* 
 
 
 f 
 
 >*r 
 
 -. 
 
 $ 
 
 
 ^& 
 
 >CV * 
 
 <o 
 
 1 
 
 <* 
 
 &*?*fV 
 
 N 
 
 
 /.I 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ££ 
 
 V 
 
 >, 
 
 (M 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 jlMo. & ■ 
 
 « a •: 
 
 *4 if 
 
 /* 
 
 [*A 
 
 2* 
 
 . >*> 
 
 *a* 
 
 NJ-t- 
 
 ""S8 
 
 :\ 
 
 i*iT 
 
 ^«r 
 
 ►XT 
 
 
 .•**. 
 
 r-dg^ 
 
 
 
 J^ 
 
 si 
 
 \&£ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ?* 
 
 
A, PLUMPTRE, 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE MORE A, ALBANIA, 
 
 AND OTHER PARTS OF THE 
 
 OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute 
 
 http://archive.org/details/travelsinmoreaalOOpouq 
 

 
 ill'.' 
 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE MORE A, ALBANIA, 
 
 AND OTHER PARTS OF THE 
 
 OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 
 
 COMPREHENDING 
 
 A GENERAL- DESCRIPTION OF THOSE COUNTRIES | 
 
 THEIR PRODUCTIONS; 
 
 THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND COMMERCE OF THE INHABITANTS: 
 
 A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE OF GREECE : 
 
 AND AN HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANCIENT EPIRUS. 
 
 BY 
 
 F. C. POUQUEVILLE, M. D. 
 
 MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES^ &C. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 BY 
 
 ANNE PLUMPTRE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, 
 ENGLISH AND FOREIGN PUBLIC LIBRARY, CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE; 
 
 AND SOLD BY GEORGE GOLDIE, EDINBURGH ; AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBL3NV 
 
 1813. 
 
7\ichard Taylor and Co, Priiiieis, Shoe- Lane, Loudon. 
 
PREFACE and INTRODUCTION 
 
 jLhe present situation of modern Greece is little known to other 
 countries. By Monsieur Choiseul Gouffier, in his Voyage Pittoresque 
 de la Grece, we have been made tolerably well acquainted with its 
 antiquities ; while Monsieur Felix Beaujour has given us a very com- 
 plete idea of its commerce. From Messieurs Tournefort and Olivier 
 we have no information, excepting with regard to the islands ; and the 
 accounts given by most other travellers are very incomplete and in- 
 correct. 
 
 Forced into the country by the chances of war, and placed in a 
 situation which enabled me to examine some of the most intei'esting 
 parts of Greece *, it appeared to me that in submitting to the public 
 
 * It appears somewhat extraordinary that so excellent, so amiable, so candid a writer as Mon- 
 sieur de Chateaubriand, and above all, one who had taken so much pains to investigate the merits 
 of various authors who had preceded him in writing upon modern Greece, should fall into so great 
 an error as he has done with regard to the present work. Or if he has understood rightly the 
 means of information furnished to Dr. Pouqueville, it is scarcely less extraordinary, that in men- 
 tioning his Travels he should express himself with so little clearness and precision, as to lead others 
 into the supposition that the doctor wrote merely on hearsay evidence, not from his own know- 
 ledge of the places he mentions. " The best guide," he says, " for the Morea would certainly 
 be Monsieur Pouqueville, if he could have seen all the places he describes, but unfortunately he 
 was a prisoner at Tripolitza." It is very true that Dr. Pouqueville was carried there as a pri- 
 soner ; but we find that during a stay of several months he had, through the indulgence of the 
 pasha, perfect liberty to go about the country ; a liberty of which he availed himself to visit in 
 person all the most celebrated parts : what he writes, therefore, concerning the Morea is really 
 from his own knowledge and observation. The sole objection which Monsieur de Chateaubriand 
 finds to the work being thus obviated, it may be hoped that the testimony in its favour given by 
 such a man will sufficiently justify a translator in submitting an English version of it to the public. 
 With regard to the part that concerns Albania, though Dr. Pouqueville does not appear there in 
 the character of an eye-witness of what he records, yet his information is drawn from those who 
 were upon the spot, and confided the notes they had made to his care, expressly that he might 
 arrange them for publication. — Translator. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 the details I collected with regard to the Morea and Albania, a work 
 would be offered carrying with it, at least, the recommendation of 
 treating upon many subjects entirely new. To these I have added 
 various particulars relating to Constantinople, on which no writer 
 upon that capital has hitherto touched : and, finally, I have traced. 
 several itineraries over different parts of the Turkish empire, which 
 1 trust will be found both new, and by no means devoid of interest. 
 That the reader may, however, be better enabled to form his own 
 judgement of the means of information afforded me, and of my in- 
 dustry in, and capacity for, availing myself of them, I will in few 
 Avoids relate the circumstances which gave occasion to the voyage 
 that led to my becoming a captive in the Morea. 
 
 I left France in quality of a physician attached to the Commission 
 of Arts and Sciences, destined to accompany the French army of the 
 East upon their Egyptian expedition. The entire loss of my health, 
 goon after my arrival in Egypt, obliged me to relinquish my situation 
 there, and I obtained permission to return to Italy. I embarked in 
 consequence on board a tartane of Leghorn, with Monsieur Bessieres, 
 a member of the same Commision with myself; Monsieur Poitevin, 
 a colonel of the corps de genie, then just beginning to recover from 
 a long illness which had brought him to the brink of the grave ; Mon- 
 sieur Charbonnel, a colonel of artillery ; Monsieur Fornier, a com- 
 missary of war; Monsieur Beauvais, an adjutant commandant; Mon- 
 sieur Girard, a member of the Commission ; Messieurs Joie and Bou- 
 vier, officers of the navy ; Monsieur Guerini, a barefooted Carmelite, 
 and a member of the Inquisition at Malta ; and one of the guides of 
 general Bonaparte, by name Matthew. Some servants and an Egyp- 
 tian cahonas * completed the list of passengers. 
 
 Colonel Charbonnel had been afflicted with a violent ophthalmia 
 and an obstinate dysentery, which could not be subdued ; yet de- 
 sirous of not abandoning his profession, he received from the ge- 
 
 * A cahonas is a sort of pioneer, or courier, in the service of the beys of Egypt. 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 neral-in-chief an order to repair to Malta, where he was to serve 
 when recovered. He was therefore to have quitted us at Messina, 
 and thence to have proceeded to Malta ; but our ill stars, or rather 
 the ignorance and obstinacy of our mariners, frustrated all our plans 
 in the manner that will be seen. Separated from Messieurs Bessieres 
 and Charbonnel, with the former of whom I was united in the strongest 
 ties of friendship, the sequel will show how I have been enabled, by 
 the assistance of their notes, to make the reader more acquainted 
 with Albania, a country the very name of which was, till very recently, 
 scarcely known among the polished nations of Europe. 
 
 In what concerns the Morea and Constantinople, I have dwelt little 
 upon circumstances relating to myself alone ; I have sacrificed my 
 journal, and the history of many little adventures that occurred in 
 the course of my rambles, to objects which appeared to me of much 
 greater importance. If I should be accused of mingling imagery too 
 liberally with my descriptions, I must entreat the reader to recollect 
 that I was travelling over the classic spots which inspired the great 
 poets of antiquity ; and that I wished to paint the manners of the 
 Arcadians in all their genuine simplicity and naivete. In speaking 
 of Constantinople, 1 have endeavoured to avoid repeating things that 
 have been mentioned by many other travellers ; but I trust that in 
 the accounts given of the Imperial castle of the Seven Towers, and of 
 the gardens and harem of the Grand Signor, I am offering details 
 wholly new *, 
 
 Such is the fruit of my labours during a captivity of three years. 
 That they were to me years of vexation and turmoil, that my views 
 and my wishes were often crossed, will be easily believed. Yet if my 
 work should be favourably received, if the objects to which I have 
 aspired in compiling it should be accomplished, I shall never regret 
 the sufferings I underwent, or the dangers to which I was often ex- 
 posed in obtaining my information. 
 
 * Dr. Clarke's Travels, in which an account of the Grand Signor's gardens and harem is 
 given, had not appeared when the original of the present work was published. — Translator. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure from Egypt. — Capture by a Barbary corsair. — Carried to the Morea. — Description of the 
 coast of that peninsula from Castel-Tornese to Navarin. — Arrival at Navarin. — Audience of the 
 bey. — Topography of Navarin. — Description of the town and its environs 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Departure from Navarin. — Itinerary to Andreossa. — Canton of Calamatte. — Insults received by us on 
 entering Andreossa. — Departure from that town. — The Hermaeum or defile of Mount Ithome. — 
 Leuctra. — Leondari. — Sources of the Eurotas. — Passage of Mount Boreas. — Sources of the Alpheus. 
 — Arrival at Tripolitza n 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Audience of the pasha at Tripolitza. — Description of his palace. — The guards. — Details concerning our 
 stay in the palace. — Departure from it.--Lodg!ng at the house of Constantine the Greek. — Seventy 
 of the winter. — Rencontre with two French soldiers. — Visits — Various details 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ancient and modern division of Peloponnesus or the Morea. — Topography of Tripolitza. — Arrival of 
 Achmet pasha. — His entrance into the town. — The audience he granted us. — Extraordinary punish- 
 ment of an Imam 34 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Valley of Tripolitza. — Route to Mantinea. — Topography of that town, of Ami, and of St. George. — 
 Route from Mantinea to Calavrita. — Idea of that country, and its productions. — Robbers of Mount 
 Pholoe. — Route from Calavrita to Patras. — Mount Olenos or Vodi. — Description cf Patras. — 
 Itinerary to Vostitza or Egium r 41 
 
 CHAPTER VI. / 
 
 Arcadia. — Route from Tripolitza to Caritena. — Digression concerning Sinano or Megalopolis. — Route 
 from Cariteua to Olympia, now Miraka. — Description of the valley of Dimizana. — Topography of 
 Olympia . 56 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Description of Castel-Tornese to Tripolitza. — Itinerary of the French garrison of Z ante from Castel- 
 Tornese to Tripolitza. — The route pursued by them on quitting that town, through Argos, Corinth, 
 and over Mount Geranien to Thebes. — Their arrival and imprisonment at Constantinople . . JO 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Laconia. — Route from Tripolitza to Lacedaemon. — Ruins of Sparta. — Description of Mistra and its 
 environs. — Character of its inhabitants — Course of the Vasilipotamos. — Gulf of Kolokythia or 
 Laconia 80 
 
CONTENTS, fJC 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Country of Mai'na, — Tbe Mai'notti. — Election of the beys, with the names of those who have governed 
 since 1777- — Various particulars. — The country abounding wiih ruins. — The Cacovouniotes. — 
 Cape Tenarus or Matapan. — Chapel of Saint Mark. — Pallantium. — Ruins of Tegea 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Administration of the province. — Its division into cantons or villaietis, into archbishoprics and bishop- 
 rics. — Its taxes. — Military slate of the country 118 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Character of the Morean Greeks. — The Greek women. — Superstition of these people. — Their honorary 
 titles. — Pride of tbe Greeks in their ancient monuments. — Education of their children. — Amuse- 
 ments of the young people. — Music and songs of the Greeks 125 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Religion of the Moreans. — Their bishops. — Monks or caloyers. — Papas — Their Lents and other fasts. — ■ 
 Easter. — Sacraments. — Their festivals. — Marriages. — Furniture. — Funeral ceremonies .... 141 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Particulars relative to our situation. — Account of a Greek impostor. — Expedition of the delis against the 
 robbers of Arcadia. — Their triumphant return to Tripolitza 156 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 On the modern Greek language, and the present state of knowledge among the Greeks. — Their tribunals. 
 — Police of the towns and public highways 1 63 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Of the climate, temperature, and variations of the seasons in the Morea. — On the quality of the water 
 in different parts. — On the diet and modes of cooking of the Moreans 173 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 On the diseases incidental to the Morea, and particularly on the plague. — State of medicine in the 
 Morea. — Physicians and surgeons 1 86 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Mechanical arts, trades, and manufactures. — Occupations of both sexes. — Productions of the Morea. — 
 State of commerce „. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Continuation of our stay in the Morea. — Extraordinary meteor. — Expedition of the garrison of Nauplia 
 to Tripolitza. — Apostasy of a Zantiote soldier. — Sickness and death of the defter-kiaya. — Departure 
 from Tripolitza. — Route from that place to Lema. — Strata Halilbey. — Aglacambos. — The lake of 
 Lerna. — Argos. — Mycene. — Nemea . . . . . »"'-.. . . 208 
 
 b 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 iNaiiplia di Romania — Introduction to Ca»san-bey.-— Civilities shown by Doctor Siceini — Mount Pala- 
 
 : .ie, and the fortifications upon it. — Departure from Nanplia. — The island of Spez2ia. — Hydia. 
 
 f — Psara — Passage ot' the Dardanelles. — Arrival at Constantinople 225 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 First view of Constantinople. — The prisoners sent to the castle of the Seven Towers. — They meet with 
 several of their countrymen. — Sketch of the fate of Messieurs Beauvais and Girard : two of the 
 prisoneis confined there ••........., 240 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Account of the Imperial castle of the Seven Towers. — lis history. — Interior admiimtratien of it. — Its 
 topography. — Second circumvallation, or outward inclosure of the Seven Toweja . . 250 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 The bagnio at Constantinople, and the treatment of the French prisoners and others confined there. — 
 Melancholy fate of a young Greek. — More particulars respecting the prisoners in the Seven Towers, 
 — Dogmas of the Turks. — Death of Adjutant-general Rose. — Visit of the Istambol Etienui 2u5 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 State of the seasons at Constantinople. — Beauty of its situation. — Sketch of the interior of the town. — 
 The bezestein. — The market for female slaves. — Account of the family of Selim the Third. — The 
 titles placed at the head of his firmans. — Some account of Isaac-bey . . . 276 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Costume of the different inhabitants of Constantinople. — Sumptuary laws. — Trades carried on by different 
 nations. — Recreations of the Turks. — The Yamakis. — Privileged drunkards. — Fires. — Cookery. — 
 Coffee-houses. — Theriakis. — Suleyman Yeyen, a roan who could take corrosive sublimate . 287 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Arrival of a Russian fleet at Constantinople, and subsequent events. — The author's release from the 
 Seven Towers. — Festival of the birth of Mahomet. — Suburb of Pera. — The field of the dead. — 
 Dolma Bakche. — Boi'ouk-deyre. — Forest of Belgrade. — Armenian wedding. — Turkish wedding 300 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The Court at Constantinople. — Offices of the ministers. — Ideas of the Turks respecting Plato — The 
 
 Turkish navy. — The academy for drawing and engraving. — Illness of Monsieur Beauchamp, an 
 
 astronomer imprisoned at Fanaraki. — Some account of this gentleman. — Description of Fanaraki. — 
 
 The island of Cyanea. — Islands of the Princes. — Tchinguenets or Bohemians . . . 312 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Description of the sultan's gardens, and of the summer harem ...... 32-i 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Departure from Constantinople. — Nagara. — Course from thence to the bay of Mametta, or Hamet, 
 on the African coast. — Stay at Porto-Conte in Sardinia. — Arrival in the road of Hyeres. — News of 
 peace with England — Debar katiorj at the lazaretto at Mai seilles 335 
 
CONTENTS, XI 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Observations introductory to a detail of the sufferings of Messieurs Charbonnel, Poitevin, and Bessieres, 
 during their captivity in Albania ; with a description of that country, anciently known under the 
 name of Epirus 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Commencement of the adventures of Messieurs Charbonnel, Poitevin, and Bessieres. — Massacre of the 
 French and Greeks at Prevesa, by Ali-pasha — Jealousy entertained of the Russians by AH. — 
 Situation of the French prisoners in Ali's camp ........ 34Q 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Topography of Butrinto. — Portrait of Ali-pasha and his sons. — Sketch of his army, of its discipline, and 
 
 of the manners of the Albanian soldiers. — Departure of Monsieur Charhounel for Agio- Saranta, 
 
 and of the other prisoners for Janina. — Their itinerary to that town by Delvino, Delvinachi, arid 
 
 Dzidza. — Description of Agio-Saranta and the country round ...... 357 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Elysian Fields. — Topography of Janina. — The lake Acherusia. — The Cocytus or subterranean 
 
 river.— The river Acheron — The hamlet of Bonila, with the school of artillery and the pasha's 
 
 gardens there. — Visit of the French officers to the monastery of the prophet Elias. — Province of 
 
 Sagori. — Forest of Dodona. — Return of the French officers to Janina. — Journey of Monsieur 
 
 . Bessieres with the pasha to the northern parts of Albania . . . . . . 367 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Extent of the pashalik of Ali. — His revenues. — His troops. — His influence in Romelia. — Further par- 
 ticulars respecting the school of art'Uery at Bonila —Tragical end of the corsair Orouchs. — War 
 between Ali and the pasha of Deivino — - Monsieur Guerini turns Mussulman. — The pasha dismisses 
 Monsieur Bouvier to Fiance. — Route from Janina to Larissa. — Productions of Upper Albania 37P 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Eastern part of the pashalik of Ali. — Itinerary from Janina to Larissa. — Upper Albania. — The Chimariots. 
 — Western Albania. — Description of the coast from Butrinto to Prevesa. — The mountains of Souli, 
 — Wars of the Soulioies with Ali. — Southern part of Albania. — Trade of the gulf of Arta. — Earth- 
 quakes. — Phenomena on this coast. — Forests of Manina. — Villages bordering the Acheloiis. — 
 Isles of the Eschiuades 38o 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Customs and manners of the Albanians. — Climate and state of the seasons — Qualities of the different 
 waters. — The diseases most common in the country. — Physicians and surgeons. — State of com- 
 merce ................ 402 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 Plan concerted and executed by the French officers to escape from Albania. — Their arrival at Corfu. — 
 Anger of Ali-pasha upon the occasion. — Treacherous conduct of the Turks. — The prisoners are 
 lodged in the citadel of Corfu. — Their escape from it, and concealment in the island —Arrest of 
 several of the Corfians. — The French surrender themselves ; they are reconducted to the citadel, " 
 and at length given up to the Turks .......... 413 
 
Ill CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 Departure of the French officers "from Corfu. — The islands of Cerigo and Lesbos. — GulHpoli.— Arrival 
 at Constantinople. — They are sent to the French house of detention at Pera. — Their release, with 
 permission to return to Fiance, is procured by the English and Russian ambassadors . . 421 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Departure of the French officers from Constantinople. — Itinerary of their journey over land to Ragusa. 
 — Ponte Piccolo, and Ponte Grande, with their lakes. — The ancient wall from the Black Sea to 
 the Propontis. — Adrianople — They enter Bulgaria. — Philippopolis. — Mount Rhodope. — Mount 
 Scomius. — Mount Orbelus.--Arrival at the foot of Prisrendi 427 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 The travellers pass Mount Prisrendi. — Some of them are affected dangerously by the cold. — The town 
 of Prisrendi — Desert between that place and Scutari — The valley of the Drino. — Arrival at Scutari, 
 and description of the town. — The lake of Labeutis or Iscoudar. — Dissertation on the mountains, 
 
 valleys, and rivers of Greece 436 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Departure of the French officers from Scutari — Aniivari. — Dulcigno. — The Montenegrins. — The 
 Mouths of the Cattaro. — Arrival at Ragusa. — The officers are put into quarantine. — Description of 
 Ragusa. — Sketch of its government and commerce. — Departure of the French officers, and their 
 arrival at Ancona 450 
 
 APPENDIX 459 
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 1. View of the Town and Port of Navarin .... To face the title. 
 
 2. The Map Page 1 
 
 3. Summer Encampment of the Morean Shepherds 1/6 
 
 4. View of the Town of Hydra, in the Island of Hydra .... 233 
 
 5. View of the Castle of the Seven Towers at Constantinople . . 250 
 6'. The Field of the Dead , . .305 
 
 7. The Meadow of Boioukdeyre 309 
 
 8. An Albanian Soldier. — A Reis of Barbary 359 
 
 In the Map the different routes are thus marked: 
 
 The author's, from Navarin to Constantinople, by a single line, thus — 
 
 That of Messieurs Beauvais and Girard, from Patras to Constantinople, 777777777::: 
 That of Monsieur Charbonnel, &c. from Constantinople to Ragusa, - 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE MOREA, ALBANIA, 
 
 AND OTHER PARTS OF 
 
 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure from Egypt. — Capture by a Barbary corsair. — Carried to the Morea. — 
 Description of the coast of that peninsula from Castel Tornese to Navarin.^— 
 Arrival at Navarin. — Audience of the Bey. — Topography of Navarin. — ■ 
 Description of the town and its environs. 
 
 XT was on the sixth of November 1/98 that I embarked on board a tartane of 
 Leghorn, called La Madonna di Monte-Negro, in company with the gentlemen 
 mentioned in the Introduction. We sailed from the new port of Alexandria at 
 seven in the evening, the weather being stormy, and were fortunate enough to 
 escape the English, Turkish, and Russian fleets by which it was blockaded. On 
 the morrow at sunrise the shores of Libya appeared only under the form of a dark 
 line in the horizon, and soon after we lost sight of them entirely. The wind 
 blew tempestuously, and the sea ran high: this continued till the tenth, when we 
 arrived within sight of the island of Candia. Here a profound calm came on, 
 accompanied with stifling heats, so that ten days elapsed before we could proceed 
 on our route. Alas! why did we arraign Heaven for being thus adverse to our 
 wishes ? They were heard in the end but too soon. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth our sailors, instead of making for the light-house of 
 Messina as they pretended, ran us to the gulf of Squilacea on the coast of 
 Calabria;- and notwithstanding that the sun, which appeared about noon, showed 
 
 B 
 
2 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 them the summits of the Appenines, they continued obstinately to direct their 
 course the same way. The night between the twenty- fifth and twenty-sixth 
 proved the destruction of all our hopes, and the commencement of our misfor- 
 tunes. We had been descried in the evening by a Barbary corsair from Tripoli 
 without our having perceived him, and a calm which prevented our proceeding 
 gave him an opportunity of bearing down upon us with his oars. 
 
 Free from any suspicion of danger, we were reposing in perfect tranquillity. 
 Half the night was past; the moon then at the full illumined the coast of Cala- 
 bria, and a profound silence reigned in our frail bark, when on a sudden the 
 sailors who were on guard upon deck perceived the corsair approaching. They 
 softly awoke their comrades, and in concert with a Provencal pilot hoisted out 
 the boat, only interrupting our sleep to render us the witnesses of their desertion. 
 We could have detained them; but the boat being too small to contain us all, 
 we suffered the rascals to depart, resigning ourselves patiently to our fate. The 
 corsair fired upon us immediately; and as we could not answer, being destitute 
 of arms, it advanced, still continuing its fire. The cries of the crew, the noise 
 of the fire-arms, the clashing of the swords drawn for boarding us, increased every 
 moment as they approached. We had hoisted our colours and held out signals of 
 peace, when the corsair having reached us the people sprung upon our deck. 
 Their audacity only increased when they found not a man among us with arms, 
 but all wearing an aspect of peace and submission. Many of us were struck down 
 and cruelly beaten by them; we were completely plundered in an instant, and at 
 length put in chains. 
 
 Hitherto the Barbaresques had supposed us Neapolitans, a people who seem 
 formed for their prey ; but as soon as the captain discovered us to be French, he 
 affected a very different behaviour. Those who had been ironed were released, 
 and he made many protestations of friendship and kindness: these we knew 
 perfectly well how to appreciate. He promised to restore every thing that had 
 been taken from us, and swore a thousand times by his own head that we should 
 be conducted in safety to Corfu. As to the tartane which had been abandoned 
 by its crew, and in which he found an old Tuscan flag, he adjudged it to himself 
 and sent it to sea, having first put on board a prize-master with ten of his own 
 sailors: for ourselves, we were ordered on board his ship. His people soon began 
 to break open our trunks, and to take possession of whatever they chose among 
 our effects ; while it would have been utterly in vain for any one of us to utter a 
 word of remonstrance against their depredations. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 3 
 
 When day came on, the captain, who was a Dulcignote*, by name Qrouchs, 
 permitted me, as well as Messieurs Former and Joie, and the guide Matthew, to 
 return to the tartane and seek for some better clothes, our own having been torn 
 to pieces. We were then to rejoin him, and proceed, as he said, immediately 
 to the place of our destination. But scarcely were we on board the prize when 
 one of the pirates at the mast-head announced a vessel in the horizon, and in fact 
 we soon perceived a frigate in full sail directing its course towards us. The reis 
 Orouchs immediately hailed the officer who commanded the tartane, and ordered 
 him to sail away directly for Tripoli. This order was like a thunder-stroke to us, 
 as it separated us entirely from our friends : but we had no power of resistance. 
 Jn about ten minutes after, the frigate fired at us to bring us to ; but the captain 
 refused, and immediately hoisted the French flag. This trick, in saving himself, 
 completed our ruin. The frigate, which appeared to be a Neapolitan, bore away, 
 continuing to give chase to the corsair. 
 
 We had no reason to congratulate ourselves upon the auspices under which 
 the night following our capture commenced. Our captors had become suspicious; 
 we on our side observed them with close attention, we were even meditating some 
 daring stroke, when we were hurried below deck and shut up under the hatches. 
 Notwithstanding this they seemed still to consider themselves as far from secure,. 
 and kept a vigilant guard all night lest they should be surprised by us. It was 
 not without reason, I must confess, that they were thus cautious, since though 
 we were reduced nearly to the impossibility of executing any decisive blow, we 
 did not the less discuss different plans for extricating ourselves from our perilous 
 situation : they were, however, of necessity no sooner formed than rejected. 
 We resolved to abide by the only one at all practicable, totally deprived as we 
 were of arms, and this was to endeavour to win the reis over to our interests. 
 
 By means of the lingua Franca we could make ourselves understood by him, 
 and we were not without hopes that he might be induced to listen to us, as he 
 owed his liberty to General Bonaparte : the latter had released him with many 
 other Mussulmans from captivity when he took possession of Malta. The reis 
 besides knew the French well, having accompanied our army into Egypt as 
 
 * An inhabitant of Dulcigno, the ancient Olcinium, a town in Turkish Albania, situated upon 
 the little river Boi'ana, six leagues west ofAntivari, and eight leagues from Scutari Its inhabitants 
 are almost all pirates, some serving under the flag of Barbary, others setting up for themselves and 
 infesting the Adriatic. They have a cast of countenance which strongly denotes treachery and 
 cruelty. 
 
 i B 2 
 
4 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 servant to General Dumas: from thence he had escaped through the intervention 
 of the hey of Bengaze*, and was thus enabled to resume his ancient occupation. 
 
 As the reis was ignorant of our being at war with the Ottoman Porte, we gave 
 him to understand that it would be more for his interest to land us on the island 
 of Zante, from which we could not be far distant, than to carry us to Tripoli. 
 We added, that for so doing he would be liberally rewarded by the French com- 
 mandant, and that he need not fear our reclaiming any thing from him, since 
 the corsair had carried away the greatest part of our effects. We insinuated to 
 him besides, that he might there set rid of his crew, sell the tartane to great 
 advantage, relinquish the perilous trade he was now following, which had already 
 thrown him oiice into captivity, and live in future at his ease wherever he might 
 choose. These ideas seemed grateful to him, and the wind, which forbade our 
 making the coast of Africa, decided him to follow our counsel. After a short 
 conversation, therefore, with his crew, the direction of the vessel was changed, 
 and he steered for Zante. 
 
 On. the morrow, being the 28th of November, we perceived early in the 
 mornmg the shores of this delicious island, which seemed to us a haven of 
 security. All our sails were set, and we were on the point of gaining the land, 
 when suddenly the crew of the reis, alarmed at the danger they must run sup- 
 posing hostilities to exist, revolted and veered -about, exclaiming that they were 
 betrayed. We were like people thunderstruck; our flattering hopes were in a 
 moment dispersed, and our fate seemed, from this disappointment, even more 
 crfael than before. All we could obtain was, to be conducted to the Morea ; it 
 was the country of our pilot, and he said he was perfectly acquainted with its 
 ports. The night came on with a very heavy sea, and our sails were torn by the 
 impetuosity of the wind. In the morning we were upon the coasts of the Morea 
 below Cape Tornese, opposite the mouth of the little river Peneus. Here we 
 were detained the whole day by a dead calm. Our crew employed themselves 
 in repairing the sail'-, in disputing about the division of our spoils, and in burning 
 some manuscripts which 1 had carefully preserved. On our side we collected 
 from among the sand, which served as ballast to our vessel, a few scattered 
 morsels of biscuit, since none remained on board either for the Turks or our- 
 selves. A little rice and about half a barrel of water formed the whole stock for 
 our sustenance. 
 
 * This bey was then at. Alexandria, Bengaze is a town in the gulf of Sydra, upon the coast of 
 Africa, anciently called the Syrts. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 5 
 
 From the point where we were now detained by the calm, Mount Pholoe*, 
 known at present by the name of Dimizana, was to be distinguished by two lofty 
 pyramids which crown its majestic summit. I saw it for the first time, and my 
 imagination immediately transported me into the valleys of Elis, and upon its 
 amphitheatres, whither the people resorted to be spectators of the Olympic 
 games. The shore near us was somewhat elevated, and covered with wood, 
 forming an arch over the sea which its angry waves could not reach. Upon the 
 left, to the north west, we saw Gastouni, situated a good league inland, at a 
 little distance from the right bank of the Igiiako, the ancient Peneus. The 
 minarets of this town were confounded with the white rocks which crown the 
 shore; these rocks render a little port in the neighbourhood very difficult of 
 access. 
 
 We now entered the gulf of Tornese, formerly that of Chelonita : we did not 
 make more than two leagues of way on this day, constantly tacking about 
 within the gulf. It was impossible to be in a better situation for taking an 
 accurate survey of the coast. The first and second of December we pursued our 
 route towards Navarin, never being at any considerable distance from the shore ; 
 we only stood out somewhat, in order to sail round the little island of Politico. 
 Here there is a pretty considerable fishery: from this circumstance its ancient 
 name of Ichtys was probably derived : there is also tolerable anchorage at the 
 mouth of a little river which is no doubt the Jardan ; it is now known to the 
 Greeks by no other name than that of Riaki or the rivulet : from thence Mount 
 Pholoe or Dimizana is plainly to be seen. The shore is in this place woody, the 
 gulf is at most a league in depth, and a chain of reddish mountains extending to 
 the nortii shelter it when the wind blows from that quarter. 
 
 At half a league distance, descending the shore towards the mouth of the 
 Alpheus, the coast continues to present a pleasing aspect, and some houses are 
 to be seen, with a chapel dedicated to the holy Virgin, whom the Greeks call 
 Panagia Siaphylion, or Our Lady of the Grapes ; perhaps, because the vines of 
 this district afford exceedingly good wine. About two leagues to the east is the 
 town of Golinitza, half a league distant from the sea ; it stands upon the right 
 bank of a little river which loses itself among the sands. These sands separate 
 the sea from the coast ; the latter consists of strata of argillaceous earth of a deep 
 red colour. From hence to the mouth of the Alpheus the coast is scattered over 
 with lakes, with fisheries, and with salt-works. The shore whence the latter 
 river issues to discbargejtself into the sea. is elevated upon the right bank, and 
 
6 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the rocks joined to the bar at its mouth must, I should presume, render the navi- 
 gation dangerous even for small barks. 
 
 Below the mouth of the river the coast continues for four or five leagues to be 
 scattered over in the same way with lakes, fisheries, and salt-works, intermixed 
 with some habitations. After that it is interspersed with downs covered with 
 verdure, with woods, and with forests. Some smoke which we saw rising indi- 
 cated a village, where our pilot told us there was an Albanian garrison; it had, 
 he said, been recently augmented on account of the war. All the country we 
 had now coasted is called Raloskopi, or Belvedere. 
 
 On the morrow we found ourselves very near Cape Conello, and saw distinctly 
 a part of Arcadia, built upon the ruins of Cyparissa*. This town formerly gave 
 its name to the whole gulf we were now navigating, though both that and the 
 gulf have taken the modern name of Arcadia. The town appeared bounded on 
 the south by a lofty mountain covered with verdure; and to judge by the number 
 of fires we could discern, the mountain must be interspersed with villages, or at 
 least with habitations. 
 
 In order to double Cape Conello, we bore away towards the Strophades, which 
 are a cluster of little green islands without trees, and on which I could not dis- 
 cern any habitations. We were told, however, that there is a monastery there, 
 dedicated to our Saviour. We passed the night under the shelter of a little 
 island, which I presume to be Proti, but the weather was so calm that it was not 
 judged necessary to cast anchor. Vessels commonly moor between Proti and the 
 main land; on the latter is an inscription in vulgar Greek, warning mariners to 
 be upon their guard: "He who passes the night beliveen Proti and Peloponnesus, if 
 he do not keep vpon the natch, will on the morrow become a prey to t/ie corsairs of 
 Barbary." This islet is uninhabited, and covered with furze. We knew that 
 there was anchorage between that and the peninsula of the Morea ; and we 
 learned afterwards that this is the port, as it may be called, to Gargaliano, a little 
 Greek town whither the inhabitants of Navarin trade for salt. The town cannot 
 be seen from the sea, because it stands on the other side of a mountain, the ancient 
 Egajea, and faces the north-east. 
 
 At length, on the third of December, before sunrise, the mistral or north wind 
 began to blow, and the sea to run pretty high, so that we had soon the happiness 
 of finding ourselves carried into the port of Navarin. Devoured by hunger, de- 
 
 * Cypai issa, according to the maps of the learned Monsieur Barbie du Bocage, was about four Jeagues 
 distant from the Neda, and this is the expet distance of Arcadia. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 7 
 
 stitate of provisions, disappointed in our projects, with the dreaded image of Africa 
 before our eyes, we hailed with joy the wind which drove us upon the coasts of 
 the Morea, regardless of any hardships to which we might there be subjected. 
 
 Scarcely had we cast anchor when we were accosted by a young Zantiot, who 
 was rowing about in a monoxylon, a sort of little bark hollowed out of a single 
 piece of wood ; he informed us that the Ottoman Porte had declared war against 
 France, and that Corfu was besieged, the islands of Cerigo, Zante r Cephalonia, 
 and Saint Maure having been previously taken. He afterwards quitted us, to 
 hasten and carry the news of our arrival into the town. Our reis now felt that 
 he had committed a great fault in throwing himself into the hands of the Turks; 
 and, affecting an air of friendship, assured us that we should depart for Tripoli 
 before night, where we should be under the protection of the bey, who was the 
 friend of France. But he was no longer the master of his actions. An instant 
 after the port captain, who as a mark of distinction had a small plate of white 
 marble slung round his neck, came on board our vessel. By his looks and gestures 
 it was easily to be discerned that he did not come as a friend. The reis went on 
 shore with him in order to present himself before the vechil, or commercial agent 
 of the bey of Tripoli. 
 
 He returned very shortly, and we saw the shore lined with people who seemed 
 attracted by curiosity. Some Greeks hastened on board the tartane, to make 
 purchases from our spoils. The corsairs sold them whatever they did not wish 
 to keep themselves, amongst which was an image of La Madonna di Monte-Negro. 
 This was bought by a papas for two piastres*. Towards evening we were 
 ordered on shore to be presented to the bey. We found him in the midst of" 
 his divan, seated upon a sofa with an air of great silence and gravity. He received 
 us at first with much austerity; but at the sight of two trunks, containing the 
 remainder of our effects, his features began to assume a more complacent aspect. 
 A seal was put upon the trunks, and the examination of them deferred to the 
 next day. Not a single question had as yet been put to us; but at length the 
 drogman of the bey began our examination. We answered him in the manner 
 which we thought would best suit our own purposes; carefully avoiding all dis- 
 closures that might furnish him with any information of importance. The bey 
 afterwards assigned us apartments for the night in his own house, under the guard : 
 of a numerous body of Albanians. The tartane he reserved for himself, as he 
 observed that the crew had no documents which could prove that they were not 
 
 * A piastre is about sixteen pence English money. 
 
8 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 pirates. The eahouas, who was accompanying us to France, was ordered to be 
 put in irons, first receiving some dozen strokes of the bastinado upon the soles of 
 his feet. 
 
 Supper was served to us in a copper vessel tinned, round which we seated our- 
 selves: an Albanian even brought us wine. The drogman came and favoured us 
 with his company. He soon began to request that we would make him a present 
 of our cravats: they seemed indeed to be the general object of desire among all 
 the officers of the bey, since they never ceased to importune us for handkerchiefs 
 (mandi'tici). This drogman, by name Nicholas, was a Venetian Greek, a native 
 of Cephalonia, by trade a tailor. He was, besides, commercial agent to Great 
 Britain in this port. He proposed to us that we should let him mend our clothes, 
 and took an opportunity, as he busied himself in examining them for this pur- 
 pose, to steal from my companion Former a trinket, which he had preserved from 
 the rapacity of the corsairs by slipping it within the lining of his pantaloons. 
 
 Supper being concluded, we laid ourselves down on a mat which was spread 
 iiDoii the floor, and had already slept some hours when the bey came to awaken 
 us. lie broke the seals which had been put upon our trunks; and, appropriating 
 to himself whatever he had a mind to, resealed them in concert with his chan- 
 cellor. At day break we were roused by the song of an imam offering up his 
 pravers in an oratory close to the apartment where we were sleeping. Soon after 
 the bev summoned us to the divan, to proceed in the examination of our trunks, 
 when we had the mortification of seeing every one of the counsellors steal some- 
 thing according to his fancy. My books were the only things which passed in 
 perfect safety through their hands. This done, they made many professions of 
 friendship for us; and in virtue of the distinction attached in Turkey to the pro- 
 fession of a physician, I was permitted to go out, that I might attend an aga 
 whose arm had been broken by the stroke of a musquet, in a tumult which had 
 taken place a short time before. 
 
 As by this means I had an opportunity during a week that we remained at 
 Navarin to explore the town and neighbourhood, I acquired a very competent 
 knowledge of them. On the right in entering the port lies the town, which is 
 called by the Turks Avarin, and by the Greeks Neo Castron. It stands upon a 
 promontory situated at the foot of Mount Teinathia, and is not to be seen till after 
 having passed two rocks which lie between the island of Sphaeteria and the main 
 land, and form the passage into the port. The principal gate is to the north-east, 
 at the distance often minutes walk from the port; the town extends in length a 
 quarter of a league from west to east, but is much less considerable in breadth. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 9 
 
 Its fortifications consist of four regular bastions mounted with iron guns, but with- 
 out carriages. These bastions, as well as the walls of the town, were built by the 
 Turks in the year 1572, but were never repaired till after the war with the Rus- 
 sians in 1770. The garrison consists of about threescore janissaries commanded 
 by an oda-bachi * from Constantinople, and a company of artillery at the head of 
 whom is a baker; with a corps of two hundred Albanians, who all exercise some 
 mechanical occupation. It is the place of residence of the bey. 
 
 There are only two gates to the town. The streets are dirty and narrow, follow- 
 ing the inequalities of the ground, which inclines towards the west. They are 
 filled with bombs and balls. The whole town commands the sea and the port, and 
 protects the latter. An aqueduct, of which I did not obtain a sight, brings from 
 a spring at the distance of about a league, a saponaceous kind of water by which 
 alone the town is supplied. The house of the bey stands in the lower part of the 
 town ; and the bazar is down a street to the left, at a little distance in entering by 
 the gate to the north-east. There is nothing remarkable to strike the traveller's 
 eye, except some mutilated columns of marble which support the front of the 
 principal mosque. Every house has a court planted with orange-trees ; in the 
 month of December, the time when I was there, they were loaded with fruit. 
 Towards the east is the road which leads to Modon : to the left of this road are a 
 number of gardens ; and a quarter of a league further, in the same direction, is a 
 large hamlet inhabited by Greeks: here are many modern ruins, monuments of 
 the ravages committed by the Albanians in their last invasion. The soil is culti- 
 vated wherever it is capable of being so. 
 
 Navarin is the most spacious port in all the Morea ; it extends from the present 
 town to Pylos, or Esky Navarin (Old Navarin), that is to say for more than three 
 leagues. To the south it is closed by the island of Sphacteria and the two rocks 
 already mentioned. In depth it is about a league from Sphacteria to the main 
 land : at a quarter of a league from the latter is a little islet well known to navi- 
 gators, as vessels usually anchor within it. The passes to enter the port are three 
 in- nurnber : the first and the most frequented is under the cannon of New Navarin. 
 Through this the largest vessels may pass. The second, which lies between a high 
 naked rock and the island of Sphacteria, admits only very small barks. I have 
 been assured, however, that vessels of a hundred tons might risk the passage ; but 
 I would by no means be answerable for the consequences. Near this, on the point 
 of the island of Sphacteria, a little fort has been erected, with a few old iron guns, 
 
 * A chief of I he chamber, a sort of captain of the janissaries. 
 
 C 
 
10 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 which commands the pass. The third pass lies at the western extremity of Sphac- 
 teria ; but it is very difficult and dangerous, unless the vessel is guided by a pilot 
 perfectly acquainted with the navigation. 
 
 The island of Sphacteria, celebrated in history by the massacre of the Lacedae- 
 monians, who had taken refuge there after having been vanquished by the Athe- 
 nians in a naval engagement, and now known by the name of Sfagia, is almost per- 
 pendicular on the side of the open sea. It is only inhabited by some fishermen, 
 whose houses are on the reverse towards the port, and is defended by a fort on the 
 main land above the ancient Pylos ; a name which is preserved even to this day. 
 It was upon the declivity of Mount Egalea, at Cape Coryphasium, that stood the 
 town built by Pylos the son of Cleson, where Nestor received the young Telema- 
 chus, and gave him a car to transport him to Sparta. Perhaps the cavern might 
 yet be found which served as a stable for the flocks of his grandfather Neleus and 
 his own. The temple of Minerva would, however, be sought in vain ; not the 
 slightest vestige of it has been spared by Time. Pylos at present is nothing more 
 than a village containing about sixty houses. Above is a fort, which is commanded 
 by the summit of Mount Egalea. The inhabitants are all Greeks, except a few 
 Turkish soldiers who guard the castle. The country about is arid and sandy. 
 
 At the foot of this ancient city is an inlet of the sea, which may be about half 
 a league over in its largest diameter : it communicates with the port by a narrow 
 channel capable of admitting only very small barks; by these it is much fre- 
 quented for the purpose of shooting the wild ducks and geese with which it 
 abounds. A little river, now called the Mouderi, the ancient name of which is 
 not know n, runs into the port to the north-east ; the rest of the port to the north 
 and the east is enclosed by high mountains thinly scattered over with pines. This 
 superb port is capable of affording shelter to the most numerous fleet, and was 
 chosen by sultan Ibrahim, in \6A4, as the rendezvous of the naval armaments he 
 had prepared for attacking the island of Candia ; they consisted of more than two 
 hundred vessels. 
 
 Between the port and the town of Navarin are some pleasant houses built upon 
 a little creek to the right : it was here that we anchored. At some distance is 
 a vigla, or observatory for watching what passes in the port : this building is sur- 
 rounded by cypresses and tombs of the Mussulmans. The environs of the town 
 are rocky, and not productive; yet a numerous garrison might be well maintained 
 at Navavin on acccount of its vicinity to Philatrea and Arcadia, districts of great 
 plenty situated more to the west. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Departure from Navarin. — Itinerary to Andreossa. — Canton of Calamatle. — 
 Insults received by us on entering Andreossa. — Departure from that town. — 
 The Hermceum, or Defile of Mount Ithome^ — Leucira. — Leondari. — Sources of 
 the Eurotas. — Passage of Mount Boreas. — Sources of the Alpheus. — Arrival at 
 Tripolitza. 
 
 The avidity of the bey being satisfied, he omitted nothing during the week 
 we remained at Navarin which he thought might amuse us : the days were 
 passed in his divan, or in walking about, and sometimes in visits. He dispatched 
 his emina or intendant to the pasha, to inform him of our arrest ; and by the 
 same messenger we addressed a letter to that officer, claiming the neutrality of 
 the Tuscan flag under which we were taken. Notwithstanding this reclamation, 
 no other answer was given by him than an order that we should be sent to Tripo- 
 litza under a proper escort. 
 
 We accordingly quitted Navarin, the bey furnishing us with horses for the 
 route, under the guard of fifty Albanians commanded by a belouck-bachi, a sort 
 of serjeant or corporal. The sight of these people, with their cloaks, their red 
 caps, their musquets, their enormous pistols and a poniard in their girdles, 
 would on any other occasion have disposed me to laughter ; but when I saw 
 behind them the vechil of Tripoli, who was going to make an offering of our 
 persons to the pasha, or to reclaim us, as he said, in order to send us to Africa, 
 this appeared no subject for mirth. 
 
 We set out at nine in the morning. A number of Greeks were assembled at 
 the foot of the mountain, and among them appeared our reis, come, as he 
 asserted, to take his leave of us. We ascended Mount Temathia, having for the 
 space of a league the port to our left, at the depth of two hundred feet perpen- 
 dicular below us : after this we descended into a narrow valley, the direction of 
 which seemed to me from the south-west to the north-east : our course was to 
 the north-east. The mountains on both sides presented almost perpendicular 
 masses covered with wood, and we passed a magnificent water-fall formed by 
 the torrent's which had broken themselves a natural channel among the rocks of 
 
 c 2 
 
J 'J TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Mount Tomeus on our left. The valley was marshy, and divided by a little 
 rivulet which seemed supplied only by the rains. Our Turks told us that the 
 place abounded with hares, and that the bey often came there to shoot. After 
 half an hour's progress through this valley, we ascended a small mountain, and 
 entered a vast forest the abode of silence and repose. Here were abundance of oaks- 
 valuable for the service of the marine, as well as of those that furnish the gall- 
 nuts, a considerable trade in which is here carried on. We found many trees 
 which seemed of the greatest antiquity now falling by the hand of Time, and 
 others which had been undermined by the shepherds lighting fires at their feet. 
 The Crataegus azarolus * presented us with its odoriferous fruits, and the rivulets 
 were every where bordered by the oleander now in full bloom. Here were whole 
 groves of wild olive-trees, interspersed with the plane and the ilex; while at in- 
 tervals were to be seen the weeping-willow and the cytisus, with abundance of 
 bay-trees : such were the objects by which we were surrounded. In quitting the 
 forest we came to a no less delicious plain, where the air was perfumed with num- 
 berless bushes of myrtle and rosemary. 
 
 Two hours were passed in this delightful route, when we arrived on the bank 
 of a little river which flows into the gulf of Coron. We alighted, and, without 
 troubling ourselves with the name which it might have borne in ancient times, 
 quenched our thirst with its waters, eating at the same time some figs with which 
 we were fortunately provided. We could not be more than four leagues from 
 Arcadia : a wood at the distance of about three quarters of a league from us 
 closed the horizon on that side, and the eye ran over cultivated fields which ex- 
 tended themselves in this direction. Judging by the appearance of cultivation 
 and the flocks which were grazing about, I presumed that there must be a village 
 in the neighbourhood ; but it was not within the compass of our view. Before 
 us was a lofty forest, not more than a quarter of a league from the river, which 
 joined the wood towards the west : towards this our course was directed. In 
 another hour we passed a river about forty feet wide, which flows eastward : this 
 may very probably be the Bias to which a son of Amychaon gave his name. 
 A quarter of a league further, having ascended a stony height whence we could 
 discern the gulf of Coron, we again alighted from our horses. Our Albanian 
 escort, who preceded us nearly a league, had already carried terror into a farm 
 
 * The Neapolitan medlar, orazarole; a native of Italy, the south of France, and Carniola ; the- 
 fj-arviXov of Dioscorides. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 13 
 
 which stands in the neighbourhood. Here we found a number of poor Greeks in 
 coarse garments, weeping and lamenting, having been beaten and pillaged by 
 these ruffians. Their wives had probably taken refuge in a neighbouring wood, 
 as we did not see a woman among them. 
 
 On quitting the farm our course was directed to the east, along a wide road 
 paved in some parts, and hollowed down the side of the mountain we were de- 
 scending. To the right we saw Balliada, the ancient Coronea, with the suburb 
 of Nisi inhabited by Greeks, and soon after discovered the town of Coron, built 
 on the site of the ancient Colonides. It is of a triangular form, and presents at 
 a distance the appearance of a very considerable town, as it is in effect. From the 
 goodness of its port, from its strength, and its population, it is considered as the 
 richest trading town in the Morea.. It besides possesses the advantage of being 
 the residence of consuls general from almost all the powers of Europe, and of 
 being the principal town of a canton. Its tributary towns are Avranio, Philipaki, 
 Caracasilli, and Petalydi, upon the coast, Gaicagli upon a neighbouring mountain, 
 with Vounaria, Castelia, and Makriades, stretching to the north, in a circle of 
 about three leagues. In another hour we reached a plain bordering the Pirnazza, 
 thePamissusof the ancients, when we quitted the military road, and directed our 
 course over the fields. We were proceeding in the direction of Calamatte, our 
 Turks having agreed to carry us thither for the purpose of making an exhibition 
 of us : they informed us that there was already one Frenchman there detained as 
 a prisoner. 
 
 I could never cease to admire the extent and fertility of this plain. To the 
 north it is bounded by Mount Ithome, whose sides are covered with vines, and 
 which extends eastward quite to Mount Taygetes or Pente-Dactylon. Although 
 we were now in the month of December, Nature was not deprived of her rich ' 
 clothing ; the leaves of the fig-trees, as well as of innumerable mulberries, were 
 only now turning yellow, while many of the olives were still loaded with fruit. 
 These precious trees, planted at different epochs, amply recompense every year 
 the labours of the husbandman ; one portion bears fruit in abundance, while the 
 others apparently barren are in reality nurturing the germs of the fruit which 
 they are to produce the following year. The harvest in this way, whether it be 
 owing to chance or be the effect of calculation, is so arranged that it requires less 
 labour and fewer hands. The fields divided by hedges, or by lines of demarca- 
 tion, show the value that is placed upon the lands.. 
 
14 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 We already approached the Pirnazza or Pamissus *, when our capricious 
 conductors, who had previously in several instances made us feel their authority, 
 and given us specimens of their insolence, suddenly changed their minds, and 
 resolved to take a different route : instead of Calamatte we were now to be carried 
 to Andreossa. I learnt in the sequel that this was a very fortunate circumstance 
 for us, as the inhabitants of Calamatte are a very malicious evil-minded race. 
 Such is their reputation all over the Morea ; they are generally distinguished by 
 the appellation of Mavramatia, or the men with black eyes. 
 
 The town of Calamatte, which we had come, within sight of, and respecting 
 which I acquired all possible information, appears clearly not to be, as some 
 persons of the country assert, the ancient Thuria: the situation of that place 
 must have been at the summit of an amphitheatre of hills to the east, where a 
 little castle has been built by the Turks: I should rather presume Calamatte to 
 have been Calamea. Be this as it may, it is now the chief town of a vil iaieti or 
 canton, the imposts arising from which belong to a sultana. Situated at a short 
 distance above the left bank of the Apsaria, a little river which flows into the bay 
 of Messenia, now called the gulf of Calamatte, it contains a population of more 
 than five thousand inhabitants. These people carry on a tolerable trade in the 
 products of their territory, and of those of the canton of Andreossa. The twelve 
 villages which form its tributaries may be seen almost at a coup-d'ceil, spread 
 about the plain on the little eminences with which it is interspersed. Asprochoma 
 is half a league west of Calamatte, and half a league further in the same direc- 
 tion stands Ais-Aga ; a league to the south-west is Cout-Tchaoux, and a quarter 
 of a league northward Fourdtjala. Coutchoucoiimani and Asilan-Aga are on the 
 road to Balliada, and a league to the north-west lies Basta ; Dliata half a league 
 further terminates the canton in that quarter. Pydima, Pohanesc, and Tegefe- 
 remini complete the catalogue of the bourgs belonging to Calamatte. The whole 
 eastern side is independent, and belongs to the republic of Maina. In this direc- 
 tion lies the defile of the Portes, which leads from Messenia into Laconia; it is 
 a league and a half east of Calamatte, passing by Janitza. This latter town is 
 composed of two hundred houses, and depends upon the bishopric of Zarnate. 
 In consequence of the determination of our conductors to change our route, it 
 
 * The Pamissus abounds in fish, particularly a very large sort of crawfish, which the inhabitants call 
 XiXi^iyss from their exUaordinary size : some are said to weigh as much as thirty pounds. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 25 
 
 was necessary to make a retrograde movement, in order to reach a chain of 
 mountains stretching from the north to the south. After travelling for about 
 half an hour we came to a vast building, which they informed us was a khan or 
 inn. We then continued for about an hour to traverse a plain, bordered to the 
 west by mountains, not more than a quarter of a league distant from us. The 
 valley here became narrower, we had mountains to our right as well as our left, 
 and we saw it stilf stretching on northwards. The country in this part was desti- 
 tute of trees, and the peasants we met had the appearance of premature old age 
 brought on by hard labour and misery. Some musquets fired by our Albanians, 
 and reverberated bv the echoes from the mountains, were the only sounds now to 
 be distinguished, amid scenes which had formerly been enlivened by the jovial 
 songs of the bacchanals, by the amorous notes of the shepherds, and the warlike 
 cries of the Messenians. 
 
 Yet this was the spot in which were performed the brilliant exploits of Aristo- 
 menes, — of that intrepid chief who so long held in check the power of the Lace- 
 daemonians. We approached Messenia, we were in sight of Mount Ithome ; it 
 was along the valley we were traversing that the battalions of Sparta pursued their 
 way, and under favour of the shades of night poured out from the defile of the 
 Portes. There it was that they encountered the Messenians, that such prodigies 
 of valour were performed. Now a mournful silence reigns in the spot, every thing 
 around leads to reflection and meditation. 
 
 While I wandered through the recollection of preceding ages, we advanced 
 towards Andreossa, and were now arrived within two leagues of it. The day 
 was closing in, thick clouds descended from the summits of the mountains, the- 
 thunder began to grumble in the distance, every thing pressed us to hasten our 
 progress. In another half-hour we forded a little river, which probably is one of 
 the tributary streams to the Pamissus : half a league further we began to take an 
 easterly direction, following the base of a mountain which conducted us to within 
 five hundred toises * of Andreossa. The Turks and the Albanian escort who 
 accompanied us now put themselves at the head of our little caravan, while the 
 oda-bachi, or chief of the janissaries of Navarin, hastened forward to announce 
 our arrival. 
 
 The moment of our entrance into Andreossa is still fresh in my mind, and will 
 
 * About half a mile,. 
 
16 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 never be erased from it. Our horses in a file marched with slow and solemn 
 steps along a narrow street, when suddenly cries of fu^ burst forth on every side. 
 An enraged multitude assailed us with showers of stones, pursuing us all the way 
 to the aga's house ; nor could the gates of the court be shut quick enough to pre- 
 vent some being sent after us even there. Hurried from off our horses, bruised 
 and battered, we only found a shelter from their fury in an apartment where 
 enormous chains were prepared for us. The rage of the fanatics was increased by 
 the cahouas, who was with us, never ceasing to exclaim with all his might, that 
 we had brought him away from Egypt by force. 
 
 Detained for an hour in this place, which was so full of smoke as to be almost 
 suffocating, while a consultation was held upon our fate, we were at length ordered 
 to a prison at the extremity of the town. As we were to march thither on foot, 
 we feared, considering what had passed already, that we should now have new 
 dangers to encounter ; but it was useless to remonstrate, even if we had known 
 the language of the country, and we were necessitated to obey in silence. The 
 crowd was dispersed, we only heard distant cries and shouts, and marched awhile 
 tranquilly enough, escorted by our Albanians: but at length a party of wretches, 
 probably in concert with our guards, or perhaps they themselves, taking advantage 
 of the darkness, fell upon us, and endeavoured to strip us of our clothes. We op- 
 posed all the resistance in our power, and with my hand I parried the stroke of 
 a poniard which was aimed at the guide, the companion of our misfortunes. All 
 this, however, could not pass without some noise, and that brought the populace 
 again upon us. The rage of the assailants was redoubled, and we only arrived at 
 our prison by resisting their fury to the best of our ability. Indeed, if we received 
 some severe blows, they were not unretumed : this, however, only served to increase 
 instead of diminish the number of our adversaries, so that by the time we arrived 
 at our prison the tumult was augmented to perfect phrensy. Stones fell in 
 showers upon the roof by which we were sheltered, the doors shook under the 
 efforts of the assailants, and it seemed as if our last hour must indeed be arrived. 
 We waited with resignation the event of this horrible scene, scarcely seeing 
 a hope of escape, and only praying for a death free from torments ; when sud- 
 denly a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied by torrents 
 of rain, came to our relief and dispersed the multitude, so that in a short time we 
 heard no more of them than the distant cries which they still uttered as they 
 inarched off. 
 
travels in the morea. 17 
 
 The belouck bachi of the Albanians, of whom we had lost sight during the 
 preceding scene, now re-appeared, and after giving us the salutation of peace 
 began to prepare a pilau for our supper. The next morning we were again 
 conducted to the aga's house, when, td our no small astonishment, all was order 
 and tranquillity in the town : the people saluted us with civility, and even showed 
 signs of friendship. So extraordinary and unexpected a change almost convinced 
 me of what 1 had before suspected, that we had to thank the commissary of 
 Tripoli and one of our corsairs, who accompanied him, for the treatment we had 
 at first received ; for it was evident that they had not seen us with any satisfaction 
 escape from their hands. Every thing, however, went on smoothly from this 
 time : my hopes were even exceeded so far, that I found myself in such a 
 situation as to be able to make my observations with no less composure than a- 
 traveller who has an escort at his command. 
 
 The town of Andreossa or Androussa, for it is called indifferently by both 
 names, is neither Andania nor Messene, as some of the savans of the Morea 
 would fain persuade those travellers who take them as guides : these two 
 towns were much more to the north. It is a modern town at the foot of a 
 perpendicular mountain which shelters it to the north north west. This 
 mountain may very possibly be the Eva celebrated for the bacchanalia, and 
 upon which was heard for the first time the Evoe, that formidable cry of the 
 bacchantes, when, possessed with the god who alienated their reason, they ran 
 about striking the earth with their thyrses. Andreossa stretches towards the east 
 along a narrow and smiling valley, through which the Pamissus flows at about 
 half a league from the town. Groups of cypresses scattered upon several little 
 hillocks indicate the numerous tombs of the Mussulmans. The town is open 
 every way, and without walls : it contains three mosques, and a bazar planted 
 with mulberry trees. The houses are small but elegant, and have an air of 
 coolness that we had not yet seen in the Morea: they may be said to harmonize 
 most agreeably with the beautiful situation of the town. 
 
 Andreossa is the chief town of avillaieti,. and the residence of an aga. The 
 hamlet of Nisi, which is near two leagues to the south, is included within its 
 territory. It comprehends also Dzori, which lies in the same direction, but 
 upon the road to Arcadia; Anaziri, which is half a league to the north on the 
 declivity of a hill, perhaps on the site of the ancient Andania; Piperitza towards 
 Mount Ithome or Vourcano ; Mavromathi, which is considered as the Messene 
 of the ancients ; Lezi, on the other side of the Pamissus or Pirnazza ; with 
 
 D 
 
18 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Gaidarofori, Carterogli, Lycotrefo, and Chastemi, which are to the east, on the 
 side of Taygetes, at the distance of a league and a half. These villages for the 
 most part consist of about forty or fifty houses ; a proof that the Morea is not so 
 entirely depopulated as is generally supposed. For the rest, I must say of 
 Andreossa before I take my leave of it, that its inhabitants, robbers by profession, 
 have a reputation in the country for being altogether mauvais snjets, which I am 
 in no way inclined to dispute. Their cast of countenance denotes strong intellect ; 
 some among the men are fair, and others have large blue eyes : This indicates a 
 mixture of the indigenes with the Spartans. The Turks who inhabit the town 
 are many of them married to Greek women, and speak the language of their 
 wives : they are in general of an athletic figure. 
 
 We mounted our horses in the court of the aga's house, and quitted the town 
 by a narrow road encompassed with gardens and cottages, and had not travelled far 
 before we crossed a little river. Taking a northerly direction, we pursued our 
 way along a beaten road which was paved at intervals, and had the appearance 
 of a military way : in about an hour we arrived at an aiasma, or fountain conse- 
 crated by the piety of the Mussulmans to the use of travellers. A quarter of a 
 league further, following the declivity of Mount Ithome, we saw a large village 
 called Anaziri, with several other houses scattered about the slope, and opposite 
 a place distinguished by the name of Vromo-Vrisi, or the stinking fountain, 
 perhaps owing to the springs which supply it being sulphureous. A little further 
 on we entered a valley which was filled with troops of wild boars. 
 
 A Laconian harrier which belonged to the bey of Navarin gave chase to one 
 of these animals ; but he had reason to repent his rashness, being soon surrounded 
 by a whole troop of them. Our Turks and Albanians endeavoured to assist the 
 courageous animal, and afforded us by that means the opportunity of being spec- 
 tators of a very interesting conflict. On one side resounded the cries of the 
 men, on the other the grunting of the animals pent up in a corner of the valley, 
 while the harrier, who had taken refuge upon the ledge of a rock, stood there 
 trembling and shaking in every limb. At the first shock, the sectaries of the 
 prophet, although animated by the fierce hatred which they are obliged to 
 swear towards this unclean animal, and by the interest they felt for their master's 
 dog, gave way and began to retreat : the boars, animated by this retrograde move- 
 ment of their antagonists, with their bristles erect bounded forward, and 
 extending their ranks made themselves way and escaped, though not without 
 receiving many musquet balls among them. None of the warriors on either 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 19 
 
 side, however, bit the dust, and the dog soon returned in safety, wagging his tail 
 in gratitude to his deliverers. We were altogether highly amused, notwithstand- 
 ing a heavy rain which wetted us to the skin. 
 
 Half a league further we arrived at the bank of the Pamissus, which is here 
 much increased by having received the waters of several smaller streams. On 
 one of these rivers which flowed from a mountain to the west we descried a mill, 
 where we stopped to rest ; but not finding any thing to eat, our Turks made us 
 remount, while they remained behind in order to try whether it might not be 
 possible to make the miller produce something. In this place was a beautiful 
 fountain, and tlve waters of the Pamissus rolled with impetuosity over a stony 
 bed. Its right bank was high, and covered with a thick wood. 
 
 Proceeding onwards, the rain still continuing to fall in torrents, we soon after 
 met a Turk richly dressed, and with a good mien, followed by two slaves. He 
 saluted us in French, :o our great surprise, and told us that he had been at Mar- 
 seilles and Paris : he immediately recognised Fornier by his uniform, tattered as 
 it was, to be a commissary of the army. He began to tell us several pieces of 
 news, which we devoured with great eagerness. This rencontre puzzled us 
 extremely. A Turk expressing himself in the language of our country with 
 clearness, even with purity — who could he be ? We were on the point of 
 having our curiosity satisfied ; he spoke of the attentions which we should 
 receive from the pasha ; he was going, he said, to a country house about two 
 leagues from the spot where we then were : our conversation grew more and 
 more animated, when on a sudden our conductors appearing, he thought it pru- 
 dent to take his leave and proceed on his way, that he might not commit himself. 
 
 At about fifty paces further, we crossed the Pirnazza by a bridge of four 
 arches, the parapets of which were all in ruins. From thence to Mount Lyceus, 
 and to the foot of Taygetes, where is the great dervin or defile, the Hermaeum of 
 the ancients, is a journey of about two hours and a half. We continued our course 
 for an hour along a partially paved road, which had been well washed by the rains. 
 On our left to the west we saw the town of Mavromathi : this place was among 
 the number visited by my friend Monsieur Fauvel, who found there, as he con- 
 ceived, the remains of the ancient Messene. In fact there are upon the spot, 
 as I afterwards learnt, ruins of walls and towers, some of which are of marble, 
 a temple almost entire, a theatre, inscriptions without number, and some bas- 
 reliefs well preserved, which represent the hunting of the wild boar. An abun- 
 
 d 2 
 
20 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 dant spring which rushes from the foot of Mount Ithome gives its name te 
 Mavromathi, this word signifying a black spring; for mathi means equally a 
 spring and an eye. Mavromathi lies at some distance eastward of the ancient 
 Messene. From the top of Mount Ithome is to be seen a very extensive view 
 over Triphylia to the quarter of Elis, where are two rich monasteries. 
 
 About three quarters of a league from the bridge of the Pamissus, and two 
 hundred toises to the right of the road, is a large village called Chastemi, which 
 may probably have been Ampheus ; or perhaps rather it was built from the ruins 
 of Ampheus; for it stands in the plain, not far from the height on which that 
 town probably was situated. It has a large tower and some lofty houses. The 
 fields surrounding it are planted with cotton, and are enclosed with hedges of 
 nopal, which seems naturalized in this canton. Half a league further, following 
 a road bordered with nopal, we came to the village of Carterogli, where we were 
 to stop for the night, the rain continuing to fall in such abundance that it began 
 to weary the patience of our conductors : they, as well as ourselves, were besides 
 much pressed with hunger. 
 
 According to their usual custom these gentlemen drove the unfortunate 
 peasants from their houses: the latter, however, it must be confessed, had not 
 a very laborious task to remove their household ; — their whole furniture seemed 
 to consist of a mat of reeds, and the image of the Holy Virgin. Among the 
 ancients, Ceres had her niche near the door of almost every house ; she has now 
 yielded her place to Our Lady of the Panagia, before whom a lamp is kept 
 burning, and on days of particular solemnity she is enveloped in the smoke of a 
 cloud of incense. 
 
 Notwithstanding the dreariness which accompanies the last days of autumn, 
 the freshness of the fields and the regularity of their surface, divided by hedges, 
 formed a fine contrast with the rugged aspect of Taygetes. In the night we saw 
 a number of fires lighted upon this mountain, indicating the posts occupied by 
 the Mainotti of Voudoni. Our guards spoke of these independent men in 
 that style of rhodomontade which always implies fear, and commonly indicates a 
 feeling of self-inferiority. The intendant or emina of the bey of Navarin, who 
 passed the night with us, made me under- tand that we were in a farm, [utoxi, 
 belonging to his master, and that four and-twenty farms were attached to the 
 endowment of his harony. In fact, all the commandants of places in Turkey, 
 and all functionaries for life, have certain revenues from actual property which 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. g I 
 
 are allotted for their support ; besides casual profits arising from the customs, 
 from contributions, and the indirect revenue arising from avanies*. 
 
 We were treated at this place in a manner which might reasonably obliterate 
 from our minds the ill reception we had experienced at Andreossa. The good 
 woman of the house baked us upon the embers some cakes which she was 
 making at our arrival, and we found them delicious: the emina also regaled us, 
 at the expense of the peasants, with two enormous turkeys. The next morning 
 at sunrise we proceeded on our way, having been first presented by the Greeks 
 with a draught of warm milk from their ewes. We saw some women who were 
 very handsomej with fine flaxen hair ; they were walking about without either 
 shoes or stockings, though the' dirt was so great as to render the roads almost 
 impassable. 
 
 We now crossed a cultivated plain, but soon perceived by the slow pace of our 
 horses, and by the murmurs within them, that they had passed the night 
 without food. About a quarter of a league further we came to a considerable 
 farm, and a military station, where our conductors were very particular in their 
 inquiries whether there were not any Mai'notti in the mountains. Upon re- 
 ceiving an assurance in the negative, they pursued their route very quietly. 
 
 It may easily be conceived with what pleasure I advanced towards the centre 
 of a country formerly so celebrated, and in which my memory scarcely sufficed 
 to recall with sufficient rapidity the number of interesting facts connected with it. 
 I was now quitting the fields of Steniclaros, and my steps were directed towards 
 that Hernvaeum which leads from Messene to the territory of Megalopolis. I 
 could not forbear often repeating to myself, as I proceeded, " All these places 
 which I have run over so hastily, belong to a country which may justly be called 
 the land of luonders. Here the most exalted virtues were familiar to men ivhose 
 descendants groan under the most degrading despotism." Our horses, though 
 feeble, ascended with tolerable facility this ancient pass : we had not attained 
 more than a fourth part of the height, when the clouds which had veiled the 
 horizon were dispersed by the breaking out of the sun. It did not discover to 
 «s, as we had expected, nothing but naked and rugged masses ; our eyes were 
 presented with woods, yet green, with towering oaks which descended in slopes 
 to the very edge of the plain. The road is so well cut that, with a very little 
 precaution, artillery might be carried over it. In another half hour we arrived 
 
 * A present, or fine, which the Tarts exact from all Christian merchants trading in their country. 
 
•22 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 at a fine village inhabited by Laconians; they are held in respect by the Turks, 
 and live on a peaceable footing with the Mainotti their brothers. They received 
 us with a friendly salutation, seeing that we were Christians, and sold us bread, 
 figs, and wine: the latter is kept by them in a sort of bottles made of goat-skin. 
 
 We were now upon the lowest point of Pente-Dactylon : here vegetation 
 flourishes in its fullest vigour, while the more lofty parts are covered with 
 mournful pines, or with eternal snows. The inhabitants of this village have a 
 h< althiness in their appearance, a vivacity of manner, and a grandeur in their forms, 
 which is sought in vain among their brethren in the plains below : these advantages 
 are probably derived from the pure air which they breathe, and the independence 
 they enjoy. The rest of the defile, along which we continued to travel for 
 another hour and a half, was stony. At the highest elevation of the mountain 
 the road was paved at intervals ; it wound among rocks, some of which were per- 
 pendicular, and groves of pines. 
 
 Arrived at the extremity of this space, which cannot properly be called a level, 
 we came again to a thick wood, through which we descended, in a short half hour, 
 into the valley of Leondari. This is the ancient Leuctra of Peloponnesus, where 
 the Arcadians triumphed over the Lacedaemonians. There were, it is well known, 
 three towns of this name in Greece, one of which was immortalized by the valour 
 of Epaminoudas and the Thebans whom he commanded. The valley of Leondari 
 extends from east to west about six leagues, and terminates on the latter side at 
 Sinano. Its diameter from north to south in no part exceeds a league. The de- 
 file of Messene is to the south-west ; that which opens to Laconia, on the side 
 where the source of the Eurotas rises, is nearly due east. The distance from one 
 defile to the other is, on account of the windings, a league and a half. Upon the 
 declivity on the side of Messene, by which we descended, the surface is broken 
 by torrents, and is full of inequalities. The road is an ancient one hollowed in 
 the mountain. To the north-west the valley is cultivated quite to Sinano : to the 
 north it is closed by lofty mountains, on which stands the town of Leondari : the 
 side towards Sparta is woody. The bottom of the valley, in the part where we 
 crossed it, is intersected by a small river, at the distance of not more than half 
 a quarter of a league from the foot of the mountain. Large stones, which have 
 been hewn, may be seen scattered about ; and some mutilated marbles lie almost 
 buried among the grass. 
 
 We were a quarter of an hour in ascending to Leondari, by a very narrow path. 
 The mountain on which the town stands is covered with herbage : it is level upon 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 23 
 
 the summit, and destitute of wood. Near the town on the left are to be seen many- 
 enormous blocks -of stone, some ruins, and a windmill. The base of the latter is 
 built with fragments of columns and architraves. We alighted at the house of the 
 aga, who received us with much civility, invited us to dinner, and furnished us 
 with good horses to carry us to our destined quarters for the night, beyond Mount 
 Boreas. The town is composed of about two hundred and fifty houses, some of 
 which had an air of opulence. The inhabitants, with whom we had every reason to 
 be perfectly satisfied, appeared handsome, and were tolerably well clothed. They 
 live on the fruits of their fields, they breathe a pure air, and feed a great many 
 silk-worms. We quitted Leondari the same day at two in the afternoon. 
 
 From Navarin the mountains had constantly been more and more elevated, 
 and those we now passed were succeeded by others still higher. The summit of 
 Mount Boreas, which was directly before us to the north, was lost in the clouds. 
 After travelling half a league, we entered a forest of oaks. This continued for an- 
 other half league, and we then descended into a valley which in the place where 
 we crossed it was extremely narrow. Here was, perhaps, the site of the ancient 
 Belemina. " This place," says Pausanias, " is watered by fountains which are 
 never dry, and is washed by the Eurotas." Indeed we saw the Eurotas, which 
 rises here and flows towards Mistra. But this valley, though the pasturage is fine, 
 did not present us with a single village; a mournful silence reigns around: de- 
 prived of woods, it is not even inhabited by the feathered race. The Fasilipotamos, 
 Royal river of the moderns, rolls on its waters unnoticed, the monotonous sound of 
 which is the only one that disturbs- the echo in these retreats. The distance from 
 hence to Perivolia, which must be about the situation of the ancient Pellane, is 
 estimated at six short leagues : this is the usual road from Mistra to Sinano. 
 
 We never ceased to ascend, for two hours longer, before we arrived at the sum- 
 mit of Boreas. The road was through a narrow defile along the edge of frightful 
 precipices, where we more than once risked being irretrievably lost. On the 
 summit of the mountain is a level about half a league over; and here we found 
 the ruins of a large village which had been destroyed by the Albanians in the last 
 war. I could not learn its name. As we advanced we soon came in sight of a 
 rich and spacious plain, which must be that of Tegea. In order to descend into 
 it, we were obliged to alight from our horses and drive thern before us. The road, 
 though in a very dilapidated state, is evidently of great antiquity ; it was the first 
 trace of a military way which we had found since we quitted Leondari. 
 
 The Alpheus, or Roufia, which rises in the plain of Tegea towards Mount 
 
9A 
 
 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Parthenius, forms a marsh at the foot of the mountain, which extends into the 
 plain for half a quarter of a league, and runs a considerable way from east to west. 
 We crossed this marsh upon a bridge, or rather a causeway on arches, and soon 
 after passed an aiasma, or consecrated fountain, built of marble, and extremely 
 well kept. About three quarters of a league further we came to a cultivated emi- 
 nence * on the top of which was a village where we passed the night. This was 
 the first inhabited spot we had seen since Leondari ; for the valley of Belemina is 
 only frequented at its north-western extremity by shepherds, who pitch their 
 tents and fold their flocks on different spots which they make choice of for pass- 
 ing the night. I regretted very much not being able to visit the sources of the 
 Alpheus, of which such prodigies are recorded in the fabulous legends of antiquity. 
 Gladly would I have descended into those deep gulfs, whence the waters rush 
 again with increased impetuosity, to ascertain with precision whether they are, 
 like many others among the mountains of Peloponnesus, the work of volcanoes ; 
 but I was not master of myself : our guards made me feel but too often that I was 
 their slave. 
 
 The next morning we again proceeded on our journey. Opposite to us east- 
 ward was a little mountain, on which stands the village of Asi, but this we passed 
 at a short distance to the left. A quarter of a league further we crossed a rivulet, 
 and then continued our course along a cultivated plain till we arrived within half 
 a league of Tripolitza. Here is a village, and near it runs a little river, the waters 
 of which are conducted into the town by a channel hollowed out of the rock. 
 
 r- i - - - - i ii 
 
 * This spot was called by the ancients Twfj.x, the Boundary : it was the entrance to the territories ci" 
 Pallantium and Tegea. Pausanias, lib. riii. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Audience of the pasha at Tripolitza. — Description of his palace. — The guards. — 
 Details concerning our stay in the palace. — Departure Jrom it. — Lodging at 
 the house of Conslantine the Greek. — Severity of the winter. — Rencontre xvith 
 two French soldiers. — Visits. — Various details. 
 
 On entering Tripolitza, the Albanians who escorted us saluted the town with 
 a discharge of musquetry, and then carried us straight to the palace of the 
 pasha, hurrying on our horses as much as possible, apprehensive of being insulted. 
 The pasha or vizier who now commanded in the Morea was called Mustapha. 
 At the foot of the steps by which we ascended to the hall of the divan, where he 
 was presiding, we saw a very fine horse magnificently caparisoned, held by two 
 African slaves. We passed through a long gallery filled with guards and officers 
 of the house, clothed and decorated in a manner which seemed to us altogether 
 grotesque and extravagant. 
 
 At length we were presented to the pasha. He was surrounded by the 
 grandees of the province, and was seated upon the corner of his sopha smoking 
 mechanically a narguilet, or Persian pipe, the effluvia of which he seemed to find 
 extremely grateful. Being awakened as if from a profound reverie, he invited us 
 to sit down by his drogman, whose name was Caradja. The vechil of Tripoli 
 and the emina of the bey of Navarin prostrated themselves at his feet, kissed his 
 sleeve, and then retired in a submissive attitude to the other end of the hall. He 
 enquired our names and our quality, said a few words concerning Egypt, gave 
 some orders to the people about, and then dismissed us. We were conducted into 
 one of the wings of his palace, which was properly the harem, but as he had no 
 wives it was then unoccupied. A chamber and guards were assigned us, with a 
 Greek to go on our errands ; a present was made to one of the great lords of 
 our companion Ali-Cahouas, and our Albanians, with their captain, were lodged in 
 the stables. A few hours after we were visited by the drogman, who told us that 
 three hundred of our fellow-countrymen, belonging to the garrison of Zante, had 
 been lodged not long before in the harem, whence they were conducted by land 
 to Constantinople. A whole month was passed by us in this prison, in which we ' 
 had no communication with any one except the pages of the pasha and the officers 
 of his household. e 
 
16 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA.. 
 
 The seraglio, or palace of the paslia, is capable of containing twelve hundred 
 men. It is a vast wooden building round a square, this square being intersected 
 within bv a row of buildings which divide the interior into two courts. On the 
 ground floor are the stables and offices, and above are the apartments of his 
 highness and his court. A corridor projecting from the building runs round the 
 court, and leads to all the different apartments; the Albanians who compose the 
 pasha's guard sleep beneath the shelter of this corridor. The harem and the 
 barracks for the delis, or cavaliers of the pasha, are to the North, abutting upon the 
 main building; the seraglio is, in short, a sort of suburb to the town, having its 
 own particular walls and gates. 
 
 The palace is encumbered with an immense number of servants; this was a 
 great species of luxury among the Romans, it is so among the Turks, who have 
 succeeded them in the possession of these fine countries. Among this crowd of 
 servants are coffee-makers, furnishers of pipes, sherbet makers, confectioners, 
 bathers, taylors, barbers, huissiers or tchiaoux, icholans or dwarf pages of his 
 highness, buffoons, musicians, puppet-show men, exhibitors of magic lanterns, 
 wrestlers, conjurers, dancers, an iman, and lastly the dgellah or executioner, the 
 pasha's right hand, without whom he never stirs, and who is the only person that 
 has the privilege of sitting in his presence. 
 
 The harem, when it exists, has its particular servants, but we must lower ex- 
 tremely the ideas which some travellers have given of the luxury and magnifi- 
 cence that reign in this abode. They would have given a much more accurate 
 idea of it, if they had painted it as the habitation of ennui and jealousy, and, 
 worse still, of desires always craving and never satisfied. Music, dancing, the 
 castanets, these are the fleeting pleasures of the victims here immured, but never 
 was true love its inhabitant. Embroidery is the great business of their lives, and 
 every day but brings the same circle of relaxations, of ennui, of sadness, and of 
 monotony. 
 
 The inhabitants of the palace rise before the sun, to attend the prayers which 
 precede the ablutions, after which coffee and pipes are served. Sometimes the 
 vizier mounts on horseback, and goes to partake in the spectacle of the dgerid*, 
 or else he gives public audiences; then he administers justice in person; con- 
 demns one to the bowstring, another to the gallows, another to the bastinado, 
 
 * This amusement has been so often described by travellers, that I forbear to enter upon a description 
 of it here, wishing to avoid repetition as much as possible. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 27 
 
 or finally absolves, for he unites all powers within himself. At noon prayers 
 again, and dinner; at three in the afternoon more prayers, the military parade 
 and music, or rather Charivari: then to the Sela?nlik*, where, the pasha receives 
 visits, or is refreshed with sherbet, and is amused by listening to a narrator, who 
 recites some of the tales from the Arabian Nighls Entertainments, or others of 
 the like kind. Sometimes his buffoons divert him with their grimaces, or the 
 musicians psalmodize some of the verses of the Koran. At sunset prayers again, 
 then supper, and then more pipes ; in another hour and half the last orisons, 
 after which, the retreat is sounded to music. 
 
 Apollo, king of the Menades! Deities of Eurotas! valleys beloved by the 
 Muses, and the celestial choirs ! what horrible songs now torture the echoes of 
 your mountains! They only answer to the sounds of barbarous music, com- 
 posed of discordant and noisy instruments, which cannot even be drowned by 
 the roll of the great drum, or the clatter of the cymbals. The ear of a Turk, 
 however, even more depraved than that of the satyr Marsyas, whose want of 
 taste for the lyre was so cruelly punished, can be pleased with this crash, and 
 repay it with eager applause. To amuse our ennui, or perhaps rather in order 
 to display their own talents, the pages or icholans of the pasha would sometimes 
 regale us with a concert after their fashion. The sweetness of their songs, 
 united with a certain melancholy excited by some of their instruments - ]", gave 
 me sensations which were not unpleasing. They assumed feminine voices, and 
 gave themselves mincing and affected airs as they sung, dancing to the sound 
 of the castanets, with gestures to which those not accustomed to them could 
 not easily reconcile themselves. 
 
 The council of the pasha, which commonly assembles on the Thursday in 
 •every week, is composed of his kiaya, of a sub-beglerbey, the defter-kiaya or 
 
 * Selamlik : the Andronitis of the Greeks, or apartments of the men. 
 -j- Their instruments consist of the tumlelek, a sort of wooden cymbal covered with skin like a 
 drum, which is struck with little rods 5 the nei or dervises flute made of a sort of reed ; this has a sharp 
 sound like the German flute, and sometimes approaches strongly to the human voice : the sini-kenan, 
 which is, properly speaking, the violo-d'amore, and which they have from Italy : the mescal, a sort 
 of Pandean pipes, composed of three and twenty reeds in such gradations as to produce several octaves; 
 each of the reeds forms three notes, according to the manner in which the breath is introduced : the 
 eantour, which is the psaltery, but made with wires and struck with little rods of metal : the daire, a 
 sort of tambourine with thin plates of brass, used chiefly to mark the time: and the rebat, an instrument 
 played with a bow; it has two strings with a spherical case, and a little hole in the convex part; the 
 Turks had this from the Tartars. 
 
 E 2 
 
28 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 lieutenant of the finances, the moucabel-edgi or controller of the finances, and 
 some cadis. At this time, Russia had an agent at Tripolitza who had a voice in 
 the assembly. The council deliberates upon the firmans of the Porte, upon the 
 reclamations of the beys or commandants of the different towns, and upon the 
 different modes of administration which may best suit the views of the govern- 
 ment. The ordinary guard of the pasha is composed of four hundred delis or 
 cavaliers, clothed after the Hungarian fashion, having for their head-dress a 
 felt like those of our hussars, bound round the head by a turban. Their arms 
 consist of a sabre, a pair of pistols, and a tromblon. In charging they fix the 
 bridle upon the pummel of the saddle, holding a pistol in the left hand and the 
 sabre in the right, but without observing any order, rushing forward only from 
 the impulsion they occasion to each other. The Arnauts or Albanians, a people 
 intuitively warlike, some of whom are in the service of all the pashas, form the 
 infantry. They guard the palace gates, where one of them rests crouched with 
 a stick in his hand, while the rest sleep in a place filled with a thick smoke 
 from their pipes. A horse ready caparisoned with a squire watching by him is 
 always kept at the entrance of the palace, not, as some travellers have asserted, 
 under the superstitious idea of waiting for the prophet's passing, but to be 
 ready for the pasha to mount immediately, in case of his presence being 
 requisite in any part upon a sudden emergency, a revolt for example, since on 
 such occasions he is obliged to appear in person and the foremost. 
 
 To complete my sketch of the interior of the pasha's palace, I must add that 
 the Turkish kitchen does not hold a distinguished place in the estimation of 
 any modern Apicius : except the pilau, it consists of scarcely any thing but 
 mutton, served in a variety of ways, some tasteless ragouts, a dish which has 
 the appearance of starch perfumed with musk or rose-water, and some articles 
 of pastry made with oil or fat and sweetened with honey. I shall resume this 
 interesting subject when I come to speak of the diseases of the country. 
 
 Let me now be permitted to advert to what concerns ourselves. From the 
 first of our confinement in the harem we were at liberty to walk about the 
 courts within its walls, and were permitted the society of the pages and the 
 principal officers of the pasha. The prince paid us the compliment of sending 
 us dishes from his own table, although he had ordered that we should be 
 furnished with provisions from the towns, and had allotted us a Greek to go 
 on our errands. Of this Greek, whose name was Constantine, I shall have 
 frequent occasion to speak ; he was about forty years of age, a true Islander, as 
 
TRAVFXS IN THE MOREA. %g- 
 
 great a cheat, liar, and rogue as ever lived. He used to come frequently during 
 the day to inquire whether we had any commands for him, but whatever we 
 ordered him to procure was never to be had ; Den echi (there is not any) was 
 the first Greek in which, through him, we became perfect, and he put us 
 sometimes into so great a passion with his Den echi, that he made us wholly 
 forget the respect due to the descendants of Harmodius and Aristogiton. 
 
 In the evening a detachment of twenty Albanians barricadoed our door, and 
 mounted guard in a neighbouring apartment, as much to prevent our escape as 
 to protect the palace on this side from the enterprises of the Mainotti ; for the 
 pasha has so great a dread of these people, that he hardly thinks himself safe 
 from them even in his seraglio. We never received any other than the most 
 friendly behaviour from these soldiers : they seemed never weary with expressing 
 their admiration of our gaiety and the sort of insouciance in which we lived. The 
 loss of our liberty, the uncertainty in which we were kept respecting our future 
 fate, the dangers with which we were surrounded, might indeed naturally 
 have been expected to lead us to melancholy reflections ; but we had so entirely 
 abandoned all attention to these things, that we never even bestowed a thought 
 upon the morrow. Nevertheless, at length the severity of the season which 
 succeeded to the rains and storms of December, united with the little portion of 
 clothing which we had been able to retain, made us feel that other things be- 
 sides philosophy are requisite to preserve man from suffering by the cold. The 
 pasha in consequence, at our request, ordered us coverlids to wrap ourselves in,, 
 and mats that we might sleep more at our ease. The winter solstice now set in, 
 the summits of Roino and Artemisius were already buried in snow, and not long 
 after the lower lands were covered with it to the depth of two or three feet. 
 
 I began to be afraid that all the time of our stay in the Morea was to be passed 
 in the harem ; and this would indeed have been the case, had not a circumstance 
 particularly fortunate for us taken place. The office of pasha being only 
 temporary, Mustapha was now superseded, and he himself ordered to Lepanto, 
 while one who had formerly occupied the pashalik of the Morea, by name 
 Achaaet, was nominated as his successor. As the latter had an established house- 
 hold, and his due complement of wives, we were dislodged to make way for 
 them, and transferred to the house of our Greek servant, without even any parole 
 being required of us. 
 
 This removal took place on the eve of Epiphany according to the Greek style j 
 that is, on the seventeenth of January. Constantine's house was near the gatej 
 
30 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 of the town, upon the road to Caritena ; our habitation was on the ground, with 
 the roof only for a cieling; we were obliged to stoop in entering, the door not 
 being sufficiently high to admit of our walking in erect; this is commonly the 
 case in the houses of all the poorer rank of Greeks. There was a hole which 
 was dignified with the title of a chimney, where we were to make our fire; 
 instead of window was another hole which was shut by a trap, and in the night 
 we enjoyed, through numerous interstices in the tiling, the majestic spectacle 
 of the starry heavens. Sometimes, instead of this enjoyment, we were amused 
 with another, that of the snow falling upon our pillows, nay upon our faces, 
 as we lay extended upon our mats, and to secure ourselves from it we were 
 obliged to wrap head and all under the bed-clothes: yet, notwithstanding all 
 this, we were still gay, still we laughed, and formed a thousand pleasant 
 projects. The winter was unusually severe, the ground was covered with 
 snow for six weeks, the Greeks suffered terribly, and the wolves came down in 
 large bodies from the mountains of Lyceus and Artemisius, prowling about 
 and making the most frightful bowlings, almost at the gates of the town. This 
 evil was, however, not without its attendant benefit, since it put an end to a 
 terrible epidemic which had for some months ravaged Tripolitza. The in- 
 tercourse of society which had in consequence suffered great interruption was 
 now restored, and the curious were attracted towards us. 
 
 The first visit, however, which we received was not one of curiosity : it was 
 from two soldiers of the sixth demi-brigade, one of whom was a Saxon, the 
 other a Zantiote, and who were in a situation that excited our utmost pity, 
 lean and haggard to excess, and almost destitute of clothing. We gave them 
 what little we could spare from^our own slender stock, both of food and raiment, 
 and promised to come and see them very shortly. They informed us that they 
 had belonged to the garrison of Zante, and had been left sick at Tripolitza, 
 when their comrades were marched off to Constantinople : originally there were 
 twelve left in the same situation, but they two alone had had the misfortune, as 
 they termed it, to escape death. They told us how much was allowed by the 
 pasha for their sustenance, but our Greek, who was their administrator, stole, 
 they said, two-thirds of it. As the same thing occurred to ourselves, who were 
 allowed also by his highness the pasha fifteen parats* a day, not half of which 
 was expended upon us, I promised to lead Mr. Constantine a little dance upon 
 the occasion. 
 
 * A parat is nearly as much as a halfpenny. — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 31 
 
 Among the visitors brought under our roof by curiosity, we found many 
 who had acquired a little smattering of French, by their intercourse with the 
 garrison of Zante. While these latter were in the town, Mustapha, who 
 had a high respect for the French officers, permitted the whole band to walk 
 about the town without any restraint, and allowed the most unrestricted inter- 
 course between them and the inhabitants. A name-sake of the pasha's, another 
 Mustapha, originally a Turk and twice a renegado, was the person whose 
 assiduities were, of all we received, the most grateful to us. We were told that 
 he was a spy employed to watch us, but we never found any reason to complain 
 of him. 
 
 We were, besides, visited by several Greek ladies, who, under the pretence of 
 consulting the physician, came to satisfy their curiosity. Some desired prescrip- 
 tions for their relations who were in the country ; others wanted to be bled, others 
 wanted to know whether they were pregnant, or were likely to become so. An old 
 woman brought a very pretty child, desiring us to spit in its face ; and in spite of 
 all our remonstrances we were obliged to comply, otherwise she would have ima- 
 gined that it was liable to be bewitched : for I learned that this singular practice 
 was considered as a sovereign remedy to keep off the fiend. 
 
 Thus was a new order of customs and manners presented to my observation. 
 The people accustomed themselves to us by degrees ; we daily gained a little and 
 a little more liberty, and I conceived the idea of availing myself of it to collect 
 the facts which I am now laying before the public. My sphere of action was en- 
 larged : I made many acquaintance. My profession procured me the opportunity 
 of seeing, even of frequenting, the society of a few persons of intelligence and 
 information, with whom I could converse in a rational way, and compare the ob- 
 servations I had made in the early part of my captivity. My friends, who were 
 witnesses of my labours, will testify for me that my endeavours were always di- 
 rected to this end. Thus, whenever 1 heard the name of a town or a hamlet, I 
 immediately informed myself of its distance from the place where 1 was ; of the 
 number of its inhabitants ; of the objects of their industry: I collected, in short, 
 all the information relative to it which it was possible to obtain. These docu- 
 ments, though not always correct, awoke my attention, and served as hints whereon 
 to ground my inquiries when I afterwards travelled to the spot, for the purpose of 
 verifying what 1 had learned in these conversations. One of my acquaintance had 
 a geographical work of Meletius bishop of Janina : he translated it for me, as I 
 was then unacquainted with the Greek language; and I afterwards compared the 
 
.32 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 positions laid down by this geographer with the places the existence of which 
 they attested. 
 
 I then saw how many towns and villages designated by the map had never really 
 existed in the Morea, or were in directions very opposite to those where they were 
 marked. In some maps, Tripolitza, the capital of the Morea, is not even indicated. 
 In others Caritena is placed near the lake Stymphalus ; Mistra is placed, in others, 
 on the eastern bank of the Enrotas ; and from all this there results a confusion 
 which throws the utmost obscurity upon the real state of the country. How 
 many towns and villages mentioned by Meletius have I sought in vain ! scarcely 
 any vestiges of them were to be discovered. The bishop has founded his work 
 upon the plan laid down by Strabo, but he was far from possessing any, even re- 
 mote scintillations, of the genius of that writer. Accustomed himself to believe 
 implicitly his articles of faith, he wants to have his own assertions as implicitly 
 received ; but I can prove from irrefutable facts, that they are far from having any 
 claim to so much credit. He frequently omits even to mark the distance from 
 place to place, contenting himself with stating them to be about so and so. 
 
 I shall content myself with observing, that the Morea still bears melancholy 
 traces of the fury of the Albanians, who in the war of 177° signalized their barba- 
 rities by the most frightful excesses. Victors over the soldiers of Catherine, whom 
 they overwhelmed by the vast superiority of their numbers, they did not cease to 
 burn, to massacre, to plunder, till nothing remained to afford aliment to their 
 fury. At this fatal epoch the province of Faneri, which comprehends the territory 
 of Megalopolis, was entirely sacked. The streets of Tripolitza streamed with 
 blood ; Messenia and Laconia were pillaged ; the mountains and the valleys were 
 strewed over with dead bodies; the villages became a prey to the all-devouring 
 flames. It is only within a few years that the traces of this dreadful desolation 
 have been in some degree effaced ; that the population begins to be renewed ; that 
 some of the villages have risen from their ashes. Since that time the police, en- 
 forced at the point, of the sabre, has repressed plunder. Guards are placed at the 
 entrances of the most dangerous passes ; the right of property, so sacred among 
 the mussulmans, is respected ; and Peloponnesus, in spite of the tyranny of its 
 government, may ere long forget its misfortunes. Already the timars or fiefs, 
 held under the crown, are in a flourishing condition. 
 
 In order to give a precise idea of the topography of the Morea, as far as I was 
 able to make myself acquainted with it, I shall quit the didactic march of an itine- 
 rary, accompanied by facts, which necessarily abates the interest of a work, from 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 35 
 
 overloading it with incidents. I shall reserve to myself, however, the privilege of 
 returning to them when I describe events which would be injured by not having 
 their proper place allotted them. If I had not restricted myself severely on this 
 head, what a number of anecdotes could I not have related ! How many facts, tri- 
 vial in themselves, and interesting to me alone, might not have found a place! 
 Not to fatigue the reader, theu, I have resolved to suppress all minute details. 
 What does it signify to him whether I travelled on foot or on horseback? where 
 I slept, and how I lived? The essential part is to indicate with a scrupulous ex- 
 actness the relative distances of places, and to fix their precise situations; to pre- 
 sent an accurate idea of the face of the country, and of the manners of the inhabi- 
 tants ; to give, in short, a sort of statistical sketch of the countries over which I 
 travelled. It is on this plan that I enter upon my details. 
 
 F 
 
34 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ancient and modern Division of Peloponnesus or The Morea. — Topography of 
 Tripolitza. — Arrival of Achmet Pasha. — His entrance into the town. — The 
 audience he granted us. — Extraordinary punishment of an Imam. 
 
 The peninsula of Peloponnesus extends from thirty-six degrees and a half 
 northern latitude, to beyond thirty-eight, and from seventeen to twenty-one 
 decrees eastern longitude. It was divided in ancient times into seven provinces, 
 Aro-olis, Corinthus, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaia, and Arcadia. I shall not 
 dwell here upon the boundaries marked out for each by those geographers and 
 historians to whose works we are indebted for our knowledge of the glory and 
 splendour formerly attached to these countries. Struck with the revolutions 
 which have desolated regions, still rich by the recollections attached to them, 
 and by the ruins which attest their ancient grandeur, the traveller recalls to his 
 mind that Peloponnesus lost its original name under the Lower Empire, to 
 take that of The Morea. It is, however, yet undecided whether this change 
 arose only from one of those fatalities which seems to ordain that every thing 
 human shall one day or other change, or whether, as some imagine, it was 
 owing to the great quantity of mulberry trees* which have been introduced 
 
 there. 
 
 Since the Morea fell under the dominion of the Turks, it has been governed 
 by a pasha of three tails, nominated by the Porte. It is divided into sangiaks 
 or baronies, and afterwards subdivided into twenty-four cantons or villaietis, 
 each governed by a codja-bachi. The pasha whose government extends over 
 the whole province, has besides more particularly under his jurisdiction the 
 ancient valley of Tegea. Caritena is the chief place of the district of Faneri, 
 which was formerly the- territory of Megalopolis. Elis is now called Kalo.-kopi 
 or Belvedere, a name which seems to have been given it by the Venetians from 
 the beauty of the country : this is under the government of the beys of Pyrgos 
 and Arcadia. The sangiaks of Gastouni and Patras divide Achaia ; the pasha 
 
 * From Morus, the mulberry-tree. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 35 
 
 of two tails of Nauplia commands Argolis and that part of the Morea di- 
 stinguished by the name of Romania, to beyond the isthmus of Corinth. The 
 jurisdiction of the bey of Mistra extends to the country of the Mai'notti, and 
 is bounded. to the west by Pente Dactylon. The valley of Calamatte is governed 
 by an aga, as are also Andreossa and Leondari. Coron, Modon, and Navarin, 
 are the three last sangiaks of this part, and the most important of the whole 
 country. The Mai'notti or free Laconians form an independent state, which is 
 included in the peninsula of Laconia; and Cape Tenarus is inhabited by a sort 
 of infernal monsters in human shape, known under the name of Cacovouniotes, 
 or savage mountaineers. 
 
 The principal bays or gulfs of the Morea are, — to the north, that of Lepanto, 
 in the most ancient times called the sea of Cryssa, afterwards the sea of Alcyon, 
 and then the bay of Corinth ; to the west, the gulf of Chiarenza, formerly that 
 of Cyllene; upon the frontiers of Elis and Messenia, the ancient gulf of Cyparissa, 
 now that of Arcadia ; the gulf of Messenia, now of Coron ; that of Laconia, 
 into which runs the Eurotas; the gulf of Kolo Kythia, so called from a Mai'note 
 town of that name; the Sinus Argolicus, now known only as the bay of Nauplia; 
 the bay of Hermione, now the gulf of Castri. The name of Enghia is at present 
 given to the sea which washes the celebrated shores of Salamis and Athens, 
 and the southern part of the isthmus of Corinth. I will not here enumerate 
 the ancient and modern names of the capes and mountains, they will better 
 find their place as I describe them in sketching my travels through each 
 country ; but I could not omit noticing the bays, as they would not so readily 
 find a place in the progress of my work. 
 
 The present capital of the Morea, and the residence of the pasha, is known 
 by the name of Tripolitza. It is built from the ruins of Megalopolis, Tegea, 
 Mantinea, and Pallantium, without being on the site of any of these places. 
 It stands in a spacious valley at the foot of Mount Roino (the ancient Menale), 
 ten leagues west of Argos, three and a half south of Mantinea, and a short league 
 north of Tegea. The town is encompassed by a line of strong stone walls, 
 constructed by the Albanians thirty years ago, and is guarded by a small square 
 fort which stands upon an eminence to the south-west. The plain of Tripolitza 
 is irregular in its form, and the ground is unequal, having many risings; to the 
 north- east it is marshy. At certain distances round the ramparts of the town 
 are half moons, and the walls are every where pierced with loop-holes. The 
 iron artillery which are moimted upon some bastions on the western side, bear 
 
 F 2 
 
36 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 the arms of St. Mark. The town has six principal gates, and a small one 
 solely for the use of the seraglio. The principal gate, which is gilt, is that of 
 Nauplia de Romania, to the east; over this the crescent is displayed; the 
 second is that of Calavrita to the north, which also leads to Mantinea; the third 
 is that of Caritena to the north-west ; the fourth, which is near the castle, leads 
 only into the fields and woods ; the fifth is that of Leondari or Navarin ; the sixth 
 is on the side of Tegea, and leads to Mistra. 
 
 The town has no running water except what comes from the mountains by 
 which it is bounded to the north-west ; this stream supplies the public baths and 
 tanneries, but is commonly dry in summer. I have already mentioned the canal 
 from the south, which conveys the waters of another small river to the town, but 
 the supply is by no means abundant. The pasha, who was apprehensive of an 
 invasion from the French, had ordered a redoubt to be thrown up to guard 
 the canal, this being an object of infinite importance. The khan is the only 
 solid edifice in the town ; it is built of stone, and closed by doors well 
 strengthened with iron, these being barricaded every night with large chains. 
 There is a magnificent lintel which once decorated the principal gate of Mega- 
 lopolis, as the inscription upon it attests ; it is now part of a bason which serves 
 to water the cattle. 
 
 The seraglio or palace of the pasha is at one extremity of the town, between 
 the gates of Nauplia and Calavrita. Towards the middle of the principal street, 
 which runs through the town from north to south, is the bazar; this is divided 
 into several streets, filled with a variety of merchandize, such as furs, arms, 
 articles of food and cloathing, and others: it is shaded by planes and other large 
 trees, upon which the storks build their nests very peaceably, although they are 
 the theatre of the juridical executions; those who are sentenced to be hung are 
 suspended to their branches. Fountains extremely well kept are to be seen all 
 over the town, and every house has its well, but the water is at a small depth in 
 the ground, and generally of a very indifferent quality. There are four large 
 mosques and five or six Greek churches, which are in a very ruinous state. The 
 streets, except the principal one, are only paved in the middle, and are intersected 
 by channels to facilitate the running off of the waters ; over them are many 
 small bridges. These channels are in fact common-sewers, receiving all the 
 waste waters and ordure of the houses, so that they are extremely offensive. 
 Some of the rich and powerful Turks have very large houses, but totally devoid 
 of taste ; of this number were those of the defter-kiaya and of the brother of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 37 
 
 Ali EfFendi, the Turkish ambassador at Paris. The poor inhabitants, driven into 
 the streets which run along the ramparts, inhabit houses or rather huts of the 
 same kind as that of our Greek Constantine already described, with the roof for 
 a ceiling, the fire made upon the ground, and the smoke only finding a vent 
 through the numerous vacancies in the tiling. 
 
 Tripolitza, like many other towns in the Morea, rose in insurrection on seeing 
 the victorious flag of the Czarina waving in the country. But yielding afterwards 
 to that fatal destiny which had decreed this fine province to be transformed into 
 a desert, and to become the general tomb of its inhabitants, it was miserably 
 sacked and plundered by the Albanians ; three thousand heads are said to have 
 fallen upon this occasion in the short space of two hours. In a place near the 
 castle, which is called the Cemetery of the Muscovites, they still show the bones 
 of the brave warriors of that nation who fell, at this disastrous period. Two 
 pyramids of whitened sculls, equally of these victims, are also shown in the 
 territory.* 
 
 In the mosques of Tripolitza are many precious antique columns and inscrip. 
 tions, prophaned by the stupid manner in which they have been introduced into 
 the buildings. As to the bas-reliefs, the Turks in using them are very careful to 
 envelope them entirely in masonry ; or if they pave a bath with these precious 
 relics they carefully turn the figures downwards, that the eyes of the faithful 
 Mussulmans may not be wounded with the sight of objects proscribed by their 
 religion. 
 
 The change of their pasha being a very important event to the inhabitants of 
 Tripolitza, the reader perhaps will not be displeased with an account of the cere- 
 monies which took place upon, the occasion. Mustapha, the pasha whose reign 
 was at end, having modestly quitted the town without any parade, in a manner 
 conformable with the obscure situation to which he was returning, took the road 
 to Lepanto, where he would have leisure to reflect at his ease on the numerous 
 vicissitudes and changes to which mortal man is exposed. He was no sooner 
 gone than the Greeks began to prepare and furnish the seraglio for his successor. 
 This occupied them a full month ; the building had been so much dilapidated by 
 the officers of the disgraced vizier, who were not at all pleased at being displaced, 
 that it was necessary almost to reconstruct it in some parts. Mats, carpets, sophas, 
 provisions, wood, charcoal, every thing necessary to furnish and stock the palace 
 
 * They were seen by Messrs. Foocberot and Fauvel some years after I was there 
 
38 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 must be thought of and arranged in order against the arrival of his highness, in 
 quantities sufficient to last the six weeks from his installation, during which, 
 according to the custom of the country, he is to be supported at the public ex- 
 pense : the plea for this is, that he ma}' have time sufficient to accustom himself 
 to his situation before he has to attend to these minor concerns, and he often 
 contrives to prolong a term which he has no desire to see at an end. The prin- 
 cipal persons of distinction among the Turks had on this occasion taken the 
 trouble of going to Nauplia de Romania, the birth-place of the new pasha, and 
 the temporary place of his residence, to pay their compliments to him and attend 
 him to his new government. They took upon themselves besides to provide his 
 pages, and made him a present, more as it was suspected from fear than love, of 
 several very fine horses. Upon all occasions of a change of administration a 
 great deal of court is paid to the rising sun, since it often happens that the early 
 period of a new reign is very stormy. 
 
 The new pasha was considered as one who was likely to be very formidable. 
 Once driven from the post which he was now about to re-occupy, it was 
 expected that he would return full of resentments. He had the reputation of 
 being endowed with extraordinary talents and address in business, and had early 
 been distinguished for that spirit of acuteness and penetration which so eminently 
 characterises the Morean Turks. Though his osvn origin was obscure he was 
 allied to some of the best families in the country. 
 
 Hi made his solemn entry to the noise of cannon, preceded by a band of 
 the barbarous music already noticed, and by the three tails, the emblem of his 
 power. A number of buffoons clothed in garments of skin, about which, as well 
 as about their caps, hung fox-tails without number, commenced the procession, 
 making all sorts of grimaces and throwing their bodies into strange contorsions, 
 tittering at the same time loud acclamations in a discordant and guttural tone : 
 one of them carried a zin*, upon which he played. They made their horses 
 prance, leap, and go down upon their knees, they threw themselves off at the 
 crupper and drove the horses before them, or passed under their bellies when they 
 were at full gallop. Next followed a party of foot soldiers, who carried on the 
 left arm a buckler after the antique fashion, which they kept striking with the 
 butt end of their sabres ; from time to time they halted to fence with each other, 
 yet with such a total want of skill and address, that they only shewed by it their 
 total ignorance of the art. The Albanian guards came next, marching without 
 
 * An Arabian instrument known by the name of the Chinese drum. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 39 
 
 order, without keeping their ranks, carrying their musquets reversed upon their 
 shoulders, and putting out each others eyes with the but-ends of them: they sang 
 the praises of the pasha to some of their sacred airs. To them succeeded the 
 cannoniers of the town, dressed in conical caps as large as a common bee- hive; 
 this was their only badge of distinction. The corps of cavalry, in the midst of 
 which a flag was carried, occupied the whole breadth of the street, preceding, 
 surrounding, and following the pasha. The latter mounted upon a most beautiful 
 horse, which was richly caparisoned with a tyger's skin and a vast deal of gold, 
 advanced coldly with measured steps, endeavouring, by keeping fast hold of his 
 beard, to restrain a convulsive motion of his head, to which he had been subject 
 ever since an extraordinary fright he had received some years before. Near him 
 were the Turks of distinction belonging to the province who had gone to meet 
 him, and his two sons, who had both countenances not less enchanting than those 
 with which Apollo himself is represented. The people flocked around from all 
 sides, prostrating themselves and shouting, as if striving to outvie each other in 
 the delight they testified at an event of which they were themselves to bear 
 the burden. 
 
 It was now the time of the rhamazan, the carnival of the Mussulmans, and for 
 some nights the mosques had been brilliantly illuminated, sparkling as if with 
 precious stones. The coffee-houses were all full, and the amusements of the 
 seraglio were prolonged through the whole night: the audiences are also at this 
 time held in the night, as the day is devoted to sleep. The pasha, informed of our 
 captivity, ordered us into his presence on the morrow of his arrival. It was about 
 midnight when we were summoned before him, and unacquainted as we were 
 with the customs of the country, this occasioned us no small degree of uneasiness; 
 besides the reputed severity of the person before whom we were to be presented was 
 not calculated to allay our fears. In order to be prepared for events we took with us 
 every thing we possessed, and putting as good a countenance as we were able 
 upon the matter, proceeded altogether to the seraglio. Our Greek, Constantine, 
 knew not what saint to invoke, and trembled in every limb. 
 
 We were carried first to the drogman Caradja, who was the interpreter, the 
 master of the ceremonies, the intermediary person, in short, in all matters 
 between the Greeks and foreigners, and the pasha. His highness was surrounded 
 by his twenty-four codja-bachis, chiefs of the different cantons of the province, 
 and accompanied by a Greek of Mistra, dressed in the uniform of a Russian 
 officer. Caradja in presenting us saluted the pasha, inclining himself to the 
 earth : the great man then put several questions to us, but had the generosity not 
 
40 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to bike any notice when we endeavoured to elude them, or were guilty of a little 
 tergiversation : he appeared touched with our situation, and repeated at several 
 different times that he wished to alleviate the sorrows of oar captivity. We were 
 then served with coffee by his orders, and he dismissed us with much urbanity. 
 We had scarcely quitted his presence when I alone was recalled, and he solicited 
 me in an affecting manner to visit one of the officers of his household, as well as 
 several of his delis or cavaliers, who were ill. From that time I was physician 
 to the court, and the palace was open to me. 
 
 I could not however frequent it without a secret repugnance, chiefly on account 
 of some Greeks disguised as officers of the Russian navy, to whom 1 took a most 
 cordial dislike. Their haughty and insolent carriage formed too mortifying a 
 contrast with the humility of my own situation, feeling, as 1 did, that 1 was not 
 their inferior in any way. The delis feasted me every day when I went to 
 their barracks, and 1 evidently saw, through their uncouth manners, symptoms of 
 a frank and sincere friendship. 1 was indeed so generally caressed, that even the 
 executioner, to amuse me, as he obligingly intended it, would often recount to me 
 the feats he had performed in his profession, dwelling elaborately upon his dex- 
 terity in striking oft* a head.— 1 must confess that the histories told me by this 
 man often made me shudder involuntarily ; I learnt in the sequel that he never 
 experienced the least remorse in the exercise of his functions, but that he acted the 
 horrors he related with the same coolness that he spoke of them. The delis were 
 much more agreeable company to me. 
 
 The pasha signalized his taking possession of bis new government by some 
 acts of justice which were little expected. The fanatics, for such are to be found 
 every where, represented him as one of the prophane, a man who was never seen in 
 a mosque. This assertion was refuted by his appearing there the first Friday 
 after bis arrival. The intelligence of Bonaparte's victories in Syria had found 
 its way to the centre of the Morea ; people's heads began to be heated upon 
 the subject, and politics were publicly talked in the coffee- houses. An imam, 
 impelled by a religious vertigo, thought proper to interpose, and even from the 
 pulpit set about declaiming against the French, using very insulting language 
 towards them. After the service the pasha ordered him into his presence, and 
 without so much as asking him what concern he had with the quarrels of 
 sovereigns, allowed him four-and-twenty hours to quit the town and retire to Ne- 
 gropont; this sentence was executed in its full rigour. Who would have expected 
 a pasha to act in this way while a Greek patriarch thundered against us, and his ri- 
 diculous proclamation of a crusade was printed and every where publicly circulated ! 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 4 1 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Valley of Tripolitza.— Route to Manlinea. — Topography of that town, of AmU 
 and of St, George. — Route from Mantinea to Calavrita. — Idea of that country 
 and of its productions. — Robbers of Mount Pholo'c. — Route from Calavrita to 
 Patras. — Mount Olenos or Vodi. — Description of Patras. — Itinerary to Voslitza 
 or Egium. 
 
 Mount Roi'no or Menale, at the foot of which stands the town of Tripolitza, 
 extends from the plain of Mantinea to Mount Boreas, near the gulfs of the 
 Alpheus, and closes the valley to the west. The northern extremity of the 
 valley is woody, and there are the ruins of a village with some shepherds' huts, 
 and the inclosures in which the flocks are secured for the night. Half a league 
 to the south are the remains of a convent of women which was destroyed by the 
 Albanians; and near this is the bed of a torrent, the waters of which flow in'to 
 the valley of Tegea. A road which leads from Tripolitza to Caritena crosses 
 the torrent a league and a half from the convent, after which, by passing a smaller 
 torrent, we come to the chapel of Saint Mark. The rest of this valley presents 
 an unequal surface of arid rocks and slopes covered with pines ; but very few 
 villages are to be seen. To the north the valley is bounded by Mount Artemisius, 
 which extends to Strata Kalilbey, while Mount Parthenius, covered with forests, 
 borders it to the east as far as the defile of Carvathi, on the side towards Sparta; 
 Mount Boreas, now called Chelmos, forms its southern confine. Such are the 
 boundaries of this superb plain, which Pan, the protector of Tegea and Arcadia, 
 would still find not destitute of charms. Taygetes, whose summits are covered 
 with snow, rising in a pyramid to the south, bounds one of the most charming 
 views in the world. Seventy-two villages and farms scattered over the plain, or 
 suspended upon the mountains by which it is bounded, are inhabited by the 
 people who are the least oppressed of any in the Morea The land, almost every 
 where fertile, under the hands of the robust race by whom it is cultivated would 
 soon be made the abode of wealth and delight, if these advantages were not 
 counteracted by the vices engrafted in the government. 
 
 G 
 
42 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 I shall describe this valley more at large in following the routes which I 
 traversed ; while my investigations, directed towards the places which I was 
 unable to visit or measure, shall be aided by the observations made in those 
 I had the opportunity of frequenting. I shall begin with the route to Mantiuea. 
 
 Quitting the town by the gate of Calavrita which is to the north, the road 
 soon crosses a torrent, and a quarter of a league from the town to the left is a 
 Greek cemetery, in which there is nothing particularly worthy of remark. Pro- 
 ceeding along the road for a league further, having all the way to the right several 
 farms, we then enter the plain of Mantinea. Here the valley is so much con- 
 tracted that the distance from Mount Rohio to Artemisius is at the utmost half 
 a league. These two promontories, as they may not improperly be called, are 
 well wooded, and Artemisius is covered with vines. Here, at a distance from 
 Tripolitza, we seem to breathe an air more impregnated with liberty, we seem 
 among the simple and honest shepherds of Arcadia. A little way further the 
 valley again widens, and now every step taken recalls some cherished recollection 
 of antiquity. One is fearful of trampling upon the tomb of Epaminondas, the 
 oaks one sees may be perhaps descendants of those of Pelagia; we traverse the 
 jspot on which the memorable conflict took place, when the chief of the Thebans 
 fell by the hands of the son of Xenophon. But we seek Mantinea in vain. 
 Among the oaks^ the olive-trees, the laurels which abound, is it there that we 
 are to search for it? Alas, no! the heart palpitates with impatience, — still we 
 proceed onwards, an hour and a half is passed, and it seems as if we ought to be 
 arrived at the spot ; at length we come to a marsh, — this was the site of 
 Mantinea. 
 
 A secret grief seizes the soul, yet impedes not the desire to approach these au- 
 gust ruins : — alas! the little that now remains of them Time will ere long have 
 completely consumed. The form of the town appears to have been an oval of 
 about a league in circumference. The walls, some vestiges of which are still 
 standing to the height of five or six feet, seem to have been eighteen feet in thick- 
 ness, and to have been built of stone brought from Mount Artemisius. The stone 
 of Menale, though this mountain is much nearer, is of a very different nature. In 
 examining these ramparts with attention, there appear clearly to have been four 
 principal gates leading to the same number of roadr, in the direction of Achaia, 
 Argos, Tegea, and Megalopolis. In the midst of the town is a small ruined 
 edifice, which at the first glance might be taken for a theatre ; but, besides that 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 43 
 
 it does not stand against a hill, according to the description of Pausanias, it is too 
 small to have been consecrated to such a purpose. Another ruin, at a short di- 
 stance, appears to have been part of a temple ; but there is no inscription which 
 indicates to what deity it was dedicated. 
 
 During my stay at Tripolitza, a Greek discovered, without the walls of Man- 
 tinea, in a spot near Mount Alesius, precisely where the stadium is described to 
 have been, a statue of white marble, three 4eet in height, exceedingly well pre- 
 served, upon the base of which was inscribed A^POATKAIPE. As the base did 
 not constitute a part of the statue, I presume that the inscription, which bore the 
 ultimum vale was a funereal stone. Some time after, one of the companions of 
 my captivity saw this statue in the hands of the drogman Caradja, who had re- 
 ceived it as a present from the person by whom it was found. To judge by the 
 place whence it came, it should seem not to be a solitary thing of the kind ; and no 
 doubt searches made there with care and caution would be amply recompensed. 
 
 The river Ophis, if this name may be given to a stream, which after a course 
 of only two leagues is lost in a gulf answering to one of the subterranean caverns 
 of Mount Roino, — this river, from its bed being choked up, forms the marsh in 
 which stands Mantinea ; and in a wet season the ruins are nearly covered by the 
 waters. The gulf in which it is lost is the terror of the peasants, who call it Vara-, 
 thron, or Katavothra, names which signify nothing more than a gulf. It is sur- 
 rounded by palisades, to prevent the cattle falling iuto it. It is difficult to approach 
 it and examine its depth, as the feet sink into the ground, which trembles be* 
 neath them, being a sort of peat or bog. 
 
 It is impossible to quit Mantinea without visiting a thermal spring, perhaps, 
 the ancient source of the Ami, on the banks of which Rhea brought Neptune 
 into the world, when to preserve her child from the voracity of Saturn she 
 concealed him among her lambs, and substituted a kid in his place, which was 
 eagerly devoured by the son of Time. At no great distance, upon Mount 
 Artemisius, stands at the present moment a village called Ami, where is a little 
 chapel dedicated to St. George. The Greeks of Tripolitza repair hither on the 
 festival of that saint, and regale themselves with lamb roasted in the open air. 
 I asked permission of the pasha to analyse the water of the fountain of Ami, with 
 a view to its being used as a bath, or for other purposes, but was prevented execut- 
 ing my purpose by being at that moment ordered away to Constantinople. Half 
 a league further to the north-west is the fountain of Alalcomene, mentioned by 
 
 G 2 
 
44 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Pausanias,which had its origin from a springcalled Tripi/gi, because it had three cur- 
 rents which united to form a little bason of water. The plain is everywhere strown 
 with fragments of columns and inscriptions, which the Greeks are eager to point 
 out to strangers who appear anxious in making researches. The road to Patras 
 continues directly northward : that to Argos is by an ancient way which passes by 
 Caki-Shala, skirting the village of Aral and the chapel of St. George. 
 
 The plain of Mantinea, which the Moreans still call Gorizza, may be about 
 five leagues in length from north to south, and in its greatest breadth may be 
 about three leagues. It is well cultivated ; and the slopes about it are covered 
 with vines, which produce the white wine drunk at Tripolitza. There are nearly 
 a dozen villages on the side of Mount Menale, through which is a way for foot 
 passengers, if they like to return by it to the town. It was on a spot about 
 a league from Mantinea, on the side of Tegea, that the battle was fought which 
 ruined the hopes of the Lacedaemonians, and in which Epaminondas perished in 
 the armsof victory. This space, where reposed the remains of so many brave warriors, 
 is now covered with laurel and rosemary, which decorate their unknown graves. 
 The tomb of the daughters of Peleus, to whom the Arcadians erected a monument 
 near the military way which leads to Tegea, would be sought in vain. 
 
 In quitting the plain of Mantinea, the road turns round a chain of mountains 
 which the Greeks call Pogliesi, to enter the plain known in ancient times as that 
 of Alcimedon, which extends to the north-west. On the southern declivity of 
 these mountains is the village of Vidi, facing a high isolated mountain now called 
 Aloni-Steno, but which formerly bore the name of Ostracina. This is the route 
 which must be pursued to go to Calavrita, and it is that usually frequented by 
 travellers going from Tripolitza to Patras. 
 
 Leaving Vidi to the north-east, we enter a forest of about a league in length, 
 composed of large trees; such as evergreen oaks, chesnut trees, larches, and 
 others, which thrive in a cold soil. It is the constant habitation of large numbers 
 of wolves ; but they are, perhaps, less dangerous than the robbers, who are its 
 occasional inhabitants, and who lurk there to lie in wait for such travellers as 
 are imprudent enough to pursue this route without being in sufficient numbers to 
 resist their attacks. A lovely plain, abounding with rosemary and other aromatic 
 plants, which succeeds to the forest, almost impresses one with the idea of being 
 suddenly transplanted to some other country than the Morea. Nothing is heard 
 there but the cry of the cigaTe, in the burning days of summer, while the forest 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 45 
 
 resounds with the braying of the stag*. Yet the ruggedness of the neighbouring 
 mountains, a face of nature characterized by some of the grandest features of the 
 globe, assures us that we are in the wildest parts of Arcadia. 
 
 In a moral point of view, however, every thing here is cruel and ferocious. At the 
 sight of a man we put ourselves immediately upon our guard; whatever we meet, 
 as in the deserts of Libya, seems au enemy. The shepherd does not forestall 
 the brilliant Aurora, to conduct his flocks, before she enters on her daily course, 
 to banks of thyme and other aromatic herbs ; he does not come forth carrying his 
 crook and saluting the echoes gaily with the breath of his mellow pipes, but walks 
 with a measured step and suspicious air, attended by the same formidable dogs 
 which have watched the flock all night. He waits till the sun has illumined 
 those terrible chasms, the usual theatre of his excursions, before he ventures to 
 send his sheep into them, while the imprudent goats are bounding up the moun- 
 tains, climbing even to the most dangerous crags. He himself, like a Nomade, 
 is charged with an enormous gun, not to immolate the terrible wolf, or the ma- 
 rauding jackall, but as a weapon either of offence or defence against his fellow- 
 man. Nor are these sons of labour even exempt from the Mussulman tyranny. 
 Although Albanians, endowed with a daring courage, they submit to the yoke, 
 and pay a capitation. In this respect they differ exceedingly from the Mai'notti, 
 their neighbours; the latter have availed themselves of the rampart offered them 
 by Taygetes, to liv independent. 
 
 At about a league and a half from the entrance of this valley is a farm with a 
 khan, which stand upon the mountain to the right. They were erected in this 
 spot as a place of security against the attacks of robbers ; but it has happened, 
 notwithstanding, that the proprietors of them have been often obliged to forsake 
 their posts, and take refuge in some remote cottages in a more distant part of the 
 mountain. The pasha of the Morea now keeps a body of cavalry there to guard 
 the passes, and render the communication easier and safer. The country from 
 
 * If any objection should be made to the expression " the Iraying of the slag," as it is not one in 
 common use, the reader is referred to Dryden as authority for its adoption. In his translation of the third 
 Georgic of Virgil, where the desolation of a Scythian winter is described, we find the following couplet, 
 applied to '■' whole herds of mighty slags." 
 
 " And while they strive in vain to make their way 
 Through hills of snow, and pitifully bray." Line 5/4. 
 I am informed, besides, that the Latin word used to express the noise made by the stag, is precisely 
 the same as that which expresses the braying of an ass. Translator. 
 
46 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 thence to Mettaga, which is at the distance of seven leagues from Tripolitza, pre- 
 sents everywhere lofty mountains, deep ravines, points of view innumerable, which 
 are at once terrific and sublime: some of the ravines run even to the gulf of Lepanto. 
 The shepherds here are clad in garments of coarse white woollen, with caps of 
 'ryshes on their heads. They have always a disturbed and affrighted air, owing doubt- 
 less to the vexations they experience from the robbers of Mount Pholoe, and the 
 constant apprehensions of them in which they live. These robbers are known by 
 the name of Laliotes. Another subject of inquietude to the shepherds is the im- 
 positions practised upon them by the delis of the pasha, who are sent to scour the 
 country for their protection, but who are in reality among their most formidable 
 scourges. 
 
 Mettaga, I have reason to believe, stands in the vicinity of the ancient Methy- 
 drium. At a little distance from it there is a defile which leads to one of the rivers 
 that run into the Alpheus. This defile, as well as the river, now bears the name 
 of Roufia. Through it runs the road to Gardichi, which is the Clitor of the an- 
 cients. Mettaga is an insignificant little town, not containing above a hundred 
 houses, though it is the residence of a Turkish aga. Travellers lodge at a khan ; 
 and it is often the first place where they stop after quitting Tripolitza. The views 
 from Mettaga, embosomed as it is among mountains, cannot extend to anv great 
 distance ; yet the eye can never be turned towards Mount Tricala, or Tricara, the 
 highest point of these rugged countries, without a lively emotion. It was from 
 one of the cavities of this sublime mass that the fountain of Styx flowed, bending 
 its course thence to the river Crathis, which empties its waters into the bay of Co- 
 rinth. These waters, as Pausanias informs us, were mortal to all animals : they 
 dissolved vases of glass, and of all kinds of metal. I would gladly have visited 
 the fountain to examine the water, and in the hope that some precious fragments 
 of antiquity might be found there ; but I was soon convinced that it was very in- 
 advisable to make the experiment, unless it could have been done with the con- 
 currence of the commandant of Mettaga and the people of the country. Then 
 only could I have taken a favourable opportunity for it ; and I was not sufficiently 
 my own master for this to be possible. 
 
 From Mettaga to Tripotemi is a journey of six hours. The road lies almost en- 
 tirely through a woody country ; and there are several villages among the neigh- 
 bouring mountains, inhabited by people who retain the same character for bra- 
 Very as the ancient Achaeans. They are almost always to be seen with arms in 
 their hand*. They cultivate abundance of vines and olive-trees, and carry on 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 47 
 
 some trade with Vostitza, a town at seven leagues distance on the gulf of Lepanto 
 A traveller may easily collect among them a precious harvest of am.eds They, 
 are to be found in every body's hands, and are so little valued by them, that for a 
 few parats even very valuable ones of bronze may be obtained. It is not, however, 
 politic to make a great display of wealth among them, and lay temptations in the 
 way of people so extremely predisposed to robbery. The title of physician, and 
 some knowledge of physic, is the most secure passport a person can have in these 
 parts : the only one, perhaps, to which absolute inviolability is attached. 
 
 At a league from TYipotemi the country becomes well cultivated, abounding in 
 vines. Here is a little village, called Kateli, built on a height at the foot of which 
 flow several very abundant springs. I was assured that the sea of Lepanto may be 
 seen from this spot ; and an opening in the valley on that side seems to render the 
 thing extremely possible. The valley is watered by a little river. At its northern 
 extremity stands the town of Tripotemi. The name of this town seems derived 
 from three small rivers which flow towards it, and water the bason in which the 
 town stands. This place is inhabited entirely by Greeks, whose noble stature and 
 fine features form a striking contrast with the exterior of the shepherds in the 
 passes of the mountains north of Arcadia. The latter have more of the Arab phy- 
 siognomy. 
 
 From Tripotemi to Pyrgo is a distance of three leagues, always ascending the 
 great mountain Tricara. In this route one wanders alternately encompassed by 
 woods, or among crags, where the horses at almost every step are in danger of fall- 
 ing and being irrecoverably lost down the precipices. There is a khan at Pyrgo, 
 which, however, is by no means a place of security to travellers, unless they are 
 a large party and well armed. The inhabitants of this town cultivate a little cot- 
 ton, together with some corn : they are besides shepherds, and feed silk-worms. 
 They are for the most part originally of Albania. The people of this latter country 
 all consider the Morea as a land of riches and plenty. From Mount Tricara the 
 eye wanders over an immense horizon, in which are included the summits of se- 
 veral inferior mountains. The Alpheus, however, cannot be seen, nor the plains 
 of Elis ; for the valleys which open towards these celebrated spots run in such si- 
 nuosities, that nothing is to be seen but the summits of the mountains bordering 
 upon them. 
 
 On quitting Pyrgo, we continue descending for an hour, and at every step 
 pictures are spread before the eye at once terrible, beautiful, and sublime, Oaks a . 
 which seem almost as ancient as the mountains themselves, vast forests, smiling 
 
48 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 vineyards, silent valleys, where the air is perfumed by a multitude of odoriferous 
 flowers and plants, all combine to charm and astonish the traveller. Perceiving 
 a little rivulet, which probably flows into the Aroanius, he thinks that he cannot 
 be far from the Temple of Minerva ; the place, its distance from Gardichi or 
 Clitor, are the same indicated by Pausanias. The valley which is next crossed, 
 may be about a league and a half in length, terminated to the north by a moun- 
 tain, which must be crossed to arrive at Calavrita. At the entrance of the ravine 
 by which the mountain is passed, is a station where a sort of toll is exacted. 
 
 Calavrita is a town surrounded by mountains, and contains about three hundred 
 houses, but it does not appear to occupy the place of any town or village 
 mentioned in antiquity. It is governed by a Turkish aga, and defended by a 
 paltry kind of castle built of wood, with a palisade. There is a wretched khan, 
 destined for the reception of travellers, but where I should conceive they would 
 •not be in full security unless their numbers are considerable. In time of war a 
 military guard is maintained here by the pasha of the Morea : the possession of 
 this point is essential for securing the command of the denies over all this part of 
 ihe province. It also commands another defile, not less important, leading to 
 Trypia, a modern town at the distance of seven leagues, upon the gulf of Lepanto, 
 and to Kanti an intermediate village. The greater part of the inhabitants of 
 Calavrita are Albanians, the remains of those who invaded the Morea in X'J'JO; 
 for these people could never be entirely driven out of the country, although the 
 pasha, who was charged to get rid of them by any means that could be employed, 
 exerted the utmost severity in executing these orders. 
 
 The environs of the town are pleasant, notwithstanding the rugged nature of 
 the country. There are many delicious fountains and gardens, planted with 
 orange- and lemon-trees; besides which there are abundance of mulberry-trees 
 cultivated for feeding the silk-worms: — considerable numbers of these insects 
 are bred here. In this place, as well as at Vostitza, large quantities are also made 
 of the hard cheese used for scraping upon macaroni and other Italian pastes ; 
 dishes which are held in particular esteem among the great people of the country. 
 It is well known how much the cheeses of Achaia and Sicyonia were sought after 
 in ancient times by the Athenians : they were considered as an essential article in 
 every well-ordered kitchen. It should seem as if they had undergone no change 
 since those times; that they preserve still the same form, and have the same 
 sol id it v. 
 
 This part of Peloponnesus, even in the most glorious and most civilized times 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 49 
 
 of the republic, always passed for a cold and rural country. It was nevertheless 
 in the midst of these rocks that the most generous and most formidable league 
 which ever existed was formed. It was in Egium, upon the borders of the gulf 
 of Corinth, that a handful of citizens found the means of arresting the progress 
 of the Roman arms, and of bringing the favours of victory to something like a 
 balance. In wandering over this country we seem as if assisting at the councils 
 of these brave men, more worthy of being immortalized than the hero of Homer, 
 that Agamemnon who collected together on the same spot so many of the kings 
 of Greece; we seem as if listening to Lycortas while he disclosed his plans and 
 expatiated on their means of defence ; our thoughts follow Philopoemen into 
 Arcadia, nor can we cease to admire his bravery and the resources of his powerful 
 genius: he alone opposed the torrent which seemed likely to swallow up Asia, 
 Africa, and the most favoured countries of Europe; every where Metellus and 
 Flaminius found him present, he baffled their projects, he confounded their 
 calculations, and if he could have numbered as many warriors as his antagonists 
 did cohorts, the fate of Greece would probably have been very different. But 
 he had for enemies those unworthy Lacedaemonians, who breathed nothing but 
 hatred and fanaticism ; those men whose bravery arose only from the ferocity 
 of their manners, and who after having fought for the common cause became the 
 oppressors of their country. The Etolians threatened him on their side, yet 
 every where he faced the storm. But it was in vain that he resisted, the chiefs 
 of the people had sworn his destruction, he was obliged to yield to numbers, 
 and a cavern of Messenia swallowed up the greatest of the Greeks. Yet his last 
 moments were worthy of so illustrious a life 1 . " Extended upon his cloak," says 
 Plutarch, " occupied only with his grief for the fate of his country, he saw 
 without concern the executioner advance with a lamp in one hand and the fatal 
 cup in the other. Raising himself up with difficulty and receiving the poison 
 from him, he inquired whether he had not heard any thing of his cavaliers, and 
 above all of Lycortas ? The executioner answering that they had almost all 
 escaped, Philopoemen thanked him with an inclination of the head, and looking 
 mildly at him said, ' Thou hast brought me good news, we are not unfortunate 
 in every thing.' He then drank the poison with serenity, and thus deprived 
 the Romans of the unworthy honour they had expected, in dragging him chained 
 to a triumphant car, among the kings whom they had subdued." Let me be 
 pardoned this apostrophe to one of the most illustrious heroes whose names are 
 recorded in history ! I now resume my subject. 
 
 H 
 
50 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 From Calavrita to Patras is a long day's journey, as well on account of the 
 distance as the nature of the road, over high and rugged mountains. At Nezero, 
 a little modern town which is reached in about four hours from Calavrita, there 
 is a khan for travellers, and three hours further is Trite, the ancient Tritea. 
 This town stands on a small level enamelled with flowers, above which rise the 
 majestic summits of Mount Vodi. Towards the south are forests of oaks, which 
 with a trifling effort of imagination one may suppose to be the descendants of 
 those which formed the sacred wood of the Dioscuri, as this wood was only at the 
 distance of fifty stadia from the town of Pharea. It requires two hours to pass 
 Mount Vodi, including the ascent and descent. This is the highest mountain 
 of Arcadia; but the clouds, in which it is almost always enveloped, leave the 
 traveller very little chance of enjoying the extensive view which might other- 
 wise be seen from its summit. This view however is only over masses of surround- 
 ing mountains, which form an horizon not less rugged than that contemplated 
 from the highest Alps. It is therefore not a little amusing to find a modern traveller 
 describing the panorama of the Morea as seen from this point, whence by some 
 powerful efforts of imagination he discerned the plains of Elis and the sources 
 of the Alpheus. For my part, having a less lively imagination, and dreading 
 above all things being led away by the enthusiasm to which 1 feel at some 
 moments so strong a propensity, I confine myself to giving my pictures such as 
 they actually exist in nature. Though the sea is to be seen from the top of 
 Vodi, and the mountains of Albania beyond it, the town of Patras which is 
 nearly on the sea shore is not to be discovered : but after having wound round 
 the amphitheatre on which it is built, in descending the mountain we arrive 
 suddenly at its gates. 
 
 This town, which in very remote antiquity was known under the name of 
 Aroe', flourished formerly among the distinguished towns of Greece. Pausanias 
 gives us a high idea of it by his description of the monuments which he indicates 
 in his immortal work. Among its celebrated edifices were an odeum and several 
 temples ; of the latter, that to Diana Africana was the most distinguished. 
 Augustus compelled the inhabitants of several towns in Achaia to come and 
 settle at Aroe, and he changed the name to that which has been handed down 
 to us, in remembrance of its founder, to whom its present name belonged. It 
 was converted to Christianity by the apostle St. Andrew, who here received the 
 crown of martyrdom, and it is now a metropolitan town. After undergoing 
 many revolutions it was besieged in 1533 by Doria, who rescued it from the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 51 
 
 infidels; but it afterwards fell again, together with the whole of the Morea, into 
 their hands. 
 
 The town of Patras, such as it now exists, stands upon an amphitheatre at a 
 little distance from the sea. It still feels the ravages of the Albanian war, and 
 many modern ruins attest what it must have suffered at that epoch. Scarcely 
 had general Orlow ceased to oppress the people of Albania, than the latter fell 
 upon a province towards which they had always looked with an eye of cupidity. 
 The largest vessels can anchor at Patras, and the anchorage is sheltered both by 
 the mountains of Epirus and of Peloponnesus, so that it is extremely secure : 
 the only winds by which the port can be affected are from the east and west, 
 and these are little to be feared in these latitudes, their force being exceedingly 
 broken by the direction of the bay. A fort in the form of a polygon commands 
 the town ; but it is falling into ruins, and the garrison is composed of troops who 
 are half-starved. The public revenues drawn from this place belong to one of 
 the sultanas and the drogrnan of the Porte. There, are few antique ruins, and 
 what there are, are daily more and more destroyed by the Turks ; the remains of 
 the amphitheatre and some antique marbles mentioned by Spon, have been almost 
 entirely destroyed by them. 
 
 Patras is governed by a bey, subject to the pasha of the Morea ; the town 
 contains a great number of Jews, who are the principal commercial agents; almost 
 all business in this way passes through their hands. France names a commercial 
 agent who receives no salary, but all the ships of the country which stop here 
 make him some present; they also pay an anchorage, though it cannot be 
 exacted. The drogmans are all Jews, who eagerly seek after an office which 
 they know very well how to turn to a good account. To judge from one of these 
 good people, by name Solomon, they do no great honour to the languages they 
 pretend to speak ; the French, as he called it, which he spoke was a terrible 
 mixture of the Provencal and Barbary languages, pronounced with so strange 
 and discordant an accent, that it was no very easy matter to comprehend what 
 he meant to say. 
 
 For some years past the trade of the Morea has increased very considerably, 
 and as the communications with Albania and the Ionian isles are much facili- 
 tated, a French house might make advantageous speculations to Patras : it would 
 have a real advantage over the Italians and Barattaires*, by the security it would 
 
 * A Barattaire is a Greek who enjoys a diploma from some power in alliance with the Ottoman 
 Porte, by virtue of which he enjoys the same privileges and exemptions as the nation from whom he 
 
 H 2 
 
.52 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 offer in trading with the Moreans, from the consideration which the French will 
 always enjoy in the Levant trade in times of peace. 
 
 The country round Patras is planted with vines and olive-trees; its gardens 
 enjoy a high reputation from the excellence of the fruits which they furnish, 
 above all the oranges, lemons, and citrons; of these a small quantity are exported. 
 The views round Patras are exceedingly circumscribed towards the south, where 
 a lofty mountain rises directly behind the town, and higher still at a distance 
 towers the summit of Vodi : the views to the north are in summer sublime, over 
 the sea and the countries which surround the bay of Corinth ; but in winter the 
 mountains of Albania covered with snow, rising one above another, carry the 
 field of optical illusions to a somewhat sad and fatiguing extent. From Patras 
 to Vostitza, a little town of Achaia, a distance of ten leagues, the road lies 
 always near the sea. Pausanias says that there was a shorter way to Egium, 
 which was the ancient name of Vostitza, and I am inclined to believe that he 
 was right. The inhabitants of the country are probably acquainted with it, 
 but as it is not perhaps practicable for horses they prefer that by the sea. The 
 latter has also the recommendation of being much more secure from robbers. 
 
 An hour is required to go from Patras to Cape Rhion. On this cape stands 
 the castle of the Morea, and directly opposite to it on Cape Antirrhion, in 
 Epirus, -is a similar one ; they are so near that the fires from them can cross and 
 prevent any vessel entering the gulf. There are no longer to be seen any 
 vestiges of the temple of Neptune, which stood upon the coast half a league to 
 the east of Patras ; perhaps its ruins are buried in the sea, as this element gains 
 much upon this shore ; possibly they might be seen when the water happens to 
 be particularly low. Before we arrive at the castle of the Morea, we pass over 
 a place more venerable in my eyes than any rendered celebrated by temples to 
 the ridiculous gods of fabulous antiquity ; I mean the cemetery of the Christians 
 who fell in the memorable naval battle of Lepanto. The Mussulmans themselves 
 are ea^er to point out to strangers the place where such a number of illustrious 
 warriors repose. Methinks even now I see the army of Don John of Austria 
 forcing its way into the gulf to seek the Mussulman fleet, superior as it was to 
 
 receives it. Thus a Barattaire is protected by the commercial agent of tha nation which has granted 
 him his barat or diploma. The Porte allows a certain number of these brevets to the ambassadors of 
 the different nations, who sell them to the Greeks for their life, but the interest in them extends no 
 further than the life of the individual by whom they are purchased. France can dispose, I believe, of 
 forty. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 53 
 
 the combined squadrons of the Christian powers. With what cries must the 
 shores have resounded before the roar of the cannon dealt out death to both 
 parties! Never since the battle of Actium had the seas of Greece seen so many- 
 vessels united, or witnessed a battle equally memorable. What an extraordinary 
 scene is presented to the mind thinking of the Mussulman galleys manoeuvred 
 by Christian slaves, while the Christian vessels were navigated by Turkish ones, 
 each side serving, in spite of themselves, against their own country ! How 
 terrible must have been the moment when the two fleets joined battle, under the 
 combined horrors of all the arms both of ancient and modern times! The 
 arrows, the long javelins, the lances, the grappling irons, the cannon, the 
 musquets, the pikes and the sabres, combined to carry death every where ; the 
 galleys grappled together presented a vast field of battle, on which the combat- 
 ants fought hand to hand, till victory at length declared for the Christians. It 
 was as near as possible to the spot that the conquerors collected the bodies of 
 their own party and gave them the honours of sepulture ; and this spot, which is 
 a little to the west of the castle, retains even to the present time the name above 
 alluded to, of the Cemetery of the Christians. 
 
 To the south-east is a little village where resides the aga, who commands the 
 castles or Dardanelles of Lepanto : it consists of between thirty and forty houses, 
 and there are some springs of good water in the neighbouring mountain. Half a 
 league further the road crosses a small river, which is very probably the Charadrus, 
 and it begins to be evident that we are travelling along an ancient road ; the 
 impression of the chisel in the hard rock is every where visible, and this is a 
 labour of which the Turks can never be suspected of having been guilty. At the 
 bottom of the gulf, the river Selemnus is seen running into it. It was the peculiar 
 property of these waters to procure the unhappy lover who bathed in them 
 complete forgetfulness of the cruelties he had experienced from an unkind 
 mistress. This ceremony, without doubt, could only have taken place in winter, 
 for in summer far the greater part of the river is entirely dry, and its bed is a 
 complete grove of oleanders. The small quantity of water that remains here 
 and there in a few excavations is full of leeches: these, by their suction, might 
 doubtless be well calculated to cool the ardour of any lover who was disposed to 
 furnish them with a dinner. 
 
 We afterwards pass Cape Drepanum, or the Cape of the Scythe. This name 
 probably was given it from the adventure of Saturn, who, regretting the use 
 
54 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 he had made of his instrument, in employing it to mutilate his father, threw it 
 into the sea. The coast becomes cheerful ; and some villages are seen hanging 
 on the sides of the mountains ; the latter in many places approach very near the 
 shore. At two leagues from Cape Drepanum is a village of Albanians : among 
 their children are to be seen many who have a great deal of the African in their 
 features and hair. This probably arises from the connections which the Corsairs 
 of Barbary formed upon this coast, in the times when they came to seek an 
 asylum in this gulf, or to prepare their armaments there. 
 
 From thence to Vostitza there is only one large village, inhabited by Albanians ; 
 but it does not appear to stand, as some have asserted, upon the site of Rhypea. 
 The ruins of this place, as I was assured by some of the inhabitants of the 
 country, are to be found more to the south. Before we arrive at Vostitza, we 
 traverse a high mountain, and then proceed for a league along a fine valley, 
 which extends a long way to the south. This is the way to go from Vostitza to 
 Dimizana, and into Upper Arcadia. There are many villages all under the 
 jurisdiction of the pasha of the province, and governed by sub-bachis or syndics of 
 his appointment. The strata of the mountains incline towards the north, as if 
 the earth had sunk on this side to form the gulf of Corinth. Vostitza, if it be the 
 ancient Egium, has very little remains of its former grandeur. If another 
 Agamemnon were to convene a meeting of kings there, it is very doubtful 
 whether their majesties would find houses sufficient to furnish lodgings for them 
 all ; — such are the changes made by Time, who with the most unrelenting hand 
 transforms flourishing and populous cities into insignificant hamlets. Yet 
 Vostitza, when seen from the bason above which the houses rise, has still some- 
 thing in its appearance that inspires a desire to visit it; with pleasure one turns 
 the prow of the bark towards the groves that shade the valley around. The 
 aspect of the country gives reason to hope that the inhabitants are not harsh and 
 cruel like those of the opposite shore of Epirus. An abundant fountain, which 
 is well preserved, but without inscriptions or statues, is the only relic of 
 antiquity that is to be seen : the inhabitants, however, do not seem near so 
 proud of it, as of a magnificent plane-tree near, under the shade of which they 
 have established places for drinking coffee. This old son of earth yields in no 
 respect to the plane of Cos, of which that learned traveller through Greece, 
 Monsieur de Choiseul Gouffier, has given us a drawing in the first part of his 
 picturesque travels. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 55 
 
 The port of Vostitza is frequented by a great number of small vessels, which 
 come to take in cargoes of raw silk, cheese, raisins of Corinth*, (of which much 
 greater quantities are cured here than in the town whence they take their name,) 
 undried skins of oxen, which they carry to the neighbouring isles, gum adragant, 
 kermes, brandy, wines, sardines! and poutargue+. These objects are carried to 
 Patras to be put on board trading vessels and transported to Italy. The principal 
 time for this trade is in the season of the fair of Sinigaglia. 
 
 If the Turks, or rather the codja-bachis, their representatives, did not oppress 
 the Greeks of these parts, Vostitza would soon become one of the most opulent 
 towns of the Morea. But by a fatality which seems connected with every thing 
 that relates to a country once fallen into misfortunes, the Greeks have their 
 greatest enemies among themselves. These codja-bachis, mostly Greeks, pro- 
 strated at the feet of the Turks, inflict all kinds of vexations on those whom they 
 ought to cherish and console. By their pride and insolence, and by the servility 
 which so eminently characterizes them, they have established a strong line of 
 demarcation between themselves and the rest of the Greeks. A degenerate race, 
 they have all the vices of slaves, and indemnify themselves for the humiliations 
 they receive from the Turks, by exercising the most detestable tyranny over 
 their unfortunate brethren. In the temples they occupy the place nearest to the 
 altar, where they display the pride of the Pharisee, contented with a wretched 
 prerogative purchased, at the expense of the happiness of their brethren. 
 
 * Best known in England by the name of currants. — Translator. 
 j- A small fish of the sprat or anchovy kind. — Translator. 
 
 % A sort of savoury cakes made of the spawn of some particular ( kind of fish, and esteemed by many 
 people as an exquisite gourmandise. — Translatos. 
 
56 • TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Arcadia. — Route from Tripolitza to Caritena. — Digression concerning Sinano or 
 Megalopolis. — Route from Caritena to Olympia, now Mir aha. — Description of 
 the valley of Dimizana. — Topography of Olympia. 
 
 I auiT for a time the smiling borders of the bay of Corinth, yet with the 
 intention of returning when I come to speak of Argos and Sicyonia, to direct my 
 steps to the centre of Arcadia, and towards Elis. If the whole continent of 
 Europe scarcely contains any country which can be compared to Peloponnesus 
 for the beauty of its sites, this peninsula scarcely presents any spot equal to 
 Arcadia, any valleys so beautifully enamelled with flowers, any groves so delicious, 
 any fields so well cultivated. Notwithstanding the inequality of its territory, the 
 height of its mountains, the number of its lakes, pools, and marshes ; after the 
 winter season is passed, nothing but the finest weather is experienced ; no country 
 ever enjoyed to a greater degree the blessing of a serene sky, of a salutary and 
 benignant air. When the sun of Attica burns up the country round, in Arcadia 
 gentle clouds collect among the mountains, and descend in the most fertilizing 
 rains. A rich soil amply rewards the toils of the cultivator, the vine never fails 
 to yield abundantly its delicious fruit, numerous flocks feed upon the declivities 
 of the mountains, while the courser, though little, to be admired for the 
 beauty of his form, quenches his thirst at the rivers which flow from their bases. 
 
 Here the empire of oppression terminates, and the abode of peace commences. 
 Submissive and faithful, far from the Turk, whose tributaries they are, the 
 Arcadians enjoy in tranquillity the delights of a pastoral life. Some mountaineers, 
 inhabitants of the unfrequented regions of Mount Pholoe, the passes of which are 
 known only to them, defend with intrepidity the perfect independence in which 
 they live. Possessors of a few villages, they abandon them in cases of emergency, 
 and retire into those caverns where fable feigns that Hercules visited the Centaur 
 Pholoe, or to those levels which are inaccessible to every body but themselves. 
 Certain Christian hermits who live by the labour of their hands, have suspended 
 their cells to some of these aerial rocks, preaching the Gospel in spots the nearest 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 57 
 
 possible to the celestial abodes. A people, however, known by the name of 
 Laliotes, from the little town of Lala which they inhabit, disgrace this part of 
 Peloponnesus. A collection of wretches, v. ho have escaped from the sword of jus- 
 tice, a hundred times more cruel and more formidable than the Bardouniotes, they 
 carry desolation and terror amonp - he peaceable inhabitants of Elis and Arcadia. 
 It is they who furnish the largest share of business to the delis of the pasha. 
 
