inducing them to
believe, that the history of the former nation begins about
where the most important part of that of the latter ter
minates ; it does not at first enter into their heads, that
any of the great men of the two countries were cotem-
poraries, and the exploits of Camillas and Epaminondas
are not supposed to have been performed in the same
age. They are, to be sure, at once set right by a view
of the Chronological Chart ; but old impressions are on
ly corrected, not altogether effaced, and are apt, in spite
of conviction, to regain at times their former influence.
The exclusive attention of the more ancient Greek au
thors to the antiquities of their own nation, and their ge
neral inattention to and ignorance of every thing rela
tive to other countries not immediately connected with
themselves, afforded the antagonist of Apion a good deal
of room to display his ingenious acrimony. It is not
without some triumph that Josephus cites the historian
Ephorus, as having supposed Spain to be a single city.*
Even after the Romans had forced this people to ac
knowledge that they were not the only warriors in the
world, and had performed exploits which they might con
descend to record with an Hellenic pen, they still appear
to have thought that they had a just claim to a monopoly
of all the wit and learning of mankind. The influence
their arms had been unable to obtain, was established by
their language, « whose empire was spread from the
Adriatic to the Euphrates." They seem to pay no at
tention to the daily incense offered them by their conquer
ors and pupils, m There is not, I believe," says the au
thor whose words I have quoted above, « from Diony-
sius to Libanius, a single Greek critic who mentions Vir
gil or Horace ; they seem ignorant that the Romans had
any good writers."}
I will now give our route from Megara towards
Athens, as far as Eleusis. The road was, for the first
hour and a half, towards the south east, inclining to the
shore, chiefly through low woods of evergreens ; it then
took us more to the eastward, and wound under hills
• Josephus, book i. in answer to Apion.
f Decline and Fall, vol. ii. p. 48.
 396
close to the water, still leading through green forests.
The hills are ranges of the mountain Kerata, and the
two tops are visible at a distance to the north-east. In
another hour and a half the path passes round a bay,
where there is a solitary cottage and a boat-shed. From
this place the tower above Eleusis is in sight, and the
tongue of land forming the south-western extremity of
the bay of Eleusis, is seen stretching before you into the
sea : Salamis appears close to this point, and closing up
the wide mouth of the bay. From this spot travellers
ascend the extremities of the mountain Kerata, and
passing at the back (the west) of the tower of Eleusis,
come, in an hour, into part of the plain of Eleusis, at the
foot of the mountain.
From the back of the tower the path leads through a
green valley, on a slope between low hills, until it arrives
in the open country. A spring is still to be seen in this
valley ; this is the Flowery Well where Ceres reposed,
and the valley is the Rharian plain. The path to Athens
then strikes off over the Thriasian plain, leaving the vil
lage of Eleusis to the right, and passing through the
ruins of the aqueduct.
Were it not for the conjectures of former travellers,
and the power put into every one's hands, who is in pos
session of a Pausanias, of indulging in the same pleasing
speculations, travelling in modern Greece would be an
irksome and unsatisfactory labour.
The weather, from my departure on the 8th to my re
turn on the 13th of February, had been very favourable ;
though, according to report, there had been a violent
storm of rain at Athens on the 10th. The 14th was
very hot, and the sky quite clear; the 15th seemed into
lerably sultry, and a few dark vapours were seen collect
ing round the brows of the mountains ; the next day was
equally hot, and the tops of Parnes were enveloped in
heavy motionless clouds. At half after eleven at night,
as I was writing the substance of this letter in our little
sitting-room at Athens, and my fellow-traveller, better
employed, was sitting opposite to me, a noise like the
rushing of a torrent, suddenly roused our attention ; the
dead stillness of the night rendered every sound more
unexpected and more distinct ; the branches of the lemon-
trees, in. the court-yard shook « without a wind ;" and
 397

instantly afterwards the door of our chamber swung open,

and the whole building began to totter. At this moment
one of the servants rushed into the room, and exclaimed,
that the house was falling ! The shaking, however, was
but gentle, and did not last more than two seconds, hav
ing been more alarming in its approach than dangerous
in its consequences. We afterwards learnt that this
earthquake had thrown down several hundred houses at
Canea in Candia, and we ourselves saw some effects of
its violence amongst the ruins of Alexandria Troas.
I have now done my best to make you acquainted with
modern Attica, as well as with the country immediately
adjacent ; and in this review I have made mention of all
the small towns, together with the number of houses
they are supposed to contain, in order to furnish some
clue towards computing the present population of the
country.
Besides the villages before enumerated, the number of
whose habitations, taken altogether, do not quite amount
to two thousand, it should be understood, that there are,
perhaps, as many as fifty hamlets of ten, twenty, and
thirty cottages, which, together with the monasteries,
" may add between seven and eight hundred houses to the
former number. According to this computation, Athens
and modern Attica may be supposed to contain about
twenty-five thousand five hundred inhabitants of all ages
and sexes.
The ancient territory consisted of two hundred and
fifty square miles ; but the district now belonging to the
city is somewhat smaller, as it is bounded to the north
by Brilessus, and not by the Asopus, and as the valley
before described, once attached to Eleutherse, is now part
of the Derveni-Choria. Yet this deduction from the ex
tent is not considerable enough to be even mentioned in
. , comparing the present and ancient population, which, ac
cording to the most moderate reckoning, was at least two
hundred and eighty-four thousand : Athenseus, indeed,
in his Deipnosophist, has put down the slaves alone at
four hundred thousand ; a number which, as it may be
supposed to include all those who were found in Attica,
and who worked the triremes and merchant vessels of
the republic, may not appear such an enormous exagge
ration, as it has been alleged to be by our philosophical
 398

historian.* When Mr. Hume conjectured that a cypher

had been accidentally added to the original sum, he must*
if he spoke literally, have not reflected at the moment,
that the modern representations of numbers are not found
in the text of Greek books.f It is not impossible, how
ever, that forty may have been written instead of four
myriads.
Nearly all the villages of Attica are under the subjec
tion of the Waiwode of Athens, and contribute to his re
venue. The only exceptions are Menithi, half of which
furnishes a tax for the maintenance of a certain number
of spahis, or cavalry soldiers, for the service of the Im
perial armies ; Charootika, which belongs to a mosrk at
Constantinople; and Spatha, which is part of the portion
of one of the Sultanas.
The peasants living in each of these small towns, are,
as before mentioned, a distinct race from the Greeks,
being all occupied in cultivating the ground, tending the
flocks, collecting the gallnut, and felling the timber in
the mountains. They are of a hardy constitution, and a
robust make, and patient both of hunger and fatigue ;
their manners are extremely simple ; and being content
with their own cottages, like Virgil's shepherd, they con
sider the city of the Faithful itself by no means superior
to their own country town.
A peasant of Casha, returning from Constantinople,
was overheard to complain to a friend—« What a place
is that city ! I wanted to get some of our sandals and
shoe-thongs there, and they had none ; and as for faggots,
charcoal, and pitch, our town has ten times as much!"—
There is in some parts of their behaviour a singularity
quite ludicrous in the eyes of a stranger. You shall have
one scene from the life, although the humour is lost with
out printing the manner as well as the conversation of
the party. A Greek on his way to Athens, overtakes a
peasant driving his little horse loaded with fire-wood.—
« How much do you ask for those faggots?" says he.

* Essay on the Populousness of Ancient Nations.

f See Note E. e. to vol. ii. of Brougham's Colonial Policy, where
this observation is made, in a comment on Hume, the general argu
ment of which I have been unable entirely to understand—but, in
such cases, the fault may be on the side of the writer or of the
reader.
 390
« Twenty paras."—« I'll give you fifteen." The man
never looks up, but, addressing himself to his beast, says,
" It won't do, it won't do ; go on."—« Seventeen paras,
then." « Heigh ! Heigh !" says the other to his horse,
« get on, get on."—« Eighteen paras." » Turn round !"
exclaims the fellow, still speaking to the beast, « they
shall go for nineteen." The Greek nods, and the other
drives his poney along with him to his house.
Their common dress is of white woollen, like that of
the labouring Greeks, but they have habits for their fes
tivals of extreme magnificence, and of a fashion alto
gether antique in many respects, even more so than that
of the Albanians. The upper part of their dress exactly
resembles a breast-plate, not being buttoned before, but
fastened with strings behind. The shawl, which they
twist round their heads, is always variegated, and of the
brightest hues, and the prevailing colour of their jackets
is a dark red. The clothing of the women, who general
ly are barefoot, and are as enured to labour as the men,
is very homely and grotesque ; consisting of a long shift,
a thick girdle wrapped several times round the waist, a
short straight-»cut woollen jacket, and a coarse white shawl,
like a towel, with the corners hanging down before and
behind, on the head. They are carried to be married
on horseback, covered with a long veil, and with a child
placed astride before them.—The whole nation are of the
Greek Church, and many of them enter into the religious
houses, and become caloyers.
The language of these peasants is a dialect of that spo
ken by the Albanians of Epirus ; and as I was nof,
aware, during my stay in Attica, of the fact mentioned
by Wheler, that they call themselves Vlarhi, I saw no
reason for supposing them emigrated Wallachians, and
descendants of those Roman colonists of Dacia, abandon
ed by Aurelian, who being swept away into Scythia by the
retreating hosts of either Huns, Avares, Magiars, or
Bulgarians, were carried back, after the revolution of
centuries, by the returning wave of Barbarian inunda
tion, into their own country. It does not seem a conse
quence, that the name Vlachi should decide them to be
Wallachians ; for Valachi, or Vlachi, is a denomination
applied by the Greeks to the other Scythian settlers..—
Thus the people inhabiting the mountains between the
 400