 A chain of mountain" heaped one upon the other, and running from east to west, 
 form the base of fiv; ether chains of mountains of the third order, which occupy 
 the space between Sinano and the river Gardichi. Among them are many valleys, 
 through which flow the rivers and rivulets that discharge themselves into the Al- 
 pheus. From the same mountains issue numerous springs and fountains, which, 
 by facilitating the irrigation of the fields, would make these spots the abodes <4f 
 prosperity and abundance, if Providence would grant to Peloponnesus good laws 
 and a good government. I cannot express the sentiment with which I was conti- 
 nually inspired at the sight of a country so fine, yet so little cultivated, or still 
 more when I compared what these celebrated valleys once were with what they 
 now are. Every forest, every cavern, had its gods and its altars : the woods were 
 inhabited by fauns, and every oak had its dryad. Diana wandered among the 
 groves ; the nymphs sported among flowers ; Pan the god of the shepherds ani- 
 mated every spot with his presence. Happy allegories ! with these was maintained 
 the happiness of a people who long, very long, retained the innocence and simple 
 manners of the first ages, even when they were already banished from all other 
 parts of the globe. In the midst of fond remembrances like these, what vows 
 <loes one not make to heaven, in the eager hope that it may be moved one day to 
 restore Arcadia to its former prosperity ! Will these wishes ever be realized ? 
 Alas ! this is a question only to be resolved by Time ; and who can pierce through 
 the impenetrable veil in which he envelops the future ? 
 
 Let us run over these places, establishing our point ef departure from the capital 
 of the Morea. If this method may appear monotonous, it lias at least the advan- 
 tage of clearness. The route from Tripolitza into Arcadia is by the gate of Cari- 
 tena, which is to the west. At a short distance from the town is a little village, 
 inhabited by Greeks, built upon the rock ; and a little further are some fields, both 
 to the north and south, in good cultivation. Two hundred toises further the road 
 crosses the bed of a torrent, which, in combination with another torrent that runs 
 from Mount Roi'no, forms an island. It is honoured by being the burial-place of 
 the French soldiers frem the garrison of Zante, who died during the time that the 
 
 i 
 
58 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 corps was detained at Tripolitza. This was the only spot which fanaticism would 
 allow them for sepulture, as they were equally repelled by the Turks and the 
 Creeks. To the left stands the church of St. Helias, which is now nothing but a 
 ruin. On one of its walls are two eagles carved in marble, in perfect preservation : 
 this fragment of antiquity may be upon the whole about three fee' every way. 
 The valley extends a quarter of a league from ti.is spot to the foot of Mount Roi'uu. 
 over which lies the road to Caritena. It is soon evident that we are upon an an- 
 cient road, from the labour which was necessary to cut it through such stony and 
 rugged ways. For two leagues we keep constantly ascending among lofty summits, 
 after which we enter a forest of considerab'e extent, running from north to south. 
 Here are many villages inhabited by Arcadians, who are much occupied in making 
 many sorts of wooden vases carved and painted But a modern Alcimedon would 
 not trace upon them Orpheus leading forests, or stopping the course of the sun : 
 the ornaments consist only of trees and birds, executed in a very bad taste. Half 
 a league before the end of the forest is a river which flows towards the south, 
 whose banks are shaded with a number of weeping-willows. In following its 
 course for about a league we come to a convent of Caloyers *, who pretend to in- 
 habit the spot on which stood Megalopolis. The principal authority by which 
 they support their pretensions is, that there are some ruins in the neighbourhood, 
 and that medals are often found hereabouts which bear the name of Megalopolis. 
 But neither the river, which flows near, nor the situation, accord better with what 
 we know concerning that ancient and celebrated town, than the situation of Leon- 
 dari ; and it has been already observed, that this place is put down by several geo- 
 graphers, after Meletius, as the ancient Megalopolis, though we have shown the 
 idea to be erroneous. 
 
 The Helisson, as the river was called on which Megalopolis stood, receives the 
 waters of the river that runs by the convent of Caloyers, and passes by Sinano 
 two leagues more to the south, upon the reverse of the mountains which lie be- 
 tween that and Caritena. Jt is then at Sinano that we must look for Megalopolis, 
 the country of Polybius and of so many other illustrious persons. From this point 
 the roads branched off which went to Laconia, to Messenia, and towards the fron- 
 tiers of Elis. The remains of them are still to be found in the directions indicated 
 by Pausanias ; and, following them as marks leading into remote ages, it will be 
 found that they come from Sparta, from Messenia, from Tegea, and Olympia, 
 
 * An order of monks of the Greek church. 
 
travels in the morea. 59 
 
 meeting all together at Sinano. Thus there seems to remain no doubt upon this 
 point. As long ago as in 17^9, Monsieur Barbie du Bocage deprived Leondari 
 of the honour of having replaced Megalopolis ; and subsequent observations made 
 this learned geographer afterwards transfer that honour to Sinano. Any remaining 
 difficulties upon the subject are now entirely removed, from its being well esta- 
 blished that all the military roads about Peloponnesus terminate at this spot. 
 
 But what now remains of this celebrated town i where is the temple of Jupiter 
 the Saviour i what is become of the place where the senate used to assemble ? 
 with what profound respect should I hail the statue of Polybius ! Alas ! neither 
 the portico of the Forum, nor any other of its superb edifices, nor Pan who 
 played upon the flute, nor Apollo who touched the lyre, exist any longer. Yet 
 who knows whether in searching under ground, NaTs seated at a table in the 
 midst of her nymphs, with the young Jupiter in her arms, might not yet be 
 found ? what would I not undertake to recover objects so precious ! objects 
 once the boast and ornament of that Megalopolis, the name of which is even 
 to this day pronounced among the Greeks with astonishment and admira- 
 tion. The ruins of a theatre and of the stadium are the sole remains of antiquity 
 now to be discerned at the first glance. Sinano presents only a parcel of misera- 
 ble huts either of mud or clay, scattered over a very confined space. The house 
 of the aga who governs this wretched bourg is however constructed with a con- 
 siderable number of bas-reliefs, of maibles with inscriptions, and other fragments 
 of antiquity which would be well worth studying. But as they are scattered 
 about without any order, and placed in all sorts of directions, many of the in- 
 scriptions being turned upside-down, ladders would be necessary to get at them 
 so as to decypher them with any effect. In turning up the ground in many of 
 the gardens about the town, medals are often found, and the plough frequently 
 brings to light fragments of bas-reliefs. Doubtless the river Helisson contains 
 buried under its sands many a choice relic, which, as the water is very low in 
 summer, might be recovered without difficulty. 
 
 But I return to the borders of the forest, whence I wandered to advert to the 
 Helisson, and to establish the exact situation of Megalopolis : I return, I say, to 
 these sublime trees in order to pursue my route to Caritena. At the extremity 
 of the level entered on quitting this forest is another running still further south- 
 wards ; the level may be a league over: in the midst of it is a khan built close, 
 to some excellent springs. On quitting it we ascend a mountain covered with 
 vines, on which it may well be presumed once stood the villages Zo^tea and 
 
 I 2 
 
60 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Parorea* ; they are now replaced by the tittle town of Langadia. This latter 
 name, which signifies a valley, was no doubt given as appropriate to the situation 
 of the place. It is the chief town of a bishopric, which comprises two other 
 villages within its diocese. A forest of a league in length succeeds, in which are 
 some pieces of paved road ; this continues for about a league, when it opens 
 upon a valley half a league over; the slopes at the end of it are again cover- 
 ed with vines. When arrived at their summits we look down upon Caritena, 
 forming an amphitheatre in the south-west. 
 
 This is a modern town, standing probably in the situation of the ancient 
 Gorthys. It is built upon a slope, having a high rock to the south, and does 
 not enclose any ancient ruins. Close to it on the south-west runs a river called 
 by the inhabitants the river of Caritena, which was very likely the ancient 
 Gorthynius ; this river had its source about Tisoa, and ran into the Alpheus : 
 its bed is deep and stony. It must be crossed to get at the rock I have men- 
 tioned ; in this rock I was assured by the inhabitants that there was a very deep 
 cavern. 
 
 The population of Caritena is estimated at between two and three thousand ; 
 they are almost all Greeks, and very affable. They relate to all strangers a story 
 of a traveller who was assassinated, more than thirty years ago, as he went to 
 visit the ruins of the temple of Apollo Epicurius or the Saviour f, which are to 
 the south of Andritsena. They speak of his death as if it was a disaster fresh in 
 their memories, and had happened within a few months, but say that all their 
 endeavours to find out the perpetrators of so horrible a deed were unavailing ; 
 they concur however unanimously in ascribing it to the Laliotes. 1 have thought 
 that this might very possibly be Mons. Bocher the architect, who had travelled, 
 once successfully over the Morea, but, returning there a second time, disappeared, 
 suddenly and was never heard of more;};. 
 
 * Two villages of Arcadia, the former of which was in ruins, even in ihe time of Pansanias. 
 
 f This temple was consecrated to Apollo under the above title by the inhabitants of Phygalis, because 
 he had preserved them from the plague. 
 
 + The folltiwing mention is made of Monsieur Bocher by Chandler : " Mr. Joachim Bocher, archU 
 tect, a native of Paris, visited us in the Lazaretto at Zante, which island he had adorned with several 
 elegant villas. This gentleman, in November 1 7^5, from Pyrgo crossed the Alpheus, and passing by 
 Agolinizza traversed a wood of pines to Esidero, where is a Turkish khan. An hour beyond, leaving 
 the plain by the sea, he began to ascend the mountains, and passing by some villages arrived at Vervizza 
 at night. This was a long journey. His design was to examine an ancient building near Caritena. 
 He was still remote from that place when he perceived a ruin two hours from Vervizza, which pre*. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. Q% 
 
 The environs of Caritena are celebrated for the salubrity of the air ; it is said 
 that the plague is a calamity entirely unknown there ; certain it is that the principal 
 inhabitants of Tripohtza take refuge on the spot when the plague rages in that 
 town. The valley is well cultivated, and the productions of the land are various; 
 among them is a species of the lentiscus, which if grafted would probably produce 
 a mastic not at all inferior to what is collected in the island of Chios; but the 
 inhabitants are unfortunately little sensible to the natural advantages they enjoy- 
 They are clothed in coarse woollen stuffs, manufactured in the place : trade is 
 carried on among themselves entirely by barter, and they sell to the commercial 
 agents the silk, cotton, and kermes which are intended for exportation. 
 
 Two leagues north of Caritena stands Andritsena; but the one town cannot be 
 seen from the other, on account of the woody mountains which occupy the space 
 between them. From the sides of these mountains flow several abundant springs 3 . 
 which water the valley of Andritsena. This valley is pleasingly diversified with 
 a great variety of trees, and a number of scattered sheds where large republics 
 of bees have been domesticated. These skilful and industrious labourers here 
 lay up their delicious stores, and find a safe asylum against the rigours of winter.. 
 A league and a half south-west of Andritsena is a little, village called Davia r 
 which I am inclined to think was the ancient Phygalis. I rest this opinion upon 
 the thermal springs which are at a little distance from it, upon the magnificent 
 ruins of the temple of Apollo Epicurius, and upon the rivulet which flows near 
 in the same direction as the Limax; as that Limax which would scarcely have 
 been more known than the rivulet in question, had not Rhea, who was delivered- 
 of Jupiter upon its banks, washed her infant in its waters. 
 
 The sources of the Neda, the modern Samari, are at a short distance only 
 from Davia, and the most considerable sea-port in this quarter is Arcadia. This 
 town enjoys a reputation for opulence which has extended to the very Gentre oft 
 the province. It is inhabited by Greeks and Turks, and is the chief town of a> 
 villaieti or canton, having for its tributaries Gargaliano, Gligoudista, Vrisies,.and' 
 Philatron. All along the coast from this place to Cape Conello are established^ 
 at certain distances posts of Albanians, who carry on a correspondence of signals- 
 vented his going any further. The ruia, called the Columns, stands on an eminence sheltered by lofty- 
 mountains. The temple it is supposed was that of Apollo Epicurius> near Phygalia, a city of Arcadia. "' 
 -^-Travels in Greece, p.2Q5. What is here said by Chandler seems strongly to corroborate t lie idea, 
 suggested by Monsieur Pouqueviile, that the murdered stranger spoken of by the people of Caritena., 
 was his- fellow-countryman Bocher.— Translator. 
 
iJZ TRAVELS TN THE MOREA. 
 
 bv moans of fires lighted on the most elevated spots. As the whole country 
 round is extremely woodv, these soldiers, who never lose sight of their own 
 interest, have associated tliemselves with some of the peasants who earrv on a 
 trade in charcoal, and in concert with them they devastate the forests to make 
 charcoal, without the government troubling itself to check an abuse which mav 
 be attended with very prejudicial consequences. The more this fine country is 
 examined, the more strongly does every thing combine to impress the mind with 
 ^he idea that nothing is wanting but a more numerous population, to operate the 
 changes which all real friends to human nature and the general enjoyments of 
 mankind must ardently desire; to realise the ideas of the most perfect happiness 
 that can be enjoyed by man in his passage through this transitory life. 
 
 The river of Caritena is passed only a quarter of a league from the town, and 
 soon after the Alpheus appears in view : at the first sight of this celebrated 
 stream, what numbers of sweet and cheerful recollections press upon the mind '. 
 It runs through the midst of an immense valley, forming, like the Seine, a 
 thousand sinuosities : it is however extremely inferior to that river. It seems, 
 from the slowness of its current, to move forward with regret from its source, and 
 to wish still to linger amid the valleys of Arcadia. 
 
 A little further on is a village among the mountains, and below in the plain a 
 small chapel dedicated to St. George. All the villages hereabout are built upon 
 the slopes of the mountains, equally on account of the frequent inundations of 
 the Alpheus, as from fear of the Laliote plunderers, who not unfrequently make 
 incursions hither from Mount Pholoe: the inhabitants cannot speak of them 
 without horror, on account of the excesses they commit. From this point the 
 eye stretches over a magnificent valley, strown with mulberry, and olive-trees, as 
 far as the gulf of Arcadia, near the spot where the river Neda runs into it. In 
 the valley is a small river, on which formerly stood several mills ; but they were 
 all destroyed in the last fatal war. In several places are isolated chapels, to which 
 the papas come on certain days for the purpose of performing divine service if 
 they are required, and above all if they are paid. Castri is left to the right hand 
 among the mountains. 
 
 The valley of Dimizana is eight leagues in length, running from south to 
 north. Its chief town, of the same name, long considered as the ancient Psophis, 
 stands about three leagues distant from the point at which the valley is entered, 
 on the spot where the Erymanthus joins the Alpheus. The Erymanthus has its 
 source in the mountain of Pholoe, near a large hamlet called Tertzena. After 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 63 
 
 forming five considerable cascades, which are to be seen through curtains of oaks 
 and pines, it falls dashing into the valley and runs the whole length of it. Its 
 elevated banks, its gulfs, the clearness of its waters, the enormous trout it pro- 
 duces, conspire to render it one of the most distinguished rivers of the Morea. 
 Tertzena is three leagues north of Dimizana, upon the left bank of the Ery man- 
 thus. This hamlet is inhabited entirely by Greeks; the country about it is 
 covered with vines and olive-trees ; the wine produced from the former is some 
 of the best in the province, owing, it is said, to the inhabitants twisting the 
 bunches as they hang upon the stock, and then leaving the grapes to die away in 
 the sun. 
 
 Dimizana, three leagues more to the south, is built upon the same side of the 
 river, but at the distance of nearly a league from its bank. The town contains 
 about five hundred houses, and before the war with the Russians was one of the 
 most considerable in the province. The Greeks have founded a school within a 
 short time, in which there are more than three hundred scholars. Powder-mills 
 were once established both here and at Zatouna, but they we^e demolished by 
 order of the Ottoman government. Below Dimizana to the west is the village of 
 Selevitzi, all the inhabitants of which, carriers by profession, derive their princi- 
 pal employment from transporting the productions of the country to Arcadia 
 and other parts of the Morea. Opposite to Dimizana, on the other side of the 
 Erymanthus, is the little town of Zatouna, consisting of about fifty houses. Its 
 inhabitants are rivals in industry to the Dimizanians. Having erected their 
 powder-mills as above mentioned, they had thought also of establishing iron- 
 founderies, when the fatal order arrived which put an end to all their projects,. 
 It is thought however that they are not wholly renounced, and it seems not im- 
 possible that this little district may be destined one day to play a very distinguish- 
 ed part in the country. 
 
 Besides the various productions of the soil in the valley of Dimizana, it con- 
 tains thermal and mineral springs. These are at Jocova, a village about a league 
 north of Dimizana, and the residence of the bishop of Langadia.. The pasha 
 finds no difficulty in collecting the tributes exacted from this canton,, but the 
 villages in the mountains around it have found the means of exempting them-, 
 selves from all contributions. This part of Arcadia, before the disasters of l/fO, 
 was the most populous of the province, nor can one forbear shuddering at the recol- 
 lection, thatthose of the inhabitants who escaped the sword of the Albanians were- 
 sold to the corsairs of Barbary : many of these people repaired to the gulf of Ai> 
 
64 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 cadia in order to share in the plunder of the Morea. The families who took refuge 
 in the mountains did not quit their retreats but to retire into the extensive domains 
 that Cara Ostium Oglou* possesses in Asia Minor. 
 
 When we quit this valley the mountains approach much nearer to the Alpheus. 
 The road is partly at the foot of the mountains, partly through a little wood, and 
 then again through a rich valley till it comes to Ravli, a small Greek town govern- 
 ed by primates of that nation, under the inspection of an aga. A league and a 
 half further, on the bank of a small river called the Roufo, which runs into the 
 Alpheus, is a khan, and somewhat more to the north a village called Iri or Ira, 
 probably the ancient llerea. The river will then be the Ladon, which rises iu 
 the mountains of Mettaga, on the converse side of them to that town. From 
 Caritena the sea is no longer visible, on account of a lofty chain of wooded 
 mountains which bound the horizon to the south. Here again traces of an ancient 
 road are to be found, especially at the foot of the mountains where they approach 
 near to the river. 
 
 Above Ira the Alpheus is passed at a ferry, which is under the direction of a 
 Turkish insspector; here a slight toll is levied upon passengers. The delis of 
 the pasha, by virtue of their absolute authority, not only refuse to pay the toll, 
 but eat the poor inspector's provisions and ill-treat him as an infidel. Nor do 
 the other Mussulmans of the country fare better with them ; scarcely any di- 
 stinction is made between them and the Greeks, with regard to impositions and 
 exactions. The delis ordinarily ascend the valley by Gardichi, and establish their 
 communications quite to Vostitza by the defiles : with these they are intimately 
 •acquainted. They do not however venture themselves in such places except in 
 cases of extremity, as some have been known to perish in them ; a circumstance 
 which shows plainly that they are not exempted from being made occasionally 
 the lurking-places of the Laliotes. After passing the river, an hour and half is 
 requisite to arrive at Fraxio, a town upon its bank, probably the ancient Phryxa. 
 This toun is composed of about a hundred houses, and is under the government 
 of a Turkish aga. Travellers commonly stop here at a very ordinary khan, to 
 refresh themselves before they cross the Alpheus again at another ferry a league 
 and half further. This ferry is opposite to Miraka, a town on the right bank of 
 the river, standing on the ruins of Olympia. 
 
 Of Olympia! — what a name is that to pronounce ! — what reflections crowd 
 
 * Cara Osman Ogiou was a great feudal potentate, a sort of prince in Asia Minor, who was lord of 
 Pergamus and many other places. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. * 65 
 
 upon the mind in only naming it ! — It reminds me that I am upon the plains of 
 Elis, formerly so celebrated. It was upon its frontiers that the people deposited 
 their arms, for this territory, consecrated to the deities, to sports, and to the arts, 
 received nothing but friends ; and the same frontiers are passed at this moment 
 without knowing where we are. But let me stop, nor attempt to recall the re- 
 membrance of those heroic ages ; — let me not aspire here to retrace the history of 
 those games of which every writer, whether ancient or modern, by whom they 
 are mentioned, speaks with such enthusiasm. My timid hand could add nothing 
 to the descriptions which we are already possessed of; above all, to those which 
 have been given in our own days by the learned and eloquent author of the 
 Travels of Anacharsis. 
 
 Laying aside then the poetic inspirations which it is scarcely possible to avoid 
 feeling at the mention of Olympia, I shall confine myself to tracing its topography, 
 to the end that travellers, attracted by the love of science to a spot which was the 
 theatre of the most celebrated sports that ever took place beneath the sun, may 
 be able to compare the testimonies handed down to us by ancient traditions, with 
 the situation in which it is to be seen at this moment. 
 
 The position of Olympia is sufficiently known from the accounts of ancient 
 historians, as well as from the excellent description given of it in the topography 
 of the learned Monsieur Barbie du Bocage. I pass that over therefore, to advert 
 to what has been said upon the subject by one of my companions in misfortune, 
 Monsieur Fauvel, the only traveller I have yet found who has entered methodically 
 into an examination of the site of this town. "In advancing," he has often said 
 to me, '"from Pyrgo into the interior of Elis, I found a plain at two leagues di- 
 stance from the sea, where many sarcophagi had been laid open to the view by 
 the trampling of the horses' feet. After travelling three hours I arrived upon the 
 banks of the Cladeus, a river which, Pausanias says, was held among the Elians 
 the next in honour to the Alpheus. It runs in a bed, or rather in a deep ravine, 
 to join the Alpheus, after having watered a plain to the north, in which are some 
 fine ruins. Perceiving on this river the relics of an ancient bridge, I descended 
 into its bed, 1 examined the nature of its banks both to the right and to the left, 
 and I remarked every where, at the depth of about six feet from the surface 
 of the ground above, relics of pottery, of bricks, and of antique tiles ; I also per- 
 ceived some fragments of marble. These discoveries, joined to that of the 
 bridge, convince! me that I was among the ruins of some town noted in antiquity. 
 On the other side, directly over against the bridge, I could plainly trace the 
 
 K 
 
66 " % TRAVELS IN THE MOItEA. 
 
 remains of a theatre which fronted the south, standing with its back directly 
 against a mountain. All the mountains advanced more or less towards the Al- 
 pheus, terminating the plain at three or four hundred toises distance from the bridge 
 of the Cladeus. 
 
 " 1 visited, with the most scrupulous attention, every part of the plain included 
 between the hill, the Alpheus, and the Cladeus. A few trifling remains of walls, 
 very low and overgrown with shrubs, were the first objects which engaged my at- 
 tention. Some men, sent by the aga of a neighbouring village to seek materials 
 for building, were at this moment turning up the ground. What was my sur- 
 prise, when on inquiry I found that they called their village Andilalo, or the til- 
 lage of the Echo ! I could not then forbear calling to mind, that the Greeks who 
 assisted at the Olympic games were accustomed, as Pausanias relates, to listen to 
 a remarkable echo, which repeated a sound seven times over. This discovery im- 
 pressed me still more strongly with the idea that I was upon the very ground 
 where once stood Olympia. I perceived among the things turned up, and indeed 
 it seemed as if these men had been sent expressly for my gratification, pieces of 
 trunks of columns, fluted, and more than six feet in diameter. The first layer or 
 range of the cella * was still to be traced, and was five feet in height. Pausanias 
 says that the temple of Jupiter was of the Doric order, surrounded with a peristyle 
 sixty-eight feet high ; that it was not built of marble, but of an eschinite stone, 
 called poros, which was composed of marine shells, and the columns I have men- 
 tioned were in effect made of this very sort of stone. Nay, what is still more sin- 
 gular, the Greeks even to this day call this stone by the name of poros. I was 
 unfortunately destitute myself of any means of continuing the search begun by 
 these people, and I very soon perceived that my curiosity was not altogether 
 pleasing to them. 1 however measured the cella, and assigned the proper names to 
 the objects around me. I was well assured, that the most conspicuous mountain 
 must be Chronium, and that the river I had crossed, which runs into the Alpheus, 
 could be no other than the Cladeus. I sought for the stadium, the hippodrome, 
 
 * The cella, or cell, in the ancient temples, was the part in which stood the altar and statue of 
 the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. In addition to what is cited by Monsieur Fauvel, from 
 Pausanias, it may be observed, that Chandler says, in speaking of Olympia, which he visited in 1/65 : 
 '* The temple of Jupiter was of the Doric order, sixty-eight feet high to the pediment, ninety-rive 
 wide, and two hundred and thirty long, the cell encompassed with columns." — And again ; " Within the 
 cell, as in the Parthenon at Athens, were double colonnades, between which was the approach to the 
 image." Travels in Greece, page 2gO. — Tkanslator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. Qj 
 
 the barrier, when I found to the east of the temple some vestiges of an edifice, the 
 form of which was an octagon, built upon a massive, projecting forwards and form- 
 ing an obtuse angle, to a ground-plot, which from its regular form, from the slope of 
 its borders, and from its being rounded towards the east, I immediately recognised 
 to be the hippodrome. I found its depth to be fifteen feet; and when I descended 
 into it, I perceived that this angular wall had apartments on a level with the ground, 
 nine feet deep and six wide, which I suppose to be the places where the cars were 
 kept. Transported with my discovery, I hastened to measure the hippodrome, 
 and found it to be two hundred toises* in length, which is double the stadium 
 of Athens. 
 
 " Another enclosure, upon the same level, and separated from the first only 
 by a trifling eminence, must undoubtedly have been the stadium. It extends 
 quite to the borders of the Alpheus, the waters of which undermine it by de- 
 grees, and overflow it in the time of inundations. It is not rounded at its 
 western extremity, and forms a semi-hexagon. In the part worn away by the 
 river are several sarcophagi half open, and ready to crumble away into the water. 
 Casques of bronze are sometimes found here : I have in my possession one which 
 I purchased, and which was exactly the form of that upon the statue of Phocion." 
 
 Such are the details given by Monsieur Fauvel : they seem very decisive, and 
 fully to controvert the assertions of those savans, who maintain that not the least 
 remains of Olympia are to be found. Without endeavouring to penetrate into the 
 motives which could induce any one to make such assertions upon the very insuf- 
 ficient grounds they must have for them, I will only add to the excellent observa- 
 tions made by my fellow-countryman above quoted, that the whole territory of 
 Olympia is still covered with ruins. I am inclined, however, to think that he is 
 mistaken, when he places the stadium upon the borders of the Alpheus. I should 
 rather presume it to have been nearer the Mount of Saturn, between two slopes 
 which we find in this quarter, where regular steps are still to be seen. The village 
 of the Echo, or Andilalo, being situated very near this spot, will support my hy- 
 pothesis. In this case the way of the pumps, now encumbered from alluvions, 
 would have crossed the Mount of Saturn, or at least turned it; which appears a very 
 reasonable presumption. 
 
 The wood of Altis, consecrated to the chaste Diana, was not then, as at this mo- 
 ment, enveloped in a deep and melancholy gloom : the way of silence, by which it 
 
 * A toise, French measure, is equal to about sis feet and a half English. — Translator. 
 
 K 2 
 
O'S TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 was entered on the side of Olympia, is no longer passable, being overgrown with 
 thick bushes. The Alpheus, which then fertilized and enlivened it with the ex- 
 halations from its waters, now only peoples it with troublesome and noxious rep- 
 tile- v-hile the mountains of Pholoe and Erymanthus supply it with wolves, who 
 come tiit-re to lurk for their prey. It is well known, that this wood was honoured 
 by its borders being the chosen asylum of the immortal Xenophon, when he was 
 banished from his own country after the ever-memorable retreat of the ten thou- 
 sand. No less zealous as a religionist than illustrious as a military commander, 
 he raised here with his victorious hands a temple to Diana, and built a small house 
 for himself. It was under this humble roof that he wrote those works which 
 have been handed down to us, and which will serve for ever as a model to histo- 
 rians, and a lesson to all who engage in the military career. 
 
 Yet Altis*, though deserted, desolate, an object of indifference to those who 
 dwell in its neighbourhood, is still not unworthy the traveller's attention. If he 
 can no longer find there the temples of Jupiter, of Juno, and of Vesta, the spot is 
 not wanting in other objects of curiosity. To obtain these he had better avail 
 himself of the autumnal season, when the trees are deprived of their leaves, and 
 the soil is moistened by the rains ; he will then find at every step he takes ancient 
 bucklers, fragments of bas-reliefs, trophies of bronze, which a very little labour 
 will rake up from the ground in which they have been buried by the inundations. 
 We know not what harbarian hands or what revolutions overthrew Olympia; we 
 cannot decide the degree of mutilation then practised upon the many wonderful 
 objects of art which it contained ; but, from an attentive examination of the spot, 
 I can affirm without hesitation, that whatever remains of this first spoliation is still 
 preserved. The perpetual overflowings of the Alpheus, which are extended some- 
 times to a great distance from its banks, have deposited vast quantities of sand 
 and earth over the greater part of Olympia and the wood of Altis. The leaves 
 themselves, and other spoils of vegetable substances, have equally contributed to- 
 
 * Chandler, in his description of Olympia, says " The Altis, or sacred grove, was surrounded with 
 a wall. Within was the temple of Jupiter, and also a temple to Juno, sixty-three feet long, with columns 
 round it of the Doric order; also a metroum, or temple, to the mother of the gods; a large Doric edi- 
 fice, with holy treasures, as at Delphi. These and the porticoes, a gymnasium, prytaneum, and many 
 more buildings, chiefly in the enclosure, with the houses of the priests and other inhabitants, made Olym- 
 pia no inconsiderable place. The stadium was in the grove of wild olive-trees before the great temple ; 
 and near it was the hippodrome, or course for the races of horses and chariots." Travels in Greece, 
 p. 289 — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 6>9 
 
 wards raising the soil ; to which may be added the earth carried by the torrents 
 down the sides of the mountains in times of heavy rain. And yet, notwithstand- 
 ing such a combination of causes, the ground does not seem raised in general more 
 than five or six feet. The village of Miraka, which stands at a trifling distance, 
 is inhabited entirely by Greeks, and commanded by a Turkish aga. It would be 
 no difficult matter to engage these honest people to search for relics, and they 
 would probably undertake it at a trifling expense ; nor can there be any doubt 
 that many valuable objects might be recovered. 
 
 But here let me pause : — though one scarcely knows how to break off" when 
 speaking of Olympia, and retracing all the cherished recollections attached to the 
 spot. The gods from the summit of Olympus had their attention particularly 
 fixed upon this part of Greece. Hercules gave the name of Pholoe to yonder lofty 
 mountain which separates Elis from Arcadia, as a memorial of his friend the Cen- 
 taur Pholoe*. Nor had the Alpheus a less illustrious origin. The ancients, not 
 content that it should be lost in the sea at Cape Filama, where rose the temple of 
 Diana the Alphean, would have it rise again in Sicily to unite its waters with those 
 of the fountain of Arethusa. Thus everything was miraculous among a people 
 endowed with such warm and lively imaginations ; and the same would be the 
 case again under the influence of a milder and more equitable government. 
 
 * It is related in the fabulous legends of antiquity, that Hercules having come to lodge in the cavern 
 inhabited by Pholoe, as the latter presented him with some delicious wine to drink, several Centaurs, at- 
 tracted by the grateful odour, came and seated themselves at the banquet. Pholoe was displeased with his 
 guests, and to please him Hercules drove them away, when many fell by his arrows. His host, in ad- 
 miration at his bravery, and at the formidable nature of his weapons, took up the latter to examine them, 
 when wounding himself accidentally with one of them, he fell dead upon the spot. 
 
70 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Description of Caslel Tornese. — Itinerary of the French garrison of Zante from 
 Castel Tornese to Tripolitza. — The route pursued by them on quitting that town, 
 through Argos, Corinth, and over Mount Geranien to Thebes. — Their arrival 
 and imprisonment at Constantinople. 
 
 Before I proceed further in my description of such parts of the Morea as fell 
 under my own observation, I cannot forbear giving a sketch of the disasters 
 experienced by my fellow-countrymen who composed the garrison of Zante, 
 when that island surrendered, in the year 1"98, to the combined Russian and 
 Turkish army. It is not merely with a view of lamenting over their sufferings 
 that I engage in this task; it is rather for the purpose of exposing the baseness 
 and perfidy of the chiefs, in treating so infamously men whose bravery, and the 
 lustre of whose military exploits, ought to have insured them respect from all 
 nations and under all circumstances. 
 
 It is well known that, according to the articles of capitulation, the French 
 garrison of Zante was to be transported to some part of Italy occupied by the 
 troops of the republic. But the Russian commander, instead of showing himself, 
 as might reasonably be expected, the protector of Christians, the children of 
 a civilized country, against the Turks, and executing with fidelity the terms of 
 the capitulation, scrupled not to act in direct violation of that honour which 
 ought to be particularly sacred in the military character, and, in order to gratify 
 the savage delight he took in oppressing the unfortunate, landed his prisoners at 
 Castel Tornese, in the Morea, ordering that they should be marched thence over 
 land to Constantinople, there to be shut up in a bagnio. 
 
 In a bagnio! what indignation does not this word excite! and it was the 
 general belonging to a warlike nation, to a powerful monarch, who permitted 
 himself to be guilty of this atrocity ! Had a company of Algerines conducted 
 themselves in this manner, there would have been no cause of astonishment ; 
 but, I repeat it, that the chiefs of an European army, who ought above all things 
 to respect valour, could consent to send men covered with honourable wounds 
 to perish- with misery in the receptacle of the vilest criminals, seems an act of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 7 1 
 
 treachery not belonging to the civilized age in which we live, and is enough to 
 blast with infamy for their whole lives those who were capable of committing it. 
 
 Expression is poor to represent the rage and despair of these victims when 
 they found themselves forced on shore upon the Turkish territory ! How many 
 times did they demand those arms to be restored, of which a perfidious compact 
 had basely deprived them ! what bitter regrets did they not utter that they had 
 not rather buried themselves under the ruins of the town of Zante ! At length 
 they formed a resolution worthy of French soldiers, and resolved to force them- 
 selves a passage through Turkey into Germany. But in order to execute a 
 project so daring, and so worthy of the conquerors of Italy, arms were necessary, 
 and unfortunately they had no means of procuring them. Nothing then remained 
 but to resign themselves to their fate, and to prepare to receive at Constantinople 
 chains no less galling than humiliating. 
 
 Castel Tornese, where they were landed, and which is still called by the Turks 
 Clemoutzi, is an insignificant kind of town, enclosed within high and ruined 
 walls, and incapable of resisting the fire of artillery. The Turks maintain a 
 garrison there constantly, which consists entirely of cannoneers and Albanian 
 soldiers : particular attention is paid to keeping up the garrison, on account of 
 the vicinity of this coast to the island of Zante. In time of war a corps of 
 observation is kept there, who sleep intents. Near the town is a village where the 
 aga has a house, for it must be observed that the Turkish commanders of fortresses 
 very seldom reside in them. They prefer, and this is a very prevailing taste in 
 the whole nation, the banks of a river or rivulet, some spot whence there is a 
 view of the sea or of delicious meadows, to being shut up in an inclosure sur- 
 rounded with high walls. From the cape of Chelonita, on which Castel Tornese 
 stands, the islands of Zante and Cephalonia may be seen ; the former is called by 
 the navigators of these seas, the flower of the Levant. The environs of Castel 
 Tornese are cheerful and pleasant, although mountainous ; its castle, which 
 stands on a very considerable eminence, has been so often laid in ruins and 
 rebuilt, that it has now scarcely any resemblance to the plan given of it by father 
 Coronelli. It is still mounted with about fifty pieces of cannon, most of them 
 without carriages. The village where the aga resides is south of the town at a 
 little distance from the sea, upon a creek which it forms among the mountains. 
 To the west there is a little hamlet inhabited by Greeks, w.hich before the 
 plunder of the Morea, in the Albanian war, was a considerable village ; it only 
 now begins to rise from its ruins. The waves break with great force against two 
 
7? TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 rocks which are seen about half a league out at sea ; in calm weather the fisher- 
 men make use of these rocks as places for drying their fish. West of the town 
 is a little river which flows into the sea ; its banks are planted with trees, among 
 which are several pleasant country-houses. The inhabitants of this district are 
 tall, well-made, and have in general the Asiatic profile. 
 
 Scarcely was a moment's breathing time allowed to the French garrison after 
 they were landed at Castel Tornese before they were marched off* to Gastouni, a 
 town situated on the left bank of the river Igliako. Here they arrived in four 
 hours. The population of this town is estimated at about three thousand souls. 
 and the country about it is pleasant. It is governed by a bey, with whose son I 
 became well acquainted from seeing him with the pasha of the Morea ; and if we 
 may judge of the father by the son, the people under his government cannot fail 
 to be happy. The country about Gastouni, and even to Chiarenza*, is well cul- 
 tivated, furnishing abundance of wheat, maize, and other kinds of corn. The 
 inhabitants make a considerable quantity of cheese from the milk of their ewes, 
 and feed a large quantity of silk-worms; the silk produced by them is considered 
 as of a very superior quality to that of the district of Calamatte. The cotton 
 plant thrives extremely well here, and amply repays the expense of its culture ; 
 but in a future place I shall speak more in detail concerning the productions of 
 the Morea ; at present I shall only add that this sangiak is considered as one 
 of the richest and most agreeable in the province. Far from the residence of the 
 pasha, it duly pays the regular taxes, without being subject to undue exactions. 
 Living in a state of greater freedom, the inhabitants have something more open in 
 their features, not looking so depressed, or having such an appearance of prema- 
 ture old age. The valleys resound with the bleating of the flocks, and the milk 
 they yield, partaking the aromatic nature of the herbs on which the animals feed, 
 is a ti uly delicious beverage. The slopes are covered with vines, and wherever the 
 eye is cast it is presented with the picture of abundance. Delightful country ! 
 fields blessed by nature ! nothing is wanting to make you completely happy, but 
 to enjoy a more auspicious government. I know not what may be said concerning 
 the antiquity of Gastouni, but I know that it is one of the richest towns in Pelo- 
 ponnesus for its size and population. Three leagues to the east of it are the ruins 
 of the town of El is. 
 
 On the morrow of their arrival at Gastouni the prisoners, after passing through 
 
 * The ancient Cyllene, the country of Mercury. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 73 
 
 a country intersected with meadows and covered with vines, with olive-, mulberry-, 
 and orange-trees, arrived at Savalia, after a march of five hours ; but such was the 
 misery of the inhabitants, that no other food was to be procured in the place ex- 
 cept some boiled wheat and a few ripe olives. They proceeded the same day to 
 Mezalonghi, a march of four hours. This town, if such an appellation may be 
 given to a collection of about two hundred houses scattered upon the slope 
 of a hill, is inhabited by some Turks. The country around is well cultivated, and 
 there are several villages grouped upon an amphitheatre of hills; some of these 
 hills are woody, others are planted with vines. The town stands nearly a league 
 and a half from the sea, and there is in the neighbourhood a convent of caloyers. 
 Mezalonghi carries on a tolerable trade in salted fish and woollen caps, which are 
 sold in the interior of the country, and its horses are in high repute for their 
 great strength. 
 
 In passing onwards, along the route now involuntarily pursued by the French 
 garrison, a large village appears on the left soon after quitting the town, and after 
 two hours marching the little river Lala is passed by a ford. This river is by 
 some travellers called Lada ; but it must be observed with regard to the variation 
 in the names given to many rivers and mountains by different writers, that the 
 peasants are so wretchedly ignorant, and know so little even of their own country, 
 that it is scarcely possible to obtain any information from them which can at all 
 be depended upon. From the banks of the river Lala to Pyrgo is a march of four 
 hours. The country is at first a flat, but becomes uneven in advancing towards 
 the river Roufia, or Alpheus. The mountains are covered with pines, and after 
 marching some way over them, the rest of the road to Pyrgo lies along a beautiful 
 valley. The French had scarcely entered this latter town, when they found 
 themselves reduced to the lowest degree of humiliation ; they were tied together 
 two and two, and left thus to pass the night in a court. ; 
 
 Pyrgo, built upon the right bank of the Roufia, nearly opposite to the ancient 
 Epithalium, is a considerable town containing above two thousand inhabitants, 
 Jews, Turks, and Greeks. At the epoch of which I speak a garrison was main? 
 tained there, because it was a time of war. Its neighbourhood to the sea, for it 
 stands not more than a league distant from it, determined the Turks to throw up 
 some intrench ments there ; but these will probably some day be carried away by 
 the Alpheus. Situated at the confluence of a little river, which coming from the 
 north here joins its waters with the Alpheus, it is surrounded with marshes 
 
 j. 
 
74 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 formed by the inundations of the rivers, the exhalations from which in summer 
 often occasion epidemic diseases. 
 
 Pyrgo stands a league and a half from the mouth of the river ; a delta which 
 the river forms prevents its being navigable to the town. In this space there are 
 some villages of fishermen, and a monastery built upon the ruins of the tem- 
 ple of Diana the Alphean; the monks of this monastery farm several of the 
 neighbouring fisheries from the aga of Pyrgo. The delta of the Alpheus pro- 
 duces nothing but reeds, some fuci towards the sea, and an infinite number of 
 oleanders. Every part of the river abounds with fish. Olympia, or rather the 
 plain on which it stood, which is at the distance of six leagues, is not to be seen 
 from hence, but from an eminence to the south the sea is discernible very plainly ; 
 the flags of the different vessels by which it is navigated may even be distinguished 
 clearly the one from the other. Mount Pholoe, some of the highest parts of 
 which are covered with snow, forms a striking contrast with the fine verdure of 
 the valleys seen below it. 
 
 All this part of Belvedere, and that along which I am about to follow my un- 
 fortunate fellow-countrymen, might be rendered some of the most flourishing 
 districts of the Morea. But what was beauty of country to men in such a situa- 
 tion ! Tied together like criminals, they were compelled to march across the ford 
 of the Alpheus with the water nearly up to their shoulders, on which occasion 
 many of them narrowly escaped being drowned : thence their route was directed 
 towards Andritsena, a town about ten leagues distance. Worn down with 
 fatigue, overwhelmed with chagrin and vexation, they dragged their heavy steps 
 with pain along the delicious valley of Agolinizza, ind'fferent to every thing 
 they saw around them. Through rich landscapes and fields of cotton, whence 
 numerous flocks were to be seen feeding on the surrounding hills, through plains 
 flourishing with corn and maize they arrived at a little village called Griveni, 
 where they were allowed to make a short halt, and then driven forwards to 
 Andritsena two leagues further. Griveni is a beautiful little village situated in a 
 mountain which is covered over with fruit-trees, and is inhabited by Greeks of a 
 form and stature scarcely degraded from those noble ones by which the ancient 
 inhabitants of the whole country were distinguished. 
 
 Andritsena is a little town of Arcadia, or of the canton now called Faneri. 
 It does not boast of any ruins or other monuments of illustrious antiquity, but 
 it boasts a characteristic feature still more worthy of distinction, in the extreme 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 75 
 
 mildness and goodness which reign among its inhabitants. Greeks by their 
 origin, descendants of those Arcadian shepherds who passed their lives amid 
 tranquil groves and flowery meads, they breathe nothing but the pure spirit of 
 peace, and aspire only at passing their lives in rural happiness. If a stranger be 
 to them an object of curiosity, he is no less an object of respect. If they are 
 eager to present themselves before him, it is to offer him the fruits of their fields, 
 for which they can scarcely be prevailed on to receive any payment, so much do 
 they consider it as a duty to practise hospitality towards all who stand in need of 
 it. It was with pain that they found themselves not permitted to show our 
 soldiers all the kindness they wished ; it was indeed no common sympathy they 
 felt for their sufferings, as they had themselves, at the time when the whole 
 Morea was a scene of mourning, seen their own fathers, their own friends, in like 
 manner dragged away, ignominiously yoked together, by the merciless Albanians, 
 to be sold to the pirates of Barbary. After stopping for the night at Andritsena, the 
 next day the garrison proceeded toTripolitza, passing through Sinano and Leondari. 
 Mustapha was at this time still pasha of the Morea. At sight of the French 
 prisoners tied together, he could not restrain his indignation, and condemned in 
 the severest manner all concerned in the breach of faith by which soldiers who 
 had capitulated were thus treated. An extraordinary circumstance attending the 
 whole procedure was, that notwithstanding the humiliation to which the corps 
 was in this point of view subjected, the officers had been permitted to retain their 
 swords, and the musical band their instruments, which gave them still the 
 appearance of a military body. Mustapha's first care was to see that they were 
 all treated with proper respect. They were distributed about his palace : the 
 women had a separate lodging assigned them, and separate apartments were 
 allotted to the officers; the soldiers were lodged in a clean and wholesome 
 gallery. They were furnished regularly with provisions, and had besides a small 
 allowance in money. Carrying his kindness still further, Mustapha insisted 
 upon detaining them awhile, that they might recover their fatigues before they 
 were to proceed on their route ; he permitted half the soldiers to go out every 
 day under the conduct of their officers, that they might see the town and neigh- 
 bourhood. Obliged at length to send them to Constantinople, he ordered 
 several vessels to be fitted out at Nauplia di Romania for transporting the women, 
 the children, and the sick ; in the former part of the march all had been driven 
 indiscriminately together, without regard to age, sex, or infirmity. Finally, as 
 the winter already began to be felt in the mountains of Thessaly, Macedonia, 
 
 h 2 
 
7(j TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 and Thrace; Mustapha foreseeing what sufferings these unfortunate men must 
 necessarily be about to encounter, to allay them as much as possible, gave each 
 of them before their departure a pair of strong good shoes. It is scarcely neces- 
 sary to add that he was deeply affected when he saw them depart. 
 
 They quitted the town by the road to Mantinea, but passed to the right of 
 these ruins about half a league distant from them. After marching for a league 
 and a half they came to a post of Albanians, which bears the name of Kaki-scala 
 from an ancient way cut in steps up Mount Artemisius. Pausanias mentions it 
 as a path of some antiquity even in his time, and the modern Greeks have given 
 it the name of Kaki-scala, bad staircase, from the dilapidated state in which it 
 now appears. This is the direct route to Argos. An ancient road proceeds 
 onwards over Artemisius; this mountain is covered with tall and magnificent 
 trees, among which some ruins are thinly scattered. At four leagues distance 
 from Argos is a large village, and soon after the road descends a mountain into 
 the plain where stands the ancient capital of Argolis. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the whole corps were extremely fatigued with a, march 
 often leagues over rugged mountains, they were compelled to proceed the next 
 day to Corinth. Near the Inachus the women, the children, and the sick were 
 separated from the rest to take the route of Nauplia, and embark on board the 
 vessels prepared for them. The troops after marching two hours came to a 
 village called Carvathia, inhabited by Greeks who occupy themselves with agri- 
 culture, with feeding silk-worms, and with hewing out into planks the timber 
 which they cut down in the neighbouring forests of Nemea. At a league and a 
 half from Carvathia is a dervin or defile, which is the entrance to the passes 
 among the mountains. At the end of an hour and half, the prisoners were 
 ■allowed to halt at a village called Klegna, probably the ancient Cleones men- 
 tioned by Pausanias. In approaching Corinth the way becomes more fatiguing, 
 from the height of the mountains and the unevenness of the ground. Such is 
 the'nature of the road for the last four leagues between Tripolitza and Corinth. 
 It was at the latter place that the French rested for the second night after 
 quitting the former. 
 
 The traveller must no longer seek at Corinth the traces of those sumptuous 
 edifices, which were the pride and ornament of a town so renowned in antiquity 
 as the sanctuary of all that was great and noble in the fine arts. Corinth, that 
 town in which wealth, luxury, and pleasure maintained a rivalship with each 
 other; that Corinth, the renown of which filled the universe while it was in its 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 77 
 
 glory, and the name of which can never die, is now but a confused heap of 
 wretched houses, a town fallen into decrepitude, the inhabitants of which, smart- 
 ing under the double scourge of misery and disease, have rather the appearance 
 of phantoms started from the tombs, than of the descendants of one of the most 
 polished people in the most polished country that has yet existed. 
 
 It would even be difficult to suppose that this could actually be Corinth, if 
 we did not know that we were in the Isthmus ; and if the noise of the two seas 
 which strike against Mount Geranien did not rouse the traveller from the sad 
 reflections which involuntarily seize upon him. — Alas! what a change ! what a 
 subject for sad reflections! — And yet the picture which Corinth presents, is but 
 a melancholy repetition of the same that is presented by so many other towns 
 once flourishing and powerful, and of which scarcely any thing but the name 
 remains. 
 
 The collection of houses which ndw bears the name of Corinth among the 
 writers of my own and some other countries, which is called by the Greeks Cor- 
 tho, by the Venetians Corinti, and by the Turks Germen, stands at the foot of 
 Mount Geranien, nearer to the sea of Crissa than to the gulf of Salamine. It is 
 commanded by the fortress of Acrocorinth, into which no Christians are admitted. 
 But this citadel is at too great a height for its guns to afford any protection to 
 the town : it seems as if it had been constructed only as an asylum for the eagles 
 which hover about it. Plutarch says that Corinth was called the ornament of 
 Greeee : it was perhaps for this reason that Rome, who could not bear a rival,, 
 gave orders to Mummius the consul, in the year 3818, to destroy it entirely, to 
 level its pride with the dust, and sell into slavery its women audits children. 
 Augustus however, who, when he had no longer any enemies to exterminate, 
 sought to signalize his reign by acts of magnanimity, rebuilt and repeopled this 
 celebrated town, and for three centuries it remained in a tolerably flourishing 
 state, though very far below its former splendour. It was then taken by 
 Amurath the Second ; the hand of desolation was stretched over it anew, and its 
 remains are now the abode of a scanty and sickly population. If there are still 
 some houses inhabited by opulent merchants, it only shows the dominion which 
 the thirst of gain can obtain over the mind, when the hope of amassing wealth 
 could induce them to fix in so insalubrious a spot. 
 
 Eleven Doric columns, which David Leroi has introduced to the kuowledge of 
 the learned world, are the only antique ruins now to be found in C nnth. 
 Thermal springs still exist at the foot of Mount Geranien, which are perhaps the 
 
78 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 very same that supplied the baths of Helena; and the traveller may visit the 
 place where was the stadium, the theatre of games celebrated in honour of 
 Melicerta. But what vestiges remain to point out to him the sites of so many 
 celebrated monuments and porticoes? — Perhaps under the scattered bushes might 
 still be discerned the foundations of those palaces of voluptuousness, whither the 
 courtisans were wont to attract a youth eager for pleasure, and not soon satiated 
 with enjoyment. 
 
 If from the town we ascend to Acrocorinth, on every side among the precipices 
 are to be seen fragments of columns, pieces of broken pedestals, even entire 
 columns of the finest marble. The citadel is reported still to contain many 
 precious relics of antiquity, such as the fountain of Pyrene, formed entirely of 
 white marble, and a great number of bas-reliefs and inscriptions. It was there 
 that Bellerophon, according to the fabulous legends of the times, seized upon 
 Pegasus. But, as we have before observed, no Christian is permitted to enter the 
 fortress, consequently 1 cannot state these things from my own knowledge, I 
 know them only from report. 
 
 What a magnificent view is presented from this sublime point, over a country 
 where every spot is connected with some interesting association ! All Greece lies 
 spread before the eye. Achaia and Sicyonia, Argos and its mountains, Par- 
 thenius, Taygetes, Nauplia and its Palamide, the magnificent gulf of Argos and 
 the coasts of Laconia : these are all to be distinguished in the distant scene, while 
 directly below lie the sea of Lepanto, and the waves of the bay of Enghia, Megara, 
 Salamine, and Eleusis. The spectator sees the port of Piraeus, and can by an 
 effort of imagination fancy he discovers the vessels moving in and out, as in the 
 brilliant days of Athens : Epidaurus, iEgina, Calaurium are before him, as well as 
 the land of Hermionides, which is confounded with the azure of the sea. His 
 eye wanders over Cythera ; it contemplates the double summit of that celebrated 
 mountain; — his soul is lost amid the variety and splendour of the objects within 
 its reach. 
 
 The isthmus which separates the gulf of Lepanto from that of Enghia has 
 received from the modern Greeks the name of Hexamilli, because of its breadth, 
 which is six miles: the road through it lies over Mount Geranien. Travellers 
 commonly lodge at a khan near the citadel. The aga who at this time governed 
 the town was wealthy and powerful, and received all Europeans with much 
 courtesy and distinction. The French garrison, after stopping a night at Corinth, 
 proceeded the next day to Megara, another journey often leagues. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 79 
 
 I have endeavoured to speak with due gratitude of the generous behaviour of 
 Mustapha-pasha towards my unfortunate fellow-countrymen : I must speak in 
 very different terms of the treatment they received from the moment they quitted 
 the pashalik of the Morea ; and this extends no further than the confines of 
 Attica. A single fact will suffice to give an idea of the manner in which their 
 escort behaved towards them. Whenever any one of them, from his strength 
 being entirely exhausted, was unable to proceed, his head was immediately, 
 struck off with a sabre, and the body was left with the utmost indifference in the 
 road. Some of the officers, indignant at such barbarity, could not refrain from 
 remonstrating against it, but received only for answer a similar fate. As the 
 prisoners, however, had been much recruited by the kindness they had experienced 
 at Tripolitza, this was a fate to which not many became subject. 
 
 The second day after their departure from Corinth, they arrived at Thebes, 
 now Thiva, eight leagues from Megara. There is a Greek bishop at Thebes, 
 some mosques, and a, few ruins, but none that are interesting. It would be 
 wearying, however, to my readers, were I to attempt to follow them over the 
 long tract which they traversed before they reached Constantinople. I will only 
 add, that after enduring hardships almost incredible, when at length they arrived 
 at the Turkish capital, the officers were deprived of their swords, and the whole 
 body indiscriminately thrown into a bagnio. There such of these victims 
 as survived their misfortunes, remained for- three years loaded with chains, and 
 enduring all kinds of hardships. But I reserve for another place some further 
 details respecting the courage and constancy with which they supported their 
 sufferings, and the treachery and baseness shown by their oppressors. For the 
 present I resume my sketch of Peloponnesus as to its actual situation, whether 
 geographical, physical^ commercial, or moral. 
 
W> TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Laconia. — Route from Tripolitza to Lacedcemon. — Ruins of Sparta. — Description 
 of Mistra and its environs. — Character of its inhabitants. — Course of the Vasili- 
 potamos. — Gulf of Kolohythia, or Laconia. 
 
 From all parts of Europe travellers resort to Athens, to visit the monuments 
 still remaining of its ancient grandeur. This place seems to have exhausted all 
 the curiosity and attention of foreigners ; to have effaced, in some measure, from 
 their minds the recollection of all other parts of Greece. Yet how many objects 
 worthy of attention are there to be found in other parts! how many interesting 
 spots well deserving the examination of the curious! As some excuse, however, 
 for this neglect, it may be observed, that the difficulties of travelling in the Morea 
 constantly increase as the distance from the isthmus, or from the ports of Modou 
 or Coron, increases. I may add, that in order to enjoy a facility not only of see- 
 ing the objects with their own eyes, but of conferring at leisure with the people of 
 the country, a person must be placed in the peculiar circumstances, or something 
 similar to them, which attended my stay there : a prisoner to the pasha, yet by 
 his favour enjoying full liberty to go from place to place, and as a physician 
 possessing a degree of deference and confidence which scarcely any other cha- 
 racter would have procured me. Thus, though in a painful situation, yet in one 
 which gave me opportunities for examining and meditating coolly upon things, 
 J have been able to compare at my leisure the information I received with what 
 I myself observed, so as to give accurate notions upon subjects which few have 
 hitherto sought to elucidate. 
 
 A traveller can scarcely set his foot in the Morea without his imagination irre- 
 sistibly at the same instant carrying him back to ages long past, and fixing itself 
 upon Laconia. Such were the impressions my mind received when, on my route 
 from Navarin to Tripolitza, I saw for the first time the snowy summits of Tay- 
 getes. A secret emotion seized my whole frame; tears involuntarily started into 
 my eyes: I could almost have rejoiced at the disaster which threw me into the 
 country. What were then my sensations on quitting the valley of Tegea to enter 
 Laconia ! Here history, mythology, all that can astonish or interest the mind 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 81 
 
 is united ; and I was forced to pause, and collect together my wandering ideas, 
 before I could proceed along a country so celebrated as that where once stood 
 Sparta. 
 
 In running over the pages of history, we find that the country best known to us 
 under the name of Zaconia, or Laconia, but called by the Turks the sangiak of 
 Mistra, in the very remote times of fabulous antiquity was called Leiegia, from 
 Lelex, a person of the country who gave laws there. His son Eurotas succeeded 
 him in the government, and gave his own name to the river, the course of which 
 he directed. Virgil and some other poets have sung of Laconia under the name of 
 (Ebalia. Strabo insists that it was called Argos. 
 
 Sparta, the capital of this counrry, flourished under the government e=f ; 
 there by Lycurgus : a government respecting which there is a great diversity of 
 opinions among all writers, ancient as well as modern. We see the Spa; tans, 
 always jealous and ambitious, render themselves masters of Laconia by violence, 
 and reduce its natural inhabitants to the most abject slavery. To maintain them- 
 selves in such a state, we see these victors adopt in common life the manners of 
 a camp, eat together in community, and never lay aside their arms. We see 
 them educating their children in habits of fraud and ferocity, inspiring them 
 with a taste for theft, for rapine, and plunder. Perpetual aggressors, we see 
 them trample under foot the faith of treaties, and all respect for the gods. We see 
 them murder, pillage, carry fire and sword into those countries which had the 
 misfortune to be their neighbours. We see them first attack the inhabitants of the 
 peaceable valley of Tegea ; then desolate Achaia, ravage Argolis, and subdue the 
 Messenians. These wars were however only regarded by them as preliminary to 
 the subjugation of all Greece ; a task which they were bent upon accomplishing. 
 
 They never considered their victories as complete but when torrents of blood 
 had been made to flow. The inhabitants of the islands were hunted down by 
 them, and massacred without pity ; nor were the Athenians treated with less 
 rigour. Athens itself, the emporium of the arts, would have been utterly de- 
 stroyed, if some verses from the Electra of Sophocles had not disarmed the Spartan 
 general Lysander. We see Xenophon, when the command of the Grecian army 
 was proposed to him, refuse that honour, because he said he could not accept it 
 while there was a Lacedaemonian among the troops. Such a sentence, from so 
 great a captain, speaks sufficiently for the character borne by these people. The 
 blood of the islanders, indeed, so profusely shed by them, 'was in some measure 
 revenged by the Cretans. Cheats and assassins in those days, as. they are at this 
 
 M 
 
82 TRAVELS lx\" THE MOREA. 
 
 moment, ihey punished the wrongs of Greece by the total extirpation of the Doric 
 Spartans. Yet, as if this country was never to be inhabited but by a cruel and 
 barbarous race, their place was supplied by a set of wretches from all parts of the 
 world, who had escaped the sword of justice. They disappeared in their turn, 
 and no remains of them now exist : nothing at least retraces any faint idea of them 
 unless it be the Cacovouniotes, or plunderers of the mountains, who inhabit the 
 extremity of Cape Tenarus. To these might perhaps be added the people of Vor- 
 donia, a strange assemblage, of whom I shall have occasion to say more hereafter. 
 Sparta was indeed made to expiate, by a too-long series of misfortunes, the wrongs 
 of which she had been guilty ; and crushed by the Theban power, the barbarous 
 courage of her sons expired morally under the yoke of the tyrant Nabis. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding what has been said, it must be owned that much virtue 
 existed in Sparta, and the true epoch of glory to this country was the time when 
 Greece was invaded by the barbarians. It is in vain that by supposititious alle- 
 gations De Pauw, the enemy of the Greeks, would tarnish the glory of Leonidas \ 
 This hero was not, as he pretends, concealed behind a lofty wall ; and the funeral 
 ceremonies performed for him previous to his departure from Lacedsemon, will 
 for ever attest that he was well aware of the fate he must expect. But admiration 
 of Leonidas can never extinguish the sentiments of aversion with which the man- 
 ners of the Spartans must inspire all civilized nations, all who cultivate the social 
 virtues. 
 
 Laconia was first a prefecture, then a principality under the Lower Empire, 
 and afterwards became a despotat-^ under those absurd princes who came to fix 
 their court at Mistra. In these revolutions an infinite number of persons must 
 have fixed their residence there, who would of course change the manners of the 
 inhabitants very materiallv. Yet a strong impression of the original Spartan 
 character is still to be found among the independent race who inhabit Taygetes. 
 Mi;-tra, which replaced Sparta as the principal town of Laconia, after ages of 
 troubles and anarchy, yielded -at last to the powerful genius of the great conqueror 
 of Byzantium, and received him into its walls in 1-j6o, three thousand two 
 hundred years from the foundation of Sparta. It is well known that this in- 
 exorable tyrant ordered the governor of the castle of Mistra to be sawn in two ; 
 
 * See the doscriplion ofTherraopyle by De Pauw, vol. ii. where the exaggerations of the writer show 
 too manifestly the falsehood of his criticisms upon this occasion. 
 
 ■J- These princes had the title of AEo-vorr^, lords or masters ; thence the word despolat, a country under 
 the dominion of a despot. The same title is given to the Greek Bishops. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 83 
 
 but as he wa3 not destitute of knowledge, and a taste for the arts, he respected 
 the monuments of its ancient glory which were still to be found in the country. 
 It was reserved to an Italian, more barbarous than the Turks, to strike the last 
 stroke to this unfortunate city, when, three hundred years after, Sigismond Mala- 
 testa, prince of Rimini, forced to evacuate it, set it on fire, and consumed the 
 greater part of it. Since that time Sparta has constantly remained under the 
 power of the Turks. 
 
 The aspect of the country in Laconia is generally wild, but there are some 
 fine valleys formed by Pente-Dactylon, Mount Tornika, and the Parthenian chain. 
 These mountains are covered with immense forests of pines; and in descending 
 the Eurotas to the neighbourhood of Vordonia, there are some rich meadows 
 and large districts abounding with vines." Taygetes is the natural bulwark of 
 Laconia on the side of Messenia. A defile or passage called The Gates, two leagues 
 south of Mistra, near Vordonia, winds among these mountains, terminating on 
 the western side at Janitza, in the county of Zarnate. It will be recollected that 
 Bacchus received particular honours on Mount Taygetes, and that the Bacchantes 
 ran about there in their solemnities. Polybius has not hesitated to compare it 
 with the Alps. It extends from the sources of the Eurotas to Cape Tenarus or 
 Matapan, forming a line of twenty-five leagues. The modern Greeks give tfais 
 whole chain the name. of Pente-Dactylon, from five particular summits which rise 
 pyramidally into the middle regions of the air. Opposite to Mistra it is called 
 by the inhabitants Vouni tis Mistras, the mountain of Mistra ; and on the side of 
 Janitza Vouni lis Portais, the mountain of trie Gates. Its highest summit is called 
 Mount St. Helios, from its being formerly the site of a Temple of the Sun. 
 Among the inhabitants of the country about Cape Tenarus, who are known 
 under the generic name of Mai'notti, the mountain has the name of Mai'na ; and 
 lastly seen from the interior of the Morea it is always shown as Pente-Dactylon. 
 I enter into these details to obviate the confusion which may arise from such a 
 variety of appellations, since they may all perhaps be occasionally found applied 
 to the chain in general. 
 
 If Bacchus received honours on Taygete3, coursers were also sacrificed upon its 
 summit to Apollo; Diana was worshipped in its forests, which she was said to 
 frequent accompanied by her nymphs ; and Ceres in the cultivated valleys re- 
 ceived the warmest adorations of the people. Upon these same spots villages 
 are now to be found inhabited by an independent race, the warlike people men- 
 
 M 2 
 
•84 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 tioned above known by tbe name of Mainotti, but who equally call themselves 
 free Laeonians. 
 
 The Eu rotas, known at present by the name of the Vasilipotamos, is the 
 principal river of Laconia. Its banks are bordered with never-fading laurels*, 
 which inclining towards each other form an arch over its waters, and seem still 
 consecrated to the deities of whom its purity is a just emblem ; while swans, even 
 of a more dazzling whiteness than the snows that cover the mountain-tops 
 above, are constantly sailing up and down the stream. Diana and Apollo are now 
 forgotten, the name of Eurotas is even lost amid the the chaos of revolutions. It 
 was to honour the despots or princes of Mistra that Greek adulation gave it the 
 name of Vasilipolamos, or Royal River, because these princes had their country 
 houses upon its banks, for the convenience of indulging themselves in the plea- 
 sures of the chase. Niger describes it under the name of the Iris, but I know 
 not for what reason ; the name has however been adopted in several other mops : 
 Meletius calls it the Iris or Neris. Grand and impetuous in the times when the 
 snows melt on the mountains, it then overflows its banks in a very formidable 
 manner, but in summer it hides itself among its reeds. In the valley of Bele- 
 mina or Perivoli it is only a humble rivulet, enriched with the tribute of some 
 fountains, and with the waters of the Chelesina. To the east of Mistra it flows 
 deprived of the majesty of beinr the king of rivers ; it is not however abandoned 
 by its swans. Yet even at this season, if the voice of the mighty thunder be 
 heard above Taygetes, and the clouds resting upon its summits pour down 
 in torrents of rain, the bed of the Eurotas is immediately filled : — very different 
 from the Alpheus, which in its course receives the waters of a hundred and forty 
 tributary streams, the Eurotas looks for its supplies to heaven alone, or to those 
 conductors of electricity, the points which rise on the top of Taygetes. 
 
 Having thus recapitulated in a summary manner the generic features of 
 Laconia, both ancient and modern, I come now to describe in a more particular 
 
 * It is to be presumed that the laurels here mentioned are not to be understood as the ever-green 
 most commonly known in England by that name, the primus laurocerasus , but the laurus nubilis, or 
 what we call the baij tree. The latter is the plant to which in French the name of laurier is given ; the 
 laurocrrasus or common laurel, as we call it, is very little cultivated in France. The bay is a native of 
 Italy and Greece, aid i< considered by botanists as the true Sapvy of Dioscorides, consequently the clas- 
 sical laurel. We may therefore reasonably conclude that this is the laurel which shades the banks of 
 the Eurotas. — Tkanslatok. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 85 
 
 manner this celebrated country under the aspect which it wears at this moment; 
 and shall begin by indicating the route which leads from the ancient Tegea to 
 Sparta. Quitting Tripolitza to take this route, it is indifferent whether the 
 traveller passes by the gate of Nauplia, or by that of Navarin. At the distance 
 of half a league we leave upon an eminence to the right the ruins of Tegea, called 
 by the modern Greeks Palaeopolis, and by Meletius Palaeepiscopi. The country 
 about is fine and perfectly well cultivated. Here are several farms, and some 
 pleasant country houses, A league further is Sirada, a small village, and oppo- 
 site to it upon Mount Chelmos, about two leagues from Tegea, we discover 
 another village, containing about sixty houses, the perspective of which, united 
 with a grove of pines which rises above it, varies continually as one advances, 
 always presenting a new and delightful picture. A torrent, after coasting Mount 
 Chelmos for awhile, pours down its sides into the valley of Tegea. In winter 
 there are several lakes in this valley, but in summer they are all dried up. 
 
 Soon after passing Sirada we come to Phitea, another village of the valley of 
 Tripolitza, where several opulent Turks have country-houses. The environs are 
 planted with abundance of cherry- and peach-trees, and a variety of culinary 
 vegetables are cultivated, which are carried to the bazar or market of Tripolitza* 
 
 From Phitea to another isolated hamlet, called by the Greeks Carea or Coraca, 
 is a course of a full hour. Before we arrive there we pass the bed of a torrent 
 which loses itself in the valley of Tegea ; this must be left on the right hand, 
 in order to penetrate into the. Hermaeum of Laconia, the defile which conducts 
 from the territory of the Tegeans into that of the Spartans. This pass received 
 the name of Hermaeum from a statue of Mercury which stood in the midst of it, 
 and which has been replaced in subsequent times by a little chapel and a cross. 
 The traces of a military way are easily to be discerned by the pavement, which 
 remains in some parts even for a tolerable space. 
 
 The first village w 7 e find in advancing into Laconia is Carvathi. This was 
 burnt in the last war, and has been recently rebuilt;, it stands upon the declivity 
 of Mount Parthenius, three leagues and a half from Tripolitza. Here are several 
 very abundant sources which turn several mills ; their waters flow to the south- 
 west, towards a chain of woody mountains which stretch from north to south,, 
 and are confounded at last with the chain of Taygetes. Carvathi contains about 
 a hundred houses, is inhabited almost entirely by Greek*, and. is governed by a> 
 codja-baehi. The Turks would not dare to fix themselves in a place so much, 
 exposed to the incursions of the Mainotti, as these people have posts of observa- 
 
S6 - TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 tion at the distance of only a league and half, upon the mountains near the 
 Eu rotas. 
 
 On quitting Carvathi, a forest is to be passed of a league in length, which is 
 celebrated only for the number of robberies committed in it. It rises in an am- 
 phitheatre, and extends much more towards the east than the south. 1 was in- 
 formed that it encloses several villages, the inhabitants of which are principally 
 occupied in making sundry kinds of objects in wooden ware, with collecting 
 kermes, and carrying on a strenuous warfare against the wolves and foxes, whose 
 skins they sell : it is doubtless to compensate for the small profits derived from 
 these objects of traffic, that they indulge themselves occasionally in plundering 
 travellers. Half a league further, after having traversed a space the ground of 
 which lies in gentle inequalities covered with laurels, with myrtles, and with 
 broom, we come to a post at the entrance of a second dervin or defile. It is com- 
 mitted to the guard of a party of spahis, who however, with their accustomed 
 prudence, generally keep aloof from the spot to make way for the robbers, with 
 whom they are never disposed to dispute the ground. In this defile are again 
 evident traces of an ancient road. 
 
 It is succeeded by a forest which continues for two long leagues, where are 
 some truly magnificent trees ; the mountains around are covered with pines, 
 the aspect of nature every way is wild. On one side oaks which seem to have 
 stood for ages, on another vast masses of rock overgrown with moss, on another 
 chasms filled with gorse, with myrtles, and different shrubs, contribute at once to 
 the diversity and confusion of the landscape. A little river called by turns the 
 Chelesina and the Potami, and which runs into the Eurotas, is twice crossed at a 
 short distance from its source. Scarcely do we quit these abodes, where the silence 
 is only interrupted by the warbling of innumerable feathered songsters, when a 
 new spectacle opens upon us. We approach the Royal River, we follow the 
 course of its banks, we see the ancient site of Sparta about a league before us, 
 with the mountain of Mistra and the castle that crowns it: the town is not how- 
 ever to be seen. Some villages, with some large tracts of vines, are the principal 
 objects which present themselves to the attention of the traveller in a corner of 
 the world once so celebrated, but in these days scarcely known. He salutes the 
 cherished woods of Diana, he hails with rapture the laurels that border the 
 Eurotas, he still finds the reeds which served the Spartans for beds, for arrows, 
 for pens. Slowly he proceeds, anxious to examine in detail the minutest objects ; 
 he approaches the river, its waters still roll unimpeded forwards, they pursue the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA- 6/ 
 
 same course that they have pursued for so many ages, we still see them, we still 
 contemplate them : — but where are the warlike race who so long inhabited 
 their banks ? of them we only know that they once did exist. The river 
 is passed by a bridge, but it is neither the Babyka nor the Giroforos, though by 
 some persons the latter name has been retained. The town of Mistra soon after 
 appears in view, on turning round an angle of the mountain on which it stands, 
 leaving Evreo-Castron to the left. 
 
 The name of Spaita is almost all that remains of a city once so celebrated ;. 
 a city the circuit of which was more than two of our leagues. Even the site of 
 it is with difficulty to be ascertained by those who visit the parts where it was 
 known to have stood. The names of Apheteiis and Sxias*, which some Greeks 
 pretend to have discovered in certain quarters of Mistra, are only applied to them, 
 upon vague conjectures, and often upon the authority of travellers who have sug- 
 gested the idea to them. I must be obliged myself in some sort to repeat them, 
 warning my readers to be upon their guard against every thing which is only 
 conjecture, and which I shall explicitly state to be so. 
 
 Mistra : is indisputably a modern town, built from the ruins of Sparta, though at 
 the distance of half a league from the spot where stood the ancient city. It is not 
 very obvious whence the modern name is derived, while that of Sparta, STrapr/cx, 
 describes extremely well the nature of the ground on which it stands covered with 
 broom. Monsieur Scrofani tells us, that Mistra means sqfi cheese ; this is as good 
 an etymology as if any one were to derive Neufcliulel from the cheeses of that 
 name-f-. Such derivations belong to the erudition which teaches that a/phana 
 comes from equus. 
 
 Mistra rises in an amphitheatre, upon a mountain which faces the east. Exposed 
 thus to the rays of -the sun, which is not tempered by the north-wind, the heat in 
 summer is insupportable. It is commanded to the west by Mount Tavgetes,. 
 whence in the great heats snow is brought to cool the sherbet and other liquors,. 
 To the north stands the castle, and to the east Mount Tornika ; to the south the 
 
 * apheteiis was the god who, according to Pausanias, presided at the barriers whence the compe- 
 titors in the races started. There was a statue of this god in Sparta. The Sxias. v,as a place whither 
 the inhabitants used to resort to enjoy society in the open air. Puusanias, lib. 3. — Translator. 
 
 •j- The cheeses of Neufchatel are a small cheese made in the neighbourhood of Paris, somewhat of the 
 consistency of cream cheese, about six inches in circumference, and four and a half or five in height.. 
 They are brought to Paris in the summer time by the country people, who sell them about the streets for 
 five or six sous a piece. They are extremely nice and delicate eating. — Translator. 
 
88 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 eye follows to a great distance the course of the Vasilipotamos, the hanks of which 
 are charming. The town may be divided into four parts : first the citadel, secondly 
 the town properly so called, and lastly the two suburbs. One of these bears the 
 name of Mesochorion, or Village of the midst, the other that of Exochorion, situated 
 on the further side of the river. This latter is also called Maratche, and Evreo- 
 Castron. 
 
 The castle stands upon the summit of the mountain of Mistra, on a platform of 
 about five hundred toises in circumference. It is governed by a sardar or com- 
 mandant, who has under his command some topdgis or cannoniers. The artillery 
 by which it is defended consists of about a dozen pieces of cannon, every one of 
 a different calibre. The magazines, if such a name may be given to two or three 
 cellars, and half a dozen sheds, have no powder but what the bey delivers out, 
 and which he purchases in the neighbouring maritime towns for the celebration 
 of the bairam, and the courban bai'ram, and for firing upon some extraordinary 
 occasions. There are no magazines of corn ; funds are wanting to incur an ex- 
 pense of any magnitude: and I believe that since the expulsion of the Russians 
 about thirty years ago, this citadel has not been considered as of any importance. 
 The Russians themselves, at the epoch when they gained possesion of Mistra, 
 did not appear to concern themselves much about the citadel. It cannot, indeed-, 
 be of any other importance than as it has power to awe the town in case a dispo- 
 sition to revolt should appear there. A mosque, some cisterns of marble, and 
 some wretched habitations built with the spoils of antiquity, compose the tout en- 
 semble of this citadel. The form of the enclosure is an octagon: it is surrounded 
 with a regular crenated wall, the parapet of which is tolerably broad, but very 
 much in ruins ; for the ravages daily made by time are never repaired, and the 
 Turks themselves have ceased to consider the fortress as impregnable. There is 
 an ascent to the castle from the town by a winding road, by the side of which 
 are some groupes of houses covered with tiles of a very deep red. This makes 
 them very conspicuous even at a considerable distance. The citadel of Mistra 
 is not that of ancient Sparta : the foundations of the latter are still to be seen on 
 a hill less elevated, but in a much more advantageous and more military situation; 
 one which must be re-occupied in order to be complete master of the course of 
 the river. 
 
 In descending from the castle, the eye embraces without difficulty the whole 
 extent of Mistra. The town is surrounded with walls in a very ruinous state; in 
 which are two gates, where a toll is required of all who enter the town. The first 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 89 
 
 gate is to the north, and leads to the castle ; the other is to the east. Two principal 
 streets divide the town, crossing each other almost at right angles. The most 
 considerable, in which are some antique remains, is the street of the market ; but 
 •the learned of the country, I know not why, call it Apheteus. In this they must 
 doubtless be in an error, since Mistra does not stand upon the site of Sparta. They 
 -however will have it so; nay, if one would believe them, the hou^e of king Poly- 
 dore is to be seen there, as well as the temple of Minerva, in which Ulysses assisted 
 at the inauguration of the statue of that goddess, and the chapel of Neptune the 
 Tenarian. 
 
 Following their ideas, the great bazar filled with Mistrians, haughty and arro- 
 gant in their appearance, surrounded by humble shops, and houses of only one 
 story, will be the ancient Agora. I am well aware that some bas-reliefs are to be 
 found in the houses ; and that this is both the vulgar opinion, and the tradition 
 of the country. However, whether it be or be not the Agora, there is not a mo- 
 nument remaining which can prove it to have been so : it contains now only an 
 assemblage of houses belonging to merchants, and is degraded by being the theatre 
 of the executions. If the mosque which we see be not the Aphelion, it is doubtless 
 built of the ruins of that temple. The Russians made use of it as a church while 
 they were masters of the country ; and there is no doubt but that they might 
 then have collected a great number of inscriptions. At present, the pavement 
 being covered over with mats, they are no longer to be seen, even if the building 
 itself were more accessible to strangers. It might, perhaps, still be possible, by 
 gaining over an imam, and making a present to the bey, to get admittance so as to 
 examine the relics which are probably to be found there ; but it cannot be denied, 
 that a considerable risk would be incurred in making the experiment. 
 
 Near this mosque is a spacious khan, frequented by a great number of mer- 
 chants, who enjoy the utmost security there. Not far from thence is the Persian 
 portico*, of which nothing remains but some ruins: and they are daily diminished 
 in order to build in that quarter. I am persuaded that by obtaining permission of 
 the owners of houses to examine them carefully, a number of precious relics of 
 this monument might be discovered. It would be indeed highly interesting to 
 lovers of the arts if nothing more could be recovered than those Cariatides which 
 
 * The Persian portico was a superb edifice which received its name from having been built with the 
 spoils taken by the Spartans in theirwars with the Persians. See Pansanias, lib. 3. Tkansla.tox>-' 
 
 N 
 
90 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 were first employed in architecture at Lacedsemon, and of which Vitruvius speak? 
 so highly Jn his works. The walls of the temple of Venus Armea, and the remains 
 which yet exist of the temple of Hercules, would be fertile mines to explore. The 
 marble of which these edifices were constructed is very fine, and the quarries from 
 which it was dug still existin Mount Taygetes. It is of a superior quality to the 
 Pentelic : that would sometimes turn red from the particles of iron it contained, 
 while the beauty of this is in no way diminished by the lapse of such a long course 
 of ages. 
 
 The metropolitan church of the Christians, ruined by the Albanians, but since 
 restored, merits a word of notice. A metropolitan archbishop officiates there, who 
 is poor as the pastors of the primitive church ; and the place stands recorded as 
 having been the theatre of the most extraordinary miracles. The sick are daily 
 brought and laid at the doors, as at the gates of the ancient temples, that those 
 who repair thither for the purpose of worshipping the deity to whom it is conse- 
 crated may indicate to them the remedies by which their health may be recovered. 
 It is to be observed, however, that the miraculous effects produced in these times 
 by the intervention of the papas, extend only to those afflicted with vapours, or 
 with melancholy, to those who are considered as possessed, and to lunatics : all 
 these maladies are ascribed to the operation of the devil. To the south is the 
 Pandanesi, no less devastated by the horrors of the last war. The nuns, who had 
 a convent there, were massacred by the Albanians ; and those who have resumed 
 this institution having remained in a great degree wanderers, the Pandanesi is now 
 only a Creek church. 
 
 The streets of Mistra, from which I have wandered to indicate some monu- 
 ments I thought worthy of notice, but of which an accurate idea can only be given 
 by the pencil, — these streets are narrow, dirty, and built upon very uneven ground. 
 The houses, surrounded with cypresses, plane-trees, and tufts of orange-trees, have 
 a phasing and picturesque appearance to the eye. The gay colours with which 
 the Mussulmans paint their houses, the brown and sombre hue of those that be- 
 long to the Greeks, the domes, the temples, the mosques, all announce that we 
 are in a foreign country ; and when the eye is cast towards the Eurotas, one re- 
 flects with astonishment that this country is Lacedaemon, 
 
 On quitting the walled enclosure properly called Mistra, we arrive at Meso- 
 chorion, which is to the south, somewhat inclining towards the east. Thirty years 
 ago this suburb contained three thousand houses; and though this number is 
 much diminished, it still occupies a considerable space : but the houses are 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. gi 
 
 scattered about, and mingled with trees and gardens. They however form some 
 streets, which extend to the bank of the Eurotas. But we no longer visit this spot 
 to admire the churches of Perileptos and Agia-Paraskevi. They would ill repay 
 the curiosity of the traveller, since they were plundered by the Albanians. In this 
 second town there are bazars, and immense conaks u and the air appears better 
 than in Mistra, There is a fountaiu which the Greeks assert to be the ancient 
 Dorcea. To go from Mesochorion to Exochorion the Eurotas must be crossed. 
 The river is here about twenty toises wide ; and an old stone bridge of six arches 
 connects the one suburb with the other. Exochorion may be considered as a 
 third town : it is principally inhabited by people of that nation, which are to be 
 found everywhere, and are strangers everywhere. One might believe oneself 
 suddenly transported into the fields of Idumea, on seeing the multitude of Jews 
 by which this place is peopled. We hear another language, we see a totally dif- 
 ferent cast and expression of countenance, different manners and customs, and a 
 different mode of worship. These Jews, however, who are divided into two 
 classes,, the orthodox and the heretics, afford the Turks a constant pretence for the 
 exercise of impositions and exactions. The sects will not intermarry with each 
 other, or form connections in any way: nay the tombs of the Hebrews are sepa- 
 rate from those of the Sadducees. The hatred of the sects towards each other is 
 carried even into the grave. There is nothing in Exochorion particularly worthy 
 of remark. 
 
 The ruins of the temple of Venus Armea are about half a league distant from 
 the fountain Dorcea, in going from Exochorion westward towards Mount Tay- 
 getes. The guides do not forget to tell you that Castor and Pollux had a palace 
 in this place, and that here was the cenotaph at which every year an oration was 
 pronounced in honour of Leonidas and his brave companions. There is another 
 thing of which they have no occasion to recall the remembrance, viz. the re- 
 doubts thrown up by the Russians in the theatre which Pausanias and Plutarch 
 mention as having been so magnificent. It is thus that the place in which the 
 tasteless Spartans introduced buffoons and jugglers was rescued from oblivion by 
 a foreign race, who transformed it into a powerful bulwark. It was a point of 
 importance to them, in case of any attack being made upon them, a thing very 
 possible, from the valley of Tiasa, or as it is now called the riviera of Mistra. 
 The country seen from Mesochorion presents a cheerful aspect, from the trees 
 with which it is covered, and which form a pleasing combination with the 
 distant slopes: the river is bordered by delightful meadows. One sees the 
 
 N 2 
 
9 C 3 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Platanist* and tlie Dromos-j~ ; and there still remain by the river side the 
 marbles with rings in them, to which the galleys were fastened that used to come 
 up to Sparta at certain times in the year. 
 
 The Dromos or circus, which according to the testimony of Livy was to be 
 seen south of the town, is on the road to Sklavo-Chori, the ancient Amyclea. 
 The circuit, the form, the complete idea of this edifice, may still be collected 
 from the remains which have stood through so long a succession of ages. Amid 
 the ruins which encumber this space, thrown down in taking away the stone for 
 the construction of houses, many rows of seats elevated one above the other are 
 still to be perceived ; and though concealed at intervals by the earth which is 
 heaped about them, they do not appear to be broken away: in following the 
 elliptical direction which they take, it may be inferred that the length of the 
 stadium was more than a hundred and thirty of our toises. There can be little 
 doubt but that by making some researches ihe xisti or covered porticoes, under 
 which the exercises were performed when bad weather prevented the competitor* 
 going out into the dromos, might be laid open. In like manner probably might 
 be traced the form of the laconicon, or stove-baths, which must have been here- 
 abouts. The invention of these baths, the only ones now in use in the East, is 
 probably to be ascribed to the Spartans. Strabo observes that they built the 
 stoves with pumice-stone which had been rendered impenetrable to fire : at 
 present they make use of a sort of sand-stone, and the interior of the edifice has 
 a casing of marble. 
 
 The Platanist mentioned above must not be so slightly passed over; some 
 further homage must be paid to this delightful little island. It is still planted in 
 the centre with plane-trees ; on its borders are weeping-willows and cytisuses 
 hanging over and reflected in the water, while tufts of rose-trees, of laurels, 
 and of silk-trees scattered about, charm the eye and perfume the air. Hither 
 the people of the town come to smoke their pipes, to drink coffee, or to resign 
 themselves to pleasing meditations. From this island the eye is charmed with 
 the view of the surrounding objects, it wanders over Taygetes with its snowy sum- 
 mits, which glittering in the bright rays of the sun seem like so manv light-houses 
 kept always burning to illumine the gloomy passages that lead into Laconia. 
 
 * The Platanist was a plain surrounded by the Euripus, on which the young Spartans performed 
 their combats. It had its name from the quantity of plane-trees growing upon it. Pausanias, lib. 3.— 
 Translator. 
 
 f The Dromos was the place where the gymnastic exercisss were performed. At the entrance of it 
 were statues of the Dioscuri. Pausanias, lib. 3— Tbanslator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. gJS 
 
 It was here in this island, along the banks of the river by whose waters it is 
 bathed, that according to Theocritus the flowers were gathered to form the 
 garland with which Helen was crowned on the day of her marriage. In the early 
 part of spring when these places are ornamented with violets and other flowers, on 
 the days consecrated to religion, the daughters of Sparta repair hither in crowds/ 
 and, adorning their heads with garlands gathered from the meads, afterwards join in 
 the festive dance, A long veil of purple increases the lustre of their charms, 
 their long flaxen hair flows about their shoulders and their bosoms ; the rivals 
 of Diana, a painter might take them for her nymphs, or even for the goddess 
 herself. They have all her pride and modesty ; their majestic air and carriage,, 
 their elegant forms, their enchanting attitudes, the regularity of their features, 
 animated by large blue eyes bordered with long eye-lashes, — every thing about 
 them conspires to charm, to inspire the beholder at once with love, with respect, 
 and with admiration. Added to all these attractions, the women of Sparta have, 
 like almost all those of the eastern countries, a tone of voice which penetrates 
 the soul, and which, as if by enchantment, affects it with the most sweet and 
 transporting sensations. 
 
 The men, among whom are some that are fair, are not, as Pauw has calumni- 
 ously asserted, the impure remains of a parcel of wretches who have escaped 
 punishment. Their features are too noble, they indicate too strongly that 
 illustrious blood circulates in their veins, for this to be allowed. They have 
 preserved something of the Dorian Spartans even in their defects. They are talf 
 in stature, their features are masculine and regular ; they are the only Greeks of 
 the Morea who look up to the Turks with an eye of manly confidence, as if 
 feeling themselves their equals; nor can this be otherwise, as they are brave even 
 to rashness. Why am I obliged to add that they have an innate inclination to 
 rapine, which joined to a sort of natural ferocity renders them extremely vin- 
 dictive and dangerous ? Even the Turks of Mistra, who are born of Spartan 
 women, are more intrepid than the other Mussulmans; there is not the same 
 -apathy, the same taciturnity, which forms the distinguishing characteristic of their 
 nation. Less zealous observers of the precepts of the koran, they drink wine 
 publicly, and swear like the Greeks by the Virgin and Jesus Christ. They 
 seem, in short, to regret that they cannot mingle with the Christians in theiss 
 feasts and in their pleasures. 
 
 The common language of Mistra is that of the other Moreans ; the Mussul- 
 mans inhabitants of this town speak it in preference to the Turkish language, or 
 
94 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 if they speak the latter it is with the Greek accent. The Jews among them 
 commonly make use of the Portuguese tongue; the manners, the principles, the 
 industry of the latter are the same here as in all other countries where they are 
 tolerated. The Turks rank them very much below the Greeks, teasing and 
 vexing them in various ways, and treating them with the utmost contempt. 
 They are however forced to make use of them, and finish by being their dupes, 
 as the Jews are always the agents for commerce and exchange, and the inter- 
 preters of the country. 
 
 The Laconians difler as much in manners as in dress from the Arcadians their 
 neighbours. The latter carry the scrip and the crook, and lead a perfectly 
 pastoral life ; the inhabitants of Sparta, on the contrary, sing of combats, are of 
 a lively and restless character, and easily irritated. The Arcadian, attached to 
 his valleys and his rivulets, sees nothing beyond his own horizon : the Laconian, 
 more haughty, endowed with greater energy, has no wish so dear to his heart as 
 to see the Turks humiliated; he will even expatriate himself to lend assistance 
 to their enemies. But though expatriated he still glories in being a son of 
 Sparta, and that with a loftiness which displays at once his pride in his own 
 descent, and his contempt and hatred for his oppressors. The one, clothed in 
 white woollen spun and wove by the hands of his wife and daughters, makes 
 mats, draws the oil from his olives, presses the juice from his grapes, milks his 
 ewes and his goats, brings the produce of his industry to sell in the town, and, 
 content with the little gains that they procure him, returns peaceably and con- 
 tentedly to his bowers. The neighbour of Taygetes manufactures arms, clothes 
 himself with stuffs, the dark colours of which are emblematic of his character, 
 handles the ax, mingles with caravans, goes on military expeditions, seeks dangers, 
 and in them seems to find his true element. 
 
 With regard to the genius of the inhabitants of Mistra, I cannot say that I 
 found them more disposed to being laconic than those of other parts of the 
 Morea ; whence it follows that the proverb " to possess a piece of land shorter than 
 the letter of a Lacedcemonian" has no longer any point. Their courage, and a 
 decided taste for plunder, is all that remains to them of the character of their 
 forefathers. The population of Mistra is not so much diminished as that of 
 some other parts of Peloponnesus, since the town is supposed still to contain 
 from fifteen to eighteen thousand souls ; of these a third are Mussulmans, and 
 about an eighth Jews. The disasters of the war begin to be somewhat forgotten, 
 and in a few years this town will enjoy an ease, an affluence, and a population. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 95 
 
 which will raise it much above the other towns of the province. Thel)ey has 
 already a number of well-disciplined troops, a numerous body of cavalry, and 
 presents a good countenance against his implacable enemies, the people of Tay- 
 getes. These men are the free Laconians, who boldly face death even when 
 certain of meeting it, and to whom what Seneca said of the Lacedaemonians may 
 very fairly be applied ; — •" That it is disgraceful for any man to fly, but to a 
 Spartan it is disgraceful even to think of flying." 
 
 To the north and to the west of Mistra are fine slopes covered with vines, 
 which furnish a high-flavoured perfumed wine, that might probably suggest to 
 the poets the idea of ambrosia. It was upon these very amphitheatres that, ac- 
 cording to Athenaeus, Ulysses planted a vine when he came to Lacedasmon to ask 
 Penelope in marriage : but although so celebrated by the poets, in our days the 
 same vineyards are not honoured with any particular distinction. They occupy 
 many leagues in extent, and terminate towards Magoula, a village to the east of 
 Mistra. In the environs of Mistra are many country houses, the gay and cheer- 
 ful appearance of which denotes ease and content in the owners. 
 
 The ruins of Pitana, the country of Menelaus, must be to the east of Evreo- 
 Castron, as they formed a dependence upon Sparta. Therapnea is a quarter of a 
 league further towards the south-east. As there are a great number of houses 
 scattered about, this cannot be called a village, but there is a ruined chapel dedi- 
 cated to St. Helena, whom the Greeks call Saint Constantina, that she may not 
 be confounded with the wife of Menelaus. It was at Therapnea that Menelaus- 
 and Helen received their first education, and the place where their infancy had 
 been passed was also that where their bodies finally reposed: their tomb was. 
 shown here to travellers. The brothers of Helen also, the sons of Leda, those 
 twin stars, had altars at Therapnea. Some neglected fountains now to be seen 
 are perhaps those of Messeis and Polydama, mentioned by Pausanias. Diana„ 
 the chaste Diana, was another divinity who received in this place the vows and 
 sacrifices of the sons and daughters of Sparta*. 
 
 In. going to Nauplia of Malvoisie, or Monembasia, we pass by Therapnea. 
 The distance of Monembasia from Mistra is two long days journey, which may 
 be estimated at twenty-four leagues. The road lies almost entirely among moun- 
 tains, on which are large forests of fir, with a great deal of brush-wood and 
 
 * It was upon the altars of this goddess that children, scourged with rods, were often known to ex- 
 pire without uttering a single cry- This was esteemed a great honour to the families from which the 
 victims were taken, and a public funeral was decreed to the deceased. 
 
96 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 heath. There are also some ponds and woods ; but the principal features of the 
 whole country are large rocks of granite. The place of rest for the night is at 
 Zizima, the inhabitants of which always come out to meet travellers, in hopes of 
 getting something from them. They are commonly some of them posted in an, 
 observatory, to discover persons who approach the village ; and when they see any 
 one coming they hail him by blowing a large shell, in order to advertise him that 
 a village is to be found among the rocks. 
 
 On quitting Zizima we traverse a fine valley intersected by a river, in which 
 there is some appearance of cultivation. Four leagues further to the east, after pass- 
 ing some high mountains whence the sea is to be seen, we come to a large village of 
 Albanian shepherds, standing on the left bank of a river which flows towards the 
 south. All this country deserves to be visited by a geologist, who would find here 
 granites and lava as in the vicinity of a volcano ; but little would be found 
 to gratify the antiquary, — and the botanist would only discover a few plants 
 which are probably common and well known, as they are those of a stony and 
 arid soil. The productions of nature are not more worthy of admiration as we 
 approach Monembasia ; the town may be said to be cased up in the mountains 
 by which it is bounded to the west. I know not how its wines have obtained 
 their high reputation, as I am informed by Monsieur Roussel the French com- 
 mercial agent in the town, who is perfectly well acquainted with the country 
 round, and every thing appertaining to it, that they are in reality of a very 
 middling quality. 
 
 Nauplia of Malvoisie, or Monembasia as it is called by the Turks, is built 
 from the ruins of the ancient Epidaurus Limera*, upon a little island called in 
 antiquity Minoa f. It is the seat of a bey, the residence of a metropolitan arch- 
 
 * The Epidaurus Limera of antiquity must not be confounded with the much more celebrated town 
 of Epidaurus, which was on the Argolic gulf. It was to this last that the renowned temple of Escu- 
 lapius belonged. There was also a temple to Esculapius at Epidaurus Limera ; but far from being one 
 of great fame, its existence is scarcely known, except from the allusion made to it by Pausanias, when 
 he relates that the Laconian Epidaurus was a colony from the mother town of the same name in the 
 gulf of Argos. — Translator. 
 
 f The author seems to have fallen into an error in calling the island, or rock, on which the town of 
 Nauplia of Malvoisie is built, the Minoa of antiquity. There is reason to think that the promontory by 
 which the bay of Malvoisie is closed to the east, was distinguished by this name rather than the island 
 on the western side of the bay where Nauplia stands. According to Pausanias, Minoa appears to have 
 been a cape very near to Epidaurus Limera, which does not answer the description of the site of the 
 modern Nauplia. — Tkanslatob. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 97 
 
 bishop, and contains a population of nearly two thousand inhabitants, Turks and 
 Greeks. Its port is little frequented at present, because it is not considered as very 
 secure ; yet it still maintains some commercial relations with Nauplia of Romania, 
 twenty-six leagues further to the north. I shall not enter into long details 
 upon Monembasia, as I only saw it in navigating the gulf of Argos ; I will 
 however observe, that there was in the neighbourhood a temple of Esculapius, 
 whither people resorted from all parts of Greece in hopes of obtaining a cure for 
 the diseases with which they were afflicted. It was there, according to Pausanias, 
 that the votive offerings of those who had been cured were suspended, with the 
 mention of the means employed for the cure. Strabo also, relates that the name: 
 of the men and women who had been cured might be read on the columns of 
 the temple of Esculapius at Epidaurus. Probably the ministering priests at this 
 temple were skilful physicians : perhaps it had been visited, as well as the temples 
 of Cos, of Trina, and some others, by the great father of medicine Hippocrates 
 before he wrote his immortal work. A certain chapel dedicated to St. George, 
 which stands in the neighbourhood, has inherited in part the reputation of the 
 ancient temple. It is much visited by the people around, and they carry with 
 them colyva, (a sort of boiled wheat,) cakes, and wax tapers, as presents to an old 
 papas who is chaplain there; they also give him sometimes a few parats. If he 
 be not a great worker of miracles, at least he cannot be accused of being a great 
 rogue, since he is half starved : this is indeed the case with most of his brethren 
 in the Morea. But I return to the banks of the Eurotas. 
 
 In directing our course southwards from Mistra we follow the course of this 
 river for some time. The first village at which we arrive is called Sklavo-Chori, 
 and is probably the ancient Amyclea; it is now a bishop's see, in which capacity 
 it preserves the ancient name. It stands on the confluence of a little river called 
 the Tiasa, and is the first place where the authority of the bey of Mistra is not 
 acknowledged : notwithstanding this, he receives from it some contributions. On 
 the banks of this river, which are ornamented with thousands of flowers and with 
 delightful groves, lived Alcman, the poet who sung so sweetly of the Graces, and 
 of whom scarcely any thing remains to us but his name. No vestiges of the 
 temple of the Graces are to be found, although some travellers assert that they 
 have seen the ruins of it. 
 
 To advance further, no dependence is to be placed upon a Turkish escort ; the 
 traveller must make an arrangement with some captain of the Mainotti, who will 
 procure him every facility for pursuing his journey and making all the researches 
 
 o 
 
98 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 he wishes. At two leagues from Sklavo-Chori, still continuing to descend the 
 Eurotas, is the village of Soka, the woods of which extend quite toTaygetes. Here 
 we find several chorions or villages of Mai'notti, situated on little eminences or 
 secluded among the rocks, while the left bank of the river is almost uninhabited*. 
 At three leagues and a half from Sklavo-Chori is a cataract, or bar, which cannot 
 be passed by boats when the waters are low. After this barrier is passed there is 
 a much greater depth of water, and the river flows with increased majesty. The 
 swans are more numerous, almost covering the surface of the water, and display- 
 ing the utmost grace and dignity in all their movements. In the season of their 
 loves, their nests are made among the laurels and the myrtles which border the 
 Eurotas : they are still the objects of a respect as ancient as the river along which 
 they sail ; nobody thinks of molesting these tranquil navigators. The children 
 collect with care the feathers as they lose them, for making points to the arrows 
 used even in these days as weapons of offence against the timid inhabitants of 
 the air and the woods. The village of Pivika, two leagues from Soka, carries on 
 a trade in these arrows. 
 
 Some villages display themselves along the two chains of mountains which 
 form at a distance the bason of the Eurotas. The roofs of the houses covered 
 with tiles of a brilliant red, and rising above the olive-trees, the weeping-wil- 
 lows, and cypresses, which abound every where, are very conspicuous even at 
 a considerable distance. From the cataract of the Eurotas to Koumastra, a place 
 about three or four leagues from the sea, and which is seen at a considerable 
 distance on the left bank of the river, about fifty villages are discernible to the 
 east and west, and there are many more entirely concealed from the eye. Ko- 
 lokyna, which is erroneously called the ancient Gython, in the midst of which 
 the Vasilipotamos empties itself into the bay of Laconia, has given its name to 
 the sea that washes its shores. The entrance of the river is navigable at all times 
 for pretty large barks, and they should follow the right bank in going up the 
 stream. The bay of Laconia is dangerous to European vessels that are not very 
 
 * The most remarkable spot of Taygetes upon this route is Bardonnia, or Vordonia, a league and a 
 half from Mistra, which closes the defile of The Gates on this side, as Janitza closes it on the side of 
 Calamatte. The situation of Bardounia is very strong, and the town contains about three hundred houses. 
 The population consists almost entirely of Turks who have escaped the sword of justice : the inhabitants 
 of Mistra are the only people who entertain any commercial relations with them. It should appear as 
 if the people of Bardounia maintain a good understanding with the Maiuotti, since the latter live in 
 peace with them, as far as people so disposed to rapine are capable of living on peaceable terms with 
 any one. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 99 
 
 much upon their guard, as it is the usual retreat of the plunderers which this 
 cape sends forth. These marauders set sail at the close of day from some of the 
 ports of this inhospitable coast, and rove about in the neighbourhood of Cerigo 
 to seek for their prey. Woe to those navigators who are without arms, or who, 
 indulging in a deceitful tranquillity, suffer themselves to sleep! they are massacred 
 without pity. 
 
 Some commercial relations are carried on between the island of Cerigo, the 
 ancient Cytherea, and Marathonisi*. The people of Cerigo are indeed the only 
 ones who can enter this port without danger, since the Mainotti, who are the 
 masters of it, have no respect whatever to the rights of nations when plunder 
 and robbery are in question. Of this the following circumstance, which happened 
 at Porto Vitilon, is a sufficient proof, and the same thing is continually repeated 
 along every part of the coast. A Greek vessel of Cephalonia, carrying the Russian 
 flag, and having on board the contributions of the Morea for the combined 
 armies before Corfu, was overtaken by a tempest in the latitude of Cerigo. No 
 longer in a state to keep the sea, it was constrained to run into Porto Vitilon on 
 the western coast of Mama. It had no sooner entered here than it was assailed 
 by the Mainotti, and every passenger on board, to whatever nation or sect he 
 belonged, was completely plundered. The very women swam up to the vessel 
 to partake in the spoils, and some were even drowned in returning, from the 
 weight of the booty they were carrying away. The Turks who were on board 
 were worse treated than the rest ; for the Mainotti, after having destroyed the 
 vessel, exposed them to sale : the Greeks got off only with the loss of all their 
 property. I was some time after in a vessel where one of them was among the 
 number of the sailors, and he was still so terrified with the recollection of the 
 adventure that he scarcely could give me the account of it. 
 
 The bay of Kolokythia, or Laconia, presents nothing particularly worthy of 
 notice, excepting that the inhabitants assured me there was a periodical move- 
 ment in the waters, which they called reuma, something like the tide. As I was 
 not able to verify this fact, I only mention it, that nothing may be suffered to 
 escape which may lead to an accurate knowledge of the countries I describe. 
 Porto-Caillo, not far from Cape Matapan, was visited by the tribune Felix 
 Beaiijour, author of a work upon the Levant trade; but that place is also extremely 
 dangerous from the inhospitality of its inhabitants. This coast is visited every 
 
 * Marathonisi is the ancient Cranae. This island is also known by the name of Finocchi. 
 
 o 2 
 
100 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 vear by the capudan-pasha, who is sovereign of it, or by some of his vessels, and 
 the Mainotti, as a token of submission, send him some presents ; but it is agree I 
 beforehand that he is to be satisfied with whatever they send. Hussein pasha 
 however, before the termination of his career, directed his thunders against 
 Marathonisi. Wearied with the intrigues of a nephew of Gligoraki, who was 
 always on the watch to make dupes, and giving more importance to his achieve- 
 ments in this way than they deserved, he satiated his vengeance upon this rock, 
 and by lavishing the blood of his own people succeeded in destroying the village. 
 The inhabitants however with their leader, against whom his efforts were prin- 
 cipally aimed, remained untouched, and the nephew of Gligoraki at the head of 
 his Mainotti is probably now occupied in rebuilding the houses. 
 
 The sea of Kolokythia is very full of fish, and its banks are covered with 
 myriads of gulls and other marine birds. Some forests of pines are to be seen on 
 the neighbouring mountains, as well as several villages and vine-grounds. A 
 signal of alarm given from any of the posts of observation upon the summits of 
 the rocks, brings forth immediately from the valleys a number of warlike men, 
 whom it is much easier to kill than to subdue. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 101 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Country of Maina. — The Mainotti. — Election of the beys, with the names of those 
 who have governed since 1777* — Various particulars. — The country abounding 
 with ruins. — The Cacovouniotes. — Cape Tenarus or Matapan. Chapel of Saint 
 Mark. — Pallantium. — Ruins of Tegea. 
 
 From the account given by Messrs. Dimo and Stephanopouli of a journey 
 taken by them into the country of the Mainotti in 1797*> it is eas y to judge 
 with what circumspection, or rather with what distrust, they were watched by 
 this restless people, notwithstanding the favour shown them by the captain of 
 Marathonisi. Scarcely could they obtain permission to penetrate ever so little into 
 the interior of the country : even the attentions shown them by the chiefs were 
 only an indirect means employed to repress their eagerness in pursuing their 
 purpose. Thus it was by no means in their power to give any very correct or 
 ample information with regard either to the country or its inhabitants. If they 
 paint with some force the enthusiasm, the ardent love of this people for liberty, 
 or rather for independence, for this is what the Mainotti understand by the word 
 liberty, they say little or nothing of the country itself; they seem ignorant of its 
 resources, they do not even fix its geographical position, These travellers in 
 short came into the country on a particular errand, which they executed in the 
 midst of dangers, and returned immediately to render an account of their mission 
 to those by whom they were employed. More fortunate in collecting positive 
 facts, both from my long stay in the Morea and from the connections I was 
 enabled to form with some of the principal inhabitants of Maina, I think I may 
 pledge myself for the authenticity of whatever I advance upon the subject ; though 
 my details will not be as ample as I could wish, since I was wholly unable to 
 obtain so entirely the confidence of the Mainotti as to induce them to break the 
 silence they resolutely maintained in some particular instances. 
 
 We were become an object of interest to the few among the Moreans who 
 cherished a secret attachment to the French ; — an attachment borne to them in 
 
 * They were sent on an embassy by the then French Government. 
 
102 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 common with all the enemies of the Turks. The rumour of our capture and 
 detention at Tripolitza had in consequence reached the Mainotti, and it occa- 
 sioned three among them, disguised as merchants, to send to me secretly through 
 the intervention of one of my friends to come and meet them at the khan. This 
 friend was the unfortunate Belizari, a French barattaire, and afterwards under 
 the protection of Russia, who was lately assassinated in his counting-house at 
 Tripolitza. Arrived at the khan, in a conversation confined entirely to these de- 
 legates and myself, tliey poured out to me in the most frank and open manner the 
 effusions of their hearts, offering, if it was conformable with my wishes, to break 
 my chains, and carry me away with them into their mountains. A word they 
 said might restore me to happiness in restoring me to liberty ; horses were in 
 waiting at the gates of the town, a party were appointed to meet us by the way, 
 nor could the success of the enterprise be doubted. I was somewhat disposed to 
 accept the offer; but when I spoke of four companions whose fate I considered as 
 inseparable from my own, without whom I could not therefore think of departing, 
 they confessed that they were afraid of venturing to undertake the charge of so 
 many. I did not consider myself as the less obliged by the generous ofler made 
 to me individually. It was in several interviews to which this incident gave 
 occasion, that I obtained the information of which I was in want to impress me 
 with correct ideas concerning the country of Mama. It is impossible to describe the 
 respect in which the French name was held among the Mainotti. The report of 
 our victories had reached even to their mountains, they were the common theme 
 of their conversation, they talked of them to their children, and sung them in 
 affecting hymns, which were repeated by the majestic echoes of Laconia. 
 
 The reader will perhaps recollect that the district of Peloponnesus, lying be- 
 tween the gulfs of Laccnia and of Messsenia, was almost always inhabited by an 
 , independent class of men, who in the time of the Roman empire took the name of 
 free Laconians, or EXsvOsqoXu Kovoi. When Peloponnesus was agitated by public 
 dissensions, retiring with their gods into the defiles of Mount Taygetes, they 
 always presented a menacing front against their oppressors. Yet though not to 
 be conquered by human efforts, they submitted to the Christian religion at the 
 epoch when Basil the Macedonian swayed the sceptre of the East, and the 
 standard of the Cross was seen waving over the snowy summits of Taygetes. This 
 warlike people, however, notwithstanding that the new faith they had embraced 
 teaches implicit submission to the powers that be, did not lay down their arms ; 
 they remained, as they ever had been, and are at this moment, the guarantee of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 105 
 
 their liberty. By this conduct they have kept themselves free alike from the 
 Ottoman yoke, and the^snares of its insidious policy. 
 
 United among themselves when they have a foreign enemy to combat, the 
 Mai'notti as soon as the danger is past are seen to abandon themselves to dis- 
 sensions at home, which often terminate in dyeing their hands with blood. 
 Implacable in their hatred as in their vengeance, they are only brought to 
 relinquish the one or the other by the voice of the most respectable old men in 
 the canton. Yet amidst this spirit of disorder, amidst the calamities to which it 
 gives rise, amidst the sort of barbarism in which the Mai'notti are plunged, one 
 is forced to admire the practice of certain virtues that are conspicuous among them. 
 Their old men are held in the highest respect, their counsels are considered as 
 oracles : never do the women or young men approach them but with marks of 
 the most profound veneration. After having defended their country to the 
 utmost of their power as long as they are able to bear arms, they still protect and 
 preserve it by their wisdom and experience. 'Tis in the synods held before them 
 that the expenses necessary for public worship, for the keeping up fortifications 
 erected on particular points, for the purchase of powder and ball, for whatever 
 in short is requisite for the safety and preservation of the country, are regulated. 
 They discuss the means of improving agriculture and multiplying the resources for 
 the exportation of their products. Twenty years ago the Mai'notti were obliged to 
 exchange some part of the productions of their country for wheat, as they did not 
 grow enough for their own consumption ; but the population having insensibly in- 
 creased, and with it the number of hands that could be spared for husbandry, they 
 now even more than satisfy their own wants. The tranquil possessors of their 
 mountains, they verify what was long ago said by Menander, that <" Rocks will 
 furnish enough for the support of man, if they are cultivated in peace, while war will 
 destroy the abundance of the most fertile plains." 
 
 All the measures of security and defence agreed upon in the assemblies of the 
 elders are laid before a chief or bey, who carries them into execution. This bey, 
 a phantom of power, although nominated by his countrymen, receives his investi- 
 ture from the Turkish government. He keeps up no foreign correspondence, and 
 has no power beyond his own district. His dignity gives him no revenue, he 
 lives upon the product of his patrimony ; for he is always chosen from among 
 those who possess the largest property. He is, in short, nothing but a mere cap- 
 tain honoured with the title of bey ; the first only among his equals. 
 
 Ever since 177^, when Mai'na was separated from the pashalik of the Morea^ 
 
104 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 and placed like the Greek islands under the protection of the high admiral of the 
 Ottoman empire, the power of the beys has increased. Zanet bey, who was the 
 first raised to this dignity by a firman of Gazi Hassan, then capudan-pasha, go- 
 verned Mania in quality of an officer of the crown*. In 1/S5, being compelled, 
 through the intrigues of the drogman to the capudan-pasha, to quit Citrics, the 
 place of his residence, he took refuge at Zante, where his life was secure from 
 danger. But having obtained his pardon through the intervention of France, he 
 returned to Maina, where his days were terminated by the bow-string in 1/87- 
 Ever since that time the Mainotti have maintained a constant struggle against the 
 power of their beys. They seem to hold them in utter contempt, as soon as they 
 have accepted chains from the Turks for the purpose of domineering over their 
 brethren, and enjoying honours which they take care shall be only ephemeral. 
 They even regard them in the light of agents of the common enemy, the capudan- 
 pasha. I cannot better illustrate how fatal their ambition has proved to those 
 of the Mainotti who have sought to obtain the supreme power, than by giving 
 a list of the bej's who have governed Maina since 17/6. 
 
 Zanet bey, or Zanetachi of Coutoufari, governed ten years, and was strangled 
 by order of the capudan-pasha in 17&7- 
 
 Michail bey Troupaki governed one year, and was then hanged by order of the 
 capudan-pasha; while his son, at that time only fifteen years of age, was thrown 
 by the same capudan-pasha into a bagnio at Constantinople, where he died. 
 
 Zanet bey of Mavromouni, in the canton of Marathonisi, governed eight years; 
 but more fortunate than his predecessors, having resigned his government, he was 
 permitted to retire quietly to his own patrimony, where he lived peaceably in qua- 
 lity only of a captain. 
 
 Panaioti Coniodouro, of Cambo Stavro near Varousi, governed three years, and 
 was then thrown into a bagnio at Constantinople, where he remained in 1801. 
 
 Antoni Coutzoghgori succeeded Comodouro, and still enjoyed his honours two 
 years ago. The fatal examples which he had seen before his eyes, in the fate of 
 several of his predecessors, could not prevent this bey, even at sixty years of age> 
 from soliciting so dangerous a post ; but impelled by the thirst of dominion, more 
 powerful than every other consideration, he quitted his native town of Bathi, on 
 the gulf of Laconia, to engage in an entirely new course of life, and become the 
 dependent of the capudan-pasha. 
 
 * The firmans, by which Zanet received bis appointment, will be found in the Appendix. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 10o 
 
 This picture, or rather this necrology, is enough to frighten a reasonable man. 
 The Mainotti, who witness these vicissitudes in the fate of their governors, only 
 find their aversion to and distrust of the Turks constantly increase, without at the 
 same time feeling any sympathy for the fate of the victims: the power is not thereby 
 rendered less hateful in their eyes. Maina must, in this point of view, be regarded 
 as a country constantly menaced, and constantly obliged to keep on the defensive. 
 
 The young Mainotti, accustomed from their infancy to the use of arms, inured 
 to fatigues, familiarised with dangers, are always ready to measure their strength 
 against that of the Turks. The very name, indeed, of a Turk inspires them with 
 fury. Their courage, or perhaps it may be called temerity, is doubtless increased' 
 by the perfect knowledge they have of the natural strength of their country, of 
 the advantages it possesses in its defiles, where an enemy very much superior in 
 numbers to themselves may be effectually resisted. A stroke has not unfrequentlv 
 been suddenly planned at a meal, and executed at the same moment, almost al- 
 ways with complete success. The innate love of rapine, the image of poverty, the 
 exaggerated ideas they form to themselves of the riches of the Mussulmans, and 
 the profound hatred they bear them, are amply sufficient to urge them on, when 
 their imaginations are the least exalted, to any undertaking ; and from the con- 
 stant dangers they are under the necessity of running, they hasten to the fight 
 with a more than common degree of joy and intrepidity. Yet notwithstanding 
 their courage, they do not disdain to employ all the refinements of the military 
 art, whether to surprise the enemy or to draw him into a snare. In a word, it 
 may be said of the Mainotti, that the ferocious courage of the Spartans has been 
 transmitted unimpaired to their descendants ; nay, has even been increased by 
 oppression *. Nor is it without a secret pleasure that the Greek inhabitants of 
 the plains witness their exploits, and see the Turks humiliated by the continual 
 defeats they experience at their hands ; for it is rare that the Mainotti do not 
 triumph over the troops sent against them by the pasha. When they return to 
 their mountains after obtaining one of these victories, they display with ostenta- 
 tion the arms and bloody spoils of the enemy as the tokens of their triumph. 
 
 During the time of my captivity they made the pasha tremble even in his se- 
 raglio. He had sworn to revenge the affront and injury he had received from 
 their having plundered a vessel which was charged with the contributions of the 
 
 * Monsieur de Chateaubriand, in the introduction to Lis adffiirable account of his Travels through the 
 Morea, &c. to Jerusalem, will not allow the Mai'not'i to be descendants of the Spartans, he considers 
 them as of Sclavonian origin. — Translator. 
 
 P 
 
106 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 province. Numerous parties of his cavalry received orders to repair to the 
 defiles, to blockade the entrances to them, to intercept the commerce of Mama, 
 and not to grant quarter to any of its inhabitants ; in a word, to do them all pos- 
 sible injury. The Mainotti, who are not without numerous friends in the pro- 
 vince, instructed in time of the dangers with which they were menaced, had re- 
 course in haste to their arms, and soon occupied their accustomed posts. The most 
 intrepid among them, distributed in small detachments, went out to meet and 
 tight the cavaliers of the pasha. About thirty being hemmed round in a village, 
 by more than a hundred of the delis, they soon forced their way through, making 
 a terrible slaughter among them. By this and some other strokes become masters 
 of the country, they now overran the Morea without opposition, their detachments 
 coming even within sight of Tripolitza. The pasha soon began to find it neces- 
 sary to put an end to a contest which only displayed his own weaknesss, and pur- 
 chased a peace, which, however shameful, was little durable. 
 
 The wives of the Mainotti, not less courageous than their husbands, sometimes 
 even share with them their greatest dangers; yet, if they fall, their loss is deeply 
 lamented by these women, for they love their husbands with extreme tenderness. 
 The Mainote women are models as mothers, after having been so as daughters. 
 No sooner have they formed the union which their hearts desired, than they are 
 no longer to be seen mingling in the dances in which, as girls, they had delighted 
 to amuse themselves. Their hair, which before floated in .ringlets upon their 
 bosoms, is now tied up and fixed upon the top of the head. This custom is a 
 remnant of antiquity ; it is well known that the Greek women when they mar- 
 ried laid aside a certain head-dress worn till then, to substitute one from which 
 they never afterwards departed. This is one of those customs which would be 
 sought for in vain among us ; yet it appears founded in good sense and decorum. 
 When these Mainote women become mothers, with their eyes fixed upon the 
 cradles where lie their infants, they gently rock them with their feet, while with 
 their hands they turn the spindle. Obliged to traverse the mountains in order 
 to seek their husbands, whether the latter be occupied in watching for the enemy 
 or in cultivating the soil, they carry their infants slung upon their shoulders in a 
 sort of hammock made of sheep-skin ; and when the cries of the child indicate a 
 want of nourishment, they draw the hammock round to their breast to allay its 
 hunger. 
 
 The inhabitants of Mai'na, adhering strictly to the faith of the primitive church, 
 do not, as De Pauvv erroneously asserts, allow of a community of wives ; they 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 107 
 
 repel with horror, on the contrary, the idea of such licentiousness. Equally do 
 they shrink from the idea of imitating, in the destruction of their children, the 
 horrible festivals of the Anthropophagi. It is unaccountable by what infatuation 
 De Pauw could be possessed when he, who shows himself in many respects so 
 able and judicious a critic, could attribute the ferocious manners of Africa. to the. 
 people of Laconia. The social and patriotic virtues are practised however in 
 silence by these people ; they are not made the subject of boasting among them. 
 The stories of their victories are preserved in songs, the language of which is 
 simple and without imagery. They tell of their combats, of Turks vanquished, 
 of ensigns torn to tatters, of barks submerged, of stones hurled from the rocks 
 upon their invaders, of heaven reserved for the conquerors of infidels, of the 
 crown of martyrdom descending upon the head of him who perishes by an 
 illustrious wound ; — such are the subjects of these songs — they were those of 
 the Spartans their ancestors. Night affords no respite to the vigilance of the 
 Mainotti, fires lighted in all parts announce them ever on the watch. These 
 fires are often snares which have lighted the Mussulmans to their destruction. 
 Enormous dogs besides, which are accustomed to run down and destroy the 
 wolves, roam about the villages during the night. By dint of that refined in- 
 stinct so natural to this race, they distinguish perfectly, even in profound dark- 
 ness, the people belonging to their village from strangers ; and if a person or 
 an animal not known to them approaches, even while yet at some distance, their 
 cries, their barking, spread the alarm, and every body hastens immediately to 
 his post. 
 
 The papas of Maina are the least instructed of any of the Greek priests. 
 After the example of the major part of their brethren, they allege the dearness 
 of books, and the difficulty of procuring them, as reasons for excusing them- 
 selves from saying the breviary. Not less determined plunderers than the rest 
 of the Mainotti, they share in all their expeditions, that they may be sharers 
 likewise in the booty. It is they who, above all others, cherish in their country- 
 men that Xcnelasia* which renders them so suspicious of every one who is not 
 a Mainote. 
 
 Maina is divided into capilaineries, which are all more or less dependent upon 
 the general governor of the country, the bey. This latter magistrate has itnme- 
 
 * Xenelasia, hatred of foreigners. This word, sacred in their language, expresses the sentiment 
 which is common to them all. 
 
 P 2 
 
108 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 diately under his command some of the towns upoir the gulf of Calamatte. 
 These towns are disposed in the following order: 
 
 Armyros is at the distance of about a league and a half from Calamatte. This 
 is, properly speaking, only a port where a tower has been built, with some shops 
 occupied by bakers and other venders of provisions : the town of Selitza, to which 
 this is the port, stands upon the declivity of a mountain facing the north-west, 
 and contains about three hundred houses. Its inhabitants, a hardy and athletic 
 race, do not unite in marriage with the Greeks in the towns under the government 
 of the Turks; proud of their liberty, they can with difficulty submit even to 
 their own bey. The little commerce they carry on in the gulf of Coron is how- 
 ever negotiated entirely by this magistrate. 
 
 Mandinies is the second town upon the coast immediately dependent on the 
 bey. It lies two leagues and a half from Calamatte, one league from Armyros, 
 and half a league from the sea. The town, though not consisting of above a 
 hundred and fifty houses, is divided into Great and Little Mandinies. The latter 
 division is built on the slope of Mount Saint Helios, the highest summit of 
 Taygetes ; the Great Mandinies stands at the foot of the slope. Its chief pro- 
 ductions are oil and silk, and it is particularly celebrated for the purity of its air. 
 The valley which runs at the foot of this mountain is embellished by several 
 hamlets picturesquely situated : in following the course of a little river which 
 flows through it, we come to the ruins of an ancient town, which may very pro- 
 bably have been Pherea. The inhabitants, without the least suspecting what it 
 may have been formerly, point it out under the name of Paleo-Chori, the Old 
 Town, and from the ruins of some temple they have built a church, which is 
 called Stavros. It is not surrounded with houses ; but it is a place of assembly 
 on festival days, and the inhabitants of Mandinies repair thither to hear mass, 
 and partake in the pleasures which the Greeks never fail to seek wherever they are, 
 
 Citries or Kytries, which ought to be the principal port of Mama, as being 
 the residence of the bey, is in reality little more than a heap of ruins. Burnt by 
 the Albanians, it is now only composed of some shops, and a sort of castle or 
 tower where the bey resides : in fact, it is only the port to another town which 
 lies eastward at half a league distance inland. This town is called Dolous. It 
 stands in a fertile valley which runs someway among the mountains of Taygetes, 
 extending to almost half a league in breadth. Dolous is divided into the higher 
 and lower town, one half being upon the declivity of the mountain, and the other 
 spreading out in the valley : it is very populous, and inhabited by some charming 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 109 
 
 women, who, like all others of Mai'na, are beyond measure attached to their 
 country, and never speak of it but with transport. The number of houses that 
 it contain! is estimated at more than five hundred ; they are all inhabited by 
 numerous families, and if necessary the town could easily furnish six hundred 
 warriors. 
 
 On the slope opposite to Dolous, and about half a league from it, stands a large 
 village called Varousi. It is here that the bishop of the canton, who is always called 
 the bishop of Zarnate, resides. On the authority of Father Coronelli, it has 
 been supposed that there was a town of Zarnate ; the good father has indeed 
 been so obliging as to favour us with a view of it : but I must notwithstanding 
 take the liberty of assuring my readers that none of that name exists ; Zarnate 
 is the name of a canton, or district, in the country of Mai'na. It is the 
 richest, the most populous, and the most fertile district of the whole country, 
 and contains fifty villages scattered over a space not very extensive. Varousi, 
 which is the chief place of the canton, and the seat whence the bishop of Zarnate 
 extends his spiritual cares over the greater part of the republic of Mai'na, is very 
 much inferior to Dolous in extent and population, as it does not contain above a 
 hundred and fifty houses. To make amends, it abounds with churches, and is 
 inhabited by a number of clergy and papas : of the latter it must be confessed, 
 that they do not bear a high character for probity. 
 
 Haifa league further eastward, on the same slope with Varousi, stands Moul- 
 titza, another village of the canton of Zarnate, consisting of about a hundred 
 houses. Silk, oil, wine and corn, abound in all this part of the country, and 
 its population has increased exceedingly during the last twenty years. Some 
 rivulets and a number of springs water these defiles. At the bottom of the valley, 
 near Varousi, is a village called Cambo-Stavro. This was the native place of 
 Panaioti Comodouro, the bey of Mai'na above mentioned who was thrown by the 
 capudan-pasha into the bagnio at Constantinople. 
 
 In approaching the sea-shore, it takes three hours to go from Citries to Karda- 
 moula or Kardamyla, a town containing about a hundred houses. Here the 
 ruggedness of Cape Tenarus begins to appear very sensibly; no more bay- or 
 olive-trees are to be seen ; the cultivator can with difficulty trace his furrows in 
 the ground, and large forests of pines cover the sides of the mountains. Karda- 
 moula is however the chief place of a capitainery. To the east of this town, at 
 the distance of three leaguesand a half, is the village of Castagna, so called from 
 the number of chesnut-trees in the environs. Here the capudan-pasha was 
 
1 10 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 beaten and put to the rout two-and-twenty years ago, when he wanted to subju- 
 gate this country, after having driven the Albanians out of the Morea. The 
 capitainery was then commanded by Constantine Douraki. Castagna does not 
 contain above forty houses. At a league and a half from Kardamoula, following 
 the coast, stands Platza, a small port where vessels find a tolerable shelter and 
 safe anchorage. The town contains about two hundred houses : it is the port to 
 Coutoufari, which lies in the interior at the distance of two leagues, in a moun- 
 tainous country. From this place are exported turpentine, hides, and fir-wood 
 fit for the masts of trading vessels. Further on is Vitilon, the (Etylos of the 
 ancients, and improperly called at present, by the navigators in these parts, 
 Porto-Vitulo. The bay, which after the town is called Vitilon, has the advantage 
 of being the deepest and safest upon this coast : the town stands upon the north 
 side of it, and does not contain above fourscore houses. On the other shore of 
 the bay of CEtylos is the town of Tchimova, containing about two hundred and 
 fifty houses, and commanded by a captain named Piero Mavro Michalia; beyond 
 that begins the country of the Cacovouniotes, of which I shall soon have occasion 
 to speak. 
 
 There are many other towns and villages belonging to the country of Main a, 
 scattered about Taygetes or towards the defile of the Portes. Of these the 
 principal are Passavi and Perivoli, near the valley of Belemina ; Porama near 
 the Portes, the defile which 1 have mentioned before as closed by Janitza on the 
 side of Calamatte. Marathonisi is the most important place upon the gulf of 
 Laconia ; its principal trade is in cotton and gall-nuts. Above Marathonisi is a 
 post called Mavrovouni. Bordounia is an independent association composed 
 entirely of Turks, who believe no more in the prophet than they do in Jesus 
 Christ. They have frequent bickerings with the Mainotti, which sometimes end 
 in blows ; but as all these people have a common enemy, the oppressor of their 
 country, thev find it very much for their interest to keep upon tolerable terms 
 with each other even in their dissensions. 
 
 I shall not attempt to describe each of these towns separately ; the strength of 
 several of them is indeed little known to me. I shall content myself with saying 
 generally, from authorities on which I can rely, that the population of Mafna 
 may be estimated at forty thousand, and that the province contains about a 
 hundred chorions, or towns and villages. The number of men is estimated at ten 
 thousand, which agrees with the capitation paid to the capudan-pasha. The 
 captains are fourteen in number, and there are besides an inferior descrip- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. Ill 
 
 tion of magistrates called zapitades or primates, to whom is intrusted the 
 police of the towns. The military chiefs are chosen by the public voice ; this 
 is commonly regulated by the fortune which has attended them, and the splendid 
 actions they have performed: the wives of some have been elected to succeed 
 them in these posts. They are always to be seen at the head of their bands, and 
 wear antique casques exactly of the same form with that on the statue of Phocion, 
 and these descend in regular succession from father to son. The captains in the 
 neighbourhood of Cape Grosso cany besides bucklers, which would offer choice 
 models to the imitation of our historical painters. By an unfortunate fatality 
 these chiefs, always restless and ambitious, keep their cantons in a habitual state 
 of discord. It is only when their common danger unites them that the Mainotti 
 appear in a favourable point of view; in their ordinary habits they must be 
 objects of aversion to every one who has the happiness of having been born in a 
 civilised country. 
 
 Heaven has, however, extended a propitious hand over this country : the north- 
 ern cantons daily increase in fertility; agriculture improves rapidly about Vitilon 
 and Kardamoula, and in the district of Zarnate. Grecian vessels from Spezzia, 
 from Hydra, and from Poros, replace those of Venice which formerly used to 
 trade to its ports. Foreigners would not, perhaps, find all the security necessary 
 to induce them to establish commercial houses here: Venice, who kept an agent 
 in Maina, never ventured to engage in such a project. Yet it is far from clear, 
 that by a person to whom the country was well known such an undertaking might 
 not be pursued with advantage : the port of Citries would, in such a case, be un- 
 doubtedly the most proper place for making the attempt. Though there are not, 
 at present, any particular duties upon objects of trade, there is a general tax 
 of two per cent, levied upon every thing indiscriminately, either exported or 
 imported. The productions of the country are oil, silk, gall-nuts, honey, 
 wax, cotton, kermes. The quantities annually exported of the last four articles 
 are uncertain : the export of gall-nuts is estimated at about fifteen thousand 
 ocques* ; the silk at about sixteen thousand pounds ; and the oil at about 
 thirteen thousand barrels. Considerable quantities of wool and raw hides are also 
 exported; and it would be very possible for Maina to furnish abundance of cattle 
 towards the supply of the islands in the Archipelago. 
 
 The admirer of the arts will also find many inducements to visit Maina, and 
 
 * An ocque is a weight equal to about twenty-five ounces. The quantity of gall-nuts exported seems 
 enorraousj but it is so stated in the original. — Translator. 
 
1 1 2 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 penetrate into her remotest valleys. Every information which I was able to obtain 
 respecting this country confirmed me in the assurance that it is rich in remains 
 of antiquity. It was, according to Pausanias, full of temples ; and the Mamotti 
 whom I have consulted, and from whom I have received notices in writing 
 respecting their country, express themselves thus: "Monuments, remains of 
 castles, of tombs, and of ancient temples, are found in abundance from Saint Sion 
 quite to the confines of Calamatte : even to Cape Matapan, and to the river Eleos, 
 scarcely can two leagues of ground be passed'over without meeting with some. All 
 the learned agree, that these monuments have been raised with the treasures of 
 kings. Many marbles are also to be found with carvings and inscriptions upon 
 them, which we do not understand. There are several dens and a great number of 
 caverns: many people have endeavoured to reach the extremities of them, some 
 of whom have succeeded. It is the country of the universe where the greatest 
 number of antiquities might be found, as well under as above ground." 
 
 Such or nearly such is the country of Ma'ina ; — such are its inhabitants, a 
 hardy race who still preserve a spirit of freedom and independence. It remains 
 for me to speak of an uncivilized horde, who inhabit the southern extremity 
 qf this country quite to Cape Tenarus, and who are known by the name of 
 Cacovouniotes, or Cacovougnis. 
 
 The rugged rocks with which this region abounds, their summits blackened by 
 thunder or by time, the red earth which appears at intervals among them, present 
 but a fearful coup-d'ceil to the navigator. A few scattered habitations are seen 
 among the mountains, while here and there, on the borders of some creek made 
 by the sea, stands a solitary village. The principal of these are Kolokythia, 
 Boularias, Cariopolis, Mezapiotes, and Porto-Caillo, upon the gulf of Laconia: 
 the former of these is considered by the Cacovouniotes as their capital. The 
 country is every where barren and destitute of wood, and depends almost entirely 
 for a supply of the first necessary of life, water, upon some springs and natural 
 cisterns found in their caverns. They have only one river, the Skyras, in the 
 neighbourhood of Porto-Caillo ; but this has water the whole year through. The 
 land is not sufficiently productive to support the inhabitants ; and they would be 
 constrained to abandon their country, if the sea did not ofTer inexhaustible re- 
 sources in their fisheries, and the rocks were not the asylum of an immense quan- 
 tity of birds, partridges, and other game. At the times of the equinox, before the 
 seas are agitated by the turbulence of the winds, thousands of birds of passage as- 
 semble at CapeTenarus, previous to taking their flight towards the country of Libya. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. .113 
 
 The Cacovouniotes, the wretched remains of the people of Nabis, whose very 
 name denotes the estimation in which they are held by other nations*, — these 
 pirates, few in number, but equal in ferocity to the Arabs of the Syrts, form a 
 distinct society from the Mainotti. . Bold and'adventurous upon the element from 
 which their chief support is drawn, they fall equally under favour of a tempest, 
 or a perfidious calm, upon all vessels who come within their reach and are not of 
 sufficient force to defend themselves ; a fate more terrible to them than being 
 struck with thunder or dashed upon the rocks. Neither the fear of danger or of 
 punishment can destroy in the Cacovouniotes this dreadful propensity to plunder; 
 they cannot resist, they say, the alluring spectacle of so many European vessels 
 continually passing before their eyes. 
 
 In a constant state of dissension among themselves, or war with their neigh- 
 bours, they live with arms in their hands. Their wives partake in the dangers 
 of their expeditions with a courage which appears supernatural. By a singularity 
 which is however not unusual among pirates, they mingle with this spirit of rapine 
 some of the most austere notions with respect to religion. Their fasts are so 
 rigidly observed, that they would not even violate them though by their observ- 
 ance their lives must be placed in imminent danger : he who on a Wednesday or 
 Friday should eat any thing but vegetables boiled in water, without seasoning, 
 would be immediately shot. This great point of religion is strongly inculcated 
 upon them by their papas ; at the same time that these priests, instead of cor- 
 recting their propensity to robbery and plunder, are the very people who excite 
 and inflame their imaginations at the sight of an European flag, and who teach 
 them to take, wherever they find them, the things of which they are destitute 
 themselves. 
 
 A Cacovouniote may be distinguished at the very first glance from a Mainote. 
 The latter is well made, has a florid complexion, and a tranquil cast of coun- 
 tenance: the former has a dark and suspicious eye, and is squat and stunted like 
 the plants of his country ; he has a withered skin, and an expression of coun- 
 tenance which betrays at once the gloomy assassin. The tone of voice of the 
 Mainote is full and sonorous, that of the Cacovouniote is hoarse and guttural. 
 The one walks with a brisk and airy step, the other rushes forward like a wild 
 boar. The Mainote attacks with fury and plunders with delight the Turk whom 
 
 * Cacovougnis, or Cacovouniotes, signifies rollers of the mountains, and is a name given to these people 
 by other nations as descriptive of their nature, and of the sort of lives they lead. 
 
 a 
 
114 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 he detests ; the Cacovouniote has but one enemy, but that enemy is the whole 
 human race, whom in his blind fury he would gladly tear to pieces and ex- 
 tirpate. 
 
 These are the principal characteristics by which the different inhabitants of 
 this part of Laconia are distinguished. A few desultory observations upon some 
 spots yet undescribed in the neighbourhood of Tripolitza, will conclude all 
 I have to say on the Morea, previous to our proceeding on our route towards 
 Constantinople. 
 
 In describing the fields about Tripolitza to the west, I have observed that 
 Mount Ro'i'no, or Menale, is not above half a league from the town on this side. 
 Quitting the town by the gate of Caritena, and following a path to the right, we 
 soon come to a torrent which descends from the mountain, taking a north-easterly 
 direction ; about a quarter of a league further, the ascent of the mountain begins, 
 along the side of another very deep torrent : this is passed by a wooden bridge, 
 to reach a small chapel dedicated to Saint Mark. It is built in the midst of 
 rocks, and does not appear to have suffered, on the outside at least, from the fury 
 of the Albanians. 
 
 Within this chapel is a naked altar, without images, and without tapers. The 
 walls are covered from top to bottom with paintings in fresco representing ancient 
 processions ; but it was with regret I remarked that the Albanians had put out the 
 eyes of many of these figures, and otherwise mutilated the heads. There are no 
 inscriptions which indicate to what the paintings refer. Upon the vaulted roof, 
 which may be at the height of thirty feet, is painted a zodiac, which is in perfect 
 preservation, and which resembles exactly most others with which we are ac- 
 quainted. As I was astonished to find these astronomical signs in a Greek chapel, 
 I could not help inquiring how long the chapel might have existed ; but all the 
 answer I could obtain was, God knows. For my own part, not being much better 
 informed upon the subject than themselves, I could not pretend to determine any 
 epoch for the probable one of these figures having been first painted there. It is 
 possible that by examining the pavement some inscriptions might have been found 
 which would have contributed to elucidate the matter, but it was so covered with 
 mud that it was impossible to attempt such an examination. I was much amused 
 with some Greek women, who, without the least respect for Saint Mark or his 
 chapel, were sitting round a large salad, on which they were feasting very com- 
 fortably. I returned to this spot several times, but without obtaining any further 
 information. I was indeed told that the chapel had been part of a monastery ; 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 1 1 5 
 
 but this seems to have been a thing said at random : there was a convent in these 
 parts, but it was at the distance of three quarters of a league on the road to 
 Mantinea. It is probable that the chapel of St. Mark may have been an ancient 
 temple dedicated to some fabulous deity; but this I give merely as a conjecture. 
 The walls are built of a very hard stone, and there are some Roman eagles on the 
 side towards the north. 
 
 Ascending still higher up the mountain, at the distance of fifty toises from the 
 chapel, is an aire* of more than a hundred feet in diameter: the Greeks say 
 that it belonged to the convent. I know not what to think of this assertion, as I 
 never could find that the convent had any real existence. I can only therefore 
 repeat, that there is an aire on the spot, so solid, and so regular, that I can scarcely 
 believe either the Turks or the Greeks to have been capable of making it : the 
 pavement is a hard red kind of flint, through which the grass seems unable to 
 penetrate: in order to make it, the slope of the mountain has been exceedingly 
 cut away, and this is a labour which one cannot easily suppose such men as now 
 inhabit the Morea to have thought of undertaking. 
 
 From this spot the eye commands the whole valley of Tegea ; it cannot how- 
 ever reach to the gulfs of the Alpheus on account of a projection in the chain of 
 mountains, which cuts off the view on that side. Half a league further to the 
 south, keeping along the side of the mountain, at about the same height, are 
 some fields sown with rye, which extend to a second story as it may be called in 
 the mountains ; and pursuing this for another half league, we come to a village 
 containing about fifty houses. This village, seen from Tripolitza, appears quite 
 in the clouds, but when arrived there the situation is found to be extremely plea- 
 sant ; above it are some very abundant springs, which form basons surrounded 
 with weeping willows. The inhabitants are shepherds, and cannot be said to 
 have very sumptuous habitations; but their huts are surrounded with little gardens, 
 in which they cultivate some culinary vegetables. I would fain have entered 
 into conversation with some of them : but their doors were all closed, and enor- 
 mous dogs, the guardians of their penates, made such a display of the formidable 
 teeth with which they were accustomed to attack their masters' enemies, the 
 wolves, that I was forced to retreat in dismay. 
 
 * The aire is the threshing floor used in warm countries where the corn is trodden out by cattle in 
 the field. It is of a circular form and paved. The com is strown upon it, and a man standing in the 
 middle holds the reins of the horses or mules, and makes them run round and round over every part, 
 till the corn is separated from the straw. — Translator. 
 
 a 2 
 
116 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Descending from this village, many sheep-folds and shepherds' huts are to be 
 seen ; and to the right at some distance are the ruins of a very large village, 
 pleasantly situated on an amphitheatre at the end of a narrow valley. As nothing 
 in antiquity could lead me to assign a name to this place, I presumed it to be a 
 modern ruin, and to have been one among the numerous villages burnt by the 
 Albanians. I am the rather led to think this, as the ruins have nothing of that 
 character of grandeur which is impressed, I may almost say, upon the very dust of 
 the ancient monuments. I measured the dimensions of some of the houses, and 
 some old chapels ; but I never could learn any name for the place. In like manner, 
 numbers of desolated villages are to be seen all over this mountain, some of which 
 are, no doubt, remains of the heroic ages. This may, perhaps, be the reason why 
 the moderns have changed the name of Menale for that of Roino, a word evidently 
 corrupted from the Italian. 
 
 Pallantium was a league and a half further to the south, on the road which leads 
 to Sinano, but no vestiges of it are now to be seen. The statues of Pallantius, of 
 Evander, and of Polybius exist no longer, excepting in the immortal work of 
 Pausanias, any more than the temple of the Pure Gods, by which the people of 
 Pallantium swore in attesting the truth of what they asserted. In reading Pau- 
 sanias one can scarcely imagine that he wrote two thousand years ago. If, as De 
 Pauw says, he was not well acquainted with the Roman history, he had at least 
 a remarkable talent at describing places. With his work as a guide, one might 
 travel at this moment over the countries of which it treats : one might go to Asi, 
 one might explore the fertile sources of the Alpheus, nor fear ever to be led astray 
 by vague and illusive theories. His testimony is therefore extremely revered by 
 many well-informed Greeks with whom I was acquainted, while they laugh at 
 their own geographer Meletius. 
 
 Below Pallantium, to the south-east, are the ruins of Asi ; and a league and a 
 half from them, returning northward towards Tripolitza, is a ruined church sur- 
 rounded by some houses, a half-fallen tower, and some feet of old wall, to which 
 the Greeks give the name of Palaeopolis, but they are in fact the ruins of Tegea. 
 These ruins stand on an eminence, which is composed of vegetable earth. They 
 face the east, and extend on that side quite down to the plain. For more than 
 half a league round, large pieces of hewn stone are scattered on all sides, with many 
 fragments of marble and enormous blocks of granite; while the plough in going 
 but a little way into the soil continually turns up bricks and tiles, so that no doubt 
 can be entertained of the spot having been the site of some ancient city. The soil 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 117 
 
 on the eminence cannot be cultivated, because of the very thin layer of earth by 
 which the ruins are covered ; nothing grows there in consequence but a feeble 
 and yellow kind of grass, which withers away as soon as the heats commence. 
 The part of the tower which remains may be from thirty to forty feet high ; and 
 it appears to have belonged to a fortification. There is no doubt, but that with 
 the consent of the pasha researches might be made here which would be amply 
 recompensed by the objects of antiquity that would be recovered. 
 
 The situation of Tegea is delightful ; and in the days of its prosperity it may 
 be presumed that it scarcely yielded in grandeur to any town of Peloponnesus. 
 Among its most celebrated monuments was the temple of Minerva Alea, decorated 
 with the three orders of architecture. Pausanias tells us that the exterior was 
 surrounded with Doric pillars ; and in the interior were two ranges of columns, 
 one of the Corinthian, the other of the Tuscan order. In this temple was painted 
 the famous hunting of the Calydonian boar, with all the Grecian heroes who as- 
 sisted at it *. The eye still wanders with delight over this valley, where are many 
 very pleasant houses, several farms, and large groves of trees ; and where in all 
 parts agriculture is seen to flourish. We are presented at the same instant with 
 a view of the passes into Laconia, Argolis, Mantinea, and Messenia. We see the 
 celebrated mountains of Menale, of Parthenius, of Artemisius, of Cresius, of Bo- 
 reas, and of Cronius. 
 
 Such are the parts of the Morea which I have visited : such is the delightful 
 valley of Tegea. It remains now to speak of the manners and customs of the 
 Moreans ; of the nature of their soil, of the air which they breathe, of the diseases 
 with which they are afflicted, of their domestic ceconomy, of their faith, and of 
 their prejudices. I would in short give such a picture of these people, that, if 
 compared by intelligent and impartial travellers with the original, its fidelity may 
 be acknowledged. Before I enter, however, on these subjects, it will be proper 
 to begin with an account of the administration of the province : and this shall be 
 done in the following chapter. 
 
 * See Pausanias, lib. 8. 
 
1 1 S TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Administration of the province. — Its division into cantons or villaielis, into arch- 
 bishoprics and bishoprics. — lis taxes. — Military state of the country. 
 
 It has been already stated that the government of the whole province is 
 intrusted to a pasha of three tails, or beglerbey, who resides at Tripolitza: the 
 pasha of two tails, who resides in time of war at Nauplia, is subordinate to him. 
 The beys of Navarin, Coron, Modon, Mistra, Argos, Corinth, Patras, and 
 Gastouui ; the chiefs of Arcadia, Andritsena, Andreossa, Leondari, and the 
 codja-bachis of Caritena, Sinano, Vostitza, Vasilico, &c. all pay the contributions 
 received by them into the hands of the pasha; he has under him adefter-kiaya or 
 intendant, and a moucabel -edji or controller of the finances. 
 
 The taxes are of a double kind, upon persons and upon property. The Turks 
 only pay the territorial tax, but every subject not a Mussulman pays besides a 
 caratch or capitation tax. This caratch is a sort of census, in which all are 
 included above twelve years of age; and as there are no public registers by which 
 the age may be legally ascertained, if any doubt should arise on this point, the 
 cadi measures the head of the person in question with a cord, and according to 
 this measurement the decision is made ; for it is considered as an incontrovertible 
 fact, that at such a certain age the head must be of such a certain dimension. 
 Perhaps this is not the very worst mode of decision that might have been chosen. 
 
 The lowest rate of the caratch is a sequin of four piastres, which is about equal 
 to six livres twelve sous*. The subject or raia-j-, on discharging this annual 
 tax, receives a square of red or blue paper, on which are five or six seals, called 
 a ticket of caratch. All who are not Mussulmans are in this country distinguished 
 by a particular costume, a distinction which extends even to the different ranks, 
 so that when any one presents himself at the gates of a town, his dress immedi- 
 ately points out whether he be a rata or a Mussulman. If the former, his ticket 
 
 * Five shillings and sixpence English money. — Translator. 
 
 f The term raia is applied to every subject of the graud-signor, whether Greek, Armenian, Jew, 
 or any other who is not a Mussulman. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. Uy 
 
 of caratch is immediately required, and woe to him who cannot immediately 
 produce it! He is obliged to pay the tax anew and receive his ticket, happy if 
 some strokes of the bastinado are not given him, in addition. The ticket is 
 renewed every year when the tax is paid. The inhabitants of Maina have made 
 a compromise for this tax, since it is considered as casting a sort of stigma upon 
 the person who pays it. Some persons, particularly the papas or priests, are 
 exempted from it. 
 
 According to the census, as I wa^s informed in very positive terms by the codja- 
 bachis, the Morea contains four hundred thousand Greeks and four thousand 
 Jews. These, with fifteen thousand Turks, compose the population of a country 
 where flourished formerly one hundred and eleven towns. — And what towns ? 
 Those of Argos, Corinth, Sparta, Messene, Megalopolis, Ol ympia, Tegea, Man- 
 tinea, places of so much renown, places where were performed actions the 
 thought of which fires the imagination, elevates the soul, and the recollection of 
 which must endure as long as time shall last! — places, alas! where to the arts, 
 to the sciences, to wealth, to glory, have succeeded depopulation, slavery, and 
 misery ! 
 
 The tax on moveable property is the next after the caratch. It includes objects 
 of industry, furniture, and other things, but is levied very arbitrarily. The 
 Greeks estimate this at a fourth part of the net produce of their gains ; but it 
 varies so much in different towns, that it is impossible to fix a general standard for 
 it. A shop or a house with chimneys pays according to certain proportions ; but 
 the shop of a dealer in shawls, for example, pays much more than that of a 
 sadler, and the proportions in which they are taxed are by no means regulated 
 according to equity. 
 
 The Turkish government, in order to arrive at a proper estimate of the tax on 
 actual property, has divided the province into twenty-four cantons or villaietis. 
 In some cantons where there are large towns, a sub-division is made, and they 
 are then distinguished as the canton inter muros, and the rural canton. Accord- 
 ing to this idea, the following is the general division of the Morea : — 
 
 1. The canton of Tripolitza, including 
 
 the town. 
 