Drave and the Save are called Morlachi, or Mauro-VIa-

chi ; and yet their language partakes in nothing with
that of the Wallachians.
Since the last allusion which is to he found in these
Letters to the disputed point concerning the real origin
of the peasants of Attica, I have had the opportunity of
consulting that memoir in the thirtieth volume of the
Academy of Inscriptions, and the Essay of Mr. D'An-
ville's (Etats formes apres la chute de l'Empire Rotnain),
which Mr. De Pauw recommends as decisive of the igno
rance of those who have called this people Albanians ;
yet in neither of these works is there a word respecting
the peasantry of this part of Greece, except this single
quotation from Wheler—" Wheler, dans la seconde partie
de son voyage dit avoir rencontre sur le chemin dfe
Thebes a Athenes et vers Ie Mont Parnes qui separe la
Beotie de I'Attique, I'habitation d'un people qui se donne
le nom de Vlaki."*
Wheler's words arc as follows : « After this we began
again to ascend ; and at last went up a rocky hill, by a
very had way, until about noon we got to the top of it,
to a village called Vlachi, which is the name the Mbaneses
call themselves by in their own language."f If the English
traveller be correct, not these villagers only near Mount
Parnes, as Mr. D'Anville has it, but all the Albanians,
call themselves Vlachi ; and the quotation proves nothing
at all, except, indeed, that Wheler himself evidently
supposed the people in question to be Albanese. The
mountaineers of Epirus do, indeed, consider these pea
sants as by no means of the same race with themselves,
although they call them Albanians, and converse with
them with facility in their own language. Had we pene
trated high enough, we might have determined whether
they actually belong to the people dispersed over the
northern boundaries of Greece.
The country inhabited by the southern Valachi, pro
perly so called, is composed of the confines of Macedo
nia, Thessaly, and Epirus; comprehending Edessa, Cas-
toria. as well as Larissa, Pharsalia, Demetrias, in the
low grounds of Thessaly, and the eastern declivities of

* Vol. xxx. p. 251, Acad. Inscrip.

t Wheler, book iv. p. 333.
 401

Findus, where the people are by the Greeks named Cuz-

zo Vlachi, or Lame Vlachi.
The Scythian nation, to whom they were attached, and
by whose name they were a long time known, were the
Patzinaces or Patzinacites, most probably alluded to by
Strabo as the Peucini, who, inhabiting the mouths of the
Danube in the reign of Augustus, were found in that of
Constantine Porphyrogenitus on the banks of the Volga,
whence being driven by the Uzes, they displaced the Ma-
giars, or Oriental Turks, from the vicinity of the Etel-
Cusu, or lesser Volga, and afterwards spread themselves
along the north side of the Danube. In the reign of Con*
stantine Monomachus, about the middle of the eleventh
century, they passed this river, and penetrated into Bul
garia and Thrace ; where, in 1123, they were routed in
a great battle by John, son of Alexius Comnenus, and a
multitude of them were forcibly settled in the western
province of the empire before described, which, a short
time afterwards, was known by the name of Moglcena,
and Megalo-Vlachi. They differ in no point from the
other Scythian settlers, and these shepherds, emigrated
from the plains of Tartary, are discovered by their lan
guage alone to be of Roman origin, and descended from
ancestors, who may be traced through a succession of
adventures as singular as any to be found in the history
of mankind.*
* « Nos sumus de sanguine Romano," is, in the language of Via-
kia, « noi sentem de sangue Buraena." Ioannitius, who reigned
about the beginning ofthe thirteenth century, and is called by Villehar-
douin, Imperator Bulgarorum etBlacorum, is reminded, in a letter to
him by Pope Innocent III. of his Roman origin ; and it appears, that
the transplanted Romans of Dacia were distinguished at first amongst
the Scythians, by the name of Vlakes, which may have referred to
their language, as, by a curious coincidence, the Hungarians, Polan-
ders, Croatians, and Servians, give, at this time, the Romans and the
Italians, whose dialect is thought by them to be nearly approaching
to the Latin, the denomination of Vlakes.
There is a country, to the north of the Caspian Sea, in Tartary,
called by the Tartars Ilak, which is the same as Blac, (for that peo
ple cannot pronounce the letter B), and is named by Roger Bacon,
Great Blacia. Both Wallachia and Moldavia, as well as part of
Transylvania, are inhabited by the same people. Moldavio is known
to the Turks by the appellation of Kara Iflak, and to the Greeks as
Mavra-Vlachia ; signifying in both tongues Black Vlachia. Mr. D'An.
ville has thought that he can discover something like the name of
the Scythian Patzinaces, or Pyeczinigi, as they ase called by Liut-
Vol. I. 3£
 408
prand, in Efsf^cr T1yttyxvm, the present title of the Metropolitan of
Wallachia. See " Sur les Peoples qui habitent aujourd'hui la Dace
de Trajan," in the thirtieth volume of the Academy of Inscriptions,
p. 237-

The following Note refers to the words, « Athensus, in his Deip-

nosophists," in page 397, of this Letter, and was omitted by mistake
in putting to the press.
KTBO-ixX&c F (V TpiTH ^poVtxHeV (th TtVtTt) xAt fixAT* irpos T*/c UlTOy,
+»<riv, O'xufiiriaft A&»v»o-/» e|«Tao-,Mov yttto-Sm virc A»fiirrpicu tov $aKx-
piu; toiv *ocroijecyi"roiv thv 'ATTin»v nA* tvpi&»vat A&»vaiov; cAtr Sio-juvpiovt
vpHs Tote xixiois, f*iTot»oU( <Pe fjtvpicue , otxtTtev Si /uupiaSAs Teo-o-otpAnovToi.
—Ueipnos. lib. vi. cap. 103, edit. Schweighaeusar, p. 543, vol. ii.
In a subsequent sentence, Athenxus proceeds to inform us, that
Aristotle, in his Polity of the JEginxans, says the slaves of those
islanders amounted to four hundred and seventy thousand.
 LETTER XXXI.

Shape and Make of the Modern Greeks.—The Women.—

Their want of Beauty.—Painting.—Dress of the Men
—and of the Women.—Their Manners.—A Betrothing.—.
A Marriage—their Dance.—Songs, 8fc-—Genius.—Mo
rals.—Superstitions.— The Evil Eye.— Conformity of
Practice between Greeks and Turks.—Manners of the
Men.—Influence of Money.—Behaviour to Inferiors.—
Ostentation.—Princes of the Fanal.— Waiwodes of Mol
davia and WaUachia.—Codja-bashces.

TRAVEL-Writers are in one respect the very re

verse of Prophets, for whatever honour they gain is in
their own country. In the regions, and amongst the peo
ple whom they profess to describe, not only their errors,
but their partialities, and the cause of them, their want
of attention and assiduity, their blind credulity, and the
weakness of the authorities on which they have confided,
are too well known to allow them the enjoyment of any
great reputation. Whilst they are satisfied with tracing
their routes, and narrating their adventures, they may
write without fear of contradiction ; but when they quit
that safe track, to launch into general description or dis
quisition, they must prepare to be repeatedly accused,
and, indeed, not unfrequently convicted, of error, and
more especially by those who have made the same jour
ney with themselves. Notwithstanding, however, this
discernment of difficulties, which I may not be at all qua
lified to encounter, and although I shall, by such a plan,
be obliged to make use of some observations suggested
in other parts of the Levant, both before and after our vi
sit to Athens, it is my intention to choose this place for
saying as much of the general character and customs of
 404

the Greeks, as my short residence in the country enabled

me to collect.
It cannot appear at all surprising, that in their habits
of life the modern Greeks should very much resemble the
picture that has been transmitted to us of the ancient il
lustrious inhabitants of their country. Living on the
i fruits of the same soil, and under the same climate, appa
rently not changed since the earliest ages, it would be
strange if their physical constitutions, and in some mea
sure their tempers, were not very similar to those of the
great people whom we call their ancestors ; and, in fact,
I take their bodily appearance, their dress, their diet,
and, as I said before, their tempers, to differ but little
from those of the ancient Greeks.
There is a national likeness observable in all the
Greeks, though, on the whole, the islanders are darker,
and of a stronger make than those on the main-land.
Their faces are just such as served for models to the an
cient sculptors, and their young men in particular, are of
that perfect beauty, which we should perhaps consider
too soft and effeminate in those of that age in our more
northern climate. Their eyes are large and dark, from
which circumstance Mavromati, or Black-eyes, is a very
common surname : their eye-brows are arched ; their
complexions are rather brown, but quite clear ; and their
cheeks and lips are tinged with a bright vermilion. The
oval of their faces is regular, and all their features in
perfect proportion, except that their ears are rather
larger than ordinary : their hair is dark and long, but
sometimes quite bushy, and, as they shave off all the
hair on the fore-part of the crown and the side of the
face, not at all becoming : some of the better sort cut off
all their hair, except a few locks twisted into a knot on
the top of the head. On their upper lips they wear a
thin long mustachio, which they are at some pains to
keep quite black. Beards are worn only by the clergy
and the Archontes Presbuteroi, or Codja-bashees, and
other men of authority. Their necks are long, but broad
and firmly set, their chests wide and expanded, their
shoulders strong, but round the waist they are rather
slender. Their legs are perhaps larger than those of
people accustomed to tighter garments, but are strong
and well made. Their stature is above the middling size,
 405

and their make muscular but not brawny, round and well
filled out but not inclined to corpulency.
Both the face and the form of the women are very in
ferior to those of the men. Though they have the same
kind of features, their eyes are too languid, and their
complexions too pale, and, even from the age of twelve,
they have a flaccidity and looseness of person which is
far from agreeable. They are generally below the height
which we are accustomed to think becoming in a female,
and when a little advanced in life, between twenty-five
and thirty years of age, are commonly rather fat and un
wieldy.
That there are no exceptions to this general character,
I do not, of course, mean to advance ; but that I did not
myself see any very pretty Greek woman during my
tour, I can safely assert. The females of the better sort,
however, do not at all neglect the care of their charms, but
make use of washes and paints to improve the lustre of
their complexions : they have even a curious form of
prayer which deprecates the injurious tanning of the
March suns. They colour the inside of their eye-lashes,
some with a mixture of antimony and oil, called in Turk
ish, surmch ; others with the soot made of the smoke
from the gum of Labdanum, and they throw a powder in
the corners of the eye to add to its brilliancy. The
white paint used by them is made of powdered cowries,
or small shells, and lemon-juice ; the red, from the roots
of the wild lily, washed four or five times, and then dried,
and preserved in close pots. The powder is itself white,
but when rubbed with the hand into the cheek, gives a
vermilion tinge which does not wash out, and is thought
not to injure the skin. This must be owned a good ex
change for the thick coat of white-lead which covered
both the face and bosom of the Athenian ladies of old.
The effect of this painting is not, as far as I saw, at
all agreeable, though the Greek ladies themselves must
think it very imposing, for on the most important cere
monies, such as betrothing, and marrying, the bride is
daubed with thick coats of colours, laid on without any
attempt to resemble nature. Occasionally also, but more
particularly at Constantinople, they wear patches ; a cus
tom, if not derived from ancient authorities, brought, I
suppose, from Christendom.
 406