 2. The rural canton, including the 
 
 plain of Tegea as far as the four 
 defiles of Mantinea, of Strata, of 
 Kalilbey, and of Corinth. 
 
 3. The canton of Caritena. 
 
 4 Faneri. 
 
 5 - Lala. 
 
 6 Pyrgos. 
 
 7 Gastouni. 
 
 8. *'...'., . . Patras. 
 
120 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A 
 
 9. The canton of Calavrita. 
 
 10 Vostitza. 
 
 11 Corinth. 
 
 12 Nauplia diRomania. 
 
 13 Agia Petra. 
 
 This canton comprehends a part of 
 Argolis, to Hermione and Trcezene in- 
 clusively. 
 
 14. The canton of Argos. 
 
 Laconia quite to the mouth of 
 the Eurotas. 
 The canton of Monembasia 
 Nauplia of Malvoisie. 
 Leondari. 
 
 or 
 
 18 
 
 19 Andreossa. 
 
 20 Calamatte. 
 
 21 Coron. 
 
 22 Modon. 
 
 23 Navarin. 
 
 24 Arcadia. 
 
 15 Mistra, inter muros. 
 
 16 The rural canton of 
 
 Mistra, containing the villages of 
 
 The pasha has no general authority over these cantons, excepting with regard 
 to the civil police. Yet in times of war, or in particular circumstances where 
 extraordinary impositions are called for, he has the power of levying them. The 
 chiefs of the cantons are however obliged to appear before the pasha every year, 
 to pay into his hands the general contributions. 
 
 Besides the above division, which concerns the civil government of the country, 
 the Morea is divided for the religious establishment in the following manner: — 
 There are six metropolitan towns, Monembasia, Nauplia di Romania, Corinth, 
 Patras, Christianopolis, (the name given by the Greek church to Arcadia,) and 
 Laced ae mon : five archbishoprics, Dimizana ; Olena, the archbishop of which 
 resides at Gastouni ; Zarnate, residence at Varousi ; Chronius and Calavrita, 
 residence at Calavrita; Langadia, residence at Jocova ; and eight bishoprics, Coron, 
 Modon, Andreossa, Cariopolis, (among the Cacovouniotes,) Vristenis, Reondas 
 and Prastra, Amyclea, and Eleos. 
 
 The codja-bachis are the vilest and most contemptible among the agents to the 
 satraps of the sultan ; they think of nothing but forcing down their extortions, 
 founding their hopes of fortune upon the iniquities and oppressions of which 
 they are guilty. Unnatural monsters, degenerate brethren, they would mourn 
 a change which the rest of the Greeks desire and invoke. As they are commonly 
 of the families from which the archbishops and bishops are taken, they call in the 
 assistance of the prelates in any disputes in which they are engaged ; when the 
 fear of spiritual excommunication commonly subdues the refractory, and makes 
 them submit to the grossest extortions. The Turks, treated despotically, though 
 with less injustice, are not called upon to assist in any kind of deliberations : the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 121 
 
 taxes they have to pay are fixed, and they commonly pay them without a 
 murmur. As belonging to the conquering nation, they are certainty less vexed 
 and fretted ; but it must also be observed, that in case of war they are the only 
 people, some Greeks from the sea-ports excepted, who are called upon to take 
 arms. 
 
 By the impositions above enumerated a sum is collected annually, amounting 
 to nearly two millions of piastres: one million goes to the pasha, and fifteen 
 hundred thousand livres are swallowed up by the codja-bachis. The annual pro- 
 duct of the soil in the Morea, united with that of the industry of the inhabitants, 
 supposing that, as they say, a fourth is really swallowed up by the government, 
 may be estimated at about fifteen millions of livres*. There are other burdens 
 which fall entirely upon the rai'as ; 'tis they alone who keep the roads in repair, 
 and work at the fortifications : hence arises another source of profit to the pasha 
 and his subalterns, in the sums paid by those who wish to compound, and exempt 
 themselves from the labour: not a sol however of the money thus paid ever 
 reaches the public treasury. There is a duty at the gates of the towns upon all 
 fire-wood brought into the place, upon provisions, and upon liquors; this duty 
 is taken either in money or in kind. Any one who is aggrieved by the collectors 
 of it runs no great hazard in taking the redress upon himself by the use of his 
 fists ; these are indeed the only people among the Mussulmans against whom 
 a ra'ia can raise his hand without danger of the bowstring. 
 
 The most solid revenues of the pasha arise from certain farms attached to his 
 place ; from the requisitions in horses, forage, and provisions, which he is 
 empowered to make ; from the inheritances of the public functionaries, whose 
 property devolves to the sultan in case of their death while in office ; from the in- 
 stallation of the bishops and papas ; and lastly by the avanies, which to people in 
 place are a" mine that yields in proportion to the extortions which they find may 
 be practised with impunity. Every town or village is entirely responsible for 
 any murder committed within its territory, as it is always assumed that they 
 might have prevented it. If the victim be a Turk, or a foreigner travelling under 
 the authority of a firman from the government, a heavy fine is set, and if this 
 should be resisted, the place is put under military execution. 
 
 The beys or agas have the entire command in the principal inland towns, but 
 in those on the coast the authority is only shared with the capudan-pasha. 
 
 * 625,000/. English money. — Translator. 
 K. 
 
122 TRAVELS IN THE MORBA., 
 
 The beys have the power of condemning to the bastinado, and of levying fines; 
 the direction of the armed force also is confided to them under the orders of the 
 pasha. Every week detachments from each of the sangiaks must appear, and pass 
 in review before the pasha : on these occasions they fire several times to salute his 
 highness, he remaining all the time motionless upon his sofa, scarcely condescend- 
 ing to honour them with a look. They then repeat a short ejaculation, praying 
 heaven to preserve and bless the days of the sultan ; after which they have a lodg- 
 ing assigned them, and are served with provisions. These ceremonies performed, 
 thev return without delay to the places whence they came, plundering the villages 
 through which they pass in their way, while the inhabitants commonly revenge 
 themselves upon any stragglers who may have lagged behind ; these they kill with- 
 out mercy, if they think it can be done with impunity. And yet the vexations in- 
 flicted by the despotic hands of an arbitrary government are not the most galling 
 and oppressive of all that this people are condemned to endure. The most tyran- 
 nical, the most revolting, result from the petty insults and oppressions exercised by 
 the subaltern tyrants, by those who have not the sanction of authority on which to 
 ground their vexations, but whose tyranny is the result of mere individual caprice. 
 I have seen one of the lowest among the Turks dismount from his horse, force a 
 Greek from his shop, load him with his baggage, and compel him to follow him, 
 without the poor Greek venturing to resist, or even to utter a complaint. I have 
 seen, oh shame! young Mussulmans even raise their hands and strike Greek heads 
 whitened o'er with age. 
 
 Unfortunate descendants «f nations once so glorious, whose dissensions but pro- 
 tract your own slavery, ye are not however the only people upon earth subjected to 
 like insults ;— they are, alas ! the produce by turns of all climes and all ages. Yet 
 strangers as these people are in the bosom of their own country, they still love 
 and cherish it, while tears steal softly down their cheeks when one talks to them 
 of the glory of their ancestors. I have seen mothers at such moments press 
 their infants to their bosoms, and bless their own fecundity, in the hope that some 
 day one of those extraordinary men may rise up among them whom heaven 
 sometimes sends for the blessing of nations, and who, assembling the sons of 
 Greece under his banners, may restore them to something like their ancient 
 renown, and revenge upon the heads of their tyrants the ages of injury and op- 
 pression which they have endured. 
 
 With regard to the military state of the Morea, it must be observed that its 
 principal bulwarks are Nauplia di Romania upon the gulf of Argos, Coron, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 123 
 
 Modon, and Navarin, to the south ; Castel Tornese, Patras, anil the forts upon the 
 gulf of Corinth, to the north. Garrisons are maintained at all these places even 
 in times cf peace, if the appellation of garrison may be given to a few miserable 
 apologies for cannoniers, (who have in fact little of the cannouier in them but the 
 name,) and some spahis. It being a time of war when I was in the Morea, so 
 that the province was considered in danger, although protected by a formidable 
 fleet, a body of six thousand troops was then maintained there. I saw these 
 poor wretches arrive atTripolitza, from the different towns in the empire whence 
 they had been ordered, most of them destitute of arms and half famished, having 
 performed a long and fatiguing march without order and without chiefs. But 
 the cavalry was the body which, of all others, entertained me the most ; it was 
 impossible in seeing them to surmise from what country they could have been col- 
 lected. Some were on horses caparisoned with pack-saddles, having no other arms 
 than a musquet, some had only an enormous lance, others only a pair of pistols, 
 while the horses seemed to be lamentably defective in the quality most important 
 to soldiers of such a species, the power of running away tolerably fast, so as to 
 give their riders some chance of drawing themselves fairly out of the scrape. 
 
 The Albanians however, though undisciplined, had something like a regular 
 organization. They were divided into chiliads, or bodies of a thousand each, hav- 
 ing at the head of each division a bimbachi, or chief of a thousand. This chief 
 was distinguished by a tunic, like that worn by the deacons of the church, 
 and long epaulets which hung down to his elbows; he had under him captains, 
 lieutenants, and commanders of companies, but these companies did not consist 
 of any fixed number of soldiers. Each individual when enlisted received a sum 
 of money, out of which he was to furnish himself with proper clothes, arms, and 
 other necessaries, the government not charging itself besides with furnishing any 
 thing.except provisions ; of these the general allowance was a pound and half of 
 bread per day to each man, for which boiled wheat was sometimes substituted ; to 
 this were occasionally added a few olives, or a small quantity of cheese, but very 
 rarely any meat. It is not difficult to form an idea of what a body of troops 
 must be, without any proper discipline, without a military chest, or regular pay. 
 If it be added that these soldiers were mostly armed with a fowling-piece only, 
 without a bayonet, that some even among the infantry had nothing but pistols, 
 that all were obliged to cast their own bullets and make their own cartridges, 
 which are carried in a little square pouch, with a bottle of oil for cleaning the 
 
 R 2 
 
124 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 gun, — when all these things are considered, one cannot entertain a high idea of 
 the power of a country which depends for its safety upon such defenders. 
 
 In garrison, instead of practising themselves in the manoeuvres o£, their pro- 
 fession, the Turkish soldiers pass the day in sleeping, smoking, drinking coffee, 
 and playing on the mandoline: if however the enemy be mentioned, they make 
 a great boast to each other of the number of heads they will strike off. Those 
 who hear their conversations and compare them with their known feats in the 
 hour of battle, cannot but acknowledge the justice of the adage, which represents 
 
 them as 
 
 Fierce in the camp, but trembling in the field. 
 
 If they are menaced with danger, or are apprehensive of a surprise, instead of 
 placing sentinels round the camp, the whole army keep watch together. This is 
 a scene of great festivity ; the dervises sing their canticles, or relate stories from 
 the Tliousand and one Nights, till they are all overcome with sleep ; and more than 
 once in the last war the Russians owed the advantages they gained to this most 
 unaccountable mode of conduct. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. ]2' 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Character of the Morean Greeks. — The Greek ivomen. — Superstitions of these 
 people. — Their honorary titles. — Pride of the Greeks in their ancient monuments. 
 — Education of their children. — Amusements of the young people. — Music and 
 songs of the Greeks. 
 
 Romei, (Romans) how much was I struck with this word when I first heard 
 the Greeks called by it ! Fallen from their ancient splendour, they have lost with 
 their liberty, with their clays of glory, even the name by which their forefathers 
 were known. Children of Sparta, inhabitants of Tegea, of Athens, and of 
 Argos, all are confounded under one general name ; and that name taken from 
 the Romans, their first conquerors, seems to have, been preserved by the Mussul- 
 mans as a badge of humiliation ; for in the estimation of these barbarians the 
 name of Romans, of the people-king, is equivalent to that of vassal or slave. 
 
 In order to judge impartially the Greeks whom I have known, I will endeavour 
 equally to avoid the cavilling and fastidious spirit of Monsieur de Pauw, and the 
 too flattering opinion of Monsieur Guys, who pleased himself with the idea that 
 he had found the ancient Greeks in modern Greece. It is certain that the Greeks 
 in these days have, like all nations, a physiognomy peculiar to themselves ; but, 
 unhappily, this physiognomy draws its principal characteristic from the state of 
 slavery and oppression in which they are plunged, differing in this most essen- 
 tially from the former inhabitants of the country. But who is not, alas ! well 
 aware how much the iron rod of despotism debases nations, as well as individuals ? 
 For the rest, since the task I have undertaken is to represent things as they are, 
 without pretending to explain their causes, 1 will neither overcharge nor weaken 
 the characteristics of the people among whom I was so long a sojourner. 
 
 The Morean Greeks, or inhabitants of the Morea, are strong made, robust, and 
 distinguished by a cast of features full of expression, yet, as I have observed, 
 evidently debased by slavery. Endowed naturally with strong talents, which by 
 circumstances are diverted from taking a course that would render them at once 
 useful and ornamental to society, they are profound dissemblers, crafty and vain : 
 extremely addicted to talking, little dependence is to be placed upon what they 
 
126 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 say : entertaining no scruples of perjuring themselves, they scarcely utter a word, 
 or traffic for the most trifling article, without invoking a whole legion of saints as 
 witnesses to their probity. Gay, lively, inclined to dissipation, they make them- 
 selves agreeable, as companions, without inspiring confidence ; possessing active 
 imaginations, their language abounds with ornament, with figures, with meta- 
 phors, with similes : if they talk of liberty, it is in a strain of exaggeration which 
 would make one believe that they are ready to undertake any thing, to make any 
 sacrifices in the pursuit of it ; yet it is too evident that the indignation they 
 manifest against their oppressors, arises less from the desire of enfranchisement 
 than from that of seeing their own mode of worship the predominant one. It 
 is but too evident what is to be expected of people actuated by such an ambition. 
 The descendants of IVJiltiades and Cimon, bowed down under the two-fold de- 
 spotism of the Turks and their papas, are wholly incapable of conceiving, or 
 prdsecuting, an enterprise of that bold and generous nature requisite to afford a 
 prospect of their restoration to the political situation the country once enjoyed. 
 The modern Greeks, I cannot, alas! hesitate to say it, would see nothing in a 
 revolution but the triumph of their religion, without concerning themselves 
 about political liberty. I must add, that if they hate the Turks, they detest 
 much more, astonishing as it may seem, the Christians who acknowledge the 
 authority of the Pope. This fact is so certain that the Greeks, if asked who they 
 are, always answer Christians, in the fear that they should be taken for Papists. 
 This hatred of Roman catholics is cherished by their papas, who are continually 
 talking of the maledictions uttered by the Pope against all who are not his dis- 
 ciples, and telling dismal stories of the Greeks that die among the Latins being 
 deprived of the rights of sepulture. 
 
 The opinion I have here given respecting the motives that would actuate the 
 Greeks in undertaking a revolution is supported very much by what passed in 
 1 77°' At sight of the victorious banners of Catherine the whole Morea hastened to 
 aims ; the Greeks assembling themselves together tumultuously without order, and 
 without any plan, bathed themselves at leisure in the blood of the Mussulmans; 
 not because they saw in them tyrannical oppressors and formidable enemies, but 
 because they were infidels. They thought more of revenging the profanation of 
 their temples, and the persecution of the Christian religion, than of throwing off 
 the yoke of slavery which bore so heavily upon them *. Their minds were too 
 
 * The conduct of the Souliotes in the affair of Prevesa, an account of which will be found in a future 
 chapter, gives the ejtact measure of what may now be expected from the Greeks. 
 
TRAVELS IN' THE MOREA. 127 
 
 weak, their character too vacillating, to permit of their ideas being directed to an 
 end so noble as the general enfranchisement of the country. Thus, when sub- 
 dued, we see them quietly stretching out their necks to their merciless conquerors, 
 instead of intrenching themselves in the defiles of their mountains, and there pe- 
 rishing with their arms in their hands. It is true that the religion for which they 
 fought offered them the crown of martyrdom, and this they received with as much 
 transport as if it had been the blood of the Mussulmans with which they saw their 
 lands dyed, instead of that of their own party. Such men may be good Chris- 
 tians, but they are bad defenders of their wives, their children, and their country. 
 It is this spirit which has consolidated, for so many ages, the slavery of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 Besides the above causes for believing that this slavery is not likely to be near 
 its termination, there is another belonging to the character of the people which 
 will operate not less forcibly, and that is the jealousy by which they are divided 
 among themselves. The tyrannical empire exercised by the subaltern agents of 
 the satraps, thos.e vile instruments of their exactions, the codja-bachis, who are 
 taken from among the Greeks, presents the greatest of all obstacles to the progress 
 of liberal and enlarged sentiments among their brethren. I must here make an 
 exception in favour of the island of Chios. To the honour of the magistrates and 
 of the inhabitants it must be said, that such governors and such a people give rea- 
 son for entertaining the most flattering expectation from the progress of reasoa 
 among them. For the rest, I relate what I have seen, with the probable inferences 
 to be drawn from it, without pretending to give them as absolutely necessary 
 consequences. If, besides, to what has been said above we add an insatiable love 
 of power, a restless and quarrelsome disposition, and a spirit of intrigue which 
 seems innate in the Greeks, there will appear little reason to hope that an union 
 among such persons can speedily be formed upon that grand and enlarged scale 
 which alone could afford a prospect of their ancient splendour being restored. Such 
 are the modern sons of Greece, at least such they appeared to me. The picture, 
 I will own, is not flattering ; but my pen has been guided by truth alone, and 
 this is the object to which the first homage of every writer is indisputably due. 
 
 The Morean women have undoubtedly a claim to the prize of beauty, perhaps 
 also to the palm of virtue. They may probably owe the first advantage to phy- 
 sical causes not difficult to he assigned. During the greater part of the year the 
 sun warms the Morea with its benignant rays: the air is free from all humidity, 
 and, charged with the perfume of thousands of flowers, is pure and vivifying, while 
 
128 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the temperature is mild and serene as in our finest days of spring. If to this be 
 added the moderate share of labour to which the women of the East are subjected, 
 and the regular lives they lead, — in these united causes a sufficient reason will be 
 found for the beauty which has always distinguished the women of Peloponnesus. 
 
 The models which inspired Apelles and Phidias are still to be found among 
 them. They are generally tall and finely formed ; their eyes are full of fire, and 
 they have a beautiful mouth ornamented with the finest teeth. There are, how- 
 ever, degrees in their beauty, though all in general may be called handsome. The 
 Spartan woman is fair, of a slender make, but with a noble air; the women of 
 Taygetes have the carriage of Pallas when she flourished her formidable a?gis in the 
 midst of a battle. The Messenian woman is low in stature, and distinguished for 
 her embonpoint ; she has regular features, large blue eyes, and long black hair. 
 The Arcadian, in her coarse woollen garment, scarcely suffers the regularity of 
 her form to appear ; but her countenance is expressive of great purity of mind, and 
 her smile is the smile of innocence. Chaste as daughters, the women of the Morea 
 assume as wives even a character of austerity. Rarely after the death of a hus- 
 band whom she loved does the widow ever think of contracting a new engagement. 
 Supporting life with difficulty, deprived of the object of her affections, the re- 
 mainder of her days are often passed in weeping her loss. Endowed with organs 
 sensible to melody, most of the Greek women sing in a pleasing manner, accom- 
 panying themselves with a tetrachord, the tones of which are an excellent support 
 to the voice. In their songs they do not extol the favours of love, they do not 
 arraign the coldness and inconstancy of a lover; it is rather a young man who 
 pines away with love, as the grass is withered on the house-tops ; who complains 
 of the cruelty of his inflexible mistress, — who compares himself to a bird deprived 
 of his mate, to a solitary turtle dove ; — who requires all nature, in short, to share 
 in his sorrows. At this long recital of woes, the companions of the songstress 
 are often melted into tears, and quit her with warm expressions of delight at the 
 pleasure they have received. 
 
 If the Greek women have received from the hand of nature the gift of beauty 
 as their common dower, and a heart that loves with ardour and sincerity, they 
 have the defects of being vain, avaricious, and ambitious; at least this is'the case 
 with those in the higher ranks of society. Totally destitute of instruction, they 
 are incapable of keeping up a conversation in any degree interesting, nor can sup- 
 ply their want of education by a natural playfulness of imagination which gives 
 birth intuitively to lively sallies, and often charms in women more than cultiva- 
 
TRAVELS JN THE MOREA. . 1 29 
 
 lion of mind. It may be said in general that the Greece women know nothing : 
 even those who are born in the higher ranks are ignorant of the art of presiding in 
 their own houses ; an art so well known, and so well practised in our own country, 
 that a woman destitute of real knowledge has often by this means drawn around 
 her a circle of the most cultivated and most amiable among the other sex. As 
 a proof of the total want of education among the Greek women, I cannot help add- 
 ing that I have often heard at Constantinople, even from the mouths of those who 
 bore the title of princesses, the grossest language used towards their servants, such 
 as would not be endured among us but from the very lowest dregs of the people. 
 It is not difficult, from this specimen, to form an idea of the charm which such 
 sort of female society presents to Europeans of polished countries. 
 
 A belief in sorcery or witchcraft, that great stumbling-block of the human un- 
 derstanding in all ages and climes, is exceedingly prevalent in modern Greece. 
 A number of old Sibyls, withered sorceresses of the race known among us by the 
 name of Bohemians o.r Egyptians, the refuse of Thessaly, a country celebrated in 
 all times for female magicians, are in high repute in every part of the Morea. 
 They explain signs, interpret dreams, and all the delirious wanderings of the ima- 
 gination. Reverenced, feared, caressed, nothing is done without consulting them ; 
 nor is it difficult to conceive how unbounded an empire these imposters obtain 
 over imaginations as ardent, united with minds as little cultivated as characterize 
 the Grecian women. 
 
 A young woman wishes to know what sort of a husband she is to have. She 
 consults one of these oracles of fate, who gives her a pie seasoned with mint and 
 other aromatic herbs gathered from the mountains. This she is to eat at night 
 without drinking, and go to bed immediately, first hanging round her neck, in 
 a little enchanted bag, three flowers, one white, another red, and the third 
 yellow. The next morning she puts her hand into the bag and draws out one of 
 the flowers : if it be the white, she is to marry a young man ; if the red, one of 
 a middle age; if the yellow, a widower. She is then to relate what she has 
 dreamt in the night, and from her dreams the Sibyl draws omens, whether 
 the husband is to be rich, and whether the marriage is to prove happy or not. 
 If the predictions be not accomplished, no fault is ever ascribed to the oracle; 
 either her orders were not exactly observed, or the Evil-eye has rendered her 
 divinations abortive. This Evil-eye, the Arimanes of the ancients, is a daemon 
 the enemy of all happiness, the very name of whom terrifies even the most 
 courageous. According to the Greeks, this spirit or invisible, power is grieved at 
 
 s 
 
150 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 all prosperity, groans at success, is indignant at a plentiful harvest, or at the 
 fecundity of the flocks, murmurs even against heaven for having made a young 
 girl pleasing or handsome. In consequence of so strange a superstition, no one 
 thinks of congratulating another upon having handsome children, and they care- 
 fully avoid admiring the heauty of a neighbour's horse, for the Evil-eye would 
 very prohably at the same instant afflict the children with a leprosy, or the 
 horses with lameness. The power of this genius even extends to taking away 
 treasures of every kind from those by whom they are possessed. If however, in 
 complimenting the heauty of the children or the horses, care is taken to talk of 
 garlic or to spit, the charm is broken. 
 
 In consequence of this prejudice, that one constantly sees garlic hung up 
 in a house newly built, that the Evil-eye mav be kept at a distance. Every 
 Greek vessel also is provided with a head of garlic tied up in a little bag, as a 
 preservative against tempests*. Garlick ! garlick ! Scordo! scordo ! is the general 
 cry whenever any misfortune is apprehended ; and never is any accident, of 
 whatsoever kind it may be, imputed to any thing but the Evil-eye. A singular 
 custom which prevails in Greece is, that when any one has fallen under the 
 influence of that metaphysical allegorical being called misfortune, he salutes it, 
 not in terms of anger or reproach, but with this simple sentiment: " IFelconie, 
 misfortune! if thou art alone!" This mode of salutation will appear very 
 appropriate, when we consider how rarely it happens that one misfortune 
 occurs without being accompanied by another, or perhaps by others. 
 
 My indignation was once so excited by seeing the influence which one of 
 these sorceresses had obtained over the minds of a number of persons upon a 
 particular point, that I was strong! v inspired with a wish to undeceive them 
 as to the extent of her power. I therefore took the liberty of making some 
 objections to her art ; this put her at first into a violent rage, and she began ful- 
 minating against me. Far however from producing the effect she expected, I 
 only assumed a higher and more decisive tone, and bade her beware how she 
 incensed me, for I could really bewitch her, and subject her to be tormented by 
 the Devil. She was like one thunderstruck ; and I saw plainly, that though she 
 might be sufficiently wily to make others her dupes, she was not enough so to 
 — „ — .- . - — i — i f ■ . 
 
 * A captain who has purchased a vessel which he is to command himself, takes possession by going 
 on board and hanging up in it a crown of laurel ; this ceremony is called espousing the vessel. The 
 bag of garlic is hung up immediately after it has been performed. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 131 
 
 be above being duped herself by those who were free from belief in her agency. 
 I saw her again several times, but she never ventured again to talk, to me on the 
 subject of magic. 
 
 These pnerile fears are common to both sexes in the Morea. The men, decided 
 blasphemers, swear without mercy by the heads of their children, or by their 
 souls, but they dare not pronounce the name of the Devil. If they are desirous 
 of uttering the wish so common among mankind towards each other, Que le 
 Dlable {emporte! instead of expressing themselves in these plain and direct terms, 
 they turn the phrase circuitously : " May he who is in a certain place far from 
 hence take thee!' 1 '' a truly humorous modification. In the churches however, 
 where they are supposed to be entirely safe from this object of their terror, he is 
 mentioned freely and sans ccrcmonie ; the papas consign their flocks to him 
 without mercv ; they dispute,, they rail at each other with his name perpetually 
 in their mouths, though the moment they are without the walls they would 
 almost expect him to be at their elbows, should they dare even to utter a letter 
 of it. 
 
 Their habitual language equally bespeaks them full of superstitious notions. 
 A pretty woman who wants to enforce strenuously any thing she has advanced, 
 says, "May I live!" — "May I preserve my sight!" If she wants to make a 
 falsehood pass current, a thing which happens occasionally in Greece as well as 
 in all other countries, she changes the latter phrase and expresses herself thus, 
 " May I lose my sight !" though the imprecation is generally uttered with a kind 
 of hesitation which betrays some apprehension for the safety of the eyes. The 
 name of the Virgin is to be found in all places where the ancients were accustomed 
 to use that of Jupiter in support of an affirmation. 
 
 Amongst the signs of malediction in use among the Greeks, the most forcible 
 is the holding out the five fingers extended all at once. This explains a passage 
 in the Andria of Terence, where one of the characters says, using the same 
 action, Ecce tibi dono ouinque, — " I give thee five." So much exception is 
 made to the number of five, that nobody thinks even of repeating the word in 
 conversation unless accompanied with an apology. What is the origin of so 
 strange a prepossession ? I know not, and do not think it a matter of great im- 
 portance to investigate. 
 
 After having shown how much the modern Greeks are given up to superstition, 
 and the degree of debasement to which their minds are reduced by the slavery 
 under which they have so long languished, another feature of their character will 
 
 s2 
 
132 TRAVELS IN THE MO RE A. 
 
 appear the more extraordinary; this is the vanity which all have more or less of 
 being distinguished by the most pompous titles. Nothing is heard among them 
 but the titles of archon, prince, most illustrious, and others equally high-sounding; 
 the title of His Holiness is given to their papas. The child accustomed to forget 
 the most endearing of all appellations, the wife forgetting that which she ought 
 most to cherish, salute the father and the husband with the title of Signor, at 
 the same time kissing his hand. This name, which is only a term of submission, 
 is by the pride of the Greeks preferred to all others, for the very reason that it 
 seems to acknowledge superiority in the person to whom it is addressed. 
 
 It is from this sentiment of vanity that those Greeks who have acquired anv 
 knowledge of the history of their country, speak with so much pride of the 
 ancient relics still scattered over it. According to the affinity which may be 
 found in their names to any of those celebrated in antiquity, they call themselves 
 the descendants of Codrus, of Phidias, of Themistocles, of Belisarius. The same 
 sentiment leads them to hoard up money, that they may be enabled at last to 
 purchase some situation which shall give them the power of domineering over 
 their brethren? and this achieved, it is by no means unusual to see them become 
 more insolent and tyrannical towards them than the Turks themselves. They 
 justify in this respect but too fully the common saying, that the Turk has no 
 better instrument for inferring slavery than the Greek. 
 
 To give a complete idea of the moral character of this nation, the ceremonies 
 attendant upon the birth of a child must by no means be omitted. No sooner is 
 it come into the world than it is covered with amulets, vows are offered up respect- 
 ing its future fate, and it is marked on the forehead with mud taken from the 
 bottom of a vessel in which water has been kept for some time : this is done to 
 keep off the Evil-eye. Some days after preparations are made for the fairies' 
 visit. The room is ornamented with the cleanest tapestries, the child's cradle is 
 decorated with shawls, with precious stones, and some sequins; all sorts of pre- 
 cautions are taken that nothing may be left about the room which these invisible 
 visitors might be liable to stumble against; and this done, the people in attend- 
 ance seat themselves in respectful silence, and remain motionless during the 
 time that the visit is assumed to last. These fairies are four in number, and 
 their errand is to confer their gifts upon the new-born infant ; nor does the 
 mother ever fail to boast of the power of her visitants, and the favours they have 
 lavished upon her child. 
 
 This ceremony over, that of baptism succeeds. The child is carried to church. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 13$ 
 
 not, as with us, simply to besprinkled upon the head with water, — whatever may 
 be the season it is immersed entirely*, and, without any regard to its weakness 
 or compassion for its cries, well washed and rubbed ; it is only by this means 
 that the original sin of the father of mankind, the work of the dtemon, can be 
 counteracted. The papas who performs this ceremony wipes the child dry, 
 saying, " Go, my son, now thou art clean." Thus preserved from the Rvil-eye r 
 enriched with the gifts conferred by the fairies, and regenerated by passing 
 through the holy water, the child is consigned entirely to the care of its mother; 
 tio hireling is ever employed to afford it nourishment, its first smite is met by the 
 affectionate glances of her to wham it owes its birth, it receives all the cares, ail 
 the attentions which its feeble age requires from maternal tenderness alone. 
 
 The only time that a Greek can be said to be thoroughly happy in the course 
 of his life is in infancy ; for he is left to grow at full liberty, like the robust vege- 
 tables which adorn his native soil. At this delightful sera the Greeks are not 
 subject to the barbarous treatment which the children of the lower classes in 
 more civilized countries too often experience, nor are their countenances expres- 
 sive of any kind of painful sentiment. Very rarely beaten, their offences are 
 acquitted for some insignificant imprecations which pass fleetingly over their 
 minds, and have no other effect than recalling them to docility and obedience. 
 All the little sports of infancy common to most countries are familiar to them. 
 
 When arrived at the age that reason begins to develop itself, they are sent to 
 school to a papas. In examining the mode of instruction practised by these 
 ignorant masters, one is led to wonder how a child ever arrives even at the 
 knowledge of his letters. The master seated in his arm chair or upon a bench, 
 in the attitude of one half stupefied by the vapour of oj)ium, and armed with a 
 long wand, with which he strikes at random, hears his scholars. One among 
 them reads, and the others follow aloud with a variety of tones and inflections of 
 voice directly in opposition the one to the other. But the most singular part of 
 the story is, that these rogues, already as crafty as their fathers, soon acquire the 
 art of deceiving the master completely, by reading with the utmost effrontery in 
 different books, though they are assumed to be reading the same lesson. This 
 however produces but little difference with regard to the lessons ; for after a short 
 time the scholars, more faithful to the impressions of the voice than to what they 
 
 * I speak here only of the Morea and Albania. I am told that in other parts of Greece they havst 
 the precaution in cold weather to warm the water for the baptism, 
 
134 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 have before their eyes, repeat after each other, while the book does not contain » 
 syllable of what they read so well. After reading comes writing, an exercise which 
 is better understood, but which few children acquire a habit of doing with facility. 
 The first elements of religion are equally taught, provided the papas knows them 
 himself. In any case he instructs them how to extend their arms properly, and 
 to incline their bodies as they make the sign of the cross ; he teaches them that 
 the Turks are dogs, who cannot fail to be eternally damned ; and that, if they 
 respect the papas, and pay them well, they may be sure of going to paradise them- 
 selves. 
 
 In order to form the child to a rapid pronunciation of the Greek language, and 
 to a harmony of intonation, I have known masters in the Morea repeat to their 
 pupils the following verses, which are only a play upon words resulting from an 
 inversion of phrases put into measure : 
 
 'Ottou rr t v e[j.oXii*ox.XYTr t \oV£\txr l <rtv 
 'O uio> ~'Z [j.CiXvGci-x.xvr^toveXex.rjTTJ, 
 Na%x x' iyuj toy yiov tou jj.oXuSoKxyTijXoTreXsy.rjrj, 
 Tr t v su.oXvgox.ctvnitoTreXtKigz 
 
 KaXXlrsca irapd toy v'oy T&ij poXigor.xvrriXwrixyrTj*. 
 This exercise, under the form of a game, is particularly used to cure children 
 who are subject to stammering, or to shortness of breath. The verses are well cal- 
 culated to teach the proper articulation of an idiom, the participles of which, and 
 above all the compounds, are what Horace calls sesquipedalia verba. 
 
 The Greek girls cannot properly be said to receive any education. They are 
 instructed in nothing but a few domestic occupations, and when grown up are in 
 a considerable degree sequestered from societv. 
 
 Among the amusements of the young men, foot races hold the first rank. 
 This exercise is particularly prevalent in Arcadia in the fine days of summer ; the 
 old men, or papas, preside at it, and a prize is awarded to the victor. Wrestling, 
 
 * Monsieur Pouqueville has given in his work a sort of French translation of these verses, in which it 
 may truly be said that there is neither rhyme nor reason. The verses themselves seem to bear a consi- 
 derable affinity to the well-known English ones beginning 
 
 When a twister in tsvisting would twist him a twist, 
 &c. &c. Sec. 
 which would hardly admit of being translated into Greek ; and these Greek verses seem equally untrans- 
 latable into any other language. Such is the opinion of a very good Greek scholar to whom they have 
 been submitted. — Tkansi.ato*. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 135 
 
 the dgerid, and the disc, games handed down from antiquity, still maintain their 
 place among the pastimes of the youth. At the former I have been present my- 
 self, and have no doubt that it is performed exactly as in former times at the 
 celebrated Olympic games. The athletee, undressed from the waist upwards, 
 appear two by two. They are surrounded by an immense concourse of specta- 
 tors, all offering up prayers for one or other of the combatants., When the signal 
 is given by the music, they advance with measured steps, beating time, and then 
 take attitudes like those of our fencers. After clapping with their hands, they 
 animate themselves by humming certain airs, and then the contest commences. 
 Their hands are pressed with all their strength upon the shoulders of each other, 
 as a first essay of their respective powers ; but like two sturdy oaks they remain 
 immoveable, and commonly resist the shock. Soon their nervous arms are inter- 
 laced within each other, and it is at this moment that their greatest exertions 
 are called forth : we see them employ by turns, or sometimes at the same moment, 
 all their strength and skill, make use of all their stratagems, till one at length 
 falls to the ground upon his back, and holds out his hand to his antagonist as an 
 acknowledgement of his defeat. Proud of his triumph, the victor then receives 
 the prize contended for, while the vanquished hastens eagerly away through the 
 crowd, to avoid the looks of the spectators. 
 
 It was in the presence of Mustapha-pasha, who was extremely fond of this 
 exercise, that I saw it performed. To the wrestling succeeded the dgerid, which 
 was performed by the Turks. Mounted on horses rapid as the wind, they charge 
 with the utmost impetuosity, throwing lances four feet in length, the stroke of 
 which often does some material injury : to this sport was ascribed the number of 
 one-eyed persons to be seen among the officers of the pasha's household, and 
 among his delis or cavaliers. The disc, in which the ancient Greeks showed 
 all the strength of their powerful arms, consists in supporting a stone of twenty 
 pounds weight in the palm of the hand, when raised to a level with the head. 
 Then setting out from a given point and running to an appointed place, he who 
 can throw the disc furthest obtains the prize. It was probably by this game 
 that the charming Hyacinthus perished ; he who was metamorphosed by the 
 gods into a flower, and for whose loss Apollo was so inconsolable. 
 
 These games, with the exception of the disc, are now practised by the Greeks 
 at certain epochs, and upon the occasion of certain festivities. It is then that 
 the people, forgetting for an instant their misfortunes, and restored to the natural 
 liveliness of their character, deserve to be studied. What shouts ! what bursts of 
 
136 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 laughter resound on all sides ! — what delight sparkles in every eye! Songs are 
 afterwards to be heard from every quarter, while the dances, by turns serious and 
 solemn, or light and airy, from their varied effects give added animation to the 
 scene. 
 
 Among the dances which I have seen is one called the Candian dance. This 
 is commonly performed by the young girls, and resembles somewhat the ballets 
 executed on our theatres. It has the appearance of being Ariadne indicating t© 
 Theseus the windings of the labyrinth. At least the intrigue or plot of the dance, 
 if I may be allowed the expression, answers to this story. At the same time it 
 may be resolved into many other stories, if it were not that the name leads us to 
 think of this, and that upon such a spot one is irresistibly' disposed to refer every- 
 thing to ancient times. Those, however, who perform the dance are ignorant 
 even of the name of the unfortunate princess whose adventure they represent : to 
 them it is only a common dance. Yet the tradition of it, according to all appear- 
 ance, must be referred to very remote antiquity. 
 
 In another dance, called the valaque, the young people seem to take a parti- 
 cular delight, from the extreme vivacity with which it is performed. A third 
 dance has the name of the Pyrrhic. Two men armed with ponards advance 
 with measured steps, nourishing their weapons, and pointing them first against 
 their own breasts, then against each other's; after which the dance is continued 
 with violent leaps, and other movements which require great power and strength. 
 The name of this martial exercise recalls the ideaof the celebrated king of Epirus, 
 from whom its name seems to be derived. Perhaps it owes its origin to him, or 
 he might at least encourage the adoption .of it, as being well suited to his warlike 
 genius. In seeing this dance I could fancy myself transported to ancient Sparta, 
 so strong an affinity did it seem to bear with the amusements of that nation. 
 I must confess that I was almost terrified when I saw the sort of delirium into 
 which the performers had at last worked themselves, thinking that it seemed 
 likely to end in some sanguinary affray. 
 
 Besides these historic dances, if so they may be called, there are others performed 
 among the Greeks, one of v\hich called the rameika, or Roman dance, pleased 
 me exceedingly. In the midst of one of the vast saloons of the East, or on a lawn 
 enamelled with flowers, there is something in it altogether enchanting. It begins 
 with a slow and serious movement, which constantly becomes quicker and quicker, 
 till the celerity with which it is performed at last is really astonishing. How 
 charming is that long line of lovely women, holding each other by the hand, pass- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 137 
 
 sng their arms alternately round each other, and throwing themselves into the 
 finest attitudes. Songs sung by the dancers regulate the time in concert with the 
 instruments. It is to be remarked that this custom, common in the East, of com- 
 bining the song with the dance, is still to be found in those parts of France which 
 were once occupied by the Romans, particularly at Marseilles, a Greek colony 
 founded by the Phocaeans. 
 
 To conclude what I have to say upon the dances most known and most practised 
 among the modern Greeks, it remains only to mention one common among the 
 Albanians, and distinguished by them under the title of the robbers' dance *. 
 This was performed before the pasha by the Albanian soldiers, in a vast hall lighted 
 only by tapers of yellow wax, which threw upon the spectators a pallid, gloomy, 
 and sepulchral hue. There appeared the pasha seated upon his sofa, having in 
 his girdle a poniard and two pistols, and a carbine lying by his side. Round 
 about was his court, composed of soldiers dressed in large cloaks, standing in atti- 
 tudes expressive of the utmost gloom and solemnity. The executioner, accord- 
 ing to his usual privilege, was seated opposite to the pasha, with his fierce eye 
 fixed upon him, as if ready to strike off the head of any one whom his highness 
 might by a sign indicate to him, and lay it humbly at his feet. Such was the 
 scene in which it was performed : such were the spectators of a dance calculated, 
 as its very name imports, only to please such people as the Albanians. The Co- 
 ryphsei, each with one arm round his neighbour's neck, and the other hand stuck 
 into his neighbour's girdle, formed a circle, which beginning in a slow time after- 
 wards made the most rapid movements, still maintaining the same rotatory figure, 
 and mingling with their movements the most horrid cries, all which was accom- 
 panied with music beyond expression clamorous and discordant. It sometimes 
 happens that the performers, in order to increase the interest of this dance, intro- 
 duce into it the Pyrrhian which has been mentioned above, and which in its cha- 
 racter accords perfectly with the other. After some time the circle is broke, and 
 the performers disperse themselves in pursuit of the robbers, whom they at length 
 seize and bring forward in triumph. It must be added, that the Greeks never 
 dissemble together in society without dancing. This exercise is the great amuse- 
 ment of persons of all ages; it forms a part of all public festivals. And in the 
 
 — : i ! — : * 
 
 * Xenophon, in his Retreat of the Ten Thousand, speaks of a robbers' dance very similar to this, which 
 the Greeks performed when they arrived on the shores of the Pontus Euxinus, in their return from the 
 Persian expedition. 
 
 T 
 
158 TRAVELS IN THE MOKEA. 
 
 days of repose consecrated to religion, it assists in dissipating the gloom occasioned 
 by-their state of slavery. 
 
 Though the Muses no longer inhabit Helicon, and their melodious songs no 
 more resound through the valleys of Thessalia ; — though the chaste sister of Apollo 
 no longer leads her companions in chorus along the banks of the Eurotas ; — 
 though Pan has quitted the bovvers of Arcadia, and Minerva has no longer anv 
 altars in Athens; — while the forgotten Peneus flows unobserved through the val- 
 leys of Tempe, — and the Alpheus, deprived of the glory attached to its name, is 
 no longer visited except by the shepherds who tend their flocks on its banks, o- 
 by travellers whom the ancient renown of Ens has attracted thither; — though 
 the art of Therpander is now almost unknown among the Greeks, enveloped in the 
 general catastrophe which swallowed up with their liberty the arts and sciences for 
 which they were so celebrated ; — though all these things, alas ! are so, yet among 
 the Arcadians, and the inhabitants of the coast, some songs are still to be found 
 which are evidently remains of antiquity. 
 
 Rhapsodists still exist, who after the example of ancient times celebrate the 
 exploits of warriors, in such strains as formerly were sung in praise of the buckler 
 of Achilles, of which so many wonders are related, while groupes of women weep 
 at the plaintive accents to which they listen. These songs are generally accom- 
 panied by the lyre. With their dances it has been already mentioned that songs 
 are generally mingled. Sometimes the chief of the dancers sings certain strophes, 
 which are afterwards repeated in chorus, to the sound of the lyres, the tambourines 
 and pipes, which regulate the steps of the dancers. These strophes form altogether 
 a hymn or song, extremely celebrated among the modern Greeks : it is indeed 
 almost to them what the ranee de vache is to the Swiss. It inspires even the 
 wildest inhabitants of the mountains with gaiety : there is not a shepherd who 
 does not sing it in his valleys, or a sailor who does not warble it on board his 
 ship, as an irresistible charm against ennui. This hymn, in short, heard by the 
 exiled Greek in a distant land, dissolves his heart with the recollection of his 
 country and his paternal roof*. 
 
 They have other songs entirely of a tender nature, where the lover speaks in 
 sounds the most languishing and affecting. With these I have been sensibly 
 touched ; but it is true that I heard them for the first time in one of those lovely 
 
 * It is given in the Appendix, No. 2, with an English translation ; as are also two other pieces of mo- 
 dern Greek poetry. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 139 
 
 nights wheu the obscurity, combined with the perfect stillness of the air, predis- 
 poses the mind to the reception of melancholy impressions *. Some of the airs 
 which are to be heard in the Morea are, however, evidently not of the country, 
 but borrowed from the Italians. They have probably been introduced by the in- 
 habitants of the Ionian islands, whose intercourse with Italy and the Archipelago 
 have afforded them opportunities of collecting songs, which they have adapted to 
 their own tastes. 
 
 Notwithstanding their ignorance of the principles upon which the arts of poetry 
 and music are founded, impromptus in both may occasionally be heard from the 
 Greeks, which would not disgrace counti-ies where the rules of these arts are better 
 understood. Such impromptus or cotsakias are indeed very much in vogue among 
 them at present ; and it is by the readiness with which they are uttered that the 
 beaux esprits of the country principally endeavour to shine. Nor are these merely 
 meteors of a moment : admired in the circle where they originate, they are re- 
 peated from one to another till they become as it were a standard source of enter- 
 tainment, and are thus brought into general circulation. On many occasions, 
 indeed, in social parties of pleasure, they who did not salute each other with a cot- 
 sakia f would hardly be esteemed Greeks. 
 
 The music of the Greeks of Epirus, the fierce Albanians, is of a very different 
 character: it is wild and barbarous, like the people by whom it is used, and breathes 
 nothing but war and carnage. It seems framed only to be repeated by the echoes 
 of the vast caverns and rugged rocks which they inhabit. Such music, truly 
 infernal, could only originate among the Scythians, or the Albanians who so 
 strongly resemble them ; and it is accompanied by these children of the Acro- 
 Ceraunian mountains with songs, which refer back to the glorious times of Scan- 
 derbeg their chief. One of their highest pleasures in them is, that they employ 
 them as a means of insulting the effeminacy of the Osmanlis ; for, though the 
 Albanians have adopted the Mussulmans' mode of worship, this seems to have been 
 done merely from motives of policy, since they take every opportunity of showing 
 the most sovereign contempt for them. 
 
 I cannot conclude this subject without adverting to the religious songs of the 
 Greeks ; these, executed in concert in the Christian churches, appeared to me 
 replete with interest, and truly calculated to charm the ear. I am aware, how- 
 
 * For a specimen of these songs see the Appendix, No. 2. 
 f Of these also a specimen will be found in the Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 T 2 
 
140 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 ever, that this charm is partly to be ascribed to the Greek language, which, pro- 
 nounced in all its purity, and with an exact attention to its prosody, has in itself 
 a natural melody. This concert of Christian voices at the foot of the altar is in- 
 disputably very superior to the solemn, but too heavy and monotonous march of 
 the full choir in our churches. 
 
 If the colsakias form the principal amusement of the beaux esprits of both sexes 
 in Greece, I must not omit to observe, that their conversation is also enlivened by 
 another species of wit, and that is proverbs. It will, perhaps, not be unamusing 
 to my readers to be presented with some specimens of the manner in which they 
 are introduced. Take care, said one of them, of exciting the suspicion of your 
 enemies: it is better not to disturb a serpent that sleeps. Let us suffer with pa- 
 tience : he that would have the rose must take the thorns. And, in waiting for the 
 hour of deliverance, let us kiss the hand that we cannot cut off". An inconsiderate 
 rashness may destroy us for ever : and zvhen the chariot is broken, they shoiu us the 
 road that we ought to have taken. One hand ivashes the other, says one ; and 
 both u<ash the face. I know the world, I can never forget a favour, vinegar 
 given is sweeter than honey. Perhaps, sometimes, too much frankness is hurtful; 
 for he ivho tells truth is driven from the town, but nobody throws stones at a barren 
 tree. I offer up my vows for the happiness of my country ; and if sometimes I 
 controvert the prejudices by which it is blinded, I care little about idle clamours : 
 the dog barks, but the caravan pursues its way. I blush at the greater part of our 
 maxims ; and instead of kissing the hand that we cannot ait off, let us deserve by 
 our virtues to see an end of our miseries! Let us render ourselves worthy of our 
 ancestors ! Charitable towards each other, inseparable and united, let us take the 
 hand of him ivho reels, and God will support us. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 141 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Religion of the Moreans. — Their bishops. — Monks or caloyers. — Papas. — Their 
 Lents and other fasts. — Easter. — Sacraments. — Their festivals. — Marriages. — ■ 
 Furniture. — Funeral ceremonies. 
 
 Most travellers have spoken of the Greek religion, giving such explanations 
 of its doctrines and liturgies, that the subject may appear almost exhausted ;. 
 there still however remains something to be said respecting their church esta- 
 blishment. It is well known that the Greeks follow the primitive church,, without 
 acknowledging the pre-eminence of the successor of Saint Peter, or the procession 
 of the Holy Ghost excepting from the Father alone; theological questions involved 
 in such obscurity that they had better never be agitated. It is sufficient to say 
 that the descendants of Lycurgus and Solon belong to the august family of Chris- 
 tians, whom reason will one day all unite under the same standard.. Their wor- 
 ship, — tolerated, acknowledged by the capitulations of the Mussulman emperors 
 (for the latter revere Jesus Christ under the name of Issa, as the prophet who is 
 one day to preside at the universal judgement), would flourish much more exten- 
 sively, if their ministers, the papas, who are for the most part ignorant and coarse 
 in their manners, did not daily dishonour themselves and their religion by a con- 
 duct in direct opposition to the principles they publicly inculcate. 
 
 The ministers of the Greek church may be divided into regulars and seculars. 
 The patriarchs and bishops, who are taken from the class of caloyers or monks, 
 are devoted to celibacy. 'Tis among this order alone that a few are now to be 
 found tolerably well informed upon theological matters. But if they are not 
 wholly uninstructed, if they wear a mask of respectability in their external con- 
 duct,, they disgrace themselves by the perpetual intrigues in which they are 
 engaged to arrive at the dignities of the church ; these are often carried even to 
 the length of proscriptions. 
 
 The caloyers, who are destined one day to be patriarchs and bishops, usually, 
 begin their studies in the monasteries of Mount Athos*. Most of them belong 
 
 * The Greeks call Mount Athos "Ayiov'Opo;, the Holy Mountain, from the number of monasteries 
 there. Some of these are among the rihest and most powerful religious societies of Greece. 
 
142 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to the principal families among the Greeks, either to those who have the title of 
 princes in the Fanal*, or to the families of the superior citizens. In these mo- 
 nasteries, as well as in that of Patmos, they study the Fathers of the Church; 
 they even read Bossuet and some of the best French theologians, of which they 
 have tolerably good translations. But with their usual subtlety of spirit they load 
 even the most plain and simple articles of the Christian faith with a thousand 
 difficulties ; it seems as if they had brought the scholastic sophisms and dialectic 
 quarrels into the country of Aristotle. Mount Athos, therefore, instead of being 
 the asylum of peace and tranquillity, is the abode of discord and intrigue. Its 
 inhabitants are less occupied with praying to God, than with fomenting cabals to 
 raise themselves to honours and distinctions. It is to these monasteries, besides, 
 or to those of Meteora-f-, that the patriarchs retire who have been deposed by the 
 divan ; so that it often happens that the very same men who have descended the 
 Holy Mountain triumphantly in the midst of honours, to take upon themselves 
 the patriarchal office at Constantinople, have returned to it in tears and sadness, 
 to expiate by a long penitence the fatal ambition which led them to aspire to the 
 government of the Greek church. 
 
 But if Mount Athos be a perpetual scene of dissentions and intrigues, it is only 
 the point at which the far more extensive and powerful ones constantly carrying 
 on at the Fanal ultimately aim. It is in this abode of oligarchy that the great 
 intrigues are first set on foot which are intended to raise some prince born there, 
 but as yet only a simple caloyer of Mount Athos, to the patriarchal dignity. 
 By dint of money the vizier or those about him are first gained over, and they 
 gain over the sultan, by whom the investiture is given ; for the Turks, in their 
 capitulations with the Greeks, reserved to themselves the right of confirming the 
 elections of the chiefs in all the religions tolerated in their extensive empire, as 
 well the patriarchs of the Greek and Armenian churches, as the high priest of the 
 Jews. 
 
 But though the monasteries of Mount Athos and the isle of Patmos can boast 
 of having within their walls the children of the first families belonging to the 
 Greek persuasion, they are not the only societies of these monks in modern 
 
 * The Fanal is the name given to that part of Constantinople which is inhabited by the Greeks. 
 
 f Meteora is a district of Thessaly, about thirty leagues from Janina. In it are a number of monas- 
 teries of caloyers, built among the mountains. Son^e of them are ia places so exceedingly steep that 
 they can only be reached by means of rope ladders, or by getting into a basket which the monks draw 
 up by means of a crane. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 343 
 
 Greece. There are several in the Morea, but it is very rarely that even a bishop is 
 taken from among them ; and indeed, instruction is so entirely neglected in these 
 houses, that it must be confessed the members are not very well qualified for such 
 a dignity. The most remarkable among the religious communities are in Arcadia, 
 in parts about Sinano, in the neighbourhood of Mistra, near the mouth of the 
 river Lemnis, opposite to the island of Hydra and near Vostitza. The austere lives 
 led bv these coenobites are so much the more extraordinary, as no such austerities 
 are enjoined by the rules of their order. They are clothed in hair cloth, and, in 
 a country abounding with things to please the palate, live upon the coarsest food, 
 cultivating the earth with their own hands. They lie upon the ground, and 
 several times in the week inflict corporal discipline upon themselves. Their time 
 is in short divided between their manual labour and their religious exercises, 
 either in the church or in their own cells. Their usual study is the gospel, or 
 the homilies of the primitive fathers; but, whether from reason or from ignorance, 
 they regard all controversial theology as a tissue of chicanery offensive to God. In 
 a word, the caloyers of the Morea, by their austerities and modes of life, resemble 
 the disciples of the Abbe de Ranee, the celebrated monks of LaTrappe. 
 
 These convents, besides some endowments, receive large contributions from 
 the alms and donations of the faithful. The monks in the superior convents of 
 the order, in the time of Lent send out some of their fraternity to make evan- 
 gelical excursions about the country, which never fail of being very profitable. 
 The fathers of Mount Athos and Patmos, and even some from the monasteries 
 in Bceotia about Thebes, travel about the Morea, confessing/blessing, exorcising 
 but never except for ready money. I once found one of these missionaries 
 accompanied by several priests, who had been administering Extreme-unction to 
 a whole family, all of whom were in perfeet health*. I could not help therefore 
 expressing my surprise that they should think of going through such a ceremony; 
 but they replied with great simplicity, that they thought it as well to take this 
 precaution, since they might not perhaps have another opportunity of receiving 
 it from so holy a man. It was impossible not to smile inwardly, but 1 took care 
 to avoid saying any thing which might disturb their faith. 
 
 There are but very few female religious houses now remaining in the Morea ; 
 most of them were destroyed by the Albanians, after they had massacred the in- 
 
 * The Exlreme-unclion in the Greek church differs from that in the Roman. It requires seven priests 
 to administer it, and is administered indiscriminately to all who can afford to pay for it 3 always 
 however with the idea that it is to restore the communicant to health, 
 
144 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 habitants or sold them into slavery. These houses generally occupied some of the 
 finest spots in the province. Some are at present about to be re-established ; they 
 are resorted to chiefly by women of ardent imaginations, disappointed perhaps in 
 their earthly attachments, and who, from the necessity of finding some object on 
 which their affections must be fixed, throw themselves into the arms of religion. 
 Very few young girls are to be seen, as with us, consecrating the prime of their 
 youth to the service of their God. 
 
 The bishops have the superintendence of all the convents in their diocese. 
 They receive their investiture from the pasha of the province to which the 
 diocese belongs. These pastors recall, from the simplicity both of their dress and 
 their habitations, the bishops of the primitive church ; there is no appearance of 
 splendour about them, but in their religious ceremonies. Constantly watched 
 by the Turks who detest them, they are obliged to maintain a conduct free from 
 reproach, even if their consciences would not lead them to it : once degraded in 
 the public esteem, they would attempt in vain to conciliate the good-will of the 
 pashas ; even supported by the public opinion they have often difficulty enough 
 to avert their anger. They may frequently be seen in their dioceses walking 
 on foot, or mounted upon an ass, carrying in their hands the pastoral crook, 
 emblem of the mild nature of their functions, and of the spirituality of their 
 power. Occupied not only in endeavouring to speak comfort to the people, but 
 in protecting them a§ much as possible, they interpose as mediators in all dis- 
 cussions which it is of importance to keep concealed from the Turks. Through 
 the influence given by their rank, independently of the means of persuasion 
 derived from their education, they often succeed in conciliating the most opposite 
 interests. And yet, if the very same persons are encroached upon with regard to 
 the limits of their diocese by any neighbouring bishop, then the man breaks out, 
 the peaceable character which had acquired them so much respect is thrown 
 aside, their dignity is forgotten, and they give themselves up to the most 
 scandalous broils. 
 
 One of the most arduous and painful functions of the bishops in Greece is to 
 maintain order and discipline among the inferior clergy ; among those ignorant 
 and fanatical papas, far the greater part of whom dishonour the ministry by their 
 dissolute manners. These ministers may be either married or single. The 
 papas who had contracted a marriage before he took orders may continue to live 
 with his wife. In defence of this regulation, they urge that the apostles in be- 
 coming followers of Jesus Christ did not divorce their wives, and that when they 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 145 
 
 received the command to teach the gospel, and the power of remitting sins was 
 conferred upon them, their master made no inquiry whether they were married 
 or not. It is therefore very common for those among the Greeks who intend en- 
 gaging in the ministry, to marry before they enter it, choosing a robust healthy 
 woman likely to live. many years : for if she should happen to die they cannot 
 take upon themselves new ties. Those who are not married when they receive 
 orders, must remain single. The people, who are commonly disposed to pay great 
 respect to persons capable of enduring privations, honour their single more than 
 their wedded priests ; but the Turks, who judge the man alone, watch them the 
 most narrowly; and if they are only accused of any violation of their vow of celi- 
 bacy, their beard is immediately shaved, and they are led about the town mounted 
 on an ass, exposed to the derision and contempt of the populace. The rumour of 
 an affair of this kind, which had happened in Candia, had spread even to Tripo- 
 litza when I was there, and occasioned the utmost terror and dismay among 
 the priests. 
 
 The papas, from their extreme dirtiness and the coarseness of their manners, 
 are positively disgusting. They never go out without their stole * in their pockets, 
 in case they should be called upon to perform any of the functions of their mi- 
 nistry, a thing which happens not unfrequently. I am sorry to be obliged to say 
 that most of those who came under my observation were cheats, greedy of gain, 
 malicious, detesting all christians not of their own communion, never speaking of 
 them but with the utmost contempt, and uttering terrible imprecations against 
 them. -They have so little real sense of their situation, that they do not scruple 
 quitting their orders if they think it for their interest, or are inclined to it from 
 caprice : I have even known them go into service, or become public dancers. 
 Others, still more debased in mind, have not scrupled to associate themselves with 
 the bands of robbers that infest Romelia, or to put themselves at the head of the 
 maritime expeditions made by the pirates of Cape Tenarus. It is indeed rare 
 not to find an almoner among a band of robbers, or on board a piratical vessel : 
 such an one however has no hope of escape, if he should be taken by the Turks : 
 he is immediately, horrid to relate ! impaled alive. 
 
 This union of robbers and papas will not appear by any means unnatural, if 
 we consider the ideas these unhappy beings have of religion, and the traffic they 
 make of its most holy ceremonies. They sell absolutions for any crimes to those 
 
 * The stole is a part of the canonical dress, a sort of very long band. 
 
 U 
 
146 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 with whom they associate, reserving to themselves to purchase an absolution of 
 other papas for carrying on this traffic, and this absolution they never fail to 
 obtain by offering a sufficient price for it. It may however be urged as some ex- 
 tenuation of such a profanation, if any may be admitted, that they are compelled 
 to exonerate themselves in this way for the price they have been obliged to pay 
 for their places, as the patriarchs and bishops sell by wholesale what the lower 
 clergy thus deal out in retail. If they find their bishop watching them too 
 narrowly, they sometimes take umbrage, and in revenge assume the turban ; nor 
 is it very unusual among the renegadoes of the East, to find united with the name 
 of Ali, Selim, or Mustapha, the title of papas, the testimony of their desertion. 
 Bishops who are really respectable for their learning and good conduct are very 
 much to be pitied for having any concern with persons of such a description, 
 actuated only by meanness and cupidity, and scarcely understanding Greek 
 enough to read their breviary. Many of them excuse themselves from any trouble 
 upon this latter account, and repeat a few prayers which they have by some means 
 or other learned by heart, but the sense of which they are very far from com- 
 prehending. 
 
 Fasting is considered in the Greek church as so very important a part of re- 
 ligion, that there are only a hundred and thirty days in the year free from it. 
 Besides the four Lents which precede Easter, Whitsunside, the Assumption, and 
 Christmas, they have vigils without end. Every Wednesday is a fast, because it 
 was on that day that Judas received the money from the Jews for betraying 
 Christ, and Friday in remembrance of the crucifixion. It is difficult to form an 
 idea of the manner in which the Greeks live on these days, particularly during 
 the whole of the Lent that precedes Easter. The women are then occupied in 
 searching for snails, and gathering herbs of various kinds, often from the most 
 rugged rocks, or from lands the most unproductive. Perhaps it is this which has 
 given occasion to a proverb very common, that a Greek can live where' an ass would 
 be starved. 
 
 The time of Lent is one of expiation ; and though all other crimes may be 
 compromised, he who should have violated a fast, and should accuse himself of 
 it, would scarcely be able to obtain absolution at any price. I have seen people 
 in sickness, or women lying-in, refuse not only to eat meat, but to take a smail 
 quantity of broth, because it would be violating the fast. I have remonstrated 
 with them in vain, representing how great a risk they were running; they 
 answered me coolly, that what God had ordered could not be dispensed with. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 147 
 
 Witnessing such austerities, I was curious to see the religious ceremonies observed 
 during the fortnight preceding Easter. They began on the eve of Palm Sunday, 
 when the shops were shut. The next day the Greeks, carrying branches of 
 laurel, palm, or olive, celebrated the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem. Con- 
 fession succeeded on the following days ; and this is the great harvest of the papas 
 by their traffic in absolutions ; for these there is a sort of tat if. A man of the 
 ordinary class pays for blasphemy one or two parats ; and in this way all sins have 
 their stated prices, rising in proportion to the rank and wealth of the offender, 
 and the nature of his offence. 
 
 On the present occasion I was witness of a very amusing scene with our host 
 Constantine. He came home in a great rage, with his mustachios fresh trimmed, 
 having been to acknowledge his peccadillos preparatory to Easter; but far from 
 having any appearance of the penitent about him, he was swearing and railing 
 like any Pagan. 
 
 " Hey ! — how's this? — what is the matter, Constantine ?" said I. 
 
 " May he die ! — may he who belongs to a certain place far from hence take 
 him and carry him away ! — the rascal! — the villain !" 
 
 " Take whom ? — some Turk ?" 
 
 " Bah ! bah ! much worse ! — a papas of St. Demetrius." 
 
 " How! — :dare you speak thus against a papas?" 
 
 " Aye, to be sure ; for he would not give me absolution." 
 
 " You are such a dreadful sinner that I am not at all surprised." 
 
 " Bah ! that is not the thing : no no, he wanted twelve piastres, not a doit less. 
 There's no bearing that : — who can go to confession at that rate ?" 
 
 " Well, and what is to be done in such a case ?" 
 
 " Done ? — why go to another, to be sure ; and that's what I will do before this 
 story gets wind." 
 
 In effect, away he went, and presently returned with an air of triumph, 
 making signs to me with his hands that he had succeeded, he had got his abso- 
 lution, and gave only five piastres for it ; so he was even with the other rascal. 
 
 On the Thursday before Easter all the Greeks, old and young, males and 
 females, go to church and partake of the sacrament in both kinds. In the 
 evening they have a sort of general supper in the church, and the night is passed 
 there in prayers: the women, dissolved in tears, relate the history of our Saviour's 
 sufferings at this period, they follow him step by step. through his passion, and 
 seem as if they actually shared his torments. The next day, Good Friday, they 
 
 u 2 
 
148 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 abstain from every kind of food till sunset, and then take nothing but a little 
 bread and water. They pass the night again in watching, but not in the holy 
 place: they go about the streets wandering hither and thither, and telling stories 
 to pass away the time, taking care however to be very sparing of their oaths. 
 On the Saturday the countenances begin somewhat to brighten, they are illumined 
 by some expression of hope; all hands are actively employed in preparing cakes 
 and dressing eggs, which are coloured in a variety of ways. The bleating of lambs 
 which the people are carrying to be blessed is to be heard on all sides; some 
 have their horns gilt, others are ornamented with ribbands. Noon arrives, 
 distant strains of joy begin to resound from every quarter, the odour of the pre- 
 parations begins to scent the air; the lyre and the tambourine, silent during the 
 whole time of Lent, now again salute the ear with their jovial notes. The nuptial 
 garments laced with gold are taken from an old chest of osier, the women clean 
 their houses, torrents of water stream over the floors. At length, upon a signal 
 given, every one throws out at the window the old earthen vessels used for cooking 
 during Lent, that they may be broken to pieces; a ceremony which is called 
 throwing Lent out at the windows. In the evening they all repair to the pasha's 
 house to ask permission of him to be merry, making him a present; and he 
 never fails to grant a request so well supported. During the whole of this week, 
 the Turks, tolerant either from principle or from interest, show a sort of respect 
 to the Christians, while they teaze and vex the Jews; the Turkish children will 
 run after them in the streets crying out Tchifout, Tchifoul, — A Jew, a Jew. 
 
 The night between Saturday and Easter Sunday is passed again in the church ; 
 and as soon as the sun begins to illuminate the most distant part of the horizon, 
 a thousand voices utter a loud shout, and Halleluia ! Halleluial resounds to the 
 heavens. The sanctuary is at the same instant thrown open, the bishop announces 
 the great. event of the resurrection, and the people embrace each other, crying, 
 Jesus Christ is risen/ — Jesus Christ is risen! Firing of guns, cries of joy, repeated 
 a thousand and a thousand times, then announce publicly the Easter of the 
 Christians. The liturgy is immediately celebrated, either under a ruin, the 
 remains of Albanian fury, or upon the declivity of a hill which the rising sun 
 gilds with its first rays. The august assembly of the faithful, the choir of the 
 holy Sion, separate afterwards to break their fast. The lambs blessed the evening 
 before serve for the repast, they are put upon the spit, basted with fat and rubbed 
 with wild marjoram, and are eaten upon tables set out in the open air. The 
 wine flows in abundance, gaiety abounds, and songs, the precursors of intoxica- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 149 
 
 tion, announce that the Greek has forgotten the wretchedness of.his situation. 
 This whole day is nothing but a scene of banquets and of pleasure : the most 
 lively, the most animated pictures succeed to the sadness and monotony which 
 have so long pervaded every part. The streets, the markets, the hills, the valleys, 
 all are alive, all present the gayest spectacles; dances and other sports are every 
 where to be seen; even the churches are scenes of conviviality. The same festivi- 
 ties continue during the week, nay, a spirit of licentiousness creeps in among the 
 people little consistent with the sacred subject which gives rise to it. 
 
 The perquisites of the clergy for the rest of the year arise very much from the 
 custom of sanctifying the water, from benedictions, from excommunications, 
 from exorcisms, and the sale of amulets, from administering the sacraments, the 
 price of which is fixed, and from divorces. They are also paid for sprinkling 
 the streets and the tombs, as well as for blessing the sea, which is done by 
 throwing crosses into it. For all these ceremonies, 'tis money, and always money, 
 that must be remitted to them. The excommunications belong to the bishops 
 alone ; they produce an extraordinary revenue. Every Greek trembles at the 
 sound of an excommunication ; for, if he be once struck with this anathema, he 
 finds himself immediately abandoned by his family; thenceforward he is an outcast 
 from them ; all Christians who know him shun him, and he can no longer come 
 within the doors of the church ; nor can he be restored again to society till by a 
 compromise with the bishop,he obtains a revocation of the sentence pronounced 
 against him. At present the Greek ministers are not hasty in having recourse to 
 this extremity; experience has taught them that these spiritual weapons are but 
 too likely to recoil upon the hand itself by which they are lanced, those who 
 are thus driven from their own society having often taken refuge in the turban, as 
 a cheaper mode of returning again among their fellow-creatures. The drogmans 
 of the different nations who trade to the Levant sometimes have recourse to this 
 expedient, for recovering a debt from those whom they find very dilatory in their 
 payments ; but it is only resorted to in the last extremity. 
 
 Divorce, a dreadful source of corruption, when not restrained by a wise juris- 
 prudence, seems placed in the hands of the priests by some infernal deity. Often, 
 upon the slightest pretence, they will, at the intercession of a husband who pays 
 well, break the most sacred and respectable ties. Religion and good morals vainly 
 exclaim againt such an abuse; the thirst of gain is superior to all other considera- 
 tions in the breasts of these people. As to exorcisms, with them one may be 
 amused as ceremonies too ridiculous to be the objects of any thing but laughter. 
 
150 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 If any one suffers in his property, every thing which can be supposed to be be- 
 witched is exorcised. They treat in this way hypochondriacs, maniacs, idiots, 
 exorcising them at the foot of the altar, and leaving them lying there awhile 
 upon the pavement, that the evil spirit, who always hovers for some time about 
 the church, may get quite away, and lose all traces of the person he had tormented. 
 The church of" St. Angelo at Tripolitza was in high repute as a place of exorcism. 
 I have seen women, who were furious, suddenly become calm, on having some 
 verses of the gospel tied up in a little bag hung round their neck. A number of 
 these things are also sold, to be ready for use in case of any emergency. They 
 cure diseases in the cattle; they preserve the silkworms: or, if they happen to 
 fail of success, the fault is not in those who sold them, but it was want of faith in 
 those by whom they were applied. 
 
 The festival of St. George, which is after Easter, Was celebrated by the Greeks 
 while I was at Tripolitza, at a chapel dedicated to this saint near the ruins of 
 Mantinea. The bishop, the clergy, the whole population of the town hastened 
 thither before day-break. The sun had scarcely illumined the summits of Tay- 
 getes when the shepherds of Arcadia led their flocks into the valleys, and, leaving 
 them to the care of some old men and children, hastened to the festival accom- 
 panied by their wives. At the same time came the inhabitants of the country 
 about Lake Stymphalus, with those of Mount Pogliesi, and of the shores of the 
 sea of Corinth. All these had travelled on foot the whole night. Hither also 
 repaired the peasants of Mount Artemisius, of the forests of Nemea, and of Steno. 
 Such is the renown that this assembly, or fair, has over the whole country. 
 
 The ceremonies of the day began by the celebration of the liturgy, during 
 which the most profound respect, the most august silence, was observed by every 
 part of the assembly. The branches of fir, of palm, and of laurel, were agitated by 
 the zephyrs which precede the appearance of the star of day, when two young lovers 
 came to swear fidelity to each other at the foot of the altar, and received from the 
 hands of the prelate a crown of wreathed vines. The girl who was now taking 
 upon herself the important character of a wife, had been the day before conducted 
 to the bath, according to the custom of the country. Her goods and chattels 
 were then removed, carried by horses, whose manes were ornamented with ribbands 
 and embroidered handkerchiefs; while some children at the same time carried 
 her clothes in baskets decorated with flowers. The dances were begun to the 
 sound of the tambourine at the house of the lover ; and curiosity attracted me 
 thither with some of my companions. We were scarcely entered when the young 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 151 
 
 girl, with her hair braided with threads of gold, her face painted, her eyebrows 
 and eye-lids dyed with surmeh, and her head bound Avith a purple bandeau, ap- 
 peared, and came humbly to kiss our hands. She seemed t-ben to smile at the 
 festivities which were going forwards in honour of her marriage ; but this morning 
 at the altar she appeared all timidity ; she seemed scarcely even to have power to- 
 advance. " Is this Helena? — or, perhaps, Iphigenia ?" I thought within myself: 
 " she bears the nuptial garland, and comes forward as a trembling victim." 
 
 When evening arrived, and vespers closed the ceremonies of the day, I saw her 
 quit her paternal roof. She hesitated : her mother held her eagerly pressed against 
 her bosom ; yet a gentle violence must tear her away. Supported by her young 
 neighbours, preceded by a child holding before her a mirror in which her features 
 were reflected, she proceeded with slow and hesitating steps, while epithalamiums 
 sung in chorus announced the important triumph of her charms. How many 
 ardent vows and wishes accompanied her ! How many years of happiness was 
 Heaven invoked to grant her ! About half way she was met by her husband and 
 his companions, who ranged themselves at the head of the procession. Arrived 
 at the door of his house, the husband placed himself on the left hand of his wife^ 
 when flowers and fruits in abundance were showered upon them. The bride was 
 then raised up by her companions and carried into the house ; for her feet must not 
 touch the threshold, it would be fatal to the happiness of the union. Such were 
 the ceremonies to which I was a witness. They vary somewhat in Arcadia : there 
 the bride, mounted upon a plough drawn by oxen, is conducted in triumph to 
 the house of her husband. 
 
 But to return to the festival in honour of St. George, from which I have wan- 
 dered, in order to conduct my young bride through the remaining ceremonies of 
 her nuptials: the plains and slopes around Mantinea were enlivened the whole 
 day by sports and dances. The company, seated together by families upon the 
 turf, partook of a repast which had previously been blessed by the fathers. The 
 guests, full of health, and with good appetites, were not remiss in doing honour to 
 the feast; and the wine flowed freely, while vows were offered up for all their 
 friends and relations, recommending them to St. George : nor was a glass in honour 
 of the saint himself omitted. Then followed pastoral songs, accompanied by the 
 lyre ; not such as were heard formerly, when the -immortal geniuses of Greece were 
 animated with the true poetic fire; but simple, such as the less cultivated Spartans 
 might be supposed to have sung in the infancy of this species of poetry. Some old 
 songs yet speak of Tityrus ; and this name is sometimes given to the ram, who 
 
153 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 with the bell round his neck marches at the head of the flock. Sometimes, also, 
 it is given to the shepherd. Thus a name which was formerly so celebrated in 
 Arcadia, and to which the sublime muse of Virgil has rendered so sweet a ho- 
 mage, is still preserved in spite of the disordered state of the times. The dances 
 and sports on this occasion only finish with the close of day, when the guests 
 disperse, crowning themselves with garlands of flowers, and sing as they pursue 
 their route to their respective homes. 
 
 Amusements such as these cannot take place at the festivals which happen in 
 winter : it is sad to say that these but too generally deserve only the title of orgies. 
 At the Epiphany, when the several membeis of a family assemble together under 
 the roof of the chief, to commemorate the offerings made on this day by the 
 kings, — the Greeks, true to the character given them, of drinkers, in which they 
 seem even to have improved upon their ancestors, are often surprised by Aurora with 
 the glass still in their hands. In the carnival they scarcely ever quit the festive 
 board. The streets of the melancholy town of Tripolitza are at this period filled 
 with shops for eating. There are balls, and some masks carrying thyrses run about 
 the streets pursued by children calling after them Io ! Io ! At night the young 
 men masked make visits to their friends. I was very much surprised on the last 
 day of this diversion at seeing, after sunset, the country round scattered all over 
 with bonfires of straw, round which the Greeks were leaping and dancing, saying 
 that they were burning the beard of Chronion or Time. I know not whether any 
 tradition mentions such a custom in ancient times, but it did not appear to me one 
 of modern invention. 
 
 It is obvious, from hence, that the festivals of the Greeks are only attractive in 
 the summer; when nature, always rich, always beautiful, presents everywhere 
 delightful bowers and flowery lawns. Besides the objections above enumerated to 
 winter festivals, it must be observed, that the houses in Greece are not calculated 
 for the reception of a large number of guests. No longer are those pompous pa- 
 laces, those vast peristyles, where the arts and sports shone in conceit, to be seen 
 in the country. Though marbles, the same as those of which they were built, 
 are still to be found, they lie neglected in the bowels of the earth : buildings are 
 only erected in haste to serve the purpose of the moment. In such a situation as 
 that of the present Greeks there is no inducement to pursue the arts, to display 
 any taste. 
 
 Their very furniture bears a strong impression of their state of degradation. 
 Extended upon a sofa, clumsy and rough in its construction, they are served upon 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 153 
 
 a round table, raised about a foot from the ground. Nothing sumptuous, nothing 
 elegant, is to be seen in setting out the table. A total neglect of the arts is dis- 
 cernible even in the most simple things ; and this is perceived still more sensibly 
 among the great than among the lower orders of the people. In effect, it is by 
 the peasants of Arcadia that we are most reminded of the models of antiquity: 
 they have little amphorce of metal, in which the wine is served at table ; and 
 cans that the shepherds carry upon their shoulders, strongly resembling ancient 
 vases. The latter are made of olive wood, and have some indifferent figures 
 traced upon them in colours. These are done by the inhabitants of Caritena and 
 Faneri. 
 
 The ceremonies observed at the interment of the dead in the Greek church, will 
 be best illustrated by giving a detailed account of the funeral of a codja-bachi, 
 which happened while I was at Tripolitza. Being a person of rank, it was not suf- 
 ficient that a wife and children, with their garments torn, and their faces lacerated, 
 should accompany the object of their tenderness to the asylum where his remains 
 were to be deposited ; a last tribute must be paid to his vanity : the credit of his 
 family required it, and all the pomp of religion must be displayed to do honour 
 to his inanimate dust. 
 
 While a sumptuous car was in preparation, while they were tranforming the bier 
 into an elegant litter, and enwreathing a crown to adorn his head (for the Greeks 
 crown the dead, regarding death as the crown of the troubles of life), it was ne- 
 cessary that the virtues and good qualities of the deceased, whether real or im- 
 puted, should receive their due tribute of praise and adulation : and for this pur- 
 pose the most celebrated female mourners in the town were summoned to attend. 
 When they came their eyes sparkled with delight, in the hopes of being well paid, 
 as it was a person of rank they were to celebrate. They were introduced into the 
 room where lay the deceased, the family having all quitted it. The ceremony 
 commenced by some bumpers of wine being handed to them ; and they then be- 
 gan to inquire into the amount of the gratuity they were to expect. This occa- 
 sioned a good deal of wrangling between them and the servant ; the latter, indeed, 
 would not have been a Greek if he had omitted to dispute for the price: but at 
 length an agreement was made. They next informed themselves of the Christian 
 and surnames of the deceased ; of his good qualities, and of the good actions he 
 had performed : to all which the officious servant answered with great emphasis ; 
 not forgetting to magnify every thing, and present it under the most favourable 
 point of view, citing several instances of magnanimity and generosity, ornamented 
 
 x 
 
1M TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 according to his own taste. This done, lie quitted the mourners, and left them 
 to the performance of their duty. I cannot well conceive how these women re- 
 frain from immoderate hursts of laughter at the ceremony they are called upon to 
 perform. Nothing can be more ridiculous than their lamenting, in strains so 
 piteous, one of whom they could not have any knowledge; and extolling good 
 qualities which they could have no assurance that he possessed. Above all, the 
 idea of their weeping for a codja-bachi was highly absurd, since it is very probable 
 that they had cursed him a hundred times during his life. They weep, however, 
 with the utmost gravity and solemnity, as well as the utmost apparent sincerity, 
 and present a scene so truly extraordinary, that I have thought it well worth pre- 
 serving in its genuine colours. 
 
 Grouped round the bier they begin at first with a low kind of murmur, then 
 proceed to sighs and sobs, and afterwards begin to utter cries. Moderate at the 
 beginning, as if they would not exhaust themselves at once, they raise their 
 voices insensibly, they become more and more animated, seeming as if by contact 
 they electrified each other. They then strike their bosoms, tear their hair, 
 scratch their faces with their nails, rolling upon the ground as if they were mad, 
 and shedding torrents of tears. Presently the scene is interrupted by a deadened 
 and mournful sound, and one of the mourners with a hoarse and hollow voice 
 ehaunts the names of a parcel of saint*, concluding as if she sunk into a trance. 
 Another of the company then takes up the subject, and thus pronounces the eulo- 
 gium of the deceased : — " What a man! — what an excellent man ! He was noble 
 and illustrious by his ancestors, his grandfather and his father were codja-bachis, — 
 he was a codja-bachi himself, and would have been a prince; who knows whether 
 he might not have restored our fallen country ! He prayed to God like a saint, he 
 gave alms to the church, the Panagia holds out her hand to him, he never failed on 
 festal days to keep a lamp lighted, and to burn incense before her image! Let 
 us weep for him !" And then the lamentations were recommenced. 
 
 The bier had in the meantime been ornamented with flowers ; the body, 
 clothed in nuptial garments, with the face uncovered and a crown round the head, 
 was exposed to the view of the company, and the prayers of the faithful were 
 offered up for it. The mourners ranged around, failed not to pronounce their 
 eulogium to all the visitants; — no less indefatigable in their office than their sons 
 when employed in preparing a feast, they did not seem at all impatient for the 
 hour when their tears were to cease. At length however it arrived, and the 
 codja-bachi quitted for ever the house he had occupied. The owner of a very 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 155 
 
 large property, nothing now remained to him but a mournful winding-sheet, for 
 before he was laid into the grave he was stripped of all his ornaments. The lamen- 
 tations of the mourners increased at every step from the house to the cemetery, 
 the place where the concluding act of the tragic-comedy was to be performed. 
 The last adieu to the deceased was accompanied by hymns from the priests, with 
 the bishop at their head in his pontifical robes. 
 
 But the tomb is closed, the codja bachi is shut out for ever from the list of 
 human beings, and the train return back to the house. The widow is supported 
 home, and the mourners on arriving there salute with renewed cries the house 
 deprived of its master. A repast was served to which all the family sat down, 
 they ate, they drank, there was no more lamentation, the whole company sepa- 
 rated in good humour. The mourners received their pay, and retired highly 
 satisfied to compensate by their enjoyment at home for the tears they had shed. 
 But as it is not in the power of every body to be at so much expense, mechanics 
 commonly invite their friends and relations to come and weep. I have seen 
 neighbours render this service reciprocally to each other. There are even people 
 who go voluntarily to weep at the interment of their acquaintance,' in hopes that 
 the same will be done by them when it shall please God to take them away. 
 
 In the valleys of Arcadia, where the manners are more simple, the expressions 
 of grief are much more natural. The place destined for the repose of the faithful 
 is always in some delightful spot near the towns and villages, but very rarely 
 about the "churches. The sports of youth are never carried on near this asylum, 
 ■indiscreet joy is always kept at a distance from it. It is ornamented with bowers 
 of odoriferous shrubs, with tall cypresses, or slender planes, where the birds 
 assemble to warble their melodious strains. On certain days appointed by reli- 
 gion a particular worship is paid at these tombs ; the papas recite prayers, and 
 incense is burned upon them. The relations carry lighted torches, and sprinkle 
 the tombs with colyva*. I was present on one of these occasions, mass was cele- 
 brated upon an altar of turf, the women ate the colyva which the papas had 
 blessed, and offered up prayers for the happiness of their relations, as they used 
 formerly at Rome upon the tombs, that the earth which covered those who had 
 existed might lie light upon them. 
 
 * Colyva is made of boiled com, mixed with grapes and almonds, and garnished with flowers. 
 
 x 3 
 
156 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Particulars relative to our situation. — Account of a Greek impostor. — Expedition 
 of the Delis against the Robbers of Arcadia. — Their triumphant return to Tri- 
 politza. 
 
 It was thus that in making myself acquainted with the manners and customs 
 of the Greeks I endeavoured to amuse the hours of my captivity, and to render it 
 in some measure useful to me, without ever losing the consolatory hope of one 
 day recovering my liberty and being restored to my country. Familiarized with 
 danger, myfcomrades and I insensibly lost the apprehension of it, nor could 
 conceive it possible that any thing disastrous should happen to us. Living in a 
 miserable hut, we were by degrees entirely reconciled to what at first seemed 
 so great a hardship, and who knows whether by a longer continuance there 
 we might not in the end have thought ourselves happy ! Rising with the dawn, 
 our day commenced with jovial songs and lively sallies; we went together to 
 breathe the pure air and inhale the perfume of flowers upon the mountains, and 
 when the heat of noon came on we returned to refresh ourselves with sleep in our 
 hut. There, extended upon our coarse mat, we slept as serenely as if it had 
 been eider-down, and when the stars began to sparkle in the heavens, prepared 
 the only regular meal that we made. Adhering to this temperate mode of life 
 we remained entirely free from illness; nay more, a guide of general Bonaparte's, 
 who has been mentioned already as one of our fellow-priscners, was before this 
 troubled occasionally with spitting blood, the consequence of having been stabbed 
 .at Rome on the left side of the breast with a stiletto: but during our stay at Tri- 
 politza, from the purity of the air and the healing quality of the ewes' milk, 
 impregnated with aromatic herbs, which he drank every morning, he was by 
 degrees radically cured. To melancholy and chagrin we were strangers, and 
 every day seemed to beam upon us with a fresh assurance that the term of our 
 captivity could not be far distant. 
 
 I had for my own part devoted myself to an occupation which I found a very 
 powerful auxiliary in assisting me to keep the fiend ennui at bay. I studied the 
 Greek language with the most unwearied assiduity, and soon made so much pro- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOHEA. 157 
 
 gress in the acquisition of it, that I could even speak and write it with tolerable 
 facility. My situation gave me access to the best houses, and afforded me 
 opportunities of making many acquaintance of the most agreeable kind that the 
 place could offer. I met several of that description of men whom chance or in- 
 dustry carries into all parts of the world where any prospect appears of improving, 
 their fortunes. I questioned them, I noted down the information I collected 
 from them ; many of their observations were not much worth noting, many 
 things they told me were exaggerated, but interspersed with facts and with truths, 
 the knowledge of which was valuable. I drew my inductions from them, I 
 compared them with my own observations, and found them of no small use irt 
 the further pursuit of my views. 
 
 Against some snares it was however necessary to be upon our guard, and 
 more than once it required considerable prudence or good fortune to draw our- 
 selves fairly out of difficulties in which we were unwarily entangled. One 
 instance of this kind shall be cited. 
 
 A Greek in a Sclavonian dress had been for some days in the habit of lurking 
 about wherever we were. He followed us in the streets ; and his eyes seemed 
 to hint that he had some project in his head which he wished to impart. At 
 length he accosted us as if by chance, and said hastily as he passed by us, " We 
 are friends, expect me tomorrow." It will easily be imagined what an impression 
 conduct and words of so mysterious a nature would make upon minds wishing 
 with so much ardour for a change of situation. We could scarcely speak. This 
 seemed some angel of consolation by whom we were speedily to be rescued : no 
 one could entertain an idea but that he had good news to impart, else why so much 
 circumspection ? It never entered our heads that he was an Ionian ; and,, what 
 was still worse, from the island of Cephalonia. In effect, the next day he ap- 
 peared ; and after having taken an exact survey of xmr miserable abode, said, with 
 » very mysterious air, that he was employed by general Chabot the commander at 
 Corfu, and was provided with a Russian passport, that he might travel with the 
 greater security : then raising his hands to heaven, he prayed the Deity to punish 
 his perjury if every word he said was not true. He added, that some time before 
 the siege of Corfu, he had been sent into the Morea to learn the nature of the ar- 
 maments which were preparing in those ports. He had, if he was to be believed., 
 taken infinite pains in the accomplishment of his mission, and not confining his 
 jesearches to this one spot, had explored the iEgean sea and visited Candia, 
 where also it was suspected that preparations were carrying on. Returning from. 
 
153 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 this island lie again visited the Morea, where he had made an arrangement with 
 the inhabitants of the western noils for throwing some supplies of provisions into 
 Corfu. His mission being terminated, he was now about to return, and had 
 no doubt of being able to get into Corfu without difficulty; he was theiefore 
 come to make us the offer of carrying any letters we might wish to send to the 
 French General commanding there. 
 
 The imposture of this fellow was too glaring to merit any objection on our 
 parts to what he had been saying, and appearing to believe every word implicitly, 
 we conjured him to remain attached to our interests, and to come and see us 
 again ; at the same time we assured him that we desired nothing so much as an 
 emancipation from the situation in which we then were. The next day he 
 reappeared according to his promise, and feigning still greater zeal to serve us, 
 " I but this moment," said he, "parted from a Mainote, who is one of my par- 
 ticular friends. I mentioned you to him, and he is no less desirous to serve you 
 than I am. He has two horses at his disposal, which is just half what we want, 
 but they are not very good ones; if I had money I could procure better, and if 
 we set out in the early part of the night I look upon your escape as certain." We 
 feigned to accept his proposal, but when we said that we had not a piastre, we 
 found his tone completely changed. He now discovered that the enterprise was 
 replete with danger, and at length abated so far in his offers to us, that he finished 
 by only renewing that of carrying letters to Corfu. This we accepted, and re- 
 mitted him a packet with an air of great mystery and confidence; it however 
 contained nothing but our name?. He then quitted us, saying that he was going 
 to mount his horse immediately, and invoking all the saints in his calendar for 
 our deliverance. 
 
 We scarcely thought any more of him, agreeing among ourselves that he was 
 a consummate cheat, when at the end of two days he once more appeared. 
 He had an air of the utmost sadness and dejection, and spoke with an accent of 
 such real distress and affliction that we scarcely knew at first what to think. 
 He thanked heaven a thousand times that we had not been led away by his sug- 
 gestions, as we should inevitably have perished in the enterprise he had the rash- 
 ness to propose. His guide, he said, a Greek — who could have believed it? — his 
 guide had robbed him and fled into the mountains. No watch or purse was now 
 produced, things which before he had always been eager to exhibit; he had lost 
 even the red cap which he was accustomed to wear upon his head : our letter 
 however was savtd, lie had always carried that upon his heart, where our misfor- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 159 
 
 tunes were engraven. He concluded, as will be presumed, by honing that we 
 would bestow something upon him to enable him to resume his journey. In 
 order to get rid of him we made him a trifling present, and we learnt afterwards 
 not only that he had never quitted the town, but that he was an emissary of the 
 Russian agent who resided at Tiipolitza. 
 
 Our evenings were very frequently spent in walking to an eminence which 
 leads to the castle of Tripolitza, whence our eyes could wander over the widely 
 extended plain to the ruins of Tegea. But here we were commonly in a short 
 time surrounded by Greeks who importuned us with questions : however, if we 
 sometimes found this rather troublesome, yet I often collected useful information 
 from them. In showing me the cemetery of the Russians which I have mentioned 
 before, they talked with pride of having numbered in their families martyrs to 
 the general cause ; and always seemed to consider all who upon this occasion fell 
 victims to the fury of the Turks and Albanians as intercessors gone before to 
 open them the gates of heaven, and revenge their nation for all the tyranny 
 exercised over them by their oppressors. 
 
 "We were one day visited by a young Englishman of a most pleasing phy- 
 siognomy, who accosted us as friends, and spoke to us in a language which we 
 were far from expecting to hear, but which was most grateful to our ears, that of 
 our own country. He had served the French cause by fighting in their ranks, 
 and though now returned again into the British service, he could not help still 
 interesting himself in the fate of his former friends. He informed us of the 
 general rising in the north of Europe against France, and of the new wars in 
 which our country was consequently engaged, and also confirmed the intelligence 
 we had before heard of Messrs. Beauvais and Girard having been landed at 
 Patras, and conducted thence over land to Constantinople, but he could not give 
 us any tidings of our other companions. We had no doubt that the pasha was 
 duly informed of all the visitors we had, yet he never evinced the least distrust of 
 us ; he was either very negligent, or placed great confidence in our honour. I 
 was often consulted by him in my medical capacity, even with regard to the 
 health of his wives, and was permitted to see them. I was at full liberty to go 
 wherever I chose, and having been fortunate enough to cure some of his delis, I 
 was still more and more in favour with this corps. 
 
 Some terrible instances of the prowess of this band occurred during our stay. 
 The following, being one of the most remarkable, may be adduced to illustrate 
 
 the nature of the services expected from them. Three Zantiotes, who had entered 
 
160 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 into the service of France while we were in possession of that island, found 
 themselves under the necessity of becoming voluntary exiles from it when it fell 
 into the power of the allies, on account of the persecutions which they suffered 
 from these latter, for having accepted offices under the French government. 
 They sought an asylum in the Morea, hoping that they should be able to live 
 there in obscurity, unnoticed and unmolested by the Turks. As they were tra- 
 velling, however, in company with some other persons from Patras to Tripolitza, 
 they were attacked in the forests between Calavrita and Mettaga by a band of 
 the robbers that infest Mount Pholoe. Armed only with some pistols and a very 
 indifferent sword, it was impossible to defend themselves against a body of double 
 their number, all well armed ; they were even compelled to have recourse to 
 prayers in order to save the life of a Mussulman, whom the chief of the band 
 would fain have massacred ; it was through the intervention of the Zantiotes 
 alone, who were Christians, that the robbers could be induced to content them- 
 selves with only plundering the whole party. This loss was irreparable to the 
 Zantiotes ; it was the ruin of all their hopes, as they had realised the whole of 
 their little property under the idea of establishing some kind of trade in Turkey, 
 and had the whole of its produce with them. The robbers however left them 
 their clothes, with money sufficient to pursue their journey to Tripolitza, and to 
 subsist there for some days. 
 
 When arrived in this town, as they had a safe conduct from the Russian and 
 Turkish generals, they presented themselves before the pasha to demand justice 
 and to reclaim an indemnity for their loss. They gave a very particular detail of 
 their adventure, and said that the robbers were thirty in number. The pasha re- 
 ceived them with great cordiality, promised that they should be satisfied, and 
 gave them in the interim some pecuniary assistance. He immediately ordered 
 out a troop of his delis, enjoining them to bring back the robbers, or at least 
 their heads. " Be they among the steepest rocks, in the heart of the forests, in 
 the furthest recesses of the caverns, or hid among the clouds that cover the 
 tops of the mountains," said he, transported with rage, " it is your business to 
 execute my orders, to seize them and bring them hither, — I will have it so, let 
 not one escape." 
 
 It is not easy to conceive the barbarous delight which beamed upon the counte- 
 nances of the delis as they received this injunction; it was to them as high a 
 gratification as they could receive, since it furnished them with a pretence for new 
 murders and pillage. Never did a famished tiger rush forward with greater 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 16L 
 
 impetuosity to seize its prey, never did it show more ardour in the pursuit of 
 blood than was shown by these cavaliers in executing the sanguinary commands 
 of their master. Armed in every possible way, one party set out at close of day 
 by the road to Mantinea, while another penetrating through Mount Roino took 
 the road of Upper Arcadia. The latter were to scour the country on the other 
 side of Pogliesi, and after visiting all the villages on the right bank of the Alpheus, 
 and the valleys in the neighbourhood, were to reascend the river to Gardichi, 
 and thence pass through a defile in the neighbourhood of Lala to meet their 
 comrades at Calavrita. The first party in their way to the last- mentioned town 
 were to scour the woods, the ravines, and the villages, to the north of the 
 mountains. 
 
 When the Greeks heard of this expedition, thev raised their hands to heaven, 
 deploring the fate of the inhabitants of the whole country which was to be 
 traversed by the delis. They related to me in what way the pasha's orders were 
 executed by these cavaliers ; that surrounding a village, they summoned the chief 
 before them, requiring him to declare whether any strangers were now there, and 
 to bring forth the inhabitants, of whom they had a list. If then it happened 
 that any one appeared not included in this list, he was immediately seized, nay 
 not unfrequently put to death on the spot, because, as the delis said, a head was 
 much more easily carried than the whole man. But if no one was obtained by 
 these means, they would often strike off the head of the first person who came in 
 their way, as the number prescribed must at any rate be collected. Thus it was 
 very likely to be completed without any one of the guilty, of whom only it 
 ought to be composed, being included. 
 
 The expedition in question lasted ten or twelve days, during which nothing 
 was to be seen but new heads exposed to view daily upon the gates of the seraglio. 
 The terror inseparable from the secret executions ordered by despotism pervaded 
 every part of the town ; murmurs were heard on all sides, and it was whispered 
 that several bodies had been secretly carried out of the seraglio for interment*. 
 This was indeed true ; but such measures are not so much taken to prevent the 
 knowledge of an execution, as to render it, by such an air of mystery, more 
 gloomy and terrible-f-. Some of the band who had plundered the Zantiotes were 
 
 * Some delis once being reproached with murdering innocent people when they did not find Laliotes, 
 they answered coolly "Pooh ! they were only Greeks." 
 
 f In the East, great culprits are always executed at night. Of this I shall have occasion to treat 
 more fully when I come to speak of Constantinople. 
 
 Y 
 
162 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 however taken, and among them their chief Zacharias ; he was apprehended in 
 a house at Tripolitza where he had taken refuge, and the very next morning was 
 impaled alive, just without the walls of the town. Not one of us had courage to 
 witness this barbarous spectacle ; but the Turk Mustapha, who used to visit us 
 almost daily, gave us a pompous account of it. He said that this robber showed 
 a resolution beyond what had ever before been witnessed. Fixed upon the stake, 
 in that state of torture he never ceased replying coolly to the reproaches with 
 which he was loaded by the multitude, till an Albanian put an end to his suffer- 
 ings by striking off his head. This execution took place on a Sunday; it was 
 fixed by the pasha for that day, as the town is then full of people from the 
 country who come to market, and he intended it as an example to them. Some 
 Romelian Greeks were at the same time hung upon the trees about the bazar. 
 
 The day was further rendered remarkable by the return of the delis, who made 
 a sort of triumphal procession into the town. They entered it loaded with the 
 spoils of their victims, dragging along in their train some unhappy wretches, 
 whose sentences were already anticipated ; and advanced flourishing their bloody 
 sabres, making a great parade of the heads they brought with them, and uttering 
 shouts of joy in honour of the cruelties they had committed. As they had 
 passed through the valley of the Eurotas in returning from Arcadia, and had 
 been guilty of some acts of plunder there, the Mainotti had recourse to reprisals, 
 plundering and murdering some Mussulmans who fell into their hands. The 
 Zantiotes recovered a very small part of what they had lost, but the pasha con- 
 tinued to extend his protection to them, and found means to indemnify them in 
 great measure for their losses. They often came to see us. 
 
 I have given these details a place here, as including some particulars which 
 concern the interior police of the Morea ; and that, in describing the country, 
 the reader may not wholly lose sight of us, by whom it was then inhabited. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. jgj 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 On the modern Greek language, and the present stale of knowledge among the. 
 Greeks. — Their tribunals. — Police of the towns and public highways. 
 
 Monsieur Villoison, who ranks so high among the learned in Grecian litera- 
 ture of the present age, could alone enter deeply into the subject upon which I 
 am now about to treat; for myself, I am but too conscious that I am not qualified 
 to do more than skim over the surface. He alone, or perhaps also the learned 
 translator of the works of Hippocrates, Mr. Korai, could be capable of fixing 
 the actual epoch to be assigned to the literature of modern Greece. A child 
 of the country once the most favoured of all Hellenia, it was reserved for 
 the last-named writer to associate his name with that of the immortal oracle 
 of Cos. This learned man seems to possess within himself all the knowledge of 
 his illustrious ancestors, while the rest of the nation vegetate under the empire of 
 the grossest prejudices. I say this, because though I must think that the Greeks 
 are represented by De Pauw in too humiliating a point of view, yet I must equally 
 acknowledge that they little merit the honours rendered them by Monsieur Guys 
 and some other enthusiasts. This gentleman, born with an ardent mind, has 
 laboured hard to find ancient Greece in Greece devastated by revolutions, by 
 time, and, more than all, by the hands of the Turks. De Pauw, like another 
 Burke, writes upon a country neither the men nor the resources of which he is 
 acquainted with; setting out upon a contrary, but even a more false principle 
 than Monsieur Guys. Neither attain the end at which they aim, because both 
 have disguised what really exists, to find and to say what they desired, that they 
 might accomplish the object which they had previously laid down to themselves. 
 Perhaps I in my turn may have deceived myself, but at least it has not been 
 through the desire of supporting a system ; nor can I help being of opinion, that 
 if the Greeks were in their present state abandoned to their own guidance, they 
 would fall into the most frightful anarchy ; that before they are capable of eman- 
 cipation, it is necessary that knowledge and science should be more diffused among 
 them. But whence are they to be derived? Where are their literati, their 
 
 Y 2 
 
16"4 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 wiiters ? — where their sources of illumination ? This reflection leads naturally to 
 considering the present state of knowledge among the Greeks. 
 
 I must begin by rendering the homage due to the charms, the sweetness of 
 their language, which, though degenerated, is still sonorous, still harmonious. 
 The idiom of the moderns, perhaps, possesses all the beauties of the ancient, all its 
 melody. Vainly would scholastics, by learned dissertations, endeavour to. erect 
 into authority their own harsh and barbarous mode of pronunciation ; every man 
 with an unprejudiced mind and a musical ear, would turn away from them to in- 
 dulge in the very superior delight of hearing the magnificent orations of Demo- 
 sthenes, the sweet modulations of Anacreon, or the sublime descriptions of the 
 bard of Ilion, read by a Greek even of the present times. It is by associating 
 this pronunciation with the happy rhythm of the ancient Greek that one can con- 
 ceive how an orator could captivate an audience only by reading his productions ; 
 how he could* enchain every ear that listened to him. The opinion of the learned 
 academicians may be favourable with regard to the mode of teaching, but it can 
 never gain adherents among those who are acquainted with the modern Greek, 
 and know the charms of its accent. 
 
 The mode of pronunciation varies, however, among them ; its different inflexions 
 seem modified by the climate and the heavens. The Morean has a sort of nasal 
 accent, and drawls out his words ; the Athenian expresses himself with affectation ; 
 the inhabitant of Epirus, always harsh, carries, even in his mode of speaking, the 
 impression of his mountains and of his character. I know not to what cause the 
 ridiculous accent of the natives of Chios is to be ascribed, but they speak from the 
 breast to the throat ; while the Smyrnian scarcely sounds the r, and it is almost 
 entirely cut off* at Constantinople. From this diversity the modern language seems 
 to be very different from the ancient, though in fact it perhaps varies from it much 
 less than is generally supposed. Equal pleasure would certainly not be derived 
 from hearing a woman of the Morea speak the language, as from hearing a pretty 
 Greek of Constantinople, who softly whistles out the 0, scarcely pronounces the 
 A, and composes a new idiom of diminutives, accompanied with many graces of 
 her own, and a sort of cooing like the turtle-dove. 
 
 After stating the motives which lead me to speak with so much commendation 
 of the modern Greek pronunciation, I cannot omit a word of applause to those esti- 
 mable Grecians, who in these days have travelled for the sake of instruction. The 
 hope of generations to come, it is by the patriotic efforts of such people alone that 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 165 
 
 their fellow-countrymen can ever be enlightened as to their true interests. But, 
 alas! in following such a career, what toils, what labours, are in store for them ! 
 Will not the ingratitude which even success may draw upon them be sufficient to 
 check -their ardour in their pursuits ? Will not the difficulties they have to con- 
 quer subdue their resolution ? It is commonly for the study of medicine, or at 
 least under this pretence, that the Greeks travel into foreign countries. The ac- 
 quisition of the language of their new country necessarily occupies much time, 
 which would be better employed in acquiring positive knowledge. Man}' have, 
 however, made a considerable progress in their studies ; but how few even among 
 these are capable of entertaining liberal and enlarged notions ! They all detest 
 the Turks, and have undoubtedly sufficient motives for holding them in detes- 
 tation : but it is not enough to abhor them, they must also study the means of 
 undermining their power. To instruct and enlighten the minds of the people is 
 the only way by which this colossus can ever be effectually overthrown. But here 
 a new obstacle presents itself. 
 
 The Greek when instructed will no longer be able to endure living in a state of 
 humiliation: what then will he do in his own country? Willhe not establish him- 
 self in one more free, more civilized ? The leprosy of fanaticism, more dangerous 
 even than the Ottoman scourge, withers the minds of those whom he would 
 wish to rouse. But one thing then remains for him to do, and that is to write or 
 translate some of the best works of civilized Europe, in the hope that they may 
 make their way in time into all the towns of Greece. Hitherto in what a state of 
 mutilation have translated works been presented to them! all great and noble 
 sentiments, all that could rouse the minds of a people so long debased and de- 
 graded, has been constantly suppressed. Passing under the inspection of the in- 
 quisition at Venice, whce the greater part of the works circulated in Greece were 
 printed, they had afterwards to pass the ordeal of the Greek prelates. A book 
 labouring under an anathema from them would not find a single reader ; it would 
 even awaken suspicion against any others by which it might be succeeded. 
 
 The clergy are those who more than any other class of people would have the 
 power of introducing some kind of instruction among their brethren. Ministers 
 »f peace, through them the genuine principles of the gospel, with other branches 
 of useful knowledge, might be spread, and civilization would soon follow. The op- 
 pressed Greek would by degrees recover his ancient manners, his ancient cha- 
 racter, and would become worthy of political regeneration. He would no longer 
 be seen dyeing his hands in the blood of the hated Mussulman at the moment 
 
166 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 of any ephemeral success, and then quietly presenting his head to receive the crown 
 of martyrdom upon the least reverse. Every step of advance in civilization would 
 break a link of his chain, would be a step gained in undermining the dominion of 
 his conquerors ; while the latter, subdued by weapons which they have no power 
 of resisting, would yield without any contest, and might be carried in triumph, 
 chained to the cars of the victors. The effects that might be produced may be 
 judged, in some measure, by themiracles which industry has within a comparatively 
 short time performed in some parts of Greece. The marine of the country is 
 increased to such a degree, that the Mediterranean is now covered with their ves- 
 sels, and they can dispute the empire of their seas with the Mussulmans. Masters 
 of a formidable artillery, they might soon contract powerful alliances : but then, 
 is it not to be feared that in seeking allies they might in the end only be inviting 
 new masters ? It is therefore, 1 repeat it, only by the diffusion of knowledge, and 
 by the progress made in civilization, that the Greeks can reasonably look for 
 a new aera in their political existence. All Europe would rejoice in such an 
 event : thousands of magnanimous hearts' would be ready to assist them in throw- 
 ing off their yoke. But let them beware of delivering themselves up too far to 
 those who seem to be more particularly their protectors, lest they find that they 
 have only forged themselves fresh chains, and reduced themselves to a state even 
 more unfortunate than that from which they are rescued ! — more unfortunate in 
 proportion as the power of their new masters may be more formidable. 
 
 Let us now proceed to examine the actual state of knowledge among the Greeks. 
 In the seminaries of France there are at the present moment many young men 
 of this nation worthy of laying a foundation for the restoration of their country 
 by the revival of literature and the sciences : nor are there wanting in Greece it- 
 self people endowed with knowledge that would not disgrace any part of Europe. 
 Many speak and write the ancient language with a purity worthy of the most 
 brilliant days of Athens. From these men we must date the aera when we may 
 venture to talk of literature among the modern Greeks. Till this period the books 
 which came from the presses of Vienna were rather calculated to perpetuate igno- 
 rance, than to open a brighter career to a people victims of the faults of their fore- 
 fathers. They were commonly dull rhapsodies, bad grammars, catechisms, long 
 sermons, ascetical books, and the like. In some translations of our best French 
 writers, which have lately been undertaken by the Greeks, they have succeeded 
 extremely well. Telemachus, and Rollin's Ancient History, are the first works 
 that come under this description. Bosquet's Exposition of the Doctrines of the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. * I67 
 
 Catholic Church, and Tissot's Advice with regard to Health, do no less credit to 
 those by whom they were selected ; but all are not deserving of equal praise. Some 
 works of Lieutaud are wholly useless, not to say dangerous to those by whom 
 they are studied. Then there are the Thousand and One Nights, with Mother 
 Goose's Tales, and the Magazine for Children. 
 
 Very lately a few mathematical works have appeared, and some treatises on 
 physics : but no one reads them ; for in this unhappy country, among a great 
 majority of the inhabitants there is a dread of informing themselves, and I have 
 even heard Greeks speak of Fontenelle's Worlds as a very reprehensible book*. 
 Robinson Crusoe is considered with a scarcely less suspicious eye, although in the 
 translation this excellent work is mutilated in many places, beginning with a 
 kind of Blue-beard tale, in a manner which almost renders the whole ridiculous. 
 Marmontel and Voltaire are the two authors who are the most read of all that 
 have been translated, and it is not one of the least extraordinary among the con- 
 tradictions of character so prevalent in all countries and in all classes of mankind, 
 that the inquisition never presumed to touch the works of these writers. The 
 fate of the translator of Anacharsis, of that immortal work which will live as long 
 as the French language itself, above all must not be passed over. This unfortu- 
 nate writer at the very moment when he began to print his work was delivered 
 up by the court of Vienna to the divan, who struck off his head. Notwithstand- 
 ing this dreadful example, a Greek has been found courageous enough to brave 
 death and continue the work of his friend, and it is sincerely to be hoped that in 
 spite of the persecutions he experiences he will complete so laudable an under- 
 taking-]-. 
 
 The greatest obstacle to the propagation of learning among the Greeks does 
 not arise entirely from the opposition made to all works which contain sound 
 maxims of philosophy, since, as I said, such of the works of Voltaire as have 
 been translated have passed uncensured ; a more formidable enemy in my opinion 
 is to be found in a wretched periodical work published in modern Greek at 
 Vienna. It is impossible to conceive a more lamentable tissue of absurdities^ 
 but it is not therefore the less read. Some really well-informed and liberal- 
 
 * This work, translated by Mr. Kodrika, was denounced to the patriarch of Constantinople. Animal 
 Magnetism, and the invention of Balloons, both which the Translator describes in his Notes, were par- 
 ticularly reprobated. 
 
 f Respecting this work some further information may be obtained by referring to the Notes- attached 
 to Lord Byron's Childe Harold, p. 186, Svo edition. 
 
l6S TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 minded Greeks have however projected the publishing a new periodical work, 
 which, while preserving the most careful attention to religion and good morals, 
 shall revive a taste for learning, and circulate among their fellow-citizens the 
 most enlightened productions of Europe. This work if well conducted will be 
 of infinite value and importance. Nothing will be so likely to promote instruc- 
 tion among the Greeks, as such a publication carried on upon an extensive and 
 liberal plan. 
 
 Among the present race of Greeks are some men of letters, whose works deserve 
 to be particularly mentioned; the geography of Philippides, above all, comes 
 under this description, and it is with pleasure I have seen the well-merited tribute 
 paid to it by one of my countrymen, who is himself distinguished in this line*. 
 The author seeing the defects of Meletius's plan, has avoided them, and modelled 
 his work after the examples of the French geographers. Hence there is a method, 
 a clearness in it, which cannot but encourage him to proceed ; and it is much to 
 be desired that he should give us the complete geography of Turkey in Europe, 
 in the same way that he has done that of Zagora and the places he has seen. 
 Let him, however, be very much upon his guard against the documents which may 
 be received from his own countrymen. Every man is not an observer, the con- 
 verse is unluckily rather nearer to the truth; the gift of being so is indeed one 
 with which the very chosen few alone are endowed. By placing too much 
 dependence upon others, he has already fallen into some errors with regard to 
 the people of Maina. It is not true that they plunder the Christians of the 
 Morea; for in so doing they would inevitably be excommunicated by their 
 bishops, though the latter are not themselves, in some instances, very scrupulous 
 on the subject of robbery. Neither is it a fact that these people are ever likely 
 to become again Venetians or Dutch ; they love their country too well, and prize 
 too highly the independence they enjoy there to give themselves up to a commerce 
 which would estrange them from either. But this is not the place for refuting 
 the errors which have crept into the work of Philippides ; he has notwithstanding 
 all the qualities requisite to form a great writer, and will doubtless fulfil the 
 expectations formed of his future exertions. 
 
 Such a beginning gives hope as to what may be achieved in future, towards 
 ameliorating the situation of Greece ; though, as I have already observed, there 
 are many obstacles to be subdued before any essential change can be expected. 
 
 * See Magasin Encyclopidique, tome vi. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. l6Q 
 
 I know not what may be the state of Macedonia and Thessaly, but that of the 
 Morea is very deplorable. Though Greece will gain much by the diffusion of 
 knowledge, that is not all. Their marine is in a thriving state, they must establish 
 manufactures, and improve their agriculture ; the great objects of their specula- 
 tions must be to circumvent their oppressors the Turks, to make themselves 
 respected by them. Strong in these primary objects, when the day appointed 
 by Providence for their emancipation shall arrive, they will find among themselves 
 resources of which they can scarcely at present form an idea, and success will 
 crown their laudable endeavours, provided their counsels are directed by wisdom 
 and humanity. 
 
 Those Greeks are fortunate who, when engaged in any dispute, can be satisfied 
 with the paternal decision of their bishops, or the arbitration of their friends. 
 Woe to them if the contentious spirit so prevalent among them leads to carrying 
 the matter before the tribunals of the cadis ! they are then exposed to all the 
 vexations which may be dictated by their caprice or cupidity. Sometimes even 
 in submitting the cause to this minister of Themis, nothing is to be obtained but 
 the most decided refusal of justice. For the rest, it is not always necessary to be 
 a Greek, or to have concerns with the cadis, for such little rebuffs to be experienced 
 in the East ; the contagion is very prevalent among all descriptions of people. 
 These considerations however cannot repress a great love of legal contentions 
 among the Moreans, they have recourse to them even in the most trifling matters. 
 The following story told upon this subject is ascribed by turns to several different 
 places. 
 
 Two Greeks, who had been long united in a strict friendship, went together one 
 fine day in spring to enjoy the air under the shade of a bower near the ruins of My- 
 cene. The rising sun found them seated upon the turf regaling themselves with 
 roasted lamb, and celebrating with the glass in their hand the festival of some great 
 saint in the country. After they had finished their repast, over which they had a 
 great deal of friendly and cheerful conversation, they agreed to sing. Stephano- 
 pouli, who had made the feast, taking a lyre sang of love, of the flowery meads, 
 of the jessamine bowers, the crystal fountains, not forgetting his patron saint, the 
 greatest without all contradiction among all the saints in Paradise. When he 
 had finished Dimitri succeeded; he sang only the praises of Stephanopouli who 
 had regaled him ; wished him hundreds of years, health, hoards of wealth, with 
 various other good wishes. Their songs concluded ; the daughter of Pandarus, 
 the plaintive Philomela, began to warble forth her delightful cadences, the friends 
 
 z 
 
170 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 were enchanted. " See." said Stephanopouli, " what an impression my voice has 
 made upon the charming nightingale, she cannot resist its attractions, she endea- 
 vours to imitate it in all her modulations." — " Say mine, rather," said Dimitri, 
 "since it was I who sang last." This his friend could not allow, a warm dispute 
 ensued, blows followed, and at length the affair was carried before the cadi. He 
 heard their story, and then required to hear their songs; these concluded, he 
 feigned to start back, and stroking his mustachios several times, fined both 
 sides in proportion to the blows given and received ; then addressing the dis- 
 putants, — "Now," said he, " it remains to decide for whom the nightingale 
 sang ; — it was for me, infidels, so go your ways and agree better." 
 
 " If one is to believe these cursed Greeks," said another cadi, " they are always 
 in the right. They say whatever they please. I know that they have more 
 understanding than we have, and therefore I have my own way of dealing with 
 them. I judge the matter first, and then let them plead as much as they please." 
 Full of these ideas the cadis have but one criterion, by which every thing is 
 decided, and that is money. During the time of their administration, which is 
 limited, their whole aim is to reimburse themselves for the price the place has 
 cost them, and it would be endless to cite all the tricks and Jinesses to which they 
 have recourse for this purpose. I will mention one anecdote, as actions are the 
 best medium for illustrating characters. Two papas reciprocally accused each 
 other before a cadi of having stolen a goat, which each claimed as his own pro- 
 perty. " Your holiness," said one, " has stolen my goat." — " On the contrary," 
 said the other, " I am ready to swear that your holiness has stolen mine." As 
 the words holiness and robber were frequently thrown in each other's teeth by the 
 two advocates, the cadi at length, knitting his brows, called in the janissaries and 
 ordered them to administer a certain number of strokes of the bastinado to both. 
 Then adjudging the goat to himself, he said, " One of their two holinesses must 
 have sinned, and to oblige them I am very willing to take the scandal of the 
 robbery upon myself." 
 
 The police of the towns is not more equitably administered. Night patroles 
 guard the streets and the neighbourhood of Tripolitza, for the purpose of arrest- 
 ing vagrants and preventing robberies ; but far from restraining disorders, they are 
 too often themselves the authors of them. Companies of Albanians go out every 
 evening to guard the mountains, and return into the town in the morning. Soldiers 
 accompany the magistrate whose office it is to superintend the markets, and at 
 his orders they administer the bastinado to such traffickers as are found selling 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 17 1 
 
 with false weights. If the delinquents are detected in a repetition of the offence, 
 they are nailed by the ear to the door of their shop ; and if taken a third time in 
 the fact, the magistrate orders them to be hanged without further ceremony. 
 
 A grand provost, known by the title of the dervendgi-pasha, is charged with 
 every thing relating to the highways. His business is to take care that they are 
 kept in good repair, and properly guarded ; he is also charged with the care of 
 the bridges, the ferries, and a variety of other objects which exist only in the 
 pompous catalogue enumerated in his patent. When I was in the Morea a pasha 
 of one tail, who resided at Mezalonghi, was invested with this office for the 
 pashaliks of the Morea and of Negropont. He made his tour of inspection 
 accompanied by a hundred cavaliers, who carried terror wherever they went. He 
 had just been inspecting the road from Patras to Tripolitza > when I saw him at 
 the palace of the pasha Achmel, to whom he came to present his credentials and 
 pay his respects. He quitted this town to go to Argos, by Kaki-scala. In his 
 way he received the complaints of the peasants against the shepherds, for da-r 
 mages done by the latter, who, to extend the limits of their pastures, often set 
 fire to large clusters of trees, and would in time by such a procedure destroy all 
 the wood in the Morea, if not checked by the hand of power. He besides made 
 many inquiries into the state of the country; and lived entirely at the public 
 expense. 
 
 From Argos he went to Dematta by the ancient route of Mycene, and thence 
 to Naiiplia of Romania, traversing a chain of lofty mountains in which are many 
 huts of the Arnauts or Albanians who have taken to a pastoral life. His soldiers 
 and himself did not omit by the way to make free with some of the lambs 
 belonging to these poor shepherds, taking great care at the same time to guard 
 them from any other robbers. For two months he continued his progress through 
 the Morea in this way, not finding in the whole country above twenty bridges. 
 In visiting Laconia however, and the southern parts of Messenia, he took care not 
 to approach too near to the country of Maina, as the Mainotti, upon the first 
 intelligence of the dervendgi being out on such a progress, always take care to 
 keep themselves upon their guard ; neither did he visit any of the maritime 
 places, they being entirely under the jurisdiction of the capudan-pasha. 
 
 On these occasions the dervendgi always lodges at the houses of the agas, who 
 feast him in the most sumptuous manner that they are able : sometimes where 
 there is no aga to do the honours of the town, he takes up his abode at the houses 
 of the Greek primates, whom he turns out of their habitations without any 
 
 z 2 
 
172 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 ceremony, and levies contributions upon them. He also has a great preference 
 to visiting at the convents of caloyers, where he eats up whatever he can find : 
 these poor monks would live for a year upon the provisions and wine which the 
 grand provost and his suite devour in a day. Woe to them if the dervendgi finds 
 their fare good, or sees any thing in the situation that pleases his fancy ! as there 
 is nothing pressing in his business, he pitches his tents and stays among them till 
 thev are entirely ruined. 
 
 In such whys as these are robbery and plunder carried on by the very persons 
 who, from their offices, ought to be the protectors of property. Protectors! — 
 Alas! the Turks, in the state of barbarism into which they are plunged, think of 
 nothing but ravaging to enjoy, nor can anything better be expected of them, 
 united as this principle is with their religious dogmas. Strangers upon this earth, 
 they consider themselves only as travellers under the hand of destiny : it is re- 
 pugnant to their nature even to keep up any thing that they find already con- 
 structed ; thus they have no public roads, or establishments in which industry 
 can find resources. If there are mills upon some of the rivers of the Morea, it is in 
 the timars or fiefs that they are to be found, because the farmers of these are out of 
 the reach of being taxed for the improvements they make. If here and there we 
 meet with a bridge, either it is falling into decay, or it is but a miserable con- 
 struction of wood thrown up negligently to answer some particular and temporary 
 purpose. The ferry-boats, established at certain places, remain sometimes for 
 years together without being repaired or replaced when they become old and 
 unfit for use, so that from a want of the means of crossing a river, travellers, or 
 persons going on business from one place to another, are often obliged to take some 
 circuitous route. Many a village, which had begun to be somewhat flourishing 
 because it had a ferry in it, and this brought some traffic to the place, on the 
 boat decaying has fallen back into its former misery and soon been wholly for- 
 gotten. > 
 
 To what purpose then, it may be asked, is this office of dervendgi kept up ? — 
 The answer is, that it is a place by means of which, like many others, some 
 myrmidon protected by those in power is provided for, with the reserve that he 
 shall be plundered in his turn by those from whom he receives it. What signifies 
 to a pasha whether his pashalik be in a flourishing state or not ? money is the 
 thing he wants and nionev he will have. The Greeks who are raised to dignities, 
 full of these maxims, even improve upon them. Under the sabre of the Turk 
 the Greek is a slave ; but under the dominion of his fellow-countrymen he is 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 173 
 
 plundered of every thing, and becomes ten times more wretched. The place of 
 dervendgi might become formidable in the hands of an ambitious person ; it 
 might even be rendered dangerous to the pasha, if not occupied by one of his 
 own creatures. It is for this reason that the pasha of Janina has conferred it 
 upon one of his sons, Veli-pasha; and by these means this prince already powerful, 
 who calls himself the Scanderbeg of Epirus, has consolidated his power still 
 further. After having included within his dominion all Epirus and Thessaly, he 
 now pushes his posts even into Macedonia ; and more than once his son Mouctar 
 has, from the tops of the mountains in the isthmus of Corinth, cast a look of 
 desire upon the Morea, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Of the climate, temperature, and variations of the seasons in the Morea. — On the 
 quality of the water in different parts. — On the diet and modes of cooking of the 
 
 Moreans. 
 
 The Morea presents as great variety with regard to its temperature as with 
 regard to the surface of the earth, the one is indeed the necessary consequence of 
 the other. Bristled over with mountains, sometimes naked, sometimes clothed 
 with magnificent woods, sometimes rising in points covered with primaeval snows; 
 embellished with delightful vallevs, ornamented in some cantons with all the 
 riches that agriculture can supply, this country seems to receive a particular 
 influence from heaven, according to these different aspects; it seems as if Pro- 
 vidence delighted in diversifying in a thousand ways the blessings conferred upon 
 it. The climate of the Morea holds the exact medium between the scorching 
 heat of Egypt and the cold of more northern countries. Neither those livid clouds 
 which veil for a long time the azure of the skies, hiding the glorious star of day, nor 
 that vault of brass deprived of moisture which the sun only ascends to bum the 
 earth below, are here to be seen. A beneficent dew fertilizes the soil in the 
 early days of spring, the clouds pour down in torrents of rain, or cover the earth 
 with snow, according to the season. The mourning of nature is short, and 
 
174 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 every night displays to the earth the firmament sparkling with the brightest 
 constellations. 
 
 It is not difficult to persuade ourselves that with the fall of the celebrated 
 towns and monuments of Greece, a great change must have taken place in the 
 temperature of the country. If one observes the effect produced bv clearing 
 away the vast forests of North America, in softening the rigour of the seasons, 
 and correcting the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere, by a parity of reasoning 
 it seems by no means improbable that, Greece at the time the arts declined falling 
 oft" from its former state of civilization, some deleterious effects should ensue 
 to the physical nature of the country. The rivers, till then restrained within 
 their channels, being neglected, obstructions may have arisen which have formed 
 vast marshes; the time when several lakes in Arcadia spread themselves over the 
 valleys is still recent in the memory of the inhabitants. It was probably in this 
 way that the stagnant waters of the Alpheus formed the marsh where its sources 
 now rise; doubtless it never would have existed if the channel in which the river 
 formerly flowed had not been suffered to get by degrees choked up.. The 
 woods, so necessary to invite rains, by which the mountains were formerly 
 covered, and which were held sacred by the religion of the ancients, exist no 
 longer ; or, if in some spots remains of them are still to be found, those remains 
 are daily destroyed by the shepherds. Many valleys have been rendered barren 
 by this loss; those of Argolis in particular, where the mountains deprived of 
 their clothing no longer send forth during summer from their heated sides any 
 thing but parching exhalations. The convulsions, the invasions of the baibarians 
 which succeeded, having exterminated the ancient inhabitants, and future gene- 
 rations growing up feeble and depressed, the disorganisation of the country has 
 continually increased, and with it its insalubrity. 
 
 The sun however still shines here with all its pristine glory, though from the 
 changes the country has undergone its action is no longer the same. The loss 
 of its ancient laws, — its ancient liberty, has altered the very course of nature. 
 Let us then endeavour to give a picture of the physical state of the JVJorea as it 
 actually exists, to describe the seasons such as they now are; it will be easy to 
 trace the variations they have undergone by comparing the sketch with the 
 testimonies we have received from the ancients. 
 
 The winter generally comes on in the Morea with abundant rains and dreadful 
 storms of thunder. Never does the voice of Jupiter produce a more powerful 
 effect than when resounding through the caverns of Taygetes, or when reverbe- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. I75 
 
 rated along the deep chasms of Olenos and Pholoe. To these storms which take 
 place in December succeeds the first cold weather, but the severity of the cold is 
 not felt before the beginning of January. The harvests of every kind are 
 gathered in before this time. The fermentation of the wines is over and the 
 liquor is closed up in the vessels ; the oil has been pressed from the olives that 
 grow in such abundance in every canton. The winds of the north and east then 
 blow regularly, bringing the snows with them ; the summits of Taygetes and its 
 subordinate mountains are soon covered with the latter, nay if the north wind 
 continues to blow, it rarely happens that the snows do not also cover the valleys of 
 Tegea ; the course of the principal rivers is however rarely interrupted by 
 ice. The same degree of cold is not felt in the parts of Elis and Messenia, 
 which are near the coast ; but Arcadia, Achaia, Sicyonia, with the high parts of 
 Corinth and Laconia, often experience severe winters, while the sun which still 
 shines upon Arcadia seems to have lost the power of communicating heat. 
 
 The flocks during this period remain shut up in their folds. The Arcadian 
 wanders about in a melancholy attitude, casting a troubled eye upon a spectacle 
 so afflicting, while night only increases his anxieties. If the surface of the earth 
 be covered for any length of time with snow, he hears bands of wolves, the 
 inhabitants of Mount Lyceus, who quitting their lofty abode rove even to the 
 very walls of the town, seeking the means of satisfying the hunger by which 
 they are tormented ; he hears them, and fires guns at random from time to time, 
 in hopes to check their ravages, but fires them, alas! in vain. He draws with 
 his family round a rustic fire, and endeavours to while away the long and tedious 
 evenings with recounting stories to them, in which the marvellous is always the 
 leading feature; while the wife and children, riveting their eyes upon him, 
 listen eagerly, transfixed with terror, yet regretting when the narration comes to 
 an end. During this time the fishers of Messenia and Laconia shudder at the 
 noise of the waves which break upon their shores, they are fretted at not being 
 able to brave the element whence their principal subsistence is derived. Vain 
 would be the endeavour to charm away their chagrin by stories of sylphs and 
 magicians, the narrations most grateful to their ears are those of shipwrecks and 
 dangers at sea; they pity the seaman who navigates the coasts of Andros, or 
 roves among the Cyclades, while their families, moved by details so terrifying, 
 pray the God of the seasons to enchain the storms and calm the waves which his 
 powerful breath has agitated so furiously. The horrible Cacovouniote alone 
 rejoices in these tumults of nature, hoping that through them some hapless 
 
176 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 vessel may be thrown upon his coasts, and become the prey of his rapacity. Re- 
 tired within his hut, or sheltered with his flock in the remotest part of some ca- 
 vern, he broils the flesh of a wild-boar or goat, with which his gun has furnished 
 hiin ; and at war himself with mankind, delights in listening to the warfare of 
 the elements. 
 
 But the month of January, the period of these desolations, draws towards its 
 close. The days are already increased in length ; the snows begin to melt ; the 
 rivers swoln by them roll on with added majesty; the Alpheus has received such 
 an accession of waters, that the plains of Elis, by the inundations they have occa- 
 sioned, are become like a second Egypt; and the valleys of Psophis resound witli 
 the noise of the cascades pouring down the sides of Erymanthus. The rains re- 
 turn frequently, but in benignant showers ; the nights are milder, and Nature 
 seems to have sunk with them into a tranquil slumber. 
 
 The month of February, the malignant influence of which was so much dreaded 
 by the ancients, announces the first awakening of vegetation. The perfumed nar- 
 cissus and the humble violet peep out from underneath the snows ; and the almond 
 tree strews around its silvery blossoms * dispersed by the winds. The white poplar, 
 the nut, the tree of Judea-J~, the cypress, the yew, the peach, the apricot, the 
 cherry, the plum-tree, adorn the groves, the forests, and the orchards, with their 
 flowers; while the anemone, the lilac, and the thorn decorate the romantic plains 
 as the rivers return into their beds. The Arcadians at this time occupy themselves 
 with grafting young plants. They commit their barley, their oats, and other 
 productions sown in spring, to the ground, without, however, feeling quite con- 
 fident that the vicissitudes of the season are at an end. The north-west winds 
 will sometimes blow at this time of the year with such force, that they tear up 
 numbers of olive-trees by the roots; and towards the end of the month the thunder, 
 which had been silenced during winter, again begins to resound through the 
 valleys of Elis and Arcadia. The cheerful pipe announces, among the pastors, 
 the return of Aurora £ ; yet they are still fearful of driving their flocks to distant 
 
 * It must be observed that the almond-tree here alluded to is the sweet almond, the blossom of which 
 is white, resembling very much that of the apricot : not the bitter almond, the pink blossoms of which 
 are so great an ornament to English shrubberies in the early days of spring. — Translator. 
 
 f The tree of Judea is a great ornament to gardens in the warm latitudes of the south of Europe. It 
 bears a beautiful pink flower, in form very much resembling the laburnum, and hanging in clusters of 
 a similar kind. — Translator. 
 
 \ The annexed plate exhibits a Morean shepherd playing on his pipe, with the mode of encamping 
 in summer among the Morean nomades. 
 

 Sa 
 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 177 
 
 pastures. The Laconian on the sea-shore, and the inhabitants of the other parts 
 of the coast, prepare to recommence their toils: they mend their nets, and make 
 ready the barks which are soon to bear them upon the theatre of their industry. 
 The agriculturists in the valleys of Tegea and Argolis repair their ploughs and 
 other implements of husbandry ; they discuss before the patriarchs of the families 
 the best manner of sowing the corn ; and groaning under the enormous burden 
 of taxes, drink in hopes of finding a sweet oblivion to their cares. The youth, 
 impatient of repose, wish to turn the latter days of winter to some account : the 
 wolves have declared war against the flocks, and they are desirous of punishing 
 them for the murders committed. They arm themselves, and sally forth to combat 
 these base enemies. The attack is commonly begun by letting loose upon 
 them on all sides that courageous race of dogs bred in Epirus, and known under 
 the name of shepherds' dogs. The courage of the hunter increases every moment ; 
 nor does he quit the chase till he is charged with the spoils of the foe, and has 
 stored himself with game to regale his family. 
 
 Spring begins in the first days of March. With the zephyrs then return the 
 stork and the swallow, who quit the shores of Africa to resume their haunts in 
 Europe. The nightingale renews her songs; she warbles her strains of love, and 
 is answered by all the birds of the groves. The labourer sows his cotton and trims 
 his vines. He brings forth his ancient plough, simple as that of Triptolemus, 
 and harnessing his yoke of oxen, turns up a soil naturally light, and yielding easily 
 to the pointed share. The acacia, the cytisus, the numberless roses of Elis, of 
 Laconia, and all Peloponnesus are covered with flowers, and embalm the air with 
 their perfumes. The bees quit the secret cavities of the oak and the ilex, where 
 their stores are deposited, and visit at sunrise the nectared flowers to extract from 
 them their honey. Charged with their booty, intoxicated with ambrosia, their 
 wings can scarcely support them to reach again their homes on the wooded moun- 
 tains. Now is the pastor delighted to see his flocks multiply : the tender lambs 
 sport by the sides of their mothers ; scarcely a day passes that does not add to his 
 stores. The plane, the fig, the vine, the nut begin to be verdant with leaves; 
 while the tender bud of the mulberry is just beginning to appear. The apple, 
 the pear, the quince, the pomegranate of the valley of Tegea display all their 
 beauties. The heat gradually increases ; and the Greek, overpowered, yields to 
 the influence of sleep for an hour at noon. The wind at this time blows most 
 frequently from the south, bringing with it a hot and moist air, which is attended 
 
 2 a * 
 
178 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 with serious inconvenience, as I shall soon explain ; and the cells of the moths 
 will soon be seen upon the trees if they are not washed by very heavy showers. 
 
 The month of April is the time when Nature shines in her highest em- 
 broidery : vegetation is then in full vigour, and the smell of the flowers and 
 aromatic plants, which flourish in all parts, would be insupportable any where 
 but in the widely-extended air. The quail returns from the borders of Libya; 
 and on the side of Hermione the cuckoo has been heard for sometime. The birds 
 have constructed their nests, nor are they often destroyed in these parts bv the 
 hands of thoughtless children. Those of the storks, above all, are held in a 
 sort of veneration : and so propitious is the state of peace in which the feathered 
 race live among the Mussulmans, that the chimneys are not sufficient for this par- 
 ticular class, so that they build their nests equally upon the domes and minarets of 
 the mosques, upon the capitals of columns, or upon the pinnacles of the baths. In 
 this month abundant dews precede the rising of the sun, and come on when it sets. 
 Some storms, not accompanied with hail, and carrying devastation in their train, 
 but benignant in their effects, increase the rivers and torrents. 
 
 I cannot describe the beauty of the dawn, the majesty of the rising sun, in this 
 delightful climate ; it is only in referring to the enchanting pictures given by the 
 poets of antiquity that any idea can be formed of them. The heat in April is by 
 no means insupportable : the wind blows commonly from the south, and at sun- 
 set leaves a kind of thickness in the air, which does not go off till night is com- 
 pletely closed in, and the heavens are spangled with stars. 
 
 Summer begins in the month of May, and continues till October. The air is 
 then dry, and the heat constantly increases. That, as well as the cold, is felt the 
 most sensibly in the great bason of Laconia. Here the thermometer often rises as 
 high as thirty-four or thirty-five degrees. El is has the advantage of a refreshing 
 sea-breeze, but Argolis is almost suffocating. Many of the rivers are entirely dried 
 up. Whole families during these months sleep in the open air, in the midst of a 
 court, which is an essential appendage to all the houses. They often kindle fires 
 at night, which they assert to be necessary for purifying the air. The nights are 
 now embellished by a most charming spectacle : the air is filled with millions of 
 luminous insects, called by the Greeks x.oho<poTia, which appear like so many 
 diamonds sparkling in the sun. 
 
 The atmosphere about Tripolitza is, at this season, more and more charged 
 every day with the odour of the tithymal. This plant grows in great abundance 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 1?9 
 
 upon Mount Ro'ino, and is so powerful, that it will even occasion vertigoes to 
 women with weak nerves. To remedy so great an inconvenience it is usual for the 
 pasha, as the ladies of his harem are particularly liable to be affected by it, to employ 
 the inhabitants of the town in plucking up and burning the plants. Ihe fields 
 are covered with madder, barilla, mint, and fennel; the groves are perfumed with 
 the syringaand the lily of the valley ; the pink and the peony decorate the moun- 
 tains ; and whole fields of white poppies, spread over Argolis, seem like patches 
 of snow in the midst of the rice-grounds. The lakes in the north of Arcadia are 
 covered with the flowers of the water-lily, the leaves of which might be supposed 
 vast bucklers floating upon the water. The loriot suspends his nest to the branches 
 of the oaks of Altis ; swarms of cantharides hover about the ash-trees ; and if the 
 Moreans were but made acquainted with their value, they might be converted 
 into an important article of traffic. Towards the end of May the song of the 
 nightingale ceases to be heard. At this time also the corn is cut, and immediately 
 trodden out in the field. 
 
 The wind now blows from the east at sun-rise, and seems to accompany the sun 
 in its course till towards ten o'clock. A dead calm commonly comes on at this 
 time, and the air is then suffocating. The heat constantly increases till about 
 three in the afternoon, when the wind veers to the north, and there remains till 
 the dawn returns on the following day. Notwithstanding this regularity in the 
 wind, the air is still subject to great variations : seldom does more than a fortnight 
 pass without violent storms of thunder and lightning, accompanied by torrents of 
 rain, which refresh the air and the earth extremely. 
 
 The environs of Caritena and the north of Arcadia are the most healthy, and 
 the most agreeable parts of the country in summer. Elis on the side of Pyrgos is 
 very unhealthy, on account of the exhalations and the damp of the evenings. It 
 is, besides, infested with swarms of musquitoes, which seem engendered in the 
 marshes. The valley of Argolis, with its rice-grounds and fields of poppies, is 
 subject to contagion ; and Nauplia is the focus of fevers. In Laconia there are 
 many very delicious and salubrious spots. Mistra its capital, exposed to the burn- 
 ing south, is the hottest part of the district. The villages about Taygetes have the 
 advantage of a very pure air: the valley of Calamatte is refreshed by the sea- 
 breezes, but Coron is the most healthy spot along this fine coast. The situation 
 ofTripolitza is unfortunate if more than a fortnight elapses without rain: it is 
 then commonly visited by dangerous fevers. But the electric points of the moun- 
 tains round attract the clouds so much, that the plain is seldom afflicted with any 
 
 2 a 2 
 
180 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 long continuance of drought. The pasha at this time of the year directs his atten* 
 tion very much to the streets being kept clean, and will not permit the drains of 
 the houses, which at other times are suffered to run into them, to be kept open. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Morea do not seem affected by the heat ; and they en- 
 joy, through its influence, a variety of fruits which compensate amply the incon- 
 veniences arising from it. The freshness of the evenings and the delights of the 
 morning air are such, that the violent heats of noon are hardly thought of. The 
 children run about with only a single garment, a sort of shirt, and they are sun- 
 burnt like the Arabs ; but none of those scrophulous diseases are to be found 
 among them which prevail so much in our large towns. They early contract a 
 taste for wine ; and seem to be by nature expert dancers and runners. The view 
 of the gulf of Lepanto and of its shores is never more beautiful than in summer. 
 The mountains of Epirus, from the summits of Chimera to the double head of 
 Parnassus, covered with snow during winter, are adorned at their base with the 
 most delightful verdure. Their brows, as well as those of Pindus, which rise above 
 Cocytus and Acheron, attract the clouds, and send their beneficent emanations to 
 those who navigate the bay of Corinth. 
 
 The rains which come on in October seem to bring with them as it were a 
 new spring. The grapes fall beneath the knife of the vine-dresser, songs are 
 heard on every side, we seem to see Anacreon and Sdenus revived ; the mirth of 
 the vintage increases everyday, — every day we see added numbers occupied by it. 
 The winds which blow from the south and the west preserve the warmth of the 
 earth, while the rains produce again a delightful verdure. Yet this warmth, yet 
 this verdure cannot retain the migrating crews which have now for some time 
 enlivened the woods. Notwithstanding the beautiful sites still offered to the birds 
 of passage, they assemble upon them only to consult about their departure, the}' 
 feel that the season of storms and of frosts is approaching ; yet they do not seem 
 to quit Peloponnesus, where they have lived in peace and happiness, without 
 much regret. The middle of November may be fixed as the old age of annual 
 plants; and in the month of December the birds who are fond of a boreal tem- 
 perature arrive in large troops. They inhabit the neighbourhood of the lakes 
 which are exposed to the north, for the climate of the milder valleys does not suit 
 their habits. Their hoarse and shrill cry resembles the noise of the waves ; — 
 when they rise in flights they are said to prognosticate the coming on of a violent 
 storm of wind. Such is the general course of the seasons in the Morea. 
 
 He, says Hippocrates, who proposes to make accurate researches in medicine^ 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 18 L 
 
 ought first to consider the effects which each season of the year may produce. 
 Having therefore given a sketch, as far as my means of observation will permit, 
 of the climate and seasons of the Morea, I ought perhaps now to proceed to the 
 deductions which may be drawn from it : but there seem to be other points which 
 should previously be considered, particularly the quality of the water in different 
 parts of the country, and the diet and modes of cooking ; things which have no 
 less influence upon the health of the inhabitants. 
 
 The water is not in general pure. That of the rivers during summer is 
 generally foul and muddy, since the channels are seldom filled but in the case of 
 heavy rains, when vast quantities of sand and mud commonly come down with 
 the water from the sides of the mountains. It is in winter and the early part of 
 the spring only that the waters of the rivers are fit for use. The inhabitants of 
 Tripolitza, as long as the rivulets flow from Mount Menale, collect the water in 
 cisterns, and this is what they usually drink. When this supply ceases they are 
 obliged to have recourse to their springs and wells ; but as they are at no depth in 
 the ground they have all the bad qualities of waters from marshes. In the winter 
 when there is abundance of rain, the wells about Tripolitza become troubled and 
 overflow their margins. If a dry season comes on, either they are entirely ex- 
 hausted, or the water that remains in them is altogether fetid and unfit for use. 
 Having had the opportunity of making my observations upon several wells in 
 different quarters of the town, I always found the same results, though they 
 varied as to their depth. 
 
 The waters of Carvathi, of Steno, and of Aglacambos, are very hard, and will- 
 not dissolve the soap, owing to their coming entirely from the rocks ; at the feet 
 of some of the calcareous mountains are springs of water of a saponaceous 
 quality. The waters of Lerna are febrile, as the inhabitants rejx>rt ; those of 
 Corinth should be of the same quality, tojudge by the lymphatic constitution of 
 the inhabitants, which seems the same in both places. The water of Mistra, as 
 well that of the river as of the springs, is generally reputed" to be delicious. 
 This contradicts the system of Hippocrates, who says, — " Every town exposed 
 habitaally to hot winds, such as blow in winter between the east and the west, 
 and sheltered from the north, ought to abound in'water ; but these waters are 
 commonly brackish and at a little depth from the surface of the earth, conse- 
 quently are hot in summer, and cold in winter: they are therefore not salutary 
 to the health of man, but are likely to occasion him serious diseases." 
 
 The inhabitants of the valley of Alpheus, those of Fraxio, of Faneri, and of 
 
18'2 TRAVELS IX THE MORE A. 
 
 Miraka, prefer the water of the river to that of their springs. One sees fountains 
 established at a little distance from its banks by the piety of the Mussulmans, 
 that the faithful may in travelling find a salutary beverage. It is incredible that 
 if they had found the water of the river pleasant and wholesome, they would 
 have constructed fountains almost upon its banks. No : doubtless experience 
 taught them to distrust the vvholesomeness of the water furnished by the river. 
 In the neighbourhood of Sinano and Andritsena are some springs stronglv charged 
 with sulphurate of soda, and a stranger drinking of them unwarily would find 
 himself extremely incommoded ; they are known to have produced eruptions, not 
 however attended with any serious consequences, and which in the end died 
 away of themselves : the inhabitants who are accustomed to them do not find 
 the same effect. On this side, near the temple of Apollo Epicurius, there are 
 thermal springs, and the soil every where is mingled with pyrites of copper. 
 Vegetation is much earlier about these parts than in any other, and the produc- 
 tions of the earth are more varied. The waters of Mount Ithome, and those of 
 Arcadia where the soil is altogether argillaceous, are the best ; and the canton of 
 Messenia, with the exception of Navarin, has no reason to be dissatisfied with her 
 lot in this respect. The water of Navarin appeared to me thick, white, and salt. 
 How often have I regretted that it was not in my power to examine the quality 
 of the water in each particular place ! I might then have been able to account 
 satisfactorily for many phaenomena which presented themselves to my observation. 
 The diet of the Moreans does not vary essentially from that of the Greeks in 
 all other parts of the empire. Compelled by their religion to the observation of 
 long Lents, their table is served for the greater part of the year only with dishes 
 au maigre. These consist of the vegetables in use in their kitchen, dressed with 
 oil or butter, and having for seasoning pepper, mint, marjoram, capsicums, or long 
 pepper, and other spices or aromatic herbs. In most of the dinners at which I 
 was present ripe olives salted, from Coron, and caviar were served, and sometimes 
 poutargue. Of caviar it may be said that it is the national ragout, and any one 
 who did not speak of it with respect would be held very cheap. Tourtes of fish 
 or vegetables are also served ; but this is not the table kept by the ancients, or 
 such an one as that a gourmand would find a subject of harangue in every morsel 
 that went into his mouth. O downfall of the arts! O tomb of talents! — what 
 would Apicius say, could he rise from the dust with which he has so long mingled, 
 and see a lourte made with red poppies, fennel, and lettuce ! The aromatic herbs 
 however with which these dishes are seasoned, excite the appetite by the mere 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 183 
 
 odour they spread around, and it is the usual commencement of the dinner at 
 the table even of a rich man. An enormous dish of snails is next served, with a 
 quantity of garlic, of which the guests all eat with a very high relish. In the 
 times when the use of meat is permitted, the Greeks generally prefer eating it 
 roasted. They sometimes dress a whole lamb, putting it upon a spit, first 
 rubbing it over well with fat, and sprinkling it with marjoram ; they eat pork 
 and kid in the same way : if they make ragouts, it is commonly with hare. 
 
 Salt fish, mackarel, the sea-eel, the xiphias, and the Muscovian baleuc are much 
 esteemed. Many other sorts of sea-fish are also eaten by the Greeks, but they 
 have a determined repugnance to the enormous carps of Stymphalus, and the other 
 lakes of Arcadia ; these they say produce the leprosy. It is indeed not improbable 
 that the flesh of this fish, being greasy and oily, and the scales extremely viscous,, 
 there may be some pernicious quality in it. I am also inclined to think that the 
 fish caught on the coasts of Elis are not very wholesome. It is not uncommon with 
 the fishermen, in order to facilitate the inclosing them in their nets, to throw to 
 them the root of the tithymal and euphorbium, which intoxicates them : taken 
 in this way the flesh soon corrupts, and, notwithstanding the salt, retains something 
 of the pernicious nature of these plants^ It is even asserted that it will produce 
 cutaneous eruptions. Is this really so ? I am indeed inclined to believe there 
 must be some truth in it, since all people agree in asserting it. As this kind of 
 fish, however, is sold cheap, the people are always very eager to purchase it. 
 
 Fruit forms a principal article of food in the Morea, particularly melons, 
 water-melons, and gourds. These last are like the manna from heaven to the 
 people. In summer scarcely any thing else is to be seen among them, and they 
 eat them with the utmost delight raw, and without any kind of seasoning. 
 Sometimes they cut them into small pieces and mix them, instead of bread, with 
 their milk ; in fact, when they are in full season the Greeks almost renounce 
 bread, a thing so indispensable to a Frenchman. It is remarked that contagious 
 diseases are most liable to break out in seasons when the people eat to excess of 
 gourds and other aqueous fruits. At the tables of the great,, macaroni is a dish 
 very generally to be seen, strewed over with the hard cheese of Sicyon scraped 
 fine. The pastry, a fertile source of indigestion, is still heavier here than else- 
 where, from the oil used in making the paste, and from honey being substituted 
 instead of sugar. The cakes of the country are therefore a sort of lead, to any 
 stomachs but those of Greeks and Turks. The best dish brought to table is the 
 pilau, and this always makes a part of every dinner comme il faut, Raw salad 
 
184 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 is a thing scarcely ever served ; and they have no dessert. Their preserves of 
 cherries and citron are good, but nothing can be more detestable than their 
 dragfes and bonbons of all kinds. 
 
 The bread eaten in the Morea is in general of a good quality: in the country 
 thev knead the dough well upon a skin stretched out very tight, and when they 
 have no oven, or do not choose to have the trouble of heating it, bake it by laying 
 it only on hot embers. Most houses have ovens built upon the floor, which has 
 no pavement ; the ovens are about a foot and a half high, and three feet in dia- 
 meter, but run up in so slight a way that 1 have more than once broke one down 
 in attempting to sit upon it. If the bread generally to be found in the bakers' 
 shops is very much under-baked, this is not the fault of the baker, but of the 
 prevailing taste in the country, which will have it so. The great people however, 
 both Turks and Greeks, begin now to discover that bread well-baked is preferable. 
 Three different sorts of bread, are made in the towns. The first, known among 
 the Franks by the name of Armenian bread, is a sort of cakes of a soft nature, 
 and rather more like buns than bread ; they are made of brown flour, and are heavy. 
 Workmen and people of the lower class, who want things slow of digestion, 
 generally eat these by preference. The second sort is made of dough of a similar 
 kind, but moulded into loaves of about a pound each, and very much under- 
 baked. The third sort, called the Franks' bread, is made with very fine and 
 delicate flour, tolerably light, and kneaded sufficiently to be pleasant if eaten the 
 day that it is made; but it does not keep well, soon growing dry. This is 
 made into loaves of about half a pound each. The Greeks commonly eat the 
 second sort of bread, as they are extremely afraid of being thought opulent. 
 None of the bread has a rosiny taste, as has been asserted: perhaps this assertion has 
 arisen from smelling the anise-seeds which are sometimes scattered over the outside. 
 
 The Greeks drink a great deal during the dinner; but the Mussulmans eat 
 quick, and never drink till they have finished eating. The food is then so 
 distended that many of them can with difficulty hold themselves up to smoke, 
 from their stomachs being immoderately puffed out. The pipe is the usual 
 dessert of the country. After washing their mouth and nose, and soaping their 
 mustachios well, they squat themselves upon the sopha to indulge in this 
 favourite regale. 'Tis then that they are truly happy, that in complete indolence, 
 without thought, they pass some of the most delightful moments of their lives. 
 
 Milk forms an essential article of food among the people, chiefly that of the 
 ewe ; there is something in it particularly sweet and aromatic, from the nature 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 185 
 
 of the plants on which the animal principally feeds. The Greeks however seldom 
 eat it in its genuine state as drawn from the flocks, they prefer it infinitely 
 when they have made jougourlh of it*; they even talk of this preparation in as 
 high terms of rapture as if it were the ambrosia of the Gods. I should say that 
 the jougourth is one of the most sour and nauseous things imaginable. He 
 moreover who has unfortunately seen how extremely dirty the cauldron is in 
 which this food is prepared, must be considerably in want of something to allay 
 hunger before he could eat it with pleasure. Truth will not permit me to make 
 a much more favourable report of the butter: almost always in a liquefied 
 state, it has much ralher the appearance of white honey. It is kept in vessels 
 of goat-skins. The cheese is in general too much salted, and very inferior 
 to what is made in many other European countries. Mistra and Vasilico have 
 notwithstanding obtained a considerable degree of reputation for their cheeses : 
 the people fricassee them with butter. This ragout is however little suitable to 
 any but an Albanian stomach, which could digest even the black broth of 
 Sparta. But enough on this subject, — I will not pursue any further my disserta- 
 tion upon oriental cookery ; perhaps I shall be thought to have descended already 
 too much into minutiae : but the title of physician, which ought to imply that of 
 an accurate observer, will I hope plead my excuse. 
 
 Besides wine, which is the usual liquor of the Greeks, there are other liquors 
 drunk by them in common with the Turks. Among these their boza, as it is 
 called, holds the first rank as an intoxicating liquor. .It is made of bruised 
 barley, left to ferment, to which a certain quantity of darnel j- is added. Next 
 to this are the sherbets ; they are prepared with strawberries, raspberries, or apri- 
 cots bruised with water, and sweetened ; the small quantity of musk added to 
 them is not sufficient to make them unpleasant. These liquors are extremely 
 grateful in the violent heats of summer, particularly when cooled, as they com- 
 monly are, in ice collected from the mountains. The grape of Corinth, mixed 
 
 * Jougourth is a sort t>f curdled milk, turned by heating the milk over the fire with some of the old 
 jougourlh in it, or for want of that the flower of an artichoke. Thus the original fermentation proceeds 
 from this plant, and this the Greeks know perfectly well, resorting to it whenever their stock of curd 
 is entirely exhausted. They never supposed their original stock to have been brought by an angel 
 from heaven, though this is imputed to them by Mr. Eton. 
 
 •J- Darnel, a sort of rye grass which grows not unfrequently among corn. There are many species of 
 this grass : that here referred to is probably the lolium temulentum or bearded darnel, which is said to 
 be of an intoxicating quality. It is not common in England. — Translator, 
 
 2B 
 
186 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 with rose water and sugar, is a liquor very much in vogue. The brandy which 
 forms the basis of their liqueurs is bad, and might have a very pernicious effect 
 upon persons of irritable habits. The Turks are exceedingly tond of a beverage 
 made with mint and pimento infused in cold water. I must say that I never 
 tasted any thing more powerful; it is like swallowing an alcohol the most con- 
 centrated. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 On the diseases incidental to the Morea, and particularly on the plague. — Slate of 
 medicine in the Morea. — Physicians and surgeons. 
 
 The manner of clothing, the tastes, the habits of a people are of considerable 
 importance in contemplating the subject on which I am now about to enter. A 
 state of slavery has an important influence upon the physical constitution ; even 
 a greater or less degree of liberty creates shadings which ought not to escape an 
 accurate observer. Nay, the ambition of their primates, and the fear by which 
 the people are enervated, may be not improperly enumerated among the causes 
 which create a predisposition to pestilential diseases in the Morea. 
 
 The inhabitants of the valley ofTegea live very much upon fruit, and, experi- 
 encing fewer vexations than some of the Moreans, have a greater manliness in 
 their appearance, much more of grace and dignity in their form. Those of 
 Upper Arcadia, living chiefly upon milk, love peace and repose; they are mild 
 and calm in their dispositions. Both these classes, content with their lot, seem 
 to have no wishes beyond the spot on which they were born. The inhabitants 
 of the valleys about Mettaga, living during the winter upon chesnuts and farina- 
 ceous food, have not an equally submissive character: the old men of these parts 
 are very subject to arthritic complaints. The Messenian, who eats a great deal 
 of flesh and fish, has an activity of character which belongs very much to the 
 neighbourhood of the coast. Brave and industrious, he early quits the banks of 
 the Pamissus or the Neda : the aspect of his towns, which almost all face the east 
 or the south, and the greater plenty in which he lives, give him a more animated 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 137 
 
 physiognomy. I speak here of the parts of Messenia near the coast : the case is 
 different in the interior parts: here I have already represented him as old, from 
 labour and hard living, at an early period of life. 
 
 I have mentioned the rice-grounds, the evaporations from which are so dele- 
 terious to the inhabitants of Argolis. A stranger can hardly fix himself at 
 Nauplia di Romania, which is upon the eastern shore of the gulf of Argos, 
 without paying the tribute of a quartan ague; nor are the inhabitants themselves 
 exempt from that disease, The bad qualities of the air, and its malignant 
 influence, may be easily judged by the sallow complexions of these people, and 
 by seeing how much they are affected with goitres and scrophulous complaints. 
 The functions of the stomach are therefore often very sluggishly performed, and 
 the abdominal viscera become extremely loaded. From this predominating 
 state of the lymphatic system, some persons are to be found attacked with the 
 elephantiasis, and a great many with the dropsy. Bleeding is very dangerous in 
 most of the diseases of this country, even in the pulmonary complaints which are 
 here very common. Coughs and catarrhs are complaints extremely prevalent at 
 Argos, as well as in the villages about the forest of Nemea, and those on the 
 side of Mycene. 
 
 Wounds are with difficulty healed in constitutions so impregnated with aqueous 
 particles. They often turn to phagedenic ulcers, which will only yield to com- 
 pression and to change of place: several examples of this kind fell under my own 
 observation. A woman of Aglacambos, who had for a long time had an ulcer in 
 her leg, was obliged to fly the hot and moist climate of Argolis, as no prospect 
 appeared of a cure while she remained here : she came to Tripolitza, where she 
 was under my care, and by the remedies I applied the wound was entirely healed 
 in a short time. Apoplexies appeared to me frequent at Sinano, as well as in the 
 neighbourhood of Arcadia, and still more especially in the district from Caritena 
 to Olynapia ; they seemed most prevalent when the south winds charged the air 
 with moist exhalations. The usual remedy resorted to on these occasions is 
 phlebotomy, which is administered without any regard being paid to the nature 
 of the particular case; this is followed by a slight emetic of tobacco-leaves infused. 
 Ataxial and adynamial fevers prevail very much in Elis during the summer, 
 especially in those seasons when storms are very frequent. Pyrgos, in the district 
 of Belvedere, is extremely subject to the most obstinate intermittent fevers. 
 
 The syphilitic virus, being generally intrusted to the management of quacks, 
 occasions disorders to which the greater part of the afflicted become victims; but 
 
 2 B 3 
 
188 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 this affection is trifling, compared with the leprosy and the elephantiasis. " It is 
 chiefly," says Raimonr, in his history of the latter complaint, " in those parts 
 of the globe which are under a tyrannical government that the elephantiasis 
 plays a principal part among the prevailing diseases, in concert with its allies 
 leprous affections and pestilential fevers: good health does not go hand in hand 
 with extreme slavery. Under an inhuman despotism the greater part of the lands 
 are left uncultivated; they are often covered with stagnant waters. People who 
 have no property think of nothing but making a scanty provision for their 
 mere physical necessities ; their food is consequently not abundant, and seldom 
 very wholesome ; their habitations are damp, and often placed in the most 
 unhealthy situations. Such is now the lamentable situation of the Greek states." 
 In Greece, free and flourishing, the leprosy and the elephantiasis were alike 
 unknown ; they have only been introduced into Greece enslaved, oppressed, and 
 wretched. 
 
 It is in Elis, in the districts bordering upon the Alpheus, as well as in the 
 country about the lake of Voulsi, and the other lakes of Arcadia, that the 
 elephantiasis, according to the best information I could procure, is the most 
 prevalent. In the space of six months, more than twenty persons from these 
 parts came to consult me for the elephantiasis in the legs. Among them I 
 observed that with two-thirds at least the affection was principally in the left leg. 
 I saw a member of the divan at Navarin who had his left leg thus affected, and 
 who was called in derision effbndi baldir kebir, or the effendi ivilh the great leg. 
 
 The elephantiasis has not however here the same hideous appearance as among 
 those whom I had an opportunity of observing in Egypt ; it seems as if the disease 
 was in some measure counteracted in its dreadful effects by the climate being less 
 moist than that on the borders of the Nile. I believe the leprosy to be less 
 common in this country than the elephantiasis. If agriculture should continue 
 to flourish, as there seems every reason to hope, and if a good government should, 
 ever give free scope to the natural genius of the Greeks, I have no doubt that 
 both these horrible maladies would soon disappear. But what are these, compared 
 with that more dreadful scourge which a moist winter and a hot spring seldom 
 fail to bring on ? What are they, I say, in comparison with the plague? that fatal 
 visitation, of which it remains for me to treat. 
 
 The very name alone of the plague presents immediately to the mind the most 
 dreadful of all afflictions with which a country can be visited. In Asia, in 
 Africa, in Europe, in the bosom of those Greek isles once so blessed, wherever 
 
TEAVELS IN THE MOREA. 189 
 
 this disease appears, desolation and death follow in its train. Yet considered as 
 an emanation of divine vengeance, its nature and its principle are still enveloped 
 in very great obscurity. Homer, the prince of poets, makes it a visitation of 
 the Gods for the punishment of mankind. It is by this grand picture of human 
 misery that he opens his divine poem. He represents Apollo irritated at the 
 offence committed against his priest, descending from the top of Olympus with 
 his bow and arrows, striking first the dogs and the mules, and afterwards the 
 whole army. The people (he says) died, the piles were burning incessantly, for 
 nine days the arrows of the God never ceased to strike. But was this really the 
 scourge which we know by the name of the plague ? 
 
 In modern Greece we do not hear of an innocent people punished for the fault of 
 the King of kings ; but a prejudice no less deplorable, by the terror that it spreads, 
 predisposes the body to the impression of the contagion.. The Evil-eye, the 
 Cacodamon, has been seen wandering over the roofs of the houses :. who can 
 dare to doubt this ? It was in the form of a withered old woman covered with 
 funereal rags; she was heard to call by their names those who are to be cut off 
 from the number of the living. Nocturnal concerts, voices murmuring amid the 
 silence of the darkest nights, have been heard in the air; phantoms have been 
 seen wandering about in solitary places, in the streets, in the markets; the dogs 
 have howled with the most dismal and melancholy tone, and their cries have 
 been repeated by the echoes along the desert streets. It is when such things 
 happen, as I was told very seriously by an, inhabitant of Nauplia di Romania, 
 that great care must be taken not to answer if you should be called during the 
 night: if you hear symphonies, bury yourself in the bed-clothes, and do not 
 listen to them ; it is the old woman, it is the plague itself that knocks at. 
 your door. 
 
 These absurd terrors have even shaken the fortitude of minds in other respects 
 the best organized; nor have grave historians scrupled to give a detail of signs 
 which they call precursors of the plague. Let fable represent Hercules mounting 
 his funeral pile, devoured by the burning fever of the plague ; let it give us a pic- 
 ture of the misfortunes of Niobe, — of Apollo, conqueror of the serpent Python ;< — 
 under these sublime allegories it may, perhaps, have been intended to describe this 
 horrible scourge : but who can believe what is related by Procopius, where he 
 describes the fearful signs which preceded such a breaking out of the anger of Hea- 
 ven ? " In 565," says he, " all at once were seen upon the walls and the doors of 
 the houses, upon the vessels and upon the clothes, livid spots, which but appeared 
 
190 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the more as endeavours were made to wash them away *. This phenomenon was 
 the forerunner of a dreadful plague, which broke out the following year. Winter 
 being come, night and day noises were heard in the air like that of an army march- 
 ing to the sound of the trumpet." And in another place he says: "In 747, 
 a dreadful plague, which began its ravages in Sicily and Calabria, drew nearer and 
 nearer to Greece, and made its way at last to Constantinople. It came on with 
 marks like spots of oil ; and this symptom was followed by one altogether as extra- 
 ordinary : this was a wandering of the imagination, so that the persons afflicted 
 seemed to see hideous spectres ; they even seemed to hear them, and converse di- 
 stinctly with them. They imagined they saw them enter houses, wounding some 
 and massacring others; and the deaths of those who fell victims to the plague 
 were attributed to their strokes. In the spring of 7^8 the contagion increased, 
 and depopulated Constantinople." The same prejudices have been handed down 
 and exist even in our own times : this scourge is ascribed to the avenging arm of 
 God, and few are those who think of investigating the true nature of the malady. 
 My fellow citizen Dr. Desgenettes, professor of the college of physicians at Paris, 
 has however entered deeply into this subject. I would here add the observations 
 I have been enabled to make. 
 
 To me it appears that the primary cause of the plague is the impurity of the air, 
 and the unwholesome nature of the country. In those parts of Africa, in Egypt 
 for example, where the plague is endemic, it always comes on during the season of 
 the hot and moist winds that blow from the south. This is the uniform testimony of 
 all who have observed the course of the malady with attention; and this established, 
 it seems not at all foreign to truth and probability to consider it as a morbid emana- 
 tion from the simoom, or wind of the desert, which kills like the stroke of iiohtnino-. 
 For this we have the testimony of Bruce, Niebuhr, Volney, and others. It may 
 however be objected, that the plague was not known formerly in Egypt, though 
 the wind of the desert must have blown equally then as in these days. Herodotus 
 makes no mention of any ravages of the plague, nor are any mentioned as long as 
 
 * These kind of spots are called by the learned Raimont, the leprosy of the houses. " The law," says 
 he, " ordained among the Hebrews, that if they spread, the houses should be pulled down ; and if the 
 spots appeared again after the house was rebuilt, then it was to be wholly abandoned. I should conceive 
 this appearance to have been in fact saline efflorescences, or it might have been the effect of a rot occa- 
 sioned by the extreme humidity of the air. Houses consisting only of a ground-floor are particularly sub- 
 ject to be affected in this way." History of the Elephantiasis, p. 76. It is, besides, very probable, that 
 the same humidity which occasioned this appearance would contribute to bring on the plague. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 1Q1 
 
 this country remained a Roman colony : but when it passed under the feeble 
 power of the eastern emperors, its physical no less than its moral nature under- 
 went a dreadful change; and the cradle of the arts, a spot once so celebrated, 
 once so splendid, ornamented with such magnificent towns and buildings, — this 
 spot became what? — the seat of the plague. 
 
 We must not, however, believe in consequence of what is said by Thucydides, 
 by Lucretius, and Pliny, that the plague comes from Ethiopia. Bruce, who 
 travelled into Abyssinia, does not say that it afflicted Axum. The caravans,, which 
 come every year from the interior of Africa, would then spread it in Upper Egypt 
 before it could be felt at Cairo: — but the contrary is the fact. It proceeds from 
 Lower Egypt, where it seems to lurk about Damietta, and is propagated by 
 communication. From the time of Procopius k has pursued the same course. 
 This we learn from the description he has given us of a plague which spread over 
 all the then known world. " It began," says he, "• in Egypt among the inhabi- 
 tants of Pelusium; whence it spread to Alexandria, then to the other provinces, 
 and so on to the parts of Palestine adjoining to Egypt." Dr. Desgenettes gives a 
 testimony to the same effect, when he says that the epidemic appeared at Dami- 
 etta in September, and afterwards broke out in the marine hospital at Alexandria; 
 It is in vain that some travellers have asserted the plague to have been brought to 
 Egypt by vessels coming from Constantinople, — the facts that falsify this assertion 
 are but too numerous ; numbers of our army fell by this disease when all commu* 
 nication with Constantinople was cut off- 
 It is not true that the plague eomes on with such rapidity, as that people fall- 
 dead in the streets, struck with it as by a stroke of thunder. None but those who 
 have no home under which to hide their heads perish in such a way; and this is 
 not the only affliction with which people of that description might have fallen 
 dead in a similar manner. There are in the East but too many unhappy victims, 
 who during the greater part of the year, and above all in the season when the 
 plague is most likely to break out, sleep always in the open air; and these are the 
 people whose mode of life, whose misery, renders them very liable to be the first 
 seized with the plague. In any case, those who appear to die suddenly must al- 
 ways have experienced some previous indisposition, something which announced 
 them stricken with the pestilential fever. In those who are first seized, there is 
 commonly great uncertainty as to the nature of the disease ; it is not till many have 
 fallen that its true nature seems to be developed. There are three distinct epochs, 
 commonly, during the time that the contagion continues in any place, in each of 
 
192 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 which it assumes a new character ; though sometimes in the height of the ravages 
 it assumes all the three characters at once. Terrible at its commencement, more by 
 the consternation which it spreads, than by the actual ills which it occasions, the 
 plague seems propagated extremely by fear, a principle very productive of that 
 debility which is particularly favourable for increasing its ravages. At the least 
 suspicion of the plague, I have seen men in other respects the most stout-hearted 
 and courageous, alarmed and depressed beyond measure, so that they have brought 
 on serious illness. Many, I believe, have taken the infection of the plague merely 
 from the state of debility to which they were reduced by their terrors ; the fear of 
 death has hurried them to the tomb. 
 
 In the second period, when the nature of the disease is decided by the alarming 
 progress it makes, the streets are crowded with funerals, while they are abandoned 
 by all but those employed to deposit the victims in their last dreary abode. People 
 shun each other as they would shun a noxious animal : they are afraid to inquire 
 after a friend, a relation, lest the inquiry should only produce new sorrows in learn- 
 ing that they are no more. It is not till the disease is arrived at this desolating 
 period that the Turks of Constantinople begin to believe in its existence: it is 
 then only that they think of assembling to invoke the deity, and endeavour by 
 prayers to avert his anger. Still, however, far from regarding it as an affliction 
 against which human efforts can be of any avail, they contemplate it solely in the 
 light of an irrevocable decree of fate. If they do not condemn the terrified Greek, 
 or the Frank who shuts himself close within his own walls, thev would consider it 
 as a great sin in themselves to be wanting in confidence. Their prayers will be 
 heard, if it be thus decreed ; if their days are numbered, thus it must be, and thus 
 it was determined from all eternity. This is not stupidity, it is not apathy, — it is 
 religion. A Turk may lose his wives, his children, — his heart groans, he sheds 
 bitter tears, but his head bows submissive to that Providence who overwhelms 
 him. He remains in his own house; he gives his orders tranquilly; he acquits 
 himself, dressed in his usual garments, of the duties of his worship. Death strikes 
 again : — he is left quite alone : he raises his eyes to heaven. " This world," he 
 says, " is only a place of passage!" — He dies in his turn, but without having ex- 
 perienced the agonies of death a hundred times over through his pusillanimous 
 fears. 
 
 The ravages of the plague are only experienced at periods, and these generally 
 at some distance from each other. It is a commonly received opinion that it 
 breaks out every nine years at Constantinople: but this is a vulgar error; it 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 193 
 
 waver appears there when war intercepts all communication with Egypt, neither 
 Is it contagious to the degree asserted by some of the Franks who inhabit the 
 Levant. If it had been so, who among those that constituted our army of the 
 East could have escaped falling victims to it, — what would have become even of 
 our chief himself? It is well known that he one day with his own hands raised 
 From the ground a soldier afflicted with it, and laid him upon his bed: yet no 
 symptoms of the disease ever appeared upon him ; and if the contagion had been 
 as subtile as it is represented, coming thus in immediate contact with an infected 
 person, he could not have escaped it. 
 
 In reflecting upon this disease, I know not how to flatter myself that any ge- 
 neral specific against it should ever be discovered. How indeed hope this ! since 
 it is often difficult to pronounce, when a patient is first attacked, upon the nature 
 of his malady, so Proteus-like are the forms which it assumes ! So many fruitless 
 experiments have been made, such a number of remedies have been proposed 
 against the plague, that it is almost ridiculous to talk of them. Impressed with 
 the idea that it is produced by a particular and homogeneous virus, a physician of 
 the country, by name Valli, a native of Guastalla, lately made an experiment not 
 less bold than curious. He fancied he discovered that persons who had been vac- 
 cinated did not take the infection of the plague, which then raged at Constanti- 
 nople, and concluded thence that the vaccine'virus neutralized the virus of the 
 plague. He therefore took the matter from a pestilential tumour, and, mixing it 
 with a certain quantity of vaccine virus, inoculated himself with it. It is certain 
 that no ill effects resulted from the experiment, — but how draw any general infer- 
 ence from this solitary instance? 
 
 Let us rather pay the homage due to those modern governments who have had 
 sufficient wisdom to oppose an effective barrier against the contagion, by build- 
 ing lazarettoes : and let us also hope, that by the extension of civilization, by the 
 amelioration of laws, and the reformation of abuses in the governments of those 
 countries principally afflicted with this dreadful calamity, the very principles of it 
 may in time be destroyed. In waiting the arrival of this happy period, let us 
 state that there are precautions which a stranger inhabiting the Turkish empire, 
 or a traveller passing through it, will do well to observe. In the first place, let 
 him arm himself with courage: a steady confidence, without carrying it so far as 
 to run unnecessary danger, may contribute essentially towards preserving him in 
 security. Let him, in the second place, use constant but moderate exercise, and 
 eat only simple and wholesome food : temperate living is one of the most effective 
 
 2 C 
 
19-4 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 barriers that can be opposed against contagion. As to the physician, his duty is 
 traced by the engagements he has taken upon himself to succour the unfortunate. 
 He ought to see the sick and console them ; the minister of peace in the days 
 of mourning, it is his part to carry hope into the midst of an afflicted family, 
 and, by encouraging them, to awaken that fortitude which will best enable 
 them to struggle against the danger. But let him avoid sitting down upon the 
 bed of the patient, or, if possible, taking his breath ; in that lies his principal 
 danger. In thus conducting himself he is performing his duty ; and if his hour 
 be arrived, as he must one day die, he will at least have come to an end worthy of 
 his vocation ; he will have expired at his post, in the very act of performing good 
 works. 
 
 The principal physicians of the Turkish empire are a number of crafty 
 Italians, calling themselves caloialroi, or good physicians, who travel about in a 
 manner very similar to Beaumarchais's celebrated barber, when he visited Estra- 
 madura, Gallicia, and the two Castiles. They are very expert at making widows 
 and orphans ; but the indolent Turk, though he is the daily witness of their feats 
 in this way, regards them only as the ministers of fate, feasts them and pays 
 them, nor thinks of imputing their want of success in the healing art to any 
 thing but an immutable fatality. Under the shelter of this prejudice, the 
 caloiatros continues to practise his art, and to reap the harvest of it ; to reap, as it 
 may truly be called, since his drugs perform the office ascribed to the scythe of 
 our mortal enemy. He displays a luxury and assumes an importance, which are 
 no less ridiculous than the pretended depth of his knowledge ; he is accompanied 
 by a servant, who executes the several offices of interpreter, page, steward, and 
 puffer ; and who, trained up in the secrets of his master's art, after a few years 
 sets up for himself as a successor of the great Hippocrates.. 
 
 Everyone who wears a hat, whether he be Turk, Greek, Jew, or Armenian, is 
 a physician, — for the dress is all in all ; but the Italians are in the highest repute. 
 Thus these people come in swarms from the shores of the Adriatic, like birds of 
 prey inso a country abounding with game. Struck with this migration, an 
 ambassador of Venice at the Ottoman Porte once remarked that the serene 
 republic had not lost its taste for crusades, as by means of its physicians it carried 
 on a constant war against the infidels. All however do not make fortunes: the 
 most successful adventurers are those who have served their apprenticeship as 
 followers of some former physician in high repute. More would nevertheless 
 succeed, if the thirst of plunder did not occasion divisions among them, which 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. }Q5 
 
 lead them often to do each other justice in a manner not at all conformable with 
 their general interest as a body. After a broil of this kind, their credit is lowered 
 for awhile, and they are obliged to practise at an under price: an envious brother 
 will take in hand for two piastres a malady that ought to pay twenty or thirty. 
 
 During my stay in the Morea, I had frequent opportunities of seeing some of 
 these chevaliers d'industrie. It was not a little amusing to hear one talk of having 
 studied at Corfu, another at Zante, another at Nauplia di Romania, under a 
 celebrated physician the pride of his country, who could boast that he had made 
 more than fifty phlebotomists among his servants. The caloiatros in chief of 
 Tripolitza, the father of the wandering faculty, was a Greek who sold tobacco at 
 the bazar. He had been cook in a public-house at Montpellier, and had a variety 
 of specifics and amulets for relieving pain. Most of these gentry treated me as a 
 brother, and came to me confidentially to ask me for receipts for such or such a 
 complaint: according to their ideas, as well as those of many other people, 
 the practice of physic consisted only in having a great variety of receipts. A 
 good dose of jalap, of manna, or of Glauber salts, and above all bleeding, (for 
 nothing is to be done without bleeding,) are their great weapons, so that one 
 might conclude them to be of the same faculty with Moliere's physician. No 
 less impudent than ignorant, they are continually boasting of the cures they have 
 performed at such or such a place, taking care however that it shall always be 
 one at a considerable distance ; to hear them talk, you would suppose that they 
 bleed without its being perceived, and draw a tooth with the point of a stiletto. 
 There is not a town in the Levant, be it ever so inconsiderable, that has not its 
 iEsculapius. In confidence and perjury they do not yield to the Greeks ; and too 
 much of the same species to have any complacency towards each other, no one 
 ever mentions a brother but in terms of the most sovereign contempt. They are 
 besides for the most part conjurers, nay, by an extraordinary combination of 
 talents, almost any thing that may be desired of them. 
 
 The people however of the Morea, who cannot afford to pay for being sent in 
 a regular way to their long homes by these able practitioners, have among 
 them a few simple remedies, which give them a chance of remaining some time 
 longer on their pilgrimage here below. I have been surprised to see how well 
 the peasants could manage a putrid fever. Some glasses of generous wine, pome- 
 granates, and limes, are the things usually given to the patient, the beloved lancet 
 being kept at a distance very cautiously : by these means I have known a patient 
 recover very speedily. I have often seen intermittent fevers subdued entirely by 
 
 2 C 2 
 
19<3 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 a mixture of coffee and lemon-juice, which is the general remedy for them all 
 over the country. The proportions are three quarters of an ounce of coffee 
 ground very fine, two ounces of lemon juice, and three of water. The mixture 
 to be drunk warm and fasting. Women inoculate for the small- pox ; and I have 
 not the least doubt that if vaccination were introduced into the countiy, it would 
 be adopted eagerly. For such diseases as epilepsy, vapours, or insanity, they 
 have recourse only to exorcisms and charms. 
 
 The few notions of surgery that exist among the Greeks are confined princi- 
 pally to the Albanians. Warriors by instinct and by taste, they are obliged to 
 learn how to dress their wounds. Surrounded by enemies, whether they live 
 independent in their own mountains, or serve under the banners of the pasha, 
 they are equally exposed to danger, and almost of necessity learn how to reduce 
 fractures and dislocations. Their surgical instruments consist of a little iron rod 
 which they use as a probe, a forceps with a bill-head, with which the splinters of 
 a fractured bone are extracted ; another sort of forceps with rings ; and razors, 
 which are used instead of bistouries. According to the uses for which they are 
 wanted, they invent bandages for fractures, or to compress vessels of the positions 
 of which they have no idea ; and these rough sketches are not unworthy the 
 attention of persons practised in the surgical art. 
 
 Phlebotomy is delegated almost entirely to the barbers; and it must be con- 
 fessed that they acquit themselves with tolerable dexterity, whether the vessels be 
 apparent or not. They raise the vein by tying a silk cord round the arm, and 
 close the orifice by applying cotton, which is bound on very tight with a silk 
 handkerchief. They draw teeth with a pair of nippers, which resemble some- 
 what our pliers. I got one of Garangeot's keys made for them, and they soon 
 became very dextrous in the use of it ; nor can their delight in the possession of 
 this instrument, which was wholly new to them, be well conceived. 
 
 If the profession of a physician be however exercised in the Levant principally 
 by ignorant intruders, the character does not the less give great consequence to 
 any one who desires to gain a complete knowledge of the country in travelling 
 over it. A physician acknowledged by a commercial agent obtains an easy 
 access among the Turks, though the)' are not in general very ready to receive 
 strangers ; and he has the great advantage of never being an object of suspicion 
 to them. If he is acquainted with the language of the country, he may travel 
 every where just as his fancy leads him, and examine whatever he pleases without 
 incurring any risk to himself. He is the friend of man, he observes and studies 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 197 
 
 nature; the Turk sees in him only one occupied in examining plants, and medi- 
 tating upon the secrets of his art. He may, under this veil, initiate himself fully 
 into the secrets of the customs and manners of the people, and gain all possible 
 information with respect to the statistical situation of the country ; he may be 
 every where respected and cherished, if he will deserve to be so. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Mechanical arts, trades, and manufactures. — Occupations of both sexes. — 
 Productions of the Morea.— 'State of commerce. - 
 
 The state of industry in a country where the population is composed of op- 
 pressors and oppressed, is not very difficult to be conceived, If, however, in the 
 Morea the observer does not meet with many things to satisfy his taste, he at least 
 will meet with objects gratifying to his curiosity ; he will find the mechanical 
 arts of ancient times in the very bosom of the same country where they then 
 existed. The plough, the first instrument for administering to the wants of man, 
 is simple as in days of yore. The share, like the anchor of a ship, is of wood, 
 armed with iron only at the two extremities of the curve, which are used alter- 
 nately. In the light lands of Messenia one horse, or two asses, draw the share 
 only, without any plough, and a man directs it with very little difficulty. In the 
 stronger and more argillaceous soil of Elis and Arcadia, the share is fixed into a 
 plough which has block wheels, and it is commonly drawn by asses, oxen, or buf- 
 faloes, very seldom by horses, and never by slaves. 
 
 The trades of carpenter and joiner seem quite in their infancy. With a straight 
 saw, the blade of which is fixed into a handle like those to the saws used in 
 England for amputation, and a hammer and hatchet, the Greeks will build a 
 house entirely. It is only in the large towns, or those near the sea, that gouges 
 and chisels for making mortises are used. In the villages, the planks are united 
 by fining away the edge where the junction is to be made. The baths are gene- 
 rally built in a more substantial manner than the houses. In constructing 
 the vaults of their domes they use a sort of centre to make the curve regular » 
 
198 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Notwithstanding this scarcity of tools, the mosques and churches are sub- 
 stantially built, the architects supplying by their industry and address their 
 deficiency in other means. 
 
 The trade of a sadler is one which they have carried to a greater degree of per- 
 fection than most exercised by them. The saddles, the bridles, the housings, are 
 often ornamented with embroidery of a very superior kind. No where is gold for 
 embroidering the fine morocco of the Orientals so well prepared as in the Turkish 
 domains. This kind of embroidery is particularly cultivated among the Turks ; 
 they eagerly adopt any patterns for it presented to them, commonly preferring 
 them to their own. 
 
 Their colours for dyeing are particularly fine, and well deserve the attention of 
 those who apply themselves to inquiring into the processes best followed for 
 biinging this art to perfection. The silks of Calamatte are ordinary, and consist 
 only of things used by the Moreans. The inhabitants of Mistra work iron toler- 
 ably well, and excel in cleaning and brightening arms ; the daggers used by 
 the Albanians are almost entirely of their manufacture. At Tripolitza and 
 Caritena they make very fine soap, which pays a duty to the crown. Of late, serges 
 of silk and cotton have been manufactured, which are sold even beyond the pro- 
 vince. In short, without entering into a minute detail of every article, I will 
 only say that there is more industry in the Morea than from the circumstances of 
 the country could reasonably be expected. They begin to have some relish for 
 objects of luxury; and the people of Hydra and Spezzia, who push their naviga- 
 tion even to the coasts of France, will in all probability soon introduce a taste 
 for our arts and manufactures, which cannot fail being of advantage to both 
 countries. 
 
 Women are not employed in cultivating the lands, except in Laconia. The 
 severity of Oriental customs will not admit of women being seen in shops, to 
 which, among us, they are so great an ornament. Delicate arts, suitable to the 
 sex, are those which here fall to their lot. They make cloths of cotton, which 
 serve for household purposes, and slight silks of the rough parts of the cods, 
 which are used for their own wear. But their great occupation is embroidery ; 
 and this they do extremely well, and in very pretty patterns. It is done either 
 with gold or with silks, the colours of which are particularly fine ; and they 
 imitate objects of nature, such as flowers, wreaths of vine, olive, or myrtle, and 
 the like, extremely well : the most remarkable part of their work is, that they do 
 both sides exactly alike. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 199 
 
 The mothers separate the cotton from the seeds by passing it between two 
 cylinders which turn in opposite directions. Some spin the cotton with a distaff, 
 which they do with amazing rapidity ; they afterwards wind it off one, two, or 
 three threads together, according as they wish to use it. Washing, which in most 
 countries is a very important part of female occupation, is an object in which 
 they are much too little employed in the Morea. It is quite revolting to think 
 how little clean linen is used in this country ; the under garment is perhaps not 
 changed more than once in a fortnight. The women are extremely exact how- 
 ever in the use of the bath, which makes their want of cleanliness in their linen 
 appear the more extraordinary. They likewise perfume themselves extremely ; 
 but this too is a poor compensation for the absence of a quality which would 
 supersede the necessity of it- They prepare a paint from red pinks, with which 
 they colour their faces, and they blacken their eye-brows and: insides of the eye- 
 lids with surrneh. 
 
 Though the Morea is a very mountainous country, it is not the less extremely 
 fertile; the argillaceous earth, by which the mountains are in general covered, 
 is well calculated to repay the labours of the agriculturist. The masses of granite, 
 of which the principal chains are composed, incline towards the north in Mount 
 Pholoe, while in Taygetes they have an equal inclination towards the south. It 
 seems as if Peloponnesus sloped gradually from one of these points to form the 
 bason of the Mediterranean, and from the other to form the gulf of Lepanto. 
 The soil, which is light and marly in Messenia, partakes more of peat and the 
 spoils of vegetable substances in Elis ; the soil of Arcadia is generally good ; that 
 of Argos is rich ; and the whole northern part of the Morea supports almost 
 numberless flocks. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Coron and Calamatte, on the side of Ci tries and 
 Armyros, and in the canton of Zarnate, the olive-trees are particularly large and 
 strong. The leaves of the mulberry-trees in this canton are of a brighter green 
 than elsewhere, and the silk-worms fed upon them yield a very great abundance 
 of silk. From Calamatte to Andreossa the whole country is cultivated, and the 
 grapes are some of the finest in the Morea. Here also are abundance of oranges,, 
 lemons, and citrons. Magnificent oaks rear their heads to the skies, and seem 
 to court a nobler destiny than being left to decay and fall from old age: they 
 would be excellent for the construction of shipping, which would become the 
 defence of the neighbouring shores, and would transport to other countries the 
 superfluities of this. Corinth, situated in a most unwholesome atmosphere, 
 
200 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 neglects every year more and more the cultivation of those vines which have long 
 produced a very material article of her commerce under the name of raisins of 
 Corinth. 
 
 The oxen of the Morea are low in stature, and have long white hair. As the 
 people have no idea of fattening them, the most fleshy do not weigh more than 
 from three to four hundred pounds. The cows give very little milk, and soon 
 become dry after the calves are weaned ; they are besides exposed to jackals, who 
 often tear the teats, and to large serpents which suck away all the milk. The annual 
 consumption of the Morea, in the towns subject to the Turks, is not above six 
 thousand oxen and cows: both Greeks and Mussulmans in general prefer mutton 
 to beef: against the latter a strong prejudice formerly existed, it being considered 
 as unwholesome food; but this is now much abated, and less objection is made to 
 eating beef. The inhabitants of Mama and Messenia, more carnivorous, consume 
 a sufficient quantity of oxen to make it worth while for speculators to turn their 
 attention towards the possibility of establishing a trade for hides in the gulf of 
 Calamatte. There are buffalos in all the cantons of the Morea, which are em- 
 ployed in husbandry, and when they can work no longer they are killed and 
 eaten. They are in general handsome animals, their skin tine and well furnished 
 with hair: this speaks the goodness of the pastures where they are fed. 
 
 The sheep are small, and have very large horns. Their wool, which is all 
 exported, may be considered as of the second quality of wool from the East, 
 imported into Europe. That of Arcadia is finer than in any other part of the 
 province, because the sheep are kept folded in the open air almost all the year. 
 The cheese is made from the milk of sheep or goats, those of Mi^tra especially, 
 which are held in such high esteem in the East. The immense quantity exported 
 speaks of itself how extremely numerous the flocks must be. 
 
 The horses of the Morea, little to be admired for their form, seem of a species 
 between the Arabian and the Thracian breed. Full of fire, of vigour, and of 
 courage, they run with a firm and rapid step over the mountains without ever 
 stumbling. Those of Achaia and Argolis are the best: the latter however, from 
 their make, seem more proper for draught horses than for the military service. 
 The horses which graze on the banks of the Alpheus are full of fire, and have an 
 animation in the eye not to be found in those of other parts: those of Laconia 
 are small, but very useful for travelling over the mountains. The asses, which 
 are very numerous in Arcadia, are little, mean, and miserable. They seem 
 degenerated by the abject state to which the}' are reduced, as no care is taken of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 201 
 
 them. They are used for carrying wood, charcoal, and the like. Numerous 
 caravans of them may he sometimes seen coming to Tripolitza with commodities 
 from the villages round, marching along one after the other in a regular file. 
 
 The greatest quantity of corn grown is on the side of Lerna, in the valley of 
 Tegea, and about Aglacambos. The wheat and almost all other kinds of corn 
 are sown without any choice of the seed ; the first that comes in the way is thrown 
 into the ground. The barley and maize are of a good quality, the rye is not 
 equally good. The rice of Argolis is held at Constantinople the next in esteem 
 to that of Damietta : many cargoes of it are embarked every year at Nauplia di 
 Romania. 
 
 The olive-trees of the Morea are some of the finest to be found in any part of 
 the world. The respect of the people for these trees is such, that they pay them 
 a sort of veneration when they are loaded with fruit ; to cut off a branch would be 
 a crime against which the whole country would rise in arms. Every part of the 
 province seems to suit this tree. Immense forests of wild olive-trees had covered 
 various districts before any attention was paid to them by the inhabitants. It was 
 not till the country was occupied by the Venetians that the people became sen- 
 sible of the treasure they possessed: these new guests instructed them in the art 
 of grafting the trees, and since that time olives have become an article of the 
 highest importance among them. The trees are not subject, as in Provence and 
 Italy, to be injured by the caterpillar, excepting in the neighbourhood of Argos. 
 But the disease of which Theophrastus speaks, the blight, or east wind of May, 
 often dries up the leaves, and injures the trees so that the blossoms fall off very 
 much : the small quantity of fruit, besides, produced in years when they have 
 suffered from this blight, never comes to perfection. The olive-trees blossom about 
 March, and the fruit is gathered in October and November by beating the trees 
 with long poles. The oi! of the Morea is of a greenish hue, but of a delicious 
 flavour, and has no smell. That of Ma'ina, which is the best, is held in particular 
 esteem at all the principal markets of Europe. A considerable quantity of black 
 or ripe olives are preserved with salt at Coron, and sent from thence almost all 
 over the Levant. 
 
 The white mulberry-tree is one of the most favourite productions of nature in 
 this country, and its leaves feed an innumerable quantity of silk-worms. The 
 eggs of the worms are kept in a box in some cool place during winter, and in the 
 spring brought out to hatch. A dram of the eggs produces from four to five 
 thousand worms, but from want of proper care a great number of these die. 
 
 2 D 
 
202 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Since the Moreans learnt that if the mulberry-tree was left to grow wild the 
 quality of the silk was much injured, they have bestowed great pains in the 
 cultivation of it. The women, who are charged with the care of these valuable 
 insects, pay much more attention to them than they did formerly, taking care to 
 give them while very young only the tender shoots, and afterwards, as their 
 digestive powers grow stronger, giving them leaves that are more grown. They 
 equally take care always to have a large stock of leaves gathered ready, in case of 
 storms and rain, because nothing can be more fatal to the insects than giving 
 them the leaves wet. They begin also to build places expressly for keeping them. 
 I know not whether these improvements are universally adopted; but I know 
 that, in places where they have been, the people have found their industry so well 
 rewarded by the greater quantity and superior quality of the silk produced, that 
 every possible encouragement is given to persevere. Elis is the district which 
 yields the best silk. 
 
 The cotton plant thrives particulaily well in Messenia, in the country round 
 Leondari, Sinano, and Caritena, and in Maina. The fields in which it is culti- 
 vated are commonly divided by hedges of nopal, or Indian fig. The fruit yielded 
 by these plants are here called Pharaoh's Jigs : they are of a more vapid kind than 
 those of Egypt. Indigo might no doubt be cultivated with success in the Morea, 
 upon the banks of the Alpheus and Eurotas, in places where cotton, nopal, and 
 other plants which thrive in the same soil and climate with indigo are found to 
 succeed. 
 
 The fig of Athens was celebrated among the ancients, and the exportation of 
 it was prohibited by the laws. That of the Morea is perhaps one of the most 
 exquisite which can be eaten, and for this reason the inhabitants cultivate the 
 fig tree with particular care. To prevent the fruit falling before it comes to ma- 
 turity they have recourse to an expedient known to the ancients, and mentioned 
 by Pliny, Suidas, Theophrastus, and Plutarch, to which is given the name of 
 caprificaUon. They collect the little figs which have fallen from the trees while 
 very young, and which are commonly the nests of an infinite number of insects 
 called cynips. Of these they-make chaplets, which are suspended to the branchet 
 of the trees, — when the animalcules soon begin to hatch and come forth : they are 
 provided with wings, by means of which they soon spread themselves over all the 
 fruit upon the tree, which they pierce with a little sting, and immediately after 
 die. A drop of something like a gummy liquor then oozes from the figs which have 
 been pricked •» and after that they are no more liable to fall ; they besides grow large? 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 205 
 
 and finer than if they had not undergone this operation. It remains to Be proved 
 whether the seeds are not injured by it. The Moreans assured me that they had 
 found from experience the necessity of caprification : they ascribe the credit of 
 the discovery to the people of Cerigo. Pliny, in his sixteenth book, has given 
 a very long detail concerning this process ; and Linnaeus, in his work entitled 
 Amoenitates Academicce, has collected all the known descriptions of it as practised 
 among the moderns. Dried figs are a great article of commerce in the Morea: 
 a sort of brandy is also extracted from this fruit. 
 
 The almond-tree is to be found in all parts of the country, and never fails to 
 yield abundantly. A sort of little pies, and a sort of sausages, are made with a 
 mixture of figs and almonds. Orange-, lemon-, and citron-trees also abound 
 everywhere. The banana is cultivated in the gardens ofArgolis and in the 
 neighbourhood of Nauplia di Romania. The pomegranate seldom fails of afford- 
 ing an ample produce. Peaches, apricots, plums, are no where in greater plenty 
 or of a finer flavour. During my stay in the Morea, large cargoes of oranges 
 were shipped off, which I ascribed to the neighbourhood of the Turkish and 
 Russian armies, since they are not usually exported. 
 
 The melissa, the mountain plants, and the fragrant trees of the valleys give a 
 particularly perfumed flavour to the honey of the Morea. The bees are for 'the 
 most part wild, and make their nests in the hollows of trees. Man, greedy of their 
 treasures, searches out theij haunts and plunders them ; then fugitive, wander- 
 ing, often afflicted with some fatal disease, they perish from famine, or by the cold 
 of winter. The Morean does not see that for the sake of a momentary pleasure 
 he risks depriving his country of these industrious creatures. Some people, 
 beginning to be sensible of this, build sheds, to invite them to come and settle 
 where they will be sheltered from the severity of the weather. The honey 
 is white; and the wax, of a very fine quality, is sent into foreign countries. 
 
 There is no great variety of vegetables cultivated in the gardens ; the ground 
 in general is ill prepared : the Greeks are unacquainted with the spade, and only 
 use a mattock for turning it. Spinage and artichokes, which will even grow 
 •naturally without 1 cultivation, are among the best culinary vegetables. Cabbages 
 and cauliflowers grow- to a prodigious size : they have also very good carrots. 
 Beans and French beans are produced in such abundance that they might become 
 'ah object of exportation ;> but .the seeds of both are much smaller than ours in 
 France. \ The lettuces are small ; and the celery never will be good while,, as at 
 present, they do not earth it tip. The. tomatos, are very fine, as is the fruit 
 
 2 D 2 
 
:);H TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 yielded by the melongena. The melons, water melons, and gourds, are not to be 
 exceeded in any part of the world' Mint, balm', fennel, parsley, and other herbs, 
 abound in the gardens. The orchards are well furnished with almonds, oranges, 
 lemons, citrons, peaches, pears, apricots, quinces, cherries, pomegranates, medlars? 
 they have also the aibutus, the service tree, and the carob tree*: all these might 
 be improved, if more pains were taken in cultivating them. 
 
 The forests produce three species of oaks, which are mentioned by Pausanias; 
 one of them is the quercus suher, or cork tree. They also abound with the 
 quercus cocci/era, or kermes oak ; the querent escuhis, or vallonv oak-}-; the 
 azarole fenaieegus azaro/usj, the plane, the -larch, the wild olive, the sweet ches- 
 nut, arid the JraifiiUs ohms, the ash which yields the manna: the Moreans, 
 however, have not sense enough to collect this valuable article. Besides these, 
 there may be found scattered about in the fields the rhamnus calharlicUs minor, 
 or rhamnus infectorius of Linnaeus, the tree that produces the seeds called 
 graines d'sfvignon, of which a very fine yellow dye is prepared ; the henna or 
 nl-kenna ( Laiusonia inermis), which resembles the pomegranate in its stem and 
 branches, and which furnishes a very flue aurora colour: it is with this plant 
 that the women of the East dye their nails ; the turpentine tree of Chios (pistaccia 
 lentiscus), the mimosa linlilrizia, or silk-tree with its beautiful tufts, and some 
 date trees, which are quite barren. Of the pines, or turpentine trees, which 
 yield pitch and rosin, there are immense forests upon the cold and barren moun- 
 tains. Chesnuts are at one period the temporary food of nearly the whole 
 country. In Mount Pholoe, where the peasants are half savages, they form 
 their principal food for the whole year. 
 
 A botanist might compose a work worthy of the age in which we live, in 
 undertaking a complete Flcra Peloponnesiaea. Unfortunately I could not occupy 
 myself with this object ; but I must mention a few plants which fell in my way, 
 and in indicating them I shall show the nature of the soil. In the Eurotas are 
 found those celebrated reeds known in the earliest antiquity. In all the rivers 
 and marshes tlie oleander or rose-bay abounds. The rivulets and fountains are 
 bordered with lilies, tuberoses, hyacinths, narcissuses, and jonquils. The a gnus 
 
 * Ctr-alojiia siliqita, St. John's bread, so called because the fruit of this tree was long supposed to 
 have been the food of St. John the B<ip;ist in the wilderness. 
 
 f The cups to the acorns of this oak are used under the name of lullomj, as a substitute for gill-nuts 
 in prepaiing black dye. — Tkanslator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOEEA. 205 
 
 castus grows by the side of the lakes ; and the great water lily (nymplicea alba) is 
 spread over their surface. Madder and jalap are to be found every where: the 
 viper crawls about under groves of bay (laurus nobilis), of rosemary, of broom, of 
 sage, and lavender, and among thickets of stunted wild olive trees. The dry 
 lands produce the great mullein (verbascwm ihapsus), the tree mallow, the silver 
 scabious, the campanula roinenlha of a beautiful blue approaching that of the pi- 
 geon's throat, wormwood, marjoram, dittany, euphorbia, and larkspurs of various 
 colours, all equally vivid and beautiful. In richer soils there is a sort of helio- 
 trope, the stem of which does not exceed two feet, with'a very fragrant flower ; 
 and in the meadows are several sorts of lychnis, gillifiowers, auriculas, scillft, 
 scammony (convolvulus scamonia), and saffron (crocus orientalis). The black 
 hellebore grows in Mount Menale, as well as the yellow gillifJower (cheirantlus 
 ckeirij, the red pink, the hepatica, and the peony. Mount Ithome is covered with 
 peppermint, which is collected carefully. No country in the world possesses a 
 greater variety of aromatic plants or of a more powerful quality, The aconitum 
 napellus is in no part more fatal; and the hemlock, which deprived the world of 
 Socrates and of Aristomenes, seems still to possess in full vigour its former dele- 
 terious qualities. 
 
 The Greeks are almost the only inhabitants of the Morea who concern them- 
 selves with the chase, if we except some of the great men among the Turks, who 
 take a particular delight in this amusement, and who breed harriers at Mistra for 
 the sake of pursuing the hare. The Turks never eat birds, and the Greeks hold 
 them very cheap : both bleed the hare as soon as it is taken, throwing away im- 
 mediately the liver and lungs, and afterwards the whole intestines. The Arcadians 
 cherish with great care the fine breed of Molossian dogs from Albania ; they are 
 employed by the shepherds to guard their flocks, and to destroy the wolves, the 
 foxes, and the jackals. These dogs will not mingle breeds, any more than the 
 harriers with the dogs of the bazar as they are called. The latter are a kind of 
 brute species which roam about the Turkish towns, belonging to no one, and 
 living in a state of privation and anarchy. 
 
 The lakes of Stymphalus and Orchomenos are full of carp and other fish 
 "worthy the attention of naturalists. The Greeks do not eat them, consider- 
 ing them as unwholesome food liable to create leprosy. Industry might 'how- 
 ever turn them to great account as an article of internal commerce, if this prejudice 
 could be overcome. The rivers are full of fish, particularly the Vasilipotamos, 
 the Roufia, the Atsicolos, the Pirnazza, and the Planizza ; the principal are trout, 
 
•206 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 crawfish, eels, and mullets: some of the lakes of Mount Taygetes produce excellent 
 trout. The fisheries might become a very important object about the coasts of 
 Elis and the sea of Corinth. Every year a great quantity of mackerel and 
 sardines are salted for exportation. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to give a general sketch of the productions of this 
 country. My stock of knowledge on the subject is not sufficient to permit of 
 my entering upon learned dissertations on the nature of soils, and on the modes 
 by which the cultivation of them might be improved: the above, as far as it 
 goes, is a faithful picture of what the country actually does produce to reward 
 the labours of the husbandman : it will not lead any one astray with the idea of 
 finding here the golden age renewed, but they will see that it is a fine country ; 
 which would, under a better order of things, produce abundantly every thing 
 necessary to supply the wants of man. 
 
 The commercial relations of the Morea must be considered with regard to its 
 external and internal traffic. This province, single in its kind, cannot be com- 
 pared to Sicily ; that country indeed languishes under a feeble government, but 
 it will admit of no comparison with the government of the Turks. As little can 
 the country be compared with Spain, and still less with Sardinia, a spot in itself 
 poor and unhealthy, very thinly peopled, and plunged in the most lamentable 
 wretchedness. It is, then, considering the Morea in an isolated point of view 
 that I mean to give a sketch of its commerce ; I say a sketch, for my knowledge 
 on the subject will not permit me to do more. Indeed the little information I 
 have, is chiefly derived from the tribune Felix Beaujour, author of an excellent 
 work upon the trade of Greece. His hints have assisted me powerfully with 
 regard to the exports of the country, and to indicate whither the superfluities of 
 the territorial produce are conveyed *. 
 
 The Moreans consume very few of the raisins of Corinth ; eight-tenths of 
 them are annually exported, amounting to about eight millions of pounds; they 
 are charged principally upon Dutch and Danish vessels. Eight ladings of corn 
 are generally shipped for Trieste, Venice, Ancona, and Genoa ; and two ladings 
 of wool, — one to Leghorn, the other to Marseilles. This latter town also receives 
 annually from the Morea, either directly or by the way of Italy, five or six ladings 
 of oil ; and of silk, cotton, vermilion, vallony, and gall-nuts, two each. Butter, 
 
 * In the Appendix, No. III. will be found a table of the different articles of territorial production in 
 the Morea, with the quantities of each annually produced, and the names of the cantons whence 
 ttey come. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 207 
 
 wine, cheese, fruit, and pulse, are only sent to Smyrna, the islands of the Archi- 
 pelago, and Constantinople. The greater part of the wood is consumed at Zante 
 and in the Ionian islands. 
 
 The export trade was formerly in the hands of some French and Italian 
 houses, established at Patras, Nauplia, and Coron ; but the greater part of them, 
 having been ruined during the last troubles in the Morea, it has fallen into the 
 hands of the people of the country. The beys of Mai'na have now nearly the 
 whole of the oil trade; and the agas of Nauplia, Patras, and Corinth, that of 
 corn. The European merchants are only a sort of brokers, who buy up corn, 
 at the harvest to sell it when the price rises. Even in this the Greeks begin to 
 supersede them ; they have for some time made large purchases in this way ; and 
 living with more ceconomy, they have established themselves in many places as 
 commissioners between the cultivators and the merchants. 
 
 The merchandise imported into the Morea consists of woollen cloth, coffee, 
 sugar, indigo, cochineal, and gold lace. The two first articles compose at least 
 three-fourths of the total value of the imports, and before the revolution they 
 were supplied chiefly by France. Trieste and Venice have since been enriched 
 by the losses of Marseilles, and what is at present not furnished by these towns 
 is imported in Greek vessels at their return from the fair of Sinigaglia : but the 
 importations are never equal to the exportations ; the balance is at least a fifth in 
 favour of the Morea. The remainder, not furnished in merchandise, is paid by 
 the traders in money : but this money goes almost entirely to Constantinople 
 under the form of tribute, or in a hundred other ways : scarcely any part remains 
 in the country to furnish the means of improvement in agriculture and manufac- 
 tures, so as to enlarge the objects of trade and the quantities produced. 
 
 Nauplia and Coron are at present the principal residences of the merchants in 
 the Morea, especially of the Europeans. The latter has obtained this preference 
 from the salubrity of the air ; the former, from its proximity to Tripolitza. This 
 town, being the seat of the administration, is of course that where people of the 
 largest fortunes are collected, and where there is the principal consumption of 
 objects of trade. Patras has been abandoned on account of its insalubrity; and 
 this town, once the most flourishing of Greece, will soon be little better than 
 a desert* 
 
£08 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Continuation of our stay in the Morea. — Extraordinary meteor.— Expedition of the 
 garrison of Nauplia to Tripolitza. — apostasy of a Zautiole soldier. — Sickness 
 and death of the defter-hiaya. — Departure from Tripolitza. — Route fro?n that 
 place to Lerna.—r-Strata Halilbey. — Aglacambos. — The lake of Lerna — Argos — ■ 
 Mycene — Nem ea. 
 
 To return now to ourselves. It remains to give a succinct account of the latter 
 part of our stay at Tripolitza, noticing such facts as appear most deserving of 
 remark. In the month of March the news from Syria being such as to create 
 serious alarms among the Turks, the Mainotti began to come forward with great 
 boldness and confidence. Implacable enemies of the Mussulmans, they conceived 
 hopes that their career was drawing towards a close. The cry of war, the din of 
 arms, resounded through Tavgetes; the Turks themselves even exaggerated 
 their own defeats. According to them, the people of Libanus and Anti- 
 Libanus had joined the French standard, a great revolution menaced their 
 political existence, and the prophecies were about to be accomplished. 
 
 At this epoch, the thirty-first of March, an extraordinary phsenomenon which 
 appeared in the heavens increased the general consternation. About two hours 
 after sunset three luminous globes appeared on a sudden over the plain of Tegea, 
 apparently at the height of about fifty toises. They moved with great rapidity 
 from east to west. In a quarter of an hour one disappeared, passing over Mount 
 Menale ; and in about ten minutes after three successive explosions were heard, 
 like the distant sound of mortars bursting. I know not whether it be true, as was 
 said afterwards, that the explosion was attended with a shower of stones ; but be 
 this as it may, the Greeks were exceedingly alarmed at the event, and talked of it 
 for a long time as a very disastrous omen. Thus the elements and the circum- 
 stances of the times equally afforded matter for conversation ; and every day 
 brought news which furnished, even within the same twenty-four hours, abundant 
 matter both for lamentation and rejoicing. At length, a sudden and serious in- 
 cursion of the Mainotti made imaginary fears give way to real ones. 
 
 A captain of Vordonia having received some insults from the delis of the pasha, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 209 
 
 his brethren, to revenge the affront, quitted their own mountains and valleys, and 
 carried their inroads even to the gates of Tripolitza. The pasha, astonished at 
 their audacity, sent out a party of his delis against them ; but these cavaliers, too 
 prudent to venture themselves very near the enemy, who were posted in a sort of 
 ambush among the ruins of Tegea, contented themselves with firing at them from 
 a distance. The mountaineers, without deigning to notice them, quietly set off; 
 and, turning their backs upon the assailants, moved forward towards the defile of 
 Mount Chelmos, to return into Laconia. After some other slight rencounters the 
 pasha, not finding that the prowess of his cavaliers was so great as might have been 
 expected, thought it as well to treat with the enemy, and a truce was concluded. 
 A few days after I met a relation of Gligoraki at the khan. Astonished at seeing 
 him in a place where such a determined hatred was borne to his nation, I could not 
 help expressing the apprehensions I was under upon his account. He, however, 
 assured me there was no reason to be alarmed ; that the pasha did not know 
 him to be so near; and even if he did know it, he would take care how he at- 
 tempted to molest him. " We are necessary beings to the pasha," said he, " since, 
 under pretence of repelling our inroads, he sends parties of his cavaliers to scour 
 the country, who establish fines and confiscations that administer admirably to his 
 cupidity." 
 
 Some robbers from Mount Carvathi, and the neighbourhood of the river Chele- 
 fina, appeared about the same time ; and Caradja, the pasha's drogman, assured 
 me that organized bands of these people came every year from Romelia. The 
 spring was their time of coming ; and those who escaped the pale or the rope, 
 returned home in autumn to increase the number of hdidouts or robbers, who carry 
 terror to Constantinople. They penetrate into the Morea by the isthmus, to the 
 scandal of the Turks, since nothing could be easier than to stop them there, if 
 ever so little attention was paid to guarding the pass ; above all, if the governor 
 of Acrocorinth was attentive to his dutyi but he, Caradja added, was more likely 
 to enter into a compromise with them. Still, however, there would be another 
 way for them to take by the Scyronian rocks*; but neither would it be difficult 
 
 * It was from these rocks that Theseus precipitated the robber Scyron (after whom they were named) 
 into the sea, retaliating upon him what he was accustomed to do by travellers. The Turks do not permit 
 travellers to take this route, because there is'a toll established for going over Mount Geranien, called 
 fiaHfi] -aKaytj. This passage of the Scyronian rocks is a sort of inclined cornice, formed by a wall built 
 against an immense rock. Two trunks of trees, slightly covered with earth, form a sort of bridge forty 
 feet above the sea, which breaks with great force below. The inhabitants of Megara and Lepsini, or 
 Eleusis, are the only persons who have the privilege of passing by this road. 
 
 2 E 
 
210 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to guard this also. The fact is, that the Morea is reputed among the Romeh'ans 
 to be a \ery rich country ; and the Albanians, by whom it was once so plundered 
 and ravaged, encourage this idea very strongly. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 that people who have no fear either of death or punishment, seduced by such a 
 prospect, should consider it as a harvest of which they may as well endeavour to 
 partake, especially as the character of a successful robber is one held in great 
 honour among them. The time when they are out upon their plundering parties 
 is always esteemed by them the most brilliant part of their lives, as well as the 
 happiest, provided they make a competent booty. 
 
 In the month of May an extraordinary tax was laid upon the Moreans of a mil- 
 lion and a half drachms of silver* towards defraying the expenses of the war. 
 The press was also carried on very warmly in the maritime towns of Greece, so 
 that the public distress was constantly increasing. Out of six thousand men sent 
 from Macedonia to guard the Morea, the greatest part had been driven by misery 
 to desert ; while those who remained faithful to their standards first sold their 
 arms, and then had recourse to theft. When both these means of relieving 
 their distresses failed, they adopted the last measure which despair suggested, 
 and this was to do themselves justice by force. The garrison of Nauplia di Ro- 
 mania, which had already mutinied several times, in consequence quitted this town 
 spontaneously, and marched towards Tripolitza, determined to pillage the town 
 and expel the pasha. Although they had set out from Nauplia on the evening of 
 the preceding day, the route they had taken was not known till they were de- 
 scried at a quarter of a league from Tripolitza; — an excellent specimen of the vi- 
 gilance with which the police of the province is administered. The town was 
 therefore on the point of being taken by surprise, and owed its safety entirely to 
 an old woman who was spinning cotton upon the ramparts. She, perceiving the 
 approach of a large body of troops, gave the alarm, and the barriers were immedi- 
 ately shut, while every body in the town ran to arms. 
 
 What a moment for the inhabitants! They thought of nothing but that they 
 should see acted over again the same dreadful scene they had experienced when 
 the Albanians choked up the streets of the town with dead bodies : — they thought 
 that new pyramids of sculls were about to be raised. The women, screaming, 
 beat their breasts and tore their hair, clasping their children in their arms, con- 
 vinced that it was for the last time. The Greeks carried every thing of value that 
 they possessed to the houses of the Turks, hoping that by this means something 
 
 * About 42;OO0/. English money. — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 211 
 
 might be preserved. All the inhabitants of every sect and persuasion took arms, 
 and stationed themselves upon the walls ; if not to conquer, at least to present a 
 front which might appear formidable to the rebels. They would have shut us up ; 
 but we resisted, resolved to see the event, though risking, as they assured us, a cer- 
 tain death if a single gun should be fired. The pasha ran about the town at the 
 head of his guards ; he sent messengers out to meet the insurgents; conferences 
 were established ; and at length it was agreed, tha,t quarters should be assigned 
 them at Steno, and other villages, where they would find provisions. The next clay 
 permission was given for them to enter the town by detachments ; and before night 
 the whole body was collected there. As soon as each party was paid, they de- 
 parted ; and taking this opportunity to desert, Nauplia was left entirely without 
 defence. 
 
 This month was al,so the epoch of another vexation and humiliation to the poor 
 Greeks, since it was the time for renewing the caratch. Our host Constantine, 
 who secretly aspired to the honour of being one day a codja-bachi, since he could 
 both read and write, served as huissier for distributing the circular notices con- 
 vening assemblies of the elders in the churches. The tone of importance which 
 he assumed upon this occasion, his absurd vanity, as well as the ridiculous pride 
 of the primates, might here furnish a humorous episode, if I had not already 
 given a tolerable idea of the codja-bachis, or valets of the satraps, those elect of 
 the Greek nation. 
 
 All this time we looked forward with eager expectation to the moment of our 
 departure for Constantinople. Neither the fear of the bagnio nor the dangers of 
 the voyage alarmed us. The roads of Romelia were almost shut to travellers, 
 infested as they were by the holdouts; and we could not hope to pursue our 
 route by land, since even the couriers were obliged to go by sea. Caradja, who 
 had interested himself much in our behalf, had delayed as much as possible the 
 time of our departure, that we might wait for the first Greek vessel which should 
 sail from any of the ports in the Morea for Constantinople. He was under con- 
 siderable apprehensions as to our future fate, — greater than he wished us to see. 
 The codja-bachis, thinking of nothing but their hatred of the French, did not at- 
 tempt to conceal their sentiments, but broke out more than once so far as to 
 threaten us with the most ignominious treatment ; giving us to understand, at the 
 same time, that they were well informed upon the subject. 
 
 It was probably the idea of chains and bastinadoes, thus set before us, that occa- 
 sioned one of our soldiers, a Zantiote by birth, to think of apostatizing from his 
 
 o v ^ 
 
212 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA; 
 
 faith, and turning Mussulman in hopes of avoiding them. We were the last per- 
 sons who had any suspicion of his designs, and were first advertised of them by 
 the Greeks. We immediately wrote to the pasha, assuring him that we were 
 innocent of having any share in our comrade's apostasy; observing that, if he had 
 been a Frenchman, he would never have entertained an idea so base as that of quit- 
 ting his religion. We begged therefore, since this man was only a foreigner in the 
 service of France, that the esteem and confidence with which he had honoured us 
 might not suffer any abatement. The pasha, pleased with our frankness, ordered 
 the Zantiote to be brought before him immediately, with the imam who had 
 undertaken his conversion. To the former he said, that he should order him the 
 bastinado immediately if he did not renounce his ideas, and that he should already 
 have punished him severely if he had not been a French soldier. To the imam 
 he spoke in very harsh terms, condemning his indiscreet zeal, and bidding him 
 recollect how he (the pasha) was accustomed to proceed with fanatics. This 
 occasioned no small sensation among the people, who, blinded by their zeal for 
 islamism, murmured grievously, accusing their chief of being a reprobate, and 
 of detesting the mosques and their ministers ; nay, they even applied to him the 
 epithets of a Caffre and a dog. And yet, notwithstanding all this, they were at 
 his feet the moment they beheld him. He recovered their confidence from the 
 following circumstance ; though perhaps, in what was ascribed to him, the ideas 
 entertained were unjust. 
 
 His brother-in-law the defter-kiaya, or receiver of the finances, being taken ill, 
 sent for me to attend upon him. He was confined in his harem, and I was very 
 much rejoiced at an opportunity being afforded me for visiting this abode, the 
 seat of romance. An old man with a white beard and a savage countenance, 
 carrying an enormous bunch of keys, — a true Cerberus, — after having left me to 
 amuse myself under a shed for a full hour, at length opened the gate which was 
 to give me admission to the sanctum sanctorum. Taking me roughly by the arm, 
 he pushed me before him along a passage which led into a square court planted 
 with trees. In the midst of it was a piece of water, at which were a party of 
 negresses washing, who the moment they saw me started up and ran screaming 
 away. After being led along several galleries, and passing through several 
 doors, which were only opened to give me entrance and then locked again, a 
 curtain was drawn up, and I was presented before my patient. He was lying 
 upon a couch covered over with a beautiful royal tiger-skin, to which hung very 
 elegant tassels of fine red worsted. The carpet which covered the room seemed 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 213 
 
 as if it had been the spoils of some palace in France, since it was ornamented 
 every where with the Jleur-de-lys and the cross of Malta*. On the walls, which 
 were only plastered and whitened, hung a recurved sabre, a Turkish musquet, 
 and a pair of large pistols, with a number of other weapons of different kinds. 
 
 After having questioned and examined the sick man, I found that he had only 
 a slight sore throat, and I prescribed what appeared to me proper for removing 
 it. I would fain have had some of his beard cut away for an external remedy 
 which I wished to be applied ; but to this he would by no means consent. I was- 
 afterwards informed that his resistance arose from an idea prevalent among the 
 Mussulmans, that it would be a sin to cut a beard which has once been suffered 
 to grow, because it is the residence of an infinite number of angels, who watch 
 over the preservation of him to whom it belongs. Was this a history made up 
 to impose upon me ? I cannot say : the thing seemed at least a vulgar prejudice, 
 whatever might be the opinion of the defter-kiaya. 
 
 My patient however went on very well for some days without the application,, 
 and seemed all but recovered. The relations nevertheless sent for a certain,. 
 Signor Avramioti, of Nauplia, who was to consult with me upon the case ; but 
 before this conference took place I received a message from the pasha desiring to 
 speak with me. I found him in the divan with his selictar; he inquired very 
 particularly after the sick man, who he informed me was his brother-in-law. I re- 
 plied that he had still a little fever ; when he proposed to me giving him an elixir 
 which he had in his possession. I made some objections to it, the justice o£ 
 which he acknowledged, and he said he would go and see him himself before 
 night. He afterwards proposed to me to establish myself at Tripolitza, promising, 
 me his protection. I replied that my fate was inseparable from that of my com- 
 panions; on which he dismissed me with warm commendations, The following; 
 night Avramioti arrived, and it was the last night of the defter-kiaya's mortal 
 career; he was buried at sunrise the next morning. A whisper immediately ran 
 all over the town that he had been poisoned. His death however may very pos- 
 sibly be accounted for without suspicion falling upon any body: he might be 
 struck with the pestilential fever which then reigned sporadically, and this might 
 occasion his going off very suddenly. But here, as elsewhere,, people can scarcely, 
 believe it possible for a great man to die in a common way. 
 
 * The people of Hydra, who used to carry corn to the south of France, were many times paid in 
 furniture and glasses which had been taken from the palaces. This accounts for the many sumptuous" 
 articles. of French furniture which were at this time to be seen- in the East. 
 
3 14 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 The defter-kiaya being a public functionary, his property was confiscated, and 
 a capidgi-bachi sent by the Sublime Porte came to take possession of it. His 
 widow, whom I had seen several times, having in the course of my attendance 
 upon her husband been sent for to her apartment, she too wishing to consult me, 
 ■ — this lady went into the pasha's harem, where she was no doubt considered as a 
 valuable accession, since she was young, handsome, and full of sensibility. Her 
 husband, whom she cordially detested, was himself distinguished for his extreme 
 detestation of the French. He possessed all the qualities of a tyrant, and was ab- 
 horred alike by Greeks and Turks. He was indeed the object of general ex- 
 ecration for his malignity and tyranny ; and had drawn upon himself the anger of 
 the pasha, from having done every thing in his power to prevent his being ap- 
 pointed to the pashalik. The Turks, who had paid their court to him while he 
 was alive, because of his wealth and power, and of the fear with which he in- 
 spired them, no sooner saw him deposited quietly in the grave, than they began to 
 speak their minds freely, and were not sparing in their expressions of contempt and 
 aversion for his memory ; while his successor in office did not fail to applaud the 
 fate which had made way for his own elevation. 
 
 At length, about the latter end of May, we were informed that at the return 
 of the capidgi-bachi, whom this business had brought to Tripolitza, we too should 
 be irrevocably ordered to proceed to Constantinople. A Greek vessel was freighted 
 at Nauplia, for him and several other passengers, and it was determined that we 
 should be dispatched by the same opportunity : of this we had the first infor- 
 mation from the drogman Caradja. I went in consequence to take leave of all 
 my acquaintance,— of all from whom we had received civilities during our stay in 
 the Morea. The delis of the pasha, his pages, the bey of Navarin, and several 
 Greeks came to visit us, and made us many protestations of friendship, and of 
 the interest they took in our welfare. I shall never forget the affecting manner 
 in which the bey of Navarin took his leave of us. The bishop of Tripolitza sent 
 for me, and said a number of very kind things. We carried away a great deal of 
 regret, in a country where the utmost we could have expected was to have been 
 regarded with indifference. Our frankness, our air of confidence, by averting all 
 suspicion, had attached the people to us very much. Although prisoners, we had 
 never received an insult without repelling it, and by this conduct we had made 
 ourselves respected. We were permitted to come and go wherever we pleased; 
 and had it depended on the pasha alone, I have no doubt that we should have been 
 sent home even without our parole being required : there was a sort of generosity 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 215 
 
 in his character which did not admit of his suspecting any want of it in us. On 
 our side we never would enter into any projects formed by the discontented : if 
 ever a proposal of the kind was made to us, we always returned some evasive 
 answer. Had we been fretted and oppressed, we might have thought of vengeance, 
 and the impetuosity of youth might have led us to engage in such plans without 
 considering the danger to be incurred ; but treated with confidence, we were 
 more effectually chained than we could have been with irons. Before we were 
 sent off, the pasha assured us that he had recommended us strongly along the route 
 we were to take. If therefore we were not so well treated as we had reason to 
 expect, the fault is to be ascribed to the Greek captain on board of whose vessel 
 we were sent : but of him I shall have occasion to say more hereafter. 
 
 At length the moment of our departure arrived : it was the 31st of May, 1799. 
 It had been retarded several days by the. revellings of the capidgi-bachi, who at 
 length quitted Tripolitza half dead in consequence of them. He went forward 
 to Phitea to recover himself, and was to rejoin us at Nauplia. Seven months had 
 passed since we first landed in the Morea: the objects that excited my curiosity 
 were exhausted, a new route was opened before me, new subjects of observation 
 were about to be presented, and I set out with pleasure in the pursuit of them. Our 
 departure was to have taken place the day before, but was delayed on account of 
 the Zantiote soldier, whom I have mentioned before, being missing: he had made 
 his escape, though he was soon retaken on the road to Caritena. By this means 
 the news had circulated that we were about setting off, — so that the neighbours 
 all pressed about me, to receive my last good offices in my professional capacity. 
 About a dozen insisted positively that I must bleed them, whether right or wrong; 
 and I was extremely busy with my lancet, every stroke of it being repaid by wishes 
 of a good journey and prayers for my happiness, — when my companion Foinier 
 was obliged to drag me away, almost by force, to mount my horse. 
 
 We quitted the town by the gate of Calamatte, and followed the course of the 
 ramparts till we came to that of Nauplia, where we found a young Albanian spahi 
 who was to escort us. He told us that he was charged with a letter of recom- 
 mendation and some orders in our behalf to Cassan-bey, brother of the pasha 
 who resided at Nauplia di Romania. Here we received the adieus of our host 
 Constantine ; who not having been able to plunder us latterly as much as he did 
 at first, was not sorry, I believe, to see us depart. Our course was directed east- 
 ward towards Mount Artemisius. As we approached it, we entered a road bor- 
 dered by hedges, in which jessamine, roses, and pomegranates mingled their 
 
216 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 flowers and perfumes. This continued for a quarter of an hour, when we came 
 to a piece of land almost covered with an immense number of dead cantharides, 
 but not at that time producing any bad smell. We proceeded along the bed of a 
 torrent, which, though at this moment dry, is joined by several others descending 
 from the mountains at the rainy season of the year,when they altogether form a lake 
 at a little distance. At present there was no water in this lake; but the bed is bor- 
 dered with a stone parapet, to indicate its bounds when supplied. From hence to 
 Steno, which is a ride of an hour and a half from Tripolitza, the road is good and 
 very direct. It is paved at intervals, and in many places has ditches at the side 
 to drain off the water. The plain to the right continues to be well cultivated. 
 Mount Artemisius, deprived of wood, is covered with grass : we were here only 
 at a slight degree of elevation. 
 
 We alighted opposite to Steno at a miserable khan ; close by it was a fountain, 
 and a little tuft of plane-trees, — but the house was without doors or windows, and 
 had as pretty an appearance of being the receptacle of cut-throats as could well 
 be imagined. The master, who was sought in vain for some time, at length 
 appeared, and brought us some eggs with a dish of olives, on which our Albanian 
 began to make a very hearty meal. He had not been long employed in this way 
 when he was joined by one of his comrades, who came in making a great bluster- 
 ing, and in a violent rage, that the other had not waited for him. But the dish 
 of olives, and a good bunch of onions, which his comrade had stolen from a pea- 
 sant, with some bumpers of white wine, soon calmed his anger and made him the 
 best company possible. Although we had not been long enough on our journey 
 to be fatigued, I was not sorry to stop here. I rested with pleasure on the green 
 slope in the midst of corn-fields : I contemplated by turns the village of Steno, 
 and a road leading from it to Phitea and several pleasant country-houses, along 
 which a calvalcade of Turkish grandees were going at this moment. In front of 
 me to the west were the ruins of Tegea, and the sources of the Alpheus, towards 
 both of which my eyes were now turned for the last time: to the south were 
 several hamlets, suspended upon the slopes of Mount Chelmos ; but neither was 
 Mount Roi'no any longer to be seen, or that Tripolitza, where the early days, as 
 they afterwards appeared to be, of my captivity had been passed. 
 
 At the moment when we were going to remount, one of our horses got loose 
 and ran away to Steno. Our spahis being on foot, desired me, and Matthew the 
 guide to Bonaparte, who has already been several times mentioned, to go after 
 him. We were both well mounted, and instantly began our pursuit. Some 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOHEA. 217 
 
 Creeks, among whom was the owner of the horse, charged themselves with bring- 
 ing him back. I stopped for a few moments at Steno to give my horse breath. 
 I observed that the village consisted of about a hundred houses,, all built of stone ; 
 that there was a fountain, and several orchards. 1 again descended the slope of 
 the mountain, to return to the khan. 
 
 We continued to travel for about a league along a road paved at intervals; and 
 with my eyes fixed upon Mount Parthenius, which we seemed to approach, I en- 
 deavoured to discover whether there was any appearance of a way over it ; but 
 I sought one in vain. I was not more fortunate in discovering the ruins of Paleo- 
 Mouchlia, from which I knew that -we could not be far distant. As little could 
 1 discern Trisena, which lies in the midst of woods on Mount Parthenius. In about 
 •an hour we turned Mount Artemisius short to the left, taking a northerly direc- 
 tion. This we followed some way, having Parthenius with its wooded sides parallel 
 to us on the right. The valley we were now traversing may be about three quarters 
 of a league in breadth, but it is little cultivated. It abounded with such a prodi- 
 gious number of tortoises, that I could not help looking at them with astonish- 
 ment. The road ascended gradually without the direction being altered ; and 
 I had no idea whither it was to lead, as I saw nothing but the chains of Parthenius 
 and Artemisius, which seemed here to unite. At length an embrasure appeared 
 which separated these chains ; and turning to the right facing the east, we saw 
 beneath our feet an immense and deep valley presenting itself like a precipice 
 before us. We stopped for a moment, and our Albanians took this opportunity 
 of informing us that it was here the robbers were taken who were recently hung 
 in the bazar of Tripolitza. But what interested me much more, was to learn that 
 this road was called Strata-Halilbey. It is a vast staircase, as it may well be called, 
 -cut down the side of an almost perpendicular mountain, and is paved with enor- 
 mous flags of a sort of blackish marble. A stone parapet guards it on the side to- 
 wards the valley* It runs in a zigzag like some of the roads over the Alps and 
 Pyrenees, so that those who take the lead see the further part of the cavalcade 
 suspended as it were over their heads. The boldness of this work is truly asto- 
 nishing and admirable, nor have I any doubt but that the credit of it is due to the 
 ancients. It is most probably what Pausanias describes under the name of Tro- 
 chos, the wheel road, which led from the country of the Tegeates into Argolis, by 
 Cenchrea and Hisias. In descending this road we met a caravan of merchants, 
 who were driving horses loaded with tobacco for smoking. They came from 
 
 2 F 
 
'218 TRAVELS 11$; THE MOREA. 
 
 Bournous, the antient Phtionte, a port in £he gulf of Argos. We passed each 
 other without difficulty, the road being eighteen or twenty feet wide. 
 
 From the top of Strata-Halilbey I distinguished upon a mountain fronting us 
 some ruins, which appeared to me an ancient temple. In the valley into which 
 we descended we saw a fountain of white marble, probably the work of some pious 
 Mussulman ; perhaps of Halilbey, the person who gave his name to the road we 
 had just descended. Travellers, before they begin the ascent, commonly stop at 
 this fountain to refresh themselves and their horses. It stands upon the right 
 bank of a torrent. The valley in this place is not more than a musquet shot over. 
 It forms a cul-de-sac. We made a halt for a few minutes on arriving at the bottom, 
 when I could not help examining the road with still greater attention and renewed 
 admiration. Soon after quitting the fountain we crossed the torrent : a little water 
 still remained in its bed, and it seemed obstructed by the quantity of reeds and 
 oleanders that grew in it. The thunder now began to grumble in the air, and such 
 heavy clouds were coming up, that it was soon obvious we had little chance of 
 escaping, being wet through. The Albanians espying a public house went in, 
 hoping to find some wine: but they were cruelly disappointed; it was not 
 without difficulty that they could even procure fire to light their pipes. We were 
 now about half a league from Strata-Halilbey, continuing our route by the side of 
 the torrent. The valley began here to grow somewhat broader, and presented to 
 our view the eastern side of Parthenius, and the chain of Artemisius quite to 
 Argos. We saw before us a superb country highly cultivated ; but we no longer 
 found any traces of a military way, except at the distance of a league, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Aglacambos. 
 
 The rain now fell in torrents, and this determined our spahis to bend their 
 course towards the village just mentioned, though it was not our direct route. We 
 turned consequently to the left, in order to ascend the declivity on which it stands. 
 It took us a quarter of an hour to reach a covered place which is called a vigla, 
 a sort of observatory a little below the village. Wet to the skin we took refuge in 
 this kiosque, for such it may almost be called, which was sheltered only by a roof, 
 and there we waited for our spahis. They arrived panting for breath, and lay down 
 with our horses under the shelter of a very thick hedge impervious to the rain, 
 where they remained till the storm was over. We afterwards took a winding path 
 to reach the village; but when arrived at it, we did not find any body very will- 
 ing to take us in. This made me begin rather to elevate my voice ; when the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 219 
 
 Albanians observed that we were not at home there, and it would be better 
 to speak in a tone conformable to our circumstances. At length, in the very mo- 
 ment when the rain began to fall again heavily, the door of a hut was opened, 
 and we were suffered to enter. As this happened to be the eve of St. Constantine, 
 one of the greatest saints of Greece, we found a number of people assembled, 
 drinking very sociably together. They scarcely gave themselves the trouble to move 
 and make room for us, probably because two Albanians were of the party ; and 
 when we asked for something to eat, they told us they had not any thing. Our 
 guides, however, complained of hunger terribly ; and after having asked in vain 
 for beef, mutton, and eggs, they would gladly have compounded for a morsel of 
 cheese. At this moment a woman appeared : it was the very same who was so long 
 under my care atTripolitza. She immediately pronounced my name,and exclaimed 
 The physician ! the physician ! — then hastily going out, she soon returned bringing 
 plenty of provisions. Room was made for us, and every possible attention shown. 
 I gave a hint that we should pay, and every thing then went on smoothly. The 
 Albanians were so well satisfied, that they soon said they would stay there all night 
 if the rain did not cease. I left them to eat and drink according to their pleasure, 
 and sought an amusement more to my own taste in examining the village. 
 
 Aglacambos rises by stories quite to the summit of two wooded mountains be- 
 tween which it is situated. It is inhabited by Greeks, and governed by a codja- 
 bachi. There are several churches built with fragments of ancient marbles, which 
 would probably be well worth examining accurately. The Greeks, who gave me 
 this information, added, that on the side of the village towards Kaki-Scala there 
 were many ruins scattered about. In comparing the position of Aglacambos with 
 what Pausanias tells us respecting the ancient fortress of Cenchrea, it seems to me 
 that the latter must probably have stood where Aglacambos now stands. It was 
 then here, where we now see only some humble houses with bowers of pomegra- 
 nates, of orange-trees, and acacias, that the inhabitants of Argos erected a trophy to 
 perpetuate the remembrance of the victory they gained over the Lacedaemonians. 
 They preferred this place to Hisias where they conquered ; because in a situation 
 thus elevated, the trophy would be seen from Mount Parthenius, from the frontiers 
 of Laconia, and the heights of Trochos. But where are now these monuments ? 
 — these walls once so celebrated ? Time has destroyed them entirely ; and not 
 a single inhabitant of the spot now knows even the name of Cenchrea. 
 
 I could not devote as much time to my observations as I wished : the weather 
 had cleared, and our guards thought that they must avail themselves of it to por- 
 
 2 F 2 
 
°<20 TRAVELS IN TBE MOREA. 
 
 ceed to Milos, or Lerna, four leagues further. We therefore remounted our horses; 
 and, without descending again into the valley which we had quitted, continued our 
 route towards Lerna, along the slopes of Artemisius. We followed a strait path 
 for an hour, having the valley of Aglacambos to our right. It appeared of a pen- 
 tagonal form, and every where in high cultivation. The mountain is totally desti- 
 tute of wood. The white and chalky earth of which it is composed produces very 
 fine bay-trees, rosemary, and myrtles. The fragrant smell which proceeded from 
 them, drawn forth as it was by the rain, refreshed and enlivened us exceedingly- 
 About a league beyond Aglacambos we had a glimpse of the sea, through a rent in 
 the mountains which close the valley to the south. We could not help saluting this 
 sublime element with transport, though it had been so treacherous to us on the 
 coast of Calabria ; and though at sight of it the idea of our disappointed hopes, of 
 our estrangement from our own country, of our relations, our friends, and, more 
 than all, of our future prospects, pressed most forcibly upon our minds. The 
 Zantiote soldier, whom I have had occasion to mention so often, had at this period 
 an attack of epilepsy, which I have no doubt was brought on by the terrors he had 
 conceived of the bagnio at Constantinople. He however soon recovered, and we 
 proceeded on our route. We soon lost sight again of the sea ; and about half an 
 hour after came to a vigla, where was a station of Albanians. A soldier armed 
 with a very long musquet came out and offered our guards fire to light their pipes. 
 A little while after a most extensive and delightful view was presented to us. 
 We could see the whole gulf of Argos, which appeared like a still lake, with 
 islands scattered about it here and there. At two leagues to our left was the 
 town of Argos ; and further on the ruins of Mycene, with the forest of Nemea 
 and the lofty mountains that close the isthmus of Corinth. What a sublime 
 moment ! — The sun was just about to drop below the horizon, and the forests of 
 Laconia, with Mount Tbrnika illumined by its declining rays, presented to the 
 eye the finest and most glowing colours imaginable.. The diaphaneity of the air, 
 and the height from which we looked, enabled us to see for an immense distance 
 round. Nauplia di Romania, with its castle on the summit of the lofty Palamide, 
 closed the picture to the east ; while in the same direction, though nearer to us, 
 we beheld the western shore of the gulf of Argos. Here our eyes sought 
 Genethlium, Apobathmos where Danaiis and his children landed, Thyrea, and 
 many other celebrated places, now, alas! only inhabited by poor fishermen ; they 
 are still however pointed out by means of a little triangular fort, called Neocho- 
 rion, which defends the coast and the road to Epidaurus-Limera. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 221 
 
 On quitting the Albanian station, we travelled for about half an hour over 
 heaths, in a southerly direction, and then returned into the road which we had 
 quitted to go to Aglacambos. In another half-hour we came to a valley, where 
 we inquired of some people whom we met, how far we were from Lerna, or Milos ; 
 for every body, even to our Albanians, knows the place by both names. We 
 were told that it was a journey of two hours from the bottom of the hill we were 
 then descending. They showed us at a great distance a little fortress built upon 
 the ancient Mount Pontin, which they told us commanded the port of Lerna. 
 Some way further we crossed the beds of two rivers which were dry, and soon 
 after could hear the noise of the waves,, though then at the distance of a league 
 from the coast. The little daylight remaining permitted me to see that this bay 
 was surrounded by numerous recesses or creeks, if that name may be given to 
 them, indenting the shore like the crenated top of a rampart. Above was the 
 fortress of which I have spoken, and the hamlet of Neochorion, or Ieni-Keus. 
 
 The day being soon after entirely closed in, I could no longer distinguish any 
 objects but those immediately surrounding us, and the deep azure of the heavens 
 beautifully illuminated by thousands of stars. The noise of the sea increased at 
 every moment, some trees waved over our heads, a profound silence reigned in the 
 naked mountain which towered above us to the left ; and at length, after travelling 
 three quarters of an hour amid the shade of night, we felt that our horses' feet 
 were upon the solid rock. Turning then short to the left, some lights belonging 
 to Lerna broke suddenly upon us, and in a quarter of an hour we arrived at the 
 town. The khan to which we were conducted made a handsome appearance, and 
 the people hastened to the aga to get the keys of it ; but when we were introduced 
 there, we found it furnished only with naked walls. Such as it was, here however 
 my companions and myself were obliged to pass the night ; we had each our joke 
 upon the comfortable lodging our good stars had prepared, and then laid ourselves 
 quietly down upon the floor in the first story. As there are considerable marshes 
 in the neighbourhood of the town, they furnished a plentiful supply of gnats, who 
 made themselves extremely merry all the night at our expense ; so that in the 
 morning we had swellings on our faces, such as we had neyer experienced even 
 from the bites of the musquitoes in Egypt. 
 
 On the morrow, while preparations were making for our departure, I hastened 
 to take a view of the place. There is no- doubt that the ancient town of Lerna 
 stood on this spot ; the situation agrees perfectly well with all that we know 
 respecting that town ; and the name being still retained seems to speak for itself %, 
 
222 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 for, as I have observed before, though Milos* be the name which it now properly 
 bears, it is as frequently called Lerna. It is about two leagues from Argos, and in 
 its present state does not comprise more than thirty houses. They are tolerably 
 regular, standing in a straight line directly at the foot of Mount Pontin, and 
 facing the east. This mountain is naked and calcareous ; an old triangular castle 
 stands on its summit, near which are some ruins, probably those of the temple of 
 Minerva Sa'itis, but the wood by which the temple was surrounded has disappeared. 
 At the foot of this mountain, upon the road to Argos, is the country-house of the 
 aga of Lerna; it stands within a large enclosure surrounded with walls, very near 
 the sea. The enclosure contains a very fine orchard composed of rare and valua- 
 ble trees; round about are corn fields, the harvest from which was already got in. 
 
 The lake of Lerna, by which, as we are told in the fables of antiquity, Bacchus 
 descended to hell in search of Semele, is to the south, at a little distance from the 
 khan where we passed the night. The soil about it is a sort of peat, and is 
 covered with reeds ; so that it is impossible to get near the lake, as there is danger 
 of sinking into the ground at every step. In fact, it is difficult to determine pre- 
 cisely where the lake begins. It is covered with gulls, cormorants, and king- 
 fishers. Cornflags, gladiolus communis, zostera marina, reeds, and other aquatic 
 plants, grow in numbers upon the banks. I should conceive its largest diameter 
 to be forty-five or fifty toises. A rivulet flows from it towards the north, and 
 after turning some mills runs into the bay of Nauplia. I know not whether there 
 be any more rivulets issuing from other parts of the lake, as I had only time to 
 examine one side. The inhabitants speak of this as a very dangerous spot. 
 Nero, who visited it, endeavoured in vain to sound the depth of the water, though 
 he had many stadia of cord with a lead attached to it. In these days, such an 
 attempt would probably be crowned with better success. I should conceive the 
 lake to be formed by the waters from the neighbouring mountains, in which an 
 infinite number of torrents and rivulets lose themselves among the subterranean 
 caverns, and they probably communicate with the lake. The inhabitants seeing 
 me quench my thirst at the rivulet which flows from it, warned me to beware, for 
 that the waters occasion fevers. Though I did not conceive that there could 
 be any danger of such an effect but from drinking them repeatedly, and therefore 
 did not desist, I noted down what they said, not doubting but that this was an 
 observation founded on experience. 
 
 * It is called Milos, the mills, from several mills in the neighbourhood. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 223 
 
 The inhabitants of Lerna have sallow complexions, with swoln faces ; they are 
 subject to leucophlegmasy, to obstructions, and to intermittent fevers. The 
 plague commonly makes horrid ravages among them when it breaks out in the 
 Morea. This place is the great port to Tripolitza and the neighbouring valleys, for 
 shipping corn, wool, and the other objects thence exported. The principal 
 agency in this trade is carried on by a French house at Nauplia. While I was 
 occupied in my researches, my companions had been engaged in a contest with 
 our Albanians, who wanted to make us pay for the boat in which we were to cross 
 the bay, — though, according to their engagement, they were to carry us to 
 Nauplia for the money they received at setting out. 
 
 I cannot conclude what I have to say of Lerna without an apostrophe to Argos, 
 since the latter place is seen from the former, and the imagination involuntarily 
 recurs to what it once was, when, as the city of gods and kings, its fame, its glory, 
 was spread over all nations. The road to it lies along the base of Mount Pontin, 
 almost at the edge of the sea, as far as the river Erasinus. This is crossed upon 
 a miserable wooden bridge ; and here sadness begins to supersede enthusiasm. 
 Mount Artemisius is ascended, the river Inacchus is in view ; all the objects of 
 curiosity which abounded in these parts, the knowledge of which is handed down 
 to us by tradition, are sought in vain,, and on entering the town tears can hardly be 
 restrained. Where are the temples, the magnificent edifices with which it was 
 adorned? where the statues of so many heroes whose names yet live? Where 
 is the tomb of Pyrrhus i Who can point out the spot where stood the palace of 
 the king of kings, Agamemnon ? Where is the theatre, — the stadium, in which 
 were celebrated the Nemean games ? In vain would any traces of these monu- 
 ments be sought, nothing now remains of things so celebrated but some miserable 
 ruins. 
 
 Modern Argos is a town built without any order or regularity. The houses are 
 scattered about, separated by courts and uncultivated lands. The bazar is large 
 and well frequented ; it contains some fragments of antique columns. The town 
 fronts the south-east, standing upon the declivity of a hill, and commands a noble 
 view over the gulf to the island of Spezzia, the ancient Tiparenus. In this 
 view are included the towns of Nauplia and Lerna, the valley of Argos covered 
 with olive-trees, and the whole coast quite to Epidaurus-Limera and Monem- 
 basia. To the west are cultivated fields and vine-grounds, to the north the vast 
 forest of Nemea, and to the east Mycene and the mountains of Corinth. The 
 Planizza, which is the ancient Inacchus, runs to the east of the town, and flows. 
 
224 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 into the sea westward of an eminence where probably stood the ancient Thyrin- 
 thus. The waters of this river are clearer than those of the Alpheus; it is 
 almost dry during summer, though it is supplied by a great number of springs, 
 and runs for a long time among thick forests, protected by them from the sun. 
 The water of the springs about Argos is reckoned the most wholesome of any in 
 the Morea. The population of Argos is estimated at about ten thousand, three- 
 fourths of whom are Greeks. The great trade of the town is in horses, but not 
 the same rapid breed of coursers which gained the prizes so often in the sports of 
 ancient Greece. The Turks who inhabit Argos are for the most part opulent, and 
 have good houses ; on which account it is the constant residence of some of the 
 Italian charlatans. 
 
 South of the town there runs a large wall, which is supposed to have been part 
 of a regular fortification: near it upon the mountain is a sort of castle mounted 
 with about a dozen cannon. There is no doubt but that by spending some time 
 at Argos many interesting objects might be recovered. On a rock near the castle 
 above mentioned are said to be some inscriptions half effaced, and some fragments 
 of bas-reliefs. On the side of the forest of Nemea are a number of mounds, where 
 also fragments of bas-reliefs are frequently found. In the forest are caverns which 
 would probably answer being examined, — and I was assured moreover that there 
 were mines. 
 
 Mycene is only a league and a half from Argos. The village of St. George, the 
 ancient Nemea, is on the road between these two places : it is inhabited by poor 
 Greeks who work at the rice plantations. There is a gateway, called by the people 
 of the country the Columns, over which is the lion of Nemea. This gateway is 
 the same mentioned by Pausanias: it is astonishing that what in his time was 
 only a ruin should still exist, when so many other monuments then perfect have 
 wholly disappeared : but the fury of the barbarians who overran Greece would 
 probably be rather directed towards a palace still entire, than towards an object 
 already struck by the devastating hands that had preceded them. At Mycene is the 
 tomb of the guilty family of the Atrides: the monument is still entire, and is com- 
 posed of blocks of marble of an astonishing size, ornamented with bas-reliefs and 
 other superb sculptures. Of this an engraving will be given in the second part of 
 Monsieur Choiseuil Gouffier's beautiful work, — PicLuresque Travels in Greece. 
 The peasants, insensible to the value of such a monument, use it as a sheepfolcl. ' 
 It seems extremely probable that in searching hereabouts, the tombs of yEgisthus 
 and Clytemnestra, which were nearly on the same spot, might be discovered. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 225 
 
 A league to the north of Mycene is a village called Petri, in the neighbourhood 
 of which, as I was assured by the Greeks, there are many caverns. It would 
 be well if some traveller would investigate the truth of this assertion, since the 
 den of the Nemean lion ought to be thereabouts. But, with an apology for this 
 episode, I return to our own route. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Nauplia di Romania. — Introduction to Cassan-bey. — Civilities shown by Doctor 
 Siccini. — Mount Palamide, and the fortifications upon it. -^-Departure from 
 Nauplia. — The island of Spezzia. — Hydra. — Psara. — Passage of the Darda- 
 nelles. — Arrival at Constantinople. 
 
 Our difference with the Albanians being arranged, we went on board our 
 bark. At first the mariners were obliged to have recourse to their oars ; but a light 
 breeze springing up, the sail was hoisted, and in an hour and a half we had crossed 
 the gulf. Our eyes had been occupied during the voyage with the various objects 
 by which we were surrounded, and they were not fixed at last upon Nauplia 
 without some anxiety. Our friend Caradja, at taking leave of us, told us that 
 the populace of this town were a terrible set of rabble ; and that the soldiery 
 were very rough and brutal. This brought back to our minds what we had 
 experienced at Andreossa, and we went on shore under considerable apprehen- 
 sions of a like reception. One of our spahis hastened to inform Cassan-bey of 
 our arrival, and to carry him the letter of recommendation from the pasha of 
 Tripolitza. He soon returned : — but we with pleasure found that we were per- 
 mitted to wait for him in perfect tranquillity,— that we were not subjected in any 
 degree to the treatment we had apprehended. We were immediately introduced 
 to the bey : his house was large, and had a very handsome staircase, which is not 
 usual in Turkish houses. He waved the teasing us with a number of petty ques- 
 tions commonly put to prisoners, but gave orders that we should be conducted to 
 the house of an Italian physician, by name Siccini, where we were to be lodged 
 and boarded. 
 
 3 <? 
 
2L>6 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 He received us in a very polite and obliging manner: we found his house 
 an excellent one, and furnished in such a way that we could almost forget we 
 were in Turkey. Every thing seemed new; chairs, tables, commodes, glasses, — 
 he had a numerous and well-chosen library, a profusion of flowers, a charming 
 view from the windows, and the sea breaking directly under them. The doctor 
 desired we would excuse his leaving us for a few minutes, — when, after a very 
 short absence, he returned, bringing with him a note from the French commis- 
 sary, Monsieur Roussel, whom he had been to seek, and had informed of our 
 arrival. This fellow-countryman, a victim to the disasters of war, was now a 
 prisoner in his own house; but he offered us notwithstanding every thing his- 
 situation would admit, to promote our ease and comfort. Our answer was an 
 entreaty to Doctor Siccini to procure us if possible the pleasure of seeing Monsieur 
 Roussel : he very obligingly hastened immediately to the pasha, and to Cassan- 
 bey, who consented to our request, and in two hours after our arrival we were 
 happy in the society of a Frenchman. We had soon imparted to each other all 
 the news of which we were possessed, as well as all the particulars concerning 
 ourselves, and what had brought us into the situations that occasioned the present 
 meeting. We saw by the appearance of our friend's house that he had been 
 plundered by the Turks: they had however left him a young and charming wife, 
 who was suckling a child which she had brought into the world since her husband's 
 captivity. 
 
 Doctor Siccini, who had shown me particular respect as a brother, promised 
 to procure me the means of going out under some pretence or other that I might 
 see the town ; and he did not fail to keep his promise. He carried me to visit the 
 chief of the emirs who was ill with a quartan ague, a complaint not at all uncom- 
 mon among those who breathe the unwholesome air of Nauplia. We found him 
 in his harem shivering with the cold fit, and remained with him till it was over, 
 when he immediately recovered his gaiety, though he had the misfortune to be 
 blind. His wife was sitting by him with her face half veiled ; and as she had only 
 an old Jewess for a duenna, who sat with the utmo-t gravity smoking a pipe six 
 feet long, she sometimes contrived to let her veil fall off entirely. She then dis- 
 covered to us a countenance and figure young and blooming, animated by fine 
 dark eyes full of fire: her long black hair, divided into ringlets, fell upon a bosom- 
 white as alabaster: yet from the palms of her hands and her nails being dyed red, 
 and a something altogether about her unlike what 1 was accustomed to among 
 the females of my own country, though at the first glance 1 was disposed to 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 227 
 
 give her abundant credit for beauty, the impression was but momentary. Siccini, 
 according to all appearance, was upon very good terms with her. She ordered 
 sweetmeats and coffee to be brought : they were served by a young girl from the 
 neighbourhood of Athens, whom she called her slave, and to whom I found the 
 following history was attached. I give it a place here, because in learning it I 
 became acquainted with a Turkish custom till then unknown to me, and which 
 I do not think is generally known. 
 
 Her name was Tzoula, and she was a native of Lepsina, the ancient Eleusis. 
 Her father died when she was very young; and her mother, contrary to the gene- 
 ral custom of her country, married again. Poor Tzoula had but too much reason 
 to complain of the usage she received from her father-in-law, till at length one 
 day when he was heated with wine and anger he beat her so inhumanly that she 
 fled the house, and went to Corinth, there to seek some means of gaining her 
 livelihood. She was received into the service of a powerful aga, who placed 
 her in his harem as servant to his wife, and she became by her industry and at- 
 tention a great favourite with her mistress. So far was well : — but unfortunately 
 she became no less a favourite with her master; and as her religion, for she was a 
 Christian, strictly forbade her listening to the advances of a Turk, she was a second 
 time constrained to fly, carrying with her the resentment of the rejected aga. 
 Towards a young Greek however she had been less obdurate, — nay, she bore about 
 her a fatal proof that she had listened to him but too readily. Death deprived- 
 her of her infant as soon as it came into the world, and she became the property 
 of the pasha, in consequence of a law which condemns to slavery every young 
 woman convicted of an illicit amour. When I saw this unfortunate srirl she was 
 beloved and cherished by those whom she served, — and perhaps ere this some 
 beneficent hand may have dried her tears by purchasing her freedom ; for the 
 Mussulmans are not strangers to generous sentiments. 
 
 Another thing which struck me very much was meeting with a number of men 
 about the streets asking alms, who called themselves the slaves ofAli, pasha of 
 Janina. They were reduced to this state in order tc reimburse some debts which 
 they had contracted with Ali ; in consequence of which this vizier had detained 
 their children as slaves, and let the fathers, who were not of any use to him, go' 
 begging about the provinces. 
 
 When I rejoined Monsieur Roussel and my companions, and talked of the free 
 manners I had observed in the emir's wife, Roussel said that the Turkish women' 
 of Nauplia enjoy more liberty than those of any other town in the Ottoman em-' 
 
 2 G 2 
 
22 S TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 pire. They have indeed assumed to themselves prerogatives which are revolting* 
 to the partisans of oriental severity, and it is generally agreed that they have a 
 great deal of wit and address. The husbands in consequence abandon themselves 
 to the most horrible jealousy; nor would scruple adopting any means to destroy 
 before its birth an infant whose legitimacy there might appear reason to doubt. 
 In such cases poison is the medium most commonly resorted to for satisfying their 
 resentment. The women, who feel the oppression under which they languish, 
 would gladly lend their aid to promote the success of a conqueror who would make 
 some change in their favour. They could not dissemble their joy when they heard 
 of any success of the French against the Turks ; and the wife of Cassan-bey said 
 boldly, that if the French came to invade their country she should go out to wel- 
 come them. Such propositions occasioned great scandal; and the Turks in revenge 
 said, that if things ever came to an apprehension of their being visited by the 
 French, they should use no ceremony, but shut the women up in the arsenal and 
 then blow up that and them together. This arsenal, it must be observed, at the 
 time the threat was uttered did not contain two hundred weight of powder. It 
 was afterwards provided with a more ample store; and the guns being remounted, 
 if there had been an adequate garrison, it might have been considered, when I 
 was there, as in a tolerable state of defence. 
 
 On the third day after our arrival at Nauplia the capidgi-bachi arrived ; but 
 our departure was still delayed two days, — because, in the first place, this great 
 man was fatigued with his journey ; and secondly, the next day would be 
 Monday, which was an unluckly day for beginning a journey. I continued to 
 go out every day upon some pretence or other, and had a full opportunity of 
 making myself acquainted with the town. Among other people whom I visited 
 was my brother in profession, Signor Avramioti, who has been mentioned as 
 having been sent for to the defter-kiaya at Tripolitza. I was called in to attend 
 upon his little girl, who was ill with a dropsical complaint. 
 
 It is the general opinion among travellers, and it seems the probable one, that 
 this town is the ancient Nauplium. The modern town fronts the north, standing 
 directly at the foot of Mount Palamide, part of the town rising upon the declivity 
 of the mountain. The view from the town extends over the bay and valley of 
 Argos, including the shore of Lerna, and the cape of St. Angelo, — while a chain 
 of mountains closes the prospect to the east, and Mount Palamide to the south : 
 on the slope of the latter, where it rises above the town, are planted a vast number 
 of cannon and mortars. The citadel which crowns it commands the port and 
 
TRA.VELS IN THE MOREA. 22£ 
 
 bay £ the summit is often lost in the clouds. One fs forcibly struck with the 
 strength of Nauplia in approaching it, and half terrified when the eyes are carried 
 tip to this vast mountain thus fortified. 
 
 At the entrance of the bay of Nauplia, to the north, is a little fortress built 
 upon an isolated rock, and the passage into the bay between the eastern side of 
 this fort and the main land may very possibly have been shut formerly by a 
 chain ; but I conceive it to be impossible that the same should ever have been 
 the case on the western side of the fort, — the distance appears to me much too 
 great to admit of it. In this instance a great fault is committed jn the view of 
 Nauplia given by Father Coronelli ; added to which, it may be observed that in 
 his time Palamide was not fortified. The rock on which stands the fortress I have 
 mentioned is just even with the surface of the water. The fortress consists of 
 a little tower, planted only with a few swivels and two or three very indifferent 
 houses. This point is therefore not at all dangerous to any vessel which would 
 attack Nauplia by sea, for a single broadside would lay the whole fortification 
 in ruins. A battery of twelve pieces of cannon, thirty-six pounders, which 
 stands on the point of the continent, is somewhat more of a defence to the port. 
 At a little distance from this, the vessels cast anchor upon a slimy bottom : the 
 landing is upon a paved quay, at the very entrance of the town. The streets are 
 spacious, handsome, and run in direct lines : but they are dull and solitary. In 
 going along the principal street, one is surprised to find at the end of five or six 
 hundred paces a gate with embrasures, and, looking up towards the mountain, 
 to see it planted all over with batteries, in stories one above the other, which 
 command the town, the port, and even the elbow formed by the shore on the 
 eastern side. Some handsome houses are also grouped about this amphitheatre, 
 and every thing bears the appearance of ease and opulence. 
 
 Palamide, which probably takes its name from Palamedes, the son of Nauplius, 
 who fell a victim to the perfidy of the implacable Ulysses, is almost perpendicular 
 to the east, to the north, and to the south : it is only accessible to the west. The 
 Turks have their magazines of powder and arms in the citadel upon its summit: 
 and this fortress would be a strong and almost impregnable retreat, if it was well 
 provisioned. There is a covered way up to it from the town, casemated in such 
 a manner that at the divisions of the stages the light is admitted so that the way 
 may be seen very clearly. It requires a full quarter of an hour to ascend from 
 the bottom of the mountain to the citadel. This building is of a pentagonal form, 
 flanked with five regular bastions, which are mounted with brass thirty-six and 
 
230 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 forty-eight pounders, all in very good condition. There is a mosque, barracks, 
 and cisterns for collecting water ; but there are no objects of antiquity. These 
 particulars I have from a person of authority ; for, as no Christian is admitted 
 there, I could not see it myself. 
 
 Nauplia is the occasional residence of a pasha with two tails, who exists only in 
 time of war, and is dependent on the pasha of Tripolitza. He administers the 
 police of the town, and his power extends to Castri, the ancient Hermione, and 
 Dematta, the ancient Trcezene. The service for opening and shutting the gates, 
 and for the signals both by day and night, is the same as in the maritime places 
 of Europe. The villaieti of Nauplia extends to Agia Petra. This town is also 
 the see of a Greek archbishop. It carries on a considerable trade in the produc- 
 tions of the country, and has commonly a number of foreign vessels in its port- 
 France formerly maintained a commercial agent here. It is now only the residence 
 of a sub-commissary, the commissariat being transferred to Coron in the gulf of 
 Messenia, as being a more wholesome place of residence, and a port of greater 
 commercial importance. 
 
 There is a way from Lerna to this place by land, but it is much more circuitous 
 than coming by water. The same route must be taken as to go to Argos, along the 
 foot of Mount Pontin, till after passing the river Erasinus ; but it then turns 
 eastward, leaving Argos and Mycene to the north. Nothing is to be seen of the 
 ancient fortress of Temenion, though that could not have been above a quarter of 
 a league from the Erasinus ; but in the same spot is a marsh, which I was in- 
 formed is used for the evaporation of water to make salt. At a league and a half 
 from the Erasinus is an eminence in the form of a terrace, which the general tra- 
 dition of the country makes the site of the ancient Nauplium, but the more rea- 
 sonable opinion seems that it was that of Thyrinthus. This terrace runs about 
 half a league in length from east to west. Between that and the sea is a level of 
 about six hundred toises in breadth, covered with a tender grass on which the 
 sheep feed very eagerly. The breadth of the terrace in no part exceeds a quarter 
 of a league, and its elevation above the sea cannot be more than forty toises. It 
 is ornamented with some of the finest myrtles in the world, perhaps also the most 
 ancient. If we are to believe the inhabitants of Nauplia, who talked to me very 
 eloquently on the subject, they are the remains of a wood consecrated in times of 
 yore to the Graces. If it be really true that this was the spot on which stood the 
 Nauplium founded by the son of Neptune and Amymoma, it would probably pay 
 any researches made there very abundantly, since the soil is as yet unbroken. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 231 
 
 At half a quarter of a league from this terrace is a torrent, and a tract of marshy 
 land where rice is cultivated. Haifa league further is a village, and at a league 
 and a half from the terrace stands Nauplia, the latter part of the road lying at 
 the foot of a mountain which is in most parts naked and arid. The distance from 
 Nauplia to Fournous, or Bournous, which lies to the south, is computed at five 
 leagues; and port Tolon, in the Isle of the Genii, is seven. 
 
 The firing of two pieces of artdlery from Palamide, at sun set on the l6th of 
 June, announced the arrival of the capidgi-bachi on board the vessel which was to 
 transport us to Constantinople. He was laid senseless with intoxication in the 
 chamber destined for him ; and an order was immediately sent to us to repair to 
 the shore. We took an affectionate leave of Monsieur Roussel and his wife, and 
 now felt that we should quit the Morea with regret. A place was allotted to us 
 upon the deck of the vessel, near the prow, where we were to remain during the 
 whole of the voyage. This made a considerable change in the flattering expec- 
 tations we had entertained ; and when, added to this, a bag of mouldy biscuit, 
 a pot of olives, and a small barrel of water, were brought us as our whole stock of 
 provision, we felt that we were no longer in the hands of Achmet Pasha. The 
 captain of the vessel was a Greek, by name Guini, a native of Spezzia, brother to 
 a man who by a national decree had been honoured with the title of a French 
 citizen : but as he had several Turkish passengers to whom he wished to pay 
 his court, and as our nation was at war with theirs, he hoped to please them by 
 subjecting us to every kind of humiliation. Monsieur Roussel, who perhaps 
 suspected what might be the case, had however given us a jar of wine ; and Doctor 
 Siccini had sent me two lambs with some brandy. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the evening we weighed anchor; and a light breeze from 
 the north-east soon wafted us to some distance from the shore. For the first time 
 during my captivity I felt disposed to be melancholy, and fixed my eyes upon the 
 town, wl'ich seemed to recede from us. Its towers, its walls, its golden minarets, 
 its lofty Palamide were soon lost amid the shades of night. I saluted this ancient 
 land, these celebrated coasts, this fine country, where, under a government which 
 would protect instead of oppressing it, the arts and sciences might once more flou- 
 rish : I bade adieu to Peloponnesus, the soil of which my footsteps had probably 
 trodden for the last time in my life. The songs of the sailors who were upon 
 guard lulled me to sleep towards midnight ; and a calm came on about an hour 
 before daybreak. Soon after sun-rise, a breeze springing up again from the east, 
 we passsed Epidaurus-Limera, we saw Cape St. Angelo fly before us ; and at three- 
 
232 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 in the afternoon anchored in the little port of the isle of Spezzia. Here the 
 passengers in general who were at liberty disembarked, the capidgi-bachi being 
 among the number. He was carried to a house near the shore, of which he took 
 possession very coolly. The only free passenger who remained on board was a ser- 
 vant of Monsieur Roussel, by name Georgi, who was going to Constantinople : he 
 was afraid of showing himself, because at a feast at Castri he had beaten some 
 Spezziotes, and he wisely thought that, if he should chance to meet with them, he 
 might be made to pay dearly for his frolic. We were left at our station upon the 
 deck, exposed to the burning heat of the sun in the month of June, increased by 
 the vessel being moored in a recess, where we could hardly reap the benefit of any 
 breeze that might spring up. Here we passed five da)'s. 
 
 The island of Spezzia is not more than two leagues in length from north to south. 
 and in its greatest breadth does not exceed three quarters of a league. It is sepa- 
 rated from the main land by a channel only half a league over: its port is to the 
 north, opposite to the point of the Morea ; and the entrance is to the north-west. 
 It cannot receive more than fifteen or twenty vessels from a hundred and fifty to 
 two hundred tons burden. The anchorage is upon a sandy bottom. At the 
 further end of the port, upon the southern shore, is a new church built a few- 
 years ago by the inhabitants. Near it are a few shops, the beginning of a town, 
 which will soon be built if the Greeks make the progress in navigation that every 
 thing seems to indicate. The present town is upon a flat part of the shore to the 
 north-west ; and consists of about six hundred houses, with a prodigious quantity 
 of windmills which have six wings *. I saw several vessels upon the stocks. 
 Half a league to the west is a village standing upon a high and rocky part of the 
 coast ; and there are several houses scattered about all over the island. 
 
 The population of Spezzia increases every day. There are many proprietors of 
 vessels on the island, having among them not less than sixty, which carry on a 
 considerable trade in corn. At this time the traders had experienced a very great 
 loss : the corsairs of Barbary had taken many of their vessels, as well as those of 
 the Hydriotes their neighbours ; the captains having been deceived by the barba- 
 rians carrying the flag of Spezzia. Two hundred and fifty Greeks were on this oc- 
 casion carried into slavery. The wealth of the island consists only in the carrying" 
 
 * Monsieur Castellan in his very entertaining Travels in the Morea, &c. mentions upon the coasts 
 of the Dardanelles windmills with eight and ten wings. He considers the western countries of Eu- 
 rope as having borrowed the invention of windmills from the East, at the time of the crusades. — Tbans- 
 lator. 
 
254 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 town, which appears suspended in the air, contains more than fifteen hundred 
 houses. The port is to the north, and strongly resembles that of Pomegues* in 
 Provence. It is capable of containing more than sixty vessels. The inhabitants 
 of Hydra constitute a sort of republic. They have a dialect peculiar to themselves, 
 and are the most courageous, as well as the most industrious, of all the islanders 
 in the Archipelago. Hydriote sailors are to be found on board almost all Turkish 
 vessels; they are to be seen in almost all the ports of the Levant: they are, in 
 short, upon the sea, throughout the Ottoman empire, what the Albanians are 
 among their military bands by land. Their children are full of mischief, and are 
 distinguished by nothing so much as by their throwing stones at any strangers 
 they see walking about their streets without a guard. 
 
 After remaining here two hours, we again set sail, and saw the moon rise upon 
 the shore of Attica. It was a delicious evening: a light and warm breeze swelled 
 our sails, and every one upon the deck breathed a most pure and refreshing air. 
 The Greeks began to sing some pleasing songs, which they accompanied with 
 their lyres. A young Turkish sailor followed them, and taking a tambourine 
 drew from it some very delightful tones. At length he increased the pleasure 
 received from them by the addition of his voice, choosing for the theme of his song 
 the praises of Paswan-Oglou. The stanzas, as translated to me, were to the fol- 
 lowing effect : 
 
 " After a hundred thousand bombs being lanced at Widdin, I Paswan-Oglou, 
 the dog of the Sultan, the slave of the Sultan Valide, have raised the standard of 
 defence. 
 
 " I Paswan-Oglou, dog of the Grand Signor, bark only at his ministers. 
 I would rest submissive to my master ; I would lick the dust upon his feet, I Pas- 
 wan-Oglou." 
 
 1 was astonished that a Turk should venture to sing thus of a rebel, when there 
 was a capidgi-bachi on board, with two executioners at his elbow ; but one of the 
 passengers observed to me that the cause of Paswan-Oglou was universally po- 
 pular, as he only fought to get the people released from some taxes which bore 
 very hard upon them, particularly a tax upon wine. When I heard this, hav- 
 ing often witnessed the secret recourse had by the Turks to this liquor, and the 
 excessive fondness shown for it by the capidgi bachi, I was not surprised to find 
 Paswan's cause so extremely popular on board our vessel. 
 
 * A small island in the baj of Marseilles. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. .235 
 
 By the return of day we had nearly crossed the gulf of Athens, now called by 
 the sailors the gulf of Enghia ; and a very obliging calm which came on about eight 
 o'clock, when we were off Cape Sunium, permitted us to contemplate at our lei- 
 sure the magnificent ruins of the temple of Minerva at Athens. The wind soon 
 springing up again, we proceeded on our way, passing bewteen Macronisi and 
 Zea ; the former of which is the ancient isle of Helena, and the latter Ceos. We 
 soon after entered the Bona Silotta, the strait between the islands of Euboea and 
 Andros ; and then came in sight of Tinea, the flourishing condition of which forms 
 a striking contrast to the state of the other islands in the Archipelago. It is the 
 property of one of the sultanas, who farms it out to an oulema, or chief of the law. 
 This wise administrator having relieved the people from many vexations, agricul- 
 ture flourishes, and a manufacture of silk stockings has been established, which is 
 in a very prosperous state. A considerable number of them are sent to Constan- 
 tinople, and to almost all parts of the Levant. 
 
 In continuing our route we passed near a rock called the Caloyer of Andros ; 
 this name being given it from its solitary situation in the midst of the sea. Soon 
 after I was shown Samos to the south, which I could with difficulty distinguish 
 from the clouds. Our course was directed towards Chios, where it was the inten- 
 tion of our captain to stop. Some hours before sun-set we were alarmed by the 
 sight of two vessels which seemed to be observing us, and which were believed to 
 be Barbary corsairs. Our mariners began to think of making their defence; the 
 guns were loaded, and the matches prepared : but we came out of the scrape at the 
 expense of a little terror, as the vessels soon sailed off", one towards Salonica, and 
 the other in an opposite direction. 
 
 We advanced towards the isle of Chios, and already saw it rising from the bosom 
 of the waves. The signal of our approach was even hoisted upon Cape Mastico, at 
 the moment when the setting sun, turning the sea into a lake of gold, was just drop- 
 ping below the horizon. Already we discovered two rocks situated to the south of 
 this celebrated island, when the wind changed. It was in vain that the sailors tried 
 to luff so as to make the port ; the wind increased, a violent storm of thunder, 
 lightning, and rain came on, and we were compelled to seek an asylum at Psara. 
 Thus was 1 prevented seeing the bay of Tchesme, rendered famous by the victory 
 which the flag of Catherine the Second obtained there, when the whole Ottoman 
 fleet became a prey to the flames. Thus was I deprived of seeing Cos, the country 
 of Hippocrates, whose works will be esteemed and admired by the latest posterity. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
236 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 It was with the utmost regret that 1 saw our vessel constrained to take a contrary 
 direction. 
 
 This night was very fatiguing to us on account of the rain, by which we were 
 half drowned ; being obliged, notwithstanding that it fell in torrents, to remain 
 upon deck. The next day at ten in the morning we anchored in the port of 
 Psara. This island had about a year before been terribly ravaged by the plague; 
 but at the moment when our mariners lowered the sails, we were astonished to see 
 the shore covered with the inhabitants, all dancing to the tambourine. A young 
 man of Cephalonia, by name Spirou, a passenger on board our vessel, learning our 
 story, interested himself deeply for us, and went on shore to procure us a supply 
 of provisions. When he returned he brought us a note from a fellow-countryman 
 of ours, who had taken refuge here from Smyrna, and to whom the people had 
 readily granted an asylum. 
 
 The port where we were anchored is almost inclosed by mountains. To the 
 right, on entering, is a valley tolerably well cultivated, and covered with shrubs, 
 about which some houses are scattered. To the left the country is rocky, arid, 
 and uncultivated, but there are a number of windmills. Facing the entrance is 
 a little bason surrounded with a sort of pier, where vessels may be repaired. At 
 two cables' length from the shore is a village containing forty houses, almost all 
 occupied by bakers, and dealers in provisions of different kinds. The port is to- 
 lerably spacious, and could receive sixty vessels. The principal town of the 
 island is a quarter of a league from the port. Here resides the sub-bachi, a Turkish 
 officer, a sort of deputy to the sultan. The person who had filled the post just be- 
 fore we were here was a man of a severe and inflexible character, and the people 
 got rid of him in a very summary way: they took advantage of a feast they had 
 given him, when he had been making very merry, and had not been sparing in 
 his libations to Bacchus, to throw him into the sea. It was an ceconomical manner 
 of freeing themselves from his daily exactions ; for. when the capudan-pasha came 
 to receive his contributions, he inquired for the sub-bachi, and, learning that he 
 was dead, asked no further questions, but received a slight fine paid as a matter 
 of course at the death of such an officer; and so the matter ended. 
 
 In the centre of the isle of Psara is a majestic peak, towering almost to the 
 middle region of the air. The Greeks have built a little chapel upon its summit, 
 which being whitened is seen to a very great distance. The water of the island is 
 clear and pleasant. A few vines are cultivated, but the quantity of wine produced 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A 237 
 
 is small. On the north side of the island is another small port, but not so well 
 sheltered : vessels only stop there when they cannot make the port where we 
 anchored. Opposite to it is the island of Antipsara, where there are some Greek 
 houses. The people of Psara have the reputation of being kind and hospitable. 
 We were so closely watched, that I had no opportunity myself of putting their 
 hospitality to the proof; but 1 wish to preserve the record of their havino- such a 
 title to the good-will of travellers, particularly of Frenchmen, as a contrast to what 
 was done by their neighbours, the inhabitants of the island of Sifanto. These 
 people had recently given up to the Turks Monsieur Vallongue, a colonel in the 
 corps-de-genie, with some other French who touched at their island. This history 
 was related to us at Psara, with warm expressions of that indignation which all 
 people of generous minds must feel in speaking of an act of deliberate treachery. 
 Monsieur Vallongue, however, had the good fortune to soften the hearts of those 
 to whom he was betrayed, and they set him at liberty. 
 
 The wind returning again to the south, we quitted the port of Psara, passing 
 between that island and Antipsara. The waves in concert with the wind seemed to 
 favour the rapidity of our course. We passed the coasts of Lesbos ; and at three 
 in the afternoon were in view of Cape Baba, the ancient promontory of Lectum. 
 We saw the island of Lemnos, and Mount Athos, which commands at a great 
 distance the seas and shores of Thrace. At the decline of day we contem- 
 plated at a distance the imperfect monuments of Alexandria Troas ; and a little 
 after sun-set were off the coast of Tenedos. This island is considered by the Turks 
 as one of the ramparts of the Hellespont; but our capidgi-bachi would probably 
 have thought it a much greater recommendation that it is famous for the excel- 
 lence of its red wines : it carries on a considerable commerce in them. We left 
 it behind us, our captain pushing all his sails to get into the strait. The moon, 
 which rose soon after, showed us the Chersonesus and the shores of Troy. 
 
 Overpowered with the fatigue of a burning hot day, my comrades and I had 
 been asleep about two hours, when we were awakened by the firing of cannon. 
 We presumed that they announced our being arrived at the Dardanelles : we 
 therefore remained quietly extended upon the deck, without giving ourselves any 
 concern ; and the captain, who also was lying on the deck, seemed no less com- 
 posed. Supposing that to carry a capidgi-bachi was equal to carrying Caesar and 
 his fortune, he thought he might pass on without being examined. The castles, 
 however, which guard the entrance of the strait, without any respect to this sub- 
 lime personage, had already fired several signal guns ; and finding no attentien 
 
238 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 paid to them, were on the point of firing in a way rather more serious to us. 
 Perceiving the danger, we started up at the moment when a ball was sent from 
 the fort of Asia : it did no other damage, however, than terrifying us extremely. 
 The whole crew were immediately in the utmost confusion and disorder; en- 
 deavouring to lower the sails. This was not accomplished before a piece from 
 one of the lower batteries sent a ball towards us ; but it happily fell short of the 
 vessel into the water. Upon this, in order to anchor in greater safety, and show- 
 signs of more perfect submission, the vessel was run aground. The fort of Asia 
 then fired a signal to the fort of Europe, and in an instant all was calm. A mo- 
 ment after the boat was hoisted out, and the capidgi-bachi went on shore himself, 
 to pay his respects to the commander of the fort of Asia. The rest of the night 
 was employed in towing us off, which was not accomplished without considerable 
 difficulty, so extremely awkward are the Greek mariners ; they yield in no re- 
 spect to the Turks in matters of navigation. 
 
 I now breathed, for the first time in my life, the perfumed air of the shores of 
 Asia. At day-break our boat returned from the town ; — and thanks to the good 
 offices of the capidgi-bachi, who for once had not drunk too much, — or if he had, 
 fear had dispersed the vapours of the wine; thanks to his good offices, — the 
 Greek captain's peace was made, and he was let off with only paying tolerably 
 dear for the firing of the guns. This however was better than the bastinado, 
 though he would perhaps gladly have compounded for that; as a raia's attempting 
 to pass in that way was in fact a hanging matter. 
 
 The south wind continuing to blow, we proceeded forwards again at sunrise: 
 we saw these formidable castles which guard the Hellespont, and the enormous 
 cannon with which they are mounted. The castle of Asia saluted the capidgi- 
 bachi as we quitted the shore, and the honour done him was returned on his side 
 two-fold. A spectacle entirely new to me was soon presented to us: the sea ap- 
 peared altogether alive, — an immense shoal of dolphins sporting upon the surface 
 of the water served us as an escort. Inclosed between the shores of Europe and 
 Asia, we saw towns, villages, and hamlets alternately present themselves and 
 vanish : a thousand objects arose at once to excite and to gratify curiosity. My 
 mind was so occupied with these things, that I lost the recollection of the chains 
 which might await us, I seemed to myself in a new world of delights. About 
 noon we arrived at the isles of Marmara, when the dolphins ceased to accom- 
 pany us. 
 
 The wind continued to blow still more freshly, and the short waves of the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 239 
 
 Fropontis seemed to increase the celerity of our course. We were soon surrounded 
 by an infinite number of little vessels laden with fruit, which were availing them- 
 selves of a favourable wind to make the best of their way to Constantinople. At 
 this season of the year the north winds will sometimes preclude the passing up 
 the Hellespont for a long time together. The air was so extremely clear that we 
 could see both shores of the Propontis, or sea of Marmara, though we inclined 
 most towards the shores of Europe. At six o'clock in the evening Constantinople 
 appeared in view. We soon perceived clouds, which descended from Mount 
 Haemus, spreading themselves over Thrace, and shortly after sun-set began to hear 
 the roll of distant thunder. As it often happens in such a case that the wind 
 changes suddenly to the north, and the tempest becomes very violent, we crowded 
 all the sail possible to reach the coast of Europe, and fortunately soon found our- 
 selves at anchor under the village of St. Stephen. 
 
 What a dreadful night succeeded to the fine day I had so much enjoyed! The 
 thunder rolled majestically ; one moment our eyes were dazzled by the flame of 
 the lightning reflected in the waves, the next we were involved in the most pro- 
 found darkness. The waves dashed over the deck of our vessel, and united with 
 the torrents of rain almost to drown us. The rolling of the ship, and the silence 
 of the mariners and passengers who were shut up below deck, added to the horrors 
 of our situation. At length the convulsions of nature began somewhat to abate, 
 the thunder became more faint, the waves were less violent, the north wind puri- 
 fied the air, and the heavens resumed their serenity. 
 
 The village of St. Stephen, which we saw the next morning, consists of about 
 thirty handsome houses. They were formerly the habitations of the European 
 ambassadors, but have latterly with justice been deserted for the shores of the 
 Bosphorus. A Persian dervise, one of our passengers, was touched with our 
 situation, for the rain began to fall again abundantly about ten in the morning ; 
 and availing himself of the vacancy made by the departure of several passengers 
 who set off" by land to Constantinople, he invited us to come down below, offering 
 us bread and garlic, the only things he possessed in the world. It was here again 
 to a Mussulman, to one whom the Turks themselves distinguish by the title of 
 barbarian, that we were indebted for this improvement in our situation. He 
 sighed after his country, was impatient to see Schiraz again, and mingle his ashes 
 with those of the followers of Ali. The next day we quitted St. Stephen : but as 
 the wind was contrary, it was not till the day after, — the eighteenth of June P — 
 that we arrived at Constantinople, 
 
240 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 first vieiij of Con > mtinople. — The prisoners sent to the castle of the Seven Towers. 
 — They meet several of their countrymen. — Sketch of the fate of Messrs. 
 
 Beaurais and Girard, two of the prisoners confined there. 
 
 It is impossible to describe tbe impression made upon the mind on first be- 
 holding the celebrated place whither our fate had now conducted us : the enrap- 
 tured eye cannot forbear to own that it deserves indeed the pompous title of queen 
 of the world. The seven hills crowned with an equal number of imperial mosques, 
 the amphitheatres they form covered with a multitude of houses painted of 
 different colours, the gilded domes, the pyramidal cypresses, combined with 
 the elegant and slender minarets crowned by the shining crescent; the port, that 
 arsenal of Mars, where so many vessels brave the storm, running up between two 
 slopes covered with superb edifices and habitations ; the hotels of Pera, the 
 palace of the Sublime Sultan, the Bosphorus, the rich shores of Asia, with Scutari; 
 all these objects at once distract and delight the beholder. 
 
 Just before we arrived at the point of the seraglio, some men, who are always 
 upon the shore looking out for vessels, threw us a cord, by means of which they 
 hauled us round the point, and our captain in return threw them some pieces of 
 money. We saw at the pavilion, where the sultan always embarks, his caique 
 sheltered with a purple awning bordered with gold fringe and tassels: four-and- 
 twenty rowers of athletic forms were seated upon the benches, dressed in silk 
 shirts with the sleeves rolled up above the elbows, holding their gilt oars in their 
 hands: they were expecting the sultan, who was going to take his pleasure upon 
 the water. The cannoniers of Tophana with lighted matches waited his coming 
 out, to salute him with a discharge of artillery. As he had not yet made his ap- 
 pearance, we pursued our course without stopping : we crossed the port and cast 
 anchor at Galata, at the Jews' stairs. The proprietor of our vessel immediately 
 went on shore to wait upon the kaimakan, or lieutenant of the grand vizier, with 
 the letter from Achmet pasha, which announced his having sent us to Constan- 
 tinople. The capidgi-bachi and his train, taking their baggage and concealing 
 their arms, departed quietly without any ceremony, and went away into the town. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 241 
 
 While we were waiting here, a secretary of the Schiek Islam or Mufti came on 
 board : he desired me to feel his pulse, and then presented us with a bunch of 
 pinks. After him came a clerk belonging to the drogman of the Porte, who took 
 down our names. At length, at five o'clock in the afternoon, we were separated 
 from the soldiers: they were carried to the bagnio, — but we learnt that we were 
 ordered to the castle of the Seven Towers ; here in fact we were safely lodged 
 before the close of day. 
 
 We congratulated ourselves on our good fortune, when we heard what our fate 
 was to be. The bare idea of this Bastile would at some moments of our lives have 
 been sufficient to fill our minds with terror; but under the present circumstances 
 it was a source of consolation, and we even passed its formidable gates with some 
 sort of satisfaction ; though not then aware that they opened to lead us into the 
 society of our own countrymen. We were escorted from the port by some janis- 
 saries, whose civility and mild behaviour surprised us most agreeably. They 
 delivered in the firman or order to the commandant of the prison to receive us 
 into his custody; and as they seemed to hold out their hands in expectation of 
 some gratuity, I was about to satisfy them, when the guards belonging to the 
 castle pushed them rudely away and shut the gates upon them. Our 
 surprise was very great, when after having passed the first inclosure we heard 
 our names pronounced, and looking up to the window whence the voices 
 came, saw our late companions Messieurs Beauvais and Girard; they had 
 already been imprisoned here six months. A person must have been in circum- 
 stances somewhat similar, he must have experienced misfortunes, he must have 
 been involved in dangers like those we had escaped, to conceive the sensations 
 we experienced in finding ourselves re-united with these friends, though in a 
 prison. They presented us immediately to the French charge' d'affaires, the 
 Nestor of the East, Monsieur Ruffin. His misfortunes, the mildness of his coun- 
 tenance, the white hairs that adorned his head, prepossessed us immediately in. 
 his favour; and the amenity of his behaviour subsequently, won our hearts com- 
 pletely. With him were the secretary of legation Monsieur KiefFer, and Monsieur 
 Dantan the interpreter. We afterwards paid our respects to General Lasalsette, 
 and Monsieur Richemont, (who had even now scarcely recovered the honourable 
 wounds he received atPrevesa,) to Monsieur Hotte, a chief of brigade, and to 
 Adjutant-general Rose : the latter was at this moment labouring under a disease 
 which at, length carried him to the grave. 
 
 This ceremony concluded, I was summoned to attend the examination of such 
 
 2 I 
 
■l-\1 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 effects as we still possessed. Among these was a trunk filled with books, which 
 had hitherto escaped depredations ; but as our enemies had inspired the Turks 
 with suspicions of every thing in the shape of papers, I was now deprived of a 
 Livy, a Tacitus, a Virgil, a Horace, an Ovid, and some other travelling com- 
 panions spared by my former captors, and with whom I had passed many » 
 delightful hour during my stay at Tripolitza. I had fortunately taken the pre- 
 caution of tearing my journal, and had stuffed the papers into my pockets as 
 things of no consequence, so that thev passed unnoticed. The many long hours 
 of leisure I had in prison gave me afterwards ample time to put them together 
 again ; not however in the form of a journal, but in a sort of cypher which I had 
 contrived to myself, and which could never be understood by any other person, 
 if I should afterwards be deprived of them. The next day the kiaya or lieutenant 
 of the castle, called Zadik-aga, acquainted the drogman of the Porte with the 
 prize he had made; and the prisoners Horace, Virgil, &c. were convened to appear 
 before the interpreter of the Sublime Sultan. As his highness, though an excel- 
 lent interpreter of languages, did not happen to be acquainted with Latin, I 
 trembled for the fate of my books, dreading lest they might be condemned as 
 inflammatory writings improper to be left in the hands of a prisoner. Happily 
 however I only suffered a temporary privation of these beloved companions ; the 
 trunk which contained them was now sealed up, but at the end of six months was 
 restored to me. 
 
 The first night we passed in the Seven Towers, the beds made up for us con- 
 sisted only of some boards laid across a couple of tressels, on which was thrown a 
 wretched mattress; but the next day the kiaya, at his return from delivering up 
 the books, having received his orders with regard to our treatment, some of the ser- 
 vants of Monsieur Ruflin were dislodged from the chamber which they occupied, 
 and it was allotted to us. I was happy therefore in having my friend Fornier still 
 as my constant companion, and esteemed myself still more happy that during the 
 whole of our misfortunes we never were separated. Our room was dark and un- 
 wholesome, yet it appeared comfortable after what we had experienced in our 
 voyage : we were however not without our apprehensions that we should not long 
 be permitted to enjoy it, as we were told there was an idea of our being 
 sent to the castles on the Black Sea. Our taste for travelling was somewhat 
 cooled by the little pleasure we received in our last removal : the civilities 
 shown us by Monsieur Guini, our captain, were not of a nature to give us 
 much relish for the idea of a renewal of such treatment; and unless our course was 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 243 
 
 to be directed towards our own country, we thought it more desirable to remain 
 ■where we were. The accounts we heard of the treatment of some of our fellow- 
 countrymen who had been sent to the Black Sea, certainly did not inspire us with 
 a wish to follow them. 
 
 One of our first anxieties in meeting again with our companions, Messieurs 
 Beauvais and Girard, was, very naturally, to learn their adventures from the 
 time of our separation, upon the capture of La Madonna di Monte-Negro by the 
 Barbary corsair. The reader will recollect that this separation was occasioned by 
 another vessel appearing in sight, while Messieurs Fornier and Joie, with the 
 guide Matthew and myself, were on board the prize, the rest of our companions 
 being still in the vessel of our captors. The corsair captain, Orouchs, as 
 I have said, bore away, crowding all the sail possible, and for a long time kept 
 very much ahead of the frigate, while our friends all this time rejoiced at seeing 
 that they were likely to escape, relying fully on the promise made them by 
 Orouchs that they should be landed at Corfu. As the night was closing in, the 
 Neapolitan frigate hoisted the colours of its country, and fired a ball at the corsair, 
 but the latter was not the more inclined to surrender the contest: the frigate was 
 then so near that the hats of the sailors were even discernible. When the night 
 however was fairly closed in, Orouchs, taking advantage of its shade, altered his 
 course, and by this means escaped entirely. In the morning, therefore, he found him- 
 self on the coast of Italy, in the neighbourhood of Otranto, and so near the shore 
 that the Calabrian fishermen, in alarm lest they should be taken, ran their vessels 
 into the creeks, and took shelter under the batteries by which the coast is pro- 
 tected. 
 
 Towards noon the corsair captain perceived two vessels making towards him, 
 which at first he believed to be only fishermen, and consulted with his crew 
 whether they should attack them. They were unanimously of opinion for the 
 attack, and preparation was made for it accordingly : but what was their surprise, 
 when they drew nearer, to find that these supposed fishing vessels were Neapo- 
 litan frigates, and one of them the very same from which they had escaped the 
 evening before ! The frigates recognised the corsair immediately, and gave it 
 chase: in a short time they gained upon it so much that they began to fire, 
 without however doing their antagonist any injury. It would notwithstanding 
 have been impossible for the corsair to resist such formidable adversaries, had 
 it not been for one of those unforeseen events which no human power can com- 
 mand, and which are scarcely to be hoped for. A dead calm suddenly came on, 
 
 2 I 2 
 
244 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to that it became impossible for the frigates to move : this was no sooner per- 
 ceived by the corsair captain than he ordered his men to the oars ; and keeping 
 below the fire of the enemy, he was soon entirely out of their reach, while they 
 remained chained as it were to one spot. 
 
 Escaped from this danger, and dreading with reason another rencounter with 
 the frigates, Orouchs thought it prudent to quit the coast of Calabria; and mak- 
 ing the best of his way across the Adriatic, the next day, which was the third from 
 the capture of our countrymen, he anchored at Paxos, a little island opposite to 
 Parga, on the coast of Albania ; and here he first learned that the Turks had de- 
 clared war against France. Hitherto the captain had seemed to hesitate with re- 
 gard to the conduct he should observe towards the French : but he no sooner 
 learned the state of things than his determination was made; he resolved to give 
 up his prisoners to the Turkish admiral, who was then with his fleet besieging 
 Corfu. He, however, remained three days in the port of Paxos before he carried 
 this resolution into effect ; but at the end of that time, sailing away in search of 
 the Turkish squadron, he presented himself before its commander, telling him that 
 he had taken the most glorious prize possible; that he had in his power some 
 of the principal officers belonging to the French army of the East. 
 
 At nine o'clock in the evening Messieurs Beauvais and Girard were carried on 
 board the Turkish admiral's ship, where they were detained ; Kadir-bey the 
 admiral asking them questions till they were quite worn down with fatigue in 
 replying to them. What became of the other prisoners they never could learn 
 with any certainty, they could only form vague conjectures. From these and 
 some other documents I collected, I was led to suspect that they were landed in 
 Albania ; and these suspicions were subsequently confirmed, by learning that such 
 was really the fact. On this subject, however, more hereafter. The prisoners 
 left with the Turkish admiral were made a sort of spectacle to the whole fleet, and 
 were at length presented before the Russian admiral Outchakow. With this ad- 
 miral, however, they could not have any conversation, as he understood no other 
 language but his own. He indeed seemed too much occupied with the duties of 
 his post, to think of asking a parcel of those insignificant questions with which it 
 is but too common to torment prisoners, and increase the irksomeness of their situ- 
 ation. He and the Turkish admiral were at this time somewhat divided in their 
 opinions : the latter thought that when they had taken Corfu, the proper thing 
 would be to go and take Toulon, and then bombard Paris ; but in this plan the 
 Russian admiral did not concur. It seemed, however, one on which the officer of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOItEA. M5 
 
 the Sublime Porte was fully resolved ; and he did not appear to want the assist- 
 ance of his Muscovite allies for carrying it into execution. 
 
 After remaining six days on board the Turkish admiral's ship, Messrs. Girard 
 and Beauvais were transferred to a corvette, which was to land them at Patras, 
 and thence they were to be conducted over land to Constantinople. Orouchs at 
 the same time set sail for Butrinto, where Ali-pasha was encamped, carrying with 
 him Messrs. Poitevin, Charbonnel, Bessieres, and the rest of his French prisoners. 
 The corvette accosted him, asking news of his prisoners ; to which he replied, 
 that they were verv well, and extremely happy: sta?- allegramenle. They alone 
 who have been in the hands of a Barbary corsair can have an adequate idea what 
 such a situation is, and feel the entire force of this star allegramente. It is per- 
 haps one of the worst modes of existence that can well be imagined, and only to 
 be preferred to having the head cut off. 
 
 The unfavourable season, the contrary winds, and still more the cowardice and 
 want of skill of the Turkish mariners on board the corvette, made the voyage very 
 long and tedious. If the slightest fog came on they lay-to, lest they might run upon 
 some rock ; and for the same reason they always came to a stand at night. This 
 last measure was indeed indispensable, as they then shut up in the hold some 
 Maltese slaves who directed their manoeuvres. More than twenty days elapsed in 
 this way, in which time they had not proceeded above twenty-five leagues ; when, 
 to increase the horrors of such a situation, a dreadful storm came on. The Turks 
 accused the French of being the authors of it, as they had seen them, they said, 
 throw several bits of paper into the water, and they had no doubt that they were 
 inscribed with some magical words to incite the fury of the waves. In conseo 4 uence 
 of this idea, the prisoners were in the utmost apprehension for their lives during 
 the two remaining days that the voyage lasted : they received, however, much 
 consolation from the really affecting attentions shown them by the Maltese. 
 
 They were allowed to make a short stay at Patras, to recover the fatigues of the 
 voyage ; and horses being then provided for them, they were conducted under an 
 escort to the castle of the Morea, built upon Cape Rhion. From hence they 
 crossed the gulf in a volik, or small bark, to Antirrhion, on the opposite shore of 
 Albania ; where again mounting their horses, they continued their route to Le- 
 panto. Here they were presented to the pasha Achmet, the same to whom we 
 were afterwards under so many obligations as pasha of the Morea. From both 
 him and his kiaya or lieutenant, who was a pasha of two tails, residing at Meza- 
 longhi, the French prisoners received much kindness. While they remained oq 
 
246 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 board the fleet they were incessantly importuned with questions concerning 
 Egypt ; but here the subject was avoided. The pasha permitted them the use of 
 the bath, of which they had been so long deprived, and which began to be essen- 
 tial for the preservation of their health. He gave them, besides, boots and warm 
 cloaks, and insisted upon their being allowed some days to rest themselves. These 
 little attentions were particularly acceptable in the midst of a winter which was 
 so unusually severe, that scarcely any of the inhabitants of the country remembered 
 having experienced an equal degree of cold. 
 
 From Lepanto the two prisoners proceeded to Salone under the escort of Ibra- 
 him tchiaoux, lieutenant to the corsair captain Orouchs, and two galiondgis, or 
 Turkish sailors, belonging to his crew. This Ibrahim was one who had grown old 
 in the midst of dangers, and might truly be called the pearl of sea-rovers. Born in 
 the deserts of Africa, he had all the ruggedness of his native county. His com- 
 rades in vain strove to put themselves upon an equality with him ; he never spoke 
 to them but with a pistol in his hand, saying that this was the only way to com- 
 mand corsairs. Without faith, without law, ignorant of good, and accustomed to 
 evil, he delivered himself up to the latter without remorse, extolling his own pro- 
 fession above all others. 
 
 Such was the company in which my unfortunate friends quitted Lepanto to pro- 
 ceed to Salone. Arrived at the latter place, they were presented to the bey by 
 whom the town was then governed. He was a man of considerable intelligence, 
 and endeavoured to render the vassals he commanded comfortable and happy. He 
 was their constant friend and defender in any difficulties that occurred between 
 them and the pasha of Janina, to whose pashalik Salone belongs. Surrounded by 
 a numerous family of children and relations, he displayed none of that avidity so 
 commonly to be seen among the magistrates who, for the curse of the provinces, 
 are commonly appointed by the Ottoman Porte to be their governors. He had 
 with him a Greek physician, a man of great knowledge, his friend, his counsellor, 
 his attendant in sickness, and a drogman. The French were received by them all 
 with great amenity. The latter talked to them much of the route they were to 
 pursue, indicating to them whatever was worthy of attention ; retracing to them 
 many recollections connected with ancient times, marking distinctly the distances 
 from place to place, and noting particular points which would serve to fix their 
 ideas with regard both to places and circumstances. 
 
 From Salone the prisoners set off for Zeitoun, a town at fourteen leagues di- 
 stance. In the course of this route they passed one of the most celebrated among 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 247 
 
 all the celebrated spots of antiquity, — a spot the name of which is associated with 
 all the noblest ideas of valour and patriotism, — the Straits of Thermopylae. What 
 heart, what imagination is not on fire at this name ! The soul is absorbed in the 
 fate of Leonidas and his brave followers ; human nature seems elevated in the re- 
 collection of such deeds. But such were not the sentiments, the thoughts with 
 which Ibrahim was inspired. He had probably made inquiries at Salone re- 
 specting the safety of the route ; for, as he approached the strait, the prisoners ob- 
 serving him preparing his pistols as if to be in readiness for use, inquired the rea- 
 son, when he answered, — " 'Tis because there are in this passage people of my 
 disposition, land corsairs, who have a mighty fancy for plundering travellers." — It 
 is indeed but too true, that Thermopylae is now the haunt of such banditti, and 
 that it is not very safe to go and meditate there upon the great events of former ages. 
 