Of all the paradoxes of Mr. de Pauw, that which re

spects the ancient Greek females seems to me the best
founded. If the present women, particularly of Athens,
are at all to be considered the representatives of those of
former times, their appearance will not make any one en
tertain an exalted notion of the beauty of the Greek la
dies of antiquity. I am inclined with that author, also to
attribute the astonishing influence of the Greek courte
zans, and what he calls depravation of instinct, partly to
the same cause. Had the women generally been beauti
ful, the whole of Greece, young and old, soldiers, ora
tors, and philosophers, would not have been prostrate at
the feet of Aspasia or Lais, Phryne or Pythdnice, nor
have fallen so entirely, perhaps, into the other more pre
vailing enormity. Such of the women as I have seen
from the islands of the Archipelago, with the exception
of the Sciotes, are more plain than those on the main
land.
An author* of Observations on the Levant, thinks that
the Venetians and Turks have adulterated the Grecian
blood : but if that were the case, the degeneracy would
be seen in the males, as well as in the females ; which is
far from being the case. After all, the point is a matter
of taste, and you perhaps might find those sufficiently
handsome, whom I have been unable to admire. I beg to
mention, that in this part of my detail I have in my con
templation the Greeks of the main-land, and particularly
the Athenians, in whose town we resided longer than in
any other part of Turkey.
The dress of the Greeks is not at the first sight to be
much distinguished from that of the Turks, nor is there
any difference in the habit of those in power, except that,
instead of the turban, the head is covered with an im
mense calpac. A cotton shirt, made like a woman's che
mise, cotton drawers, a vest and jacket of silk or stuff, a
pair of large loose brogues, or trowsers, drawn up a lit
tle above the ancle, and a short sock, make the inner part
of the dress: the part of the garment next added is a
long broad shawl, often highly worked, and very expen-

• II paroit que les Vinitiens et les Turcs ont d£natur£ ce beau

sang par toute la Grece.—Reidesel, Voyage au Levant, chap. iii. p-
250.
 407

aive, wrapped in wide folds round the loins. In one cor

ner of this girdle the poorer people, especially in travel
ling, both Turks and Greeks, conceal their money, and
then wind the shawl round them. A common fellow in
Turkey, might as properly as the soldier in Horace, talk
of the loss of his zone as of that of his money ; but the
better sort of people have adopted the use of purses,
which, together with their handkerchiefs, watches, and
snuff-boxes, they carry in the bosom, between the folds
of their vests. It is a sign of importance much affected
by them, to have this part of their garments distended to
a great size, so as to appear full, not only of trinkets,
but papers. The gown with loose sleeves covers the
other part of the dress, and this, when in the presence of
a Pasha, or other great man, they wrap modestly about
them, concealing their hands, joined below the waist, in
the sleeves, and resting their chins on their bosoms. The
rich have many changes of gowns, some of stuff and sa
tin for the summer, and others of cloth for the winter,
both trimmed and partially lined with ermine or furs, of
which the dark are the most precious. The Codja-bashee
of Vostizza, who affected magnificence, changed his pe
lisse when he went out to ride. The privileged Greeks
may put on robes of any dye except green, the favourite
colour of Mahomet, and that now worn by his supposed
descendants, the Emirs. They have liberty, as before re
lated, to wear slippers or quarter-boots of yellow mo
rocco.
The common people have their brogues descending but
a little below their knees, with bare legs, and a slipper
pointed and turned up at the toe» If they have a gown,
they seldom use it; the sailors have nothing but a short
jacket. On their heads they wear in the summer the little
red skull-cap of the Albanians, to which, in the winter,
some of them add a coarse white, or dark-striped shawl,
tied round like a small turban.
Of the dress of the females there is an annexed speci
men. It varies not materially from the Turkish, of
which there is so exact an account in my Lady M. W.
Montagne's Letters. The annexed drawing represents
a Constantinopolitan lady, and will appear to approach
very nearly to the Frank dress, which is very much the
case, not only at the capital, but in every town where
 408

any strangers have fixed their residence. The vest fits

quite close to the bosom, but becomes larger and wider
a little below the waist. The gown, which is sometimes
made of fine flowered silk, flows off loosely behind, and
the sleeves of it, which widen and are slit towards the
waist, are made much longer than the arm, and are turn
ed back. There is sometimes a riband, or other girdle,
under the bosom, but the zone, a rich shawl, embroider
ed with gold and flowers, is nevertheless worn, loosely
resting on the hips, and either tied in a spreading knot,
or fastened before with a large plate ornamented with
false or real jewels.
The female zones do not, like those of the men, wrap
many times round the body, but only once, and are put
for ornament, not use, as they do not bind or support
any part of the dress. On account of this particularity
it may be observed, that when Diana is called bis ciucta,
she is meant to be represented not (as some have render
ed the words) with two zones, but with a twice-wrapped
girdle, which was a very unusual precaution.* The*
double cincture is found in figures of Amazons, and in
other ancient statues where the lower one is omitted, the
fold and compression of the garments still remain : but
the band of the breast (Sophocles calls it ^"-rav wj»wf)
is not to be confounded with the low zone, which, from
the days of Homer, was always the characteristic of the
Grecian female.f The modern cestus, exactly similar,
if we may trust descriptions, statues, and medals, to the
ancient, is not, in my mind, an agreeable ornament ; it
gives an appearance, with the band under the bosom, of
a double waist.
The whole dress of the richer females is swoln out and
ornamented with gold and silver trimmings to a very
disagreeable excess. They wear bracelets of precious
stones, and strings of gold coins, round their arms and
necks. The head-dress of the younger girls is tasty;
their hair falls down their backs in profusion, generally

* Nec bis cincta Diana placet, nee nuda Cythere,

Ille voluptatis nit habet bxc nimium.
Auson. Epig. 39. See De Guys. lett. ix.
\ Mr. Forsyth, in page 321 of his Remarks on Antiquities, &c. in
Italy, has restored the epithet /Sadij^owec to its proper meaning, but
he seems to me to have mistaken the point of the double cincture.
 409

straight, but sometimes platted for the sake of adding

false tresses, and is combed straight over their foreheads
and the sides of the cheeks : a little red cap with a gold
tassel, studded with zequins, is fixed on one side of the
crown, and adorned, by the girls with flowers, by the
matrons with heron's feathers, or a bouquet of jewels.
It is at Athens, and I believe elsewhere, a very pre
vailing fashion, for the young women to dye the hair of
an auburn colour with the plant called Hena. The ma
trons, by another process, give a dark black tinge to
their tresses. When abroad, the Greek ladies are muf
fled up in a wrapping-cloak, much like the Turkish, ex
cept that they have not a square merlin hanging behind,
and, instead of a hood over the face, generally wear a
long veil, which, however, they frequently throw aside
when not in the presence of any Turks.
In the inland towns, and even at Athens, the Greeks
seldom admit a male stranger to a sight of the females
of their families, who live in a separate part of the house,
and in some cases are as closely confined as the Turkish
women. Before marriage, they are rarely, sometimes
never, seen by any male except of their own family, but
afterwards enjoy the privilege of being introduced to
people of their own nation, and to travellers. A young
lady, the sister of Signor Nicolo, at Ioannina, to whom
we had made a present of some Venetian silks, sent word
to us, that she regretted, that not being married, she
could not kiss our hands in person, but begged that it
might be done by proxy by our dragoman, who brought
the message. We had not a sight of her during our
stay in the house. When in the interior apartments, a
young woman divests herself of her outer robes, and, in
the summer season, may sometimes be surprised reclined
on a rich carpet or sofa, with her feet bare, and her whole
form rather shaded than concealed by trowsers of gauze,
and a thin muslin cymarr.
A few friends, and perhaps a Frank stranger, are
sometimes invited to the first public ceremony in which a
young girl is concerned, that is, her betrothing to her
future husband, who generally has never seen her ; and,
we ourselves were once asked to a supper where there
was music and'flancing on an occasion of this kind. The
giri, (called » '"ft"), was sitting in the middle of the sofa,
Vol.. I. 3 F
 *10

covered with paint and patches, having a sort of crown

on her head, and stuck round with jewels and gold chains
on every part of her dress. We were regularly led up
and presented to her, as were the other guests, and she
kissed our hands. Her own female relations, and those
of her future husband, were sitting on the other parts of
the sofa. The mother of the young man, who was not"
present himself, put a ring on the finger of the maid-
en, and, as her son's proxy, kissed her cheek, a ceremony
by which the betrothing takes place. The marriage, we
were told, would not be performed perhaps for more than
a year, as the youth was engaged in trade at some dis
tance, until he could amass a competent fortune to main
tain his wife.
The nuptial ceremony, notwithstanding the undoubted
antiquity of some of its usages, is, like most of the rites
of the Greek church, exceedingly mean, and, to a person
unaccustomed to the sight, ridiculous. The bride and
bridegroom stand near the altar, holding a lighted candle
in their hands. The priest, who stands facing them,
reads and sings a service, and then taking two rings,
and two garlands of flowers sprinkled with gold leaf,
puts them on the fingers and the heads of the couple, then
repeats and chaunts, and changes both the one and the
other. This interchange is repeated several times, with
great rapidity, and accompanied by gabbling and sing
ing, until at last the rings are left on the fingers which
they are intended to fit, and the garlands are finally laid
aside, without being suffered to adorn the head either of
the man or the woman. Some bread, which has been
blessed and marked with the sign of the cross, is broken
and eaten by the bride and bridegroom, and a cup of wine
is presented first to one and then to the other, after which
the girl hands round some of the same cake, together with
rossoglio, or rakee, to the persons present, and if she is
not of high condition, receives a piece of money from
each of the visitors, for which she kisses their hands.
This is the last part of the wedding, and the carrying
away of the bride to her husband's house happens the
same, or the next day, when there is a procession, much
like that which we witnessed at Ioannina. The evening
is concluded with music, dancing, and a feast, in which
 411

fruits, and especially nuts (an ancient nuptial delicacy),

form the chief part of the repast.
At Athens we saw a bride accompanied home by at
least fifty young girls, in pairs, dressed in white, and their
heads crowned with flowers, preceded by musicians, with
guitars, rebecks, and fiddles : she was going to the house
of some female friend, where she was to remain until the
procession of her husband arrived to attend her to his own
home.
The preceding usages we witnessed ourselves ; there
are others attached to the same important ceremony, of
which we could only hear or read, such as the bathing of
the bride in triumph on the night before the wedding, and
the walking at the threshold of the husband's chamber,
over the covered sieve, which, if it does not crackle be
neath the foot of the bride, renders her chastity suspect
ed. This second custom is mentioned by several writers,
and may really obtain, but I did not hear of it, nor of
the forbearance of the bridegroom on the night of his
nuptials, alluded to byMons. de Guys, in his sixteenth
letter.
There are very few instances of second marriages
amongst the Greeks, nor of any man, except a priest, re
maining single for life.
The women can seldom read or write, but are all of
them able to embroider very tastefully, and can generally
play on the Greek lute, or rebeck. Their dancing they
learn without a master, from their companions. The
dance, called x°p°c. and for distinction, Romaica, consists
generally in slow movements, the young women holding
by each other's handkerchiefs, and the leader setting the
step and time, in the same manner as in the Albanian
dance. The dancers themselves do not sing ; but the
music is a guitar, or lute, and sometimes a fiddle, accom
panied by the voice of the players. When, however, men
are of the party, there is a male and female alternate
ly linked, and the performance is more animated, the
party holding their handkerchiefs high over their heads,
and the leader dancing through them, in a manner which,
although at the time it reminded me only of our game of
thread-the-needle, has been likened by some observers to
the old Cretan labyrinth dance, called Geranos, or the
Crane. When the amusement is to be continued through
 413

out a night, which is often the case, the figures are va

rious ; and I have seen a young girl, at the conclusion of
the dance described, jump into the middle of the room,
with a tambourine in her hand, and immediately com
mence a pas seul, some favourite young man whom she
had warned of her intention, striking the strings of the
guitar at the same time, and regulating the dance and
music of his mistress. We once prevailed on a spright
ly girl of fifteen to try the Albanian figure, and her com
plete success on the first attempt shewed the quickness
and versatility of her talents for this accomplishment.
Notwithstanding the want of education amongst the fe
males, most of them are acquainted with a great number
of songs, or recitatives, accompanied with talcs, which
are combined something in the manner of Sir Philip Sid
ney's Arcadia, and appear to have no end, being taken
up by different individuals of the party for hours toge
ther. The author of the comparison between the ancient
and modern Greeks, tells his friend, that when hearing
these alternate story-tellers, he would fancy himself in
company with the Minyeiades, beguiling with varied dis
course the useful labour of their hands.* A person who
had never heard of the daughters of the King of Orcho-
menos, would think himself entertained with a string of
ballads, all repeated in the same tone, and interrupted
only by a recitation of their long and melancholy titles.
That such a thing may never be w anted more, I shall in
sert a few specimens of songs and tales when I come to
speak of the modern Greek language,,
Whenever the Greek women have the advantages of
acquiring any unusual attainments, they evince great
quickness of understanding. At Smyrna and Constanti
nople, where there are great numbers of them in the fa
milies of the Dragomans, and others connected with the
Consuls, Ambassadors, and foreign missions, they speedi
ly acquire the modern languages, and sometimes a par
tial knowledge of the literature and accomplishments
which distinguish the females of civilised Europe.
With respect to their moral character, it is what may
be called amiable, and would appear very strikingly so to
those of our sex w ho admire a woman for her weaknesses,

* Utile opus manuum vario sermone, Stc.—Ovid. Metam. lib. iv.

 413

and love her the more in proportion as*she seems to call up

on them for support and protection. They are assiduous
housewives, and tender mothers, suckling their infants
themselves ; and, notwithstanding the boastings of tra
vellers, I must believe them generally chaste. That loose
females may be found amongst them is not, of course, to
be denied ; but, if not their own inclination, the institu
tions of their country, similar to those which have always
prevailed in Greece, have a strong tendency to preserve
their virtue. They have no other scope for the exercise
of the good qualities of either head or heart, than the cir
cle of their family, and, whatever secret power they may
possess, are never heard of as influencing any public
transaction. A man may travel through Greece, and,
unless at his particular desire, not see a single Greek
lady.
Like their sex in all other parts of the world, they
carry their devotion to the highest pitch of enthusiasm,
and more readily, if possible, than the men, believe all
the absurd dogmas and fables of their church. Ominous
dreams and celestial revelations, as might be expected,
more frequently visit the women than their husbands,
though they are by no means uncommon even with both
sexes. Some of their superstitious observances savour
exceedingly of paganism, as might be proved, were it not
tedious to set in array those passages of ancient authors
which record and allude to similar customs.
The ceremonies at child-birth, where the attendant is
always a woman, are very mystical. The lamp burns
before the picture of the Virgin during the labour; and
the cradle is adorned with embroidered handkerchiefs,
jewels, and coins, as presents to the four fairies who pre
side over the infant. When the child is born, he is im
mediately laid in the cradle, and loaded with amulets :
and a small bit of soft mud, well steeped in ajar of wa
ter properly prepared by previous charms, is stuck upon
its forehead, to obviate the effects of the Evil Eye ; a
noxious fascination, proceeding from the aspect of a per
sonified, although invisible demon, and consequent upon
the admiration of an incautious spectator. The Evil Eye
is feared at all times, and supposed to affect people of all
ages, who by their prosperity may be the objects of envy.
Not only a Greek, but a Turkish woman, on seeing a
 41*
stranger look eagerly at her child, will spit in its face,
and sometimes, if at herself, in her own bosom ; but the
use of garlic, or even of the word which signifies that
herb (nopf™'), is considered a sovereign preventive. New
built houses, and the ornamented sterns of the Greek ves
sels, have long bunches of it depending from them, to
intercept the fatal envy of any ill-disposed beholder: the
ships of the Turks have the same appendages. In fact,
there is a great conformity of practice in many particu
lars, observable between the two nations.
The ancient Greeks introduced their arts amongst their
Latin conquerors ; the modern have given their masters,
the Turks, a taste for their follies.' . There is, as was al
ways the case, a strong attachment in this people to their
own usages, and an unabating alacrity and vigour in the
exclusive preservation of them, which gives an appear
ance of sincerity to their professions, and consequently
of credibility to their faith, and which, although it pre
vents them from learning any thing from the commerce
of more enlightened nations, renders them very capable
of being instructors of a people as ignorant as them
selves. Thus the Turks, who despise the power, have
imperceptibly imbibed the habits of their subjects ; and
if they have caught from them nothing but some of their
customs and superstitious rites, it is, I suppose, because
there was nothing else for them to learn.
Those who complain that the Turks did not become
the pupils of their captives, and derive from them the
same advantages as were obtained for the Romans by the
fortunate possession of Greece, must surely have, by
some strange infatuation, persuaded themselves that the
Greeks of the age of the last Constantino were the same
as those of the days of Aratus. But, for my own part,
I see much greater parity between the Romans who
served with Mummius, and the Ottomans led by Maho
met, than between the Greeks who witnessed the burn
ing of Corinth, and those who survived the last conquest
of Constantinople. Let me add, with Mr. Thornton,*
that whatever was worthy imitation, was imitated by the
Turks. They saw and admired the structure of Santa
Sophia, and built the future moscks, with which they

* Present State of Turkey, p. 8.

 415

adorned the Imperial city, on the same magnificent mo-

del.*
The manners of the Greeks would be very engaging,
were it not that they have an air of obsequiousness and
insincerity, particularly striking to the eye of an Eng
lishman, but perhaps not so offensive to the natives of
those other countries, in which civilities are carried to a
greater excess than amongst ourselves. They are assi
duously attentive, and perform the rites of hospitality
with good humour and politeness: at the same time, it
must be confessed, that no person can be sure, that a
speech of one of this people, however inviting in its be
ginning and progress, will not conclude with the horrors
of a petition. To have an adequate notion of the mean
ness and impudence to which man may be impelled by
the love of money, one should travel in the Levant.
There is nothing which is not venal with the Turks,
and there is nothing possessed by the Greeks which they
will not sell. That the master should be eager to increase
his wealth, in a country where wealth alone is power, is
not to be wondered at ; but that the slave, who cannot
buy either authority, freedom, or protection, should feel
the same passion, must seem extraordinary, and only to
be accounted for by the circumstance of the Greeks being
all traders, and consequently governed by the sordid ava
ricious habits and principles generally to be found in that
class of men.
The first, and oftentimes the only commendation be
stowed by a Greek upon a neighbour, or other person, is,
that he is rich, and has many, many, aspers
(X* a-ox**, a<r?rfa) • and, without any exaggeration,
poverty and folly are really convertible terms. Talking
one day about a young man, whom we had known at Io-
annina, a person present exclaimed, that he was a dull
fellow ! ** On the contrary," said I, « he seemed to me
to be excessively agreeable and well-informed."—« I

* It seems strange that Mr. Eton, in his Survey of the Ottoman

Empire, should copy ihe account of Mahomet the Second turning
Santa Sophia into a stable and banquetting-room, and cutting the
throats of several hundred prisoners in the very church, from such a
writer as Knolles, when he had before him the authorities collected
by such a writer as Gibbon.
 416
know him better than yon, Signor ;" was the reply, «for
all his talk, he has not a farthing in his pocket."
The Greeks are, as was said, all traders in some de
gree. In the district of Athens, indeed, as well as i?i
that of Livadia, and many parts of the Morea, the culti
vation of the earth is left to the Albanian colonists, and
every Greek has either a shop, or is employed in whole
sale dealings. Even those who are commonly called the
Princes of the Fanal, at Constantinople, that is, those
from whose families the Waiwodes of Wallachia and
Moldavia have been chosen, are engaged in merchandise.
This circumstance, together with the Turkish oppression,
and the want of hereditary dignities, occasions a kind of
equality amongst them, and does away with all those dis
tinctions which are so rigorously observed in England—
I say in England, because I believe there is no country
in the world, where all the gradations of rank are so uni
formly observed and kept separate as amongst ourselves.
It is true, there are various ways by which a man may
rise, but until he has risen, he must be content to consort
with people only of his own condition.
I was one day a little astonished at the house of Sig-
nor Nicolo at Ioannina, to see a tailor who had just been
measuring one of us, come and seat himself in the room
where we were all sitting, and, by the invitation of our
host, take a dish of coffee, to which he was helped by
the Signor's brother with the usual ceremonies.* There
is nothing that implies familiarity, and, at least tempora
ry equality, so much as eating together ; but according
to the customs of both Greeks and Turks, in many points
exactly similar, and which may be called Oriental, the
very lowest person is often indulged in this liberty by his
superiors. A great man travelling does not have a table
spread for himself alone, but some of his attendants al
ways partake with him roundlhe same tray. I recollect
that one of the young Pashas at Ioannina, insisted upon
our servant George sitting down at the foot of the sofa
opposite to him, and taking coffee and sweetmeats at the
* The following was the republican formulary on the cards of the
late President of the United States :
« T. Jefferson requests the pleasure of 's company to dinner,"
Stc. &c.
 417

same time with himself and his guest. It must, however,

be recollected, that as almost all in Turkey receive the
same sort of education, and consequently imbibe some
what the same manners, there is in that country none of
that awkwardness and confusion in society, which arise
amongst us when a person of inferior quality is admitted
by sufferance into better company than he has been ac
customed to keep. Neither our dragoman nor the tailor
would have been distinguished by a stranger from the
company about them by any want of ease, or other defi
ciency in their manners.
There is an air of great kindness, and even of cere
monious attention, in their treatment of servants and de
pendants ; and when a rich, or, in other words, a great
man, meets an inferior in the street, he not only returns
his salute, but goes through the whole round of those
complimentary inquiries which are always usual upon a
casual rencounter, and prefatory to any other conversa
tion. Two Greeks will ask one another how they are,
with the same inquiries after their wives, daughters,
sons, family, and affairs, twenty times over, before they
begin to converse, and often when they intend to sepa
rate instantly. They stand with their right hands on
their hearts, bowing gently for five minutes together at
this ceremony, which is nothing more than our How-
d'ye-do ; and a lucky sneeze from either party will in
terrupt and prolong the compliments ; for, on that occa
sion, the other bows and begs God's blessing on you,
which is returned four-fold. In a large company a
sneeze stops the conversation, and calls forth the benedic
tions of all present, many crossing themselves at the
same time.*
Though the Greeks are avaricious, they are not mi
serly, but on the contrary, are not only fond of show,
which is in some characters found to be compatible with
extreme parsimony, but are profuse and generous. Their