 Arrived at Zeitoun, the prisoners were again presented to the be}' : but as it 
 appeared that Ibrahim and his colleagues only performed this courtesy in the hope 
 of its being returned by the bey with equal courtesy under the form of a baxis, 
 (something to drink) these corsairs did not experience a very polite reception. 
 The magistrate was inclined upon a box which inclosed his worldly treasures, for 
 which he was generally considered as having a particular affection. This occa- 
 sioned him to live in a state of nervous agitation ten times more dreadful than 
 what was experienced by Harpagon ; for he had not only before his eyes the con- 
 stant fear of robbers and of his servants, he had two still greater objects of terror 
 to contemplate in the sabre of the pasha of Janina, who was his superior officer, 
 and in the Sublime Imperial bowstring. He had in consequence a physiognomy 
 which seemed to bespeak one of the most unhappy of human beings. 
 
 The prisoners, however, as weil as their escort, were lodged for the night at the 
 bey's house. Here Monsieur Beauvais, overcome with fatigue, was seized with a 
 fever, the symptoms of which were of such a nature that it seemed scarcely pos- 
 sible he should be able to proceed on his journey the next day. This occasioned 
 a consultation to be held between Ibrahim and his comrades; when it was agreed 
 that, if the prisoner should be too ill the next morning to mount his horse, his head 
 should be cut off. Happily one of them rather more compassionate than the rest,. 
 Ali-tchiaoux, promoted a perspiration by covering him with his cloak ; and as the 
 sick man had overheard the consultation and decision, he took care the next morn- 
 ing, when it was time to depart, not to be asked twice to mount his horse. 
 
 The next day's journey carried the travellers over another very remarkable spot, 
 the plain of Pharsalia. When they came to it, the people of whom the horses 
 
248 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 were hired, and who accompanied them, told them that a long time ago a great 
 hattle was fought there. They stopped for the night at the modern town of 
 Pharsalus, and were lodged at the bey's house ; where the master of it appearing 
 perfectly indifferent about them, they passed their time very tranquilly. This in- 
 difference did not suit Ibrahim, who again, in consequence of it, looked in vain 
 for his baxis. 
 
 The following day carried the party on to Larissa. At the moment of their 
 arrival, the pasha was occupied with a military levy of the Mussulmans to serve 
 in the war recently declared by the Porte. This levy is commonly at the rate of 
 one out often, but one out of six was now required: some of these were going 
 oft to Widdin, and the prisoners were present at the review of them previous to 
 their departure. Paswan Oglou had just raised his standard anew : he had sum- 
 moned the Macedonians to join him, — a people who always thirst for combats and 
 dangers, — and a dyke must be opposed capable of resisting the torrent. But 
 what sort of a body was that now about to be sent on a service so important ? A 
 parcel of old men and children, of miserable wretches who could feel no interest 
 in the cause they were to support, and who might very probably, when arrived 
 at their destination, be more disposed to join the pasha of Widdin than to 
 fight against him. Such was the army which my friends saw quit Larissa to 
 save the empire and crush rebellion under foot. At their head was a general 
 without experience, who a few years before was a domestic in the aga's household, 
 his office being to serve the coffee. He however received the French, who were 
 presented to him by their guide Ibrahim, with much courtesy, and ordered that 
 they should be lodged in the khan. This is the place where travellers usually 
 stop, — so that they were not now treated as slaves; he besides sent them provisions 
 from his own table, and ordered them some additional clothing. A Greek also 
 who had been educated in civilised Europe came to make them a visit; he spoke 
 French, and endeavoured to console them. They were charmed at meeting with 
 a being endowed with sensibility, with whom they could converse freely: he 
 evinced the utmost kindness for them, and had done them some good offices with 
 the pasha: he would have given them even greater proofs of his good will ; but 
 the corsairs beginning to regard him with suspicion, and afraid that he would 
 learn more concerning them than they wished, drove him away, using the most 
 abusive language towards him. Here again the prisoners had permission to go to the 
 bath, and they had a most comfortable lodging, for the khan in no way resembled 
 the places in general which bear this name in Turkey : they had an apartment to 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 249 
 
 themselves, well furnished. Ibrahim was not so well pleased as his prisoners ; 
 he was indeed very impatient to leave a situation where he found no opportuni- 
 ties for plunder, and had nobody to vex and tease, and where he had not met 
 with a very courteous reception from the magistrates. 
 
 The next day's journey terminated at the village of Platamana. As it was dark 
 before the travellers arrived there, the inhabitants, who probably supposed them 
 banditti, unanimously refused them admittance to their houses. The corsairs, 
 little disposed to pass a night in the month of January in the open air, resolved 
 to force some door, and that which they selected by chance proved to be 
 the codja-bachi's. These new guests began, after their usual fashion, to apply 
 to their own use whatever they found convenient to them : but the poor host, 
 not quite so well pleased as they were, hastened to get rid of them, and conducted 
 them to a neighbouring house, the door of which was immediately opened on 
 his requiring it. But to what a place did the party find themselves transferred! 
 They were obliged to mount up to a garret, where was nothing but a little 
 straw, — and neither by promises nor threats was a better lodging to be obtained. 
 One of the tchiaoux, who was not disposed to go supperless to bed, then went 
 out, armed as if for a marauding party, swearing that he would find something 
 to eat, or that they would not see him again. In effect, he soon returned with 
 some fowls, bread, butter, olives, and wine, and set about preparing supper. 
 He was very full of jokes upon the rest of the company, at the resignation with 
 which they were going to lie down with empty stomachs, in a country inhabited 
 by Greeks, whose business it was to respect Mussulmans. The supper was found 
 excellent by the corsairs ; and though good Mussulmans, they plied well a vessel 
 of wine which was handed from one to the other, Afterwards they began to 
 smoke, for no meal can be enjoyed in the East that is not succeeded by the pipe. 
 
 It was in this way that mv unfortunate companions passed two and-twenty 
 days, for to that time was their journey from Patras to Constantinople protracted; 
 suffering cruelly all the time from cold, fatigue, and vexation. When arrived at 
 the Turkish capital they were presented to the drogman of the Porte, who asked 
 them a multitude of questions ; and they were the same day lodged in the ca-tle 
 of the Seven Towers, where I found them. 
 
 2 K 
 
250 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Account of the Imperial castle of the Seven Towers. — lis history. — Interior admi- 
 nistration of it. — Its topography. — Second cifcumvallation, or outward inclosure 
 of the Seven Towers. 
 
 Having now related the principal circumstances which led to the imprison- 
 ment of myself and so many othersof my countrymen, at the same time, in the 
 castle of the Seven Towers, it remains to give some account of the place of our 
 confinement. This castle, which is called by the Turks Hiedicoulpr, and by the 
 (ireeks Eftacoulades, is cited, in the History of the Lower Empire from the sixth 
 century of the Christian sera, as a point which served for the defence of Constan- 
 tinople. The embrasures of some of its towers, as well as of the towers that 
 flank the ramparts of the town from the southern angle of this castle to the sea, 
 blackened as is supposed by the Greek-fire, announce that it was the principal 
 bulwark of the city on the side of the Propontis, in the latter times of the empire. 
 
 In 1453, Mahomet the Second, after an obstinate siege, gained possession of 
 Constantinople and the castle of the Seven Towers, fear opening to him one of 
 the false gates of the latter. The Turks relate that the principal efforts of his 
 artillery were directed against this point, and that he lost twelve thousand men in 
 carrying it : the marks of the ravages made by the artillery are still visible. It 
 appears that the conqueror, who considered the Greek empire as annihilated for 
 ever, did not concern himself much about this fortress, for he scarcely repaired 
 the breaches made. Since that time the place has been rendered celebrated by 
 many remarkable events, one of the principal of which was the tragical death of 
 Osman the Second, — perhaps the most virtuous among all the descendants of the 
 caliphs. 
 
 Unfortunate prince! how many times have my footsteps passed over the very 
 spot where thou perishedst by the hands of assassins loaded with thy kindness! 
 This prince commanded his army in person: six times, in a battle against the 
 Poles, he ordered the janissaries to charge, and as many times did they refuse to 
 obey the order : from that time he could regard with nothing but contempt a body 
 who showed themselves terrible only in seditions. Overwhelmed with sorrow at 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 251 
 
 this reverse, he gave himself up to superstition, and a comet which appeared in 
 l6l 8 carried trouble into his mind and over all the empire. His preceptor, Codja- 
 Omer-Effendi, advised him to appease the anger of heaven by making a pilgrim- 
 age to Mecca : but the ministers, the oulemas, the spahis, and the janissaries, 
 all raised their voices against it ; so that the resolution of the sultan was shaken, 
 when a dream decided his wavering mind. He fancied that as he was seated on 
 his throne, covered with his cuirass and occupied in reading the Koran, Mahomet 
 appeared to him, and with an angry air snatched the book from his hands, threw 
 him upon the ground, and struck him so severely, that unable to raise himself up 
 he could not embrace the knees of the prophet. Inspired with new terrors, those 
 who wished his overthrow advised him to set out upon the pilgrimage without 
 delay: he accordingly ordered preparations to be made for his departure, and was 
 deaf to all remonstrances against it. 
 
 The alarm was soon spread, and insurrection began to raise its head on every 
 side. Mustapha, who had been deposed on the plea of imbecility, was brought 
 forth from his prison, and a thousand voices called for his being replaced on the 
 throne, — a thousand voices demanded the death of Osman. Not dismayed by 
 the tumult, he quitted the seraglio, and hastened to the barracks of the janissaries, 
 exclaiming, — " Let us go to this place where they mahe kings." Here he was 
 loaded with insults ; in vain he endeavoured to be heard: " Only ask" he ex- 
 claimed, " of him u'hom you pi efer to me, what is his name ; he cannot even answer 
 such a question." The janissaries seized upon him and dragged him away to the 
 Seven Towers, one of them by the way striking him with his stick*. Arrived 
 under the gateway of the castle, the fatal string was thrown round his neck ; 
 but he thrust his hand within the noose, and struck down the first who attempted 
 to strangle him : the grand vizier then seized him, the unfortunate sultan was 
 overpowered, and the fatal purpose executed. 
 
 Since the death of Osman, the Seven Towers has been the scene of many bloody 
 executions ; almost every step taken within its walls recalls some dreadful asso- 
 ciation. There stands the tomb of a vizier, whose services in the reduction of the 
 isle of Candia were recompensed with a tragic death : gloomy sentiments, the names 
 of Turks, of Greek princes, inscribed upon the walls, speak the sad fate of those 
 by whose hands they-were traced. Towers filled with irons, with chains, with 
 
 * It is a custom among the Mussulmans, that every week, at the barracks of the janissaries, the name 
 of him who dared to strike his master is solemnly cursed. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
252 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 ancient arms, tombs, ruins, horrible dungeons, cold and silent vaults, a pit bearing 
 the name of The well of blood, the funereal cry of owls and of vultures, mingled 
 with the roar of the waves, — such are the objects, such the sounds, with which the 
 eye and ear are familiarised in these drearv abodes. 
 
 But the Seven Towers is more particularly known in European countries as 
 the prison where the Turks confine the ministers and ambassadors of the powers 
 with whom they are at war. The prisoners detained here are distinguished from 
 all other prisoners of war by an allowance for the table which is assigned them 
 by the sultan, and by the appellation of mouzcifirs, or hostages. It may indeed 
 be considered as a great favour to be regarded in this light, comparing their 
 situation with that of all others whom the fortune of war has led into capfivity 
 among the Turks. This castle is dignified in public documents and firmans with 
 the appellation of an imperial fortress ; and, conformably with that distinction, it 
 is governed by an aga who has under his orders a guard and a band of music : he 
 has a salary of siy thousand piastres, for the payment of which two timers, or 
 fiefs, in the neighborhood of Rodosto are responsible. This place is considered 
 as a peaceable and an honourable one. The person who filled it when I was there 
 was a venerable old man of Tartar origin, by name Abdul-Hamed. He had 
 served many years in the seraglio in quality of muezzin and of sacristan ; but at 
 sixtv years of age, having no longer sufficient power of voice remaining to sing 
 upon a minaret, or at the door of a mosque, he had been created commandant of 
 the Seven Towers. For the rest, he was a very worthy man, endowed with many 
 virtues, and free from the fanaticism of those who assume only an exterior of re- 
 ligion. If fear of persons by whom he knew his conduct was watched made him 
 sometimes appear severe towards us, the vexations we experienced were never 
 to be ascribed to him. Yet a true Turk in his love of money, I have seen 
 him sometimes, without any ceremony, drinking coffee with our cook, who was a 
 Greek papas of Cerigo. It is to be observed, however, that the difference of ranks 
 is not much considered in Turkey, where a porter may in four-and-twenty hours 
 become a vizier or a general. 
 
 The aga has under his orders akiaya or lieutenant; his garrison is composed of 
 fifty-four disdarlis, divided into ten sections, each commanded by a helouk-bachi 
 or corporal. The lieutenant at this time was an inventor of patterns for printing 
 linens; and among the corporals were the imam or curate of the prison, a boatman, 
 a dealer in tobacco-pipes, and other personages of equal importance. The dis- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 253 
 
 darlis, or soldiers, are poor creatures who serve for only six aspres* a day, and 
 who are notwithstanding the objects of envy to many others. The aga is 
 named directly by the Porte ; he chooses his lieutenant among the belouk-bachis, 
 and his choice commonly falls on the oldest among them. He also names the 
 belouk-bachis, who are obliged on entering into office to pay into his hands a 
 caution of a hundred piastres; this is returned to them in case of dismission or 
 voluntary resignation. The Turks who compose the garrison of the Seven 
 Towers have, in the first place, the advantage of being esteemed persons of a 
 certain distinction in their quarter; and secondly, they are exempted from going 
 out to war, to which every other Mussulman is liable. The belouk-bachis have 
 twelve aspres a day, and the aga gives them two dinners during the Rhamazan. 
 They form a sort of council under him, where a division is made of the booty 
 taken from the prisoners under their care ; they deliberate besides upon the disci- 
 pline of the prison. In this capacity they often quarrel, and enter into mutual 
 accusations of each other, till the commandant adjusts matters by ordering them 
 the bastinado, or by expelling them, preceding the sentence of expulsion by a sort 
 of juridical process that gives it additional sanction. 
 
 This castle stands at the eastern extremity of the Propontis, or Sea of Marmara; 
 it is a tolerably regular pentagon, four out of the five angles of which are flanked 
 by towers ; the fifth angle had also a tower formerly, but it exists no longer. Its 
 principal front is towards the west, and has, besides the tower at one of the angles, 
 two others, which stand on each side the ancient triumphal arch of Constantine. 
 The gate of entrance to the Seven Towers on the side of the town is to the east, 
 in a small square. The ground-plot of the whole inclosure is about five thousand 
 five hundred square toises. The longest side of the pentagon is that in which 
 Constantine's arch is included : while towers existed at all the angles, this side 
 presented a front of four towers ; but the tower at one of the angles having fallen 
 into decay, it has now only three. The first of these towers forms one side of 
 the principal gate to Constantinople ; it is round, and covered with lead. The wall 
 that joins it with the first marble tower of Constantine's arch is sixty feet high, 
 and has a parapet mounted wilh six iron guns, which command the country on 
 the side of Barouth-Hane, upon the road to St. Stephen. The first marble tower 
 is an enormous mass, between eighty and ninety feet high, with a platform at the 
 top. On the side of the country, where it projects forty feet from the wall, it is 
 
 * About threepence English money. 
 
234 TRAVELS IN THE MORE\. 
 
 built entirely of polished marble, but within, the marble is rough. This tower, 
 although rent by the shocks of an earthquake, is still in a tolerably good state ; 
 tiie frize is well preserved, and at the north and south angles are two Roman 
 eagles carved, but in a very indifferent style. The wall which runs from its 
 eastern angle to Constantine's arch is equal in height to the tower, and the frize 
 of the tower is carried along the top of it. The eastern side, which is within the 
 enclosure of the prison, has a very large door. 
 
 The triumphal arch of Constantine, which occupies the centre between the two 
 marble towers, conducts to the golden gate in the exterior enclosure of the castle. 
 This arch was more than ninety feet in height : it has been so much injured bv 
 artillery that we cannot now form any judgement of the ornaments ; but on the 
 side within the inclosure theie is a vast escutcheon surrounded by a wreath of 
 laurel, having below it the emblem of thunder, and inclosing the chrysimon. 
 By the sides of this arch, which resembles the gate of St. Martin at Paris, there 
 were two lateral gales ; but they are now built up. The arch itself is also ob- 
 structed by two stages of cells which the Turks have made, and have turned 
 arches here to support them. The lateral gate to the left has been converted into 
 a powder magazine ; but as it is lower than the ground, the water which stands 
 there renders it the usual abode of frogs and salamanders*. From thence to the 
 second marble tower the frize is continued along the rampart, but is interrupted in 
 one part where a large breach had been made, and is filled up with brick work. 
 This tower is not like the first; within it are cold and horrible dungeons, which 
 have resounded with the sighs of hundreds of victims devoted to death. The 
 principal of them has the name of The cave of blood : the first door by which it 
 is entered is of wood ; this opens into a corridor twelve feet long by four wide, 
 having at the end two steps that ascend to an iron door, and this leads into a semi- 
 circular gallery : at its furthest extremity is a second iron door, which completes 
 the gallery, and tea feet further an immense massive door inclosing the dungeon, 
 it is impossible to enter it without shuddering : never did the light of heaven 
 penetrate into this abode of tears and groans ; never did it echo with the voice of 
 a friend come to console the victim whom despotism had condemned to death. 
 The melancholy glare of a torch scarcely casts a dying light, so entirely is the 
 air inclosed in this abyss deprived of its vivifying particles : assisted by its re- 
 
 * Probably the lacerla aijuatica or the (acerta palustris, the former of which is called in French la 
 sulamandre a queue ronde, and the latter la salamandre a queue plate. — Tkanslatok. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 255 
 
 flection, however, one may read some inscriptions engraved on the marble: but it 
 is impossible for the eye to reach the summit of the vault ; it is lost in a gloom 
 perfectly impenetrable. In the midst of this sarcophagus is a well, the mouth of 
 which is level with the ground, and half closed by two flag stones : to this is 
 given the name of The well of blood, because the heads of those who are executed 
 in the dungeon are thrown into it. 
 
 In the same tower with this dungeon is a staircase leading up to a number of 
 cells : from some of .these, which are higher than the ramparts, the eye may be 
 gratified with a view over Constantinople, through loop-holes pierced in the walls. 
 Here the Turks formerly used to confine those, whom they called mouzafirs or 
 hostages; but the latter have now the choice allowed them of hiring apartments in 
 a more eligible situation. The same staircase leads up to the platform at the top 
 of the ramparts and the triumphal arch ; but the entrance to it is shut by a grated 
 iron door, and it is encumbered with plants and rubbish to a degree which 
 shows that it has not been frequented for a long course of years, though it com- 
 mands one of the finest views in the world. From the last-mentioned marble 
 tower to the southern angle of the castle, there is nothing in the rampart worthy 
 of remark ; it is not planted with cannon. At this angle stood the tower which 
 is now in ruins : its foundations form within the inclosure a sort of cistern, or 
 rather sewer, in which some shrubs have sprung up. The whole line of rampart 
 to the south is without cannon. There is a very high platform, which could only 
 be used for arrows and other ancient weapons of defence. 
 
 The third, or southern, angle of the pentagon is flanked by a round tower in 
 two divisions. The first division is seventy feet high, and pierced with embrasures 
 which form a gallery serving as the base of a second tower. The latter seems to 
 rise out of the former, and makes the whole of this whimsical construction a 
 hundred and twenty feet high. The rampart which runs from it to the eastern 
 angle, is lower than the fronts to the south and west, and is planted with four 
 pieces of cannon directed towards the town and the sea-shore. The tower of 
 the eastern angle differs from the others I have described, being in form a sort of 
 dodecagon. There is a cell within closed only by two wooden doors, and admit- 
 ting both the light and the air freely. Near to this is the principal entrance 
 to the castle, through a small square tower covered with lead : here prisoners 
 are sometimes put in irons pro tempore. There is, nothing remarkable in it, 
 .except that whereas the doors were formerly of wood, they are now of iron, 
 since a prisoner made his escape by setting fire to them. From this to the last 
 
256 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 tower of which it remains to speak, the rampart is planted with ten pieces of 
 cannon directed towards the town. This last tower, the roof of which has heen 
 destroyed by time, is now falling- into ruins, and in a few years will exist no 
 longer ; for the Turks, who cannot trouble themselves to repair any thing, see large 
 masses of wall fall perpetually with perfect unconcern, nor care how they en- 
 cumber the enclosure within. 
 
 The door which leads into the interior of the castle is painted red, and well 
 fortified with plates of-iron. Before it is a portcullis, which is let down occa- 
 sionally in cases of imminent danger. It was directly after having passed this 
 that Sultan Osman was strangled. To the right is an armory filled with old 
 bucklers, with ancient arms, with iron fetters and chains; and to the left is a 
 small apartment where lives the kiaya. A paved causeway, on each side of which 
 are heaps of marble balls, leads to the second interior inclosure ; to the left of the 
 causeway is a small mosque. The rest of this court is occupied by a number of 
 houses, to the amount perhaps of forty, with gardens, heaps of stones, and clumps 
 of shrubs which have grown spontaneously among the rubbish. Formerly there 
 were in this inclosure some very good houses; but they were destroyed by a fire 
 which happened about twenty years ago, and have never been rebuilt. The second 
 inclosure contains the house of the aga, and that where the mouzafirs, or prisoners 
 considered as hostages, now lodge. It is surrounded by a wall eighteen feet in 
 height. To the left of the entrance is the guard-room, a sort of closet, large enough 
 to hold about ten men, having for furniture one miserable sofa. It contains neither 
 arms nor any other military insignia. Opposite to this guard-room there is a 
 range of building which is continued quite to Constantine's arch : in it is the aga's 
 house. By the firmans of commitment the mouzafirs are ordered into cells ; but 
 the aga has the choice of letting them apartments in this building. The division 
 which we inhabited consisted of a ground floor and a first and second story. Next 
 to us lodged the commandant and his wives ; behind his house was a little garden 
 which ran up to the first marble tower. 
 
 In the latter part of our captivity Monsieur Ruffin having obtained permission 
 to hire the aga's house, where he lived with his wife, I had by this means an op- 
 portunity of visiting the tower, and exploring the interior of it. Notwithstanding 
 the gloom that reigns there, I could discern a wooden coffin, on the lid of which 
 was carved an Egyptian figure with ears standing out exceedingly from the head. 
 Curiosity leading me to open it, I found within a mummy broken into three pieces. 
 I pyt the head in my pocket, and had the good fortune to bring it away with me. 
 
TRA.VELS IN THE MOREA. 257 
 
 I afterwards learnt, in consulting the Annals of Turkey, a passage in which was 
 translated to me by Monsieur Ruffin, that this was intended as a present from 
 the king of France to Charles the Twelfth king of Sweden, ninety-four years be- 
 fore, when he had retired to Bender. The mummy came directly from Egypt, 
 and it was about to be forwarded to its destination when it was stopped by the ja- 
 nissaries upon guard at the gate of Adrianople. Being sealed with the signet of 
 the kaimakan, it was supposed to be the relic of some saint, and was deposited 
 at the Seven Towers. I never heard it said, as Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 
 tague affirms, that the Turks attached to it the idea of a palladium on which 
 hung the preservation of the empire. This is one of the pleasing fictions of 
 her work. According to her hypothesis, I should have broken the charm, and 
 hastened the downfall of a state once so formidable to almost all Christendom: 
 but my conscience acquits me entirely of having been guilty of a like trans- 
 gression. 
 
 A little paved street, which leads from the gate of the second interior inclosure 
 to Constantine's arch, separates the aga's house from a garden surrounded with 
 palisades on the opposite side. This garden is divided into two : one part, which 
 runs parallel with the second marble tower, being ten toises four feet long by three 
 toises wide ; the other being a square of six toises each way. In the first division 
 is the cemetery of the Martyrs, as it is called, occupying a square of two toises.. 
 Here are deposited the bodies of the Turkish chiefs who fell in the assault of the 
 Seven Towers at the taking of Constantinople. The form of graves is still pre- 
 served ; but they are of a colossal size, to inspire the descendants of these mighty 
 men with a high idea of their warlike ancestors *. This inclosure is surrounded 
 with a little wall two feet high, and is illuminated every night by a lighthouse, 
 which is under the care of the muezzin. 
 
 The whole garden was very much ornamented by the Muscovites when they 
 were detained here. They buiit two kiosques or pavilions, which were prettily 
 painted with landscapes; but, as every thing falls into decay in the hands of the 
 Mussulmans, we found nothing but some miserable remains of these embellish- 
 ments. We were destitute of means for undertaking any thing; of a similar kind, 
 
 * It is a common practice in the Ea^,t to give colossal proportions to the tombs. Alexander the 
 Great, it is said^ had many suits of gigantic armour made, which he left scattered about in his progress* 
 to impress the people with the idea that he commanded an army of demi-gods. 
 
 •2 L 
 
258 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 and were obliged to content ourselves with forming seats of turf. One of our party 
 engraved upon a slab of marble in the second tower : 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF THE FRENCH 
 WHO HAVE DIED IN THE CHAINS OF THE OTTOMANS. 
 
 M dccc I. 
 
 The stranger who may hereafter be doomed to visit this dreary abode will, I hope, 
 not read without some degree of interest this tribute to men worthy of a better fate; 
 eptcially if he should be acquainted with the sufferings endured by those of our 
 fellow-countrymen who were thrown into the bagnio. 
 
 These are all the particulars which appear worthy of remark in the interior of 
 the Seven Towers. I know not on what authority the authors of the Encyclo- 
 paedia say that there is in one of the courts a mortar destined to pound the oule- 
 mas, while the Turks in general affirm this to be in the Seraglio. Most reasonable 
 people, however, doubt entirely the existence of such a thing, and are inclined to 
 think that it is only an ideal object of terror, which, if it ever did exist, has ceased 
 to do so for many centuries. There are in these courts many heaps of enormous 
 marble balls, but which would require guns of a very different calibre from those 
 now mounted on the ramparts to fire them. In this, as in various other more im- 
 portant things relative to the East, many pages must be torn if we wish only to 
 have truth preserved. I know not by what fatality the greater part of the tra- 
 vellers into these parts have been so extremely desirous of embellishing their nar- 
 ratives with the marvellous. 
 
 The first inclosure of the Seven Towers is inhabited chiefly by poor Turks, who 
 have houses, and live there with their families. They belong to the guard of the 
 castle ; and commonly exercise besides, some profession to assist in gaining them- 
 selves a livelihood. The imam of the mosque has a house here; and his jurisdic- 
 tion extends over the precinct, to perform the ceremonies of interment and others 
 belonging to his function. From these he draws some emolument. The person 
 who filled this office while I was a prisoner had bought his place of one of the 
 soldiers for a hundred and fifty piastres, the soldier preferring the situation of 
 a journeyman-mason to that of imam, thought his latter office had been hereditary 
 in his family from the time when Constantinople was taken. The imam who made 
 the purchase was, besides, belouk-bachi, or corporal of one of the sections that 
 composed the garrison, and took his turn of mounting guard in the prison. He 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 259 
 
 read his own language tolerably ; and his muezzin, or sacristan, could repeat the 
 whole koran by heart, though he did not understand a word of the Arabian tongue. 
 On this account the name of Hafiz had been given to him, as one common to all 
 who have in like manner the words of this sacred book stored up in their memories. 
 At the same time this man had not two ideas in his head. 
 
 Having tiius given a general sketch of the interior of the Seven Towers, such 
 as it was in 1801, it remains now to speak of the external inclosure. This will 
 afford, I hope, some details more interesting, and plead my excuse for entering 
 with a tone so didactic into a description of angles, projections, ruins, and rubbish. 
 Some apology, I am aware, is necessary, since the ruins now treated of are not 
 stamped with the same value as others on which my pen has been previously em- 
 ployed ; those precious remains of ancient Greece, where every object that meets 
 tfie traveller's eye presents to his mind some cherished association. 
 
 In quitting the inclosure by the triumphal arch of Constantine, the golden 
 gate was formerly passed ; but it is now blocked up. This point of egress from 
 the castle leads at present only into the second circumvallation, or exterior inclo- 
 sure of the fortifications, comprised between the first and second rampart. This 
 space is occupied in great part by a garden not above half cultivated. About thirty 
 paces from the triumphal arch are four cypresses, and some sycamores, dispersed 
 about, which form groupes before the marble towers, and give the whole a pic- 
 turesque appearance when they are seen in approaching the town from the village 
 of St. Stephen. The Turks have built up the golden gate with solid stonework, 
 to make a cistern of it; and the commandant has had two pavilions built on the 
 foundations of some ruins. Within the garden, before these pavilions, is a square 
 bason, with a. jet d'eau. Here the aga comes to smoke his pipe, having for his 
 prospect the marble towers ; whereas in the very- same spot, if his pavilions had 
 been differently constructed, he might have enjoyed a most noble view. On the 
 door of the triumphal arch are some Greek inscriptions, written with a kind of 
 red mixture, which are intended to express the name of God and his greatness. 
 They, as well as the crosses cut upon the marble, seem to have been the work of 
 some pious soldiers on guard here. 
 
 From the northern angle of the first marble tower a wall branches off, which 
 terminates the inclosure on this side, uniting it to the second rampart. Near this 
 tower is a gate called the Gate of Victory, which is highly honoured by the Turks. 
 Above it is a sort of lantern, which is lighted every night. I hey believe that 
 it was by this gate their ancestors first entered when they took Constantinople, 
 
 2l 2 
 
260 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 and consider the ground all about as formed of the dust of those martyrs: for 
 that reason it is held in high veneration. This gate is now never used : it is to 
 the north, and stands upon the fosse, where within a few years a market for oxen 
 has been established; A little staircase conducts to another part of the fosse, which 
 extends from the north side of the first marble tower to the first gate of Constan- 
 tinople. This is closed in by a transverse wall, in which are eight embrasures : the 
 fosse is filled with rubbidi, with clumps of pomegranate-trees and sycamores, and 
 is inhabited by an immense number of tortoises. 
 
 Opposite the first marble tower, upon a half-moon of the rampart to the ex- 
 terior inclosure, a kiosque or belvedere has been constructed, where we were 
 permitted, by paying a sum of money, to go every week and breathe the fresh 
 air. The kiosque is divided into two apartments, the first of which has three 
 windows to the west, and an equal number eastward looking upon the garden: 
 the second, where we were permitted to go, has nine windows, and was furnished; 
 with sophas : the cielings of both were painted with simplicity and elegance. 
 The view from this pavilion extends over an infinite number of gardens and ce- 
 meteries, and towards the fertile fields of Thrace : to the left it looks to the 
 quarter where are the butchers' shops, the manufactories of candles, and of catgut 
 strings. Beyond these the eye wanders delightfully over the sea which washes 
 the smiling shores of Asia, extending quite to the islands of the sea of Marmara. 
 It is in the wall of this second rampart that are to be found the relics of the 
 golden gate. Two marble columns appear, from the pedestals of which, made of 
 a single piece of marble, the columns may be supposed to have been thirty or 
 thirty-five feet high. What remains of them is in good preservation. In the 
 same wall are about a dozen other columns, and remains of bas-reliefs were to be 
 seen, but no inscriptions. 
 
 Near the second marble tower, that in which are the dungeons, is a palisade 
 with a little barrier, which opens upon an inclosure terminated equally by a 
 transversal wall going from the southern extremity of the base to the second ram- 
 part. In this place is a great deal of rubbish, some fragments of marbles, and a 
 multitude of trees and shrubs which afford an agreeable shade. By dint of prayers 
 and entreaties, and at length of bribes, we obtained permission to extend our walk 
 to this fosse, — an image of chaos. We cleared away the bottom, we made a walk, 
 a place for sports, and a little study : we could at the same time, from the top of 
 a mound formed by the ruins, enjoy a very extensive view over the sea, and con- 
 template the vessels bringing the products of the industry of Europe into the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 26 I 
 
 port of Constantinople, or quitting it laden with the precious merchandise of 
 the East. 
 
 In this same spot we were presented with a mournful subject for meditation : 
 here was the tomb of the grand vizier who conquered the island of Candia, with 
 those of his wife and son. Covered with glory, ennobled by the services he had 
 rendered to his monarch ; envy precipitated him from the heights to which he had 
 risen, and overwhelmed him with disgrace: he was thrown into the dungeon of 
 blood, and there strangled. His wife and son obtained leave to mingle their dust 
 with that of an object so cherished and beloved. Their tombs are preserved with 
 great care: round them is a gilt palisade, about which are entwined jessamines, 
 roses, and other odoriferous shrubs. A flaming sword and a simple inscription 
 perpetuate the remembrance of the vizier's services and the father's affection, — of 
 the virtues and tenderness of the wife, and of the premature death of a son whose 
 youth afforded the brightest hopes. The despotism which crushed a faithful 
 servant, the envy which overthrew a heart so full of virtues, could not impede 
 truth from inscribing upon the marble the feats of a warrior exempt from guilt. 
 On the cause of his death a perfect silence is observed, but the knife has pre- 
 served the memorial of his services and his exploits. 
 
 In the transverse wall of this inclosure is a little door which opens upon the 
 space included between the first and second rampart, extending quite to the sea 
 shore. We had long suspected that this must be a pleasant place for walking ; 
 and at length chance, time, and money the best of all keys, gained us access 
 here, as it had done elsewhere. To the right, on entering, we found a little path 
 which wound among a profusion of lilacs, of laurels, of pomegranate-, almond-, 
 and quince-trees: on our right hand was the wall crowned with battlements and 
 flanked with bastions, and to the left the rampart of the town, sixty feet high. 
 Along this rampart are at intervals towers with flat tops, to the number of seven, 
 built at almost equal distances, and evidently of a construction anterior to the use 
 of cannon. The rampart however, notwithstanding its great height, is capable 
 of being mounted with artillery, and without doubt was so in the latter clays of 
 the empire. The embrasures of the towers are blackened; and the Greeks with 
 whom I conversed upon the subject assured me that it was the effect of the 
 Greek-fire which was thrown upon the barbarians in the times when they were 
 perpetually insulting, even in their capital, the feeble power of the emperors. 
 
 The first, the second, and the third of these towers are octagons, and in good 
 preservation: they offer nothing particularly worthy of observation, excepting 
 
262 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 the nests of the akababas or vultur percnopterus : these birds of passage establish 
 themselves every year in great numbers upon their aerial summits. In the in- 
 terval between the first and second tower is a small well almost choked up with 
 stones, and the wall is entirely covered with ivy. In the curtain from the second 
 to the third tower, a small column of white marble indicates the tomb of a 
 tchorbadgi, or colonel of janissaries, who fell at the siege of Constantinople : the 
 Turks revere this tomb as if it were that of a saint : chance has placed round it a 
 tall laurel, a walnut-tree, a pomegranate-, and a fig-tree, which form a sort of 
 arch over it. It seems by the freshness of the turf, and the flowers that grow 
 around, as if nature wished to show some distinction to the spot where repose the 
 remains of a warrior. Opposite to this tomb is an enormous service-tree, and 
 several trees of Judea, which form a very pleasing groupe. The fourth tower, 
 which is square, has suffered exceedingly from earthquakes. Upon this tower is 
 the following inscription: 
 
 nACi pnMAimc metaaeiiohce 
 
 O RilMANOC NEON O I1A RMEnCTOC 
 
 ton ae nrproN ek bagpiin. 
 
 Which signifies : — The great, the very great Romanics has built from the founda- 
 tions a temple and a tower for all the Greeks. 
 
 I give it such as it exists, although I am aware that it is cited by Procopius in 
 a manner which would admit of a very different sense being given to it. I know 
 that it differs also from that published by Spon and by Tournefort, though the 
 sense is pretty much the same: but neither of these travellers had the same 
 opportunity for studying it that my captivity unfortunately gave me. 
 
 The fifth tower has a rent in it from the top to the very bottom. I availed 
 myself of this to penetrate into the tower, and I found at its base a hole which 
 communicated with a neighbouring garden. It would have afforded an excellent 
 means of escape, if we had not been shut up during the night in the interior of 
 the prison, or could have known of any place where there was a hope of finding 
 an asylum : but this was not a time when a Frenchman could expect to meet 
 with a protector within the walls of Byzantium. The sixth tower, which is half 
 mouldered away, furnished us the means of mounting upon the rampart and 
 examining whatever was to be found there worthy of our curiosity. Here we 
 had a complete view of Constantinople, which was not to be seen from our prison; 
 but we found no antiquities except some Greek crosses in several different parts. 
 From this place we had one day a good deal of conversation with some Armenians. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 263 
 
 The base of the seventh tower is enclosed in the wall, and when the wind 
 blows from the south the waves dash majestically against it. The interior is an 
 absolute void, but upon the top is the following inscription: 
 
 rnrros easiaeon 
 
 KAI K0N2TANTIN0n0AITANiiN. 
 TOWER OF KINGS AND OF THE CONSTANTINOPOLITANS. 
 
 To judge by the pompous nature of both inscriptions, one would suppose that 
 the monuments to which they belong must have something in them well worthy 
 the attention of posterity; but they are two poor insignificant towers, which have 
 nothing remarkable except the absurd bombast of the dedications. In the time 
 of the Lower Empire, the arts being forgotten, and the real splendour of the 
 country being all dwindled away, the loss was supplied by the use of bombast 
 language, and application of high-sounding epithets to persons who had no other 
 possible means of obtaining distinction. A crenated wall completes this inclosure 
 on the side towards the sea; in it are some pedestals of columns and fragments 
 of marble. This whole space is covered with an enormous quantity of trees and 
 flowers of various kinds ; walnuts, plums, apricots, service-trees, jujubes, syca- 
 mores, pomegranates, trees of Judea, laurels, lilacs, rose-trees, jessamines, irises, 
 tulips, anemones, violets, carnations: it is a chaos of ruins, stones, heaps of 
 rubbish, tombs, shrubs, flowers, and trees; while it equally resounds with the 
 song of the nightingale, the screams of the sea-mew, and the screeching of the 
 owl. Yet in the situation to which we were reduced, such a place was to us a 
 garden of delights: we could here seat ourselves by the sea-shore, we could medi- 
 tate to the sound of the waves murmuring below; every vessel we saw became an 
 object of interest to us. What wishes were excited in our bosoms at these mo- 
 ments ! what invocations did we'offer up to Heaven ! what conjectures did we 
 form as to our future fate! Yet day after day rolled on and brought no change: 
 if we awoke in the morning with Hope as the cherished guest of our hearts, it 
 was but to lie down in the evening with Disappointment at our side. 
 
 To terminate my topography of this celebrated prison, I have only to add that 
 the outward rampart is flanked by a ditch, through which run the waters of a 
 little river called the Sperchius. This river rises in the neighbourhood of 
 Baloucli*, and winding through the fosses of the town passes under a small 
 
 * Baloucli is a Greek cemetery situated to the north-west of Constantinople. This place is held in 
 particular veneration, because of a fountain in which the papas show the faithful some fish half fried : 
 
£64 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 bridge which is before the first gate, whence it proceeds on to join the sea a little 
 way below. In this fosse a great deal of mint is cultivated, which is gathered, 
 with great care by the Turks to dry for the winter. A quantity of artichokes 
 grow every where in the uncultivated ground ; tortoises also abound, as well as 
 snakes : of the latter there seemed to be no other species than those which are 
 familiar to us. 
 
 The air of the Seven Towers is in general unwholesome, and very likely to 
 produce scrophula: in the summer the walls, heated by the sun, transform the 
 place into a furnace, which is absolutely overpowering. The north wind is the 
 only one which can render this place, or indeed an)' part of the town, completely 
 wholesome : when the south wind blows it produces fogs, and brings into the 
 town the smell of the shambles and manufactories in the neighbourhood, to a de- 
 gree which must be pernicious if it continues for any length of time. To these 
 inconveniencies may be added that of the insects peculiar to warm climates: we 
 were often visited by scorpions of a yellowish hue ; they would even conceal them- 
 selves in our beds. The apartments we occupied, particularly those on the first 
 floor, were at all times extremely damp, and had besides the agreeable quality of 
 being very cold in winter. 
 
 Providence, however, kindly supported us through our trials ; and however 
 painful our situation, seldom did the least cloud intervene to disturb our gaiety. 
 We applied ourselves assiduously to study, we created ourselves a variety of occu- 
 pations, our time was portioned out among them, every hour had its allotted em- 
 ployment, and, monotonous as we found our lives, we were scarcely ever wholly 
 forsaken by that best friend to the unfortunate, — Hope. 
 
 they have been in the same place and in the same state ever since the taking of Constantinople. On 
 that fatal day, according to tradition, the news that the Turks were masters of the town was announced 
 to a maid servant as she was frying fish. She however declared she would just as soon believe that the 
 fish, which were then half dressed, would jump out of the frying-pan into a pond close by ; whereupon 
 the 6sh jumped into the pond immediately, and have remained there in the same state ever since. The 
 Greeks all assert that they have frequently seen them. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The bagnio at Constantinople, and the treatment of the French prisoners and others 
 confined there. — Melancholy fate of a young Greek. — More particulars respecting 
 the prisoners in the Seven Toivers. — Dogmas of the Turks. — Death of Adjutant- 
 general Rose. — Visit of the Istambol Effendi. 
 
 It must be observed, that if in the abstract our situation in the castle of 
 the Seven Towers was by no means a pleasant one, we had ample reason to 
 bless our lot when compared with that of our fellow-countrymen incarcerated 
 in the bagnio; a place beyond all comparison more horrible. It was here 
 that the brave garrison of Zante, with whose journey through the Morea the 
 reader is acquainted, were immured. After a forced march of fifty-two days, 
 those who had survived the fatigue of the route entered Constantinople in 
 a moment the most heart-rending that the imagination could well conceive : 
 the pasha of Albania had just sent thither the heads of the unfortunate French 
 who had fallen upon the field of battle at Prevesa*, and they were exposed 
 at the gate of the seraglio as a monument of Turkish prowess. Shouts of joy, 
 occasioned by this event, were resounding on all sides when the captives of Zante 
 came to augment the transports of the barbarians. The latter made their prisoners 
 defile close by the remains of their friends : but this unfortunate party were already 
 in some sort familiarized with spectacles of horror ; even at that moment they 
 were themselves bearers of the ensanguined relics of such of their friends as had 
 fallen victims to fatigue in the march. I have already observed that, when any 
 one of them was from sickness unable to proceed, his head was struck off, and 
 his sad remains left on the spot uninterred: whenever such an instance occurred, 
 the comrades of the victim were compelled to scalp the head and carry away the 
 hair with them ; and if they hesitated to do a thing so dreadfully repugnant to 
 their feelings, their own heads were made to answer it. Bearing about them these 
 horrible spoils, their hearts oppressed with sorrow, and the anguish of their souls 
 imprinted but too forcibly on their countenances, worn down with fatigue, 
 
 * An account of this affair at Prevesa will be found iaa subsequent chapter. 
 
 2 M 
 
266 TRAVELS IN THE MOHEA. 
 
 scarcely half clothed, — some even deprived of the use of a limb by the cold 
 vvliicl) then reigned in the mountains of Macedonia, and others mutilated by the 
 swords of the enemy, — such was the state wherein they were compelled to pass 
 the tragic spectacle the seraglio then exhibited to the soul of a Frenchman. 
 
 Arrived at the bagnio, the officers were deprived of their swords, which they 
 had hitherto been suffered to retain ; the prisoners were numbered, and the gates 
 of the prison closed upon them. The soldiers were chained together two and 
 two, and iron rings were put round the legs of the officers. As an aggravation of 
 their sorrows, they found, as fellow-prisoners, a number of their countrymen, who, 
 residing at Constantinople when the war broke out, had been arrested and sent 
 thither ; and to complete the catalogue of horrors, the place could then scarcely 
 be supposed free from miasma of the contagion, as the bodies of a number of 
 Maltese slaves who had died there of the plague had been but very recently 
 removed. The only hope of safety from such a scourge was in the severity of 
 the season ; for it was with the setting in of the cold weather that the ravages it 
 had been making for a considerable time had in any degree subsided. 
 
 The bagnio is a part of theTersana, or arsenal, and the place where malefactors 
 condemned to the galltvs are confined. Hither also are sent such Turks as are 
 intended to be secretly executed, and Greeks of distinction whom the despotism 
 of their oppressors has doomed to destruction, unless their lives are purchased by 
 their families. But besides these purposes, this place has another destination 
 unknown in civilised countries : it is used as a place of confinement for prisoners 
 of war, and slaves taken on board Maltese vessels, the Porte being always at war 
 with Malta. 
 
 The capudan-pasha, or high admiral, has the chief command of the arsenal. 
 There are besides an intendant and an effendi : the latter, born a judge of the 
 police, can at his pleasure order the prisoners to be chained or unchained, "or to be 
 scourged; but he cannot condemn to death. He has under his orders tchiaoux 
 or huissiers, and executioners to strangle those who are condemned by the 
 capudan pasha or the bostandgi-bachi. These executioners, who are commonly 
 Creeks or Maltese, think they do a meritorious act when they execute a Turk ; 
 they are in general men of such athletic forms, and such vast strength, that each 
 might be taken for an actual Hercules. They are chosen among those of the 
 slaves who will voluntarily undertake the office; and to compensate the infamy of 
 their employment they have certain privileges and perquisites allowed them, par- 
 ticularly that of going on commissions for the prisoners. They are commonly 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MO RE A. 2(5? 
 
 married, and have houses in the town, whither they go and pass the night with 
 their families. 
 
 The police of the bagnio is exercised by the guardian bach is, who are Greeks ; 
 they never appear but armed with sticks, striking with them whomsoever they 
 please. Their hairy breasts, their thick mustachios, from beneath which issues 
 a rough and hoarse voice, render them truly formidable in their appearance, and 
 worthy of the posts they fill. They go the rounds at night, preside at execu- 
 tions, awaken the prisoners to send them to their work, and superintend them 
 while at it ; the slaves are numbered by them morning and night, as they are 
 accountable for any one who escapes. They exercise under the effendi the right 
 of chaining or unchaining the prisoners, and the money paid for favour shown in 
 this way is one of the great profits of their places to both. 
 
 The bagnio stands upon the eastern shore of the port or gulf of Ceras. 
 Although surrounded by high walls, the mounds of earth and rubbish laid against 
 them on the outside, permit of people seeing into the inclosure very readily. Its 
 form is nearly a parallelogram, and the wall by the sea-side follows the windings 
 of the shore. The building in which the slaves are lodged is a sort of vast hall, 
 with one story over it: it is filled with camp-beds, on which the prisoners sleep 
 without being permitted to have their chains taken off. The officers have dark 
 niches allotted to them, and are, as well as the sick, exempted from labour. 
 Near this building is another inclosure, called the little bagnio, separated from the 
 principal one by a high wall. Before the building is a large court, in which the 
 prisoners are allowed to walk. The Russians who were confined here during their 
 last war with the Turks had built a pretty little pavilion, some remains of which 
 are still in existence. There is a chapel in which a Greek papas celebrates mass 
 every Sunday. At the solemn festivals there are processions with the cross 
 and banners, at which the Christians assist. Round the court there are some 
 shops kept by the guardian bachis ; they sell provisions of various kinds, wine, 
 brandy, and many other objects. During the night they are transformed into 
 gambling-houses, where the Maltese play for considerable sums, the products of 
 their services in the summer campaigns made under the capudan-pasha. 
 
 The lout ensemble of this place offers a picture truly revolting to the imagina- 
 tion. He who is transported hither on a sudden from the middle of a camp, or 
 from the bosom of society, must experience sensations of which those only who 
 are acquainted with it can form an idea. The eternal clank of chains, the horrible 
 countenances alike of the governors, and of the greater part of the governed, the 
 
 2 M 2 
 
208 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 latter of whom (I speak here of the criminals, not of the prisoners of war) carry 
 in all their features such a sad impression of moral degradation, strike his soul 
 with feelings of melancholy arid anguish. The criminals, smarting incessantly 
 under the chastisements to which they are condemned, afibrd an affecting type of 
 what may perhaps but too probably be their eternal doom ; and the painter who 
 wished to delineate the features of Ixion, of Tantalus, or of Sisyphus, would here 
 find excellent models for his pencil. Nor would the inflexible guardians, monsters 
 as they are of tyranny, of avarice, and licentiousness, afford studies less appro- 
 priate for the image of the triple Gorgon, or the Furies brandishing their snakv 
 scourges. 
 
 It must however be acknowledged with regard to our troops, that if they had 
 cause to complain of being confined in such a place, considering where they were, 
 their treatment was lenient. Though chained, they were kept apart from the 
 convicts ; and if compelled to work, they were not expected to labour beyond their 
 strength. "The strongest assisted in the dock-yard at building and repairing the 
 vessels, the rest in spinning hemp and making ropes. They began work between 
 six and seven in the morning, at noon they left off to dine, and at four in the 
 afternoon left work for the day. The captains of the Turkish vessels, far from 
 treating them ill, often gave them little rewards. At six the guardians counted 
 them over, and they were sent to their barn, or place of repose, for the night. A 
 rough voice then addressed them : — " Christiani, bevete e mangiate allegramente, 
 non fate baruffa con altri; e do mane, se Dio vuol',sarete in liberta." — That is to say, 
 " Christians, drink and cat merrily, do not quarrel ivith any body ; and tomorrow', if 
 it please God, you will be at liberty." 
 
 The night is commonly the time for executions, and these were frequent during 
 the first year of the war. It was not more than three months after it broke out 
 that the capudan-pasha sent to the galleys here a Greek called Yanaki, nephew 
 to Cangierli, prince of Wallachia. This young man, the favourite drogman of 
 llusseiu-pasha, after having followed him to Widdin, was suddenly, when at the 
 height of his honours, plunged into the lowest depths of misfortune. An excel- 
 lent education, and a fund of knowledge not usual in an Oriental, united with his 
 innocence and amiable disposition, rendered him altogether an object of particular 
 interest and commiseration. Resigned to death, he expected that the night 
 when he was cast into prison was to be his last; but the fatal hour being past, 
 he began to entertain hope. He sought the society of the French, hoping among 
 them to meet with some one who would fortify and console him ; and in Monsieur 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 269 
 
 Hichemont he found a firm mind susceptible of every thing great and noble, who 
 sincerely sympathized in his sorrows. Yanaki unfolded to him a frightful series 
 of intrigues by which his dovvnfal had been effected, and the anger of the capudan- 
 pasha drawn upon him : he detailed the plots in consequence of which his uncle 
 Cangierli had lost his head some months before at the requisition of Paswan- 
 Oglou ; with other political secrets which I am not here at liberty to reveal, but 
 which afforded a clue to some very dark transactions relative to our nation. 
 
 During the time of this young man's detention, his relations made all possible 
 efforts to obtain his pardon from the capudan-pasha, and, full of hopes, found 
 means to impart to him news so calculated to tranquillize his mind. The guardian 
 bachis, though naturally savage, showed him many attentions, considering him, 
 only as a favourite under a transient cloud. Solicitations in his favour found their 
 way after about a month to the ears of Hussein-pasha's wife, a lady of the blood of 
 Selim the Third, the reigning sultan, who listened to them with favour, and 
 Yanaki's pardon was then looked upon as certain. Hussein, her husband, in 
 effect answered her, that the young man should go out of prison that very night; 
 but, in so saying, he made use of a mental reservation worthy only of a base 
 and dishonourable tyrant : he had in fact sent a secret order for the execution of 
 the victim, who, according to the proper meaning of his words, according to the 
 sense in which he himself intended they should be taken, ought to have been set 
 at liberty. The unfortunate Yanaki, however, began to suspect the fate in reserve 
 for him by the defection of the guardian bachis, and the Greek prisoners who 
 had hitherto paid him so much court; and all hope was finally removed when, 
 instead of being carried back to the bagnio after he had been before the capudan- 
 pasha, he was conducted to a coffee-house within the inclosure, where the 
 condemned commonly pass the last hours previous to their execution. In his 
 way he saw Monsieur Richemont : he saluted him : but his guards hurried him 
 along so that he had no time to say a word of adieu. In effect, that very night 
 put a period to his life, and his body was thrown into the port. Such was the 
 end of one who was sacrificed by Hussein, to prevent his divulging secrets which 
 his interest demanded should remain for ever concealed. 
 
 Such also was the prison where, during four years, a number of French of all 
 classes dragged on a miserable existence. In November 1799 they amounted to 
 twelve hundred ; but a great part of these in a short time perished by disease. 
 They were attacked with the fevers which commonly succeed the plague, and 
 scarcely any wholly escaped them : those who had been previously exhausted by 
 
370 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A, 
 
 long marches, almost to a man died. This fever began with an ataxia, so that it 
 was scarcely to be discerned at its first coming on, nor till it had arrived at a crisis 
 when but little hope of recovery remained. Among those who recovered, a 
 singular aberration of mind and stuttering came on between twenty and thirty 
 days after they were attacked, which did not wholly leave them again for a very 
 long time ; some of them totally lost their recollection, and seemed to have no 
 idea of the past events of their lives. It was not till the return of spring that 
 they could be considered as entirely free from malady. During all this time the 
 prisoners showed a spirit of order and friendship towards each other highly to 
 their honour. When they were sent into the bagnio the effendi had taken down 
 their names rather negligently, and he never informed himself when any one 
 died. This obliged them to keep a sort of necrology among themselves; nay, 
 they went further, and afterwards obtained permission of the Turks to inflict cor- 
 rection among themselves fur faults committed between those who were comrades. 
 They finished at last by keeping a journal of all prisoners who were removed upon 
 suspicion. 
 
 I will not, however, enter into a further detail of what passed at the bagnio, 
 lest I may be thought tedious : I will only add, that from the moment of General 
 Bonaparte's advancement to the consulate the prisoners found their situation 
 extremely ameliorated by the regular payment of their allowance. The remit- 
 tances for this purpose had been first sent through the intervention of Monsieur 
 Bouligni, minister to the king of Spain ; but he being displaced from his post, 
 Baron Hubschs, minister from the Danish court, kindly supplied his place. The 
 Turks had, till this time, furnished nothing but bread and water to the prisoners ; 
 but they had now plenty cf good food, and pay as if they had been in service. 
 Although in this the Baron acted only in conformity with his instructions, 
 every Frenchman ought to render him their grateful homage for the conduct 
 he observed at so difficult a period; and I have reason myself to know how 
 much pleasure he always experienced when he could obtain the enlargement 
 of any one. 1 will conclude what I have to say upon the bagnio with observing, 
 that this place does not appear as if it belonged even to Constantinople. It 
 forms in effect another Barbary, in the midst of a people themselves little 
 advanced in civilization. Yet what seems extraordinary is, that in the midst 
 of chains and licentiousness the most solemn rites of the Christian religion 
 are performed without any interruption or molestation. The lingua-franca, or 
 Barbaric, which is generally spoken there, establishes, finally, a line of demar- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 2?1 
 
 cation even more distinct than the walls that separate Tersana from the town and 
 its inhabitants. 
 
 To return now to ourselves. Though our better stars had conducted us into a 
 less irksome place of captivity, yet the life of a prisoner almost unavoidably leads 
 to a sort of moral marasmus. His ideas are in a regular state of contraction, and 
 a thousand petty passions are awakened in his mind. Unhappy in himself, he 
 quarrels with a fine day : he repines at the return of spring; and whatever dis- 
 poses the soul to the most pleasing emotions becomes painful to him, because he 
 cannot partake of the enjoyments which nature offers to mankind. Study, how- 
 ever, affords him a powerful source of consolation ; and if he can avail himself of 
 it, he may even be said to triumph over the sorrows of his situation. 
 
 We were happy in this respect, since we were able to procure from Pera, through 
 the intervention of Monsieur Suzzo, the drogman of the Porte, many works 
 that contributed greatly to charm away the tedium of our lives. But a still more 
 important object was, that notwithstanding the laws of interdiction under which 
 we laboured, we found the means of procuring the newspapers, and of keeping up 
 a correspondence with some of our fellow-countrymen confined in the bagnio. 
 This was a great source of consolation amid our common calamities. We sup- 
 ported, we encouraged each other : we formed sweet illusions, which at least 
 dissipated in an innocent way the chagrin of the moment, of future days em- 
 bellished by being united altogether in a strict friendship in our own country, 
 rendered so much the more firm by the recollection of having been long fellow- 
 sufferers in the same cause. We contrived several means of keeping up our 
 secret correspondence undiscovered : sometimes we made use of the drogman 
 to the Porte, who sent our letters to their address without suspecting the real 
 meaning of what they contained, though he read every word ; but as this might 
 be detected, industry suggested to us others less dangerous. To procure the news- 
 papers, we had a trunk which took entirely to pieces ; each plank having a secret 
 place impossible to be discovered but by those who were initiated into the secret. 
 By degrees we extended our correspondence ; we even succeeded in getting letters 
 conveyed to the heart of Asia Minor, whither some of the French prisoners had 
 been sent. Scarcely a week passed, in short, in a country where there is no 
 regular post for the conveyance of letters, when we did not receive in the Seveii 
 Towers news from Brousa, from Nicomedia, from Castambol, from Carahissa, 
 from Caesarea of Cappadocia, and from Varna in Europe. By what magic, small 
 as was our stock of money, we could succeed in these things, is a question which 
 
272 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 I must excuse myself from answering. We had numerous friends, the remembrance 
 of whom will always be too dear to us for their names ever to be revealed. 
 
 After going through our usual portion of work for the day, we generally as- 
 sembled in the evening at the apartments of Monsieur Ruffin ; and here also the 
 aga of the prison would often pass an hour or two. We were much amused with 
 his conversation ; and as he was a very pious man, it commonly turned upon some 
 subject relating to his religion. Not that he was anxious to convert us ; he held 
 Christians so very cheap, that he did not wish to see them embrace Islamism : he 
 only wanted to display the excellence of his own faith. He spoke of Jesus Christ, 
 Issa Resoul, with veneration; and believed, with all Mussulmans, that the 
 ass on which the Messiah rode, when he entered Jerusalem, would have a place 
 in their paradise. He asserted that Jesus did not die, that another was crucified in 
 his place ; and that he would come with the prophets Elias and Enoch to pro- 
 nounce the great judgement at the end of time. Sometimes he would explain to 
 us the belief of the Mahometans ; the leading features of which my readers will 
 perhaps not be sorry to find inserted as the foundation of a religion which has so 
 long been the prevailing one among the nations that composed the ancient world. 
 
 1. There is but one God. 
 
 2. Mahomet is his prophet, the envoy of God. 
 
 3. The Old and New Testament were revealed by God ; the Jews and the 
 Christians have corrupted them. 
 
 4. The Koran is substituted to these two codes: it was revealed by God. 
 
 5. The same obedience is due to the Koran as to the word of God. 
 
 6. There are prophets. Jesus Christ is a prophet, and not the son of God. 
 
 7. Our souls are a part of the divine essence. 
 
 8. Jesus Christ did not die upon the cross; another was substituted for him. 
 
 9. Universal judgement. 
 
 10. An eternal paradise, and a hell which will have an end. 
 
 1 1. After the judgement, all the Mussulmans who are damned will be received 
 into paradise. 
 
 12. In this abode of delights there will be beautiful women. The blessed will 
 eat and drink and amuse themselves there. 
 
 13. Mahomet was predicted by the Scriptures. 
 
 14. It is not permitted to dispute in public about the Mahometan religion. 
 
 15. It is forbidden to revere images and statues : they can only be objects of 
 idolatry. 
 
TKAVELS IN THE MOREA. £73 
 
 lfi. Circumcision is enjoined ; it is not, however, strictly obligatory. 
 
 1~. Games of chance are prohibited; as are wine and fermented liquors, swine's 
 ilesh, strangled animals, and blood. 
 
 IS. Polygamy and the use of slaves are permitted. 
 
 iy. The fast of the Rhamazan. 
 
 20. Pilgrimage to Mecca. 
 
 21. Ablutions. 
 
 22. The resurrection, 
 
 23. Payment of tenths. 
 
 24. Prohibition of usury. 
 
 25. The name of God must not be taken in vain. 
 
 26. The faithful must suffer for God. 
 
 27- Patience is essential, and to do good to our neighbours and the poor, 
 
 28. Not to curse any creature. 
 
 These principles, though there are some not to be found in our revelation, are 
 sufficient to unite a wandering people under one standard. With what pleasure 
 must poor nomades have received the idea of a paradise where are meadows, wa- 
 tered with delightful rivers and torrents, maintaining an eternal verdure, and in 
 which lovely houris are everywhere to be seen! To people condemned as they are 
 to so many privations in a country burnt by the parching rays of the sun, this idea 
 must have been so transporting, that we cannot wonder at the rapid progress of 
 Islamism. But fanaticism soon led the Mussulmans astray from the original sim- 
 plicity of their faith. Commentators upon the Koran sprang up, controversies 
 were commenced, and the professors of the new faith were divided into orthodox 
 and heretics. Prom that time these people, tolerant towards all other modes of 
 worship, persecuted each other with an inveteracy almost unexampled. 
 
 If our mornings were passed in occupations not devoid of interest, and our 
 evenings in pleasant conversation mingled with instruction, yet we were not ex- 
 empt from experiencing some moments of deep affliction. Of this kind none 
 affected us more deeply than the death of one of our companions, adjutant-general 
 Rose. He has been already mentioned as lingering under an incurable disease 
 when I first came into the prison, and to this he fell a victim in November 1799. 
 Monsieur Ruffin in vain addressed a petition to the Porte, requesting permission 
 to inter this officer with the honours due to his rank; he could obtain no answer, 
 and the body remained three months uninterred. The Christian churches, worse 
 than the Turks, not only refused to perform the obsequies, but would not even 
 
 2 N 
 
274 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 lend a bier for carrying the corpse to the grave, saying that they would sooner die 
 than concern themselves with the funeral of a Frenchman. At length, after having 
 almost despaired of obtaining even a piece of ground for the interment of our com- 
 panion, an order was transmitted from the kaimakan to the aga of the castle, au- 
 thorizing him to inter the body of a Caffre who had died in the Seven Towers. 
 A clerk to the drogman of the Porte came at the same time with four Armenian 
 porters, who carried away the body, and deposited it in a neighbouring field upon 
 the road to St. Stephen ; nor was there to be found, among the ministers of that 
 religion which teaches nothing but charity and good-will towards each other, one 
 who would pay the last duties to a brother. What opinion could the Turks have 
 of such Christians ? — what opinion ought they to have ? 
 
 Not long after this event the istambol effendi, or lieutenant-general of the police 
 of Constantinople, came to visit the aga of the Seven Towers. This was considered 
 as a particular honour from so great a man to one very much his inferior ; and 
 accordingly the aga was anxious to receive him with all possible distinction. He 
 placed himself at the head of his guards, who were all under arms, that is with 
 sticks in their hands, and conducted him to the kiosque, where he was served with 
 pipes and coffee. This ceremony gone through, and the customary compli- 
 ments being exchanged, which consisted in a reciprocal salutation of peace, the 
 istambol distributed twelve piastres among the soldiers of the garrison, and took 
 his leave. All Turks are avaricious, and the istambol was a Turk. As he was 
 going out, he inspected the weights of a poor grocer within the precinct ; and 
 finding them defective, ordered the man to be nailed by one ear to his shop- 
 door, and condemned him to a fine of fifty piastres, which was paid upon the spot. 
 Thus was the worthy magistrate fully indemnified for the largess he had distri- 
 buted among the soldiers. 
 
 This visit of the istambol was followed very soon by another visit of a rather 
 more serious nature to the aga. A Colchian had been sent to the Seven Towers 
 by the bostandgi-bachi, charged with a murder ; a trifling peccadillo in the eyes 
 of the people of Constantinople, but for which he was sentenced by the bostandgi 
 to be strangled. Some of his companions, who were on board two vessels from 
 the Black Sea, that were now at anchor under the Seven Towers, hearing of the 
 fate to which he was destined, resolved to rescue him. They accordingly landed, 
 and presented themselves at the door of the castle, demanding admittance. The 
 aga in vain entered into a parley with them, and talked of his artillery and his 
 guards ; the assailants forced the door, beat down the guards, and entered the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 2? J 
 
 imperial casiie. A cry was immediately raised that they would find there French- 
 men, infidels ; but they could not be prevailed upon to concern themselves about 
 us, they thought only of their comrade ; and taking him by the hand, led him off 
 triumphantly, announcing their victory, as soon as they had repasseJ the castle 
 gates, by a general discharge of their fire-arms. They "immediately returned on 
 board their vessels, and set sail for Syria amid shouts of joy and triumph. The 
 aga, fearing that this affair might involve him in some trouble, immediately pre- 
 sented himself before the kaimakan, to make his peace if possible. The latter, how- 
 ever, only laughed, and said that he thought the Colchians had done very well. 
 'Tis thus that in Turkey success legitimatizes things the most contrary to peace 
 and order : nay, even in affairs of a more important nature, the Porte itself has 
 not unfrequently been known to finish by taking the side of a rebel against whom 
 it had fought for a long time. 
 
 On another occasion our aga came off more to his own satisfaction. The hai'douts, 
 or banditti of Romelia, had become about this time very formidable. Descended 
 from the mountains of Thrace and Macedonia, their army increased every day, 
 till at length it amounted to a force of more than sixty thousand. Several parties 
 who had been sent against them joined their standard ; because, in the first 
 place, they could not contend against a body so much their superior, and, in the 
 second, they found it more profitable to become a haidout than to remain a sol- 
 dier of the sultan. The Porte, therefore, beginning to be seriously alarmed, re- 
 solved to dispatch an effective force against them ; and according to the Turkish 
 custom of sending troops from Europe against Asiatic rebels, and troops from Asia 
 against European ones, the legions from Georgia were summoned upon this occa- 
 sion. They were commanded by Betal-pasha, and great expectations were formed 
 of the exploits to be performed by them. They passed the Bosphorus at Hissarj 
 the narrowest part of the strait, and the spot where of old Xenophon passed in his 
 memorable retreat out of Asia, as well as that where Mahomet the Second crossed 
 to attack the capital of the eastern empire. 
 
 The pasha of Nicomedia was to join the Georgian troops with a very considerable 
 body, and having landed to the east of Constantinople, he desired that he might be 
 lodged in the Seven Towers. Against this the aga remonstrated, saying that he 
 had mouzafirs under his charge, for whom he was responsible, and it would be run- 
 ning a great hazard on their account. The affair began to wear a serious aspect, 
 when the Porte interfered, and endeavoured to persuade the pasha to remain with- 
 out the walls of the town, according to the usual custom. The pasha on this sub- 
 s' N 2 
 
076 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 mitted; but there is no doubt that if he had pefsisted he might have carried his 
 point, as it is the strongest who commands all over the Turkish dominions, even 
 iri the town where the sultan himself reigns. 
 
 This poor pasha, having taken the field without having been joined by the Geor- 
 gians, was completely beaten by the rebels, losing all his artillery and baggage 
 His troops in consequence forsook his standard, and went over to the adversaries. 
 Attributing his defeat, however, to irresistible fate, he did not hesitate to appear at 
 Constantinople, and the reception he met with from the vizier was extremely con- 
 solatory : he was presented with a pelisse, and invited to prostrate himself before 
 the sultan. The pasha, transported with joy, hastened to accompany the kaimakan 
 to the Porte ; but they had no sooner crossed the first court than the executioners, 
 who were in waiting at the gate of the second, threw the fatal string round his neck, 
 and he was dispatched in an instant. His head was cut off, and figured in a moment 
 after upon the gate which he had just passed full of hope and joy. The kaimakan, 
 prostrate before the feet of his master, was loaded with the most flattering com- 
 pliments, for having thus dexterously drawn into the snare a pasha of whom they 
 wished to be disencumbered. 'Tis thus that a feeble government has always re- 
 course to the most degrading stratagems for punishing those whom it fears, and 
 dares not attack in an open and manly manner. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Stale of the seasons at Constantinople. — Beauty of its situation. — Sketch of the in- 
 terior of the town. — The bezestein. — The market for female slaves. — Account of 
 the family of Selim the Third. — The titles placed at the head of his firmans. — 
 Some account of Isaac-bey. 
 
 Whoever considers attentively the situation of Constantinople must be con- 
 vinced that it is, or ought to be, particularly healthy. Washed by the sea on two 
 sides of the triangle on which it stands, it is bounded on the third with immense 
 plains covered with corn or fragrant bushes. The atmosphere, though not equally 
 pure with that of Attica and Greece, is fine and clear. The average of the cJi- 
 
TRAVELS Itf THE MOREA. 277 
 
 mate in ordinary years may be estimated at sixty-six days of rain, four of snow, 
 six of fog, twenty cloudy, forty variable, fifteen thunder, which, leaves two hun- 
 dred and fifty-four almost uniformly serene. Two principal winds prevail: that 
 of the north holds the empire for nearly nine months in the year, qualifying the 
 heat of summer, and rendering the air fresh and wholesome. The south wind 
 usually blows in winter: the east intervenes occasionally, and it is this which 
 brings snow. In the spring, also, the wind varies sometimes to the east, as it 
 does in autumn to the south. When the east wind blows in the spring it brings 
 cold showers, which often check vegetation exceedingly. 
 
 By the month of April the beautiful shores of the Bosphorus are adorned with 
 a fine verdure, and the forest of Belgrade begins to form lovely bowers. An image 
 of the ancient woods consecrated by religious worship, the Turks do not suffer 
 the axe ever to enter here, but carefully preserve the venerable trees of which 
 it is composed. At this time the vines and shrubs which adorn Asia begin 
 to shoot out and flower, rarely experiencing a check from the contrariety of the 
 weather. Summer may be reckoned to begin with the month of June: the heats 
 then set in, and by August the fields wear a very parched appearance: it is only 
 in the forests that any shade and verdure is now to be found. Yet the north 
 wind, which blows almost daily from three in the afternoon till sunset, brings 
 delicious evenings to compensate for the overpowering heat of the mornings. It 
 is very rarely that the wind of Aleppo, mentioned by Monsieur de Tott in his 
 memoirs, is felt ; it may indeed be called a phsenomenon. 
 
 The thunder storms, though not frequent, when they do take place are tre- 
 mendous. They come on usualty from the east, and pass over towards the north ; 
 they are accompanied with rains, which commonly last eight-and-fort}? hours,. 
 This is the time when the plague makes its great ravages. With the autumn, 
 which begins about October, nature assumes a new vigour: this may indeed be 
 considered as the most agreeable season at Constantinople : the verdure reappears 
 every where ; and even for a long time after the birds of passage have quitted the 
 shores, the air remains deliciously mild and benignant: winter only begins in the 
 latter days of December. The mountains of Asia are then covered with snow, 
 while its plains are still green ; the waves of the Black Sea begin to rise like 
 mountains ; nature seems in a general agitation, and dark clouds pour down rain 
 in abundance. The earthquakes, by which this fine country is but too often shaken, 
 and of the ravages of which there are so many mournful monuments in actual 
 existence, almost invariably come on at this epoch. The winters are however for the 
 
278 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 most part mild, and the history of modern times makes no mention of those severe 
 frosts by which the currents of the Bosphorus were entirely arrested. Very 
 probably the temperature of Constantinople, as well as that of all Europe, may 
 be improved by the general progress made in agriculture and civilization, though 
 in Turkey itself both have rather experienced a retrograde than a progressive 
 movement. 
 
 From these premises a just conclusion may be drawn that the climate of Con- 
 stantinople is very fine ; that it is not subject to such a degree of heat as to be 
 really deleterious, or to any thing like severity of cold. Seldom are the heavens 
 obscured by clouds for any continuance, and fogs are very rare. A poetical dawn 
 commonly precedes the rising of the sun, but the moment of its setting is less 
 brilliant; there is often a haziness in the air, which continues till night is entirely 
 closed in and the heavens are spangled with stars. Every thing unwholesome 
 about this city, and the epidemics by which it is often afflicted, might soon be 
 corrected by a little care and an enlightened administration. It remains for time 
 to produce this happy change, but when that time shall arrive an uncertain future 
 can alone disclose. 
 
 Beautiful as is the coup-cTceil presented by Constantinople in approaching it, 
 much as the traveller is struck by the charms of its situation, by the splendour 
 of its gilded domes, and the magnificence of its port, other sentiments must arise 
 in his mind when he penetrates into the interior of the town. Fatigued with 
 the inequalities of the ground, with the amphitheatres which are so fine in the 
 perspective, he finds nothing but narrow streets without any pavement, and 
 choked either with dust or mud ; doors every where close shut, and a mournful 
 silence, never interrupted by the cries of industry or the bustle of an active 
 populace. Nothing like activity is to be seen in any part, excepting in the places 
 consecrated to trade, and there he is half suffocated with the throng : still, 
 however, there is no noise, the people push and jostle each other, but without any 
 of the verbal jostling so frequent in the markets of our own and other European 
 countries. If the traveller enters the bezesteins, he is astonished at the riches of 
 the different sorts of merchandise with which they abound; but he is equally 
 astonished to see how they are all jumbled together, without any order or taste. 
 Here however appears some departure from the general apathy of the national 
 character, and precautions are taken against fire. High walls, iron doors, solid 
 vaults, have transformed the public warehouses into little towns, in the bosom of 
 Constantinople itself, and removed from them all apprehension of fire, and of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 2?9 
 
 being the first sacrifices to an insurrection. These advantages, however, are some- 
 what counterbalanced by their being a terrible focus of contagion in case of the 
 plague. It is by no means unfrequent for the pelisses and furs of persons who 
 have died of the epidemic to be here exposed to sale, without any precautions 
 having been previously taken to purify them from the miasmata which they are 
 verv likely to have imbibed. It is well known that there is nothing to which 
 these miasmata adhere with greater tenacity than furs. 
 
 The Turk who displays his precious shawls from the Indies, his diamonds, his 
 trinkets, his arms, does not seem at all eager about selling them ; if a lower price 
 than he asks be offered for any article, he puts it away without saying a word ; he 
 will not stand disputing and bartering, he seems to consider himself rather as 
 conferring a favour than receiving one. He very frequently quits his shop 
 without leaving any body to take care of it. In this bezestein, where every 
 thing excites curiosity, it is not uncommon to see by the side of the phlegmatic 
 Turk, the industrious and active Greek, the honest and reflecting Armenian, and 
 the avaricious Jew, all exercising their talents and industry. What contrarieties, 
 what nice shadings of character do these people afford to the observer I The Turk 
 sells with the air of conferring a favour; the Greek is eloquent in defence of the 
 price he asks for his commodities, and shows the natural cunning of his disposi- 
 tion in the very appeals he makes to heaven as the witness of his probity and 
 disinterestedness. The Armenian, occupied with weighing his precious stones, 
 his gold, or his silver, establishes his speculations with coolness and reflection, and, 
 having his eye always to the future, never departs from what he has once deter- 
 mined on ; while the Jew buys, sells, offers his mediation in business, and is all 
 activity, all attention ; nor can the uniform contempt and aversion evinced for 
 him ever repel his assiduities. He never answers to the rudeness, the vexa- 
 tion, the injustice with which he is treated, but by words of submission and 
 compliance: add to this sketch of the merchants the displays of every kind, the 
 variety of the shops and streets, and the smell of perfumes with which the whole 
 place is filled, and the reader will have a tolerable idea of the bezestein. 
 
 If from these places we visit another market, where man does not blush to 
 expose to sale the most lovely and interesting part of the creation, what a spectacle 
 is here afforded for meditation ! The bazar of the women is a vast square build- 
 ing surrounded by a portico, or rather a covered shed, with a court in the centre, 
 The doors of the apartments where the women lodge open into the portico, and 
 along the wall of it is a bench : in this place they are exposed to sale when it 
 
': 1 WELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 rains, or vvlieu the sun is very scorching: when the weather is fine, and not over 
 hut, they are exhibited in the court within, it was in the latter that the exhibi- 
 tion took place when I was there : the poor creatures were seated upon mats with 
 their legs crossed, in groupes of fifteen each ; they were dressed only in garments 
 of common white woollen. Far however from appearing affected with their sad 
 situation, they laughed and gabbled at such a rate that it was not without difficulty 
 any body else could be beard. Those above all who were under the portico, — and 
 as the sun was growing very powerful some were already carried thither, — these 
 above all seemed gay and joyous, and were singing with the utmost glee. I did 
 not think them in general handsome: though there were between three and four 
 hundred, not one appeared to me to merit the high reputation for beauty generally 
 allowed to the Georgians and Circassians. They were for the most part fat, with 
 skins of a dead white ; some had blue eyes and flaxen hair. The Turks who 
 came as purchasers went about from one to the other, examining them as a trader 
 in cattle would examine an ox, looking at their hands and making them open 
 their mouths to show their teeth. I prepared to follow them ; I was already in 
 the middle of the court, when one of the guardians with a poniard in his hand 
 drove me back, swearing at me and abusing me for an infidel. I learnt afterwards 
 that foreigners cannot be admitted here without a special firman from the Porte. 
 
 I found no difficulty in obtaining a sight of Santa Sophia; in fact, any body 
 may see this celebrated mosque by only paying the imam sufficiently *. I did 
 this, and examined the structure extremely at my ease. The Greeks speak of it 
 in terms of hyperbole which would lead those that hear them to conceive it 
 superior to any of the seven wonders of the world ; and they have interwoven 
 into a popular song a detail of all the treasures which it formerly possessed. The 
 poet, who probably was some good pious papas of the days of Mahomet the 
 Second, informs us that Santa-Sophia had eighteen bells and fifteen cressclles to 
 summon the faithful to prayers. That there were fifty-two archpriests and three 
 hundred and two priests to perform the services, besides twenty-four deacons, fifty 
 choristers, and forty-two confessors. He afterwards enters into a Ions detail of 
 the gilt candelabras, of the gold and silver crosses, and vessels of different kinds. 
 
 * What the author states with regard to the facility of seeing Santa Sophia is confirmed by Dr. 
 Clarke : he says — " By giving eight pia-tres to the person whose business it is to show the building, it 
 may be seen at any time." Iu a note, however, he adds, that a firman is necessary to see the other 
 mosques. — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS *IN THE MOREA. 281 
 
 Not a word is said concerning the beauty of the architecture or the elegance 
 of the ornaments ; there are still, however, remains of these worthy of admira- 
 tion ; the marbles are the most valuable of them. The poet might have added 
 to his catalogue an enumeration of the rents which belonged to this church ; they 
 arose from the revenues of twelve hundred shops attached to it by Constantine 
 and Anastasius, and from which the salaries of the imams are now derived. 
 
 The mosques of Sultan Achmet and of Suleymania will bear very well td be 
 seen even after Santa-Sophia, but I will not here enter into a particular description 
 of them. Often as the principal features that strike the eye in walking about 
 Constantinople have been described, and numerous as are the delineations which 
 have been given of them by the pencil as well as the pen, to dwell on these things 
 would be but to tell the reader what he probably knows already. The plan I 
 have chalked out to myself is to aim at giving as complete a sketch as my oppor- 
 tunities for observation would afford, of the moral rather than of the physical 
 state of the country. As a prelude to this, it seems not irrelevant to begin with 
 a succinct account of the reigning sultan and his family. 
 
 Selim the Third ascended the throne of Turkey in the year 1789- In the 
 exterior of this prince there is something very pleasing; he has a mildness and 
 placidity of expression in his countenance not usual among the Turks ; they are 
 more commonly characterized by a sort of fierceness in the eye. Large features, a 
 thick blackbeard, and a well-proportioned bust, distinguish him above all his cour- 
 tiers, even those who are considered as having the strongest claim to personal 
 beauty; but, like all the descendants of the imperial family, the proportions of his 
 legs are not equally to be admired : for this reason he does not appear to advantage 
 on horseback. According to the law of the empire, which requires every man to 
 be acquainted with some trade, he was instructed in that of printing muslins. 
 Educated in the court from his earliest infancy, he was only shut up during the 
 feeble reign of his predecessor Abdul-Hamet*, and great hopes were entertained 
 of a prince who had seen something beyond the walls of his prison. Hitherto 
 however these hopes have not been justified : full of humanity, desirous of acting 
 right, he has always before his eyes the idea that a disastrous fate awaits him-f~. 
 Ever since he came to the throne, he has frequently been known to shed teans at 
 
 * Abdul-Hamet ascended the throne in 1775, and died in 1788. His reign was an sera of corruption 
 and decline ; he lost a part of Bosnia, the Crimea, Sebatz, and Cotzin, and gave a fatal blow to the 
 wealth of the country in the alterations he made in the money. 
 
 f How truly bis fears were substantiated is well known to the world. — Translator. 
 
 2 O 
 
282 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the situation of the empire which he governs: the greater his own personal merit 
 is, the more sensibly does he feel how much his subjects are inferior to Europeans 
 in general, how much the moral weakness and decay of the country are proved 
 by the frequent encroachments made upon it on all sides. The haidouts or 
 banditti of Romelia have of late allowed him little repose; the last war plunged 
 him in continual alarms, and he is often fluctuating and vacillating in a state of 
 irresolution extremely disastrous to a sovereign. 
 
 He has three sisters living, all by different mothers, and who have all been 
 married. The eldest, called Schah Sultana or princess royal, married Nichandgi- 
 Mustapha, formerly pasha of Salonica. As this prince is entirely free from am- 
 bition, and of a character incapable of giving umbrage at court, he is suffered to 
 live peaceably with his wife in the suburb of Eyoub*. This is contrary to the 
 general custom, which does not permit a pasha, either in or out of office, to live 
 in the capital. The second sister, known under the title of Beyham Sultana, is 
 the widow of Selictar Mustapha pasha, formerly kaimakan or lieutenant to the 
 supreme vizier, who died pasha of Bosnia. The third sister, called Hadidgt 
 Sultana, is the widow of Said Achmet pasha, who died at Van on the frontiers 
 of Persia. The two cousins of the sultan, sons of Abdul-Hamet, the eldest of 
 whom is twenty-three years old, the youngest eighteen, are, according to custom, 
 sequestered from society, and live in the obscurity of a prison, whence they only 
 come forth once in the year, at the feast of Bairam, to kiss the hands of the 
 sultan. One of them, if he lives, will be called hereafter to mount the throne, 
 which he will do without having acquired any of the knowledge requisite for a 
 sovereign: he is taught nothing but the Koran, and is inspired with no other sen- 
 timent than hatred to the name of a Christian. Such is the man who is one 
 day to be girt with the sabre of the emperor, — such the head who is one day 
 to direct a numerous people! who is to be a sovereign! a governor! What a 
 change in his ideas! How can he have any conception of what that Europe is 
 where chance has placed him! His illustrious ancestors were not educated in 
 such a school ; they were formed in camps, or they had never been seated on a 
 throne now so unworthily filled by their descendants. But the Ottoman empire 
 is a vast Colossus which the hand of Time must overthrow at last, though casual 
 circumstances may awhile retard its fall. The principal power of the grand signor 
 at present consists only in the empty pomp of high-sounding titles, in the recapi- 
 
 * One of the suburbs of Constantinople, inhabited principally by persons in easy circumstances. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 283 
 
 tulation of provinces invaded, and towns submitted to his yoke. While the sub- 
 stance is gradually dwindling away, the shadow of those pompous phrases used 
 in the ancient firmans is still retained ; the same pomp as of old is observed in 
 the reception of ambassadors. The body bowed down by the weight of years, 
 feeble in every part, fast sinking into total decrepitude, is still clothed in the 
 same gaudy robes by which it was decorated in the bloom of youth and the height 
 of vigour. 
 
 To this short notice with respect to the family of the grand signor, I will add 
 some particulars relative to a well-known character connected with it, — I mean 
 Isaac-bey. They will perhaps not be irrelevant to my purpose, as they will show 
 the vicissitudes to which the life of a Turk in such a situation is liable; and 
 though the adventures may appear rather those of a hero of romance than of a 
 person in common life, 1 can assure the reader that there is nothing fabulous in 
 the narrative, — that I have no apprehension of being controverted in any thing 
 I relate. Most of the French who shared in the expedition to Egypt knew 
 Isaac-bey personally, or, if not, they knew him perfectly well by character. Those 
 who saw him when he came as a negotiator to Alexandria, speak highly of his 
 amenity, his talents, his readiness in transacting business, and, above all, of the 
 facility with which he spoke our language, always selecting expressions the most 
 proper to explain his ideas. He was then the intimate friend, the interpreter, 
 the right hand, as he might truly be called, of Kutchuk Hussein, the capudan- 
 pasha who commanded the Turkish fleet. 
 
 Isaac was educated as an icholan or page in the seraglio, under the reign of 
 Mustapha, father to Selim the Third. The education received in such a situation, 
 and the life led there, are not calculated to inspire the talents and ideas which 
 are likely to raise a man from obscurity ; and the icholan might have become 
 hoary within the same walls where his youth was passed, but for one of those 
 fortunate circumstances to which, rather than to their talents, so many men, 
 Christians as well as Turks, have owed their elevation: Selim, then a child, con- 
 ceived a great affection for him, perhaps interested first by the charms of his 
 countenance. When the Turks in 177° were obliged to have recourse to arms 
 against Russia, Isaac quitted the seraglio for the camp, and served a campaign 
 under Moldavangi-pasha, the vizier Azem. Discouraged by the ill success of the 
 Turkish arms in this commencement of the contest, the page returned to Con- 
 stantinople, and there entered into the marine service. Cassau-bey, whom 
 Monsieur de Tott has distinguished by the appellation of the last of the Romans, 
 
 2 O 2 
 
284 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 was then just raised to the rank of capudan-pasha, and under him Isaac served 
 for two years: but it was not a happy moment to engage in the service, since the 
 whole Ottoman fleet was destroyed by the victorious Russians at Tchesm6. In 
 1773 Isaac entered into the mathematical school of the marine, which was under 
 the direction of Monsieur deTott: by him the new pupil was soon much di- 
 stinguished. The following year he became acquainted with Major Zorik, a 
 Russian officer just released from the Seven Towers, where he had been confined 
 as a prisoner of war, and lent him money to return to Russia. 
 
 Isaac having afterwards fallen under the displeasure of Cassan-bey, the capudan- 
 pasha, because of the connection he had formed with several Europeans, conceived 
 the project, in the year 177^, of going to Russia to reclaim the money he had 
 lent to Major Zorik, that officer being then high in favour with the Czarina. 
 This project he imparted to Monsieur de Tott ; but the latter discouraged it, re- 
 commending to him rather to go into France. The baron in consequence had an 
 interview with Monsieur de Saint-Priest, then ambassador from the French court 
 at Constantinople, who, favouring the plan, engaged a passage for the young 
 adventurer on board a French vessel from Marseilles, giving him a letter of re- 
 commendation to Monsieur de Vergennes. Isaac waited at Marseilles for Mon- 
 sieur de Tott, who was coming from Smyrna ; and when the latter arrived, he 
 carried Isaac with him to Lyons, where his family resided, and left him with 
 them for some time. He afterwards sent for him to Paris, and confided him to 
 the care of Monsieur Ruffin, then professor of the college of France : here Isaac 
 remained for a year, and commenced his studies in the French language. 
 
 In 1777 he accompanied an envoy from Tunis, who was returning home, as 
 far as Toulon, and then returning to Marseilles embarked for Algiers. After 
 passing some months there, during which an offer was made him of being taken 
 into the Algerine service, which he declined, he went to Tunis, where he was 
 extremely well received. But always desirous of returning to Constantinople, in 
 the hope of being restored to favour with the capudan pasha, he determined to 
 make the experiment. Arrived however at the entrance of the Hellespont, 
 his fears preponderating, he went to Enos, and thence to Adrianople, there to 
 sound his way before he ventured to proceed. Little satisfied with the informa- 
 tion he obtained, he went himself in disguise to Constantinople, where he had an 
 interview with his brother, an officer in the interior of the seraglio. From him 
 he received some money; but not satisfied that he could remain in the country 
 with safety, he secretly embarked on board a vessel bound for Genoa. From 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 285 
 
 thence he visited Tuscany and Naples, and then directing his course northwards, 
 passed through the Tyrol to Vienna, whence he proceeded to Petersburg. Here 
 he found that Zorik had been disgraced, and was gone into retirement at an 
 estate he had in the neighbourhood of Smolensko. Thither then he went, and 
 was extremely well received by the degraded favourite: this officer, not unmind- 
 ful of the former services he had received from Isaac, retained him, and here the 
 Turk passed the next four years in the most agreeable manner possible. He 
 did not however get the money which he came to solicit ; but he obtained a 
 supply from the empress which enabled him to embark for London. At that 
 capital he made only a short stay, and then went for the second time to Paris: 
 he was again very politely received by Monsieur de Vergennes. 
 
 His desire however of being restored to his own country not having suffered any 
 abatement from the ill success of his former experiment, he quitted Paris in 1784, 
 and accompanied Monsieur de Choiseul Gouffier to Constantinople, where 'his 
 pardon was obtained from the capudan-pasha. He had afterwards an office con- 
 ferred upon him under Kalil-Hamet pasha, then grand vizier, which he retained till 
 this unfortunate prince was deposed, shut up in Gallipoli, and at length strangled. 
 Isaac at this trying moment did not suffer any apprehensions with regard to 
 himself to deter him from giving a proof of his attachment to the disgraced vizier 
 by visiting him in his prison. When he returned from this visit, he found Cassan- 
 bey raised to the dignity of kaimakan. Not satisfied with the dispositions of this 
 formidable bey towards him, Isaac thought it more prudent once more to with- 
 draw ; and he hastily embarked again for France, carrying with him letters frorft 
 Monsieur de Choiseul Gouffier to Monsieur de Veigennes. Isaac arrived at 
 Versailles in 1786, and was more kindly received than ever by the minister; nor 
 did he quit the court again till after the memorable days of the fifth and sixth of 
 October 1789- He had then been for some time much pressed to return to 
 Constantinople. Sultan Abdul-Hamet was dead, and his former master, his 
 early protector, Selim the Third, was seated on the throne. 
 
 Thus encouraged, he resolved once more to try his fate. But his reception was 
 not such as he had been led to expect; some ill offices had been done him by the 
 courtiers about the new sultan, and the latter on his arrival refused to see him. 
 He was soon after arrested and carried on board a .vessel, under the guard of a 
 tchiaoux from the arsenal, who had orders to carry him to the island of Lemnos, 
 and there strike off his head. The fate of Isaac seemed now decided, his restless • 
 and wandering life seemed at a close: but the vessel stopping in the Dardanelles, 
 
'286 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 at the fort of Asia, he had the good fortune to meet with two Jews, drogmans to 
 the French consul who resided there. To them he found means to impart his 
 situation; when they, through the intervention of some Algerine officers com- 
 manding the auxiliary fleet stationed in the Dardanelles, rescued him, and carried 
 him on board one of their vessels. He accompanied his deliverers through the 
 whole of this campaign ; and then claiming the protection of Monsieur Amoureux, 
 the French consul resident at Smyrna, remained with him till the year 1792. 
 Kutchuk Hussein pasha, who had been page with Isaac in the seraglio, being 
 then advanced to the rank of capudan-pasha, after having gone through other 
 gradations, wrote to his former friend, assuring him that if he would now return 
 he would be in perfect safety. Isaac obeyed the summons, obtained his pardon, 
 and was received into favour. From that time he has never quitted the capudan- 
 pasha, but has found in him a constant and steady friend*. 
 
 To this history many others might be added of a similar kind ; but one in- 
 stance is sufficient to show the dangers to which persons of talent and distinction 
 are exposed, under a despotism such as that which reigns in Turkey. The 
 sultan, from whose hands all favours flow, can with a breath destroy the man 
 whom he had just before loaded with kindness; at a word from him the ministers 
 are changed, and every thing about his court assumes a new aspect ; at a nod 
 countries once happy are transformed into deserts. Why can he not equally 
 command happiness, — prosperity ? Ala«! it is the essence of despotism to wither 
 and destroy ; soon to wear out Nature herself! Its empire tends only to destruc- 
 tion, and the anarchy which accompanies or succeeds the terror by which it is 
 supported, spreads around nothing but mourning and desolation. 
 
 * Some further particulars respecting Isaac-bey may be found in a note in the interesting Travels of 
 Monsieur Castellan in the Morea, &c. — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 287 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Costume of the different inhabitants of Constantinople. — Sumptuary laws. — Trades- 
 carried on by different nations. — Recreations of the Turks.— The Yamakis. — 
 Privileged drunkards.- — Fires. — Cookery. — Coffee-houses. — Theriahis. — Suley- 
 man Yeyen, a man who could take corrosive sublimate. 
 
 A curious subject of contemplation in drawing a picture of Constantinople, 
 said Monsieur R— — to me one day with much good humour and drollery, yet 
 one which I do not recollect ever to have seen brought forward, would be the 
 heads. Not only are they adorned externally with turbans and coiffures of various 
 kinds, according to the profession, the trade, or the religion of the wearer, forming 
 a coup d'ceil altogether extraordinary, and affording inexhaustible subjects for the 
 pencil of the artist ; but the hardness of these heads is a thing no less remarkable. 
 A man is perhaps pursued by the guards, and stopped by their lancing a stick 
 adroitly between his legs, which throws him down. The janissaries then falling 
 upon him, never fail to hit him over the head with the sticks they carry, by which 
 he is completely stunned ; and then thrusting the stick through his belt, which 
 girds his loins very tight, they carry him thus suspended to the prison where he is to 
 be shut up. There without any care, without any remedy, he is well in three or 
 four days. This remark, trifling in appearance, confirms the observations which 
 have several times been made upon the rapidity with which wounds in the head 
 are healed in southern climates. 
 
 In the latter part of my stay at Constantinople these scenes were more frequent 
 than usual, since there was a perpetual publication of new sumptuary laws ; and 
 those who did not conform to them were always in danger of being stopped in 
 this kind of way. It was necessary to turn the attention of mankind away from 
 public affairs which were not in a very prosperous state, and trifles of any kind 
 were therefore erected into matters of great importance. The defaulters against 
 the regulations were heavily fined, or sometimes even punished capitally. Among 
 other things it was ordered, that every one should adhere rigidly to wearing the 
 coiffure proper to his sect or profession : the Greeks were in consequence obliged 
 to resume the felt cap, and it was said that all the ancient costumes were to be 
 
288 TRAVELS IN THE MO RE A. 
 
 revived. However, in a great many cases, after a week or ten days from the pub- 
 lication of a new ordinance it was neglected and forgotten, having first cost a few 
 transgressors against it the bastinado or a heavy fine, if they had escaped 
 with life. 
 
 It was a matter of great curiosity to see the different people who inhabit Con- 
 stantinople now arrayed in the proper costume of their respective countries or 
 professions, as this was for a time rigidly adhered to. The different trades are 
 here appropriated to different nations, who in many cases form corporations of 
 considerable wealth and importance. As they never vary or encroach upon the 
 trade appropriated to another, it will be perhaps not without its utility, as well as 
 entertainment, to give a sketch of the arts and trades carried on, with the nations 
 by whom they are exercised. 
 
 The coffee-house keepers, where they are coffee-houses onjy, are all Turks : 
 among these, where the trade of a barber is united with it, some are kept by Greeks. 
 
 The Glaziers 
 Tanners 
 Rope-dancers 
 Smiths 
 Coachmen 
 Coopers 
 Engravers 
 Firemen 
 Sadlers 
 Box makers 
 Ropemakers 
 Quiltmakers 
 Dentists 
 House-painters 
 Shoemakers 
 Pioneers 
 Marble-cutters 
 for the tombs 
 Turners 
 Locksmiths 
 
 1 
 
 ^are all Turks. 
 
 Turks and 
 nians. 
 
 Alba- 
 
 Turks and Alba- 
 nians. 
 
 Coppersmiths 
 and Tinkers 
 
 Water-porters 
 
 Gunsmiths 
 
 Joiners and Cabi- 
 net-makers 
 
 Millers. These 
 are a very rich j 
 bod}'. •* 
 
 Scherbet-venders 7 Turks, Armenians, 
 
 Silk- spinners J and Jews. 
 
 Druggists 
 
 Surgeons 
 
 Tobacco-merchants 
 
 Fishermen 
 
 Physicians * — Turks, Greeks, Jews, Ar- 
 menians, and Franks. 
 
 Apothecaries — Turks, Greeks, Jews, 
 and Franks. 
 
 /Turks, Greeks, Ar- 
 f menians, and Jews. 
 
 * There is a Turkish nchim-lacki, or archiatre, made a physician by order of the grand signor, who 
 gives him the investiture of this charge, the appointment being made by chance, without any reference 
 to what his vocation may have been previously j in the same way as a distributor of pipes has been 
 known to be made a general in the army. This achim-lachi, however, is in no way intrusted with 
 superintending the health of his master ; that office is confided to persons conversant in the art, who 
 have studied in Europe. 
 
Bakers — Turks, Armenians, 
 
 banians. 
 Confectioners — Turks and Jews. 
 Perfumers — Armenian Jews. 
 Conjurers — Jews. 
 Lute-players — Turks and Greeks. 
 Goldsmiths — Armenians, and some 
 
 Greeks. 
 Furriers — Greeks. These are a very 
 
 rich body. 
 Architects* \ Armenians and 
 
 Dyers j Greeks. 
 
 Publicans ~| 
 
 Distillers VGreeks. 
 
 Snuff-dealers J 
 .Ribbon-makers — Armenians and Col- 
 
 chians. 
 Masons ~\ 
 
 Butchers ^Albanian Christians 
 
 Liver merchants! J 
 Waiters at the -\ 
 
 baths (Albanian Mahome- 
 
 Carpenters f tans. 
 
 Grocers J 
 
 Clothiers 
 Hosiers 
 Mastic-dealers 
 Dealers in 
 oranges, lemons, j 
 
 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 and Al- 
 
 289 
 
 >Cand 
 jColcl 
 
 lans. 
 
 nans. 
 
 >Thepeopleof Chios. 
 
 •Bulgarians. 
 
 and rigs 
 
 Merchants 
 
 Soap-boilers 
 
 Caulkers 
 
 Porters 
 
 Shepherds 
 
 Carters 
 
 Labourers 
 
 Mariners — People of Barbary, Candia. 
 
 and Colchis. 
 Grooms -| 
 
 Divers ^ 
 
 Pastry-cooks )»Arabs& Egyptians. 
 
 Dealers in dates I 
 
 and chesnuts J 
 Dealers in thread ') 
 Dealers in wool- > People of Barbary. 
 
 len coverlids J 
 Woollen-drapers ") 
 Dealers in pista- >Syrians. 
 
 chionuts J 
 
 Dealers in India 1 r, , c . , 
 
 stuffs j People of Aleppo. 
 
 Dealers in dried ~) D i c o 
 
 c ■. >reople or Smyrna. 
 
 Boatmen — Turks, Greeks, Armenians, 
 
 Jews, and Colchians. 
 Dealers in female \ Georgians and Cir- 
 slaves J cassians. 
 
 J 
 
 The people employed to value goods entered at the custom-house, as well as 
 the sa?isols, or commercial agents, are all Jews. The above lists will give some 
 idea of the infinite variety of costume which Constantinople must exhibit, con- 
 sidering that to every separate trade, and to the persons of the different nations 
 concerned in it, some distinction of costume is allotted. The Jews, as much as 
 possible, deal only with Jews, keeping by every means in their power all profit 
 among themselves. 
 
 An European who has never seen Constantinople will have some difficulty in 
 
 * The imperial mosques at Constantinople were all built by Armenians. 
 
 f Every day a distribution is made at the expense of government of the intestines of animals, to feed 
 the vagrant dogs and cats that run about the streets ; and it Is curious to see how these animals flock 
 round the tergi, or liver-merchant, as he is called, at a certain noise that he makes. 
 
 2 P 
 
290 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 forming to himself the idea of a large city, where the people, always grave and 
 serious, have no public amusements; no walks, theatrical exhibitions, or balls; none 
 of those social assemblies which, by affording a pleasing variety, enliven and em- 
 bellish existence. If the feasts of the Bairam be excepted, when the Mussulmans 
 suspend their labours and give themselves the pleasure of squatting upon some 
 eminence to smoke and enjoy the delights of a fine view, they are constantly 
 occupied. I say that they have no theatrical representations ; for I can hardly 
 allow myself to give that appellation to some wretched exhibitions of puppets, 
 the scenes in which are so far from delicate that it is astonishing how men, jealous 
 as the Turks are, can permit their wives to be present at them. 
 
 These, however, are not public exhibitions ; they are performed only at private 
 houses before the family. The hero of the piece is a certain caragueuse as he is 
 called, who has with him a simpleton called Cogia-Haivat, answering very much 
 to the English Jack Pudding. He receives buffets destined for his master, and by 
 his stupidity gives occasion for a display of his master's wit. I have seen many 
 of these farces, in which I did not find the rules of Aristotle much better observed 
 than his manners. The representation of a Jewish burial is often given as an 
 interlude, and the procession concludes with a pie-merchant crying his wares in 
 Portuguese. This arises from the Jews who inhabit Constantinople and the 
 East commonly using the Portuguese language. The bazars are generally thronged 
 with jugglers who make serpents dance to the sound of the drum, with conju- 
 rers, and dancing bears : there are besides bands of Bohemians or Egyptians, who 
 execute dances not very proper for public exhibition. 
 
 In the taverns, of which there are an infinite number in the capital of the true 
 believers, there are commonly a sort of dancers called yainakis. They are Greeks 
 from the islands of the Archipelago, elegantly dressed, with bracelets and neck- 
 laces of precious stones, and with very rich shawls. They have long flowing 
 hair, are perfumed with essences, and highly rouged. The indolent Turks 
 are extremely fond of these dancers ; they encourage them by large presents of 
 money : and each fixing upon a favourite, they will often finish even by fighting 
 to maintain the superiority of such or such a yamaki. The guard then interposes, 
 and separates the combatants by rolling the empty barrels in among them ; for the 
 barrels and the drinkers are pell-mell together in the same place. After this the 
 tavern is shut up, and the master cannot obtain permission to open it again without 
 paying some piastres. The supreme visier, in order to fill his coffers, will also at the 
 f«asts of the Bairam, and in great calamities, order the taverns to be shut up : he 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 291 
 
 in consequence soon receives a douceur from the Greeks who keep them, and per- 
 mission is then given to resume the trade. 
 
 The news of a tavern, which has once been closed, being opened again, is a great 
 event among the drinkers ; and these form a pretty numerous class. Not that they 
 indulge in such excesses wholly with impunity, or that public decorum puts no re- 
 straint upon drunkards ; they receive sometimes due correction. A Turk who falls 
 down in the street overtaken with wine, and is arrested by the guard, is sentenced 
 to the bastinado: this punishment is repeated as far as the third offence, after 
 which he is reputed incorrigible, and receives the title of imperial drunkard, or 
 privileged drunkard. If after that he is taken up, and in danger of the bastinado, 
 he has only to name himself, to mention what part of the town he inhabits, and 
 to say that he is a privileged drunkard; he is then released, and sent to sleep upon 
 the hot ashes of the baths *. 
 
 This singular manner of stigmatizing a,drunkard, where public opinion is made 
 subservient to the support of good morals, is not the only instance in which it is 
 so used. If a man has from some cause or other made himself disliked by all his 
 neighbours, ten or twelve of them go before the cadi, and represent that such an 
 one is disagreeable to them, without giving any reason why. If the cadi insists 
 upon their entering into particulars, they say that he is a very worthy man, but 
 they cannot like him for a neighbour. The man against whom the complaint is 
 made is then cited to appear, but he can obtain no further explanation ; and the 
 judge is obliged, in compliance with the established custom, to pronounce that 
 the individual stigmatized by a denunciation shall change his residence : nor is this 
 all, for he carries with him a note signifying the stigma cast upon him. If com- 
 plaints are renewed in the place whither he is removed, he is sentenced to a second 
 migration ; and if he be denounced a third time, the government interferes, and 
 he is inevitably sentenced to banishment. This mode of censuring troublesome 
 neighbours renders the inhabitants of Constantinople extremely circumspect in 
 their behaviour towards each other. They have a sort of interest in acting with 
 such forbearance, that the neighbours may rather come forward in their favour in 
 case they are involved in disagreeable circumstances, than assist in promoting 
 their disgrace. A like mode of procedure would, however, not be recornmendable 
 
 * This place is in winter the refuge of those unfortunate wretches who have no home. They take ad- 
 rantage of a heap of hot ashes, or of the neighbourhood of the stoves for heating the baths, to pass the 
 night. As they are in genera] rogues, drunkards, or beggars, the name of culhane or ashman is one of 
 the most degrading epithets that one Turk can use towards another. 
 
 2 P 2 
 
292 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 in more civilized states, where there is a better police established, as it is liable to- 
 much inconvenience ; but here it is only a means of getting rid of a turbulent and 
 troublesome neighbour, or one whose conduct is a subject of public scandal. 
 
 When justice is administered in all its forms for the punishment of those who 
 are condemned, it presents always a character of ferocity conformable with the 
 manners of a barbarous nation. It is never more terrible than when the sentence 
 of the vizier is executed in the middle of the night. I recollect a circumstance of 
 the kind, the idea of which always fills me with horror. It was after the au- 
 tumnal equinox ; I came out during the night to breathe the air in the garden 
 within the inclosure of the Seven Towers. The moon shed a brilliant lustre 
 around ; the oscillations of the Bosphorus were interrupted ; silence reigned in 
 the distant scene. I gave a free scope to the pleasing reveries of melancholy ; 
 1 was perhaps happy. A secret charm seemed to recall me to the bosom of my 
 family, when the report of the cannon of Hissar, resounding from the bottom of 
 the canal, and repeated by the echoes, struck my ears, and recalled me from the 
 pleasing illusion. I thought immediately of shipwrecks and signals of distress, 
 when a second report, followed by the silence which soon resumed its empire 
 over the shores of Europe and Asia, led me to inquire of the guards who were 
 watching about the prison into the cause of what 1 heard. They told me that this 
 formidable voice, issuing as from the field of battle, announced to the grand-vizier 
 slumbering in his harem the execution of his orders. Some janissaries who were 
 condemned had at that moment undergone the sentence inflicted ; and their 
 bodies, thrown into the sea, were already carried away by the rapid currents of 
 the Bosphorus. The number of reports from the cannon announced the number 
 of persons executed *. 
 
 * Mr. Thornton, in bis Presejit Stale of Turkey, in treating of the punishment of the janissaries, takes 
 occasion to advert to the circumstance here mentioned by Dr. Pouqueville, on which he indulges himself 
 with much pleasantry at the Doctor's expense. His satire is, in the first place, directed against the Doctor's 
 reveries of being in his own country in the bosom of his family; to which he (Mr. Thornton) adds that 
 he was thinking of the gaieties of Paris. Now of this latter clause the Doctor himself does not tell us a 
 single syllable; that is entirely a reverie of Mr. Thornton's imagination. Dr. Pouqueville's words are, Un 
 iharme secret me rappelait au seiu de mafmnille, and this does not seem t very unnatural feeling for a 
 man in captivity. Mr. Thornton next says, that in such a night as the Doctor describes " no mortal but 
 himself could have thought that the gun which he heard was a signal of distress from a vessel suffering 
 shipwreck."' Now the Doctor does not say that he thought it was so : he only says, Je pensnis aux nau- 
 frages, aux signaux <f* di-tiesse ; and so he might do without supposing that this proceeded from such a 
 cause : or if, in the first moment of surprise at a soiind so unexpected, the idea that it was a signal of 
 distress did present itself to his mind, there really does not seem any thing in it very absurd, since it 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. C 2Q3 
 
 If this signal of death be terrible, the rolling of the drum, which announces a fire, 
 is not less so. It is often from the ramparts of the Seven Towers that the alarm 
 is thus given to the neighbourhood. It is not, however, done till the janissary 
 aga comes forth. A thousand cries then rend the air ; and the event is announced 
 by the voice of the night watchman, who strikes the earth with his stick shod with 
 iron, crying in a lamentable tone Yangun war ! <6 "Fire, fire!" The janissaries then 
 hasten in crowds to the spot to stop the ravages of the flames, and more commonly 
 to plunder. Victims as the inhabitants of Constantinople are to this scourge, 
 they never strive to save any of their furniture. It is the custom in every family 
 to keep the most precious effects in a little box, which is set upon the table every 
 evening, that in case of an alarm it may be caught up hastily, and carried off with- 
 out any trouble of searching for it ; and if upon any occasion the whole family 
 goes out, this is carried with them. Nobody would insure a house even for four- 
 and-twenty hours. Speculators will, however, offer to purchase one when the 
 fire is coming near it ; nor is it very uncommon to see an obstinate man lose his 
 property by the fire, rather than sell it at a price that he thinks too low. The pro- 
 gress of the flames is sometimes so rapid, that a person has difficulty to escape even 
 by jumping out of the window: for this reason nobody thinks of going to bed 
 without some kind of outer garment ; and the women commonly sleep with all 
 their rings, bracelets, and trinkets of value about them. Numbers of these un- 
 fortunate creatures perish on such occasions, either victims to the flames, or 
 
 does not appear that this idea remained with him for half a minute. Mr. Thornton proceeds, however, 
 to deny the possibility of the whole story, by saying — " I myself was at Constantinople at the period 
 which Dr. Pouqueville has fixed upon as the date of this event, and / know that no guns were fired in 
 the night ; for so unusual a circumstance would have excited universal alarm, and would have furnished 
 conversation to the whole town." This seems a very rash assertion ; for though Dr. Pouqueville has 
 fixed the time of year when the event took place, he does not mention the year in which it happened ; 
 and as he was confined twenty-five months in the Seven Towers, unless Mr. Thornton knows to which 
 of the two years of his captivity the Doctor means to allude, (which the Doctor himself does not state,) or 
 can saythat he was at Constantinople both years of the Doctor's captivity at the time of the autumnal equi- 
 nox, he must certainly be allowed hasty in asserting so positively that he was there at the time. The 
 same thing may be observed with regard to Mr. Thornton's remark, that Dr. Pouqueville himself' must 
 certainly have known that the vizier, instead of slumbering in his harem, was in ail probability kept 
 waking with anxiety in the camp at Jaffa, and brooding over the inefficiency of his army." Unless 
 Mr. Thornton knows exactly which of the two years of his captivity the Doctor means to designate, it 
 must be allowed possible, at least, that he may not refer to that in which the grand-vizier was thus em- 
 ployed. Mr. Thornton also represents the Doctor as talking of the maddening currents of the Bosphorus, 
 whereas he really says the rapid currents. These observations might be extended further, if it were not 
 drawing out the note 10 a very unreasonable length.— Tkanslatok. 
 
294 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 crushed by the roof of the house falling in upon them. It may easily be con- 
 ceived how dear house- rent must be in a city the face of which, by the frequency 
 of fires, is commonly entirely changed about every fifteen years. 
 
 The sultan never fails to attend in person in these cases of general danger. He 
 distributes money to encourage those who assist in extinguishing the fire, and pu- 
 nishes theft by ordering those detected in it to be thrown into the flames. But no 
 one understands well what should be done : the assistance given is ill-directed ; 
 they do not know how to attack the fire. The firemen direct their engines in 
 a manner rather to water the people about, than to stop the progress of the flames. 
 The house most likely to be preserved is that which the Grand Signor occupies for 
 the time ; and every one, therefore, is eager to offer his for the purpose. 
 
 In the house of a Turk in easy circumstances there are commonly three tables 
 kept: the master's table, for he always eats by himself; that of the wife, who 
 lives secluded in her own apartments ; and that of the children, since it would be 
 want of the respect due to a parent for the children to eat at their father's table. 
 In harems, where there are several wives, each has a separate table. A Turk com- 
 monly makes two regular meals in the day ; to which those in power, who live 
 luxurious lives, add a supernumerary bait in the morning. As it is the custom for 
 all people in this country to rise with the dawn, the great man, after the namaz, 
 or first prayer, claps with his hands, which is a signal for the slave to bring pipes. 
 Reclined on his sofa, he then inhales this nectar in large draughts, and rests with- 
 out speaking in a state of the most profound nullity. From this he is roused by 
 a light infusion of boiling coffee being presented to him, which he sips gently at 
 the side of the cup, sitting with his legs crossed. Legs appear indeed to be useless 
 limbs to him : he must have the assistance of two slaves to raise him up, if he 
 wants to move. 
 
 Thus passes the rich man's man's morning ; varied perhaps sometimes by play- 
 ing mechanically with his Ichespi *. Towards the middle of the day dinner is 
 served. The greatest simplicity reigns in this meal : there is neither table-cloth, 
 knife, fork, nor plate upon the table ; a salt-cellar, with spoons of wood, tortoise- 
 shell, or copper, and a large napkin which passes round from one to the other, 
 comprises the whole apparatus for setting it out. The bread is cut into mouthfuls ; 
 and the dinner consists first of five or six dishes of salad, compounded of olives, 
 gherkins, celery, and pickled vegetables ; then come the ragouts, and lastly the 
 
 * A sort of chaplet used by the Mussulmans merely for their amusement. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. . 295 
 
 pilau. On no occasion is a dessert served ; the fruits of the different seasons are 
 set upon the table with the dinner. The whole meal seldom lasts more than a 
 quarter of an hour : eating seems a fatigue instead of a pleasure to these indolent 
 people, and one to which they only yield from absolute necessity. When they 
 have finished eating, water or sherbet is handed round in a glass, which is passed 
 from one to the other. Wine, proscribed by their religion, is only drunk at taverns. 
 Not but that the Turkish history mentions several sultans who have set the ex- 
 ample of this violation of the precepts contained inthekoran; but since the" se- 
 vere edicts issued against it by Amurath the Fourth, his successors have at least 
 maintained a greater appearance of decorum. It is to the dervises or monks, the 
 soldiers, the mariners, and the lowest among the people, that the scandal of being 
 publicly seen drunk is now confined. 
 
 The rich Turk commonly passes the afternoon in his kiosque. Those who in- 
 habit the shores of the Bosphorus contemplate with particular pleasure the coasts 
 of Asia, where repose the bodies of their fathers*. They regard that country 
 as destined to be one day the asylum of the Mussulmans, ivhen a nation of fair 
 men shall have driven them from Europe. That this will one day be the case is a 
 popular idea, which the Turks regard as a prophecy. Here they intoxicate them- 
 selves with odours, and with the vapours of the pipe, and take refreshing draughts 
 of sherbet perfumed with musk ; then retiring to the harem without relaxing the 
 least particle of their gravity, summon their wives to dance in their presence. 
 Supper is served about sunset : it is a more studied meal than the dinner, but 
 passes with equal celerity. The day is concluded with the pipe again. This mo- 
 notonous circle is scarcely ever varied: none of those accessaries are admitted 
 which from their novelty form the great charm of life. 
 
 The lower ranks do not by any means pursue the same round; their food is of 
 a gross nature, and for the greater part very unwholesome. In summer they 
 almost entirely forgo the use of bread, to live chiefly on gourds, melons, and 
 other fruits of a cold and watery nature. This is the time therefore when epidemic 
 diseases commonly break out ; it is a fact that a year when fruit is plentiful, and 
 bread dear, is commonly a fatal one, especially if it happens besides to be a hot 
 and moist season. This was the case in 1786, when Constantinople was ravaged 
 by a most dreadful pestilence. Coffee and pipes are no less common among the 
 lower than the higher ranks. It is remarkable that the custom of smoking, which 
 
 * The rich Turks of Constantinople aye generally buried on the Asiatic shore. 
 
296 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 may now really be called a rage among the Turks, and that even from infancv, 
 dates no further back than about the year 1605. Even the women are much ad- 
 dicted to it: those who do not smoke almost all chew the mastic of Chios, which 
 gives a pleasant smell like violets to the breath ; it creates however so great a 
 secretion of saliva as to injure the digestive powers materially. 
 
 The table of an EuropeaH residing at Constantinople is served very differently 
 from that of a Turk: he has the red wines of Tenedos, and those of Asia, and 
 can vary his dishes with all the delicacies which the different seasons afford. 
 For fruits there are the cherries of Pontus, immense peaches, excellent apricots, 
 plums, and apples from Sinope, pears and figs from the Bosphorus, oranges, 
 lemons, and citrons from Chio, dates from Asia and Egypt. For game there are 
 partridges, hares, pheasants, which come chiefly from the forests of Belgrade, 
 Guinea fowls, rabbits, quails, beccaficos, and in a larger way wild boars. All 
 sorts of poultry abound in the markets, but they are never fatted : the Turks fill 
 out the crop with air to make them look plump, and impose upon the purchaser. 
 The beef of Thrace begins to come into pretty general use: the sheep of Cara- 
 mania, with triangular tails, furnish very tasteless meat ; but the meat of the flocks 
 that feed upon the hills of Macedonia, beyond Thessaly, is very delicate and 
 finely-flavoured. There are great varieties of fish, excellent turbot, mackerel, 
 soles, rougets, smelts, loups, pa'amides, sword-fish. The Turks however prefer to 
 any of these the salted carps of the Don, which are brought hither by the Russians. 
 They have besides many sorts of shell-fish; oysters from Couroutchesme, homards, 
 a very large kind of lobster, muscles, craw-fish, poupards, and great variety of 
 echini, which are delicious ; but the Greeks and Franks are the only people that 
 eat the shell-fish ; the Turks will not touch them. 
 
 The gardens furnish most things to be found in our own, with the exception 
 of peas, sorrel, and asparagus. They have besides gombos, which are mixed 
 with the ragouts; tomatos, which have a very pleasant acid; pimentos, which 
 are much sought after by all ranks ; and a great variety of melongena. Many of 
 these things are brought from Asia and the islands of the Archipelago. Large 
 fleets of caiques come into Constantinople, laden with fruits and vegetables. 
 Smyrna, Chios, and Brousa in Bithynia, supply a very nice oval grape without 
 stones; the muscat grape is brought from Nicomedia, Chalcedon, and Scutari, 
 and by a very simple process the Greeks will keep them fresh for several months. 
 Nothing in short is wanting to please the palate in this great city, if the people did 
 but know bow to use their treasures to the best advantage. It would be no diffi- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 297 
 
 cult matter, with a very little care, to naturalise such vegetables asare now wanted: 
 potatoes might easily be planted; gooseberry-trees, which at present only appear 
 as a sort of rarity in the gardens of some among the great people, might be rendered 
 abundant : the peasants might be taught to make butter, though the delicious oil 
 which abounds in all parts almost supersedes the want of butler; and good cheese 
 might be made, instead of the wretched stuff now produced. It were endless how- 
 ever to enumerate what might be done with the means that lie within the reach of 
 the Constantinopolitans; they might truly make their city an abode for Sybarites. 
 
 Some dervises, indolent men who abhor labour, seem to measure their appetites 
 only by what they possess, and will rather content themselves with that than 
 work to get more; they will live for a whole day upon a dish of coffee and their 
 pipes. The coffee-houses are the great places of rendezvous for such people; 
 there they smoke, talk politics, and tell stories, while the vagrant monks or calen- 
 ders sing their pious canticles. Some of the coffee-houses are also barbers' shops, 
 where people may have their heads shaved, or their beards dressed. But though, 
 as possessing all these advantages, they are places of delight to the natives, foreigners 
 find them only receptacles of ennui. 
 
 There is another set of people, however, who live in a still cheaper way than 
 the dervises: strangers to the pleasures of the table, an opium pill supports, in- 
 toxicates them, throws them into ecstasies, the delights of which they extol very 
 highly. These men, known under the name of theriakis, are mentioned by 
 Monsieur de Tott and others, as being looked upon even in a more despicable 
 light than the drunkards, though I know not that the practice betrays more dis- 
 soluteness of morals. They begin with taking only half a grain at a dose, but 
 increase it as soon as they perceive the effect to be less powerful than at first. 
 They are careful not to drink water, which would bring on violent colics. He 
 who begins taking opium habitually at twenty, must scarcely expect to live 
 longer than to the age of thirty, or from that age to thirty-six; the latter is the 
 utmost age that, for the most part, they attain. After some vears they get to take 
 doses of a drachm each ; then comes on a frightful pallidness of countenance, and 
 the victim wastes away in a kind cf marasmus that can be compared to nothing but 
 itself: alopecia and a total loss of memory, with rickets, are the never-failing con- 
 sequences of this deplorable habit. But no consideration, — neither the certainty 
 of premature death, or of the infirmities by which it must be preceded, can correct 
 a theriaki; he answers coldly to any one who would warn him of his danger, that 
 his happiness is inconceivable when he has taken his opium pill. If he be asked 
 
 2 a 
 
298 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to define this supernatural happiness, he answers, that it is impossible to account 
 tor it ; that pleasure cannot be defined. 
 
 Always beside themselves, the theriakis are incapable of work, they seem no 
 more to belong to society. Towards the end of their career they however experi- 
 ence violent pains, and are devoured by constant hunger ; nor can their paregoric 
 in any way relieve their sufferings: become hideous to behold, deprived of their 
 teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a constant tremor, they cease to live, long 
 before they cease to exist. It would be a matter of no small curiosity to examine, 
 after death, the viscera of one who has gone out of the world in this way : dis- 
 coveries of importance might very probably be made. But it is much to be feared 
 that curiosity must on this point rest unsatisfied, for the ideas of the Mussulmans 
 are widely different from our own. Woe to any one who should be detected 
 violating a tomb! the whole town would probably rise against him : great as the 
 force of custom is among this people, a catastrophe of such a kind would be 
 more terrible to them than the loss of a province. While I was at Constantinople 
 I heard of a theriaki, a phaenomenon of longevity, who formed a very extra- 
 ordinary exception to the general rule with regard to the time these people may be 
 expected to live. I should indeed be very cautious of mentioning the circum- 
 stance, if the truth of it had not been attested by persons worthy of credit, who 
 are still alive, and some of whom are now actually at Paris. This man was well 
 known all over Constantinople in the year 1800, by the name of Suleyman Yeyen, 
 or Suleyman the taker of corrosive sublimate. At the epoch when I was there, 
 he was supposed to be nearly a hundred years old, having lived under the sultans 
 Achmet the Third, who ascended the throne in l/"03, Osman, Mahmoud, Mus- 
 tapha the Third, Abdul-Hamet, and Selim the Third. He had early in life 
 habituated himself to taking opium ; but notwithstanding that he constantly in- 
 creased the dose, he ceased to feel from it the desired effect, and then tried 
 sublimate, the effects of which he had heard highly spoken of. For thirty years 
 this old man had never ceased to take it daily, and the quantity he could now 
 take at a dose exceeded a drachm. It is said that at this epoch he came into the 
 shop of a Jewish apothecary and asked for a drachm of sublimate, which he 
 swallowed immediately, having first mixed it in a glass of water. The apothe- 
 cary terrified, and fearing that he should be accused of having poisoned a Turk, 
 immediately shut up his shop, reproaching himself bitterly with what he had 
 done; but his surprise was very great when the next day the Turk came again 
 and asked for a like dose of sublimate. It was my intention to have sought out 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 299 
 
 this man when I was set at liberty; but circumstances which involved me in busi- 
 ness of more importance prevented my verifying the fact. I cannot however dis- 
 believe what every body concurred in asserting, and when I have been assured of< 
 it a hundred times by Messieurs Ruffin and Dantan*. 
 
 Such is an imperfect outline of some of the principal characteristics presented 
 by a people who belong in no respect to Europe, except by the place in it which 
 they still occupy ; who are so far removed from civilization, that the families are 
 only distinguished by a sort of equivocal indefinite surnames ; whose very ages 
 are unknown to themselves, since there are no public documents to ascertain the 
 time-of their birth. Such are some of the most striking features in this celebrated 
 capital ; in which, notwithstanding the rank it holds among cities, the streets are 
 without names, and where there is no regular post for the conveyance of letters 
 s : ' 
 
 * Mr. Thornton has made some remarks upon the above anecdote as related by Doctor Pouqueville, 
 which seem thrown together no less hastily than in the instance already cited, and with an equal want 
 of attention to what the Doctor really has said. No one will deny that the story is very extraordinary, 
 and requires to be established upon respectable authority before it can be entitled to belief. It is how- 
 ever not a more extraordinary instance of what the human frame may be brought to bear, than many 
 others which might be adduced, and which the most determined sceptic could not now doubt ; that of 
 Mr. Powell the fire-eater for instance. If he could bring himself to bear live coals upon his tongue, so 
 as to broil a beef-steak, why might not the man in question bring his stomach to bear corrosive subli- 
 mate ? A throat unused to brandy can at first but ill bear a tea-spoonful of it, yet it may by degrees be 
 brought to swallow half a pint at a time, as if it were only Water. The most incredible part of the story 
 is the length of time the man lived in the daily habit of taking a mineral of this deleterious quality. 
 But again, what a length of time will some stomachs resist the daily habit of drinking fermented and 
 spi-jtuous liquors, in such quantities as to contain altogether as much corrosive matter as might be con- 
 tained in the drachm of sublimate ! Without, however, contending very strenuously for the credibility 
 of the story, it must be observed that Mr. Thornton has fallen into a very great mistake, when he repre- 
 sents Doctor Pouqueville as stating that " the first essay of this taker of corrosive sublimate was made 
 in the shop of a Jewish apothecary" at Constantinople. Now the Doctor says, that when he was ;it 
 Constantinople, and he went there in 17Q9, the man had been thirty years in the habit of taking the 
 'sublimate, and that it was in J 797 that he went into the Jewish apothecary's shop and took off a drachm 
 of it. Instead, therefore, of this being his first essay, he had at that time been in the practice of taking it 
 considerably more than twenty years. One of Mr. Thornton's great objections to the Doctor's statement 
 is therefore obviated, since he does not pretend to say that the man in his first essay took off so large a 
 quantity. Another mistake into which Mr. Thornton has fallen, is the calling Messieurs Ruffin and 
 Dantan, whose testimony Doctor Pouqueville advances in support of this story, drogmans attached l» 
 the service of the French legation. Monsieur Ruffin was the French charge" d'affaires at the Ottoman 
 Court, and had been so under the old Government. I forbear to remark upon Mr. Thornton's objec- 
 tions to Doctor Pouqueville's explanation of the appellation of Suleyman Yeyen, since they are much better 
 refuted by Lord Byron in the notes to his interesting poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. — Translator* 
 
 2 a 2 
 
300 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 over the country of which it is the head ; where assassination is both punished and 
 applauded; where reign at once oppression and licentiousness, despotism and 
 equality ; the dominion of the laws, and the dominion of terror. A strange assem- 
 blage of virtues and vices, of principles and barbarism: nothing seems in its 
 right place at Constantinople, and the whole political system is only supported 
 by the respect commonly yielded to antiquity, and the prevailing propensity of 
 mankind to adhere to ancient customs. The observer who conies there to medi- 
 tate will, notwithstanding the many volumes that have already been written upon 
 the subject, constantly find new aliment to satisfy his curiosity — important obser- 
 vations to consign to his memory, — will still find something new to say upon a 
 society whom a modern writer has justly defined to be a people of antitheses* 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Arrival of a Russian feet at Constantinople, and subsequent events. — The author '$ 
 release from the Seven Towers. — Festival of the birth of Mahomet. — Suburb of 
 Pera. — The f eld of the dead. — Dolma Bakcht. — Boiouk-deyre. — Forest of Bel- 
 grade. — Armenian wedding. — Turkish wedding. 
 
 The principal events that occurred at Constantinople during the last year of my 
 captivity, though not numerous, were worthy of remark, as preparatory to the 
 designs carrying on by Russia. The politicians of the country who did not per- 
 ceive them, or feigned not to see into them, seemed only occupied with the re- 
 ception of some plenipotentiaries newly arrived, who were saluted by the cannon 
 of the seraglio — a thing very unusual. They were also deeply engaged in arrang- 
 ing the reception of Lord Elgin, who with his lady were soon after their arrival 
 presented to the Gran i Signor, and both were presented with pelisses. 
 
 It was about this time that Paul the First, after having lost his best troops in 
 Italy, in Switzerland, and in Holland, began to grow tired of the war in which 
 he had engaged, and ordered his squadron to return into the ports of the Rlack 
 Sea. Eighteen Russian ships were therefore anchored before Constantinople in 
 the month of November, 1800. The Turks, astonished at the sight of this naval 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 301 
 
 armament, trembled and murmured to themselves: Russian officers on horseback 
 were every where to be seen in the streets ; we even conversed with several from 
 the top of our ramparts. At length the fleet being revictualled, set sail for its 
 destination; but two vessels having unfortunately run aground in going out of the 
 Bosphorus were obliged to return into the port of Constantinople to refit. The 
 captains who commanded them, desirous of passing their hours of leisure in the 
 town, attempted to land, but were received with a discharge of musquetry by the 
 galiondgis: both were killed; and the sailors who were with them would have 
 experienced the same fate, had not some Sclavonians hastened to their assistance. 
 The minds of people in general were extremely struck with this event, and the 
 sultan was not without very serious alarms for the consequences. He gave order* 
 to the capudan-pasha to seek out the perpetrators of a crime which might inter- 
 rupt the good intelligence established between Russia and Turkey; while Mon- 
 sieur Tamara, the Russian ambassador, interred his unfortunate fellow country- 
 men with funeral honours, and dispatched an account of the event to his court. 
 
 Kutchuk Hussein, who was then capudan-pasha, to satisfy his master, ordered 
 two galiondgis, condemned to the galleys for other crimes, but perfectly innocent 
 of the offence in question, to be hanged. Their comrades, witnesses of the exe- 
 cution, indignant at seeing Mussulmans executed for the murder of Christians,, 
 took them down from the gallows, and, contrary to the usual custom, interred 
 them with great ceremony : a high aggravation of the original insult to Russia, 
 This power might have called the Porte severely to account for what had passed ;, 
 but the moment for so doing was, according to appearance, not arrived, and it 
 contented itself with seizing upon Georgia, leaving the divan to think as they 
 chose upon the subject: they however did not venture to manifest any dissatis- 
 faction. 
 
 But the Porte seemed destined to be guilty of involuntary wrongs towards its 
 allies, and to justify by its conduct the subsequent proceedings of the Muscovites.. 
 Scarcely were the first impressions made by such an event as the above, some- 
 what subsided, when an affront no less foreign to the intentions of the court was. 
 experienced by the Russian ambassador himself and his wife. They, with the 
 envoys of Naples and of Sweden, had obtained a firman to see the mosques, and 
 had visited several; when on presenting themselves at that of Suleymama they wem 
 grossly insulted by the students there. Perhaps the visitors were somewhat in 
 the wrong in refusing to comply with some established customs; but in vain 
 did they exhibit their firman, — the heads once heated were not easily to be 
 
302 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 satisfied ; the students hooted them, and even began to strike some of the party 
 who were within reach of their hands. Several ladies were very much hurt, 
 the fermentation increased, and for some minutes wore every appearance of be- 
 coming an absolute insurrection, while the Turkish women kept urging it on by 
 crying to the people from their windows to assassinate those dogs of Christians. 
 No lives however were lost, and each one regained the suburb of Pera as he could, 
 carrying with him an ample topic of conversation for some time to come. 
 
 The sultan, exceedingly distressed at this affair, (for in such a situation as his 
 eveiy thing gives occasion for alarm,) made a terrible display of vengeance against 
 those who had contemned his orders and insulted his allies. He sent for the 
 drogmans of the offended ambassadors, and had four of the ringleaders strangled 
 in their presence, while about thirty more, after being severely bastinadoed, were 
 sent into exile. This prince, in short, the friend of peace and justice, did every 
 thing possible to appease the anger of those by whom the affront had been received. 
 
 An event which happened a very short time after was sufficient to justify him, 
 as it showed very plainly that he was not certain of being more respected himself, 
 or of being seconded by the guard charged with inspecting the police of the town, 
 when he had occasion for their support. A barber condemned to death for a 
 murder of which he had been guilty, was very near escaping the punishment. 
 Intrenching himself in his shop, he fired upon the janissaries who came to take 
 him ; and having killed several, the rest were afraid of venturing to approach his 
 fortress. To bring cannon against a barber's shop would have been too ridicu- 
 lous, and they had recourse to mining. A hole was made, into which a barrel 
 of gunpowder was rolled, and fire being applied to it the house was blown into the 
 air. But what was the surprise of the besiegers when they found that their prin- 
 cipal object was not yet accomplished! The barber, suspecting the danger, had 
 wrapped himself in an immense quantity of wet linen, and after the explosion 
 would perhaps have escaped, but that he was perceived by some bostandgis, who 
 fell upon him and struck off his head. This event, however, though it divided 
 the. public attention, did not prevent the insulted ambassadors informing their 
 respective courts of what had passed ; and Russia would perhaps have thought of 
 revenging herself, but that on a sudden every thing in that country put on a new 
 aspect, by the unexpected death of Paul the First. The past was then forgotten : 
 with the accession of Alexander every thing assumed a new aspect; the arsenals, 
 the ports, where preparations for war were carrying on, ceased their activity, and 
 every thing wore a pacific appearance. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 303 
 
 Our hopes of liberty were however exceedingly damped : indeed they vanished 
 almost entirely, when we learnt that a very good understanding seemed to be 
 established between Lord Elgin and the Russian minister. Not that the former 
 had ever personally taken any part against us, but we were fearful of some alliance 
 being formed which might protract our captivity. Things however took a more 
 fortunate turn ; firmans were soon dispatched to recall the prisoners who had been 
 sent to the castles on the Black Sea ; we were less watched, and after an imprison- 
 ment of twenty-five months liberty once more smiled upon us ; I saw the gates of 
 the Seven Towers open to give me egress. It is true that the firman which 
 authorised my release from this prison only transferred me to the house of deten- 
 tion for the French at Pera, but I knew that this was the prelude to a final release 
 My emancipation from this gloomy abode was not, however, a feeling of unmingled 
 satisfaction, leaving behind me, as I did, Messrs. Ruffin, Keiffer, and Dantan. 
 Along habit of living together, combined with being subjected to one common 
 misfortune, had united us in a very strict friendship, and 1 could not without tears 
 leave them still in so painful a situation. 
 
 Before I quitted the prison I was obliged, according to an established etiquette, 
 to pay a sort of ransom to my guardians ; and this money, though extremely ill 
 employed, must be laid down upon the spot. After this came a torrent of bene- 
 dictions, of good wishes for my prosperity and a speedy return into France, not 
 above half of which were heard by me, so much was I tired of my guardians. I 
 accompanied Monsieur Paul, the drogman of Denmark, who had been the bearer 
 of my firman of emancipation, and my companion Fornier, who had been released" 
 some days before, to St. Matthias's stairs, or Psamatlua, as they are called by the 
 Turks who inhabit the quarter, to embark there for Pera. These stairs are in a very 
 dirty place, almost poisoned by the odour exhaled from numerous manufactories of 
 starch. As we coasted along the town, Monsieur Paul proposed landing and going 
 to see the procession which w*as to take place that day through the Hippodrome. 
 
 It happened to be the festival of the birth of Mahomet, when instead, of the 
 disgusting dervises, the sei'ds, and the santons of a fanatical populace, which on 
 this occasion parade the streets of Cairo, we were here gratified with a spectacle 
 truly noble in its way. Ail the public functionaries were in their state costume :: 
 the janissaries bektadgis appeared with their enormous sleeves; then came the 
 bostandgis, the oulemas, aud at length the sultan, surrounded with a multitude of 
 tchorbarlgis, whose magnificent casques with the plumes formed a forest, in the 
 midst of which he appeared as if borne along upon a waving throne, the horse he 
 
304 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 rode being entirely concealed. This prince, one of the best and most unfortunate 
 of sovereigns, was much lather to be distinguished by the sweetness of his phy- 
 siognomy, by the mildness which reigned in all his features, than by the splendour 
 of his dress. After having offered up his prayers in the mosque of Sultan Achmet, 
 he remounted his horse and returned to the seraglio with the same ceremony 
 as before. 
 
 The occupations of the town were not suspended on account of this festivity, 
 and I was astonished when I landed at Tophana to see the activity every where 
 <roinc forward. We were soon assailed by a troop of the vagrant dosrs, and were 
 
 o O •'loo' 
 
 obliged to hold ourselves on t lie defensive. 1 observed that their principal spite 
 was aimed against the Franks, which made me apprehend that they had been 
 teased and ill-treated by them. It is usual to hire horses to ascend from Tophana 
 to Pera, and there are generally a number standing for this purpose by a large 
 Chinese fountain near the shore. As we were not fatigued we mounted on 
 foot, and, after paying our respect to Baron Hubschs, the Danish minister, pro- 
 ceeded to the French house of detention. Here we found several merchants and 
 consuls assembled, who received us with much courtesy, and we might have 
 passed several months together before we had heard all the adventures each had 
 to relate to the rest. I however preferred taking advantage of the liberty given 
 me to walk out, and rather chose to examine the suburb of Pera than to listen to 
 their narratives. 
 
 My first object was to seek out my friend Monsieur Flury, consul-general of 
 Wallachia, to whom 1 owed my liberty; he had been indeed on this occasion the 
 friend, the support, the protector of all the French prisoners in the Levant. He 
 owed the power of being so to the general esteem in which he was held by the 
 foreign ministers in Constantinople ; an esteem acquired by the practice, during a 
 very long abode in the East, of numberless amiable qualities which cannot fail of 
 conciliating the friendship of all to whom they are known. After paying my 
 respects and acknowledgements to him I proceeded towards the promenade, as it 
 may be called for distinction, known among the Franks by the appellation of the 
 field of the dead, but by the Greek inhabitants of Pera called Mnimata, or the 
 tombs. 
 
 It is not easy to conceive how much this place is thronged in the evening ; even 
 the most frequented streets in Paris scarcely present an equal concourse. The 
 same throng is not to be seen all day ; but at the moment when labour ceases 
 among the industrious classes of society, the Franks all going out to the prome- 
 
N> 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 305 
 
 nade absolutely elbow and jostle each other. Notwithstanding this, as there are 
 no carriages, the noise is not so great but that conversation may be carried on ; 
 every one can make himself heard without difficulty. In going thither, a stranger 
 is always shown a Turkish fountain inclosed in a pavilion of an octagon form, 
 which is at the southern extremity of the street of Pera; and indeed it is an object 
 to be remarked. The water is supplied by the aqueducts of Belgrade, and is 
 thrown up by eight pipes, the noise of which, repeated by the echo of the vaulted 
 roof, is so great that it quite overpowers the sound of the voice. A little further 
 on is the French hospital for patients ill of the plague. It was at this time under 
 the direction of Dom Germano, an Armenian priest, a venerable old man with a 
 countenance which spoke at once dignity and mildness. He had lived here fifty 
 years surrouuded by the contagion, profoundly devoted to his calling, totally dis- 
 regarding all hazard to his own life, but always escaped the danger, and was now 
 fourscore years old. 
 
 The hospital occupies a space of ground in the form of a parallelogram, sur- 
 rounded with high walls. There is a garden which was in a very good state of 
 cultivation, and a well of tolerable water, with a cistern. In one part is a house 
 of religious seclusion, and in another what is called the infirmary. This building 
 consists of about a dozen chambers, having a general corridor which leads to them 
 all ; they are separated by little barriers, and these are always kept closed to pre- 
 vent communication among the sick in the time of the plague. The air here is 
 pure and circulates freely, and the building is kept extremely neat. At the time 
 of my visit it was inhabited by the wives of some soldiers of the sixth demi-bri- 
 gade who had been sent to Constantinople. 
 
 About two hundred toises further is the field of the dead, so called because it 
 is surrounded by cemeteries. There each sect reposes separated from the rest, 
 and high trees shade the tombs. To the west is the vast cemetery of the Turks; to 
 the east that of the Armenians; and in a space between, that of the Franks, divided 
 by the form of the tombs into the Catholic and the Protestant cemetery. Upon 
 the tombs of the Franks are some inscriptions, but not such as present many recol- 
 lections to the mind: the mortuary stones of the Armenians, besides inscriptions, 
 have emblematic figures engraved upon them, indicating the situation or profes- 
 sion of the deceased. On the greater part are to be seen either the rule and com- 
 passes, or the gold weights ; which proves what I have said before, that this nation 
 furnishes most of the masons, architects, and changers of gold and silver. 
 
 'Tis in the space comprised between the Turkish and Armenian cemeteries/ 
 
 • 2 R 
 
306 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to the east of that of the Franks, that custom has established a public walk : there 
 at the decline of day one of the finest prospects in the world may be enjoyed. 
 The eye embraces the windings of theBosphorus, between the magnificent shores 
 of which are sailing vessels from various nations, and multitudes of light and elegant 
 barks. At the same time are to be seen the valleys of Asia, Scutari, the Archi- 
 pelago of the Princes, the sea of Marmara, and the immense circuit of Constan- 
 tinople. The ladies seated on little stools form conversaziones, where the news of 
 the town and the affairs of their neighbours are discussed. At the southern 
 extremity is a sort of shed in form of a rotunda, dignified with the title of a 
 coffee house, where some miserable musicians play upon the drum or the Turkish 
 mandoline. Coffee is sold there, and some very bad refreshments: Sunday is the 
 day when the throng of people is the greatest. Sultanas have sometimes been 
 seen walking here with a small suite, as well as some of the first Turkish ladies in 
 Constantinople ; and though on such occasions they are veiled, they take care that 
 the veils shall be made of very thin muslin. Notwitl standing the beauty of the 
 situation there is a monotony in the place, as the same set of faces are always to 
 be seen, which soon grows fatiguing to an European. Prudence dictates return- 
 ing home before the night is closed in, as the streets of Pera are not the safest 
 places imaginable after dark. 
 
 Those in the neighbourhood of the house of arrest for the French were not an 
 exception to this general rule ; this quarter was called Keratochori, or the village 
 of horns. It abounds with taverns, with khans, and with houses frequented by 
 galiondgis, who are by nature the enemies of public order. The apprehensions 
 entertained of these malefactors, as well as of the Sclavonians who sleep under 
 the shops or in the streets, appear not to be unjustly founded. The Turks in 
 general return home at the close of day ; and at Pera nobody goes out in the 
 evening excepting to make a visit, and then preceded by a servant who carrries a 
 light. Such are the pleasures of this suburb. It presents a strange assemblage 
 of liveries and costumes; and whenever one goes into company there, one finds a 
 true Babel or confusion of tongues. The natives of Pera, who understand Turkish, 
 Greek, Italian, and French, do not speak any of them with tolerable purity. 
 
 I know not why people do not sometimes, for the sake of variety, leave the 
 promenade of the tombs, to sit under the fine trees of Dolma Bakche, where the 
 sultan has his summer palace. One cannot always admire the shores of the Bos- 
 phorus, however delightful they may be ; and here we breathe a very delicious 
 air. The way to this place from Pera is through venerable woods which shade 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 30? 
 
 several cemeteries : to the left is Sampson Kane, or the Sultan's Kennel, where 
 are a number of very large dogs extremely fat and extremely fierce. Half a 
 mile from Pera is a rapid descent, with a torrent at the bottom and a stone bridge 
 over it, which leads into the valley of Dolma Bakche. This valley may be in 
 length about a thousand paces, running from east to west: its breadth can 
 scarcely be more than two hundred, and the sultan's palace is upon one of the 
 slopes by which it is inclosed. The sea-shore to the west is low, and ornamented 
 with weeping-willows, while tall planes and other fine trees form a screen to the 
 north : among these are some coffee-houses kept by bostandgis, who serve 
 strangers with much civility ; here is also a pavilion which has been much dis- 
 figured by strokes of the djerid. Further towards the east are gardens, and the 
 road leading to the field of the dead ; here also, at the extremity of the palace 
 walls, is a basin with a coffee-house by it, where there are Turks who sell coffee: 
 though the soil is arid, it is surrounded by beautiful jessamines with double flowers: 
 the smell of these in the evening is fragrant beyond measure. The slope on 
 which stands the sultan's palace is to the south, and the garden walls run the 
 whole way along this side of the valley. At the extremity near the sea is a kiosque 
 or pavilion, where the grand signor comes sometimes to see the exercise of the 
 djerid performed by his pages, and the holes made in the pavilion attest the force 
 with which they throw this weapon. It happens not unfrequently that the 
 greater part of those who have been engaged in the sport retire with terrible con- 
 tusions; some instances have even occurred of such serious injury being received 
 in the head as to render the trepan necessary. 
 
 The sultan's palace is called Bechiktasch ; it stands upon the sea-shore, and is 
 separated from the sea only by a very narrow quay. The whole outside is painted 
 to represent a landscape. The gardens are uncultivated, the soil is bad; and I 
 have been assured by Monsieur Melling, who was employed at work in the 
 interior of the palace, that every thing within is very paltry and insignificant. 
 In the year before the war with France broke out, the grand signor was desirous 
 of having theatrical representations here. Some Italians residing at Pera were 
 applied to on this occasion, and a piece was prepared. The sweetness, the charm 
 of the Italian music seemed to have no effect whatever upon Selim; nor were the 
 European ballets more to his taste : when he saw the rope-dancers, however, he 
 admired the address of the Christians beyond measure, and was absolutely in 
 ecstasies at a man walking upon his hands. He was afterwards treated with the 
 
 2r 2 
 
508 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Banditti of the Black Forest made into a pantomime, with which he was so well 
 pleased that he had it performed in his harem. 
 
 In one of my walks to Dolma Bakche I became acquainted with an English- 
 man, who is known to all the Europeans that have resided at Constantinople, under 
 the name of Selim aga. Employed as an officer of engineers at Jamaica and in 
 the Indies, whether from motives of discontent or from some other unknown 
 cause he embraced lslamism, though he has nothing of it except the turban. His 
 knowledge soon acquired him access to the great men of the empire, and in 1801 
 he attached himself to the service of the kaimakan as his secretary. He had been 
 in England since he changed his religion, and intended at the return of peace to 
 visit France. When I saw him he was occupied with translating some valuable 
 works of science. His beard, his complexion, his whole cast of countenance were 
 such that at the first glance he might be distinguished from the Mussulmans. 
 He frequented the houses of the foreign ministers very much, as well as those of 
 the French; but the latter entertained considerable prejudices, perhaps ill-founded, 
 against him. 
 
 Two other objects of curiosity to all who come to Constantinople are Boiouk- 
 deyre and the forest of Belgrade : I had an additional incitement to visit the 
 former of these places, since I wished to make my grateful acknowledgements to 
 Monsieur Fonton, counsellor to the Russian embassy, who had taken a very kind 
 part in procuring my enlargement. I was not less charmed with his amiable 
 manners, and the interesting graces of his lovely wife, than with the beauty of 
 Boioukdeyre. I met with the kindest reception possible at his house, and, being 
 invited to spend some days there, had an opportunity of satisfying my curiosity 
 with regard to this spot and the neighbourhood very completely. At my first 
 visit I went only to the palaces of Russia and Denmark, not being able to reach 
 that of France, which stands on the heights of Tarapia, at the western point of 
 the bay. The palace of Russia I found fitted up in a style combining together 
 the European and Oriental tastes. There was something very pleasant in the 
 gardens, which run along the uneven declivity of the mountain, and form a fringe 
 to the curtain of houses hanging down the slope of Boioukdeyre. A number of 
 avenues and sinuosities terminate at points of view more or less picturesque over 
 the sea and the coasts of Asia: the summit of the hill is crowned with pleasant woods. 
 
 From Russia I proceeded on to Denmark ; and as I was conducted by Madame 
 Fonton and her charming sisters, I did not find my passage over the frontiers dis- 
 
I' 
 
 r 'WM 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 3l>9 
 
 puted. An old gardener in the service of baron Hubschs opened the barrier to us. 
 We rested upon many little eminences, and reposed under hedges of hornbeam 
 very symmetrically arranged. We saw several jets-d'eau ; and upon the door of 
 a palace belonging to baron Grosbach found a Latin inscription importing that the 
 house luas built on the place where it stood. The baron's son, who came to join us, 
 having invited us in, I observed in the interior of the palace, on each side of every 
 door, a grenadier of the size of life painted in fresco upon the wall. This was the 
 guard in ordinary of hisexcellency; In the evening we took a walk along the quay, 
 and through the village of Boioukdeyre, which extend together to nearly half 
 a league, and terminate in a walk called The Meadoiu. At this moment, to in- 
 crease the beauty of the scene, a division of the Russian fleet, returning to 
 Cherson, cast anchor in the bay of Boioukdeyre. The village consists of only one 
 street; in it are several good houses occupied by merchants, chiefly French. 
 About the middle is the Albergo civile, an inn open to foreigners. I did not go 
 into it, but I understood it to be a most deplorable place. It is kept by some 
 Italians, whose whole art of cookery consists in dressing ducks with different 
 sauces : their table is not, therefore, in very high repute. 
 
 When we arrived at The Meadow, I was anxious, above all things, to see the 
 groupe of plane-trees which Monsieur Delille has celebrated in his poem of 
 The Gardens ; and I hastened to pay my homage to them as to objects conse- 
 crated to immortality. I counted eleven immense stems, united together at the 
 base, and forming a circle, the interior of which cannot be less than twenty-five 
 feet in diameter. Parties are often made to come and sit under their shade ; and 
 the inhabitants of Boioukdeyre, no less than the French who reside there, have 
 learned to repeat the name of Delille. The head of one of these majestic trees 
 had recently been injured by lightning. Monsieur de Tott, who preferred a crane 
 for masting vessels to the finest groupe of trees that could be seen, had a like clump 
 of planes which adorned the eastern side of the meadow cut down in order to con- 
 struct some kind of scaffolding which he wanted for his works. There is nothing 
 else remarkable in The Meadow, excepting the extreme regularity of its surface. 
 The view from it is terminated by the aqueducts of Belgrade. 
 
 To this place we agreed to make an excursion, and set out upon it the very next 
 morning at sunrise. After having again taken a survey of The Meadow, we went 
 along a road bordered by hedges. We saw first the aqueduct of Bourgas, then 
 that of Justinian ; and after wandering about the forest, enjoying the view of some 
 most picturesque spots on the borders of the lakes which are formed by the bindes, 
 
310 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 or marble causeways, we arrived at last at the house of the Dutch ambassador. 
 Although the ambassador himself, Monsieur Vandeden, was absent, we were not 
 the less hospitably received ; and found a dinner prepared for us in the garden, at 
 a place called the Round Table. This house stands isolated in the midst of the 
 forest ; and near a lake where the frogs croak in such an enchanting manner that 
 the minister might fancy himself among his own marshes in Holland. 
 
 In the forest of Belgrade, besides its own natural beauties, are several very pretty 
 villages which deserve to be drawn forth from their present obscurity. It would 
 be an object of great interest to examine the plants with which the forest abounds, 
 and the trees of which it is composed. Among its productions are, sarsaparilla, 
 agaric, and kermes ; with a number of things that would probably be found very 
 useful in medicine. Indeed it would be a desirable thing to explore geologically 
 the country from hence quite to the Black Sea, since the soil appears evidently to 
 be a volcanic earth. 
 
 Among the most amusing things presented to our observation by a residence in 
 Pera, are the processions occasionally to be seen passing through. Some are of a 
 nature so singular that they cannot fail to attract the attention. I was particularly 
 struck with one that took place not many days after my arrival, which I found 
 upon inquiry to be an Armenian wedding. I should certainly never have suspected 
 what it was if I had not been informed, so sad and solemn did the company ap- 
 pear. The procession began by some people playing upon the flute and the vio- 
 lin, who made the most frightful charivari imaginable. They were accompanied 
 by dancers, who sung and performed their steps at the same time. Next followed 
 a groupe of relations ; then men carrying torches of yellow wax, who had much 
 more the appearance of being part of a funereal than of a hymeneal procession. 
 After them came the bride, supported by two of her nearest relations. She was 
 enveloped from head to foot in a sack ; but in order that her respiration might not 
 be entirely suppressed from being thus inclosed, a plate was fixed into the mouth 
 of the sack, so that the folds were thrown somewhat off from pressing upon the 
 face. Then followed a party of the guests ; and after them came the bridegroom, 
 walking by himself. His arms were crossed over his breast ; and his head, round 
 which was twisted a large silk shawl, hung upon his left shoulder. His long 
 mustachios, and his melancholy attitude, gave him rather the air of one going to 
 perform some penance than to be made happy in the bonds of Hymen. He was 
 followed by two Armenians carrying rusty sabres, which they flourished from time 
 to tune as if menacing Heaven. The rest of the relations closed the procession. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 311 
 
 moving with slow and measured steps. As the families to whom the new mar- 
 ried couple belonged lived in our neighbourhood, I had an opportunity of per- 
 ceiving that there was nothing sad and solemn in the remainder of the ceremony : 
 in fact, the festivity degenerated in the evening into scandalous orgies, and these 
 were continued for three days and three nights. 
 
 The parade of a Turkish wedding, which 1 saw not long after, amused me much 
 more by its variety, and by the events with which it was accompanied. The cor- 
 tege crossed from Asia to Europe in elegant caiques, which scarcely seemed to 
 touch the water. The young bride, covered with veils, and surrounded by women, 
 occupied a boat with four pair of oars ; other boats were filled with persons playing 
 on different kinds of instruments; and in one of the boats that took the lead 
 were two buffoons standing on the frail rudder : they blew a sort of trumpet, at the 
 same time cutting capers, and making grimaces, accompanied with leaps, which 
 occasioned falls easy to be foreseen. The boat was at length overset, and in an 
 instant the mimes and their companions were ten feet under water, without the 
 rest of the company seeming to be at all surprised or affected by it. The divers 
 soon re-appeared, and began throwing up the water they had swallowed, like 
 whales, making the drollest appearance imaginable. They caught hold of the 
 boat, and pushed it before them to the shore, where they arrived quite confused 
 and dispirited. The boatmen having succeeded in restoring their boat to its equi- 
 librium, cursing the delis, the wedding, and their bad fortune, followed, never- 
 theless, in order to get paid. 
 
 The prisons of the Black Sea being opened at the same time with those of the 
 Seven Towers, we soon saw the French who had been imprisoned at Kerason, at 
 Sinope, and at Amassera, arrive at Constantinople. They were received with 
 transport by their fellow-countrymen, and it seemed as if all their misfortunes 
 were forgotten in the idea that they were soon to return to their own country. 
 As every appearance seemed, therefore, to indicate that our return was to be con- 
 sidered as a thing not very remote, I was more than ever desirous not to lose any 
 time, but to use the utmost activity in satisfying my curiosity by seeing, whatever 
 was worthy of notice, 
 
3l> TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 i 
 
 The Court at Constantinople. — Offices of the ministers. — Ideas of the Turks respect- 
 ing Plato. — The Turkish navy. — The academy for draiuing and engraving. — 
 Illness of Monsieur Beauchainp, an astronomer imprisoned at Fanaraki. — Some 
 account of this gentleman. — Description of Fanaraki. — The island of Cyanea. — 
 Islands of the Princes. — Tchinguenels, or Bohemians. 
 
 The sultan's court at Constantinople forms a world by itself, which has its pe- 
 culiar customs, language, and modes. Among the great people of the country is to 
 be found much urbanity, with a strong disposition to oblige, but etiquette is carried 
 to a much higher point among them than could be expected. Many of them have, 
 however, been raised from the lowest ranks of the people. The vizier Jezouf was 
 a rice-merchant, and the capudan-pasba was a poor Georgian slave ; nor can the 
 other principal personages about the court boast a more illustrious origin. The 
 lowest among the boatmen that ply in the port may to-morrow be created a pasha ; 
 and, what seems very extraordinary, he no sooner takes possession of his new office, 
 than he assumes a dignity of manner which astonishes exceedingly, so that the 
 metamorphosis he has undergone could scarcely be believed. Is it that the dress 
 makes the man ? Does it throw a mask of grandeur over him ? I know not, and 
 leave the point to be decided by others. Yet these men seem perfectly well versed 
 in all the chicane of politics, its tricks and its delays. Their favourite maxim 
 that the hare must be limited in a cart, often foils the calculations of European di- 
 plomacy. They have no knowledge, but they have genius ; which is of more use 
 than erudition in acquiring the art of governing. It is said of them, that they 
 unhappily listen too much to national prejudices ; but they should be known before 
 they are judged : and perhaps they act more wisely in being altogether Turks, 
 than in assuming a sort of half civilization. Unless they were thoroughly en- 
 lightened, they had better remain as they are. 
 
 I observed above that the language of the seraglio differs from the general lan- 
 guage ol the country ; in effect, people speak here more correctly and with greater 
 purity. Certain letters, the harsh sound of which would hurt ears accustomed 
 to the pleasing murmur of a soft language such as the Turkish, are scarcely pro- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 313 
 
 nounced. A great stress also is laid upon adhering to the proper dress ; and this 
 changes according to the season. There are different pelisses for spring, summer, 
 autumn, and winter; and each in rotation is assumed at court at a regular fixed period. 
 
 The public offices, few in number, are filled with young men, who expedite the 
 orders of the vizier, of the reis-effendi, or of the chiefs of the departments ; but 
 that mass of writings, that multitude of letters and papers of various kinds, which 
 fill the offices of European ministers, are here unknown. A small square of 
 paper suffices for the laconic decision of a vizier when he sanctions or rejects an 
 act. The clerks, seated upon sofas with their legs crossed, write and smoke at 
 the same time, doing the one no less mechanically than the other. A square 
 board serves as a table, and a little box as a secretary to contain their paper, their 
 ink, and the reed which they use as a pen. However;, there are here, as every 
 where, some more active minds, who quit this career and rise to the highest posts 
 in the empire: happy those who are studious and desirous of instruction! there 
 is a sort of justice which raises them above the crowd. 
 
 The Turk is an enlightened observer where his interest is concerned, but he is 
 little desirous of instruction. The catalogue of Turkish books has, however, of 
 late been increased by some of our best works of science. Sehm aga has translated 
 Bezout* into the Turkish language, and he told me that he intended translating 
 Monsieur Chaptal's chemistry. The books from which, in general, the Turks 
 now draw their instruction are histories and traditions ; but they are compilations 
 so mingled with extravagance, that a few scattered facts are with difficulty to be 
 collected from them. It may be said that the Orientals have arranged a Genesis, 
 a book of Chronicles, and a general history, entirely to suit themselves. Tbey 
 talk of nothing in their traditions but victories, enemies subdued, and towns de- 
 stroyed; and transform what ought to be genuine narratives into absolute tales. 
 To give an idea of the manner in which they mutilate ancient history, I will only 
 cite an article from a Persian and Turkish dictionary, treating of Plato. 
 
 According to this, Plato, whom they call Flato, was a person of distinguished 
 learning, who was charged with the education of the son of a king of Irak, but 
 where this country is we are not informed. The king made Flato his grand vizier, 
 and there were no favours that he did not lavish upon him, but above all things 
 he recommended to him the education of his son. Flato in consequence gave all 
 
 * The work which he translated was Bonnycastle's Geometry ; and two manuscript copies of it are 
 in this country. One in the possession of Mr. Bonnycastle himself, and the other in- the possession o£ 
 Mr. F. Baily. — Tbanslaxok. 
 
 2 s 
 
314 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 his cares to this object, but without effect ; his pupil did not in the least profit by- 
 his instruction. This he told the king, but the latter would not believe it pos- 
 sible, never having been crossed in any thing. It was a custom that every year 
 the young men of the country, mounted upon a tribune, should be examined 
 by the most illustrious among their fellow-countrymen, where rewards were given 
 them according to the progress they had made in their learning. The king, con- 
 trary to the advice of Flato, insisted upon his son's appearing at these examina. 
 tions ; but, alas ! the will of a monarch cannot confer science, — the young 
 prince could not articulate a word. The king was in a rage, and told Flato that 
 tins was his fault ; that he hatl not been properly attentive to his son's education. 
 Flato, prostrating himself before the king, answered that he should be convinced 
 to the contrary. " You see," added he, " this young slave," pointing to a child, 
 " he has only heard at a distance the lessons I have given your son ; order him 
 to mount the tribune, and you will then have an idea of the things in which the 
 prince has been instructed." The king consented, and the young slave, who was 
 Aristotle, or, according to them, Arhlotelis, astonished the assembly. He after- 
 wards rose to a pitch of glory that will remain to eternity. Thus are historical facts 
 seasoned after the genius of these people, who are always disposed to the marvellous. 
 
 The Oriental poetry compensates in some measure for the want of merit in 
 their historians. Though it cannot boast of much taste, there are some pleasing 
 images and delicate thoughts; I do not, however, pretend to be much of a judge 
 on this matter. I have heard gazels, or odes, which appeared to be animated and 
 well turned. The mythology of the Orientals does not admit much variety of 
 imagery ; the nightingale wedded to the rose, showers of essences, of flowers, and 
 of diamonds; melancholy, which comes like night mounted upon a brown camel, 
 when the sun retires behind the mountains of Caf ; to such kind of images is 
 the field of allegories confined, but imagination supplies the place of the usual 
 poetical ornaments. 
 
 The Turkish navy, in 1801, consisted of twelve ships of the line and fifteen 
 fine frigates. There were besides upon the stocks two ships of the line, one of a 
 hundred and twenty guns, and the other of eighty; two others, in the ports of 
 Si'nope and Rhodes, were nearly finished. A Swedish engineer, by name Khodez, 
 with a company of workmen of his own nation, had built a basin of construction; 
 this I was carried to see by Monsieur Benoit, who succeeded Monsieur Lebrun 
 as engineer constructor. The two latter, fellow-countrymen of mine, who had 
 quitted France in consequence of the misfortunes attending the revolution, had 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 315 
 
 assisted in putting the Turkish navy upon a tolerably respectable footing*. I saw 
 the model-room, which is arranged in the most favourable manner for working 
 from the models it contains. The dock-yards were exceedingly well furnished 
 with stores, as were also the magazines for the navy. It is extraordinary how the 
 Porte, without any regular plans of finance, with revenues rendered very uncer- 
 tain by the frequent revolts of the pashas, can meet its expenses without borrowing 
 money. I went to pay the tribute of admiration offered by every stranger to a 
 charming spot, well known and frequently described under the name of the 
 fresh waters. The Turks suffer this sweet place to fall into ruin. The sultan 
 comes here occasionally to breathe the fresh air and enjoy himself, far from the 
 tumult of the town and the fatiguing ceremonies of the court; he has a small 
 palace built after the model of that at Fontainebleau. 
 
 Some days after I visited the school for drawing and engraving, which is upon 
 the eastern shore of the port, near the barracks of the comparadgis, or bom- 
 bardiers. At the head of it was a Frenchman, byname Ricard. The friendship 
 he had evinced for me attracted me irresistibly to visit his academy. His pupils, 
 all Turks, were very polite and obliging. Some were occupied in drawing maps, 
 and others in engraving them, while another party were correcting the proofs. 
 Their collection, although in its infancy, contained some valuable materials 
 relative to Asia-Minor and the countries bordering the Black Sea. In the same 
 building I found a printing-office, under the direction of Armenians. The super- 
 intendent showed us a Greek grammar, and some sheets of a Turkish, Arabian, 
 and Persian dictionary, which they were printing in folio, and proposed to sell for 
 thirty piastres. I have since heard that this is completed and is now on sale. 
 I counted six presses, and taw a vast quantity of types of the Roman letter, as 
 well as the Turkish and Greek character. The Roman types had been chiefly 
 pillaged from the French ambassador's palace, at the time when war was declared. 
 There were also in this building rooms for different departments of drawing ; and 
 I was surprised in going over them to find, in one upon the first story, a mortar 
 for bombs, cast at Douay, ornamented with thejieur-de-lys, and mounted upon its 
 carriage. There is no doubt, if the Turks retain Monsieur Ricard at the head of 
 this academy, that they will soon have geographers who may furnish them with 
 
 * In the Travels of Monsieur Castellan are some interesting particulars relative to several models for 
 the use of the maiine, which were sent to Constantinople from France at the desire of Sultan Selim. 
 Among these was a model of the celebrated basin at Toulon, for careening vessels. — Translator. 
 
 2 S 2 
 
316 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 excellent maps of their provinces ; but I would be cautious, if my voice is likelv 
 to have any influence, of saying too much in commendation of this institution ; 
 it would be sufficient to excite suspicion, and put an end to it entirely. 
 
 I was but just returned to Constantinople from my visit to .Monsieur Fonton, 
 at Bo'ioukdeyre, when Monsieur Ruffin desired me to go without delay to Fana- 
 raki, on the Black Sea, and give my attendance professionally to Monsieur 
 Beauchamp, whose health was in a very dangerous state. 1 had known this gen- 
 tleman in Egypt : lie was a member of the same commission to which I had the 
 honour to belong, and friendship, no less than duty, urged me to pay immediate 
 •attention to Monsieur Ruftin's application. An order was remitted me for the 
 pasha of the castles on the Black Sea, to give me admittance at Fanaraki, and 
 I was also charged with a firman, granting liberty to the prisoner. Furnished 
 with these documents, and accompanied by two janissaries, I lost no time, but set 
 oft" by land, lest, if I had attempted going by water, contrary winds might have 
 occasioned some delay. 
 
 Our route lay through Bo'ioukdeyre, and a little further on we passed one of 
 the seven castles under the jurisdiction of the pasha to whom my order was 
 addressed. It stands at the bottom of a creek, and I observed that it was mounted 
 with thirty-six pieces of artillery. We then ascended a rugged mountain, covered 
 with scoria- ; I saw many of the oaks that bear the kermes ; and I observed that 
 as we approached the Black Sea the country became constantly more naked and 
 sterile. At sunset we arrived at a village very near the sea, situated on the 
 southern shore of a bay encompassed with rocks, and which faces the island of 
 Cvanea. It is inhabited by Albanian Turks, the greater part of whom were now- 
 smoking their pipes in a kiosque. Some of them began to insult me; but when 
 I addressed them in their own language, surprised to hear an European speaking 
 it with facility, and complaining of their treatment without fear, their tone was 
 changed, they invited me to sit down by them, and spoke to me in a very friendly 
 manner. I attributed their complaisance, however, partly to my janissaries having 
 quitted me for a moment; so that, when they returned, I hastened to depait from 
 a place, of the hospitality of which I had no reason to think highly. 
 
 We made the circuit of the bay, or rather the rugged excavation of Fanarak:. 
 commanded by the hill of tiypopoli, in order to ascend to the castle, which was 
 to the north of the village we had quitted. At sight of the firman the prison 
 doors were opened, and I was immediately conducted to the dungeon where lay 
 my friend. What a spectacle was presented to me! — The unfortunate Beauchamp, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 5] 7 
 
 struggling against death, was roused by the sound of my voice; I was the first 
 fellow-countryman he had seen since he was in this place; I seemed almost as a 
 friend descended from heaven, and his eyes were filled with tears. I approached 
 the miserable bed on which he was lying, and found him in a burning fever, at- 
 tended with violent pain in the side ; a barber had opened a vein for him, I was 
 afraid, too late. I administered such remedies as I thought expedient, and was 
 delighted to see that my presence at least, if not my remedies, certainly soothed 
 his sufferings ; but soon the mephitic vapours, united with the filth of his dun- 
 geon, produced such an effect upon me that I lost my senses, and the guards were 
 obliged to carry me out into the air. When I recovered, my first anxiety was to 
 have my friend removed from so horrible a place; but in vain did I entreat, offer 
 all the money I had about me, and storm : nothing would do, the guards were in- 
 flexible ; the pasha was absent, and the prisoner must remain in the dungeon. Here 
 therefore I was obliged to remain with him. 
 
 Towards midnight he felt himself so much relieved by a blister which 1 had 
 applied, that he would give me the detail of his misfortunes. In vain did I 
 represent that talking would be injurious to him; he persisted, and I was forced 
 to listen to a narrative which indeed wounded me to the soul. Arrested notion" 
 after our army landed in Egypt, he had been twenty-eight months in a miserable 
 dungeon when I first found the means of corresponding with him ; for I have 
 already mentioned that we who were confined in the Seven Towers had succeeded 
 in establishing an intercourse of letters with our fellow-prisoners in other parts. 
 The victories recently obtained by the French armies in Italy had occasioned 
 some relaxation in the severity with which he was treated, and he had now for a 
 short time been permitted to come out once every week, and walk in the court of 
 the castle ; the pasha had often seized this opportunity of walking there in order 
 to meet him. But the unwholesomeness of the place where he had been con- 
 fined had totally undermined his constitution, and he was struck with a mortal 
 blow at the very moment when the term of his captivity was on the point of ex- 
 piring: he was consequently less sensible to the pleasure of being restored to 
 liberty than to that of seeing a fellow-countryman. 
 
 It was on the twenty-seventh of August that I joined him in his prison. On 
 the twenty-eighth towards morning he got some sleep, by which he was somewhat 
 relieved. The same day we were joined by. a young Corsican surgeon, named 
 Merotti, who divided with me the cares which our patient required. This day he 
 was revived far beyond my hopes, and he would fain have taken advantage of it, 
 
318 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to dictate some important notes which he wished me to take down ; but I refused, 
 afraid that he would fatigue himself, and this I knew might be attended with 
 very disastrous consequences. In fact, towards evening the alarming symptoms 
 returned with more force than before, on which he entreated me so earnestly to 
 receive his instructions for making his will, that I could resist no longer. He 
 thought his last moments approaching very fast, and indeed such were my appre- 
 hensions. Towards midnight, however, he was again visibly much revived ; and 
 continuing to amend the two following days, I then, to satisfy him, consented to 
 his embarking for Constantinople. I thought him dying, however, when we 
 arrived there. Happily, in this I was mistaken ; he again revived, and lived to 
 breathe his last, as he wished, in France. He died at Nice, a short time after his 
 arrival there. 
 
 This excellent man was nephew and grand vicar to Monsieur Mirondot, bishop 
 of Babylon. The vessel in which they were going together from France to the 
 East, was shipwrecked off the coast of Cyprus, which occasioned the uncle to 
 return to Paris; but the nephew proceeded to Babylon, and arrived at Bagdad 
 in 17S2. He devoted himself to the study of astronomy, and fixed the longitude 
 and latitude of Bagdad ; he made several journeys to the ruins of Babylon and 
 Hella, and communicated many of his astronomical discoveries to Monsieur de 
 Lalande, by whom they were published in the Journal des Savans. Monsieur 
 Beauchamp afterwards descended the Euphrates from Hella to Bassora, to observe 
 the longitude and latitude of that place. On another occasion he went to Diarbekir 
 by land, and acquired all the information that it was possible to procure respecting 
 Mesopotamia. From thence he proceeded to Persia, where he determined the 
 longitude and latitude of Ispahan and Casbina, the latter of which is an impor- 
 tant point for ascertaining the position of the southern part of the Caspian Sea; a 
 subject upon which astronomers were not at all agreed. Various papers respecting 
 this journey were printed in the Connaissance des Temps. Monsieur Beauchamp 
 afterwards returned to France by the way of the Desert, that is to say by Hil and 
 Ana, making in his route many interesting observations upon the nature of the 
 country. He has compiled maps of his different routes, all which are now in 
 manuscript at the Depot de la Guerre. 
 
 After a short stay at Paris he prepared for another journey, which he wished 
 to render if possible more useful than the former. In consequence of the differ- 
 ences existing between geographers with respect to the position of the southern 
 part of the Caspian Sea, it was necessary to establish accurately the length of the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 319 
 
 Black Sea. Monsieur Beauchamp being appointed consul at Mascatta, proceed- 
 ed by the way of Venice to Patras, and thence by Nauplia di Romania to Con- 
 stantinople. He was accompanied by a young student in astronomy, a youth of 
 great hopes, who died at the Turkish capital at their return from the Black Sea. 
 Not being able to obtain a passport from the Turks as astronomers, they solicited 
 one as naturalists, after the example of Tournefort ; but because the latter went 
 no further than Trebisond, that place was assigned as the limits of their journey. 
 They determined the longitudes and latitudes of all the points upon the coast, 
 examined the antiquities, and then returned to Constantinople. There Mon- 
 sieur Beauchamp drew a map of the southern coast of the Black Sea, which he 
 sent to Monsieur Lalande, and which rectifies former errors with regard to that 
 sea. An analysis of the labours of this astronomer is preserved in the Journal des 
 Savons, and in the Memoires de VAcadcmie. His subsequent detention by the 
 Turks prevented the prosecution of his designs, and finally deprived his country 
 of the talents which he had endeavoured to render so useful to her. 
 
 The intervals which I could spare from my attendance upon this excellent 
 man, during my stay at Fanaraki, were employed in examining the place and its 
 neighbourhood. This castle is intended to defend the entrance to the Bosphorus 
 from the Black Sea on the side of Europe, but the guns cannot reach any vessel 
 so as to be an annoyance to it. The spot in which it stands is one of great natural 
 strength, in the midst of rocks. It may be divided into two parts ; the first of which 
 on the side towards the land is a large court in form of a parallelogram, and in- 
 closed with high walls. On the north side is the pasha's house, built upon an 
 European model : to the east is the fort, which is a regular pohygon fortified by 
 French engineers. I counted twenty-five pieces of brass cannon, twenty-four and 
 thirty-six pounders; they are always loaded with balls for fear of the Russians ; 
 of these people the Turks live in constant apprehension. The sea breaks with great 
 violence against the rocks which form the base of this fort, and when very 
 strongly agitated it dashes quite up to the ramparts, so that between the roar of 
 the waves and the isolated situation of the castle, in a wild and desolate country, 
 it may be truly called an abode of horrors. If to this be added the brutality of 
 the guards by whom it is defended, the picture will be complete. I have seldom 
 seen a more repulsive set of countenances than those of the disdarlis here: how- 
 ever this was not the most material subject of complaint the prisoners had ; a 
 much greater was the brutality of their manners. It is a part of the office 
 of these soldiers to call in the night through a speaking-trumpet, and warn 
 
320 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 ships to keep at a distance: in order to prove their zeal, when there are no ships 
 at hand, they call to the neighbouring castles to keep on the alert, ai.d guard 
 their posts with due attention. 
 
 My friend's dungeon was within the polygon to the east. It was about fourteen 
 feet long and eight wide, paved with flag stones and extremely damp. The only 
 light admitted into it was by a hole of about a foot each way, in one corner of 
 the room, at the height of twelve feet from the ground. The door was never to 
 be opened more than twice in the day. Dreary as the abode was, a young Greek 
 servant had voluntarily engaged to remain here with his master. 
 
 At a little distance from the castle of Fanaraki is an almost perpendicular rock, 
 on which stands a light-house, for the purpose of indicating to vessels the entrance 
 of the Bosphorus. A little more to the south is the island of Cyanea, which is 
 nothing more than a rock, and like the other nearly perpendicular. The imagi- 
 nation of the ancients could alone have brought it into notice, by representing it 
 as a mass floating in the midst of the Euxine Sea. Monsieur Beauchamp recom- 
 mended to me to examine a block of white marble there, which some of the 
 learned suppose to be an altar, but which is called by the people of the country, 
 I know not on what authority, Pompey's pillar. The shore of Fanaraki is frightful, 
 from the tremendous waves that break against it, and from the cold winds that 
 always blow there. At a little distance from the castle to the north lies the valley 
 of Domousdeyre, at the eastern extremity of which are the ruins of a tower sup- 
 posed to be that where Ovid died in exile*. 
 
 The view of the Black Sea is melancholy and monotonous. During the four 
 days that I remained upon its shores I saw nothing moving along the surface but 
 a few caiques, bound towards the Crimea or the mouths of the Danube, and a few 
 other small vessels, which only appeared in the horizon to be lost again in a few 
 minutes. But if the prospect be melancholy in summer, it is ten times more so 
 in winter. All trade then ceasing with the ports of the Black Sea, because of 
 the tempests by which it is agitated, nothing but the image of chaos is presented 
 from the moment the Bosphorus is passed. In all times upon this inland ocean 
 one seems to navigate under a different heaven ; yet timidity and want of expe- 
 
 * Dr. Clarke in the first part of his admirable Travels enters upon a very learned and interesting dis- 
 cussion concerning the nature of the country at the entrance of the Bosphorus from the Euxine, and the 
 probable causes that led in remote ages to the opening of this curious Strait. It is accompanied with a. 
 beautiful engraving of the spot. — Translator 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 321 
 
 rience lead the navigators who frequent the sea to magnify the dangers. Such was 
 the opinion of Monsieur Beauchamp. I was extremely gratified by listening to 
 the details he gave me respecting the different places he had visited, and they 
 were rendered more interesting by the partial knowledge of the countries which 
 I had myself acquired. I regret very much that I was not able to avail myself 
 more satisfactorily of my intercourse with him in the latter moments of his life, 
 for obtaining, by means of the notes he had taken, a further acquaintance with 
 the history and commerce of the Black Sea. 
 
 When Monsieur Beauchamp was sufficiently amended, after our return to 
 Constantinople, to permit of my leaving him, I made an excursion to the Isles of 
 the Princes, known formerly under the name of Demonesi. I had learnt that 
 our return into France was definitively arranged ; and Monsieur Fleurat, one of 
 the drogmans of France, having invited me to accompany him to Prinkipo, I was 
 very glad to accept the invitation. To this place from Constantinople is a navi- 
 gation of four hours. The town of Prinkipo runs along the eastern shore of the 
 island, upon the very edge of the sea ; some persons have even encroached so far 
 upon the dominions of Neptune as to build pavilions upon piles absolutely in the 
 water. From hence there is a view of Constantinople, of the little Archipelago of 
 Demonesi, and of the coast of Asia: the island to the west forms an amphitheatre, 
 scattered over with woods which present a very pleasant and rural appearance. 
 The island of Prinkipo itself is well cultivated and has some fine trees : people 
 come here very much from Constantinople to enjoy the air free from the constraint 
 of the capital. At a very pretty spot called The iVell there was dancing in the 
 evening, in which we joined, and passed our time very agreeably, nor did the 
 company separate till a pretty late hour. 
 
 The next morning I wandered about the island: the soil every where red, and 
 covered with pyrites of copper, appears to have been formed from volcanic matter. 
 The water is very apt to disagree with strangers ; but the effect goes off in a few 
 days, and is felt no more, unless after disusing it for some time and then return- 
 ing to it again. As we were now in the month of September, the people were 
 preparing to shoot the quails, which at this period come in large bodies in 
 their way to Asia. The shooters were surprised that they had not yet appeared, 
 a week of the month having already elapsed, and were watching eagerly for rain, 
 in the assurance that whenever any fell the birds would arrive within four-and- 
 tvventy hours. 
 
 The Archipelago of the Princes consists of the islands of Proti, Antigona, 
 
 2 T 
 
322 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 Clialki, Prinkipo, Coniglio, and Ostritzia, besides a number of mere rocks. 
 Coniglio is entirely wild, and inhabited only by rabbits and wild pigeons, the 
 latter of which build their nests in the rocks: it is so covered with bushes and 
 bristled with points of rocks, that one cannot walk about it without extreme dif- 
 ficulty and fatigue. When I had well examined Prinkipo, I made a party to go 
 to Chalki, a distance of about a league. Here we visited the monastery of the 
 Trinity, and the caloyers conducted us to a large kiosque or pavilion, built by 
 prince lpsilanti, where they gave us a repast of olives, anchovies, a sort of alga 
 pickled, hot bread, brackish water, and white wine. From this place we had 
 a fine view over the sea of Marmara to the west, with a little port just below us 
 called Chamjiman, or the port of Poplars, thus named because of the number of 
 these trees that grow in its vicinity. 
 
 The caloyers told us that the evening before, forty pirates had landed upon 
 their territory, who had obliged the superior to give them provisions and money, 
 and to say a mass to them. 'Tis thus that these islands are infested with such 
 visitors even within sight of Constantinople ; and though by a tolerably well esta- 
 blished police the abuse might easily be corrected, the government is too weak 
 to think of repelling their depredations. The monks invited us to go over their 
 monastery : it is surrounded by high walls, and very capable of resisting pirates. 
 I had been previously informed that they had a picture of the Last Judgement, in 
 which they had gratified themselves by placing their enemies the Turks in the 
 Lower Regions. I therefore inquired particularly for it ; but I was surprised to 
 find at the head of the condemned, a Greek drogman of the Porte, with his calpah 
 or felt cap upon his head. It is indeed but a miserable daubing; yet the monks 
 place a high value upon it, and keep it carefully, though they are obliged to 
 brave many disagreeable circumstances for its preservation. In the interior of 
 the convent are spacious galleries and large apartments, which are kept very 
 clean. I was shown in one of them some bees, who had established themselves 
 between the shutters and glass of a window : the pious solitaries seemed to have 
 very great pleasure in watching the progress of their industry. 
 
 We afterwards visited the churches, which are very neat. We made our offer- 
 ings in them, to indemnify the monks for the repast they had given us. They are 
 visited perpetually by the Greeks, who come to salute the altars, and make the 
 sign of the cross before them. The mariners here never go out to fish without 
 invoking a certain St. George who is in high repute among them, and promising 
 him a tribute of wax tapers. But if the winds prove contrary, or the quantity of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 323 
 
 fish taken does not answer their expectations, instead of pious orisons to the saint, 
 they load him with abuse, calling him paximado clefli, or stealer of biscuit. The 
 soil of Cbalki seems very analogous with that of Prinkipo : the island is cultivated 
 to the very edge of the sea, the summits are covered with pines, and the water 
 is generally bad. Many persons prefer this island to Prinkipo as a place of 
 residence, and indeed I think it the more beautiful of the 1 two. As' we were 
 pressed for time, I could not visit some hamlets inhabited by Greeks ; but rejoin- 
 ing our boat, which had gone round to the southern extremity of Chalki, we 
 returned to our head-quarters. 
 
 We passed four days at these islands ; but then thought it prudent to return to 
 Constantinople, as our departure might take place almost at any time. We had 
 scarcely quitted the shore of Prinkipo when the wind changed and became con- 
 trary. Our sailors, who were Greeks, would fain have veered and returned to port; 
 nor was it without many promises and entreaties that we could persuade them to 
 brave the weather so as to put us on shore at the fort of L'Epee, which is in Asia, 
 opposite Prinkipo. When we were about to land here, we prevailed on them, by 
 dint of new promises, to proceed to Chalcedon ; but as the wind continued in- 
 creasing, we found it impossible to double the point of Asiatic Fanaraki, and were 
 obliged to anchor at the bottom of the bay of Chalcedon. Fanaraki of Asia is not 
 like the dreary spot which bears the same name in Europe: it is a very pleasant 
 promontory, where verdant meadow's and beautiful fountains, shaded by fine trees, 
 unite to charm and allure the traveller. On the top of the promontory is a small 
 light-house. Near it are some ruins, which the Greeks would fain pass offas those 
 of an ancient edifice; but I believe them to be very modern ones of a Greek church. 
 
 Our Greeks, espying a Barbary vessel in the creek where we had taken refuge, 
 would not quit their boat ; they were afraid of being taken and carried to Algiers, 
 and would therefore run the vessel aground. As we* were somewhat embarrassed 
 by the effects we had with us, one of the Barbaresques, who with some of his 
 companions was upon the shore, spoke tous in good French, and offered to go 
 and find us a porter. We accepted the offer, and he soon returned with one ; but 
 on our inquiring who he was, he only said that he was not a Frenchman, but had 
 lately been in Egypt, w,here he was well treated. He then hastily disappeared. 
 
 We hired horses at Chalcedon to go to Scutari. By the way we met with a 
 numerous party of Tchinguenets, or Bohemians, (gipsies,) encamped in a field. 
 These people, who belong to no country, wander about the Turkish empire like 
 the Farias in India. Mixed, confounded together, fathers, mothers, sons, and 
 
 2 T 2 
 
324 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 daughters, they in appearance profess the Mussulman faith, but are not the more 
 exempted from the tribute of the caratch. They amuse the Turks by their 
 dances, and some tolerably pleasing music with which they are accompanied. 
 Their physiognomy speaks a high degree of moral depravity, and they appear 
 strangers to all the principles that form the foundation of human societies. 
 Among them are some who call themselves Egyptian Almees *. The Turks 
 hold these vagabonds in such extreme contempt, that their name is a term of 
 reproach, and to be suspected of inclining to their manners the highest possible 
 affront. They never come into the towns, but. remain sometimes for many days 
 together encamped on the same spot in the fields, living by their legerdemain 
 tricks, robbery, and prostitution. 
 
 Scutari is so well known, that I forbear entering into any description of it. 
 I shall only observe, that sumptuous barracks have lately been built there, and 
 a considerable body of bostandgis are lodged in them, who are to be trained 
 according to the European discipline. In the neighbourhood are several magni- 
 ficent cemeteries. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Description of the sultan's gardens, and of the summer harem. 
 
 Having made an acquaintance with the Grand Signior's gardener, who was 
 a German, a native of Rastadt, by name Jaques, he promised to show me and my 
 companion Fornier the gardens of the seraglio f. For this acquaintance, and 
 the consequent opportunity of gratifying my curiosity, I was indebted to Mon- 
 sieur Melling, a friend of the gardener's, and painter to the hadidge sultana. We 
 
 * A sort of vagrant dancers in^gypt. 
 
 ■\ As it is a thing hitherto unheard of for a traveller to say that he has penetrated into the interior of 
 the sultan's palace, I can cite as witnesses of the truth of my relation ray conductor Monsieur Melling, 
 author ot Picturesque Travels in the East, now resident in Paris; my friend and companion Fornier, 
 now Commissaire de la guerre, and a member of the legion of honour ; and lastly, Monsieur Jaques the 
 gardener, by whom we were introduced, and who is now living at Rastadt. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 3? 5, 
 
 went accordingly, on the tenth of September, with Monsieur Melling, and land- 
 ing at the Seraglio point, proceeded just beyond J.ni Kiosque, when we entered 
 the inclosure of the sultan's palace by Dermin-Capi, or the Mill-Gate, upon the 
 sea-shore below Hastalik Odassi, or the apartment of the sick. 
 
 As our guide was known to the bostandgis, who were upon guard at this 
 entrance, they suffered us to pass when we had gone through the customary ce- 
 remony of giving them a few parats. Jaques, who expected us, appeared at the 
 same time, and invited us to his apartments; to arrive there we passed the Dermin 
 or mill. The apartments consisted of three rooms, which were painted with some 
 taste, but had no view except upon an old pigeon-house. After resting for a few 
 minutes, we proceeded to visit the sultan's gardens, passing anew by the post of 
 bostandgis. We were then between the first and second ramparts of the town, 
 which form the natural fortifications of the seraglio on the side to the sea ; for the 
 palace is, properly speaking, a town within itself, having its walls crowned with 
 battlements, its bastions, and its gates, like an old fortified place *. The distance 
 between the two ramparts appeared to me about two hundred feet. To the north 
 is a paved road, which leads to a gate in the second rampart belonging to the 
 Hasne or imperial treasury. This is a vast edifice covered' with slabs of marble near 
 the column of Arcadius, which will be mentioned in due time. Upon the right of 
 this road is a wall of separation, which forms the western side of the garden ; be- 
 fore it is a square of the width comprised between the walls, where the sultan's 
 suite range themselves when he enters or quits his palace at this spot. Upon the 
 left is a place inclosed on three sides with a palisade, the fourth side being formed 
 by the rampart. This is a sort of garden filled' with shrubs ; such as early roses, he- 
 liotropes, and others, distributed in clumps. There are, besides, several beams, and 
 a great deal of rubbish lying about. Between the first rampart and the palisade is 
 a sort of road, which communicates with the Hastalik Odassi, and there are several 
 posts scattered along to the extremity of the sultan's palace. Here there is a trans- 
 verse wall, at the foot of which runs a drain that comes from the kitchen of the 
 seraglio, and falls into the sea. 
 
 Upon the whole there is nothing here worthy of remark except the wall of the 
 second inclosure, which is covered with ivy, and some pedestals of columns, most 
 of them half sunk into the earth. About forty paces from the station of the bo- 
 
 * Dr. Clarke says that the seraglio occupies the whole site of the ancient Byzantium.— Trans~ 
 
 LATOX. 
 
326 TRAVELS IN T THE MOREA. 
 
 standgis, following the road to the llasne, we arrived at the entrance of the sultan's 
 garden. The gateway is of white marble, about fifteen feet high by four wide, 
 decorated with columns in a very bad taste. They support a plain lintel, on which 
 is carved the cypher of Sultan Selim the Third. We were received here by six 
 Armenians, who were the servants of Monsieur Paul. He, in older to accompany 
 us, had put on a Turkish dress before he quitted his own house. 
 
 A treilkige twenty-five feet high, and fifteen wide, extremely massy, forms a cross, 
 running each way from one side to the other of the garden, dividing it into four 
 equal divisions. In the centre of the cross it forms a dome over a small basin of 
 white marble, in which is a jet-d'eau. Jaques ordered some of the men to make it 
 play, but the water did not rise above six feet. It was indeed an exhibition much 
 b^elow mediocrity. The four square-? formed by this cross are planted with flowers ; 
 and in the middle of each are basins again with jets-d"eau quite in miniature. That 
 to the left as we entered appeared the most singular of them. After the water has 
 risen to the height of about four feet, it divides like a parasol ; and each stream falls 
 upon a shell on the circuit of the basin, which again divides it into an infinite num- 
 ber of still smaller streams, scarcely bigger than threads. I contemplated this chef- 
 d'oeuvre for some minutes, and thought it very pretty for amusing children. The 
 treillage, a work truly German, seems from its solidity calculated to brave the inju- 
 ries of time for a long series of years. It is covered with jessamine, which perfumes 
 the whole garden: and to say the truth, it has no difficult task to perform ; for the 
 inclosure is so small, that there can hardly be said to be sufficient space for the 
 air to circulate freely. 
 
 To the right, which is the side towards the sea, the treillage leads to the kiosque 
 of the grand signor, called Jeni-Kiosque, the new pavilion. Three circular steps 
 lead up to it, which occupy, in the semi-circle they form, the portion of the kiosque 
 that projects into the garden. The steps are of white marble, three feet broad 
 and six inches high. Instead of a door, a large painted canvass hanging from the 
 roof like a curtain closes the entrance of the kiosque, giving it in this part the 
 appearance of a tent. We put it aside to enter, and I was most agreeably sur- 
 prised at the elegance of the interior. It is of an elliptical form, the largest 
 diameter being thirty-six feet ; this runs from the curtain to the windows, which 
 look upon the sea. The painting round the sides was executed by Europeans ; 
 it represents a colonnade, the cornices being richly painted, and gilt with great 
 taste; in the intervals between the columns are glasses, and some paintings of 
 flowers which seemed well preserved. In the centre hung a beautiful glass lustre. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 327 
 
 presented to the Grand Signor by Lord Elgin, in the name, it is said, of his master 
 the king of England. A number of cages with canary birds were hanging about : 
 these little creatures sung charmingly, and had been taught to draw water. The 
 sultan's sofa ; was placed on the side next the sea, but had nothing remarkable in, 
 it; and there was a fountain of crystal, from which flowed very fine clear water, 
 destined for the ablutions. Perceiving that the floor was only covered with painted 
 cloth, I testified my surprise at it; but Monsieur Melling told me that this began 
 to be a prevailing fashion in the seraglio. The view from the building is de- 
 lightful, and the sultan loves exceedingly to come here and enjoy the sight of the 
 sea covered with vessels, and little pleasure-boats handsomely gilt, crossing each 
 other in every direction. 
 
 About fifteen paces from this kiosque, running along the same rampart, is a 
 terrace of about fifty feet in length and twelve in breadth, adorned with flowers, 
 which has lately been turned into a conservatory. At the end is a crenated 
 bastion, from the top of which any one may see very plainly what is passing in 
 the port without being perceived from below. This also commands the interior 
 of the harem, but it is not possible to see the women. Quitting the terrace to 
 return into the garden, I saw a staircase which descended under ground, and which 
 a little way down was barricadoed by an iron grate. I could not help inquiring 
 whither this might lead, for the place seemed to me more like one of the common 
 sewers of Paris than any thing else. They told me that it was the secret way by 
 which the sultan descends into a kiosque underneath Jeni- Kiosque, where he goes- 
 sometimes to smoke. I found that it also led to some little iron gates upon the 
 shore, the use of which I had hitherto in vain inquired. By means of these the 
 sultan can, without any train or bustle, get secretly on board a bark and escape ins 
 case of an insurrection, or any other danger by which he may be menaced. Troops 
 might even be concealed there, which he could bring out suddenly as if they 
 sprung from the earth. 
 
 The garden I was now in, and which is the largest of those that belong to the/ 
 grand signor, is not more than a hundred and twenty paces long and fifty broad. 
 At the eastern extremity is a hot-house, where Jaques was cultivating a.number. 
 of foreign plants and flowers with great care. The hot-house was little better. 
 than a shed ; under it were a number of benches rising in a stage one above the 
 other, with the flower pots ranged upon them. Among the plants, some from. 
 Abyssinia and the Cape held a distinguished rank for their superior fragrance. At 
 the north end of the hot- house is a grated door,. called the golden gate, perhaps. 
 
328 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 because there is a little gilding about it. A gentle descent, paved with flints of 
 various colours, leads from this to an iron gate called Boiouk-Harem-Capoussi, or 
 the great gate of the harem ; this is in the second rampart: it is the way by 
 which the sultan goes from his own palace to the gardens and harem of his 
 women. I endeavoured in vain to find some little peep-hole, by means of which 
 my eye might penetrate into the secret recesses within ; — places which are no 
 doubt extremely embellished by fiction, and would lose mucli by being better 
 known, and described only such as they really are. To the left, near the door of 
 the harem, is an iron gate leading into a garden, or rather upon a terrace raised 
 five-and-twenty feet high, which looks down upon thegarden we had just quitted. 
 Here we found nothing but a red and parched soil, with a few withered plants. 
 An aviary had been made by order of the Sultana Valide, and this, according to 
 the ideas of the Turks, is the most curious thing upon the terrace. Its other 
 ornaments consist of an arm chair in white marble, of an antique form, on 
 which the sultan sometimes sits to enjoy the view of the Bosphorus ; and 
 some basins, the jets d'eau to which could not be played off because there was 
 no water. 
 
 At the end of this terrace, opposite to the gate at which we entered, is a gallery 
 called Hassan Pasha's kiosque. It is entirely open to the east, both in its length 
 and height. The ceiling is remarkable by the load of gilding, and by glasses 
 which are fixed into it in such a way that the surrounding objects are reflected on 
 every side. This gallery was once the sultan's favourite kiosque, but it now ap- 
 pears quite neglected, and the swallows have built their nests in the cornices. As 
 it is no longer the custom to come hither, either to court or to get rid of ennui, 
 though I know not whether these are sensations known to a Mussulman, it is at 
 present made a receptacle for old furniture consigned to oblivion. Among the 
 things we were shown the ancient throne of the Turkish emperors; this is only 
 an arm chair very much carved and gilt, and loaded with suns. I observed a secre- 
 tary which is said to have been a present from Charles the Twelfth, king of Sweden, 
 and upon it there were indeed the arms of that country ; it is a curious specimen 
 of the arts when in their infancy. I could not decypher a number of sentences 
 in Turkish, in Persian, and in Arabic, which were inscribed upon the walls; but 
 I had the less regret upon the subject, knowing the value of these legends, and 
 that they cannot in general boast of much point. I measured the gallery, and 
 found it sixty feet long by fifteen wide. As the snow and rain driven by the 
 south winds have free admittance, it is to be presumed that it cannot be long 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 329 
 
 before the building falls entirely into ruins. I went over this garden several times, 
 examining every part minutely in hopes of finding some Greek or Latin inscrip- 
 tions ; but I examined in vain, nothing of the kind was to be found. 
 
 The excavation of the rampart to the second inclosure made me however some 
 amends, by permitting me to look into the interior of the palace, and Monsieur 
 Melling pointed out to me the column of Arcadius, mentioned by P. Gyllius. It 
 is of white marble perfectly well preserved, and of the Corinthian order ; the 
 height sixty feet. Its base I could not see: but Monsieur Melling, who has taken 
 a complete drawing of it, told me that it was covered with Greek inscriptions ; 
 he could not however decypher them. Near this spot I remarked a sort of manage, 
 where they were dressing the horses. I believe there was a hippodrome here at 
 the time of the Lower Empire, so that the destination of the place is not materially 
 altered. Near this column is the winter harem of the ladies belonging to the 
 Grand Signor, the treasure of treasures, the place too sacred to be seen by any but 
 the sovereign and the black eunuchs. Feeling myself near these abodes separated 
 from all the world, the idea of the library belonging to the emperors of the East 
 occurred to my mind ; and I was so struck with the probability of its still containing 
 some curious manuscripts, that I could have exposed myself to the greatest dan- 
 gers for the sake of exploring it, if there had been the least chance of succeeding. 
 
 I quitted this dismal garden, this kiosqueof Hassan Pasha, perfectly undeceived 
 as to the chimseras with which my imagination had been previously filled. I had 
 formerly read the letters of Lady Montague, and 1 seriously believed that I was to 
 find/walls incrusted with emeralds and sapphires, parterres enamelled with flowers, 
 in short the voluptuous palace of Armida. I could not help, therefore, making use of 
 some pretty strong expressions in venting my spleen against this lady : her account 
 is indeed drawn from the sources furnished by her own brilliant imagination. Jaques 
 however came, and in some degree dissipated my ill-humour by saying that he 
 had procured the keys of the summer harem ; and as the women were not there, 
 the sultan being at that time at Bechik-Tasch, we might go s and see their apart- 
 ments. We were transported; and this time my companion Fornier, though he 
 had more than once charged me with being too adventurous, was no less eager than 
 myself. We quitted the burning garden, then, to visit the harem. — The harem of 
 the sultan 1 the promised paradise !— here indeed it was impossible that we should 
 not be enchanted ! Lady Montague was now about to triumph. 
 
 In leaving the garden I cast my eyes once more towards the column, the only 
 
 2u 
 
330 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 object that I quitted with regret. I descended the slope along which the absolute 
 monarch bends his steps when he honours with his presence the beauties conse- 
 crated to his caprices ; J examined these iron gates, these masses of brass, these 
 grates by which they are shut up from the world, — I cast a last look towards that 
 solitary palace where lives the great king, surrounded by the apparatus of terror 
 which follows him every where, — I thought of the adulation, of the fatiguing 
 homage of which he is the object, — of the walls mouldering away by time, — of the 
 golden prisons, — of the wretched existence of a prince entrenched in his capital, 
 surrounded with guards wherever he goes, — 1 thought of the subterranean passages 
 by the side of his kiosque, through which he might be at any moment driven by 
 terror, — I thought of the cares, the embarrassments of his government agitated by- 
 war, by dissentions, and revolts ; — all these things were passing in my mind, and 
 I was strongly deprecating the misery of such a life when the first door of the 
 harem was opened. 
 
 Had a single black eunuch been now at his post, a poniard might have been the 
 only satisfaction our curiosity would have received; but these people were fortunately 
 all at Bechik-Tasch in attendance upon their victims. Notwithstanding this, Mon- 
 sieur Jaques recommended silence to us, permitting me however to take any notes- 
 upon the spot that I might wish. We were introduced by the gate I have already 
 mentioned, called Kutchuk-Harem-Capoussi : the enormous size of the key and 
 the noise made by the gate grating upon its hinges, united with the solitude and. 
 sacredness of the place, seemed at first to strike us all with a sort of awe. A second- 
 door which was of wood, and not more than a dozen feet from the first, then pra\ 
 sented itself: this our guide opened, but shut it again immediately, because he 
 perceived some Turks in the interior of the court ; he even thought it prudent to 
 make us retire into a part of the building where the female slaves are lodged, and 
 keep us concealed there a while. 
 
 This building occupies a part of the space comprised between the two doors ; 
 but as the entrance to it is in the interior of the court, we were obliged to force a 
 shutter and get in by a window upon the ground floor. While we were waiting 
 here I examined the apartment of the female slaves, which is upon the first floor. 
 It is a vast gallery three hundred feet in length, forty-five in breadth, and twenty 
 in height, with a range of windows on each side, and divided down the whole 
 length by a double row of closets, painted some red, some blue, some white, 
 forming two distinct ranges one above, the other, and in these the slaves keep 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 331 
 
 whatever property they have. Near the windows are little spaces surrounded with 
 a balustrade three feet high, and furnished with sofas on which the Odaliscas sleep, 
 in parties of fifteen each. Between them and the range of closets runs a corridor, 
 or walk, six feet wide, which goes all round the gallery. As the doors of some of 
 the closets were open, curiosity led me to examine the treasures within; but some 
 miserable garments of Aleppo stuff gave me no high idea of the splendour of the 
 Odaliscas. I pitied their fate, however, very sincerely, when on calculating the 
 number of compartments I perceived that there was provision made for lodging 
 three hundred and fifty women ; and thus packed together, the idea of the me- 
 phkic vapours with which it must then be filled, notwithstanding the height of 
 the cieling, struck me irresistibly. At each end of the gallery is a staircase, closed 
 above by a sort of folding trap-doors, which from their weight are difficult to be 
 raised. They are fastened with iron bars across them instead of locks. Some tapers 
 of yellow wax, in candlesticks which are hung up very high, throw a gloom rather 
 than a light over this abode, in perfect conformity with the wretched purpose to 
 which it is destined. 
 
 The Turks whom Jaques had seen detained us here more than an hour ; but as 
 soon as they had retired, we retreated through the window by which we had entered, 
 and the second door being again opened, we descended into the court of the harem. 
 This, however, our guide desired us to quit immediately, for fear of being seen ; 
 and he led us up into the apartments of the sultanas. The court on the side to- 
 wards the sea is two hundred and fifty paces long. This was the only one that I 
 could measure. The apartments in this part of the building are the most magnifi- 
 cent; below is a colonnade, which forms a sort of gallery or cloister. The columns 
 are of white Parian marble, and at the distance of about fifteen feet from each 
 other. They stand upon socles of bronze, which were formerly gilt; are regularly 
 proportioned, and are terminated by Ionian capitals. In the intermediate spaces 
 hang, instead of elegant chandeliers, a parcel of wretched lamps, which just afford 
 light sufficient for the people to see their way about at night. The walls of the 
 court and the pavement by no means correspond with the elegance of the columns. 
 The latter have, probably, by some chance been preserved here. 
 
 The building opposite the colonnade stands against the second rampart of the 
 seraglio, which here takes a different direction. It contains three pavilions for 
 sultanas, separated from each other within, though forming one connected range 
 of building. They are painted of different colours. The side to the garden, by 
 which we entered, is allotted to the slaves ; and here also is the kitchen. 
 
 2v 2 
 
33% TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Opposite to this is a high crenated wall, with a door which leads into a second 
 court, where are the apartments of the black eunuchs, and the kislar-aga or chief 
 of this body. The space within the square is laid out as a garden, but is very ill 
 kept ; it is divided from east to west by a terrace. It was here that the feast of 
 tulips was formerly held ; but this has been long abolished. According to all ap- 
 pearance it must have been a very poor thing; but the pens of romance writers 
 can embellish objects the most ordinary, and make them appear of prodigious 
 importance. Some clumps of lilacs and jessamine, some weeping willows hanging 
 over a basin, and some silk-trees, are the only ornaments of this imaginary Eden ; 
 and these the women themselves take a pleasure ill destroying as soon as a flower 
 appears by which their curiosity is excited. 
 
 We ascended a staircase in the centre of the gallery formed by the colonnade, 
 and entered the apartment of the first sultana ; for the sultan's wives, to the 
 number of seven, are distinguished by their numerical order, though with no 
 other privileges attached to their priority than those which they obtain by be- 
 coming mothers. It was a large square room looking upon the court : the cornices 
 were loaded with gilding, and the walls with glasses. There was no furniture except 
 some mahogany commodes, the sofas having been carried to Bechik-Tasch for 
 the use of the sultana during her residence there. This seems a proof that their 
 highnesses are not very rich in furniture. 
 
 From the apartment of the first sultana we followed a narrow and winding cor- 
 ridor to that of the sultana valid?, or sultan's mother. It is built partly upon the 
 kiosque, well known by the beautiful marble pillars * which are seen on the out- 
 side from the quay, as the kiosque of the sultana valide. The part which looks 
 upon the court differs very little from the apartment we had already seen, except- 
 ing in the furniture. There were two secretaries ornamented with fleurs-de-lys, 
 a large crystal lustre in the ancient Gothic taste, and some sofas of rich Lyons 
 brocade, with several China vases for flowers. The ascent to the room over the 
 kiosque was by six steps, which ran along the whole side of the room. They were 
 covered with scarlet cloth, embroidered with gold at the corners. Above was an 
 estrade, with an oratory closed by a palisade door gilt. Here the sultana says her 
 namaz or prayers. We went into it, and I contemplated at leisure a number of 
 little objects, of which it would be tedious here to give a detail. A little gilt mi- 
 
 * These pillars are particularly mentioned by Dr. Clarke : he says that they " are of that beautiful and 
 rare breccia, the viride Lacedtemonium of Piiny, called by Italians il verde antico." — Translator. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 333 
 
 naret, which is seen on the outside, belongs to this oratory. From hence there is 
 a magnificent view over the Bosphorus. Upon the whole, it must be acknowledged 
 that nothing can be more ordinary than the furniture of this harem ; even the 
 rooms themselves are scarcely better than those inhabited by our modern bour- 
 geoises. This seems to prove beyond a doubt that Lady Montague never was here : 
 she had too much discernment to make so great a mistake as to give a splendid, 
 description of what is in truth extremely common and ordinary. 
 
 From the apartment of the sultana valide we went to the baths : this room is 
 entirely of white marble. The sultan's bath cannot be, I think, the work of the 
 Turks; it has much more the appearance of having been an ancient sarcophagus,, 
 or something belonging to an ancient temple, now converted to its present use. 
 The - apartment of the bath is not at all in the eastern style, it is much more in the 
 taste of ours in Europe. The slabs of the pavement are so well united, that the 
 whole has the appearance of being one single piece ; and it is very highly po- 
 lished. The walls are not less elegant ; and the vaulted roof is curved in a very 
 good taste, but without figures. 1 could not find out to whom the credit of con- 
 structing this building, or carving the marble columns, was to be ascribed. The 
 bath may indeed be mentioned in the highest terms without violating truth ; it is 
 probably the most worth seeing of any thing in the seraglio.. The water comes ins 
 by golden cocks. What an atmosphere of odours is breathed there ! How different 
 from the baths in the town, where the heavy vapour of soap strikes the senses the 
 moment one enters! I did indeed admire this place : it is worthy of the arts, and 
 is so substantial that one may hope there is nothing to be apprehended for it from, 
 the ravages of time. The apartments on the other side of the court presented 
 nothing very particular, except a kiosque of the sultan's called the Kiosque of 
 Glasses, where there are five handsome pier-glasses, the remains of a much larger 
 number. 
 
 During this survey we were entertained by our conductor with an account of the' 
 manners and customs of the harem ; of the unhappy fate of the women confined 
 there ; and of the intrigues carried on to dispute the withered heart of the sultan- 
 Tis here that women endowed with ardent imaginations deify the phantoms of 
 their delirious passions, when despair taking possession of their souls, consump- 
 tion or suicide terminates at length an existence become hateful to them. 
 
 Every sultana has her separate establishment and her separate slaves; but it seems,, 
 from what has been stated above, that the slaves, though appropriated to theic 
 respective mistresses, live all together in one general community. The sultanas 
 
334 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 pay visits of ceremony to each other; and sometimes make little entertainments, 
 to which the sultan is invited. On these occasions they display all the charms of 
 their voices, and dance themselves, or have dances performed. When the sultan 
 intends to honour one of these ladies with a tete-a-tete, he sends to announce his 
 intention by a black eunuch, who in delivering the message prostrates himself at 
 the feet of the unhappy being whom at other times he persecutes. The fable of 
 throwing the handkerchief is no less ridiculous than many others that have been 
 circulated with regard to the harems. Selim the Third prefers the company of his 
 mother to that of his wives. This lady is sincerely loved and respected by him. 
 If he comes to the harem, it is generally to pay his homage to her ; to pour out his 
 troubles in her bosom. Too weak for a prince, he has all the virtues and good qua- 
 lities that would form a truly amiable character as a private gentleman. 
 
 We quitted the harem on tiptoe, having first looked about very carefully to see 
 whether the coast was entirely clear. Our guide assured us that we were the only 
 Europeans who had till that moment ever been admitted there*. Before we quitted 
 the seraglio entirely, Monsieur Jaques insisted upon our taking some refreshment 
 at his apartments. He told us that he was very much tired of his situation, and 
 
 * Mr. Thornton attacks the account here given by Dr. Pouqueville of his visit to the sultan's gardens and 
 summer harem with very great, it may surely also be said, with very unreasonable severity. He is parti- 
 cularly angry at his representing the gardener, who introduced him, as having said tint he and his party 
 were the first Europeans ever admitted there, and instances La Motraye as having seen the harem. It 
 does indeed appear as it" the gardener, to enhance the value of what he had done, stated what he must 
 have been very conscious was not the matter of fact. Leaving La Motraye's visit out of the question, of 
 which he might very probably be ignorant, it can scarcely be doubted, from the account given by Dr. 
 Clarke of his visit to the seraglio, that he was introduced by this very Monsieur Jaques himself. Dr. Clarke 
 does not indeed mention his name, but says that he was admitted by means of a German gardener, which 
 leaves no doubt as to the identity of the person ; and as his \isit took place some months before Dr. Pou- 
 queville's, Monsieur Jaques cannot be acquitted of saying the thing that was not ; but it is rather hard to 
 make Dr. Pouqueville responsible for it. It seems, indeed, not an unfair inference, from the two instances 
 before us, that the gardener was ready to introduce any stranger when he thought it could be done with 
 safety and profit to himself j and it is very probable that he repeated to every successive person that he 
 was the first European who ever obtained admittance there. Perhaps he had carried on the practice (ill 
 he began to fear he. might be suspected, and thought it prudent to retire from his post, as we find from 
 our traveller that he has since returned into his own country. Mr. Thornton seems, besides, very much 
 disposed to arraign Dr.- Pouqueville for not being mors dazzled with the magnificence of the harem, and 
 for thinking that Lady Mary Wortley Montague has rather, in her descriptions of eastern luxury and splen- 
 dour, painted from a model formed by her own brilliant imagination than from reality. But it is certain 
 that Dr. Clarke's testimony is a strong confirmation of Dr. Pouqueville's. Indeed, there is so striking 
 .2 similarity in the accounts given by the two doctors, that each strongly supports the truth of the other, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 335 
 
 that it was his intention to return soon to his own country. I have since learnt 
 that he has arrived there ; and I have, therefore, not scrupled here to mention his 
 name. This I might otherwise have been afraid to do, lesfe he might be drawn into 
 difficulties by it. His salary was six thousand piastres a^-year. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVHI. 
 
 Departure from Constantinople. — Nagara. — Course from thence to the Bay of 
 Mametta, or Hamet, on the African coast. — Slay at Porto-Conte in Sardinia. — 
 Arrival in the road of Hyires. — News of peace with England. — Debarkation a<? 
 the lazaretto at Marseilles.. ' 
 
 I am now arrived at the part of my travels most agreeable to myself, that of my 
 return to France. From the time that the Porte had agreed to liberate the French 1 
 prisoners, those who were already released from confinement obtained permission 
 to organise a regular council for the arrangement of all things that concerned 
 their departure. It was established under the protection of Russia, and was called 
 the commission of assistance. Monsieur Ruffin, the charge d'affaires, was placed 1 
 at the head of it; and Monsieur Flury, the consul-general for trade, was ap- 
 pointed vice-president. The object of this institution was to distribute among- 
 the prisoners, according to their rank and wants, the remittances sent by govern- 
 ment for them. I have noticed before, that at the commencement of our capti- 
 vity these remittances were sent through the hands of Monsieur Bouligni, the 
 minister from the court of Spain, and afterwards through Baron Hubschs the 
 Danish minister. To them succeeded the commission above mentioned. 
 
 Its first object was to procure information respecting the different places where 
 any of our nation were confined, in order to arrange, through the intervention of 
 
 and both lessen extremely the ideas we have hitherto been led to entertain of the luxury and magnificence 
 that reigns in the Grand Signior's seraglio. It is impossible, besides, not to observe,, that almost all Euro-- 
 peans who have visited Constantinople subsequently to Lady Mary, with the exception of Mr. Thornton 
 himself, have, if not in direct terms, at least by implication, allowed what Dr. Pouqueville asserts, that: 
 her descriptions are somewhat too highly coloured. — Tsanslator. 
 
S36 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Russia, the means of collecting them together and sending them to France. An 
 agreement was soon after made with a Greek captain of Cephalonia, by name 
 Panagi-Pana, who had then a vessel at Constantinople, the Saint Nicolo, with a 
 crew of seventeen men, to carry the first party : the vessel was to sail under the 
 Russian flag. Among the Greeks who composed the crew was a young Cepha- 
 loniate, by name Spirou, whom I have already mentioned as having been on 
 board the vessel which carried us from the Morea to Constantinople, and who 
 rendered us some services during the voyage. I was very much rejoiced at meet- 
 ing with him again, as he introduced me to the captain and some other Greeks, 
 from whom I collected a great deal of information relative to the present state of 
 maritime affairs in their country, of importance in determining the political ideas 
 to be entertained upon the subject. But as I have already hinted at the progress 
 the Greeks were making in navigation, particularly the inhabitants of Hydra and 
 Spezzia, it is needless to add more in this place. 
 
 The arrangement for our departure was no sooner made, than it became a sort 
 of scramble among those whose lot it was to form a part of this cargo, who should 
 make the most ample provision for the voyage; a precaution not altogether super- 
 fluous, since the two commissaries, whose business it was to furnish the vessel 
 with provisions, were not very active in executing the charge deputed to them. 
 Among the passengers were whole families, fathers, mothers, and children; and 
 1 cannot say I thought with pleasure of the numerous and, as it promised to be, 
 troublesome society with whom I was to be united. There was however some- 
 thing not unamusing in the air of importance assumed by every body: I do not 
 know that there is any sentiment more universally prevalent among mankind than 
 this desire of being thought of great consequence, no matter how obscure the in- 
 dividual is in reality. The Greeks kept protracting our stay from day to day, 
 sometimes urging that water was scarce at Constantinople, and it was difficult to 
 procure a supply, with many other excuses equally frivolous: the truth was, that 
 they wanted to carry with them several objects which they thought might be 
 sold to advantage in France, and it was necessary to gain time in order to pro- 
 cure them. 
 
 At length however, thanks to the assiduities of Messieurs Flury and Fonton, 
 whom I urged to hasten our departure, the moment arrived when the Greeks 
 could find no further pretence for procrastination, and the order of the kaimakan 
 arrived for our quitting the shore of Tophana. This was on the ninth of September. 
 I went on board early in the morning, and was amused with seeing the rest of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 337 
 
 the cargo arrive, some with baskets full of live fowls, some with fruit, in short 
 .loaded with provisions of all kinds : yet notwithstanding the plenty there appeared 
 to be on board, we had got no further than the village of Saint Stephen, when I 
 heard one of the passengers lamenting bitterly the loss of a cold pie which he 
 had unfortunately left behind. 
 
 At two o'clock the signal gun was fired for our departure; but as not a breath 
 of air was stirring, six boats were obliged to tow us as far as Dolma Bakche : a 
 breeze from the north then springing up, our sails were set, and we proceeded 
 happily on our way. We hoisted the French and Russian flags of truce ; but our 
 captain, in saluting the seraglio, by mistake fired a gun loaded with ball, which 
 had nearly sunk a caique, and which actually struck the palace walls. The navi- 
 gation of the Propontis commenced by a copious supper, in which those who 
 had left any tender recollections behind them at Pera took care to wash away their 
 chagrin by abundant libations to Bacchus. On the third day from our departure 
 we came to anchor off Nagara, half a league from the entrance of the Dardanelles. 
 The motive for stopping here was to procure a supply of water, a very small stock 
 of which had been brought from Constantinople. At the same time our salted 
 provisions underwent an inspection, and it was found advisable to throw the 
 greatest part of them into the sea, or there would have been some danger of their 
 spreading a putrid infection over the vessel. They were replaced by a few sheep, 
 which were so lean as to excite no other sensation in the beholder but compassion. 
 Woe to those who propose to supply themselves with provisions at the Darda- 
 nelles ! every thing is much dearer than at Constantinople. 
 
 Nagara is an anchorage upon the coast of Asia, half a league east of the castle 
 of the Dardanelles, below the point where probably stood Abydos. A shoaly part 
 of the coast at a little distance seems to be the spot where Xerxes must have 
 thrown over the bridge by which his army crossed into Europe. The cape of 
 Abydos is now inclosed with walls, planted within with fruit-trees: the water of 
 a fountain which flows from its summit is that by which vessels are supplied.; 
 The Turks take care always to turn its course, in order to exact a tribute from 
 navigators who wish to have recourse to it; the quantity of water furnished is by 
 no means abundant. Within the walled inclosure is a small Turkish chapel, and 
 the tomb of a miserable santon, whose sabre and buckler are hung against the 
 wall at the foot of which his body reposes. There is a staircase up to this place, 
 and all travellers indiscriminately may seek a shelter in the mosque. Nagara 
 consists, besides, of three houses occupied by two bakers and a dealer in coffee. 
 
 2 X 
 
338 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 The land about the coast is in general arid and uncultivated, but it abounds with; 
 game: in a few spots near the ancient Arisbe, and upon the banks of the Selleis, 
 there is some appearance of fertility ; near the latter are several very fine planes. 
 
 We remained at this place till the thirteenth of September, and then again 
 weighed anchor at two in the afternoon. It was not without some emotion that 
 I saluted the plain of Troy, that country of enchantment, rich from the sublime 
 fictions associated with it, and where one must see, with the eye of faith at least, 
 the Xanthus and the Simoi's. The summits of Mount Ida charged with light 
 clouds, the top of Gargara disappearing from time to time in the mist, a sort of 
 general inquietude in the air, if I may be allowed the expression, announced the 
 coming on of the first equinoctial winds. The vessels within sight were all reefing 
 their sails, or running to seek shelter in some neighbouring port, and three Rus- 
 sian frigates had just dropped their anchors between Imbros and Tenedos. We 
 displayed our flags ; but, the wind freshening, we soon lost sight of every object 
 around in the haze that overspread the surface of the sea. 
 
 In forty-eight hours more we were ofFCerigo; but the winds becoming adverse, 
 it was eight days before we arrived in the channel of Malta. We met several 
 cartels carrying the French garrison of Cairo to Marseilles, and learnt from them 
 the final evacuation of Egypt by the French. The wind forcing us to luff, we 
 approached the coast of Africa. On the twenty fifth of September, being near 
 the island of Lampedosa, we received a visit from two American frigates ; they 
 came to inquire whether we had seen any Barbary vessels, and we learnt from 
 them that they were at war with the government of Tripoli. After this visit was 
 over, we left Lampion and Lignosa, two rocks near Lampedosa, to the right, and 
 made towards the African coast. On the twenty-eighth of September we entered 
 the bay of Mametta, or Hamet. This inhospitable shore, dangerous at all times r 
 was now much more so because of the war between the states of Barbary and 
 France. We continued to coast along, keeping at a little distance, intending to 
 gain Cape Bona. 
 
 The coast of Africa from Zerbi to this Cape makes part of the kingdom of 
 Tunis. Covered with corn, and having some fine forests, it is inhabited by a 
 cruel and barbarous race of men, among whom the laws of civilized life have 
 never been able to penetrate. There are some ports whither vessels will occa- 
 sionally run the hazard of going to purchase cargoes of wool, but this cannot be 
 done without incurring a great risk. Next to Mehedia, the town most known 
 upon this coast is Suza. As we were very near it, I could see both that and the. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 339 
 
 country tolerably at my leisure. It stands at the bottom of a bay formed by the 
 cape, and appears but a rqoderate town. It may be known at a distance, by the 
 neighbouring mountains being covered with a very extensive forest of palm-trees. 
 On the cape is a round tower, built probably to protect the entrance to the 
 bay. The white houses without roofs, and the low minarets, give it the appear- 
 ance common to all African towns. Five little islets scattered about the cape add 
 safety to the anchorage, and serve as sea-marks. 
 
 Two leagues further to the north we saw a number of tents belontrin° to 
 wandering Arabs, disposed with the regularity of a camp; thev were upon the 
 declivity of a hill above Kashr Hali. Four leagues further, keeping along the 
 shore in the same direction, we came within sight of Hamet, the anchorage of 
 which appears very dangerous. From thence to Cape Bona we saw several villages, 
 and the fort of Sidi-Daoud four leagues from the extremity of the cape : from Suza 
 we had gone on very heavily indeed. Our sailors seemed resolved that we should 
 see as much as possible of the shores of the Mediterranean ; for, after carrying us 
 almost into the mouth of Tunis, they brought us within sight of the ancient Utica, 
 now called Porto Farino. It was not till the second of October that we saw the 
 coasts of Sardinia. 
 
 The equinoctial winds here broke out with all their fury, and never was the 
 sea more terrible. The noise of the thunder resounded from all parts ; and if for 
 an instant the rain seemed to bring with it an interval of calm, it was only for 
 the tempest to rage again the next moment with redoubled force. The night 
 which succeeded our losing sight of the African coast spread over the waters a 
 scene of horror, which the cries of the sailors rendered still more terrible. At 
 length, on the return of day, we ran under mizen sails into Porto-Conte in Sar- 
 dinia, while an English -cartel, the Tartarus, with which we had spoken the 
 evening before, at her arrival in France reported that she had seen the vessel and 
 all the crew perish before it could reach the island. Another English vessel, a 
 privateer, served us in the room of a pilot to find our way into Porto-Conte: she 
 had first chased us; but then seeing the flag of truce waving, changed her direction 
 and ran for the harbour, whither we followed her. 
 
 When we had cast anchor, I went on shore with my companion Fornier to give 
 an account of ourselves to the commandant of a tower which guards the entrance 
 to the port. We landed on a shore broken by rocks and entirely barren, and soon 
 heard a voice calling to us to stop. A moment after the commandant descended 
 from his aerial habitation by a rope ladder. He told us that he was a/cade to his 
 
 2x2 
 
340 THAVELS IN THE JVfOREA. 
 
 majesty the king of Sardinia, and commandant of the port where we- had anchored.. 
 Indeed lie did very right to inform us of his dignities, for he had rather the air 
 of a necromancer than an alcade. He was in a white culotie pieced all over, his 
 legs were naked, and his shoes had suffered extremely from the ravages of time; 
 Vie had a waistcoat without sleeves, the foreparts of which, formerly black, were 
 now nearer to the colour of amber, and it was held together behind by two pieces 
 of cloth, which seemed to be part of an old ship sail. He was notwithstanding, 
 according to his own testimony, one of the most illustrious personages in the island 
 of Sardinia, and as noble as the king, to speak with moderation. We accordingly 
 saluted him very respectfully, and he in return took off the portion of hat which 
 yet remained to cover his head. 
 
 After the customary questions respecting the plague had been asked on his 
 side, we on ours signified that we wished to purchase some provisions. As he 
 told us, however, that none were to be had nearer than Algieras, a town four 
 leagues off, and that there they could not sell them without an order from the go- 
 vernor, we resolved to have recourse to this magistrate, and to address a letter 
 besides to the Russian consul, begging him to interest himself in our favour. 
 The alcade, retiring after this short conversation, remounted the rope ladder into 
 his apartment, and we advanced to the foot of the tower. From thence we entered 
 into a very amusing conversation with him, when two cannoniers, who formed 
 his garrison, came to join him. They had on white woollen waistcoats, and short 
 black petticoats instead of calottes; they were besides disfigured with enormous 
 goitres. Their appearance on the whole was so extremely grotesque that we 
 could not forbear laughing immoderately. The alcade however, far from taking 
 offence, redescended the ladder with great complacency to accept some biscuits 
 nrfaich we offered him ; for it is well known that bread does not communicate the 
 plague. It was at length agreed in a convention, which the biscuits seemed to 
 facilitate very much, that we might walk all about the bay, and supply ourselves 
 with water if we wished it. The cannoniers having by this time contemplated us 
 sufficiently, and the alcade having again mounted the ladder, it was drawn up> 
 the window was closed, and we saw no more of him for that day. 
 
 Porto-Conte is an anchorage in the i>;and of Sardinia, well known to mariners, 
 but there is no town. The entrance is defended by the tower already mentioned;, 
 and another the exact counterpart of it ; both are mounted with some pieces of 
 cannon, sufficient to keep the Barbary corsairs at a distance. That where the 
 alcade resides is on the right hand. It is sixty feet high, and besides the cannon 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. • 341 
 
 is furnished with a great number of stones, which would soon crush any one that 
 advanced too near. There is good anchorage in almost any part of the bay, 
 except near the left-hand tower, where there are rocks just below the water. At 
 the bottom of the bay is a fountain, but the water is rather brackish. We col- 
 lected some pinnae upon the neighbouring shore; they were of an amazing size, 
 and contained some silk ; the shell was in the inside a tolerably good, mother of 
 pearl: the flesh was very hard. The whole shore was covered with stunted palm- 
 trees bearing very dry bad dates. I gathered some beautiful narcissuses, which 
 were flowering for the second time, and we found abundance of horse-radish and 
 dandelions, of which we made very plentiful salads.. We had not much success 
 in fishing ; a few rougets only were caught by our hooks ;. nor had some Genoese 
 Vessels that were in the bay much better success with their nets. 
 
 During the time that we remained at Porto-Conte I had a visit from the captain 
 of the English privateer already mentioned. He was of Port-Mahon, ami came 
 with a request that 1 would extract a ball from the thigh of one of his sailors-, 
 who had been wounded some days before in an engagement with a Gorsican 
 vessel. He told me that the sea was covered with Barbary pirates, and indeed 
 I thought he had very much the appearance of one himself, notwithstanding he 
 was all over crosses and amulets. I consented also to visit two other of his men, 
 who were ill with fevers caught at Sassari, a town in a very unhealthy situation, 
 six leagues from Porto-Conte, where they had stopped several days.. 
 
 At length, after repeated applications to the Russian consul, we saw a bark 
 arrive laden with provisions. We paid for them, and the next day quitted the 
 port, where we had been detained twelve days. On the sixteenth of October, at 
 daybreak, we saw the coast of France, and about seven o'clock had the happiness 
 of casting anchor in the road of Hyeres. Here we found the brig jibeille, who 
 announced to us the joyful tidings that preliminaries of peace were signed with 
 England. At this news, and at the sight of our country, tears of delight flowed 
 from the eyes of our whole party. We learnt at the same time that the second 
 cartel from Constantinople, which sailed six days after us, had arrived at Toulon, 
 and was there performing quarantine. For ourselves, we were obliged to proceed 
 to the lazaretto at Marseilles for the same purpose, and here we found the pas- 
 sengers of the third cartel, which had sailed three weeks after us; they had already, 
 commenced their quarantine. Thus ended my last voyage, which had been. pro. 
 tracted to one-and-forty days. 
 
34 ( 3 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Observations introductory to a detail of the sufferings of Messrs. Charbonnel, 
 Poitevin, and Bessi}res, during their captivity in Albania ; with a description of 
 that country, anciently knoivn under the name of Epirus. 
 
 Having thus given an account of the adventures which befel me personally, 
 and those who were separated with me from the rest of our party when our vessel 
 was taken by the corsair, as well as of two others with whom we were subsequently 
 reunited, it remains to speak of the rest whose fates continued distinct from ours 
 during the years of our respective misfortunes. This part of my work will, I 
 hope and trust, not be found the least interesting; the subject it embraces may 
 almost be considered as having perfect novelty to recommend it. United in a 
 strict friendship with the oQicers whose adventures I have to relate, they have in- 
 trusted to me the notes they collected in the different parts whither their adverse 
 fates carried them, that, as the captivity we suffered originated in a common mis- 
 fortune, the details of our sufferings might be consigned to one common record ; 
 thus both sanctioning and encouraging my undertaking. If their own time, con- 
 secrated to camps or to other important functions, did not deprive them of the 
 leisure necessary for writing, the honour of arranging and publishing their notes 
 would not have been consigned to me ; and the public would have gained much 
 by the greater colour of originality preserved in the pictures with which they were 
 presented. 
 
 1 shall however endeavour, as much as possible, to retain the manner and style 
 of my originals ; and the reader will in this relation be made acquainted with the 
 aspect of a country which, placed at the gates of Europe, is at present almost 
 unknown, and concerning which nothing but vague and erroneous statements have 
 hitherto been published. I must also flatter myself that some commendation will 
 be found due to the prisoners whose adventures I relate, that under circumstances 
 so painful the spirit of observation could not be extinguished among them It is no 
 u'nimportant instance how much courage and fortitude may rise superior to moral 
 suffering; nor will the harmony and friendship constantly preserved among therft 
 throughout their misfortunes appear less admirable. But before I enter on the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 343 
 
 narrative, the reader will perhaps not be displeased at being presented with a 
 sketch of the ancient history and geography of Albania, taken from the notices of 
 the learned Monsieur Barbie du Bocage. 
 
 This country, formerly called Epirus, had its name from the Greek word 
 HUE1POS, which signifies a continent. It was given by the Greeks of Corfu, 
 Saint Maure, Cephalonia, and Ithaca, in contradistinction to the islands they in- 
 habited. The province is bounded to the west by Thessaly and Macedonia, to 
 the south by Illy ria, and to the north by Acarnania and iEtolia. It extends along 
 the sea-coast from the Acroceraunian mountains for a space of forty-five leagues, to 
 the gulf of Ambracia, now Arta, and is in breadth twenty-five leagues, from Cape 
 Chimerium to Pindus, which separates it from Thessaly. It is a mountainous 
 region which, detaching itself from Pindus towards the sea to the north and to 
 the south, is divided near Cape Chimerium into two branches, one of which forms 
 to the north the Acroceraunian mountains, and the other to the south the Casso- 
 pian. From hence it appears that the country is in general very much elevated; 
 it is obvious that it must consequently be very cold. There are many lakes in- 
 closed among the mountains : it is in short a wild and barren country, containing 
 very little level ground. 
 
 It nevertheless abounds in excellent pasturage, and always furnished a plentiful 
 supply of oxen and horses ; it was also celebrated for the fine race of Molossian 
 dogs, which were held in such esteem for hunting. The mountains were covered 
 with forests of oaks as old as the world itself, and some small plains towards the 
 sea produced corn. The principal mountain is Liacmon, in which the Aous and 
 the Inachus have their sources. Next to this is Mount Tomarus, which sheltered 
 the town of Dodona to the north, and which was lost among the Acroceraunian 
 and Cassopian mountains. From this flowed the Celydnus, the Thyamis, the 
 Acheron, the Arethon, and other rivers. The river Acheloiis, which was the 
 largest river of Greece, flowed from Pindus. The coasts of Epirus abounded with 
 fish. The character of the inhabitants was not less rude and rugged than the face 
 of their country ; they were robust, and capable of enduring a great deal of fatigue, 
 full of courage, and excellent soldiers. They were early known to the Greeks ;. 
 but the latter had little intercourse with them, and they themselves soon began to 
 wander into the plains of Thessaly, from whence they proceeded to Greece. 
 
 The country was divided into fourteen different tribes, some of which by turns 
 acquired the ascendancy over the rest. To the north, among the Acroceraunian 
 mountains, were the Chaonians, who lived chiefly upon acorns. They afterwards 
 
544 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 collected themselves into several towns, as Orium, Chimera, Photice ; and on this 
 part of the coast was the bay of Paloessa, where Julius Caesar landed with his 
 army when he was in pursuit of Pompey. To the east of the Chaonians were 
 the Atintanians, who inhabited the valley of Celydnus : in the time of the Romans 
 they had several large towns, as Amantia, Hadrianopolis, and others. In another 
 part still further towards the east were the Paraveans, who occupied the valley in 
 which is the source of the Aous. Here were only a few small hamlets, and the 
 people were very poor and wild. Nearly the same thing might be said of the 
 Orestae and the Stymphalians, who were also to the east ; they were originally 
 Epiiots, though they were afterwards included in the census of Macedonia. All 
 these countries were covered with wood, and it was difficult to penetrate into them. 
 
 To the south of the Chaonians were the Thesprotes, who were the most polish- 
 ed people of Epirus, and had forborne time a king of their own. These people 
 inhabited the towns of Bulhrotum, of Ephyra, since called Cichyrus, and Gitanae. 
 It was through their country that flowed the Cocytus and the Acheron. To the 
 south of this district was Cassopia, which was properly speaking only a continu- 
 ation of Thesprotia, and which answers to what is now called the country of 
 Souli. In this canton there were several small towns, which had been founded 
 by the Eloeans, as Buchetia, Platia, Pandosia. The town of Nicopolis was built 
 by Caesar Augustus on the territory of the Cassopians. 
 
 To the east of the Thesprotes were the Molossians, who inhabited the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dodona. They were a warlike people, and were governed by a king 
 who became very powerful ; and whose descendant, the celebrated Pyrrhus, made 
 the Romans tremble. The principal towns of the Molossians were Possaro and 
 Dodona, where was the celebrated oracle of Jupiter. Some authors place Dodona 
 in Thesprotia, but there is more reason to believe that it was in Molosua. Here 
 were the famous oracular oaks which were consulted by people from a very great 
 distance. The deception consisted in a number of brazen vessels being hung to 
 the trees, from which, when they were moved by the wind, came sounds that 
 passed for oracles. There were priests and priestesses attached to the temple of 
 Jupiter, and the oracle was exceedingly frequented in ancient times ; but after the 
 establishment of the temple at Delphos, this at Dodona sunk in reputation. The 
 building of the latter temple was ascribed by the Greeks to Deucalion and Pyrrha. 
 The town of Dodona is supposed to have stood where now stands Protopapas, near . 
 Janina. 
 
 The Perhebians inhabited the mountains to the east of the Molossians. They 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 345 
 
 had some small hamlets near the sources of the rivers. Still further to the east 
 were the Athamanes ; they inhabited a beautiful valley watered by the Achelous, 
 and had several towns. The country had formerly been only a vast lake ; but the 
 Achelous having forced down a dyke which retained its waters and made itself a 
 regular channel, the valley presented a rich soil fit for cultivation. These people 
 were governed by a king, who when the Romans entered Greece was very power- 
 ful : the district could then reckon five principal towns, — Argithea, Tetraphylia, 
 Theium, Heraclea, and Theudoria. The Athamanes were separated from Thessaly 
 by Mount Pindus; but to the east of this mountain, in Thessaly itself, were a 
 tribe of Epirots, called iEthians, established near the sources of the Peneus. To 
 the south of the Athamanes was Aperantia, a district covered with wood; and 
 westward of this tribe lived the Amphilochians. In their country were included 
 several Greek towns, among others Argos and Amphilochium, the latter of which 
 was founded by Amphilochus, son of Amphioraus. To the west of Argos was 
 Ambracia, a very considerable town which had been enlarged by the Corinthians; 
 it was one of the principal towns of the kingdom of Pyrrhus. 
 
 Having thus sketched a general idea of the country, it remains to give a succinct 
 account of those by whom it was governed. The eastern part of Epirus was the 
 first which became known to the Greeks, since it was by that side that they pene- 
 trated into the country. According to their account, the most ancient inhabitants 
 of the country were Deucalion and Pyrrha, who took refuge here in flying from 
 the deluge that bears their name. They built the temple of Jupiter at Dodona, 
 the most ancient oracle of which there remains any record. After them Thesprotus, 
 son of Lycaon, sovereign of Arcadia, came into Epirus, where he founded a king- 
 dom to which he gave his own name. He was succeeded by his son Ambracus, 
 who in his turn gave his name to the Ambracians, and built the town of Ambracia. 
 The Corinthians afterwards established a colony there, when it became a Greek 
 town. Ephyrus, son to Ambracus, succeeded his father ; he built and gave his 
 name to the town of Ephyra in Thesprotia, It was in the time of this prince that 
 Theseus and Pirithous made their expedition into Epirus. " They came," says 
 Plutarch, " in the intention to take away the king's daughter, and for this pur- 
 pose they enrolled themselves among the number who aspired to her hand. The 
 king appointed sports, on the victor in which the princess was to be bestowed ; 
 but Pirithous, instead of appearing at the competition, took that opportunity of 
 carrying away 'the prize. This incensed the king so much that he delivered 
 Pirithous up to his dog Cerberus, who tore him in pieces. Theseus remained in 
 
 2 Y 
 
346 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 irons till he was afterwards delivered by Hercules." This hero is even reported' 
 to have obtained so much credit at the court of Epirus that he had a son by the 
 princess. 
 
 The descendants of Hercules seem to have reigned in the country at the time 
 of the siege of Troy ; for after the destruction of that city, when Neoptolemus, 
 or Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, came to establish himself in Epirus, he carried 
 away from Dodona, Lanassa, great-grand daughter of Hercules, by whom he had 
 several children, none of whom however reigned after him. In returning from 
 Troy he had espoused Andromache, the widow of Hector, by whom he had three 
 sons, Molossus, Pictus, and Pergamus. The two first reigned after him, and the 
 third founded a city, called after his own name, in Mysia. Pyrrhus, however, 
 being killed in the temple of Delphos, at the instigation of Hermione, by a priest 
 as some say, while by others the deed is ascribed to Orestes himself, and his 
 children being all then minors, Helenus, one of the sons of Priam, whom he had 
 brought with him from Troy, assumed the reins of government and ruled over 
 the new colony. He founded the town of Buthrotum, and it was here that he 
 received the fugitive iEneas, who was charmed to find a Trojan governing his 
 conquerors. Helenus in his turn married Andromache, the widow of Hector and 
 of Pyrrhus, and by her he had a son whom he sent to reign over a particular canton 
 of Epirus. For himself, content with having preserved the empire for the sons 
 of Pyrrhus, he dying resigned the sceptre to them, and Molossus, the eldest, 
 ascended the throne. He seems to have died young, and without children, for 
 he left the kingdom to his brother Pictus. No particular actions of these princes 
 remain upon record. 
 
 Fourteen generations after Molossus, we find Tharipus or Tharvps, a descendant 
 of Pyrrhus, reigning over the Molossians and the Atintanians. This prince must 
 have been young when the empire devolved to him, for it appears that he had a 
 guardian. His dominions could not he very extensive ; for at this time his neigh- 
 bours the Paravians and the Orestae had each their own sovereign, while an 
 aristocratical government was established among the Chaonians and theThesprotes. 
 Tharyps was succeeded by his son Alcetas, under whose reign Jason, tyrant of 
 Pheres in Thessaly, made an expedition into Epirus. This prince had two sons, 
 Aribbas and Neoptolemus, who quarrelling with each other divided their falher'3 
 kingdom into two parts. Aiibbas, however, soon invaded his brother's territories, 
 and drove him from them: he was a powerful prince, and reigned ten years. By 
 his wifeTroya he had two sons, Alcetas and yEacidas : the latter was of a mild and 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 34? 
 
 amiable disposition ; but the eldest, Aicetas, was so violent and passionate that his 
 father could not endure him, and in consequence, at his death, named ./Eacidas 
 for his successor. 
 
 Neopto-lemus, however, who had been driven from his estates, had allied himself 
 with the Macedonians. He as well as his brother Aribbas had two children, a 
 daughter by name Olympias, who married Philip king of Macedon, and a son 
 Alexander. After the death of Neoptolem us, Alexander, availing himself of the 
 demise of his uncle Aribbas, entered Epirus, and with the assistance of his brother- 
 in-law Philip seized the throne of the Molossians. This prince, when he was 
 twenty years old, married Cleopatra his niece, the daughter of Philip; but it 
 does not appear that he had any children by her. He made war upon the Illyrians 
 with some success ; but upon the faith of an oracle which warned him to beware 
 of the town of Pandosia, and of the river Acheron, he was anxious to quit his 
 own country, and carried his arms into Italy : he was there drowned in the 
 Acheron, near the town of Pandosia. When he learnt the conquests of his nephew, 
 Alexander the Great, conceiving some jealousy of them, he remarked that, he had 
 found nothing but ivomen to Jighl with — -for his oivn part, he had been obliged to 
 contend with men. 
 
 At his death, iEacidas, second son of Aribbas, and named by the latter heir 
 to his throne, returned into Epirus, and resumed the sovereignty of which Alex- 
 ander had deprived him. He reconciled himself with the family of Philip, and 
 made war upon Cassander who had seized on Macedonia. But notwithstanding 
 the mildness of his temper, having given some discontent to his subjects the 
 Molossians, they revolted against him, and massacred him and almost all his 
 family. This prince married Phehia, the daughter of Menon king of Thessaly, 
 by whom he had two daughters and a son : the latter was the great Pyrrhus. 
 When his father was massacred he was a child in the cradle, and being preserved 
 from the disaster was carried to Glaucias, king of lllyria, by whom he was edu- 
 cated. The Molossians, after the murder of iEacidas, placed on the throne that 
 Aicetas, the eldest son of Aribbas, whom his father had rejected on account of his 
 violent temper. He made war upon Cassander king of Macedonia, but had 
 reason to repent it, as this prince sent an army into the very heart of his country, 
 which compelled him to make peace. Afterwards governing his subjects with 
 much cruelty, they revolted against him, and massacred him and all his children. 
 
 Such a succession of sanguinary transactions deterred other princes from wishing 
 to assume the sceptre of Epirus, and Glaucias took advantage of this circumstance 
 
 2 Y 2 
 
348 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to re-establish the young Pyrrhus upon the throne of his fathers. He was then 
 between eleven and twelve years old, and was received by the Epirots partly with 
 good-will, partly by force: it was agreed that the nation should appoint him 
 guardians till he was old enough to govern himself. During his minority he was 
 a sort of prisoner in his country, and his sister Deidamia, who was saved with him, 
 was married to Demetrius Polycrates. But at the age of seventeen, taking a 
 journey into Illyria, the Molossians availed themselves of his absence to plunder 
 him entirely, and place at their head a person whose name was Neoptolemus. 
 
 Pyrrhus, deprived of his sovereignty, took refuge with his brother-in-law, and 
 fought with him in the battle of Ipsus, when the army of Antigonus was defeated 
 and he himself killed. Pyrrhus, after having performed several distinguished 
 actions, was given in hostage to Ptolemy king of Egypt, where he obtained so 
 much credit that Berenice, wife to Ptolemy, gave him in marriage Antigona, a 
 daughter she had had by a former husband. This alliance procured him a fleet 
 and a body of troops, with whom he returned to Epirus, where he first agreed to 
 share the government with Neoptolemus, but soon after got rid of this usurper 
 entirely. He made war upon the children of Cassander, who wanted to divide 
 Macedonia, and obtained several provinces of this country : he even got himself 
 declared king of Macedonia in conjunction with Lysimachus: in seven months, 
 however, he was again deprived of it. Returned into Epirus he thought of making 
 Italy repair his loss, and the Tarentines furnished him an opportunity for it by 
 calling him in to their assistance. He conquered the Romans several times, and 
 advanced almost to the gates of Rome ; but afterwards going into Sicily to fight 
 the Carthaginians, he lost a part of his army, and at his return into Italy, being 
 beaten by the Romans in an engagement near Beneventum, was obliged to retreat 
 hastily back to Epirus. From thence he made several incursions upon the Mace- 
 donians; and having passed into Peloponnesus to make war upon the Lacedae- 
 monians, he was obliged to lay siege to Argos. A traitor delivered the town up 
 to him, but at the moment when he entered he was killed by a tile which a 
 woman threw at him from the top of a house. 
 
 This prince had great qualities mingled with great defects. He was impetuous, 
 intrepid in clanger, grateful to those from whom he had received any services, but 
 at the same time of a restless disposition, incapable of enduring repose. He was 
 one of the greatest captains of antiquity; nobody was better skilled in choosing 
 posts, in ranging his army, or ever knew better how to gain the hearts of his 
 soldiers. Hannibal esteemed him second as a general only to Alexander the 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 349 
 
 Great. When he said one day to his friend and confident Cineas that they should 
 make merry together after they had conquered the world, Cineas replied, "And 
 what should prevent our doing so at this moment?" 
 
 Pyrrhus was succeeded by his son, whom some authors call Helenus, others 
 Alexander. After him reigned Ptolemy his son, and then another Pyrrhus, who 
 was succeeded by a daughter, Deidamia. On the death of this princess the 
 Epirots, weary of being governed by kings, formed themselves into different re- 
 publics. They did not however find their happiness increased; for they were 
 often subjected to the kings of Macedonia, till the proconsul Paulus Emilius, 
 having conquered Perseus, delivered Epirus up to be pillaged : it is said that on 
 this occasion seventy towns were destroyed, and a hundred and fifty thousand of 
 the inhabitants carried away prisoners. The country afterwards became a Roman 
 province, and in still later times fell, with a large part of the Roman empire, 
 under the dominion of the Turks. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Commencement of the adventures of Messieurs Charbonnel, Poitevin, and Bessiires. 
 — Massacre of the French and Greeks at Prevesa by Ali-pasha. — Jealousy 
 entertained of the Russians by Ali. — Situation of the French prisoners in Aiis 
 camp. 
 
 The reader will recollect the manner in which Messieurs Fornier, Joie, the 
 guide Matthew, and myself, were separated from the companions with whom we 
 had made the voyage from Egypt, and the subsequent separation of Messieurs 
 Beauvais and Girard from the rest. The two latter being consigned over to Kadir 
 bey, the Turkish admiral, there remained on board the vessel of Orouchs the 
 corsair, Messieurs Poitevin, Charbonnel, Bessieres, Guerini, and Bouvier. These 
 gentlemen not finding Messieurs Beauvais and Girard return, and conceiving that 
 the lot of these latter must be less wretched than their own, demanded equally to 
 be given up to Kadir bey. Orouchs fell into a violent rage at the requisition, and 
 ordered them immediately into the hold of the vessel, there to be put in irons. 
 
350 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 He was afraid of being deprived of his prisoners, upon whom his avarice speculated, 
 and by removing them out of sight be hoped they would be forgotten. 
 
 But notwithstanding this precaution, the rumour of the prize he had taken 
 began to spread. It was reported that he had prisoners on board his vessel who 
 had trunks filled with sequins; and the fable, which increased in proportion to 
 the distance it travelled, having at length reached Constantinople, it was there 
 reported, as I afterwards learnt, that our tartane was ballasted entirely with the 
 gold dust of Abyssinia. It is true that the chiefs of the government gave no credit 
 to this tale; but the people, who in all countries are fond of the marvellous, and 
 in Turkey above all, swallowed it with the utmost eagerness. 
 
 The siege of Corfu continuing to meet with success on the part of the besiegers, 
 and the Russian admiral who directed the operations finding himself incommoded 
 by the numerous vessels which were anchored in the canal, issued an order for 
 them to quit their stations and retire to some of the ports upon the continent. 
 The corsair was delighted at receiving this order, as he remained there only by 
 command of the Turkish admiral, and wished exceedingly to be in some place 
 where he might be more his own master. He therefore set sail immediately for 
 Butrinto, a town in Albania opposite to Corfu, near which Ali-pasha with his 
 Albanian army was at that time encamped. 
 
 Before I proceed to relate the subsequent fate of these prisoners, let me be 
 permitted to advert to some circumstances which had occurred in Albania not 
 long before, and which are almost necessary to be understood for the elucidation 
 of what is to follow. Bonaparte had no sooner obtained possession of Alexandria 
 than he dispatched a vessel to Ancona, with an account of the progress he had 
 made ; and this vessel was ordered to touch at the Ionian isles to instruct the 
 French garrisons there of what had passed. The general-in-chief justly consi- 
 dered a war with the Porte as a thing very probable, and recommended to the 
 troops in these islands to keep upon their guard. It is not my business here to 
 enter upon an investigation of the measures pursued by the French commanders 
 in consequence of this warning; but it is certain that they deceived themselves 
 exceedingly as to the dispositions of Ali, pasha of Janina, towards them. This 
 pasha, obliged to give proofs of his fidelity to the Ottoman court, had raised an 
 army of twenty thousand Albanians, who were to march against Paswan Oglou 
 then shut up in Widdin. As the results of this expedition were, however, favour- 
 able to the rebel, who in the end received the three tails from the government, 
 Ali returned into Albania just at the time when the French expedition to Egypt 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 351 
 
 took place. A witness to the defeat of the capudan-pasha, and the death of Alo 
 pasha, who had fallen a victim to the snares laid for him by the Turkish admiral, 
 Ali was resolved not to hazard himself any more among camps, but to remain at 
 home surrounded by his Albanians ; and he probably owed the preservation of his 
 life to this prudent determination. It was in this state of things that he learnt the 
 events which were passing, and he remained for some time undecided what course 
 to take. 
 
 The vicinity of Corfu had given occasion to his uniting himself in friendship 
 with adjutant general Rose, the same whose death in the prison of the Seven 
 Towers I have already mentioned ; and through his intervention the adjutant 
 had united himself in marriage with a young Greek woman of Janina. Ali as- 
 sisted at the wedding, and always received the general when he came to the 
 court with the same honours that are paid to the pashas: whenever he spoke of 
 him it was always as his friend. Rose, seduced by these attentions, persuaded 
 himself too easily that there was no deceit in the pasha : he even carried his cre- 
 dulity so far, as to conceive that fate had reserved him to play a very important 
 part under the auspices of Ali. 
 
 His faith in this respect ought, however, to have been shaken, when towards 
 the end of August 179§ it was known that some vessels carrying the French flag 
 had been stopped in the Bay of Arta. But this first act of hostility, for which 
 the French perhaps had no right to demand an explanation, did not serve to 
 enlighten any body. In short, every one was desirous of deceiving himself with 
 regard to the war; and during all this time the cunning Ali was well instructed 
 with regard to the French force, whife the French had but very imperfect infor- 
 mation with regard to his preparations. It was, however, resolved to abandon 
 Butrinto and Parga in case of danger ; but the general of division was desirous of 
 retaining Prevesa, as if an insulated promontory could be of any material impor- 
 tance. Motives of honour were urged in behalf of this measure ; and the French, 
 inspired with this idea, resolved to devote themselves to death in order to defend 
 the post. The designs of the pasha, who had his eye upon the whole maritime 
 frontier, did not evidently appear. He wrote to desire payment for some hun- 
 dreds of oxen furnished to the French fleet during its stay in the road of Corfu ; 
 and insinuated that his forming an alliance with the French was a thing by no 
 means impossible. ^ 
 
 While these events were passing, he invited his friend general Rose to a con- 
 ference upon his territory. This unfortunate man accepted the inyitation eagerly - 
 
S5'l TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 he was received by Ali with more kindness and distinction than ever ; hut in a mo- 
 ment after was arrested, loaded with chains, and sent as a hostage to Janina. The 
 pasha was, however, soon constrained to surrender him to the Ottoman Porte. 
 War was after this act considered as inevitable, and it was determined that re- 
 doubts should be thrown up to protect Prevesa. The superintendance of the works 
 was consigned to Monsieur Richemont, a captain in the corps de genie. General 
 Lasalsette repaired himself to Prevesa, to take the command of the few brave men 
 from the sixth demi-brigade who were stationed there. 
 
 Although the resourses were extremely limited, and that there were only two 
 pieces of iron cannon to arm the redoubt, measures were adopted to make the best 
 defence circumstances would permit. The municipal guard of Prevesa was or- 
 ganized ; and having every thing to lose in case Ali was victorious, it seemed 
 animated with the highest courage and resolution. An offer having been made 
 by the Souliotes to range themselves under the French standard, it was thankfully 
 accepted, and arms and ammunition were sent to them. The genius of the chiefs 
 having thus created unexpected means of defence, hopes were entertained of being 
 able to resist the Albanians, nay even to conquer them. 
 
 But scarcely had the workmen begun to remove the earth for throwing up a re- 
 doubt on the side of Nieopolis, where Monsieur Richemont proposed to plant the 
 two pieces of artillery, when news came that Ali-pasha was on his march towards 
 the place. The Greeks, who informed him of all that was going forwards, in hopes 
 of conciliating his favour, equally informed the French of his movements. On 
 the night of the twenty seventh of October the cries of the Albanians were heard 
 among the mountains ; and towards midnight general Lasalsette repaired to the 
 redoubt where the first firing began. He gave his orders for calling together the 
 soldiers, who were scattered about upon a too extended line, and ordered the muni- 
 cipal guard under arms. The Souliotes, however, did not appear; and a fatal in- 
 decision began to show itself among the auxiliaries. 
 
 At day-break Ali-pasha and his two sons, at the head of nine thousand Albanians, 
 began to pour down with fury from the mountains. A party of Souliotes, who ap- 
 peared at the same time, after firing upon the French, ran away. The Greeks of the 
 municipal guard did the same; and the Albanians, taking advantage of this defec- 
 tion, fell upon the brave handful of the sixth demi-brigade, and soon stifled the 
 fire of the cannon with the bodies of the slain. The French, however, some de- 
 tachments of whom were yet unsubdued, resisted with astonishing intrepidity the 
 torrents of foes which fell upon them on all sides, and made a dreadful carnage of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORKA. 353 
 
 them before they were themselves entirely overpowered. Fourteen grenadiers had 
 succeeded in retiring in good order towards the shore, whence they hoped to get 
 on board the brig Frimaire ; but they wete assailed by the inhabitants of Prevesa, 
 and fell at last upon the heaps of dead bodies with which they had previously 
 covered the shore. 
 
 All was now over with the French ; they were overpowered with the immense 
 superiority of numbers on the side of the Albanians. General Lasalsette was 
 already their prisoner ; but the brave Richemont held out till covered with wounds 
 he had no longer any power of resistance. Some of the Albanians were about to 
 strike off his head ; when Mouctar, one of the sons of Ali, who had witnessed the 
 almost more than mortal courage shown by him, interposed, and threatened with 
 death any one who should fail in the respect due to so illustrious a captive. Tor- 
 Tents of flame and smoke announced that the unfortunate inhabitants of Prevesa 
 were receiving the dreadful chastisement of their disloyalty. It was in vain 
 that they had turned their arms against the French ; it was ia vain that they 
 had sought their safety by an act of perfidy : their wives violated, or flying on 
 board their barks, their houses falling amid the flames, were fatal presages of the 
 fate that awaited them. 
 
 Ali flew about on all sides, endeavouring to stop the carnage and save the few 
 scattered French that remained ; but he could not prevent his soldiers cutting off 
 the heads of the slain and the wounded, and raising a horrible trophy of them. 
 Night alone put a stop to their fury and to the effusion of blood. The mdrrow 
 exhibited a scene of such cold-blooded barbarity as is scarcely to be believed, and 
 showed of what the resentment of Ali-pasha was capable. He came like the 
 grim tyrant Death himself, and took his station amid the smoking ruins of Pre- 
 vesa. There, mounted upon a gallery which the flames had spared, he ordered 
 three hundred Greeks of the town to be brought before him, and had them all in- 
 humanly massacred in his presence. In vain did they implore his compassion, 
 the murderous sword continued to strike ; and the heart of this man, barbarous by 
 calculation rather than by nature, remained inflexible. He applauded himself 
 for the blood which he caused to flow. 
 
 Such was the unfortunate affair of Prevesa, to which I have already had occa- 
 sion more than once toallude. On the next day the French 2>i'isoners, amounting 
 to two hundred, were marched away for Janina, and were compelled to carry with 
 them the bleeding heads of their massacred companions. They were received in 
 
 2 z 
 
354 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the capital of modern Albania with the cries of a barbarous populace, who loaded 
 them with reproaches, at the sa'rne time pelting them with stones and mud. Here 
 they were thrown into a miserable prison ; nor would it be easy to conceive all that 
 tiiey suffered during six weeks that they remained there. A wound which the 
 unfortunate Richemont had received in the arm soon began to wear a very alarming 
 appearance, and a physician who saw it pronounced that there was no remedy but 
 amputation. Richemont consented to undergo the operation, but was desirous 
 first to make use of his condemned limb in writing to his friends in France; and : 
 feeling no confidence in his medical attendants, but considering his doom as sealed, 
 he poured out his heart in a very affecting adieu to them. The day being arrived 
 which was fixed for the operation, Richemont prepared himself for it with the 
 utmost fortitude and composure ; but his composure, his fortitude, and his affect- 
 ing letter of adieu to his friends were equally thrown away, since it now appeared 
 that the skilful doctor knew much better how to recommend than to perform the 
 amputation. The arm was therefore left to take its chance : and in the end a na- 
 turally-good constitution triumphed, and both his arm and life were saved. 
 
 Alter six weeks confinement at Janina, he with General Lasalsette and Messrs. 
 Hotte and Rose were sent to Constantinople; and there, as the completion of his 
 misfortunes, Richemont was shut up in the bagnio. But, as if Heaven was pleased 
 to alleviate in some degree the pressure of his sorrows, he had the happiness or 
 meeting here with his companion in arms Monsieur Vallongue. To this event 
 he probably owed his life, since he was soon attacked with a malignant fever which 
 reigned in the place, and to which he would probably have fallen a victim but for 
 the cares of such a friend. Monsieur Vallongue having afterwards succeeded in 
 obtaining his liberty, Richemont was at the same time transferred to the castle of 
 the Seven Towers, where I became acquainted with him, and had the good 
 fortune to obtain his friendship. 
 
 Ali, whose hands were still reeking with the blood of the French and Greeks 
 massacred at Prevesa, was, as I have said, encamped with his army near Butrinto, 
 when Orouchs the corsair arrived there with several of our companions as his pri- 
 soners. It was not without considerable uneasiness of mind that Ali saw the 
 Russians so near his pashalik ; and to cover his frontiers against any sudden inva- 
 sion, he assembled a corps of observation, which at the same time assisted at the 
 siege of Corfu. The troops were sent thither by turns, but the number generally 
 employed in the siege amounted to six thousand. By occupying Butrinto, which 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 355 
 
 the French evacuated at the commencement of hostilities, he had secured a very- 
 important post; and hy the affair of Prevesa he also gained a military com- 
 mand in the gulf of Ambracia, and upon the southern side of the mountains of 
 Souli. Yet his mind was exceedingly disturbed; and conscious that his own 
 conduct could not be justified, he complained of want of confidence in the French, 
 with whom he asserted that he would gladly have made a common cause. 
 
 It is indeed true that, some time hefore the combined Russian and Turkish 
 squadrons appeared in the Ionian seas, Ali had proposed an alliance with the 
 French, on condition that they would give up to him all the posts they possessed 
 on the continent, with the island of Saint Maure, and would admit some of his 
 troops into Corfu to assist in its defence. Whether this overture was nothing but 
 an artifice, or whether it was incompatible with the orders of the French chiefs 
 who commanded in the Ionian Archipelago to assent to it, the parties could not 
 come to any agreement. Perhaps this was a great misfortune. Since it was im- 
 possible for the French to protect a number of scattered posts, in suffering Ali to 
 occupy them he might have declared himself independent, and occasioned a 
 diversion at least, in the confusion which would have been created at the prin- 
 cipal points menaced by the combined powers. This is not however the place to 
 discuss such a question : I therefore return to the new supply of French pri- 
 soners who were about to be placed in his hands. 
 
 No sooner had the corsair cast anchor in the road of Butrinto, than a rumour 
 was spread in the pasha's camp that he had on board a person of very particular 
 consequence. Ali accordingly came down to the road in his own kirlanguitch* 
 to investigate the truth of the report, and summoned the corsair captain to appear 
 before him. Orouchs soon undeceived him, and made a voluntary offer of pro- 
 ducing his prisoners : this was accepted by the pasha, and Monsieur Guerini was 
 presented to him. He was fixed upon as the first to be exhibited, because he 
 could speak the Arabian language, and could therefore make himself understood, 
 not by the pasha to whom he was to be presented, and who did not understand a 
 word of it, but by the corsair who was to present him. The other three officers 
 and Monsieur Bouvier were almost immediately in like manner presented to Ali 
 and given up to him. As the recompense of this homage the pasha loaded the 
 
 * Kirlanguitch is a Turkish word which signifies a swallow. This name is given to a particular spe- 
 cies of small vessels which navigate the Archipelago, and they are thus called on acaount of the lightness 
 and rapidity wkh which they seem almost to fly over the surface of the water. 
 
 2Z 2 
 
S56 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Captain with commendations, and made him a present of his own kirlaognitch for 
 carrying on his piracies ; conceiving, by all lie heard from and of him, that he was 
 an excellent mariner, and one who might render him important services. As to 
 the French prisoners, whatever might be the fate that awaited them, it must be 
 preferable to the situation in which they found themselves on board the piratical 
 vessel. They therefore rejoiced at the change, and indeed with reason, notwith- 
 standing all that they suffered in the end from their new situation. 
 
 In the first moments of it, abandoned in the midst of the army, there was no 
 one to whom they could address themselves excepting a certain Doctor Tosoni, a 
 physician. This man, like most of his brethren who exercise the same profession 
 in Turkey, gave himself out as a foreigner, calling himself a Frenchman, born at 
 Macon, but his language at once betrayed this to be mere pretension. His medical 
 knowledge was confined to ordering in all cases liquid laudanum ; but his liquid 
 laudanum was often treacherous, and did not prove his right to the title he assumed, 
 that of a physician. He however continued to exercise his profession and pre- 
 scribe his laudanum, and enjoyed a high place in the pasha's confidence. He 
 talked highly to the French of Ali's attachment to their nation, upon which sub- 
 ject he explained himself in his vile phraseology in ten different ways in the space 
 of an hour. 
 
 The same was not the case with the pasha's secretary, whose frankness and 
 probity were often a source of great consolation to the prisoners. As he spoke 
 their language with ease and fluency, and merited their confidence by the generosity 
 of his sentiments, he was for a long time their great support and protector with 
 his master. Notwithstanding the advantages, however, which they derived from 
 knowing a man of such a character, they suffered very much while they remained 
 in the camp, since there was no possibility of procuring any attention to their 
 wants, though they were very pressing. It is true that the paiha, hardened him- 
 self to fatigues and accustomed to privations, had no idea of what was necessary 
 for persons in a state of convalescence from harassing maladies, and who had ex- 
 perienced a catastrophe a great deal too much protracted, not to have been exceed- 
 ingly injurious to constitutions already severely shaken. 
 
 Some days after, through the intervention of the secretary, the French suc- 
 ceeded in getting from the hands of the corsair their servants who had remained 
 on board his vessel. The pasha ordered at the same time that the papers which 
 had been taken from us should be laid before him. When he came to examine 
 them, he found among others the letter of Monsieur Boursier, French agent at 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. "S'57 
 
 Tripoli, delivered to Orouchs, authorising him to scour the seas*; by which it ap- 
 peared clearly that he had acted illicitly in taking our vessel, as France was at 
 peace with the regency. This letter was in the sequel a source of many humi- 
 liations to Orouchs, since the pasha took frequent opportunities of reproaching 
 him with having taken us when he had no right to do so. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXL 
 
 Topography of Butrinto. — Portrait of Ali-pasha and' his sons — Sketch of lijs- 
 army, of its discipline, and of the manners of the Albanian soldiers.- — Departure 
 of Monsieur Charbonnel for Agio-Saranta, and of the other prisoners for J anina. 
 — Their itinerary to that toivn by Delvino, Delvinachi, and Dzidza. — Description 
 of Agio-Saranta, and the country round*. 
 
 Butrinto is beyond all doubt the town which has succeeded to the ancient 
 Buthrotum, of which Virgil speaks- It was in this place that iEneas the hero 
 of the Trojans landed, at the moment when Andromache, with her hair di- 
 shevelled, sacrificed upon the tomb of Hector her husband, on the banks of the 
 false Simois. Helenus, the son of Priam, who reigned over this part of 
 Chaonia, had given the cherished names of Xanthus and Simois to the rivulets 
 that wash Buthrotum ; and Virgil, who has in so few words transmitted to us the 
 topography of this town and its neighbourhood, may still, serve as a guide to the 
 traveller. If he no longer sees the gate Sccea, nor the vast galleries in which 
 Helenus received iEneas and his companions, he will find the lake of Anchises, 
 with the little streams which then bore the celebrated names of Xanthus and 
 Simois, now called the Pavla and Pitritza. Every thing will prove to him, 
 in short, the exactness and precision which so eminently characterize the works 
 of the ancients. 
 
 * The Barbary corsairs have no letters of marque ; but they generally procure patents from the consuls- 
 who reside in the ports whence they sail, in order to prove that they are at peace with the nations whose 
 agents those consuls are. 
 
3.53 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 The modern Butrinto, after having followed the destinies of Epirus, which was 
 a prey to so many different conquerors, and the theatre of so many memorable 
 wars, belonged in modern times to the Venetians, and was ceded by them to 
 France at the treaty of Campo Formic At the commencement of the war with 
 Turkey it was, as has already been observed, abandoned by the French general 
 who commanded at Corfu, after lie had blown up a little fort at the entrance of the 
 lake upon the right bank of the Pavla : it was then taken possession of by Ali- 
 pasha. It lies in a favourable position for commanding the sea, and is in the 
 neighbourhood of the lake, being only separated from it by the ruins of Buthrotum. 
 If the spot itself has but few resources, the want of them is supplied by those which 
 may easily be drawn from the interior. It can never be in any danger of sur- 
 prise, since it is entrenched from the very nature of the ground, being defended to 
 the south by the river Pavla, and to the east by the lake which receives the waters 
 both of that river and the Pitritza. The former of these rivers rlows from the 
 mountains of Delvino towards the r.orth, at the distance of seven leagues; the 
 other has its sources in a mountain towards the west, which may be called an ex- 
 crescence from the same mountains. The lake formerly called Anchises has now 
 the name of Pelodi : the exhalations from it are the principal cause of the fevers 
 so common at Butrinto. 
 
 This town is the seat of a bishopric. The canton, which is of no great extent, 
 has a wild and sterile aspect, and the inhabitants are only rich by their industry. 
 They carry on a considerable trade in poulargues, which they make of the spawn 
 of several fish that abound upon these coasts. On account of its trade, and the fre- 
 quent intercourse that subsists between the island of Corfu and the continent, the 
 port of Butrinto is the resort of an almost infinite number of barks. From the heights 
 near it may be seen four rocks, which are called by the Greeks TelraKisia, or the 
 Four Islands ; they designate the entrance to the road and the place of anchorage. 
 
 The French officers remained twelve days in the camp at Butrinto. Plundered 
 ■as they had been, they soon began to suffer from the cold, which was already 
 pretty severe. Chaonia has always been considered as a cold country ; and though 
 not more than six leagues from Corfu, the difference of the temperature is very 
 sensibly felt. Released from their chains, but deprived of their clothes, the pri- 
 soners were lodged in a wretched hut; and having nothing to lie upon but boards 
 beneath w hich the water stood, they soon began to find their limbs grow benumbed 
 with the cold if they were inactive for a moment. Thus, instead of enjoying 
 repose during the night, they were obliged to walk or jump about in order to warm 
 
/rffc. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 359 
 
 themselves: it was only when totally worn down with fatigue that they ever 
 closed their eyelids, and then hut for a short time. 
 
 The Albanian soldiers, accustomed to the chilly atmosphere of the mountains, 
 and wrapped in their thick cloaks, did not seem to feel the severity of the season. 
 Occupied all day with the exercises of the camp, with singing, or with dancing*, 
 their habits of temperance were such, that they thought themselves extremely well 
 fed with a small ratio of bread made of maize, some black olives, and salted sardines. 
 Very different from the great people among theOsmanhs, who place their wholehap- 
 piness in living in complete indolence, the Albanian is never happy but in action; 
 The transports of the soldiers cannot be restrained when they hear of the approach- 
 of danger ; they were particularly delighted when their turn came to assist at the 
 siege of Corfu ; they ran with eagerness to the shore, and seemed emulous which- 
 should first get on board the vessels that were to transport them. Whatever were 
 the events of the service, they never failed to attribute any success obtained to 
 themselves, but would never acknowledge that they had any share in a defeat ; 
 and if they could bring home a head, there were no bounds to their boasting. Sick- 
 ness is a thing scarcely known among them ; but the moment that any is felt, it is 
 impossible to retain the sufferer at his post ; he immediately retires to his family. 
 It must however be acknowledged, that the moment he is recovered he returns to 
 the army. 
 
 Proud of his profession, the Albanian soldier shows with ostentation the scars 
 with which he is covered. He makes a great parade of the raggedness of his 
 clothes and his linen : to express that an Albanian is brave and intrepid, they say 
 that he never quits his shirt till it falls away in rags. If this be well as a votary 
 of Mars, I do not think it very recommendable as a votary of Hygeia ; at least 
 the custom, if not injurious to a- rude Arnaout, would not, I think, be very 
 salutary to a civilized European. We still see in the attitudes and manners of 
 the people of Epirus the soldiers of Alexander, of Pyrrhus, and of Scanderbeg.. 
 With such men, well disciplined, a commander of genius might effect wonders,, 
 and change the whole face of the East. They alone, in the fallen state of the 
 
 * Among the Albanians, songs are still to be found which go back to the time of Scanderbeg, and that 
 ■which is known by the name of the Arnaout is no less famous among them than the hymn of Harmodius 
 and Aristogiton was among the ancients. But notwithstanding its antiquity, I shall abstain from giving 
 it a place here ; there is nothing in it very striking, and I have perhaps already subjected myself to 
 censure in giving some Greek, songs, which to persons of taste may appear very feeble, 
 
3G0 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 empire, have preserved their original character; they still pant for combats, their 
 
 hearts still thrill with joy at the sound of arms. 
 
 'I he Albanian officers are usually accompanied in marching by a sort of squires, 
 who carry their cuirasses and their arms, and who in their manners am! habits 
 • recall a faint image of our ancient knights of chivalry. The people have got, I 
 know not how, a curious idea respecting the origin of their nation, and call them- 
 selves descendants of the French. Without discussing how far this opinion may 
 be well or ill founded, I will only observe that in the Arnaout language, which is 
 that of the mountaineers, there are many words, and even phrases, entirely French. 
 They make use of the words quaire and mois exactly as we do ; but most of their 
 expressions have more affinity with our ancient than with our modern idiom. 
 They always speak of the French with a respect which they do not show to any 
 other people. In this the opinions of the pasha and his sons were conformable 
 to those of the officers and soldiers under their command. 
 
 The present great hero of the Albanians, Ali-pasha, was born in a village near 
 Tebeleui, or Tebdelum, a town of the ancient Thesprotia, twenty-four leagues 
 north of Janina. His father was a pasha of two tails, who commanded in the 
 district ; and his mother, who was herself endowed with the courage of the ancient 
 Amazons, did not merely give him existence, but gave him besides courage and 
 talents. At the death of his father, Ali was yet too young to defend his own 
 •domains, and would have been deprived of them if his mother had not taken the 
 administration upon herself. Putting herself at the head of the Albanians, by 
 her courage and conduct, and by sacrificing whatever she possessed, she success- 
 fully resisted all the attacks of her enemies. 
 
 Ali, as soon as he had sufficient strength to carry a musquet, entered into 
 the ranks, and was trained to the art of war amid the troubles which then from 
 time to time agitated Thesprotia. Brave among the brave, he went through all 
 the gradations of the military service; and did not rise to the command of his 
 companions till he had rendered himself worthy of it by feats of arms which 
 merited their attachment. It was then that he took the place of his mother : but 
 he was not always successful ; and if he could never be reproached with want 
 of courage, he had not unfrequently reason to complain of the ficklenesss of 
 fortune. At one period driven from Tebeleni, deprived of all his villages, he was 
 reduced to only sixty parats for the payment of his troops. He would not, how- 
 ever, suffer himself to be dismayed, but, finding resources in his own genius, so 
 worked upon the Albanians, that their courage was raised to the highest pitch, 
 
TRA.VELS IN THE MOREA. 361 
 
 and in a short time he recovered all that he had lost. From that moment his 
 power began to increase, the valiant from all parts hastened to range themselves 
 under his banners, and his estates were enlarged every way. His views were in 
 consequence soon carried beyond the spot where he was born ; and the pasha of 
 Janina, whose want of energy had been the occasion of reducing the pashalik to 
 a state of anarchy, having been beheaded, he contrived to be appointed his suc- 
 cessor. Prudent in his prosperity, Ali's attention was now principally directed to 
 establishing his power upon a firm foundation. He reduced the rebels to sub- 
 mission, and afterwards contrived to keep them steady to his cause, particularly 
 by patronizing the Greek religion. He made alliances with the agas of Thessaly, 
 and in due time associated his two sons with him in the supremacy, by naming 
 them pashas. At length, after a series of successes surpassing even his most san- 
 guine expectations, he received the three tails at his return from the expedition to 
 Widdin in 1798. 
 
 Though now forty-eight years of age, no traces of premature old age are dis- 
 cernible in his exterior. His countenance is open and dignified, indicating a strong 
 mind ; and his features always express very powerfully the passions by which he is 
 agitated. Master, however, when he pleases, of the variations of his physiognomy, 
 he can assume at will the most engaging smile, masking by it a sentiment very 
 contrary to what it appears to express. Yet his anger cannot be restrained when 
 he inflicts punishment ; it is dreadfully manifested in the workings of his coun- 
 tenance, and by a convulsion of his frame, which unfolds the violence of his cha- 
 racter. For the rest, he is courageous in the extreme. His stature is tall and athletic; 
 and he cannot uncover his arms or his breast without showing honourable scars. 
 
 Firm and steady in his projects, he has adopted a plan of conduct of which he 
 has never lost sight, though circumstances have sometimes constrained him for a 
 time to deviate from it. Convinced that with money he may always retain the 
 favour of the Porte, he has never failed in paying the tributes ; and has thus, in 
 wearing the semblance of dependence, rendered himself in fact independent. The 
 avarice, therefore, of which he is accused, is founded upon a principle that attaches 
 itself to his very existence. He loves to repeat that he is the modern Pyrrhus, 
 which he pronounces Bourrous. He is a Pyrrhus, however, who observes the 
 proper decorums towards his sovereign. Different, by the knowledge he pos- 
 sesses, from the greater part of the pashas, he has his eyes open with regard to 
 whatever is passing in Europe. He has the newspapers translated to him ; he is 
 very desirous of obtaining information on all points ; and is no stranger to the 
 
 3 A 
 
362 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 ruling events that determine the alliances or divisions formed among its sove- 
 reigns. 
 
 Equally attentive to the catastrophes which agitate the Turkish empire, he takes 
 advantage, like a man of talents, of the weakness of the government, to extend his 
 frontiers and gain possession of advantageous posts. Strong, in short, by the de- 
 pendents he creates to himself, and by the powerful friends he has in his pay, 
 even in the divan, the Porte> sensible of his resources, is well aware that it has 
 a powerful interest in keeping upon good terms with him. The French revolu- 
 tion has in these latter times been the constant theme of his conversation ; not, 
 as is pretended, in the idea of learning lessons from it for freeing himself, but from, 
 the pleasure he feels in talking of the exploits performed by our armies, which 
 have strongly excited his admiration. He interrogated the French officers who- 
 were his prisoners, upon the manner in which so many victories had been ob- 
 tained, being disposed to attribute them to a sort of magic, to some spell which 
 held victory chained to our standards. Ali, in short, little satisfied with- an ephe- 
 meral empire, has carried his views into futurity ; and, not willing that his pasha- 
 lik should become the prey of strangers, has obtained the title of pasha for his- 
 two sons ; while the Porte, who generally hopes at the death of one of its depu- 
 ties to resume its rights, seems to have lost Albania entirely. 
 
 Mouctar, the eldest of his sons, formed by his example, shows already great 
 decision, perhaps even ferocity of character. Veli, whose manners are milder, 
 seems rather to devote himself to the cares of the administration. For the rest, 
 united in the strictest bonds of friendship, these two brothers have hitherto never 
 been divided by the pursuit of opposing interests. Mouctar governs Arta and 
 Negropont as pasha ; and Veli fills the post of dervendgi-pasha, or grand provost 
 of the highways. By this reunion of offices, the artful Ali derives a support from 
 his children which strengthens and increases his own authority. An Albanian in 
 every thing, he speaks only the language of his country, or the Greek, and places 
 his whole happiness in commanding those to whom he owes his elevation. Mouc- 
 tar has studied the Turkish language. His warlike character has led him from 
 his infancy to be always in the field. Veli, more addicted to study, everyday 
 adds to his stock of knowledge and attainments, and is much acquainted with the 
 Oriental languages. These observations are the result of the frequent intercourse 
 which the French officers had with Ali while they were his prisoners : they were 
 during that time often invited by him to assist at his councils. 
 
 We are now to follow my countrymen in their route, when they quitted Bu- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 363 
 
 trinto to go to Janina. In accompanying them the reader will be introduced to 
 a new country, for such I may venture to call it, since the celebrated D'Anville 
 acknowledged, that from defectiveness of materials and knowledge upon the 
 subject he was unable to give a map of Epirus. Few travellers have, indeed, 
 penetrated to Janina, and none have gone beyond that town. It is not to be 
 reached without passing through great dangers, from travelling among a restless 
 and turbulent race, whose natural dispositions lead them to robbery, to murder, 
 to cruelty. 
 
 At the end of twelve days after the French officers had been delivered up to 
 him by the corsair captain, AH purposing to remove his camp into the interior, 
 and to disband some of his army, determined on sending most of his prisoners for- 
 wards to Janina. The pasha was induced to adopt this measure on account of the 
 severity of the weather, which afforded him a certainty of not being molested 
 during its continuance. Never was a more severe winter known throughout all 
 Greece : the course of the rivers and torrents was suspended by the ice, and the 
 Acroceraunian mountains, which usually resound with the most formidable thun- 
 der, were now enveloped in snow and ice. It was under these circumstances that 
 Messrs. Poitevin, Bessieres, Bouvier, and Guerini were dispatched, attended by a 
 proper escort, to Janina ; but Monsieur Charbonnel was sent to Agio-Saranta, 
 a village in the district nOw known by the name of Valetitzia, and which forms 
 a part of the ancient Chaonia. 
 
 The division of Greece, anciently called Chaonia and Thesprotia, contains none 
 of those relics which the traveller delights to seek out, and, if I may be allowed 
 the expression, to interrogate; time has destroyed every thing. In their place 
 new towns, unknown hamlets, have arisen ; while nature, every where wild and 
 terrible, commands attention and excites astonishment. Here are to be seen deep 
 lakes; there, forests which have stood for ages, or lofty mountains over which time 
 itself has no power. Wherever the eye is turned, picturesque scenes are pre- 
 sented, always astonishing, often terrible. Amid such scenery, rendered more 
 formidable from being covered with snow, the French officers pursued their way 
 eastward for seven leagues, till they arrived at Delvino. The part of Thesprotia 
 over which they travelled in the course of this day formerly contained many 
 towns, such as Ekatompedon, Meandria, and Omphalon ; but the route now pre- 
 sents nothing, except some insignificant villages scattered over a wild country 
 broken by frightful inequalities. 
 
 Delvino, the chief town of a pashalik of two tails, commanded by Mustapha, 
 
 3 a 2 
 
364> TRAVELS IN THE MOItEA- 
 
 and then under the power of Ali, stands upon a considerable eminence, and fa 
 surrounded by advantageous military stations. It has a castle without cannon, 
 the fortifications of which are of several ages back, and which add little to the 
 strength of the town : its chief strength is indeed derived from its natural posi- 
 tion. At a short distance from it are the sources of the Pavl'a, or Xanthus, which 
 running westward unites itself with the false Simois. The position of Delvino, 
 its population, which amounts to more than eight thousand persons, the limits of 
 its territory, and more than all the warlike character of Mustapha, and the love 
 borne him by the people whom he governs, have not unfrequently raised clouds 
 and created dissentions between him and Ali. This town is of the greater im- 
 portance to the pasha of Janina, since inclosed within his domains it is yet com- 
 manded by one who is a stranger to his family, and dares even to oppose him. 
 
 There were at this time upon the route many desolated villages, and some 
 hamlets inhabited by Albanians who never quitted their arms, and whose manners - 
 announced people that lived in a constant state of war and violence, nor would' 
 readily permit a stranger to travel over their country, unless escorted by a nu- 
 merous and faithful guard. Withoutsuch a guard, any one would be in imminent' 
 danger of being assassinated, or carried away to be sold as a slave among the 
 mountains without hope of deliverance; for these men take excellent care to keep 
 themselves out of the reach of others, by frequenting none but the most rugged 1 
 and remote parts. The reason of their leading such lives is to be sought in the 
 extreme poverty of the people : this impels each individual to commit, without 
 remorse, any action which he hopes may bring him money. 
 
 The French officers, being properly escorted, passed in safety through all J 
 dangers: when they arrived at Delvino, they were lodged at the khan pell-melf 
 with the animals and merchandize which formed part of the caravan. Not that 
 this was done as any particular affront to thera, it is the usual practice among tra- 
 vellers in the Turkish empire. The next day they proceeded to Delvinachi, ten 
 leagues further, in a north-easterly direction. Here were again many ruined vil- 
 lages ; but they also passed' through some valleys the fertility of which formed'a 
 fine contrast to the naked appearance of the Acroceraunian mountains. 
 
 The little town of Delvinachi is governed by an aga, who is subject to Ali-pasha. 
 It is situated in a fertile valley, watered by a rivulet which flows into the Thyamis, 
 but is often dry in summer. To the north and west, mountains which are a con- 
 tinuation of Tomarus or Dzoumerka bound the horizon. They are inhabited' 
 by an independent race, who from the summits of their natural intrenchmests 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 365 
 
 brave the attempts against their freedom often made by their neighbours. The 
 most important productions of the canton of Delvinachi consist in wood for ship- 
 building, sumach for dyeing, and pitch. The town appears to be nearly in the 
 situation of the ancient Omphalon ; I dare not, however, affirm it to be that town, 
 as Meletius does positively. He has also placed in this canton the ancient towns 
 of Meandria, Elea, and Dochna ; the former of these he finds in Delvino. All 
 this erudition, however, is founded entirely on supposition, since there are not 
 here the ruins and remains of military roads, which are found in Peloponnesus, 
 to serve as guides. Time has destroyed every thing which bore the impression of 
 the arts and of civilization ; indeed the inhabitants of this country were never 
 more than a half civilized race, whose favourite occupation was war. It is only 
 by the face of nature, by the invariable figures of the mountains which cover 
 Epirus, and by t'. e direction of their chains, that the traveller can assure himself 
 he is in a country renowned in antiquity. 
 
 In quitting the valley of Delvinachi to go to Dzidza, the travellers saw to the 
 north the forests that cover Mount Chimera. Their route this day was in a south- 
 easterly direction, over a well-cultivated country. At three leagues and a half 
 from Delvinachi, half way between that town and Dzidza, they saw the town of 
 Margariti, but did not stop there. A part of their route lay through some very 
 fine forests, and they saw immense ones extending to the north. Dzidza. stands 
 in part upon the summit of an arid mountain, facing the west south-west. The 
 name, which signifies a gourd, has perhaps been given it from the form of the 
 mountain on which it stands, and which strongly resembles that fruit. It is in- 
 habited by Albanian christians, who have a monastery and several churches. The 
 little soil capable of cultivation in the neighbourhood is chiefly planted with vines, 
 and the sun which strikes upon this unequal and stony surface gives a particularly 
 fine flavour to the grapes. Three sorts of wine are made here, the best of which 
 is reserved for the pasha ; the prior of the convent is charged with collecting it 
 for him. As some acknowledgement of so great a service, which an Albanian knows 
 as well how to appreciate as a Greek, Ali protects this town very particularly, and 
 above all the sacred abode under the guidance of his purveyor. The water of 
 Dzidza comes from a pool at the foot of the mountain, and from some springs ; but 
 it is far from being good. Happily the wine, which all the inhabitants, as well as- 
 Ali-pasha himself, prefer very much to water, makes them ample amends for the 
 privations which they endure with regard to the latter. 
 
 After passing the third night of their journey at Dzidza, the French officers set 
 
366 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 
 
 out with their escort for Janina. When they had proceeded an hour and half on 
 their way, they came to Karkalopoulo, where the pasha has a palace, orseraglio. 
 The country increased in beauty at every step as they advanced nearer to Janina ; 
 nature every where wore a more smiling aspect ; and the illusion of fable seemed 
 to display all the graces of its allegories when they approached the fields about 
 Janina, called by the inhabitants, even in these days, the Elysian Fields. Well 
 cultivated lands, villages scattered about a fertile plain, the view of Pindus and of 
 Mount Tomarus or Dzoumerka, that of the Acherusian lake and Mount Cas- 
 siopea, struck the imagination, and presented the idea of travelling in a land of 
 wonders. The impression is indeed such, at the sight of so many spots which 
 recall past ages, that the capital of Albania itself is almost overlooked, though 
 otherwise its size and population are such as reasonably to engage the traveller's 
 attention. But the few moments of enjoyment now passed by the French officers 
 were cruelly contrasted in entering the town. Hooted by the populace as they 
 passed along, they were afterwards shut up in a wretched prison, the melancholy 
 of which was increased by finding there the sad remnant of the French taken at 
 Prevesa ; those whom Ali had not thought proper to send to Constantinople. 
 
 While Messrs. Poitevin, Bessieres, &c. pursued their route to Janina, Monsieur 
 Charbonnel was sent with Ali's secretary to Agio-Saranta to take a view of its 
 position. This town, which is two leagues to the east of Delvino, stands on a 
 small port, frequented only by vessels of a very inferior size: it is dependent upon 
 the pashalik of Janina. It stands at the foot of a mountain, and faces the south: 
 two old towers, which are now to be seen on the mountain to the north, formerly 
 served for its defence. Ali appears to attach importance to it only as a point 
 proper for watching what passes upon the coast, as well as among the neighbour- 
 ing Philatians. In the environs are some woods, but none of note ; the soil is 
 poor, and the lands little cultivated, as is the case in almost all the parts of Albania 
 that border the sea. 
 
 Monsieur Charbonnel remained but a short time at Agio-Saranta, and then 
 went to Janina, following from Delvino the same route that had been taken by 
 his companions. He soon after proceeded to Bonila, where was the pasha's park 
 of artillery : the sequel will show how he formed there a school of artillery, and 
 the great distinction he acquired. Thus the reader will have before him the par- 
 ticular adventures which befel each of the prisoners during their abode in Albania, 
 whether in the court of the pasha, or in the expeditions in which they accom- 
 panied him. 
 
 
TRAVELS In the morea. S67 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Elysian Fields. — Topography of Janina. — The lake Acherusia. — The Cocylus 
 or subterranean river. — The river Acheron* — The hamlet of Bonila, with the 
 school of artillery and the pasha's gardens there.. — Visit of the French officers to 
 the monastery of the prophet Elias r — Province of Sagori. — Forest of Dodona. — 
 
 • Return of the French officers to Janina. — Journey of Monsieur Bessiires ivith the 
 pasha to the northern parts of Albania. 
 
 The Elysian Fields, a name given by the moderns to the plain at the extremity* 
 of whieh stands the town of Janina, might still be the abode of a happy race.. 
 Therej in the midst of the most romantic scenery, under a serene sky, in the 
 bosom of a fertile territory, the golden ages described and sung by the poets might 
 be revived. The eye can in no part of the world wander over wider perspectives,. 
 whether it be turned towards Pindus, when the sun rising above its summits 
 comes to awaken the birds that repose in the woods which adorn its valleys, or 
 whether it follows that glorious luminary when in the decline of day it is about 
 to sink beneath the Acroeeraunian mountains. At the murmur of the rivulets, 
 at the noise of Cocytus, at the view of the lake, genius seems awakened, and a. 
 frolicsome youth seems to descend the slopes oa all sides to renew their ancient 
 festivals. — But alas, these are but visions ! those lovely woods, those enchanting 
 abodes are governed by Albanians, and the Greek even in the midst of the Elysian 
 fields lives in a state of constant terror. The voice of the thunder which resounds 
 through the groves of Dodona is far less formidable to him than the decrees of 
 the pasha who rules his destiny- 
 
 This plain occupies a space of five leagues from the north-east to the south-west; 
 its mean breadth may be estimated at about six thousand toises. To the north it 
 is bounded by mount Tomarus with its vast forests ; to the east, by the town of 
 Janina and the lake Acherusia ; to the south, by the mountains of Pindus and 
 Cassiopea ; and to the west, by the hilly territory of the ancient Elea. It is 
 watered by many springs and rivulets, and by a river which flows into the lake 
 towards the north. 
 
 Janina or Joannina, founded by Michael Lucas Sebastocrator and the despot 
 
S68 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A.' 
 
 Thomas, is the chief town of Albania, and of the extensive pashalik governed by 
 Ali. Situated at the north-eastern extremity of the Elysian Fields, upon the 
 western bank of lake Acherusia, the view from it extends to Mount Pindus or 
 Liacmon, embracing a horizon no less lovely than majestic It was subjected to 
 the yoke of the Turks in 1424, under the reign of Murat, by his general Amurath- 
 bey, at the same time that Thessaly and Macedonia were conquered, and it was 
 one of the towns which was the best preserved amid the general spoliation. From 
 its situation upon very unequal ground, and on the borders of the lake, it might 
 be rendered a place of great strength ; so much the more formidable, since it 
 would be impossible to blockade it without having a flotilla upon the lake to cut 
 off all communication with the country on that side. 
 
 Janina, such as it now exists, may be divided into the upper and lower town. 
 The latter is bounded to the east by the lake Acherusia, which stretches towards 
 the north and forms a curve round this part of the town. The country hereabouts 
 is hilly, and there is a ravine, fortified by the head of a circumvallation with 
 which the pasha has surrounded the place. He has a garden in this direction, 
 and the road into the province of Sagori passes near it. The upper town stands 
 upon the eastern declivity of some slopes, which constantly decline towards the 
 south, and finish by disappearing in the neighbourhood of the road that leads to 
 Bonila. There is only one street on the western side of the girdle of hills that 
 inclose Janina. The line of circumvallation is at some distance; it begins at the 
 ravine I mentioned, and at intervals are esplanades planted with cannon. 
 Although a considerable force would be requisite to defend the works, much 
 blood must be shed before they could be taken, especially if defended by Albanians, 
 who, like the Turks, fight with desperation provided they are behind some kind 
 of shelter. 
 
 The town is about fifteen hundred toises in length from north to south, and be- 
 tween seven and eight hundred in breadth from east to west. Two principal streets 
 divide the town in length and breadth ; the one begins at the gate of Bonila,and leads 
 to the bazar, — the other goes from the bazar towards the lake: the latter is called the 
 Jews' street, because it is principally inhabited by people of the Jewish nation. At 
 its eastern extremity is a castle mounted with cannon, which commands a peninsula 
 that runs into the lake ; on this stands the seraglio, or palace of the pasha. Here 
 Ali lives, isolated from the town and from his subjects, surrounded by a select 
 troop of his followers, not a prey to terrors, but at his ease, in the security that 
 js inspired by courage and confidence. In this place are assembled his treasures, 
 
TRAVELS TN THE MOREA. 369 
 
 his military stores, and his wives; in a word, whatever he possesses of the greatest 
 value and importance. Here he has accumulated all those resources of which his 
 provident genius would know how to make the best use if he were ever menaced 
 with danger. He would issue like a giant from the lake of Acherusia, and the 
 stranger who should be sufficiently imprudent to hazard his safety in these barren 
 defiles would never return to the shores whence he came. The peninsula where 
 stands the palace could even hold out after an enemy had become master of the 
 town. 
 
 Ali governs the people subjected to him by the double means of terror and con* 
 fidence. Formerly the shops were shut the moment he appeared in the streets, 
 and he congratulated himself upon being feared ; but he begins to discover that 
 it is better to be loved, and he has thrown aside a part of the ostentation by 
 which he was surrounded. Free from that excess of barbarous ferocity which 
 sheds blood without a motive, the massacres with which he may be reproached 
 have never been perpetrated without a. conviction in his own mind that they were 
 necessary to his interest or tranquillity: it must however be allowed that his suspi- 
 cious character has often led to his considering himself as surrounded with 
 imaginary dangers. He protects industry and commerce, and is anxious to attract 
 the latter to the countries he governs : on these and many points he has enlarged- 
 views, which appear surprising in a man living in a state of so much supposed 
 barbarism. 
 
 The population of Janina amounts to forty thousand persons, and they are 
 some of the most industrious in the whole Turkish empire. Among them are 
 many rich merchants, and men who have a sort of cultivation not to be found in 
 other parts of the country. There are even, among the Greek physicians, (a race 
 of men who are always to be distinguished from the caloialros or Italian quacks,) 
 many persons of eminent merit, who, formed to do honour to their country, unite 
 the knowledge derived from the ancients with modern science and literature. Of 
 this number are Monsieur Psallidi and several others, men whose virtues reflect 
 a lustre upon their fellow citizens, while at the same time they instruct them by 
 their example and conversation. Thus, even in the heart of Epirus, are to be 
 found men of kindness and hospitality, Greeks worthy of their ancient name. 
 The town of Janina, besides the advantages it derives from its increasing civiliza- 
 tion, is the centre of a very considerable commerce which extends over the whole 
 empire. Many merchants have houses established in the principal towns of 
 Romelia, of Wallachia and Moldavia, in Hungary, and even at Vienna ; and 
 
 3 » 
 
370 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 Janina ought to be the residence of the commercial agent of France, rather than 
 Arta or Prevesa. 
 
 The lake of Acherusia is at the extremity of the Elysian Fields. Its length 
 from north to south is four leagues and a half; its breadth may be about three 
 thousand four hundred toises. Its environs are to the east rugged, mountainous, 
 and barren, but to the south and west cultivated and pleasant. Towards the north 
 the lake is crossed by a causeway which leads into the province of Sagori. The 
 position of an island about the middle of the lake with regard to its length, but 
 nearer to the eastern than the western shore, has given occasion to the distinc- 
 tion usually made between the upper and the lower lake. The two lakes are 
 however formed by the same river, known to the ancients under the name of 
 Cocytus, and by some moderns still called Cokytos. Formed without doubt by 
 innumerable glaciers, and by unknown lakes among the mountains; this river 
 after running a long time underground bursts into the lake Acherusia, about the 
 centre, at a place which the Greeks call Perama. The mountains which border 
 the right bank of Acherusia form a semi-circle, or rather section of an ellipsis, 
 which surrounds Perama : here is a country-house belonging to the pasha. The 
 Cocytus falls from the shore, forming near twenty small channels, each not larger 
 than the trunk of a tree, through which its waters are poured into the lake. These 
 falls from the Cocytus have a distant resemblance to our fountain of Vauclusc. 
 
 The little island in the midst of the lake is inhabited by Greeks, who have a 
 village to the north, and a monastery. But although most of the inhabitants 
 were born and have constantly lived there, they have never been able to recon- 
 cile themselves to a phenomenon which occurs perpetually, and most com- 
 monly during the autumn. At this time the island seems as if it stood upon a 
 moveable base ; more perhaps than thirty shocks are felt in the course of a day, 
 accompanied with explosions like the firing of a cannon. The Greeks, terrified 
 by these subterranean commotions and the noise which accompanies them, run 
 out trembling from their houses, and invoke heaven with cries and lamentations. 
 It does not appear that the danger is as great as might be imagined, since no ap- 
 parent effect has hitherto been produced ; though it is not improbable that the 
 island may be destined to be swallowed up some day in the waters of Acherusia, 
 or that other islands may rise, like those of Santorin or the C'ameni, and forcing 
 the waters over their present banks inundate the whole of the Elysian Fields. 
 
 The lake is inhabited by a prodigious quantity of fish, particularly crawfish, 
 which seem to multiply to a degree almost inconceivable. It is besides in all 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 371 
 
 seasons covered by a multitude of aquatic birds, and a number of barks are rowing 
 about in all directions; the pasha himself has a kirlanguitch upon it. An infinite 
 number of plants grow upon its banks, flourish upon its little island, or float upon 
 the surface of its waters. It has its calms, its tempests, its currents, and in times 
 of great rains overflows its banks, extending itself to double its usual size; the road 
 to Sagori, which it has been said lies over a causeway at its northern extremity, is 
 then entirely intercepted. At the southern boundary of the lake the waters collect 
 themselves into a stream, the celebrated Acheron, which three quarters of a league 
 further to the south loses itself in the cavern of Avernus, in the Cassiopean moun- 
 tains. The ancients, witnesses of this phenomenon, made the river flow after- 
 wards through the Infernal Regions, for which they could never find a more ap- 
 propriate place than beneath the mountains of Epirus. Formidable, however, 
 as the cavern may appear, we are yet assured by the moderns that it does not 
 exhale the odour of sulphur and bitumen ascribed to it by the ancients. 
 