* TouTov <fs \tyonTet irTAfjvvTai Tie, eLxova-otvTti tt at 0-Tfja.TitBT&i ir&v-

r«t A"a °tP"> irpoa-zvvHmt Tov S-iov.— Anab. lib. iii. This sneezing, Xe-
nophon declared to be the sign of Jupiter the Saviour, and it consi
derably assisted him in persuading the Ten Thousand to follow his
counsels. It is the first and strongest instance I at present recollect,
of the custom of making an obeisance after a sneeze, now pretty
much diffused in many parts of the world.
Vol. I. 3 G
 418
fear of the Turks makes them generally cautious to con
fine their magnificence within the walls of their own
houses ; yet a desire of displaying their wealth and taste,
has overcome the prudence of many of their nation. A
Greek, named Stavraki, in the middle of the last century,
who possessed the favour, and in some measure the con
fidence, of the Sultan himself, against all advice of friends,
built a most magnificent house on the banks of the Bos
porus, whose exterior splendour was such as to attract
the attention of the Turks. Stavraki was arrested and
destroyed, but the end of this unfortunate man did not
deter another Greek from immediately occupying the
same fatal mansion.
At Constantinople, and in the vicinity, it is the exclu
sive privilege of the Mahometans to paint their houses of
a lively colour ; those of the Jews are black, those of the
Armenians and Greeks of a brown, or dark red. A
Greek physician, who had successfully attended a late
Sultan, and was asked to name a reasonable gratuity or
favour, only requested the liberty for himself and his son
to paint his house in what manner he chose, and like that
of a Turk. The mansion was pointed out to me, and
shone conspicuously, of a bright red, amongst the sur
rounding dusky habitations. It is in one of the villages
on the European side of the Bosporus. The chief Dra
goman to the Porte has a large house, which he has
painted of three colours, so as to make it look like three
houses, that no passing Turk may be struck with the pre
sumptuous dimensions of his mansion.
Those of the Greeks who have the privilege of riding
on horseback in the streets of Constantinople, and their
number is very few, are exceedingly proud of that pre
eminence, and take every opportunity of showing their
superiority.
The great men affect an unconcerned liberality. The
Dragoman to the Porte, w ho is called Prince, came on board
the frigate which carried away the late English Ambas
sador from Constantinople, and after a few minutes con
versation w ith his Excellency, retired. As he was step
ping down the ladder, he put his hand in his bosom, and,
without ceremony, or looking at his present, returned it
shut into the hands of one of the boys at the accommoda
tion ropes ; who, examing the gift on deck, found it to be
 419

eight or ten pieces of gold, of the small Byzantine ze-

quins, worth about three shillings each. 1 was standing
near him myself, and could scarcely resist the impression
which he had meant no doubt to make, namely, that he
was accustomed frequently to part with his money on
the same occasions, and with the like ostentatious uncon
cern.
But a short time before, we had seen the same Prince
interpreting between his Excellency and the Caimacam,
or Vice-Vizier of Constantinople, with a humility alto
gether affecting. He was clothed in a coarse gown, mis
called a robe of honour, and so much the more shabby
when contrasted with the splendid garments of the Turks,
and the fine peliss< s distributed to the Ambassador and
some of his suite ; and he performed his office in a tone
so low, that he was with difficulty heard, even by those
next to him, introducing some affected hesitations, to
show his awe and terror of his masters. It should be
told, however, that this singular piece of adulation is
practised by the Turks themselves when in presence of
the Sultan, and that a ready and clear elocution would
be thought presumptuous before the Lord of the Empire.
The Caimacam, in the audience-chamber, when replying
to the Ambassador on behalf of his Imperial master, who
sat motionless on his throne beside him# not only spoke
in the lowest tone, but boggled, and stopped so long and
frequently in his speech, holding up his head with the air
of a boy out in his lesson, that the Sultan prompted him
audibly twice or thrice. This was not produced by any
real forgetfulness, but was only affected as a mark of
humble confusion. . .. 1
On the same day, in the Divan, the Greek Prince was
obliged to stand, from four in the morning until ten, dur
ing the attendance of the Ambassador upon the Caima
cam ; and when his Excellenry and his numerous suite
were seated round various tables at dinner, overcome by
fatigue, but not permitted to be seen resting himself on a
sofa in such a place, he slipped into a corner of the cham
ber, and sinking on the floor, fell asleep ; whilst three
Greeks, his attendants, stood before the spot, that he
might not be discovered by the Turks. I saw him by ac
cident, and pointed him out to another person present.
He was seated on the ground, supported by the corner of
 420

the wainscot, his black beard resting on his bosom, his

face pale, and his eyes closed in a deep sleep, but every
other feature unchanged, and impressed with the traits of
terror and perpetual constraint. A mournful picture of
the wretchedness of dignified slavery !
Thia Prince is one of the most exalted Greeks in the
Turkish empire, and there is no higher dignity than that
which he enjoys, except the governments of Wallarhia
or Moldavia. Indeed he was once, in 1802, promoted to
the latter principality, when the Russians interfered in
the nomination of the Waiwodes of the two provinces,
and may perhaps again be raised to the same rank.
Notwithstanding the perpetual humiliation attendant
upon the office of Dragoman to the Porte, and the very
uncertain tenure by w hich the mimic sceptres of the two
provinces are held, there is no effort omitted by the
Greeks of the Fanal to arrive at these posts, and they
are as active in their intrigues to circumvent each other,
and to obtain the acquiescence of the Porte, as if the ob
jects of their ambition were honourable and permanent,
instead of disgraceful and insecure. The Turks, who
gain by the rivalry, encourage the contention, and dis
pose of the offices without reserve, to the highest bidder.
The money expended in the attainment of the dignities,
is soon supplied by the bribes and extortions of the elect
ed candidate.
The Dragoman of the Porte has the opportunity of re
commending to posts of profit and honour, and for his
good word, as well as for every interference in court in
trigues, receives an adequate remuneration. The Wai
wodes of Wallachia and Moldavia levy vast sums by ar
bitrary taxation, which, as they have the power of life
and death, and enjoy for a time sovereign authority, can
not be resisted by their distressed subjects.
In no situation does a Greek appear in so unamiable
a light as on the throne of Bucharest or Yassy. The
events of the Russian war may work a considerable
change in the constitution of the two provinces, and the
entire subjection of one or both of them by the arms of
the Muscovites, will cut off from the subject' Greeks the
grand objects of their ambition. The plots and intrigues
of the Fanal will then be confined to obtaining the office
of Dragoman. The elevation to either of the three
 421

places, however short a time the person may be in pos

session of his dignity, confers the title of Prince ; and
this has created the Greek nobility, if such it may be
called. The antiquity, however, of these noble families
is not very great ; the first Dragoman of the Porte of
Greek extraction, was Panayot, physician to Kioprili,
who by his artifices persuaded Morosini to surrender
Candia. Before that period, the post had been supplied
by foreigners and renegadoes.
Nicholas Maurocordato, the first Greek Waiwode of
Wallachia, chosen by the Porte, was elected about the
beginning of the last century, after having been plenipo
tentiary for the Sultan at Carlovitz. It is true, that
some families boast a more noble descent from the sove
reigns of Constantinople, for the name of Catacuzenus
has been once assumed by two Wallachian Greeks ; but,
as it appears, without their having had any just preten
sions to that distinction.
The Princes of the Fanal are, when abroad, to be dis
tinguished from the rest of their nation only by their
beards and yellow slippers,* and the privilege of riding
on horseback ; but when at home, they still continue to
enjoy the semblance of authority, by giving titles of of
fice to their servants, and by being surrounded by a crowd
of flatterers and dependants. Their wives and daugh
ters are fostered in every luxury, and all the soft pomp
of the Asiatics; a privilege which, unless they have been
unfairly charged with calling their servants « chiennes"
and « bctes,"f improves neither their tempers nor their
manners. The little I enjoyed of their society left no
very agreeable impression on my mind.
A love of pomp is a distinguishing characteristic of
the Greeks, and as the policy of the Turks has allowed
them alone, of all the rayahs, or subjects not Mahome
tans, to fill offices of power and trust, they fail not to dis
play this unenviable distinction. *

* One of the first acts of the late Sultan Selim's reign, was to cut
off the.head of a common Greek whom he met.when incognito, wear
ing yellow slippers. He staid to see the execution performed. Yet
so vain are the Greeks, that they will run this fatal risk in order to
be taken for their betters.
t Pouqueville, Voyage en Moree, p. 253.
 42a

The Codja-bashers, to whom the municipal rontroul of

some districts, particularly in the Morca, is entrusted,
support an enormous household, whose members are dig
nified with titles, not attached to the dependants of an
English duke. They have their kalo-iatios, or physi
cian, their grammaticos, or secretary, with an assistant
clerk, their tartars, or couriers, and five or six priests,
as Family chaplains, besides numerous servants in every
department, amounting to forty or fifty persons in fami
ly. The title by which they are usually addressed in
writing, is, " Most Honourable and most Noble Sir."*
These Codja-bashees have been accused as being mas
ters more severe than the Turks ; a degenerate race, in
solent, proud, mean, with all the vices of slaves, and re
paying themselves for the injurious treatment of their
masters, by becoming monopolists, informers, and public
robbers.f Such sweeping censures are always to be sus
pected as having been prompted by personal pique, and
founded upon individual example rather than national
character ; yet I fear that many originals of this unfa
vourable picture might be found amongst the archons
and elders of the Greeks.
Hadji Ali, 'the tyrannical Waiwode of Athens before-
mentioned, could find only one person to assist him in
his extortions, and this man became his counsellor and
friend, and discovered to him the real property of some
of his countrymen who had hitherto contrived to conceal
their wealth. He was the Archon of Athens, before-
mentioned, a ruling elder of the church, and who former
ly called himself English Vice-consul. But the Archon
Londo, of Vostizza, is a character altogether as amia
ble as that of the Athenian is disgusting, and it remains
to be discovered, which of the two is the exception, and
which the general rule.

f Pouqueville, Voyage en Moree, p. 106.