 Mount Cassiopea, which I have stated above to be situated three quarters of a 
 league south of Acherusia, is not lofty; it is covered with a light pasturage, which 
 feeds large flocks : the ruins to be seen there appear modern ones. The Acheron 
 rises again from the ground about twelve leagues below this mountain, near a 
 village called Veiistri, when it flows to the gulf of Arta, formerly called the 
 gulf of Ambracia, about which it first forms considerable marshes. At a short 
 distance from Cassiopea begins the little Pindus, or more properly speaking tlfis 
 latter is a continuation of Cassiopea ; it rises, gradually northwards till it becomes 
 the Pindus properly so called. To this chain the moderns have given the name 
 of Mezzovo. The river Arta rises on the other side of the little Pindus. These 
 mountains are covered with pasturage, composed principally of fragrant herbs on 
 which the flocks feed with avidity. All the mountains situated to the south and 
 east of the lake are calcareous. Shocks of earthquakes are occasionally felt among 
 them ; they usually take place, as in Peloponnesus, in the autumn; similar shocks 
 scarcely ever occur among the mountains of Chimera and Tomarus. Earthquakes 
 are more particularly felt in Greece after a dry and burning summer, but they 
 seldom occasion much damage, as the buildings are commonly lightly constructed. 
 
 About a league to the south of Acherusia is a small hamlet called Bonila, 
 which may be regarded as the germ of a future town. It is built upon a regular 
 plan, and forms a perfect square : three sides of it, that is say, those to the east, 
 the south, and the west, are occupied by houses, while the rest is now an open 
 space: here, however, the pasha purposes building a street, in order to divide it. 
 
 3«2 
 
372 TRAVELS m THE MOREA. 
 
 'On the western side of Bonila is a gate, by which the town is entered in coming 
 from Janina ; and to the east is another gate, leading to the pasha's gardens. On 
 the same side is a small rivulet, which flows into the lake. The population of 
 Bonila is composed entirely of Bulgarians; they are governed by an aga named by 
 Ali-pasha. These people were, for the most part, brought away from their country 
 and their families in Ali's expedition against Paswan Oglou. Transplanted from 
 the cold mountains of Bulgaria to a milder climate, they accustom themselves in- 
 sensibly to other habits. Though generally retaining their own manners and lan- 
 guage, some were beginning to speak Greek : but even if this should become uni- 
 versal among them, there is still such a fundamental difference of character between 
 them and the Albanians, that they will always be very distinguishable the one 
 from the other. Among the women are some remarkable for their grace and 
 beauty : these are indeed generally the lot of the fair sex among this people. It 
 was doubtless by like translations of entire villages from Greece, that long after 
 were found in the heart of Persia names of towns the same as in Thessaly and 
 Macedonia, and the inhabitants speaking the Greek language. The Great King 
 in those days did the same as the satraps of Janina in ours. 
 
 To the east of Bonila are a palace and gardens belonging to the pasha. There 
 is nothing particular in the palace ; but the gardens laid out by Monsieur Char- 
 bonnel are very pretty. The fertility of the soil and the regularity of the surface 
 have admitted of planting long avenues of trees, which will make the spot here- 
 after extremely beautiful. At this place there is also a school of artillery, at the 
 head of which Ali placed Monsieur Charbonnel. He was in consequence deco- 
 rated with the insignia of command, and assumed the Albanian costume. The 
 exercises of the school were now carried on with an order and regularity unknown 
 before: anew spectacle was presented toAcherusia; and the pasha, delighted, 
 released the French officers from the state of confinement in which they had 
 hitherto been held. Monsieur Charbonnel took up his abode entirely at Bonila, 
 excepting when he accompanied the pasha in certain expeditions of which I 
 shall soon have occasion to speak. 
 
 On the road to Arta, about Vrontza, a village seven leagues from Janina, are 
 many plane trees ; and a sort of white oak mentioned by Pausanias, as a tree then 
 only known in this part of Greece. It was here that Monsieur Charbonnel had 
 a quantity of wood cut down to make the carriages and machines necessary for 
 the artillery of which he had the superintendence. The western side of the Ely- 
 sian Fields, on the side of Philatea, which is the ancient region of Elea,. is in ge- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 3/3 
 
 neral well cultivated, and abounds with vines and olive trees. There are several 
 villages which are very populous, not having- suffered from the ravages of war like 
 those on the side of Delvino. The latter have the misfortune of lying in the route 
 commonly taken by Ali's Albanian soldiers when they go against Mustapha- 
 pasha, or when they form their camp in the neighbourhood of Butrinto. The road 
 conducting to Paramithia and Souli crosses this country. 
 
 A vessel from Barbary having anchored in the Bay of Arta, it was reported that 
 one of the crew had died with symptoms of the plague. About the same time 
 several persons died at Janina in a way which bore every appearance of their being 
 attacked with the same fatal malady. At this news Ali gave orders that the Bar- 
 bary vessel should be confined within certain limits ; and he put the whole crevr 
 into quarantine in an elevated situation upon the mountains, where they could 
 be effectually excluded from all intercourse with his own people. Not satisfied 
 however with these precautions, be summoned the French' officers before him, 
 and inquired whether they were under any apprehensions of taking the infection. 
 They replied that they were not: but he said that he was afraid of it for them, 
 and proposed their going to pass some time at the monastery of the prophet Elias. " 
 " It is seldom," he said, " when this malady does break out here that it is of long 
 duration, and you will be amused there. The festival of the prophet is soon to* 
 be celebrated: you will have plenty of good wine and good cheer, and the ca- 
 loyers will pay you every possible attention." This act of kindness appeared the 
 more remarkable, inasmuch as it was received from a man usually represented as 
 a tiger, and was shown to persons whom he seemed at first to consider as his 
 slaves. 
 
 The motives which led to the French officers taking this journey, no less than 
 the beauty of the country over which they travelled, rendered the expedition par- 
 ticularly interesting to them. The road at first lies upon the borders of the lake, 
 through well cultivated fields planted with vines, and interspersed with scattered 
 villages. The lake is then crossed by the causeway which I have already men- 
 tioned, and whieh is more than half a league in length. It would be difficult to 
 surmise at what epoch this might be constructed ; but it is now in a very bad state, 
 and, when the waters of Acherusia rise, wholly impassable. The road soon after 
 crosses a little river which comes from Mount Tomarus, and may very possibly 
 be the ancient river of Dodona ; it proceeds from hence in a north-easterly di- 
 rection over downs sometimes covered with verdure, sometimes entirely sterile. 
 
 On entering the country of Sagori, which begins at, a village four leagues from 
 
374 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Janina, the forests of Dodona are to be seen to the right, spreading over Mount 
 Tomarus or Dzoumerka. Here the imagination is immediately carried back to 
 those visionary ages when superstition animated every tree in this forest, and 
 feeble-minded credulous men believed that in consulting them the impenetrable 
 veil of futurity would be drawn aside, and the fate that was to attend their subse- 
 quent lives spread clearly before their eyes. But if Dodona was in former times 
 the region of prodigies, it is now only the retreat of a number of turbulent and 
 disorderly Albanians; and its oaks, abandoned by their protecting deities, might 
 be more nobly employed in serving for the construction of vessels: to this they 
 are particularly suited. No mention is made of any relics of antiquity still sub- 
 sisting in the country ; and it would doubtless be impossible to find the smallest 
 traces of the little town of Dodona. Nothing then remains but the recollection 
 of events, and the remembrance of past times, to those who may come to meditate 
 in this corner of the world : for this reason, probably, it is one to which no tra- 
 veller has directed his steps for man}' ages. The forest of Dodona runs to an im- 
 measurable extent northward ; and in the region where the oaks cease to crow, 
 pines succeed, the dark hue of which forms a variety not unpleasing in the whole 
 picture presented by the chain of mountains. 
 
 The route, after quitting the village above mentioned, continues for four leagues 
 over elevated mountains, whence from many points very fine views are to be seen. 
 One while they are bounded by Pindus, another by the mountains of Sagori, 
 nature always presenting a sublime and majestic aspect. Happy inhabitants of 
 the villages of Sagori, your country, remote from the usual haunts of intruders, 
 and almost unknown to the world, enjoys the supreme blessing of a mild and be- 
 nignant climate : your days are marked by some of the choicest blessings of hea- 
 ven. In advancing towards your mountains we begin to breathe, amid a purer air, 
 the delights of peace and tranquillity, and to experience sentiments the very op- 
 posite to those inspired by the towns of Albania, alternately a prey to the evils of 
 despotism and anarchy. 
 
 The monastery of the prophet Elias stands upon an elevated peak of the moun- 
 tains of Sagori, eight leagues from Janina. The caloyers who inhabit it received 
 their new guests with much kindness and pleasure, and never ceased to render 
 them every good office in their power during the whole of their stay. The festival 
 of the prophet, the patron of the institution, was celebrated as the pasha had an- 
 nounced ; and a wealthy merchant of Bucharest, called Polychronos, a native <,f 
 the province of Sagori, presided at the entertainment. The wine, agreeably t« 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 375 
 
 Ali's promise, flowed plentifully ; and every day was to the French officers a new 
 feast, in which frankness and hospitality recalled the enchanting ideas of the 
 golden ages. Below the monastery, about half-way down the declivity, is a vil- 
 lage inhabited entirely by Greeks ; and four leagues northward from thence is the 
 town of Sagori, the capital of the province. 
 
 This country was anciently that of the Paraveans. The inhabitants submitted 
 voluntarily to the pashas of Janina ; in return for which the latter have allowed the 
 administration of the province to be carried on after their own manner, and have 
 established perfect freedom with regard to their religious worship. Never were 
 any race endowed with more sweet, mild, and sociable manners than the Sago- 
 rians. It is among them that the alcgresse of the ancient Greeks, with their ad- 
 dress and quick talents, are still to be found. The stranger is received with friend- 
 ship and amenity under their hospitable roofs ; the utmost respect and attention 
 is shown him. Robbery, murder, and other acts of violence are things unheard' 
 of among them. Contented with the excellent fruits of their rich slopes, with 
 the aromatic milk of their sheep, they are no less ignorant of the vices unhappily 
 too much spread over the other countries of Greece, than they are of the tyranny 
 and oppression under which they groan. They seem to participate in the purity 
 of the air which they breathe, in the salutary emanations exhaled from the lovely 
 bowers and flowery vales in which their days are passed. Instead of the suspicious 
 character observable in the Greeks, the Sagorian by his openness and frankness 
 conciliates the attachment of every one. Like the Neophytes, who do so much 
 honour to Paraguay, among these descendants of the Paraveans are to be found 
 all the most endearing virtues, the purest morals, the utmost frankness and hos- 
 pitality, without any counterbalance of vices. 
 
 With so much mildness and simplicity of manners the Sagorians, however,, 
 unite great courage : and this certainly cannot be denied them, since it is allowed 
 by the Albanians. Their belouk-bachis, who govern the villages, are received 
 with distinction, and have the utmost attention shown them at the court of the 
 pasha, As he is sure of their fidelity, he never fails to grant whatever they 
 ask. Above all things, he favours them in the establishment of monasteries.. 
 These pious foundations, in which man is occupied solely with working out his 
 own salvation, dividing his time between labour and prayer, serve also as asylums 
 to the traveller : whether from policy, or that they are used as places of repose to- 
 the pasha in his journeys, the number of these institutions is doubled since Ali 
 was the chief governor in Albania. He preserves a constant good understanding 
 
3-jG TRAVELS IN THE MOREiL 
 
 with the superiors, and by that means obtains a very extensive influence over the 
 minds of the Greeks. 
 
 If the country of Sagori be rich in picturesque spots, in good morals, and in 
 territorial productions of the best quality, through the want of a market for its 
 commodities it is poor in specie. There are few rivers: it is from the other side 
 of the Sagorian mountains that flow the streams which after watering Acarnania 
 take their course to the ancient Celethrum, now called Castoria, into the basin, 
 of Argyro-Castron, and towards the valley of Tebeleni. The interior of the pro- 
 vince, in which any one may travel with the most perfect security, is only visited 
 by travellers going from Janina to Wallachia, who prefer this route to that of 
 Larissa over Mount Pindus. By a little research, remains might no doubt be found 
 of ancient roads, as some must have existed for the purpose of communication 
 between Upper Epirus and Thessaly. Besides, by observing the direction of the 
 mountains, there can be no doubt that Pompey's army in quitting Dyrrachtum 
 passed by the mountains of Sagori to arrive at Pindus. 
 
 The apprehensions of the plague having ceased, there was no further reason for 
 the prisoners continuing at the monastery, and the pasha recalled them to Janina. 
 They passed their time much to their satisfaction ; and Monsieur Poitevin, whose 
 health had long been in a precarious state, found himself so much recovered by 
 the pure air of the mountains, that no further reason appeared to entertain fears 
 for the result. Monsieur Charbonnel returned to his school at Bonila, and Mon- 
 sieur Bessieres soon after accompanied the pasha to Telebeni, the place of his 
 nativity. 
 
 Ali, different from all the other pashas of Turkey, and accustomed to an active 
 life, often visits the distant parts of his dominions, with the double view of keeping 
 his subjects in obedience by his presence, and of creating himself friends among 
 them. The Upper Albania, whither his course was now directed, is the country 
 of the ancient Atintanes and Chaonians. The road passes between the towns of 
 Protopapas and Rodostopos. The former stands upon a high rock in the Elysian 
 Fields, three leagues north north-west of Janina. From its elevated situation it 
 is seen at a great distance. Every thing announces that this place is entirely mo- 
 dem ; or it should rather be said that, if ancient, there is nothing which indicates 
 what town of antiquity stood in this situation. When the times of barbarism 
 succeeded to the glorious days of Greece, the remains of its inhabitants then took 
 refuge in places string by their natural situation, as asylums from the wandering 
 hordes that desolated the country ; and it is not improbable that some of the in- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 57T 
 
 fiabitants of the Elysian Fields, which must have been a very populous district, 
 might then have chosen this place as their retreat. The spot is fine from the view 
 that it commands, but sterile, and the inhabitants are poor; it also forms a grand 
 object in the ensemble of the plain of Janina. 
 
 Rodostopos, or the country- of roses, stands a league to the north-east of Proto- 
 papas, and four leagues from Janina. From the aridity of the soil it might well 
 be supposed that the name it bears was given in derision ; yet the variety of the 
 ground, its poetic aspect, and the fine verdure with which some parts are orna- 
 mented, render it a spot deserving of admiration. Like all the hamlets at a little 
 distance from the lake of Acherusia, it enjoys a very pure air. The revenues arising 
 from the contributions paid to government by the inhabitants of Protopapas, Ro- 
 dostopos, and Delvinachi, form a part of the dower of the Sultana Valide. 
 
 The first place at which Ali and his companion, Monsieur Bessieres, stopped, 
 was a monastery in mount Tomarus or Dzoumerka, at a short distance from the 
 little river which flows into the northern part of the lake: thence they proceeded 
 to Argyro-Castron, ten leagues from Janina. The valley in which this town stands 
 extends from the northern side of Tomarus to the port of Vallona, the ancient 
 Aulone; and may be about fifteen leagues in length. It is divided by a river 
 which rises in Tomarus, and is probably the Celydnus of Chaonia. Its left bank 
 bounds the district inhabited by the independent Chimariotes: from hence their 
 country extends to a ruin which is called the fortress of Canina, on the north-west 
 extremity of the Acroceraunian mountains. Upon the right bank of the Celydnus 
 are many villages, and a town which might very probably have been Passaron*. 
 
 Argyro-Castron, though the chief place of a pashalik of two tails, is sometimes 
 governed only by an aga ; it is a modern town, hut is supposed by Meletius to 
 have succeeded to the ancient Antigouia. After resisting the pasha of Janina, it 
 yielded at length to his arms, and is at present governed by a person appointed 
 by him. Its advantageous situation, in the midst of a fertile valley, would make 
 it a very desirable place of residence, if it were not surrounded by a half savage 
 people, who live in a constant state of petty warfare among themselves. 
 
 The country over which Ali now passed in continuing his route, is mountain- 
 ous and woody quite to Barath, a town six leagues from Argyro-Castron. Barath 
 
 * The kings of Epirus, as well as the people, used to assemble at Passaron to sacrifice to the God 
 Mars. The kings then swore to govern by the laws, and the people to defend royalty submitted to 
 the laws. 
 
 3 c 
 
578 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA.- 
 
 is the chief town of the pashalik of Vallona ; it stands in the valley of Bolina, half 
 a league from the right bank of the river Bolina, the ancient Aous. The slopes 
 that surround this valley are covered with wood, and there are some villages, par- 
 ticularly on the side towards the sea. They are inhabited by a brave but ferocious 
 people. The whole trade of Upper Albania is carried on by Vallona; but what 
 is this trade? — Vallona is inhabited by a race of men whose manners are like 
 those of the Algerines, and its port is far from presenting the same security to 
 vessels of other nations as to those of its own : foreign vessels are consequently 
 not often to be seen there. It is frequented by the vessels of Dulcigno, who find 
 it convenient for the commerce they carry on with Italy and the Ionian islands. 
 
 From Barath to Tebeleni is six leagues, always in a northerly direction, and 
 among rocks or through forests. The latter town, the native place of Ali, sur- 
 rounded on all sides by arid mountains, seems placed as in the bottom of a tunnel. 
 A small river, however, flows through the valley, and runs out by a narrow passage 
 among the rocks: this passage continues to grow wider and wider till it comes to 
 fort Cavailla, near which the river flows into the sea. The pashalik of Tebeleni 
 has been abolished since Ali rose from that to be pasha of Janina, and the town 
 is now governed only by an aga. As the plague had appeared here this year, as 
 well as in other parts of Albania, the pasha, who is not impressed with a belief itv 
 predestination, did not think proper to venture himself there,, and he soon returned 
 by the mountains of Sagori to Janina. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA.. 37$ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Extent of the paskalik of AH. — His revenues.— His troops. — His influence in. 
 Romelia. — Further particulurs respecting the school of artillery at Bonila. — > 
 Tragical ^end of the corsair Orouchs.—War between AH and the pasha of 
 Delvino. — Monsieur Guerini turns Mussulman. — The pasha dismisses Monsieur 
 Bouvier to France. — Route from Janina to Larissa.- — Productions of Upper 
 Albania. 
 
 The pashalik of Janina comprises Epirus, Acarnania, the mountains of Pindus, 
 Fhocis, a part of iEtolia, Thessaly, and some districts of Macedonia. It is only 
 by degrees that AH has subjected so extensive a dominion to his power. While 
 he made allies and friends among the agas in Thessaly, he subdued by his arms 
 the pashas of Arta, of Argyro-Castron, of Ochrida, and Delvino, so that, though 
 still decorated with empty titles, they are in fact submitted to his will. It has 
 ever been his policy to fill the posts which are not nominally under his jurisdic- 
 tion with people entirely devoted to him. 
 
 But if he has had reason to be satisfied with his success against the neighbour* 
 ing pashas, he has experienced a formidable resistance from the tribes who in- 
 habit the mountains of Epirus. He had a long conflict to maintain with the 
 Souliotes of Cassiopea ; he has been obliged to temporise with their neighbours 
 the Paramithians ; to be contented with receiving a voluntary tribute from the 
 Philatians, who live on the borders of the Thyamis ; and to have recourse to 
 address in order to estrange from the pasha of Delvino the warlike Chimariots- 
 of the celebrated Acroceraunian mountains. Besides these, the numerous hamlets 
 situated on the mountains that border the valleys of Epirus should be mentioned, 
 and a tolerable idea is then given of the number of enemies whom Ali has either 
 to watch over or to combat. His principal engine for keeping them in subjection 
 is to sow divisions among them, and in this he is tolerably successful. But if a 
 certain number, united among themselves, ever succeed in obtaining a situation 
 which they think advantageous for the purpose, they never fail refusing to pay 
 the contributions, and resigning themselves to their natural desire of indepen- 
 dence. The dangers to which they are thus exposed is- to- them a very inferior 
 
 3 e 2 
 
3S0 TRAVELS JN THE MOREA, 
 
 consideration : accustomed to a constant warfare with the wolves and the wild- 
 boars, habituated to-arranging all their quarrels by the sword, they early acquire 
 a great indifference to life. 
 
 The defiles of Thessaly bring in the possession of Ali's brother-in-law, the 
 pasha of Tiicala, little is to be apprehended on that side, while considerable re- 
 sources may be drawn from the country. The situation of Tricala, standing on 
 the eastern slope of Pindus, is very strong, and very convenient for commanding 
 the defiles of the mountains; while the aga of Zeitoun, Mouctar, who was educated 
 to the pashalik of Negropont, secures the dominions of Ali on that quarter. 
 Among the last- mentioned cantons he finds a people who always pay the contri- 
 butions with the utmost exactitude, while at the same time they furnish a hardy 
 and faithful race of warriors, ready at the first signal to hasten and range them- 
 selves under his banners. In mount Derveni, however, the lower part of Pindus, 
 are some independent villages ; but contented with their liberty, and occupied 
 with the care of their flocks, they abstain from plunder, and are averse to a state 
 of warfare. 
 
 The pashalik reaches forty leagues north of Janina, and is bounded on that side 
 by the province of Ochrida, which is governed by a dependent of Ali. Above 
 Tebeleni it extends to the valley of the Drino, and the frontiers of the pashalik 
 of Scoudari or Scutari. To the west it includes a very wide range, a part of 
 which the Chimariots dispute with him : in this district also the towns of Para- 
 mithia, Margariti, Philati, and Parga are perfectly independent. At the mouth 
 of the Acheloiis, upon the gulf of Lepanto, is the pashalik of Mezzalonghi, 
 which is dependent upon the beglerbey of the Morea. Lepanto or Enebechte is 
 governed by a pasha of two tails, and has a territory independent of Ali ; but 
 the forests of Manina, the banks of the Acheloiis, and the country situated below 
 the gulf of Ambracia, are all submitted to his authority. Some Albanian posts 
 extend even to mount Olympus, and to the neighbourhood of Larissa, which act 
 only under the orders and in the name of Ali. In fine, his frontiers to the 
 north-east may be fixed at the Cambusian mountains, which join mount Liacmon, 
 in the country of Sagori. 
 
 The names of the countries which now form the pashalik of Ali have under- 
 gone changes which it may, perhaps, not be unimportant to point out. Janina, 
 for instance, has given the name of Janat to the country of the ancient Molossians; 
 the district of the Paraveans is now the province of Sagori ; Chaonia is called the 
 country of Chimera ; and Thesprotia is now the bishopric of Butrinto. The can- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. SS ! 
 
 ton of Souli includes the rugged mountains of Cassiopea, called at present Vale- 
 titzia; the eastern and southern sides of these mountains are known as the can- 
 ton of Loroux. Acarnania is called Carlelia, and iEtolia Xeromeros. The other 
 districts take their names from their principal towns. 
 
 The revenues of Ali arise from timars, from numerous flocks, and from imposts* 
 The latter are levied here with less harshness than in most other parts of the 
 Turkish empire. If we calculate by approximation the products of his re- 
 sources, including what he makes by the sale of wood and wool, as well as the 
 benefits arising from the trade he carries on, (for he is the principal merchant and 
 monopolizer in his dominions,) the whole may be estimated at between three and 
 four hundred thousand pounds. With this sum he supports his own establish- 
 ment, pays the contributions to the Porte, and maintains his army. 
 
 The latter, in its ordinary state, consists of from six to eight thousand Albanians. 
 He is indeed often obliged to increase this number, consequently the expenses 
 necessary for maintaining them. The maintenance of twenty-five thousand men 
 during his expedition against Paswan Oglou, and in the time of the last war, 
 must have brought heavy expenses upon him, particularly as he was obliged to 
 purchase cannon and arms. These disbursements are, however, far from being 
 lost ; and the Porte, which has granted many things he desired for the safety of Al- 
 bania, has placed him upon a very respectable footing. His military situation is 
 constantly improving. Albanians are to be found in the service of all the pashas : 
 they are the best soldiers they have, and form their usual guard. These men only 
 remain in their service, and engage in the intestine quarrels of the empire, to gain 
 money. As soon as they have amassed a tolerable sum, they hasten to return to 
 their mountains, and compose, in case of need, a seasoned body whom Ali can 
 dispose of at his pleasure. Others, after having for some time carried on the trade 
 of haidouts, or highway robbers, and having sullied themselves with crimes, abjure 
 this state to be again Albanians. As they are well acquainted with the most ob- 
 scure defiles of Romelia, they would be formidable in a war of posts, where, as we 
 know, the Mussulmans are intrepid. 
 
 To the powerful means he thus possesses, Ali unites all the refinements of the 
 most subtle policy to gain himself friends, or to ruin those whose designs he fears. 
 Far from vexing the agas, he leaves them quiet, persuaded that such kind of peo- 
 ple have nothing to fear from a change in the state of things, in which they might 
 be sure of finding impunity. By this means some of them are fanatically de- 
 voted to him* He never slumbers in a fatal security ; and if, as I have said, he 
 
332 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 knows perfectly well what is passing in civilized Europe, lie seldom suffers a fo- 
 reigner to enter his country without making him appear before him. This is not 
 done with the view of extorting a present, though he is avaricious like all the 
 Turks, but in the hope of obtaining some information which may be useful to 
 him. He combines things together with great ability, and calculates events to a 
 nicety. Every thing, in short, leads to the conclusion, that Ali, after having oc- 
 casioned great alarms to his master, will now be one of his firmest supports, 
 though he will, perhaps, rather serve him as a great feudatory, than as a servant 
 or slave. 
 
 The French officers continued daily to acquire a higher and higher place in his 
 favour ; and he was very glad to avail himself of their talents, in a way honourable 
 to themselves and useful to him. Monsieur Poitevin drew him plans of fortifica- 
 tions, with which he surrounded the town, and some points of the lake; while 
 Monsieur Bessieres superintended the execution of the works. Monsieur Char- 
 bonnel continued to reside at Bonila at the head of his school of artillery. Here 
 his health, which had been extremely injured, recovered very fast. Ali at this 
 time had conceived the project of making war upon Mustapha, pasha of Delvino, 
 and the Souliotes. He knew the military rank of Monsieur Charbonnel, and 
 he wanted to put his practical skill in the management of artillery to the proof. 
 He went to Bonila, ajjd after a long conversation with him in the Greek Ian- 
 guage, which Monsieur Charbonnel could now speak with great facility, engaged 
 him to exhibit a specimen of his skill in firing bombs, of which his own topdgis, 
 he said, were very ignorant. He invited him, for this purpose, to the palace at 
 Janina, where Ins artillery was kept, that he might choose a mortar for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Monsieur -Charbonnel accompanied him thither accordingly ; and having made 
 his choice, it was found that, in order to be transported to Bonila, where the ex- 
 periment was to be made, it must be carried down stairs, through the harem of 
 the women, While this was performing, the colonel, who still wore a part of his 
 European dress, was recognised by a French female slave in the service of the 
 princess-mother, as of her own country. The love of our native land is never so 
 truly, so keenly felt as in exile, or when suffering under any great calamity 
 which precludes the return to it: notwithstanding her situation, therefore, this 
 woman could not refrain from rushing out cf the apartment where she was, 
 and running up to her countryman as to a long-lost friend. The colonel, not 
 jtess astonished at the accent, of this woman than deeply affected wi{h her teass 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 383 
 
 ttnd agitation, stood motionless, scarcely able to believe what he saw. The un- 
 fortunate creature eagerly inquired of him after her husband, who was in the tra- 
 gical affair at Prevesa, and of whose fate she was ignorant. She was beginning 
 to unbosom herself to him, to lay open all the sorrows by which her soul was op* 
 pressed, when the interview was interrupted by the appearance of Mouctar the 
 son of AH. Surprised to see a female conversing with a stranger in the harem, 
 he approached the colonel, and said to him calmly, " My friend, go and pursue 
 your business." Monsieur Charbonnel, now scarcely less astonished at the mild 
 reproof given to the imprudence of which both he and she had been guilty, retired? 
 though not without regret that the poor slave was so soon deprived of the conso- 
 lation she seemed to derive from seeing him. The mildness with which MouctaF 
 spoke, js a proof that the Albanians are far from being equally absurd with regard 
 to their women as the Osmanlis. 
 
 When the mortar arrived at Bonila, Monsieur Charbonnel constructed a plat- 
 form on which it was placed ; but the Turkish bombardiers, who were to enter 
 into; a competition with him, contented themselves with placing theirs upon some 
 boards laid ,pn the ground, without concerning themselves about the level. On the 
 day when the experiment was to be made, the pasha arrived, followed by his two* 
 sons and his whole court, with the belouk-bachis, theagas, the Albanian captains, 
 and in short the whole garrison of the capital . A little tent was erected' at'the di- 
 stance of about six hundred toises, which was to be the mark. The two first bombs^ 
 were fired by the colonel : both took the right direction ; but the first went be- 
 yond the mark, while the other fell short of it. He was about to rectify his mis- 
 take at a third stroke, when Ali ordered his bombardiers to fire : they did so ; but 
 their bombs did not merely miss the mark, they went in a totally different direc- 
 tion. After six essays the pasha bid them cease, abusing them as stupid and awk- 
 ward fellows. Monsieur Charbonnel was then ordered to renew his efforts ; and as 
 by this respite sufficient time had been given him to make his calculations upon 
 the proper charge required, his third bomb blew the tent into the air, a thing 
 never before seen in that country. A general shout of triumph was raised ; 
 the air resounded with acclamations : every one rose, Ali excepted, and went to 
 the battery. . Veli pasha., by order of his father, took the colonel by the hand ; 
 and leading him to the place where he (Ali) was seated, the pasha presented him 
 with a pelisse, and appointed him his topdgi and comparadgi-bachi, that is, chief 
 of his cannoniers and bombardiers. The next day Monsieur Charbonnel received. 
 from the pasha a complete Turkish dress: he was at the same time' charged with 
 
334 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 the instruction of several young Greeks and Turks, who were to form a part of 
 the pasha's artillery corps, and was appointed superintendant of all his works. 
 
 These different functions occasioned a constant intercourse between Monsieur 
 Charbonnel and All, so that the former often went to the palace. Here it so hap- 
 pened that he several times met the corsair Orouchs. This pirate came to give 
 an account to the pasha of his cruisings ; but they by no means answered the ex- 
 pectations formed by the latter. Surprised and confounded at seeing the high 
 degree of favour his ci-devant prisoner enjoyed in the pasha's court, he was ex- 
 ceedingly humble and submissive whenever he met with him : but this could only 
 excite contempt in the colonel. He was one day even provoked, by finding him 
 always crossing his steps wherever he went, to say, " Hence, wretch ! this is thy 
 work : thou seest the fate to which thou hast brought me! Thy fate will be the 
 bowstring." His words were prophetic : Orouchs having again put to sea, the 
 kirlanguitch intrusted to him by the pasha went to the bottom ; and as he had the 
 imprudence to reappear at court in order to vindicate himself, Ali, tired of him 
 and his importunities, ordered him without further ceremony to be strangled. 
 
 A short time after these events war was declared on the part of Ali against Mus- 
 tapha the pasha of Delvino. Monsieur Charbonnel received orders to prepare 
 a park of artillery for the field and for a siege, and the Greek peasants were put 
 in requisition to draw the cannon and mortars to the frontiers of Mustapha's do- 
 minions. These wars among the inferior powers do not bring with them such a 
 frightful scene of calamities, nor are they of equal duration with those between 
 sovereigns. A faithful image of the quarrels which have in all times divided Greece, 
 the differences between two neighbouring pashas or agas are settled by arms ; 
 while perhaps in a night, a week, a month, the destruction of the enemy is accom- 
 plished, and the olive of peace again rears its head. 
 
 Ali's arm}' had no sooner advanced into the territories they were to invade, than 
 the Albanians made the Acroceraunian mountains resound with their broko-valas, 
 or war-songs, and began to live at the expense of the enemy. Not a soldier ap- 
 peared to defend the military positions winch cover the principal town, and they 
 advanced to form the siege of it almost without striking a stroke. I have spoken 
 above of Delvino, and the situation in which it stands. It was not judged proper 
 to endeavour to take it by a coup-de-main : perhaps the pasha was emulous of dis- 
 playing the effects of his artillery. Several bombs were -in consequence fired 
 against it, and Mustapha in a very short time submitted to the will of his anta- 
 gonist. After this campaign Monsieur Charbonnel returned to Janina, where he. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 385 
 
 as well as his companions in arms, who were prisoners with him, witnessed a most 
 extraordinary and, on their part, unexpected event. 
 
 Monsieur Guerini, a barefooted Carmelite, and a member of the Inquisition at 
 Malta, who has been mentioned as among the prisoners taken in La Madonna di 
 Monte Negro, was now forty-two years of age. In his early life he had preached 
 the gospel at Damas in Syria, and in Palestine, during which time he acquired 
 a considerable knowledge of the Oriental languages. Returning from his missions, 
 he was sent by Pope Pius the Sixth to Malta, as a member of the Holy Office, 
 and was in that island when it submitted to the arms of general Bonaparte. He 
 desired to accompany general Desaix into Egypt as his interpreter ; but he found 
 the tumult of a camp little suited to his taste, and soon obtained permission to 
 return to Italy. 
 
 On his arrival at Janina he became intimately acquainted with a santon, no 
 less a fanatic than himself, and they had now been for some time in the daily habit 
 of going together into the mountains to meditate, when they constantly seemed 
 to return more and mor-e charmed with each other. Our Carmelite came one 
 day to Monsieur Bessieres, and in a long conversation with him took occasion to 
 observe, " that all religions were good, and that he was very far from condemning 
 any man on account of his faith. For his own part, however, he was convinced 
 that he had hitherto been in an error; but Mahomet had been pleased to appear 
 to him, and open his eyes." Monsieur Bessieres heard him with astonishment : 
 but it was very obvious that no other effect was produced by the reasonings of the 
 new Mussulman ; and as he had a great desire to draw over to his party men 
 whom he esteemed and very highly respected, he next applied to Monsieur Poi- 
 tevin. To him he represented the very indifferent state of his health, and the 
 new resources presented to him if he would embrace Islamism ; while to Mon- 
 sieur Charbonnel, whom he went to see at Bonila, he talked of the attachment 
 borne to him by Ali, and told him confidentially, that if he would turn Turk 
 he might be a pasha in two years. 
 
 Rejected on all sides, Monsieur Guerini's resolution was not the more shaken ; 
 and he very soon after made a public profession of the faith of Mahomet. Nor did 
 he stop here ; but having long been accustomed to the sacerdotal office, he was 
 not inclined to relinquish it, and even made himself an imam. In this capacity 
 he was soon appointed almoner and secretary to the pasha, and he is now known 
 at Janina under the title of Mahomet-Imam-EfFendi: he has also become a teacher 
 of the Arabian tongue. A short time after this the pasha gave Monsieur Bouvier 
 
 3 
 
386 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 permission to return to France without even requiring his parole of honour. He 
 equally promised his other prisoners their liberty in due time; but said that it 
 must be given in succession, lest in dismissing them all at once he should draw 
 upon himself the anger of the Porte. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Eastern part of the pashalik of AH. — Itinerary from Janina to Lafissa. — Upper 
 Albania. — The Chimariots. — Western Albania. — Description of the coast from 
 Butrinto to Prevesa. — The mountains of Souli. — Wars of the Souliotes with AH. 
 — Southern part of Albania.— -Trade of the Gulf of Arta. — Earthquakes. — 
 Phenomena on this coast. — Forests of Manina. — Villages bordering the Acheloits. 
 — Isles of the Eschinades'. 
 
 The eastern part of the pashalik of Ali includes the country of Sagori, snd the 
 mountains of Pindus or Mezzovo. In the valleys formed by the little Pindus, 
 which begins at the foot of Mount Cassiopea, there are many villages, some large 
 forests of tall trees, and smiling slopes on which numerous flocks are fed. The 
 traveller who would go from Janina into Thessaly crosses this country; but it is 
 scarcely known to us even by the Roman Itineraries, the only remains of antiquity 
 on which we can rely. The route from Janina to Larissa lies through Bonila; 
 and then, after coasting the lake Acherusia in various directions for three hours, 
 the traveller begins to ascend the little Pindus. The ascent and descent again of 
 this mountain on the other side occupy about an hour. At the foot of it the 
 river Arta, the ancient Arethon, is crossed by a bridge. The course of this river 
 is followed for five hours, and then another mountain is passed to arrive at Mez- 
 zovo. 
 
 This little town, which is said to have its name from being between two moun- 
 tains, is composed of about fifteen hundred houses. Its distance from Janina is 
 computed at nine or ten leagues. On quitting it a very high mountain is ascended, 
 which is covered with snow nine months in the year. This is the Pindus properly 
 so called, now by the inhabitants distinguished as Mezzovo. Seen at a distance it 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA, 38? 
 
 forms a fine termination to many beautiful landscapes ; but when arrived upon its 
 summit, the traveller sees nothing but nature under its wildest and most chilling 
 aspect. If some tufts of pines adorn the lower parts of its declivity, in the higher 
 parts are nothing but naked peaks covered with snow and eternal ice. 
 
 Two hours are required to descend Pindus, when the traveller stops at a khan 
 near a small village called Malacassi : thence he proceeds to Kokouliotiko, eight 
 leagues from Mezzovo, which terminates the second day's journey. The third day 
 the road goes over several little mountains to a town called Stagous, which con- 
 tains about a thousand houses. At a little distance from this place are the cele- 
 brated monasteries of Meteora, to which I have already had occasion to make allu- 
 sions, in speaking of the Greek religion, as being built upon rocks so steep, that 
 they can only be reached by mounting ladders placed against them, or being 
 drawn up in a basket by means of a crane*. They are nine in number. 
 
 The distance from Kokouliotiko to Tricala occupies ten hours. Here begins 
 the country known anciently as Thessaly, which is immediately recognised by 
 the beauty of its plains, the fertility of its territory, and the strength of its vege- 
 tation. Zarko, a small town containing about eight hundred houses, governed 
 by a very powerful aga, is the next place in the route to Larissa; it is five leagues 
 from Tricala, the road lying all the way over a very fine plain. In continuing 
 the route to Larissa over the same beautiful plain, the river Salembria, the ancient 
 Peneus, is passed by a ferry. Larissa is ajourney of only three hours from Zarko. 
 All this country is dependent on Ali, though governed by several inferior pashas 
 and agas. The route I have described is that usually taken by travellers, and by 
 the merchants of Thessaly and Epirus. 
 
 Almost all the coast from Vallona to the gulf of Drino is rugged. The moun- 
 tains by which it is bordered descend rapidly towards the sea, and present to the 
 navigator only naked and barren summits. Along the coast are to be seen in 
 succession the ruins of the ancient Apollonia, in the country of the Taulantians ; 
 the town of Cavailla, which stands on the right bank of the river Aous, and where 
 the finest wood of Albania is to be procured ; and lastly Dyrrachium, now called 
 Durazzo. Here we begin to be upon classic ground. Memory immediately recurs 
 to those times when the fugitive senate and vhe youth of Rome, ranged under the 
 banners of Pompey, were besieged here by Csesar. The slope may still be seen 
 where the intrenched army seemed destined to perish with thirst and misery; nor 
 
 * See page 142. 
 3d 2 
 
388 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 can we conceive without difficulty how Pompey could protract his ruin by 
 obliging his enemy to retire to the plain of Pharsalia. 
 
 Nine leagues from Durazzo stands Croi'a, the sole remains of the ancient town 
 of this name, which was for a long time the capital of Albania. Its territory, once 
 the theatre of the great exploits of Scanderbeg, now contains only a few hamlets 
 inhabited by men condemned to misery, and half savage. Here the sea begins to 
 form a deep gulf, at the bottom of which are the mouths of the Drino, and the 
 town of Alessio. This town stands on a sort of rock, the base of which has been 
 worn away by the Drino; it contains about two thousand inhabitants, two-thirds 
 of whom profess the Christian religion according to the Greek or Latin rites. 
 They live by their commerce and fisheries. Upper Albania, a part of which 
 depends on the pashalik of Scutari, is to be seen from these shores ; but in turn- 
 ing to the other side from Vallona to Butrinto, not a secure place of anchorage 
 is to be found. Some small ports, very little frequented, are the only places by 
 which the Chimariots find a vent for the commodities of their country. 
 
 These people inhabit the ancient Acroceraunian mountains, now called the 
 mountains of Chimera. Warlike by character as well as by necessity, we find 
 them mentioned with distinction from the time of Scanderbeg, as always forming 
 a sort of isolated society or republic among themselves. At once shepherds and 
 soldiers, they live in a state of independence amid the inaccessible retreats of their 
 mountains. Often at war with their neighbours, or among themselves, they hold 
 no qualities in any estimation but those of a courage, or rather temerity, which 
 leads to undertaking the most perilous actions. Ready alike to seize the unfortu- 
 nate mariner whose vessel may be wrecked upon their coasts, or the traveller 
 whose ill stars may lead him into the way of their ambuscades ; their victims are 
 either sold, or condemned to labour in places known to themselves alone. The only 
 part of their country in which some faint traces of civilization are to be found, is 
 in the neighbourhood of Porto Palermo ; here a little trade is carried on in the 
 commodities of their country. These are chiefly oil, vallony, and wool; they 
 are sent to Vallona or other ports upon the coast; and in exchange for them are 
 purchased muskets and pistols from Brescia, cloaks from Calabria, some coarse 
 cloths, and a little silver. Wood for building, sumach, rosin, and hides, are 
 also objects sometimes exported by the Chimariots ; but their commerce seems so 
 variable that nothing respecting it can be positively ascertained. A great majority 
 of these people profess the Christian religion, though there are some Mussulmans 
 among them. 
 
♦ TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 38§ 
 
 In the western part of Albania, which extends from Delvino to the mountains 
 of Souli, and from the town of Butrinto to Prevesa. no recollections of ancient 
 times, no illusions of mythology are presented to the mind ; here every thing is 
 modern. The ruins which meet the eye are not the relics of polished but of 
 barbarous ages; they are the remains of towers built by the Venetians, nor can 
 the venerable impression of antiquity any where be traced. Even Nicopolis 
 cannot sufficiently occupy the attention of the traveller, to draw him aside frc^m 
 mourning over the still smoking ruins of Prevesa. 
 
 Eastward of Butrinto, after passing the Xanthus to follow the coast on the side 
 of Valetitzia, is Agio-Saranta, of which I have spoken already, and farther on 
 Keracha, a small port frequented chiefly by the Philatians, one of the most 
 independent tribes of the ancient Thesprotia. Their territory is covered with 
 olive-trees; they feed abundant flocks ; and the population, which is scattered in 
 several villages, may be estimated at from six to eight thousand. 
 
 Gomenizza, a village situated beyond the Thyamis, is sometimes included in 
 the country of the Philatians. Its port is difficult of access, on account of several 
 rocks just below the surface of the water which obstruct the entrance. Sayades, 
 another village belonging to the pasha of Janina, where a small fishery is carried 
 on, stands at the bottom of a creek ; towards the east it is inclosed by high 
 mountains, on the other side of which are several independent villages. In the 
 interior of the country, following the same direction, is the little town of Marga- 
 riti, which is governed by a belouk-bachi. Its inhabitants, though free, pay a 
 certain tribute to Ali-pasha. 
 
 The town of Parga stands upon rocks, which forming a promontory protect 
 two ports; and its walls, following the declivity of the ground and inclining a little 
 to the north, embrace the whole of the promontory. Vast screens of olive-trees, 
 mingled with tufts of oranges grouped in the distant scene, form many points of 
 view on which the eye rests with delight. This town always despised the feeble 
 government of Venice, and has found the means of freeing itself, entirely by its 
 own exertions, from the Turkish yoke : every thing leads to the belief that it will 
 never be compelled to resume its fetters. Its population may be estimated at 
 about eight thousand. Geographers, who have till now had very imperfect notions 
 with regard to Epirus, from the silence of ancient writers on the subject, have 
 placed lake Acherusia upon the coast, three leagues south of Parga. Without 
 entering upon a discussion of the facts which have led them into this error, 
 I can assure them that there is nothing on the coast of Valetitzia which resembles 
 
390 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 a lake, and that the Acherusia of tlie ancients is twenty-five leagues distant from 
 the nearest point of the sea. 
 
 Faneri is a port six leagues south-east of Parga, and eight leagues further is 
 Prevesa. This town stands at the entrance of the gulf of Arta, about a league 
 from the ancient Nicopolis, and was, as has been noticed above, one of the Vene- 
 tian possessions in Albania. The whole gulf of Ambracia is seen from this place; 
 a multitude of barks are at all times passing and repassing here. From this spot 
 too is seen the celebrated Leucadia, with its rock so fatal to lovers. The ruins of 
 Nicopolis, or the city of victory, founded by Augustus after the battle of Actium, 
 are at the foot of the hills between the gulf of Ambracia and the Ionian sea. 
 There are still some remains of two theatres, of a stadium, and of several other 
 edifices, but they are all of brick: no marbles or sculptures of any kind are to be 
 found. Some researches which the French had begun to make while they were 
 in possession of the country had been tolerably well repaid ; and important 
 discoveries might have been made but for the war which broke out with the . 
 Ottoman Porte, and which led to the disaster already related. 
 
 The mountains of Souli to the south of the Elysian Fields have long served as 
 the retreat of a Greek tribe, already frequently mentioned under the name of 
 Souliotes, who have recently come too much into notice not to find a place in 
 this work. Their actions, the designs attributed to them, the great things of 
 which they believe themselves capable, have been celebrated in the work of Mr. 
 William Eton, upon the faith ofaFrench drogman attached to MonsieurCousineri, 
 and to Monsieur Beaujour, who was in Albania in 179 2 - As much more has been 
 known since that time with regard to the Souliotes, and above all, as many 
 errors have crept into the English traveller's narrative, a corrected account may 
 perhaps not be unacceptable to the public; nay, I cannot help entertaining a 
 hope that my zeal may even be applauded by Mr. Eton himself. 
 
 The mountains of Souli are the southern boundary of the plain of Janina, and 
 are fifteen leagues distant from that town. Dervi^niana, a town which stands 
 about a six hours journey from Janina, was formerly the limit of the pasha of 
 Janina's dominions, and it was then alternately in the hands of the Souliotes and 
 the Paramithians ; but they have both been since expelled, and the town annexed 
 to the pashalik of Janina. The inhabitants however, as welt as the peasants of 
 some obscure hamlets in the neighbourhood, are of such restless and turbulent 
 dispositions that not much advantage is derived from the country. From Dervig- 
 niana to Paramithia occupies five hours : the latter town stands in the road which 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA: 39 1 
 
 must be taken to enter the principal defile of the mountains of Souli. The coun- 
 try between Dervigniana and Paramithia is hilly, but fertile, or covered with 
 furze intermingled with myrtles, rosemary, sage, and other aromatic plants, such as 
 embellish even the wildest spots in Greece. The tall bay, the humble marjoram, 
 the thyme so much sought after by the flocks, the melissa the favourite food of 
 the bees, the fragrant narcissus for making garlands, the sweet marjoram which 
 gives so great a relish to our own cookery, — these are all mingled together, and 
 are to be found at every step : the air, according to the season, is perfumed with 
 a great variety of delightful odours, while concerts of birds warble their melodious 
 strains, which the enchanted echoes lepeat with delight. Even in winter, the 
 forests of pines that cover in part the slopes of the mountains, and which are soon 
 freed by the sun from the weight of abundant snows, announce that vegetation 
 has not entirely perished. 
 
 Paramithia is the chief town of a canton inhabited by a free people, who quietly 
 pay a small tribute to Ali-pasha. It was at this time under the command of 
 Progno, a man of great courage and intrepidity, and highly cherished and 
 esteemed by his fellow-countrymen. The town has no walls, but is well defended 
 by the valour of its inhabitants: it is supposed to contain a population of about 
 fifteen thousand souls. Most of them are of the Mahometan persuasion ; but 
 they know no laws except those imposed upon them by their own courage, and 
 obedience to their military chiefs. The Paramithians who inhabit the country 
 are not divided into clans, but into hamlets or chorions, which are governed by 
 belouk-bachis under the orders of the chief Progno. Many of these people are 
 of a remarkably robust and athletic form : they used to consider the Albanians as 
 very much their inferiors; but their ideas it may be presumed have undergone a 
 change, since they have been obliged to submit to them. 
 
 From Paramithia there is a road which goes off to Margariti, another to Parga, 
 and a third to the mountains of Souli: the town is only four leagues distant from 
 the latter. These mountains bound the pashalik of Arta and the canton of Loroux 
 to the east ; to the south their base terminates at the reverse of the mountains 
 above Nicopolis ; and to the south and west they bound Margariti, with the coun- 
 try of the Paramithians and Philatians. The extent of the district of Souli is ten 
 leagues from north to south, but in breadth it is never more than two leagues 
 and a half. Some scattered villages towards the east, and the rivers bordering on 
 the canton of Paramithia, belong to the territory of the Souliotes. On the side of 
 Philatea are some salt springs, which issue from a rock and form two little streams. 
 
392 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 The name of Souli is said to come from Xylon, that is to say woody ; but, as 
 there are no trees among these mountains, this does not appear a very probabU 
 derivation. They present nothing but arid summits, which have the appearance 
 of crenated bastions formed by nature to serve as the retreat of men who place 
 their whole happiness in independence. From these aerial sites the eye only 
 looks through natural embrasures in the rocks, to wander over a wild and rugged 
 country intersected by deep ravines, or over a wide extent of sea. The burning 
 heat of the sun and the piercing cold of winter are alike felt here in their 
 utmost extremes. 
 
 On whatever side the mountains of Souli are approached, nature becomes 
 rugged, and presents difficulties to be surmounted; but I know not why Mr. Eton 
 has represented Ali as investing the territory on all sides before he commenced 
 his attack. The southern part being only accessible by a defile, he always 
 menaced theSouliotes on this point; and not being able to reduce them by force, 
 he built towers at the extremity of the defile in order to blockade them. Not 
 more probable is it that he ever received assistance from the Chimariots, separated 
 as they are by the pashalik of Delvino. It is well known that a sort of antipathy 
 to each other exists among all the independent nations of Greee. They will lay 
 aside for a time their domestic dissentions, to defend the canton they inhabit when 
 it is menaced ; but never will they carry their patriotism and disinterestedness to 
 the length of forming a league which shall give freedom to all. 
 
 The country of Souli contains eighteen villages, some of which are in such 
 elevated situations among the mountains as to be almost inaccessible to any but 
 themselves. There are several hamlets at the foot of the mountains, which the 
 inhabitants used to evacuate at the first approach of danger, and retreat with all 
 their effects to the natural entrenchments above. But, these mountains being arid 
 and destitute of water, they found themselves, if blockaded, compelled to yield 
 sooner or later. The population of the country might be estimated at about eight 
 thousand ; fifteen hundred or two thousand of whom were warriors capable of 
 bearing arms. 
 
 The wars of the Souliotes have however been much celebrated, and the people 
 were long represented as a race devoted to liberty, from among whom might be 
 expected to emanate those sentiments and that energy which would lead to the 
 regeneration of the country. Souli was the pharos of Greece, all eyes were turned 
 towards her rocks, and they were in fact distinguished by occasional prodigies of 
 courage, by flashes of extraordinary valour. The Souliotes sometimes descended 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 393 
 
 like a torrent of burning lava into the plain of Janina, carrying terror wherever 
 they went. But notwithstanding these ephemeral advantages they could never 
 subdue an inch of ground so as to retain it; and the divisions by which they were 
 torn among themselves when they had no longer an external enemy to fear, threw 
 them into all the horrors of anarchy. 
 
 AH, who watched them carefully, employed policy and force against them 
 alternately; but his endeavours were abortive, and did not lead to results of an-- 
 solid advantage to himself: if he succeeded sometimes in sowing divisions among 
 them, they often baffled the calculations of his policy. As in his wars the pasha 
 acted without any regular plan, contenting himself with attacking them impetu- 
 ously, or with blockading their defiles for some time ; he was always obliged to 
 finish by disbanding his army, and leaving the Souliotes to return again to the 
 cultivation of their lands. Sometimes truces were concluded between them, with 
 the intention on both sides of violating them on the first favourable opportunity ; 
 The interest and amour-propre of the pasha induced him to desire the extermina- 
 tion of the Souliotes, and the restless genius of these people was perpetually 
 leading them into new conflicts. 
 
 The Ottoman Porte was not however by any means desirous that Souli should 
 be conquered, considering the warlike spirit of its inhabitants as the only effective 
 counterpoise against the power of Ali. The Souliotes might even have turned 
 this disposition very much to their own advantage, if, like the Mainotti, they had 
 sought the protection of some distinguished member of the imperial family. But 
 isolated in the most formidable canton of Epirus, too proud of their own victories, 
 and too confident in the natural strength of their country, they never carried 
 their views beyond their own boundaries, or thought of fighting but. to defend 
 them. The fatal hour therefore which destroys the most powerful empires, when 
 they know not how to adopt proper means for their own preservation, sounded at 
 length for these warriors. 
 
 The exterior villages which were destroyed by Ali in 179^ deprived the 
 inhabitants of Souli of the resources they drew from them, but he endeavoured in 
 vain to force them from their rocks. Repulsed in several assaults, when his best 
 troops were destroyed by the stones and trunks of trees hurled upon them from 
 the fortified peaks, he could not even prevent his own territories from being fre- 
 quently ravaged. He then took a desperate resolution of terminating this long 
 protracted contest, and the year 1S03 saw their power completely annihilated. 
 His object might probably have been sooner accomplished if the French officer; 
 
 3 E 
 
S9* TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 would have lent their assistance in promoting his views, or if his own captains had 
 not been too much daunted hy some unsuccessful efforts. 
 
 At the time I mention, the year 1803, he began his operations by building 
 rowers at the entrance of the defiles; when the Souliotes, pressed on all side-, 
 attacked incessantly by an enemy so much superior to them in numbers, and who 
 seemed to multiply in proportion to their losses, saw themselves deprived of some 
 of their strongest holds in the mountains, after having first dyed the ground with 
 their own blood and that of their assailants. In this manner they were compelled 
 to evacuate Kiafa and Kako-Souli, and retire to Parga. The last place that fell 
 was Agia-Paraskevi. It was occupied by three hundred Souliotes, under the 
 orders of Samuel, a caloyer or monk, who had governed the tribe for three years. 
 They saw without terror the Albanians advancing, and never ceased to combat 
 and make terrible havoc among them for six days; but their provisions and watei' 
 beginning to fail, they were obliged to capitulate upon the same terms that had 
 been granted to Kiafa, and retire also to Parga. 
 
 Hostages being given on both sides, the post was evacuated ; the caloyer alone 
 with four of his soldiers remained to surrender the town, with the ammunition, to 
 two belouk-baehis deputed for the purpose by Ali. Introduced by Samuel into 
 the magazines, this latter instantly set fire to the powder they contained, and 
 blew himself with his four companions and the agents of Ali into the air. The 
 pasha, considering himself absolved from his engagements by this act cf treachery? 
 thought of revenging it upon the Souliotes who were retiring with their wives 
 and children. But despair can almost achieve miracles, and the unfortunate 
 Souliotes, though surrounded by five thousand Albanians, made such a resistance 
 that in the end they effected their retreat to Parga. Here they found the refuge 
 which their valour and misfortunes so highly merited; and here they have 
 remained, in the hope that they may in future be enabled to return to their own 
 rugged but cherished country. 
 
 Such was the end of a tribe whose courage had often proved formidable to 
 Ali. Had it been better directed, and had they been more peaceable, they might 
 still have remained free in the bosom of their mountains. But too much pre- 
 sumption brought ruin upon them. They were more formidable than the 
 Chimariots, or any other of the independent tribes, and their downfall became 
 necessary to the paslras of the Morea and Albania. If however they no longer 
 occupy their mountains, the remains of them form a more select association, and ; 
 united with the Greeks of Parga, may in the end experience a happier fate. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 395 
 
 AH judging of the importance of these mountains by the difficulties he had 
 found in conquering them, thought immediately of rendering them one of the 
 most powerful bulwarks of his empire. He began by establishing garrisons 
 among them, and occupied himself in repairing towers that had been ruined, in 
 forming cisterns, in erecting fortifications, — in a word, in doing every thing 
 proper to render it a formidable position. More secure in this retreat than an- 
 other Gelimer, if he should ever lose Janina, he will find in Souli a position 
 which his genius has rendered invincible. If ever Albania should be menaced with 
 a war, he will find the means of securing a supply of provisions so as to enable him 
 to retain this spot ; from hence he may embarrass tjie operations of the enemy, 
 and fall upon him unawares, or leave him to perish in detail amid the unwhole- 
 some air of the rice-grounds that border the southern parts of the mountains. 
 
 The towns of Margariti and Parga are the most troublesome neighbours remain- 
 ing to the pasha of Albania. They have been for a long time his declared enemies ; 
 and their whole population, which is numerous and brave, is occupied only in 
 endeavouring to annoy him in every possible manner. I doubt however whether 
 the inhabitants of Parga, brave as they are within their own walls and upon their 
 own territory, would ever be induced to quit them unless they were well sup- 
 ported by regular troops. As to Margariti, the pasha would not fail to seize upon 
 it the moment that he conceived any danger was to be apprehended : he already 
 in great measure commands there by means of an aga devoted to him. 
 
 The southern part of Albania was celebrated in antiquity for several towns, 
 which underwent a total change when the country fell under the Roman yoke ; 
 it afterwards acquired no less distinction from the building of Nicopolis, in com- 
 memoration of the celebrated and most important battle of Actium. In its modern 
 state it is interesting from its extreme fertility, from the trade carried on in its 
 gulf, and from the mercantile advantages to be found at Arta and Salagora. 
 
 The former, which is now the most considerable town near the gulf that bears 
 its name, stands upon the banks of the river Arta or Arethon. It is not, as 
 Meletius pretends, the Argos of Epirus; it is a modern town, about which 
 neither ruins nor ancient roads are to be found, and the position of which does not 
 agree with that of any place mentioned by ancient writers. It is the seat of a 
 Greek bishopric, and was for a long time the chief place of a pashalik, which was 
 held by Mouctar before he received the investiture of that of Negropont. Since 
 that time it has been united to the dominions of Ali, and is governed by a pasha 
 or aga tributary to him. The Arethon is never dry at any season of the years 
 
 3e 2 
 
396 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 it is crossed by a bridge which the inhabitants always point out to the observation 
 of travellers, because one of the arches is built in an ogive, which may be four- 
 score feet in height. As these people are easily enchanted, they consider the work 
 as a positive wonder. The Christians on their part show as a monument of anti- 
 quity a church built of brick, under, as they say, the last Christian emperors of 
 Byzantium*. For the rest, the town has all the uniformity and monotony 
 generally to be observed in Turkish towns; it is spread over a great extent of 
 ground, and the streets are narrow ; the population may amount to about six 
 thousand, a fourth part of whom profess the Mahometan religion. 
 
 Arta, however, notwithstanding the advantages derived from such a situation, 
 is said to be extremely subject to fevers, particularly in summer. The rich inha- 
 bitants generally quit the town at that season, and retire to some villages about 
 the mountains, or to houses upon the shores of the gulf. Either of these situations 
 is considered as very healthy. Besides the excellent wines furnished by the slopes 
 about Arta, the fields abound with corn, and some of the best tobacco used in the 
 East is grown here. The forests are full of wild boars, stags, and game. This 
 canton, in short, from the variety and fertility of its territory, presents every 
 thing that can render a country agreeable. 
 
 The town of Arta, which may be considered as the great depot for the com- 
 modities of Lower Albania, carries on a very extensive trade in barley, oats, 
 maize, lazari, lentils, nuts, chesnuts, kidney-beans, cotton, flax, vallony, raw 
 wool, leather, morocco- leather, coarse woollen cloths, taflfeties of cotton and thread, 
 and of silk and cotton, linen cloth, tobacco, wines, brandy, gums, oxen, sheep, 
 hogs, and wood for ship-building. The latter was very much bought up formerly 
 by a French house for the use of the marine at Toulon. It is doubtless on account 
 of this important trade that the gulf of Ambracia is now called the gulf of Arta, 
 since it is little frequented except for the purposes of trade with this town. Arta 
 stands at the distance of four leagues from the sea. 
 
 The pashalik of Arta comprehends Aperantia and a great part of jEtolia. One 
 of the most considerable towns within this district is Tricala, but it does not con- 
 tain more than three hundred houses. It is situated two leagues east of Arta, 
 upon the western declivity of a chain of mountains which form the eastern 
 boundary of the valley through which the river Arethon flows. It is governed 
 
 * It is to be observed, that almost all the ancient monuments in Albania, particularly those belonging 
 to the times of the Lower Empire, are constructed cf brick. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 397 
 
 by a belouk-bachi. The inhabitants cultivate cotton and olive-trees ; they ma- 
 nufacture taffeties, cut down from their forests wood for ship-building, and tend 
 their flocks in the mountains. f 
 
 The Inacchus of Epirus, which rises in the mountains of Sagori, flows to the 
 east of the mountains on which Tricala stands. Two leagues before this river 
 empties itself into the gulf of Arta, it is divided into two branches which form a 
 delta. The soil here is uncommonly rich and fertile: it is employed chiefly for 
 the cultivation of cotton and tobacco. The principal town of this little district is 
 Terra Nova, a modern name, indicating, perhaps, the novelty of the soil on which 
 it is founded. Its inhabitants are principally Venetians and banished Jews, with 
 some Greeks from the Venetian isles, who have brought hither their manners 
 and their industry. The spot is indeed deserving of a more illustrious popula- 
 tion. 
 
 The whole of this valley is beautiful and fertile. It abounds with superb olive- 
 trees, with mulberry-trees, sumachs, planes, and lofty oaks excellent for the ma- 
 rine. Vast numbers of cattle are fed in it, and horses adapted to carrying on war 
 in a mountainous country. There are also thermal springs, and the variety and 
 vigour of growth among the vegetable creation are quite surprising. The wine 
 is scarcely inferior to the best produced from the slopes of Albania. Meletius 
 mentions some ruined castles, which must have been upon the levels near the 
 gulf: nothing is now to be seen but some little hamlets inhabited by fishermen. 
 The river Inacchus abounds with fish, but is too shoaly to be navigable. It is 
 probable that, by giving a little attention to clearing away the sands from its 
 mouths, this inconvenience might be remedied, and the river rendered still more 
 serviceable to the fertile valley which it waters. Three leagues westward of the 
 western branch of the Inacchus lies the port of Salagora. It is a miserable town 
 standing in the midst of marshes. 
 
 Vonitza, which probably is the ancient Anactorium mentioned by Pausanias, 
 as depopulated by Augustus on his building Nicopolis, stands on the Acarnanian 
 or Carlelian shore of the gulf of Arta. This town is at the bottom of a deep bay, 
 which receives the waters of a little river that rises in the forests of Manina. These 
 forests lie four leagues south of the town. Vonitza formerly belonged to the re- 
 public of Venice. Its inhabitants have suffered much by the arrangement made 
 in the last treaty between Russia and the Porte, which gave it into the hands of 
 the latter power. Its principal trade is in poutargues. Eastward of this town lies 
 the village of Lcutra or Loutraki, a name which is probably derived from the 
 
398 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 thermal springs in its neighbourhood. It is inhabited by Albanians, who are 
 almost independent, wandering continually about the mountains and woods around, 
 occupied with the care of their flocks, and with collecting vallony. This part of 
 tile pashalik of Arta contains many other villages, but it is difficult to visit them on 
 account of the barbarous manners of the inhabitants. Money is extremely scarce, 
 the internal trade being carried on entirely by barter. The prevailing language is 
 the Sclavonian. The people are partly Christians, partly Mussulmans. 
 
 The southern shore of the gulf of Arta is very irregular, forming a number of 
 little creeks for a distance of three leagues ; when the sea running very far into 
 the land extends itself to a spot which some geographers believe to be the ancient 
 Ambracia. The country in these parts is alternately fertile and cheerful, wild 
 and terrible. Here are forests and pastures, with rocks rising above the lofty trees 
 that form a fine green fringe at their base. Venice peopled these shores with the 
 refuse of her own inhabitants, equally with those who were known and were su- 
 spected to be unsafe citizens at home. With the appearance, therefore, of milder 
 and less ferocious manners than in the bosom of Albania, perfidy, vengeance, and 
 the stiletto are here in fact but too common ; creating risks to the traveller so much 
 the more dangerous, as he is less likely to be aware of them. 
 
 The inhabitants of the gulf of Arta carry on a constant intercourse with St. 
 Maure, Ithaca, and Cephalonia. So many matrimonial alliances have been con- 
 tracted at various times between the islanders of St. Maure and the Greeks of Vo- 
 nitza and Prevesa, that thev are almost all relations. The soil of all these islands 
 seems homogeneous : the same volcanic appearances are to be remarked in them 
 as in the mountains of Carlelia ; and earthquakes are commonly felt there at the 
 same time as in these parts of the continent. St. Maure appears, indeed, once to 
 have formed a part of the continent ; it is only separated from it by a very narrow 
 channel. This was the ancient Leucadia, rendered so famous by the death of 
 Sappho, and of some other lovers equally deprived of their reason. 
 
 It seems as if subterranean fires communicate all the way from Zante to Cepha- 
 lonia, St. Maure, Ithaca, Acarnania, and the Morea, without the chain of moun- 
 tains of Upper Albania being at all affected by the shocks they occasion : even 
 Corfu does not appear subject to the influence of these submarine volcanoes. They 
 may, perhaps, be destined hereafter to give birth to new islands, or to ingulf those 
 which exist at present. There is no calculating upon the effects they may pro- 
 duce. It is to them, probably, that certain phenomena observable in these parts 
 are to be ascribed. The waves of the sea are sometimes agitated by a sort of con- 
 
TIUVEL8 IN THE MOREA, 399 
 
 vulsion. an agitation very different from the ordinary motion of the waters, of 
 from that given to them when impelled by strong winds. This takes place during 
 the most profound calms, and particularly in the great heats of summer. Persons 
 worthy of credit, and capable of observing, have assured me that water-spouts are 
 seen to rise on the side of Leucadia, and at the mouth of the sea of Corinth. Be 
 these things as they may, these seas and these shores, notwithstanding some dis- 
 advantages, must be reckoned among the pleasantest and most beautiful parts of the 
 globe, and will always deserve particular attention from the traveller who wishes to 
 study nature, and who loves to meditate amid picturesque beauties. 
 
 In Ithaca, now called Thiaki, is a heap of stones, which persons with ardent ima- 
 ginations call the ruins of the palace of Ulysses : the materials are, however, of a 
 much less remote date. The soil of Cephalonia is arid ; and the idea of this island 
 can never be presented to the mind unconnected with that of the factions by which 
 it is torn. The mind immediately recurs to the unfortunate Count Carbury, cut 
 off in the midst of his projects for ameliorating the situation of his countrymen ; 
 nor can one reflect without the deepest indignation upon their ingratitude in 
 dyeing their hands with the blood of their benefactor *. 
 
 Carlelia, the ancient Acarnania, is a little canton of Southern Albania, com- 
 prised between the strait of St. Maure, the lake of Arta, and the river Acheloiis, 
 or Aspro-Potamos as it is now called. It is in length from north to south about 
 fifteen leagues, about eight or nine in breadth, and is bounded to the north by the 
 gulf of Arta. Five leagues and a half below the entrance of this gulf is a harbour 
 running pretty far inland, called by the Greeks Porto Candili. To the north and 
 east it is sheltered by the mountains of the continent ; to the west it is protected 
 bv St. Maure, and bv some rocks which render it difficult of access. At a little 
 distance is a village called Tzavedra, which may have been the ancient town of 
 Alysia, as that must have been in these parts: it is, however, so very uncertain 
 
 * The name of Count Carbury is well known in Europe as having transported the granite rock, on 
 which the statue of the ezar Peter the Great stands, to St. Petersburgh. He had conceived the project 
 of numerous institutions, which would greatly have increased the prosperity of his fellow-countrymen 
 at Cephalonia, and came to establish himself among them in the intention of devoting his whole fortune 
 to carrying them into effect. He had already made extensive plantations of exotic trees, which were in 
 a very flourishing condition, when he was assassinated. The remains of these plantations are still shown- 
 to strangers. Some scattered coffee-trees, and fields which he had rendered fertile, now wholly neglected, 
 excite id the bosom equal regret and indignation,. 
 
400 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 whether Tzavedra stands on the site of any place known in antiquity, that the 
 possibility of its having been Alysia is all that can be suggested. 
 
 The forests distinguished by the name of Manilla, whioh extend quite to Ca- 
 lydon, occupy the interior of this country, and are the resort of a tribe of tauriens, 
 who are however under the jurisdiction of Ali-pasha. The houses of the people in 
 easy circumstances, which are chiefly in the villages, are a sort of fortified towers 
 with battlements, and are entered by a draw-bridge, the stair-case to the chambers 
 where they live being shut down by a ponderous trap-door. Here they remain 
 constantly armed, and on the alert; and, as they never quit the musquet, are 
 always ready to do themselves justice when attacked. 
 
 In this singular country, which may be regarded as the focus of anarchy, there 
 were still several important places in the time of the Lower Empire, and even 
 under the government of the Turks, but by degrees they are fallen entirely to 
 ruin. Dragomestra, which was in a very strong situation, exists no longer but as 
 a miserable village; nor is the little town of Petala, upon a creek about a league 
 from the mouth of the Acheloiis, in a much better situation. With the name of 
 the Acheloiis of /Etolia, which Homer distinguishes by the pompous title of the 
 King of rivers, a thousand interesting associations are combined ; and the recol- 
 lections they bring with them naturally lead, in visiting the country, to examine 
 the changes which may be supposed to have taken place at its mouth. There is 
 no doubt that Hercules was a very great benefactor to Greece ; and he probably 
 undertook some important work by which he purposed to confine the waters of 
 this river to one regular channel, and thus drain the marshes about its mouths. 
 Hence arose the allegory of his subduing the monster. 
 
 The name of Aspro-Potamos, or the White River, has been given by the mo- 
 derns to the Acheloiis* Along the banks of this river lie several towns and vil- 
 lages, the principal of which are Dragomestra, Pandi, Vlachori, Anatolico, Mila, 
 Ivoria, and Katochi. As none of them are at a great distance from the seat of go- 
 vernment, they may easily be visited by a stranger ; and a very advantageous 
 commercial intercourse might be established with them through the merchants at 
 Patras. The country abounds in oil, cotton, silk, sumach-wood, and vallony. 
 
 The town of Anatolico stands upon several of the Eschinades, a gronpe of islets 
 or rocks at the entrance of the gulf of Lepanto, the formation of which was attri- 
 buted by the ancients to the alluvions of the river Acheloiis. It was formerly 
 governed by a pasha of two tails, but is now under the command of a bey li is 
 
TRA.VELS IN THE MOREA. 401 
 
 inhabited principally by Greeks, whose chief occupation is fishing, for the sake 
 of the fish's roes, of which they make poutargue. These form their most 
 essential article of trade. At the distance of a league south-east of Anatolico 
 stands Mezzalonsrhi : and about a league in the interior is still to be seen the dust 
 of the ruins of Calydon. 
 
 Such are the limits of the pashalik of Janina, and such is the nature of the coun- 
 try governed by Ali-pasha. If by far the greater part of it be still in a state nearly 
 of barbarism, it must nevertheless be said that Albania is the richest province of 
 the Ottoman empire in men of a warlike disposition, and in territorial productions. 
 In the Albanians are still to be seen the soldiers of Alexander and of Scanderbeg.. 
 Accustomed to privations and dangers, they breathe nothing but war; and other 
 nations are esteemed by them only in proportion to the courage which they sup- 
 pose them to possess. Thus, even if the Ottoman empire were dismembered, 
 Albania would probably long remain such as it now is ; for it is not easy to con- 
 ceive how men intrenched in almost inaccessible mountains, and resolved to de- 
 fend their liberty to the last moment, are ever to be subdued. 
 
 It is very much to be wished, that, in order to obtain a more complete know- 
 ledge of the country than circumstances would permit those from whose papers 
 these pages are compiled to acquire, some traveller would undertake to visit 
 Macedonia and Thessaly, for the sole purpose of obtaining all the statistical in- 
 formation possible with regard to them. Let not any one who may ever meditate 
 such a scheme, permit factitious dangers to turn him aside from the pursuit of it. 
 Let him impress his mind deeply with the necessity of respecting the manners 
 and customs of the different tribes he may visit ; and let him always recollect, 
 that the greatest part of the calamities which have befallen Europeans travelling 
 in the East have been the consequences of their own imprudence, of the contempt 
 shown by them towards people upon whom they were dependent as long as 
 they remained among them. 
 
 The pasha of Janina, though of a restless and suspicious temper, would without 
 difficulty open the most inaccessible defiles of his pashalik to a stranger who would 
 communicate his designs freely ; it may reasonably be presumed that he would 
 even show him all possible favour. What errors in geography might be cor- 
 rected ! how rich a harvest would be offered to the naturalist! But what must be 
 the disposition of the man who would really derive the greatest possible advan- 
 tages from such a journey ? He must be one who would he ready to run every 
 hazard for the promotion of science ; who would place his happiness in carrying 
 
 3 F 
 
402 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the germs of civilization into countries formerly so celebrated, and which perhaps 
 only want a slight stimulus to renew those days of prosperity and glory. 
 
 May these pages then — may the picture of which I have given but an imper- 
 fect sketch, excite emulation, and inspire a wish in others to become more 
 acquainted with Greece! The clue I present may serve as a guide to assist 
 the traveller in proceeding on his way. He will rectify my errors; he will add 
 the treasures of his discoveries to what I have published ; and our contempora- 
 ries, I trust, will be grateful to us for making them acquainted with regions now 
 almost unknown to them. ' In any case, satisfied with my own labours, I shall 
 always rejoice in having rescued from oblivion documents which, divested of all 
 pomp of style., have no other aim but to become of public utility. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Customs and manners of the Albanians. — Climate, and state of the seasons. — Qua- 
 lities of the different waters. — The diseases 7nost common in the country. — Physi- 
 cians and surgeons. — State of commerce. 
 
 The Albanians, who may be called the Scythians of the Turkish empire, have 
 but few wants. I speak here of the people in the country. The houses are in 
 general nothing more than a ground-floor ; and they sleep upon mats or thick 
 cloaks. Little sensible to the variations of the atmosphere, they lead an equally- 
 laborious life the whole year through. Contented with a little, they live princi- 
 pally upon milk, cheese, eggs, olives, and vegetables: they eat very little meat, 
 occasionally fish, or salt-fish. Sometimes they make bread ; but often eat their 
 corn or maize only boiled. Their common drink is wine. The inhabitants of 
 the towns are both better lodged and fed: lamb, pork, game, and poultry, are fre- 
 quently to be seen at their tables ; they have good bread well baked, and excel- 
 lent wine. Their oil is delicious, aud is used entirely in their cookery instead of 
 butter. They drink coffee very much, and are no strangers to the liqueurs of Corfu 
 and Cephalonia. 
 
 The Albanian shepherds, who are equally warriors, are clothed in a sort ©f 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 403 
 
 Coarse woollen stuffs, for the most part never wearing linen; or, If worn, it is never 
 changed, but left till it falls off in rags. Sober and active, they are contented 
 in their journeys, or when at their labour, with a little boiled rice or corn, while 
 singing, dancing, and gaiety seem all the relaxation they desire from fatigue. It 
 is therefore very rare that a handful of soldiers are to be seen without a mandoline- 
 player and a singer. They have often, besides, an orator to tell them stories. 
 
 The shepherds, to whose care the flocks of Ali and his sons are confided, change 
 their cantons according to the seasons. During the summer they commonly range 
 the mountains of Pindus and Tomarus. In June the flocks are brought into the 
 plain of Janina to be sheared, and then a sort of festival is celebrated. They are 
 afterwards carried to the slopes of Cassiopea into the valley of Arta, towards Pa- 
 ramithia, Margariti, and Nicopolis. During winter they are chiefly cantoned 
 about the gulf of Arta and Carlelia. When winter buries the upper Albania in 
 snow, the inhabitants shut up in their smoky cabins have little occupation ; but 
 they often amuse their ennui with hunting-parties. 
 
 A very great difference is observable among the native Albanians, and the 
 Greeks, by whom the towns are much inhabited. Hippocrates seems to have 
 painted the Albanians when he is giving the difference between an Asiatic and an 
 European. " All the inhabitants," he says, " of countries that are mountainous, 
 and ill supplied with water, and which experience great variations in the seasons, 
 will naturally be tall in stature, full of courage, and capable of going through 
 great labour and exercise. They are generally savage and ferocious in their dis- 
 positions." Such are the Albanians : they are seldom less than five feet nine 
 inches in height, and are extremely strong and muscular. They have oval faces, 
 large mustachios, a great deal of colour in their cheeks, a brisk animated eye, 
 a well-proportioned mouth, and fine teeth. The neck is long, and the chest 
 broad ; the leg slender, and with very little calf. 
 
 Thus formed to endure fatigue, and to engage in distant expeditions, the Alba- 
 nians or Arnaouts form a part of the military corps in every province or district 
 of the Turkish empire, from the shores of the Euphrates to the mouths of the 
 Drino. In Egypt they have become celebrated. They are well known among 
 the Barbary states ; nor have they scrupled to associate themselves with the tur- 
 bulent rebels who infest Romelia. The trade of a brigand excites no blush in 
 them, since it is accompanied with danger ; and they vaunt their prowess no less 
 in these predatory expeditions, than in those to which real glory is attached. An 
 Albanian, talking one day to Monsieur Bessieres of the pleasures of his youth, 
 
 3 F 2 
 
404 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 " A man is happy," sa >d he, " only so long as he is strong and vigorous. For me, 
 alas ! that time is past : but every thing must have an end. I am now returned 
 for the second time from Mecca, and am going to my own home at Pharsalia, after 
 having made a good use of the days that are past. I was a chief of haklouts : 
 conceive the satisfaction I had in plundering Romelia. How delightful was it, 
 after I had placed a village under contribution, to see the women come in despair, 
 and entreat me in behalf of their husbands! I always granted their petitions : 
 and you may imagine that I was not a little proud of my situation. That time 
 has passed very rapidl}'." 
 
 The women who bring this race of semi-barbarians into the world partake in 
 the vigour of their organization. They do not live in the indolence of harems, 
 but labour hard ; and no less than the men eat their bread with the sweat of their 
 brow, frequently even sharing the dangers encountered by their husbands and 
 their sons. Their features are strong ; their muscles firm, and endowed with 
 great elasticity : they are therefore little subject to disease, and preserve the 
 freshness of youth much longer than the women of Greece. They continue to 
 become mothers till an equally-advanced period of life with the women in more 
 northern countries. They sleep upon the same mats with their husbands, are 
 like them clothed in coarse woollen garments, and often march with their legs 
 naked during the most rigorous cold of Albanian winters. If the mother of 
 Ali-pasha took arms to defend the rights of her son, the women of Upper Albania 
 are no less to be seen placing themselves in the ranks, and exhorting the men to 
 perish in the common cause. 
 
 Besides the bravery which is natural to the Albanians, they have a frankness of 
 character not common among the eastern nations: they show their esteem or 
 contempt for any one equally without disguise and reserve. They scarcely ever 
 speak of the Osmanlis without severe reflections upon their dissimulation. They 
 indeed despise, even to affectation, every thing that comes from Constantinople. 
 Their openness of character is carried so far, that they never think of dissembling 
 their views when they endeavour to obtain any post. Money is their object, and 
 this they freely avow. The aga of Bonila, who was a great admirer of AH, said, 
 " The pasha has placed me here ; it was on purpose to get money : therefore, 
 money 1 must have. Money, money, or the bastinado must be set in motion." 
 Incapable of the craft which distinguishes the Mussulman character, the Alba- 
 nian cannot load with caresses the person whose destruction he seeks, or whom 
 he detests at the bottom of his heart. He openly avows his hatred, and, if he 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 405 
 
 meditates the destruction of any one, makes no hesitation in declaring his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 As bad Mahometans as they are brave soldiers, they show extreme negligence 
 with regard to the external ceremonies of their worship, and believe as little in the 
 Prophet as in Jesus Christ: they more frequently, indeed, make their asseverations 
 in the august name of the latter. It seems not a little extraordinary to hear the 
 words Maton The on t Maton Christon, perpetually coming from the mouth of men 
 who profess the faith of the Koran. They are in consequence accused of infide- 
 lity and irreligion ; and the word Albanian is considered by the True Believers as 
 nearly synonymous with that of infidel. Full of enthusiasm for their country, 
 they never speak of it but as far superior to all others ; nor, though fixed in coun- 
 tries generally considered as more benignant, do they ever cease to turn with 
 longing eyes towards the mountains of Epirus. They do not think of the priva- 
 tions experienced there, but of the independence they enjoyed. They cannot for- 
 get the humble roof under which they first saw the light, the rocks among which 
 they wandered, the valleys imprinted with their infant footsteps ; these are objects 
 that always speak the most forcibly to those hearts that have lived the nearest to 
 a state of nature. 
 
 Why am I forced here to notice the deep offence against morality with which, in 
 one respect, these people are to be charged ? But it seems as if a passion disowned 
 by the first laws of our nature is one of the ordinary concomitants of barbarism. 
 1 he Albanian is no less dissolute in this respect than the other inhabitants of mo- 
 dern Greece, without seeming to have any idea of the enormity of his crime ; espe- 
 cially since, far from seeing it discredited, he finds it rewarded by thechief to whom 
 he is subjected. The wandering lives led by these people, their days being passed 
 chiefly amid camps, perhaps encourage this revolting passion. It is general 
 among all classes. The women are not shut up under locks and bars, but in the 
 mountains may be seen walking about perfectly free and unveiled. Interest has 
 no part in the marriages contracted in this country ; and the matrimonial tie once 
 formed is seldom cancelled by divorce. A man among the common classes has 
 rarely more than one wife ; and the number kept by some of the great is rather 
 a matter of etiquette than of taste. 
 
 The Greeks who inhabit Albania, though perfectly distinguishable from the 
 native Albanians, have more of the habits of barbarism than the people of the 
 southern provinces of Greece, and of the Greek islands. They even lose here a 
 part of that duplicity and want of honour of which they are generally accused. 
 
406 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 This may probably arise from their feeling more strongly, among so independent 
 a race, the dignity of their nature, and from their not being obliged to degrade 
 themselves so low in crouching at the feet of an oppressor. Those who inhabit the 
 towns retain more of the manners which distinguish nations among whom cor- 
 ruption has superseded knowledge, and where the illumination necessary for ar- 
 riving at virtue is extinguished in proportion to the necessity of practising it. 
 
 The climate of Albania, subject to frequent and sudden changes, varies very 
 much in different places, particularly according to the aspect of the valleys. While 
 the mountains of Chimera are covered with clouds, the valleys of Aous and Ache- 
 rusia, and the sea-shores, enjoy serene weather, interrupted only by occasional 
 storms, which bring with them fertilizing showers. Great droughts, or rains con- 
 tinued so as to impede the labours of the husbandman, are equally rare. If some- 
 times torrents rush from the summits of the mountains, a beneficent sun soon 
 appears again to repair the mourning they had spread over the slopes. The frosts 
 which afflict our climates, the smut which so often injures the corn in the Morea, 
 and the worm which makes such ravages among the vines, — these transient yet 
 fatal scourges are unknown in Albania. The valleys are seldom covered with fogs, 
 even at the approach of winter. After the last rains of autumn, the mornings are 
 often very cold, with a slight frost, but the ice is melted by the sun before the 
 middle of the day. The winters are usually severe; the north wind freezes the 
 rivers and lakes, and gives to the valleys, which are so beautiful in summer, a me- 
 lancholy and monotonous appearance. 
 
 The temperature of the air during this season is that of the northern countries. 
 The frosts generally continue in their rigour for about two months ; but when the 
 south wind blows, the rivers are swelled with the melting of the snows. It is not 
 however till spring, when the zephyrs begin to warm the air, that the mountains 
 lose their snowy garb, and the avalanches fall with a terrible crash from their 
 craggy summits. In the defiles the heat of summer would be insupportable, were 
 it not for the breezes from the loftiest mountains, which coming over the snows 
 and glaciers bring with them a salutary and refreshing coolness, or those which 
 appear to issue from the depths of the woods, bringing the most fragrant odours. 
 The shores of the gulf of Arta are during this season particularly pleasant; and 
 the inhabitant of Janina, but for certain apprehensions under which he lives, 
 would find the utmost delight in wandering by the side of Acherusia amid the 
 coolness of these lovely evenings. 
 
 I have spoken of the earthquakes, and indicated the phsenomena of the subter- 
 
TRAVELS TN THE MOREA, 40/ 
 
 ranean fires, which are the principal agents in the physical particularities observa- 
 ble in the mountains that border the Elysian Fields. It does not appear that they 
 produce any noxious effects, and the island of the lake which is so peculiarly 
 affected by them is not less salubrious than any other part of the province. None 
 of those sulphureous exhalations are perceptible which are common in the 
 neighbourhood of volcanoes, nor are any vapours injurious to man produced 
 by the numerous caverns. If formerly they produced dangerous vertigoes, no 
 tradition of them has been transmitted to us ; the recollection is lost in the 
 obscurity of intervening ages. The greater part of the valleys of Albania, like 
 those of Greece, are exposed to the east or south : but the valleys of the Aous and 
 of Tebeleni form an exception to this general rule; the declivity of the first 
 inclines towards the north, that of the second to the west. The towns and 
 villages in these, however, face the east and south : some of the sea-ports only 
 front the west ; not one town or hamlet faces the north. 
 
 The greater part of the rivers of Greece, which according to fable and history 
 might be supposed much more considerable than they really are, during the 
 heats of summer are commonly entirely dry ; for this reason water is not in gene- 
 ral plentiful, and what there is must often be very bad. The best water is the 
 rain water collected in cisterns, or which stands in cavities among the rocks. 
 The waters of the Thyamis, the Aous, and the Arta, are unfit for use in the 
 summer, on account of the number of insects and decomposed vegetable substances 
 which they contain. 'The people have then recourse to the water from springs. 
 
 It has been seen by the itinerary from Butrinto to Janina, that this country is 
 only watered by some trifling streams, and that Delvino, the principal town of 
 the district, stands upon a considerable height. Delvinachi, which lies in a 
 valley, is watered by some springs ; but at Dzidza there is only one fountain, the 
 rest of the water used in the place is drawn from the marshes in its neighbourhood. 
 Janina is better supplied with water: that of Cocytus is fresh, soft, and pleasant 
 to drink; but the waters of Acherusia are brackish, and have a disagreeable smell, 
 so that they can only be used for bathing. As they have never been analysed, any" 
 one who should examine them critically would perhaps find that they possess 
 qualities which would amply compensate being deprived of them for the common 
 uses of life. A small rivulet runs by the side of Bonila ; but some springs to the 
 west, the basins of which are filled with cresses, yield a much pleasanter water. 
 
 There are a number of springs in all parts; some thermal ones have already 
 been noticed. In the country of Philatea there are some salt waters flowing from 
 
408 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 the rocks, which well deserve the attention of the ceconomist ; but one of the 
 great objects in examining Albania accurately would be the waters in different 
 parts. Acarnania abounds with lakes, particularly about the sources of the 
 Acheloiis. It is difficult to determine the temperature of several of the valleys ; 
 yet this would be a thing very important towards explaining many passages in 
 ancient authors, and towards accounting for many phaenomena now presented to 
 the observation of the traveller. 
 
 It will be seen however from what I have said, that there is more uniformity 
 in the temperature of Albania than in that of Peloponnesus. Nature ha* 
 undergone fewer changes in the former country; the chains of mountains are 
 long, and connected the one with the other: Pindus, Tomarus, and the Acroce- 
 raunian mountains form vast amphitheatres, above which rise many lofty peaks ; 
 but they do not wear the appearance of having been subjected to the same con- 
 vulsions of nature which have shaken the southern parts of Greece, and the islands 
 of the Archipelago. Thessaly and the cantons situated on the eastern side of 
 Mezzovo are watered by deep rivers, which are never drv in any part of the year. 
 The winters are longer, but are not so severe there as in Epirus: the atmosphere 
 is equally clear and delightful ; and lands which are now, rather from want of 
 hands than from want of industry, suffered to lie uncultivated, might be made to 
 yield in a manner of which it is scarcely possible to form an idea. The waters 
 are pure, soft, and easy of digestion. The clouds, attracted by the summits 
 which surround the basin of Thessaly, feed an infinite number of springs, from 
 which flow limpid streams: these, after fertilizing the fields, carry their waters 
 to augment the Peneus or Salembria. 
 
 From all that has been said above, it will not be difficult to conjecture what 
 must be the reigning diseases of Albania. The work of the oracle of Cos will 
 serve as a guide to us upon this occasion, and it will be found that the principles 
 he lays down are no less applicable to the pre>ent times than to those when he 
 existed. The nature of the food, full of juices and nutritive particles, will also 
 furnish medical inductions; but unfortunately facts are wanting to give an equally 
 methodical view of this subject as I have done in treating of the Morea. This 
 is one of the objects v\hich it remains for future travellers to investigate. 
 
 I shall content myself with observing here, that the environs of Janina : from 
 the vicinity of the lake, are subject to tertian fevers in the spring, but in the 
 autumn the quartan seems more prevalent. The country about Arta is equally 
 tubicct to fevers, and the lakes on the side of iEtolia render those parts no less 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 409 
 
 unwholesome than the downs of Corinth. The rice-grounds in this country are 
 without doubt the cause of like effects in the air, and the inconveniences resulting 
 from them. 
 
 The plague is evidently a stranger in the climate of Albania ; such a scourge 
 can never long afflict a country the temperature of which is wholly adverse to it. 
 If it be believed that it issues from the marshes about the gulf of Arta, it is not be- 
 cause it has its origin among them, but that this is the spot of all Albania which has 
 the greatest intercourse with foreign countries. It is from Constantinople, or the 
 coasts of Barbary, that the plague is brought to Albania. A vessel which arrives 
 from Tunis or Algiers is never visited, no inquiries are made whether any epidemic 
 disease reigns in the country whence it comes, or whether any extraordinary death 
 has happened on board the vessel during its passage. Nay, even if any questions 
 be asked upon these subjects, still no hesitation is made in admitting the vessel, 
 provided the captain makes some present to the commandant of the port, or the 
 aga. Avidity, which never speculates, afterwards buys up, without any precau- 
 tion, whatever offers any prospect of gain, and the germs of contagion are thus 
 introduced into the interior of a country where otherwise it would never be known, 
 The couriers also who come from Constantinople bring with them various 
 articles of merchandise, without any inquiry whether or not the plague exists in 
 the places where they purchase them. I know that from the time occupied in 
 the journey the air will have purified themselves and their garments from all 
 pestilential miasmata, even if any were lurking about them when they set out; 
 but the case is different with merchandise which has been carefully closed up all 
 the way, and which they have no idea of purifying in the air before it is offered 
 to sale. Albania, however, is never liable to be the theatre of a general desola- 
 tion ; the towns and villages among the mountains are tolerably out of the reach 
 of it, and offer at all times a safe asylum against its ravages. The very infection 
 itself is soon destroyed by the purity and salubrity of the air. 
 
 The Albanians by their manners have escaped a more positive danger, in keeping 
 themselves clear of the caloiatros who infest Constantinople and the Morea. The 
 physicians at Janina are Greeks, and in this branch of natural science the Greeks 
 merit particular distinction. The greater part of them have gene through a regular 
 course of study, either in France or in some other of the principal countries of 
 Europe. In the Greek physicians of Janina may be observed a zeal, an enthu- 
 siasm, an ardour to do good and diffuse knowledge, which speak the true friends 
 of human nature. They receive the stranger with kindness and amenity, they 
 
 3 g 
 
410 TRAVELS IN THE MO RE A. 
 
 question him in hopes of gaining new information, and their disinterestedness is 
 equal to their sensibility. 
 
 It is unfortunate that they do not join the surgical to the medical science, and are 
 not equally able to perform operations as to prescribe for diseases. Surgery is en- 
 tirely in the hands of the Albanians, or of some charlatans ; and the latter, though 
 extremely ready in the application of an ointment or a plaster, know no more of 
 reducing a fracture or a dislocation than the apes that people the wilds of Africa. 
 For this reason, a man when materially wounded is considered the same as dead ; 
 nay, this sentiment is carried so far, that the Albanians will often cut off the head 
 of a wounded soldier, considering his fate as inevitable, and that it is better there- 
 fore to dispatch him at once. That skill which can recall life even at the moment 
 when it seems ready to depart, which carries a balm to the deepest wounds, and 
 restores hope to the soldier bleeding in his country's cause, would be indeed a 
 precious gift to carry into Albania: not the remotest idea is entertained there of 
 the perfection to which this science is carried in other countries. 
 
 Notwithstanding that Albania is so much covered with forests and mountains, 
 there are in some parts excellent pastures where a number of cattle are fed. 
 Olives as well as mulberry-trees are planted wherever the soil is suited to them, 
 and vines upon the slopes that have the proper exposure. In the valleys and the 
 levels among the mountains, maize, barley, and tobacco are cultivated ; there are 
 even valleys which furnish very fine wheat. So great a quantity of honey and wax 
 is furnished by the bees with which the country abounds, that it far exceeds the 
 consumption, and leaves a great surplus for exportation. A great deal of butter 
 and cheese is made; olives are prepared, and several sorts of fruits dried: the 
 inhabitants of the coast make poutargue, and salt sardines and some other kinds 
 offish. ( 
 
 The country not being peopled in proportion to its extent, and to what the 
 soil is capable of producing, it follows that the actual products much exceed the 
 consumption ; and the natural temperance of the Albanians increases the propor- 
 tion which it is their interest to export. I say their interest, since they have 
 great want of money from other countries to pay the imposts, and some objects 
 of European manufactures necessary in a district where even the most common 
 arts are very little known. Arms of all sorts are indispensable to so warlike a 
 people; but besides being an article of necessity, they are to them an object of 
 luxury. They give the preference very much to the pistols and musquets of 
 Brescia ; from Italy also they import glass, mirrors, and paper. The favourite 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 411 
 
 object of dress among the women is a handkerchief worked with gold flowers, the 
 thread for doing which comes from Vienna. An infinite number of other objects 
 which are wanted in Albania, renders it absolutely necessary to keep up a regular 
 commercial intercourse with different countries, and creates a sort of dependence 
 upon them. 
 
 The commodities exported, particularly wood for ship building, find their 
 markets principally in France, Germany, and Italy. Those of immediate con- 
 sumption are for the most part carried into Italy by Ragusan or Sclavonian 
 vessels, which take in their ladings chiefly at Arta, Prevesa, Vallona, Durazzo, 
 or the mouths of the Boiana. At these ports five or six cargoes of oil are taken 
 in every year, and carried to Trieste or Venice, three or four of raw wool to 
 Ancona and Genoa, three or four of corn to Genoa, and one or two of tobacco 
 to Naples and Messina. 
 
 France always carried on a commercial intercourse with Albania, and before 
 the revolution imported annually a vast quantity of wood for the marine, of a very 
 superior quality to what comes from the Baltic: our finest frigates were built of 
 Albanian timber. For the last ten years the events of war have suspended our 
 trade with the East, so that we have only received from Epirus, by means of 
 neutrals, some ladings of corn : they were brought more particularly during the 
 continuance of the war of Italy. At present we only receive some cargoes of 
 vallony and Morocco leather. In case of peace, there is no doubt that our inter- 
 course in these parts would be exceedingly increased : Marseilles it may be pre- 
 sumed has acquired much more correct ideas with regard to her true interests. 
 
 At Janina, which is the principal mart of trade in Albania, there are many 
 very wealthy merchants : they carry on an extensive intercourse with the prin- 
 cipal ports in the Adriatic, and with several of the great towns of Germany, and 
 have besides in their hands all the most important trade of the interior. A very 
 considerable branch of commerce lies in spun cotton, which comes from Thessaly, 
 and is carried into Germany, commonly by Trieste, though sometimes it passes 
 entirely by land carriage: this does not indeed seem much more expensive. A 
 very large capital being requisite for carrying on the cotton trade, it is chiefly 
 confined to the Greeks of Janina, they alone having means adequate to supporting 
 it. The Ionian isles receive almost all the cattle consumed in their countries 
 from Albania ; they pay for them with the sequins of Venice : this is an object of 
 great importance to the Albanians. 
 
 The importations consist principally in woollen caps and cloths, gold and silver 
 
 3g2 
 
413 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A.' 
 
 lace, fire-arms and balls, knives, sugar, coffee, cochineal, indigo, and tin ware. 
 The coffee and woollen cloths, which are the principal articles, were furnished 
 almost exclusively by France, before the revolution, and the trade was of great 
 advantage to both parties. Trieste has succeeded to this trade; she sends into 
 Albania the cloths of Leipsic which she receives from Germany, and the colonial 
 merchandise which she procures from England. 
 
 Venice, notwithstanding the changes that have taken place, still keeps up her 
 ancient connections with Albania for the sale of fire-arms from Brescia. The 
 Albanians prefer them to the French musquets, because they are lighter and not 
 bronzed. The merchants ofAncona, and the traders to the fair of Sinigaglia, 
 send a vast quantity of false gold and silver lace into the country, which they do 
 not hesitate to pass as real lace from Lyons. Many other articles of manufacture 
 which we used to furnish are now furnished by them; but though of a very 
 inferior quality, they still give them the title of French. 
 
 During the last twelve years, in short, a great change has taken place in the 
 Levant trade, and the commerce of Albania has fallen almost entirely into the 
 hands of such a set of crafty people, that even the Jew merchants dare not enter 
 into a competition with them. It is very much to be hoped that at the restora- 
 tion of peace the Albanians will be tired of dealing with swindlers, and that Mar- 
 seilles will be again employed in furnishing them with the principal commodities 
 of which they stand in need. There is no port in the Mediterranean so well 
 calculated for this trade; not one that could with equal facility collect the different 
 objects of which the cargoes must be composed. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 4 1 3 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Plan concerted and executed by the French officers to escape from Albania. — Their 
 arrival at Corfu. — Anger of Ali-pasha upon the occasion. — Treacherous conduct 
 of the Turks. — The prisoners are lodged in the citadel of Corfu. — Their escape 
 from it, and concealment in the island. — Arrest of several of the Corfians. — 'The 
 French surrender themselves, they are reconducted to the citadel, and at length 
 given up to the Turks. 
 
 The reader has seen how much the French officers had grown into favour with 
 Ali-pasha: two years' experience however showed them but too plainly that no 
 dependence could be placed upon his word. He had promised them their liberty, 
 and was perpetually repeating his promise ; but it was evident from a thousand 
 circumstances that he did not intend to keep it. After reminding him many 
 times in vain of the hopes with which they had been flattered, convinced that no 
 reasonable expectation was to be entertained of arriving at the object of their 
 wishes, either through his justice or generosity, they resolved to take the first 
 opportunity of emancipating themselves. They had entered into no engagement 
 whatever with Ali, and no law of honour required them to remain his prisoners. 
 Reduced to a state of captivity by a pirate, whom the pasha himself had frequently 
 reproached with having violated the law of nations in taking them, his own words 
 absolved them in the step they now determined to take. They had a right to re- 
 claim their liberty: but what is good in principle is not always carried strictly into 
 execution, and nothing remained but to throw off* themselves chains which ought 
 never to have been imposed upon them. 
 
 At the moment when they conceived this project, the Albanians seemed upon 
 the verge of important events. Different rumours were circulated in the country: 
 one was, that the province was menaced with invasion from the French ; nay, 
 many people, to whom fear gives a readiness at beholding phantoms, had more 
 than once absolutely seen them land. Such fears are, however, common to all 
 countries who believe themselves menaced with invasion. The pasha did not by 
 any means share in these ridiculous terrors, and if he discovered enemies, it was 
 not in the same quarter. 
 
414 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 To fortify himself the more securely against the dangers he apprehended, he 
 thought of reducing under his power the independent tribes by whom he was 
 frequently harassed and annoyed, and Hist turned his eyes towards the Souliotes, 
 who became every day more and more formidable to him. It is unnecessary to 
 enter into details concerning this new war with these independent mountaineers; 
 the result has been already hinted: suffice it to say that Monsieur Charbonnel was 
 charged with preparing the artillery to be employed in it. He accompanied the 
 Albanian army in crossing the country of Paramithia, and directed the construc- 
 tion of the towers which were planted at the entrance of the dervin or defile of 
 Souli. He remained with the army a fortnight; and his labours then being com- 
 pleted, he was permitted to return to Janina, as the reduction of the enemy must 
 necessarily be a work of time, or the result of favourable circumstances which it 
 was not possible to foresee. Re-united with Messieurs Poitevin and Bessieres, 
 the project of their escape, which had been delayed on account of the illness of 
 the former, was definitively arranged. It was agreed that they should depart 
 separately; a thing which might be done with facility, as they had frequently 
 absented themselves for a time to make excursions about the country ; and Mon- 
 sieur Bessieres was appointed to take the lead, as he could speak Greek perfectly 
 well. It was further agreed that he should go to Corfu, there to sound the dis- 
 position of the Russian commanders and their commercial agent. 
 
 Hiring a mule, therefore, he quitted Janina, and crossing the canton of 
 Philatea arrived in safety at Keracha, a small port near the mouth of theThyamis : 
 here he procured a vessel without difficulty, which landed him at Corfu. He im- 
 mediately, according to the plan arranged, presented himself before the consul of 
 Russia, and the Russian commanders, to whom he made himself known, imparting 
 to them the motives which had induced him to escape from captivity,and informing 
 them that he expected to be speedily joined by two companions, the sharers in 
 his misfortune. He met with a very flattering reception, and the strongest assur- 
 ances of protection were given him both for himself and his friends. 
 
 Elated with the hopes thus held out to him, Monsieur Bessieres had now no 
 subject of uneasiness but what arose from the still doubtful fate of his companions. 
 He knew that Monsieur Charbonnel was liable at any moment to be summoned 
 by Ali to rejoin him at the camp, and he was still more apprehensive lest any 
 obstacle should arise to Monsieur Poitevin's departure, from the ill state of his 
 health. Every moment of delay increased his impatience to see them safe out of 
 the hands of the pasha, and he passed many tedious days of anxiety, constantly 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 415 
 
 wandering along the shore with his eyes turned towards Albania. Every bark 
 coming from that quarter flattered his hopes: the moment that a distant sail was 
 seen by him, it was watched with the utmost eagerness, and when disappointment 
 ensued he became a prey to the most gloomy apprehensions. 
 
 Day after day thus passed on, and no friends appeared ; till at length, wearied 
 with fruitless expectation, he resolved to risk crossing the channel again, for the 
 purpose of examining the bay, and endeavouring to procure some intelligence 
 concerning their fate: but still none was to be obtained. At last the constant 
 state of restlessness in which he appeared, his going so often backwards and for- 
 wards to and from the island, began to excite suspicions against him, and he was 
 .conceived to be a spy sent by Ali to examine the situation of the town, and make 
 his reports concerning it: he was therefore watched as a suspected person. As 
 however nothing really objectionable could be discovered in his conduct, the 
 Russian commander proposed to him to depart immediately for Italy, engaging 
 in like manner to assist the escape of Messieurs Charbonnel and I'oitevin when- 
 ever they should arrive. Monsieur Bessieres however, making many acknow- 
 ledgements for the offer, declined it, saying that he could never think of securing 
 his own liberty while he remained in uncertainty as to the fate of his friends. 
 Having hitherto been involved in the same dangers, whatever might be the event 
 of their present undertaking, he would never separate himself entirely from them 
 till he saw the termination of it: if they were doomed to new sufferings, he was 
 resolved to share them. 
 
 This generous refusal, far from removing the suspicions excited against him, 
 was rather in the eyes of the Russian commander a confirmation of them, and 
 was the occasion of his being watched still more narrowly* At length, as he 
 continued going backwards and forwards in the same way, he was ordered under 
 arrest. Previous to this measure of rigour, another incident had hazarded the 
 total overthrow of the project. One day as he was walking along the shore he 
 met an Albanian officer belonging to Ali-pasha, who accosted him by his name, 
 appearing exceedingly astonished at seeing him. Monsieur Bessieres had suffi- 
 cient presence of mind not to appear at all disconcerted ; and feigning at first not 
 to recollect the Albanian, he afterwards imposed silence upon him with an 
 authoritative tone, saying that he had been sent thither by the pasha, and added 
 that, if the officer should betray him, Ali should certainly be informed of it. He 
 even told the man that he would do well not to return in too much haste to 
 
410 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 Janina, and upon no account to quit Corfu without his knowledge. The plot suc- 
 ceeded, and the officer was completely deceived. 
 
 At length Monsieur Charbonnel arrived, and the suspicions of the Russian 
 commander were completely satisfied on seeing him : he immediately renewed 
 his promise of sending all the three officers to Italy as soon as Monsieur Poitevin 
 should arrive. The illness of the latter, Monsieur Charbonnel said, had been the 
 occasion of so long a delay in their departure; but he had left him so much reco- 
 vered that there was every reason to hope for his speedy arrival. In effect, he 
 appeared three days after. The joy of the prisoners was now complete, though 
 Monsieur Poitevin's health was still very indifferent, and he was extremely 
 fatigued with his journey. The Russian commanders being perfectly satisfied, 
 the French officers were left entirely at liberty, and they received many very 
 flattering testimonies that there were still people at Corfu who had a great attach- 
 ment to their nation. Numbers of the inhabitants made comparisons between the 
 state in which they had been and that in which they were, not very much to the 
 advantage of the latter. 
 
 In effect, the islands of the Ionian republic were now pretty well agreed as to 
 the folly of the measures they had pursued. The restless spirit of the Greeks, 
 always discontented with their government for the very reason that it is their 
 government, flattered itself that a new order of things was to arise on the expul- 
 sion of the French, and thought that their prayers had been heard by Heaven 
 when they saw the Russian flag waving among their islands. But the licentious- 
 ness in which they looked forward to being indulged, was very soon repressed, 
 the prerogatives they were to enjoy they found to be a chimsera of their own brain; 
 no disguise was even observed towards them, they were feeble and divided among 
 themselves, and a government was established among them little suited to the 
 taste of any party. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the anger of Ali when he was first convinced of the escape 
 of his prisoners. They had been seen and recognised upon their route; and a3 
 they did not reappear at Janina, some of those who saw them thought proper to 
 mention the circumstances to the pasha. Not being able at first to persuade 
 himself that they could have quitted his dominions, he thought they must be 
 concealed in some of the obscure villages; and swearing to retake them, he 
 dispatched couriers to all parts in pursuit of them, more especially to the towns 
 on his maritime frontier. At the same time he offered large rewards to any of his 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 41? 
 
 subjects who should bring back the prisoners dead or alive, and set a price upon 
 their heads sufficient to excite the zeal of the least covetous. Convinced however 
 at last that they were out of his reach, his anger, which demanded some victim, 
 fell upon the unfortunate muleteer who had been instrumental in their escape : 
 he was arrested and hanged without ceremony. 
 
 Still he did not- relinquish all hope of having the prisoners again in his power. 
 He was too deeply incensed to lose sight of this object very easily, and he 
 addressed himself to the Russian chiefs commanding at Corfu, giving them an 
 account of what had passed. Not obtaining any direct or satisfactory answer from 
 them, he next applied to the Ottoman chiefs. They, unknown to the Russians, 
 gave orders to a capidgi-bachi to land secretly at Corfu with three hundred men, 
 and take the French officers away by force: they were then lodging at an inn. The 
 Russian commanders having concealed the message they had received from Ali, 
 the French officers had no idea of any danger, and the Russians themselves were 
 far from suspecting the plot that was going forward: the Mussulmans therefore 
 entered the town without the least suspicion being entertained of the errand 
 upon which they came. As they were not very well acquainted with the 
 situation of the inn, and as some of the Corfians heard them inquiring for the 
 French officers, they hastened to inform the latter that the Mussulmans were in 
 pursuit of them. Messieurs Charbonnel and Bessieres immediately sought an 
 asylum in the house of the Russian consul ; but Monsieur Poitevin, who was ill 
 in bed, fell into the hands of the Turks. His situation inspiring them with 
 something like compassion, they contented themselves with keeping guard over 
 him, and did not take him away. 
 
 An event of such a nature, such an open act of violence committed against men 
 who were under the protection of the Russian commanders, excited the utmost 
 indignation in Corfu; and the Russian consul, to support his responsibility, imme- 
 diately sent his two guests on board a frigate of his nation which was at anchor 
 in the port. Prisoners under the appearance of a special protection, Messieurs 
 Charbonnel and Bessieres remained there, looking anxiously forward to the event, 
 but still hoping to be reunited to their friend, and sent with him to Italy. If 
 they made any reflections upon the sort of captivity in which they were retained, 
 the answers they received were vague, evasive, and ambiguous : it seemed as if 
 new pretences were sought to protract the captivity of men, who the moment they 
 had quitted Albania were not properly the prisoners of any nation. At lengthy 
 
 3 H 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 at the expiration of a fortnight, tliev were transferred to the citadel, where Mon- 
 sieur Poitevin, who had been rescued from the hands of the Turks, was sent to 
 join them : their speedy release was at the same time promised, though it was 
 by no means the intention that it should be granted. 
 
 Convinced after awhile of the want of good faith in those by whom the pro- 
 mises were made, the prisoners were driven once more to tempt fortune, notwith- 
 standing the little disposition she had hitherto shown to favour their wishes. 
 They resolved to strike a bold stroke, and, seizing upon the justice they solicited 
 in vain, to effect, if possible, a second escape. Monsieur Poitevin's health was 
 so much amended, that he could with safety take part in such a project, and he 
 entered into it eagerly. Before they proceeded however to such an extremity, 
 they judged it right to try once more what was to be done by negotiation, and 
 made a fresh exposure of the rights they reclaimed ; these being nothing more 
 than what are generally established among civilised nations. They concluded 
 with announcing the resolution they had formed, if justice was still denied them, 
 to break their chains the first favourable opportunity. 
 
 This frank confession might reasonably have been expected to awaken some sense 
 of justice in the minds of persons even of the greatest apathy. The formal avowal 
 of such a design would, to a candid mind, have appeared to deserve a release, if it 
 had not been in fact due to the prisoners. But far from producing this effect, 
 greater vigilance was employed in guarding them. They were transferred to a 
 remote bastion which looked upon the sea, and a sentinel was posted at the door 
 of the prison, who was ordered never to lose sight of it. All those with whom 
 they had had any intercourse while they were at liberty, were then sought out 
 and examined as to every word they had been heard to speak. 
 
 This conduct only increased the impatience and indignation of the French 
 officers, and the}' thought of nothing but the means of freeing themselves from 
 such an insupportable tyranny. From the bastion where they were confined they 
 saw a great many boats in the port and upon the shore, which were not guarded, 
 and they conceived the hope of being able to seize upon one, when from the 
 vicinity of the shores of Italy a reasonable expectation might be entertained of 
 finding themselves at length completely at liberty. They still maintained a com- 
 munication with some of the Corfians by whom the success of their project might 
 be promoted ; and one night would be sufficient to carry them beyond the reach 
 of their oppressors. If again they should prove unsuccessful, what had they to 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 419 
 
 fear? They might be immured in a casemate; but between that and a bastion 
 there was so little preference, that the possible inconvenience to be experienced 
 could not stand in the balance against the advantage that might be obtained. 
 
 As time commonly brings with it a relaxation in even the most rigorous mea- 
 sures, the Russians after awhile ceased to regard the French officers with the 
 same eye of suspicion as at first, and, believing the intention they had announced 
 to be mere boasting on their part, relaxed considerably in the vigilance with 
 which they watched them. The officers, then, taking advantage of a favourable 
 moment, fastened the sheets of their beds to the carriage of a cannon, and by their 
 assistance glided down in succession on the outside of the bastion till they reached 
 the rock upon which the citadel is built. Here they found in waiting a Greek of 
 the island who was entirely devoted to them ; and following his steps, he conducted 
 them to a little church not far off, dedicated to Saint Dimitri, where they were 
 to wait till the project of their embarkation could be realised. The good man 
 was fully persuaded that the sanctity of the place in which he had concealed his 
 stray sheep would contribute very much to the success of the undertaking. 
 
 It was not long before he was undeceived upon this subject : the escape of the 
 prisoners was soon known, and the news spread such a consternation in the town, 
 that it seemed as if some very extraordinary and unheard of event had happened. 
 The Greek was soon denounced and thrown into prison, without being able to in- 
 form the fugitives of his situation; and the senate, holding an extraordinary 
 meeting upon the occasion, seemed ready to declarethe country in danger. When; 
 this body were assured that the prisoners were still in the island, they thought them- 
 selves placed on a volcano. They knew that there were many discontented minds 
 among the islanders, and they were afraid of the French officers putting themselves 
 at their head: they therefore followed the example of Ali-pasha, and offered a great 
 reward to any one who should take them dead or alive. The next step was to 
 fulminate against all who might conceal them; and as they had some private 
 piques which they were glad of an opportunity to gratify, forty of the principal 
 persons from different villages were arrested, and threatened with death if the 
 fugitives did not speedily appear. 
 
 Amid all this confusion the French officers were far from suspecting what had 
 passed. They had now been forty-eight hours in the church of St. Dimitri with- 
 out food, vainly expecting their guide, and began to be uneasy in the fear that 
 he was playing some treacherous part. At length a trusty friend of this generous 
 agent came to inform them of the alarm their flight had occasioned, and the 
 
 3 H.2 
 
420 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 consequences attending it : he gave them at the same time some food, of which 
 they were extremely in want, and placed them safely in the hands of a chief of 
 the party. 
 
 This news was soon known to the senate, who declared their resolution to pro- 
 ceed with the utmost severity against the hostages that had been arrested, unless 
 the prisoners were immediately given up. The Greeks however, faithful to the 
 religion of hospitality, remained unshaken, and no apprehensions appeared of 
 their defection : but a sentiment of honour now dictated to the French the con- 
 duct they ought to pursue. As they had been unjustly detained, and were pursued 
 with fury, there was every reason to apprehend the lengths that men thus blinded 
 by passion might go, and the officers saw that they might but too probably be 
 the cause of innocent blood being shed ; they determined therefore that it was 
 proper to devote themselves, and surrender their own proscribed heads to save 
 the hostages. They wrote accordingly to the governor of the town, saying that 
 having been made acquainted with his intentions, and being determined that 
 innocent people, who were entirely ignorant of their designs, should not suffer 
 upon their account, they were ready to surrender themselves into his hands, pro- 
 vided he would consent to set the hostages immediately at liberty, to forget the 
 past, and to pardon all those who had in any way assisted in their flight. They 
 besides stipulated expressly that they should themselves be immediately sent to 
 Italy. 
 
 The chiefs of the town, and the senate, wishing to terminate the affair without 
 engaging in a contest which might have very unfortunate results if the discon- 
 tented should take up the cause of the French officers, readily consented to the 
 proposals made them, and a convention was concluded between the parties to that 
 effect. The hostages and the Greeks who had been arrested were immediatelv 
 set at liberty, and the French presented themselves at the Russian posts with the 
 calmness and confidence that a good cause always inspires. But the Russians, not 
 showing equally good faith, treated them as enemies, and remanded them to the 
 citadel, whither they were conducted by a guard with fixed bayonets. 
 
 Thrown again into the cell whence they had escaped, the prisoners waited with 
 courage and indignation the further insults prepared for them. They demanded 
 the execution of the convention, complaining with dignity of the infringement of 
 it, but without sullying the goodness of their cause by any unworthy abuse of 
 their persecutors. The Russian consul had again recourse to treachery and pro- 
 mises, assuring them that their long-protracted detention would soon be brought 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 42 I 
 
 to an end, that decisive measures would immediately be adopted, and their destiny 
 regulated in a manner to give them entire satisfaction. — Irony no less cruel than 
 perfidious — worthy only of a grovelling mind! They were in a short time indeed 
 brought out from their dungeon ; but it was in order to be delivered up into the 
 hands of the Turks, on condition that they should be carried to Constantinople. 
 In so doing, these tyros in politics conceived that they had effected a master- 
 stroke. They dared not take upon themselves to set the prisoners entirely at 
 liberty, because an act of generosity appeared to them a thing of so extraordinary 
 a nature, that it was far above their comprehensions ; and they were not at all 
 inclined, for various reasons, to give up the prisoners to Ali-pasha. After the 
 common mode with little minds, they therefore chose a middle way, which they 
 thought would shelter them from reproach, indifferent to the real nature of the 
 action as considered in itself. How pleasant must have been the night they 
 passed after having engendered this brilliant conception ! how much distinction 
 must the first mover of it have acquired ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Departure of the French officers from Corfu. — The islands of Cerigo and Lesbos. — 
 Gallipoli, — Arrival at Constantinople. — They are sent to the French house of 
 detention at Pera. — Their release, with permission to return to France, is procured 
 by ike English and Russian ambassadors. 
 
 As the French officers seemed doomed to experience all the petty persecu- 
 tions which such minds as they had concern with could invent to tease and fret 
 them, though they were transferred from the citadel of Corfu, it was not to sail 
 immediately for Constantinople, but to be put on board a Turkish frigate, there 
 ■to wait till some vessel should sail for the capital. On board this floating prison 
 they remained for three weeks; they were then removed to a kirlanguitch which 
 was charged with dispatches for the Sublime Porte, and which put to sea as soon 
 as they arrived on board. They quitted without regret the shores of an island 
 
42'2 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 where they had been the sport of perfidy and want of faith, rejoiced at any change, 
 though they, were wholly uncertain what their fate was to be on reaching Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 On leaving Corfu they proceeded along the coast of Albania, as far as Parga ; 
 from whence their course was directed to Cephalonia. This island rises like an 
 immense mole above the waves of the Ionian sea; while from the coast scarcely 
 any traces of vegetation are to be discerned over its volcanic masses, though in 
 some of the valleys Nature is liberal of her gifts. The kirlanguitch next proceeded 
 to Zante ; an island which enjoys a reputation highly deserved, as being rich and 
 pleasant, and as being inhabited by the most amiable set of people that the Ionian 
 Archipelago can boast. The vessel soon approached Cape Chelonita ; but the 
 wind beinu- adverse, with a very high sea, when it came into the neighbourhood 
 of the Strophades it took shelter in the port of Modon. After quitting this port, 
 it had scarcely passed the rocks of the Cacovouniotes, and doubled Cape Matapan, 
 when another gale forced it to take refuge in Cerigo ; for it is a custom among 
 the sailors of the Archipelago to run into the nearest port upon the least gale of 
 wind that rises. 
 
 Cerigo is well known to be the ancient Cythera. Here, by a strange caprice 
 of imagination, altars were built to the gay laughter-loving goddess in the midst 
 of a most wild and desolate country. The view from the rocks, though some cul- 
 tivated fields are to be seen from them, is sufficient to disenchant the ideas of poets 
 and lovers who visit the island to indulge in the recollections of antiquity. Instead 
 of Celadons they will see rough peasants ; instead of Venus and the Graces, half 
 wild Greek women ; and instead of beautiful lawns enamelled with flowers, naked 
 and rugged rocks or valleys grown over with brushwood. After quitting Cerigo, 
 the kirlanguitch doubled Cape St. Angelo, crossed the extremity of the gulf of 
 Argos, and then passing Spezzia and Hermione, came to anchor in the port of 
 Hydra. Proceeding onward, it coasted the ancient Eubcea ; and after two days 
 more stopped at the island of Lesbos. 
 
 The country of Sappho, though deprived of its magnificent towns and splendid 
 monuments, is still decorated with the richest charms of nature. Its inhabitants 
 preserve to this day an intuitive taste for poetry and music. They show, with a 
 sort of pride, to the stranger who visits them, the ruins and objects of antiquity 
 which have escaped the ravages of time, and bear testimony to the splendour their 
 island once could boast. It contains even now some interesting towns, though 
 nothing when compared with those of former times ; and it is impossible not to 
 
TRAVF.LS IN THE MOREA. 4'_>3 
 
 be impressed with the warmest admiration in contemplating its beautiful slopes 
 covered with vines and olive-trees, its valleys shaded with delicious groves of len- 
 tiscus and other flourishing trees, its abundant fountains of thermal waters; — a 
 crowd of objects, in short, which render the island in its present state scarcely 
 less deserving of the traveller's attention than it was in those days when all Greece 
 was a scene of wonders. The trade of Lesbos consists in oil, olives, and raisins. 
 There is a breed of horses on the island, very small, called by the Turks Mytile- 
 nians, from the modern name of Mytilene, that by which it is now most known. 
 
 From Lesbos the kirlanguitch proceeded to Tenedos, where it made the last 
 stop in the Archipelago. Not that the distance from the one island to the other 
 is any thing like a fair day's course ; but Tenedos lias an object of attraction to 
 offer, which is among the strongest that can be presented to mankind. The repu- 
 tation of its wines is well known ; there is not a Greek or a Turk who does not 
 speak of them with the highest respect : however they may differ on other points, 
 on this they are perfectly agreed, and on their judgement a perfect reliance may 
 be placed* The inhabitants of Tenedos have the reputation of not being at all 
 insensible themselves fo the excellence of their wines. It is, however, the na- 
 tional character of the Greeks to place a high value upon the gifts of Bacchus. 
 The inhabitants of Tenedos are for the most part Christians. 
 
 I have mentioned the Greek vessel on board of which myself and my compa- 
 nions made our voyage from the Morea to Constantinople, having run aground on 
 entering the Dardanelles : the same thing happened to the kirlanguitch ; so that 
 one might almost be tempted to believe it a common practice among the Greek 
 mariners, in preference to casting anchor. In fact, it would be very convenient, 
 as the bottom is a soft sand, if they were not so extremely awkward in towing the 
 vessel off to set it again afloat. Not to lose any opportunity of stopping or visiting 
 a port, the kirlanguitch again made a pause when it arrived at Gallipoli in the 
 Hellespont. This town, which is so well known, and has been so often described 
 by travellers, is the residence of the capudan-paslia when he is not occupied with 
 inspecting the sultan's arsenals. He comes hither for relaxation, after going his 
 annual rounds in the Archipelago. This is the seat of his pashaiik, and here he 
 has his palace and harem. 
 
 By the time the French officers arrived at Constantinople they were reduced 
 to a most deplorable state. The enemies into whose hands they had fallen, occu- 
 pied only with humiliating them in every possible way, had left them nearly de- 
 stitute of even the most common necessaries ; and with clothes all in tatters they 
 
424 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 were presented to Kutchuk Hussein the capudan-pasha. This officer, like the 
 Turks in general, paid little attention to the costume of the prisoners, but listened 
 to them with the utmost attention. He entered with much apparent interest into 
 the details of their adventures, and finished by ordering them into the house of 
 detention for the French merchants and commissaries at Pera. 
 
 It was from this place that I received letters from my friend Bessieres and co- 
 lonel Charbonnel, containing the first intelligence of them that had reached me 
 since our separation, and giving me a general sketch of the succession of re- 
 markable events which had befallen them. I could scarcely at first persuade my- 
 self of the truth of intelligence so wholly unexpected ; it seemed as if I must be 
 in a dream. I read the letters over and over again, and at length could not doubt 
 of my happiness. They were the hand-writing of the very same Bessieres with 
 whom I had made the voyage from Egypt ; the same who had repeated to me 
 a thousand times that the friendship in which we were united should be indis- 
 soluble: they were, in short, from my companion in misfortune; the man from 
 whom I had been separated, in so extraordinary a manner, off the coast of Cala- 
 bria, and who was now almost at liberty in the same city where I was still in du- 
 rance. The character I had heard of Ali-pasha made me consider prisoners who 
 had escaped from his hands almost in the light of persons risen from the dead. 
 
 When I learnt the series of adventures that had befallen the officers, and that 
 they owed their present very ameliorated situation to Hussein-pasha, 1 found 
 myself again in the situation of giving a just tribute of praise to the humanity of 
 a Turk, and exalting him far above the chiefs who commanded at Corfu, Who 
 would not have been tempted, indeed, to rank the latter below barbarous nations, 
 if it were not well known into what frightful sallies passion will sometimes lead 
 the human heart ? But those who deliver themselves up in such a way to their 
 resentments, who trample under foot the principles of equity, ought always to 
 bear in mind that every thing is at last known ; and that persecutions, though 
 carried on awhile under a veil of the most complete obscurity, at last are blazed 
 abroad, and appear in the face of day in their true colours. The ravages of war in 
 time come to an end, and nations are once more reconciled ; but the shame of those 
 who have mingled their private hatred and vengeance with the quarrels of sovereigns 
 can never be effaced. J f they have shed the blood of the innocent, let them tremble; 
 it will recoil upon their own heads. If they have oppressed and persecuted others, 
 they are for ever blasted by their victims, whose thundering voices accuse them 
 before the tribunals of kings, and proclaim their guilt in the face of nations. 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 425 
 
 The French merchants at Pera seeing men among them who had escaped from 
 the vigilance of Ali-pasha, and whom even the walls of the citadel of Corfu could 
 not retain, imagined that their house of detention would be a very feeble barrier 
 if they should be seized with a new desire of liberty. Without reflecting upon 
 the extreme difference there was between the present circumstances of the officers 
 and those in which they were placed under the pasha of Albania, or without 
 attending to their conduct in Corfu, where they devoted themselves to save the 
 hostages, and which was sufficient to show that they were incapable of injuring 
 their own fellow-countrymen, the merchants were the occasion of a measure of 
 security being taken which tended to injure the whole body of prisoners. Selfish- 
 ness was the great parent of this measure; but it was justly punished. 
 
 The officers were, indeed, extremely ill-clothed; they bore about them deep 
 impressions of a protracted captivity : they were clad in a mixture of costumes; 
 their whole appearance evinced a long abode among a people entirely strangers 
 to our manners, and this was sufficient to offend the eyes of persons who do not 
 give themselves the trouble of studying physiognomy. They did not, however, 
 remain many days in this situation, thanks to the politeness and attention of baron 
 Hubschs, who furnished them the means of improving their external appearance. 
 This change, which gave them more consideration in the eyes of their own coun- 
 trymen, had no less influence upon the hearts of the Turks : the latter soon, in- 
 deed, began to show a manifest distinction to them above the former guests in 
 the house. The doors were freely opened to them ; they were at liberty to go 
 wherever they chose ; to take a ride or walk in the country ; to frequent the balls ; 
 to live, in short, entirely according to their fancies, — while the calculators were still 
 confined within their own doors, or forced to pay for the privilege of sometimes 
 going out in the evening. Such a situation was to the officers one of great enjoy- 
 ment ; for, after two years and a half spent in a constant state of privation people 
 commonly cease to be very difficult in the choice of their pleasures : Pera, there- 
 fore, appeared to them a charming place. Full of kindness, they constantly en- 
 deavoured to reconcile a number of petty quarrels among the detenus in the house, 
 revenging themselves for the ill opinion at first conceived of them, by seeking to 
 establish general harmony and concord. In fact, the idea of captivity was from 
 this moment banished ; and it might be said, in the end, that it was the least felt 
 in a place where it is considered as supreme. 
 
 After a few days passed in recovering from the fatigues they had undergone, 
 and in improving their appearance, the French officers turned their thoughts to- 
 
 3 I 
 
426 TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 
 
 wards the ambassadors of England and Russia. They remitted to them a detailed 
 account of the long persecution they had experienced, and the dangers to which 
 they had been exposed, entreating their interposition with the Porte to procure 
 them their liberty. The fortunate moment was arrived, and their prayers were 
 heard. Let me pay the tribute due to those who were sensible to the voice of 
 hum&nity, and record their generous conduct. There is no part of the narrator's 
 work so pleasant as the relation of acts of justice and benevolence. O ye, who 
 have it in your power to practise such acts, never lose the opportunity of doing so ! 
 However obscure the individual to whom your generosity is extended, the pleasure 
 derived from the consciousness of having conferred happiness is its own best re- 
 ward. 
 
 Lord Elgin at that time was considered with high distinction at the Ottoman 
 court : he kindly took up the cause of the French officers, and reclaimed them as 
 if they had been English prisoners. His reclamation was instantly granted; and he 
 then put the finishing stroke to his kindness by procuring them passports to return 
 to France. Monsieur Tamara, also, the Russian ambassador, emulous to second 
 the efforts of the English minister, saw the officers several times, and was lavish 
 in his expressions of esteem and respect for them. The leave to depart obtained, 
 they lost no time in preparing for their journey: intending to travel through 
 Turkey to the shores of the Adriatic, and there cross over to Italy, they took 
 all the precautions necessary for following such a route. 
 
 The victory of Marengo, and the peace with Germany which was the conse- 
 quence of it, facilitated this plan. They made an agreement with a tatar, or 
 Turkish courier, to escort them to Ragusa; and, in order to travel with greater 
 security, provided themselves with the same habiliments that he wore. They at 
 the same time purchased arms, and proper equipments for their horses: their 
 caravan, in short, was soon completely organized. It consisted, besides Messieurs 
 Poitevin, Charbonnel, and Bessieres, of general Lasalsette, who had been released 
 from the Seven Towers ever since the first of January 1801, and of Monsieur 
 Hotte, who obtained his liberty a month after. To them were to have been added 
 the brave Richemont and Monsieur Beauvais ; but as they were not ready at the 
 lime when the rest departed, they afterwards took a different route. 
 
 The firman permitting the party to travel through the interior of Turkey 
 being remitted to them, Monsieur Bessieres wrote to me on the sixth of March to 
 inform me of the welcome news. It was a subject of no small regret to us both, 
 that we could not see each other while he remained at Constantinople. He told 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 427 
 
 me, -at tlie same time, that he had obtained a promise of my release, and that I 
 might expect to be at liberty in two days : alas! in this both he and I were de- 
 ceived. He departed, eager to terminate the tempestuous state of existence of 
 which he had now so long been the sport, and burning with desire to set fool 
 once more on his native shores. He wrote to me from Ragusa, giving me an ac- 
 count of his journey ; but his letter found me still confined in the Seven Towers. 
 I was indeed one of the last to obtain my dismission from that prison, thanks to 
 the intrigues of certain persons, who, after my protector was gone, chose to give 
 others the preference to ine. I was, however, in the end too well recompensed 
 for these little chagrins, not to consider myself obliged to the authors of them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Departure of the French officers from Constantinople. — Itinerary of their journey 
 over land to Ragusa. — Ponte Piccolo and Ponte Grande, ivith their lakes. — The 
 ancient ivall from the Black Sea to the Propontis. — Adrianople. — They enter 
 Bulgaria. — Philippopolis. — Mount Rhodope. — Mount Scomius. — Mount Orbelus. 
 — Arrival at the foot of Prisrendi, 
 
 At nine o'clock in the morning of the eighth of March the caravan mentioned 
 in the last chapter departed from Constantinople under the escort of a janissary ta- 
 tar, who was to receive for his trouble two hundred and twenty piastres. At half 
 after one they arrived at Ponte Piccolo, where travellers commonly make their 
 first halt in pursuing this route. Here in the time of the Lower Empire was a 
 castle called Rhegium ; at present it is nothing more than a cluster of eottages, 
 mingled with some ruins said to be those of a country-house of the emperors. If 
 it was so, they had chosen a very bad place for a habitation, on the shores of a most 
 unwholesome lake. The name of Ponte Piccolo, or Little Sea,, has been given to 
 the lake of Rhegium, in opposition to another and larger lake called Ponte Grande. 
 At this the travellers arrived about five in the evening, having passed over a 
 country almost uncultivated, and entirely destitute of trees; and here they passed 
 the night in a very wretched sort of cabin. 
 
 3l 2 
 
428 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA 
 
 It appears, however, as if this place was formerly a Roman station, since it is 
 mentioned under the ancient name of Melanthias, as the end of the first day's 
 journey from Byzantium. The lake is formed by the waters of the Atvras, whir'.! 
 is now called by no other name than the river of Ponte Grande. It comes from 
 the forests of Belgrade. The village is poor, and the environs hilly. In both 
 these lakes enormous carps are caught, but they are not held in much esteem : 
 they are probably of the same kind as those of the lakes Stymphalus and Oreho- 
 menos, which have been mentioned in treating of the Morea. 
 
 After travelling six leagues from Ponte Grande, over a country which offered 
 nothing particularly worthy of remark, the caravan arrived at Silivri. This town-, 
 known in ancient times under the name of Selymbria, is at a little distance from 
 the coast, upon the bank of a rivulet not of sufficient consideration to have any 
 name. Silivri stands at the entrance of a vast plain, which extends a day's jour- 
 ney beyond Philippopolis. After a frugal dinner, a thing by no mean's uncommon 
 in Turkey, the caravan set forwards again for Tchiorlou, a little village seven 
 leagues from Silivri, where they were to pass the night. This place is mentioned 
 in the Roman itineraries under the name of Thurulus. 
 
 The wall which in the times of the Lower Empire extended from the Pontr.s 
 Euxinus to the Propontis, passed between Silivri and Tchiorlou. The emperors, 
 in raising this monument of their weakness, appeared to content themselves with 
 the small portion of land that it inclosed, while their empire was the prey of the 
 barbarians. They were satisfied as long as the wall was untouched, but it could 
 not restrain the crowds that poured down towards the capital from the mountains 
 of Thrace. Its extent was such, that it was impossible to defend every part ; and 
 it appears as if this intrenchment was completely destroyed ; at least no traces cf 
 it now remain. Perhaps, in searching with great care and attention, some parts 
 of the foundation might still be discovered. But to what purpose make such a 
 search ? — The very ruins of those times show, that at that period the arts were in 
 as complete a state of decline as every thing else relating both to the moral and 
 physical state of the empire. 
 
 The next place at which the caravan stopped was Bourgas, eight leagues further. 
 This seems to be the Bergule mentioned in the Roman itineraries. It stands upon 
 the banks of a little rivulet which joins the river Ergen, known anciently as the 
 Araxes. The latter river joins the Maritza below Adrianople. All this country 
 is level, fertile, and populous. The third day's journey concluded at Eskibaba, 
 seven leagues beyond Bourgas. This place, which appears to be the ancient Bur- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 429 
 
 fudisus, stands upon another small river, a branch from the Ergen. Although 
 somewhat fatigued and battered by the rough paces of their horses, the travellers 
 continued their route with as much expedition as possible. Their courage was sup- 
 ported by the reviving appearance of spring, which was now manifested in the 
 constantly increasing verdure. 
 
 This day, the eleventh of March, and the fourth of their journey, they passed 
 over a fine rich level country, the varied cultivation of which, its freshness and * 
 fertility, rendered it far superior to that about Constantinople. Two hours before 
 they arrived at Adrianople they crossed a branch of the ancient Hebrus, now the 
 Maritza, which divides the last-mentioned town into two parts. Adrianople, well 
 known as one of the largest towns in the Ottoman empire, stands in the midst of 
 a very extensive and perfectly level plain. The grandeur of its mosques and other 
 edifices, the purity of the language spoken there, its great trade, and the amenity of 
 its inhabitants, justly entitle it to the distinction it has obtained. 
 
 Monsieur Poitevin, whose health was still very precarious, found himself here 
 obliged to abandon all thoughts of proceeding further in such a mode of travelling, 
 and he engaged to return to Constantinople under the escort of a tatar he met with, 
 who was going thither by very easy days' journeys. From Constantinople he 
 purposed proceeding homeward by the first vessel that might sail for Italy. The 
 rest of the caravan hesitated awhile whether they should not do the same, finding, 
 by making a comparison between what they had done already, and what they had 
 still to do, that- they had engaged in a more arduous undertaking than they at first 
 apprehended. However, after consulting together they determined not to be dis- 
 heartened, and set forward again the next day with renewed courage. The tatars 
 took care, in quitting the fine city of Adrianople, to point out to the travellers the 
 four minarets of the principal mosque, which the}' said were the highest in all 
 Turkey. They also spoke much in favour of the wines, and even as if they were 
 practically acquainted with them. 
 
 During this day the caravan followed pretty constantly the course of the He- 
 brus, ascending towards its source. They crossed it at length at the little town of 
 Hebidge, andproceeded to a village two leagues further for the night. The tra- 
 vellers were advised to take this route, in order to avoid the.haidouts or banditti 
 of Romelia, who carry desolation over the countries where their incursions are 
 made, and who were now committing their last ravages; previous to retiring into 
 their mountains for the summer. Traces of the disorders committed by them 
 were left in the village where the caravan halted for the night, as it had beta 
 
430 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 visited by these marauders only the night before. The streets were choked with 
 an immense number of heads of oxen, cows, sheep, and goats, which they had 
 killed to regale themselves. The number of heads could scarcely be computed 
 at less than fifteen thousand. Notwithstanding that they were then encamp I . 
 only a league and a half from the village, the French officers slept tranquilly; au<i 
 the caravan had the good fortune to escape being seen by them or any of tlui ■ 
 >eouts. 
 
 If the travellers had been impressed with horror at what they saw in this vil- 
 lage, with how much greater horror were they impressed the next day, in con- 
 templating a district of fourteen leagues, in which reigned the silence of the 
 tombs ! which was strewed over with dead bodies, and where cottages that had been 
 consigned as a prey to the merciless flames were continually presented to their 
 eves ! The hopes of the labourer in the fruits of the earth, which had just begun 
 to spring up, were destroyed ; the inhabitants had fled ; consternation reigned 
 every where; industry and population seemed to have received a mortal wound. 
 All the youth capable of bearing arms had been forced away to recruit these bands; 
 and if thev had any sense of good morals, any virtuous propensities, could it be 
 expected that they would return back with the same sentiments ? Could they, 
 indeed, be expected ever to think of fixing themselves again upon a spot which 
 no longer offered them an asylum, or the means of subsistence? 
 
 Tis thus that Turkey drains and exhausts herself, and approaches every day 
 more and more rapidly towards her final ruin. The inhabitants of half the em- 
 pire, accustomed to lives of licentiousness and anarchy, but endowed with a fero- 
 cious courage, involve the future in darkness, and throw a shade over the events 
 with which a peace might be accompanied. Nothing but the sword of an active, 
 a powerful-minded, z resolute sultan could re-establish order. And where is such 
 a man to be found ? 
 
 The fourteen leagues of desolated country above mentioned were passed with- 
 out stopping, and the night of this day was spent under the humble roof of a 
 shepherd whose hut had escaped the ravages of the banditti. Here the travellers 
 found fruits and milk, with a hospitable reception ; nor was their repose during 
 the night interrupted by any alarms. The next day they entered Bulgaria. 
 
 This province, in the time of the Lower Empire, was inhabited by a warlike 
 nation, who often held the troops of the emperors in check ; nor have the Bul- 
 garians in succeeding periods, since the country became subjected to the dominion 
 of the Turks, deviated from the spirit of their ancestors : they have always pre- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 431 
 
 served a spirit of independence. Intrenched in their mountains, they seldom quit 
 them unless when parties occasionally unite themselves with the rebels, and in 
 concert with them sometimes make Constantinople itself tremble ; or else when, 
 in the spring they repair to the principal towns in Turkey, and engage in the 
 service of the pashas or other great people, to take care of their horses while they 
 are at grass. All who are not thus engaged lead a wholly pastoral life. The gar- 
 ments of these people strongly speak the humble manner in which they liver 
 they have only a waistcoat or jacket made of a sheep-skin with the woolly side 
 turned inwards, and large breeches of coarse linen cloth. On their heads they wear 
 a cap of lamb-skin ; and their shoes and stockings are made of the undressed hide 
 of a wild boar. They do not wear their beards, but have mustachios,. which how- 
 ever are thin and scanty. The hue of their skin is a sott of olive.. The skin itself 
 is very flabby, and the abdominal system is in most of them extremely protu- 
 berant. They are of a good height, but without any thing dignified or com- 
 manding in the figure. The countenance is frank and open ; the eyes small, 
 the forehead projecting, forming a more marked characteristic than even the ex- 
 treme ruggedness of their manners. 
 
 Great lovers of music and dancing, they never stir without a pipe. They draw 
 shrill tones from it, at the sound of which all present, even the musician himself, 
 begin to move in cadence. They perform the pyrrhic dance, and some others not 
 very decent. These they often exhibit in the streets of Constantinople, after their 
 spring-excursions above mentioned, when they are about to return home. For the 
 rest, they are sober, brave, industrious, but ignorant to a degree scarcely credible. 
 The women ase particularly handsome, and unite with regularity of features a lofty 
 stature, and great dignity of earriage. It is among them, rather than among the 
 Circassians,that the voluptuous monarchs of the East should seek the roses which 
 are to embellish their harems. 
 
 But to return to the travellers. Eight leagues after entering Bulgaria they ar- 
 rived at Philippopolis, well known in ancient times as having been founded by 
 Philip, father to Alexander the Great. He gave it the name of Poneropolis, or 
 town of the Vauriens, because he peopled it with the sacrilegious Phoceeans who 
 had pillaged the temple at Delphos. But time, which obliterates the strongest 
 impressions, and probably the altered manners of the inhabitants, who could not 
 in justice be eternally stigmatized with the faults of their ancestors, delivered it 
 from its original name, and that of its founder was given in its place. This it has 
 ever since retained, though every thing around has undergone a change, and new. 
 
45 l 2 TRAVELS IN THE MGREA. 
 
 names have been given even to the neighbouring mountains. The town stands 
 in a fine situation, in part uj)on a slope which extends towards the south. The re- 
 gularity of the streets, the neatness of the buildings, the whole coup-d'osil, in short, 
 entitle it to be considered as one of the handsomest towns in Turkey. Its inhabi- 
 tants have the reputation of being industrious, frank, and hospitable. Among 
 them are many Christians of the Greek church. 
 
 From Philippopolis the caravan proceeded to Bazardgik, the ancient Bessapara. 
 This town is governed by a bey, whose dominions extend over a part of the valley 
 that reaches to the sources of the Hebrus. It is one of the principal places of Bul- 
 garia. The women are handsome, and the men very brave. From hence are seen 
 the summits of Balkan, the ancient Mount Hsemus, which are never in any part 
 of the year free from snow. This chain is properly only a projection from Sco- 
 mius. In observing the course of the mountains here, the regularity of the chains 
 will be found very striking, and contrasts strongly with the irregularity of those 
 in the Peloponnesus. The eye wanders with delight over the slopes about Ba- 
 zardgik and the course of the Hebrus ; while memory cannot refrain from pro- 
 nouncing the name of Eurydice, and adverting to the idea of this stream bearing 
 along with it the bloody head of that Orpheus who first civilized the nations in- 
 habiting its banks. 
 
 On the Fifteenth of March the travellers arrived at Bana, eight leagues from Ba- 
 zardgik, the town that is called in the Roman itineraries Bagni. It contains nothing 
 worthy of remark but some fountains of thermal waters. The Hebrus rises not 
 far from hence, in Mount Scomius, which lies to the west of the town. This river 
 has a north-westerly direction as far as Philippopolis; but there joining another 
 branch which rises in one of the projections of Scomius, it turns its course east- 
 ward, fertilizing the immense plain in which stands Adrianople. Become im- 
 petuous, and enriched by streams without end flowing from the mountains of 
 Thrace, it empties itself at last by two mouths into the gulf of Enos. 
 
 Hitherto the roads had been as good as could be expected in a country where 
 no such things as made roads exist: but from hence all the way to Scutari in Al- 
 bania the route lies over rugged and arid mountains, without any thing like a re- 
 gular road. Nature has everywhere a wild and dreary aspect : it bears the same 
 character as the inhabitants ; is like them savage and ferocious. No more mea- 
 dows, no more rich plains, or smiling valleys. Immediately on quitting Bana 
 the mountains of Rhodope begin ; and the route lies among rocks, often upon the 
 edge of a precipice, with only here and there a clump of pines or larches. Th-rougb, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 433 
 
 this kind of country the caravan travelled for six leagues from Bana to Sarmako, 
 where they were to pass the night. This place does not appear to have been known 
 in the time of the Lower Empire. It is a village inhabited entirely by Bulgarians, 
 who are all shepherds. Their country, bristled with mountains, offers but few re- 
 sources ; -it is not even in the way of a good market for the wool, which is almost 
 their only object of trade. 
 
 The next day, the sixteenth of March, the caravan arrived about noon at Dub- 
 nitza, a little town among the mountains of Rhodope, ten leagues from Sarmako : 
 above this town Scomius rears its pyramidal head with all the majesty of a sove- 
 reign. In the environs of Dubnitza this chain divides into two branches, the most 
 northern of which is Mount Haemus, or Balkan, while the southern accompanies 
 the Strymon in all its meanderings till it arrives at the plain of Amphipolis. 
 
 On the following day the caravan arrived about noon at Kiustendil, seven 
 leagues from Dubnitza. This place was, under the Lower Empire, known by the 
 name of Justiniana, and was so called from being the birth-place of the emperor 
 Justinian: before that time it was called Tauresium. At present it has fallen 
 again into the state of mediocrity in which it had rested, till its connection with 
 the celebrated emperor above named drew it somewhat from obscurity. Near it 
 are some ruins, which are considered as a part of the ancient Ulpia Pautalia, a town 
 much in favour with Trajan. 
 
 From Kiustendil the travellers proceeded to Palanka, another town among the ... 
 mountains of Scomius, seven leagues further. The way between these two places 
 is over lofty heights, which present nothing but frightful precipices, points of rock, 
 or small levels of granite, upon which the horses can with difficulty get on. Al- 
 though the mind becomes insensibly familiarized with dangers in travelling 
 through a mountainous country, it is difficult to resist at all times the impression 
 make by rocks which hang over, and seem ready at every moment to fall and crush 
 the traveller, and by precipices, the bottom of which the eye endeavours in vain 
 to reach, which seem to descend to the very bowels of the earth. When to these 
 sublime horrors is added the wretchedness of the places at which the traveller is 
 obliged to stop, and the almost savage state of the Bulgarians, who run after a 
 stranger as an object of curiosity, of a different race of beings from themselves ; — 
 when all these things are considered, a sufficient idea may be formed of the plea- 
 sures attending a journey through the mountains of Bulgaria. 
 
 Though on the eighteenth of March the caravan had only a journey of ten 
 leagues to perform, from Palanka to Roumanova ; yet such was the nature of the 
 
 3 K 
 
434 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 ground that they got through it with difficulty. They had ascended insensibly 
 to a great height in following the chain of Mount Scomius, and were now ap- 
 proaching the foot of Orbelus. They here saw several very large eagles hovering 
 at but a little distance above their heads, which showed plainly that they were 
 at a pretty considerable elevation. Orbelus may be considered as the kernel 
 of the mountains of Macedonia: from thence the several chains branch off that 
 border the principal valleys. Two branches first strike to the east and west, which 
 form Scomius, Rhodope, and Hsemus, in the first direction, while the western 
 branch forms Scardus or Prisrendi, and the minor chains that extend southward. 
 It is the highest point among the mountains of Turkey in Europe, and it would 
 be worthy the attention of travellers to fix its elevation above the sea. 
 
 The town of Koumanova stands in a fertile spot near some torrents that fall 
 from the mountains. The season was not sufficiently advanced in these cold 
 regions to present the eye with any very pleasing objects. On the southern fronts 
 of some of the lower mountains were here and there a few olive-trees. At all 
 times it must be a poor and barren country: its inhabitants, with their skin cloth- 
 ing, appear old from the effect of misery, even before they are young: their 
 constitutions are early exhausted, from the inclemency of the heavens under 
 which they live: they have not the healthy and vigorous appearance of those 
 mountaineers who live in a state of independence. 
 