 432

LETTER XXXII.

Religion of the Greeks.—Ceremonies and Customs of their

Superstition. —Festivals.—Funerals.—-A Mahometan
Funeral.—Greek Cemeteries. —Priests.—Monks of the
Order of St. Basil.— Their Monasteries'.—The Secu
lars.—Instances of the Superstition of the Greeks*—JVb-
tion entertained ofthe English by Greeks and Turks The
Patriarchate of Constantinople.— The Arts.—Medicine.—
Physicians.— Exorcisms.— The Plague.—Use of the Hot
Bath.

IN my former Letter I have endeavoured to let you

into some particulars of the Greek character, and shall
devote the following sheets to the same consideration.
The traveller, especially he that has left behind him
the enlightened freedom of the English capital, and the
decent ceremonies of the Protestant church, when he be
holds the religious system of the Greeks, must be prompt
ed to suppose himself carried back into the darkest ages
of ignorance and superstition. There is something sa
cred in every observance attached to any Christian wor
ship, which ought to preserve it from contempt and ri
dicule, yet the rights of this church have in them such an
air of absurdity, and are performed with what we should
consider such a want of solemnity, that it is not easy to re
frain from smiling during the celebration of the mass.
The chief part of the service seems to consists of frequent
crossing, performed with the thumb laid on the two fore
fingers, and ten thousand repetitions of « Lord have mer
cy upon me," sung through the nose, and, apparently
kept up as long as the breath of the chanter will last. It
is some time before you can make out the words they are
repeating, which, though you may have supposed them
 \

42*

a continued psalm, or lesson, are only « Lord have mer

cy upon me ; Lord have mercy upon me ; Lord Jesus
Christ have mercy upon me, a sinner."— «*e»»o*, K»f«
thtmrov, Kvpit lHvov Xpio-Tt thi»o-ov /ut Tov tflLafToxw.
There is, at the same time, a degree of primitive sim
plicity in most of the churches, which recals our recol
lections to the earliest ages of Christianity. They are
very small generally, the floor of mud, the altar of stone,
the sanctuary separated from the nave by deal boards,
and an enclosure of pales at the other end, for the women.
It is hut seldom that there are any seats, but in one cor
ner of the building there is an assortment of crutches, on
one of which each of the more aged worshippers supports
himself, leaning on his arms and chin, in the posture of
one of the figures in the cartoon of Paul preaching before
Felix.
In the great towns, as you have heard, and in some of
the monasteries, the churches are better fitted up, though
in the most paltry style, covered with gilt dauhings, and
ornamented with pictures of Saints, whose only value
arises from their supposed miraculous powers.
It would be difficult to meet amongst the laity with a
single person at all sceptical on the article of religion ;
they all seem most attached to the ceremonies, and strict
ly to observe the ordinances of their church, which are
Very strict and severe. There are only one-hundred
and thirty-nine days in the year free from all fasts.—
The Easter lent lasts two months, the Christmas forty
days, and there are two others, the Lent of St. Peter
and St. Paul, and that of the Virgin ; besides which,
Wednesdays and Fridays are fasts throughout the year.
The caloyers have three other lents, which last in the
whole forty-eight days more.
The clergy enjoy a most unbounded influence with
their flock, and it is painful to see the sacrifices which the
meagre, half-starved peasants make to their priests.—
Besides many gifts, there are certain days when all the
attendants, men and women, of the poorest class, bring
loaves, and plates of sweetmeats, called a colyva, and
wax tapers, and lay them, during the service, at the foot
of the altar, whence they are conveyed into the sanctua
ry, and serve as the evening's feast for the priests. The
colyva is a quantity of boiled wheat, covered with cur
 425

rants, and garnished with pomegranate-seeds, sugar,

comfits, sesamum, and sweet basil. The Greek girls
carry presents of these colyvas, and other sweetmeats,
on twelfth-day, which they call to their friends ;
and in some other respects, the amusements and religion
of this people seem as much connected as in ancient
times. They dance in honour of some of their Saints,
and on the feast of the Epiphany, bands of fiddlers
and other musicians patrole the streets from morning
to night.
This feast, by accident, whilst we were at Athens, fell
on the same day as the second Bairam of the Turks, the
17th of January, and the Mahometans were firing can
non, and discharging sky-rockets, from the Acropolis,
with the sound of drums and pipes, at the same time that
the Christians were manifesting their glee to commemo
rate another event, in every street of the city below.
This oppressed people would find life too long and bur-
thensome, were it not for their religious festivals, and ac
cordingly they have retained much of the joyful part of
the ceremony attached even to the funeral rites of their
ancestors. On the death of any person of dignity, the
body is dressed in a rich garment, and laid upon a litter,
strewed with flowers, and covered with a rich canopy,
and the corpse, with the face displayed, is left a short
time in the vestibule of the house, surrounded by the fa
mily of the deceased. At the stated time, the procession
sets forward. The servants of the household move two
and two before the bier, which is borne on poles at a
little hpight from the ground. The male relations and
the priests immediately precede the body. On each side
of the bier, are two or three old women, lamenting aloud,
detailing the dignities and virtues of the deceased, and
interrogating him, as to his reasons for quitting the
world—« Why did you die ? You had money, you had
friends, you had a fair wife, and many children,—why
did you die V These mourners are hired, and the com
mon pay of earh is five loaves, four jars of wine, half a
cheese, a quarter of mutton, and about fifteen-pence in
money. Their' howling is extremely ludicrous, and has
not even the semblance of grief. Behind the body, is a
long train of the female relations and friends, muffled up
in mourning habits. If the dead be a young woman, se-
Vol. I. 3H
 426

veral girls in white precede and follow the bier, and at

intervals scatter real or artificial flowers on the body.
At Constantinople, or rather at Pera, the distance to
the burying-ground is considerable, and gives time for
large bodies of followers to collect, and accompany the
procession to the tomb. Arrived at the place of in
terment, the bier is set down, a short service read, and
the body deposited with its dress, and rolled in a wind
ing-sheet, in the grave, the mourners continuing to howl
most piteously during this last ceremony. The garlands
that adorned the bier are some of them thrown into the
grave, and others carried home by the mourners and
friends.
Afterwards, and generally on the ninth day after the
funeral, a feast is prepared by the nearest relation, ac
companied with music and dancing, and every other spe
cies of merriment. But the priests gain the most by
these festive demonstrations of grief. They are supplied
always on the ninth day, and frequently also during the
mourning, with large colyvas, which present is repeated
also for three or four anniversaries of the burial.
You may have before seen it observed, that there is a
remarkable conformity between some customs of the
Irish and of the Greeks. The funerals of the two na
tions bear the strongest similarity to each other, though
the lower classes alone of the former people preserve that
part of the ceremony which, amongst the latter nation,
is peculiarly attached to the wealthy and important, for
according to a modern Greek saying, « a rich man is
wept by hired mourners, a poor man by his friends."
But a more singular resemblance is that which is to be
remarked between a Mahometan and Irish opinion re
lative to the same ceremony. When a dead Musselman
is carried on bis plank towards the cemetery, the devout
Turk runs from his house as the procession passes his
door, and, for a short distance, relieves one of the bearers
of the body, and then gives up his place to another, who
hastens tw perform the same charitable and holy office.
It is a belief enjoined by Mahomet himself, that to carry
a body forty paces gives expiation of sin.
No one who has been in Ireland, but must have seen
the peasants leave their cottages, or their work, to give
a temporary assistance to those employed in bearing the
 dead to the grave, an exertion by which they approach
so many steps nearer to Paradise.*
The cemeteries of the Greeks are not in their churches,
nor in the precincts of any city, but at a little distance
from the town, in a space, not enclosed by a wall, near
the high-road. The tomb-stones are some raised, some
flat, and they are generally in a thin grove of cypress or
yew trees. On certain days they are frequented by the
relations of those who are lately dead, when, after a few
tears, and the depositing of a garland and a small lock
of hair on the grave, the parties assume their accustomed
liveliness, and spend the remainder of the visit in danc
ing and singing.
The clergy are divided into two classes, the Caloyers,
or Monks of the order of St. Basil, from whom all the
prelates are chosen, and the Papades, or secular priests,
who may marry, if they choose a virgin, and engage be
fore ordination. Caloyers never say mass ; if they take
the priesthood, they become what is called « Holy
Monks," and only officiate on high festivals. Admission
to the brotherhood is gained by applying to one of these
Holy Monks, and paying sixty or seventy piastres, no
.probation or examination is requisite, and very young
children are allowed to put on the cowl.
There are many inducements to belong to this reli
gious fraternity. The priests are all-powerful with their
flock, and enjoy some respect even from the Turks. It
is better to be a wealthy man at large than a Monk,
but it is better to be a well-fed recluse than a hungry va
grant.
The first solitaries, the voluntary tenants of the burn
ing deserts of Nitria, selected the most barren spots for
their retreats ; but the monks and hermits of the Greek
church, in the present age, have not objected to abridge
themselves of some of their meritorious mortifications,
* A person who reads Mons. Galand's « Paroles Remarquables
*ies Orientaux," would be surprised perhaps to find, that the famous
bull recorded of an Irishman, who, looking over a person writing a
letter, and seeing that he put—« I would be more particular, but a
tall blackguard of an Irishman is behind my chair, and reads every
word I say," exclaimed, " You lie, you rascal," is an Oriental story.
The same book mentions two or three other good things, which are
also to be found in our jest-books, applied to very modern charac
ters.
 4*8
and, besides other advantages, have seated themselves in
all the most beautiful spots to bfe found in Greece. The
only establishment they possess in Italy, is situated as
judiciously amongst the woods and gardens of Monte
Dracone, near Frescati. The place is called Grotta
Ferrata, and stands on the site of the Tusculan villa of
Cicero.
The marble porch, where wisdom wont to talk
With Socrates or Tully, hears no more,
Save the hoarse jargon of contentious monks ....
In their own country, their monasteries are frequent
objects in the valleys, the forests, and on the slopes and
summits of almost every hill, and are contrived as well
for comfort as security ; their farms, tenanted by one of
their order, or a lay-brother, are scattered over the
whole country.
Notwithstanding the fasts, when their prescribed diet
is pulse, roots, and plain water, and their rising to pray
an hour and a half after midnight, they seem almost the
only sleek and well-fed people amongst the Greeks, and
convince one how lavishly

Dieu prodigue des biens

A ceux qui font vceu d'etre siens.

The purest wine, the clearest honey, olives, dried fruit,

wheaten-bread, can always be procured in their habita
tions, and in theirs alone ; nor is it easy to account for
the plumpness of their appearance, without supposing
them occasionally to transgress the rules of their order.
There are to be met with some more abstemious ancho
rets, who live three or four together, and now and then
an ascetic, who passes his time in a solitary cell.
The Monks are supported partly by the lands attached
to their monastery, and partly by the voluntary contri
butions of their believing flock. On particular days,,
they carry about with them little pictures of their saints,
and ajar of holy water, with a brush, and entering the
Christian houses, give their votaries the one to kiss, and
make a mark of the cross on their foreheads with the
other, receiving a para or two from each person.
 429
The most sanctified of the Caloyers are those who
have received their education in the monasteries of
Athos, the Holy Mountain (A'yov o"foC), which, by an in
stitution of which there is no parallel in history, swarms
with six thousand saints. The theological studies of
these recluses are not so severe as their bodily labour ;
for not only do they cultivate the ground, and attend to
the vineyards and orchards, but even build fishing-ves
sels, and exercise many mechanical trades, some of them
undertaking to spin and weave. The monasteries of
Patmos are also in great repute, and mendicant brothers
from them, as well as from Mount Athos, are to be met
with throughout Greece, dispensing their sacred favours,
and, amongst other absurdities, even administering by
anticipation the extreme unction to the healthy inhabit
ants of a whole house.
The Papades are not held in sueh estimation as the Ca
loyers, and though they are certainly more serviceable,
have every appearance of being more wretched than the
recluses. A Deacon enters into priest's orders by a kind
of public election, for, being produced to the congrega
tion at church, the officiating Papas asks the audience if
he is worthy, on which, if the acclamation of all de
clares him worthy, (and the cry is always «?<°s), he
is considered as duly qualified to commence his holy
functions.
There is a chapel for almost every priest, it being con
sidered a kind of spiritual adultery for any man to offi
ciate out of his own place of worship. It is this that has
multiplied the number of churches in Greece. In Athens
alone there are forty churches, besides a hundred and
fifty chapels, and those in all Attica amount to four thou
sand ; but this includes every consecrated cavern with a
door to it and a stone altar.
Some writers have represented the monasteries as the
abodes of every vice, and, as it appeared to me, with
great injustice. As to the accomplishments of those in
holy orders, they must be considerably improved during
the last century, if it be true, as Tournefort says,
« that," in his time, « 'twas great merit in the clergy to
read," and « that scarce twelve men in the empire un
derstood ancient Greek." Belon had before said, that
otdy two or three, of all the thousands on Mount Athos,
 430

knew their letters.* The only persons of liberal senti

ments, with respect to religion, with whom I met in
Greece, were a Bishop, and two Hadjis, or Priests who
had been to Jerusalem. The more one knows and sees,
the less one believes and admires. This Bishop had ini
tiated himself so deeply into the mysteries of his faith,
that he began to despise them, and the Hadjis, who had
seen the holy city, declared that it was not worth going
to see, nor worth seeing, regretting the thousand piastres
they had each spent upon their pilgrimage.
The generality of the priesthood are certainly most
ignorant, stupid, and inactive, and, to increase their
gains, encourage the rest of the people in superstitions so
absurd, that it is difficult to think that they believe them
themselves. It is too true, that to them may be, in a
great measure, attributed the debasement of the Greeks,
or at least the continuation of that people in their pre
sent state of mental impotence. According to them, the
world is still full of wonders, and the Devil possesses an
active and apparent influence over the bodies and souls
of men. Thus there are many e^v?8"/*"", or Possessed,
and the exorcising of these unfortunate persons is a fre
quent and profitable employment for the priests.
The Athenians are, of all the Greeks, the most credu
lous, or inclined to invent ridiculous stories on this sub
ject. They all, as was said before of the women, believe
in the power of magic, and work up their imaginations
to such a pitch, as to fancy themselves actually the suf
ferers by the incantations of some malevolent enemy. If
a girl has two suitors, it is by no means uncommon for
the unsuccessful lover, when his rival's marriage takes
place, to have recourse to charms as a last resource. He
ties the locks of his hair with a certain form of words,f
and by every knot defers the bridegroom's happiness for
a night ; the tremendous operation is made known, and
the unhappy husband, through credulity and shame, be
comes not unfrequently the accomplice in effecting his
own misfortune. An Archon at Athens, whom we well
knew, suffered this calamity for the first month of his

* See Ray's Collection of curious Voyages and Travels, torn. xv.

cap. ii. p. 9.
t " I tie A and B, and the Devil in the middle." - .
 431

marriage, and was only released from the bonds of the

spell by the repeated prayers, images, and holy water of
his chaplain.
Several of the houses at Athens are believed to be
haunted by a spirit which is called an Arabin : the moans
of one of them were frequently heard from the bottom of
a well belonging to the house under the Acropolis in which
Mr. Lusieri was lodged, and it was not always easy to
persuade the servants of the family to draw water from
the enchanted spring.
Whether the Turks have been infected by the Greeks
with their superstitions, or brought their fables with them
into Europe, they have belief in these fairies also, and
denominate them « Gins." We saw at Libokavo, a
large house belonging to a Turk, entirely deserted, the
court and garden overrun with weeds, and were told that
no one would live there, as it was haunted by the Gins.
The operations of these beings arc much the same as
those of our ghosts ; they create strange noises, and dis
arrange all the household furniture, but are seldom seen.
Panagia, or the all-holy Virgin, is the favourite of the
Greeks ; the Minerva of the modern Athenians. There
is scarcely a cottage in which her picture, with a lamp
bur ning before it, is not seen in a niche of the wall, or in
a wooden case. The making and ornamenting of these
images is a gainful trade ; and sometimes you meet with
bne of them very neatly executed. A lavish Englishman
offered fifty zequins for a Saint, I think Demetrius, to a
painter at Athens, and was refused.
A peasant who lived at Athens told me a strange story.
I was riding in the island of Salamis, and observed a
strong young man running by the side of my attendant's
horse, with a little box in his hand in which he had ap
parently collected charity. Enquiring the nature of his
petition, he told me with tears in his eyes, and with the
most solemn asseverations of the truth of his story, that,
for some offence of which he was not aware, the Virgin,
with the infant in her arms, and otherwise so accoutred
as not to be mistaken by him, appeared before him every
night, and jumping on his bed, nearly throttled him. He
had been to the priest, who could do nothing for him, but
observing that the picture of his Panagia appeared ra
ther shabby and worn, suggested that the terrible visita
 43«
tion might not be renewed if the image was adorned with
fresh gilding. « I have no money myself," continued
the Athenian, « but am going to Ampelaki and Colouri,
to beg a few piastres, to pay the painter for his gold." I
gave him a trifle, and my attendant, a good-humoured
fellow, and a saint-maker by trade at Athens, told the^
man that he would gild his picture for him at a cheaper
rate than he had ever done for any body before.
In the reign of Theodosius the Second, Gamaliel ap
peared to Lucian, a presbyter of Jerusalem, and told him
that himself and St. Stephen wished to be released from
the obscure grave in which they had been buiied in a
neighbouring field.*
Since that time, revelations of this sort have been fre
quent ; and St. Nicholas delivered a similar message to a
woman whilst we were at Athens. The holy apparition
told the lady, that he was roaming about in a church,
which had fallen, and was buried under ground, from
which he desired to be delivered, and pointed out the spot
where they were to dig, and effect his release. Accord
ingly, the next day, the lady, who was at once regarded
as a saint, for having been thought worthy of such a com
munication, accompanied by a large party, consisting of
the most respectable Archons and Priests, walked in pro
cession to the place described, and pitched upon a part
of the road west of that going to the Pirseus, and leading
to the gardens, about half a mile from the town. After
digging a short time in two places, they came to some
bits of painted tile, which may be found almost any
where near Athens, and especially in this quarter, the
old site of the Ceramicus without the city. Immediately
there was a cry of the Church ! the Church ! (Eklesia !
Eklesia !)—all the crowd began crossing themselves.—
candles were burnt before the holes—and an opulent
Greek, possessed of the land immediately close to the
road-side, made a present of it to the Saint, to be dug
away, in order to give him a freer egress, and lay open
the whole church.
There was a commotion at Athens on account of this
discovery, and the road would have been entirely cut up
in the course of this religious search, had not the Turks

* Decline and Fall, vol. iii.