 Uskiub, among the mountains of Scardus, seven leagues from Koumanova, was 
 the next place where the travellers halted. During their dinner the}' were visited 
 by a company of Tchinguenets or wandering Bohemians, who came to entertain 
 them with a concert and dance. Parties of these people are to be found all over 
 the Turkish empire, even in this wild country, where it might be supposed that 
 their talents would find very poor encouragement. Uskiub is considered as the 
 ancient Scupi. It stands near the sources of the Axius or Vardar. This river 
 has its course southwards, and after washing the walls of Bilazora, and the ruins 
 of that Pella which was rendered illustrious by being the birth-place of Alex- 
 ander, runs into the sea in the Thermaic gulf. Uskiub is celebrated for its 
 manufacture of morocco leather : its inhabitants are a more civilised race than 
 those of most of the towns among these mountains. From hence the travellers 
 proceeded to Kalkandeluk, ten long leagues further, which made this the most 
 fatiguing day of their whole journey. To crown all, when arrived at their resting- 
 place for the night, they found a wretched khan where there was nothing to eat, 
 <jnd only mats spread upon the ground as a substitute for beds. All this part of 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 435 
 
 Servia and Bulgaria is thinly peopled: there are very few villages, and scarcely 
 any land cultivated : in some ravines, and upon the borders of the rivulets and 
 torrents, a little corn is grown, barely sufficient for the wants of the scanty popu- 
 lation. 
 
 The travellers were warned that they would have very high mountains to pass 
 the next day. For four leagues the way would be constantly over lofty summits at 
 the edge of deep precipices; then would follow the snowy regions, which presented 
 new dangers ; the latter were so much the greater at this season of the year, as the 
 winter was not entirely over: they were informed, in short, that no travellers had 
 yet thought the season sufficiently advanced to venture on taking that road ; they 
 had gone by the other. To follow this other, however, our travellers must have 
 traced back their steps the whole of their last day's journey, then have followed 
 the course of the Vardar as far as Bilazora, and taken the defile of Mount Boras, 
 which would have led them at length to the valley of the Drino. But besides 
 the delay it would now occasion to take this route, other inconveniences might 
 very possibly arise: there were many streams to cross, over which there were 
 no bridges; and they might not improbably be swelled by the snows from the 
 mountains, so that the passage might be dangerous, or even impracticable. It 
 was therefore determined after some consultation that they would continue their 
 present route, and run the hazard of passing Mount Prisrendi. Preparations 
 were made for it accordingly : the travellers provided themselves with whatever 
 they could collect, though, in so desolate a country, that amounted to very little.. 
 
 3K 2 
 
43(5 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 The travellers pass Mount Prisrendi. — Some of them are affected dangerous!?/ 
 by the cold. — The town of Prisrendi. — Desert betiueen that place and Scutari. — 
 The valley of the Drino. — Arrival at Scutari, and description of the town. — The 
 lake of Labeatis or Jscoudar. — Dissertation on the mountains, valleys, and 
 rivers of Greece. 
 
 The poor little town of Kalkandeluk was however a place of delights, compared 
 with the regions over which the caravan was now to travel. Hitherto their prin- 
 cipal subject of complaint had been the ruggedness of the country ; but among 
 the mountains of Prisrendi, and in Illyria, scarcely any traces of civilization 
 appeared. 
 
 These mountains form the natural limits of Bulgaria, Servia, and Illyria. The 
 northern and western branches may be considered as the lines of demarcation of 
 those countries: the former, after continuing its course for some way, ultimately 
 joins the mountains of Bosnia. Nature presents round the base of Prisrendi a 
 barren, uncultivated, and uniform surface, or varied only with some forests of pines. 
 The eye is never delighted with those charming ravines which are to be found about 
 the Alps; but, on the contrary, the rugged sides and lofty summits here to be seen, 
 offer no other ideas, in contemplating them, but of fatigue both to the mind and 
 body. The travellers however, notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, 
 notwithstanding the fatigues they had hitherto gone through, and the bad cheer 
 and lodging of the night before, proceeded to their arduous undertaking full of 
 health and spirits, considering all their difficulties as surmounted when these 
 regions should be passed. 
 
 For four hours they continued ascending by rugged paths, when at length they 
 arrived at the snowy regions. Here Monsieur Hotte was seized with a violent 
 haemorrhage at the nose: the aerial fluid being too much rarefied, the pressure 
 upon the sanguinary vessels was so much diminished as to occasion this flow of 
 blood ; it was accompanied with vertigoes in the head and a humming in the ears, 
 so that he was in a state approaching to the comatose affection. The young 
 Amoureux, another of the party, at the same time threw himself upon the snow, 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 437 
 
 saying he could not go on : the cold, after having acted upon the epigastric centre, 
 began to benumb his limbs; he complained of hunger; he was soon after all over 
 in a gentle perspiration, and had an irresistible inclination to sleep. The whole 
 company were more or less affected, and they determined as their only resource 
 to dismount from their horses and walk. They roused and stimulated young 
 Amoureux, forcing him along, and by this violence saved his life ; for the circulation 
 of the blood had begun to be very feeble, and to fly the extremities. For three 
 leagues they continued their route in the midst of snow, there was no road tracked, 
 the way was only marked by stakes driven into the ground at certain distances. 
 The horses had the utmost difficulty to keep at all upon their legs ; some could 
 not be got on, and were of necessity left to their fate; of this number was the 
 one that carried Colonel Charbonnel's effects. At length the party arrived at the 
 end of this snowy region, and began to breathe more freely : those who had been 
 the most incommoded soon ceased to suffer, they seemed even to feel renewed 
 vigour. After descending for five leagues, they arrived in safety at the little town 
 of Prisrendi : this was not however till three hours after the night had closed in. 
 
 This town appears to be the same mentioned in several maps, particularly in 
 that of Monsieur d'Anville, under the name of Therendassi. The inhabitants, 
 partly Christians, partly Mussulmans, speak only the Sclavonian language: they 
 are governed by a bey subject to the jurisdiction of the pasha of Ochrida. The 
 news of the arrival of some Frenchmen flew like lightning about the town : 
 people flocked from all parts to see them, and were so troublesome, that the 
 travellers began to complain : immediately what at first seemed admiration was 
 turned into insult, and they found themselves pelted on all sides with mud and 
 stones. In this however the people of Prisrendi were perhaps only like all others 
 who see but few strangers, and among whom ignorance, the mother of cruelty and 
 fanaticism, encourages a hatred for every one not of their own nation : nay, it 
 must even be said, to the reproach of human nature, that this national antipathy 
 is by no means confined to people equally uncivilised with those that inhabit these 
 mountains. In extenuation of their offence, it must be confessed that there was 
 something rather grotesque in the appearance of the French officers, they having 
 under their tatar exterior some remains of European vestments; and it was perhaps-, 
 this, as much as their being Christians, that excited the curiosity first, and after- 
 wards the insolence, of the people. 
 
 Prisrendi is little frequented even by couriers coming from Constantinople, as 
 the passage of the mountains at the most favourable moments is by no means 
 
438 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA-. 
 
 unattended with danger. Though not obstructed with snow during the middle 
 of summer as it was at this period, a well-known phaenomenon to which Mount 
 Cenis is liable is observed equally to occur here: whirlwinds, appearing to issue at 
 the same moment from points directly opposite to each other, have more than- 
 once carried away a whole caravan, hurling them from the tops of the rocks down 
 to the precipices below. 
 
 The travellers were here informed, that it was necessary before they quitted the 
 town to furnish themselves with a sufficient quantity of provisions, to sustain both 
 themselves and their horses the rest of the way to Scutari, a distance of thirty 
 leagues. In all this space not a town or village is to be found ; and at the stations 
 nothing can be procured for travellers but bread not half baked, and only a little 
 straw for their animals. The Almighty seems to have placed this desert in the 
 midst of the warlike nations that inhabit the deep valleys which run among the 
 lower chains of these mountains, to separate them effectually, and thereby put the 
 only possible curb upon their animosities towards each other. Nature offers 
 nothing here but the image of chaos, the impression of mighty convulsions. 
 If at intervals some detached mountains wear a hue of green, naked rocks 
 blackened by time, or reft by the fires of heaven, soon interrupt the pleasing 
 hues on which the eye was beginning to rest. No more smiling valleys, where 
 murmuring streams flow beneath verdant arches, are here to be seen, no feathered- 
 songsters are here awakened by the lovely dawn ; the tears of Aurora fall only on 
 impermeable blocks of granite, on which they dry immediately, or form a surface 
 of ice, according to the season. Never does Echo reply to the sweet strains of the 
 nightingale; she reverberates only the fatal screeching of the owl, or the shrill and 
 piercing cries of the eagle. The only inhabitants of the vast cavities with which 
 the region abounds are tortoises, reptiles, bats, savage wolves who pursue the 
 poor chamois, and a few jackals. Yet all these combined horrors cannot stop the 
 vagabond: he lurks about to fall upon the traveller, as the nomades of Arabia and 
 Africa lie in ambush to plunder the peaceable caravans. 
 
 After stopping a day at Prisrendi to recover themselves from the fatigues ex- 
 perienced in crossing the mountain, on the twenty-second of March the travellers 
 again proceeded on their way. The night was passed at a khan, which was in- 
 trenched and surrounded with a palisade to defend it against the marauders by 
 whom the country is infested. These people, who are properly speaking its only 
 inhabitants, live in wretched isolated huts scattered about, and are in no part col- 
 lected together into any thing like a town or village. The love of rapine alone ever 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A. 439 
 
 assembles any number of them together ; and that object accomplished they di- 
 sperse to their respective habitations, there to wait till a similar object calls them 
 together again. Their state is that of all nations not yet formed into a society, or 
 living under the influence of inclement skies, of those who dwell in the nearest 
 habitable regions to the pole. They come at certain epochs to the great fairs of 
 Casova, of Monastir, and Prisrendi, to exchange certain commodities for powder 
 and arms. 
 
 The second night from Prisrendi was passed at another station twelve leagues 
 from the former, and the travellers reflected with no small satisfaction that it was 
 the last of their journey over so deplorable a country. The next day, the six- 
 teenth since their departure from Constantinople, they rose before the dawn, every 
 thing was soon made ready, the tatars for once had no occasion to drink before 
 they set off, and the rising sun found them already on their route, delighted with 
 the idea that they were to repose in peace at night within the walls of Scutari. 
 
 The first part of the way was still over the same arid country, the eye still 
 wandered over mountains varied only by occasional groves of pines. It was all 
 however very perceptibly upon the descent, and more gentle slopes succeeded to 
 the rugged paths so long traversed : after awhile considerable .tracts of pasture 
 appeared, several torrents were crossed, and at length at noon the travellers 
 arrived upon the edge of an extensive plain. At the sight of this picture, really 
 beautiful in itself, and rendered much more so by the circumstances under which 
 it was contemplated^ they felt their hearts expand with delight, above all when 
 far off at the western extremity of the plain they discovered the town of Scutari 
 itself. This magnificent basin, along which they travelled for the remaining four 
 hours of their journey, is surrounded on three sides by fertile slopes, which may 
 be called the lower bases of Scodrus : as these slopes approach Scutari they are 
 covered with gardens, with vines, and with fruit-trees. Through the midst of 
 the plain flows a river which abounds with fish, and every part is watered by a 
 vast number of springs and fountains, fertilizing the lands and preserving them in 
 a constant verdure. . 
 
 Somewhat more to the north the valley is watered by the Drino, the largest 
 river of Illyria. It has two principal sources, distinguished by the names of the 
 Black and the White Drino: the former, which is the most considerable, rises on 
 the northern side of the mountains of Sagori, whence running northwards it forms, 
 at the distance of eight leagues, the lake of Lychnidus or Ochrida: ten leagues 
 further it joins the branch called the White Drino, which rises in Mount Boras,, 
 
440 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 and both flow together for some way to the north-west. Afterwards taking a dif- 
 ferent direction the stream runs southward, and, making a great circle about 
 Scutari, discharges itself at length into the Adriatic sea: its course separates 
 Albania from Ualmatia and Illyria. There were formerly upon its banks many 
 towns of considerable note, which are now fallen into obscurity: there are how- 
 ever some still remaining very populous, and where considerable fairs are held. 
 A yreat part of the countries watered by the Drino are subject to the pasha of 
 Ochrida. 
 
 This country was the great theatre of the exploits of Scanderbeg, who kept the 
 Ottoman power so long in check. It afterwards underwent many revolutions, 
 passing under the dominion of several princes who at different times raised the 
 standard of insurrection. The inhabitants are naturally proud and warlike: 
 Christians and Mussulmans are alike scarcely ever to be seen without arms in 
 their hands. They have at no period been wholly subdued, and, full of ideas of 
 independence, will never submit voluntarily to any laws imposed upon them: they 
 know nothing but themselves, and think nothing of any value compared with 
 what they possess: they are equally shepherds and soldiers. The country is rich in 
 flocks, in fruit, in oil, and in honey. The numerous rivulets which discharge 
 themselves into the Drino, on the side of the Upper Ochrida, cherish a multitude 
 of flowers, the honey from which is extracted by innumerable swarms of bees. It 
 is said that there are in these parts many ruins of temples and marble monuments 
 with Greek and Latin inscriptions, which belonged to the times of the Roman 
 emperors. Though this appears very probable ; yet, as the fact has never been 
 established, 1 give it only as report, and with a wish to awaken the curiosity of 
 future travellers. It is a country which indeed appears well worthy of investiga- 
 tion, and yet, though at the gates of Europe, is almost unknown. 
 
 The language spoken here is principally the Selavonian, but mixed some- 
 what with the Illyrian and Bulgarian. The softness of it surprises, particularly 
 in the parts near the sea. The Montenegrins, who inhabit the districts about the 
 mouths of the Cattaro and the mountains between those parts and Ragusa, are 
 the only tribes who keep up a regular intercourse with the people in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Ochrida and the Drino: these cantons are otherwise very little fre- 
 quented. The country would, however, probably be a very interesting one to 
 study, and such an undertaking could not receive too much encouragement. 
 There are vast forests to inspect, lofty mountains to examine, as well with regard 
 to their directions as to the numerous fossils and petrifactions they must undoubt- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MORE A, 441 
 
 edly contain : nor are any obstacles presented to such researches that appear at ail 
 invincible. This country has, besides, the great advantage of being the way of 
 communication from Sclavonia and Albania to Bulgaria and Bosnia, and the 
 route by which the Montenegrins had recently purposed effecting their junction 
 with the Servians. 
 
 Scutari was at this time governed by Ibrahim-pasha. No sooner was he informed 
 of the arrival of the French officers than he sent a message of compliment to 
 them, desiring that they would take up their quarters in one of his conahs or 
 houses : he likewise gave orders that they should be magnificently treated. In. 
 this manner did he testify the pleasure he received in seeing the ancient allies of 
 the Turkish empire, and his wishes for the re- establishment of peace with them: 
 the enlargement of the prisoners gave him hopes that this might be an event not 
 very far distant. It seemed indeed his uniform endeavour to prove, by the atten- 
 tions he showed the officers, how much and how sincerely he had always been 
 the friend of our nation. 
 
 Scutari is a town of very great antiquity. Under its original name of Scodra, 
 it was a place of note at the time when Pyrrhus engaged in a contest with the 
 people king. History relates how it was burnt by the praetor Antius, aad after- 
 wards ravaged by the barbarians, when the monuments it possessed were entirely 
 destroyed. After having been a Roman colony, it passed in more modern times 
 under the dominion of Georges, Strachim, and Balda, of the royal family of the 
 Balsiches*, a descendant of whom, also by name Georges, who was lord of 
 Scutari, Lissa, Drivasta, and Antibarus, transferred his property to Amurath 
 the First. He soon however resumed it in exchange for a young daughter, whom 
 he gave up to the sultan upon that condition. At length this tickle prince made 
 over the town and its dependencies to the Senate of Venice : they were however 
 afterwards deprived of it in their wars against the Turks. 
 
 Scutari stands upon the lake Labeatis or Iscoudar, seven leagues from the sea, 
 and five from the river Drino. This river is said to have quitted a bed much 
 nearer to the town, and made itself a new one where it now runs. The country 
 about has been already mentioned as particularly rich and fertile. Lake Labeatis 
 is three leagues in length, and about half that breadth: it is formed by the waters 
 of the Boiana. This river rushes out from the midst of the mountains, having in 
 the course of ages mined itself a way through those lower parts that eome almost 
 
 * See the history of Georges Castriotj or Scanderbeg, by Lavardin. 
 
 3 L 
 
*442 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 to Scutari. : From the lake it runs awhile eastward ; then takes a turn, and, direct- 
 ing its course to the west, discharges itself at length into the gulf of the Drino. 
 The lake abounds with excellent fish, which the inhabitants of Scutari esteem 
 very ttuch ; and the river Boi'ana, running through the lake, enjoys the same ad- 
 vantagei ' 
 
 To the town, as well as to the lake by which it is washed, the name of Iscoudar 
 is given by the Turks. The town stands partly on the top, partly on the declivity 
 of a gentle slope. On its highest point is a little castle built upon the solid rock: 
 it has four suburbs, but they are included under the general name of Scutari. It 
 is the seat of a pashalik, which may be considered as the rival in power and 
 extent with that of Albania, comprehending the greatest part of the country 
 watered by the Drino, all Illyria properly so called, with the mouths of the 
 Cattaro, quite to the limits of Ragusa and the newly arranged frontiers of Ger- 
 many. Along the sea-shore it extends to the neighbourhood of Durazzo, within 
 a line drawn from this point to the mountains that rise above Tebeleni. The po- 
 pulation of Scutari is estimated at more than twelve thousand: the people are 
 partly Mussulmans, partly Christians both of the Greek and Latin churches. 
 Those of the Greek church have a bishop in the place ; those of the Latin receive 
 their spiritual instruction from certain pious missionaries sent thither by the court 
 oTRome.' 
 
 Such is Scutari, and such the coup-d'ceil of the countries over which the French 
 officers travelled from Constantinople thither. I could have wished to give more 
 variety and interest to the pictures I have sketched, by the geographical, botanical, 
 and geological details which every part of these countries would amply furnish, 
 and which would be so much the more important as they are very little known. 
 Almost every thing, indeed, relating to the geography of these parts is erro- 
 neously laid down in the existing maps. Those who come after me, guided by 
 the cine here given, will doubtless improve upon the imperfect sketches, and 
 add many other cantons to the principal points which I have indicated. Before 
 however I take my final leave of Turkey in Europe, before I quit the country of 
 king Glaucias, who is said to have reigned at Scodra, I wish once more to call 
 the attention of the reader to the subject of the mountains, one which appears to 
 me of great interest ; and I will hope that the precision and rapidity of ir.y 
 observations will plead my excuse for indulging myself in such a digression. 
 
 The whole surface of Greece, under which name 1 include Peloponnesus, Attica, 
 Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, and Epirus, is spread over with mountains, some 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 443 
 
 of which are covered with a vegetative soil, while others are bareartd arid: some 
 are covered with snows which never entirely dissolve. A small portion of them 
 are of granite ; some are schistous ; but the greater part are calcareous. Evidence 
 of having been volcanoes is manifest upon many of them ; others are mined by 
 immense caverns : a few alone seem immoveably fixed, as it were, upon the centre 
 of the globe. Their nature appears subordinate to one general system, which 
 I leave for geologists to define ; I mean to content myself only with marking their 
 directions. 
 
 I have said that Mount Orbelus seems to be the kernel, the central point of the 
 mountains of Macedonia ; and that Scardus or Prisrendi, Seqmius or Despotodag t 
 Ilsemus or Balkan, are but ramifications from it. This giant, however, who 
 spreads around his branches to so great an extent, appears himself to be but an 
 irradiation from the great Alpine chain. It is from those elevated regions knov^n 
 under the name of the Norican Alps that we must depart to follow, the general 
 system of the mountains ; and in examining the summits through this great ex- 
 tent of country we shall trace their connection with Orbelus. 
 
 This mountain is covered with snow the whole year round. Its centre is granite : 
 as far as its middle region it is covered with vegetative soil. Its rocks are the abodes 
 of eagles; from its sides flow an infinite number of springs, which are the prin- 
 ciples of the rivers that run into the Mediterranean. Besides the leading chains 
 I have mentioned, the inferior branches of Orbelus inclose the valleys of Thrace, 
 through which flows the Hebrus ; they form the defiles of Macedonia, and sur- 
 round the vast basin of Thessaly. Some run by steep descents down to the sea; 
 others slope gradually to the plains. Olympus, Ossa, the mountains of Attica, 
 Parnassus, Helicon, are all but secondary chains and dependencies upon Orbelus. 
 But here we stop, nor follow them into Peloponnesus by the isthmus of Corinth. 
 The mountains in this peninsula differ essentially from the first chain : in some 
 are found quarries of the finest marble, in others all the production* common to 
 volcanoes. The mountains of Boeotia are of this nature : that in which is the 
 cave of Trophonius for a long time exhaled the bituminous vapours of sub- 
 terraneous fires ; and the prophetic spirit was undoubtedly nothing but the verti- 
 goes which such exhalations naturally produce. The person affected was inspired 
 by the god ; the earth trembled under his feet, and the forests seemed to descend 
 from the hills. 
 
 But Pindus and the other mountains of Epirus form a part of the system of 
 Orbelus. Pindus will be found to communicate with the mountains of Dalmatian 
 
 3 l 2 
 
444 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 its branches form the Sagorian mountains, as well as those of Tamarus and the 
 Acroceraunians, while little Pindus gives birth to the granito-caleareous moun- 
 tains of Souli. The chain that coasts the Arethon ascends to the neighbouring 
 chain above the Acheloiis. The arid mountains of /Etolia, those that border the 
 gulf of Corinth, or that bristle Acarnania, are ramifications of Pindus. The Acar- 
 nanian mountains may, however, justly be considered as of a volcanic nature, be- 
 cause they inclose deep tunnels without any order, without any regular branches 
 or projections. They present nothing but a confused heap of narrow valleys, of 
 summits, and points generally covered with vegetative soil. At their base are 
 thermal springs, and they are frequently shaken by earthquakes. 
 
 Peloponnesus presents a system peculiar to herself in the nature and direction of 
 her mountains. They do not appear dependent upon the Alps, unless Pholoe' may 
 be connected with them by means of some submarine ramification. The connection 
 would then be through Mount Tricara, which rises between Sicyon and Vostitza; 
 for I adhere to my opinion, that the ishmus of Corinth is not the point of com- 
 munication. Down the northern side of Mount Tricara, which slopes rapidly to 
 the gulf of Lepanto, run an infinite number of torrents, which in rainy seasons are 
 sometimes so considerable that they cannot be crossed without danger. From this 
 mountain a branch proceeds westward on the side of Calavrita, the basements of 
 which form the valleys of Achaia. This branch, after rising again, assumes the 
 name of Vodi, and thence begins Pholoe. The last-named mountain sends out 
 a branch in the centre of the Morea, which forms Mount Menale or Roino, running 
 from north to south : it is connected by different branches with Boreas and Chel- 
 mos, with Taygetes and Vourcano, the latter of which encompasses Messenia. 
 From the same Tricara branch off the groupes of Argos, Artemisius, Parthenius, 
 and Tornika. A third branch forms the eastern side of the valley of Argos, as 
 well as the mountains of Trcezene and Hermione. 
 
 This division, and this connection, which is the least objectionable that can be 
 offered, has however often embarrassed me, even when, with the mountains of the 
 Morea before my eyes, I endeavoured to arrange and methodize the chaos. I was 
 surprised to find traces of volcanoes in Taygetes, and to perceive Chelmos inclined 
 to granite. In short, these confused heaps of rocks often confounded the ideas of 
 order and regularity which I was desirous of applying to them. Above all things, 
 I «ould not connect the highest mountains with any of the exterior chains ; they 
 seemed to be but unconnected and isolated points. If I cast my eyes below 
 Mount Tricara, I perceived nothing but deep chasms ; and Taygetes, notwith- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 445 
 
 standing its numerous breaks, appeared to stand alone, to be a regular mountain 
 in itself. 1 followed it in its direction to to Cape Matapan, where it terminates by 
 an infinite number of rocks, prolonged to a great distance beneath the water. 
 
 1 made then an observation which I have since frequently had occasion to ve- 
 rify, that the secondary branches of mountains are much more subject to earth- 
 quakes and volcanic shocks than the greater masses. There are, however, instances 
 sufficiently ascertained, which prove that Pindus, the Acroceraunian mountains, 
 Taygetes, and the chains of Balkan, have trembled upon their bases ; but always 
 in autumn, and in the night *. The commotions which I myself experienced took 
 place some hours before sun-rise. But from these detached phaenomena I do not 
 pretend to draw any regular inductions ; I would even abandon my system en- 
 tirely, if I had not in my favour observations which have been invariably attended 
 with the same results. 
 
 There can be no doubt, but that the greater part of the valleys of Greece were 
 formerly lakes. This hypothesis, which would be rendered incontestable by a 
 strict and regular examination of them, must invalidate very much the opinion 
 of travellers who are prone to find every where traces of deluges. It would, at 
 the same time, agree with the silence of the most celebrated authors who have 
 never hinted at such phsenomena ; and if they ever had existed, sufficient re- 
 cords of them would have been handed down to posterity equally by the pen 
 of the poet, the pencil of the painter, and the chisel of the sculptor. Is it to 
 be believed that Homer, who has given us every picture of nature, not only that 
 ever existed, but almost that imagination could suggest, would have omitted the 
 deluge of Deucalion if such an event had ever happened ? Could Herodotus, who 
 informs us that the path of the ecliptic was parallel with the equator, who has 
 examined scrupulously even the most ancient fables of mythology, have forgotten 
 a deluge ? — Certainly not. It is only since the time of Ovid that we have heard of 
 general submersions ; that we have been presented with pictures of inundations 
 which have swallowed up the universe. 
 
 If such an awful catastrophe did once occur, as we are assured on divine 
 authority, I am yet very much disposed to doubt whether we are to refer to 
 
 * Pliny says, " I have observed that the Alps and the Appennines frequently tremble ; that the time 
 when the earth is shaken is always in spring or autumn, and that the shocks occur more frequently in 
 the night than in the day. I have also observed that the greatest earthquakes happen early in the morn- 
 ing or in the evening ; and that they take place commonly at eclipses of the sun or moon, for the winds 
 are then still. They also happen when great heats succeed to heavy rains, or when heavy rains succeed to 
 great heats." 
 
446 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 that for the origin of the petrifactions continually presented to us in every part 
 of the globe." These wonders of nature may be accounted for in a different 
 manner; but such a dissertation belongs rather to those who write professedly as 
 theorists, than to the traveller, whose business is principally to relate what he has 
 seen. 
 
 I know not whether all Thessaly, as Lucan and many other ancient authors 
 inform us, was once a vast lake; but in examining the course of the Salembria, 
 or Peneus, the manner in which it is confined in the valley of Tempe, and the 
 direction of the mountains through which the waters seem to have broken them- 
 selves a channel, it seems beyond a dispute that this basin must have been once 
 a lake. The same thing might be concluded of many levels among mountains 
 which have only a small issue whence the waters pour down in cascades. The 
 greater part of such embrasures evidently proceed from the action of the waters, 
 which, constantly wearing away the calcareous or schistous substances that formed 
 their beds, at last deprived them of the power of resistance, and forced a way 
 through them. 
 
 Nature, however, does not uniformly in this operation attack the side which 
 declines the most, the effort of the fluid is sometimes directed to the bottom of 
 the basin. About a quarter of a league above Delphos is a fertile level, and 
 from the foot of the rocks that crown it to the west rushes out a cold and limpid 
 stream of water: this would soon inundate the basin through which it flows, 
 and transform it into a lake, if the water did not find an issue by a subterranean 
 chasm through which it descends into the cavern of Corycius, forming a cascade 
 falling with a noise almost like thunder. From this cavern the waters issue again 
 in a stream well known as the river Plystus, which runs through a very deep ra- 
 vine. There can be no doubt, then, that the waters have worn away the vault of 
 the cavern, so as at length to have burst through and poured down ever since in 
 the manner described. 
 
 The mountains above the valley of Cephisus have only fluviatic productions 
 among their petrifications; nothing is to be found there which belongs exclusively 
 to the sea. Lake Copais, and the marshes of Marathon, have issues and drains by 
 which their waters escape. In short, whether we turn towards Locris, or consider 
 the face of Macedonia, every where in the direction of the valleys, and the pro- 
 jections of the mountains, we see the types of ancient lakes. Now dried by a course 
 of ages, and ornamented with all that nature can present the most varied and the 
 most enchanting, they offer on every side scenes of treasure and delight to man- 
 
TRAVELS IN; THE MORE A. *UJ 
 
 kind. Colonna presents several delicious valleys, where the nightingale warbles 
 her enchanting strains; Thessaly spreads out her rich plains, and Cephisus is or- 
 namented with beautiful villages. 
 
 If I turn to the dried lakes of Peloponnesus, I see that the most modern is that 
 of Argos. The nature of the marshes, the lands adapted to the cultivation of rice, 
 the stagnant waters near Mycene, all confirm my opinion. The issue of the waters 
 must have been by. the Erasinus, for the neighbouring shores of Thyrintus are too 
 high. 1 do not, however, believe it to be since this evacuation that the surrounding 
 heights have become barren. The country about Argos must always have been drv 
 and sterile, excepting on the side of Nemea : in all these parts there are vine- 
 grounds. The mountains running parallel to them, which border the gulf of 
 Saronica, are verdant, and covered with olive-trees: they rise by amphithea- 
 tres which run south and north from Mount Polyphengos to Corinth. The part 
 of the isthmus known by the name of Romania presents nothing but tunnels, and 
 the appearance of a volcanized soil, indicating subterranean fires. 
 
 The basin of Laconia must have been covered with water for a very long time. 
 The cataracts in the Eurotas below Amyclea, and that nearer to its mouth below 
 Apidana, attest the action of the waters upon the barriers that opposed their course. 
 I know not whether this valley may be considered as the crater of a volcano ; but 
 if ever it was so, it must have been subsequently for a long lime inundated entirely 
 by the Eurotas: this stream, indeed, rather ought to be called a torrent than a river. 
 Messenia and Elis were always open countries. The valley of Calamatte is not 
 bordered by mountains on the side towards the seaj Elis inclines downwards in 
 a southern direction, so that from Andritsena and the villages bordering the Al- 
 pheus the sea is seen : it closes the horizon to the south in almost every part of 
 these valleys. 
 
 The valley of. Erymanthus, above all others, appears once to have been sub- 
 merged in the parts between the Dimizana and the mountains whence that river 
 issues. The river falls by ^ cascade from a much higher level, which it no doubt 
 once covered with its waters: after this eruption it spread itself over a second 
 level, and it issues from a third to water the valley. Nothing can be more striking 
 than the view now presented by the vallej^s through which the Erymanthus flows, 
 flourishing as they are with a delightful verdure, and varied with beautiful woods. 
 The ravines of Calavrita, and the plain of Mantinea, have gulfs which receive the 
 waters : had they not excavated for themselves these issues, they would spread 
 entirely over the plains. 
 
448 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 The plain of Tripolitza, which is the most elevated of all the valleys in the Morea, 
 was most probably a lake communicating with that of Mantinea. During winter 
 there are now pools of water, which are insensibly lost at the return of summer, 
 not by evaporation as might be supposed, but evidently in subterranean recep- 
 tacles ; for the existence of such things is attested by the nature of the soil. The 
 gulfs of the Alpheus at the fooot of Mount Boreas, although encumbered with 
 mud and slime, preserve the plain from inundation on that side by affording an 
 issue to the waters. In Albania the same appearance of dried lakes ie obvious at 
 every step ; and without the Acheron the Elysian Fields would present nothing 
 but a watery surface. Doubtless this gulf owes its origin to the subterranean fires 
 existing beneath the lake, the shocks of which make all this part of Greece tremble. 
 It is very possible that the Acheron once exhaled a sulphureous vapour, since it 
 owes its aperture to the shocks of a volcano, which has hollowed vast caverns in 
 the bowels of the earth. But when the Acheron had filled these cavities, the 
 waters forced themselves other issues: I say issues; for, the river of V'elistri not 
 supplying a quantity equal to that ingulfed, other issues may justly be supposed 
 to exist, which carry the waters directly to the gulf of Ambracia. 
 
 It would not be difficult to ascertain where the waters issue from the lake Ache- 
 rusia, but this I only offer as a hint to future travellers who may visit Albania. 
 Some light substances, but in a very great quantity, cast into the Aornus might 
 serve as a means of coming at the knowledge of this point. I know that many 
 substances are said to have been found at Velistri, which exist only in the Acheron: 
 but, besides that those who have seen this phenomenon are not in the habit of ob- 
 serving with particular accuracy, it must be presumed that there are many issues. 
 This might be established by the simple and easy process that I have suggested. 
 It would be equally desirable to determine the height of the Elysian Fields above 
 the level of the sea, and their comparative height with Velistri. Finally, with 
 respect to the Cocytus, the connections of Pindus with Acherusia must be ex- 
 amined, and a number of experiments made, which would require time, patience, 
 and talents. 
 
 The caverns of Greece have long ceased to exhale prophetic inspirations; the 
 tripod of Delphos and the Pythia had even ceased to deal out their oracles long 
 before the worship of the Grecian gods was abolished. Or, to drop the language 
 of fable, and speak that of science, volcanic exhalations no longer issue from those 
 caverns which they formerly rendered so celebrated. Of these caverns there were 
 a great number ; nor can any doubt be entertained that they presented the phae- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 449 
 
 nomena recorded of them. The miracles effected were everywhere talked of; the 
 decrees issued from them were everywhere proclaimed. The cave of Corycius 
 had its gods, but it had ceased to send forth exhalations long before many of the 
 other caverns of Greece. It owed its renown principally to having served as an 
 asylum to the inhabitants of Delphos, at the time when Greece was invaded by 
 Xerxes. I have said that the waters from a basin above descend into it ; and 
 from its coolness, from the freshness of the air breathed there, from the half 
 light so favourable to mysteries, it might still deserve to be called the cavern of 
 the nymphs. In the neighbourhood were many other grottoes, in which the 
 Greeks had raised altars to different gods ; and these sacred places still exist, or 
 are only lost from the grottoes being obstructed by accumulations of earth. 
 
 Plutarch, as accurate an observer as he Was a distinguished geographer, informs 
 us that in his time all the oracles of Bceotia had ceased, excepting that from the 
 cave of Trophonius. This is to say, in other words, that the subterranean fires be- 
 neath the caverns were extinguished, and no more exhaled their intoxicating va- 
 pours. But Trophonius still retained this prerogative, and Pausanias made an ex- 
 periment of it upon himself*. This cave was seen in our days by Monsieur 
 Fauvel, but we have no good description of it. We may be well assured, however, 
 that it is mute, and that the oracle which predicted the misfortune at Pharsalia was 
 the last thundered forth from beneath its mighty vaults. 
 
 There are a number of caverns in the Morea, particularly in the forest of Ne- 
 mea. Large bands of the Laliotes often conceal themselves in the recesses among 
 the rocks of Mount Pholoe. In Mount Menale, though calcareous, there are 
 many caverns through which the water constantly filters. The thunder only rolls 
 over Taygetes with such long and protracted reverberations, because of the vast 
 hollows within its entrails, from the deep recesses of which the echoes answer to 
 the commotions of the heavens. Finally, about Cape Tenarus, in the country of 
 the Cacovouniotes, there are a number of caverns exceeding all idea : part of them 
 serve as places of retreat to the wretches who inhabit this inhospitable coast, and 
 some are employed as cisterns; others run to such a depth underground, that 
 it has never been found possible to explore them. 
 
 These places, just emblems of the abodes of phantoms, made the ancients Con- 
 sider Cape Tenarus as the entrance to the infernal regions. It was through these 
 caverns, they said, that Hercules pursued his way when he penetrated to the 
 
 1 . < " — ' — ■ : : " i — — — — — — ~— -— ~™ 
 
 * See Pausanias, lib. xi. 
 3 M 
 
450 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 dark abodes where reigns an eternal night ; and they related the prodigies of which 
 he was a witness, with the dangers to which he was exposed. In modern 
 days similar ideas subsist, but with different names. 'Tis through these eaves, 
 say the Cacovouniotes, that St. Michael descends to withdraw the just souls from 
 the power of the prince cf darkness. Whenever Satan dares to show himself, the 
 flaming sword of the archangel compels him to retire again into his den. Such is 
 the existing prejudice : if the religionist should not be inclined to extend his faith 
 so far as to assent implicitly to such a dogma, the naturalist will at least cleave to 
 it as a proof that the caverns exist, and that they are deserving of an assiduous ex- 
 amination. Nor would the examining them be a difficult undertaking, as far as the 
 moral state of the country is concerned ; for though the people are inhospitable, 
 with a little circumspection it may be travelled over in safety. How far it may 
 be possible to penetrate into the inmost recesses of the caves when the apertures 
 are reached, remains for experience to determine. 
 
 Nothing is said of the cavern of Styx, or rather I could not learn the opinion cf 
 the Laliotes with regard to its existence. There are many caverns in Albania, par- 
 ticularly in the Acroceraunian mountains ; and the spring of royal water men- 
 tioned by Pliny is still to be seen there. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Departure of the French officers from Scutari. — Antivari. — Dulcigno. — The Mot<- 
 tenegrins. — The mouths of the Catturo. — Arrival at Ragusa. — The officers are 
 put into quarantine. — Description of Ragusa. — Sketch of its government and com- 
 Tnerce. — Departure of the French officers from thence, and their arrival at An<- 
 cona. 
 
 After remaining two days at Scutari, the French officers obtained permission 
 of Ibrahim-pasha to proceed on their route. They had every reason to be pleased 
 with the civilities they had received from him, and he sent orders to Antivari, that 
 a vessel should be provided for them at that port, whence they were to embark for 
 Ragusa. Accordingly, on the twenty-seventh of March they departed from Scu- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 451 
 
 tari, and crossing the remainder of the plain in which the town stands, coasting 
 the southern foot of the mountains that border the country of Monte-Negro, ar- 
 rived in four hours at Antivari. 
 
 This town stands upon a steep hill, a league and a half from the shore, and is the 
 last place of Turkish Albania. The name of Antibari, which the Greeks pronounce 
 Antivari, was given to it from its lying directly opposite to Bari on the Italian 
 shore of the Adriatic. The town, from its elevated and picturesque situation, 
 may be seen at a great distance : it appears almost as if suspended in the air. It is 
 inhabited entirely by Turks; but the people of the villages along the coast, which 
 are very numerous, are Christians of both the Latin and Greek churches: the 
 whole coast, from Ragusa to the mountains of Chimera, is very much inhabited by 
 Roman Catholic Christians. Some traces may even still be found of the Catalans, 
 who it is well known were in possession of these shores under the Palceologi when 
 that family governed the Eastern Empire. These people often quit their country 
 to enlist under the Neapolitan standard. Antivari is the port to Scutari, and the 
 enlrepdt of all the commodities furnished by the valley of the Drino. Besides 
 those that are common to other parts of Greece, a considerable trade is carried on 
 here in goat-skins, which are tanned at Scutari and sold under the name of Mo- 
 rocco leather. 
 
 The officers, after making the arrangements they judged expedient, having 
 their tatar still with them, set sail the same day. They quitted the gulf of the 
 Drino, and leaving behind them the NymphEean promontory, the ruins of the 
 ancient Lissa, and Olcinium, now called Dulcigno, steered their course for 
 Ragusa. The town of Dulcigno, where, for the greater security of the coast, it 
 would be very desirable to see the standard of Germany floating, is inhabited by 
 six thousand pirates*, calling themselves merchants, who live like those of Algiers 
 on robbery and plunder. The stranger does not venture to approach their port; 
 and the mariner who finds himself in these latitudes must keep constantly upon 
 his guard, for when night comes on the Dulcignotes go forth in little barks to 
 look out for and surprise any vessel that rests in a fatal security. It is well 
 known that no quarter is ever given by these barbarians. Nothing can therefore 
 be more natural than for a general prayer to be offered up, that the polished nation 
 now in possession of Dalmatia may one day clear the soil of Olcinium of the 
 wretches by whose misdeeds it is degraded. 
 
 * It will be recollected that the corsair Orouchs, by whom we were captured, was a Dulcignote. 
 
 3 M 2 
 
452 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 Further on along this coast the navigator is presented with a spectacle, single 
 probably in its kind, namely, such a port as the bay of Rhizonica, better known 
 at present under the appellation of the mouths of the Cattaro. Let the imagina- 
 tion figure to itself three vast basins running very far within the land, communi- 
 cating with each other only by narrow passes susceptible of being regularly 
 defended, and a tolerable idea will be formed of the mouths of the Cattaro, 
 Large fleets would find the most secure shelter in these deep valleys ingulfed 
 by the sea, for such they may truly be called ; and from among the projections of 
 rugged mountains, where nothing but forests and pastures might be supposed to 
 exist, large squadrons might be seen sailing out with all the pomp of war. Sub- 
 lime declivities surround these basins, and the levels above are inhabited by a 
 hardy and intrepid race. Nature in every way assumes here a commanding 
 aspect, an air of grandeur unaccompanied with any imperfections. The mouths 
 of the Cattaro may in short be considered as the most important port in the 
 Adriatic; and it would be entirely the fault of any power that has possession of 
 this port, if that sea were not soon completely under its dominion. 
 
 To the east of the mouths of the Cattaro are the mountains inhabited by the 
 Montenegrins, a proud and courageous people breathing nothing but war. The 
 half wild state in which they live, the aspect of their mountains, and of the sea 
 breaking with such violence upon the rugged shores of Dahnatia, the tumults of 
 the elements, in short, are to them so many subjects of delight. The unaltered 
 remains of the ancient Illyrians, the greater part of them profess Christianity, 
 but may almost be said only to worship independence. They, notwithstanding, 
 sometimes forsake their native country to engage in the service of the emperor of 
 Russia; but they find such a change of climate ill-suited to their constitutions,. 
 and the greater part perish, though better fed and better treated than in the 
 bosoms of their own families. 
 
 It is an established truth, that mountaineers, and men who by their habits live 
 nearly in a state of nature, can with great difficulty accustom themselves to a- 
 change of climate: the Laplander cannot live out of his own country. The in- 
 habitants of mountains are subject to nostalgia; and the Savoyards commonly have 
 very serious illnesses when they first come into our towns, though they live much 
 better than at home. People accustomed to a town habituate themselves far 
 more readily to the country, than the inhabitants of the country to a town : man 
 can likewise with greater facility pass from a life of inactivity to one of exertion, 
 than from a life of activity to one of complete repose. 'Tis thus that the Mon- 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 453 
 
 tcnegrin, engaging in the service of Russia, notwithstanding the advantageous 
 change experienced with regard to his food, pines away because he is reduced to 
 the monotonous life led in barracks. He looks around him, he thinks of his 
 country, he no longer sees his flocks or his native cottage, and the feverish longing 
 for them with which he is seized soon carries him to the grave. If he could 
 again touch those shores so injudiciously quitted, he would soon recover. The 
 Greek who expatriates himself pays an equally fatal tribute, and Russia may be 
 regarded for these people what the Antilles are for many other European nations, 
 I am credibly informed by one who has investigated this matter pretty closely, 
 that a fifth at least of those who migrate into Russia perish during the first six 
 years of their emigration. 
 
 The Adriatic, at the time when our travellers were navigating it, was free from 
 the tempests by which it is frequently agitated. Judging by the great number 
 of vessels they met carrying the Imperial flag, it appeared that Austria had derived 
 great advantages from the concessions recently made to her. The Sclavonian 
 vessels, now better protected than they had been under the feeble government of 
 Venice, seemed to forget the Lion of St. Mark, and every thing promised that 
 a navy might one day issue from this gulf capable of proclaiming and defending 
 the freedom of the Mediterranean. The second day after their departure from 
 Scutari the travellers arrived at Ragusa, and were lodged in the lazaretto, con- 
 formably to the laws of quarantine wisely established in this port. The next day 
 they dismissed their tatar, who returning to Constantinople' brought me a letter 
 from Monsieur Bessieres, containing a part of the details of his journey. 
 
 Ragusa is a port in the Adriatic, upon the coast of Dalmatian lying between 
 the forty-second and forty-third degrees of northern latitude. It is said to 
 have owed its origin to the destruction of the town of Epidaura, -which was over- 
 thrown by the Goths under the reign of the emperor Valerian. It rose very 
 much three centuries after upon the ruin of Salone, which was then sacked by 
 the Sclavonians. This place, such as it now exists, stands at the foot of mount 
 Bargat, by which it is protected from the west and north-west winds. Its form 
 is a square, and it is inclosed by-a wall flanked with towers and pierced with em- 
 brasures and loop-holes: the eastern gate only is fortified. The streets are clean, 
 but narrow, the principal one excepted, which is broad and handsome: it crosses 
 the town entirely from north to south. The houses in this street, as well as in 
 most other parts, are a mixture of Italian and Oriental architecture. There are 
 some public edifices, of which the palace is the principal; it is a vast Gothic 
 
354 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 building. Next to this the churches are most worthy of remark, particularly 
 St. Blaise, the cathedral, St. Mark, St. Peter, St. Laurence, and St. Andrew, 
 as well as that of the Jesuits, now occupied by the Dominicans. 
 
 The population of Ragusa is estimated at about fifteen thousand. Its govern- 
 ment resembles in some sort that of ancient Venice, with this difference, that the 
 nobles are but a caricature of those whom they imitate. There is a senate com- 
 posed of all the Ragusan nobles above twenty years of age, whose names are 
 inscribed in a register called 11 Specchio, The Mirror. This senate assembles every 
 vear on the first of December, to proceed to the election of magistrates for the 
 republic, under the presidency of the rector, who is the chief of the executive 
 power. Every one takes his seat according to his age, without any other distinc- 
 tion. Whoever draws a golden ball from an urn prepared for the purpose, has a 
 right to vote at the election : they who draw black balls are set aside. The 
 election is decided by the majority of votes. The great council sanctions the 
 laws made by the government: it can pardon murderers, or recall those who are 
 banished: it takes cognisance of the national finances, and decides upon peace 
 and war. 
 
 There is besides an administrative council called the council of the prcgati. This 
 is composed of the rector, the eleven members of the little council, the five pro- 
 veditori of the town, the twelve judges civil and criminal, three members of the 
 council for the woollen manufactories, and twenty*nine counsellors or pregali. This 
 council determines the taxes, appoints the ambassadors, the military commanders, 
 the guards of the arsenal, and the treasurers and receivers of the public money: 
 it is also a tribunal of appeal in all matters both civil and criminal. It assembles 
 four times in the week. The little council mentioned above is composed of the 
 rector and eleven counsellors, persons advanced in years and of the best families 
 among the nobles. It receives the foreign ambassadors, and gives audience to 
 those who have any reclamations to make, or any business to transact with the 
 republic. It judges suits relative to the public revenue, but is obliged to refer 
 the mosfimportant business to the great council. 
 
 The chief of the government is called the rector or count: since the year 135S 
 the first title has been the prevailing one. Formerly the authority of this magis- 
 trate was very great; but some of the rectors having made an ill use of the power 
 delegated to them, the people and senate combined to restrain it. At present it 
 only extends to presiding in the senate, and the great and little councils; to 
 affixing the seal to all public decrees, to keeping the keys of the town, and to 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 455 
 
 being the guardian of the fortresses and castles of the republic. The rector 
 convenes the senate and the great council, but he has only a single vote in either. 
 His costume of ceremony is similar to that of the Venetian senators ; when he 
 appears in public he is preceded by four-and -twenty huissiers and twelve musi- 
 cians, and is followed by all the secretaries and officers of the palace. In case of 
 sickness, absence, or any other legal impediment, the senior member of the little 
 council acts in his place. At his death the gates of the town are shut, and per- 
 sons of the first families carry him upon their shoulders to the place of interment. 
 
 Five proveditori are charged with the maintenance of the laws and edicts, and 
 with the preservation of the charters of the republic. They also superintend the 
 execution of wills. This employment is annual, and those who have served it 
 enjoy the privilege of being immediately eligible to the rectory, while other 
 magistrates cannot be elected to that office till two years after the expiration of 
 their former magistracy. In public processions, and in the council, the proveditori 
 follow immediately after the rector and the little council. These are the principal 
 magistrates of the republic, but there are besides a great variety of inferior ones. 
 A company of a hundred soldiers are charged with guarding the palace of the 
 government, and the city gates. 
 
 The territory of the republic comprises about fifty square leagues. It is divided 
 into seven counties, the chiefs of which are appointed from the great council. 
 They retain their office two years, one year, or half a year, according to the im- 
 portance of their governments : they cannot be re-elected till after an interval of 
 two years. They administer the government with a wisdom and oeconomv that 
 can only be compared with the ancient administration of Holland. The two 
 principal towns of the territory after Ragusa are Gravosa and Stagno. Besides the 
 domains on the terra-firma, five small islands in the gulf belong to the republic, 
 the principal of which are Lagosta and Maleda. 
 
 The nobles of Ragusa consist of about forty families, some of whom are very 
 ancient. The flag of the republic is white with a Saint Blaise in the centre; in 
 the great banner is the word Libertas surrounded with a wreath of oak. -Nothing 
 can be more singular than the coup-d'osil presented by. Ragusa from morning 
 till night, except on festival days. Magistrates, secretaries, scribes, clerks, all 
 clothed in long black gowns fastened round them with a girdle; a long band 
 attached to a sort of collar lies upon their breast, and they wear a large wio - , in 
 which is constantly stuck one or more pens : this is done to give themselves the 
 air of being people in the law. - They hold in their hands a sort of cap, in which 
 
456 TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 
 
 they carry a handkerchief and snuff-box. This costume is indispensable, nobody 
 can appear without it; even young nobles not above fifteen or sixteen years of 
 age are thus caparisoned : their faces are sometimes nearly lost amidst the im- 
 mense bush of hair of which the wig is composed. Nothing in short can be more 
 grotesque in the eyes of a stranger than such a costume. The number of persons 
 always appearing in it may amount to between two and three hundred. In so 
 small a town as Ragusa it will be easily imagined how strange an effect this must 
 produce. 
 
 The Turks of Bosnia and of the pashalik of Scutari frequent Ragusa very much, 
 carrying on a considerable trade with it in hides and tallow. These Turks are 
 only put into quarantine to comply with the form, since without it they could 
 not be admitted into the town. They are amenable, in case of disputes, before 
 a consul, or commissary of commercial relations, sent hither everv year by the 
 pasha of Scutari. He lodges without the town in a part of the lazaretto, and 
 gives audience seated upon a bench placed just without the door of his apartments. 
 He has under his orders three or four sbirri, half naked and half perishing with 
 hunger ; they are equally his domestic servants and officers to execute his judiciary 
 commands. His manner of proceeding in his judical capacity is very summary. 
 He hears the contending parties ; if both are of his own nation, he awards them 
 an equal portion of the bastinado ; if the question lie between a Turk and a 
 Christian, he bastinadoes the former, and sends the latter to be judged by his 
 own magistrates. Right or wrong, such and such only is the process. 
 
 The port of Ragusa is very small, and will not admit any thing except boats : 
 but half a league north-west of the town is the fine road of St. Croix, where all 
 the vessels of the republic might anchor. It is a very large basin, and one of the 
 finest ports in Dalmatia. The plain which surrounds it is well watered, and 
 covered with country-houses; in these the principal inhabitants of Ragusa com- 
 monly spend the summer months. The language generally spoken is the Scla- 
 vonian, notwithstanding which the better sort of people speak very good Italian. 
 The greater part of the Ragusans are mariners, and it is well known that the 
 Mediterranean is covered with the vessels of this little town. The government 
 being so analogous to that of Venice, and the citizens in point of industry resem- 
 bling the Dutch very strongly, it has been said of Ragusa that it is a Venice and 
 a Holland in miniature. 
 
 The Ragusans are very modest ; and when accused of being as great rogues as 
 the Jews, and as rapacious as theTurks, they humbly answer, that they are neither 
 
TRAVELS IN THE MOREA. 457 
 
 Turks nor Jews, but poor Ragusans. Their trade had increased exceedingly 
 during the last war between Turkey and France, and the number of their trading 
 vessels according to the most accurate information could not amount to less than 
 two hundred: since that time they have been exceedingly annoyed by the 
 Barbary corsairs. Ragusa pays a tribute to the Grand Signor, to the Emperor, 
 and to the Pope ; to the two first from fear, to the last from love. They are 
 however very trifling, and have nothing degrading in them, except that they are 
 signs of ancient vassalage. 
 
 The time of quarantine being expired, and all the forms exactly complied 
 with, the French officers embarked for Italy, to which they had a very prosper- 
 ous voyage, and soon, to their no small delight, arrived in excellent health at 
 Ancona. They found the standards of their country waving there, and learnt 
 the new glory acquired by their countrymen in the fields of Italy. In returning 
 to France they passed over the theatre of these exploits, rejoicing in the hope 
 that they would pave the way to an event ardently wished for by every rational 
 mind, — a general peace. 
 
 F IN IS. 
 
 3 N 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 N°I. 
 
 Firman of the Capudan- Pasha to the people of Ma'ina, appointing Zanetachi their hey. 
 
 Gazi Hassan-Pasha, by the grace of God vizier and capudan -pasha. 
 
 The most distinguished of the sectaries of Jesus, the most faithful of the most faithful subjects 
 of our very powerful king, may the great God increase your submission and fidelity ! And you 
 captains and primates of Mai'na, may he increase your submission in seeing the present we make 
 you, glorious and powerful Order ! Know that our powerful, mighty, and thundering Porte has 
 chosen and -appointed Zanetachi-Bey chief and commander of all Mai'na : therefore you all, cap- 
 tains and grandees, cherish the proper readiness to serve him, and the submission due to him ; 
 obey all his just and reasonable orders. Command and govern with wisdom and submission, to 
 the end that you may repose and be nourished under the shadow of the golden wings of our 
 powerful majesty, with the privileges that we have granted to the very high and very respectable 
 cadi Coumagios. Whoever among the captains or great shall dare to show themselves rebellious 
 to our orders, and to those of Zanetachi, you, the people, unite yourselves with Zanetachi till we 
 shall arrive with our powerful army, to march against the rebel and punish him. Do thus as we 
 have ordered, and no otherwise. 
 
 Firman addressed to Zanetachi, appointing him hey. , 
 
 Gazi Hassan-Pasha, by the grace of God vizier and capudan-pasha. 
 
 Honourable Zanetachi, with our present glorious and powerful order we make known to you, 
 that we have humbly reported to our very powerful king your respectful and humble services, and 
 your great submission : that you have entered into the number of his subjects ; that you preserve 
 always the same sentiments, and your good resolutions, together with the other inhabitants, as 
 faithful subjects. He has made his firman, changing his anger into compassion ? and his vengeance 
 into clemency ; and has raised you to be bey-boi'ouk, that is to say, commander-in-chief of all 
 Mai'na, of which you are assured by the firman of his most powerful majesty, which will be indis- 
 soluble for all ages. We address it to you ; and, receiving it with respect, take possession of the 
 command and of all authority in Ma'ina ; that is to say, be bey-boi'ouk : offer prayers for the 
 prolongation of the days of our very powerful and very humane king, who has had pity upon your 
 country, and has pardoned all your faults hitherto and for ever. Conduct yourself with wisdom, with 
 prudence and submission, like the other subjects of Mama. Carry on trade with all freedom, 
 and without fear, in all our ports : we take you under our protection, and will assist you in all 
 emergencies. Our arm will never fail to grant you the favours you ask, knowing them to be of 
 
 3 N 2 
 
460 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 utility and advantage. We order at the same time, by our present glorious and brilliant com- 
 mands, to all the chiefs and other inhabitants of Mai'na, as also to all captains, to obey and be 
 submissive to you, because our very powerful king has raised you to be bey-boi'ouk, that is ta say, 
 chief and commander of all Mama, by his respectable firman. Do thus, and no otherwise. 
 
 N°II. 
 
 [For the English versifications of the following pieces of Greek poetry, the Translator is indebted 
 to the elegant pen of the Rev. Francis Wrangham.] 
 
 GREEK RONDO. TRANSLATION. 
 
 Kai Ma.ypiTa.pivixiA.ou. 
 
 2. 
 
 Kauvsif to/,' viou; xai yalpouvTc/A 
 Tov; yepovs xai TpeXivouvTOU. 
 
 3. 
 Ka'avjif xai jxe tov opfavov 
 Tlidvca ii.aya\pi vd trfayui. 
 
 4. 
 
 "LiZti 6ptpa.v\ py trtfctXfirai 
 
 Ki aV 6jj.(>p$ia7; py voidgsrai, 
 
 5 : 
 
 K' ijj.i7; vd Sou ryv pep0[te» 
 Tjjv xcpjv ova fyupoptv. 
 
 .GREEK STANZAS. 
 
 1. 
 
 'Ayamj $lv eraly) twors yjopu; xa'ijxou;. 
 
 Ml oaerava xai-nrafh) xai dvarsvayi^ov; 
 BcaOfjafei, JvjjAspttvsi Stv eivai (3oXsro 
 
 Av oiv avassvdfcw to dydv Sav to Vw. 
 
 1. 
 
 Vviuci^ui oti elfLcu rXiov Sid vd yaftw. 
 'i'iXov roiroV Hv sycu, tov tzovov jxou va. s'ittm 
 &iv Ixri^a vd vycu TOtrov <pa.pfj.dx.spa. 
 1'oii tsujTos td /BfAi] xai touov tpXoyzfd. 
 
 3. 
 
 'E'AEuQspa. wsXaxia fj-yv jj-tt^tb ro xXs?i 
 2t« eoturog ty,v rnxdvyv xai riv smfaXij 
 Zr t Ta vd fiarrxviorn v'a xa\r,Tx".% xxpSixl; 
 'O spuiTx; o ^/jurijj' |U.s Ta.)s siri?aAai$. 
 
 4. 
 H u.sv sva irxXaxt %u;si,' cru\\oy\cu.&sZ 
 2s Z,rj£xix pa^usvo xai oy\ ce xaiixouf . 
 (-JxlyjjvTxc v'aroAauerai xa-XX'.T£fi;v yapd 
 ■E/ttBLgrptu vrdydsnf, xai xaiopai cxXTjpa. 
 
 Treasure of maidens ! girl of gold ! 
 
 Pearl of this beating bosom ! Thee 
 Raptured the youth of Greece behold, 
 
 And age is thrill'd to ecstasy. 
 
 I too, a wretch most melancholy, 
 
 Aye destin'd to despair and dote, 
 In some rash hour of frantic folly 
 
 Shall snatch a knife and cut my throat. 
 
 — " Hush, wretch, nor dare such desperate deed! 
 
 '* Let no coy nymph awake despair : 
 " And from our sly recess we'll lead 
 
 " To soothe thy woes, a kinder fair." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 1. 
 
 Never was love without its woes, 
 Its bitter pangs, its bursting sighs : 
 
 With morn's first blush, with evening's close, 
 Sighs heave my heart, tears fill mine eyes. 
 
 2. 
 I feel, alas! I sink, I die, 
 
 No sympathy my sorrows find ; 
 Ne'er dreamt I shaft of Love could fly, 
 
 And leave such venom'd glow behind. 
 
 3. 
 Oh ! shun his charm'd insidious snare, 
 
 Light birds who free thro' aether rove ! 
 'Tis his the heart to thrill, to tear — 
 
 That vagabond, that traitor Love ! 
 
 4. 
 A happy bird, in life's young hour 
 
 I once nor care nor sorrow knew : 
 I wish'd for more — when Love, stern Power ! 
 
 His flaming mask around me threw. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 46; 
 
 "irui; Sev pA ■sri^euav exe~voi oirS ■wots; 
 Aev exduav dydiir^v, oCr e^accrav ■more;. 
 Ka.ip.ev p.eydXov eyja, ■moiov va. toy elituj ; 
 lis p.' I^av xaxtop.evo rd p,drta -as dya/gw. 
 
 6. 
 
 Aioniov lyJ) SapptudQa.; reva. Sid vd "XP.poh, 
 Kdi rwpa. r) vd Xsyai §a.v[ui£ta y.a'i aVofcu. 
 Maf ajvo^ai crav av$f, Aeiovuj <ratv to xepi, 
 Kaxs); rrjv dppOf)a.v p.u vd jjLdiri Sev p.vo%p7. 
 
 7 ' 
 
 Na xa.ra.Xa.Zui, <pa>£ |U.s, •nrAeov Jsv r)p.toptiJ, 
 
 Yltu; [jJ £%£<? xaxicu^evo Taica roVov xatpbv. 
 Ze^uipifrj dyditrj, epuirixb rasAi, 
 Aev eXm^cc u'ecreva. vd "Suj peragoXrj. 
 
 Ah '. little will they heed my tale, 
 To whom no love nor loss is known : 
 
 I burn — no friends the pang bewail, 
 
 Sprung from her loved eye's angry frown.. 
 
 6. 
 
 Firmly I trusted thou wert mine ; 
 
 How thoughts perplex'd within me roll! 
 Like wax 1 melt, like Mowers decline, 
 
 None knows the sickness of my soul. 
 
 7- 
 Thy long, long anger's cause to trace, 
 
 In vain my anxious musings range: 
 Ne'er this fond heart to tears gave place, 
 
 Sweet bird, that ever thine could change ! 
 
 Xucrere p.dria Sdxpva., xa.) mire mora.(j.ov;. 
 TJoio; a.XXo; el; rov xocrp.ov eyei rbrrou; xa'ip.s; ; 
 'S.mXayy^vlrov p.e otsAI [j,y, xa) piij p.e ropavvyj;. 
 Tbv rsbvov p.u tarpevels, bwbre p.s p.iXei;. 
 
 To 0-ip.a. p.ov %-jXwvei xa.) b vou; p,s ditopei, 
 'H yAcutrtra vd p-iXr^i) rirfoTi; Sev p.iro%ei. 
 tito^ovri rrjv e%vj o-'aurrjv ryv dStxia., 
 'H [Ma xapS)a. vd ya.\pera,i x'y cUxXy vd xTtxioi. 
 
 10. 
 
 $aop.dxi Tfort&e jxs xa) xdu.e $/v%lxb, 
 Kai p.y (poSdcrai Qui; p,s, Sev xap.vei; <povixo. 
 XlAiaif <poo oci; rb elva p.r t v elya. yevvyBuJ, 
 2/njv dSixrj <rs dyaiti] prip ev\yra> pnepoevQui . 
 I i 
 
 11. 
 *"%■>) l«.8 ■mXyyopt.EVY), xapStd p.a raifeivy, 
 Kof^)'rvpavvt<rp.evo, eye vkojxov^. 
 '£lr rbcro rb yvop)gw, ro fcXeituj <pavepd, 
 Jlore %wp\$ ryv Xvitrp Sev ipyera.i %afa. 
 
 GREEK COTSAKIAS. 
 
 Pour then, mine eyes, your torrents pour — 
 Does aught on earth so wretched stray? 
 
 Thy wrath, in mercy, wreak no more ; 
 One soft breath wafts my woes away. 
 
 9- 
 
 My blood, my brain, with anguish burn : 
 No tone my tongue's lost powers combine. 
 
 To view such partial doom I mourn — 
 Thy heart so brisk, so blighted mine ! 
 
 10. 
 Give the drugg'd bowl, in pity give, 
 
 Nor dread lest thou a murd'ress prove ! 
 Ever I wail my lot to live 
 
 Thus struggling with a hopeless love.' 
 
 11. 
 
 Yet, wounded soul ! yet, heart of woe ! 
 
 With patience bear this tyranny : 
 At length the | ainful truth I know — 
 
 The smile ne'er comes without the sigh. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Tov gpotvov xdp,vw ya.pr), 
 Ti;v -£>a Xaavav p,eXd.vt, 
 Ni ypd*l>tv rd ■unrp.drixd. 
 Ki mccXat Sev p.e f'idvii. 
 
 1. 
 
 "Irene Sccf/pet; x; dv pj dpvrflT; 
 Ylojc &evd xir pmtru) 
 Yoloo $a\dxi Hxyevui 
 &\a. vd ere SauprAruj. 
 
 Were you a paper, sky above, 
 - And ocean one vast inky flood; 
 Still insufficient these would prove 
 
 To tell the flame which fires my blood. 
 
 2. 
 Terchance you hope from slighted vows 
 • Your swain the citron's hue will wear: 
 Rut I, your jralous spleen to rouse, ... 
 Will bloom a pink,— no pink so fair. 
 
 K'ii(a.p)o-o"a.xi p.8 u\J/i;Ao 
 XxuiJ/£ vd <re Ac.Avjo'w, 
 Eyw Sio \o~yia. vd ore nw, 
 Ki dire vd ^e^v/y^w . 
 
 Stoop thee, my lofty cypress tree ! 
 
 I v> ish to breathe an amorous sigh : 
 Two words would I address to thee, 
 
 Then lay me down resign'd — and die. 
 
462 
 
 N° III. 
 
 TABLE OF THE TEKR1TORIAI 
 
 NAMES 
 
 of the 
 TOWNS and CANTONS 
 
 where the 
 Commodities are produced. 
 
 Patras 
 
 Vostitza and Calavrita. 
 Corinth 
 
 Nauplia di Romania. 
 Tripolitzaand Laconia. 
 Nauplia di Malvoisie. 
 Mistra 
 
 MaTna from Cape Ma- 
 lapan to Gitries 
 
 Calamatte, Andreossa, 
 Nisi 
 
 Coron 
 
 Modon 
 
 Navarin 
 
 Arcadia 
 
 Gastouni and Pyrgos. 
 
 RAISINS 
 
 OF CORINTH. 
 
 14 ocqnes to 
 the quintal. 
 15 piastres 
 the quintal. 
 
 34,000 
 8,500 
 
 42,500 
 
 OIL. 
 
 48 ocques ti 
 the barrel. 
 20 piastres 
 the barrel. 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 500 
 
 1,200 
 3,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 42,200 
 
 WINE AND 
 
 BRANDY. 
 
 50 ocqueslo 
 
 the barrel. 
 
 3 piastres the 
 
 barrel. 
 
 300 
 10,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 4,0C0 
 
 6,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 32,300 
 
 WHEAT. 
 ■12 ocqnes tc 
 
 the kilo. 
 
 -2J piastres 
 
 the kilo. 
 
 10,000 
 30,000 
 80,000 
 60,000 
 100,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 BARLEY. 
 
 '.2 ocques t( 
 the kilo. 
 
 1^ piastre 
 the kilo. 
 
 8,000 
 
 30,000 
 25,000 
 40,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 442,000 
 
 136,000 
 
 22 ocques to 
 
 the kilo. 
 
 II piastre 
 
 2 kilo. 
 
 9,000 
 3,0C0 
 
 5,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 n;,ooo 
 
 PULSE 
 
 22 ocques to 
 
 the kilo. 
 
 piastres the 
 
 kilo. 
 
 1,500 
 
 6,000 
 6,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 22,500 
 
 CALF.M- 
 B0CI1. 
 12 ocques b 
 the kilo. 
 1^ piastre 
 the kilo. 
 
 30,000 
 20,000 
 
 5,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 75,000 
 
 LINSEED. 
 
 4(0 drachms 
 
 to the ocque 
 
 io paratB 
 
 the ocque. 
 
 4,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 K I! MI- 
 LION. 
 100 .l,.„:!niis 
 |ui'.l 
 
 ^ l'iasireg 
 
 the ocque* 
 
 1,000 
 
 2,000 
 3,000 
 5,000 
 2,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 3,0001 
 
 1,000 1 
 
 1,000 I 
 
 22,0001 
 
 To the above may be added : 
 
 250,000 ocques of salted butter, exported every year to Constantinople and Smyrna. 
 40,000 quintals of dried figs, exported from Calamatte to the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea. 
 A small quantity of seeds of Avignon for dyeing. 
 
463 
 
 RODUCTIONS OF THE MOREA 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 HEESE. 
 
 1 cques to 
 [quintal. 
 Itstres the 
 kintal. 
 
 GUM 
 
 ADRAGANT. 
 
 400 drachms 
 
 to the ocque. 
 
 1 pacats the 
 
 ocque. 
 
 PITCH. 
 14 ocques to 
 the quintal. 
 5 piastres the 
 
 quintal. 
 
 SILK. 
 
 400 drachms 
 
 to the ocque 
 
 various 
 
 prices. 
 
 WOOL. 
 
 44 ocqnes to 
 the quintal. 
 15 piastres 
 
 the quintal. 
 
 COTTON. 
 
 4:00 drachms 
 
 to the ocque. 
 
 1~ piastre 
 
 the ocque. 
 
 MOROCCO 
 LEATHERS 
 and GOAT- 
 SKINS. 
 \\ piastre* 
 
 VALLONY. 
 43 ocques to 
 the quintal. 
 2i piastres 
 the quintal. 
 
 YELLOW 
 WAX. 
 
 400 drachms 
 the ocque. 
 2^ piastres 
 the ocque. 
 
 HARE 
 
 SKINS. 
 
 5 parats 
 
 each. 
 
 TOTAL PRODUCT 
 
 of 
 
 EACH TOWN 
 
 in 
 
 PIASTRES. 
 
 Looo 
 
 B.000 
 
 kooo 
 
 p,000 
 1,500 
 
 3,000 
 1,006 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,000 
 8,000 
 
 1,000 
 1,500 
 2,000 
 3,000 
 1,500 
 
 20,000 
 
 9,000 
 
 8,500 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 696,062 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 50,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 8,000 
 2,500 
 1,000 
 
 
 
 24,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,000 
 1,000 
 
 
 272,000 
 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 2,000 
 5,000 
 3,000 
 
 
 
 1,000 
 300 
 
 
 6,000 
 2,000 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 306 000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,000 
 6,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3,C00 
 
 1,000 
 1,500 
 
 4,000 
 25,000 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,000 
 2,000 
 
 6,000 
 6,000 
 
 557,750 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 
 5,500 
 
 4,006 
 
 3,000 
 
 79,ooo 
 
 12,800 
 
 59,000 
 
 49,000 
 
 16,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 Piastres. 5,706,812 
 
 
 Eigh 
 Eigh 
 Two 
 A co 
 
 :-tenths of 
 t ladings o 
 ladings of 
 nsiderable 
 
 the raisins 
 c wheat foi 
 wool, one 
 quantity o 
 
 of Corinth 
 •Trieste, , 
 : for Marse 
 f timber fc 
 
 Venice, an 
 illes, the ( 
 r the mari 
 
 d Ancona. 
 3th er for L 
 ne might £ 
 
 eghorn. 
 lso be exp 
 
 orted. 
 
 
 - 
 
464 APPENDIX. 
 
 N° IV. 
 
 The following documents relative to the trade of Maina, which came into my hands fifteen 
 years after the time that they are dated, support the facts I have brought forward upon the 
 Subject, and in that point of view it is hoped that they will not be unacceptable to the reader. 
 Thev are dated in the month of April, 1785. 
 
 Documents relative to the Trade and Navigation of Maina. 
 
 Question I. — How many villages are there iu Maina? and what is the population of the 
 country ? 
 
 Answer ly a captain of Maina. — Maina contains seventy villages, comprising seven thousand 
 houses, and ten thousand men grown. The whole population is thirty thousand. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi, formerly bey of Maina. — Maina contains about a hundred villages 
 great and small. The population is about forty thousand. 
 
 Guest. II. — What powers have consuls and vice-consuls at Maina? 
 
 Answer ly the captain. — There are no foreign consuls or vice-consuls at Maina. The consul ge- 
 neral of Venice, who has the greater part of Peloponnesus, sends an agent with full powers to receive 
 the customs under the Venetian flag. Maina is not far from the island of Zante, and the other 
 islands subject to Venice : the flag of the Grand Signor and the Venetian flag are those that carry on 
 the trade of Maina. The same respect is shown to the Venetian agent as to a consul-general. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — There never were any consuls or vice-consuls at Maina. In the 
 year 1776, when 1 went to pay my respects to the very high and mighty capudan-pasha at 
 Rhodes, and sent persons to the court of Constantinople, when Maina was separated from the 
 ' government of the Morea and placed under the orders of the Grand Signor, like the islands of the 
 Levant, the consul-general of Venice in the Morea established, as vice-consul at Maina, a 
 Mainote to whom the utmost respect was shown. 
 
 Quest. III. — What ought these consuls to do to be in safety, and to make themselves, as w-ell 
 as the nations to which they belong, respected ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — The Mai'notti behave towards strangers with kindness and generosity: 
 they are affable and liberal towards them : they are always ready to serve them more for honour 
 than interest, particularly merchants with whom they wish to become partners. I do not say 
 this of all, there are some exceptions. The great families of Maina, who are primates and reside 
 in the ports, are wealthy and enjoy all the conveniences of life, especially the family of Mavro- 
 niathi residing at Porto- Vitilon. The chief of this family is captain Pierre, an excellent man, 
 endowed with the most honourable and noble qualities. Never could one even among the very 
 lowest of the people complain of being wronged by this family. Porto-Vitilon is equally eligible 
 for exportations and importations, being a safe port and in the centre of Maina. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — They ought to live on good terms with the commandant of Maina, 
 to endeavour to gain his friendship. Probity and good faith ought to direct all their actions. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 46: 
 
 Quest. IV.— Are there any foreign merchants established in Maina? how many are there, and 
 of what nations ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — Many foreign merchants come to Mama from different countries, 
 hut merely for a time; they never reside there. At present, since the war of the great kings, 
 a few Greeks from the port of Peloponnesus, nearest to Maina, have settled there; they carry 
 on some trade, but to no great extent, wanting the means to engage in large concerns. The in- 
 habitants of the country also carry on a little trade, each in proportion to the means he possesses. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — There are no foreign merchants established at Maina; they only 
 come thither at the time of the several harvests : when their business is finished, they quit the 
 place. The greatest part of the oil is bought by the Sclavonians for Trieste. The oil is dearer 
 than that of the Morea, on account of its superior quality : the vallony and the galls are bought 
 by many different people : they are commonly freighted on board Venetian vessels. The 
 people of the Morea buy up the silk for Tunis. All other merchandise is bought according to 
 the pleasure of the purchasers. 
 
 Quest. V. — What inhabitants of Mama engage in commerce, buying up the merchandise of 
 their country suited to exportation ? 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — No Mainote engages in such a commerce, for two reasons : in the 
 first place, they have not capital sufficient ; in the second, they are unacquainted with trade. It 
 belongs to the commandant of Maina alone to sell the merchandise of the country. Without his 
 permission no Mainote can sell, and no foreigner buy ; that is to say, oil, silk, and vallony : 
 other merchandise is bought and sold at the pleasure of each individual. 
 
 Quest. VI. — How much is a Mainote paid for dealing in objects of merchandise useful to 
 Maina, and for trafficking in the commodities of the country ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — He is paid according to the laws of commerce, and according to the 
 agreement made by his employers. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — This is a thing never done. It is sufficient that the merchant makes 
 his agreement with the commandant of Maina; he need not be at any other expense. 
 
 Quest. VII. — What steps must a foreign merchant take to secure himself against being. cheated 
 of his profits by the Mainotti, and to obviate running any risk in the money he advances ? 
 
 Ansiuer by the captain. — No merchant who pays his money beforehand, or who accepts bills, 
 •can run any risk, since the house on whom the bill is drawn is answerable for the money. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — We have answered this question above. To place the merchant in 
 security under all circumstances, he has only to transact all his business with the commandant 
 named by the most mighty Ottoman Porte. Acting thus, he will- be safe in every thing. 
 
 Quest. VIII. — What is the. state of justice and of the police in Maina? Are they administered 
 with so much attention that neither the person nor property of a stranger runs any risk ? 
 
 Ansvier by Zanetachi. — Both the administration of justice and of the police depend entirely 
 upon the commandant. Every merchant who trusts to him in his concerns is free from risk. 
 
 Quest. IX. — Can the pasha of the Morea command the execution of his orders in Maina, or. 
 punish aggressors ? 
 
 3 o 
 
466 APPENDIX. 
 
 Answer by the captain. — MaYna depends entirely upon the government of the capudan-pasha, 
 who can do whatever he wills and pleases. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — The pasha of the Morea formerly commanded in Maina. But since 
 the year 1770, when this province was detached from the government of the Morea, and was 
 placed under the naval jurisdiction of the Grand Signor, the pasha of the Morea has no command 
 there. It is entirely under the orders of the capudan-pasha. 
 
 Quest. X. — Can the pasha oblige the captains of the different quarters to watch, over the good 
 conduct of the people ? and can he render the captains responsible for any offences committed 
 bv those who are under their jurisdiction ? 
 
 Annver by Zanetachi. — The commandant of Mania can punish offenders with death; he 
 administers justice according to circumstances. If any one has a complaint to prefer against 
 him, he must have recourse to the authority of the capudan-pasha. 
 
 Quest. XI. — Would a house of commerce be safe, and would it be useful in Maina? What 
 nation would in this case be preferred by the Mainotti ? 
 
 Ansuer by the captain. — A foreign merchant would find it very profitable to establish a house 
 in Maina. The Mainotti would consider him as their benefactor, and would unite in a body to 
 promote his success and secure his property. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — A house of commerce would be in perfect safety, and would be ex- 
 tremely useful; but attention must be paid to the places and provinces of Maina. The country 
 is composed of seven small provinces, each of which lias its respective customs : there is even 
 a difference in the language, though all speak Greek. In the province of Zarnate there is a 
 good port colled Citries, the capital of Maina. It lies directly opposite to Coron ; the distance 
 across the bay being only fourteen miles : from Citries to Petalidi is only sixteen miles ; from 
 thence to the river called Nisi of Andreossa is fourteen miles ; from thence to Calamatte ten 
 miles : Modon is thirty miles from Citries. Mistra is a journey of eight hours from Citries, 
 Andreossa of five, Leondari of eight ; Tripolitza, fourteen ; Caritena, twelve. Such are the 
 towns of the Morea lying nearest to this port. Citries furnishes silk, oil, and all other sorts of 
 merchandise, vallony excepted. The Mainotti of this town keep up an intercourse of trade 
 with the Greeks of the Morea. The port will shelter a considerable number of vessels, and is 
 perfectly safe in all winds. It is certainly the most proper place to establish a house of commerce. 
 
 Quest. XII. — What are the objects of merchandise brought by foreigners to Maina? under 
 what flags do they sail ? what number of vessels of each nation are employed in the trade ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — All the sorts of merchandise are brought to Maina with which other 
 places in the Levant are furnished : the importations are made by Peloponnesians, or any other 
 people of the Levant, according as they find occasion. 
 
 Amwi-r by Zanetachi. — Articles of commerce of various kinds are brought to Maina, princi- 
 pally under the Turkish and Venetian flags : other flags appear there very rarely. 
 
 Quest. XIII. — What is the rate of custom paid by foreign goods imported ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — Three per cent, is paid at the custom-house, equally on exports and 
 imports. Some of the most considerable articles however pass free of duty. Most goods are 
 valued by weight. 
 
APPENDIX. 467 
 
 Answer hy Zanetach'i. — No particular duties have jet been established upon imports and ex- 
 ports : both pay two per cent. 
 
 Quest. XIV. — What are the productions of Maina ? what are the quantities of each annually 
 produced ? 
 
 Answer hy the captain. — The productions of Maina are oil, vallony, silk, honey, wax, gall- 
 nuts, cotton, vermilion. The quantity of each produced depends very much upon the sterility 
 or abundance of the year. These articles produce all together a pretty considerable sum. With 
 monev, good conduct, and experience, a very profitable trade might be established. 
 
 Answer hy Zanetachi. — The productions of Maina in a good year are about thirteen thousand 
 barrels of oil ; sixteen thousand pounds of silk ; of vallony and gall-nuts about fifteen hundred 
 thousand ocques each. The other productions are honey, wax, cotton, vermilion, which are 
 bought by people of all descriptions ; but I am ignorant of the quantity produced of each. 
 
 Quest. XV. — What duty is paid by merchandise exported ? 
 
 Answer hy Zanetachi. — This question is replied to above. 
 
 Quest. XVI. — What articles of merchandise from America and France are desirable for Maina ? 
 
 Answer hy Zanetachi. — Hitherto no merchandise has been brought directly from America or 
 Fiance to Maina. The house of commerce, when established, would see what articles might be 
 likely to have the preference, as each species is appreciated according to the place and circum- 
 stances : they are regulated principally by the towns of the Morea nearest to Maina. 
 
 Quest. XVII. — What would be the best means of procuring things directly from France, and 
 so avoiding the expense of their passing through a third hand ? what place in the Morea would 
 be most within the reach of Maina for this purpose ? 
 
 Answer ly the captain. — There are no other means but the speculations of the merchant. 
 
 Answer hy Zanetachi. — This, as we have said above, must depend upon the abilities of the 
 merchants, and the practices usual among them. The most proper place under every point of 
 view would be Citries. 
 
 Quest. XVIII. — Do the French import oil from Maina? and how many vessels are freighted 
 with it in a year ? 
 
 Answer hy the captain. — :The French take a small quantity of oil, but they are generally 
 forestalled by other nations. 
 
 Answer hy Zanetachi. — The French sometimes take oil from Maina, though very rarelv, be- 
 cause they are forestalled by the Sclavonians, who buy up, as much as possible, all the oil. 
 
 Quest. XIX. — How many ports are there in Maina ? are they safe for vessels ? what are 
 the largest vessels they will admit ? 
 
 Answer ly the captain. — The ports of Maina are Citries, Porto Vitilon, Vathi, Marathonisi, 
 and Trinisa ; they are all excellent, particularly Porto Vitilon. 
 
 Answer hy Zanetacld. — There are five principal ports in Maina : Citries, at Cape Calamatte ; 
 Porto Vitilon, about the middle of the coast ; Porto Caillo, opposite the island of Cerigo, and 
 near Cape Matapan; Vathi, on the coast of Pagania; and Trinisa. All these ports are capacious, 
 and might receive vessels of every description from the smallest even to those with three decks. 
 
 3o2 
 
468 APPENDIX. 
 
 At Porto Vitilon there is no good water, nor can wood be procured. Water may be procured 
 at Porto Caillo, but in a very small quantity. Citries is thirty miles distant from Vitilon, and 
 Vitilon twenty-five from Porto Caillo : the remaining ports are about the same distance from 
 each other. 
 
 Quest. XX. — What would be the expenses incurred for transporting merchandise from the ware- 
 houses on board vessels ? 
 
 ■Answer by Zanetachi. — The merchants must make an agreement for the price with the people 
 employed in their service. 
 
 Quest. XXI. — Do any of the MaVnotti still retain the custom of wearing iron caps ? You are 
 desired to mention all the ancient customs among the men, the women, and the priests, as to morals 
 and religion. 
 
 Answer by the captain. — In certain parts of the country many ancient customs are preserved, 
 but not universally ; there exist still some who receive an ancient Lacedaemonian education : they 
 are men of great strength and courage. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — Some of the MaVnotti, in the neighbourhood of Cape Grosso, wear 
 iron caps. They are the only people who preserve any thing of the ancient manners. They pro- 
 fess, like all the MaVnotti, the religion of Jesus Christ, according to the Greek rite ; they respect 
 its dogmas, and are so much attached to it, that they would willingly sacrifice their lives in its de- 
 fence. 
 
 Guest. XXII. — What ancient monuments are to be found in Mai'na, either above or under 
 ground ? 
 
 Answer by the captain. — Great numbers of remains of monuments, castles, tombs, and ancient 
 temples are to be found from St. Sion to the confines of Calamatte, to Cape Matapan, and to the 
 river Eleos : scarcely can five miles of ground be gone over without meeting with some. All people 
 of learning and judgement agree in supposing these monuments to have been erected with the trea- 
 sures of kings. On the marbles are to be found many inscriptions and sculptures which we do not 
 understand : there are also a number of very deep caverns, many of which have been examined even 
 to their very furthest extremities. It is the country of all the universe where the greatest number 
 of antiquities are to be found. The air of Mai'na, in the northern parts, is very salubrious, and the 
 inhabitants enjoy almost unvarying good health ; the parts towards the south are less healthy, and 
 the inhabitants not equally robust. 
 
 Answer by Zanetachi. — There are many ancient monuments in Ma v na, both above and under 
 ground. To give a description of them they must be accurately examined : I cannot therefore 
 reply to this article. 
 
 New questions put to Zanetachi. 
 
 1 . What are the parts of Mai'na where the air is wholesome, and those where it is unwhole- 
 some ? 
 
 2. Does Mai'na, in, which is a population of forty thousand souls, furnish from her own terri- 
 tory a sufficiency of corn, cattle, and wine for her consumption ? Whence does she import those 
 articles in which she herself fails either totally or partially ? 
 
APPENDIX. 469 
 
 3. How much Gallo- American coffee and sugar is consumed annually in Mai'na ? and from what 
 parts are they received ? 
 
 4. If a French house should he established in Mama, and these articles should he sold cheaper, 
 would it occasion a great increase in the consumption ? 
 
 5 . What sort of stuffs do the common people, as well as those in easy circumstances, use for 
 their clothing ? What among them are manufactured in Ma'i'na ? What quantity are imported 
 from abroad, and from what country do they come ? 
 
 6. What number of musquets, pistols, sabres, daggers, powder and shot, may be sold annually 
 in Mama ? and what nation furnishes these articles ? 
 
 7. What is the weight of a barrel of oil ? and what are the quantities of this article, of vermi- 
 lion, of cotton, of wax, and of honey, that are, upon an average, produced annually ? As there 
 are very large flocks of sheep in Mai'na, what quantity of wool do they yield ? 
 
 8. The question put before upon the character of the Ma'inotti, and the manner in which they 
 behave towards foreigners, was not duly answered. 
 
 9. What advantages would a merchant derive who should employ his money in forestalling and 
 monopolizing the productions of the country ? 
 
 10. Is there in Mai'na timber proper for ship-building ? and are there workmen capable of con- 
 structing vessels fitted to navigate the high-seas ? Could the Ma'inotti carry on trade with such 
 vessels ? 
 
 11. It is but too well known that the Ma'inotti are addicted to piracy : what vessels do they 
 employ for this practice ? and what means can be pursued for putting a stop to it ? Had the 
 former bey any galley or felucca intended for this service, or has the present bey any ? 
 
 12. By what order was the Venetian vice-consul acknowledged at Mai'na? had he the ex- 
 equatur of the Grand Signor ? A consul, or vice-consul, with a brevet from his own sovereign, 
 and the exceqzialur, would doubtless be much more respected ? Decorum requiring that he should 
 have two janissaries, how much would they cost ? Obliged to have a drogman, what languages 
 would it be necessary for him to speak ? 
 
 13. What are the articles brought to Ma'ina under the Venetian flag ? 
 
 14. What are the articles imported into Mai'na under the Grand Signor's flag ? 
 
 15. What are the articles exported under the Grand Signor's flag ? 
 
 16. What nations make use of that flag ? 
 
 17. Are the connections of the Ma'inotti with the Venetians indissoluble from their antiquity ? 
 
 18. What conduct should the managers of a new establishment pursue to avoid rivalship with 
 the Venetians ? and with what nation would it best suit the Ma'inotti to form new connections ? 
 
 Letter of Zanetachi in answer to the above questions. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Having read the new questions you transmitted me, many times over with the most serious at- 
 tention, it appears to me that all the knowledge and abilities of a merchant, who had for a long 
 time studied the commerce of Mai'na with attention, would be necessary, in order to answer them 
 with any precision. As my great desire is to follow the truth scrupulously and inviolably, I will not 
 
4?() APPENDIX. 
 
 commit myself by any answers given only at a venture. I can assure you, in the first place, that 
 the character of the MaVnotti is that of all people who are not properly enlightened upon subjects of 
 commerce. The inclination to piracy with which they are reproached is* not innate in them. De- 
 prived of the aits and conveniences of life ; interest, or often urgent necessity, leads them to seek 
 illicit means of compensating the want of conveniences, of wealth, or even of necessaries. A Ma- 
 inote, who has wherewithal to satisfy his wants, never seeks fortune by illicit means. 
 
 It is the character of the people of Main a to receive with great kindness foreigners a connec- 
 tion with whom may he in any way beneficial to them : such is the origin of the friendship which 
 has so long subsisted between them and the Venetians, while the latter are glad to cultivate this 
 friendship. Venetian vessels of war occasionally visit the ports of Mama : they have been even 
 visited by the high admiral of the republic. The MaVnotti who have gone on board these vessels 
 have always been well received : the primates, besides the usual courtesies, have often received 
 trifling presents ; which, though of little value in themselves, were gratefully received as tokens 
 of good-will. The Venetian flag, the only one among Christian nations which frequents the ports 
 of Ma'.'na, ought, for the very reason that it is the only one, to be well received. The idea of rival- 
 ship with the Venetians is by no means an invincible obstacle to forming new connections. The 
 Mi note, finding greater advantages in a direct trade with France, would soon become a convert 
 to it : the frankness and gaiety of the French would easily win the hearts of the MaVnotti. They 
 would, however, regulate their conduct solely by the example and orders of their commanders ; and 
 the latter know no other guide for regulating theirs than the will of the bey. Most undoubtedly, 
 if a vice-consul named by the Venetian consul-general in Peloponnesus is held in great respect 
 and consideration at MaVna, an officer regularly accredited by his sovereign, and supported by the 
 Grand Signor's firman, would be much more respected. 
 
 ' The marked politeness with which you have honoured me, sir, has made a deep impression upon 
 my mind. Possessing no language except that which is natural to me, the Greek, I have to regret 
 very deeply that I cannot express my gratitude to you immediately. These sentiments have always 
 rendered me emulous of the honour of being in some way useful to you. The zeal which you evince 
 for the general good offers me an opportunity so much desired. To this happiness is joined the 
 true pleasure I have in replying to your questions. 
 
 You have inspired me, sir, with the most entire confidence ; and I have, therefore, determined 
 to open my heart to you without reserve. My family, I do not state this from vanity, has always 
 been invested with some of the highest dignities of its country ; especially in the time of general 
 Morosini, who honoured John Coutoufari, one of my relations, with the order of knighthood, as may 
 be seen in referring to the pages of history. We were in possession of the lordship of three villages 
 in the district of Calamatte, and we had several mills in Mai'na. A very small part of this property 
 remains in my possession since the change in the government of Mama. The two firmans of the 
 capudan-pasha, which accompanied me, and that of the Grand Signer, which I take the liberty 
 to remit to you, will show the dignity to which I was raised in my country, after having served it 
 as a captain eleven years. But I had not enjoyed the post of bey more than two years when I was 
 under the necessity of quitting Mai'na and retiring to Zante. I was not guilty of any action which 
 merited my sovereign's resentment ; but I dreaded the capudan-pasha, who too readily believed 
 
APPENDIX. 47 L 
 
 the calumnies reported of me by his drogman. This latter had become my implacable enemy 
 from envy, and because he wanted to make me bend to his lofty ideas and unreasonable 
 wishes *. 
 
 I earnestly desire to return to my country ; and I must confess that I desire still more earnestly 
 to owe my return and re-establishment in my former honours to the powerful protection of your 
 court. To you, sir, I submit my hopes. Should a house of commerce be established in Maina, 
 I engage to protect its interests at the hazard of my life, as a testimony of my gratitude, and my 
 zeal to serve the French nation. My happiness would be complete, if the officer to be established 
 at Maina should be your excellent son. The noble sentiments, and amiable qualities of the heart 
 and mind, which I have observed in this young man, give him the strongest claims to my esteem 
 and regard. Perfect master of the Greek language, it would be an infinite satisfaction to me to 
 be able to transact business with him personally, without the intervention of a drogman ; a method 
 which, though often necessary, is always tedious, and not always safe. I should be most happy, 
 in concert with your son, to exert all my efforts to promote the interests of France. With renewed 
 expressions of gratitude, and with all due respect, 
 
 I am, sir, 
 Your very sincere and faithful friend, 
 
 Zanet-bey Coutoufari. 
 
 Zantc, 
 
 April 6, 1785. 
 
 * Some account of the transactions here referred to will be found at page 104. — Translator. 
 
• 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 % 
 
 BDVL-HAMED, aga of the Seven Towers, 
 a venerable old man, 252. — His visits to the 
 French prisoners, 2/2. 
 
 Abdul- Hamet, sultau, predecessor of Selim the 
 Third, the empire dismembered under him, 281, 
 and note. 
 
 Acarnania, now called Carlelia, description of the 
 country, 399. — Many places of importance there 
 under the Lower Empire, 400. — Manners and 
 customs of the inhabitants, ibid. — The country 
 abounds with lakes, 408. 
 
 Ackelous river, now called Aspro-Potamos. 400. 
 — Called by Homer the king of rivers, ibid. — 
 Its mouths, ibid. — Allegory of Hercules subdu- 
 ing the monster Acheloiis, ibid. 
 
 Acheron river issues from the lake Acherusia, and 
 is lost in the Cavern of Avernus, 371. 
 
 Acherusia, lake of, its situation and extent, 3/0. — 
 A causeway over the northern part of it, ibid. — 
 Island in the lake, and phenomena to which it 
 is subject, ibid. — Nature of its waters, 407. 
 
 Achmet-paska appointed to the pashalik of the 
 Morea, 29. — His arrival at Tripolitza, 3/. — 
 Ceremonies observed on his entering the town, 
 38. — His kindness to the author and the other 
 French prisoners, 40.— His kind treatment of 
 Messieurs Beauvais and Girard at Lepanto, 245. 
 
 Acrocerauninn mountains, now the mountains of 
 Chimera, 379. — Character of their present inha- 
 bitants, 3S8. — Nature of these mountains, 408. 
 
 Acrocorinlh, the citadel of Corinth, account of it, 
 78. — Magnificent view from it, ibid. 
 
 Adrianople, a town in Thrace, and one of the 
 principal places in the Turkish Empire, 429. — 
 Stands upon the Hebrus or Mantza, ibid. — 
 Beauty of its situation, ibid. 
 
 jEtolia, now called Xeromeros, a province of Al- 
 bania, 400. 
 
 Agio. Paraskevi, a town in Albania, 394. — Defence 
 of it by a caloyer against Ali-pcisba, ibid. — Sub- 
 sequent treachery of the caloyer, ibid. 
 
 Agio Saranta, a port in Albania, 366 and 389. 
 
 Aglacamlos, a village of Argolis, 2' 8. — Stands 
 where stood the ancient Cenchrea, 219. 
 
 A'iasma, or public fountains, 3 8. 
 
 Aire, or threshing-floor, a remarkable one seen by 
 the author, 115, and note. 
 
 Alalcomene, fountain of, mentioned by Pansanias 
 as Tripygi, 43. 
 
 Albania, a country hitherto little known, 342. — 
 The richest province of ancient Epirns in good 
 soldiers and territorial productions, 401. — De- 
 scription of Western Albania, 3S<j. — Of the 
 eastern part upon the coast, 38C). — Of the southern 
 part, 395. — The climate and course of the 
 seasons, 406. — Its waters, 40/. — Lakes dried 
 up, 448. — Caverns, 450. — Its trade, 410. — 
 Diseases incidental to the countty, 40S. — State 
 of medicine and surgery, 4fX) 
 
 Albanians, or Amauts, anciently Epirots, character 
 of these soldiers, 359. — They call themselves 
 descendants of the French, 360. — Character of 
 the officers, ibid. — Their ancient songs, 35g, 
 and note. — Excesses committed by them in the 
 Morea, 32. — Some Albanians in the service of 
 most of the pashas, and their best troops, 381. 
 — Modes of living, diet, manners and customs 
 of the Albanians, 402. — Their extreme love of 
 their country, 405. — A very tall and robust race, 
 403 . — ■-Frankness and openness of thei 1 character, 
 404. — The women also very robust and hardy, 
 ibid. 
 
 Alcade at Porto-Conte in Sardinia, curious account 
 of him, 339. 
 
 Alcimedon, the plain of, 44. 
 
 Alesius, mount, a statue with a Greek inscription 
 found at its foot, 43. 
 
 Ali, pasha of Albania, his character, 360. — Fond 
 of calling himself the modern Pyrrhus, 36l . — 
 Particulars concerning his sons, 362. — Governs 
 bv the double engines of terror and confidence, 
 369. — Wins the hearts of the Greeks by favour- 
 ing their religion, 375. — Manner in which be 
 acquired his power, 379. — Resistance he has 
 met with from several tribes, ibid. — Extent of 
 his pashalik, ibid. — His revenues and troops, 381 . 
 His treacherous conduct to General Hose, 35 1 . — 
 H is massacre of the garrison and inhabitants of 
 Prevesa, 353. — Journey to the northern part of 
 his dominions, accompanied by Mons. Bessieres, 
 376. — His anger at the escape of the Frencb 
 officers, 416. 
 
 Aloni Stent, a mountain in the Morea, formerly 
 called Ostracina, 44. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 473 
 
 Alpheus river, mouths of it seen along (he coast. 
 S. — Rises in the plain of Tegea, 23 — Passes 
 near Olympia, 64. — Fable of its origin, 6'y. — 
 Marshes about its n:onths, 1/4. 
 
 Aids, the sacred grove at Olympia consecrated to 
 Diana, 67- — Chosen by Xenopiion as his retreat 
 from public life, 68. — He wrote his immortal 
 work there, ibid. — Full of precious relics of an- 
 tiquity, ibid. 
 
 Amlracia, gulf of, now the gulf of Arta, 396. 
 
 Ampheus, an ancient town in the Morea, now 
 called Chastemi, 20. 
 
 Amyclea, a town of Laconia, now called Sklavo- 
 Chori, 92. 
 
 Anactorium, a town of Epirus, now called Vonitza, 
 
 397. 
 
 Anaiolico, a town of ./Etolia upon the isles of the 
 Eschinades, 400. 
 
 Anaziri, a town of the Morea, perhaps the ancient 
 Andania, 17. 
 
 Anckises, a lake in Epirus, now called Pelodi, 357- 
 
 Andreossa, a town of the Morea, its situation, 17- 
 — Outrageous behaviour of the inhabitants to the 
 French prisoners, 15. — Character of the inhabi- 
 tants, 18. 
 
 Andrihena, a small town in Arcadia, beauty of the 
 country round it, 61. 
 
 Antirrhion, a cape in Epirus, opposite to Rhion in 
 the Morea, 52. 
 
 Antivari, a town in Ulyria, its situation and trade, 
 451. 
 
 Apolh Epicurius, ruins of the temple of, 61 and 
 note : and 62. 
 
 Apollonia in Epirus, ruins of, 387. 
 
 Apsaria, a river of Messenia, in the canton of 
 Calamatte, 14. «" 
 
 Arcadia, gulf of, anciently called the gulf of Cy- 
 parissa, 35. 
 
 Arcadia, province of, its beauty, and the present 
 state of its inhabitants, 56. 
 
 Arcadia, town of, in the Morea, built on the ruins 
 of the ancient Cyparissa, 6. — Very opulent, and 
 the chief place of a canton, 61. 
 
 Arcadius, column of, in the Grand Signor's seraglio, 
 329. 
 
 Arethon, or Arta, a river in Southern Albania, 395. 
 
 Argos, gulf of, now that of Nauplia, 35. 
 
 Argos, the ancient town of, almost entirely destroy- 
 ed, 223. — Description of the modern town and its 
 government, ibid. — Drying up of the valley, 447. 
 
 Argyro-Castron, a town in Albania, its situation, 
 
 377 
 Aristomenes, the scene of his exploits, 15. 
 Armyros, a town of Mai'na, 108. 
 Ami, a village on Mount Artemisius, 43. 
 Aro'e, an ancient town of Peloponnesus, particularly 
 
 mentioned by Pausanias, now called Patras, SO. 
 
 Arta, a town of Albania, its situation, 395. — Sub- 
 ject ' to epidemic fevers, 396. — Productions of 
 the neighbourhood, ibid. — Gives name to the 
 gulf anciently called Ambracia, ibid. — Descrip- 
 tion of this gulf and its trade, 398. 
 
 Artemisius, a mountain in Peloponnesus, 42. 
 
 Asi, an ancient town of Arcadia, ruins of it, 11 6. 
 
 Asia, castle of, on the Dardanelles, visited by the 
 capidgi-bachi, 238. 
 
 Aspro Potamos, a river in Albania, the ancient 
 Acheloiis, 400. 
 
 Ass on which Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, be- 
 lief of the Turks with regard to it, 272. 
 
 Athens, Temple of Minerva there seen from Cape 
 Sunium, 235. — Gulf of Athens, now called the 
 gulf of Enghia, ibid. 
 
 Atltos, Mount, or the Holy Mountain, 141. — The 
 Greek convents there, ibid. — Scenes of great 
 intrigue and cabal, 142. 
 
 Atrides, tomb of them at Mycene, 224. 
 
 Avarin, the name given by the Turks to Navarin, 3, 
 
 Avernus, the cavern of, 371. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bala, Cape, in Asia-Minor, the ancient promontory 
 of Lectum, 237- 
 
 Bagnio at Constantinople, a place of confinement 
 tor criminals, 265. — The French garrison of 
 Zante sent thither, ibid. — Its situation, 267. — 
 Picture of the interior, ibid. — Employments of 
 the prisoners, 268. — Melancholy fate of a young 
 Greek confined there, ibid. 
 
 Balliada, a town of Peloponnesus, the ancient 
 Coronea, 13. 
 
 Baloucli, near Constantinople, a fountain there 
 with half fried fish in it, 263, note.. 
 
 Bona, a town in Romelia, 432. 
 
 Barath, the chief town of a canton in Albania, 277. 
 
 Baraltaire, explanation ofthe term, 51, note. 
 
 Bazar of female slaves at Constantinople, 279. 
 
 Bazardgik, formerly called Bessapara, a town in 
 Romelia, 432. 
 
 Beuuchamp, Monsieur, a celebrated French astro- 
 nomer and geographer, his illness at Fanaraki, 
 316. — Some account of him and his scientific 
 labours, 318. 
 
 Bechiktasch, a villa of the Grand Signor near Con- 
 stantinople, 307- 
 
 Bees, great numbers in the valley of Andritsena, 
 61, — Some at work in the window of a convent 
 at Chalki, 322. — Great numbers in the valley of 
 the Illyrian Scutari, 440. 
 
 Belemina, a town of ancient Greece, its situation, 
 23. 
 
 Belgrade, near Constantinople, the forests and aque« 
 ducts of, 310. 
 
 Belouck- lachlt, their office, 1 1 , 
 
 3 P 
 
474 INDEX. 
 
 Belvedere, or Kaloskopi, a district of tlie Morea so 
 
 called, 6. 
 Bengaze, a town on the gulf of Sydra, 4, note. 
 i?e/-£u/t',atown of Thrace, now called Bouigas 428. 
 Bessapara, a town in Romelia, now called Ba- 
 
 zardgik, 432. 
 Bexestein, at Constantinople, description of it, 279. 
 Black Sea, the shores of it very melancholy and dis- 
 agreeable, 320. 
 Boclier, Monsieur, a French architect, supposed to 
 
 have been murdered in the Morea, 60, and note. 
 Bo'ioukdeyre, a fine spot near Constantinople, 308. 
 
 — Remarkable clump of planes there, 309. 
 Bonila, a hamlet near the town of Janina, 371. — 
 
 Inhabited by Bulgarians, 372. — Seraglio and 
 
 gardens of Ali-pasha, ibid. — School of artillery 
 
 there, ibid. 
 Boreas, a mountain of Arcadia, now called Chelmos, 
 
 23. — Southern boundary of the plain of Man- 
 tinea, 41. 
 Bourgos, a town of Thrace, formerly called Ber- 
 
 gulc, 428. 
 Bournous orFournous, the ancient Phthionte, 218. 
 Bourrous or Pyrrhus, a name by which Ali-pasha 
 
 loves to call himself, 36 1. 
 Bora, a liquor made in the Morea from barley, 
 
 185. 
 Bread, different sorts made in the Morea, 1 84. 
 Broko valas, songs of the Albanian soldiers, 384. 
 Bulgaria, a province of the Ottoman empire, 430. 
 
 — Description of the inhabitants, 431. — Great 
 
 lovers of music and dancing, ibid. 
 Burtudisus, a town of Bulgaria, now called Eski- 
 
 baba, 428. 
 Buthrotum, a town in Albania, now called Bu- 
 
 trinto, 357. — Celebrated by Virgil, ibid. 
 Butrinto, a town in Albania, the ancient Buthrotum, 
 
 arrival of the French officers there, 350. — Its 
 
 situation, 358. — The seat of a bishopric, ibid. 
 
 —Its inhabitants and trade, ibid. 
 
 Cacovouniotes, or Cacovougnis, a savage tribe of 
 
 Moreans, 112 — Account ot the country and of 
 
 the towns and villages, ibid. — Delighted at rough 
 
 and stormy weather, 175. 
 Cadh, their concise mode of administering justice, 
 
 170. 
 Calav.alie, a town in the lnorea, 14. — Gulf of, 
 
 formerly the bay of Messenia, ibid. 
 Calamea, an ancient town of the Morea, probably 
 
 Cahmatte, 14. 
 Calavrita, a town of Sicyonia, 48. — Environs 
 
 of the town very pleasant, ibid. — House hum 
 
 thence to Patras, 50. 
 Cahialros or Italian quacks in the Morea, account 
 
 jOfUieni, JQ4. 
 
 Calydon, the ruins of this town, 401 . 
 
 Calydonian boar, paintings of the hunting of it in 
 the temple of Minerva Alea, 1 17. 
 
 Capidgi buchi, one sent to Tripolitza, 214. — His 
 revellings, 215. — His departure fiom Nauplia, 
 23 1 . — Visits the castle of Asia on the Dardanelles, 
 237. 
 
 Cjpr\ficalion of the fig-trees, how performed, 202. 
 
 Caragueuse, a sort of Turkish Punchinel'o, 290. 
 
 Carutcli, a tax upon strangers in the Turkish Em- 
 pire, 118. 
 
 Carlury, Count, ungrateful conduct of the Cepha- 
 lonians to him, 399, and note. 
 
 Caiitena, a town in the Morea, the ancient Gorthys, 
 60. — The river of Caritena, the ancient Gorth'y- 
 nius, ibid. — Air of Caritena very tine, 6l.— 
 Story related by the people of a stranger murdered 
 some years ago near the town, 60, and note. 
 
 Carp, enormous ones caught in the lakes of Stym- 
 phaius and Orchomenos, 183 and 205. — and in 
 the lakesof Ponte- Piccolo and PonteGrande,428. 
 
 Carvalhi, a village of Laconia, 85. 
 
 Carratki, river of, the water remarkably hard, 18). 
 
 Carvalhia, a village near the forest of Nemea, 76. 
 
 Cascade, a remarkable one in the cavern of Cory- 
 cius, near Delphos, 446. 
 
 Cassan, bey of Nauplia, the French prisoners pre- 
 sented to him, 225. 
 
 Cassiopean mountains in Albania, 367 and 371. 
 
 Castngna, a village in Maina, so called from the 
 number of chesnut-trees, 109. 
 
 Caslel Tornese, a port in the Morea, called by the 
 Turks Clemoutzi, 71. 
 
 Castri, gulf of, in the Morea, formerly called 
 Hermione, 35. 
 
 Castri, the ancient Hermione, a town in Argolis, 
 230 and 232. 
 
 Catiaro, the mouths of, formerly called the bay of 
 Rhizonica,452. 
 
 Cuve of blood, a dungeon in the castle of the Seven 
 Towers so called, 254. 
 
 Caverns, remaikable ones about Cape Tenarus, 
 449. — Ancient and modern superstitions with 
 regard to them, ibid. 
 
 Cenchrca, a town in Argolis, where now stands 
 Aglacambos, 2 1 9. 
 
 Ceos, the ancient Zea, an island in the Archipelago, 
 235. 
 
 Ceres, her statues replaced by the Holy Virgin, 20. 
 
 Cerigo, island of, formerly Cythera. 422 — a wild 
 and rugged country, ibid. Commercial relations 
 between that island and Ma'i'na, 99. 
 
 Chaslemi, perhaps the Ampbeus of the ancients, 
 20. 
 
 Cheeset, those of Achaia and Sicyonia much esteem- 
 ed by the ancients, 48. 
 
 Ci'dmos, Mount, anciently Mount Borea^ 23. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 475 
 
 Chclanita, a gulF in Peloponnesus, now the gulf of 
 
 Tovnese, 5. 
 Chiarenza, the gulf o£ in the Morea, formerly 
 
 the gulf of Cyllene, -35*. 
 Chiarenza, the town of, formerly Cyllene, the 
 
 country of Mercury, J2, and note. 
 Chimarioles , a warlike people inhabiting the moun- 
 tains of Chimera, 388 — Productions of their 
 
 country, ibid. 
 Chronion, or Time, an amusement of the Greeks 
 
 which they call burning his beard, 152. 
 Cilriis, or Ky tries, a town of Ma'ina, the residence 
 
 of the bey, 108. — Its importance as a port, 
 
 Appendix, 466. 
 C'eanes, a town of Argolis, now called Klegna, 76. 
 Clemoulzi, the Turkish name for Castel Tornese, 
 
 71- i 
 
 Clitor, an ancient town of Arcadia, now the village 
 of Gardichi, 48. 
 
 Cocytus, a river of Epirus, its cascades somewhat 
 resembling Vaucluse, 3/0. — Nature of its waters, 
 407. 
 
 Codjaliachis, civil magistrates in Turkey, their 
 extortions, 120. 
 
 Cold, the travellers very much affected by it on 
 Mount Prisrendi, 436. 
 
 Colyva, a favourite dish in Greece, of what com- 
 posed, 155. 
 
 Concert, one performed by the Turks at Tripolitza, 
 27, and note. 
 
 Conello, a cape in the Morea, 6. 
 
 Constantine, arch of, in the castle of the Seven 
 Towers, 253. 
 
 Constantine, a Greek of Tripolitza, the author and 
 others confined in his house, 29. — Very much 
 given to imposition, ibid, and 30. — His fears on 
 the new pasha's arrival, 39. — Anecdote respect- 
 ing his going to confession, 147. — He aspires to 
 be a codja-bachi, 211. 
 
 Constantinople, impression made at first sight of 
 that city, 240. — Beauty of its situation, 276. — 
 Course of the seasons there, 277- — The streets 
 narrow, and choked with dust, 278. — The be- 
 zesteins or markets, ibid. — Bazar of female 
 slaves, 279. — Mosque of Santa Sophia, 280. — 
 Other mosques, 281. — Variety of costumes, 287. 
 — Different trades, by what nations carried on, 
 288. — The yamakis or dancers, 290. — The pri- 
 vileged drunkards, 291. — Executions in tfiej 
 night, 292. — Variety of fruits, game, &c. 2g6 
 — The dervises that frequent the coffee houses, 
 297. — Thetberiakis, or takers of opium, ibid. — 
 I ires, 293. — Mode of spending the day among 
 the great, 2Q4. — Manner in which the tables 
 are served, ibid. • ■ . .. 
 
 Corinth^ gulf of, now called the gulf of Jtepanto, 
 35. rue iM - I 
 
 Corinth, isthmus of, now called by the Greeks 
 Hexamilli, 78. 
 
 Corinth, town of, its present state, 7&-—The re- 
 volutions it has undergone, 77. — The few re- 
 mains of antiquity still to be seen, ibid. 
 
 Coron, the gulf of, anciently called the gulf of 
 Messenia, 35. 
 
 Coron, anciently called Colonides, a port in the 
 Morea, 13. — A principal residence of foreign 
 merchants trading to the Morea, 207- 8 
 
 Coronea, a town in the Morea, now called Balliada, 
 13. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate, account of a Turk who had 
 accustomed himself to take it in large quantities, 
 298. 
 
 Corycius, the cavern of, near Delphos, remarkable 
 cascade there, 446. 
 
 Cotsakias of the Greeks described, 139. — Specimens 
 of them, Appendix, 463. 
 
 Coutoufari, a town of Mama, its situation and 
 trade, 110. 
 
 Coutoufari, Zanet or Zanetachi of, appointed bey 
 of Maina, 104. — His tragical end,ibid. — Answers 
 made by him to many questions relative to Ma'ina, 
 Appendix, 464. — Letter from him, Appendix, 
 469. 
 
 Crawfish, a very large sort in the river Pamissus or 
 Pirnazza, 14, note. 
 
 Cro'ia, formerly the capital of Albania, now a 
 desolated village, 388. 
 
 Cyllene, a gulf in the Morea, formerly the gulf of 
 Chiarenza, 35. 
 
 Cyparissa, galf of, now called the gulf of Arcadia,35. 
 
 Cyparissa, an ancient town of the Morea, now 
 called Arcadia, 6. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dances, various ones of the Morea described, 136. 
 
 Dardanelles, the prisoners fired upon by the forts- 
 at the month of these Straits, 237. 
 
 Darnel, a sort of grass used by the Moreans in 
 making boza, 185, and note. 
 
 Davia, a village in the Morea, the ancient Phygalis, 
 61. 
 
 Defter-kiaya at Tripolitza, his illness and death, 
 212. 
 
 Delis, or cavaliers to the pasha of the Morea, de- 
 scription of them, 28. — The author much caress- 
 ed by them, 40. — Their conflicts with the Mai', 
 notti, 106. — Their expedition against the robbers 
 of Mount Pholoe, 159. — Their answer when re- 
 proached with murdering innocent people, 161, 
 and note. — They come to take leave of the 
 author, 214. 
 
 Delvinachi, a small town in Albania, 364. — Pro- 
 bably the ancient Omphalon, 365. 
 
 Delvmo, a tt.wn in Albania, its situation, 3(53. — 
 Wars of Ali- pasha of Janina against it,. 384. 
 
 3P 2 
 
L 
 476 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Deluges, the fabulous ones of antiquity never men- 
 tioned by any writers before Ovid, 4-15. 
 
 Demattn, the ancient TrcEzene, 171 Pl*tl.23Q, 
 
 Dervendgi-pasha or provosi of the highways, 17'. 
 His progress through the Morea, ibid. — An office 
 that might become formidable to the governiug 
 powers, I73. 
 
 Desert, a long tract of, between Bulgaria and 
 Ulyria, 438. 
 
 Devil, the, his name never pronounced by the 
 Greeks, 131. 
 
 Dgellah, or executioner, the pasha of Ttipolitzn's 
 right hand, 26. 
 
 Dgerid, exercise of, performed in the presence of 
 Mustapha-pasha, 135. — The Turks oiteu receive 
 serious injury from this sport, 307. 
 
 Dimizuna, mountain of, the ancient Pholoe, 5. 
 
 Dimizana, the valley of, in the Morea, 62. — 
 Town of the same name considered as the ancient 
 Psophis, ibid. 
 
 Dioscuri, the sacred wood of, 50. 
 
 Divorce, very common among the Greeks, 14Q. 
 
 Dodona, the oracle of, 344. — The river of Oodona, 
 3/3. — The forests of Dodona, 374. — Now the 
 resort of turbulent and disorderly persons, ibid. 
 
 Dogmas, the principal oDes of the Turks, 272. 
 
 Dolma-Bakche, a fine spot near Constantinople, 
 3C6. 
 
 Dolous, a town in the district of Mania, 108. 
 
 Dolphins, an immense shoal of them in the Helles- 
 pont, 238. 
 
 Dorcea, the ancient fountain of, at Sparta, 91. 
 
 Drawing ana engraving, school of, at Constanti- 
 nople, 3i5. 
 
 Drepanum, Cape, or the Cape of the Scythe, 53. 
 
 Drino, a river of Illyria, its two branches, 43Q. — 
 New course taken by it, 441. 
 
 Dromos, the, at Sparta, Q2. 
 
 Drogman, account of a Greek one at Navarin, by 
 name Nicholas, 8. 
 
 Drunkards, privileged ones at Constantinople, 29 1 . 
 
 Dubnitza, a town in Bulgaria, 433. 
 
 Dulcigno, the ancient Olcinium, a nest of pirates, 
 3, note — Its situation, 451. 
 
 Durazzo, a town of lilyria, the ancient Dyrra- 
 chium, 442. 
 
 Dzidxa, a town in Albania, 365. 
 
 Dzoumerka, or Tomarus, mountains in Albania, 
 364—365, 37-1—377. 
 E. 
 
 Easier, manner in which it is celebrated in the 
 Morea, 147. 
 
 Egalea, the mountain of, 10. 
 
 Egium, now Vosiitza, 52. — Very little remains of 
 its ancient grandeur, 54. — Commerce carried on 
 in its port, 55. 
 
 Elephantiasis, anciently unknown in Greece, but 
 
 now commoti, 188. — Places iu the Morea where 
 it is most frequent, ibid. 
 
 Etias the prophet, monastery of, in Albania, 273. 
 — Its situation, 274. — Visited by the French 
 officers, ibid. 
 
 Elis, a province of Peloponnesus, now called Ka- 
 loskopt or Belvedere, 34. — Subject to ataxial 
 and adynamial fevers in the summer, I87 — 
 and to the Elephantiasis, 188. 
 
 Eng/iia. gulf of, formerly the gulf of Athens, 35. 
 
 Englishman, the author meets with one iu the 
 Morea who had fought in the French service, 
 159. — One at Constantinople turned Mahome- 
 tan, 308. 
 
 Engraving and drawing, school of, at Constanti- 
 nople, 315 
 
 Epaminondas, the spot where he fell on the plain 
 of Mantinea, 44. 
 
 Epidaurus Limera, a town in the Morea, now 
 Nauplia di Malvoisie, 96. 
 
 Erymanthus, a river of Arcadia, now the Atzicolos, 
 62. — Its cascades and course, 64. 
 
 Eschinades, a group of islets at the mouth of the 
 gulf of Lepanto, 400. 
 
 Escvlapius, temple to him at Epidaurus, 97. 
 
 Eskibaba,a town in Bulgaria, the ancient Burtudisus, 
 428. 
 
 Eurotas river, now called the Vasilipotamos or 
 royal river, 23. — Its banks bordered with laurels, 
 84 — Origin of its present name, ibid. — Called 
 by Meletius the Iris or Neris. ibid. 
 
 Evil-eye, superstition of the Moreans with regard 
 toil, 129. 
 
 Etreo-Castron, a suburb to the town of Mistra, 68. 
 
 Exochorion, a suburb to Mistra, 91. 
 
 Extreme unction, how administered in the Greek 
 church, 143, note. — Curious anecdote respect- 
 ing it, ibid. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fanul, the part of Constantinople inhabited by the 
 Greeks, 142, and note. 
 
 Fanarcki of Asia, the promontory of, 323. 
 
 Fanaraki of Europe, the castle of, on the Black, 
 Sea, 319. — The shore in that part frightful, 320. 
 
 Fasts, the great number observed in the Greek 
 church, 146 
 
 Fauvel, Monsieur, remains of the town of Messene 
 seen by him, J9. — His account of discovering 
 the ruins of Olympia, 65. 
 
 Field of the dead, the principal walk at Constanti- 
 nople, 304. 
 
 Fires at Constantinople, 293. 
 
 Fish, popular belief respecting some in a fountain 
 near Constantinople, 263, note. 
 
 Flalo name given by the lurks to Plato, 313. 
 
 Fiaxio, a town in the Morea, perhaps the ancient 
 Phryxa, 64. 
 
French female slave. Monsieur Chaibonnel meets 
 with one in Ali-pasha's harem, 382. 
 
 Funeral ceremonies, extraordinary ones among the 
 Greeks, 153. 
 
 Gallipoli,a town on the Hellespont, the residence 
 
 of the capudan-pasha, 423. 
 Gardens of the Grand Signor, the author's visit to 
 
 them, 324. 
 Gardichi, a town in the Morea, perhaps the ancient 
 
 Clitor, 43. 
 Garlic, considered by the Greeks as a sort of charm, 
 
 130. 
 Gastouni, a town in the Morea on the river Igliako, 
 
 72. — Richness and beauty of the country about 
 
 it, ibid. 
 George, St., festival celebrated in honour of him by 
 
 the Greeks, 150. 
 Gertinien, a mountain above the town of Coiinth, 
 
 77. --The road through the isthmus lies over it, 78. 
 Golinitza, a little town of Kaloskopi, 5. 
 Gomenizza, a port of Carlelia, or Acamania, 389. 
 Gorthys, the ancient town of, now Caritena, CO. 
 Grand Vizier, tomb of, in the castle of the Seven 
 
 Towers, 261. 
 Greek exercise, a curious one taught to children, 
 
 134. 
 Gueiini, Monsieur, turns Mahometan, 385. 
 
 H. 
 
 Harem of the pasha of Tripolitza, 25. — That of the 
 defter-kiaya : the author introduced there, 212. 
 — Summer one of the Grand Signor at Constan- 
 tinople, the author's visit to it, 32Q. — Ali-pasha's 
 at Tripolitza, Monsieur Charbonnel goes thither, 
 382. 
 
 Heads, the, at Constantinople, a curious subject of 
 observation, 287- 
 
 Helrus, river of. in Thrace, now the Maritza, 429. 
 
 Helena, island of, now Macronisi, 235. 
 
 Helios, St. a part of the mountains of Taygetes so 
 called, 83. 
 
 Helisson, the ancient name of the river on which 
 stood Megalopolis, 58. 
 
 Herea, an ancient town in the Morea, perhaps the 
 Modern Ira, 64. 
 
 Hermceum of the ancients, the great defile of Mes- 
 senia, 1 9. — Hermaeum of Laconia, now the de- 
 file of Carvathi, 85. 
 
 Hermione, a town of the Morea, now Castri, 230. 
 
 Hexamilli, the present name of the isthmus of Co- 
 rinth, 78. 
 
 Hippocrates, his opinion with regard to the physical 
 and moral character of mountaineers, 403. 
 
 Hissar at Constantinople, the place where Xeno- 
 phon and Mahomet the Second both crossed the 
 
 INDEX. 477 
 
 Bo;phorus. 275. — Cannon of Hissar fired at 
 
 night for executions, 292. 
 Hussein-pasha, his reception of the French officers 
 
 at Gallipoli, 424. 
 Hydra, the island of, with a view of the town, 233. 
 Hydriote sailors, some of the best in the Turkish 
 
 service, 234. 
 Hyeres, arrival of the author in the road there, 341 . 
 
 Ibrahim, pasha of Scutari, civilities shown by him 
 to the French officers, 441 and 450. 
 
 Ibrahim tchiaoux, his character and manners, 246. 
 
 Ichtys, an island in the Morea, now Pontico, 5. ' 
 
 Igliako, a river of the Morea, formerly the Pe- 
 neus, 5. 
 
 Impostor, a Greek one, endeavours to deceive the 
 author and his friends, 157. 
 
 Inacckus, a river of Argolis, now the Planizza, 223. 
 — The Inacchus of Epirus, 397. 
 
 Inscriptions, one upon the coast of the Morea, op- 
 posite to Proti, 6. — Some at Sinano, the ancient 
 Megalopolis, well worth studying, 59. — Two 
 Greek ones in the castle of the Seven Towers, 
 262 and 263. 
 
 Invocations, several made use of by the Greeks, 13 1. 
 
 Isaac-bey, account of him, 283. 
 
 Iscoudar, or Labeatis* lake of, 441. 
 
 Issa Resoul, the Turkish name for Jesus Christ, 
 272. — Belief of the Mahometans concerning the 
 ass on which he entered Jerusalem, ibid. 
 
 Islambol EJj'endi, his visit to the castle of the Seven 
 Towers, 274. 
 
 Ithaca, now Thiaki, ruins of the palace of Ulysses 
 there, 399. 
 
 Ithome, a mountain in Messenia, now Vourcano, 
 17. — Wild boars in these mountains, 13. — Fine 
 view from Ithome, 20. 
 
 Janina, the principal town of Albania, by whom 
 founded, 36/. — Description of the town, 368; — 
 Its population, 369. — A number of wealthy mer- 
 chants there, 41 1 . 
 
 Janilza, a town of Mama, 14 and 83. 
 
 Jougourth, a sort of curdled milk much eaten in the 
 Morea, 185. 
 
 Judea, tree of, common in the Morea, 176, and 
 note. 
 
 Justiniana, a town in Romelia, now called Kius- 
 tendil, 433. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kadir-bey, the Turkish admiral, his idea of bom- 
 barding Paris, 244. 
 
 Kaki-Scala, or bad staircase, a way over Mount 
 Artemisius, 76. 
 
478 INDEX. 
 
 Kalkandeiuk, a small town in Eulgaria, 434. 
 
 Kalmkopi, or Belvedere, a district in the Morea, 
 6. 
 
 Kardumoula, or Kardamyla, a town of Ma'ina, 
 109. — Agriculture flourishing in the neighbour- 
 hood, ill. 
 
 Kirlanguitch, a sort of vessel used in Greece and 
 the Archipelago, why so called, 355 and note. 
 
 Kiustendil, a town in Romelia, the ancient Justi- 
 niana, 433. 
 
 Klee,na, a town in the Morea, the ancient Cleones, 
 
 76- . . 
 Kolokyna, river of, erroneously called the ancient 
 
 Gython, 98. 
 Kolokylhia, gulf of, the ancient gulf of Laconia, 
 
 35. — Periodical movements of the waters, QQ. 
 
 — Abounds with fish, 100. 
 Koumastra, a village in Laconia, 98. 
 
 Laleatis, or Iscoudar, lake of, 441. 
 
 Laconia, different names by which the country has 
 
 been called, 81. — State of the province under the 
 Lower Empire, 82. — Description of the country, 
 
 83. 
 Laconicon, or stove baths at Sparta, 92. 
 Lata, a town in Mount Pholo;, 57 and 161. 
 Laliotes, robbers that infest Mount Pholoe, 46 — 
 
 57—62. 
 Langadia, a small town in the Morea, 60. 
 Larissa, a town of Thessaly, 248. 
 Last Judgement, curious picture of it in a convent 
 
 at Chalki, 322. 
 Ledum, promontory of, now Cape Baba, 237. 
 Lelegia, a very ancient name for Laconia, 81 . 
 Lents, the number observed by the Greeks, 146. 
 Leondari, a town in the Morea, where stood Leuc- 
 
 tra, 22. 
 Leonidas, his character defended against De Pauw, 
 
 82. 
 Lepanto, naval battle there under Don John of Au- 
 stria, 52. — Gulf of, formerly the sea of Corinth, 
 
 35. 
 Ltrna, now called both Milos and Lerna, 221. — 
 
 Its situation, 222. — Its lake, ibid. — Diseases to 
 
 which the place is subject, 223. — The principal 
 [ port for the supply of Tripolitza, ibid. — Route 
 
 by land from tins place to Nauplia di Romania, 
 
 230. 
 Leslies, island of, its present situation, 422. 
 Lewadia, promontory of, 3Q0. — Water spouts 
 
 there, 399. 
 Leuctra, the ancient town of, in Peloponnesus, now 
 
 culled Leondari, 22. 
 Literature, state of it among the modern Greeks, 
 
 163. — Foreign works translated into modern 
 
 Greek, 166. 
 
 Macronisi, the ancient is-tand of Helena, 239, 
 Mahomet, festival of his nativity, 303. 
 Ma'ina, a district of the Morea, topography of the 
 country, 102. — Separated from the pashalik of 
 the Morea, 103. — Unfortunate fate of several of 
 the beys, 104. — Political division of the country, 
 107. — Productions and >tate of commerce, 111. 
 and Appendix, 465.- -Numerous relics of anti- 
 quity scattered about, 112, and Appendix, 468. 
 Mainotti, or people of Ma'ina, then manners, 105. 
 — The Maaiote women, 100. — The priests, 107. 
 — Casques like those of the ancients worn by 
 them, 111. — Their popular songs, 107. — Their 
 hatred of foreigners, ibid. — 1 heir irruptions even 
 to the neighbourhood of Tripolitza, 106. — Pro- 
 gress made by them in agriculture, 103. — Some 
 of them propose to assist the author in escaping 
 from captivity, 102. 
 Mandinies, a town of MaVna, 108. 
 Manina, forests of, ill Albania, 400. 
 Manlinea, the place where it stood, 42. — Exami- 
 nation of its ruins, ibid. — Greek inscription 
 found there, 43. 
 Marathonhi, the ancient Crnna", 99, note. 
 Marlle pillars, beautiful ones in the Grand Signor's 
 
 harem at Constantinople, 332. 
 Marilxa, a river of Thrace, the ancient Hebrus,429- 
 Mark, St. a chapel dedicaled to him in Mount 
 
 Roi'no, 114. — Curious zodiac there, ibid. 
 Mavromaihi, a town in the Morea, derivation of 
 the name, 20. — Built on the ruins of the ancient 
 Messene, 19. 
 Megalopolis . rot in the situation stated by Meletius 
 and others, 58. — Where now stands Sinano.ibid. 
 Very little remains of the ancient town, 59. — 
 Some inscriptions on marbles used in the modern 
 buildings worth studying, ibid. 
 Meletius, his geography very erroneous, 31. 
 Mtnale, Mount, now called Roi'no, 41. 
 Mesochorion, a subuib of Mistra or Sparta, g0. 
 Messene, a town of Peloponnesus, not the modern 
 Andreossa, 17. — Said to be replaced by Mavro- 
 maihi, ibid — Remains of this town seen by 
 Monsieur Famel, }Q. 
 Messenia, the gulf of, now the gulf of Coron, 35. 
 Meteor, an extraordinary one seen by the author at 
 
 Tripolitza, 208. 
 Meteora, monasteries of, in Thessaly, their remark- 
 able situation, 142, and note, and 387. 
 Methydrium, the modern Meltaga, 46. 
 Meza/onghi, a town in the Morea. 73. 
 Mezalonghi, a town in Albania, 401. 
 Mezzovo,lhe mountains of, the ancient Pindus,37l . 
 Minarets, those to the principal mosques at Adria- 
 
 nople, the highest in Turkey, 429. 
 Minerva A'.ea, a celebrated temple to her at Tegea, 
 117. 
 
Mirakd, thefchoient Olympia, 64. — Governed by 
 a Turkish aga, 69. 
 
 Mistra, a town in Laconia, reputed to be the an- 
 . cient Sparta, 87. — Description of the town, ibid. 
 — The inhabitants skilful in working iron, 108. 
 
 Modon, a town and port in the Morea, 422. 
 
 Monembasia, or Nauplia di Malvoisie, 95. 
 
 Montenegiins, a people on the coast of the Adriatic, 
 
 • 452. 
 
 Morea, the, ancient Peloponnesus, situation and 
 extent of the country, 34. — Melancholy traces of 
 the ravages made by the Albanians, 32. — Its bays 
 or gulfs, 35. — Its trade increased of late rears, 
 51. — Difficulties of travelling there, 80. — Its 
 civil administration and taxes, 118. — Its popula- 
 tion, 119. — Produce of the taxes, 121. — Mili- 
 tary situation, 122. — Physical and moral charac- 
 ter of the inhabitants, 125. — Women of the 
 Morea, 127.— Popular superstitions, 129. — 
 Their invocations, 131. — Their pride of birth, 
 132. — Ceremonies at the birth of a child, ibid. 
 and at baptism, ibid. — Education of the children, 
 133. — Occupations and amusements, 134. — 
 Dances, 136. — Music and songs, 138. — Pro- 
 verbs, 140. — Religion, religious establishments, 
 and religious ceremonies, 140 and following. — 
 Exorcisms, 149. — Divorces, ibid. — Marriages, 
 150. — Festivals, ibid. — State of literature, 163. 
 — Their litigious propensities, 169. — Police of 
 the towns, 170 — and of the highways, 1/ 1 . — 
 Climate and course of the seasons, 173. — Diet 
 of the Moreans, 182. — Diseases of the country, 
 I87. — State of industry and mechanical arts, 
 197- — Productions of the country, 199. — State 
 of commerce, 206 — Caverns,449- — Lakes dried 
 up, 447. 
 Mosques at Constantinople, not difficult to procure 
 
 a sight of them, 280. 
 
 Mouclar, eldest son to Ali-pasha, sketch of his 
 
 character, 3 62. — Made pasha of Negropont, ibid. 
 
 — His mild reproof of Monsr. Charbonnel, 383. 
 
 Musical instruments, several used by the Turks 
 
 described, 2/, note. 
 Mustapha, pasha of Tripolitza, the author presented 
 to him, 25. — Description of the interior of his 
 palace, 26. — His council, 27. — His guard, 28. — 
 Removed from his pashalik, 29. — His indigna- 
 tion at the treatment of the French garrison of 
 Zante, 75. 
 Mycene, ruins of, 220. — Tomb of the Atrides 
 there, 224. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nagara, a small village on the Dardanelles, 337- 
 Navarin,a town in the Morea, arrival of the author 
 _' there, /■ — Presented to the bey, ibid. — The 
 town called by the Greeks Neo- castron, 8. 
 
 INDEX. 479 
 
 Navy, state of the Turkish, in 1 801, 314. 
 
 Nauplia di Malvoisie, the ancient Epidauras Li» 
 mera, 96. 
 
 Nauplia. di Romania, a port in the Morea, arrrival 
 of the author there, 225. — -Description of the 
 town and bay, 228. 
 
 Nemea, probably many relics of antiquity in the fo- 
 rest, 224. — Town of Nemea now the village of 
 St. George, ibid. 
 
 Neo-Castron, the name by which the Greeks call 
 Navarro, 8. 
 
 Mcotolis, a town of Epirus, ruins of, 39O. 
 
 O. 
 
 
 Oaks, the variety that grow in the Morea, 204. 
 
 Ocque, a weight in the Morea, 1 11, note. 
 
 Oda-lachi, a Turkish officer, 9. 
 
 Odaliscas, or female slaves, their apartment in the 
 Grand Signor's harem, 330. 
 
 Oeialia, the name given by Virgil to Laconia, 81. 
 
 Olcinium, a town of Illyria, now Dulcigno, 3, 
 note. — Description of the inhabitants, 451. 
 
 Olympia, the ancient situation of that town ascer- 
 tained, 64. 
 
 Ophis, a river in the plain of Mantinea, 43. 
 
 Opium, its effects upon those that use it immode- 
 rately, 297. 
 
 Orbelus, a lofty mountain of Thrace, 443. 
 
 Oroucks, a corsair captain of Dulcigno, the author 
 and others taken prisoners by him, 2. — He car- 
 ries away some of them to the Ionian islands, 
 243. — Two presented by him to the Turkish 
 admiral at Corfu, 244. — The others carried to 
 Butrinto, 245 and 349 — Presented to Ali pasha, 
 355. — Death of Orouchs, 384. 
 
 Osman the Second murdered in the castle of the 
 Seven Towers, 250. 
 
 Oslracina, a mountain near Mantinea, now called 
 Aloni-Steno, 44. 
 
 Ovid, the first writer of antiquity that mentions the 
 fabulous dejuges, 445. — The place where he died 
 in exile, 320. 
 
 Palccopolis, the name given by the Greeks to the 
 ruins of Tegea, 116. 
 
 Pallantium, an ancient town of Arcadia, 11 6. 
 
 Pamissus, a river in the Morea, now the Pirnazza, 
 13. 
 
 Paramitkia, a town of Albania, 391. 
 
 Parga, a port in Albania, 395 
 
 Parlhenius, a mountain in Arcadia, 41. 
 
 Paswan Oglou, songs upon him sung by the Turk- 
 ish sailors, 234.— Curious account of the troops 
 sent against him from Larissa, 248. 
 
 Patras, a town of Achaia, the ancient Aroe, 50. — 
 Formerly abounded in fine buildings, ibid. — 
 
4 no 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Governed by a bey, .51. — A(lvktftag"«l«ly situ- 
 ated for commerce, ibid. — The country about 
 very fine, 52. 
 
 Pav/tt, a tiver of Epiros, the ancient Xantlms, 
 355. 
 
 Pausarnas, his work may now serve as a guide over 
 Greece, ] It). 
 
 Petodi, the ancient lake of Anchises in Epirus, 
 358. 
 
 Pcneus, a river of Peloponnesus, now the Igli- 
 ako, 5. 
 
 Penlc-Dactylon, a chain of mountains in the i!o- 
 rea, formerly Taygetes, 63. 
 
 Pharsalla, the plain of, in/1'hcssajy, 247. 
 
 P/terea, a town in the Morea, now called Taleo- 
 Chori, 188. 
 
 Fhilatea, the district of, in Albania, salt springs 
 there, 40". 
 
 Philippopolis, a town in Bulgaria, 431. 
 
 Philopoemen, his magnanimous conduct and death, 
 49. 
 
 Pholoe, Mount, now Dimizana, first seen by the 
 author, 5. 
 
 Pholoe, the centaur, killed by the arrows of Her- 
 cules, 6g, note. 
 
 Phryxa, a town of Peloponnesus, now Fraxio, 64. 
 
 Phihionle, a port in the gulf of Argos, now Bour- 
 nous, 218. 
 
 Pindus, mountains of, now Mezzovo, 366 and 
 371. 
 
 Pirnazza, a river in the Morea, the ancient Pa- 
 missus, 13. 
 
 Pitrltza, a river in Albania, the ancient Simoi's of 
 Epirus, 355. 
 
 Plague, ancient opinions with regard to it, 188. — 
 Opinions of the modern Greeks, I89. — Not en- 
 demic in the Morea, 190. — Observations upon 
 this disease, 191. — Not common in Albania, 
 409. 
 
 Plane-tree, a remarkable one near Vostitza, 54. — 
 A very remarkable cluster at Bo'ioukdeyre near 
 Constantinople, 30g. 
 
 Planizza river, the ancient Inacchus of Argolis, 
 223. 
 
 Plat-mist, an island formed by the Eurotas, 92. 
 
 Plato, ideas of the Turks with regard to that philo- 
 sopher, 313. 
 
 Ponte- Grande, town and lake of, in Romelia, the 
 ancient Melanthias, 428. 
 
 Ponte-Picco'.o, the first stage from Constantinople 
 towards Romelia, 42/. — An imperial castle 
 there called Rhegium in the time of the Lower 
 Empire, ibid. 
 
 Pontico, island of, the ancient Ichtys, 5. 
 
 PorloConli, in Sardinia, 339. — Curious account of 
 the alcade there, 340. 
 
 Prevesa, a port in Albania, taken from the French 
 
 by Ali pasha, 351. — Massacre of the garrison and 
 
 inhabitants. "53. 
 Prince*, isles of the, in the sea of Marmara. 321.— 
 
 (vinous picture of the Last Judgement at a con- 
 vent in one of them, 322. 
 Prisrendi, a mountain of Thrace, the ancient 
 
 Scardus, 435. — Sufferings of the travellers from 
 
 cold in going over it, 436. 
 Prisrendi, town of, the travellers grossly insulted 
 
 by the populace there, 4:>7. 
 Proti, a little island in the Morea, inscription on the 
 
 opposite coast, 6. 
 Prolopapas, a small town in Albania, 376. 
 Proverbs, several now in use among the Greeks, 
 
 140. 
 Provisions, the different articles of, to be had at 
 
 Constantinople, 2y5. 
 Psara, an island in the Archipelago, 236. 
 Pi/los, a town in the Morea, 9. — Its present state, 
 
 "lO. 
 Pyrgo, a town upon the Alpheus, of Roufia, 73. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quarrel and taw- suit between two Greeks about 
 their merits in singing, 169. 
 
 R. 
 
 Ragusa, a pott in the Adriatic, various particulars 
 
 respecting it, 453. 
 Rhegium, an imperial castle in the time of the 
 
 Lower Empire, 427- 
 Rhion, a cape in Achaia, where stands the castle of 
 
 the Morea, 52. 
 Rhizonica. the bay of, now the Mouths of the Cat- 
 
 taro, 452. 
 Rndostopos, a \ illage in Albania, 377. 
 Ro'ino, Mount, the ancient Menale, 41. 
 Rose, adjutant-general, marries a Greek woman, 
 
 351. — Treacherous conduct of Ali-pasha to him, 
 
 ibid. — Sent prisoner to Constantinople, 354. — 
 
 His death in the castle of the Seven Towers, 
 
 273. 
 Roufia, river of, anciently the Alpheus, 23. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sagori, the province of, a district of Albania, 373. 
 St Maure, island of, the ancient Leucadia, 398. 
 St. Stephen, village of, on the sea of Marmara, 
 
 239. — Formerly the residence of the European 
 
 ambassadors, ibid. 
 Salauora, a port in Albania, 397. 
 Salembria, a river in Thrace, the ancient Peneus, 
 
 408 and 446. 
 Suit springs in the district of Philate3 in Albania, 
 
 407. 
 Sarmako, a town in Bulgaria, 433. 
 Sctipi, a town in Romelia, the ancient Uskiub, 434. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 Scutari of Illyria, situation of this town, 439. — 
 
 Its original name Scodra,44I. 
 Scyronian rocks in the isthmus of Corinth, why so 
 
 allied, 209, and note. , 
 Se/im Jga, an Englishman turned Mahometan, 308. 
 Bonnycastle's Geometry translated into the 
 Turkish language by him, 313, note. 
 
 Selim the Third, the Turkish Emperor, some ac- 
 count of him and his family, 281. — His great at- 
 tachment to his mother, 334. 
 
 Se.Lym.bria, a town in Romelia, the ancient Silivri, 
 428. 
 
 Seven Towers, Imperial castle of, its different names, 
 250. — Taken in 1453 by Mahomet the Second, 
 ibid. — Osmnn the Second murdered there, ibid. 
 — Scene of many other iatal executions, 251. — 
 Place of confinement for ambassadors and prison- 
 ers of war, 252. — Its garrison, ibid. — Situation 
 of the castle, 253. — The cave of blood, 254. — 
 The well of blood, 255 — Interior of the castle, 
 256. — Old Egyptian mummy there, ibid. — Ce- 
 metery of the martyrs, 257- — Inscription to the 
 memory of the French, 258. — Exterior inclosure 
 of the castle, 25Q. — Tomb of the Grand Vizier 
 
 , who conquered Candia, 261. — Greek inscriptions 
 on two of the towers, 262 and 263. — The place 
 much infested by scorpions, 264 — The air very 
 bad, ibid. 
 
 Sfagia, the modern name of Sphacteria, 10. 
 
 Sicuni, Dr., a physician of Naupiia, his civilities to 
 the author, 2^6. 
 
 Silirri a town in Romelia, anciently called Se- 
 lvmbria, 428. 
 
 Silk-worms, method of treating them in the Morea, 
 201. 
 
 Smano, a town in the Morea where stood Megalo- 
 polis, 58 
 
 SMavo-Chnri, the ancient Amyclea, Q2. — Now a 
 bishop's see, t)7- 
 
 Sorcery, or witchcraft, belief of the Greeks in it, 
 129. 
 
 Soldi, the mountajns of, formerly the Cassiopean 
 mountains, 39O. — Description of the country of 
 Souli, 391. 
 
 Soullotes, their wars with Ali-pasha, 392. — Their 
 desertion of the French at Prevesa, 352. 
 
 Sparta, ancient state of the country, 81. — Doubts 
 as to the spot on which it stood, 8?. 
 
 Spezzia, island of, the ancient Tiparenus, 232. 
 
 Sphacteria, an island of the port of Navarin in the 
 Morea, 8. 
 
 Steno, a small town in the Morea, 2 16. 
 
 Strata- H a I'M ey, an extraordinary road down the 
 side of a mountain, 217. — Described by Pausa- 
 nias under the name of Trochos, ibid. 
 
 Strophad.es, isles of the, 6. 
 
 Stymphalus, a lake of Arcadia, 183. 
 
 Suleyman Yeyen, a Turk who took corrosive subli- 
 mate, 298. 
 Suza, a town on the coast of Africa, 338. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taygetes, mountains of Laconia, now called Pente- 
 
 Dactylon, 83. 
 Tchinguenets, or Bohemians, account of them, 323 
 
 and 434. 
 Tchiorlou, a town in Romelia, the ancient Thu- 
 
 rulus, 428. 
 Tebeleni, the native place of Ali-pasha, 360 and 
 
 378. 
 Tegea, called by the Greeks Pala5opolis, 116. 
 Temathia, a mountain above the town of Navarin, 
 
 8. 
 Tenedos, island of, famous for its wines, 237 and 
 
 423. 
 Tkerapnea, a village near the site of ancient Sparta, 
 
 9 5 - — The place where Menelaus and Helen 
 
 were educated, ibid. 
 Theriakis, or opium-takers, at Constantinople, 297. 
 Thermal springs, in the plain of Mantinea, 43. — . 
 
 in the valley of Andritsena, 61. — in the valley 
 
 of Dimizana, 6j. — at the foot of Mount Gera- 
 
 nien, 77. — and in Albania, 407. 
 Thermopylae at present the resort of banditti, 247. 
 Tinea, an island in the Archipelago, the property of 
 
 a sultana, 237. 
 Tityrus, a name still mentioned in the Greek songs, 
 
 15!. 
 Trades, the different ones at Constantinople, by 
 
 what nations exercised, 288. 
 Tricala, a town of Albania, 396. 
 Tricara, a mountain in the Morea, 46. 
 Tripolitza, the capital of the Morea, the author's 
 
 arrival there, 24. — Palacfc of the pasha, 26. — Si- 
 tuation of the town, and description of it, 35. 
 
 — Environs of the town, 1 14. — Departure of the 
 
 author from thence, and his route to Lerna, 215. 
 Tripotemi, the town of, its situation, 46. 
 Trochos, the road now called Strata-Halilbey, 217. 
 Trcezene, the town of, now called Dematta, 230. 
 Trophonius, the cave of, the last remaining oracle 
 
 of Bceotia, 44g. 
 Tschespi, an amusement in Turkey, 294. 
 Turk, the author meets with one who had been in 
 
 France, J 9. 
 Turkish soldiers, their mode of passing their time, 
 
 124. 
 Tzoula, a Greek slave at Naupiia, her unfortunate 
 story, 227. 
 
 Vallona, a port in Albania, 386. 
 Farousi, a town in Ma'i'na, the residence of the bi- 
 shop of Zarnate, 109. 
 3 a 
 
48. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vau/ipoiamos, the name now given to fheEurotas, 
 23.— Why so called, 84. 
 
 Feli, youngest son to Ali-pasha, particulars respect- 
 ing him, 362. 
 
 Venus Armea, ruins of her temple at Sparta, C)0 
 and 91. 
 
 Victory, gale of, in the castle of the Seven Towers, 
 259. 
 
 Vitilon, or Porto-Vitulo, a town of Mai'na, the an- 
 cient CEtylos, 110. 
 
 Vodi, the highest mountain of Arcadia, 50. 
 
 Vonitza, a town of Albania, the ancient Anaeto- 
 num. 397. 
 
 Vbrdonia, a town of Lnconia, 83. 
 
 Vostilza, the ancient Egium, a town of Achaia, 52. 
 
 U. 
 
 Uskiiil, a town of Romelia, the ancient Scupi, 434. 
 Uticu, on the coast of Africa, now Porto Farino, 
 339. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wall, the ancient one from the Black Sea to the 
 
 Propontis, 320. 
 Weddings, an Armenian one at Constantinople, 
 
 310.— A Turkish one, 311. 
 Well of blood, a pit in the castle of the Seven 
 
 Towers, 255. 
 
 Wounds in the head rapidly healed at Constanti- 
 nople, 287. 
 
 X. 
 
 Xanthus, the ancient river of Epirus, now thePavIa, 
 
 355. 
 Xeromeros, the present name of jEtolia. 381. 
 Xisli, or covered porticoes, at Sparta, 92. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yamakis, a species of dancers at Constantinople, 
 
 290. 
 Yanaki, a young Greek strangled in the bagnio at 
 
 Constantinople, 2()8. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zacliarias, a famous chief of banditti, executed at 
 
 Tripolilza, 162. 
 Zuconia, an ancient name for Laconia, 81. 
 Z nte, the author and his companions disappointed 
 
 of landing there, 4. — A very rich and fertile 
 
 island, 422. — The inhabitants very amiable, 
 
 ibid. 
 Zantiote soldier, in the French service, his apostasy, 
 
 211. 
 Zea, the island of, anciently Ceos, 235. 
 Zcitoun, a town in Thessaly, 246. 
 Zodiac, a curious one in a chapel in Mount Roi'no, 
 
 114. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 41, line 13, for Kalilbey read Halilley. 
 
 44, — 6, for Caki-Shala, read Kakl Scala. 
 47, — 2, for amleds read medals. 
 Ill, — 29, after fifteen add hundred. 
 130, — 10, before in consequence add it is. 
 136, — 18, for ponards read pnniaids. 
 177, — 13, for shepherds read Molostian. 
 258, — 4, from the boiiom, for thought his read though the. 
 327, — 4, dele the semicolon. 
 401, — 2, for Jish'i read fishes. 
 

/ 03^ (