 433

prudently interfered, and prevented all farther excava

tions. As it was, however, the spot was for many days
watched by crowds of pious worshippers, and, whilst I
was present, a sort of controversy took place as to the
respective merits of the two apertures, one of which was
at last deserted, and all the tapers were burnt out before
the other opening in the ground. An old woman most ear
nestly appealed to me to tell her which was the real church ;
when, as gravely as was in my power, I told her that
they were under a sad mistake, and that the cavity which
they had deserted was, in fact, the true church of St. Ni
cholas. The intelligence was immediately spread amongst
the crowd, that the Frank had decided in favour of the
other spot ; and immediately the tapers were carried off
to the deserted place, and all Ihe crossing, bowing, and
praying, were directed to the hole in the ground which
had been before neglected. The Greeks had listened to
my decision ; for Franks are thought by them to possess
a preternatural, but by no means an enviable, degree of
knowledge, communicated to them by the Evil Principle,
their master and guide. The children in the streets,
when one of them is passing, call out, « Franco di Dio !
Franco di Dio !" by which, though I know not how the
sentence is supplied, they mean « Godless Frank ! God
less Frank!"
The abhorrence of the Franks, which the division of
the churches, and the conduct of the Latins, created in
the bosoms of the Greeks, is still in some measure pre
served by the spirit of bigotry ; and the mass of the peo
ple do not fancy that there are in the world any true
Christians except themselves and the Russians. As for
the English, they contend they are not Christians at alL
If asked of what religion we are, they say, « We do not
know ; perhaps of none ; some call you Lutherans ; it is
certain you are not Christians $ you do not cross your
selves," xt/ntiTt To o-i-aufo). A respectable person ad
dressed this argument to myself. The Turks have pretty
much the same opinion of us ; and, seeing that we show
none of the external signs of reverence for Fanagia, or
other pictures, conclude us to be altogether such infidels
as themselves.
A party of us were standing at the back part of a Ro
man Catholic chapel at Pera, whilst the service was go-
Vol. I. 31
ing on at the other end. Just as the host was elevated,
a Turk looked in at the door, and seeing the congrega
tion paying their reverence to the wafer, threw up his
head with a look of infinite pity and contempt, at the
same time smiling, and giving a shrug at us, who were
standing, as if he said, « What must you and I think of
these poor fools V
The English have no place for public worship at Pera,
and may, therefore, be thought never to pray at all ; ser
vice, however, has been once or twice performed in the
Ambassador's palace. But the ministers of Catholic na
tions sometimes go in procession to mass.
Notwithstanding the disdain entertained by the Turks
for the Christian religion, they grant their protection to
the Greek clergy, and find it their interest to ratify the
ordination of the great dignitaries of the church. Ma
homet the Great presented to the first Patriarch chosen
in his reign, the same gifts as the Emperors of the Greeks
had formerly given ; and, to this day, that sovereign
Priest is invested in a triumphant manner by a minister
of the Porte, who assists him in taking possession of the
patriarchal church in that quarter of Cons tantinople call
ed Balat. His influence with the Porte is very great,
and his applications to the Sultan are generally effectual:
he can punish with death.
The dignity is now exposed to sale, costing about sixty
thousand crowns, and the Patriarch indemnifies himself
by selling every lucrative place, the patriarchates of Je
rusalem, Antiocb, and Alexandria, and all the arch
bishoprics within his jurisdiction. The Greeks them
selves were the beginners of this practice, and the first
Patriarch so elected ejected the incumbent by force ; a
custom of which there are now frequent examples.*
* An Archbishop or Bishop is styled « Your all-Priesthood, your
Beatitude—T1tauf»t» «, MuxaficTn «-* ("—Priests, " Your Holiness—
Kytovma <r*."
The last edition but one of the Bibliotheca Grsca, contains, in
vol. vi. p. 748, a list of the Patriarchs since the last conquestof Con
stantinople. The history of Cyrillus Lucaris, is the history of the
Patriarchate. » A. D. 1600, Cyrillus Lucaris Pro-Patriarch of Alex
andria: A..D. 1621, Cyrill. Lucaris Patriarch (having been before
Pro Patriarch) for one year ; A. D. 1624, Cyrill. Lucaris restored, for
eight years; ArD. 1632, the same person a third time re-elected for
one year and two months ; A. D. 1633, the same a fourth time re-cho.
 485

Although the whole of the Patriarch's usual revenue

does not amount to more than three thousand pounds,
yet he has occasionally, by fines and extortions, the
means of increasing his income. The richest Bishops
have not more than three hundred pounds a year 1 find
by the registry of a parish in Yorkshire, that subscrip
tions were made in the beginning of Charles the First's
reign, for the relief of the Greek church.
The synod of Constantinople, composed of the three
Patriarchs and twelve Archbishops, meets every month
for the management of church affairs, the only affairs now
left at the absolute disposal of the Greeks.
The state of the arts in Greece is, as might be expect
ed, most deplorable. It would he difficult to find an ar
chitect, a sculptor, or painter, equal to the common work
men in the towns of Christendom. In building the in
land towns, they make use of a saw of a simple kind, a
hatchet, and a hammer : the gauge and chisel are used
on the sea-coasts, and in larger cities. The cells of their
churches are constructed by a sort of quadrant,* which
they apply to no other use. At sculpture they make no
attempt, and their paintings are chiefly gilded saints.
The best pictures are to be seen at Scio, from the
hands of Greek artists of an age or two past. There is
a composition, containing several figures, the only one I
ever saw in the country, in a church at Constantinople,
which represents the last day. The sheep are on the right
hand, and the devils are driving thr goats into the flames
on the left : the sinners are drest like Jews, Turks, and,
what is something odd, Archbishops and Monks. The
picture is very large, and is admired as a master-piece,
but is in reality a tawdry daub. The representations of
costume contained in this collection, are from drawings
made by a Greek at Constantinople, which, as far as a
painter can succeed with no other excellence than minute
and exact imitation, are well executed.

sen, for one year ; A. D. 1637, a fifth time, but after one year, stran
gled."
* Under the head of modern architecture, Letter xxxv. vol. iii
Mons. de Guys talks of Santa Sophia, and the aqueducts built in the
time of the Greek Emperors, near Constantinople. All his detail
about the arts in modern Greece tells nothing.
 436
Physic is practised in the Levant, partly by Greeks
who have received some education in Italy, and frequent
ly continue on their return to wear the Frank habit, and
partly by Italians. There is one, at least, of these per
sons in every considerable town in European Turkey,
who is paid a thousand, or fifteen hundred piastres per
annum, for taking care of the health of the whole of the
Inhabitants, and makes besides the most of strangers and
casualties. They are extremely ignorant, and full of old
prejudices, yet they are personages of some importance,
as you will collect by this direction of a letter I carried
to one of them—" Al Nobile Signor, Signor, Speridion
Cazza'iti, Medico." Many of these physicians have re
ceived no education at all, but, having failed in trade, put
on the hat and Frank habit, and commence practitioners.
The Turks, and lower class of people amongst the
Greeks, commonly presume every one so dressed to be a
Doctor, and travellers are frequently accosted as such
in the streets.
The only exception to the general incapacity of these
professors which fell under my observation was at Athens,
and, by the way, in the person of the noble physician
mentioned above. Signor Cazza'iti has tried some cou
rageous innovations, and has even attempted the intro
duction of the cow-pox, and with partial success. He
told me that he had inoculated about three hundred.
The general practice is, to administer jalap, manna,
Glauber salts, in quantities too small to be serviceable,
and bark draughts in almost every complaint, swilling
the patient at the same time with fat broths and slops.
Phlebotomy is also frequently practised, but with topical
bleedings they seem unacquainted, although the Turkish,
and Greek peasants scarify themselves on the hands and
feet, as a cure for rheumatic pains. If the disease does
not speedily give way, and particularly if there is the
least delirium, the patient is concluded to be possessed,
the Kalo-iatros is dismissed, and the Papas, the most no
torious in the place for casting out devils, is instantly
sent for to exorcise the tormenting spirit, and either the
recovery is attributed to the priest, or the death of the
diseased to the prevailing power of the evil principle.
It thus appears, that maladies are considered by this
ignorant and superstitious people rather as judgments and
 <m
visitations, or the immediate operation of the Demon,
than as the simple effects of a disordered system. Pesti
lential fevers, to which the whole of Greece is much sub
ject, and cases of elephantiasis and leprosy, are scarcely
attempted to be resisted. The plague, whose presence
was announced to the terrified imaginations of the former
Greeks by armed spectres dealing death and destruction
on every side,* is now also personified, and the appari
tion is sometimes seen in the form of a hag, lame and wi
thered, r'v,t
When in the months of a burning autumn all nature
begins to droop, and every herb and shrub die beneath
the sickly gale, the Greeks retire within their houses, the
doors and casements are carefully closed, and the bold
youth and heedless maiden are cautioned not to stir
abroad, nor even to look into the street. '« If in the dead
of night a rap is heard at your window, rise not, nor open
the casement, it is the decrepid hag that knocks—it is
the Plague."
I cannot help supposing that the use of the hot-bath,
which, together with the loose robe, seems to have al
ways belonged to the people of this country, must be pre
judicial to health, from the excessive relaxation, and in
deed exhaustion, which it produces. A person not ac
customed to the heat of the inner chamber of the bath, is
unable to support himself a moment in the warm steam,
in which a Greek or Turk will remain, under the hands
of the bathers, for half an hour.
The appearance of the bathers, white as wax, and shri
velled to the bone, is most disgusting, and it requires
some practice to bear patiently the kneading of your
limbs and cracking of your joints, with which they con
clude their functions. Yet all the people of the Levant
resort frequently to these public baths, and in crowds,
the men at one time of the day, the women at another, and
not so much for the purposes of cleanliness as of luxury,

* Such is the account given by Procopius of the plague at Constan.

tinople, in 747. The same author records, that in the winter of 565,
in Italy, its approach was signified by tremendous noises in the hea-
vons, like those of mighty armies marching to the sound of trum
pets. This authority is quoted by Dr. Pouqueville, in his Voyage
en Moree, p. 404, chap, xxxvii de la Peste—the master-piece of the
volume.
 438

for T am sure that they find a sort of sensual gratifica

tion in that state of sleepy languor to which, when
stretched upon the couches, they are reduced by the ope
rations of the bathers, and the heat of the surrounding
rapour. There are good grounds at least to suppose,
that the ancients knew they suffered some corporeal en
ervation by indulging frequently in this enjoyment, for
they ranked it with the pleasures of Yenus and Bacchus,
and looked upon it no less pernicious, if carried to ex
cess, than the joys of love and wine.*
All the women bathe at least once a month, but some
much oftener ; the men in general once a week. The
bath is the coffee-house of the Levant, and, for the fe
males, is the scene of various diversions and ceremonies,
as you may have collected from the luxurious, but, as
I have heard, not exaggerated, descriptions, of my Lady
M. W. Montague. After all, this species of gymnastic #
has in it something rather revolting to our notions of de
licacy, and is, perhaps, not free from rational objection.
There are many stories, both ancient and modern, which
do not reflect any credit upon the institution. Busbek
has the advantage of a learned language, to tell a most
singular tale in his second epistle. The manners of the
barbarous people of the West and North, seem less ex
ceptionable in most points than those of the Orientals ;
amongst which the Greeks, and in some measure even
the Romans, may be classed, and the modern Franks may
reckon themselves to be better, if not wiser men, than the
boasted nations of antiquity.
An exact plan of a bath at Athens, which is here an
nexed, may assist you in fully understanding the descrip
tions of this contrivance contained in so many books on
the Levant.
* Dum vina, unguenta, paellas
Carpimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus,
are the words of Juvenal, and I presume the ointments to allude to
the bath ; —a Greek epigram is more explicit and decisive—
« 'Oirsv mti t* tt nm » vripi Kuay>/» tfa»
" OfuTep»v mf*iru T»v cf't us A/JW ;"
which is as much as to say,
" Drink much, bathe often, lore a woman well—
" 'Twill send you just the shortest way to hell."

END OF VOX. I,
5*
APR 5 1938